Tale

Nobody has to buy a new graphics card every year. Unless they're Bok.

DnD Bards aren't literal Bards. They're not just "some tosser standing around playing a lute." They're supernatural beings, akin to Sorcerers, who express their magic through music. I think the concept of some tosser standing around yelling "OH GOD HELP US" while the party fights a monster to be pretty ludicrous too. Until the god comes in and decides Mass Heal is appropriate. The class is flawed. But only because the class is Rogue/Sorcerer with music being thrown in just to justify him being his own class, and if DnD treated such combinations better he'd be redundant. I'd like to see a Rogue/Wizard turn out as well. If you're having trouble with a Bard being viable, talk to your DM. If you are the DM, talk to the player of the Bard. See what the precise problem the Bard is having is. A Bard always seems to me to be a highly social class. I personally can't justify putting a Bard into a position where he has to fight a Wizard or Warrior alone. That's the kind of situation a Bard should talk his way out of.

Why not drop the Spirit Shaman altogether? DnD epic isn't friendly to hybrids.

One thing I'm hopeful about for 4E is that hybrids will be more useful at later levels. Especially looking towards Epic.

I don't see why teens are brought into the discussion. Alcohol and cigarretes are far more destructive to teens and we sell those at Wal-Mart. The only reason the game was censored for the US is the fact that the major retailers Wal-Mart and Target won't sell an Ao rated game. It's an interesting circle. Wal-Mart and Target won't sell it because they feel the culture is against it. The culture is against it because they define themselves by what they see. Since they don't see it at Wal-Mart and Target, they think it must be wrong. I personally reject the notion that beer is more family friendly than boobies.

I've never seen a single Godfather film.

Phoenix Wright > Madden

I want to give a lot of credit to my handhelds of late. My DS has been the system I play the most and my PSP is my system I use for travelling or anything where I spend time waiting. That said, when I get a new PC game, I'll put off Phoenix Wright to finish that PC game. As with Witcher. So, for me, what it comes down to is that my handhelds get more playtime and I spend more money on games for them lately, however my PC gets higher priority.

I'd like to see more Faerun. Nobody else has nearly as interesting, or even active, divine powers. From Baldur's Gate to Mask of the Betrayer, it's the best of the realms. I can't even imagine original IPs bringing the drama that FR gods bring. You'd have to introduce too much.

This is what my Google-fu is coming up with: http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/commu...gardingFaerun4e If The Orc King is revealing aspects of 4E, I might get it. I'm not a PnP gamer, but I do enjoy the drama of DnD's cosmology. Heck, I'm dying to know if they'll ever reveal where Deathstalkers get their powers from. Some suspect it is Cyric, others that it's Set, and some suspect it is indeed Bhaal. I'm reading a bit about the clearer division between demons and devils. Devils are scheming and trying to obtain souls, demons are engines of neverending destruction. But... this is new? I thought that's how it had been.

The Witcher's loading times aren't bad. It's the save time that is bad.

A Baldur's Gate MMO would be neat. If everyone got to be Bhaalspawn, it'd be like the Highlander! Even though it didn't actually work that way.

One and the same. But, those aren't text based. Text based refers to games like Zork which are all text.

I recently heard they're jumping the timeline a century or so. Anyone know what changes they're making to the cosmology? I hear they're even getting rid of the bloodwar. None of what I read seemed reliable.

Yes. Triss1 isn't very revealing.

You guys know what The Witcher has that Mask of the Betrayer hasn't? I mean beyond nudity and foul language. Something very important that all games should have. Official wallpaper. I want you Obsidian guys to think that over. Real hard.

Is it the one with the brunette who happens to be holding a chicken?

Poor Townswoman card is gotten thus:

I knew about the lesbians in Witcher, but Vampire sex? Hot damn!

I find myself tempted to make a quick conversion mod combining Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2. I could almost certainly do it, especially if I took some shortcuts and didn't bother balancing it. The idea is to make it possible to play through Half-Life 2 using Team Fortress weapons or classes. I may look at how to do this over the weekend and try to find a compromise between ease of creation and features.

I just want to go ahead and say thanks to Obsidian for the game. I don't think I have. Most specifically, the Spirit Eater mechanic. We see lots of people complain about games being dumbed down nowadays. Mask is not dumbed down, despite the fact that so many people seem to wish it was. The Spirit Eater mechanic requires attention and care, it adds strategy to gameplay outside of the encounters. And kudos for that.

I've been necroed!

I want to give an impression of the game. When the game claims to be "mature fantasy" it's not referring to sex and cussing. It's referring to the "decisions and consequences." My Geralt recently found himself making a choice between a group of rapists, slavers, and murderers and someone who's been profiting off them (names withheld to avoid spoilers). All of their hands are dirty, but I chose the profiteer. For two reasons: 1) She's hot. 2) They're jerks. Also! Last Wish is coming to the US. Too bad it looks like it's coming May '08.

I think the US version probably still has the sex. In fact, the sex isn't very racy. It's an FMV that occurs each time it happens that doesn't show much. What I imagine was censored are the cards you get for special "conquests." I don't know if they were simply censored or if the cards were removed entirely.