Aristes

This one. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?...&lang=en-US As I understand it, it works well enought that I can plug my computer into it every now and then if I want.

Nothing right now, but I'll be playing WotLK later. I saw something saying that Blizzard had sold a gazzilion copies of it so far. heh. My warrior is 447 Blacksmithing/ 450 engineering. I haven't really concentrated on leveling anyone for a while, just cause I'm gathering mats and whatnot if I'm online. My wife and I are taking our lowbies out for fun. The deathknight thing is underwhelming to me, but I'm trying to help my wife figure out how to make her DK a tank. Probably go unholy with a smattering of frost, I guess. We're getting a 52" Sony Bravia and I'm going to hook my computer up to it so we can play graphic adventures on it. I guess it's not top of the line, but the picture looks good and we can hook up the video card to it. I already have the HDMI and DVI/HDMI cable, so that should be interesting. I just hope it doesn't suck. If it works, though, that would be great. One of us could run the computer and the other one can sit on the couch and enjoy the graphic adventure goodness.

I don't understand what your beef is with MM. He seems like a good guy. Why can't he goof around like the rest of us? Anyhow, if I make fun of someone, I get a "talkin' to" by the mods. At least I didn't call anyone a "tard." Nightshape, you doofus, chill the hell out with the retard thing already. ...And if you call me a retard, I swear -- one of these days -- right in the kisser! Well, either that or I'll laugh. Who knows? ...And I can see his point at any rate. You said that art and level design are different jobs, which seems faily established, but it seems equally established that good level design and good art go hand in hand. The point seems to be that the level designer might rebel at inferior art because he sees it as part of his effort at creating a good level design. Isn't that a fair assessment?

You're right, Volourn. I didn't convey that well. Most teens are still learning self control, but the vast majority of them don't murder people.

I know this is off topic, but why is cvm filtered? Oh, with the u spelling. funny. Guess they don't have a lot of folks talking in Latin. haha Well, v works just as well.

Aw, come on guys. I have no permanent enemies and no real animosity. The fact is, I probably will get Mass Effect at this point, assuming I can convince the people who sell it that I'm over 18. Might be easier if I don't talk. I guess, finally having participated in one of these Mass Effect threads, my curiousity is finally getting the better of me. If I agree with all your points, which might very well happen, I'll come here and eat crow, Wrath. I've done it before. Okay, I'd better stop goofing off before the mods get after me again. You guy be nice to me while I return to the shadows now.

I'll steal some cash from my mom's purse.

"I'm not a Crusader! I just want to force people to see the truth!" hahahaha Good one. And if it helps you feel better to characterize my statements as accusations, go for it. I'm accusing you. nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah. However, you really do contrive a lot of arguments. As I've said, you have pages and pages of folks giving evidence in this thread alone, let alone other threads on this board. If you haven't seen fit to listen to them, why the hell would you take the time to listen to me now? lol I'm not going to make a ten paragraph post with quotes you've already seen many many times. Anything from the similarities between KotOR and Mass Effect to the nature of the NPCs. For some of this, I'm forced to rely on other members of this forum, but since they've demonstrated better trust than you, I'll take their words over yours. Clearly some of your arguments are contrived. You seem to hate that word. Contrived contrived contrived contrived. hahaha

The article really didn't seem to indicate that the game was at fault. At worst, the judge seemed to indicate that the boy had become unhinged, but he was still responsible for his own actions. In retrospect, I think the dad was right. The thing is, in addition to take away the game, he should have got his son into counceling. After all, the kid had some problems. Some of them probably a long time coming, as Wrath says. I don't think we should blame the father. There might be any number of reasons for the kid to go gonzo, and sometimes good parents have bad kids. Of course, if he were truly unhinged, then he's not a bad kid. Still, to murder your mother and try to kill your father over a video game is way beyond the pale and this story is significant because it is a rarity. I know a lot of parents who won't let their children play certain games and this sort of game related crime doesn't pop up often. ....But, frankly, teenagers are unhinged by default. At least a little bit. I remember the case where the father told his teenage daughter she could not hang out with a teen boy. Not only did the daughter hang out with him, but they hatched a murderous plan. They actually did mange to wipe out most of the family except the dad, although wounded, survived. Teens tend to lack personal restraint. I guess the moral of all these stories is to shoot your dad twice.

