Bartimaeus

Played Mario Party 3 on the N64 with two other friends and a computer today. The computer was extremely stupid, and passed up so many chances to get stars. One of my friends had 7 stars, and the other two of us had 4 each, and the computer had 2. On the last turn, when there was basically no hope of anyone but that friend with 7 stars winning, I ended up hitting a Chance block, which is where there's a chance somebody gives somebody else's a certain quantity of a certain item. I accidentally selected myself as the giver, and then selected the computer as the receiver, and finally, to top it all off, I accidentally selected all my stars to be given. The computer ended up winning two bonus stars and proceeded to beat us all. Most ridiculous game of Mario Party I've ever played.

Wait, what? You were talking about the IE games, not Dragon Age. I actually had the same problem in Dragon Age...but that's because I wouldn't turn off the AI because I absolutely hated controlling more than one character in that game, (third person / limited overhead views suck...). Player-defined actions were often overrode, yes, with the AI. But the IE games had the same problem...but the party AI was a little more definable, and party members were much more easily controllable if you wanted to turn it off completely. Since this game will have a true overhead view ala the Infinity Engine Games, I don't anticipate having any sort of AI enabled (for myself).

Nope, I'm sorry, I completely disagree. Dragon Age's combat was near unmanageable for me - no true overhead view, (hurray for limited range), which means you have to go with that awful "personal" third person view of characters. I couldn't make myself control anyone beyond my own character except for special circumstances. Can't stand having the camera jump around and having to keep swiveling it every time I want to do something... Yes, it does have convenience features, as you mentioned...but to say BG's combat was more unwieldy than DA's? Ehh...

I have no idea what you're talking about. Turn off or change your party AI, perhaps?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnTxccLOA7o

Off-topic, but...even though I've played through Baldur's Gate (2) roughly a million times, the Twisted Rune encounter is something I never, ever did or really knew about until about a year ago. I'd heard about it from various places - mod descriptions, forums, etc. - so many times over the years, but I'd never knew what it actually referenced to. Always assumed it was just a player-made name for something I always did. I always sell gems as soon as I get them, so I never opened that door on the Bridge district successfully. And since the door always casts...Disintegrate, is it? ...I always assumed it was supposed to just be a trapdoor for killing you. It's probably the only piece of Baldur's Gate content I'd never done up until then...I think it's quite amazing that I'd missed it that many times. I agree that these sort of things should be present for P:E.

Eye - This System (Will Eat Itself)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPfwLPcF7A

Yes, that would be me. :D Happy to hear that you're enjoying them! I don't listen to Assemblage 23 as much as I used to, (read: not every second of every day )...though I listen to VNVN as much as I always have. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-oZyAKiWsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfQcpa5LXX4 Hopefully, it's okay to post my own videos if I really am listening to them.

I don't completely understand the problem, but I was under the impression that the reason it didn't work is because it was missing that additional cable. The game doesn't seem to know how to use the audio from the CD like it did for CD drives. Nor have I ever met someone who got around the problem, short of simply ripping the audio data and manually playing it...which is what I ended up doing.

The main problem I have with the original is that the music doesn't work at all. AoEII and its expansion uses split mode discs, where half of the disc is the game data, and the other half is an audio disc, (which is the soundtrack...and I think maybe cutscene audio - the audio for those little movies that play when you're about to do a campaign mission). DVD drives don't have the same audio streaming capabilities that CD drives do...ergo, no music.

Is there as many problems with the update as people have been saying? Been thinking about grabbing it on Steam...but not if the team who was "HD"ifying it screwed it up as bad they say. I still have my original disks.

I think employing 1, 2, 4, and 6 as the situation fits is good. Characters that are supposed to be powerful SHOULD be powerful enough to horribly murder you...but in actual combat, not via a cutscene ala PS:T, (4); removing characters' weapons or disabling magic in certain circumstances makes sense, (2); placing letters and stuff that hint about what to do next when appropriate is good, too, (1); and ultimately try to make the rest fall under (6) when possible, though (3) I think can be used sparingly for characters who you really, really probably don't want to murder and are important, but ultimately is something you can attempt anyways. (5) is absolutely awful, though. There's no reason to ever use that method.

Seventeen. Twelve when I initially joined. Four when I first played Baldur's Gate. (Edit - note: I didn't actually get very far through it at that age. I think I probably got through it a little after BG2: SoA was released...by which time I was also playing Age of Empires and Diablo. )

None, and thank God for that. No phones, no e-readers, no handhelds, no .mp3 players, nothing. Actually, I wouldn't mind having an .mp3 playing only device, (that is, without phone functionality), but I've never found earbuds that fit...or that I liked...but nor do I have any wish to go around wearing my Sennheisers.

Stretch goals I have no problems with. What really bothered me was what Obsidian did with Project Eternity: add content based on number of backers instead of total cash. Kinda puts a different spin on the whole "we need funds for content". Turned it more into a "This is market research that gains us cash. Now prove that there is enough of you to make it worth for us to truly dedicate ourselves to the project." Then again I get cynical with things like that. To be fair, inExile has done the same thing - the number of backers increases the size of the Castoff's Labyrinth, (which seems to basically be their "Endless Paths").

Earlier today, the Kickstarter page said it was "over 125k" for PayPal.

If the situation was reversed, (that is, if the populace voted for gay marriage to be legalized and the judges overturned it), I cannot even imagine how large and volatile the outcry would be. I support the voters, regardless of the issue.

As I pointed out earlier however it's Imoen who springs you from Irenicus' prison at the beginning of the game, thus making you the damsel in distress and your later rescue more a matter of payback. I agree with Malcador however this is largely mountain out of molehill piffle. So...what you're saying is...that if you happen to play a female in BG2, it doubly insults women? How degrading! Shame on the developers! :D @Sannom: Yeah, I remember the Wind Waker one. That particular point of the game always bothered me myself, actually. You have Tetra being cool and helping you out a lot of the game...and then she turns into "Zelda" and has to sit locked away in a basement for about a third of the game. Yeah, that's real nice. I know that was her point, but wasn't the implication that it's...y'know, sort of wrong for developers to keep using that sort of plot device over and over?

I thought her problem with the trope was not that, in itself, there's something wrong with it, and not that it's the fault of the players that it occurs, but rather the frequency that developers purposefully make it occur, (in addition to there generally being more male protagonists than female protagonists). ...but then again, I can't think of any games I've played and enjoyed that utilized the DiD trope, besides the Marios. Baldur's Gate II, maybe? ...but it's your sister. Sure, you don't KNOW Imoen is your sister at first, but that's mostly besides the point, given the context the games give. And since you can play either male or female...well, like I said - if there's a problem, it's on the fault of the developers, not us players. In regards to female protagonists...even in a game like Zelda: Twilight Princess, (one of the games she sort-of used as showing the DiD trope), you have both a female and male protagonist - both of who kick butt together. Odd that she didn't mention that.

Portal.

Update on my Winter Bells score: O.K., so now I have 200 sextillion, (and it was actually recording). One digit away from beating my friend, who has 2 septillion! Gaming has never been so intense!

I got 9,008,309,115,994,680,000,000 points on Winter Bells. Then saw afterwards that FRAPS wasn't working correctly and all I have for it is a lousy "previous best" screenshot, (along with a recording of only my mouse movement, without the game), instead of me doing the entire thing. Bah. (edit) Oops! One too many zeros.