Aristes

Okay, I customized my PC's face. She's a complete babe. Looks just like my wife did when I met her 26 years ago. ...And I like the way my PC looks in the cutscenes. No problem on that end. This is a much better feature than Oblivion or Fallout 3. I even had a better time of it than I did when I used the character creator download. Now, I will say that I find the dialogue irritating in that I would like to read the dialogue and respond. The voice acting has been some of the best I've heard in any game. Still, I'm an impatient sort of guy, and I don't like being forced to wait. I'll look in the options, though. Maybe I can switch it around. The combat is easy so far. I started the game on normal, though, since that's my normal modus operandi. I'll finish it on normal, go to hard, and then hit nightmare. If it's too boring, I guess I'll restart or switch the difficulty (assuming I can do that in the middle of the game). Anyhow, combat in these games has been on the easy side for years. I would think that, on nightmare, it will probably be tough in some fights. Early fights are generally easy in every game. even in the 'good ol' days.' So far, I think this is an excellent game. Time will tell of course, but it surpasses my expectations and those expectations were fairly high this time around.

hehehe This made me laugh out loud. I'd high five you, but the internet isn't that advanced yet. I also agree with Enoch. Take advantage of the contact to visit Ol' Blighty. lol

Sorry, yes, I'm playing a mage first.

Actually, I like this thread because the other one is long and advertised as spoilerish. I just started playing the game and so this one is a good place for me to post. Anyhow, the game in the very early going rocks. I've finished the tutorial and now I'll be getting to the real meat, I'm sure. The voice acting is superb. The Fade is wonderful. Really hearkens back to some of the things that I enjoyed so much about other games. It's exotic in the same way as Planescape. The scenery always seems to be moving out of the corner of your eye, which almost has an FPS sort of feel as you turn to look at something. The statue is great. I'll probably eventually be irritated by the codex, but right now I'm reading it and it's surprisingly readable. Some of the entries are long, though, so I do skim sometimes. Still, for the hackneyed backstory of elves and dwarves in decline, the presentation is quite refreshing so far. My impression is that this really is a labor of love. They've gone out of their way to try to create a vibrant world with a good eye for detail. That has the potential of getting to be ridiculous in the long run. Like jjc said in a different thread, if they over explain everything, it will suck. However, if they keep the attention to detail while still keeping that feeling of something moving underneath or just out of the corner of your eye, it will be great. One little observation. The *twist* in the Fade was broadcast a mile away. Why? After all, it's not like they were sloppy in how they presented the *twist*. No, the problem is that you know they're going to put a *twist* in the game all over the place and the one they included in the Fade just happens to be the most logical one. Too bad. If every area has such *twists* *twists* *twists*, then I'll be disappointed. On the other hand, I think what they did in the Fade is important in that it warns the player about how things play out between demons and humans. In that respect, I'm not judging it too harshly. Yet.

Naw, you're not selfish. You're glad for your friend but bummed for yourself. That's good. Bad would be if you were bummed because his wife was really good in the sack and you were going to miss her. Being blue because you've made a friend good enough to miss says something good about you, bro. It means that you're capable of connecting with other people and making lasting relationships. I'll be back later with more of my new age commentary.

yes it is, which is i believe what i said to someone which started all this hullabaloo about manuals That's what I had in mind when I made the post. Of course, New Vegas should only include a pdf manual included on the disk. hehe

The latest episode was the weakest. In fact, I would say that I was irritated. The could have done so much with the end of the previous episode and instead just split the loaf and tried to have it both ways with the chic and then devolved into sucky melodrama. As far as your point, gfted, I think the CIA did know. That's why they wouldn't release the photographs to the FBI. What's weird is that other intel operations didn't see it or were in on it? Anyhow, that episode was quite good, as opposed to the sucky Holloween episode.

Yeah, that's why it becomes more work than fun. ...And, since you don't really need your weapon in top shape for every fight, the design team can save you from yourself. Generally speaking, I think the design team should at least hear what folks say about features, but a good designer does what's necessary to make the design better, not what player consensus dictates. Frankly, it's hard as hell to find player consensus and when we achieve that pinnacle of madness, sometimes our intentions have paved that famous pathway to hell.

Hey now! I think London is a wonderful place. A truly unique experience for us colonials. Of course, any place that gets tons of visitors can get to be old for the locals. That said, I still love Las Vegas.

By this time in your life, Lady, I doubt that you're going to find much to encourage you to switch. The big changes to the Windows interface are already in place. I'm not slamming Apple. I've used them and they can be fun, but after you get used to an interface, it's just tough to switch unless the alternative has something really big to offer. Otherwise, it's just something different that you have to adapt to using.

Sloop John B -- Beach Boys

Whatever! I'm just happy. I still own my original Alice disks and play it every couple of years.

