Jump to content

Elkor_Alish

Members
  • Posts

    57
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Elkor_Alish

  1. I think the reactions to this sort of content will vary wildly depending upon maturity and life experiences. Having said that, objectification should always be objectionable in my humble opinion. The romances in this game were uniformly terrible, with the notable exception of that which develops between Eder and Xoti. It was nice watching her work at winning him over then seeing him slowly come around and grow a little in the process. It was sweet. Personally, however, while I only felt mild disappointment over the handling of relationships amongst party members. . .It was the advances made by drunken crew which I found specifically insulting. With no option to fire them, let alone keelhaul their sorry asses, and only to abandon them in port but still see their smug faces every time I opened the ship manifest screen. . .everything about those scenarios undermined the experience for me. Especially after the third such encounter. Also, while touching upon the topic, I think there should be a lot more sailors to choose from. And touching on that topic, I would like to add I thought it was swell that if one happens (quite accidentally on my part) to wind upon with an entirely female crew, the shanties they sing at sea actually change to reflect the predominate gender of the crew. Unfortunately, due to constraints on imagination or budget or both, there are only two such female dominate songs in the repertoire which was disappointing because I really appreciated that level of attention to detail and diligence. It was the sort of thing I did not know I wanted and was disappointed to find existed in such minute quantity.
  2. I can't function on weed, I enjoy being lit entirely too much to ruin it with. . .anything other than chain smoking, drinking and conversation.
  3. Same. However, I have to admit that even though the quest is rigged, that choice left to the player in the Skaen temple is a rough one once you know the outcome. I chose freewill the first time reflexively, but every time after that it was always with a lot of hesitation. How was it for you?
  4. The point of alignment was to assist people unfamiliar with roleplaying in envisioning how to play their character. And it is still a pretty useful tool for novices, I mean, new people stumble into it all the time I imagine. I haven't touched table top gaming in years. I tried it a couple times in High School, then in the Navy I did a lot more being stuck at my training command without having many other options. . . and I always found roleplaying much more attractive in the abstract. I could not bring myself to conjure up complicated, angsty backstories or unique voices and mannerisms. Hell, I couldn't even speak in character, I would usually just deliver lines and actions like a third person narrative. I did however like the alignment system quite a bit because it quite accurately captured my play style. I don't recognize any higher authority than my own, I could care less about anyone's customs, traditions, laws, or practices. I was going to do what I though was right, in the way I saw fit, and to hell with anyone who disagreed. That is chaotic good. And its such a great description because that mentality is destabilizing, it is the sort of primitive and unrestrained iconoclastic impulse which undermines civility and culture and encourages anarchy. It's a simplistic system, but not without nuance. I think it is rather elegant really, though perhaps not for everyone.
  5. How. . .Just. . .How. . .I ended the game with like a quarter of a million. Aside from the Paladin shield in the first town, I never paid for anything. The best loot and spells are plundered off dead enemies. . .What the devil did you find to spend your money on?
  6. This is patently absurd. It is precisely this breed of arrogance which causes discerning people to view intersectionality as distasteful. Homosexuality is not the issue, it is force which is an issue. Art does not judge, it invites judgment. Not through force, but through enticement. Contrarily, it is the nature of force to create resistance. It is for this reason that propaganda, no matter how attractive or well intentioned, can never do more than aspire to artistic expression while utterly failing to realize the transformative power of art. One cannot be beaten into enlightenment. Freddy Mercury was queer, yet he was also masterful, to describe him only in terms of his sexual preferences is insulting. This is true of any individual. Sappho is not significant because of her proclivities but because of her verse. Leonardo da Vinci was arrested along with several other young men at 24 and charged with sodomy, it largely accepted he was in all probability homosexual, yet this neither detracts from nor lends enhancement to his accomplishments. It is utterly immaterial. Judging an individual upon their sexual appetites is as petty and ridiculous as if the criteria were culinary instead. Nor are these example isolated.. Richard the Lionheart, Michelangelo, Donatello, Alexander the Great, Tchaikovsky et cetera et al. And we know of these individuals, and their accomplishments, and their preferences, precisely because of the efforts undertaken by "mostly white, mostly male, mostly straight" individuals. The attraction in RPGs is exploring ideas and constructs. People play in different ways, embracing every extreme from complete pacifism to wholesale slaughter, but when any outcome results in forced resolution which negates their potential for individual agency they always react with hostility. Fallout 2 had gay relationships and gay marriage and suffered little, if at all, for the inclusion. Because it was just something else you could do. Because it was optional, and only fanatics fail to appreciate having options. And fanatics are never worth listening to.
