sawyl

PS @ Dakoth: Here's a good place to start.

ouch. How much? (Whatever you payed was worth it, though. An amazing game.)

HA HA HA. Do you ever watch anything but Fox News? Have you ever talked to a soldier from Iraq? For one, they didn't mobilize the troops in the middle of a car bombing. Be serious. They were mobilized and outfitted in the states. oh well, I guess when convoys are blown up and soldiers are killed in firefights because the cars aren't armored/they don't have body armor, that's an "isolated" problem. People--kids, really--dying is such an isolated problem. didn't you see the press conference with Rumsfeld in Iraq, where the National Guardsman stands up and drills him about the lack of body armor? Oh, right--you were watching Fox. You wouldn't have seen that part. And it's funny how you seem to have selective reading abilities. (Just like Fox.) I said before, it's a waste of money when any president throws it away like this. I wasn't just talking about body armor. You know, if we gave part of that $40 million to every person under the poverty level in the U.S.... well, they would all have ten dollars in their pocket, so to speak. Which is better than it being spent on champagne for the ruling class. And hey, why don't you answer random evil guy's question? From everything I've ever seen or read about Fox, he's right.

PLEEZE GOD NO. I don't know about European schools, but from what I've read about Japan... yeah, at least one language taught at that age would be nifty. (I still can't speak French, and I've been taking it for almost five years.) the problem with this is that many districts are too poor to afford air conditioning. (My district included.) It's impossible to learn in 90+ degree heat. The first thing that needs to be done to improve the education system is to repeal the ridiculous "No Child Left Behind" initiative. Even if that happened, though, there still wouldn't be enough money in poorer districts to make all the necessary changes for a better public school system. I truly hope that Americans wouldn't stand for that. I don't want to be drafted. (Or even have the spector of a draft hanging over my head.) Unless they can find a plausible excuse to invade an Asian country, I think Iran is the most likely choice. After all, THOSE TERRORISTS are in the middle east...

Oh, no--I completely agree with you. It's horrible when any politician does it, Republican or Democrat.

I think this is a perfectly fair juxtaposition. The White House is spending a disgusting amount of money on lavish parties while the troops in Iraq don't have body armor. Bush should look bad.

True. oh, the story itself is real...but yes, the memos were not. Um, I hate to ask, but how is this media bias? It's showing the actual cost of war. I may loathe Bush, but I think the claim that he's the next Hitler is rather outrageous. some pretty sweet cartoons, by the way...

You know, if there's only one news source in America that you can "trust," maybe there's some small failing in your ideology. Just a thought. Yes, you could be right. (We'll never really know.) But I think it was more a case of "Wow, we have an inside scoop that no one else does! AIR IT AIR IT!". And since everyone in the business is in such a hurry to gain more viewers and make an extra buck, no one bothers to fact-check thoroughly anymore. Thing is, Dan Rather always hated Bush, so I think it was more of a personal agenda for Rather than CBS. Where do you go to school, you poor thing? I think you're missing the point. This "device" is a JOKE to parody both the right-wing ideologues and left-wing whiners at the same time. HA HA HA. Stop treating it so seriously.

I always thought the game was best played neutral, more or less. For me, the Exile believed the Republic was weak, but needed to be protected as it was better than the slaughter of the Mandalorians or Sith. The Jedi Council were weak fools that deserved retribution for what they had done to both her and the Republic by not participating in the wars. (Of course, she and Atris did not get along very well in-game.) it was interesting how, in TSL, you could kill the Jedi Council and still get the lightside ending. I was afraid the game would just assume the darkside ending for the player if you had done that. (One annoying thing, though--can you actually choose your ending? I got the lightside one automatically as that was closest to my character's alignement.) The same thing happened to me, except I had only killed Vrook. I wanted a chance to explain WHY I had killed him to the other masters, at least.

and about Mr. Rather jumping the gun...the Boston Globe had run a feature about Mr. Bush's alleged military service a few days before the "Rathergate" scandal broke. Unfortunately, the Globe's report was lost in the tide of hype surrounding Dan Rather. F.A.I.R. has an interesting recap of the whole shebang.

