Aristes

I can understand games where the controls are a bit sluggish because of the state of technology at the time. What I hate are games that intentionally make the controls sluggish. Poor controls are probably one of the biggest reasons not to get a game.

The problem with a high power setting like FR is that you're not sure who's a god. I mean, do you pray to this guy on mount Olympus? the kind? the innkeeper? that over sized rat who's actually a level 28392 assassin trained to garrotte you with his tail and pick locks with his left whisker? I don't think spoiler tags are necessary for that question, Steve. It's not really so much a game hint as it is a feature they should push if they managed to include that much dialogue. Hell, if they wrote that much deity specific dialogue, they undoubtedly want folks to know!

Actually, in terms of outright egregious comments, I think Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken are about par. Michael Moore and Ann Coulter are a step beyond. So, why do I not have the same animosity for Michael Moore as for Al Franken? Al Franken just rubs me the wrong way. Politically speaking, he's really no better or worse than any number of politicians. Personally, I dislike what I've seen of him, and that's taking him at his own word. Meshugger asked why I dislike the guy, and I think I've conveyed it pretty well. For all I know, I'd get along with him brilliantly in person. I tend to get along with most folks I meet. I will say from experience, however, that I take a pretty dim view of folks who are stridently political in real life also. As long as they don't cram their political opinions down my throat, I don't care that we always agree. It's a fact of life that folks have different views and you have to patient enough to let folks express those views every once in a while. Really, though, Rush Limbaugh isn't all that bad. He's mostly a big gasbag who promotes himself. He's an entertainer, not a politician. I've never voluntarily listened to Limbaugh, unless you count voluntarily riding in a friend's car while he/she listened. Sure, he's over the top sometimes, but so is Al Franken. In fact, it seems perfectly reasonable to establish a sort of political parity between Al Franken and Rush Limbaugh. Now, Coulter is probably a farther out than Franken, and I suppose that I would hate Ann Coulter if I were a liberal. As it is, I simply don't like Coulter. She's the conservative attack dog, but I favor clear headed discussions and none of the four in question (Franken, Limbaugh, Coulter, or Moore) are particularly clear headed. Still, I'm only human and I'm likely to hold more real animosity for the nasty folks on the other side than I am the nasty people on my own. That doesn't mean I can't recognize nasty behavior on either side and despise it in principle. We're adults. Politics is Politics. I'm not going to go crazy over Franken. I just find him personally disgusting and I hope he loses. We can't always get what we want.

Unfortunately, Warhammer is a one trick pony, like Setzer said. The real misfortune is that it's a one trick pony that pulls up lame with unnerving frequency. I'm sure they're working out their problems over on the W:AR design team, but it's not just that PvE is bad. The game is simply unstable. As for WoW PvP, I've been quite happy with it. Like a lot of you, I much prefer W:AR's PvP. There is little doubt about the PvP inclinations of the game, and I find that refreshing. WoW: Burning Crusade tried to stuff PvP down our throats. You found it in virtually every zone and gear, the accumulation and improvement of which is the backbone of MMOPRGS, was decidedly skewed towards PvP. This was to the point where someone like me, who doesn't generally play for the PvP content, felt compelled to do a LOT of PvP in order to get the gear because there was no PvE equivalent outside of a raiding guild. WoW: Wrath of the Litch King has gone a LONG way towards redress. The crafting is better. There are two launching zones for the xpac, and both are much more visually appealing that the Hellfire Peninsula. There is still plenty of PvP available, but it's not the focal point of each zone. On the other hand, the PvP that they have in the game is much better from a story standpoint and it's really interesting to see PvP themes played out in a PvE setting or even PvP themes that can be accomplished by either PvP or PvE kills. I really think they did a great job in that regard. MOST of the PvP accomplishments are quite good. You can earn achievements by defending your capitols, attacking enemy capitols, participating in BGs, and other ways. Some of the accomplishments strike me as stupid, but I'm sure they don't have a shrine dedicated to my particular views at Blizzard. I don't demand that everything fit my particular view. What does fit my tastes is more than enough to make up for the difference. Going back to Setzer's comments about LotRO, I agree. For all practical purposes, it has no PvP. I like that. In fact, if it weren't for my wife, family, and friends, I would have jumped ship on WoW, great expansion and all, and stayed with LotRO. I prefer the atmosphere, the crafting, the backstory, classes, the... well, you get the point. It's all better. Even the locations are beautiful. For someone who doesn't favor PvP, LotRO is the way to go. That said, I do sometimes like to engage in PvP. Sure, it's not a big draw, but every now and then I like to fight with folks. I especially like it when I get into a row with folks and someone comes online with an alt to comment or joke about the fight. Not ridiculous griefers, mind you, but folks who actually want to chat. However, in the balance, I would gladly forgo PvP for a better PvE experience. I guess my longwinded post is simply made to agree with Hurlshot and Setzer. Kind of makes me wonder why I took the time. Oh, and I've been playing Deus Ex and WotLK.

