AGX-17

How can you go to Little Lamplight and not be overtaken by feelings of disbelief, if not more aggressive negative feelings? The only explanation for these kids' survival are engine-level gameplay mechanics (they are unkillable,) and there's no explanation as to where they come from or any other aspect of their cartoonish existence. It might work for a childrens' cartoon, but not an M-rated RPG. Little Lamplight and the quests "Those!" and "Blood Ties" are the only truly infuriating aspects of Fallout 3. You could even call it a compliment that they've been able to stir up so much emotion in people. It was a great game in the end because it was more than the sum of its parts, and thanks mostly to great level design and atmosphere. Fallout 3 was phenomenal when it was just you exploring the wasteland. It really fumbled when it came to writing. It's just... COME ON. I'm the bad guy for killing the MURDEROUS CANNIBALS? How does just drinking your innocent victims' blood after murdering them make you shining Paladins of Light?!

It was British then Israeli policy that drove the Palestinians to violence in the first place. They were pushing and even fighting for free statehood while under British rule (nobody ever taught Arabs the ways of democracy,) in the chaos after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, then the British started letting Jewish colonists in. Then the British and Americans sent bigger waves of Jewish colonists in with tanks and guns, and those Jewish colonists just barged into Palestinian homes and forced families out at gunpoint and stole their homes and land while justifying it on religious grounds. And that's still what they're doing today with their settlement activity, which has been deemed illegal by every single nation on Earth but Israel. If the Jews didn't want to lose their land they should have kept their heads down and not pissed off the Roman mother****ing Empire 2000 years ago (this was the ROMAN MOTHER****ING EMPIRE. Did you HEAR about what they did to Carthage just for being in their way?) The story of the Jewish loss of their homeland is one of religious extremist factions (the Zealots for which all others have been named,) exacerbating what could have been a peacefully-solved conflict. Sound familiar? The purpose of the Jewish rebellion was just, and Vespasian would have given them some of the concessions they wanted if not for the Zealot faction mucking it up for all Jews. Israel refuses to enter peace talks or entertain the idea of a Palestinian state in good faith, they never intend to make any concessions. They know that there are uncontrollable muslim zealots running around in the Palestinian territories and they know that's the perfect excuse to never make peace, because they can blame the actions of one lone extremist or small cell of them on all Palestinians and cut off talks/expand settlements. Israel's policy toward the Palestinians is all stick. There's never been any carrot. They don't reward Palestinians for concessions or cease-fires, they continue the vindictive punishments. They're still building walls around the West Bank, still building colonies and stealing land, even though Fatah has given them what they wanted. They're still evicting Muslims from their own legally-owned homes in Jerusalem and giving their homes to Jewish families for the sole purpose of removing all Muslims from Jerusalem. The Palestinians who were born and raised and died for generations in that land for the intervening years were not Romans, they weren't responsible for the loss of the Jewish homeland, yet they're being punished as though they were Vespasian and Titus themselves.

You remember how many people made fun of Dragon Age for having characters constantly drenched in blood, right? Generally speaking, it wasn't smart to just stay covered in an enemy's blood until it rotted on your skin and crusted up your armor in reality, so I don't see how it would make sense to have that sort of constant bloodsoaking and no bathing thing they did in DA. Gore that makes sense should be all that's necessary. If some guy with an exposed neck has it sliced off by a sturdy, sharp blade wielded by a strong warrior, who's to argue it shouldn't come off?

I haven't checked in on these threads in a while. Are we (by which I mean people other than myself,) still just nodding in agreement that all fantasy game armor but chainmail and steel plate is unrealistic and should not be present despite the fantasy setting?

What I find unappealing are the furry fetishists it will inevitably attract. I also find unappealing your implication that it's "arrogant to place ourselfs[sic] in every fantasy setting." Every other race in fantasy gaming is so frequently a derivative stereotype of creatures imagined by mankind in the past that they have no value as an idea. They're just a quick and easy way to differentiate between different base attribute and skill sets, and a lazy way to depict different cultures, because every race in fantasy worlds is so often a monoculture. Humans are the creature humans best relate to. That is why humans tell stories about humans, that is why humans play games about humans.

Worst area of the game, bar none. "Oh look, a forest maze, never seen one of these before."

