Tale

Finished Dragonfall. It was good and I'm sure I'll give the Director's Cut a playthrough when that launches. On to Baldur's Gate EE. Only reason I haven't played it through before now is because that Firebead bug it used to have. I'm really enjoying it.

I used to be the exact same way. The only thing that changed is it no longer tells people when I've done an edit. Which I have already done to this post.

I like this idea and agree. I've created two characters and I always start by saying "Ehh, just raise everything to 9. Oh, there's still tons more, raise it to 12. Great, still more. Just pump Might all the way up. Now I can finally get fiddly."

Old thread. Diverging from the Star Wars naming convention because I'm in denial that we've had six of these.

Past the 500 mark. New thread.

Past the 500 mark, I've started a new thread.

Old thread.

Because, generally speaking, people don't find that fun, but they just do it anyway. People will take the path of least resistance or the path of most reward even if it's not the one they want to take. It's just how they operate. It's why these games don't include level 1 spells that can one shot the final boss with no prep. Because everyone would use it and then complain about how easy it is. You don't see many people in these threads saying they actually really want to double dip to make huge XP minimal additional effort. The primary call for kill XP is that it gives them a constant sense of progression, it's a tradition, and it doesn't cause this issue where people don't get rewards for doing stuff. The double dip is largely seen as an acceptable drawback, not added fun.

That doesn't have to be universal kill XP. I agree with the premise. But it can be XP tied to that encounter as an objective. Really, my objection to kill XP is primarily focused on dungeons and quests. Places where there are clear objectives to accomplish that enable multiple approaches. Get to the 3rd floor, stop the goblins from attacking the town, recover the diamond tiara of Cthulhu. Each of these could have paths of stealth, dialogue, environment, combat, or probably a mix. Each of these should generate an XP reward that is comparable to the others, while disallowing the optimal path double dip where you complete it one way (by stealth), then complete it the other way (by combat), for increased reward. The only goal of this is to allow people to take a variety of approaches to challenges without seeing one as gigantically more beneficial than the rest. In that regard, challenges that only have one viable approach should still yield a reward. Which means if you find yourself stuck in a cave with shades and the only way out is to disincorporate their ectoplasm via stabbing, some XP to be gained would not be inappropriate.

New thread is up. This one has passed the 500 mark.

Big fan of objective XP, but always felt that should include finding things and optional encounters as objectives. Based on what you guys are saying, I can only hope it'll be in release, because it doesn't sound like it's in beta.

I've been told that there's two kinds of bad jobs. The run of the mill job everyone hates where you realize you're replaceable is the first. And then there's the truly terrible one, the job where you realize you aren't replaceable at all. Where it feels like if you took a day off, the entire thing would collapse into a heap. My boss is currently on his fourth vacation of the year while being behind on payroll for the employees. Three of those were vacations to Italy for friends and family. This time, he flew someone from Italy to here so he could show them around. Head meet desk. I need a new job.

I've long been on the "create original" bandwagon, but have found that the quickest way to be educated about something is to be vocally opposed to it. The obvious reasons to use Pathfinder is if Paizo is paying for it. Or if they wanted to catch some of the Pathfinder audience. Seems simple enough. But they could also really like Pathfinder. I know it's strange to think about operating within someone else's restrictions. But it happens all the time for artists who simply enamored with someone else's work and wish to get to play with it for a while.

Wall TVs is the only way I can see 4K getting justified.

Last night I had to double check that this wasn't one of those internet pranks like the hundred times someone claimed Morgan Freeman was dead. Great comedian and actor, he'll be missed. Some people are talking about the stuff he did and I heard good things about Bicentennial Man. Anyone here seen it?

Release order, if the two PC ones run on the crappy laptops I'm stuck with.

Did you mean to post this in another thread? It seems like it's part of a conversation.

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, but I've probably already mentioned this. Almost done. Also Shadows Beneath, the Writing Excuses Anthology. The stories themselves aren't fantastic, but it's great to see how drafts change between first and final.

Not a hoax.

Guardians of the Galaxy. I think this really is the best Marvel movie and I'm not going to qualify that by saying it might change after I digest the film more. My opinions usually change a little after initial viewing, but I don't see it happening here. This is what I always thought Avengers should have been.

Primer DVD is going for $96, that's insane. So I bought it off Amazon instant. Really good, the minimalism works for it. Good character development. I wish they had expanded on a few things, the party in particular.

I got intimidated when I kept seeing cool alternate paths that my mage couldn't use.

Sweet, I've been meaning to run through Dragonfall again somewhere down the line. I need to decide if I'll run through once beforehand or just wait.

I've stumbled through 4 false starts on my current project. Two false starts on another project. I finally have an outline and cast I'm content with, though I fear I've had that delusion before. At least it hasn't been totally unproductive, I've been actually writing and exploring characters that interest me.

They are rights of due process, not a protection against self-incrimination.