Diogo Ribeiro

@Maria Caliban: Thanks, that puts things into perspective. I'd have prefered a more open system myself, not unlike D&D 3.5, but I'm open to whatever Bioware will try.

The Incredibles. Probably the first Pixar venture I liked, with all the superhero mythology and stuff. You could see exactly where they went for superpower ideas, but it worked well.

An alanschu draws near! Command? *Fight *Parry *Magic *Item *Run

The thing to keep in mind is that a game may have issues on a large number of systems, and not have the same issues on a smaller number. This is the general consensus. Personal experience with Troika or even Obsidian games puts me at odds with the problems many people had, but I wouldn't say their games were bug-free (for instance, savegame corruption was recurring in my Arcanum playthroughs). This applies to my experience with Bioware games - many people claim to have had no issues, but I had my share. Yet I wouldn't claim they were a bug-ridden mess... Maybe rough around some edges.

I may be wrong, but doesn't this seem confusing? Wielding magic is a *natural ability* that comes in late childhood... So why can't Fighters and Thieves use it? Do they lose the ability once they choose a profession or something? Or are people already born with classes?

@Morgoth: Thanks for the instructions, but there's a problem there. As I said, I have no floppy drive. It fizzled out and no longer works. Also, it seems my mobo is no longer supported in terms of BIOS updates (it's the 775 but not the 4Core Dual-Vsta for QuadCores; it's the regular Dual-Vsta for Core Duo). I may as well just stick to the 2GBs and save me some hassle, I guess :/

I'm sure that in his line of duty, the lead character will need to perform dangerous missions which include cross-dressing. To save a female agent from a destitute pimp king. Who can't tell a woman from a ladyboy. A ladyboy who goes out on a date with jailbait. Or something along those lines. I'm sure there's something in there for everyone.

It's an allusion to Torn.

Reason I haven't bothered to get FO3 yet is because my system can only pass the minimum requirements, but not the recommended. I like the whole pseudo retro-futurism stuff, but playing at 15 frames per second like old movies is just taking it too far. Audiosurf and Spore do get my vote, though, even if the latter wasn't exactly all I hoped for but still managed to be entertaining.

So I've begun playing Bionic Commando Rearmed. Later tonight, I'll finally play NWN2 properly and begin fiddling with the toolset as I go.

Most people probably only know the Nintendo game, which is a shame - the Sega Genesis version was a milestone in console RPGs in the '90's, but went fairly unrecognized by people who prefer jRPGs. All settings are created that way, with someone's idea of "cool" colliding head on against other's notions that it "sucks".

It seems that my gaming PC is back on track, after a series of gruelling months. I'm not too keen on claiming everything is perfect, however, since I've never had any luck with computers and their technical issues. But yesterday at 3 AM I managed to get this working again and installed Vista. With that in mind, I was wondering if anyone could guide me through something I wanted to try out. Which is to flash my BIOS. I've been told that most of the time it's not really necessary, and is something better left to enthusiasts. However, here's the reason. I'm using an aged Asrock 775Dual-Vsta motherboard with a 667/400Mhz Dual Channel memory. This means it can run two parallel RAM sticks as long as they're of the same memory and speed. Problem is, I was counting it could use 4 GBs but the mobo can only use a maximum of 2 Gbs. I'm stupid like that. But then I spotted this. Someone claims there's a modified BIOS version (3.10A) that allows the mobo to use 4 GBs, and there's even a thread at AnandTech that says as much. This would mean that two 2x 1GB of RAM @ 667Mhz could go into the slots without a hitch, or very little problems (one user reports that his OS registered 3,5 GBs instead of 4). Problem #1 - I've never flashed a BIOS before and have no idea what to do. Problem #2 - I had to install Vista because my floppy drive seems to have gone mental. The install program could not recognize any other device (including USBs). Vista managed to recognize my USB device with SATA drivers into it, which made installation a breeze. Problem #3 - It seems a floppy drive is mandatory to flash a BIOS. Problem #4 - I don't have two 2x 1GB of RAM @ 667Mhz yet, only two 1GB of RAM @ 400Mhz, which means that even if I don't screw the pooch I still can't properly test if it worked or not. And I don't fancy spending money on RAM which would be partially useless to me. So, that's pretty much what I'm looking for. Anyone care to enlighten me on how to go about this? Thanks in advance.

