RPGmasterBoo

Jesus Christ, the grind. I was strolling along happily thinking that by the time got to the dead trenches it was gonna wrap up. Then the dead trenches came. The damn map winds and winds and never seems to end. I kill the blob at the end and was all happy the quest was going to end... only it didn't. I went to the next location thinking it was going to be a non combat area (didn't replenish my potions), bang the game locks me up in a tunnel filled with darkspawn and golems. Nooooooo let meeee ouuuuuut aarrrrgh. I kill them all, and finally get to meet that tin can at the end only to end up in another massive battle. I struggle through that and the quest resolution (the quest itself being pretty good) and phew I can breathe again. NOT. Yet another slaughter in the throne room and that was the last straw. At the end I was twitching over the keyboard just waiting for the next cut scene to dissolve into carnage. DA succeeds in one thing - in showing the tiresome, nerve wrecking side of war. Whoever designed the story of the quests did a good/great job. Whoever came up with the idea that between the PC and quest resolution there should be several hundred monsters scaled to your level, and a hundred corridors should be hanged. I've never seen Bioware make such an epic sized screwup in area design.

That's already happened.

That's what I'm trying to explain but no one believes me. The only difference between 90% of the muslims is that some act upon their beliefs and the rest cheer when the former succeed. The unity they have in certain attitudes is impressive... and problematic.

The ones who yell loudest are the ones that matter. Eg: Hitler. Not all germans were Nazis but it turned out that enough of them were to drag along all the rest. Its the same case with Islam. You don't need even the support of the majority to advance such a fundamentalist agenda, all you need is a well organized minority. The non fundamentalist Islamic individuals have no sway in the Islamic world. Consequently they're completely unimportant. Islamic fundamentalism is no Nazism in strength and power, but not breaking its back when you have the resources and power is insane. Saudi Arabia is the key, its the heart of both terrorism and muslim faith. Break it and the problem is set back so far as to make it irrelevant. But no, everyone's at the fools errands in Afghanistan and Iraq. As if that bunch of rocks and sand is the center of anything. Iraq wasn't even a terrorist stronghold while Saddam was in place. The wisdom of politics is making sure you eliminate potential problems before they occur. That's all there is to it.

Things are never that dramatic. European birth rates drop and muslim ones expand to the point where they have a sufficient and coherent base of voters to influence decision making in democratic states (anything over 10% must not happen). They will use this to build mosques, religious universities and expand their sphere of infulence. It will also paralyze any decisive action that EU states might take against muslim states, because no politician wants his voting base removed. This will also make EU states subject to terrorist attack because of inevitable harboring of terrorists the minority comes with. Everything about it is completely unnecessary. Why import organized and coherent immigrants when you can have disorganized and weak ones? Why import immigrants with a strong identity not compatible with yours? its so foolish and senseless I have no word for it. Even those terrorist attacks are a result of the west's unwillingness to show its power. They waste time bombing Serbia and having wars all over the place instead of creating a coherent, powerful state in EU. The Islamic world understands only power. Unwillingness to use it is seen as weakness. If the EU threatened to lay waste to Saudi Arabia (or at least to start deporting immigrants en masse) in the wake of muslim savagery towards Denmark you'd see how that would get them in line. You wouldn't have a terrorist attack anywhere in the near future or any outcries over civil rights.

There are plenty of immigrant workers with no religious strings or issues attached. No one needs muslims, they're just trouble, or will be in the long run. By comparison the chinese immigration is the epitome of quiet and undemanding. Not that I particularly favor one over the other, but if you have to choose then choose wisely for christ's sakes. Black sub-saharan africans are most devoid of troublesome baggage. Most have weak home states and a weak religious identity, and will accept whatever is given to them. Of course that's a really stupid solution as well. The real solution is increasing european birth rates to expand the number of young people available for work and eliminate the need for migrant workers. As for muslim immigration - ban it. Justification? Who says you need one? Your country - your right to choose who gets in or not. Period.

