Lephys

For you, and anyone else who pledged for the Obsidian Order of Eternity but has not yet received your title, please go to this thread and post your name, followed by the title you requested. I'm not sure why, but some of the title surveys from the Portal seem to have made their way to the forum mods (some people received their titles without posting in that thread at all), but most didn't. If you'll present your name and desired title in that thread, though, I'll make sure it gets to the Great Title Weaver,

My apologies. How about this?: Someone deciding that something's racist is not what makes it racist. The only way to be racist is to be racist, not to just accidentally say the right magic word. Or... what someone means is far more important than what they say. Think what you will of my analogy. It served the purpose for which it was designed. It is a snowflake; just fine the way it is.

I was being sarcastic. Sorry. 8P

First of all, I've looked everywhere, and I can't seem to find a dumb analogy. Secondly, it doesn't work if you use that word, because that's all that word is. You might as well say "replace the word 'oreo' with 'mother-effer' and see if it still works," because that makes as much sense. You can append a derogatory meaning to almost anything you choose, and yet the thing to which you append it remains free of that meaning for anyone else, still. Insist that's false all you want, but it isn't. Nor does it mean that extra/more-specific stuff that I didn't say is true (such as "nothing is actually racist, ever, no matter what"), so I don't really even see the point in your argument. If you've nothing significant to add, I'll just save my figurative breath, I think.

Well, obviously, the moral of the story is that Ali should've turned to petty mugging, because all the cool kids were doing it.

But... we are the ones who get to decide. What we mean or don't mean is what makes something racist or not. Take all these slang words that keep cropping up. Just because someone somewhere decides it's funny to call someone they hate "oreo" (for example) because they're of mixed ethnicity, that doesn't mean that now I'm not allowed to speak that word because the word is racist. Can it be used in a racist fashion? Sure. But it doesn't exist in a state of racist-ness. Similarities do not equal inherent parallels. Simple as that.

Wow. In that case, it's completely different. What if dragons were originally some satire of a particular culture? Would that mean that no one could ever conceive of huge, flying reptiles in their fantasy worlds anymore, because they'd always be specifically attempting to negatively comment on that particular culture? Nope. That doll is referencing black people, and it's using a caricature of a black person to do it. It's not some metaphor or other symbol that just happens to be used as such. It's very much like... a weapon of choice. A serial killer may kill people with a carpenter's hammer. That doesn't mean that if someone wants to use a carpenter's hammer, they wish to kill someone, or somehow condone serial killing. The general orc concept is like the hammer. That Golliwog doll is like an assault rifle. There's nothing about an assault rifle that isn't designed to harm/destroy. I'll say it one more time, then I'm done here: Just because someone is thinking of WWII propaganda when they design a fictional race of aggressive humanoids does not mean that no one can utilize the standalone concept of a similar race of aggressive humanoids in any way other than by making it pertain to WWII propaganda. I really don't know how to say it any more clearly.

I've specifically described the types of things to which I was referring. I even suggested I didn't use the best word with "functionality." So, at this point, you're just being an arse. Congratulations.

Yeah, none of that is what I was thinking of. I'm glad you hate it all, though. That's good, I suppose. Most of those aren't even functionality changes. Maybe functionality is the wrong word, here? That could very well be it. I'm just talking about the technical functioning of stuff. The attacks, for example. I actually liked that the auto-attack was varied. And moving and attacking/using abilities was a lot less clunky. And I like how the ability tree worked (though not everything that was on it, etc.) There were a lot of technical improvements, alongside an awful lot of... er... un-provements? If they had just applied the GOOD changes from DA2 straight to DA:O, that would've been pretty great, really. But they changed some of the bad things, and most of the good ones, from the original.

I don't know what a Golliwog is, which is why I didn't really comment on the legitimacy of Golliwog rehashes. Also, I don't know how else to say this. I'm not defending Tolkien. I'm observing the non-restriction of fictional concepts. A fictional race of numerous, warlike humanoids doesn't automatically make its creator Tolkien, complete with inspiration and all. Furthermore, basing a fictional race on a real culture/people is not inherently racist. Drawing inspiration from something for a fictional concept doesn't result in a negative commentary. That being said, I'm no Tolkien expert, and, again, have no interest in defending Tolkien, specifically. I'm simply commenting on the nature of fiction, here.

