Nonek

Personally I suspect the Lord in his infinite wisdom created dogs and their upkeep to save many marriages, taking Fido for a walk and relaxing with a cold pint on a hot day has cooled many a mans temper I expect.

Neal Halford is in my eyes somewhat of a genius.

First fitting for my new winter suit today, and a very pleasant surprise, my tailor has installed a bar and a rather photogenic young barmaid. Returned to the office with a little buzz to speed the afternoon on its way. Quite pleasant indeed.

Finished Age of Decadence, quite short really but very satisfying, and one of the few games that has prompted me to immediately roll up a new character and begin another playthrough. I think i'll explore combat this time.

I'm enjoying myself immensely, finally a game that allows one to have roles other than in combat and takes a step away from the regressive path that games have been following for so long. I have to admit that lately in RPGs it's felt like i'm simply a rat in a cage, pressing a button to get a treat, they have been dumbed down so greatly in aid of accessibility and removed any challenge, strategy or forethought. It's nice to see that AoD is actually innovating and progressing rather than streamlining and degenerating. Quite nice to have a Romanesque setting rather than the bog standard fantasy fayre as well.

The first sign of a good game in my opinion: I've restarted half a dozen times with differing characters and builds, i'm facing a glorious tyranny of choice and am thoroughly enjoying my exploration.

A near sociopathic lack of empathy and hypocrisy, not unexpected or a first from these "people." What astounds me is that they still stick to the false narrative of victimhood and that Mr Bain has tried to harass them in any way, shape or form. Truly pathetic.

Now this is what one has been waiting for, methinks i'll be living decadently for awhile.

Well that's depressing as ****. My thoughts exactly, a pity that one of the few gentlemen willing to make a stand against demonisation and villainisation of the public is so smitten, one hopes that he is one of the few outliers and has a good few years left. Ones thoughts go out to his young wife and son, hopefully they will have the time they need to adjust to this and reach some kind of acceptance.

Mankind has never needed a reason to demonise others, in fact hate speech, self righteousness and lies that damn entire races, groups or whatever has always been fashionable. One will always find people whom are comfortable with this, look down upon their fellow man and just expect them to do as they're told rather than stand up for what is right. One does not need religion for this, one can find any excuse, it's not right but it is a reality. Inhumanities usually begin with this, when lies are accepted and unfounded demonisation is judged as a good thing.

I'm afraid i'm only an hour or so in, and of that i've mostly been wandering the new area. Combat is still a bone of contention to me like in the base game, the levelling mechanic just robs the game of so much viability. I'm seriously thinking of installing the combat evolved mod.

I'm quite enjoying Heart of Stone, it adds a mass of content to the base game (on the Redanian side of the Pontar) and like a New Vegas dlc really sets a high standard that is very much worth the price.

Personally to combat this i'd deploy a solid mass of Celtic auxillaries behind the lines of my mid line infantry, an iron hard core that can be trusted to hold the enemies attack and delay the maniples wishing to punch through our centre. I'd feed reinforcements to the flanks while sending out my elite Nubian cavalry to meet and destroy the Equites who are trying to outflank me on either side. With the enemy maniples thus surging forward at the centre i'd allow the infantry lines to steadily retreat, in a orderly manner and thus create a reverse bow shape to our line as the enemy thought they were making progress in breaking through. Hopefully with the enemy horse scattered and driven from the field I could then bring back my own cavalry, hit the enemy in the rear and close either flank so that the encirclement is complete. Butchery should follow.

Mixed opinions, very mixed opinions. On one hand this seems enormously detrimental to developers whom basically give up their lives to bring projects to fruition during the crunch, and before that spend years working on them, these are the true creators and to prioritise voice actors above them seems simply wrong headed. Especially if the voice actor is Wil Wheaton, i'd pay more to specifically not have him in a game. However one cannot fault a certain group for negotiating for better conditions, especially in the video games market where publishers have an unhealthy amount of control and property rights, perhaps developers should have done so long ago? However as a realist I can see a simple resolution to this: Publishers simply hire voice acting talents from abroad, i'm sure there are voice actors and editing studios in England or Canada that would for instance happily provide this service. Fly the audio director over, keep in touch via Skype and I can't see much difference or unusual problems arising so long as contact is maintained when the usual changes, last minute additions and retakes arise. It will be interesting to see how this develops, and whether it affects the smaller developers for whom voice acting is not such an important factor.

I'm getting somewhat of a Dead Money vibe from that trailer, which is no bad thing as I regard that as the highlight of New Vegas.

I thought that the age of exploration was started by the Phoenicians.

Indeed any hint of consumer advocacy has flown out of the window, their only aim is to demonise people whom play games recreationally now, the cycle repeating itself. Not one word, not one challenge and not one question, the idiots conspire against their own industry. It's quite scary to think that the popular lie is now far more fashionable than the truth, so much for society progressing.

