JFSOCC

"Yes, I know what the DEATH screen looks like, I'm in LOVE with the DEATH SCREEN"-A very sarcastic Chris Avellone after dying for the umpteenth time. So, yeah, different death screens. In Quest for Glory, there would be an amusing epitaph based on the way you died. A little poem. I loved those. Maybe something like that. (I suggest you mute the lowe quality sound.)

I hope that the developers put a ****load of content in the world that isn't linked to quests. Any quest idea they had which doesn't make it, use the bare bones and just leave it in the game without the quest. It will give us the impression of a much much larger world where a lot of stuff is going on, even things you can't get involved with. So you might stumble upon a group of 12 wizards locked in a ritual circle busy summoning a demon. And you can wait and fight the them all including a demon, or you can kill them and ruin the ritual, or you can abuse that they're busy summoning and rob them blind, or you can ignore them. but nothing what you do will tell you who they are, why they are there, what their motives are or any of that. Or you come across a ruined temple which you can loot. these sections are about visual narrative more than anything else. You can see what happened if you pay attention to your surroundings. You don;t have to hit the player over the head with it either. These days I notice way too many games only include things which have a purpose, mostly quest oriented. So you're fairly sure that when you speak to someone with dialogue besides the standard greetings, that they're involved in a quest or questline. And that's sort of immersion breaking, because it encourages meta-game thinking. By having unexplained but atmospheric content richly mixed in between the quests, you create the illusion of a much much bigger world.

stop inviting the cat in your bedroom and he will stop licking your face, goodbye nightmares.

I'm surprised to hear you feel this way. I find the left is so measured that they get waltzed over by the arrogant and loud-mouth right. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective, we each live in our own filter bubbles. I enjoy debate, just not repeating one I've had many times. (hence my tired disclaimer) But I'm not deaf to argument. Personally I can't stand absolutism. Something I associate with the religious right. While I think we should get rid of the concept that doing nothing is inherently wrong, I agree that if you are given aid, you may attach strings. Welfare in the Netherlands comes with a requirement to look for work, except for disability welfare. Both however also provide aid (along with the funds) in finding work, so even those who are disabled are encouraged, if not required, to look for work. And many do, because most are bored out of their wits doing nothing. As for punishment taxes, We tax in scales, the first so much you make (since 2013 increases some taxes up to 20k(per year) is taxed 37%. anything from 20k to 55k is 42%, and anything above 55k is taxed 52%. So if you were doing well, you're going to continue doing well. And mind you, because we have healthcare mandate, if you go to the hospital, you won't end up with a several thousand dollar hospital bill. You only pay for the insurance, and if you make below a certain income limit (fairly low) you get government aid to help pay your insurance. Also, insurance has to accept a basic insurance plan from anyone, which at least covers the most important things. (this was a right-wing/left wing compromise, btw) As much as I hate being poor, I praise my lucky stars that I'm poor in the Netherlands, in the US I'd be dead by now.

what a cynical view. I like to believe that a well designed system doesn't encourage gaming. Sure, here in the Netherlands there are those who do, as there are everywhere, but the vast majority of those who receive help are grateful for it and are given the means to improve their situation. And that's fairly common. Almost half of our now employed workforce have at one point in their life received benefits. So most people do get out of it. The government reaches them the means to do so. You can't work on your bachelors if you're starving in the street, but you can if you were given enough money to rent a house and get some food. so you could see it as an investment in society AND the economy. It's a fantasy to thing that most people are happy to live of such a small stipend government supplies. It's never been a honey pot, but rather a safety net. Most people want to work, or study, give meaning to their life. Just because there are those who do game the sytsem, a small minority, the vast majority who are helped shouldn't suffer of the sins of a few. practise has proven that it works. I'm saddened to see a shift to the political right in recent years in the Netherlands, it has cost us a lot.

I'm ok with paying for a type of quiver(representing lifetime supply) rather than individual arrows. You could still get individual ones of which you don't own a quiver.

You can still back through pay-pal, but it won't buy you the game.

