Bartimaeus

I don't really like the idea of calling inexperienced players - regardless of what it is being played - "nitwits", but that sort of thing holds true for many other competitive games where you directly face off with other players, too, including video games. In a first person shooter like Counterstrike, for example, experienced players will know that certain movement lanes during certain times of a round are just absolute murder holes, and will know that other experienced players will just almost always not use them during those specific times. An inexperienced player, on the other hand, may aggressively (foolishly, you might say) push through those murder hole areas, perhaps while having the benefit of their teammates making noise in other areas, and take experienced players by surprise while they happen to be looking elsewhere at that moment. Inexperienced players may also hide in or guard odd spots that an experienced player wouldn't think to check or counter, perhaps because the meta-game has overwhelmingly concluded that said spot is not really a spot to be in at all, and is a good recipe for getting killed with little ability to do much in return if you happen to be caught there at the wrong time by a player actually thinking you might be there...and so the experienced player assumes another experienced player would not use said spots, but aha, an inexperienced player may be able to take deadly advantage of that assumption. If chess had the sudden death nature of a video game like Counterstrike, maybe Kasparov would've lost that game. (e): I forgot this was the Elections/Politics topic.

Yeah, that's why it probably makes more sense to design a game around assuming friendly fire is either always on or always off, not either/or.

No, it's not an improvement...it's a "let's-just-side-step-the-issue" tactic at absolute best. I can sympathize with the developers, particularly for a smaller project/team like Pillars of Eternity/Tyranny, but it's certainly nothing to look forward to/admire in of itself.

Yeah, NBC's coverage was apparently absolutely atrocious. I wouldn't know, personally, since I never actually watched anything on TV - why sit around and listen to their idiot talking heads ramble for hours on end for so little action? I can just barely stomach them while watching football games - I surely cannot for the Olympics, which I care significantly less about, and which has even less meaningful action than the often-derided slow pace of football. So I just watched copyright-infringing clips that were posted on reddit instead.

Again, I agree with you...in theory. When I actually know the reason for "dumbing it down"...which is so the AI can actually use the same tools that I'm given as a player, making the game more difficult and fair...and when I know that it's danged near impossible to implement it in a way that will serve the gameplay (i.e. making human-like decisions, which is really what it comes down to when dealing with such an incredibly messy AoE spell like Fireball in a BG-like game), I unfortunately have to side with the developers. It is better than the even more idiotic decision to treat the player and the AI differently by creating an AI-only version of the spell that doesn't affect their friendlies while forcing the player to use a version of the spell that does, which is what many other developers would do (and what many have done in similar situations) to shortcut (i.e. cheat) their AI being able to do what the player can do. I want better, but even though it's been over 15 years since BG released, AI is still just not where it needs to be for that to be realistic. As such, I can perfectly understand why this is what we're getting.

I actually have to disagree, based on extensive playing of Baldur's Gate. Oh sure, YOU'RE throwing Fireballs at groups of enemies left and right because you have perfect control over where your characters are, and you have tools (stealth, invisibility, Wizard's Eye, reloading, etc.) to see where enemies are in advance, which makes it even easier to use them if you decide to play it smart and cautious. But how often did the game ever actually throw a Fireball at YOU? It was pretty darned rare...and when it happened, they usually blew up many of their own dudes, most of whom are much weaker than your characters and are seriously injured or straight up killed by it. Even worse, if you know whom they're targeting (and the game tells you in the battle log as well as visually sort of), you can even use it against them by rushing that character into their midst while they're still casting it, causing them to blow up themselves and any allies they have in the area. So, in theory, I agree with you...but in practice, the player is generally just too smart/has too many tools to really be effectively caught by something like a Fireball, if the AI even had the tools to cast it properly to begin with...which, even using AI-enhancing mods, it really just doesn't. It's extremely difficult to program proper fuzzy logic that the AI can use to make intelligent, cost-effective decisions dependent upon the exact scenario like a human player would...and like a human would in real time. As a side-note, most (although not all) spells like Fireball are not a "pure physical/elemental force": they are magical in nature, and consequently subject to magic resistance in addition to the normal elemental/physical resistances, and therefore may work differently depending on the exact nature of the spell. That's the in-universe explanation for D&D, anyways.

All of that I will readily agree with...but in D&D, it is not an inherent attribute of spells, and the reasoning as to why it isn't seems like it was thought out and makes sense (to me, anyways), hence the counterargument. For a new game with a totally new spell system, yes, O.K., fine. Truth be told, I think I am very unlikely to like this game's ruleset at all to begin with, if Pillars of Eternity is any indication, so it really hardly matters. D&D 2nd & 3rd/3.5 hold a special place in my heart, and these seemingly half-baked and identity-less (compared to D&D) systems just ain't gonna satisfy my desire for a BG-like game, so whatever.

