kanisatha

No it isn't. You are choosing to interpret as you want. Biden's comments included saying any talks must begin with the Russians being willing to withdraw from all occupied territory. And the Russians immediately rejected that, after which the White House also "clarrified" that talking with Putin made no sense at this time. Macron, in his statements, was also very clear that any negotiated deal must include the Russians being held completely accountable for all their "crimes" in Ukraine. And then the EU FM recently also made a specch in which she stated that Russia must be held accountable for all the damage and destruction it has caused in Ukraine, and that frozen Russian financial assets, including those of private Russians such as the oligarchs, should be used to create a fund to pay for Ukraine's rebuilding. None of this sounds anything like a "softening" to me.

But this has been widely reported in many other sources, sources that people generally view as "reliable." In any case, if this is the standard for judging the strength or validity of a news story, then by that very standard I'd reckon over 90% of news stories (from the so-called reliable sources) to be tainted, because making unsubstantiated claims and judgments is par for the course in news stories these days.

I saw this story too, from a different source. But didn't post it here because I figured some people would have that reaction of "it's just tabloid gossip." I personally can see this being very much true, esp. because the part that he is suffering from intestinal cancer seems solid with other previous stories.

Haha. I was expecting this post from you. Lots of articles but the pics are pretty much all the same, just only a front view. I want to see the planeform and profile views. Aviation Week's article seems to have the best rundown of technical details, such as they're available. Seems to be extremely optimized for transonic flight rather than high-subsonic like the B-2, which is very interesting.

Thank you. This is very helpful. Yes I did notice that I was already moving towards the "neutral" side and I couldn't understand why, since I had only been making entirely "good" choices.

This is an issue on which I see and appreciate both sides of it. On the one hand, I too hate when I'm maxed out on level advancement and can no longer look forward to anymore advancing on my characters. But I also agree that gaining that final level, along with its benefits, just before the end of the game leaves me dissatisfied about not being able to use those benefits much in the game. But I don't see a way this problem can be fixed. Btw, in WotR, I've already kept myself from bothering with optional fights. Just couldn't be bothered with that painful optional fight in the Prologue dungeon (although my sneaky character was able to successfully claim all the loot in the room without triggering the fight).

Thanks!! No, I did not know this, but did not know how it was before the change either.

@xzar_monty, I have very similar criteria for my PC choice, for me including wanting to have at least decent melee capacity. Because it's my first time through I did some online browsing and ended up going with the 'Oracle Angel' build (half-elf; lawful good) from Neoseeker (side note: Neoseeker is usually my go-to for help with all the games I tend to like playing; the Fextralife wiki is pretty helpful too). It's a pretty good build: lot's of ways to smack down demons even while also being a tanky melee character. And Angel seemed like a good mythic path to take my first time through. I'd prefer to be more neutral good than lawful good; wonder if that will be possible with the Angel path. Re. romance, the choices seem rather limited: Camellia or the queen. Are you guys all recommending Camellia? She's kind of a lightweight in my party.

So I've finally gotten around to playing WotR for the first time. Still in the middle of the Prologue but absolutely loving it so far. On track to be my all-time favorite cRPG. As expected I spent half a day just on creating my character.

Yeah none of these studios' websites have anything on their games in production. Here's a recent article with parts of an interview of Warren Spector who was recently hired by OtherSide Entertainment. He's working on a completely different game in their new Austin, Texas studio, whereas the D&D game is being made by their Boston studio. That game is referenced in the second hald of the story in the link: https://wccftech.com/warren-spector-says-nfts-are-ridiculous-dd-game-is-going-well/

I think at least one MS-owned studio making a D&D license game *will* eventually happen (if not already happening unbeknownst to us). How could WotC pass up having a D&D game in GamePass? And a Larian game doesn't give them that.

Well I think MS has demonstrated it is not just about AAA big-budget games. It needs a certain volume of games for its GamePass, and that means also having a good number of AA games coming out of their studios. I think in D&D video games these days, the impetus for AAA is coming from WotC and not from the studios themselves. @Sven_, re. your hope for a D&D gothic-style game, I have a feeling that OtherSide Entertainment's D&D game may indeed be such a game.