Dallas Cowboys? What the hell have you been smoking, man? With that said, I grew up hating the Cowboys, so I apparently don't qualify as a fan. Still, it's been a long time since the sun has shined on the Cowboy's ass. I don't think there are a lot of bandwagoners left. Even when they were racking up their titles, mostly in the 90s, if I recall it right, half of their bandwagon fans probably paid more attention to the cheerleaders than the rest of the franchise. For me: Miami Dolphins. Angels (and I was with them during the long slog through the desert). Might Ducks (although I don't watch hockey, really). UNLV for college sports. For those of us who didn't grow up in any one area and traveled a lot, the Yankees were an easily recognizable team. My sister has been a Yankees fan for more years than a lot of you chumps have been alive. Now, I personally, don't like the Yankees much, but I'm rooting for them because I like the American league. I've heard many complaints about folks who root for one league of the other. *shrug* Go to hell if you feel that way. If the Angels don't make it, I'm rooting for the American league. Same with AFC. Of course, I did root for the the Giants in 2008. I think it's stupid to assume something about folks because of the team they follow. A lot of folks 'follow' teams but don't even watch the sport the vast majority of the time. Hell, I hate watching baseball on the tv. Boring as hell. Even so, when I do I've been for the Angels since the 80s. I liked the way the dolphins uniforms looked in the 70s. Since Guam didn't have its own football team, I guess that's a forgivable offense. I'm sure lots of folks like teams for similarly crazy or silly reasons.

As usual, can only skim. I'm one o' those suckers who always purchases his games. Anyhow, just popping in to say that I'm currently preloading DA on Steam. Looking forward to it. Now that I'll be spared, I'll bring some beer to the apocalypse.

Purkake, I'd kiss you if you weren't a dude! Awesome news! Hot damn!

The Afghan war was a mess from very early on and it is now a mess. I won't say that I think Obama is handling it well, but it was going to be a hard row to hoe no matter what. Bush pursued an Iraq first policy and, hopefully, that country has a chance of creating a viable democracy. It is probably prohibitively expensive for any foreign power to create a strong and lasting central authority in Afghanistan, let alone a democracy. That doesn't mean that Afghanis are genetically unsuited for democracy, only that it is a long and difficult process to create a democracy and it's even harder when there's no political cohesion or even national identity.

Went to the inlaws and handed out some candy. Played with my neice. left and met mom, dad, and sis for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Said goodbye to my family as they returned home this morning.

No matter what, while I don't much use manuals either, it's still a valid statement to respond to complaints about game features by saying, "That's covered in the manual."

From experience in my WoW days, fishing was a very good (albeit slow) source of income. Hey now, fishing 450 here.

Seriously, you guys should read the nerd rage comments too. Some of those folks either cite their sources or link to blogs or other webpages. I found the argument fascinating, even if I could only understand it contextually, which meant a lot of it was above my head.

Hey, bro, that's why I just buy my stuff online most of the time now. Manuals aren't necessary or substantial and you can find out things easier by looking for info online if you need to do so.

Actually a very fun read, especially the science geek fight that ensured after the article. I don't have much of a science background myself, but it's always fun to read from an outsider's point of view.

Yeah, I was in a car accident some years ago and the seat belt bruised my chest. I had a class that morning and I went into it about 20 minutes before it ended and the professor said, "you're a little late." The class laughed. I responded, "Yes, I was in a car accident, but I didn't want to miss the first day of class." Anyhow, my dad is getting old and I worry about him driving. He's 82 now and he still drives too fast. We're trying to convince him that maybe he should folks drive him places. His mind is still sharp, but you worry about reflexes, like you said. I hope you mom stays in good health, though. Getting in an accident is pretty traumatic, even for younger folks.

I didn't like the spirit meter business, but I didn't hate it. I merely dealt with it as needed. The story behind MotB is solid and the NPCs provided fun, at least for me. Sure, Okku could have been fleshed out more. *shrug* I still enjoyed having his huge hairy bear ass help me. Gann could have been a play boy elf who's mother turns out to be the the frigid ruler of an enchanted grotto. He was a playboy hagspawn with more than just a spoiled brat background giving him the chip on his shoulder. In particular I thought Gann was well done. Now, I can see the point about Dove, because I found her a bit boring. However, her backstory was interesting to me, even if her dialogue was tedious and her attitude was trying. Her motives and origins were compelling even so. Frankly, I would have liked for the design team to make her one of the villains much like the arch-angel is a boss in Torment. I'm sure that would have been a bit too on the nose, though. Altogether, MotB was the most fun I've had playing anything on the NWNx engine, and I'm just glad it seems that folks are moving past it. I guess I enjoyed KotOR/2 quite a bit, which is a modified Aurora engine as I understand, but that was for much the same reason I enjoyed MotB. The story was Star Wars fun and the NPCs were cool.

I actually buy most games on Steam these days. At first it was weird not having a hard copy, but now I just appreciate not having a bunch of disks around that I wouldn't use anyhow. Even if I do want to play the game again later, assuming I've taken it off my system, I just go back to Steam, double click, and download and install it again. I've actually done this several times. As for Torchlight, any game that let's me nab a 'gruefish' must rock!