Sure. I promise I'll upload them somewhere for dissection, either at NWVault or a personal space, as soon as I think I have something to show. Also, Tig - I'll read your PM more thoroughly this Sunday, it's a promise

Quick update. Bought a new graphics driver. It's really nothing special (GF 8600 GT) but it offered a bundled version of NWN2, so officially, I already have the game. Sometime between this weekend and the next, things should be up and running, even if the XPs will take a bit longer to get.

Sorry for keeping quiet for a while, but I've been "drafted" into a few days away with the girlfriend. There's some issues to be resolved between us, apparently. In any case... If all goes well, next week I'll send the PC in for repairing. Getting NWN2 should soon follow but I'll keep you posted. If either of you have written anything else about NWN2 modding and/or your projects, point me in the right direction and I'll read that ASAP. Happy New Year, by the way

@Purkake: Outside Torment, and in the same time period you have singled out, how many old cRPGs did not feature the whole "save the world" or "save a world" as a story or motivation?

Gamers will scream about a lot of things, not all of them worth screaming about. I still remember a certain uproar with Fallout's time-based main quest. That was a riot; there we were, presented with a gameworld that was anything but static in an important situation. But all people could muster was "Oh no, the game will react if I don't do a damn thing. That's too much pressure, I want to do and see everything! Not fair!". Hey, while we're at it, how about no penalties when standing still in combat? Damn those bugbears, I want to sit on my ass and look at those caves.

Woke up late, no coffee yet, couple of smokes are what's keeping me awake at the moment, so this might be totally fubar kekeke. 1) First possibility for the starting location and general adventure hub is Daggerford. This sets it in the North, between the Delimbir River and The Trade Way, with the Lizard Marsh a little ways south. It's still under scrutiny whether it should be there and what such a location brings to the fray, so there might be a change of plans. I picked Daggerford initially for a couple o'reasons - it's the largest stop between Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, often considered its "sister city". Daggerford attempts to style itself over Waterdeep, with the members of its Council of Guilds imitating the Lords of Waterdeep even. It seems like a city trying to carve its own identity and still trying to expand, trying to be a worthwhile place both for commerce and adventurers. The other reason is that this could tie into the module by presenting some threat that stands in the way of the city's growth. It doesn't need to be tied into it directly; it may be something that's threatening the area in general but it can be reworked into something that's targetting Daggerford, maybe even someone in the Council of Guilds or somesuch. I'm still undecided about the method of introducing characters to the location. Then again, games like NWN and IWD started after a call for heroes was made and just "dumped" players in a new locale. I'm thinking if I should play it safe and have one major character welcome adventurers and ask them for their help, while also directing them to nearby places (ie., temples for Clerics) or characters of reknown (ie., retired adventurers) for more information; or make it so different classes will start in different places and motivations (ie., evil Clerics could look into the threat to spread their favored deity's dominion, good Clerics would do the opposite, arcane spellcasters could have received a call from a retired wizard who is too old to venture into the nearby region, Bards could have accompanied a troupe into town and listened rumors about it in a local tavern, etc.). The latter could be used so that a new temple/guild/sect was trying to establish themselves in Daggeford, and would attempt to send agents (the players) to solve the problem to gain the favor of the Council. The threat itself is meant to start off fairly low key, with undead roaming the lands. Outside the walls are standard brainless corpses and ghouls, but city officials inside the city report sightings of recently dead people rising from their graves; many of which retain some degree of awareness and intelligence, and are just as confused about their undead state as are the ones who saw them die. The Council is afraid that necromantic arts may be involved but they can't find the source. It could have something to do with the nearby Lizard Marsh, which shares a past with Daggerford. Here's a bit of lore found on the Book of the North: Many years ago, a group of heroes entered the swamp and killed the lizardman leader known as Redeye. In recent months, however, reports have surfaced that a lich calling itself Redeye is taking control of the lizardmen once again. If this is the same creature that was reported killed many years ago, many organizations - good and evil alike - would be interested in knowing how the transformation into undeath occurred. This could serve as the first possible location of the threat, although there are others (and besides, Lizard Marsh is one possible source - but not the source). Daggerford is visited by many travellers, any of which could have a part in this. The region also has a number of locations that could be explored - Ardeep Forest (home to a good number of elven crypts and other places) comes to mind. 2) I could lessen the workload considerably and make the module as a sort of expanded vignette. Whereas in ToEE each party alignment had an introduction followed by the game proper, the module could be set up in reverse - players already begin in the critical location of their quest. An example would be an order of Paladins that is sent somewhere to deal with an outbreak of undead. The PC (possibly with a small party) finds him or herself trapped in a necromancer's abode, and needs to stop his plans and escape. This has a positive aspect - as I mentioned, it considerably reduces the workload involved in, such as recreating a fair bit of established FR locales (in this case, Daggerfall). The negative is that it may seem too small and hedged in.

