BruceVC

Nah, the case for Romance is that they make for more memorable and better interaction with party members. The case against Romance is.....mmmm.....oh yes we can focus on other types of party interaction and discussion arcs .... That is all Even as someone who is nominally pro-romance in role playing games, a poorly written romance isn't going to be "more memorable and better interaction" than well written alternatives. True but as far as I know no one is advocating a badly written Romance arc

That's an interesting post and it made me laugh Personally I think every generation has it pro's and con's and no generation is better at all things than another one. But I do always laugh when people say things like " kids nowadays have no respect" or " young people nowadays have it easy" This was the exact same thing people said about them when they were young.

Nah, the case for Romance is that they make for more memorable and better interaction with party members. The case against Romance is.....mmmm.....oh yes we can focus on other types of party interaction and discussion arcs .... That is all

I CTD'd in Skyrim three times in one session, for the first time, immediately after installing last Tuesday's Windows Update. After powering down and rebooting, it hasn't happened since. My hourly total now is only 110, but that's in addition to 600 hours on Xbox. There is nothing more satisfying than the explosion of light and sound after killing draugr with Dawnbreaker. KABOOM Holy Smoke, 700 hours + on Skyrim is a very impressive amount of time to spend on a game. Nice one, you must know Skyrim backwards by now ? Phew, I thought my 400-500 hours was a lot. No your time on Skyrim is impressive, but Manifsted's time is extraordinarily impressive

Maybe it was the Romance options in Skyrim that you couldn't handle....being faced with true love can be daunting

No there is a lot more at stake here than this guy just flaunting his opinion. He was the primary contributor towards the homophobic legislation that is law in Russia. He bigotry has been echoed by many other Russian ministers and we are seeing that filter down to people on the street who can perpetuate hate crimes against gay people without fear of any real prosecution. We now see comments from the major of Sochi like "there are no gays in Sochi" and that example of corrective rape of that women that Fry mentions. But there are many other cases of violence and discrimination against gay people in Russia. I watched a documentary on CNN recently that discusses the rise of this type of violence. That's the problem where you have a law that legalizes bigotry. The consequences for the people being targeted are extreme and serious and go far beyond what the actual law pretends to protect or address

It can also plant me firmly in the anti group. You do know that the rush of chemicals is addictive, right? And that a bunch of the people at the BioWare forums do show symptoms of addiction, right? And that you show symptoms of addiction too, right? Also don't quote me while I'm still editing my post Lurky I'm confidant you'll come round and see reason. You'll end up in the Romance camp, it is as inevitable as the rising sun. Its just the right thing to do And almost all of us are addicted to something in life, the best thing is to acknowledge it. But I really don't consider myself addicted to RPG romance. I enjoy it thoroughly but I don't suffer from some sort of dislike of a game if Romance is excluded.

...Have you considered, I don't know, fixating your attention on other character aspects? Personality quirks, memorable actions, character development and progression during the story, things like that? I can understand that remembering characters is easier if they give you the quick rush of chemicals romantic feelings can provide (look, I can into science too!), but you just said that you're almost unable to remember characters unless they give you that. If you're not exaggerating, then you really should do some introspection of yourselves. Diversify your interests a little, it'll be good for you! Of course all those points are important in you remembering certain characters during your RPG journey, but it doesn't change the significance of Romance. And I'm glad you are also into science Lurky..it can only bring you closer into the Romance camp

