Gorth

My old 42" plasma TV even has a mode called "Store" or something as a colour profile, exactly like said, super bright and over the top contrast Unlike their monitors, this old Samsung thing just lasts and lasts. Since they are going all digital now, I may have to buy an external box/tuner for it soon.

I really need to watch Game of Thrones some day. I have the first book in paperback format, but couldn't make it past the first 100 pages. My mental faculties are probably deteriorating fast when I prefer David Gemmel to that stuff.

My smuggler arrived on Taris. Got killed twice because I was too busy admiring the ruins and once because some Locust mercenaries were quite a handful. Damn, some nice looking ruins

Gav Daragon (I think), on the Asia Pacific screen. Having no clue what the acronyms meant when I created my first f2p account, I just stuck with the defaults

That's a server name? I think down under have a trio of servers, defaulting to a RP server (and optionally, people can select a PVE or PVP server).

Hehe, thanks. No more questions at the moment (other than where do I find the time for it)

Don't worry, the legends of your escapades are saved for posterity. When some internet archeologist digs up those posts some day, he'll think 21st century internet was Sodom and Gomorra

Thanks guys. I tried just for kicks, two of the "small" packs for my imperial agent, just to satisfy my curiosity. Got some level up junk, a "jawagram" etc. but the moddable purple sniper rifle was excellent for my agent. Got a "speeder" thing too, but can't use it before he gets the skill (at level 15 I think, trying to remember from my other character). Oh, and a credit box with fifty grand credits which is not shabby for a level 13 character to go shopping for. But, been there, tried that now. Out of curiosity, can I actually transport gear between my characters? For some reason, my Sith inquisitor ended up with a bunch of armstech blueprints and my smuggler with a bunch of synthweave blueprints

We'll probably have to disagree on "Anniversary" It's the only TR game I've never completed. I dropped it, went back and completed the GoG version of the original instead. Much better gameplay and level design. Less stupid boss fights and no QTE. My problem with it, is they took a game that was about exploration and discovery and turned it into a corridor shooters and (not very good) action game. To return a bit to the original topic, what exactly is "high end" graphics. Does it mean large numbers of assets created? Photorealistic images? Lots of soil erosion? What exactly are we talking about? While graphics aren't all important to me, I can still appreciate a piece of art. Icewind Dale for example. Not sure it would qualify as "high end" though. For more contemporary games, I actually think the quality of animations and the "feel" of the movement (does it look and feel natural) is more important than the background stuff.

It's not about sending a message (I'm not a "crusader"). I just don't see a point in supporting something that is not important to me. I'm selfish like that

Sure we can because they do. In the end it's up to consumer to say that graphics are good enough and force development onto other areas. It just so happen they never say that and given industry driven by release sales graphics have become absolutely vital. How? Not buy games with better graphics? Buy games with weaker graphics? Buy games with better gameplay? I wonder if Tomb Raider failed because it was expensive to make or because the previous 3 releases were really mediocre games (ok, 2 of them were, Anniversary was offensively bad)? Eidos had positioned the game for a mainstream audience, but that audience is already pampered by the competition, when it comes to graphics and it wasn't expected to offer anything significantly different gameplay wise. If you have two games with similar gameplay in every way and same price but other has better graphics, which one you buy? Or do you buy both? If the gameplay sucks, I buy none, otherwise probably both. It's a simplified equation though, not a realistic one. Usually other factors play a role too, like DRM, time investment, post sales support (patches, not DLC), and so forth, but if put in some kind of isolation where only gameplay and visuals were a factor, I would go for gameplay I like.

Sociopath tendencies aside, I can see the advantage in less reliance on a "critical" path. It would make for a more "robust" game, if you can't accidentally shoot yourself in the foot. You can make life harder for yourself, but can still work yourself out of a situation. Unkillable stuff just feels 4th wall breaking in games. I'm all for emergent gameplay

Sure we can because they do. In the end it's up to consumer to say that graphics are good enough and force development onto other areas. It just so happen they never say that and given industry driven by release sales graphics have become absolutely vital. How? Not buy games with better graphics? Buy games with weaker graphics? Buy games with better gameplay? I wonder if Tomb Raider failed because it was expensive to make or because the previous 3 releases were really mediocre games (ok, 2 of them were, Anniversary was offensively bad)? Eidos had positioned the game for a mainstream audience, but that audience is already pampered by the competition, when it comes to graphics and it wasn't expected to offer anything significantly different gameplay wise.

Yay Just a question for those who may have used the cartel store. I know if You buy inventory unlocks, you can pick per account or per character. How about the other stuff they sell? Is equipment etc. per character or per account? Just trying to imagine splurging on a character to delete him again to try over with something else.

