random n00b

You should be able to do it with Near Infinity. All that would involve is editing the 2da file that assigns abilities to the kit. If you are using Tactics' Anti-paladin, the file is WWANTI.2DA, and the string you'd need to remove is "AP_WWANTI", in row 1. I think. I haven't done it myself since I don't have that kit installed, but that's the melee effect that applies a dispel on every hit. Try it and see how it goes. Of course, you could just create a character with that class, and remove the flag from under the "affects" tab with Shadowkeeper, but that may or may not work, if those are updated at level up.

Lol no. It's called an excuse. They can make up any number of those to justify their game not living up to their sales expectations, but that doesn't make them true. Yours is living in denial. You can state that people that pirate wouldn't buy the game anyways, but that doesn't make it true. That goes against what I said how? Read my other posts in this thread. Specifically the one where I say I'm not disputing that pirates excuse their behaviour by claiming that piracy isn't equal to lost sales. As an aside, to live in denial is to disregard blatant evidence. There's no such thing as blatant evidence to support that piracy = lost sales. You failed.

For me it's more of a "your ISP is having trouble today? Sorry, no gaming for you then" issue. And the "cheaper" part, I'm not too convinced either, looking at the prices on Steam. You know, I sometimes miss the days when a broadband connection wasn't needed to go take a crap.

Funny that you would ask for proof, when you provided none yourself. Yep. Not gonna argue with that. None of that changes the fact that it's an excuse, though.

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Lol no. It's called an excuse. They can make up any number of those to justify their game not living up to their sales expectations, but that doesn't make them true.

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Affection-deprived much?

Why stop at going console exclusive? Shoot them I say. After stabbing them.

I liked BG(2) portraits. Must be nostalgia... Anyway, for NPC mods, get the Edwin Romance, and unleash the erotic fury. You know you want to. It's such a shame the BG1NPC mod doesn't continue into BG2. I haven't quite recovered from Shar-Teel's romance ending in BG1.

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'.