Okay that is unusual, bacon and oats. I may try it some time..but I associate oats as something healthy and bacon as more of a treat and junk food. But maybe I can eat it as more for a special meal I have found its often the unusual sounding recipes that are most enjoyable. I will add to that by suggesting a Vegemite, cheese and apple sandwich ( I do think the taste may be catered more so to the Australian market as i hear alot of other countries arent too keen on vegemite ) If however you enjoy the taste of vegemite, 2 slices of thick bread ( fresh baked would be best ) some nice full butter, generous amounts of vegemite ( or as much as you can handle ) Cheese ( Block, i tend to just use tasty as im poor ). Last but not least Apple ( fresh and crispy ) Side note. Cut the cheese 3/4 the thickness of your apple slices. I find it gives the best texture of crunch / firmness of the Apple and cheese respectively. It may seem OCD for a simple sandwich, however im sure food enthusiasts and fellow Chefs would agree Appearance and Texture play a vital part in any meal. As for my dinner tonight. I had a; Cup if instant chicken noodle soup Tin of tuna ( Last of ) Row of white chocolate ( Last of ) Can of Dr Pepper ( Last of ) Block of ice from the icetray ( 1 of 12 ) As you can see i didn't really have anything in the fridge, so my option were severely limited ( to just that ) We have Marmite, which I love, in South Africa and its very similar to Vegemite. So thanks for the tip...I wouldn't have thought of the apple

Get back to me once BioWare makes a character with depth like Kreia. They can't? Wow. I'm actually speechless that this guy thinks Bioware makes characters. They make the gaming equivalent of inflatable sex toys, ludicrous facsimiles. And the ubiquitous and unnecessary "Bioware bashing" starts, that's one way to get someone to like your posts hey boys. Except for the fact you will both be playing DA:I when it gets released, despite the reality that "Bioware games contain shallow writing, characters and inflatable sex toys". But I suppose a dislike of Bioware and there games is a temperamental thing that only applies around our dislike for Romance

I agree that leaving out Romance will lesson the RPG experience in respects to interaction with your party members and most people see that as well. But the reason Obsidian is not implementing Romance is because they don't have adequate resources to do Romance properly. The point is basically "if you can't do something properly then don't do it at all" And even though it pains me to say so if that is the reality then its better we don't see Romance in PoE

Monte you funny To be honest my character generally only pursues Romance with human females or similar races like a Drow (Viconia comes to mind), the main reason for this is I normally play a male character and that is what seems logical during my RPG experience for me personally. A female Kobold isn't what my character would initiate a Romance with

I hear what you saying, but to be honest I only changed my mind after reading all the points around the concept of a "good troll". So I needed to be convinced

I CTD'd in Skyrim three times in one session, for the first time, immediately after installing last Tuesday's Windows Update. After powering down and rebooting, it hasn't happened since. My hourly total now is only 110, but that's in addition to 600 hours on Xbox. There is nothing more satisfying than the explosion of light and sound after killing draugr with Dawnbreaker. KABOOM Holy Smoke, 700 hours + on Skyrim is a very impressive amount of time to spend on a game. Nice one, you must know Skyrim backwards by now ? It's because I keep searching for romance ... Okay finally something I can help you with around Skyrim, I can suggest some relevant adult mods that should solve that problem

It's a valid Observation, but I'm not sure it's universal truth that Romances automatically = more memorable characters. People will remember NPCs who are well written and who are prolifically represented in a video game. (read: lots of lines either spoken or text) Whether they're romanceable or not makes little difference. Romances are certainly a way to make a character memorable. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. What IS in dispute is whether it's the best way. I happen to be in the camp of people who say it's not. And for my argument, I can say this. In my years of gaming the characters I remember most are: 1)Irenicus 2)Morte 3)Fall-From-Grace 4)Serevok 5)Neeshka 6)Viconia 7) Roche ^And only one of these is romanceable. Fair enough I do remember most of those characters but I particularly remember Grace because I did attempt to Romance her

That doesn't really mean anything other than you have prejudices and don't have an open mind. And using sweeping generalisations. So do you think there are good trolls Bruce? Or are you going to be evasive too? "prejudices and don't have an open mind"...ouch . Someone got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, what happened? Did the pet kangaroo go on a rampage and upset your sheep from there daily frolicking in the outback? I thought my view on trolls was unequivocal..unequivocal !!! All Trolls are bad and need to be sent to some jungle prison camp for hard labour. We must aspire to eradicate this world of the menace of the Internet Troll, once this is done liberty and freedom will reign !!!! PS : After reading some of the comments about what a "good troll" is, like what Zor said, I have to concede there is such a thing. I just don't think I have experienced it.

