Raithe

.. So are you saying that any single player game that has a focus on story and characters..that involves combat.. is a copycat of every other game that does that? Doesn't that basically make every game with a halfway decent story and some interesting characters a copycat of every other game ever written? Personally, I'm of the opinion that if a game has an interesting story, some characters that can pull me in, and a game system that doesn't suck.. you can have fun with it. If the game play is similar to another game, does it matter so much if it's a fresh perspective on a genre story? I can sit back and analyse the bejeezus out of it afterwards and highlight every flaw.. but as long as you can sit down, and play it without a few flaws killing your enjoyment..

In a shocking and unprecedented twist - there are clones! many many MANY clones And then in some of the teasers that have been released with designers talking about it.. there's the hint that the really surprise and unprecedented twist..is that he might not have actually died, and just thinks he's a clone among many... But that could have just been them trying to play with the fans minds..

They have been pushing the whole "each class has it's own story, plus their own perception of the grand galactic story" and one of the issues for a lot of the hard-core mmo fans is that Bio keep talking about the rerolling new characters of different classes to explore the stories from different angles..rather then talk about endgame playing....

I think I'll wait on Force Unleashed II... I want to hear what the pc keyboard/mouse controls are like for it before bothering with putting cash down

On that sort of note, Demon the Fallen had a lot of useful thoughts on how to both build up loyalty in minions, and cultivate cult type followers... both equally applicable to Vampire use.. Oh, and Tzimisce.. there was one low-ranked Koldunic ritual that you could use to tweak the blood bond.. so you could shift the "type" of bond it would be, drop down some of the "stalker-obsesserish-love" aspect and reinforce more of the "general loyalty".. Very useful if you're planning on having a group of ghouls.. cuts down on some of the rivalry they can show with each other... Means you don't have to spend so much time managing them personally....

Well if you're play style is set up to cover a series of "adventures" over a century or two.. you can take advantage of some of those Koldunic Rituals that help "prepare" revenant births.. both to enhance their abilities, reinforce other aspects... actually effect the fetus before birth... If you're just using standard ghoul practice to create revenant families its very chancy, and it takes lots of attempts to get one success.. but there are a lot of Koldunic Sorcery that the Tzimisce developed to help ..increase that chance.. Think of it as mystical boost to general eugenics... Work carefully to enhance the sense of loyalty rather then just forcing it from a few ghoul families, arrange a few marriages.. (Almost like cultivating a cult with the right twitches..) Cross some Basarab with some Vlasvy...occasionally add in some "extra stock" proven for the capabilities you'd look for in good minions, protect them from the depredations of other Tzimisce.. and within a couple of generations.... Of course, it's a bit more of a long-view then just a few quick flesh-sculpt and terrorise... but it can work wonders

I always favoured the careful breeding of Revenant families, and a nice use of Koldunic Sorcery...

There's a reason it's easier to be a Tzimisce with a horde of ghouls, revenants, and fleshcrafted schlactza in the dark ages then in modern day....

That's always seemed a bit dodgy to me.... technically it's accurate.. but that's just turning you into a catalyst.. drink his blood, filter it through your system...then let him have some of it back. It depends in just how you wrap up the spirit of it.. I guess it doesn't have to be quite as..clinical a relationship between Kindred and Retainer as it sounds. Edit: There's also the factor that if the ghoul uses any disciplines / blood abilities that require that blood point.. they're going to need you to replace it again quicker. If they don't do anything beyond the normal they only need the 1 in their system to stay "ghouled". So if you want them to be useful beyond the background.... It's going to turn you into a blood factory.

You know.. if we're not careful this could turn into a total "when I was a boy, we used to live in a cardboard box, and have to wake up 2 hours before we went to bed" type of thread.... Still, may the gods of healing and luurv visit and clear up the throat spike issues Wals.

For the slightly bizarre.. I've been poking around to be able to pre-order the upcoming Tron Evolution game.. but while the usual suspects have the ps3, the wii, the xbox versions.. they either don't show the pc version.. or just have a the "currently unavailable/ no idea when it will be" type of message... So is this just the UK, the rest of Europe, or Wold Wide I wonder?

