Keyrock

Scooped it up mostly for Antichamber (I love puzzle games). I already own Giana Sisters (it's quite good). Guacameele looks like it might be cool. I have no clue what The Swapper is. I've heard of Dust, but have no clue whether it's any good. I have no interest in Monaco. This is just adding to my already ridiculous backlog (someone stop me, I need help!). It will be a miracle if I actually play any of these games in the next few months.

I certainly wouldn't call it an RPG, and yes, it was bloody awful.

They weren't even trying to be subtle with Closed Fist. Most of the Closed Fist options were basically MUAHAHAHAHA! *tie damsel to railroad tracks* *twirl mustache* Yet I still love the game.

I liked the pre-color coded system of smile for Open Palm and Grrr expression (aka Old School Lara Croft weapons drawn expression) for Closed Fist dialogue option. It was disappointing how early on they go out of their way to beat into your head that Closed Fist wasn't necessarily "evil", when in practice Closed Fist was very much evil.

Sure, but ankle deep in Wuxia is still better than fully immersed in most other settings for me.

Jade Empire is awesome. On a serious note, I can definitely see why some people hate that game. I love the game dearly, part of that is no doubt my irrational torrid love affair with Wuxia. I'd saw my own leg off* for a Wuxia RPG with top notch controls and combat system. * blatant lie

I think I have about 30 hours of playtime in Skyrim. I enjoyed those 30 hours, but I have no desire to return to it, for whatever reason. I'm not sure what it is, as I recognize Skyrim to be a better game than Oblivion, and better even than Morrowind, in some respects (worse in others). I played both the previous games for hundreds of hours, but not Skyrim. I think I may just be tired of Elder Scrolls in general.

Not really. (Also, the 98% number is a figure I pulled out of my ass, figuratively speaking. Suffice to say 'vast majority') As Zor stated, they serve a purpose. The problem is that of the "bad trolls", I would guess that almost every single one of them thinks they are a "good troll". It takes sharp with and a good grasp of subtlety be a "good troll". A lot of people think of themselves as being witty and subtle, very few actually are.

A good troll is a thing of beauty. It speaks to the human condition, it illuminates the darkness and is an integral option in ecommunication. A good troll is satire, it is well thought out, it is intelligent. A bad troll is a pointless exercise in futility; lazy, facile and worthless. Of course, you can say the same thing about any style of post on the internet, they range from a potential "oh wow, Road to Damascus the scales fall from my eyes" to "please give me that 15 seconds of life and 20 IQ points back". A good troll pokes the self righteous, self important and self serious streak everyone has, and commits the worst crime imaginable to those people- making them look silly. That isn't always possible to do with impeccable logic and Socratic method. People need to be trolled, on the internet and in real life. Everyone needs their fundamental beliefs challenged at various points, if for no reason other than to affirm that you still believe them. And if your fundamental beliefs include the sorts of trivialities that people typically get trolled over then... well, a bit of self examination would not go amiss about whether Pikachu really could take Darth Vader in a fight is a truly important argument to have. The problem is that roughly 98% of trolls fall into what you defined as the bad troll category.

I did know you were joking and it was no problem at all. I joke with people as well and I believe that if you are going to do that you must be prepared to take it. Also we sometimes engage in discussions that get heated and emotional as people take there views seriously. I think that is all part of what constitutes healthy and lively debate and is not Trolling by any means Overmoderation will drive people away as much as undermoderation - whether its official mods or the community policing itself. Eventually those places where the moderation becomes a barrier to communication with whither and either stagnate or collapse entirely, IMO. Agreed on all points. Being a moderator is kind of a thankless task (*ePats moderators on back* Thanks, mods!) and one where you need to make some judgement calls and walk a fine line. A bit of fun, some playful poking the ribs, if you will, is part of a healthy forum community, as is spirited discussion on a variety of topics. However things can escalate quickly and run off the rails even if those who originally began the debate had nothing but good intentions. Taking a hard line and cracking down on every little thing can lead to a forum becoming a police state, which isn't any fun for anyone and can turn the forum into a ghost town quite easily. At the same time, if you let the inmates run the asylum things can go out of control, which can turn your forum into a ghost town just as quickly. *ePats self on back for using a bunch of idioms*

There is a difference between having a bit of fun with someone and doing it in a non-aggressive and good spirited way and trolling. Yes, the line between good spirited fun and trolling can definitely get blurry, which is part of the reason I am quite happy I am not a moderator on an internet forum any longer and have no desire to be one again (since I've had to make that distinction and take appropriate action in the past). As an example of good spirited fun, I have recently poked some fun at Bruce for his fascination with video game romances. I tried to make it very clear that I am just having a bit of fun and am not being serious. I hope Bruce sees it that way too. And believe me, I've typed out posts before that I regretted typing. The vast majority of the time I've stopped myself before clicking "post" when the realization "dude, you're being an idiot and an a-hole" comes over me, but sometimes that realization doesn't come soon enough. At that point, the best course of action is to apologize as soon as possible.

