Valsuelm

Which discussion at hand? My replay which providing some background about quality of life in Russia and conditions in its military in response to a post that spoke about that(because just like people who never been to USA, think that USA is all urban skyscrapers like NY with people with a single TV show accent, people have no idea about Russiam which is bigger and nothing like Moscow) , or your apologist rant, not liking how what I said reflect on Russia and trying to prove some crap about Russia being a major world power and hubris :/ I'm aware of the quality of life in Russia and most other places. I'm fairly well traveled, very well read, and while I have not yet been to Russia, I have numerous friends there, and from there. In fact I just has some amazing caviar a couple days ago brought back from there by a friend who was recently visiting her family. Politics are often discussed over dinner, wine, and caviar. I know it's not all super awesome amazing there for many people. Newsflash, neither is the U.S. for a great many and growing number of people in it. I think something is lost in translation in some of what you're saying though. You seem to be entirely misinterpreting who and what I was saying suffered from hubris. You might find it amusing to know that there are many people in the U.S. itself that thinks New York is all urban skyscrapers with a single TV show accent. It never ceases to sadden me when I meet them. There are stupid people all over the planet.

Oby speaks the truth here. GDP is a number that has less and less bearing on the actual economic situation in any given nation. Western markets are incredibly overvalued, currencies are ultimately pinned on nothing and for the most part quite literally brought into being out of thin air and married to debt. Both markets and currencies are manipulated big time. There are absolutely insane amounts of debt out and about as a result and it's exponentially growing while enslaving more and more people and destroying more and more real tangible economy. The U.S. economy, EU economy, as well as most other western economies are out over the abyss just waiting for the plunge. A plunge that is likely to come sooner than later, but it will come. A mathematical certainty that. The sociopaths running the western banking game (in many ways a ponzi scheme) behind all of this fantasy economics and their bought and paid for sociopathic government stooges will likely take us all to war than let it completely collapse and lose their power, and if they actually do let it completely collapse you'll see revolutions in more than a couple nations. My money is on a combination of both before it's all said and done. Either way, ugly times ahead. But quote yer GDPs and think it's the end all be all as much as you like, and champion your favorite harbinger(s) of the fascist state the UN and/or EU and think these are good things all you like. Really, a ten year old could figure out it's all a sham, it's definitely not rocket science, yet so many adults do not.

I understand well how folks such as yourself often misuse terminology and refuse to acknowledge the reality when it's pointed out to you. You are a fool if you think Russia is a 'backwater country'. It is still very much a major world power, given it's leadership probably moreso than anyone but the U.S. at this point, with China rising to be near on par. Also, you just demonstrated my observation of hubris amongst some of those in the First World when they discuss what they think is the Third World. Agiel's post is a bunch of male cow diarrhea. You lace it with enough MSG to make it palatable to you? It's got some half truths to be sure, but it's not too relevant. Furthermore, near half of what he accuses Russia of one could say is true of the nation I live in these days as well as most of the nations in the EU. I don't care about your little rebellion phase from the EU. I was burn in Russia my father served and was wounded in Russian army and before that we fought in ww2 for soviet Russia, so I have a little more perspective about Russia then you do. So chill with your male cow diarrhea rant in defense of the underdog fighting strawmen argument. If you are not familiar with term 'third world countries' used in the sense of developing world countries then I suggest you start reading the economic section once in a while, and if you have issue with grasping reality of Russia being ranked as developing country almost in every aspect(despite being an influential player in world arena) then you might want to do some research instead of making ignorant claims. 'Rebellion phase from the EU.' What on earth are you talking about? Good for you for growing up in Russia, that really has no bearing on the discussion at hand. Insofar as the rest. Again, hubris. Are there economists that refer some third world nations in a derogatory sense? Sure thing. There are a lot of moronic economists out there, and at least as many that are full of themselves. Their hubris and misapplication of the term Third World doesn't change what the term means. Really though, I'd wager more often than not it's just your misinterpretation rather than the authors, even though authors are not above misinterpretation, especially authors of books on economics.