Um...except in D&D, arcane magic is a learned practice that requires mastery in controlling the Weave, and for most arcane spellcasters, that means relying on using written spells that do a very specific thing. To make Fireball, a very basic (yet powerful) elemental spell, ignore friendlies, I would imagine it would require a complex rewrite of the spell which would probably knock it up a few levels. So really...I can't much see the argument.

See: Fireball vs. Horrid Wilting. Fireball is awesome for being a level 3 spell. Horrid Wilting is pretty good for a level 8 spell that has mildly increased damage (1D8 per level instead of 1D6), same area of effect radius, but doesn't hurt friendlies.

Hopefully it's resolved soon...

what the hell why isn't that censored but so much else that is very arguably milder is

If Ledecky is as great next Olympics as she is now, then we can probably expect her to be more of a name that's known, particularly with Phelps gone. Until then...

https://twitter.com/AP/status/765667569583984641 "BREAKING: IOC strips Russia of gold in women's 4x100 relay from 2008 Olympics after Chermoshanskaya tests positive." (Apparently, old results from a drug test, new methods to test them.)

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/08/15/nfl-prepares-to-use-brady-precedent-to-force-cooperation-with-ped-investigation/ "The obvious headline from the letter sent Monday by the NFL to the NFL Players Association regarding the Al Jazeera investigation is that the league has threatened to suspend Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, Packers linebacker Julius Peppers, Steelers linebacker James Harrison, and free-agent defensive lineman Mike Neal if they don’t submit to interviews by August 25. The deeper message comes from the NFL’s use of the precedent created by the Tom Brady suspension, appeal, and litigation to threaten the players with suspension for failure to cooperate with a league investigation." Players risking perpetual suspensions over substance abuse claims by a third party...when they have repeatedly failed to fail any of their drug tests. Once again, here's hoping for a long lockout come 2020. In the mean time, the two Packers have repeatedly said they're completely fine doing the interviews, it's the NFLPA that's been holding it up, so I am not very worried about them. Nevertheless, what nonsense that you can now risk getting permanently banned from the NFL for claims some random person with no authority and no confirmed connection to the players in question made.

My first answer was, "So I don't die." But then I realized, all other things die - or at least can die - too, and so your premise is wrong to begin with.

What? Why? If you're of an Abrahamic religion, you believe that God will either return to Earth or end all things in some manner or another anyways. Regardless of your immortality, I think God should win here and he renders judgement unto you as he does all others. If you're Hindu or Buddhist, you'd just be allowed to keep living your one life instead of living out many different ones. I can't think of many specific faiths where you believe you really lose if you're immortal.

There seems to be a few adages advising against living forever...which just seems silly to me, because I would take immortality in a heartbeat. These adages probably only exist because nobody actually CAN live forever...so there's little point in trying to or thinking you can/will. Ye' olde philosophers would probably feel a bit differently if actually presented with the option, however. Boredom? That's the worst you can come up with? Pshaw. Some people seem to be bored their entire lives - not me, I am one that is personally never bored, no matter the circumstances - ...but that doesn't mean they want to die. I can't see how that would change with immortality.

oh, so that's what we're talking about

Yeah, so unlike countries like poor Russia that can't get away with doping, the U.S... ...wait. (...with no real reference point to compare against, it's pretty impossible to say where the USADA is more or less effective than other anti-doping agencies, anyways.)

The United States is actually one of three countries that compete at the Olympics that provides zero - zero - funding for training its Olympians. It does give a small monetary reward for winning golds at $15k, I think it was, but it's a relative pittance, particularly compared to some other countries that give upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars (and smaller reward for winning silvers and bronzes). The U.S. Olympians certainly have other advantages that some poorer countries don't have...but they could easily obtain those same advantages simply by sending their athletes to the U.S. or other Western countries to train (...and some of them do do this). So yeah...

https://streamable.com/0s9a actually, phelps loses to lochte, apparently

and that's 22 for phelps maybe he should come back for the 2020 olympics

The day I noticed Ocarina of Time had an E rating is when I realized parental ratings are complete baloney. As a wiser man than me put it, "Is this game rated E for horrific imagery and gore?".

Um...because a lunatic is just that: a lunatic. Trump, however, is running for president...any lunatic actually deliberately making threats is obviously worse in regards to their personal character than in Trump's off-the-cuff remark (not that he really seems to make any other type of remark...), but until they're running for president, who cares? The only people that should be concerned are the police and the Secret Service (unless they're deliberately ignoring said lunatic for political reasons, in which case it then becomes our concern).