Jump to content
The Community Blog (An Invitation)

Zoraptor

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3523

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    20

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Zoraptor

  1. Zoraptor
    Sure you can, most encounters in Fallout could be avoided by running to the exit grid, same with Jagged Alliance 2. It isn't as quick as in RTwP, but it's doable. Running past the combat in PST wasn't exactly a perfect solution either and I did it mainly to avoid pointless combat from aggroed thugs. It looked like a Benny Hill chase scene and relied on most (any? cannot remember any ranged weapons in PST exc magic) enemies not having ranged weapons.
  2. Zoraptor
    Pretty sure it was stated that there would be no DRM on the physical copy, with optional registration to GOG/ Steam.
  3. Zoraptor
    Which is irrelevant as we aren't talking about a minor spat here. If things are serious enough that the US is seriously damaging China's economy then they would have no expectation that the US would pay back its loans anyway. And it wouldn't just be Chinese bonds being devalued, it would be everyone's. Good luck getting more money out of anyone if you've just proven that you will- effectively- default on your loans wholesale, and if printing money were an economic panacea Zimbabwe and Weimar Germany would be Nirvanas. Recipe for winning bragging rights over a pile of economic ash, that. Then you're actually talking a blockade and an act of war, not some sort of economic stoush. That scenario leads to Fallout, if you aren't absolutely sure what you're doing. And, of course, it would prove every single one of China's reservations completely correct. I'm unenthusiastic about the current set up, but your proposed one is... bonkers. Japan is still cordially loathed by its neighbours, is clearly on its way down, is internationally irrelevant and if you're going to award permanent seats based on contributions be ready for Saudi Arabia to be next on the list. If I had to redesign the UNSC Japan wouldn't make my short list. I'm not even sure if I were to appoint the whole 15 seats that Japan would make it.
  4. Zoraptor
    Why do I find the tears of internet outrage so delicious? They'd better still have cinematics for high level spells in TToN though, I thought this was the integral and defining characteristic of PST. If they don't have this I shall be forced to break out the 'Torment in Name Only (TINO)' acronym, and perhaps contact the International Criminal Court and Ban-Ki Moon plus demand my money back plus extra for mental anguish.
  5. Zoraptor
    The thing I really noticed about the rugby was how quickly the old South African flag and singing of Die Stem instead of the new anthem basically disappeared, and Mandela's attitude had a lot to do with that. I still can't watch that final though. It's a shame Robert Mugabe didn't show the same attitude. He did a bit in the early days, his jailers piped cricket commentary into his cell as punishment but he ended up loving the game. Pity he went completely mental and didn't know when to give up power.
  6. Zoraptor
    For the aficionado who wants a wildly successful but almost totally unknown German general may I present Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, probably the single most successful commander of the entirety of WW1. Defeated multiple British invasions with aplomb, invaded British territories and ended the war better supplied than at the start despite a total blockade. And yes, I was reminded of him by the Chinese Expansionism thread. Plus he told Hitler to go asterisk himself too. If a few million more Germans had done that the world would have been a far better place.
  7. Zoraptor
    It wouldn't just be x$ on top of the price of a set of cheap garden furniture. As soon as the US tries something significant China can and will reciprocate. It's economic MAD, in essence, you can have a certain amount of low level antagonism and 'competition' but if you try doing something that is considered to be important you're risking escalation and retaliation- and you'll end up getting as much damage yourself as them. While China is not the sole source for bond purchases and loans for the US it is a major one and if the stakes are raised enough they will use that leverage, for example. Or cut off some of the essential stuff they make, it will take months to years to gear up to make replacements and during that time it won't be x$ on the price, it'll be xyz$ on and likely complete unavailability. China also, and in contrast to the west in general, has trillions in cash reserves. They'll burn through it quickly enough if push comes to shove, but that's certainly a better position than being 17 trillion in debt or whatever the US debt level currently is. Tanzania (German east africa, which reminds me...), Namibia, Samoa, Papua and Togo. Nowhere near France or the UK or even the Netherlands, but quite significant.
  8. Zoraptor
    Zhukov is too mainstream. Chuikov, Koniev, Rokossovsky et al are the hipster options for WW2 Russian generals. True connoisseurs go for a fine vintage Suvorov though.