Oooooo.... Phantasy Star. The originals were great games. And yea.. the early jRPGs were just like western RPGs for the most part. D&D was a heavy influence.

Sorry, but no. Russia has great potential considering it's strategic resources but that's pretty much it. If anything I'd personally say Russia is currently a second-rate world power (but that of course depends on how you classify a "world power"). That analysis is based solely on the size of their economy, which is the basis for every kind of power, whether economic or military. During the Cold War, Russia was the leader of an important political movement, which made it the second most powerful country on earth. Today, Russia is the leader of pretty much nothing at all. And if you consider Russia by itself it's not very big (except geographically), or very important in any sense. It's just you being ignorant when you see the size of Russia on a map or reminisce about the Cold War days. Secondly, it's certainly not important due to it's leadership, I'd rather say despite it. Saying otherwise is completely and utterly ridiculous. Putin has shown us time and time again that he is more keen on keeping hopeless dictators in place, or adding more unimportant places on the world map to Russia. He's like a newbie kid playing Europa Universalis, only interested in these banal issues and not in more important but more difficult questions such as developing the economy. Idiots reading the news will think that "Ooo, Putin stopped Obama's plans in Syria, that must mean Russia is very powerful". They don't take into consideration at all what would have happened if China, or Japan, or Germany, or even France, the UK or Brazil would have spazzed out instead of Russia. The big problem with Russia is that despite their current post-Cold War relative obscurity, they still retain their seat on the UNSC. So it's free for them to turn the UNSC into their own kindergarten which is kind of why countries such as Syria came under their wing in the first place. Now, the more political capital Putin expends on idiotic foreign policy adventures, the less stability and long term growth there will be for the Russian economy. Meanwhile, stupid commentators will continue to talk about how "powerful" he is. Just look at PNAC in the US. They had pretty much the same jingoist goals for the US as the current Russian leadership has for Russia. But they still ended up shooting themselves in the foot - because long-term power does not follow from bellicose politics, posturing and buffoonery. Buffoonery and jingoism gives the impression of power at the expense of building trust and stability, which is so much more important in economy and foreign politics. (As I said before, I believe Crimea should be independent or a part of Russia rather than the Ukraine, but I think that Putin's current politics of confrontation is deeply harmful to Russia) Nope, Russia isn't a major world power at all. Putin didn't just successfully thumb his nose at the EU, US, and NATO and get away with it 100%. He didn't run diplomatic circles around the US et al in Syria, where war would be happening right now in the form of 'UN Intervention' if he didn't. Russia hasn't played a major role at all in Iran. Russia isn't at all a concern of Europeans all by it's lonesome. Russia's discussions with China to drop the dollar all together and their policies moving in that direction isn't going to do much of anything because Russia is just a backwards nation. Russia didn't wipe the walls with the foreign backed coups in Georgia a few years ago, telling GWB to bend over and dinker himself. Of course the ultimate threat of Russian military power, still second only to that of the U.S. globally doesn't make it a major world power either. And no, the world hasn't generally looked to see how Russia would react to every major U.S./NATO/UN aggression over the last 20 years either, increasingly moreso these last few years. Gone are the days of the inept leadership Russia suffered through in the 90s and very arguably the 80s. While we here in the west are generally suffering under our own inept leadership, Russia, China, and a few others are growing in power, where the U.S. is losing it. You truly are a fool if you think Russia isn't a major player. Heck, half of this thread is people spouting 'ZOMG the evil Russians are coming, they must be stopped!'. If they weren't a major power, that wouldn't be a concern, and U.N. 'peacekeepers' would likely already be in Crimea stopping the presumed non major power Russia. The idea proposed that Russia isn't a major world power is probably the most misinformed and truly fantastical idea that's been said in this thread. And that's saying something. From LaLaLaLaLaLa Land this idea hails from.

Most of you guys are assuming he's guilty.... bad move. If he's innocent, the level of hell he's going through....

