Nonek

I wish you all the best sir, may the all clear be sounded and your recovery be swift. If it's not too presumptious I will include you in my prayers next Sunday.

I'm Spartacus!

Well it is, forums are for collective bashing or praise after all. Not really sensible to wade in to something that annoys you, then whine about it but refrain from taking measures to resolve it. But, again, the conclusion that's left is probably accurate. As for Gamergate doing anything, nahh, all it's done is raise the profile and Patreon donations of Sarkeesian, Wu, Quinn, etc. And I guess given Twitter hounds who want to show how socially aware they are (like Cheong) some meat to get some credibility. But hey at least no one died, people were seriously speaking of ruined lives with this silliness. I tend to agree with this sentiment. Depending on the forum and thread you will generally find support or dislike for one perspective within the SJ narrative, there isn't much middle-ground. The best you can hope for is a semblance of not really objective debate but people at least recognizing a different opinion as possibly valid. But it still doesn't seem to change peoples general stance which is often a disappointment for me...but not a surprise And the reason its not a surprise for me is because you need to break down what people who support GG are really saying. Well at least the people on this forum who support GG Firstly I don't think there are any real bigots on this thread. There are several people who are white, heterosexual males who truly believe that there lifestyle is beset by SJW. Now I need to repeat that for maximum impact " there are people on this thread who believe there lifestyle is beset by SJW". They feel that SJW are hypocrites and say one thing and act another way....and they are always criticizing....always criticizing So that leads me to my next series of questions. This is addressed to everyone who has been actively supporting GG over the last 8 months or so. This includes Nonek, Volo, Meshugger, KP, Fighter, KP, Longknife and Kirottu ( sorry if I left anyone out and of course I welcome all comments ). What would you say now if Leigh Alexander said in regards to the original article " I didn't mean all white, male gamers " ..I only meant " white, male gamers who refuse to accept or believe in transformation". This view is very relevant to the original anger as I see people still raise this as a reason for the general dislike of the SJ narrative. Someone like Nonek still bring this up in his diatribe against SJW and SJF ( an appalling characterization for SJW but I see Nonek still uses it ) and it is justification for support of GG for many people. So what would you now think if Leigh Alexander said " she didn't mean all white male gamers? Can you give me just 3 valid examples of how your gaming experience has changed due to SJ influence...and these examples must be meaningful. So please don't give examples like I don't visit RPS and Polygon anymore because of there biased reviews on GG ( you never visited RPS and Polygon to begin with ) The limerick was edited in PoE ( this makes no change to the actual game ) I don't like the fact there is a call to remove hookers from GTAV...I like killing hookers and any other character in the game with my car ( Rockstar despite the criticism hasn't removed hookers from the game ) So I want 3, just 3, examples of how your gaming experience has been altered due to the SJ narrative. I am going to make a prediction, you guys are going to battle to find 3 meaningful examples because the reality is I don't think they really exist. Most of examples of so called SJ interference is based on nebulous accusations and Twitter comments. But if you think about the actual changes that you guys claim to be opposing I don't see any that are significant ? So if that's true then you guys need to ask some introspective questions to yourselves that should include a simple point " what am I really objecting to" when it comes to opposing the SJ movement ? Lets try to leave the emotion out this debate and deal with the facts and changes in the gaming industry that are really happening and are really diluting your gaming experience ? 1. Why would anyone be content with an apology to just white male gamers? Ms Alexander and her moronic cronies insulted all the diverse millions whom play games recreationally, she must therefore apologise to all gamers, male, female, black, yellow, red, white and of mixed race. This should be obvious. 2. Ways in which SJF's have impacted ones gaming experience, very well: 1. They have declared all gamers dead, alienating a vast amount of people, thus creating Gamergate and various far more ethical alternatives to the current corrupt press. 2. They have created a hateful and toxic atmosphere on the internet, with totally innocent people whom do not even have Twitter accounts being labelled harassers and various other perjorative terms when they are simply asking for an industry to be fit for purpose. Thus creating a poor false impression of those whom game recreationally as we see in the Law & Order: SJF episode. 3. They have sunk game journalism to an all time low, to the point where it is a laughing stock and is dragging other forms of journalism down with it. 4. Firedorns harmless joke poem about a man dying was removed from a game I backed, and a genocide advocate pretending outrage was appeased, one should not give in to such people, especially when their complaints are based upon lies. 5. They have given hypocritical, hateful individuals with no morals whom are actual abusers and criminals a podium upon which to lecture good moral people whom have done no wrong. 6. Asking for sex workers to be removed from GTA but absolutely no other victim of any crime to be removed no matter how heinous, thus showing what biased idiots they are to ask for this and nothing else. First we should deal with the real world problem of sex workers and the criminals whom abuse them, some of whom even hypocritically lie that they are interested in social justice issues. Now if you are supporting genocide advocates, championing corruption, objecting to ethical standards for a multi billion dollar industry, lying that a consumer revolt is a hate and harassment movement and spreading hate and lies about your fellow man, then maybe it is time you undertook some introspection of your own. The changes in the gaming industry lately are mostly positive thanks to Gamergate, as I have stated before, more and more sites are creating ethical guidelines for themselves, the hatemongers are being sacked and we have done a good job, but more is needed. An independent ethical ombudsman would be a good start, to enforce ethical behaviour and not allow sites like Kotaku to flout ethics as they have been doing, staff it with those whom have behaved with the consumers interests first and foremost in mind throughout this period and make it truly independent and a powert to challenge developers, publishers and most importantly the corrupt cronyism of journalists. Gamergate and us reasonable moderates are winning this is indisputable but more must still be done.

