Zoraptor
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Everything posted by Zoraptor
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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.
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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.
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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!
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They contribute mainly by stopping the US + minions from running off and starting conflicts, of course.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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and Geeks. (insert innocent question about Kinect and Oculus Rift support in Twitcher3 or alternatively how I'm shocked they've made even the name sexist since the number 3 looks like a top down view of most of the female cast)
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Pfft BF4 is usually ~82USD here, or ~52UKP. Brits got it eeeeasy. Unbelievably this sale appears to not only be happening here but to be using 'proper' prices as well. Mirror's Edge for less than a cup of coffee! Shame I already own it. The only thing I'm really interested in potentially is Mass Effect dlc (which isn't on sale? Or are BW points on sale?) and as always the Origin website either doesn't sell them or makes it unnecessarily hard to find. OTOH the Origin client actually asked before updating, and gave me the option to go offline instead. That's rather better than some other clients out there.
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And how many Chechens were trained by the Soviet army? I don't have much doubt that the Georgians and west are being and have been hypocritical about the whole freedom fighter/ terrorist divide, but at this point OMG Georgian in Syria! means very little even in those terms.
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I'm really not that worried by how people capitalise it, everyone knows what is meant either way which is the important thing. It really was more of a question about why people capitalised it that way since it was illogical. Got a sensible suggestion (ta, Hurlshot) so I'll go back to laughing at the people who do get very upset about things like lower case o's.
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GWB is a born again Christian, I'd have no problem at all with the prospect that he'd go to such a meeting and just say what he really does believe. There are plenty of Christians who want to bring on the Rapture so they'll get to go to Heavan (and, of course, all those nasty sinners, heretics and heathens would get their oh so deserved comeuppance). Conversely, they'll also strongly support Israel due to Revelations, as well as supporting conversion efforts. Such is the lot of those who believe that Revelations is literal rather than metaphorical.
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There's a difference between ethnicity and nationality, guys. I wouldn't know this guy from Adam, but 'Batirishvili' is definitely a Georgian form name (see, for example, Mikael Sakashvili). Since the Chechen and Georgian regions border each other it's eminently plausible to have an ethnic Chechen who is also a Georgian national and hence, Georgian every bit as much as he'd be British if a British citizen. It's pretty silly point making anyway since there are plenty of jihadis of all nationalities and a lot of ethnicities too.
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There was a BG3-as-continuation story suggestion from George Ziets which sounded pretty cool. If it were kickstarted it'd be a no brainer back, more so even than PE. (Link is from the 'codex, whatever formspring has morphed into is just giving me a blank page for some reason else I'd have linked that)
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I'd like BG3 to be made, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lose my critical faculties and swoon as soon as it's mentioned. At present Overhaul lacks pretty much everything necessary to make BG3- the licences, the finances, the resources for a full scale game development, an engine. There's literally no information beyond the simple desire to do it, a desire which has previously been expressed by others that I'd far rather see do it, who I have more confidence in doing it well, and who are in a far better position to do it. I'm not the type of person who will celebrate something being made or the potential for something being made just for the sake of it, I'd want some confidence that it will be done well too. I don't want a rubbish BG3 just for the sake of having something, anything, Baldur's Gate. If they do get to make a BG3 I'll approach it with an open(ish) mind, because a lot of the unanswered questions will then have to be answered, until that time I will remain extremely sceptical.
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Where does GoG come from? Seriously, it drives some people utterly bonkers (and I'll admit it tweaks my inner autist's nose*) and has never been used officially yet half the population of the internet seem to use GoG rather than GOG. Why? It's clearly Good Old Games, GOG or- after a couple of wines, a meal and a nightcap- gog. I'm baffled. *He just rationalises it as standing for 'GoG of Games', since he likes recursive acronyms. (little o's in acronyms are used only for 'of' or 'or', anything else should be capitalised, hence why it should not be GoG)
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InExile is plotting to ruin Torment by making it turn-based
Zoraptor replied to khango's topic in Computer and Console
DA2 has too much baggage and is too 'easy' a target. Far better to pick a generally well regarded and certainly less polarising game which illustrates the flaw as part of its generally well regarded whole rather than one where we'll end up with the DA2 wars #32456 in a set of 1 million. It'd also invite comparisons with some more polarising TB titles- Arcanum, whose TB combat was not always the best implemented, designed or balanced; or Wizardry 8, which had the potential to make the Deep Roads look like a quick frolic through a field of wildflowers even when using WizFast (though at least Wiz8 was consistently challenging...). Fundamentally, trying to prove one or the other is better/ worse by looking at the worst implementations is generally counter productive- you have to hope that whatever method they chose they'll take the best from the system and design to its strengths, not its weaknesses.- 343 replies
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InExile is plotting to ruin Torment by making it turn-based
Zoraptor replied to khango's topic in Computer and Console
The fundamental problem with that sort of encounter is that it's just something to do to fill a space, and serves no other purpose. That problem is not unique to TB- something like the Deep Roads in Dragon Age Origins would be an example in RTWP style of too many weak monsters in too many similar encounters bogging down a RTWP game. Would the Deep Roads be worse in TB? Yes, but the fundamental problem in both cases would be the poor encounter design, DAO's (and indeed, Fallout's) combat is fine when the encounters are designed well. For TB you just need fewer enemies, and more 'meaningful' choices to use to balance out the decreased apparent speed. There is a bit of a dichotomy between people who prefer fewer, more tailored and challenging fights who usually want TB and those who prefer more, but less individually challenging fights who tend to prefer RTWP. Personally, combat for the sake of combat sets my teeth on edge whatever the style, but if they're going for few but tailored encounters then that and '10 rat syndrome' should not be a problem.- 343 replies
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Yep, there's no information on all those things any good kickstarter gives you info on- such basic things as engine, what edition of rules would be used let alone whether the game would/ could actually be made, or allowed to be made. If it were to be compared to a KS it would be one of those slightly dodgy sounding Indiegogo flexible funding ones which are basically "here's my cool idea, give me money! (no refunds)". Which isn't really accurate either, but it's a lot more accurate than comparing it to something like PE. At the moment the whole thing relies on a vague idea of getting BG3 later by buying something now, and relies on (1) the thing they're selling being worthwhile and (2) you wanting them to make BG3. For many people neither will be true, I certainly don't want a shovelware BG3 and at the moment I have little faith in Overhaul to provide worthwhile overhauls, let alone new work.
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I missed the simulcast showing of the Doctor Who special due to social commitments but knowing that they were reshowing it in prime time I wasn't worried. Then had a power cut half way through the reshowing...