You should wear a superhero suit with a giant 'I' on it. In actuality JRPGs are known to often have romance in them. In fact of all the RPG games I've played it's a couple JRPGs I could mention that do 'romance' right if they do it at all. ie: Final Fantasy VI and VII. Go find and play those and then Chrono Trigger. The latter being the overall best game of any genre on any platform in my opinion and the opinion of a great many others.

No, you don't understand that in post cold war the term 'third world' countries has been used interchangeably with developing world (unlike first\second world). More importantly it seems that the comparison which was the subject matter of that post was lost on you. Whatever terminology you may choose third world, undeveloped, developing etc, for a former world power Russia is generally ranked like backwater country. (i.e. the reference to Agiel post I understand well how folks such as yourself often misuse terminology and refuse to acknowledge the reality when it's pointed out to you. You are a fool if you think Russia is a 'backwater country'. It is still very much a major world power, given it's leadership probably moreso than anyone but the U.S. at this point, with China rising to be near on par. Also, you just demonstrated my observation of hubris amongst some of those in the First World when they discuss what they think is the Third World. Agiel's post is a bunch of male cow diarrhea. You lace it with enough MSG to make it palatable to you? It's got some half truths to be sure, but it's not too relevant. Furthermore, near half of what he accuses Russia of one could say is true of the nation I live in these days as well as most of the nations in the EU.

Some do say that ignorance is bliss.

I personally just think people grumble about Steam DRM due to inertia. There's a lot of us though who won't buy a game that has DRM period though. Which is why I end up not owning many modern PC games that aren't indie. If I can't feel like I genuinely own what I purchase I don't want it, and I can't feel that way with DRM. If they sell the game through Steam with DRM, I don't care.. but if that was the only way to get it? I'd request my money back. I used to think we could own software too and was concerned about DRM, and then I went to law school... Seriously though, the whole DRM v. no-DRM fight was lost decades ago when it was decided that the best way to sell software was through licensing. The software liscense you agree to when installing pretty much any program is at its core managing your "digital" rights. There are more restictive ones and less restrictive ones, but all of them limit your rights in the way you use the software. Dunno what nation you live in, or what law school you went to, but if it's in the U.S. you were misinformed if you think it's that black and white on the side of the you never own your software licensing folks. Different nations have different laws but in the U.S. the first sale doctrine still applies, and Sony v Universal is still precedent, though there are multiple lawsuits going through the pipes to try and circumvent it as well as to try and protect it, largely due to the DMCA (an abomination of a law and horribly misinformed on a number of levels, not just this issue). The 9th circuit has been fairly anti first sale doctrine and pro silicon valley/Seattle on this (no wonder really) but not entirely, while the other circuits are more mixed. Regardless, there are some folks who buy into it the idea you don't own the software you buy, and some folks who absolutely won't.

Really, what should the mods do? Well, in this case I think it's a sticky subject. Certainly I do not think he should be banned or even sanctioned in anyway really. That said, obviously his avatar is irking at least one person. And that said, there are avatars on this forum that irk me. Namely, pretty much any that has animations as they are distracting, and especially that one that Cultist has in his sig. Shoot me but I don't exactly enjoy seeing some retard wave a **** turd at me every time I come to this forum (and if you're read the books, you'd know that scene never happens, so the Song of Ice and Fire purist in me is slightly irked in that manner as well). Also, I find it bothersome that I have to have the image of a fat man with an erection in my head every time I read the topics of this forum. And it's not because I have a lack of humor. All that said, what to do? Well, once upon a time I actually used to be a moderator of a forum that's for the most part now defunct but had many thousands of posts and a few hundred posters over the course of a couple years. In all that time I only had to censor one post (I believe in free speech and abhor censorship), that post being one filled with an extra special amount of vitriolic vulgarity. I also censored an avatar that had bouncing naked boobs in it. Why? Because we had kids on the forum, fostered mature respectful conversation there, and some women (and men) found it disrespectful. In the case of the former the guy was booted from the forums permanently, in the case of the latter I just asked the guy to change his avatar, he understood why, and did so. No biggie and no harm done. Perhaps that's what should be done here. But then, what if Oby doesn't want to change it? Well.... then perhaps we'll have to live with it. Oby, really.... even though I don't find your symbol offensive and it definitely isn't antisemitic, I can understand and respect that someone of the Jewish faith might have an issue with their holy symbol being defiled in some manner (as might a Christian have an issue with a lizard eye in the center of a crucifix). So on that note, I humbly ask you Oby, to respectfully change your avatar, as well as humbly ask the Cultist to stop waving his **** turd, and someone to change the thread title of the baseball thread to not include words that invoke images of an aroused fat man. Edit: LOL... the five letter word that starts with 'P' that is used to name part of male genitalia is automatically censored on this forum, yet it's apparently ok to have words describing a fat dude with a hardon in a thread title. Heck, hardon isn't censored but **** is. There is great inconsistency here.