What do you want to know, Meshugger? I have read Franken in his own words and I find him divisive and contemptible. Specifics? That's like asking for a liberal to say what they have against Rush Limbaugh, with whom Franken shares much in common, only on the liberal side. To cite any one particular sentence would trivialize the characteristics I find so loathsome in him. There is no one thing. He has a body of work that conveys a style and demeanor I would abhor in any candidate. He is no less vitriolic, bombastic, or offensive than Ann Coulter. Wait, don't you think Ann Coulter is funny? I'm a Republican and, judging by these parts, a conservative, so it's not unnatural that folks would assume I dislike the guy because he's liberal. However, at the end of the day, I don't tend to hate folks for being a different party, and I don't mean Democrats. We've got quite a few political parties in the US. Sure, the mainstream doesn't advance parties other than the big two, but the other parties are out there. Just go to you local college campus and you're likely to meet folks from a variety of different parties, some of them political. I dislike Obama's politics, but I've always admired the fact that he does tend to have a certain felicity of words that aspires to transcend political backbiting. Sure, he had to get down and dirty to win the campaign, but he didn't start there and his rhetoric after the race has become more elevated once again. Don't get me wrong, I'm too jaded to believe that he's anything other than a career politician, but I can still appreciate the fact that he's trying to do what he thinks is best for the country, just like most other presidential candidates, even Nixon. Al Franken? He didn't turn nasty to try to win an election. He started there. He's there right now. He'll end there. He's been interested more in promoting himself than his political cause. Hell, he's got a lot of the same characteristics as Michael Moore, only Franken's not nearly as funny and every bit as crass. So, the bottom line? I just don't like the guy.

Franken is one of the few candidates I actually detest. If Coleman loses, it will probably be due to the bailout package he supported in opposition to his constituents. Franken declared he would have voted against it. Hey, that's no big deal. Politics is politics. My disgust for Franken stems by and large from reading his book and interviews I've seen/read.

I personally won't buy another game on the creaky old NWNx engine, but I wish well for anyone who does it. Frankly, I'm not too terribly keen on games that use toolkits because I think it constrains the designers. I'm sure there must be some really great mods out there, but I've never played one for either NWN game that made the purchase worth it. Somewhere along the line, you have to ask yourself, "why would I keep purchasing games in a franchise that has let me down so often." My favorite game in the whole series is the MotB expansion for NWN2. When I realized that they were heading away from a tight story in search of the "sandbox" holy grail for the SoZ xpac, I threw in the towel. The idea behind NWN is great, but I've never been happy with the execution, but I've been a big fan of the BG series. I've enjoyed all the games, and I look forward to seeing what they intend to do with BG3. Frankly, I would much rather have another IWD game. What I'd really love is something like PS:T. Not a sequel, to be sure, but something that would be a true spiritual successor.

Good show, old man! I agree with your assessment completely.

I have to agree with gftd, this xpac is miles ahead of BC. The content is better and the new locations aren't as irritating. The only real beef I have right now is the part with the dragon in Coldarra. If you do anything wrong, it won't work and you might have to sit through it three times. Actually I did. The first time I did it, no problem. The next time, it glitched on me. We ran the Nexus a couple of days ago. We wiped the first time on the last boss, but other than that, quick and easy loot. I've started replacing some of my gear. I also think the way they did PvP was great. I hadn't been playing much until recently, so I was shocked to get the Know Thy Enemy achievement while defending Darnassus. For some reason, the Horde really wanted to take out leaders in Alliance capitols this weekend. I don't know that they succeeded anywhere, but they made a good show of it.

We're going to be out of town for Christmas this year. The shopping is pretty much done and now for the wrapping. The wife is getting an engraved purple ipod. We might get an HDTV for each other for Christmas, but we always dither about such things. I've been thinking about getting an xbox 360 and HD television for a while now. Basically as soon as they came out. As far as other gifts go, it's just a matter of making sure everything reaches the intended person. Christmas is always fun and I'm looking forward to it.

I took Enoch's advice and downloaded Deus Ex off of Steam for 10 bucks. I'll give it a shot. I wouldn't mind trying gametap, but I move slowly on things like that.

I think the point is that the work around solution is perfect as a player generated mod, but you guys would be hammered by folks for the shortcomings in the solution. I've heard that game design really isn't about making the most people happy, but making the fewest angry. Maybe that's a gross generalization, but this goes to prove the point. Sure this particular problem with the overland map has been the object of much derision. On the other hand, Obsidian has been hammered worse for bugs in general and at least this isn't a bug, per se. Much better to take their lump from folks who think buffs disappearing on the overland map is a real game breaker. After all, if they'd missed a real game breaking bug, I'm sure it would have been worse. All that aside, I'm skipping this title. I've batted the idea around, but I just can't take the engine anymore. Looks like I'm heading straight to Aliens and maybe AP.

