Hurlshort

Unfortunately you are such a positive and 'glass half full' kinda guy that you like everything, which is a good thing of course, just not when it comes to game recommendations. But he's right, Risen was fun. It's not really a unique opinion, there were a lot of folks here who enjoyed it. That's why I picked it up in the first place. I am a pretty positive guy when it comes to games, but I can usually tell you when a game has a lot of flaws. Risen didn't have many. Granted, I played about 30 hours and didn't finish, and quite a few people seemed unhappy about the ending, but the 30 hours I played were top-notch adventure, exploration, and storytelling.

Actually, making a copy of a CD and then giving it as a gift sounds terrible. That pretty much misses the whole spirit of gift giving.

Risen was fantastic for my money, easily one of the better RPG's I've played in awhile.

Just go straight to Warband. They are really basically the same game, Warband is just improved. There is no narrative or story change.

Looking on Craigslist, I realized I have no idea what the heck a quid is. Still, looked like some decent stuff on there.

The beginning goal of M&B is to just put together a small warband and travel around beating up bandits. Eventually you can swear allegiance to a king and work for him, if you do well you can capture your own castle and defend it. Make sure to hire all the named npcs you find, they are awesome. There is a ton of depth hidden in the game, it really allows you to carve your own unique story. If you want to practice combat, go to the arena. You can make money and it builds skills. I don't know why you would waste time shooting a peasant. There are a few big flaws in the game, but it has a complexity most do not.

Stick with Mount and Blade for a bit, it is an amzing game once you get over the initial learning curve.

Honestly, I think that this is kinda hypocritical to the holiday that you have to be extra special nice only in this month, while the other 11 months you can be a complete jackass. The only thing really crammed down my throat about christmas is the midnight servicese at church that I was dragged to. While I agree there is a ton of hypocritical Christians out there, I'd say one of the reasons Christmas is singled out instead of the other 11 months is that it is typically the dead of winter. This is a difficult time for a lot of reasons, and so extending some extra courtesy goes a long way. I find it more bothersome that a lot of Christians seem to only be Christian on Sunday, while the other 6 days are a party That is why I have a good deal more respect for the Muslim friends I know, they are praying 5 times a day, every day. They are a lot more committed.

More like GILF.

If I said that be 5 posts claiming I am a Christan hater... LOL Glad to know you (and prob most others who bring these topics up) get a get out of jail free card. That is because you would place the blame on the whole of Christendom, instead of where it belongs, upon the Catholic Church's leadership.

Headed off to my first guitar lesson. It is a group one and I got it free when I bought the guitar. I'm pretty excited, I've made some progress on my own, but in-person feedback is hard to beat. I'm also exhausted. I'm ready for the stage to end where my daughter has to be dragged kicking and screaming to bed every night. Ah well, one more day of work to catch up on sleep before the weekend.

I'll repeat that where I was raised and at the churches I attended in my youth, it was always made very clear that Christmas was a symbolic celebration of the birth of Christ. It was also made clear (without discouraging them) that the traditions like Santa Clause, Trees, and mistletoe really had nothing to do with the nativity scene. Maybe I just attended more progressive Church's as a child, the Stone Church I remember the most as a child does fly a rainbow flag in front. I know there are pockets of extremists out there, but I just don't see it as being a widespread ignorance among Christians. I see Santa and Christmas trees a lot more than I do the Nativity scene and three wise men.

You can lower the difficulty of the baddies, or turn them off completely to get your bearings if you need to. It's easy to turn them back on when you've built up a bit. I got killed in a spider spawning chamber and lost a bunch of resources early in one of my games, so I did that because I didn't relish re-doing so much.

It's Volologic it doesn't need to make sense to be right. It's really tough when he misspells moronic.

Today I had a co-worker say she doesn't buy Christmas trees because she doesn't believe in killing a tree for a holiday. It literally hurt my head.

Fantastic find

You should learn to play the guitar with me. It is probably cheaper, and chicks dig musicians. Not so much for the painting plastic men.

If that was directed at me, it was (obviously) a joke playing on stereotypes directed at the claim that more than two parties would be... confusing. My joke was more about loosing track of which food/drink corresponded to which political view... I got the humor. Hence my 'huh?' I'd vote Beer and Churro party.

While I think it is extremely important to understand the corruption and damage that the Catholic Church caused in the Middle Ages, I think it is also important to remember the Church was tied to nearly everything that was happening in Europe at the time. Copernicus was put through school by his Uncle, who was a bishop, and spent time as a Church canon. Theology was the bread and butter of most Universities at the time. It is really impossible to separate the Church from the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution, it played a key role, for better or worse. edit: On topic, I do appreciate the Catholic Church's work in the last few decades. They have been somewhat progressive, although I still think they are way too slow to make changes in areas like woman's rights and science. What has really impressed me has been the interfaith dialogue that they have established.

But yet things go over their heads. Huh?

I used to have a friend who sent out Happy Capitalism Day card during Christmas, it always made me smile. I also don't know any Christians that aren't aware of the roots of Christmas in pagan traditional holidays. It's not like Christmas trees and Santa Clause pop up in the bible very often. It is simply a symbolic celebration, as Tigranes already stated, and that has clearly worked out pretty well for the Church, given how steep attendance numbers climb this time of year.

I'd rather have no VO for minor NPC's. But I enjoy reading, so that puts me in the minority.

If onli I could get the government to pay me to not plant crops and milk cows!

Well, my property tax bill has plummeted since I bought my property in 2005. It started at $4400 a year and it is down to $1350 this year. But my property value has also plummeted, so it isn't exactly a hurrah moment.

I was watching my local news this morning, and apparently there are a few school districts in California that are unable to balance their budget. The State is saying that they will be taking over those districts. I suppose that would make sense if it weren't for the fact that: A. California was unable to balance the state budget B. The government has cut education funding in the billions, resulting in the budget problems that these districts face. I really feel like I live in a bizarro world when I hear stuff like this.