Enoch

Easy: Lightsabres are "elegant" and "civilized" weapons. That other stuff isn't.

As alluded to in the Inquisition thread, I'm playing Dragon Age: Origins. Based on my Bio profile's achievement info, it's been over 4 years since I put meaningful time into the game. I recently picked up the Ultimate Edition cheap, as I've never played any of the non-day-1 DLC or the expansion. I'm going Mage again. That and melee rogue are, to me, by far the most fun combat roles to play in this system, and Mage has the advantage of making Morrigan completely dispensible. (Tank melee and archer are comparatively boring, IMO, and off-tank fighter duplicates the role of 3+ companions.) Some fresh-eyes impressions: * The Mage origin has some cleverly delivered exposition, but the plot is pretty ludicrous. * Ostagar is better designed than I remembered-- some neat little sidequests in the Wilds, and the Tower of Ishal has some nice encounter design * Lothering, on the other hand, really could have used a bit more effort, perhaps splitting the village and the fields into separate zones. The open area and AI coding also stupidly allows you to 'pull' enemies one-by-one with a longbow. * Hey, I can finally talk to the DLC salesman hanging around my camp! * The nice thing about this being a re-play is that I no longer feel much "must see all the content" metagame motivation. I can roleplay a little more freely, particularly in not bothering to kiss the rear ends of NPCs who I don't like. (Or in killing them off when they deserve it. Zevran is not long for this world.) * Alistair is not (yet) quite as annoying as I remembered, but Morrigan is even moreso. I thank her for her help with the precisely 2 battles she participated in (finding the Dog, and the bandits at the Lothering entrance), and she can now hang out way over there in her personal camp for the rest of the game. From a roleplaying perspective, I'm assuming that my Warden is too scared of Flemeth to drive her off or slit her throat while she sleeps, but he's not going to let her get any more involved in this whole thing than he absolutely has to. Anyhow, I've just finished Honnleath, to recruit Shale, who will spend the rest of the game in the party. The rest will be a rotating cast of Wynne (more often than not), Leliana (if I absolutely must see what's in all the chests), and Sten/Dog/Al/Oghren (based on character-appropriateness for the quest being undertaken and general mood). The Circle Tower is next, for Wynne and stat boosts. I'd welcome any suggestions on when to do the DLC missions.

Well, yeah, graphics have improved, but I'd argue that the combat has aged even more poorly. PoR was the first implementation of AD&D rules with a combat engine that roughly resembles a tabletop session with a tactically focused DM, and that was freakin' awesome to see at the time. But, looking back on it, the encounter design and AI were both uninteresting, and the AD&D ruleset's flaws loom large.

You want specific spoilers? I'm not especially spoiler-averse, but I'd prefer general statements ("something really cool happens if X is still alive") to detailed spoilers. Actually, based on their 1-line descriptions, it seems that some of the other DA:O DLC requires a living Warden. That may be the deciding factor.

I was a few years younger than Endrosz when I played Pool of Radiance (maybe 9 or 10?), and I wasn't very good at it. (Although I did have some prior CRPG experience with Might & Magic I.) With guidance from the Official Hint Book, I eventually managed to get to the encounter with the guards outside the lair of the end boss (helpfully referred to as "The Boss"), but I never managed to beat them. I played a lot of Curse, but eventually got lost and stuck in Zenthil Keep. Didn't play Silver Blades or Pool of Darkness at all. I did run through the Krynn series much later on, from some CD-ROM combo pack. They were either much easier, or I was much better at AD&D party design, tactics, spell selection, etc., by that point in my life. Anyhow, I would be interested in watching this unfold.

Reading the stuff on DAI has made me a bit more interested in revisiting the series, in preparation for actually playing the new one in a number of months. And the present Steam sale now has the Ultimate Edition of Origins on sale for $7.50. I've still got a disc copy of it around here somewhere, but I never bought/played Awakenings or any of the DLC apart from Shale. So I think I'll be doing that shortly. The nice thing about replaying a game like this is that I no longer feel much pressure to do things for metagamey "I want to see all the content" reasons. So, for example, I can cut Zevran's throat the first time I meet him and laugh in Morrigan and Alistair's face when they ask me to do favors for them. (Well, I don't think the game actually supports that last bit, but I can say "no" and imagine my character laughing.) I can even give all the gifts "intended" for them to my dog, while they watch! Any feedback from DA2 or DA:I on DA:O decisions that make for the most interesting world-states? I lean towards letting the PC take the fall at the end, but I could be talked into letting Loghain do the deed. (Alistair, of course, ends up as the whiny drunken loser he was born to be.) Are there any major benefits/drawbacks to carrying one's character over to Awakenings?

How could one possibly not realize that they were at/near the end of DA:O??! It's been a while since I played it, but isn't it communicated very clearly that the other plot threads have been wrapped up and that it's time to go kill the Archdemon?

