Vaeliorin

I don't hate cats (I prefer cats to dogs, mainly because dogs, in my experience, want fairly constant attention) but I've no real interest in owning any. So I guess I'm safe.

I'd prefer to get 8-9 hours a night, but I usually end up with 6-7. I don't nap, it's just not something that I've ever done. As I've gotten older, I find I need more and more sleep, though it's possibly just untreated sleep apnea. Granted, when I was younger, I could get by with 2-3 hours a night for a week or so, or none for 2-3 days. In college, I even read a 1200 page book and wrote a final paper on it in the 24 hours before it was due, and I got an A. If I tried that now, I'd fail miserably. The longest I've ever slept was about 17 hours, but that was after being up for several days straight.

Wiz 8 is probably one of my favorite class systems. Wizardry 6 & 7 however, have insanely abusable class systems that almost demand you save before leveling up, reloading if you don't get the stats you want. Constantly switching classes every few times you level up (which is basically mandatory in order to get the skill points you need) is just silly.

Hiravias's line on entering the Salty Mast is my favorite so far. Spoilers, kinda

Huh, weird. I've never had them turn red, but then I don't recall using many spells during any of the stronghold battles, since the ones I got were all pretty easy. About the only one I know I used was the level 6 cipher massive damage/knockdown one, which targets a party member, so maybe it was better about not hitting the hired guys.

Wizardry 8 is one of my favorite games, though I wouldn't call it hard (except maybe on hard, but given that hard basically just screws you on dice rolls, I've never seen the point.) I even bought the guide book when it came out, because I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it later if I wanted it (and online guides weren't really a thing at the time.) My favorite party was Lord/Monk/Samurai/Ranger/Bard (Level 18 + 100 Music)-> Fighter/Gadgeteer (Level 18 + 100 Engineering + all gadgets) -> Rogue Let me have all the goodness of every spell school and all the instruments/gadgets, while still having a party that would wreck face in melee. Oh, and screw the XP Thieves (also known as NPCs...though I'd probably actually use them if they didn't have the annoying bit about not going to certain areas.) Also never used the Omnigun, since I hate having to chase enemies that get blinded. Oh, and the Ranger was a Mook so I could use the Giant's Sword. That wasn't the first party I beat the game with, but it was my favorite. First party had a fighter and a priest, but I don't recall the others (I want to say I had an alchemist that I changed to a ninja after learning all the spells, but I'm not sure if that was in my first party or not.) I will admit I've never beaten all 3 hidden dungeons, though. It's something I've been meaning to do...of course, so is beating Wizardry 7, and I've been meaning to do that for a couple decades now.

Finished PoE. Clocked in around 71 hours.

Actually, they can also be killed by the enemies. I don't think I've had a stronghold battle were at least some of my hirelings haven't died (the only time I lost them all was the first stronghold battle I did.)

Actually, I didn't have Survival at all, the town crier mentioned the kid cutting off his fingers, but I still encountered the father, with no mention of finger removal. I just assumed it was a bait and switch type thing, with me feeling bad because of the crier, but it turning out it was actually another kid. May have been a bug, though. Interestingly, I was also attacked by assassins in Brackenbury, who killed Serel (I couldn't stop them fast enough/didn't realize they were going to attack her.)

There are a few fights that are kind of challenging, mostly because of overpowered abilities (that, admittedly, I also have access to, but the particular enemies have many more HP than I do) but it really is too easy. I think I'm nearing the end, I've been level 12 for a while, and I just tonight beat a dragon without a single character doing down (though it was close with my MC cipher...single hits for 134 damage are painful, I should have stayed at range.) That said, I really like the story and the companions, and there are definitely some choices that I'm not sure what the right decision is, or if there even is a right decision. Still, I did kind of figure out who the overarching enemy was right after the tutorial (not the direct adversary, mind you), but the details of it were somewhat unexpected. Overall, I really, really like the game. If it was harder (and turn-based), I'd probably rate it a 10/10 for me personally, but as it is, I'd say it's probably a 9. I definitely plan to replay it pretty quickly (I picked up Valkyria Chronicles on sale a day or so after PoE came out, and I'll probably give that a shot before I replay PoE.)

Wow, those arms...I assume instead of picking locks he just rips the doors off their hinges.

I'll just come right out and say it, even though I know it's an unpopular opinion. I hate casing sausages. The meat can be good (depending on the sausage obviously) but I just can't stand casing. Between the texture and squirting juices, I just find the whole thing unpleasant. That said, I love pretty much every variety of casing-less sausage I've ever had.

I always wondered why I've never seen a Home Depot sign vandalized to say Home Despot (not that I'm saying you're wife is a despot, mind you. I just thought it was funny when it occurred to me 15+ years ago, since in my experience the wife is always in charge in the real world.)

It's Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day, looks like. From when they were both on The Guild. And it's freaking awesome.