One of the great things about the internet is that your message is more important than your age. However, I don't trust most late teenage folks to make good decisions. The beauty of the internet is that my prejudice is moot since I don't know most folks age. This is especially true when I would have to look up their age. I'm not sure how old Krezak is and I'll probably have forgotten that he's younger by tomorrow. There are some real problems with getting older. I just can't remember them.

I would like to try Deus Ex sometime. I had the sequel and, inferiority aside, I couldn't figure out the xbox controls for it so I didn't really play it much. Same with Max Payne 2. I sometimes laugh out loud at these Yahtzee reviews, though.

Sounds like a jackass at any rate. hahaha I mean, poor guy, but come on!

I think we should just cite exactly what Obama said and then discuss the specifics. However, while he might be a bit over the top, it's simply a bit of a stretch to take Guard Dog's comment personally, Awesomeness. The only personal insults flying around are between Krezack and Wrath and then between GD and Krezack. If we start putting the more or less general comments into the mix and feigning individual hurt over them, we're going to shut down the conversation. Even the comments between these three gents aren't exactly top of the line hate crimes. I took Walsingham' comments as an attempt to head things off at the pass rather than commenting on the state of the flame war.

Yep. That's a pretty low bar.

This is one of the most useful statements so far. I'd like a more subdued, less dramatic story for a change. If the writing is solid and the drama isn't over the top, I might end up buying the title. Looks like I might end up waiting for the patching to catch up with various issues. Damned NWNx engine games.

This is really my question, although I'm reluctant to read through this thread for fear of massive spoilers.

I'm surprised I haven't seen a review of this in CnC yet. I'm iffy on the purchase, though. I enjoyed MotB quite a bit, but I'm getting sick of DnD CRPGs generally and the NWNx engine specifically. Still, I might break down and get it. I dunno. I'll take a wait and see approach.

I'm not keen on the short expansions. I would rather have one large expansion, same as Gorgon. I'll probably wait for a proper expansion and pay for that. Note that this doesn't mean I demand a large expansion for a small price. I would rather pay more for one expansion with a lot of new content than less for a bunch of small expansions. Five cents for armor sounds like they're nickle and.. well... nickling us to death. haha erm. Sorry. FO3 is a wonderful title, so I'm sure they can come out with some hefty expansions. Didn't they do that with Oblivion?

I think the reason to castigate suicides is simply to make the prospect less appealing for teenagers. We don't want to glamorize killing yourself, lest more folks actually kill themselves. On the other hand, spitting vitriol at dead folks is pretty rough. I'm a big wimp, so I would never commit suicide and I don't like saying bad stuff about the folks who do.

You know, I've never played Fallout: Tactics. I've also never played FO:BOS. I'm ashamed to say that the reason I didn't play FO:T is because I bought into some of the anti-hype about the game at the time. Too bad, since I probably would have found something to enjoy. As for FO:BOS, I didn't really care about the anti-hype so much as I don't like playing ranged people on consoles. I mean, I think it essentially used the BG:DA engine, which would have been fine, but I never like playing the archer in that game and I didn't think the engine lent itself quite as well to a Fallout style game. Having decided in advance not to get it, the vitriol folks spat at it just didn't seem to matter anyhow. I've had pretty good luck on this board. I lurked here a few months before I started posting and I've found that the advice I've taken has generally been good. As far as the basic idea of preserving Fallout's "purity," I agree with Gromnir entirely. Even Fallout 1 had some campy humor, and it took itself too seriously sometimes. It was a great game, and I loved it, but it was never a super serious idea. Hell, stick the attack of the 50 foot woman in there eating bramin and tossing around corvegas and she'll fit right in. I think Fallout 3 falls somewhere between Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 in terms of goofy humor. All of them have some serious/gritty moments but each of the three is an homage to 50s-60s cinema and popular literature... with a lot of 30s-40s music thrown into the mix. The idea of the Fallout bible is actually very cool. ...But the seriousness, the downright meanness of the effort undermines one of the best aspects of a game franchise that celebrates with humor a culture for whom the threat of nuclear annihilation was anything but funny.

I don't think that 3/4 of the US worships Obama. If you're citing the 75% of the folks who say that he won fair and square and are more than willing to accept him as President, then I fall in that number, and I didn't vote for the guy. I sure as hell don't worship him. However, I agree with you about the way Europeans look at us. SteveThaiBin (I think that's how he spells his name) admonished me when I noted that the US is really no more racist than Europe. He said that the Brits have been praising the US, which is cool, but Europeans have a long history of talking up racism in the US. I doubt that Obam will be under serious threat during his presidency. However, considering we've had at least 3 presidents assassinated while in office that I can name off hand, an attempt on at least one, and plans on others, we shouldn't call Obama's position peculiar to his 'race.' He might have some groups plot against him, but how far those plots go is a different story. Hell, Sadam Husein allegedly plotted to have Bush the elder assassinated.

I know she's getting a bit older, but if they include Cate Blanchett with any of the updates, I'm picking her... I mean it up right away! I just hope my wife lets me keep her. I've got the Mines of Moria upgrade. I just haven't had time to play it.