BruceVC

How is the situation dangerous as opposed to all other talks that have been attempted? Would you prefer the Obama administration did nothing?

Considering this is the first time in 3 years that the USA has got Israel and the Palestinians to sit face to face I'm cautiously optimistic. Also Kerry has instructed both parties to not speak to the press to ensure things don't get said out of line I watched interviews with representatives from both sides and as usual some concessions and compromises need to be made that will lay the foundation for a lasting peace. So the real question is " are both sides prepared to make certain sacrifices for peace" I firmly believe a 2 state solution is the only solution. Israel will have to give up land that some settlements are built on and give some parts of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians and the Palestinians need to accept that Israel has a right to exist and agree to abandon the armed conflict Lets see what happens, I come from a country that avoided a civil war due to political will. It can be done if people have the desire and are prepared to compromise

Okay, thanks for responding but my point was more towards other people. But to be honest when it comes to criticism of DA2 Varric very seldom comes up from people and the vitriol is normally directed at Isabella

I'm not nearly far enough in to reading through the book to make a final judgement, not to mention, that I need to actually play the game first. There really aren't "spells" per se, everything is technology, though some may refer to it as magic. The number of intristic powers (called esoteries) available to nanos is a lot more limited than the D&D spell repertoire, and they're a bit more broadly defined, though the amount of effects that can be accomplished with artifacts, cyphers, and oddities, is potentially limitless. Outside of being d20 based, the system shares practically nothing in common with D&D. There are 3 stat pools: might, speed, and intellect. As you use each of these you can can apply extra effort into actions, whatever they may be, to either increase your chance of success or increase the effects (more damage, etc), but this drains the appropriate stat pool by a certain amount and you don't immediately get those points back (until you rest or whatever) which limits your options down the line or makes you more susceptible to certain things. I need to read a lot more to truly get the grasp of it. I meant to say this before but you have a really good ability to describe things in a way that is interesting and easy to understand. Its the same when you discuss your adventures in games, its like a little story that's fun to follow . You should consider using this skill in some sort of more professional way. Like being a gaming journalist? I also think you are objective and that's what people look for with gaming reviews

Interesting but I have never heard a single complaint or issue in the various discussions on RPG and the armour or rather lack or armour when it comes to the various males characters and what they wear in a game? Why does this Isabella attire become such a big point of contention? How many people complained about what Conan wears for example? I think people feel threatened when a women is overtly sexual but are fine with a man doing it, it attacks there preconceived idea of the balance of sexual power and the role a women is suppose to have. I don't expect anyone to admit it but this is where some of the criticism around Isabella is coming from IMO. And this isn't necessarily directed at you Nonek but your post summarizes the general complaint from most

I'm not sure that's a good assumption to make about the gaming community... present company excluded, of course. I do like how everything is all about writing story and characters from the ground up and the gameplay elements will be fitted around that, not the other way around. It all sounds great, I hope they can deliver. /tries not to get hopes up too high //fails Edit: As an aside, I'm reading through the Numenera Core Book right now and it makes me think that this game will have to be turn-based (certainly not a bad thing in my opinion), or at least it would work a lot better with turn-based. Numenera's effort mechanic, which is very much at the core of the system, seems like it would be difficult to properly implement in real-time. I mean, I guess it's possible. How would you rate the ruleset compared to D&D? Also does the Core Book discuss magic, for example are there large numbers of spells and do they get progressively more powerful as they advance in levels like D&D

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/07/torment-devs-on-progress-death-putting-story-first/#more-163397 Guys a really interesting interview around the new Torment game

