Enoch

It was whenever somebody last mentioned the word "Gothic." (Although I admit that I LOL'ed at his 2nd-most-recent post.)

IIRC, there's a "Field Agent" option when you try to talk your way past the guards at the Moscow embassy.

Is that just NPC dialogue, or does it include player choices? The latter are often only a few words long ("What's new in town?", "See you later", etc.) which, IMO, stretches the definition of the word "line."

People play games... with other people?? Weirdos.

It's actually "earned" AP that's taken into account and not "spent" AP. It's just that usually people spend every AP that they earn, so it's difficult to tell the difference. But if you hack the ini file to give yourself 10,000 AP when you level up (which is more than you can ever use - the most you can ever spend is a little under 500), then you'll instantly fail any hack job that you attempt. Well, that explains why I'm finding the hacking much easier in my playthrough with a "Recruit" background.

It does if the exhibition of whatever was shown on that site to unwilling viewers violates the state's obscenity law and if she gets upset enough to file a complaint with the police. Really, the fact that she would take it the matter to the police would indicate to me that the incident was part of a broader pattern of creepy behavior, rather than just a "take a look at this-- you wouldn't believe what this guy can fit in his bunghole!"

Short version: Political neophyte comes out of nowhere to win the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate election in South Carolina. (It was a very low-turnout primary, given that most people don't expect any Democrat to be a serious challenge for the incumbent Republican senator.) He had little resembling a campaign (no website, yard signs, etc.) but was a decorated veteran just out of the Army. Just after he is declared the winner, two things happen: 1) the SC Democratic establishment finds several irregularities with how he filed for his candidacy (FEC forms and such), and 2) the press breaks the story that he is currently facing felony obscenity charges, having been arrested just last November for showing an 18-year-old woman a porn site in a univeristy computer lab. That aside, here's a much more entertaining Al Green.

I'm really unsure what that swearword was. Test: **** [previews post] Yes, it was definitely the latin preposition meaining "with," which is sometimes colloquially used as a word for a bodily fluid produced during joyous occasions. Also, wasn't "tyte" primarily a Sawyerism? Has it entered use by all of Obsidz, or does Team DS3 have their own assessment of the product's surpassing quality? (Or, perhaps, has use of the term been discontinued to avoid association with the Aliens' project's premature termination?)

I don't know what disturbs me more... The fact that middle school students had to get their wangs operated on, or the fact that they shared the precise nature of their wang-related ailment with their teacher. Also, best of luck with the boy, Hurl.

The signs are kewl, but I'm more interested in the graffiti:

Best guess (IMO) is that they wrote the game thinking of her as being about 16. Then they remembered that Germany (and possibly some other markets) likes to censor games to prevent the player from murdering children. So, rather than alter the gameplay or story, simply made the age on her dossier more ambiguous, implying that she could be old enough to get shot in the head without corrupting the minds of the German public. On-topic: nobody. The history of in-game sex scenes is sufficiently cringe-inducing that I avoid them wherever I can.

The keyboard and mouse controls for it are poorly implemented-- just moving the cursor around can take up a lot of the alloted time, even after you've spotted the correct sequence. The second rank in the Sabotage skill gets you more time to complete your hack. Even with the lousy controls, once I got the hang of it, I was able to hack with pretty good consistency at that skill level.

"Posing for"? Like, as a model? It's time to Get Real. In 1993-ish, my father did sculpture restoration work for the city of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was assisted in this endeavor by TSR staff artist Jeff "Pretty Much Every Major AD&D Pre-3E Book Cover" Easley. I wanted to be a fantasy illustrator, so I was really excited to meet him, Brom, Clyde Caldwell, Robh Ruppel, and some of the other TSR illustrators. Robh Ruppel needed a model for a Solamnic squire on the cover of a module he was illustrating, so he called up my dad and asked if I could do it. The module was Knight's Sword, and was written by... future Black Isle co-worker Colin McComb! ... though I didn't realize that the guy who wrote the module I was on the cover of worked at Black Isle for the first year I was in Black Isle. True stories. http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dl/dl-dlq1.htm (I'm the dragon.) You know, the picture did jar a memory, probably of you telling that story at least once before over the last 10 years or so that I've been following CRPG developments online. (Egad, has it been that long?? I recall first making a login for a Black Isle board when I was a lowly undergraduate seeking help with PS:T...)

Better Steam than the GFWL that FO3 demanded.

"Posing for"? Like, as a model?

I recall my reaction being more like "Oh, great. Another pack of ****ing Cold Wights." IWD certainly had some strong elements, but a lot of the dungeons were padded out with too much same-y grinding. One way in which IWD2 improved on the first one (although it was lacking in other ways) is that it focused more on interesting setpiece battles than just throwing hordes of enemies at the party. Anyhow, Fighting in Tunnels memory: My favorite part of BG1 was always the dungeon you go through to escape after your return to Candlekeep. Neat traps and secrets to uncover, and the dopplegangers make for fun opponents.

To the extent that Llyranor ever makes sense, I think that he was suggesting that Obsidz's efforts on the Dungeon Siege game take inspiration from the gameplay of the original Icewind Dale. I doubt that the point was to bring up D&D/AD&D rules and settings (which, IMO, were among the least attractive elements of the IWD games).

Not necessarily, I managed to get a secret fact with a 60 or 80% dossier too. Yeah, the "secret facts" usually aren't found in levels, they're revealed in conversations. For example, I got Omen Deng's secret fact after fighting him (and not executing him), even though I only had 33% completion on his dossier, because he came out and told it to me to explain .

Haha, GTA: San Andres shoutout right there! That particular phrase predates GTA:SA by a good while.

It's a reference to the book's association with Mark David Chapman and John Hinckley. Many conspiracy theories have been spun out of this, so it fits Heck's persona to plant a copy as additional evidence against Wen.

He doesn't give a random name, he gives the name of Wen Shu, the guy he wanted to use the dry cleaner on. Yeah, and as Tig said, it's friggin hilarious. I missed a line or two of dialogue laughing after that one.

Next in the series of Drinks so Good, They Named the Glass After Them: The Tom Collins (previous entries: the Martini; the Old Fashioned) 2 oz. gin 1 oz. fresh lemon juice 1 tsp. simple syrup (Personal optional addition: orange bitters) Shake over ice, and pour into an ice-filled Collins glass. Top with club soda to fill. Fantastically refreshing on a hot day.

Agreed. If you must do medieval-type fantasy, do so in a way that isn't burdened by that silly ruleset, those bland settings, and WotC review.

This is nice work. I know nothing about WH rules or settings, but your storytelling makes it interesting and easy to follow.

The "disappearing enemies on reload" issue. Mouse acceleration issues. Re-jigger the mouse & keyboard controls for the hacking minigame. (Click and drag, people!) Other performance and AI tweaks as time allows.