Hey, at least I'm not a traitor like Vol.

Which ones specifically? If you're going to make accusations, you need to back them up. If you have not paid attention to the numerous, voluminous, massive number of posts where folks have cited speicifics, then you're certainly not going to pay any attention to mine. I guess one immediate example is the Kaiden thing who, unless he's a taperecorder with legs and a laser, cannot be a worse character than Carth. Like I said at the end of my post, I'm forced to take other folks words for an assessment of Mass Effect. As it stands now, I'm certainly going to take words other than yours. Good Lord, your post to me is a clear example of your over the top fast response attitude on the subject.

Aw, I wasn't really trying to avoid blame so much as give credit. Monty sound like a good guy. You're a good guy, Monty! ...But you did sound a little over-earnest in responding to Gromnir. Hell, you sound a bit irritated in responding to me. That's no fun. As for you, Hurlshot, we've got to read everybody's posts! How can we have a stew if the ingredients won't shake hands and mingle. Hell, I even read Dark Raven's posts, and they both confuse and frighten me most of the time. In regards to KotOR, I can say that I thought it was a great game. I guess I'm a bit like Llyranor in that my attitude over time has changed. I can't deny my enjoyment while I played it and it gave me solid hours of fun. Don't get me wrong. It's just that I don't think I could play it again. I certainly couldn't play it again with the same gusto. KotOR was a wonderful Star Wars experience, and the game has extra significance for those of us who were part of the Star Wars experience when it hit theaters in.... 1977. Something like that. So, in that regard, I might not find Mass Effect all that great if it did everything like KotOR but without the Star Wars backdrop. KotOR 2 was much darker and more entertaining as a game in and of itself, where the incidental Star Wars backdrop wasn't a vital aspect that made the game enjoyable. The aspects I enjoyed about KotOR 2 were things apart from the the overall setting. That's what Mass Effect needs since it has no established setting to inspire feelings of nostalgia or a preset familiar story. Once again, the reason I stayed out of the discussion for so long is that I haven't played Mass Effect. In retrospect, I regret posting here in the first place. Not because of what I posted. I believed it when I posted it and I still do. Monty's posts did give off a certain vibe. But now I feel compelled to post on topic, and the topic was never very certain. I read Wrath's posts because they can sometimes be interesting and occasionally even insightful. However, he is clearly biased against Mass Effect. Sure, you can be certain that, should the topic arise, Volourn will attack KotOR in a sort of mirror image of Wrath attacking Mass Effect. Fine. But Volourn doesn't normally start threads just to attack KotOR. When I see Wrath's name at the bottom of the board lists, I immediately associated it with that crazy anti-Mass Effect guy. We complain about "fanboys," but crazies who define themselves by the rabid desire to attack a game they didn't like baffle me. Sure, have a rant or two, but then get on with your life. Live past your pain and go into the light. Have a stiff drink and shake it off. Think of it as a learning experience. Whatever. Just give it a rest. Go find a game you really like and tell us why it's great. Don't spend so much time dwelling on some game you thought was bad. From what I can tell, neither KotOR nor Mass Effect have a wellspring of dedicated followers here. The reason I haven't bought Mass Effect yet isn't because of the depth of hatred some folks seem to have for it. It's because of the shallow praise I've heard from the folks who enjoyed it. Very few people have given it anything more than stingy praise. I guess that might be a sign of our times in that most folks, looking down on those terrible fanboys think it's better to be cynical and jaded. For some reason, it's supposed to be better to find something you hate and post about it incessently than to find something good and exert yourself trying to convince folks to play it? Maybe neither one is good, but neither one is better. Wait, I take that back. I'd rather have someone who finds good things and irritates the hell out of me by trying to convince me that it's better than I think than someone who finds something bad and tries to show me how or why at every opportunity. Of course, what I'd really like is a candid discussion with folks who temper their enthusiasm/hatred. ...And, if I despise anything on these boards, I despise it when people have an axe to grind before they even put the game on their computers. I can't really talk about Mass Effect's level design, which is why I've been relatively silent except for my foray into what I thought was a humorous discussion. However, feeling more or less obligated to post something on topic, I will observe that this thread was never really a discussion of any specific thing about Mass Effect. It's a thread that Wrath started to attack the game in any way he could contrive, and some of his attacks seem particularly contrived. I'll have to take your words for it, though. I've never played the game.

