BruceVC

You've raised a good point, please be aware that I like Malc and his response or lack of response won't change that. This is nothing personal, its just something I wanted to clarify

Last one I bought was in 2006 when on a flight, only decent thing out of that was that I found out about the Witcher. Used to love that magazine from 98 to 01, was excited to get my hands on the demo CD, heh. How you conclude the first I do not know, but the second, hardly believe getting smashed, staggering about affects one's ability to empathize Well you never seem to support any posts I make around the importance of equality. In fact most times you seem dismissive of the plight of people who are victims of discrimination, like the homophobic laws being passed in Russia But if I have misunderstood you I apologize, its good to have other people on these forums who believe in campaigning for equal rights and making a point of rejecting comments that are about bigotry

You are right, we aren't very good at software development for gaming purposes. But don't tell Oby that

Happy Birthday!!!! Yeah Happy B-day

Malc maybe that's why you don't seem to care so much about certain social issues, like gay rights? You may need to get drunk more often to empathize with people...just a thought

Oby you would have failed miserably in listing of international games unless you can find some South African games, lets make this thread have a global feel to it so people realize that games come from places all over the world

I don't know the answer to this but I would like someone more informed than me to comment on your post as you raise some good questions

Yeah I have been replaying Baldur's Gate lately and sorry but, it's combat is anything but tactical until very late game. So far 90% of my fights have boiled down to select all, click a mob, wait for it to die, click next mob, rinse wash repeat. The fights that do require some planning have also hilariously come down to luck. I had one fight against this two mage, ogre, and two fighter group. Had it won, my party was up, all but one mage dead. Then as we engage the final mage he casts something and my main character failed a save apparently, one shot kill game over. So much for tactics, one bad save paired with the mage scoring his best possible damage, and I lose. Begging your pardon, but I see tactical written all over this description of yours. Everyone knows that Step 1 of any battle plan in BG (or any of the IE games) is to kill or disable all spell casters first. You didn't do that, so you paid the price. Hm.... BG1? Level 4-5 party? Lets see. The following buffs could have helped you tremendously against the 2 mage, 1 Ogre, 2 fighter party that took you out. 1) Invisibility (enemies can't target invisible characters) 2) Haste (Haste is completely unnerfed in BG1, making it the most powerful Spell in the whole game. It doubles your entire party's # of attacks...for an extended period of time. Had you hasted your party, then employed focus fire tactics, that fight would have not lasted more than 20 seconds) 3) Monster Summoning 1 (the value of this spell is not in what it summons, but the quanity of what it summons. An enemy surrounded by gibberlings will waste all its attention, attacks and AI on the gibberlings, leaving your whole party to do whatever it wants in complete safety, for several rounds. 4) Sanctuary (The level 1 cleric spell. Forces enemies to ignore your cleric....even if he walks right in front of them to heal your fighter, or your mage. or to recast any expired buffs) 5) Potions. (BG1 dispenses them without limits. Magic Blocking, Magic shielding, Invunerability, Heroism, Giant strength, Invisibilty, Speed etc. The majority of these will improve your saving throws to the point where you won't fail any. And a couple will enhance your fighting skills so as to tip the balance of the fight in your favor) 6) Mirror image. (doesn't just protect your mage from melee and ranged physical attacks, it will also protect him from AOE spells.) 7) Shield (have your mage put one of these up and you can shrug off enemy magic missiles.) 8.) Chant, Prayer, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Luck (boost your entire party's saves) And... they stack. I agree 100 % and your suggestions are all valid strategical decisions you can make to effect combat. I am currently playing IWD for the first time and there are loads of spells you can cast, like animal summoning and Skull Trap, to change combat. Anyone who truly thinks that the older IWD games are just about luck don't understand the AD&D rules

To be fair to the French they only capitulated so relatively easily in WW2 was because there so called omnipotent defence line the Maginot Line was bypassed with almost no effort but the main reason was they had not recovered psychologically from the horrors they had suffered in WW1. You need to read books like " The Price of Glory Verdun 1916" to understand what the French really lost in the Great War. Add to that leaders who just weren't prepared to go through another war and you have a subdued nation. But they are coming back to own nowadays from a military perspective. In the last 10 years they have actively successfully involved in several conflicts like Libya and Mali. So they are building back the pride in there armies

Typical response from a Dane ..we all know you guys aren't ethnically pure !!!

