taks

this is why i live in colorado... taks

[sarcasm]sir timmy? what? never... just... never. [/sarcasm] taks

i always considered NWN enjoyably boring. lots of repeat quests, related to those federal express type jobs. cardboard cutout NPCs abound and the challenge with the game is relative. choose dylan red tiger and you skate, choose another npc and it may be tough if you aren't a fighter, take no npc and it's real tough. oh well... taks

article here. oh, and you don't necessarily get 2x performance... "up to" is the claim, but that only depends on the limiting factor with the game. if it's processor limited, you won't see any increase. besides, even if you do get an improvement, what difference is 200 frames over 100? taks

well, actually, they do make a difference, however, the Infinity Engine mechanics chose to use the stats of the best in your party... in other words, you don't have to switch every time you need a different effect. at least, that's how i remember it (try it by trading out different charisma people in a shop... check the prices). taks

they added those things not because there's a way to prevent his death, but because there is a way to save his soul, i.e. he won't go to hell. taks

SLI doesn't do any good except with games that were specifically coded to take advantage of the technology. even then, the performance isn't good enough to justify two $400 video cards. taks

oh, btw, DEX adjustment to AC is -4 for a DEX of 18, 19 and 20... -5 for 21, 22, 23 and -6 for 24 and 25. taks

oops... citing 3E rules... in 2E, you get -1 AC adjustment at DEX = 15, -2 at DEX = 16, etc... negative is better. try WotC. of course, that's mostly 3.5E rules, not 2E like baldur's gate 1/2. the best resource for BG info is here. somewhere in the game options you can set the auto-pause feature. the easiest way is to pause after each round, however, you'll quickly discover the drawbacks with such methods. i prefer to let my tanks go off and use their AI (can be toggled on/off) and just pause (spacebar) after each spellcaster does his thing. of course, i've played the BG and IWD series over 20 times (each game except ToB), so combat is 2nd nature to me... taks

uh, no, removing alochol does not remove the human condition of addictive behavior. it is ingrained in our genetic construction. remove alcohol and we find another drug of choice. temptation cannot be removed, only transplanted. there isn't. taks

schroedinger (don't have an umlaut on my keyboard) might have an argument here along with the quantum physics folks... perhaps uncertainty is exactly what allows free will. true science or layman's science? sad if the former, understandable if the latter. true science is unimpeachable (it constantly tries to fix itself), though rarely practiced. even by professionals. taks

no ellester... as soon as you conform, we'll all be identical. conform. taks

hmmm... i'm an ENTP... inventor. the description seems to fit, too... mark

yup... the saavis center in st. louis. coincidentally, the company saavis is also the brainchild of the same guy getting sued for the phantom game system... infinium labs? taks

i would recommend self-flagellation... at least then you'll only go blind, rather than insane. taks

some folks are just "world experienced" and therefore are capable of judging for the rest of us! i will buy this one, btw... i like gothic 2 and the look from the screens gives me the same feel (gothic, btw, is how ultima 9 should have been...) of course, i also DL'd the half-life 2 demo last night. haven't played yet, however. taks

holy sheeet! congrats buddy! good luck, too. my little brother just had his second, well, his girlfriend actually had it, but you knew that, right? red head little girl, ruby mae. go figure. everybody i know is preggers, even online! i need to do an avatar of john... he's getting big. almost 3', 29 lbs. taks

uh, sweden actually has a more capitalist economy than the US and not surprisingly, a higher per-capita income. well, by more capitalist i mean less regulated in general. there was a report that ranked us all a while back, not sure who did it. i think sweden was #1 and the US was like #3 or something... it compared taxes, regulations, trade restrictions, etc. taks