So? None of the characters are real, and if your suggestion is that we should cater MORE to the mostly men that will not pay attention to her backstory nor even finish the game.... "None of the characters are real" is exactly my point. It's why the "this exploitative character is ok because he/she WANTS TO BE EXPLOITED" defense makes no sense. My suggestion is that pandering is pandering, no matter how you rationalize it. Let me put this another way. In fiction, especially fantasy fiction, you can rationalize anything however you want. For example, here's a story: "Once upon a time I was weak BUT NOW I'M REALLY POWERFUL AND EVERYONE LOVES ME." This story sucks - it's just the most dumbed-down form of a power fantasy. But let's say I add some backstory to my character, make him (me) work a little bit to become Superman, and then throw in a compelling villain. Now I have a well-written, fleshed out, deep, dark, gritty power fantasy! By your reasoning, this story is now awesome. By my reasoning, this story still sucks, because, fundamentally, out of all the stories in the world I could have chosen to write, I still *chose* to write a power fantasy about myself. I am confused by your point so maybe you can explain it to? Can you answer the following who is Bioware pandering to? If as you say most people don't care then it can't be for most people as they wouldn't care about characters and there stories. But for me I did care about Isabela and her story and motives. So I'm glad Bioware included that. If Isabela looked like she did and had no background something would have been missing who exactly in DA are you claiming what's to be exploited? I don't get this I would appreciate an honest answer as I want to debate this with you

So? None of the characters are real, and if your suggestion is that we should cater MORE to the mostly men that will not pay attention to her backstory nor even finish the game.... You really seem to be giving this impression, however. I, as a gamer, disagree. At which point, who's responsibility is it for not looking deeper? If you want to go full on social justice warrior, how many people have judged us for our geeky hobbies without looking deeper. In high school I loved video games and basketball... I would suspect it's no surprise that the basketball player was the more visible character for my peers. Why is this different "because we're real people" and at what point is it a moment of self-reflection. Even if a character reads as "the one who likes sex," part of me just straight up reverts to: "So what?" As you find my defense "it's a part of her character" weak, I have to admit I find the "she isn't a real person" not particularly compelling either. What you have said to me is that "A woman that likes to, and wants to have sex, is still just the superficial character and accomplishes nothing. Since she's not a real person, " So, how does one add a character that likes to, and wants to have sex? I'm not even thinking for men or for women. Isabella didn't work for you, that's going to happen which . Should we not write her for the people that DO like her character, and did involve her backstory? Again, it comes back to: should we NOT add game content simply because some people may superficially gloss over it? If so, isn't that exactly why we hang out on Obsidian's message boards, because we want them to make games that are not glossed over and explore things that many people couldn't be arsed with? Well said Alan, I agree 100 % QFT !!!

I'll admit, Ryan Gosling is definitely sexy. Yes he is good looking and charismatic. Nothing wrong with being honest

Kaine I am going to vouch for this game, that should be enough for you to confirm the quality? No. Difficult crowd, okay I'll wait till I play the game before I give it a ringing endorsement

Kaine I am going to vouch for this game, that should be enough for you to confirm the quality?

You've raised a good point and worth discussing. Namibia and Botswana are in a different league to Zimbabwe. In fact they are examples of the future of Africa and how it can achieve its full potential both economically and socially. The points you mentioned are important from an African perspective as they encourage foreign investment and this is something that all countries in Africa need. Another main difference between those countries and Zim is that those countries governments haven't stayed in power by being anti-Western and anti-European. In fact they have generally made the right decisions for there countries not for political expediency but rather what would benefit them in the long term economically. In Africa certain social challengers are ubiquitous, like the redistribution of more land to black Africans. But how African governments handle these issues are very important to how the world perceives those governments. Namibia and Botswana haven't made local Europeans feel unwelcome and have consistently positioned there importance in rebuilding and improving there respective economies. So in summary both Namibia and Botswana are doing really well for themselves and in my opinion are exactly how certain other African countries should be governing themselves