  7. Sketching a nude is difficult. The human body is comprised of terrific curvature and adaptive lines and when someone captures it perfectly, it can be breathtaking - largely dependent upon the medium and perspective but the point remains. Yet the most interesting aspect of the human body, artistically, are usually not which are revealed necessarily in the nude. I think it was Spielberg who once said that the most impressive landscape was the human face. But that is art. Nudity can be used brilliantly to comedic effect as well. Not because of what it shows, but because of what it suggests. Nudity can be many things, signifying solace and comfort, but also vulnerability and uncertainty. With taste and restraint nudity in and of itself can convey a great amount of information, even when the response sought is only a chuckle. . .Because. . .when all is said and done, nudity is always revelation. Nudity, after all, is only arousing in a clothed society. It is only amongst those whom place a premium upon modesty that nudity alone begins to carry purely sexual connotation, and to what degree is intensely personal. And this thing can be beautiful also. It adds meaning and mystery to what would otherwise be dross, dull, and utterly unremarkable. I don't mind the presence of nudity, but I dislike when it is used cheaply. When it is used for effect, rather than to affect. I think life reaches its highest forms in artistic expression, and to see things which could be an elevation of the human condition cynically exploited is always a disappointment. Video games, like literature and cinema, can be extremely artistic and extremely meaningful, and I am greatly appreciative when they are, but for many they are nothing more than idle entertainment. Not things to experience, but simply things to do, and it is that sort of variance which makes our species so successful. So, to each their own, but as with any other aspect of this game, all I hope is that they do it well.
  8. When I am immersed, I tend to get so focused I lose track of things like music, otherwise its a mood thing. And the nice thing about jazz is that you can find some which will fit any ambiance. I don't know it works for me. And when it doesn't, there is always Pink Floyd :D
  9. You know, the only two games I have ever played with soundtracks which blew me away were Silent Hill 3 and American McGee's Alice. I will be content so long as it isn't noticeably bad. Truth be told, I usually cut the internal music on video games off anyway and just have some Gilespie or Coltrane playing over the hi fi.
  10. They could have made an entire game surrounding Bloodline and those clones, because the implications of Aztechnology succeeding with that program would have been pretty horrific. I liked the Black Lodge quest quite a bit as well
  11. Yeah well I can almost guarantee I will end up playing these guys credit: Pirates of Penzance
  12. Well, there is Berath's Blessing. That was what compelled me to tackle it all. https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire/updates/256 edit: Reading it now though, I realize by 'previous playthrough' it refers to playthroughs of Deadire, not Pillars, but at the time I hadn't caught it
  13. And it also made him incredibly sympathetic. It was at that point that I really bought the fact he truly believed what he had done was necessary because once he was confronted with the possibility of another course of action. . .it destroyed him. Great moment :D
  14. Too much content? Too much content? This "Josh" guy sounds like a jackass. At the end of his life I hope he finds himself in a purgatory filled with FF7 fanboys for half of eternity.
  15. In a setting where weird and unusual things are common, I can sort of see how she wouldn't attract too much attention. Try standing out on 4chan and then return and tell me of your travels. Really I just liked her personality, I could care less what scripted responses NPCs have concerning her. She could have been a crusty alcoholic instead of a bitter robot and I still would have loved her.