  9. Zoraptor
    I was going to check out the anticipated RPGs list, but 15 separate pages for 15 games? That ain't going to get rewarded with 15 page views any time soon. In theory at least I have 4 kickstarted RPGs plus DAI and TWitcher3 to look forward to though, so it's probably 6/16 given no WL2.
  10. Zoraptor
    There is the Napoleonic version of M&B- it isn't really JA/ Darklands style but it is Napoleonic and small(ish) scale. Was absolutely riddled with bugs and primarily aimed at MP though.
  11. Zoraptor
    Are we talking about Dragon Age Origins here? The one where Orzammar was one of the four requisite places you had to secure an alliance with to beat the game? Yep, I am. It has effectively no relevance to the overarching plot except providing an alliance, and Shale is peripheral to that goal since she's separate from the Harrowmont/ Bhelen choice. Alistair, otoh, could be a king/ spouse/ PC spouse/ sacrifice/ alcoholic bum- all except the last one being very important to the overall plot- as well as providing background and interaction with Eamon/ Teagan. Shale's about equivalent to Wynne or Leliana in importance, nice to have, but not by any means essential.
  12. Zoraptor
    I don't really have a problem with Arrival* being dlc, of those I listed I only really dislike the F3 one and I probably wouldn't even there if the ending were not so broken in the original. If I had a criticism it might be that it would be better suited to an 'episodic' type format where the expectation is that the episodes are all integral- and I do think that if you're going to have that sort of dlc you really need to have a good recap of important events between the games. Having Shepard be in jail at the start is otherwise a bit jarring. *I haven't played it either, so I'm going on hearsay/ having read the plot summary as to its importance.
  13. Zoraptor
    How so? Dragon Age released a full expansion. None of the DLC really impacted the story of the main games. Shale, a character so important to the storyline of Orzamaar that she was featured in later novels. Oh come on. Orzamar's plot is not exactly central to the game, and her reactions are not much more central to it than, say, Leliana reacting to you defiling Andraste's Urn. If you had to buy Alistair it'd be a lot closer, but you don't. Story dlcs are "damned if you do, damned if you don't" on their integration. Have a wholly peripheral thing like, uh, Golems of Amgarrak (?) and you get people complaining that it has no relevance and is a pointless cash grab, have an integrated and important story and it's a cynical cash grab instead where you only get the whole story if you pay extra.
  14. Zoraptor
    If one accepts the premise that Germany in ww1/2 was - by virtue of geography - completely incapable of winning a naval conflict with Great Britain. Germany didn't really try and win a naval conflict with GB in either war though- even at Jutland it wasn't intended to be 'stand and fight'- and for the forseeable future China won't try it with the US either. China's navy isn't designed to fight the US one, just to project a certain amount of power which it lacks at present and to build up prestige. If they did have to fight the US one they'd lose, and they'd try asymmetric tactics/ rely on subs much as Germany did. But if they want to apply pressure to the Phils, or Vietnam, or Korea or Japan then it's a useful tool; and if they want to protect essential sea supplies from anyone other than the US it's essential.
  15. Zoraptor
    Meh, as always GabeN only believes in competition that benefits him, if it's him tipping the playing field to his goals it's fine, if it's someone else it's horribly unfair and monopolistic. Him bundling his system on unrelated products on windows = good competition, totally not unfair; his company making his own OS is totally not unfair; MS doing it (sheesh, if you went by NostraGabeus the sky would have fallen with win8's release, instead MS have been using steamworks for their PC games. Couldn't pick his nose, that guy) is just inherently unfair! How so? Dragon Age released a full expansion. None of the DLC really impacted the story of the main games. I suppose there's an argument for Witch Hunt. Not a very good one, since it didn't lead into anything in DA2. Presumably it will be of some importance in DAI, given we've seen Morrigan. Mass Effect(s) would be better. There's a better argument that Arrival (? the last, bridging ME2 dlc) was necessary for the flow of the series' story, and that Javik should have been a non dlc companion. Fallout 3 is probably even better though. Want an ending that makes any sense at all? $10, s'il vous plaît.
  16. Zoraptor
    To the best of my knowledge, no it hasn't, it's still saddled with GFWL. Yep. The sum total result of the petition to remove GfWL was to get it saddled with GFWL and steamworks, except for the (GfWL only) Euro retail version. That is where people thinking it has steamworks comes from as it does, but effectively only as an added DRM layer and in addition to GfWL, not as a replacement. Thanks muchly, petition signers!