So basically you haven't done anything, yet you say "we". I guess it's nice to think of yourself as crusader for justice without actually having to do anything. No Mr Sakai I did my part, sent e-mails to sponsors, supported various causes financially and stayed balanced and moderate in my stance. Then again i've got a large cellar, which contributes to a mans equanimity i've found. Thank you for the interest however, I still can't accept that i'm solely responsible like you state however, i'm really not that egotistical. On the Armenian "joke," not sure I approve but of course my approval or disapproval means nothing, it has a right to exist independent of my feelings. I belive however that the "jokes" teller might well be mocking how Ms Sarkeesian turns everything into a personal attack against herself. I think I may open a second bottle before venturing into the land of Nod, this is very good. Edit: It's very nice to see such activity in this thread once again, together we will assuredly reach our goals, thank you for keeping this thread up on the top pages where it belongs.

What did I do? As I said I don't like to brag dear boy, but once again thank you for the attribution, my part was small but together us ants can move mountains. Off to celebrate with a nice Mosel, chin chin.

Well I don't like to brag Sakai dear boy, but thank you.

It's nice to sit back and admire what we have done as Gamergaters: The disruptive and hateful people such as Leigh Alexander, Ben Kuchera and Bob Chipman who have lost their jobs, the multiple companies that have instituted or updated their ethics policies, Gawker media being severely impacted by our efforts and its own shoddy practises, the developers, journalists and publishers who have been reminded to not spit on their customer base or demonise consumers as they have been doing for years, until it's become fashionable. Of course there are still problems: The media and SJF lies that GG is a hate movement, when they are the ones who support #killallmen and employ neo Nazi's, the unproven claims of harassment that are lapped up by those whom wish to confirm their hatred and bias of anyone not buying into their ideological, sexist and racist hatred of all those whom play games recreationally, and lastly apologies must be gained from those whom have made any negative comments against gamers. Still I think if we endure and keep a steady course we moderates standing up for the consumer, rather than championing the corrupt establishment, will achieve many more victories. I think i'll have a few glasses to celebrate our goodly work. Hah.

One of the downsides to combat in the Witcher 2 for me was that Geralt seemed normal in terms of speed and sword fighting, in the first game he appeared faster, more acrobatic and close to the super fast mutant that he is in the books. Personally I think that ideally a turn based system would more accurately reflect his speed and agility in a game, but obviously considering the AAA status of the game and the unfashionable nature of turn based combat, this is not a possibility.