Nearly as important as Bruce Willis' John McClaine is Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber, one of the best movie villains ever. Hans is part of the reason why Die Hard is so much better than any of the sequels. That movie is so great.

My issue with Trolling is more the indifference that we see from people in addressing it. So whenever someone is Trolling the typical reaction is " he is Trolling him, ignore him". There isn't really an attempt to condemn it or to take the person on, so now we know what type of personality defines a Troll that's an important step in people not just ignoring it but dealing with it That's the thing, though, for any forum member other than moderators the proper response is ignoring the troll, outwardly, anyway. Reporting the troll to the moderators via report button is also proper, though no one will outwardly ever see that (other than the moderators). Trolls generally crave attention. Responding to them is giving them exactly what they want, especially if the response is a negative one.

Who are these mysterious people that think trolling is okay? Besides the trolls themselves, obviously.

Wait, they cut most of the battle school from Ender's Game? What the ****!? The battle school was almost the entire book.

It's a decent movie that completely misses the mark on what made Verhoeven's classic such an enjoyable experience. Much like with the Total Recall reboot, which also completely missed the mark, but unlike RoboCop, was not a decent movie, trying to remake Verhoeven's classics is folly. Defenders of the reboots will undoubtedly use the "don't compare them to the originals, treat them as separate entities" argument. There's not a director around today that can do what Verhoeven did, and remaking his movies immediately, and rightfully, warrants a comparison. If you don't want the movie to be compared to the original and stand on its own, make an original movie and not a reboot.

I always facepalm when studies like this come out that confirm what basically everybody already knew. Hey folks, we just spent a whole bunch of money and however long a period of time to bring you absolutely nothing you didn't already know. Give us some more money so that we can bring you more information of no value whatsoever. Science, get the sensation!

Same here. DA:O was one of the very last, if not THE last, Origin-free EA games, wasn't it?

Agreed on both fronts. Titan Quest is my favorite loot em up (loomup?) ever. It has a thoroughly great dual mastery advancement system that allows for building characters in a vast variety of different ways, and is probably the best loot em up I've ever payed in terms of allowing unusual yet viable character builds. I've sort of stopped calling those types of games "RPGs" or even "aRPGs". I'm not going to argue whether they are technically RPGs according to Hoyle or not, I just think that "loot em up" gives a much more clear, easily recognizable, picture of that type of game, whereas aRPG could be anything ranging from The Witcher to Diablo to Borderlands, and those are obviously very different types of games. As far as Two Worlds goes, that game is flat out awful, though I think its sequel is actually even worse overall.

I'm not buying anything any time soon. My backlog is ridiculous and several Kickstarter games will be dropping in my lap soon. I'll keep that suggestion in mind for a future date, with "future" being defined as no earlier than 4 or 5 months from now. Not to mention that I'm in Hardcore Save For Rig Upgrade Mode (aka Operation Haswell-E), as I plan to build a whole new rig in the second half of this year. I'm actually ahead of schedule on the putting aside money front, but that's only caused me to get "greedy" and start thinking about a more high-end rig than I originally was envisioning. Also, **** happens, so having more put away than I need is never a bad idea.

I'm through 13 of the 18 story missions in the Zombie New England area of The Secret World. Hopefully it won't take me too long to get through the rest of them, since I'd kind of like to see a new, and hopefully completely different, area.

That's the one game of theirs I haven't played yet. Is the combat system like Of Orcs and Men? We are stil talking about Cyanide games here, right? Then you are also missing Aarklash: Legacy and Impire I think Unless you are talking about Spider studios. You're right, I haven't played that game either. I forgot all about it.

Me neither. I haven't watched any all star game in probably a decade, if not more.

The Swedes must be loving live after winning the cross country relays and watching Norway choke yet again.