It was nice hearing some of the Kotor II themes again. They seem to have "recycled" some of the tunes. Having tried out all 4 staring worlds, I must say Nal Hutta is my favourite by far. Swamps everywhere, industrial waste and enough muck to make it an open sewer. Glorious! I suppose if I want to complete all starting assignments, I'm forced to group with somebody? Who got the idea that getting a "Social Badge" was a good quest idea? :confused: Unless there is a way to cancel quests. I'll have to check that out.

Old enough to remember The Cold War, Life Before Internet (and life before mobile phones too for that matter) Verdict so far... the world has changed. Wouldn't say it has improved.

Existing IP's... A WH40K CRPG that does *not* feature Space Marines (other than as background fluff). I would love to play a Rogue Trader, exploring the universe, killing, trading, manipulating, cheating, discovering and pursuing something, while dodging the ever present adeptus administratus, adeptus arbites (and adeptus assassinorum), the inquisition, larger scoundrels than myself etc. So many possibilities in a vast, grimdark universe. New IP's... Maybe something, not based on, but inspired by things like Bladerunner, Slave Zero (old "mech" game), Syndicate Wars etc. That was my wishlisting for Q2 this year

Some day, somebody is going to have to explain to me (in simple terms) why they bother with all these "mobile devices"... I honestly don't get it. I hate my dumb-phone for intruding on my privacy, making me "accessible" and I just couldn't imagine wanting to spend more time on a 3" display than forced to, even at gunpoint Yet people behave like drug addicts on a cold turkey if their precious gadgets go missing for more than an hour.

I know it was a bit tangential, but it was sprang to mind when thinking of the forum "regulars". Not sure about the Project Eternity section, but the old community sections here seems mostly populated by males (Hi LC). They all seem to have developed idiosynchrasies over time too. Not sure if they are really all blue faced though. Do we really need to strive for a 50/50 composition? I would like to think we are not so much discouraging "the other half", as much as maybe the appeal to the male population is just stronger for historical and/or sociosomthing reasons. Besides, nothing is ever permanent. Ever.

Anybody familiar with Smurfs? 99 Smurfs and 1 Smurfette. Talk about unbalanced demographics.

An old Nokia phone. Model unknown. Less than a decade old (probably).

Hmm... I don't even remember what was included in my "pre-order" (I was a late backer, going for the $75 option that was available). My receipt says Collectors Edition Intl. Might include a steam version?

Let me know if you struggle with traction on that. And yeah, in my experience simply because people act like 14 year olds, doesn't mean that they are. Thanks, but if they can't help, no big deal, it was just peanuts (less than a cup of mochachino). The damage was done when a bit of trust in the store software went out the window. I'll just let the people who get paid for dealing with it deal with it (I know from our own support department how much it sucks when you get a real jerk customer, I'll put effort into not being one) Yeah, maybe it's something in the internets groundwater? People often act like they are drunk on the internet, turning normally "mature" individuals into cranky 14 year olds when interacting online. Point in case: Usenet, muds, mmos, forums, etc. Completely unrelated, since I've now got a couple of (ship) droid companions too besides the starting companion, are compaion skills "fixed", as in only the same 3 regardless of who you pick as companion when going somewhere? If so, I might rethink my current selection to fit my tastes and to some degree ignore what benefits the initial companion may have contributed. On a slightly related note to companion skills, are they going to end up with something earth shattering or is it "nice to have" (and then sell it for credits) stuff when investing heavily in a skill? Yes, n00b questions, I know

Well, when you run into players called 'NeedMorePussy', you know you are amongst a crowd you don't really want to associate with I think I'm going to file a ticket with support, regarding the "double charge" (almost 800 cartel coins) for a single inventory expansion.

It's a trade-off. Yes, the MMO parts suck (not unique to SWTOR, I just don't like them). The lack of consequences in the world (rather obvious, since it would affect other players experience) and the real time combat (cool downs etc.) is not my thing. What it does have though, is a heck of a lot of money thrown at it and it shows, at least on the origin worlds. Large open levels, decent to good level of details in the landscape. Probably the only place where you'll find environments with that number of man-hours invested. I almost dropped my jaw first time I tried the speeder and noticed that everything was modeled, not just cardboard ground planes. As for the Cartel store, I think I got robbed. I wanted unlock a bit of inventory space and bought a few cartel coins. However, the first time (using the "apply to all characters for this account" option), it only deducted the coins from my account, it didn't actually give me more slots. Only when doing it the second time did it. Not only that, but one of my two characters had already spent 5000 ingame credits to expand it a bit, so sure, that one got an extra row and the next one would still be 20k credits. However my other character hadn't expanded it before purchasing it and now also has to pay 20k for the next set of slots. Seriously, WTF? Anyway, the stories are interesting enough so far to keep me interested (grind and everything included). That's what really matters