Why is it suddenly Min/Max to be able to choose the skills of companions at level up? We should be happy that the game auto picks absolute tripe at level up for us? Just one of the symptoms of the breed as I see it, and as I suspect RevBlue sees it. I don't recall anywhere near this much kvetching about NPCs in BG2 back then. People who loved BG2 were willing to accept the NPCs as they were. IMO, the complainers sound more like IWD1/2 type of players who prefer making their own NPCs, even at the cost of losing any ability NPC interactions. There aren't really any meaningful choices upon leveling in 2E D&D. I mean, sure, you could spend thief points terribly, but you get so many that presumably you'll put at least some into dealing with locks and traps. Weapon choices were mainly aesthetic unless you knew which weapons were the good ones (which is impossible on a first playthrough.) Talents and skills are a much bigger deal. I picked up Grieving Mother at level 8, and she's got two awful talents out of 4 (Greater Focus, Mental Fortress) and her choices for "spells" are less than ideal, and it's not like I can switch any out or learn more than a very limited number. Given her fairly terrible stat selection, it would be nice if I could at least select her talents so as to make her more useful, so that I can enjoy having her along, instead of doing so only because I find her story interesting. I used greater focus on my main as well, made all the difference a number of times, I found grieving mother to work fine so far, pain block in particular was a handy power to suddenly get that I didn't previously have. Pain Block is one power, and a good one. But GM is lacking powers I would want, and has several I wouldn't use (I'm not actually using her at the moment, as my main is a cipher, but I intend to on my second playthrough.) And how has greater focus "made all the difference"? Are you ever actually getting to max focus? Why? I can see, maybe, wanting to maintain a minimum level of focus, but there's no need for an extra 10 max focus, ever.

You know, that article about the Hugo Awards mentioned something that I've thought for a while now.

Why is it suddenly Min/Max to be able to choose the skills of companions at level up? We should be happy that the game auto picks absolute tripe at level up for us? Just one of the symptoms of the breed as I see it, and as I suspect RevBlue sees it. I don't recall anywhere near this much kvetching about NPCs in BG2 back then. People who loved BG2 were willing to accept the NPCs as they were. IMO, the complainers sound more like IWD1/2 type of players who prefer making their own NPCs, even at the cost of losing any ability NPC interactions. There aren't really any meaningful choices upon leveling in 2E D&D. I mean, sure, you could spend thief points terribly, but you get so many that presumably you'll put at least some into dealing with locks and traps. Weapon choices were mainly aesthetic unless you knew which weapons were the good ones (which is impossible on a first playthrough.) Talents and skills are a much bigger deal. I picked up Grieving Mother at level 8, and she's got two awful talents out of 4 (Greater Focus, Mental Fortress) and her choices for "spells" are less than ideal, and it's not like I can switch any out or learn more than a very limited number. Given her fairly terrible stat selection, it would be nice if I could at least select her talents so as to make her more useful, so that I can enjoy having her along, instead of doing so only because I find her story interesting.

I hope you're right about the Tigers, but I'm not betting on it. They've disappointed me the last several years with better pitching (at least up front) so I'm not holding out hope for them. At least they've won a World Series in my lifetime, so my teams from the big 3 sports are 2 for 3 on that (Tigers, Pistons, Browns ).

Man, what happened to RPGnet? Telling people to make up their own mind is a perma-ban offense? What happens if you mention F.A.T.A.L.? Do they send someone to your house to shoot you?

I'm playing on Hard and have never had to backtrack yet. I got my camping supplies to zero once, I think, and that's because I forgot to stock up when passing by the inn, and while it got a little fiddly to get by until I found more, it was not frustratingly hard. I.e. if you feel like you need 20 camping supplies, I'm fairly confident you're not playing the game very well. Take a deep breath, read up on the mechanics, experiment a little, and it will come together. I agree (surprisingly!). In fact, I find myself leaving behind most camping supplies I find on Hard because I am capped. The only issue is Aloth is a lazy schmuck. The only notes I've made in my journal is the location of camping supplies I've left behind so I can go pick them up if I ever get low.

I've seen one door (a pretty early one) that required 9 mechanics, but it wasn't really meant to be opened that way (there's a puzzle that opens it.)

Maybe I missed something, but wasn't there any way for the DM to make the NPC talk? I mean, there was serious potential for bad guy banter, but the bad guy was just instantly hostile. Honestly, the whole "DM currency" and "DM loot" seemed really strange to me as well. At this point, I don't know that it's even a $5 on Steam buy for me.

Honestly, the only reason I'd have to backtrack is because of fatigue. It's so freaking annoying to be forced to use camping resources (not that I've had to buy any yet, I've still got one left stuffed in a crate in Gilded Vale) or suffer a -20 accuracy just because you've been traveling around. In the IE games, I largely ignored fatigue, as the penalty was so minor, but I've found it annoying enough in PoE that I want all my characters to have at least 3 in Athletics for the -90% combat fatigue.

9:00 AM PDT, assuming all goes well

Finished Dragonfall DC the other day. I'd never finished it before (even in the original version, though I got to the second to last run.) I've got to say, the ending was pretty surprising to me, but was really well done. I'm really glad I backed SR:R. My only disappointment is that Adepts seem kind of terrible (I tried one in the DC and it just requires too much karma, and being out in the open is way too dangerous.) Been messing around with NWN2 since, just waiting for PoE. I can spend hours just messing around with character building, especially with the extra classes from some mods.