rjshae

Is the coupon transferable? Maybe you can work a trade with somebody.

I'd like to see some naval-related weaponry like boarding pikes, musketoon, belaying pin, marlinespike, boarding axe, and, of course, grenados.

Perhaps. The misidentifications are particularly ugly though. It smacks of McCarthyism.

Meh. Both extremes are nutwings. Life is too complicated for easy answers.

There's another side to this, and that is: businesses who don't listen to their customers tend to go out of business. Gaming is the only industry I know of where customer feedback is called "entitlement". It's an issue right now only because the supply of top-level games is rather limited. Hence, players who want that time of game are stuck with whatever content they particularly dislike. Once there's a more diverse base of media releases (as there is in the movie industry), then top-flight games will be able to cater more to particular preferences. It's much easier with paperback novels, for example, because there's a huge selection and it's easy to discard books you don't like. The alternative, as already mentioned, is to build games tailored to particular preferences.

Parenting tip of the week?

Do you suppose PC correctness and the tolerance meme have become this generation's McCarthyism? It's starting to feel that way. There's a definite witch hunt element to it.

How to do 12 different accents: Kind of fascinating, at least to me.

Hmm, if somebody has a female Orlan PC, will they be able to romance Serafen... and will their offspring be blue rabbits?

Meh, in terms of fighting the most wars, the U.S. is still playing catch up to Great Britain. simultaneous wars? Mmm, I think GB has us beat there too. Anyway, the scope is probably more important than the total number of wars.

Meh, in terms of fighting the most wars, the U.S. is still playing catch up to Great Britain.

People still use 'whois'?

Hmm. He pays for the games. Why shouldn't he expect that games be made for him? It's the same with every other consumer product. Calling it "entitlement" makes it sound like he's just supposed to accept whatever he is given without complaint. No, it doesn't work that way. That guy wanted to removed gay content because he didn't want to deal with it. Should women be removed from games because sexist customers ask for it? Should people of colour be removed from games because racist customers demand it? Oh sure, use straw man tactics. Right then, for the sake of discussion, I'll say yes. Sure it can be ugly... possibly even very ugly. But I think the player should be given a certain amount of leeway to customize a game experience to their preferences. The developers already have to take into account certain national preferences when developing their games. Why not convert that into a set of configurable options? Why shouldn't a man of African heritage have the option to convert the entire cast into people of color? He paid for the game. Why shouldn't a lesbian have the option to convert all romances into lesbian romances? The angry guy I mentioned was a straight guy who wanted gay content removed. He was enraged by it. He was a homophobe. It's hatred. Asking for gay characters is asking to be included. It's not asking to exclude and devalue other people. Like MortyTheGobbo said it's not the same. Yes, I'd already heard about the guy. I'm just saying he's within his right to express that preference because it was content he'd had to pay for. That doesn't mean the game developers need to satisfy his qualms. But, in thinking about it, I'm just saying there's a middle ground that can satisfy both camps: make the PC's sexual preference a configurable option at character build time. (Heterosexual, Homosexual, Bisexual, Asexual, Robots, Alien Octopuses, &c.) That would allow the developers to create a richer romantic experience for players of all sexual preferences, since they can branch the conversations, cut scenes, and what not on that setting.

*The sound of a slow one-handed clap...*

Do you mean like Battle Brothers? Iron Oath sounds like it could be.

Here, Drew demo's his North Forest area from BG2:SOAR: To me it looks really good.

I like the approach some other cRPGs have made of allowing additional recruits to be added to the party, but only for specific purposes. I think it adds to the role-playing feel of the game and makes tactical combat more interesting. So, while I can still enjoy play with a five-character party, it would be nice to expand the party size at least some of the time using pre-built NPC add-ons, if only to mix it up a little.

Sure. If the game requires you to play a pre-generated character with a non-heterosexual preference, then modifying that would be game breaking, pointless, and stupid. But if you're generating your own character, why can't I expect to be able to tailor sexual preference at the start of a game? Surely that's a more important and relevant stat than setting the eye color?

cRPGs are different from movies or books. In the latter you experience the content as provided. But with cRPGs, you expect to be able to make choices that change the experience according to your preferences within the context of the plot. Providing additional, minor choices to the player that don't significantly impact the plot is hardly insulting. It adds to player choices. It would hardly be forcing you to accept those choices -- just ignore them.

Hmm. He pays for the games. Why shouldn't he expect that games be made for him? It's the same with every other consumer product. Calling it "entitlement" makes it sound like he's just supposed to accept whatever he is given without complaint. No, it doesn't work that way. That guy wanted to removed gay content because he didn't want to deal with it. Should women be removed from games because sexist customers ask for it? Should people of colour be removed from games because racist customers demand it? Oh sure, use straw man tactics. Right then, for the sake of discussion, I'll say yes. Sure it can be ugly... possibly even very ugly. But I think the player should be given a certain amount of leeway to customize a game experience to their preferences. The developers already have to take into account certain national preferences when developing their games. Why not convert that into a set of configurable options? Why shouldn't a man of African heritage have the option to convert the entire cast into people of color? He paid for the game. Why shouldn't a lesbian have the option to convert all romances into lesbian romances?

Hmm. He pays for the games. Why shouldn't he expect that games be made for him? It's the same with every other consumer product. Calling it "entitlement" makes it sound like he's just supposed to accept whatever he is given without complaint. No, it doesn't work that way.

The attachable (non-plug) bayonet didn't really appear until the latter part of the 17th century, so that might be too late for this time period. Sure. But maybe a two-handed club then instead? Hit with the blunt side. Don't know if Obsidian plans something for the Arquebus' or "rifle" type guns (two-handed guns), but would be pretty cool. Understand it'd require animation and such, but was just thinking "Hey! The one-handed pistols are getting some flexibility... I wonder if they'll do something for the two-handed variants?". Enhancement: put a nail through the butt.... Seems like bashing things with your primitive gun is a good way to turn it into a club. Permanently.

"This is why police cats aren't a thing..."

Now I feel old...