Enoch

The problem I have with this view is that it goes hand-in-hand with the fact that BG2 is a Monte-Hall campaign in an AD&D ruleset wherein the primary factors that determine the effectiveness of your character are mostly gear-driven. You can find ways to do everything in the game, largely because the game throws such ridiculous quantities of powerful magical kit at you. I'd like there to be more to my character creation/development decisions than which pair of boots to put on.

I'd never suggest commercial fruit juices. Buy some quality oranges and make your own. Sugar content is the same. They're sweet fruits.

Last point, just for giggles: De-facto Cowboys GM Stephen Jones was on the Competition Committee when they decided to do nothing to change the rule after that Calvin Johnson play in 2010.

By the way, this isn't the first time that Dez' instinctual reaction has cost him a game-changing play. A few years ago, it was the instinct to put a hand down and break his own fall (something generally detrimental to making great sideline/endline catches).

Dez was falling down when he gained control of the ball. He might have had a chance a non-falling catch if he'd secured control when the ball first arrived, but Shields got a hand in there and made Byrant bobble it a bit before he could control it. He got it in his hands as he stumbled forward, though. Then the ball touched the ground and he lost control. Ergo, incomplete. It's really quite an easy call-- controversial only in that some people don't like the underlying rule. Really? What bobble? Show me the bobble. Here is the play: I was referring to the initial arrival of the ball. If he had caught it cleanly and immediately, I could see an argument that he wasn't "going to the ground." But he clearly was by the time control was secured. https://gfycat.com/DamagedAccurateAfricanmolesnake Again, "football move" is irrelevant if the ball is considered incomplete under the "Going to Ground" item.

No, that is not all of its glory. You're omitting the actual "Calvin Johnson" part: Dez was falling down when he gained control of the ball. He might have had a chance a non-falling catch if he'd secured control when the ball first arrived, but Shields got a hand in there and made Byrant bobble it a bit before he could control it. He got it in his hands as he stumbled forward, though. Then the ball touched the ground and he lost control. Ergo, incomplete. It's really quite an easy call-- controversial only in that some people don't like the underlying rule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2ohfX_AzI At least they're consistent with it. lol It was unbelievably wrong the first time, it was just as wrong this time. That rule is so messed up. The point of it, I guess, is to take the guesswork out of officiating... by calling what is CLEARLY a catch not a catch... Somehow this makes sense to the NFL. Well, yeah. If there's no replay rule, you can get away with allowing the refs some latitude to go with their gut on whether a particular play should be considered successful, but when you institute an instant replay system to allow officials to go over what happened in a play closely, you need detailed criteria that are as objective as possible to guide them. The rule they instituted is actually pretty simple in this case: If the player is in the process of falling down when he gains possession of the ball, it's a catch only if he maintains possession until he's done falling. (It gets a lot more complicated in the event of a player who isn't falling down, but who loses the football shortly after getting it-- that's when the wacky "act common to the game" standard comes into play.) Anyhow, inexpressibly angry Dez Bryant is by far the most entertaining Dez Bryant, so this is the best possible outcome.

Thanks, but I think I'm far enough in with the build I've got-- might as well finish the game (which I've only done once before) "as intended" at this point. I might be tempted to use it on Awakenings NPCs, though, if they need some tweaks.

Yeah, I remember the re-spec mods, but I've been playing it straight. I didn't remember how to go about adding mods, and didn't feel sufficiently motivated to figure it out all over again. I like the narrative better with a dead protagonist, and there's something about putting together an atypical world-state to import to the sequels that appeals to me. Still, it is tempting to have my Warden survive the endgame so that I'll get to keep at least some of my l0o+ for the expansion. I may spoil myself regarding the joinables in Awakenings before I decide. Does the Glyph paralysis explosion have friendly fire? I like the hexes for boss fights, but a large area effect paralysis would be very useful. I really didn't like the combat in the DA2 demo back in the day, but a lot of the reporting on the narrative did sound appealing to me, or at least it sounded like something that I'd like to see first-hand-- particularly the more personal storyline and the impression that the protagonist generally gets to watch everything he/she does turn out horribly. At this point, that's enough for me to give it a shot.

Isn't one of the FoA heads in that very room? So he'd have to run in, grab the loot, run downstairs, forge the Flail, and then go back and smack the Golem with it? PJ did what most players without AD&D metaknowledge would do-- first try the approach they use with nearly every other creature they encounter. After the Golem smacks them down, they reload and maybe try to look for a different way around it. (And, as he said, it was fun.) He's not looking for tips-- he's exploring a game with fresh eyes and a critical mindset.

There's one in the room they are in lol ... it's on one of those pedestals It's the Warhammer +1; +4 vs Giantkin While I believe you that this works, as a mechanical matter, it's not very clear at all to a player that it would. Golems don't sound like they would be considered "Giantkin," so one would guess that it would only be +1 against them. Why would a player think to try it after discovering that their other +1 weapons were ineffective? I'm guessing that this is essentially an exploit-- it only works because the engine can't accomodate different enchantment levels for immunity purposes on the same item.