Oh well done, bravo! Europe and Australia are screwed because about 2% of the population are Muslim and part of the Ottoman Empire committed barbaric acts hundreds of years ago! Where is that facepalm image when you need it. *sigh* do find it, because I really need it myself When the cartoonists from Denmark released those pics of Muhammad all the muslim world was in an uproar. Comical pictures of Jesus or Buddha abound, yet they get all uptight over some newspaper in Denmark. I recall massive destruction of danish goods and burnings of flags and whatnot. And the EU did next to nothing to protect Denmark from this. What makes them special and beyond criticism? Nothing. They're just abusing EU's political system and weak attitude to advance their agenda. The referendum in Switzerland tells you everything the common european thinks of Islam. If that model of tolerance and peace votes no to Islamic bullsh!t then its obvious how far things have gone. But then again you're from Australia so *shrugs*

Then you're screwed. There is no hatred. No desire to settle any old scores. Only the necessity to solve an issue before it becomes a problem. The skull tower says everything there is to say. The rest I leave up to your ignorance and lack of grounding in history. If you're referring to the crusades the medieval Serbian state took no part of them. I'm an atheist myself. I'm not even complaining about barbarism of this or that side. The only thing I want is to stay on top by any means necessary. Europe is lenient and foolish and that will come back to haunt it. The only ones fighting are Americans but in the wrong places and for the wrong reasons. What a waste.

You have my sympathies as well. Have faith, it might yet turn out well.

I'm not sure why I expected any other comment from a fearmongering bigot. I'm not sure why I expected any other comment from a person at the literal end of the world, practically divorced from the real problems of europe and the west You might be able to indulge in any sort of fantasy in your island retreat but the rest of us don't have that luxury. Oh, no, I hear that kind of pathetic bigotry here as well. OH NO THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING, THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING! They're not coming to you unless they swim real well. Enjoy your comfort while it lasts. When you've been a christian in their empire for 300 years you will learn what fear and suffering is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Tower

I'm not sure why I expected any other comment from a fearmongering bigot. I'm not sure why I expected any other comment from a person at the literal end of the world, practically divorced from the real problems of europe and the west You might be able to indulge in any sort of fantasy in your island retreat but the rest of us don't have that luxury.

"Stopping Islam" is a childish mantra of people who don't understand how things like "social class," "political regressivism" and "religion" intersect. French Catholics whining about French Muslims is even more idiotic than atheists who attack literally every Christian. The woman is a member of a radical anti-capitalist party, she just happens to be a Muslim. Why is it so necessary to "stop" the second largest religion in the world? Actually I have the benefit of formal education in political ideologies and a specific interest in Marx, Bakunin, Makhno, Kropotkin etc. As far as economic policy is concerned I consider myself a part of the left. Unlike you I recognize that large parts of their thought aren't applicable anymore in the world, especially the ones that don't concern the workings and flaws of a capitalistic society. They share the same idiotic and dysfunctional idea of a multiculturalist society that liberals have, completely ignoring that its an unreachable fantasy with no grounding in history or human nature. Because you jump to associate yourself with any left extreme viewpoint you fail to see that people peoples loyalties don't necessarily lie where they say they do. Islam is a viewpoint that by necessity takes precedence over any other belief because it considers itself the only truth and has a political framework. Thus any muslim politician that espouses leftist viewpoints while at the same time flaunting their religion is in an irreconcilable position. You're either a muslim, or a communist. There is no middle ground. Obviously she's a muslim using the French tolerance of leftist ideology as a cover to advance a religious cause. You're similar to them. Communism and the left in general isn't an ideology you have accepted rationally - you express it with the religious fervor of a christian priest from the middle ages. Like any other true believer you just see things as they fit your theories. Which is why you don't see that the world has moved on from Marx and all the rest and left them in "the dustbin of history".

That's a trick on their part. No one says DRM forces people into piracy, we just say its annoying and useless and problematic for the poor sod who bought the original - while the pirates enjoy their "better" releases. If its goal is to stop piracy - It. doesnt. work. That should be enough for any sane individual.

I'm not really hating it because I'm not getting into combat all that much (courtesy of SoC). If i had to, the inecessant darkstalker ambushes and darkspawn fights would have me tearing my hair out in frustration. I was ambushed 4 times in the same area with the deepstalker matriarch. Plus the level design is incredibly bland. The Broken Circle and the Fade produced some serious NWN deja vu. Plus being reduced to one character automatically erases all the tension because conciously or unconciously I know there is going to be little actual challange in that area. The protracted toying with shapeshifting was done before somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember where. Overall IMO the quest was perfectly paced to end at the point you come upon the demon, the Fade just lenghtened it... a lot Note: I enjoy tactical combat, but I like varied challanges. The lack of specific tactics for enemies, when playing a mage makes every encounter appear the same. After a certain point what was initially fun becomes a pain. The lack of variation in enemies has already been mentioned. As has the length of individual encounters. +You're scaring me with this talk of grind after Landsmeet. If its grindier than the deep roads what the hell is it like

*sigh* the french are right I hate to have to agree with the french. Although much more than that will be necessary to stop Islam.

no just no why are you out to ruin my every evening meal?