...good one I like your sense of humour

It is a homage to an older style type of "gameplay". I am reluctant to say "gameplay" in this regard really, what I am going for is the experience. It is a personal experience though, and it was the excitement of playing Might & Magic 1 with a pen & paper on the side. I wrote down all the spells myself because I didn't want to google it, drew maps and it was a profound experience in my opinion. I also wrote down all the quests. Wow that shows some impressive commitment to an RPG, especially an old game like M&M 1 I've never played that game, I know it sounds shallow but the lack of decent graphics put me off

Bruce, for various reasons I won't go into now, some years back I spent a month with a nice supply of tequila bottles at the bottom of the bed. Yes, it lets you get to sleep. But overall, it's just a wee bit expensive on both the wallet and the self-respect when you do it day in day out.... I can't argue with that. Some of the of most embarrassing incidents I've had has been due to Tequila. I now am more reserved, I won't drink more than 10 Tequilas in a night (well maybe 12-14 but that's my absolute maximum )

I have to say that State of Decay has now piqued my interest, I have done some reading and the game looks interesting

Raithe my friend allow BruceVC to give you some sanguine tips to induce somnolence Tequila is your friend, enough of those bad boys will keep you in a deep state of slumber

Hey, Sweden is doing what we've been doing the last thousand years; Exporting furniture around the world, having you furnish your homes in the fashion we find appealing, so that when the day comes, and we take over the world - we'll find it homey! Ikea is'nt a company; It's a tactic! Azdeus would you say Sweden is its own country or do you consider it part of Denmark?

For the love of god and country Walsie don't stop drinking, it gives you real purpose and identity and that's something some people never achieve there whole lives I would like to think that my character comes from more than oak casks and crushed fruit. Maybe? But does it make a difference ...your character is what people perceive it to be ...so what if alcohol is what defines you? (I'm just teasing you Walsie, I'm very confidant you are person of great integrity and personality in RL, its Friday ..allow me a little badinage )

Okay fair point, I don't want to undermine any exercise that people are currently doing

I see Rob Ford the Canadian mayor who was filmed smoking crack cocaine has just been filmed again but this time making some almost unintelligible rant and swearing about people and events ..I can't find the video at the moment but check the Jon Stewart clip around his first incident...hilarious as usual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WV7YtmHEuw Oh I found the latest video http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/rob-ford-admits-being-extremely-inebriated-in-new-video-1.2418421

For the love of god and country Walsie don't stop drinking, it gives you real purpose and identity and that's something some people never achieve there whole lives

...You can drink tea, and shoot the French! ,,,funny

Different strokes for different folk, some people may just have an interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle that doesn't include excessive exercise. They are not training so much as just keeping active, also consistency offers good results in terms of gains and health, 3-4 times a week every and a healthy diet is more than enough to just be healthy. Buts that's my point, how does 20 minutes of cardio where you don't strain at all help you? How is that a healthy lifestyle? You may as well not go at all...or am I missing something Because even working standing up is a bonus for most people these days. You honestly don't need to be sweating to get benefit from the activity. A gentle walk for 40 minutes is still good for you. I hear you but I still question the impact around what I see at gym sometimes. A 40 minute walk is good exercise ( or is it?) but lets say you need to make serious health changes due to high cholesterol or high blood pressure and exercise is what is needed I can't see how spending 30 minutes in a gym and putting no effort in would improve the situation?

Gee Trashman don't exert yourself on account of us, the last thing anyone wants is for you to do real exercise

You have raised a good point. Where do we draw the line from being overly fastidious around hard-core rules and the reality where a person stops playing or enjoying the game as they try to follow these rules.

You've raised some interesting idea's Some make sense to me like the aging impact but some I think would overly complicate the game for me, like not knowing what spells are what. I think most of your ideas would only be relevant to a few hard-core gamers. I'm not saying they are wrong, I'm just saying they won't be popular for the mainstream RPG audience. But good post anyway