Just because someone draws specific inspiration for devising a concept does not mean that any further use of that concept comes equipped with that same inspiration's undertones. Think of it as "Hmmm... come to think of it, a race of 3-1/2-foot-tall humanoids would be pretty interesting," instead of "I'm literally just copying Tolkien's exact thought process on making this race." An alternative version of anything fictional is hardly ridiculous.

I actually liked the sheer functionality changes to DA2. Same with Mass Effect. 2 played better (aiming and using abilities, etc.). And then 3 did the same. But, it's like every time Bioware improves one thing, they feel the need to botch something else. Square Enix does the same thing. The Last Remnant... it was one of their "Hmmm, let's just experiment here while we're not making a Final Fantasy game...", and like half of that game was awesome. But then the other half was all "WHY didn't you just do what you did in other games?" I don't understand it. It's like the fundamental concepts are lost to them. "CHANGE ALL THE THINGS!"

*nods*... I'm gonna go with "octocake." If that's cool. 6_u

Okay... seriously? Are we playing Criminal Lawyer, here? "Your honor... he clearly said the words "don't" and "read," in conjunction, so I'm therefore at liberty to put those in whatever order and context I please, u_u" I said I don't always have time to read every post in a thread. I never "by his own admission" said anything about only partially reading posts to which I'm directly replying. How about a lovely example, since I'm fond of those: If you post "Cats are friggin' awesome!" on page 3, then on page 6, you post "But yeah, there should definitely be spiffy animals in the game"... I may very well post "Yeah, you're right! You know what would be an awesome animal to have in the game? CATS!" And there you are. I really despise all this underhanded mudslinging crap. It doesn't hurt me, it just serves absolutely no purpose. I'm just gonna put this out there, as well: I know I'm not perfect, and I know I have difficulty, sometimes, specifying my thoughts in very few words. However, about half the "OMG, Lephys, you need to type less!" complaints I've seen on these boards are following others actively prompting me for elaboration/clarification. Much like the above. You just lied, and I pointed it out. I feel that's not abnormal, and I'm perfectly happy with my little defective android brain. I understand frustration at my Lephys-y thought processes, but switching to "this is personal" mode is never a productive solution. If anyone ever just doesn't care to hear any more about it from me anymore, they can say so, and I will gladly cease immediately. But, this is a discussion forum. If you get to pick apart what I said, then so do I. Fair's fair. (And thanks to peeps who have my back. I do give it an honest effort, and sometimes it just feels like there's nothing but silence and "Lephys is unworthy of posting" sentiments. Sometimes.) Annnnywho... Back to EXP mechanics, then, shall we?

And the joke of the day award goes to Stun.

I want Chris Avellone to sing, "YOU can READ, MY, NOH-VELL-a... ELL-a... ELL-a... EH, EH, EH!"

@Nonek, Your brainstorming ideas are splendid, but I dare say it is those ideas, themselves, that carry the idea of a romance implementation beyond silly teen drama, and not the long-distance status of those interactions. You could take all that creativity you just tossed out there, bottle it up, and pour it over an actually-present spouse/love interest/what-have-you, and you'd also end up with some pretty great stuff that teens would loathe. Again, I have no problem with long-distance communication, complete with consequences and whatnot. I just wouldn't want an entire concept to conceivably be covered by "don't worry, there's a long-distance communication implementation in for that, and nothing else." Think of the stronghold. I'd love for there to be messengers (or, at least, messages) that feasibly make their way to you when something's amiss at the stronghold and you're away. However, I would also like the opportunity to actually make haste to the stronghold, and/or be there when things are happening, and actively deal with them. It's not a one-or-the-other thing. I wouldn't want to be prevented from sending any kind of orders back to the stronghold and having consequences result from my response and other factors. But I wouldn't want the entire stronghold management aspect to be shoe-horned into a long-distance communication component.

I'm fairly certain the Kickstarter campaign for Original Sin was supplementary to funds and work they'd already put into the game. I think overall, the budget for that game surpasses 4 mil.