They were rather fragile and could run out of spells (at least the protagonist could). Not saying this set them back much, but my DA mage is significantly more powerful in both regards. +their attack sucked, this one gets 10 dmg free, which can have a decisive impact sometimes. It just goes to show how difficult it is making a balanced and complex cRPG system. If DnD could be flawed with the army of people working on it then Bioware's attempt was in a way doomed from the start. Perhaps they will tweak and fix it up and remove all the obvious exploits. *shrugs* in PnP preparation is everything and most times you get one chance. games benefit from the ability to load a previous position. Thus you could say that preparing well can get you instant win in everything. Its irreconcilable because DnD is not made for PC's. Still, having a monster you have to devise tricks to kill can be fun - at least more than one that boils down to pure attrition. The demi lich is really a game of knowing the system well enough, but when you do kill the bastard there's a definite feeling of satisfaction. At least for it was for the DnD noob I used to be I had fun killing the two dragons in DA but with a mage it was pure potion attrition all the way through, which is why I killed them both on my second try. The ash dragon made me sweat a bit but Flemeth was a pushover.

Do you know how long it took me to figure out that all you needed was the "Spell immunity: Abjuration" spell to deal with the latter form? Even then I had to pelt it with darts+5 and all sorts of other tricks. Tough bastard. http://www.baldurdash.org/kangaxx.html LOL, when DA gets poetry we can start talking whose better. is all kinda tricks. scrolls o' protection from undead gets you ignored. a berserker who is berserk can shrug off the imprisonment effect... give him/her the mace o' disruption and kangaxx is put back in the dead book right quick. am seeming to recollect that protection from magic scrolls were also effective-- a paladin with carsomyr would make short work of kangaxx if protected by scroll. there is a ring of the ram and traps strategy. regardless, ring of ram did good damage. am recalling a slayer strategy, but we always killed pre-slayer. *chuckle* got silly... after we played bg2 a couple times we developed a kinda system whereby we could kill kangaxx ridiculous fast, and then we would complete twisted rune immediate afterward so that we would still have some o' the protection scroll effects in place and active. two birds and one stone... so to speak. HA! Good Fun! Well if your stuff are tricks then I don't know what his unlimited use of imprisonment is .The first two or three times you're likely to stare blankly at the screen as he decimates your party and reduces all "clever" tactics you though up a moment ago to shreds ... Goddamn it I never knew of the Twisted rune quest until googling it up minutes ago. *grumbles* bloody huge game... rrrr

Do you know how long it took me to figure out that all you needed was the "Spell immunity: Abjuration" spell to deal with the latter form? Even then I had to pelt it with darts+5 and all sorts of other tricks. Tough bastard. http://www.baldurdash.org/kangaxx.html LOL, when DA gets poetry we can start making comparisons

HA! Good Fun! LOL! They actually included a character with a similar name as the BGII lich! I was just making a BGII reference, I had no idea

Yeah, though he forgot to mention how powerful it was. Still even without it once you reach a certain level and have a lot of elemental magic at your disposal much of the combat becomes easy. I was killing enemies with earthquake+blizzard+lighting storm pretty successfully with a little work. Now even that little is gone Kangaxx huh?

Its free to download and try out for one more day.

Could someone please explain to me why I just cleared out the whole Aeducan Thaig?? There are no doors or places to visit there??? Or did I miss something?

