213374U

Thanks for the editor heads up. Unfortunately, the game doesn't seem to recognize a good deal of the changes I'm making to the save file unless I change the booleans and, at this point, most are still unknown. I've also been trying other classes, and they do nothing for me. Guess it's either Insanity Vanguard, or putting the game down for a while. I'm not really into survival co-op. His hairdo is still pretty bad, and he's at least as whiny as Ashley, up until Mars, anyway. His talent and weapon selections are top notch, though. On an unrelated note, are squaddies' powers also affected by load fatigue %?

Finally finished it. Loved the combat, hated the unskippable dialogue clips and cutscenes, the mush, the dream sequences, and Tali. The game does have some awesome moments, but it's a bit all over the place in the sense that it takes heavily after stuff like War of the Worlds, Saving Pvt. Ryan, Star Wars and who knows what else, without ever attaining an identity of its own. I got the feeling they were trying so hard to go for that "cinematic experience" thing, that the quality of the product as a game suffered in the end, if that makes any sense. This is made worse by the way that major decisions of the previous games are rendered irrelevant -a hallmark of Bioware RPG design- and the continuous obtrusive railroading with regards to PC decisions and attitude. It seems to me that writers at Bio would be happier directing movies or writing books than making games. I'll freely admit, however, that I had lots of fun playing the game. If only they didn't take themselves so seriously... As for the ending craze, wow. I expected the ending to be much, much worse. It's not very good, but hardly warranting the reaction the game seems to be getting. I'll probably be giving it another spin, after I find a good save editor to change import flags and decide what class I want to try next. Suggestions?

I don't know if this is aimed at me, but I'm going to assume it was. There was neither cynicism nor contempt in my original comment -- I was simply reflecting on how big a role luck plays in making or breaking paragons. Much bigger than skill, physical condition and equipment, that's for sure. The article itself was pretty sketchy on the details of the actual situation, but from what can be gleaned, the kids weren't under direct fire ("there was a chance they could be caught in the crossfire"), and they weren't running around in fear either, but rather, paralyzed by terror. If you've ever fired a machinegun -even a "light" 7.62 one- you know the last thing you do when on the business end of one is run around. Unless you feel like becoming the next Rodger Young. But maybe I'm just a coward.

You mean that a soldier's body is harder cover than a concrete wall? Wow, those must be some seriously tough soldiers! Yep. Undoubtedly, the mother of the kid's grieving would have been quickly ended by his son's would-be savior posthumous condecoration. And it's only a tiny measure of luck that changed that scenario to the one reported by the Telegraph. But whatever, Zor already explained and apparently no one even read his post, so don't let me interrupt the chest-pounding.

So blind luck makes him a hero. If, instead, he'd gotten himself -and possibly one of those kids- killed, I guess the epithet would be far less flattering. I'm not sure there is an actual line that separates valor from stupidity, but it's fairly obvious that success is enough to sway most opinons one way or the other. And success does depend on luck. Funny how that works.

That bad, huh? Guess I'll just wait and see, then. I'm not too worried, to be honest, I'm on record as liking the Lacroix ending in Bloodlines.

If you are getting back pains, then probably your chair isn't good enough for the amount of time you spend on it. Otherwise, Gorth's advice is sound. More deadlifts and squats and proper sleeping never killed anyone, either.

Maybe. But the proof it doesn't hurt as much as they say is that some women have been known to become pregnant, after giving birth once! I could comment further on the Bio love/hate thing by extending the analogy, but I'm under enough scrutiny as it is. As for DA3 MP, I actually quite like the idea. The old IE games were multiplayer, but I think gameplay design would have to steer away from "awesome" and towards "tactical". Maybe they'll adapt some ideas from TOR?

Wow. I think the amount of jaded sarcasm in this thread is actually giving me an allergic reaction. Haven't played ME3, but I can't believe it's that bad. And after seeing the decisions they made with regards to c&c between DAO and DA2, I'm neither surprised nor particularly disappointed. I guess this is just this week's "let's bash BIO" thread. Now, where are my antihistamines?

I apparently can't be overweight. Can't put on weight no matter what, despite the fact that I eat more than anyone I know. I got to 80* a few months back, but it didn't last - my metabolism is apparently hard-coded to keep me at around 76*. As for tiredness and getting fat, meh. The only time I've been consistently tired (sleep deprivation + strenuous physical activity) I actually lost weight, down to ~65*. Interesting read, nonetheless, if a bit scarce on details. How did they compensate for the boredom of the "Big Brother" environment, if at all? What sort of exercise were they allowed? What sort of food was made available to them? Working out is boring as ****. Absolutely can't do it without music. It's a good time to get my thoughts ordered, though. * take that, you non-SI users!

I fully endorse the Llyr-Nick 2012 candidature. It's about time someone who truly stands for the people and the values these boards were founded upon stepped forth. I really believe they represent the change that's been a long time coming, and even I dare say a return to the glory of the old days. I bid you all to rein in your petty cynicism, let go of your reservations and become part of something that is as much a project as it is a dream. Support Llyr-Nick 2012. For great justice.