And since every major news outlet does it, that makes it honorable? That's right. News shows should, I think, be held to a higher standard of integrity than "American Idol." Hmm. Let's see. Isn't O'Reilly in a prime programming spot, when the majority of Americans watch T.V.? If the 7:00 spot on CNN was filled by a commie/lefty type, you can bet people would be complaining. Even Fox's regular "news" reporting is biased and selective, as noted by several people below. PS: I have watched Fox. Funny story. There's this guy, Roger Ailes. He runs Fox News. Wasn't he some sort of analyst for Reagan? Oh, and Roger is a staunch Republican too. Dan Rather had an agenda, not CBS. oh, the lefty New York Jewish intelligencia. and this foxblocker is obviously not censorship...it's humor. Haha, let's laugh, okay?

favs... Atton: Yes, he is the Carth of the game, but a much more likeable character than the forementioned. I thought his backstory was the most compelling among your party members; I truly felt sympathetic for what he had done. His conversations with Kreia were spot-on, too. Kreia: Best "villain" in the game, and really the only one that was fleshed out. Her ramblings about the Force and the Jedi were some of the most memorable parts of the game, for me. Her connection to you, at the end, was quite...um, touching? It was one of the things that made the ending slightly bearable. T3-M4: Huge improvement over the first game. He actually is the most useful member of your party--I mean, he saves the ship, steals the list of Jedi and the holorecord, and is generally nifty. His sarcastic bleeps were great, especially in his conversations with Atton. Disciple: Am I the only person who actually liked him? He was so sincere and dedicated to you; it was awfully cute. His backstory concerning the Exile was interesting (I felt guilty). And when he comes in at the end and begs you not to leave without him and the crew....One, two, three: Awwww! Atris: Someone I feel very ambivalent about. She was underdeveloped and didn't have enough face time in the game, but she had a good character concept. I just wish it had been executed more fully. Her past with the Exile added history and, depending on how you play it, character to the PC. If anything, she wasn't the Bastila #2 I was expecting from the concept art. Sion: Another ambivalent character. Liked him, but didn't have enough exposition and game time. His dialogue with the Exile at the end was very cool. His jealousy of your relationship with Kreia was not something I was expecting. But I hated his voice. It was too evil and gravelly. And a bit...Australian? and not so much... G0-T0: An evil torture droid trying to save the Republic? No thanks. Bao-dur: 15 hours in--"How cool! A fellow war veteran!" 25 hours in--"Nevermind? TALK TO ME!" HK-47: He didn't really contribute that much this time around. And the nonexistant HK-50 factory, which seemed to be a major plot point for him, was axed. Nihilus: Okay, he makes funny noises and likes to eat Jedi. But why? We know he was spawned by the Mandalorian Wars; why can't we get more information on that? Mira and Hanharr: I just never really got into either one's character. What were they doing running around on Malachor V, anyway? Canderous: Better the first time around. He just felt tacked-on this time. Again, a veteran of the Mandolorian Wars who the Exile just doesn't talk to very much. Visas: I wasn't able to get very far in dialogue with her (lack of influence, I suppose). I liked her character idea, but she just never talked to me.

are you talking about the Yavin Station? That shouldn't really count as an extra map. (Bioware just added it in as a place to buy lightsabre crystals, I think. ) I wouldn't call the writing "abysmal," but it could have used quite a bit more editing. The spelling/grammer mistakes were what really put me over the edge, though. Bastilla? The majority of the game's writing does feel rushed and half-finished, though; ideas that would have been well-executed had Obsidian gotten more time. It felt like Planescape Lite.