  17. Zoraptor
    They contribute mainly by stopping the US + minions from running off and starting conflicts, of course.
  18. Zoraptor
    The reason I see them as separate is actually to do with multiplayer. I don't do multiplayer much, but I used to play SSX and BGDA MP in an old flat. I would not describe that as being an 'immersive' experience- there was a lot of out of game stuff going on (trash talking etc) and there was never any real feeling that you weren't actively engaged in playing a game. But it was equally if not more fun and the pacing components and the ability to do complex combinations (in SSX) without thinking about them was still there entirely. On the other hand, if I played SP I would get immersed in the more normal sense- lose track of time etc. I'm not really arguing, just clarifying why I think that way. I simply don't know enough psychology and the necessary technicalities to actually argue.
  19. Zoraptor
    The northern one would actively be over the Kurils/ Sakhalin and hence Russian territory if it went any further north. OK, Russian territory that Japan partially claims, but Japanese war planes trying to enforce a control zone over territory that is at least de facto (and really, if it were anyone except Russia it would be de jure too) Russian would inevitably result in them being shot at if not shot down.
  20. Zoraptor
    That definition of 'flow' is pretty much exactly what I would call 'immersion' in a gaming context- and I'd have gone with flow as being more akin to 'pacing' in a movie or TV. Not exactly unrelated concepts, of course, as it would be difficult to have one without the other, but I see immersion and pacing as being distinct enough to be separate. Then again, I'm not a psychologist.
  21. Zoraptor
    Yeah, that was referring to him being likeable enough rather than being an idiot, as you aren't really supposed to like either Philippa or Letho throughout most of the game but I ended up liking both well enough. Wouldn't trust either (esp Philippa) as far as I could throw them though. I ended up disliking both Henselt (an even bigger idiot than Philippa) and that ungrateful snake Radovid a lot more. Can't really call Philippa a genius, she got totally played by Letho based pretty much entirely on him looking stupid, and that set everything in motion. The only part of her anatomy we can blame that on is the part between her ears. Even the later lapse in judgement looked to be largely due to her over confidence as much as wanting some hot but inappropriately chosen intern action.
  22. Zoraptor
    I was impressed when they removed her eyes. Games usually baulk at that sort of thing and go either subtextual or just show the results some time later. Philippa was a bit of an idiot, but she was likeable enough. Bit like Letho in that respect.
  23. Zoraptor
    Given the ending to 2 settling that may involve swigging grog and a 'catch you later bro', though. Probably cannot solve an extraplanar invasion that way but you never know.
  24. Zoraptor
    May already have happened, he just wasn't successful. The protests in Tiananmen did have some fairly high profile supporters who ended up in permanent house arrest, which could easily have happened to Gorby. Given the general apathy in western democracies for actually voting (80% turnout to just over 60% here, in the relatively short time I've been voting) I'm not sure that some sort of controlled candidate selection doesn't actually increase voter enthusiasm. Iran certainly seemed to be quite enthusiastic in their recent elections despite all the candidates including the reformist one being, effectively, hand picked and vetted by the clerical establishment. For China it will likely be a search for ways to let people let off steam without rocking the boat, to mix a metaphor. The sort of assertiveness they're showing here, landing on the moon, that sort of thing; plus some limited reforms that preserve the status quo but reduce the apparency of the restrictions and toleration of some safe non conformist candidates as a safety valve. The big problem with promoting western style democracy at the moment is that you end up with (in our case) a guy who was elected by only 1 in 4 eligible voters as your Dear Leader, and that doesn't sound great. That isn't tyranny of the majority or even tyranny of the plurality- if 'no vote' were a party they'd be largest by around 10% of the voter base.
  25. Zoraptor
    China Strong! distraction from domestic problems, much like Spain with Gibraltar or Argentina with the Falklands with some wang waving and asserting their power thrown in. In some ways it's short sighted as they have simultaneous disputes with pretty much every single neighbour, but they're China so they don't really need to care. And I don't see anything much happening either, not much happened when that US spy plane and a Chinese fighter collided a few years ago and people actually died in that incident.
×
×
  • Create New...