Bartimaeus

Insulting my English skills - I can live with that. Who cares? Not me, that's for sure. Insulting Amentep's? I literally haven't stopped cracking up since reading that. And your latest post...using that reasoning... You're too much for me, Bruce.

How did it come across as "painfully obvious" to you, out of curiosity?

That's all that matters, friend. Thanks, .

I don't wish to sound overtly hostile like Mr. Parker did in his previous post, but...I can't remember a single time you've ever actually convinced anybody of anything in these social issue topics, Bruce. Actually...that's not completely true: what I meant to say is that I can't remember a single time you've ever actually convinced anybody of your own viewpoint: I can definitely remember you convincing people of the opposite, of what you're arguing against.

For the most part, of course not. Nevertheless, I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my own English, and so it's a topic of interest to me, even though I've never understood English the way it was taught in school. Instead, I learned most everything I know from reading books and gaining an intuitive sort of sense for how things work instead of actually knowing how they work.

I didn't ask for any of this gobbledygook! Just tell me if I was right, darn you! I can't even remember what a preposition or a predicate bloody well are...American education, I tell you...(or rather, how I completely and utterly failed to learn anything from it, particularly on this subject, ). (Unrelated: did you know that gobbledygook had a "d" in it? I sure didn't before Googling how to spell it!)

That's...actually why I thought he did have a fair bit of negotiating leverage, assuming they wanted to keep him long-term. After the very first franchise tag, they would have to pay him more than they'd want to from then on. For two years, that about balances out to an average of what he got in the contract, but after that, it'd become prohibitively expensive and they'd have to let him go. He must've not wanted CJ money as much as he said.

What would a truly "mature" game look like, anyways? Seems like games either don't try to be mature at all, or try way too hard and it comes across as being overly edgy, which is usually even worse than not trying. Maybe we should stop using the word "mature" at all: it's not really something people usually use for other forms of entertainment, is it? Hm...

Not entirely true! I am certifiably "weird", not "strange". I can't vouch for the rest of these boggarts, though...

He was JUST saying he wanted equal to/more than Megatron money...what happened?

I think that means...I was correct in my examples? I hope? (e): I'm serious about being really bad in actually understanding how English works: I don't even know how to distinguish a "subject" from an "object" in a sentence.

I've played through 2033 a few times: I always play throwing knives or Helsing only (depending on how masochistic I'm feeling), so I stealth my entire way through the game, so I always get enough. I also always stealth murder everyone in the game, even after hearing their sad little sob stories, but the game doesn't care.

I didn't think of that. I should definitely not be correcting you on it, since I just realized I don't actually know the technical rules for using it myself: just feel like...that I know that your first usage of it was incorrect in "whom was stating that anyone in this discussion was", but was correct in "you'll maybe known whom it was directed at". Feel like it's also incorrect in one of your earlier posts when you said, "why listen to those whom want less content", too. I've always had a good intuitive sense for English and understanding what things meant and how they should work, but have, very contrarily, always been absolutely...um...mentally deficient in actively learning English and all its little technical distinctions. Good intuitive sense doesn't always lead you to being correct - particularly when English is the subject - so I definitely should not be trying to correct you when I don't actually know. Guess that's what the "apologies in advance" was for.

Whom is being enormously ignored in modern English, I feel bad for the old chap and hope to propogate its use and revival. Yeah...but if you want people to start using it correctly again, shouldn't you lead by example instead of just using it always in place of "who"? Or is your goal just to remind everybody that it exists to begin with?

Yeah, you need a requisite amount of the "good" flashes to be able to do the good ending. You get most of them by simply exploring all the levels fully and listening to enemies talk to each other with their random stories rather than actually doing anything good. You can even murder those enemies you let talk right after and it still counts.

Off-topic: Nonek, why do you always use "whom" in place of "who"? It's curious, since most people have the opposite problem and use "who" when "whom" is correct: are you compensating for them? I remember wondering this a few times in the past, and since it's still happening, I'm afraid I must inquire now as to whether it's intentional or not. My apologies in advance!

