melkathi

The joys of parenthood, huh?

@hurlshot: Presenting my children's books. The plan is to read less and talk more. So I'll be talking about a silly dragon who is a hypochondriac (fully aware I'll have to explain what that is). Also think it may be fun for the kids to talk a little bit about the process, show some concept sketches and how those then turned into illustrations and scenes in the story. @Malcador: Elbows are great, but they can just zerg-rush me...

Not a "done today" but a "still doing right now" so dear moderators feel free to delete if off-topic... Having a nrevous break | V down. Was asked a few weeks back how I felt about doing a book reading for a couple of classes of primary school kids. The way the publishers described it I estimated around 40 kids. Just talked to the organizers to hear the final number, find out the address and all that practical stuff. Organizer asked me if I would be fine with splitting it into two readings as the room only fits 100. 200 kids vs melkathi in two rounds. My money is on the kids. I have no experience whatsoever with children! I am an outspoken bachelor. People say I am great with kids. The truth is, I treat them the way I'd like them to treat me: give them a court nod from across the room and leave them in peace. Tuesday morning the good ole boys will be drinking whiskey and rye, singing this will be the day melkathi will die.

I don't use reddit and can't be bothered to go to yet another place

I have 100 hours on it. It can't be all bad. But waiting for a couple more patches and the eventual sale is reasonable. I hope they get some AI work done. The first 3 difficulties are laughable easy. (the problem not being easy, but the ridiculous things they do that let you win)

Thanks for the heads up Humanoid! It's a WWII game, so not something that interests me, but someone is bound to enjoy it

That is an unfair assessment I would say. AoW3 has done a lot of things that bring it closer to the original Age of Wonders, while trying to modernize the series. Comparing it to Eador, Warlock or Fallen Enchantress, all later games is bound to happen with younger gamers who wouldn't know the older games from over a decade ago, but ultimately unfair. Personally I see most problems with the Beta Test. There are just so many issues that have people wondering "How did this not get noticed during testing?" Then I remember the reply by a couple of testers when people were talking about a prominent problem with the AI: "This is not an issue in multiplayer." That puts a lot of problems in perspective :/

You aren't the only one. The AI isn't all that great. And there are other issues. Funny how the very vocal beta testers who wouldn't shut up about the game before release have gone completly silent now that people can se the result of their testing

We have various threads about various online distribution platforms, but a lot of them have gone and dropped far into the forum depth. So as not to practice forbidden dark arts of Threadomancy: Green Man Gaming has a Battle Trhough the Ages deal going. Mentioning it because it has all the Crusader Kings II stuff going 50% off. That is steam keys. Personally I did not really like the game, but a lot of forum regulars here absolutley love it. My own taste in the sale goes more towards the King Arthur games by Neocore: Total War like combat with heroic leaders who advance levels, unlock abilities and become terribly overpowered Add to that chose your own adventure type quests and a very good moral system, that unlocks rewards and options based on a character's position on a two axis chart: morality (rightful - tyrant) and religion (christianity - old gods). Though I usually end up a rightful pagan. Also at a 50% discount are Blackguard (which I am tempted to get) and some other stuff like Fallen Enchantress. On Steam itself Bloodline is going really cheap as the deal of the day. I just don't know how easily that is installed?

Tried Wildstar in a beta weekend a couple of weeks ago. Found the game so underwhelmingly dull that I uninstalled it right away.

Final Island? Monster Island never was the final zone. Lemuria was the high level zone. Then after launch they added Vibora Bay - a lot more fun than Lagmuria. I find the writing on Monster Island even worse than the rest of the launch content, so I refuse to quest there. Always skip it. For melee characters might has become quite fun. I think it had gotten a revamp after launch. A lot of powersets have. I enjoy palying might every now and then to send enemies flying with punches.

Hmm, "Insecure, weak-willed, whiny, or chronically depressed personality types are right out." So that means no Carth, Kaidan or Alistair?

The default gear makes for a very nightmareish first session

Let us know how it went!

It's a regional thing with Steam. My Steam turns to dutch as well. It seems to be the default language for eastern Europe.

Don't trust the skull.

Tried being clever in Dominion 4. Made a Carrion Lord my Prophet. Forgot the Carrion Lord was undead and as a result mute. Now I have a prophet who can't preach to the unbelievers...

Age of Wonders 2 was the low point of that non-hallmarknss though I enjoy the goblin descriptions quite a lot.

Setup a new game of Dominion 4. Very large map with 27 AIs. Playing as Asphodel - dryads, centaurs etc gone mad and turned to necromancy. Went silly with my Pretender God. Chose the Mother of Monsters base body, so she'll give random birth to monsters. That is once she breaks free from wherever the previous pantocrator God had imprisoned her. Domain of death, misfortune and drain is currently wreaking havoc with my economy, but if I manage to spread it to my neighbours they will be worse of that I, since in my provinces the unrest, murder on the streets and countless accidents just increase the bodycount that gets returned as undead carrion. Will be interesting to see how far I can get with this game. Just need to remember not to overextend.

Alpha Centauri was one of a kind. The original Age of Wonders had a remarkably good campaign with multiple endings. At the time it really stood out. And the writing worked enough to let fans of that game put up with the writing in the sequels The problem with the writing in Age of Wonders 3 is that it is trying to tie together 3-4 games. Something they didn't do a good job with between the orginal and Age of Wonders 2: the Wizards Throne. I sometimes play some Endless Space. But as you say, the story doesn't draw me in the same way Alpha Centauri did. And I can't really play Civ games anymore.

For the lore to be interesting you'd have to start with the first game. If you didn't play that back then, the story is meh.

If you need company/help/whatever give me a shout and I'll log in.

I hear the Adirondacks are beautiful this time of the year.

It always amazes me how 1) people on this forum let themselves get baited into arguments with the selfish-idiots-brigade, and 2) there are intelligent, smart posters who do not have certain people on their ignore list.

And the interview makes it look as if the three factions will be a clearcut choice of where gameplay will take you, instead of social engineering and fine-tuning. Some of the things sound like... a "dumbed down for console" equivalent of the 4X genre.