Bartimaeus

I bought a fairly random 120GB SandForce SSD a month or two again, (PNY XLR8), for about $35. I was using a 10 year old SATA 1 80GB Seagate as my system drive until then, (with a 1TB 7200RPM Seagate for storage, and now an additional WD Green 3TB that I got for free), so I was getting pretty desperate to get just about anything to make my boot times a little faster than the 4-5 minutes it was taking that old Seagate. (And now it's about 20 seconds, total, which I think is pretty decent. Much better, anyways. ) I'd like to wait until Broadwell comes out to get a new CPU, but the 4770k is only $100, and it's extremely unlikely I'll be able to get anything similar then. That, and it'll still be miles better than my current AMD Phenom II 970.

Bought an Asus Z87 Sabertooth for $140 for my 4770k, (regular price of $250 - I would never normally go this high, but it seemed like a great price). They sent me an Asus Z87-A instead. Fun times abound.

I agree with Lexx and Keyrock - they have some very basic similarities, yes, but they're so far gone from each other in tone, style, and depth, (not that either have "more" depth overall than the other, necessarily, but many varying levels for different aspects of the games), that they're hard to put in the same room. Fallout 3 is more similar to Stalker than New Vegas, anyways, and yet they're still worlds apart. I also wouldn't really touch either Fallouts (after having already tried), whereas Stalker is one of my top three favorite games (series).

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like most BG modding paused when BG1:EE announced, as if people realized that they should probably wait to continue modding until the EEs are out, otherwise it could very well be wasted effort if the EEs require it to be done differently. Since the EEs have actually arrived...and to a mostly positive response for the more occasional players, but much more mixed for the hardcorer/modding community, it's been like a graveyard around the regular modding sites. Kind of sad.

It's not exclusive to women, either, sadly...that personality type is found on all sorts of people.

Aren't examples such as above usually decried and derided more or at least equally by USians than anyone else, anyways? Sure, they still happen occasionally...but people tend to get really bent out of shape about them. Why are we talking about this, again? I thought this topic was about "female gamers in gaming communities", not silly criticism of America, (whether warranted or not - the place it's being put is what makes it silly).

No, no, no that's completely wrong. I believe in freedom absolutely but not if that freedom means it offends or hurts someone else That's not something that, as the offending party...or even necessarily the offended party...can control.

OTOH, running and gunning is also a fairly viable strategy in Silent Assassin, and the way you gather weapons from enemies also adds an interesting dimension. I remember getting the M4 being one of the biggest hassles I've bothered in a game. Er, well, yes...but you get terrible mission ratings, and it wouldn't be very fun to just gun down everyone I meet...I mean, shooting is pretty easy...

Ha ha. So funny, Bruce. Non-lethal approach in an assassination game, yes, I'll be sure to do that right away...

Playing Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. Good lord. This game is a lot harder than Blood Money, that's for sure. A bit more arbitrary, too. I didn't quite understand how the scoring system worked, where I assumed, like in Blood Money, any non-target kill that can't be ruled strictly an accident, (a chandelier falling on someone's head, being pushed over the side of a boat's railing and drowning, etc.), will immediately downgrade you from the Silent Assassin rating, which made beating the first two missions nearly impossible, as the knockout drug doesn't work the same, (instead of being permanent unless found and woken up by another NPC, it's just a timer until they wake up), and they'll cause an alert no matter what. I then Googled to figure out that, hey, you actually can kill a non-target via normal methods under certain circumstances, which would've made the first two missions about a thousand times easier than what I had to go through. Additionally, disguises don't work remotely near as well as they do in Blood Money. You're discovered after about two, three seconds of walking in front of an enemy while disguised, as opposed to Blood Money's basically infinite amount of time (by comparison). However, in spite of the difficulties I was having, it was kind of fun devising methods to play it harder than required by even the hardest of the ratings, but...I think I'll enjoy the slightly less masochist standards I'll be employing from here on out from knowing what I do now.

I can't believe I sat through a minute of that song before it hit the vocals and I realized I hated it.

