injurai

fleas confirmed

Which BW game might those "polyamorous pansexual romps" be found in, again? Since I'm kind of drawing a blank. Except for that one time with Isabela in Origins. BW romances have never been more than some extra dialogue and cutscenes. Whatever one thinks of that, the idea that whole games revolve around relationship drama is, once again, an overblown meme. I'm saying "the demand for" which drives development of relationship systems that caters that contingent. The fact that romances are just some extra dialogue and jank cut-scenes with steamed mirrors is exactly the problem. Not that it exists, but it's bad design and it's best that such approaches stay endemic to titles that market that audience.

Really? I thought that hotkey mechanics in PoE1 was brilliant, although I discovered it on my second playthrough. All you needed to do is mouse over the spell you want and choose a hotkey. Done. And they appear above the main toolbar. Brilliant! I thought that BG way of doing it was more limited and less useful. I had no idea... that makes priests and druids manageable.

I complain about what BioWare has become but... the demand for vapid polyamorous pansexual romps isn't going away. At least some company is drawing that consumer base in, and leaving the rest of the market to explore less pedestrian narratives.

Isn't it the only way to get a physical copy too? It's very much like limited vinyl releases that are bulk ordered off of presales. It saves money and passes the savings onto the consumer, but generates both increased and guaranteed sales. After that it's all retail (more expensive), after-market (more expensive), or digital only.

Hah indeed)Becoming the leader of The Companions, Dark Brotherhood, Mage and Thief guilds appealed more to me, than continuing the main quest (which I never finished) Are you me? I'd love to become and Arch Mage in Pillars. Or at least see Aloth ascend to such heights. Maybe some unique Aloth only spells that he creates at some point.

injurai Im glad you have been sticking around these forums, its always appreciated to read perspectives from different people I know the views around politics and similar subjects from all the regular members as I have been active on these forums for about 5 years. If you don't mind sharing can you summarize your opinion on SJ or perhaps how you feel about the state of politics in Western countries I always like to understand how members feel about things like populism or the state of Democracy in the world I have very liberal views on many topics but this is shaped by where I live and my commitment to addressing the Apartheid legacy in South Africa so I dont expect many people to understand where Im coming from around ideology from which is okay as we all have different life experiences @BruceVC I didn't ignore this, I was just really busy. Thanks for the welcome. I'm here for Pillars but politics offer endless discussion to be had. Hopefully I'm not here too much, since politics can also be distracting. I do like that this community is small and thus more apt to tolerate diametric viewpoints without being too overtaken by the political crusading... I think... I can't get all my views down, but I'm sure a lot of elements will come out in this. As far as social justice goes, people mean very different things by it. Same for political correctness. It's hard not want justice in the social sphere, or correctness in the political sphere. So why might the two be decried? I think it always comes down to overreach, and those two ideas become associated said overreach. I'm not sure what all this would entail, but I feel there is some proper mode of engagement that one should always strive to observe. It probably changes with context. But finding the details of this seems like an open question in philosophy. Regardless, enough people just can't help but poison the well, and it often seems they do so bolster favor within the echo chamber that they service at the expense of everyone who is making the sacrifice to do the hard work in service of the greater community. I could try to highlight certain behaviors, views, or actions that I find problematic so as to shed light on "what is wrong with society." That itself is interesting at times to learn what not to do. But the greater problem is that honestly describing those things leads to complexity, something that most people don't want to confront. Even scientist need a break from it, and take to simplistic messaging for things they deem "obvious." If even you do a good job at detailing the problem, what good is putting that to practice when you lack hindsight to know the situation at hand, and a non-negligible demographic of people respond well to your efforts in the slightest. Just one aspect though in this complex jumble is age. Differences in knowledge, wisdom, maturity, etc. all make it impossible to issue a single imperative over what should be done. Kids should learn to grow up, but they should also be allowed to make mistakes and recover. Those raising families and making inordinate sacrifices should be able to pass those benefits to their children. Those indulging in vice shouldn't spread their repercussions on others. Yet we also need to support people to help them recover, grow, improve. The more honest you get about the problem, the more it seems that the devil in the details are always left as personally responsibilities left to the individual. Some individuals want to take up the problem wholesale and use policy to fix things. Which always shifts the responsibilities off to others who are compelled to take action. But then the need to issue different imperatives leads the the identity politics game which is wrought with misguidance. If anything it seems age and class are about the only identities that really could merit separate policy and treatment (I think...) But mistreatment of others always drags in attempts to rectify those problems on account of what type of person was mistreated. Which cultivates both those seeking to implement honest protections through policy, and opportunists ready to play a power game while keeping a air of virtuosity in the eyes of their supporters. So even if the opportunist have a just ends, their means are anything but. Which even that gets justified as "playing the game", "live and let live", "nobody's perfect." Which are true at times. There is a divide between what is really happening, and how things are being portrayed. The truth can be forever changed through unanimous reporting of spun messaging. You'd think that reality was more important to one's impression, but one's impression serves as their reality. At some point I think taking an honest look should eventually lead you to an impasse, but at the same time people with a far less refined view can throw themselves headfirst towards something and end up enacting real change for the better. Though modeling their behavior doesn't mean you'll succeed similarly. I wouldn't say I've been on a tangent but I wouldn't disagree if you thought so, I just think that ultimately these things are embedded in a far more vast system. Issues seem to make more sense if you just jump in the thick of it all and engage how everyone else is engaging, which is to say the simplified (not because the people are, but the process forces them to be) manner. But when doing so I always have this feeling like the truth is orthogonal and I'm betraying a deeper value. Stepping outside of the established encampments of discourse leaves you individually vulnerable and intimidating to everyone to boot, and that's assuming you can even get things right or at least more right. Even suggesting indirectly that an entire group is wrong on something is sure to backfire more often then not. It seems to me often that the best ally to a cause is discarded in favor of the worst ally for the cause, someone that will stick around and not be pulled away by nuances or other causes. But... to enact change you often too to cooperate which means trusting that those you are working with share similar values. So once again back to square one, hitching yourself to a group. I guess in all of this there is a lesson about absolutes and idealism and process and context. But ultimately I feel it's really about complexity and the poverty of our engagement of it. If we solve engineering complexity with a set of tools, why don't we solve politics with it. But oddly enough political science seems all but scientific. It's at least as much of a soft science as sociology. Economics is the real politics after all... and even that is questionably a science.