I guess so! Maybe it's the fact that there's no actual transition: we never, after the events of 2033, see him go, "holy crap artyom, what were you thinking, I didn't save you from the bandits and follow you the entire way to the ranger station just for you to blow everyone up anyways. what the heck, man". Instead, he's just sort of...there in LL, telling you what to do, and acting so completely contrary to how he was before. Without any transition, it just doesn't work for me.

And you have to admit I was right about his view on Greece....its weird to see an American, especially a Texan, supporting and justifying the Greeks failure to implement austerity. Only some people from the PIGS countries and people who are anti-Western would look at the Greek situation and seriously defend there lack of good governance No...no, I really don't. Your argument against Kaine was, "The people you're agreeing with are biased, the people I'm agreeing with aren't: won't you reconsider, now that I've brought this to light?". I mean...what is that? That's ridiculous, that's what it is. Even if you were correct, saying stuff like that - and reframing the discussion like you just did with your latest post, something I've complained about more than a few times now - undermines your credibility so much that it's hard to treat you seriously. I don't know what to do with ya', Bruce.

The difference is in approach: in LL, he's actively dictating you what to do while not providing any reasoning behind what he's telling you to do. He's also very active in making sure you do what he thinks you should do. In Metro 2033, he's alluding to what he thinks he should do, but doesn't pass judgement either way, and he lets you reach your own conclusions about the Dark Ones, and lets you make your own choices. His behavior in LL is so overwrought and so hyperactive: the very opposite of how he acts in 2033, where he's mostly content to let things play out. If he really was so sure of the Dark Ones being worth fighting for by the time of the end of 2033, then he should've already been interjecting himself into the plot like he was doing in LL. He doesn't...so they seem like two entirely different characters to me.

Sure, but when you format your "criticism" in a specific way time after time... You just told Kaine Parker recently, in this topic or one on a similar subject, to not be influenced by a select few posters you disagreed with and instead come to his own conclusions by looking at what a few other posters you agree with have to say... It's so insulting, as if we're not capable of rational thought that could possibly disagree with yours...so you have to remind people that yes, they should use their brains to consider all points of view and whatever pieces evidence there are. You've done the same thing to me at least twice that I can think of, so I'm speaking from (anecdotal) experience here, Mr. "No I speak from fact, I'll mention some words now that I guarantee you wont know...don't look them up just be honest".

Its weird my girlfriend called me condescending...in fact I have been called that by people before. I don't think its true ? What do you think ? You are, by far, the most condescending person I can think of on these forums, Bruce. So many of your posts just ooze an "I know better than you" tone, or a "lol, do you REALLY think that? (smirk)" tone, or the patronizing "you shouldn't let anyone else (that I disagree with) determine your thinking instead of coming to your own conclusions yourself, because apparently I don't think that you're capable of already doing so unless I tell you to do it...and as I'm telling you what to think myself" posts...or the silly "congratulating" posts you give people who you agree with without adding any additional content yourself, where most other people would just like their post instead... There're reasons people have problems with your particular style of posting, Bruce, that they don't have with other people they disagree with. Do I hate ya' for it? No, particularly considering I don't think it's intentional...but it does tend to get annoying in some of these topics...

No, that's kind of what I liked about him: he never directly said it either way. He tells you to look at things as clearly as you can, to examine things from a different point of view...to see the true nature of things, instead of the assumptions we have a tendency to immediately come to about them, regardless of what they are. He never says, "don't kill the Dark Ones": he just alludes to that being a possible choice to make. If the Dark Ones had turned out to actually be evil, then what Khan said still would've held meaning that you could've looked to: his character and the things he said were not so one-dimensional and one-note as they were in Last Light, where he's actively telling you what and what not to do with little wisdom behind it.

I've heard of all but the third one, though specious is the only one I actually know the meaning of. Your condescension does you no favors, Bruce.