Enoch

I hadn't watched more than one or two of the ME2 hypemaking videos until today. It's probably not an original observation, but thought occurred: ME1 was, like many 3rd-person over-the-shoulder titles, an ass-centered game. The character models all tended towards athletic builds, and the clothing/armor design definitely emphasized the hips and posterior. (With the notable stomach-churning exception of the splotchy cleavage on a certain thousand-year-old asari.) ME2, on the other hand, is all about the ****. Although I am among those who dislike reliance on prurient interests by game developers, if they're going to be selling the game by swinging sex in our faces, the sequel's approach to the matter is much more in accordance with my tastes. I wonder if FemShep's rebuild included any... augmentations...

I know I dropped out of the regular picks running a month or so ago, but I'm hopping back in for the playoffs: Cincinatti over the Jets. Defense and the running game might have been the formula for playoff success in 1977, but in the modern NFL, you've got to throw the ball to beat good teams. Sanchez just isn't ready. Philly over Dallas. I think they hit on a few deep passes early against the Cowboys safeties in coverage. Get Romo behind the 8-ball, take the crowd out of the game, and hold on for a close win. New England over Baltimore. I'm tempted to pick the upset here because of NE's weak pass defense, but I don't trust the Ravens receivers enough to take advantage of it. Green Bay over Arizona. GB's OL was its Achilles heel for most of the season, but it has really come together and improved its play in the last month or two. Right now I just think that GB is the better team on offense and defense (special teams is a bit ARI advantage, but I don't think it'll be enough).

I've always wanted to see a game where enemies are more likely to run, hide, or surrender than they are to fight to the death.

The new translation is from a friend/old schoolmate of mine who now teaches at Boston Latin School. So does that earn him a spot in the game's credits?

People over the age of 6 watch that voluntarily? Wow. Anyhow, to pull us a little back closer to the ME2 topic, I'm taking suggestions as to which companion I should Virmire in my ME1 playthrough. Female Vanguard, mostly paragon, no romantic entanglements, and I haven't taken any of the humans outside the ship in a very long time.

That's why I called him the best I've seen and not the best evar. I haven't played JE, MDK2, or NWN1, and make no comment on the kewlness of their antagonists.

Irenicus, sure. By far the best Bioware villain (read: only interesting and memorable Bioware villain) I've seen. But Sarevok was lame. Both hilariously cliched and stupid-by-plot-necessity. ("I think I can become god if a lot of people die." (silly, but arguably within 'fantasy' believability) "A lot of people will die if Baldurs Gate and Amn go to war." (Logical) "I need to sabotage some iron mines." (wat?)) I'll take the cliched and characterless DA Archdemon over the cliched and ridiculous Sarevok. I count Saren and Loghain roughly equally-- cliched, but at least there's a little bit of nuance to their presentation and a little bit of logic supporting their overall schemes.

Oghren does make a fair amount of sense, if you're only including one repeat JNPC. Bio can't possibly pick one of the romanceables without inciting the holy fury of the all afficianadoes of all the other romanceables. And if we know anything about Bio, we know that they love to shovel fan service at that particular group. He's probably the JNPC who the average gamer (i.e., someone who played once and then moved onto other things) played with least, as the Deep Roads was one of the toughest areas, likely to be done later in the game. That keeps him relatively fresh. And there really isn't a clear plot-based reason that he couldn't return like there is with other JNPCs. Sten goes back home, Al could be king, Morrigan buggers off, etc. I know it's possible for a player to kill Zev, Sten, Dog, Lel, and Wynne over the course of the game, and Al and can end up sacrificed. Actually, is there even a way to kill Oghren in the Deep Roads, if you make the wrong Branka-related choices? It might be as simple as that he's the only companion besides Morrigan who always finishes the game alive.

Were it a little further down the East coast, I'd be tempted. But I'm not gonna haul all the way up to Boston for a gaming convention.

Me too. I enjoyed many of the Gold Box games when I was younger (PoR, CotAB, the Krynn games, the Savage Frontier games, and maybe a couple others-- they kind of blend together in my mind), and the first BG drew on that nostalgia for a decent hunk of its appeal. But somewhere around the release of IWD and BG2, my mindset regarding the rules system shifted from "accepting" to "critical," and I started figuring out the degree to which it sucked. 3E improved certain aspects of it (mostly the dual/multi class rules and bizarre saving throw system), but still left scads of problems that bugged me more and more with each iteration I played in a CRPG. Edit: And, yes, Planescape was my favorite.

