Monte Carlo

Oh, and about re-starting Mass Effect for a character to carry over... I did the exact same thing for BG1 to take the same character into BG2. If you love the game it just gets you fired up for the next one and adds a bit of personalization and continuity. So I totally understand it. My gimpy dual classed thief-to-fighter wasn't exactly optimal, but it was fun anyway...

^ I think I've made clear my general feeling of meh-ness towards Planescape: Torment on these pages many times. I don't eulogize it in the same way as many of my fellow-forumites do. As for AP, I will definitely be playing it. Admittedly, the unique setting and some of the features have sold it to me more than the pre-defined character, also (and I know it sounds a bit hokey) I want to support Obz in my own small way. Cheers MC

Am playing on hard, currently doing all the little Lothering sub-quests. By stat-dumping STR I got Critical Strike for my 2H warrior at level 6, by level 8 will be wearing the Dragon Armour. This makes life much easier. I'm also finding hard not so... hard. Having said that, it's early days. The middle row of 2H talents (mighty swing etc) seem pointless at low levels - the top row is teh win. I'm going to swap Morrigan out for Wynne for some quests to see how the melee-heavy with buffing party build works out, am also going to give Shale and Imoen-Chick a proper try out. Cheers MC

^ Damn your Eyes, Sawyer! Am now going to watch the Judge Dredd movie again. And it's awful, except for the bit where he blows up some dude's car for a minor parking violation. I might do it back-to-back with Demolition Man. 'Cuz that's how I roll.

It's strange, because I like Science Fiction but I'm not really bothered about Sci-Fi CRPGs. Mass Effect left me completely cold, never played it and had no interest. ME2 is the same. And I hate playing one pre-defined character.

The DA difficulty slider could, of course, simply increased / decreased the size of your party. Easy = 6.

^ I don't hate her, I just expect my mages to sort of blow stuff up. Wynne is a cleric in a game without clerics. A five or six character party in DA would have made her essential.

JNPCs... hmm have not played Mass Effect but my understanding is that you are a military officer. Is a fact that in the military you often don't get much choice who you work with - so mandatory NPCs in that context is sorta explainable (like every war movie with the basic training scene... look at Gromnir's avatar for example ). In DA the NPCs are designed deliberately so you take them. Wynne is... crap. When I say that, I mean tactically. Now I know the game I can get round it, but on a vanilla run? No way. Hey, I thought a heavily armoured dude with a 2H axe and high CON could tank in DA, and I've been playing these types of games forever. A warrior with a sword and a shield is, as I've posted previously, the tactical lynchpin of DA combat. If you ain't playing one there's only one JNPC who fits the description. Cheers MC

Vol, * Sten Disapproves - 20* That Bio need to make certain NPCs virtually unavoidable, like Morrigan and Alistair is their key weakness as a developer when it comes to plot. I say either (a) make the NPC mandatory or (b) make a mechanic outside of deus ex machina game design to propel the story forward. (a) isn't may favourite but at least you can make good plot-related reasons for it and it's more... honest. Alistair is so vanilla, so... meh, that I find myself totally unconcerned about anything to do with him. Yet he's, for some reason, the Bio pin-up boy for Dragon Age. It's unfair on all the Bio forum chicks who like romances, the guys get foxy Morrigan and the girls get... the guy next door with the lame haircut. Maybe the Bio devs hate CRPG romances as much as I do. then again, Bio forumites have, orgasmically, discovered how to make elves have really big ears and weird eye tints... they are as happy as larry and deeply scary. --- Back to Tactics --- My 2H-warrior is in the Korcari Wilds. Am playing on Hard, which is good fun. The 2H-guy is a bit like the rogue - needs lots of micro-managing in combat to get the best out of him. Also, timing is important - at low level I spam Pommel Strike > normal attack > Sunder Arms and do really well. it takes a while to get your head around no action queue, what you see is what you get in combat and spamming a new ability mid-swing ruins that attack. Oh, and Sunder seems to me to be two attacks. Am stat-dumping STR with the odd point of willpower now and then. Cheers MC

I'm not that old. It's just that you've stat-dumped into Youth Argot and I haven't

The youth of today. I'm going to try that one on my wife next time she annoys me, just to see what happens.

What's wrong with re-speccing The fact that you can break the game with them says more about the mechanics than the re-specc. My first re-specc of Morrigan was embarrassing, she was an artillery division. So I changed her back. OTOH, I'm going to make a 2H warrior for my next game. I like Sten, but I want a sword and board tank. So Sten gets a re-spec. The sky didn't fall in.

^ At least both options involved a little bit of fighting in tunnels. And we learn that Di is a snitch.

OK, I've played this game more or less to death, am about to finish my second full game with my rogue. My last game before I give it a rest for a bit will be on hard for everything for a challenge. I'll play a warrior, am tempted to go 2H but will I find it too frustrating? For the hard game I'm happy to re-spec some of the NPCs, for example I'm tempted to make Sten a dual-wielder or sword and board for example. I also played all the way through the mage origin... what happens if

^ Yes. In tunnels.

One of the most awesome things about the Grey Wardens, seriously, is that when it's time for them to hang up their boots they go and... fight in tunnels. :: swoon :: Although that is completely ripped off from the 'Long Walk' the Mega-City Judges took into the Cursed Earth (2000AD / Judge Dredd), 'tis still most cool.

^ Yeah, been wanting to play it for ages.

NPC Dwarf to <CHARNAME> "Welcome to the tunnels adventurer" <CHARNAME> "Why am I here?" NPC Dwarf "To fight. Lots." --- :: Wipes sweat from brow, puts down quill :: My work here is done.

Installed Titan Quest today - yeah, Diablo clone but with a really interesting skill tree. very annoying inventory (tiny) but I like the graphics and the whole mythical Greek vibe. No tutorial - but lots of in-game help and elegant GUI - I think it'll be lots of fun.

^ It would've been when we were on the old BIS boards I suppose. I am currently doing the writing (only) for a DA mod. Compartmentalising the work seems to me, as an amateur, to be a good thing. I mean, all I do is write and let the technical guys make it happen. As long as you take their criticism and advice on the chin (I can't code that... that idea would work better with this feature... let me worry about the character scripting, you just write dialogue) then it's a pretty enjoyable process. My complete lack of technical knowledge is a bonus - I don't have any strong views on the programming because I wouldn't be able to do it myself anyhow. What Volo did, like lots of modders, is do it all yourself - you lose perspective I guess. Anyhow, back to the topic and sorry for the temporary derailment down Ye Olde Time Tunnel

^ Many many moons ago Volo sent me a beta of his NWN1 mod to take a look at (remember, Vol?). I call it as I see it - it was pretty good fun. Cheers MC

^ Hey I glad you liked it, I might get the sequel but I've got too many games and not enough time.

I really wanted Titan Quest + Expansion. A download would have cost me UK

Actually got rid of it, felt guilty of bandwidth theft.

BTW, my new sig is teh awesome, coming as it does from the 1st Ed. AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Gary Gygax had every base covered when it came to tables.