I'm sure it will have the standard faults. PC gamers will still grind their teeth in frustration as they wrestle with a dreadful unintuitive UI that is not designed for a keyboard and mouse. Combat will again be overly twitch based and not particularly tactical, despite the hours of developer-narrated gameplay footage we've seen where they try really *really* hard to sell us, once again, on how complex and *deep* 5 signs + a sword is (but hey, we got crossbows now! Just like throwing daggers in TW2, but better!). Crafting will probably, again, be an uninspired chore. And my gut is telling me that "Horse management" will probably be more tedious than they're leading us to believe. But that all said, my biggest gripe with Witcher 2 was how small and constrictive the world space felt (Loc Muinne still gives me clusterphobia nightmares. ugh), and they've obviously addressed that in Witcher 3, and in such a mind-blowing epic way too. So I'll probably fall madly in love with this game and spend the majority of my summer inside, in front of my computer, playing it. I think this is mostly fair criticism of Assassins of Kings: The UI was a massive step back from the first game and obviously catered to controller play rather than mouse and keyboard. The combat to me was fit for purpose, one felt that Geralt was vulnerable when in such a position as being backstabbed, but also potent when prepared and ready. There was not much depth admittedly, but it was an improvement over say Arkham or the first Witcher in many ways. Crafting was also endlessly irritating for me, not in the execution which was simple, but in the collection of materials that the crafter should have in stock himself, this was once again a step back from the first Witcher. In that game we simply brought the crafter expensive and rare compnents, rather than masses of tat that he should already have. The itemisation was also far better presented in the first game, finding Coen's silver sword was an important event, and it was an extremely effective weapon that changed ones playstyle. Whereas in the second game swords, armours and the masses of materials were showered on the player every half hour of play rendering them valueless, because one knew that there was a slightly better item appearing very quickly on any path, the rare weapons of the Witchers were now as common as dirt. The world of the Witcher 2 I personally felt was large enough, it was a desperate, hunt for the Kingslayer, streamlined by nature of its narrative. Loc Muinne, the area around Vergen and Flotsam and its surrounds were large enough and fit for purpose to me, they were striking and different in style, with seperate paths that were viable. That said were they the equal of Vizima, Murky Waters and the various swamplands around Lake Vizim, no but the wandering around such large locales would not fit in the hunt for Letho. All in my own opinion of course. Edit: Like Stun I would also say that though I acknowledge and am not blind to its fault, I will probably be enthralled by the third game, like I was by the first and second. For all their flaws, many of which are not covered here, they had just as many if not more strengths.

It's becoming fairly obvious that social justice is merely a cover for a hypocritical hate movement now, they don't represent anybody but extremists. As a moderate i'm not stooping to their level when pointing this out, i'm merely naturally as a reasonable person expressing disgust for a movement that is proud of boasting actual neo nazi's and genocide advocates as revered members of their community. Whereas I (and most other reasonable normal people) would distance myself and shun anybody whom followed such extremism, whether they were on my "side" or not. Standing up for the truth and not buying into media lies is not an extremist view, it is merely sensible scepticism. Gamergate is a sensible moderates response to game journalistic corruption, it is not extreme at all to ask for journalists to do their jobs, and is fit for purpose for a multi billion dollar industry. Only an idiot would state that such a multi billion dollar industry does not need ethical reporting and standards of practise. The extremists are on one side the SJF's stating that gamers are dead, calling millions of diverse people neckbearded scum and basement dwellers, and abusing their control of the media to paint any criticism of them as harassment rather than truthful criticism, while using doxxing, censorship, harassment and threats against anyone whom disagrees with their ideology. On the other side of that extremist scale are the harassers whom allegedly threatened, doxxed and abused various public figures, because they were too invested in gaming as a culture when it is in reality a passtime. Gamergate is in neither of these camps, they have tried to stop any harassment, report any abuse to the relevant authorities and deal with the fact that game journalism is pathetic, corrupt, unethical, unfit for purpose and now openly expressing hatred for us honest consumers whom play games as a passtime. To say that the reasonable goals of Gamergate is extremist is just dishonest, like the numerous false, unproven accusations of harassment levelled at it. Edit: In my own opinion of course.

Transparency would be useful and it is a valid criticism, but I fail to see the need for all of the melodrama, the gaming is selling well as it is apparently. For a huge gentleman i'm always surprised by how fine Mr Nash's facial features were, seemed rather incongruous.

Has Mr Obama ever publicly stated that he was not born in America, like Ms Sarkeesian has stated that she never played games?