@Kjaamor, To be fair, you're evaluation is of the subject matter/motif, and not of the artwork itself. If you didn't even know what a hammer was, or a female humanoid, or any of the actual basis for that piece of artwork, what would you think of that piece of artwork (just how colors, lines, shapes, etc. work together on that canvas)? That's an evaluation of art. Not how you think the hammer should be designed, etc. Basically, disliking the design of those things in no way makes the whole thing bad artwork.

I just think some people have decided they must always rate things against whatever could possibly exist, rather than just against what isn't bad. "Mmm, this sandwich is pretty good. Wait... someone brought lobster? BLEGH! This sandwich tastes AWFUL!" It just seems like a really arbitrary threshold of adequacy being set. Like anything below the pinnacle of 2014 graphics capabilities is suddenly obsolete.

Yeah, Namutree, I'm not meaning to imply I'm against it in any form, whatsoever. But I wouldn't want the devs of any RPG to be like "Welp, we've got letter-writing-to-a-long-distance-love-interest in the game. Cross 'romance' off the list, 8D!" Heh. Worry not! We shall distill it into a liquid for your consumption! 8D! Oooh, or maybe we could make it into something like a plasmid, from Bioshock. You could shoot inter-species romance out of your fingertips!

Sure thing.

Fair enough. I guess my brain just doesn't involuntarily spare enough resources while I'm playing such a game to even take the time to scrutinize the models like that. Unless they're just REALLY bad. I mean, the early-beta Wasteland 2 models were pretty primitive. Even then, though, yeah, when I was staring at them in character creation, I thought "Whoa... I kind of expected them to look better than this. They're a bit blocky and undetailed." But, once I started playing the game, I never just passively "noticed" their primitiveness, and my gameplay wasn't hindered in the slightest. They were good-looking enough for me to treat them as people-entities, and understand how they move about, and what weapons they're firing, etc. The current PoE ones already look oodles better than that. I guess I just don't see the threshold as being so specific. Could they look better? Sure. My dinner could be more gourmet. But, if it's tasty, I don't vomit it up and demand a different dinner in outrage simply because it only hit 600/1000 instead of 700/1000 on the tasty-o-meter. I guess that's what it feels like you're doing. You, and anyone else who describes these models as looking like "****." Instead of "I'd prefer that they looked better," it's as if there's some horrendous, objective dilemma here, like... "The character models are invisible! I COULD play the game, but I refuse, 'cause I can't even see where my people are!" Like it's something that BEGS to be "fixed." I don't get that.

I agree about a change of pace being refreshing. I should've said it should get away from being a forced intermission. We don't need our regularly scheduled programming to be interrupted every time there's romance. And I was talking about your example. I didn't mean it was a convoluted example. Just that it seemed to be a very convoluted form of the dialogue we see in typical game romances. It's just the same random "Hey, I felt like now was a good time to just chat like we're on OkCupid.com, and your answers here will directly impact our relationship, and nothing else" we've already seen, only with long-distance delays. That's what I meant. I know the example was meant to simply show that there's interactivity present, so I'm not trying to tell you it's ineffective or terrible or something. Just, for what it's worth, you could do that level of interactivity with letters, but I don't think it would bring anything to the table, really. At least if I'm standing here, talking to another NPC, face-to-face, they're also involved in/dealing with whatever's going on around us. The building we're in could get attacked, whether or not we chose to go off somewhere and talk would affect where we are when the poop hits the fan, etc. Just like all other NPC direct interaction that doesn't involve letters. With letters, if something happens, you just get no letters. That's the thing. I'd want romance to be going on in the midst of whatever else is going on. I want romance to affect other things, and other things to affect romance, etc. Not "let's take a break and make out." That's not romance. That's not a relationship. A real relationship is a devotion to one another throughout whatever life's bringing. It's dealing with actual stuff that's going on, not grinding to level up your love-o-meter. Letter writing could be used in a good way, I'm sure. But, simply "hey, your love interest isn't present, so that takes care of teen squee-age" just feels way too much like "Hey guys, time out... gotta check my mail and do some romance. I'll be ready to go in about 30 minutes." Out of all the interaction you can have with other NPCs around you, long-distance letter-writing doesn't utilize very much of that, is all.

I'd say for any, really. Give or take some specific tweaking. The ability to swap to a different weapon without having to wait 2 seconds to attack isn't spectacularly "powerful," really, especially when compared to anything else you could've chosen in that trait's stead.