random n00b

Yep. I don't understand why it was decided that petrification/imprisonment meant final death for the PC. And ONLY for the PC, since Imoen can die in any number of ways, and so long as she isn't chunked/disintegrated, she can be raised and it's all fine and dandy.

Cool. Since you chose to disregard nine out of ten parts of what I said, and went for an attention deflect, I'm not even going to bother addressing your points. I do find this mildly amusing, though: Yeah. Because you were not trolling when you posted this: Get over yourself already.

Right. You would ignore a game reviews site giving a 10 to a game just because it "has b00bies", but you just can't bear people here discussing how they feel about how those ratings are assigned? You go man. Fight the good fight. So, now you are the authority on what can and cannot be discussed in these boards? I guess it's one of those cyclical things, here. You might want to go throw another rant in the "Top 10 Games" thread, as well, since the current iteration is by no means the first. And while you're at it, have a go at the politics threads as well. As for the last part in the quote, that sure looks like your opinion on IGN's rating system. But I thought you had said everything you had to say on the subject in the Oblivion thread? What's the point of repeating yourself? So, let's sum this up so a misunderstanding cannot be blamed on the derailment anymore. Not saying they CAN'T give GTAIV a 10,. Just that I disagree with some of the rationale behind it. Surely I am welcome to my opinion? That's precisely the problem. When you are used to others doing your thinking for you, simple stuff like understanding basic sentences becomes an uphill battle...

Sorry. But I think I am entitled to my own criterion regarding their rating system. If instead of 10 being "best around" or something equally vague, it was assigned to games that "have b00bies", wouldn't you object? I don't think folks have failed to understand that IGN has first defined their rating criteria, and then are applying it. I thought the discussion has evolved to how valid/reliable/logical those criteria are. Hey, don't let me stop you from letting others do your thinking for you!

-"There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend. Those who have a loaded gun and those who dig. You dig."

Lol.

Exactly. When an olympic diver gets a perfect 10 nobody suggests that they shut down the sport (even though in that case 10 might very well mean "flawless"). Likewise, the next person to get 10 doesn't render the previous 10 a 9.9 or whatever. No. An olympic athlete that getting a 10 means that from the judge's perspective, technique and execution were both flawless. That's why there isn't a single judge, because it theoretically reduces the appreciative error inherent to the human condition. The next guy to get a 10 does not render the previous 10 a 9.9, because one is not evaluated compared to the other, but separately. If you rate a merely "outstanding" performance a 10, what rate do you reserve for the truly flawless? Remember, just because nobody has ever seen a perfect 10, doesn't mean it can't exist. Also, I like pixies' rating system. I deem this post a september.

The Longer Road is one of those mods I have perma-installed. Not only the writing is pretty good, with Irenicus having effectively more interaction with the rest of the party and the PC than say, romantic Jaheira, but he also makes a great addition to the party (regardless of party alignment, a la Sarevok!), without being overpowering. After all, they did take his cheat scripts away. He is just a level 30 wizard, and he has no HLAs. The only fault I can find with the mod are the VOs (which are pretty scarce, and none for Irenicus himself, fortunately), and the item icons. The rest meshes with the game pretty seamlessly. The problem I found with Tactics is that some bosses were unreasonably beefed up, and given stupid immunities/cheats. I hate when that is done. And some of the other fights (Random City Encounters) become a chore after fighting the same group for the Nth time. Take Improved Faldorn, for instance. She is given an undispellable Ironskin, begins the fight already polymorphed, summons 3/4 allies instantly at the beginning, and despite using her wild shape's claws to attack, keeps applying the stun effect from the Staff of Thunder and Lightning. You, on the other hand, begin naked. That's not fun, that's sadism. She IS a chapter 3 boss that can only be challenged by DRUIDS. A mage can mop the floor with her, but that option simply doesn't exist. The same with Improved Bodhi. What's the rationale for making her harder than the endgame boss (Improved version)? That is, assuming you don't cheese, and give everyone scrolls of protection from undead/magic. It's entirely possible that I plain old suck, btw. But beating those fights using metagame/cheese is just not rewarding for me.

Seriously, who cares? Chances are they shelled out the big bucks to get a nice score. People daft enough to swallow arbitrary scores from people they don't know anything about deserve to be lied to. That made me laugh.

I tried Tactics, and have come to hate most of it. I don't like cheesing my way through the game, so I get assraped with most of the improved fights. At that point I either get bored and unleash the exploits, or unsheath the killsticks and proceed to make chunks out of everyone. It's cheese or die. Components like Improved Druid Grove, Improved Ilyich, and Smarter Mages and Liches are not only unreasonably difficult, but also heavily dependant on cheats (multiple insta-protection casting scripts, undispellable stone/ironskins), which is something I totally loathe. But I understand how players that max everything out and find exploiting design flaws perfectly acceptable would welcome the increase in difficulty. It is simply not enjoyable for me. Other components are pretty good though. Improved Kangaxx and Improved Twisted Rune bring the difficulty of those encounters to what should be expected from them, for instance. I guess it's one of those hate-it-or-love-it mods.

