Keyrock

Yeah, I haven't played a DC, but I would imagine that they are not particularly well suited to soloing. People will LOVE you in a group, though, provided you are good at your role. GWFs are fairly well balanced, in that they are good at solo PvE and they have an important role to play in group PvE (Mopping up groups of adds/lesser mobs. GWFs can take on larger/boss enemies, but they can't match the damage output of a TR against single targets and they can't hold aggro and absorb damage quite as well as a GF). GWFs suck in PvP, but I never PvP so it's no skin off my back.

I suspect it's because they are essentially running a lottery and you've got all the different laws in place around that that they'd have to work through. That's likely at least part of it. As strange as this may sound, it can be a lot more complicated to give something away than it is to sell it when it comes to shipping, especially across country borders and especially if it has to do with anything that could be perceived as some kind of lottery.

I've never done a solo dungeon on a non-daily, not in Sharandar and not in whatever the name of the area (Dread something?) of the Shadowmantle module is called. As far as dying, that's something that never ever comes up (unless I take a plunge into a bottomless pit because I'm dicking around or something) outside of epic dungeons. All the solo stuff is a piece of cake once you have some decent gear. Seeing as I have all either top level or really close to top level gear and all minimum rank 7 enchantments, I have zero fear of dying in anything solo. Even skirmishes are generally a piece of cake, unless I happen to get stuck with a group that's full of people that have absolutely no clue what they're doing. Tier 2 epic dungeons are the only things left that are truly challenging. If you're not part of a group that knows what they are doing, you have no chance of completing a tier 2 epic, no matter how good you are and how good your gear is. The good thing about tier 2 epic dungeons is that they demand proper teamwork. It's impossible to just brute force them because you will just get annihilated.

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "going full codexian" mean? I can only assume it has something to do with RPGCodex.

But they DID talk about combat during the Kickstarter campaign. This update came out while the Kickstarter campaign was still running, hence anyone watching and reading it could have chosen to not pledge or even revoke their pledge at that time: Update 14 In the video Tony Evans talks about combat, states quite clearly that they are still undecided, there will be a vote, and that they will present an outline of how each system would work at the time of the vote. inXile did exactly what they said they were going to do during the Kickstarter campaign by putting the combat system up to a vote, with the one caveat being that by the time they had the vote, the design team had already started leaning toward turn-based, for reasons that were explained in the update that accompanied the vote. Hence, the reason why it would (likely) have taken a large majority voting for RTwP for them to go against their own preference, rather than just a narrow win for RTwP (it's a moot point since TB won the vote by a narrow margin anyway). There is no breach of trust. inXile did what they said they would do during the campaign. As for the "quite a lot of backers" they supposedly lost, chances are the number is quite small. The chatter may seem negative about the vote, but that's because those satisfied with the outcome, and this is most likely the vast majority of people (those that voted TB, those that voted indifferent, possibly a significant portion of those that voted RTwP (those only leaning toward RTwP and not passionate about it), and most likely the vast majority of those that didn't even care enough to vote [since Torment isn't a game defined by combat anyway]), are mostly staying quiet about it, or have simply said their piece and moved on. Like with anything else, you have the loud minority. Those with sour grapes that yell at the top of their lungs and make the most noise. Generally speaking, this group of people usually comprises a very small percentage of the whole. It's highly unlikely that this case is any different. Ultimately, the quality of the finished product will determine how many fans inXile has kept/lost/gained. How the combat system chosen plays into that remains to be seen.

He(?) has a stoic expression on his face, like he's endured many hardships and much mental anguish, but has persevered for the betterment of family and country.

UT99 was pretty ****ing rad. I don't generally like arena shooters, but even I thought that game was awesome.

I kind of like the way things are right now, with inXile and Obsidian Entertainment being two separate entities while having a close working relationship. I don't think it's possible to completely return to the 90s Interplay and Black Isle days as both those entities still exist as some weird, twisted, perverted, abominable simulacrums. If both Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity deliver, and the early consensus on the Wasteland 2 beta (I haven't played it myself so this is purely hearsay) seems to be positive, then I think we will be as close to 90s Interplay/Black Isle as it's realistically possible to get. The RPG landscape is looking pretty good on the horizon with Atlus picking up much of the slack for The Artist Formerly Known as Squaresoft (though Squeenix does still put out some good RPGs, just for handhelds) and From Software and CD Projekt RED doing some really good things. In a shocking move out of left field, Ubisoft is even publishing a core Might & Magic game. I've played it (Early Access), and it's honest to goodness old-school Might & Magic. Now, if we could only get late 90s/early 00s BioWare back, then we'd truly be in another Golden Age of RPGs.

