Drowsy Emperor

I like it, its looking good. Hope there is a toggle for all the little cinematic camera effects because I foresee them becoming really annoying after a while.

Its ridiculous to consider yourself superior just because the nation states of the rest of the world have strong ties with a particular ethnicity, religion, culture and history that binds them to act in certain ways and have people that believe so much in those things that they are ready to kill for them. To collectively dismiss them as "nutters" is to show you have no idea how the rest of the world thinks, since they don't fit into your narrow world view. In that respect, I can perfectly understand and even justify (from their position, as practicing Muslims) recent events. What's not to understand? The US has been invading, killing and establishing control over the arab world for decades now, with thousands upon thousands of soldiers on the ground, countless numbers of dead civilians and countries destabilized. That in itself is reason enough to hate everything american and the american army and politicians in particular. Since they have been robbed of any semblance of national pride after so many defeats, the only thing that's left that's sacred and whole is religion. And in their eyes, the west, personified by the US is trying to defile that too. Thus retribution is the only, most logical choice. Since their nations are ruled mostly by marionettes, the only kind of retribution, the only vent for their frustration (which goes hand in hand with poverty and unemployment) they can manage is low intensity acts like this. Bottom line: they're not doing this because of the film, they're doing it because of everything. See how easy it was?

I have in my possession a book that claims to be a KGB manual on intelligence work (its credibility is reinforced by the fact that it was published by Serbian state owned publishing house "Sluzbeni glasnik" which publishes laws, official documents etc.). While there is a chapter on torture (and nothing on assassination) its not recommended as way to gather intelligence because of how unreliable the information is, as the subject will generally say and do anything to get the pain to stop. Therefore its safe to assume that it wasn't a standard operating procedure, any more than you could say Abu Graib is the standard way to treat prisoners in the US Army. Chechen insurgents were noted for just about every crime available against Russian civilians, much like the UCK did in Kosovo. I can imagine that there were plenty of retaliatory killings in the Russian army, but that's the sort of thing to expect in a civil war which as a rule, spirals out of control. Back on topic. Methinks the timing of the release of this movie is convenient, considering how close it is to sep 11. Its almost as if these, obviously well planned and organized attacks (that are continuing as we speak in Yemen and Egypt), only lacked an official "justification".

In retrospect I'm sort of glad Forgotten Realms and DnD have been mostly abandoned in gaming. They had run their course, at least for me. Make way for the dozens of cool pen and paper settings still waiting to be discovered by PC games. Not that its going to happen any time soon though, games wear an even tighter straight-jacket than moviess.

I imagine the separatists still enjoy plenty of support, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. There is no state that doesn't use torture and assassination when the situation calls for it (which is rare, since there are plenty of other, more reliable ways to solve problems) . To believe that is to be exceedingly naive. Its a halfway racist prejudice against Russia that everything there is as brutal as possible, the state, the people, the culture...etc. Russia is not CNN and gangster flicks, just like Africa isn't a bunch of black people jumping around a fire. Russian human rigths violations in Chechnya are well documented, so in this case the media bias against Russia, which is a real thing by the way, is not wrong. If you find me one major modern conflict where there are no human rights violations by its participants you get a cookie.

Well you probably haven't been around here long enough to know that my love for Bioware extends to, and ends with Throne of Bhaal. While BG had pretty standard characters and setting, BGII and ToB took the standard epic fantasy as far as it could go. I assume that by deep narrative and flawed atypical characters you're referring to KOTOR II and Mask of the Betrayer, which are both in my eyes an attempt to recreate the experience of PS:Torment. They both easily trump anything that BW made post ToB. So does VtM: Bloodlines. But really, I was talking about "Bioware in its prime" in terms of polish and consistency. All those games are quite flawed, and Bioware already had a tight product with the first Baldur's Gate. I mean, KOTOR II had no ending, NWN 2 was buggy as hell, VtM:Bloodlines had crappy combat and a half baked last act and Arcanum had terrible location design with grindy combat areas (and the combat itself was broken half the time). We've heard a lot of excuses over the years, but the fact is that there are a lot of problems with Obs and Troika's games. I remember playing through VtM Bloodlines sewers and that building with the zombies, scratching my head in disbelief that anyone would allow that to end up in a finished product.