So what the hell do you want the moderators to do ? Nag him ? Yea... get all noober on his arse.

I'd say the onus of proving it's antisemitism is on you, not on me to prove it's not. However, I find this amusing so: It's a Lizard eye in the center of the Star of David. The lizards eye likely representing conspiracy, or more specifically an alien race conspiracy, and yes, I mean lizard from outer space if you're not familiar with the alien lizards conspiracy. A conspiracy that is not in any way limited to Jewish people (there are Christian lizard people do, or rather, lizard people masquerading as Christians, as well as masquerading as pick your other favorite religion; many people who believe this stuff think George Bush is an alien lizard for example (and while I don't think that's true it would explain some things ). It is really a bunch of hogwash, but many people eat it up. Kinda like Ancient Aliens is also hogwash, but a lot of people eat that up too. Some folks linked the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Something that some hold as gospel and others hold as whackadoodlery. Zionists of course attempt to debunk it as it discusses things such as a Zionist conspiracy and paints them in a not so pretty light. Wooooooooooo. Ooooooooooooo. Conspiracy. Frankly, there are Zionists who conspire (I've actually personally seen it and been a part of it, though I am no Zionist I was assumed to be because of who I once worked for), that's really a fact for anyone who doesn't have their head up their butt, realizes how the world works, and how Israel came to be, as well as the ongoing Pro-Israel and screw those piddly goyim mindset of some modern Zionists. There are also plenty of people who are not Zionists who conspire. Conspiracy happens, quite often, and it's not exclusive to any people or those practicing a certain religion. I bet you've even conspired yourself at some point in your life. Implying that some Jewish folks are conspiring is not antisemitism. It's just implying reality. Implying there are some Jewish folks who conspire and happen to be Lizard aliens is ridiculous and comical, not hateful. It's goofy really. Note, as mentioned by others in this thread, and myself in other threads: Jewish /= Zionist. Even most of the folks who hold the Protocols of Zion as gospel don't think that. Hence it being called the '... of Zion' not the '.... of the Jews'. Believing in them has nothing to do with being antisemitic. I know Jewish people who think the Protocols are legit. Of course these same Jewish people would be considered antisemitic by folks such as those who run the ADL. 'Antisemitic' is really a political hit word, thrown at anyone and everyone who would ever lay criticism at the feet of Israel or Jews in general. Criticizing someone does not mean you hate them. Especially I'd say when you call them a Lizard Alien for outer space. An aside for the moment: Bruce VC, you're a conspiring lizard alien for outerspace!! (do I not sound ridiculous? do you really think I hate BruceVC?) Now. Why the Lizard eye in the Star of David? I'm not sure as I didn't make this symbol, and I doubt Oby is either, but it likely is representing the political Zionist movement and/or Israel. It wouldn't make sense for it to be representing Jews in general. (Something that Israel pretends to do). For those who aren't familiar, there are those who think the Jews control the world. Certainly an exaggeration and a misattribution, but there is a modicum of truth to it as Zionists do indeed wield considerable global power (and they are definitely not the only group who does), and there is some truth to the fact that they run the financial sector. Am I saying that Lizard alien Zionist conspirators control the financial sector 100%, not at all. But the fact is that the most powerful banking family of the 19th and early 20th century, The Rotschilds, and who are still possibly the most powerful banking family in the world, do happen to be Jewish, and they do happen to be Zionist, and they do wield considerable financial power (any billionaire does, and they're billionaires many times over). So does Israel in general, especially in the U.S.. Anyone who is familiar with our foreign policy in the last 70 or so years could tell you that. Not to mention if you know your history, going back to the dark/middle ages, you know that only Jews were generally allowed to be bankers in Europe due to the Catholic prohibition of usury, hence some Jewish folks getting their power in the financial sector in the first place. Really, this is comically stupid that this discussion is even happening. No informed person would say that symbol is antisemitism. It's kinda like the meathead morons in Albuquerque last week who chased down some guys carrying the U.S. flag upside down because they thought it was disrespecting and hateful of the U.S. flag. Anyone who knows what it means to carry or hoist the flag upside down and considers the context the folks carrying it were doing it in (a protest of police brutality/murder in a city PD gone corrupt and amuck) would know the folks carrying that flag were anything but disrespectful to what it represents. Good luck telling that to the ignorant self proclaimed marines though. Heck, even the Young Turks got it, sort of, and they don't usually get much. So like those carrying the U.S. flag upside down the Lizard eye in the Star o David is a protest of certain perceived policies. It is not in anyway some form of hate of Jewish people. Truly, only the uninformed would think so. I hope I had better luck here informing those who don't know of a synopsis of what the Lizard in the Star of David likely represents than anyone will likely ever have with the marine meatheads in the above video.