Explain, please, for the fiscally illiterate. What sense does it make that I pay local VAT for a foreign-produced good or service? Is that a side-effect of tax evading prevention measures for int'l commerce or what?

@Lorfean Nice. I hate Twitter so thanks for doing the legwork for me. I guess that if they simply respect WeiDU compatibility, the modding community will pick up. +Respect for any dev that posts on G3.

Hmm. Unless this is fully mod-compatible, I'm not in the least interested. Frankly, it's going to be hard for them "enhance" the game beyond what some truly excellent mods like SCS/SCSII, aVENGER's RR and tweaks, etc already do. It'd also be kind of a slap in the face to some of the fans if it weren't mod compatible as, ostensibly, the modding community has kept BG alive all these years. Not holding my breath, that's for sure.

Arguably, the US is simply applying a modern version of the tried-and-true Roman policies of client rulers -by outright buying them out whenever they can- and a selective use of force wherever it's unavoidable or just convenient to maintain their preeminency in global matters. And they have proved even better at it than any of the old Euro empires ever were, save for the British -these favored a more hands-on approach, though- so it's preposterous to accuse them of stupidity. And please, show me these "past wars" started for "good reasons". Chances they can all be broken down to a combination of stupidity, greed or envy. Anything else is just window dressing by historians. Aww...

You fail at history. No, seriously. You fail so bad it's embarassing. Europeans shed blood because of clashing imperial interests, a game of alliances that got out of hand, and the inability of rulers to grasp the full scope of a what a war between industrialized nations could be. I don't personally count stupidity, pride, greed and shortsightedness as "good reasons", but that's just me. Next time you call someone a moron, make sure it's not someone that's likely read more books than you can name. Or even better, just stick to moaning about games, it's the only thing you appear to be semi-competent at.

To be honest, that's not so much a problem with Bioware in particular as it is with society in general. Just head over to YT, vids of B1s dropping heavy ordnance on Taliban fighters are a dime a dozen, but try finding a nipple. Taboos need not be logical, but they are undeniably powerful. Hypocrisy is one of the side-effects. With the advent of political correctness, LGBT bashing has more or less become a new taboo, and any entertainment that is meant for mass consumption will necessarily reflect that. I think you are misrepresenting Bioware in the sense that I don't think they are interested in being champions of anything, except of, perhaps, making money. I don't see anything wrong with that, by the way.

No.

That's it! I'm reinstalling this! Funny how you won by... wiping, btw.

Heh. I guess "W" either forgot or doesn't care about the fact that average people don't really want to know how bad war really is. Which is as good a reason to dive into romanticized versions of it as any. Nice read, regardless of whether it's true or not. Kinda pointless, though. I don't think this thread is the best place for that, by the way.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/flemgod/Lollercoaster.gif

Sensors detect faulty logic, captain! People survived Buchenwald, so it wasn't really a proper "extermination" camp, either, right? You're a teacher, so you don't need me to tell you how impressionable kids are -Jesuits were notorious for their exploitation of this- which makes any degree of indoctrination revolting. But that's a different story. Can't help but think that the Reddit guy likely doesn't have a leg to stand on, or he would actually be doing something about it - or living off reparations.

I didn't remember that. If true, it's even flimsier than I thought. I mean, Sovereign can interface directly, physically, with the Citadel, but still needs a tiny, organic middleman to override its own tech? There's a good argument to be made that that was the way they intended for things to work at certain point during development, as the system you describe is just a few .ini switches away. I have my game configured to work that way, and while gameplay doesn't change significantly -you can't just wait overheating out all the time- it's a bit more flexible and way more lore-friendly. For what reason they chose to implement a simpler, more FPS conventional system in the final version of the game, who knows. I've also experimented with making shields no longer effective at blocking powers, and it's a welcome change of pace on Insanity. Especially for Adepts. It does tend to break the game a bit, though. I remember a certain boss fight that became trivial due to the fact that I could simply charge-push said boss over a balcony and win the encounter without firing a single shot... ME2 gameplay, while a general improvement over ME1's, felt kind of clunky, unrefined and unforgiving.

Hmm. Unless I'm mistaken, the keepers were supposed to react to a signal sent by Sovereign, to get the Citadel mass relay online. They were made deaf to that by genetic tampering by the Ilos scientists, which forced Sovereign to go to the Citadel itself. I don't think the writers were very clear in ME1 on that point, though. Sovy interfaces with the Citadel directly and brings it to a sort of lockdown with the wards closed and all, and the next step seems to be activating the Citadel to bring back his pals. IIRC it isn't obvious what the extent of Saren's involvement with operating the Citadel controls is, and why putting him down seems to "beat" Sovereign. At any rate, it makes sense that the Reapers would take control of the Citadel first, defense fleets notwithstanding. But that would most likely make the game unwinnable by virtue of having an unstoppable foe that isn't completely stupid and/or has lost its teeth with respect to previous installments. Happened with the Borg in ST, too.

Sweet trailer. There is still something... odd about Shepardloo's face, but I can't quite put my finger on it. The eyes maybe? Unsettling.