I watched the video from TheBadComedian and although it's blatantly obvious he is indeed a very bad comedian, he has a lot of valid points. I haven't played it myself, but it seems CoH2 is roughly equal to a game about WW2 from a British perspective which only features planning an invasion of Narvik, bombing civilians in Germany to smithereens and sending underequipped colonial troops to their death. He showed some points of the game which were definitely ahistorical, and more which were decidedly mendacious. Especially the misplaced Vasilevsky quote made me cringe. One point he tried to make against the game which I don't agree on was the summary execution of Polish partisans with an implied conservative political allegiance. I am absolutely certain that the Soviet Union would do anything in their power to eliminate counter-revolutionary guerillas in own as well as occupied lands. Furthermore, Soviet penal battalions were probably very awful, unlike what he says in the video. I find due to your excellent understanding of history it is difficult to dispute what you say

Yeah he does have a certain look to him

Just remember, you lose a party member and they are gone forever. You will have to replace them with a NPC from the Adventurers Hall and they wont have banter/quests/personality. Holy Smoke Gfted1, you sure know how to make me worried. I could potentially lose someone I would be Romancing !!!! And that would be a crisis of monumental proportions And wouldn't that make the playthrough more memorable and powerful? Well it would make my choices and the combat more significant, so yes there is that advantage @ Others I'm old school, I prefer the thought of anyone I Romance to be alive. The thought of necrophilia would be boring....dead boring actually

Just remember, you lose a party member and they are gone forever. You will have to replace them with a NPC from the Adventurers Hall and they wont have banter/quests/personality. Holy Smoke Gfted1, you sure know how to make me worried. I could potentially lose someone I would be Romancing !!!! And that would be a crisis of monumental proportions

*wraps the tentacles of optimism around you* *drags you deep into the muck of anticipation* Funny That's how I remember DA, no real death unless the whole party is defeated. But are you sure you can't die in PE, that concerns me IIRC, death in PE only occurs with certain option boxes checked, otherwise you take a knee except in cases of a TPW. I know Ironman offers permadeath and only 1 save that will self delete but I think the one setting down from that (Trial of Iron?) also offers death but you can reload. There is no resurrection magic in PE so death is permanent. Okay thanks, I just want the combat to have a level of risk apart from where the whole party has to die. So in PE I'll probably play with certain settings to get the optimum balance of challange vs enjoyment

That's how I remember DA, no real death unless the whole party is defeated. But are you sure you can't die in PE, that concerns me

Depends what is meant by hot. For me it's more about facial expression than visible skin, or something about a pose. I do find forearms/arms extra sexy, so those Avenger posters of Hawkeye were nice. Also, not too "buffed" and needz to look at least close to 30. Not into the "really young" look. lol...Cillian Murphy. Yeah, he's an odd duck - often "creepy" but on the other hand, kinda hot on-screen, because of the intense gaze. I don't net-surf for random "handsome dudes" at all, and I'm not going to start now, so all I'd have is famous people references. But... Depends what is meant by hot. For me it's more about facial expression than visible skin, or something about a pose. I do find forearms/arms extra sexy, so those Avenger posters of Hawkeye were nice. Also, not too "buffed" and needz to look at least close to 30. Not into the "really young" look. lol...Cillian Murphy. Yeah, he's an odd duck - often "creepy" but on the other hand, kinda hot on-screen, because of the intense gaze. I don't net-surf for random "handsome dudes" at all, and I'm not going to start now, so all I'd have is famous people references. But... Personally I am also interested in what you and other ladies on the forum consider are attractive guys. Obviously men and women would see this differently but it will be insightful nonetheless

Tale when someone like you gets positive about a game it bodes well for the game as I believe you can influence others in the right way as your opinion is respected. I tend to be positive about most games so my view doesn't carry the same credibility as yours

That is really good news. I don't want auto-resurrect or health regeneration unless I sleep. I hope they include that as a feature

I support this thread for any member that wants to see cute or interesting men Also there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your image as a man so we may get some good tips Good call Oby

Wow, people still sunbath? You guys haven't heard of melanoma. In countries that have loads of sun, like South Africa, most people just don't sunbath anymore.

Are you not worried about running into something similar to the Abominable Snowman? I have it on good authority the snowman is terrified of running into Woldan. Nep you funny