Well Russia is generally ranked as third world country, which is likely why Putin made a priority to nationalized media, and I read that they have directives to broadcast at least 50% of reports must be "positive" after all if you are an oblivious fly a big pile of warm steaming **** looks sweet.. That is exactly why the circumstance of the vote were illegal, people got no debate what the ramifications of their vote, iirc opposition members were escorted from the hall, and Russia propaganda was a huge ad campaign for Russian forward base Crimea. As for what culture shock it may incur, I don't know since the majority of Crimea were Russian speakers who watched Russia news as their primary outlet.. besides people don't tend to admit mistakes, and conscription might help unemployment in the short term so who knows, will have to wait and see. You fundamentally don't understand what 'third world' even is. Russia, is second world, not third. The term is all about who is aligned with whom. First world generally being US, NATO, and it's allies, and Second world being Russia, China, and their allies. In other words, east vs. west, or in some people's mind's historically democracy vs. communism. The Third World makes up the folks that aren't directly aligned with either the First or Second. Generally those in the 3rd world came to be viewed in almost a derogatory manner as they were considered 'backwards' by those in the First, for not joining the First. Dismissed with hubris as if they don't matter. It is those in the Third World that were often used as pawns by the First and Second to gain influence, resources, etc, or attack the opposing World's influence and resources. ie: Vietnam, various coups and guerrilla wars in Africa, South America, and the middle east, etc. The whole Three Worlds concept is western in origin, and even though the Cold War is over (or is it?) it's still applicable in some people's minds today.

It's not antisemitism.

Way to exaggerate and misinterpret.

If it makes sense for the environment then ok, sure, no problemo. But if you're actually designing every part of the game to cater to people who aren't savvy enough to split their party up at times, I'm disappointed.