I imagine the separatists still enjoy plenty of support, and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. There is no state that doesn't use torture and assassination when the situation calls for it (which is rare, since there are plenty of other, more reliable ways to solve problems) . To believe that is to be exceedingly naive. Its a halfway racist prejudice against Russia that everything there is as brutal as possible, the state, the people, the culture...etc. Russia is not CNN and gangster flicks, just like Africa isn't a bunch of black people jumping around a fire.

That the west turns a blind eye to disrespect towards the book they swear to, "in God we trust" etc - is not a portrayal of how wonderfully tolerant it is. More like, apathetic and fragmented to the point that anyone can say and do just about anything without fear of sanction. While a reaction might happen in the states, europe is disgraceful in that regard. Well except if you dare question the prevalent multicultural dogma, then you're looking at a quick trip to personal and professional ruin.

Kosovo is in Serbia. Bad example anyway, we were protecting our culture, successfully, until the US intervened against us. Chechnya is a republic of the Russian federation that instigated a civil war and was ultimately defeated. I don't see what it has to do with this discussion at all, except that it was a war of islamists vs "eastern europeans" and the islamists lost. Both conflicts were very bloody, but um, that's what war is like. Kurdistan isn't even a country, its a region in the Middle East and has nothing to do with eastern europeans at all. Regardless, the west is good at protecting its own interests. Its just that culture is no longer among them. Its all about the moneys nowadays, which is what you get when you put businessmen in power and let them rule over everything. And the east is absolutely, depressingly, same in that regard.

C&C's don't matter if there is no substantial desire to see a particular outcome. I never cared, at all, about any choice in (for example) Fallout. There was no emotional investment in any of them. Same with Arcanum, the characters were lifeless, the story fodder. No one has, or will ever be, able to define what a "real RPG" is. Its a highly subjective thing, even in pen and paper gaming. If playing a role is the minimum definition, then every game ever made can be considered an RPG.

No, he died because he was an American political figure and close/vulnerable. For most of the world where the US has or had a presence that's reason enough, for Arabs especially + they're fanatical enough and not (as) afraid of retaliation. This really has nothing to do with the film at all.

I hate to say I told you so. But, I told you so.

I have faith in Firaxis, they have a good track record. (Meaning they made SMAC so they get a free pass from me.)

On one hand, you can't go screwing around with things people consider sacred. I'm disgusted at the (mis)treatment Christianity regularly gets in Europe and the US. US is sort of divided into hardcore camps so I can understand all **** slinging between them, but Europe is a disgrace considering that Christianity made it what it is today. On the other hand, who are they (moslems) to demand a special status or even respect. Respect is a two way street last time I checked, and as far as anything non-islamic is concerned, they have none (as a collective, as individuals, well, its individual) . Case in point: boarded up and walled off christian churches in the middle east with believers living in constant tension. If we were to talk about respect, I'd suggest they start giving real freedom of worship - the kind they get (and abuse) in every western country for free. No? Well then, you just don't need these mosques then, do you? Sadly the only way to earn respect with them is to reply in kind and show backbone. Lastly Mohammed was historically at least a ruthless killer, and his last (wife?) was a child so its not like they're slandering him too much (or at all). If its factually correct, there is no ground for complaint. PS: I still don't see the point of making such movies or what any (good) intent behind it might be.

What do you mean HD resolution? Are you referring to the widescreen mod and playing in your native resolution?

