Tigranes

Awesome, am super excited about this.

I'm delighted my propensity for tanking with wizards is expressible through the passive skill, Glass Cannon. Also, NZ lag. Level 18 and in Act 2 now, the game is definitely awesomesauce with 4 people.

I'm currently enjoying D3 a lot more than I ever did TL1, and I haven't seen anything to suggest I'll have much more fun with TL2. But then, I only play for the grinding-with-buddies mechanic.

Battletag, Gfted!

Tigranes#1262. Battletags, people!

I found Torchlight 1 pretty boring, and TL2 seemed similar.

Not a huge deal. Does BNet now have an inbuilt voice chat thing? AFAIK US servers open in about 9 hours, yeah? I'll be here in about 11-12 and ready to game.

Downloaded. Certainly beats Steam for ease of use.

Looks like quite a few of us have it? I'll buy it then, let's get an Obsidian play group going!

You're not wrong, but unfortunately, in her mind, boyfriend > you when push comes to shove. As an Arsenal fan I remain perpetually worried, but it's nice to see someone other than United won.

I have it.

I've never played a Unity engine game, so have no basis for judgment. I look forward to seeing some screens this early, though, hwo does that work when they've just chosen an engine?

Alright, I'm here after 30 hours on the plane. Giles Sprocket is a gnome of singular stature for his people; last measures have the fellow at some four and half feet, a full foot above most of his type. At age 44, he has recently completed his schooling and may be considered an adult. Like many gnomes, he is an illusionist by trade - even more skilled, and even more frail and book-bound, than most of his type. He is fairly dexterous, and remarkably intelligent, but of weak constitution, and only a passing acquaintance with the crossbow. He has a typical proficiency with gadgets of all kinds, though his main trade is in the magical arts. None of this is helped by the fellow's most unusual distaste for sunlight and fair weather; it appears he obsessively repelled by heat and sweat, to the point that he has contrived rather unfashionable, self-cooling attire for daily use. Nevertheless, he possesses a remarkable passion for adventure of all kinds, and often attempts - and fails - to overcome these flaws head-on. (I anticipate the character to be useless in 90% of our encounters.)

I read their employee handbook too. Doesn't tell me anything about whether Steam is going to be good or bad for consumers in the long run. It sure sounds like a swell place to work, but that's a different issue, if you have some perspective on it. I'm not sure how apocalyptic (or not) my view on Steam's effective monopoly is, but we've already seen it become far larger and far more overbearing than it ever 'sounded' with its frank 'we aren't evilcorp' tone. One of the key strategic functions of Steamworks DRM policy is to lock people and companies into Steam, for instance; Offline Mode was broken for so long because it can't have been a big priority to fix something that is mostly for people that aren't enthusiastic money spenders on the program; small annoyances with mod/patch compatibility/updates/etc. Steam sure isn't Ubisoft DRM or Nestle, but whoever said that? It has already been using its clout to do things that force their product on people and that's not swell, and that has nothing to do with how cool their handbook is.

No more Risen 2 for me as I left my desktop for the summer travels. Had played halfway through the second time to get Voodoo. Will be nice to get back and finish that run with the patch. I think all PB games are worth 2 or 3 playthroughs, no more, even though I really like them - maybe because of the exploration part.

The good part is there are only 3 bosses in the game, and the last one is a bit more 'normal'. The bad part is that yeah, those two are really, really, really stupid. To think if they just beefed up Crow's stats, then put in random pirates that board the ship for the kraken, 100x entertainment for 15 seconds of coding!

I'll post my FANTASY dude soon. I'm flying to NZ in 40 hours, but since that's a stupid timezone, work out whatever method and time that suits everyone and I'll make it. Considering something to do with an extreme heat/sweat-phobia.

Is this when you side with the Inquisition and you need to follow the signs in the jungle? He should be standing If he's not there... bug?

Awesome. Not to put a damper on it, but is that the actual recording / how did they record that? How come there is no ambient noise and the volumes/positionality is so perfect? Or did they just overlay a 'proper' version?

I hate the logistics of international banking, and imagine things will get really inconvenient if I ever fall victim to that kind of stunt. I'm a poor student with no real credit history or assets but my money is spread out between NZ and US accounts, I also do a lot of online transactions with Korean business (which perform the most effective form of xenophobic discrimination possible: everything is in Korean and you need not only a Korean credit card, but one tied to your national citizen ID, which generally means I have to make a lot of calls to Korea begging to buy their freaking products), and every time I try to do anything there's a lot of merry-go-round of moneys and regulations. Not to mention PayPal has now blacklisted my US credit card for a series of weird reasons, when I'm just an ordinary dude that wants to buy stuff from 3 different countries.

The first game has that Small Village with a Dark Underside feel that works really well with its reappropriation of Eastern European folklore - the scene where you front the villagers wanting to lynch the witch in the dark, or uncovering the dirty secrets of the villagers, etc. It also manages to carry through into Vizima in Chapter 2, and the swamps. TW2 abandons that, to good and bad effects, as Geralt moves up to 'higher circles' and deals with court matters most of the game. I'd say it's comparable to the difference between BG1 and 2. TW2 is a more fun and better designed game to play, but I get nostalgic for TW1 in ways I don't with the sequel. I'm not so keen on the rumours about TW3 going on Nilfgaard and Yennefer though, I really would like all that fantasy stuff in the background and it just feels like the setting again become more political and guerrilla fighting-based, oppressed populations, etc. - a police state that is very different from the kind of oppressive feeling in TW1 (even Vizima). They do have the opportunity to put Geralt in some really screwed up situations though, where you really have to choose between terrible options.

My mistake. I just got to the second island, and it seems you need to finish the second island before you get free travel, due to the plot events. You get your own ship at the end of the plot events on the Sword Coast - then you can go back to Tacarigua, Sword Coast, the Crystal Fortress (opening area), etc. When you CAN fast travel, (1) you can always fast-travel back to your ship by going to the map, then pressing E (or the button at the bottom); (2) on your ship, speak to Patty to set sail somewhere new. (3) Yes, you would need to know where you are going, by talking to someone or something.

Kick is pretty good. Use it on warthogs to disorient them and then deliver a series of attacks; they're critical for killing giant crabs; useful also to get some distance on an enemy then use a power attack in sword duels. (Invest in skills, by the way.) You can travel to any island once you get a ship, i.e. after the first island. And towns don't get bigger but there are a lot of them.

Fair enough, I'm being a bit anal about it. It's probably more accurate to say my beef is with using the SP franchise to begin with. Still, eager to see more details about how they do this.

I think putting all that content in one playthrough would have made the game too long and stretched, especially given its character development mechanics, etc.