To me a so-called "good troll" would presumably lie in a grey area of interpretation, so it is unclear if there definitely are such entities. Why are you being so evasive? And it goes back to what I said. "you think there is never a good troll and if there is, it's called something else and not a troll?". So even though you didn't say it, it's what you're implying. And this confirms it. Your posts come across as there is no such thing as a good troll. And consider a few posters in this thread have said there are good trolls (posts), so you basically disagree when them as well. If you open a thread for discussion, holding fast to one opinion and deny the concept of good trolls when there are good trolls and being evasive when questioned, then it truly baffles me. And it goes back to strawman, sweeping generalisations and inherent bias which you seem to accuse me of a couple of pages ago. The view I have is that "bad trolls " have caused so much animosity and consternation through the years that the concept of a "good troll" is foreign to most people. If you publicly announce that you are a troll most people will immediately assume you are there to disrupt discussions and can offer nothing positive. That's the reality we live in and its understandable

Trust me once you get into Rugby you will realize what an absolutely exciting game it is

I CTD'd in Skyrim three times in one session, for the first time, immediately after installing last Tuesday's Windows Update. After powering down and rebooting, it hasn't happened since. My hourly total now is only 110, but that's in addition to 600 hours on Xbox. There is nothing more satisfying than the explosion of light and sound after killing draugr with Dawnbreaker. KABOOM Holy Smoke, 700 hours + on Skyrim is a very impressive amount of time to spend on a game. Nice one, you must know Skyrim backwards by now ?

...tell me where ye've been outside o' Canada ta flap yer gob 'bout this, dwarf...cuz I's been all o'er the world, when I's in the military, an' we Canadians be beloved worldwide cuz we ain't arrogant pieces o' crap, like some other countries...beloved...worldwide...some o' the crap that leaves yer gob should be shoved back in 'er... ...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!... Yeah, Canadians seem pretty arrogant I find, mainly about them being humble and nice (passive aggressive, really). But then again, this is a nation whose national spirit is entwined with a coffee chain and a beer company. Malc I am going to be honest you live in one of the most stable first world countries in the world. you live a country that has some of the most beautiful nature in the world your government is run well and levels of corruption is relatively low compared to other places your country has invested in infrastructure and education you have a strong economy and your country is a migration destination dream for millions of people Your biggest issue is some obese mayor of a major city smoking crack. You guys really have a good deal and its not like your country expects you to anything for it except for paying taxes and not being a social delinquent. And yet you and people like Volo still can't find it in yourself to do one thing that most people would do willingly...support your country in an international sports event..sorry to sound harsh but I think its a shocking attitude to have and I encourage you to look at yourself introspectively and change your view

That's a very good post and you make some relevant points And you have made me realize something else, I remember very few characters in my party through the various RPG I have played but I do remember the characters I shared Romance with. So for me another benefit around Romance is the obvious deeper interaction you have with people and this allows you to not just remember them as faceless people in your party but someone of significance in your memory of the game. This is a very valid observation

I did know you were joking and it was no problem at all. I joke with people as well and I believe that if you are going to do that you must be prepared to take it. Also we sometimes engage in discussions that get heated and emotional as people take there views seriously. I think that is all part of what constitutes healthy and lively debate and is not Trolling by any means

I've been on the internet since the early 90s is some form or fashion. My experience is that it really hasn't changed much in terms of the pro-social behavior, the anti-social behavior and the strata between. I think it depends where you look, if you use the RPGCodex forums as your benchmark then I agree we aren't seeing much progress around how people post and what they are prepared to say. But if you take sites like RPS they take the issue of sexism and the objectification of women in games very seriously. I would say it would be difficult to argue that in the last few years there hasn't generally been more of a raised awareness around issues of Internet anti-social behaviour and social justice.

I've heard this before that people nowadays are more serious and can't take a joke. That may be so or it may be the new online reality we live in where people are less tolerant of anti-social Internet behaviour or people that think its funny to be offensive or for example are dismissive of issues around equality

Excellent series and I am excited to start watching Season 2, thanks for the reminder