One of the most hilarious things about this is that Israelis pretty much hate Obama for his refusal to follow the standard "100% behind Israel" line and opposing settlements, but it was the Obama administration that gave them their precious Iron Dome missile defense system. Because most Hamas rockets fail to do any harm. The people of Gaza are impotent, hopeless and desperate because of Israeli policy, that's what turned them toward voting for Hamas. Israel has a hard time looking like the "good guys" when the advise Gazan civlians to leave when Israel and Egypt spent the last decade walling them in. Last I heard Hamas had killed 3 Israelis and injured a few dozen, Israel has killed over 100 Palestinians and wounded hundreds. Multiple western news sources have also reported that Israel seems to be targeting buildings and areas of Gaza where news media/journalists are based, which is even more troubling. The simple fact of the matter is that Israel holds the position of dominance and power, not innocent victim. It's within their power to end the violence but Israel's increasingly right-wing government is determined to expand illegal settlements in Palestinian territories until there are no Palestinian territories left. And as many political commentators both in Israel and abroad have said, Israel can't simultaneously be a free, open democracy and a Jewish theocratic state where Palestinians/Arabs are second-class citizens. Eventually they're going to have to choose one or the other, and with the growing numbers of ultra-orthodox right wingers, there's going to be more trouble unless Israel's more moderate and liberal citizens stand up to the conservatives who dominate their policies. The most brutal irony is that the Israelis claim they have a religious right to this land by virtue of their religious scriptures, something which would not be tolerated by the international community if it were any other group. Native Americans can say they have a religious right to have their homelands back and non-native Americans will just laugh in their faces or say "that's all in the past, you should be grateful for US tax aid that doesn't reduce your massive rates of poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence!" Nobody's going to give the Nez Perce tribe (or any other Native American tribe/group/nation,) a bunch of guns, tanks and military training to forcibly take their original homeland in northeastern Oregon back from the white men who now occupy it.

Just finished Walking Dead ep. 5. Not an unexpected end, but still pretty affecting. Noticed rather blatant mechanical foreshadowing of a direct sequel (they already announced a second "season," but it shows that choices made during (and especially at the end of,) the first "season" will carry over to the second.) For anyone who does play it, don't skip the credits, there is a befuddling post-credit epilogue. Not nearly as befuddling as a Metal Gear Solid game, but still.

I can't... why... how is this... even possible? I'd understand if it was something with built-in replay value/long scenarios like Super Robot Wars, but this...

It's a shame this thread is limited to video games, because there's one where a guy will lithograph an entire book onto a T-shirt (in the form of an image made up of the entire text of said book,) for you. Came with the reccomendation of Neil Gaiman. Too bad I can't link it. It's already nearly doubled its goal anyway, so I guess that's ok.

I said Ranger because I find a certain romance to it, but in fact I will try every single race (unless there turn out to be beastman/anthropomorphic animal-type races which I will not touch out of spite for furries,) and class option before deciding on which path to take. Edit: Barbarian: 0.00% made me laugh.

It has already been established that "Stamina" will be the primary statistic for taking damage in combat and the full loss of it will result in knockout, while a "health" statistic will result in death if completely depleted. Please read/view the updates, this has been covered in them. And I have to take issue with the poll options. Beating someone within an inch of their life is not "non-lethal" it is "letting the internal bleeding and organ failure finish the job." Clubbing someone over the head to induce unconsciousness or using a chemical like ether or chloroform is non-lethal subjugation. Curbstomping is not generally considered a non or less-lethal form of subjugation. I have yet to see any evidence that savage beatings are less lethal than simply tackling and handcuffing someone. Even if your intent was not to kill, a savage beating can be and often is completely lethal.

It's simply ludicrous to suggest that all your companions should be mindless drone thralls for you to mold as you please. They're not real characters if they're devoid of personal beliefs, morals ethics and convictions. This idea sounds more like sexual fetish than legitimate storytelling (yes, this is another stupid sexual fetish around which an entire subculture revolves. I am aware of practically every ludicrous sexual fetish present on the internet after 20 years of using it.) There's nothing wrong with swaying a character's opinion on a particular subject, situation or personal dilemma, but this sort of black & white morality and total domination of every character's personality you're expecting will not be present in P:E, so your (bad) idea wouldn't even fit. You're not going to get to turn a chaste and innocent female companion into a skanky hermaphrodite succubus or a kindly healer into a sadistic pedophile serial killer. So deal with it, I guess.

I know they wouldn't do this, because then they would not be playable, but... They should be the "fair folk" of ancient northern European folklore who steal your children in the night, afflict you and your livestock with disease, etc. rather than the Romanticized/Bowdlerized versions that turned into Tolkien-standard. Nymphs should be nymph-like. Nymphs are Hellenic nature deities, not elves. Elves and fairies are the unknown threat skittering at the edge of the campfire's light, not delightful female nature deities who love to sing and dance and have sex with humans.