Oh fun fact the ladies removed from the Calgary expo have been compared to the KKK on Twitter by none other than Chris Priestly, onetime community manager at the BSN, and now the community manager at the Witcher Forums apparently. Personally i've been a member there for eight years and have never seen him post anything, so I was not sure he actually was the community manager. I've got to admit that this is all hilarious, strong women with truthful opinions are not wanted, only the acceptable liars and their lies are wanted in Calgary. The SJF's are becoming more like politicians as time passes. Edit: Mr Priestly just retracted and apologised for his tweet on the Witcher forums: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/34878?p=1606731#post1606731

Started the Witcher, figured that I may as well play through both one and two before the Wild Hunt is released, have a nice, perfect save export available. I still am left in amazement at what CDPR did with the absolutely hideous NWN engine, it boggles the mind that they made such a beautiful gameworld out of such a graphically unappealing one. The amount of life squeezed into the world boggles the mind as well, rats underfoot, birds in the bushes, dozens of NPC's going about their business, and that strange little capering monkey that follows one around in various places.

Woah, woah, woah, never mind the new Spaceballs, when did a new Blade Runner get announced, why wasn't I informed, is it because of the Voight Kampff test results?

Wouldn't the Dane Axe be rather anachronistic in the current Poe time period? Perhaps just found amongst the Glanfathan's?

Shouldn't the last letter of that quote be an "f" considering the Hoff's vocal talents?

Chewie is so vain. smh.Aside, according to the Chewbacca wiki page, he's already 200 yo when he joins up with Han! I don't think anything besides movies are canon anymore. I'm always reminded of a new lion king killing the old rivals cubs for some reason when this happens, rather grim image. Edit: Mr Tobacco looked a little unreal, I wonder if he's CGI and Mr Mayhew has been dispensed with.

Shorts or trousers, one cannot wear both, it's simply not cricket!

Four hours a night regularly, with an occasional slumber that lasts around twelve to fourteen hours once a fortnight or so. Slept like this ever since I was a wee sprat. I really do like to be out and about before dawn, the quiet world, the fresh air, the brightening skies, a perfect time for exercise and self contemplation. It puts the proper perspective on a day at work, and within the metropolis. Edit: The only difficulty is in trying not to wake ones family, but many years of practise have lent me some experience in stealth.

Due to work and tabletop I must admit that i've been neglecting Poe somewhat, however I finally got around to the end of act II. I think that I will now go back to neglecting it for a while, rather disappointing.

Off to play some more Poe now, I do believe that matters are coming to a head, and ones choices in Defiance Bay are going to bear fruit. I'm excited to see what passes.

Texture quality, graphical style - 2d, 3d, fps, tps, isometric, voxels etcetera, UI layout and usability, content density, platform, minimum and recommended specifications, statistical minutiae of the game, gameplay overview, known issues etcetera. The list goes on and on.

As with any other form of journalism, game journalism should strive to inform and constructively criticise the games industry from an objective viewpoint, or as near as that is actually possible considering personal bias. It should try and move the industry forward, challenge degenerate practises and give us the buying public, without which there would be no industry, a voice and an unbiased view. And of course as with any journalism it should maintain integrity, and a certain professional distance from the subject matter it is supposedly judging impassionately. Video game journalists should not have friends in the industry, they should only have acquaintances, whom they use and are used by, they should not represent any developer or worry about their feelings. They should not sleep with any developer, unless they previously disclose this to their editor and publicly recuse themselves from working with or covering their work in any way. Conflicts of interest are easy to avoid, one merely has to act ethically and with public service foremost in their mind, it is not an onerous or difficult duty, and there is no excuse or justification for not declaring ones conflicted interests. Lastly it is there to hold to hold publishers and developers to account, this is their job not the consumers, to report on and notify the public of any practises that are counter to their best interests. It is not there to hype games for companies, to judge and hector consumers, or to champion personal views that have been disproven time and again. In general there is not enough well reasoned criticism, nor scepticism, nor raising of degenerate practises. It is fine to have a subjective opinion on a subject, however to deny that there are objective measures in video games is dishonest and a pathetic excuse or justification for failing to do ones job. At the current moment video game journalism is a joke and simply unfit for purpose, and however much they castigate consumers and insult the public, they are what is wrong in video games, and their corrupt, unethical and regressive opinions are creating a toxic atmosphere of hatred and censorship. It is a good thing that they are dying, perhaps when they are gone we can have an ethical industry that is fit for purpose, overseen by a neutral ombudsman and with a published code of practises as a multi billion dollar industry deserves. Just ones opinion however. Edit: I should add that my displeasure with journalism does not simply stem from video games, but has to do with the regressive trends and practises that have been destroying all journalism for the past two decades or so.

If Poe had the combat and situations of Blackguards, or Blackguards had the narrative of Poe, it would be an instant classic for me personally.