Gorth

You should try 'Solitaire' some day for relaxation

Hasn't Iran been hit by some of the most devastating earthquakes in recent history (last couple of decades)? A combination of little consideration in building construction and sometimes striking remote towns/cities combined with inclement weather. Earthquakes are not on my list of things that I miss from New Zealand. Wouldn't want to live Los Angeles for the same reason (like Wellington, the next big one is not a question of 'if' but of 'when')

Not sure if it makes any difference, but I seem to remember from some distant past, people talking about whether or not patch 1.0b was necessary and might affect some parts of the game negatively. It's been too many years to remember exactly though, sorry.

http://games.on.net/2013/03/bioware-to-shut-down-apac-servers-for-swtor-merge-into-na-servers/ Yeah, translation from PR Speak to plain English: Improved Customer Experience = Cost Saving Measures. If they go through with it and latency becomes notable as a result, I'll become an ex-player really fast. Good thing I got a 2 month non-recurring subscription. I never was one for long term commitments

If you liked the new X-Com and were curious about the older X-Coms then you may like this game that's not called X-Com but is more like the old X-Com than the new X-Com when it's released later this year. Or he may be bored immediately. Not liking the new one at all, I ended up being a late backer of Xenonauts splitting my precious spare time between SWTor and my Steam backlog (currently playing through tutorials of Fallen Enchantress).

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.