Bartimaeus

What, nobody wants to watch the Jets @ Cowboys game tonight?

I have difficulty of thinking of a single game that really perfectly encompasses all aspects of the genre. My personal favorite would be Shadows of Amn, but while the Baldur's Gate series pretty well exemplifies its particular style of RPG gameplay mechanics (...particularly with the help of mods, where it becomes, full stop, the best in its class, IMO), all three games (1, SoA, ToB) are pretty stinking weak in the writing and choice and consequences department. Even though the main plot *is* pretty interesting and more or less written, there's basically only one meaningful choice throughout the entire game (namely, choosing between the Shadow Thieves and Bodhi). Even choosing between Saemon Havarian and the Underdark Portal still leads you to literally the same exact place - although if you choose the latter, the game screws you by making you miss out on a small chunk of content and good items (including the Cloak of Mirroring in the vanilla game) even though there's no way you could've foreseen such. Not to mention often times just really quite poorly written side-quests. Torment is pretty much the complete opposite: gameplay mechanics are weak, and very little heed is paid to any sort of balance, even down to the lopsidedness of a few particular stats allowing you to basically just talk your way through the entire game (while giving basically nothing to the other stats by comparison)...but the writing is absolutely fantastic and original and there are some pretty good choices and consequences (likely one of the best in any RPG, although even it could conceivably use some improvement, although we're unlikely to ever get anything better given the logistics)... They're great games that I love that both have their strengths, but they also have some pretty glaring weaknesses (Torment more so, in my opinion, than Shadows of Amn, as Shadows of Amn's writing is at least generally passable, while Torment's general gameplay is...generally not)...but if either of them are the "greatest RPG of all time", then I would say that the genre itself has some serious problems in developers being able to develop great AND well-rounded entries that actually wholly exemplify the genre.

Then perhaps you should begin treating all of us like adults. Unfortunately, I've done this little song and dance with you just a few too many times now, and I've just sort of lost my stomach for it at this point.

No, that's me distancing myself from really trying to respond to you, and instead pointing out - as usual - your apparently seemingly low perception of the general intelligence of people on these forums. Your baby talk-esque reply isn't helping much with that, either.

No, but thanks for the condescension in assuming that we cannot possibly think/act in good faith towards a candidate just because she's a woman. Now, in regards to acting in good faith towards a guy around here going by the name of BruceVC who never acts in good faith towards any of us...I'll admit that that one's a little more tricky.

As I recall, the House of Representatives directly chooses who will become president in the event where no individual candidate gathers whatever number of electoral votes are required these days for a majority. I think it's only happened once in American history, but I could be mistaken.

Yeah, they're absolutely atrocious. I don't look forward to the NFL forcing all teams to wear them next year.

I mean, I would think it's copyright infringement...

Literally anything else?

It basically looks like the entire thing was shrunk. If you look at the thumbnail of the video, I think, "Hm...that doesn't look too shabby: you're far above some vast mountains, might be somewhat off for Earth standards, but not HORRIBLY," ...but then the video actually plays, and it turns out those "vast" mountains that you're "far above" are like, right there under you, they're tiny, and so yeah, the planet looks SUPER small.

Uh, where's the gravity at? I thought the hyperspace jump looked really cool, but the stuff on the actual planet looks friggan weird because it's like there's no increasing of gravity whatsoever even as you get close to touching planet, and it looks like your ship is just effortlessly floating above the planet just as it might float in empty space...

Apparently, a refutation: http://thehigherlearning.com/2015/12/14/fact-check-small-town-rejects-solar-farm-because-it-would-suck-up-all-the-suns-energy/

yoda kills dumbledore

I wouldn't say leading by only a mere possession with only 2:30 or so left in the 4th quarter in most of their games would necessarily make them "one of the best teams in the league", particularly seeing as how they keep failing to hold onto that lead, but that's just me.

Oh come on, they'll need another year or two at least to build the new stadium in LA. Also, Volourn is correct: since both the Redskins and the Eagles won their games this week, and because the Eagles and the Redskins face each other in week 16, one of them literally *has* to go at least 7-9. With the Eagles' final game being the Giants, and the Redskins' other two being the Bills and Cowboys, it's quite possible one even goes 8-8. (e): Oh, also, while I'd love for the Eagles to beat the Cardinals to increase the chances of the Packers getting the #2 seed...I'm not exactly counting on it, even though the Eagles have looked marginally better these last two weeks. Gotta remember they were blown out by both the Lions and Bucs in the two weeks previous.

I'm not sure yet. Had plans to do stuff with family, but they were axed because of reasons.

Isn't that kind of irrelevant? I mean, with a statement like his, it's clearly more about nationality and protecting one's own (rather than those on the other side of the planet) than ideology or religion or anything else, right?

Wasn't ISIS literally the runner up? Or it may have been third or fourth. Regardless, though.

Well, to be fair, it is a lightsaber: if the defender doesn't block it, they lose their head regardless of the amount of force put into it. Maybe it was a feint of sorts.

I would certainly hope so: wasn't he the one whining about his golf course in the U.K. some time ago, and about how wind turbines in the distance were "ruining" the golf course? Hit him where it hurts.

Yes, those were some of the underlying issues that I was referencing.

How much more unfeasible than tackling the underlying issues that actually cause gun violence? I'd wager probably not that much more. Not that that prevents people from ignoring the latter while continuing to harp on in regards to the former.

Thanks much, Shady.

I'll take Company of Heroes 2 + DLC.