I think this is fanfic. I could be wrong. Yes. Bastila and the Council could easily be lying. Why would they tell Revan, a very powerful Jedi that they obviously needed the help of to win the war, that they destroyed his/her memories? That would, I assume, make Revan a bit angry... Remember what Carth says in the beginning of the game? "I've heard the Force can do terrible things to a mind...it can wipe away your memories, destroy your very identity?" I think this is a more telling foreshadowing of what truly happened to Revan, as it basically clashes with what Bastila's told you. and in addition, Revan's old memories resurface from time to time. (Cue the star map visions and the fight with Bastila.) If Revan's mind was as badly damaged as the Council said, why would this be happening? why would the Council have "reprogrammed" Revan's mind back, tried to heal it? Vrook insists on the "great danger" of you turning into Revan again, which obviously no one wanted to happen. Why would the Council have tried to bring back Revan when they could reprogram Revan with a new identity?

the random drops concerning armor and weapons are unbearable enough, but when you add in that IT'S NEAR-IMPOSSIBLE to find the lightsabre crystals you want, it gets that much worse. too much unnecessary scripting. The devs might consider it if they had time, but a lot of players wouldn't appreciate it. yes!

oh yeah, don't worry. I'm just as skeptical as you. (Note the "supposedly.") You learn to be cynical when your family's in the newspaper business... an interesting Iraq viewpoint: Iraq Dispatches or, for the more D.C. centric: Joshua Micah Marshall cheers!

augh, Pandemic. WHY did Battlefront get good reviews? That was an awful game. Pretty, but awful. The controls were sticky(!), the classes weren't balanced, a complete lack of replayability... I forgot! When you apply the word "journalism" to "gaming," you magically lose the objectivity (supposedly) inherent to the profession. Oh well. maybe it's more fun on live. I wouldn't know.

Haha, well, agreed. I expected an amount of that in Baldur's Gate, though. It was such a classic D&D ubergeek fest. And it's been a long time since I've played the original Fallout. I'm probably thinking of the sequel. I just recall that there were some head-scratching moments in the original...for me, at least.

easily the Baldur's Gate saga. For one, the rampant fanboyism of the community is...intimidating...(much like certain aspects of the NWN community " ) I just didn't enjoy Fallout very much. I felt that much of it was immature and a bit trite. The writing wasn't very good, either. And (please don't hate me) I loathe true turn-based combat. I'm not very patient. but then again, the iguana sticks almost made up for it. Almost.

vainly trying to get back on topic... Whether Revan deserved a second chance depends on your perception of Revan's actions--whether Revan did what Kreia said, or whether that was a guise for Revan's own aims. I don't think Revan wanted a second chance. As was stated, Revan always made his/her own decisions with free will. Why would Revan want to go back? but what Revan didn't deserve is how that "second chance" came about. Mind wiping is not redemption; it's more like execution.

That was my thought too. (It's one of the worst levels I've seen in a long time...)

As we all know, Mr. Avellone was the lead designer on another classic RPG--Planescape: Torment. So, it would only be logical to assume that the design team may have put a few allusions (nods, if you will) to it in KOTOR II. A partial listing: - Trias (the fallen angel in Torment) is easily rearranged to spell Atris. - Mira reminds me of Annah. I think it's the hair...and the attitude, a bit. your thoughts?

So I'm on Nar Shaada, just after Telos. I've question Atton about the whole Echani business and gotten his response. But whenever I ask him "I have some other questions..." I only get the teach me/play pazaak responses, along with one about where he got his training from, which he will not answer. Is this broken, do I need a higher persuade (it's at 17, I think), or more influence? btw, the first time I played the game through Telos to Dantooine and started again, but I had the same problem with him. please help, I'm sad.

Kreia is...interesting. From what I've seen so far, the way to gain influence is to take a, ehm, more self-centered attitude with her. (Self-centered meaning using your skills to rise above the pack, so to speak.) easily better than any character in KOTOR. Now, Atris. She was quite fun to nettle. I have a bit of a feeling she doesn't like me too much either. She's not exactly what I was expecting from the concept art. But that's a good thing. and lightsabres...I'm on Dantooine, and I believe I can find everything there for a sabre besides the hilt. Then again, I'm only 10 hours in, so take that as you will.