Uh... no. Tactics were a large part of dungeoneering in BG and BG2, in particular in those smaller areas. I enjoyed Firewine Ruins and the rest. Never once did I think the corridors were too small, and the pathing complaints are very exaggerated. I seriously wonder at the game playing abilities of many of the people making these complaints. As others have mentioned, if you don't split your party up sometimes, and in particular when you're going through the smaller places, you're doing it wrong. And yes, it bears repeating, you are doing it wrong. While there are options, there are indeed right and wrong ways to go about playing the game. It irks me to think that anything in PoE will be designed around people making such complaints, far better would be to explain in the manual or somehow hint in game that splitting the party is a good idea (or whatever other thing that might not be obvious to an inexperienced player that would be wise to do). A large reason I backed this game was the hopes that noobery would not be catered to, as it was not in the IE titles, with the exception of the aforementioned sped up walking in the IWDs, which was horribad imo. They got the walking speed right with the first BG. Insofar as the pathing, really, turn it all the way up in the settings and click your destination more than once if it's way across the map and the pathing is better than most modern games even (two clicks is almost always sufficient). I'm playing through NWN2 right now and I find the pathing there to be worse than in the IE games, especially inside. Though it's likely that fewer destination control options (ie no formations) and lack of real party order compared to the IE games the are really the issue. (I've said to myself 'no really guys, I said FOLLOW ME!' too many times in NWN2..... it's great when it works, but it's not rare when it doesn't). And to go a little further on splitting your party: For pretty much everywhere, in the IE games and other RPGs with similar party make up I always scout ahead with my rogue, leaving the rest of the party behind, and only bringing who is needed to a fight after I find enemies (how you generally avoid the noobish complaint of zomg my wizard was 1 shot in the IE games; don't put your wizard in harms way noob ). If you're trollopsing through the unexplored wilderness or wherever with your whole party all the time I can only imagine how many times you end up having to reload after stumbling on something that rocks your party's world. If you scout, you can control who enters the fight first, and from what angle.

I'm astounded at this.

That's weird? How?

The sanctions against Russia may finally be felt in real terms. Poor Finns, innocent bystanders to all of this, and they're the ones paying. A matter of time before Putin caves now? Is the a cause of celebration that sanctions can actually do some good? Or is this what it all really is?

Quite interesting logic here. At some point of time some people believed cleansing certain regions from certain ethnicities are "what is best for the region". Anyway, looking at how everything turned out for Iraq, Lybia, Syria and Egypt I kinda think someone asking wrong people about "what is best for the region". Actually you have unintentionally supported my view about the right way the West can implement regime change. You mentioned some examples, Libya is the correct way to implement regime change and Syria is the result of where the West is prevented from getting involved by the vetoing power of Russia and China So lets look at the state of Syria and Libya now and ask yourself what country is better off? Yes things aren't perfect in Libya but its no where near the catastrophic level of economic and social collapse that Syria is at.... So once again I do support the principle of Western intervention to assist with regime change in some cases. Libya was far far far far far far FAR better off before the 'west' got involved, attacked, and toppled Gaddafi. Same for Syria. The west is involved in Syria. Who do you think is funding and arming the 'rebels'?

No need to apologize as it's not really an old thread but this one before it was interrupted. That threads are closed on this forum just for reaching an arbitrary # of posts is pretty retarded in my opinion. IIRC, this was originally done for stablility reasons—huge topics caused issues and posts would go missing or something; it's not arbitrary. The software has been updated numerous times however, so I'm not sure it's still necessary. Also, the old version of the forum software allowed you to go into "reply" mode even in locked threads, where you could then copy the whole post and paste it on the new thread, with proper quotations and link to the original post. Maybe the mod squad could check with Admin if it would be possible to have that option back or enable the "multiquote" button in locked topics? If the forum software really becomes unstable due to a large # of posts in a thread I'd say it's past time to ditch the company that Obsidian uses and move on to new forum software. The technology for stable threads with posts well beyond 500 and into the many many many thousands has been around for a couple of decades now. And yes, I preferred the old way of quoting/replying as well. The new way can be a bit buggy, and I find myself going into BBC Code mode fairly often.

I recommend The Shootist for a great John Wayne movie. It's his last film, my favorite of his, and he's surrounded by good actors in it.

I brought your concern up In another thread and Obsidian assured us that we'd see only real expansions and no piecemeal DLCs. I do recommend reading that thread if you have any questions/concerns about the partnership as BAdler has done a very good job of addressing the concerns mentioned there. Clarification from BjornB is of course much appreciated as well.