Wait, you "disagree" that The Others is someone else's favorite show? That's like someone making a "what's your favorite food thread," someone says "pepperoni pizza" and you respond "I disagree, pepperoni is not your favorite pizza topping, it is overdone and childish."

Heroes III was the best (and effectively final,) installment of the series, and one of the greatest games of all time. Heroes IV does not exist (I refuse to acknowledge it.) Heroes V and VI are just shoddy imitations with better graphics. For the record, I have not played VI because V was so bad. Dark Messiah was made by the developers of Dishonored (Arkane,) and all of their games (even Dishonored,) are basically the same game design getting less clunky and unintuitive with each iteration. Arx Fatalis was a mess, the basic principles are the same in DM and Dishonored (it's easy to kill and be killed in direct combat, key configuration is awkward and cumbersome, blocking is extremely important, etc.) Dark Messiah also had a big focus on environmental kills, something Dishonored does as well. Except they were all performed with a kick move (which was also poorly mapped,) and consisted primarily of kicking enemies into spiked walls, or off of ledges (there were also dropping stuff on enemies' heads type kills.)

Never stopped playing Borderlands 2, now using TORGUE EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS IN PREPARATION FOR TOMORROW'S EXPLOSIVE DLC TO DROP. I've played through DA:O twice and didn't use Zevran at all in either playthrough, not even to do his personal quest. For whatever reason, I really really dislike him. Because he's an unlikable donkey-faced douche. First run I brought him along, every other time I stabbed him in the neck with the magic instant permadeath knife but he magically came back to life for DA2. lolbioware

I think this can work, if it's treated as the absurdity it is. Like, there's this random merchant wandering a dungeon saying things like,"Man, I am so ****ing lost." or "Hey, do you know how to get to (insert major city here) from here?" or "That is the last time I ask directions from an ogre." As long as it doesn't happen too often, it could be funny. Lampshading it doesn't really help.

I liked OWB, but it was too dense (and had too many bullet-sponge enemies, also sneaking didn't work there,) the game region was too compact and the dialogue was so constant and rapid that it got hard to remember even some great, hilarious gems of writing. If it had been slower paced, had non-bullet sponge enemies and was more geographically spread out (and also if it didn't crash the game when fast travelling so frequently,) it would have been my favorite DLC.

People who enjoy non-dumb gameplay. A typical "dumb action game" has more complex gameplay than Skyrim. And the main story and faction quests aren't fun, they're boring and stereotypical. You should pack up and go to Bethesda's forums if you can't stand the people who enjoy well-designed quests, well-written characters, story and dialogue and gameplay that requires some degree of intellectual fortitude (i.e. the majority of Obsidian fans.) Making ad hominem attacks on anyone who doesn't like Skyrim doesn't strengthen your position, it makes it as weak as the cuss-filled Xbox Live rants of a 14 year old Call of Duty player.

He's not going to pay you millions or even tens of thousands of caps because that would break the game economy. It's about game design and balance, not House being an a-hole (still not a four letter word, Obsidian naughty language filter.) That's why they dramatically reduced casino payouts with one of the updates. I used to roll into the strip with 9-10 luck and walk out with about 200,000 caps because you could get upwards of 50,000 caps per casino. All you needed was a jackpot on the slots with a maximum bet to get around 40k caps. For a typical wasteland nobody 1000 (or 1250) is a lot of caps, and unless you've been really busy with faction jobs, you're generally walking in as a nobody in the eyes of all the factions of the Mojave. Except Mr. House, who sees your potential and your value. Besides, it's necessary to continue the main quest, which is more pressing than what the reward is.

How would an "acid arrow" not be corroded by the acid on it? If it were made from glass how would it penetrate armor? Wouldn't most of the acid drip off before entering an enemy's body? And wouldn't the acid be too small a quantity to do serious damage? Acid works by chemical reaction, the atoms or molecules in the acid react with atoms or molecules in the victim's body, and once all the molecules have been torn up and recombined into the resultant substance the acid would cease to exist unless the resulting molecule or compound is also an acid.

The idea of psychics is another example of space magic masquerading as sci-fi. Some "sci-fi" comes up with wild explanations for it, which is better than typical fantasy magic which tends to go unexplained beyond "a wizard did it," but it is still space magic in the end.

No, the original game. The disc I bought in 1997.