162 - Outside the Mosque

In Baldur's Gate, I generally liked having two spellcasters - usually a sorcerer and a mage-cleric - and then two melee DPS classes - usually a fighter and a thief. I'll probably play through the game a few times, assuming it's actually good and has at least mild replay value, not really paying attention to class composition and just using who I like best, but then later make my own party. Depending on how XP is handled, (split between party members a la the IE games? Or a flat modifier to all (possible) party members like NWN2 OC? ...), I might try soloing, too...probably with a spellcaster of some sort, though it kinda depends on exactly how strong spellcasters are. But I can't imagine they'll be weaker than non-spellcaster classes, at the very least, so...

No, I think he proved that your guys' definition of "undead" is silly.

Eugh. I thought it was pretty bad in the very beginning of the game, when it hadn't even really started yet, but I figured the game would cool down on the whole thing. Nope. It just got worse and worse and completely spiraled out of control. I'm not really sure what the developers were thinking. Nothing within my realm of thought, that's for sure, lol @Lost Alpha: I'm really, really hoping it'll be good. Just looking at the game map from the PDF manual is making me excited. Alas, I have to wait until my/a GPU comes back to really play it properly...

You know, I've almost played this so many times and never got around to it. I'm going to buy it next time its on sale now, thanks for the recommendation. The fighting mechanics are a lot of fun...once you get used to them. I quit several times (for a few days each) because I had so much trouble with them. But you should end up having fun if you stick with it. The biggest problem I had with the game was the plot...and...the..."romance" options. You're forced into a romance. It's really bad. I quit about 2/3rds the way through because I just could not stomach it anymore. Did anyone else notice the release of the major Stalker mod, Lost Alpha? I didn't notice, and of course it would be released the week I send in my GPU for RMA. Typical, really. Waiting for it for years and it's released on the very week I can't play it at all for technical reasons...

If you just started, those guys have way too much health to effectively fight yet. Go up the mountain side path instead and you should find it much more possible, (that was the first place I started going as well, and it's really just not a good way to go as a beginner).

define routine noun: a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program. adjective: performed as part of a regular procedure rather than for a special reason. verb: organize according to a routine. I would assume it was expected, otherwise they're using the word "routine" incorrectly.

"The Steam servers are currently down for routine maintenance. Friends will automatically reconnect as soon as they (be?)come available." Would be nice if they announced it in advance...

I wouldn't be too concerned about the memories bit, personally. I think I'd be much happier knowing I and everyone else were to be reincarnated. I mean, it's not exactly perfectly ideal, but it'd surely be a grand step up from what we currently have.

Is there a source on that? Seems very popular and Steam seems to have gotten a lot of Indie game sales because of it. Is there a source on that? Seems very popular and Steam seems to have gotten a lot of Indie game sales because of it. The internet has a tendency to pronounce things dead. Especially the gaming community. Just take PC gaming. I hope when I get pronounced dead, I'll be as dead as PC gaming http://www.gamespot.com/articles/valve-looking-to-discontinue-steam-greenlight-and-steam-os-may-have-exclusives/1100-6417155/ http://www.shacknews.com/article/82660/valve-steam-greenlight-will-go-away http://www.examiner.com/article/valve-to-do-away-with-steam-s-greenlight

I've liked all of the instrumentals by this artist I've come across, but it seems like all of their songs that have vocals are usually much too vulgar for me...dangit.

I'm not sure why, but the SIG 550's been my favorite NATO rifle throughout all the Stalker games, even though it's supposed to be a lower grade weapon than, say, the G36...or even the FN2000, (I like the G36 almost just as well, but I really do not care at all for the FN2000). Although Strelok really always seemed more like a Warsaw Pact kind of guy to me...but maybe that's just projection on my part, as I tend to like them more than the NATO weapons.

How'd it start out well, out of curiosity?

The last one I really tried was AVG like...a really long time ago. "Really try" as in...had it installed for longer than five minutes. Thanks.