This time, we get guns instead.

Just in case the negativity is getting you down, PJ, I'm quite enjoying this. I mean, I'm guessing that you anticipated the reaction you're getting-- you had to know that people tend to be very resistant to any kind of critical examination of stuff they liked when they were younger. But you're not going full troll (and even if you were, the bites you're getting are worth the price of admission!), and your criticism sounds fair so far. And, yeah, David Warner is totally the star of BG2. Just imagine if every line were voiced... [ducks impending wave of rotting garbage]

I've been doing the same. I'm now through the majority of base-DA:O, plus the Shale and Soldier's Peak DLC content-- the Urn quest is the only part of the "assemble your allies" stage that I haven't wrapped up. I really remember very little of the endgame content (mostly, some stuff happens in the Elven Alienage, we sneak into a castle for some reason, Alistair runs off like a petulant child, and there is a very tedious combat slog before the end-boss), so I'm mostly looking forward to seeing that again with fresh eyes. And Awakenings, the other DLC (I'm waiting for Loghain before I do Return to Ostagar), and all of DA2 will be new to me. One thing that is bugging me on this playthrough is that it really feels like they designed their system to push the player to their "favored" NPCs. The two most indispensable combat roles in this system are a "tank" and a controller/damager wizard. And, absent the day-1 DLC, the game gives you exactly 1 character spec'ed to each of these roles. On the other hand, there are 4 off-tank damager melee characters available (Sten, Oghren, the Dog, and Zevran). They also made lock-opening the only class-restricted non-combat ability in the game, and only gave the player 1 rogue who starts with any points invested in it. (To be fair, the practical value of lock-opening is quite low in the game, but, depending on the type of player you are, the psychological impact of leaving l0o+ behind can be significant.) I suppose it's most likely that they were just making sure that the early NPCs one recruits can make a well-rounded powerful party. But, to me, it really feels like they've put their thumb on the scale to get the player to depend on Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana. A more balanced approach would've helped-- say by giving Oghren a shield and making the 1st-tier healing spell much less effective so that Wynne's specialization has more value. For my part, I'm playing a (admittedly overpowered) PC Mage who largely duplicates Morrigan's spell investment (Cold, Electric, the Hex line, the Crushing Prison line, and the Mana Clash line), and running with Shale, Sten, and Wynne most of the time. I think I'm going to off him at the end, and go with a dagger-rogue build for Awakenings.

Green is the Moander cult, right? I vote for that one. And you should totally use that Wand of Lightning on some Shambling Mounds, just for educational purposes. Seeing all the little tricks you used to get through the tough fights makes me wonder how I managed to clear Hap(tooth) this when I was a kid. I'm guessing that I skipped the ones that were optional.

Jeez, folks. I was just trying to set up some copy-editor-with-lethal-enforcement-authority jokes.

Those Ankhegs look so cute!

Well, it probably makes more sense than arming copy editors would...

Yeah, I can see how an ectopic pregnancy would make one nervous about pain associated with ovulation. We haven't dealt with that particular issue, but with my wife's 5-to-1 ratio of pregnancies to living children, "totally freaking out" over potentially reproductively relevant problems doesn't seem odd at all.

Yeah, I have to assume that GD is a little confused. Mustard-based BBQ is more of a Georgia thing, no? Carolina is all about the vinegar. Anyhow, they all have their perks. Personally, I find most Memphis- and KC-style sauces overly sweet-- okay for ribs, but not what I want on a shoulder or brisket. If I'm going for a sauce on something like that, I'd prefer Carolina style. But I also quite enjoy the Texas approach-- beef rather than pork, with a dry rub and smoke, but little or no sauce. Anyhow, today I drove to work over packed snow, as the DC-area federal offices remained open, despite heavier-than-anticipated snowfall coinciding with the morning rush. I guess they were trying to pinch pennies and thought this snow would be too minor to bother treating the roads or having sufficient plow crews on standby. It was a mess, but it gave me the chance to test out the all-wheel drive on the vehicle we bought last summer. The car handled great, but the tire-pressure-sensor light came on for some reason, despite all the tires looking and feeling fine.

That said, ToB was worth purchasing if just for the inventory management items. The bottomless quivers, ammo belt, potion bag, etc., made the BG2 experience much less tedious. I mean, doesn't everybody go do the first Watcher's Keep level ASAP in any BG2 playthrough, just so that they don't have to deal with restocking their arrows and slingstones anymore?

That's pretty much my take. I played it when it was new, and I've made attempts a 2nd time, but epic-level AD&D just isn't much fun and the cheese really starts to stink after a couple days.

There's something particularly fun about dancing around the living room with a baby to a song that will be wholly inappropriate for him to listen to once he's sold enough to understand it. (NSFW lyrics, of course.)

Yes. Rail Nomads is scaled for an immediately post-Ag/Highpool party. I've hit the Fighting In Tunnels stretch of my DA:O game.