Tale

I would advise that you flush that piss down the toilet and get some stout or pale ale. If you are writing fiction, I would suggest getting to that nice mellow stage of intoxication where you still have control of your faculties but feel good about everything. I assure you, I am neither a college kid nor a redneck. That level of inebriation is not the goal. I like to think of the target area as somewhere where I can be a little silly, but not quite to the point of writing poetry.

Trying to write. I like to drink while I do it, partially because I feel it helps me relax and not criticize my work. Partially because I think it helps me achieve a supernatural connection to the great sloshed writers of history. Sadly, the rum ran out far earlier than it was supposed to. I have resorted light beer. Seriously, 4.1% alcohol content? Is it even possible to get drunk off this stuff?

Got my intro map complete except for the Matrix parts. I've figured out how to handle the turrets, how to handle the opening conversations, and I'm doing away with the waves outside of the matrix segment since you can't have unlimited waves. Just going to write the scene description and then hit up Metro 2033.

I'm expecting a mean Doctor.

Current problem. Actors that are already spawned, after changing team, they do not target enemy teams unless attacked first. They might attack new spawns, but that's not cool either. You can force an attack, but it's a problem if there's multiple actors that should be attacking. They just go one at a time, letting the turrets take the first shot. Maybe the enforce orders action will fix it.

The next Doctor revealed! Looks like a good choice.

Why would anyone use that?

New intro map. Gameplay idea is that the player and partner need to make it to the plane. But they find turrets in their way and are being chased by security guys. They have to hack into the apartment building (the supplied partner is a min-maxed decker), where they find the security team has set up an operations base from which they control the turrets. Shoot the guys in front, while fighting respawning guys from behind, take control of turrets, then fly off. One fear is that the final map will have too large a playable area, but I need to double check all of that. If it takes them two turns to cross otherwise empty space, that's kind of dumb. I can probably shrink the hallway length. Other fear is that if the player were to choose a decker, then there's a redundancy with the partner.

If we really want to talk about weapon switching, I really liked Mass Effect 2 for that. And that os why it is my favorite title in that series. I think lots of people prefer the other two titles so I'm not sure if the appeal of that sort of tactical activity is shared. But you're right it's not generally something they had to do in BG or the like. I still remember the graveyard in NWN2 where you'd want to start using blunt weapons for a while to fight the skeletons. It's still kind of interesting to swap out weapons for a handful of encounters without needing to do it during fights with any regularity.

I was taking it as assumed at this point. Has Sawyer really not talked about weapons along this vein yet? Maybe I'm just filling in gaps with my vague IE recollections, where some weapons did better against mail and others did better against plate.

Never say never, but it's quite doubtful. I was surprised that KOTOR 1 got an iOs port not that long ago.

They gave me an achievement, how can I not?

That appropriate "evil" is of the sort done for a cause. Whether that be harsh justice, the need to expand in order to provide for one's people, or to stop those who may interfere with a greater good. And that evil for evil, LET'S RAPE AND PILLAGE, is the juvenile sort that need not be represented. Maybe...

Tried out some Far Cry 2 and some Expeditions: Conquistador. Really liked Expeditions, but just remembered I need to play through both Metro titles so that's the plan today.

That's why I estimate projects in Gandalf. 1 Gandalf, to be precise.

We don't really need both then.

Bah. I've been struggling with my intro area. The plot justification was flismy. It's an obvious trap setup, but expecting the player to walk into it "because that's what they'd least expect!" And with no real skill opportunities. I'll just repurpose the area for something later. New intro idea jumps right into combat. Maybe a couple of skill opportunities, at least better justified. And maybe a smaller map.

I just watched the first season of Dollhouse. Fun show. Science channel had it as part of Joss Whedon weekend and I DVRed the whole thing. Now to find the cheapest way I can watch the second season.

Are you trying to paint expensive multiplayer games as something of a safe bet?

Wrote up some dialogue for major scenes. Okay, so it's basically two character introductions. One descriptive, one dialog based. I also figured out how to run conversations on map start. So that's enough work for me. I think I'll actually play a game for a little while. OOH, or read a book.

I didn't get the feeling of DA2 being ambitious, but more slapshod. Two thirds of the major plotlines are still very much in the Bioware vein. If we're to look at the family angle as them avoiding the standard plots, then we should similarly give credit to DAO for the Elf and Dwarf plots. But the city of Kirkwall had a nasty habit of breaking out into wars that threatened theentire region. I'd go so far as to say that Loghain's "I'm helping my people, but really I just hate those BLASTED ORLESIANS" is a bit better than Meredith's "Mages are dangerous, but really I'm just corrupted by ancient evil."

/gasp I almost preferred DA II to DAO. I wanted to prefer it. But

Because that's a ground up rework that affects core systems and design. It's not a small suggestion or easy to implement.

I'm hoping it's successful enough on Steam that they dedicate future games and patches towards the PC. The tablet interface is holding it back.

DAO = Glory? *laughs hysterically* Someone's allowed nostalgia glasses to tint the derp roads and the Tower, at the very least. Oh, that forest sucked too. And Awakening... still doesn't work? Glory, indeed. I love the tower. It's a surreal Metroidvania mini-adventure. A world where people take the shapes they want to take, and the dead think they still live. And you run around collecting powerups and new abilities to unlock other areas. What doesn't work in Awakening?