Managed to actually get to bed early last night... and then ended up waking up late with a cringing headache. Surviving, but now have to face the autumn weather to go pick up the milk and assorted groceries..

Naked Heat by "Richard Castle" Heh, it's a fun read...very much in the style the scriptwriters use for the actual show. And all of the little nods and winks to episodes of Castle where he picked up "research" from the murders/events they investigate and how they've been worked in the "fictional" book is somewhat amusing.

picked up a copy of the original Tron soundtrack.. techno music from '83...

To be fair on the families side, they did ask the Americans not to go gung-ho and charge in, because they knew some people that were negotiating for their daughters release.. So I can understand why they're so pissed that the Americans went in anyway.. But yes, I'm amazed at the one-sided reporting again.

So the big news of the day is about that kidnapped aid worker in Afghan.. and how the US Special Forces tried a raid to rescue her..and accidentally killed her themselves when they threw a grenade in the room. And the papers I had a quick glance at so far.. are purely about the US Soldiers screwing up, and no real heavy/critical points about the actual people who kidnapped her in the first place... While I think it's a bit dangerous in a hostage rescue to be casually throwing grenades around... You'd expect a little more reporting on the kidnappers..

Well my comment wasn't aimed at you Wals, but since I live in a student city.. I'm forever stumbling over alcohol ganked up students around town on the weekends. After all, there's something to be said for quiet parties where you drink a bit to the merry side, and have a raging fire pit in the backyard while the guys sit back with some fine spirits and cigars brought back from mexico, cuba and points around there.. But I just can't get into the mindset of several associates who drink to the point of throw up/pass out.. purely for the sake of reaching that point and declaring it fun.. If you're trying to reach unconsciousness for other reasons, that I can understand.. but to say it's fun is something I just don't get...

Internet fandom happened. .. Oh, and fan slashfiction. and the concepts of flame war. And the geek's belief that any difference of opinion and a successful resolution of an internet argument gives you the rights to the losers catgirl...

That's one of those curious things.. now, as I grew up my parents were quite happy to let the kids enjoy wine with certain meals, and when we went off on the cruises they'd even let us try out ****tails in the evening.. very much in that "This is alcohol, there's nothing special about it." So both my sister and I never really thought of alcohol as that wonderful, mysterious substance to hammer as we grew up.. Although the tour around the vinyards of madeirra on the new year when I was eight and I managed to get hammered for the first time in my life wasn't something they reacted well to.. (I blame it on looking totally pure and innocent, and the mixture of newly married couples and old age pensioners doing the "aww, you're so cute, why don't you have one of these tasters?") But I've seen so many classmates and such react to it as if it's the be all and end all of a night out. Hell, I remember one time just after the christmas break when some 18 year old who worked the same part-time job came in and did this whole "Wow, I had a great christmas week. I spent over

Lets see, traversing the joys of transferring bits and pieces from my mothers old computer into a new one..then installing the assorted software and needed things.. The vet says the cat has conjunctivitis..and it's been playing up.. oh.. and the dog got dive-bombed by birdcrap while it was out in the garden... It's had that joyful monday start...

"For the ladies yield, and the ships go down.. or wait, is that the other way around? Ah-Hah, For I am the Pirate-King!" Some songs just stick to the mind and circle....

But does it have the sheer chutzpah of..: "We're men, we're men in tights. We roam around the forest looking for fights. We're men, we're men in tights. We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right! We may look like sissies, but watch what you say or else we'll put out your lights! We're men, we're men in tights, Always on guard defending the people's rights."

Keeping that regular supply line going when you have a handful of servants, then throw in blood bound fleshcrafted creations.. especially if that house plan takes off.. you'll need more then one body to stretch around there.... It all starts adding up... which makes hunting more important.. which can attract more attention...

But yes, to return slightly to the original aspect of this thread.. one of the troubles with tzimisce is keeping an eye on that blood budget and keeping the fleshcrafted minions and revenant servants ghouled.... .. and Minions are so darn useful...