Shame I will have to miss this one

I only recently played the first Baldurs gate, so I won't have the context in which it was released, but I did not feel the game was engaging, maybe I would have in the past, I don't know. If that's the case it didn't age well, at any rate. I couldn't bring myself to finish (enhanced edition) I made it to nashkell, and even the minds, via a vast detour due to my poor navigational skills. Jaheira grating that we really ought to get going. (Yes, I'm trying that, thank you) when I did go past one of those maps, I made it a point to explore it all, but wilderness is boring. I want to see the city, it might be better, but the game has been idle at that point for over a month, I can't bring myself to it. And you might argue that the city is fantastic, but the game failed to catch my attention, it failed to engage me, and I shouldn't have to suffer through for a promise of fun later. I can forgive a game many flaws, if it can deliver engaging story and gameplay. As long as any game breaking bugs don't ruin my saves, and halt progress, I will play something I find beautiful. For this reason I like Knights of the Old Republic II even though it is a broken and unfinished game. What I played through was wonderful and atmospheric, I felt part of the story. I felt dialogue was directed at me, rather than a character, and I did what I chose to do. The first game was an ok game, but I was the observer, it didn't happen to me. KotOR II made you part of it. I was having a philosophical discussion with a fricking game. So of course, I didn't manage succeed at half of what I wanted to achieve in that game, but at the end I felt I was taken on a ride. And that horribly open ended ending cutscene just had me screaming in agony and wondering what happened. Not telling everything leaves a lot to the imagination, and I believe adds to the mystique of a world, not detracts. Not everything needs explaining. That's a game I can fall in love with, despite a face which only a mother would love. All the IE games which I played were deeply flawed. Which I think is understandable, there's a **** lot required to make everything work in an environment accepting so many inputs. These days there are more tools and it's somewhat easier. Baldurs gate 2 punished my noobieness everywhere, but just walking through the city and wondering what I might find, it was so content laden. I could just keep going and finding things I could do. And they were diverse, Breaking in and stealing a bird, mastering the course in the thieves guild, finding someone buried alive in a graveyard, that ****ing graveyard, that'll teach me to want to rob tombs. It was an adventure, and that's what I took from it. Neverwinter nights was more of a game I used to pass the time, it was OK for me, my noobieness in this game didn't give me a different experience, but it gave me less of one. There's just not enough content in the game. In Baldurs II gate you have to have played through a significant amount of content or you can't proceed the story, but this encourages you to do stuff in a fun and engaging way. Now there is a team of artists, who all used to work on games I love, and claim that their next project is their passion project, what they always wanted to do. To take the best of the games they made, and shed the mistakes they've made. and make a whole new game, which will recreate the experience of the past, but better. Yeah, that's a pitch that won me over.

I choose you, nerdboner

based on the description, I voted for baldurs gate, but If you could give me a visual example of NVN2, I might change my mind. I also would very much like the option to import my own images for portraits.

You know, I'm tired of seeing this discussion everywhere. I don't want to foul much more words over it. I'll say it once more and then leave it at that. let me just say that I'm firmly left wing in my politics. Welfare states routinely are listed in the top for income equality, GDP per head, life expectancy, health, education, infrastructure, upward mobility, and low crime rates, low infant death rates, and low population growth (good thing). High taxes work, and everyone benefits. you tax the highest earners the most, because beyond a certain point, it doesn't get spent by the earner, and he just sits on it. After all, after you've bought your third tropical island, what's left to do? Trickle down has never worked. If you want reaganomics, go to Pakistan and see how it benefited them. But there's such a "MINE!" mentality, and a great deal of loss aversion, plus ideological beliefs which are provably wrong, which the political right has so expertly managed to frame with their one-liners, that no-one on that side of the political spectrum seems capable of seeing how much they gain from a caring government. It's practically impossible to succeed in life without help, and governments provide help to those who otherwise couldn't get it. In order to do that, they need money. That's not such a hard concept to understand, is it? The redistribution of wealth (which is not a perfectly equal redistribution, mind you, you can still earn and have tremendous amounts of wealth) does strengthen the economy, because it allows for a much broader base of consumers. A poor man can't buy a computer, after all. A poor man can't afford an education in order to become a more skilled worker. How can this incredibly simple concept fail to make sense to those on the political right? I will never know. And if you've earned more than 250.000 euro in a year, I think it is incredibly selfish to want to keep every damn penny. Morally bankrupt. Especially since with 52% tax (here in the Netherlands, it is scaled lower incomes pay a lower percentage) you would keep 120.000 euro, which is a fine amount to live of. And it ensures high quality healthcare when you get sick, keeps those damn vagrants of the streets, makes the paved highways broad for traffic and trade, gives you access to high-speed internet, cleans the damn streets, pays for police and firemen and a whole wide range of services you take for granted and which would be way to expensive if you had to pay for it yourself.