The youngin' had his 9-month checkup this morning, and he's doing well. He's a bit behind on his gross-motor skills, which you never like to see, but which makes taking care of him much easier-- for the moment, he still stays where we put him. We've also been a little lazy about transitioning him to solid foods, which we got a bit of a lecture about. I decided to take tomorrow off, even though it means that I'll be stuck watching him by myself for most of the day. The current predictions are for the rain to switch to snow somewhere around midday, and I know enough about DC-area drivers to avoid being on the road for that, if at all possible. Plus, it should allow me to do some more Thanksgiving prep. My sister-in-law is hosting, but I'm the most enthusiastic cook in the family, so I've volunteered to do most of the heavy-lifting. Tonight I'll be coating the turkey with coarse salt for a "dry brine," and I ran out on my lunch break today to buy the stuff I need to make pies (1 sweet potato and 1 pecan).

Congratulations! Looks like they're still in the white-lightning phase of a start-up distillery (i.e., whiskey not yet ready, but selling moonshine or similar un-aged liquor). Let us know when they've got a batch of bourbon ready for market and I'll give it a try if they distribute in my area.

The better argument isn't that Indira is "objective," it's that his/her impressions are based on actual experience with the game, unlike those of certain other folks posting in this thread. (For example, me.) All opinions are subjective in one way or another, but that doesn't mean that all of them should be accorded the same weight.

My suggestion is either enjoy this game on its own terms or move onto the indie / kickstarter scene. I'm sure you'd have more fun with eg Grimrock 2 or Divinity: Original Sin than trying to persuade people that DA:I is less than perfect. I doubt that anybody here needs convincing that the game isn't perfect. It's the reflexive latching on to any argument that can be used to validate Q's predetermined opinion about the game that gets annoying.

Wait, people liked Sandal? I remember being shocked that Bioware came up with a crafting mule who was even less funny than Cespenar was.

So there's a new patch. And I couldn't download it, because silly me put this game on his (sadly only 128GB) SSD, which has gotten full. I tried to clean things up a bit, but finally decided that this game should run just fine on the spinning-disk HD, so I uninstalled it, planning to set the re-install to D: when I go to bed. Turns out that Wasteland 2 was taking up almost 40GBs of disk space. Which is absolutely ridiculous.

I would just sell mine every year and get the latest model. Maintenance costs actually work the other way-- highest when completely new, but mostly declining thereafter. Newborns are a lot of work and, honestly, are no fun at all. They sleep and eat in 3-hour cycles and their interactivity is limited to "cry" or "don't cry." At 8 months old, this guy still requires watching, sure, but he's sleeping well, smiling, laughing, babbling, playing with toys, and interacting with people.

The big problem with my current set up is that I can't really take a day off just for me. The youngin' being in day care in the office where I work is fantastically convenient in a lot of ways, but it means that, if I don't go into work, I've got to take care of him, or find somebody else to do so. Theoretically, I could get my in-laws to babysit, but "watch my son so that I can lounge around and play vidyagames" is a tough sell. Ah well. Only another 4 or 5 years until he's in school...

It's not about the game it's about sending a message. By posting a non-review to a review site, knowing that it will likely be removed/banned? I guess if that's how you want to spend your day. Vidyagames are SRS BZNS.

As somebody who knows very little about game engine mechanics, is there any chance that somebody will figure out and release a mod that lets you pull the camera back a bit further? (I imagine that the DRM/anti-cheating measures are a complicating factor here, but that's as far as my expertise goes.)

the gay pirate? bio romances is terrible, but the biowarians ain't aiming to be insulting. the toee gay pirate were, at best, sophomoric. am suspecting that a troika developer lacking in maturity were angry 'bout having the toee brothel cut, so the gay pirate were added as a childish bit o' revenge 'gainst the publisher. is not as if we were particular offended by troika's efforts, but the gay pirate were not a well-written romance and it weren't funny neither. as an aside, juhani were in kotor, yes? is our recollection that kotor were released a bit before toee. HA! Good Fun! Davin/Miria in Fallout 2. (Who were allso sophomoric and poorly written, for what it's worth.)

For good or ill, Bioware has always been a company that listens to what its fans say about their games, and adjusts their future releases accordingly. This leads to plenty of improvements ("gee, it would've been nice if the NPCs in BG1 had more going for them than a stat sheet and a half-dozen 3-second audio clips!"), but also to lots of cheesy fan-service ("My favorite dumb joke from ME1 MUST be reprised in ME3!!!").

Got called into a teleconference at 4:30 this afternoon. I normally pick the rugrat up from daycare at around 4:15, but this was a time-sensitive matter, my boss was unable to attend, and the daycare stays open until 6, so I ended up working an extra hour+ (which put me us in much worse traffic for the ride home). Anyhow, it turns out that [details redacted for incredibly slim potential for personal identifiability]. Oh, and they need this by close-of-business tomorrow, my immediate supervisor will be out until next Wednesday, and none of the folks above him are yet aware of just how dangerous this could be to our organization. Gonna be a fun day! I'm working on developing a solid hangover in anticipation, just to ensure that I'm at my best.

Singing to a comet!

That's true, but it's still a violation of property rights. At any rate; some one who would actually exercise that right would likely go broke anyway so... Oh well. I know it's unlikely to convince you, but American legal precedent has clearly rejected this view.

Man, end-of-Hollywood quests are still... rough. A serious pass for quest flags, clearer player instructions, and general polish is still needed.

Now that's a waste. You get occasional friendly fire from Vax but with his damage potential he's pretty good in LA and it's very easy to keep him alive because he has good range. I consider it a roleplaying decision. Friendly fire alongside a combat bark about destroying all humans makes my Rangers nervous.