is yet another example of how Gromnir were saying that the tactics o' da were overrated somewhat 'cause o' lack o' familiarity with rules. how many folk stumbled into storm o' the century their first time through game? need spell might, which gots two o' the most useless prerequisite spells in the game: mana drain and mana cleanse. spell might itself is largely a waste unless you use in combination with animate dead or blizzard + tempest. mana clash, on the other hand, is a very effective mage killer, but for most players it is a hard sell considering the largely ineffectual prereqs. am also recalling a whole bunch o' battles where the storm kinda spells were largely ineffectual-- flemmeth being the one boss battle exception. dunno if we would voluntarily build a mage as does boo, particularly playing nightmare, but we doubt most first-time players genuine pick the right spells for storm simply by reading in-game descriptions. as with the ie games, a large part of difficulty or ease is simply knowing which spells, equipment combinations, and character builds is the most efficacious. line between strategy and tactics is always a blurry one (and sometimes pointless) but for Gromnir at least, a second playthrough o' da were made easy not 'cause we knew what challenges lay ahead, but rather 'cause the mechanics o' da were less obscure with the benefit o' +50 hours o' trial and error. Gromnir's da guide: how to breeze through da on nightmare without even trying step 1) download the respec mod am not certain why the developers likes to build terrible joinable npcs, but wynne's 8-9 levels o' crap is easily fixable with the respec mod. a pc 2h warrior is an effective glass cannon, but npcs don't have the stats or abilities to be effective as such til late in game. with the benefits of respec, sten is a very effective sword and board or dual wielding warrior. wanna make the french chick or the poncey elf useful as rogues? respec. step 2) play as a mage mages is wacky overpowered, particular at high levels. the power imbalance becomes particularly noticeable to anybody who has played da more than once, as spell choices is less 'bout kewl and more 'bout power. according to feedback we got from biowarians, the toughest parties is 3 mages + 1 tank. you thinks that maybe that shoulda' clued the developers into the recognition of relative power o' mages compared to other classes? step 3) read any one o' the dozen or so faqs available that explain what builds is good, and which is bad. +50 hours o' trial and error is not the most time effective method for learning the intricacies of a rule system that is numbers dependent... but where the numbers is hidden from the player. figure out da weapon damage, attack frequency and likelihood o' hitting foe? for chrissakes, we have seen less complicated algorithms used to predict satellite trajectories on trips to one of saturn's moons than the numbers we has seen to explain da mechanics. d&d, for all it's faults, did not hide numbers from the player. before our ie sorcerer chose a fireball spell at level-up, we were knowing the range, damage potential, casting time and area effect o' a d&d fireball spell. no real mystery. da is different than da. petrify is more likely to "freeze" a foe than is cone of cold... and duration o' the petrification seems longer. force field works on even boss critters better than 50% o' time, even on nightmare, but crushing prison gets resisted far more frequent. ok, why? don't try and figure out da. save self time and read a faq that has high recommendations... mage faq being most important as mages have most choices available, and they will be your heavy-hitters. da system is strange. yeah, particularly if you rely on rogues and warriors, da requires considerable tactical sophistication to be successful... 'course you could have three mages and shale, all spamming area effect spells 'gainst foes you sees before they can sees you. HA! Good Fun! Funnily enough I chose to play a pure elementalist randomly, didn't know it was such overkill - I almost always play fighters. Without much thought I just invested all my points into primal magic (as for SoC I was told how to do it by a friend well into DA, but even without spell might the two spells are a potent mix, I did start investing to get SoC but I was amazed at its killing power nonetheless). Also somehow it seemed natural to dump all points into magic and the occasional one into willpower. Whatever weaknesses this might have harbored were erased by the liberal amounts of points given for free in the Fade/Circle quest. I thought the char would be extremely weak when attacked by melee, but he could withstand a huge amount of damage + many of the spells cannot be interrupted, so an enemy up close is not very scary. I just petrify/cone of cold anything that comes near. Basically you're gifted the same overkill DnD archmages get but much much earlier. Storm would be of limited use but the strange coincidence that you can see enemies in third person mode before they see you allows for a lot of abuse. Plus the minimap kindly shows you the enemies hiding around corners. Plus the AI that charges straight into the thick of the storm if you so much as touch it. Be it to DA's credit or its flawed nature I grasped the various tricks quite quickly (BGII conditioning probably) and coupled with the lucky or unlucky choice of a mage as PC most of the game after finishing the third hub is cakewalk. Mostly because the system allows considerable exploit. + For instance the devs were well aware that the dragon arenas featured areas inaccessible to the dragon, yet they included them, or that the PC can see enemies in third person mode... or the casting of spells behind walls - yet they chose to include them on purpose. Strange. Btw I though of a great idea to make the irritating codex (I find it difficult to read text on the screen) less irritating. Remembering Wasteland it would be phenomenal if the game was released with a booklet that contains all codex entries and along with including them (in game) with a reference to the appropriate page. It would make it much more enjoyable to read and cool to own.

How did you find the Denerim bandit encounters? Annoying. Same as all other mook encounters. One was a bit harder than the others, but I could neither mow through them nor need to include any particular strategy. I couldn't mow through them because the archers kept attacking my PC.