Filling a hole in my upbringing, I watched Psycho by Hitch**** yesterday. They don't make movies that take their time like that anymore, mores the pity.

that's fantastic, but, maybe put these in the wondrous items topic?

I had never plaed BG1, until enhanced edition came out. but yeah, I have much much better memories of BG2.

I'd have wondrous items do something utilitarian. Like "Lantern of Hocard"- Reveals hidden doors and creatures (and you'd have grades of them, some show only a specific type of hidden door, others show everything. A bit like the glyphs in thief 3.) "amulet of foresight" Allows you a do-over of one dialogue every 7 dialogues. (greetings and other inane banter notwithstanding) "Badge of authority" -"FBI, division six" allows you some extra bluff dialogue options of the "I belong here" sort. "Invisible tent" allows you to rest in a public place. "magic eight ball" You can ask it a question, it will give you an ambiguous answer which won't help at all. Found on the body of a high-priest in a cult which practices divination. "ever-burning torch" Equipped in a weapon or secondary slot, causes light in darkness. "Cursed ever-burning torch" similar, except goes out whenever enemies are nearby. Ideal for stealthy characters. "toy robot" Automaton useful for distracting guards. You can plot the path up to 50 paces. also triggers traps. "book of famous riddles and their answers" Gives a percentile chance of marking the correct answer should you be presented with a riddle. "teleport stone" teleports you to the linked stone. wise to place one in your stronghold. similar to mark and recall from the elder scrolls games. "The thousand faces mask" -works as a perfect disguise, while worn, player reputation is set to default for all factions. Gives access to initial dialogue in some cases. (great for going to factions which hate you, or for retrying a dialogue where you picked a different path earlier) "grey wig" cursed item, everyone sees you as a horrible monster and flees or fights you on sight. this might help clear a path in some areas you could otherwise not easily bypass. "Gehn's pocket plane book" A trap. You open the book, set it on a surface and it fades from sight. Any creature which walks on it triggers the trap, they are miniaturized and the book closes shut. The book can then be picked up. The victim is placed in stasis and will be released when the book is opened again, likely attacking the player when that happens. Infinite uses. (but with the caveat that you have to defeat the enemy you trapped last before using it again) "band of truth" when worn makes you incapable of dissembling. Can be placed on an enemy for interrogation as well.

Hey you're the one that typed it. Don't blame me because you won't back it up. have you no eyes?

EA needs to die, the fill the market with a wave of crap and lower everyone's standards. They've publicly stated they want to be the biggest. that's their mission statement. not the best, the biggest. They are buying up shelf space and clogging up the system. they buy up companies which produce gems and then with their Midas touch, turn it into ****-gold. Those companies inevitably go bankrupt, by the way. They completely fail to understand the concept of artistic merits, and the artists who work for them are kept to slave labour contracts which causes them to be worn out psychologically by the time a product goes to market. They are a monster. And the day they file for bankruptcy, which I'm convinced eventually they will, will be a good day for game lovers across the globe.

taxes in the UK are higher, so I wonder what they're trying to accomplish. this article must be fake.

Valve has Goodwill EA lost all theirs a long long time ago.

lol, does it have a "SCARY aura" which causes fear and confusion in its enemies? that'd be hilarious.

I'm listening to the Django Unchained soundtrack. it is fantastic.

Sure, but it's that I perfer fantasy fiction. However I read historical fiction, travelogues, and popular science books. and occasionally one that gets recommended to me.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-introduces-palestinian-only-bus-lines-following-complaints-from-jewish-settlers-1.506869 I wonder if there are any israeli jews who could see the irony.

Such a customization system would make the crafting skill so much more valuable.