Mannock

****ty hit on Cam Newton yesterday. And Packers had so many chances to seal the deal yesterday against the Vikes. Sucks they didn't pull it off.

I knew about the no disc so doesn't bother me much. However, the box, the statue and the guide book is taking up so much space. Didn't think anything of it when I pledged. So if anyone want to buy my collector's edition, with the guide book and statue of Eothas (everything still in its original protective plastic) send me a direct message.

These are simply excellent. Anyone water coloring these?

Yeah, the Bills are terrible. But the Jets seem to have picked things up and the Dolphins. Well, they are what they are. Okay, still pretty crappy division.

I think the Cowboys will be really bad. I'm not saying they will have the worst W-L record but I think they will be a huge disappointment given the renown of Zeke and Dak (and their O-line). I also think this will be the year when the Patriots implode. Granted, I claimed the very same thing last year, so a bucket of salt to go with that (and to further explain; by implode, I mean missing the playoffs).

Tee-hee. But in all seriousness though, GOAT, as in Aaron Rodgers is the greatest thrower of the football the league has ever seen. He's not the most accomplished QB, cause that is of course Mr Brady.

Aaron Rodgers back on top of the hill again with his contract. Nice to see the GOAT get paid.

I think the banters are good. I like the lighter tone of Deadfire compared to PoE1. So kudos to Obsidian for going in the right direction.

That's a really tough one. I think Cowboys will struggle for real this year. Unless Dak turns into Superman.

I find it super interesting that such an indivdualistic country as the US of A have such a collective approach to the national anthem. McCarthy was in vain, the communists won. But in all seriousness, I back all the players that takes a knee during the anthem.

Not on the level that Josh did. But there sure are other devs on twitter.

Jake Ryan (Packers) seems to be out for a long time. This really sucks. Packers were thin in the LB department even before this and now it's just a catastrophe if Jake is gone for much of the season. *edit* Torn ACL. Splendid. :/

Maybe he'll get back to it after a long and well deserved break?

I feel sorry for Josh. I think he's doing a great job but he's taking these things too personal. He should just stay clear of it, cause there will always be people complaining about what you have created. Doesn't matter how clear or unclear you've been about things, people will bash away regardless. Hope he takes a break and comes back doing new great stuff.

Yeah, Seahawks are clearly rebuilding and lost some cornerstones of their team. I'd actually go so far and say they need a good overhaul of the team as there seemed to be a lot of locker room frustration last season. McCown gone next season isn't really a big shocker given his age. I think Jets will be interesting, especially regarding how well Bridgewater performs. I think the Jets could be a positive surprise this season.

Nope, they've been very clear that this is a DLC. Not to be confused with the White March which was more in line with the tradtional sense of an expansion (of yorn).

This is not an expansion, it's a DLC. Different things. You should be thankful it wasn't just horse armor.

I remember xoti was written by Megan Starks, And she writing kills-in-shadow in tyranny. Both are worst character in game. OK,Maybe xoti better than kills-in-shadow, but still awful. In what way are they awful?

Frostseeker is a war bow though (because of me missclicking mind you, the intention was to make a hunting bow). But a hunting bow doing electric damage could be a fitting homage to the Shortbow of Gesen from BG2.

Well I don't think most players upgrade every unique weapon, rather just the ones they use. I don't have the metrics but reading on this forum, most players seem to have an abundance of cash at the end of the game so it's not really shocking that the devs raise the cost of some items in game.

It also becomes a bit of a truism - "this game requires metaknowledge and therefore is bad!" is an argument you see bounced around a lot, and I don't think it's a good one. Rewarding meta knowledge means rewarding investment in the game and its systems. In my most recent playthrough of BG2, I solo'd Kangaxx with a level 16 thief that couldn't use armor or gauntlets, and I did it without scrolls of protection from magic or protection from undead. It required a ton of meta knowledge and demanded that I work out extremely specific aspects of how stealth, traps, and several items worked in game, as well as the timing and precise positioning of several scripts. It was also extremely satisfying when I succeeded. I wasn't arguing which system was better or worse, I was just pointing out that the devs were purposefully moving away from metaknowledge encounters (with pre-buffing and stuff like that). So the design we have now is not mistakenly different from BG2 but rather done so on purpose.

Could you name me one BG2 encounter that requires metaknowledge? I don't think there are any. But then, our definition of metaknowledge might differ. When I first played the game, Kangaxx gave me the most trouble, and indeed I couldn't beat him until I remember those two Protection From Magic scrolls on sale at the Adventurers' Mart. I have subsequently come up with other strategies. Kangaxx is a good example. I think extremely few players beat him on their first try.

The (difficult) encounters of BG2 require metaknowledge. And, as you point out, when you have that knowledge it's quite simple. So claiming that is more complex than PoE is really a stretch. Particularly when you take into consideration that the devs have clearly stated from the beginning that they wanted to, and have tried to, move away from encounters that hinges on metaknowledge for the player to be successful. It's still your prerogative to prefer metaknowledge encounters, however that is not the same thing as the BG2 encounters being more complex when you make a comparison. It is the same thing. If an encounter can be won simply be walking in and doing the same thing as in previous encounters, its simplistic by definition. Sure to solve a puzzle for the second time is easy but change few parameters, like different party makeup or spell selection, and its can be a whole new puzzle. It's not the same thing. It's two different things, where you might find one more fun than the other, or both fun or both boring but they are not the same thing. As for the encounters in PoE the intent is not to design them so that doing the one same thing over and over works every time in every encounter. It might be that way right now because of poor balance, or maybe even poor designing, but it was never the intent from the beginning.

The (difficult) encounters of BG2 require metaknowledge. And, as you point out, when you have that knowledge it's quite simple. So claiming that is more complex than PoE is really a stretch. Particularly when you take into consideration that the devs have clearly stated from the beginning that they wanted to, and have tried to, move away from encounters that hinges on metaknowledge for the player to be successful. It's still your prerogative to prefer metaknowledge encounters, however that is not the same thing as the BG2 encounters being more complex when you make a comparison.

Cause we're bathing in cash? Need a sink to wash some of it down into.