Could a mimic turn into a gelatinous cube, or is it just treasure chests that they like to disguise themselves as? I have to say that the newest module, Shadowmantle, is pretty decent. I like it better than Sharandar. It's not as visually appealing, but there is at least a wider variety of things to do. Plus, the Phantasmal Fortress solo dungeon is pretty rad. It's got some nice M.C. Escher type stuff going on.

Should've been called Thundertits. Pretty cool fight there at the end. I thought my Thorwalian Lady Pirate was a rather large and muscular woman, but she made me look like a child by comparison.

Rip City is back. Aldridge is a beast. I love Lillard's game. He's Smart, savvy, great attitude and bring his a Oakland moxie with him. Matthews and Batum are really coming into their own this year. I don't necessarily see them as top four in the West though. Spurs OKC Golden State LAC Rip City Houston Dallas Lakers ...Flame suit on. Agreed. They're definitely a playoff team, they may even get home court for the first round, but I don't see the Blazers getting the 1 or 2 seed. The Spurs and Thunder will leapfrog them eventually.

It looks like the Raptors are not finished dumping - Kyle Lowry is probably next. He's on an expiring contract and is a UFA next year. Brad Stevens is way too competent a coach and he's ruining the Celtics. Damn you, Brad, this is the year you WANT to bottom out. Danny Ainge needs to pull him aside and explain the concept of rebuilding through the draft during what's being projected to be one of the best drafts ever. They did lose their last 2, so maybe Danny has already had a little talk with him.

It's out already? I wonder if the Android version is out already? Edit: Looks like I have another week to wait for the Android version. Hopefully my phone can handle it. How does it play with touch controls? The controls are decent enough, though I do miss having analog sticks, and driving motorcycles is very chaotic on a touch screen lol I sucked at riding motorcycles even with analog sticks. From the videos I've seen of the mobile version, it looks better than the original PS2 version, but not as good as the PC version. GTA: San Andreas is one of my favorite games ever, so I'm going to be all over this next week, provided my phone can handle it.

Heck yes, I definitely want a mimic companion. Also, ice fishing!

It's out already? I wonder if the Android version is out already? Edit: Looks like I have another week to wait for the Android version. Hopefully my phone can handle it. How does it play with touch controls?

Good chance it's another hoax. I'll wait for an official announcement from Bethesda, whenever that happens. Until then, I'll just assume Fallout 4 doesn't exist, though obviously Bethesda will make (or at least publish) it at some point.

Z-Bo literally giving a fan the shirt off his back Good on you, Z-Bo. Good on you.

I see your point. I would agree that 7267 people prefered Torment be turn-based. 7052 people prefered Torment be real-time with pause 782 people had no stated preference on torment's combat system. My difference is that to the extent ANYONE voted turn-based for any other reason than the merits of the systems in a vacuum [E.X. people voting turn-based because it is inXile's preference] you cannot claim a causal relationship between their system preference and what they voted for in this poll. In a sense, I am more pessimistic about it's value than you are. EDIT: Thank you for responding, it was helpful in letting me see my bias in assuming that the will of inXile was the only outside factor, when there are more than we can possibly know. It's possible to speculate that the devs' own preference for TB could have influenced people that voted for TB, or even people that voted for RTwP, in some kind of reverse psychology deal. The problem is that without being able to read the minds of some 15000 voters, it's impossible to know how many voters were influenced, and how much. Any assumption as to the motivations and/or thought processes of the voters requires some significant leaps of judgement based on nothing more than hunches and/or some kind of perceived knowledge of the human psyche. I am no psychologist, hence I choose to make no assumptions at all and just take the numbers at face value.

What the voting numbers mean to me: 7267 people prefer turn-based 7052 people prefer real-time with pause 782 people don't care either way Nothing more, nothing less. Y'all can read some imaginary greater or alternate meaning into the totals all you want, it doesn't change anything.

Slippy Toad is even more annoying in 3D.

Gotta love the Monkey Island reference. I love those almost as much as I like "I'm selling these fine leather jackets".

The voting numbers, like any figures, can be spun to fit anyone's version of "reality" and "truth". Have any of you folks thought about going into politics? Because bending words and numbers to fit one's own vision is essentially the crux of being a politician.

In the war atrocities category, I would like to add: Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (1897-1947) Known as "The Butcher of Crete", Müller was a Nazi general most well known for his occupation of Crete starting in 1942. Probably the most famous, but certainly not only, of his atrocities was the Holocaust of Viannos, a 3 day guerilla campaign that resulted in the death of some 500 civilians and the burning of nearly 20 villages. He was tried by the Greek courts in 1946 and executed by firing squad in 1947.

So, do you folks think the Blazers can keep this up, or do you think they'll come back down to earth at some point?