Hmmm... I'd be careful saying that because of elements are already in game that it is a simple step to add on the next logical component. If such a system was to be implemented, there would be a much more robust investigation into it's mechanics as they pertain holistically to pillars. You're also vastly underestimating the involvement in implementation.

Sail health due to hurricane damage I presume. Looks like random sea borne events will have noticeable effects on our ship and will probably slow our sailing speed considerably. I therefore infer that sailing too and from places in a timely matter will be important. 'Aubrey and Maturin'-esque adventures here I come!

I'm calling it. These are the most beautiful environment graphics I have ever seen in a game. Team, your work is loved and goes noticed. My gosh and this was just a tiny peak!

I concur, fantastic idea.

The shadows look weird at first, but the more I consider the variations in orientation and size and shape the more it seems about right.

I'm tempted to do the same.

I agree with everything here. Although the selection circles just mark your party, selecting them bolds and brightens the circle.

Yes please to a Crocodile. It could have single target death roll, and a sweep attack with it's tail.

Is this like non-joke jokes? I get what you mean though. Deus Ex HR had an interesting augmentation "Social Enhancer" that totally changed how certain conversations worked. Then you have social interactions like those in Ace Attorney. I definitely think CRPGs could greatly improve their game-play systems outside of combat.

Why is there no info that he was talking about arresting MS-13 gang members in this article? It is linked at the end of the article: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/watch-live-trump-trumpet-ms-13-crackdown-long-island/ But given the President is endorsing police brutality, clearly PBS believed it deserved a separate article. Oh yes those brutal police not placing their hands on the fragile little snowflake heads of MS-13 gang members, those bastards. Brutalizing criminals turns them into victims and ends up distracting the whole process of justice. Law enforcement should not dole out punishment.

I think that was largely intentional.

It's an interpersonal relationship system, of which some relationships can involve an romantic bend to it. But romances wholesale as a mechanic are not and have never been confirmed.

I think she's just resting her arm on her hip.

I don't think anyone actually defends the 3D models as being "good" in the first game. We managed.

Someday, maybe after PoEIII or even for it. I'd love to see Obsidian produce a massive coffee table book on all the sort of behind the scenes design docs. Similar to 'Half-life 2: Raising the Bar' I'd love to see in much more detail the sorts of world creation that went into this series.

That's cool. I always really liked Norse mythology. I often don't enjoy how it's done in games though. Age of Mythology set too high of a standard I think. By combining Atlanteans, Greeks, Egyptians and Norse people? They weren't actually combined in the campaign. I think most games don't really flesh out mythological worlds all that well, but when you have a literal civ builder it works much better.

At mid/high level D&D it isn't the DM's lack of skill, or need to update some sheet, that makes combat take a long time. It is the fact that a player may need to think a moment about what they are doing, may have dozens of dice involved in the resolution, there may need to be multiple saving throws for tons of targets, potential rules discussion as someone may need to clarify if power or item X nullifies action Y, the DM may have 5-10 mobs to control themselves, initiative has to be done each round, etc etc. It can just get very complex. I must admit, I don't know much about pnp games. I've tried them, but my group was far to inexperienced to get anything worthwhile off the ground.