So, yes, I'm thinking of developing something. Under Tigranes's suggestion I'm working on something in a smaller scale than what I had envisioned several years ago, and am placing the Black Isle project I mentioned on the Pen-and-Paper Gaming forum on hold. It's easy to start thinking and creating and imagining and losing track of yourself. A smaller project, or set of projects, is ideal to get an idea of what I can do with the toolset and then start building from there. I have no screenshots to show for the time being since I don't have NWN2 yet. I know it's tricky to mod for NWN2 without having the game, but I'm planning to fix my gaming PC and get NWN2 plus expansions soon after, so by January or February I should be able to properly start. I'm going for the idea I posted at the PnP forums and divide it into several smaller modules. I'm writing away the first one already, with a rough plot structure and anciliary quests. Will post about it some more soon enough.

It is indeed, and this time I'm just going with "FR Derivative", so that I (and the player) can assume FRness, except for specific points in which it differs. I think that's the best way for me - I have no talent with art assets either so I can just use stock NWN2 stuff, but I don't have to read up on lore. I'm thinking I need to wait until my copy of SOZ gets here, which might be a while. Playing a couple of recent Hall of Fame mods to see what's out there. Christmas is pretty much over for me now, had a decent day with lots of people. No fancy stuff. I think my one gift is a kettle. If there is anything I can do to help you, please let me know. I've had some practice with the toolset and I feel pretty comfortable with it now. Would you extend a helping hand my side ? I'm only asking because, if all goes well, I will fix my PC and pick up NWN2 sometime between January and March. Oh, and I suck at ze code. In the meantime, here's some more helium. I was browsing through a backup DVD and found several videogame writeups I had made along the years, and a score of writings I never finished. In the meantime, when I finished my contributions to the latest number of the Spectrum Games Bible, I was browsing Lulu for other books and landed on their publishing page. Suffice to say, I was wondering if I managed to scrounge the time to finish these writings and whip a few new ones, it dawned on me that I could take a stab at publishing this sensibly and intelligently written crap material, although the costs of the deal seem too rich for me at this point. Also, discussion with the girlfriend. Oh Christmas time, how you hurt me so.

Not sure if I have anything interesting to add. I'm on the "wait and see" camp, although I enjoy games set in somewhat contemporary timeframes and the spy them is certainly a boon in the face of a market mired in traditional fantasy settings. I'm more interested in playing Metal Gear Solid 4 than I am Dragon Age, for instance. But even moreso than the genre it attempts to fit into, the one thing that drives me to anticipate the game is the team of developers behind it, since they've been responsible for some of my fondest videogame memories.

Anais - Peut'etre Une Angine (silly, silly French song)

Saw "Love Actually" yesterday. Nice, even if sometimes predictable.

Cartoonishly large weapons is a recurring theme in nearly all fantasy games that try to cater to male adolescent fantasies. NWN wasn't really setting trends in that regard; it was just another sheep. Besides, Diablo 2 was not different in this regard; the art style was laden with improbable attire and weapons as well.