"I would continue this discussion with you, but it's clear you support national socialism so all of your points are invalid." How dare you call me a naz-- Ohhhhh. You almost got me on THAT one! Anyhow, it's really Gromnir's straw man, not mine. He's the clever one with the Crusader for Truth thing. I just thought it sounded funny. It's always Gromnir with the clever lines. Damn it. I'm not going to fight with you over the issue though. First of all, I have no real animosity for you. Second of all, I'm not sturdy enough to endure several pages of back and forth.

Live and Let Die. Lord, Roger Moore is such a cheesy Bond. He's too suave. His smirky, tongue in cheek rendition of 007 drives me crazy. However, he really was a great Saint, so I don't hold it against him. We also saw Goldeneye recently. I think Pierce Brosnan is my second favorite Bond after Sean Connery. Daniel Craig isn't all that bad. He's the opposite of Roger Moore. Too rough. His brutal, brooding rendition of Bond doesn't jibe with me, although it's probably fairly close to the books. For some reason, I can take a brooding, dark Bond better than a smirking dandy.

Sorry, I was thinking too much of the quarters. I only managed to see the two AFC games. The others I had to check scores throughout the day and see the highlights. I simply can't watch football if the wife is home. Marital bliss is more important than watching a sporting event. I know, I know! I'm so unamerican I'm almost a commie!

Come on, guys, give us some predictions. Preferably scoring predictions. I don't think anyone can brag about last week, although some folks had good points that bore out during the games.

Oh, I read your post and edited mine posthaste.

I don't care. I'm just happy to play a game that actually requires the PC to make a real sacrifice damn it! hahaha And the lame end game sacrifice in doesn't count!

This, more than anything I've read or heard so far, piques my interest in Mass Effect.

Yeah, but that spirit meter allowed for some truly funny dialogue options. I still chuckle to think of them. I always played the good guy, but I think the funniest options were always evil and some of the best were way down the evil path. I think the good option yielded some unexpected but quite good rewards. Not only in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of the dialogue. EDIT: I think I read somewhere that there were a lot of folks in the project who really wanted to follow the cutscene/backstory approach and get rid of the spirit meter altogether. This was especially true of many of the QA folks who hated the mechanic from the early days of its design. I guess it was really brutal at first and got easier, or so I've read. I think the spirit meter was plenty tough for most folks. It could be far more than a hinderance, even in it's final form. However, I think it added immeasurably to the game. By the time I was done playing MotB, I loved the spirit meter. Even if you "gamed the meter," as my young Korean friend says, you still couldn't deny its impact on your decisions and the flow of the dialogue weighed heavier when you saw the results of your various decions regarding your use of your curse. I'm not saying the meter was perfect. I don't think any such mechanic could ever be perfect. I just think they did a great job with it. Ultimately, it might have been better for them to take out the mechanic altogether and to convey the same ideas entirely through dialgoue and cut-scenes, but it was an ambitious plan on Obsidian's part. I'm glad they did it the way they did, because, unlike other games with a similar backstory, that spirit eater curse was in your face the whole game. You could make it easy, but you couldn't just ignore it.

