Tale

Lucasarts is all I've wanted from GOG for a while. Still haven't played Monkey Island 3 or quite a few of the other classics.

Old thread. I don't think you understand what sexism is. Sexism is, for example, the fact every female humanoid in the first Witcher game who the developers bothered to give a name was either (1) somebody the player-surrogate could have sex with, (2) represented by the "hunchbacked old crone" character model, or (3) the madam of a brothel. There were many women around in the gameworld, going about their business, utterly unconcerned by Geralt or his affairs who would hardly talk with him. I wouldn't call that particularly sexist. Geralts life being saved by a woman repeatedly, his role as her tool in the battle she wages against Salamandra, his manipulation by her and his fragmentary rememberance of Yennefer. Triss was a far more effective character than Geralt, not to mention young Adda, whom was orchestrating a coup d'etat in a sexist medieval world. I mean it's not like the game had us slaughtering masses of women again and again, like most games do with men, thoughtlessly having us slaughter thousands in graphic detail. As gaming has done since its inception. Still I wouldn't play at being a professional victim based on this, the developers aren't intentionally demeaning men or being sexist, they're just making good, fun games. Edit: Oh sorry sexism is prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination, such as evidenced against men since the dawn of gaming. 2nd Edit: In point of fact I think one could argue both in the games and the books that though set in a sexist medieval world, the strong, independent, motivated and clever women of the Witchers world clearly demonstrate how ridiculous that sexism is. Characters such as Triss, Yennnefer, Philippa Eilhart and others serve as a subtle play against the mores of the world. Obviously this is not the clumsy, blatant preaching and moralising that many people prefer, but as a nuanced jab at the worlds status quo I find it quite nice and rather effective. After all Ciri is far more important to multiple worlds than Geralt.

Well past the limit. New thread up.

Alien: Isolation Did I mention this game keeps going and going? Anyway, I bet I'm near the end. Have most of the upgrades, including the torch and access scanner. Any time now...

DA2 I recall awarded XP when combat ended, all in a bunch. DAO was probably the same, but DA2 was flashier with how they handled it, so I remember it more clearly.

They've made it pretty clear that you're the boss.

Yourself. The main character is called the Inquisitor, not an Inquisitor.

Don't worry, I'm holding steady! Grumbling here to myself about agency. In between spouts of incoherent ramblings an onlooker would just be able to make out the names "Gault," "Merideth," and "Starkid."

:'( I want to play it soo bad.

Alien: Isolation just keeps going and going, doesn't it? I was positive I was at the end, then I realized I don't even have the final device upgrade. Also #@%@# those androids in protective suits. They're worse than the bleeding alien! At least there's only ever one of him and he's easy to get rid of. At one point, those androids are even immune to pipe bombs!

I've played FEAR 2 quite a number of times. And I do like it. But the only thing it has over FEAR 1 appears to be texture res and polycount. Graphically, it lost the dust, damage, and compression wave effects of FEAR that greatly contributed to the chaos of firefights. It's not set up as well for the ambushes where you round a corner into slowmo, toss a grenade to the left, blow up two guys, flying kick another guy in the back, then turn around and headshot the last as he finally catches sight of you. There's no gameplay improvements over FEAR 1. And the level design changed from sprawling office and warehous spaces into straight corridors broken up by arenas. The arenas are nice and where most of the action occurs, but they lost side passages, roaming, and ambushes.

You're dead to me, Gorgon. DEAD! I will fight you.

FEAR fanboy chiming in, FEAR 2 isn't bad. FEAR 3 on the other hand... The main thing FEAR 2 has going against it is the levels aren't as open and interesting. There's not as many cool opportunity to ambush the enemies as a result, which was the best part about FEAR 1.

I wouldn't call that irony. In fact, I fully expect it to be the game's intended business strategy.

Some people hold their opinions with enough vigor and certainty that other opinions seem wrong. And other times, people are defensive because other people have dismissed theirs, so they return the favor. It's impossible for me to fault people who think kindly of DA2 because I did the same at first. I had complaints, Sister Petrice had me screaming "OH COME ON" very early, but it wasn't really until the final act that I fully digested things. Working for Merideth and realizing the same complaints I had about Petrice were still in action. That the little complaints I was willing to overlook were actually very large things that came to dominate. If I'd been able to overlook that a bit more, maybe I'd also say it was decent. Or if I'd found something elsewhere in it that I appreciated enough.

Can't we all just get along? Old thread. Any interesting developments, or are we all just here for the drama of bickering at one another? I haven't kept up with subculture discussion in some time.

Past the limit, making a new one. It's up.

The typical gorn movie's value lies in shock effect. A build up of tension leading to those OH GOD I CAN'T WATCH moments. The audience drawn to this on the other hand will either be from angst or controversy.

Dark Souls 2: 10/10 Game of the Year! Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: 10/10 Game of the Year! Dragonfall: 8/10 Game of the Year! South Park: 8/10 Honorary Mention My computer's been dead since last year, so I'm not gaming as much as I used to. A few console games and some old PC games that work on a borrowed laptop.

I think I've figured out the Alien's normal difficulty AI system in Isolation. It has three modes, perhaps more.

I've found that the androids will always find you in a locker no matter what, which it seems like to me makes that mechanic superfluous. It might depend on various factors, like if they see you go in the locker or if it's the only locker in a room with no exit. Or maybe the lockers are only there for other enemies. I don't know, that was the only time I used a locker for anything other than to just see what they do. Those androids are tough SOBs though. I've learned that if you're close enough, peaking out so you can only see the top of their head still gets you spotted. Three came at me and I decided to fight it out. Bad decision, I only got one down.

I like to think I'm not so much sitting on the fence as fully on the other side, glancing over, thinking it would look rather nice if you didn't own four dogs. And I haven't heard them wake me up barking at night in a few days, so I'm still not sure if they're crapping in the yard.

Since I'm curious as to the point of your comment, I'll ask: Are you saying that Gaider was lying?

I'm going to redbox it first unless I get heavy positives from some of the more critical voices. General positivity won't work because we had that before from first impressions, even my own.

Stat gains always bothered me because they commonly produce a treadmilling effect. Perhaps I spent too much time with DA2, D&D 3.x, and D&D4, but the stat gains always existed just to make up for increased defense of monsters. If you don't use the opportunity to buff your own to-hit, then you're effectively becoming weaker. That's not customization.