  16. I always kick things off at normal. Usually because I need at least one run just to get a feel for the mechanics of a game and know what I am doing. . .But I love going in blind. You only get one chance to experience a story for the first time, and story -along with choice and consequence- is really why I play video games. My first playthrough of PoE on normal was aborted. The builds I had made were just untenable. My second was infinitely smoother, and even my Ultimate run wasn't as difficult as my first, fatally flawed attempt. To be honest, the only reason I played PoTD was to unlock achievements because I heard doing so would unlock content/options in the sequel. Otherwise, truth be told, I would never have bothered or wanted to. But I am also the guy that will reload fifty times to solo kill a bear in a cave at level 3 simply because it is there and I feel compelled not to leave anything alive behind me (and I also grew up on games like the first Fallout where time was a resource, and until I know the game is static and not going to move on without me, I make no such assumption).
  17. Well, after Eder, my favorite companion was the Devil of Caroc, so you have my vote. . .Tentatively. A well fleshed out character, whatever they are, is always to be preferred to an attractive gimmick. To be honest though, I thought the Grieving Mother was a ghost all the way until I saw her ending. Maybe I have just seen too many Shyamalan movies.
  18. You guys are really amusing sometimes. I love the intricacies and irregularities of the English language, I think it is a beautiful mess. Like how Germanic animals suddenly become French when you cook them. /cows becomes beef, sheep become mutton, pigs become pork et cetera et al/ but usually I just stick to debating the finer points of etymology on reddit with other *ssholes equally committed to such silly skirmishes. I am a bit late to this Westside Story reinactment over Spiritual Successor but if you don't mind indulging me, I would like to kick a couple corpses before we all go our separate ways. It is supposed to be vague, Wormerine was exactly right. It's a concept like the Spirit of the Law, wherein the vital element is elusive and conveyed through language without being constrained by it. It is nebulous because what you are describing isn't specific, it is a feeling. PoE isn't Baldur's Gate, or Icewind Dales, or Neverwinter Nights or Arcanum or (early) Fallout, but it feels related. Not just superficially, but fundamentally. Just in the way that Axis and Allies is the spiritual successor of Risk. Despite their differences they are not two entirely different games. What they are is two variations on a theme, one being an elaboration of the other. To debate which is better is ridiculous because taste is subjective. One cannot objectify the subjective anymore than one may generalize the specific. Just enjoy whichever suits you (unless it is Risk, in which case you're wrong). It's not derivative, it is not pastiche, and it goes well beyond merely homage. It is not unreasonable to call the combat in PoE a spiritual successor to those earlier titles as it is a well intentioned if not always particularly well executed effort, and I imagine that if we didn't all respect that effort we wouldn't be here. And they are still working on it. That in and of itself is an admission they don't feel as though they have it where they want it quite yet. So this wasn't some callous cash grab exploiting nostalgic pangs. It's a passion project, and it may take a couple titles before they get it right. I can't speak for the rest of you, but while there was much to recommend the BG series I find the first NwN far superior. So whether you find this a true spiritual successor or not, and there is some room for discussion, is there any dispute as to whether or not it is trying to be? I think that question, at least, is settled.
  19. We're on the same page now. I can't really name any good examples of a classless system in video games. Maybe Darksouls? New Vegas, almost. I like the concept much more than the execution, which is sort how I feel about RPGs in general. But hey, gotta keep the faith alive somewhow.
  20. I don’t agree I find them boring usually, vanilla. You find the ability to tailor a character your playing to suitably match your play style "vanilla." . . .For some reason I get the feeling it's not a problem with classless systems.
  21. Rumor has it those lootboxes will be filled with the remaining experience in allotments between 1 and 9999 as determined by a new RNG algorithm which Obsidian has secretly developed in partnership with EA and Activision.
  22. Attributes are nowhere near as important in Pillars as people seem to give them credit for. A Fighter with 13 Might will do less damage than a Fighter with 20, but it's really not all that noticeable, especially once you start picking up other +Damage bonuses. Hey Ontarah, you should read this. I am confirm this. My paladin had both the most crits delivered and most damage dealt in my party statistics in spite of his 10 might.
  23. And being able to drive it down to three wasn't useful to you? I am really not seeing the complaint
×
×
  • Create New...