There is one definite drawback to playing Ultima VII, it really does bring into focus how the RPG genre has stagnated and declined in the twenty plus years since this game was released, even the IE games were a step back in both features and quality from this title. A living world, with believable characters who went about their own lives in a realistic manner, absolutely masses of tools with which to explore and interact with that world, interesting content scattered all over the continent drawing on the last three games heritage, an intriguing plot that shows just how an ideology giving cheap, easy answers may appeal compared to the unattainable quest for the virtues, gameplay that is so much more than just a succession of conversation and combat, and most importantly combat only making an appearance when appropriate rather than being a crutch upon which a game stands. Granted the combat system is horrible and automated, with very little one can do outside of preparation and spells to affect it, but it seems that we have gone the other way in making RPGs now, with combat being the default gameplay and every other feature of games jettisoned in favour of it. However the magic system is a far more enjoyable approach to combat than the random flailing of melee, with tools to use and abuse in and out of combat, one really is quickly made to feel like a powerful protagonist because of the spells they can invoke, and massively useful outside of combat as well. Granted the graphics are ancient and basic, but they are colourful, distinctive, and really do the job with a charming aesthetic that is not dissimilar to Poes, which was for me one of the high points of that game. When one is exploring the Deep Forest, taking little trodden paths through the virgin woodland, well one cannot fail to be immersed and uneasy, the beaten path is left so far behind. It is so for most of the landscape, with no loading times at all and once again various means to explore and interact with the land. One has to wonder why this level of detail, the tools to interact with it, and the quality of narrative and themes have not been matched? When first playing it years ago I had rosy visions of the future that could be built upon such a foundation, and why would no one pursue that for the good of the medium? Granted there are games like the Witchers, the Gothics and New Vegas that have come near this level of detail, scale, interactivity and gameplay outside combat, but they only seem to be catching up after more than two decades. It leaves one a little depressed. Of course I do not expect games of that calibre as standard, the Ultimas were the flagships of gaming, the cutting edge which usually required a brand new system and much jury rigging to get running (and bugs, well anyone whom played games in that period will dismiss modern technical problems as beneath consideration in comparison,) but there should be something striving to do the same in RPGs. Little Larian cannot afford to make a modern U7 despite Swen's absolutely sterling efforts. Ah well rant over, feel much more chipper now, thank you for the venting opportunity. Back to Britannia and the endless quest. Edit: Good Lord my spelling and grammar, abysmal.

Oh wow, didn't realise people are actually going so far as to say online harassment is "almost non existent". Ah I should clarify, the harassment that has been attributed to Gamergate on Twitter has been proved to be almost non existent by an independent auditor, hope that helps Mr Barothmuk.

I'm beginning to believe that not enough people have read Orwell, at this point the man should be hailed as a prophet rather than a novelist and social commentator. Its fascinating however, to me at least, what the people whom implement such things think they will be used for. I mean fine they might just be naive and not accept that spying upon people and cyber bullying is a thing, that's their right, but such anti privacy measures are setting up a framework I do not think they would like if it fell into the wrong hands. Now social justice fascists can say that they are trying to end the harassment that has been proven to be almost non existent, and that censoring is more important than free speech, but what if there comes a time when the tools for repression and tyranny they are helping build fall into those wrong hands? Do the minority groups and whiners think that they will be well treated in this case? Do the special snowflakes think that they will be listened to and exempted when a real dictator uses the tools of oppression they have crafted to silence any dissent? Do they think that a scathing internet article on how they are being mistreated will be allowed on the net that they have helped make a governmental tool? Fine, they may practise their censorship and demonisation, but should not be surprised that if at some point the tools of surveillance and oppression that they want are used against them! A real taste of victimhood, to offset the supposed version which is currently so in fashion amongst rich trust fund children. Edit: Even if Star Citizen fails at least it has kept Mr Roberts out of the directors chair for many years, and for anybody whom has seen the Wing Commander movie, I think we can agree that is a very good thing.

I believe you're correct and it is both the plural and singular, however you can just use Giant or Giants if you wish.

I've installed Ultima VII using Exult with the Keyring mod, I hadn't played the game in ages so thought that the latest snapshot of Exult could do with a runthrough, see what's changed and been implemented. It's really a pity that the old Gypsy Virtue test is not used in the Black Gate to create ones character again, however this can be forgiven when one steps into the living, reactive world of Britannia. I'm always conflicted about whether to take Spark in my party, the lad is a mere fourteen years old, and looks like a child but his situation and eagerness to join you is understandable and his stats quickly become very impressive.

No. That turd-of-a-setting has too many PC games already, give FB a chance for change. Mr Trulez, i'd advise you not to read the "End Times" Warhammer novels, if WFB is close to your heart.

Never particularly cared for the modern talking to music thing, it just seems rather silly and regressive. That aside I really didn't get that much from the trailer, i'd prefer either a more interesting dramatic narrative take such as the recent trailer for W40k: Regicide, or something more indicative of gameplay such as we saw in the Space Marine weapon trailers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv1Mp3v25fA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeFBWqNgFas

From that opinion piece it sounds like Mr Owen is just another of the McIntosh idiot crowd whom believe that interactivity should have no part in games. I'm surprised how spot on my guesses were however, it seems these people really all do think alike. Personally i'm coming to the conclusion that they simply do not like games as a medium at all, or anything that challenges them or requires the learning of gameplay mechanisms, they simply want to be told a story like in a film or novel. These people really are what is wrong in gaming in my opinion.