they are not. health care in the US is the best in the world. people with money in canada come to the US for their health care because it sucks up there... and homelessness is not a result of capitalism. many homeless are mentally ill, many choose to be that way. the difference is that socialst countries have the government dole, so nobody is homeless (well, not as many). and the phrase "impoverished" is a misnomer because the US "poverty line" is nearly middle class in most social-democracy countries... capitalism is the reason the US is the most prosperous in the world. this, also, is what helped create the wealth that provided our immense military resources. haiti, too, suffers from problems beyond what you state here, including dictatorships. capitalism isn't a guarantee, either, it's just the only system proven to work, ever. not true. i'm not wealthy yet capitalism has benefitted me immensely. i have no power, either. people are forced to sell their labor at whatever it is worth. if there is a shortage of a certain field, as in engineering, you get paid well. if there is an abundance of workers in a field, you get paid less. it's not about "what the rich are willing to pay" it's about supply and demand, period. simple concept that most communist supporters never seem to understand. i guarantee that statement is not true, either. compare the US standard of living against any social-democracy and i guarantee ours is higher. not just for the wealthy, either, but for everybody. a common misconception is that comparing poverty in each of our countries is an apples to apples comparison... it is not. even our "poor" have greater buying power than most of the average every where else... taks

you really, truly, deeply and madly are a dork. ahem... taks

you can't. it's beyond inefficiency. socialist economies cannot adjust for demand. oh yeah, arguably the most prosperous system to ever exist, and even still it is not fully capitalist (the US). the more free an economy is, the more per capita income and the less incidence of poverty. just totally sucks for sure. you'll grow up, you'll learn... hopefully, for your own sake. oh, and btw, a bit of a lesson for ya... capitalism refers to a socio-economic system... democracy refers to a form of government. the US is not a democracy nor has it ever claimed to be. read the freaking constitution for once in your short life. it's an eye opener, we're a republic. duh. taks

this is my point... communism starts out with a tyrannical government that says "once all is well, you won't need us any more!" but in reality, any fully socialist economic system will continually require a tyranny to keep it going. that's the "lie" that i was talking about. taks

no, communism is not a good system. it is not inherently evil in and of itself, but it does deny individual rights and, it does lie by convincing its people that "someday the government won't be needed." i'd say that makes it dishonest at best... taks

that statement is utter rubbish. capitalism is not "an idea on paper" at all. at least, not like communism. communism is an ideal that was specifically invented whereas capitalism was an observation of free market trade. big fish eating little fish is not a bad thing, either, and i dare you to provide proof it is. furthermore, once all the little fish are eaten up in a capitalist economy, opportunity for new players (called competition) arise decreasing the big fishes market. again, i dare you to find proof of any monopoly that was not created by the government. the odds are even lower in a communist society. plus, communism lies about its intention... at least a purely socialist economy admits the fact that a tyrannical government is required forever. not true at all. if we were all capitalist in nature, this wouldn't happen, ever. but, for whatever reason, silly eastern european, latin american and asian countries seem to think the strong arm of communism/socialism is the ticket... all of this in spite of the fact that every socialist based economy has either failed or is failing. actually, no... prices will plummet. exactly what mechanism is it that you think will force a rise? efficiency increases with increased competition, as a direct result, prices drop. that's the beauty and guess what it has been proven to work in reality time and time again. it is not a coincidence that the lowest poverty rates (actual, not perceived) and highest standards of living have always been associated with a capitalist economy. ahhh yes, now we see the root of the problem. it's actually a greed based motive. you're just pissed because your town's labor rates were higher than market value and the result was a company that couldn't compete. maybe if the people in your town would actually accept a reasonable wage for the work they were doing the same could have been said. government cannot place a value on labor as it has no intrinsic value. it is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay for it. once you get past the labor based notion, things work a little better. taks

it's a perfect excuse... lemme see, the artwork is better in BG from what i can see so far. the controls are better in BG from what i can see so far (FO is very choppy and the hex thing is killing me). combat in FO is horrid (sorry TB fans, but it sucks. toee was the first to do it right). in other words, BG is a more advanced game, and i played it first. it would be like playing HL2 first, then firing up Doom and trying to compare (not that extreme, but the analogy holds). it gets worse when you consider 1) i'm a fantasy fan and 2) i like magic, a direct result of 1). taks