Troika's games were far more ambitious for their time and more innovative than Obsidian's. At least Arcanum and Vampire anyway. TOEE was the most polished, but it was too dry story and character wise. However all of them either felt unfinished or were unfinished/broken to some extent, which is why I can't rate any of them highly (although Vampire is so unique its possible to overlook its flaws). Obsidian at least delivers a complete product (most of the time *cough* KOTOR2 *cough*). All of them (or Obs and other old/new devs) need to tighten up their act if they're ever to reach Bioware in its prime - to consistently deliver a complete and (in all segments) well crafted product. That Bioware took that achievement (which is no small thing in the gaming industry) and perverted it into a factory production of clone games is another matter.

Resonance. A new adventure from the same guys that gave us Gemini Rue. Judging by my score I'm half way through and so far I like it a lot. After that I have to give Discworld: Noir and Botanicula a spin. Then I have see if I missed any more really good adventures and get a hold of them... Since adventure gaming went rogue from the whole industry I'm sort out of the loop as to what is good and what's not worth my time. The last few I played were Grey matter, Book of Unwritten Tales and Gemini Rue and I was quite happy with all of them. Then there is BG:EE coming up, uh....

Obviously you're not going to camp corners all the time, most of the time a good sniper is enough to get rid of almost every enemy in JA2. I'm not complaining, its just a game - if it had anything to do with real life your team would be dead come the first encounter on account of trying to start a revolution in a foreign country armed only with handguns. Turn based games are even less realistic than real time ones, so the only thing XCom needs to do is be fun and challenging and that should be enough.

You mean like basically every human players does in those types of game? Yep. And its not like you have much choice, most of the time you're outnumbered and you have to whittle them down while keeping your team in one piece. If combatants were so stupid to charge people down around corners in real wars, every soldier would fight the way we play Jagged Alliance.

http://www.youtube.com/user/blacklily8?feature=results_main If you guys want to struggle through this guys YT chat channel you'll find his interviews with Brian Fargo, Avellone and other notable names... He did a good guide about RPG's on Gamasutra and later made a channel for reviewing old games, many of them RPG's. His reviews are slow, too long and rambling but you can hear interesting stuff in them occasionally

Or you could just get a whore and dress her up in bikini mail, for a fraction of the time and effort. Or I can import a clown NPC, call it Drowsy Emperor, and have him prance around in game spouting dialog which he thinks is clever, but few else do, becasue he is a attention whore? Either case without these mods faces and bodies look blocky, jagged due to being 'consolized'. These FX edits actually uses the power of video cards that have been made in the past few years to made NPCs look good. Sorry if you are too snobby to appreciate hi res FX. Some of us do however. That said back to the main point, I would also install the hi-res water and foliage mod, makes the water and trees look MUCH better and more realistic. Dude, 4 out of 8 mods you listed are about perfecting virtual girls, so sue me for making fun of your steamy geek passion.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger! Besides, XP is now over a decade old. Maybe devs are obliged through Microsoft's pressure to stop XP support now. Bang, bang! Its Microsoft that's putting a real effort into obliterating XP - to the point of kicking it from netbooks and pre installing Windows 7 exclusively.... Which runs horribly on their limited power. I have two almost identical ones and the one with Win 7 is a slow mess, without any palpable gain. My main pc also runs XP and its been able to run every major PC game even during 2012, most of them on near maximum setiings. And its over 5 years old - the fact that consoles run the show really worked in my favor. XP is the only Microsoft product I ever liked :D On topic... In all my gaming years haven't played more than a handful of games with decent AI anyway. FEAR and Half Life are the only ones that made an impression. All turn based tactical games I ever played had incredibly stupid AI, and were particularly prone to cheap tricks, like baiting and waiting around a corner.

Thanks

Upcoming adventure: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/primordia.html Could be good...

No XP support. About time they drop that turd. Because Vista is so much more widespread to qualify as a min req? Or even a system worth supporting at all? I sometimes wonder if you keep your brain in a jar next to the keyboard so it always fails to stop you on time before you write something Morgothy.