This one is my favorite:

Horizontal scroll-bars that only show 1 item at a time? Ew. I hope that's only in the console interface.

Everyone would be immune to the taint. I thought Grey Wardens weren't immune to the taint but rather were special individuals that could withstand and use the taint to some degree. The taint would eventually overcome them driving them insane, hence the self exile of older grey wardens to the Deep Roads. Thereby dealing with the whole problem of looking after the aged and decrepit in society.. When everyone hits that age..they wander into the deep roads to fight deepspawn until they die.. No need to support them in the thriving kingdom above ground.. But some of those aged citizens won't go quietly into the good night of fighting in tunnels. So elite police units are formed to track down those who attempt to elude their pre-ordained fate. Thus sets the scene for Dragon Age 3: Loghain's Run.

Personally, I found the "Al ends up as a lonely desperate drunk" ending more satisfying.

The first one was fun. I found the second one frustratingly difficult, though, and gave up relatively early-on. That said, I was probably about 13 when I played it, and not nearly as good then as I now am at min-maxing RPG systems.

Maybe this "Architect" will provide some explanation why every road in Ferelden passes under an 80-foot tall stone arch every 50 feet.

The only thing that comes to my mind is "Tunnel Snakes Rule!"

The U.S. isn't averse to train transportation-- it's averse to train passenger transportation (outside the DC-to-Boston corridor, that is). Freight rail is still a huge industry in the States. Anyhow, a motorcycle or the like would be cool, but I still see it most likely as the method of 'fast travel,' rather than a means to squeeze lots of driving/vehicular combat gameplay into an actiony-RPG. (Think Mako.)

Neat. I remember that one.

Weather does not equal climate. Suck it, everybody who tries to politicize the one remaining neutral topic of conversation available in this country!

Huh. I picked this up in the Steam sale this week, but only played through the 'intro' area. The atmosphere and gameplay have failed to grab my interest so far. I'm sure I'll jump back into it again at some point and explore the first quest hub a bit, but my expectations aren't high.

So, other than the new piecemeal armor, how else is inventory/loot being changed? Because playing through some of ME1, the weaknesses of this system are really grating on me. The items have no character whatsoever-- just a brief description of the manufacturer (that manages to be even more boring than the codex entries), a product line name, a number, and 3 stats. And the mods are worse. (Really, how many different ranks of Incendiary Rounds does the game need?) They missed a big opportunity to add some character to their gameworld by making the inventory screen a trip to generictown-- even a handful of unique items would make a big difference. (The only one I can think of is the anti-thorian gas grenade mod, which even has a superfluous "I" ranking so that it fits in with all the other items from the boringville armory.)

On the local v. non-local issue, nearly every study on donation efficacy comes out strongly in favor of well-run international charities.

I slept for 11 hours last night. One of the few perks of recovering from illness.

if it is food poisoning, you would know it. you would also be spending much more time in the bathroom on your knees, too. i had to be taken to the hospital the one time i had it. it doesn't typically result in a fever or other aches, as i recall (going on memory from what the doctor told me... probably could check wiki but i'm hungover and not feeling investigative right now). anyway, they gave me a shot that cleared up the nausea in half an hour, and immodium will always plug the back-end rather quickly. add in some saline drips through an IV and i was fine in under 2 hours though i felt out of sorts for a day or two afterward. technically, there's no such thing as the stomach flu, though i've read that the flu itself can cause nausea and diarrhea (as well as the other symptoms, obviously). i haven't had anything like that in a long time, fortunately, and i certainly don't envy you. Well, the reading I've done told me that for both maladies, symptoms can include stuff like vomiting, nausea, et cetera... I took that as meaning that people respond differently to the bugs, and that food poisoning could be any one of a number of possible toxins that have a range of effects. Rather than try to get to see a doctor on a holiday for a definitive diagnosis, I decided to just rest and force fluids for a day. Anyhow, the important thing is that I am feeling a good deal better this morning. The nausea is gone, the fatigue (which was awful yesterday) is improved, and although I still don't have much of an appetite, I'm in the midst of eating an entire piece of toast. (Solid food forced down yesterday: 6 saltines and a half cup of applesauce.)