Yes all three of those classes can work. But fighters and rangers can get multiple attacks which rogues cannot, and that in my Solasta-playing experience makes a huge difference. All of Solasta is capped at level 12.

A couple of recent news stories about possible future D&D video games: First, Tuque Games, the WotC-owned studio that made the new Dark Alliance game last year, has been rebranded as Invoke Studios and is now headed by a new, veteran game designer. And WotC confirms that Invoke Studios is now working on a new AAA D&D game using the UE5 engine. This of course is in addition to the two previously announced D&D game projects under Hidden Path Entertainment and OtherSide Entertainment, both of which are said to be progressing well. Second, there is this very intriguing story I saw from inXile Studios. It has been known for some time now that they are working on a new IP AAA steampunk RPG using UE5, codenamed Project Cobalt, which the head of Xbox Games recently raved about after seeing a playable vertical slice of it. But now inXile has announced in ads seeking to hire more talent that they starting work on another new AAA project using a challenging but exciting existing IP (their words). Given that (a) inXile boss Brian Fargo has long wanted to do a D&D game and lobbied WotC for BG3 way before Larian jumped in on that, (b) inXile having done their Torment: Tides of Numenera game as a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and (c) WotC bringing back the Planescape setting next year for TT D&D gaming, I am wondering if maybe this new inXile project is a Ps:T sequel?

For the record I very clearly and strongly agree that shooting prisoners who've surrendered and are unarmed is wrong and a crime. However, there is no moral equivalence between the actions of Russian soldiers who are the aggressors and invaders in Ukraine with no justifications whatsoever for their crimes, and Ukrainian defenders whose country is being destroyed and whose civilians are being raped, tortured and murdered before their eyes.

Yup. All's going well. I have a close friend working in mission control at the JSC who's been sending me pics taken from the inside of the Orion spacecraft as it coasts to the moon. The inside of that craft looks so very cool; very modern, even nicer than anything seen in recent sci-fi movies or TV shows.

I don't know what to make of this story. Certainly very interesting, but is it credible? I would think something like this would come out in the regular press. But I have seen some US think-tank academics presenting similar "deals" in articles recently, because the consensus among war specialists and US defense officials appears to be that Russia's defeat in Kherson is a strategic catastrophe for them. Anyways, thought it'd at least be entertaining reading for people here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11417563/Putin-offered-surrender-terms-West-loses-control-Kherson.html

The latest DLC for Solasta is out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2100430/Solasta_Crown_of_the_Magister__Inner_Strength/

And justifiably so. I love it when people (typically Westerners living peaceful lives within their own very secure borders) casually talk of other people giving up their land, something they themselves would NEVER ever under any circumstances say about their own land.

Yup. Mainly the result of cognitive dissonance. I see it so very often in my students. Very frustrating. Most people cannot overcome cognitive dissonance. Those few who can are the ones capable of critical higher-order thinking.

Ukraine cannot and will not ever accept "freezing" Russian territorial gains, because that will automatically become the de facto border in time. The most Ukraine will accept is a return to the pre-war status quo, but even that only with full compensation from Russia the damages of the war.

But I don't see anything in that article saying the US is looking to freeze the conflict; only that they want to push for peace talks, AND with Ukraine at those talks in a position of strength. That's a far cry from saying the US wants Ukraine to cede their territory to the Russians.

Yeah, there was another article from a couple of weeks ago I read in which they quote Russian commanders openly saying they have put the "reservists" in two lines on the west side of the river just so that they will serve as obstacles through which the Ukrainians will have to assault before they get to the "good" Russian troops.

And tomorrow you're going to see millions of people who used to be D lifers walking away from the Democratic Party. The news media, being totally in the tank for the Democrats, always loves to highlight and showcase only the R crazies. But ordinary average people know all about the D crazies too, who are absolutely 1:1.

The sorry situation facing Putin's 300k mobilization recruits: https://www.yahoo.com/video/battalion-russian-conscripts-destroyed-luhansk-194504321.html The details in this particular mobilization battalion's experience are quite shocking.