Wait, what? So, when importing from a BG1 save (or CHR file), you get to choose kits if the character belongs to a class that previously didn't have access to them Yep. If I import a Bard I get to choose if I am a Bard, Blade, Skald or whatever the other kit is. If I import a fighter, I can choose Kensai. No, just proficiency points. Stat points remain the same, but BG2 doesn't make any changes to stat point distribution anyway. BG2 does not, however, have any Tomes of Knowledge, unlike BG1 Cool, didn't know that. That would be 8 +2 (cold dmg) +14 (STR bonus), for a less than impressive 24 dmg. Oh, and they do crushing dmg despite being claws. Crazy. Ascension adds the possibility to change into The Ravager, which improves the claws to 1d10+2, with an apparent chance for an extra 1d8. You are better off wielding a katana and Crom Faeyr...

Wait, what? So, when importing from a BG1 save (or CHR file), you get to choose kits if the character belongs to a class that previously didn't have access to them, and also redistribute his stat points? It's still just 1d8 (+STR bonus dmg)...

Good. For a moment there, I thought you were supporting a baseless stance over another equally baseless stance. What were the selling points of PST and Fallout back in the day? Well-written plots exclusively? You surely understand how there's little else for "classic" games to be remembered by, if not their story, and maybe atmosphere. You are making an unfair comparison between reviews that are written from a nostalgia-biased perspective, with the advantage of hindsight, and reviews of contemporary products that not only are expected to feature a decent narrative, but also to be up to the standards of today's technology (when not having an edge there). The thing is, narrative was invented and perfected thousands of years ago. The rest of the elements in a game are still fairly virgin grounds and take more development time, while at the same time, get more attention because they are novelty. Until both games have become hopelessly outdated, reviews of genre "classics" will always make past times look better. No, no. I deliberately used "up" and "black", because you can make formal descriptions of both. "Better" is largely dependant (at best) on circumstances, when not on personal preference. Therefore, any definition you can give is only valid for yourself, at the time you gave it. A conversation in which the same words have arbitrary meanings for the each participant is an absurd. And, as is to be expected, the less definition the concept in question has, the more self-appointed "experts" on the field you can find. Cool beans.

Suit yourself. If it's not a problem for you to reroll your character for BG2, who am I to say anything? The problem I see with Cernd as an un-rebalanced shapeshifter is that as a caster, clerics are generally more useful, with a wider variety of spells. And he can't cast while in his (severely gimped) werewolf form, so once his ironskins wear out, he's in trouble. And, save for the Summon Elemental Prince HLA, most high-end stuff for druids is crap. You are just bitter because he prefers trees to girls.

Just for the record, I was referring to his worth (or lack thereof) in a fight, mainly. From a narrative standpoint he's ok - I liked his personal quest more than most of the other NPCs'.

You aren't getting TuTu or BGT, then? And, I guess it's a matter of tastes, but Jaheira is vastly superior to Cernd overall, unless you install the Shapeshifter rebalance component of the BG2 Tweak Pack. She can be more annoying too, to compensate...

Indeed. However, when you counter an argument in that shape with "my opinion is fact because, unlike you, I have taste and perspective", you are just taking the silliness one step further. And the posters in this board as a whole are a representative sample because...? See Bandwagon Effect and selection bias. The problem is that people here are arguing on what's "better". Better has not been defined thus far, because it's not an objective concept like, for instance, "up" and "black".

Ah, yes. The hard life of the intellectual elite.

24. And I'd rather not count how many of those have actually been productive.

Yeah, same thing happens to me. I have BG2 perma-installed, and go back to other old games regularly. Nostalgia, I'd say... you can find folks crying about how no game has ever been able to capture the sense of freedom of Elite, as well. Maybe in fifteen years time, people will be like that with ME, for instance. edit: foiled again!

Actually her being "zeltron" or whatever isn't what I liked most about her, albeit her empathic abilities could have added some spice to her character, had she actually been a joinable NPC. More like, the backstabbing, manipulating, ruthless attitude. She *is* an Exchange thug, and she's obviously very good at it. A twist on the usual out-of-the-mill gamorrean or trando muscle. I liked her VO too. Her outfit kinda threw me off too... I'm not impressed how most alien females are dressed in some variation of a bathing suit, while males of the species wear perfectly normal clothes. But that seems to be a common trend in fantasy, what with all the "bikini" chain mails and stuff...

Krav Maga. That's the stuff I'd expect a secret agent type to be trained in. Premises: "You're not going to care how much damage you're going to cause." "Cause as much damage as possible and run." Gotta love it.

Navy, specifically... hence kirottu's comment.

Dark Angel? Never watched that. The next-door guy I posted plays SGM Jonas "snake doctor" Blane, leader of a spec ops outfit in "The Unit". Good stuff.

Well. Dubya was apparently liked well enough by the Third Reich, so I guess all's well.