Another Suitcase in Another Hall The 2006 London Cast Album I think the singer's voice is a bit whiny, but I like it. I might buy the 1976 London Cast Album version. I'm iffy on Madona's version, but it was the only one I had for a while.

In that case, Arizona must really be your team.

Oh, I've been lurking enough to see all these arguments unfold. I haven't posted previously because the information you guys have is so game specific that I didn't want to intrude with commentary based on nothing more than conjecture and reading all the comments. I've actually been lurking in quite a few threads regarding ME. I haven't bought it yet. It's not that I've decided that it isn't good. There's just enough doubt based on what I've been reading that I've always opted for other games that seemed like surer bets. Please, continue to argue your points. I'll probably just lurk and read.

I'm just amazed. The only two games I got right were AFC. What are the predictions now? It looks to me like we have two teams with a lot of "momentum" battling for the conference title on the NFC side. The Ravens won the Division, but they didn't look all that great doing it. In particular, the first half didn't make the Ravens look very good and the Titans came across as complete yutzes. We have to give credit to the Raven's defense, but I don't think the Steelers are going to fail to take advantage of the same scoring opportunities the Titans did. If you just looked at just about every stat on the Ravens/Titans game, Baltimore should be headed home. Neither NFC game had the same sort of disconnect. The Cards crushed the Panthers. The Eagles didn't exactly demolish the Giants statswise, but they were in control of the entire game. Philadelphia never gave up the lead from the first quarter and ended up winning by 12. Clearly, I haven't done a very good job predicting the games, but I'm going to say that the Steelers look good and they're the only team that hasn't succumb to the Cindarella syndrome so far. I'm taking them over the Ravens and I hope they take the championship as well. It would be pretty funny to see Arizona win, though.

I've got a different take, MM. I think gaming forums (or is that fora? Someone corrected me on that subject a while back) are basically an entity apart from game development. Can the two meet and impact one another? Sure. ... But even a forum with draconian rules harshly enforced is going to fall prey to off color and off topic comments. So, Crusade for truth all you want, but the impact will at best be uncertain in the grand scheme of game design. I mean, sure, if a movement in the boards gains enough steam, maybe the devs will nod to it and maybe not. Depends on the devs, I'm sure. What they shouldn't do is let online arguments have more than fleeting influence on the design because the people on gaming forums are crazy. Look, this Gromnir guy, whose posts I've been reading for some time as I've lurked here, is one of the most eloquent and intelligent posters and he's clearly insane. I don't trust the devs worth a damn when it comes to giving anything I say more than a glance. Sometimes, if I'm to be honest with myself, my posts aren't even worth the first glance. So the way I see these boards is as an entity in and of themselves. Ideas and thoughts and opinions from all sorts of folks enter the pot and sometimes the stew is tasty and sometimes it's ****. If it's tasty, maybe some of those ideas make it into a game. Most of the time you're just wiping **** stew off of your face. Fine by me. I respect devs who come here and play with us and have a bite of stew. For that reason, I like J.E. more than a lot of developers. For one thing, he's willing to come here and taste a lot of crappy stew in order maybe to inspire a new recipe. He's also honest, and I like that. I mean, in the short time I've been posting here, I've disagreed with the guy on a lot of issues, but he's willing to come here and tell it straight. I sometimes think that's not entirely wise, but I appreciate it just the same. In an online forum, trust is the biggest step to establishing credibility. So, I don't care about the Crusade in the Codex. I don't know those guys from adam and I couldn't care less where you go or not. I mean, I appreciate the devs who post here, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it either. However, you're not imparting the golden truth when you post anywhere. You're just adding a few ingredients into the next batch of stew. I hope they're fresh, 'cause the last batch was really ****ty. As usual, I was lurking in this thread and the biggest thing that comes out is that the original poster is a tad hostile to ME. Maybe a little, at least. He's the real crusader here. It really doesn't look like the point of this thread was ever level design. It's an ME bashing thread. Not that I care, mind you. I haven't played the game. I just popped in for a quick taste of the stew.