metadigital

It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than Morrowind.

+++ Lilandra : Reading Comprehension -1 +++

Sorry, I don't agree with your insistence that the problem is only caused by metagaming at all. There are a lot of us who are just playing the game as it comes naturally and for me it's obvious there are serious faults with the level scheme. Your suggestion that players "wait until you arrive at a good character build point" is, in fact, metagaming to me. There's nothing wrong with scaling. Applying it across the board with a poorly designed character development system causes all sorts of havoc - not necessarily for every character or play style but it does for many. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I never said the scaling system wasn't faulty. I hazarded a guess as to why it exists in the form it does in the game: one group of people want to reach level 150+, and another group want to wander around and do any and all parts of the game in any order, and some that want both. I then gave my personal solution to the game as it exists. Which, by the way, I didn't create in some grand strategy: it was just obvious that when levelling up I wanted my character to increase stats by as much as possible: a more efficient level process. Other people's observations that groups of level 50 monsters would pwn a level 50 PC just confirmed my conviction. As the game exists right now, it provides some enemies for the player to fight, who are just out of reach. That is a pretty laudable goal, and even if Bethesda don't pull it off 100% of the time, they have done well. Basically the game demands the PC use strategy and tactics to win battles, not brute magic power. What was it that Mal said to Zoe just prior to the meeting with Patience on Whitefall: "They've always got the advantage; that's what makes us special!". It's fairly easy to hit level 50 with the current system. If you can't take on the enemies at level 50 with all maxed out stats, what are the chances a normal level 50 character who specialized in a certain areas have a chance. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No, it's not. Reaching level 50 is an egregious effort, not a mandatory one. I suggest you throttle back your desire to have your PC at the highest level possible, and try to enjoy the process of adventuring. I can't really argue that point, except to say that it is a tool: maybe Bethesda might have refined the mechanism a little bit more, but then again I am not privy to the design decisions that they made along the way ... I use insta-travel when I want to just get to the next bit of the plot, too. It allows me to only go wandering when I want to go wandering.

Believe it or not, I asked the store clerk for a game that I had read about in a magazine (which of course I didn't have with me, and I had completely forgotted the name of, and which they didn't have in the stupid store, anyway ) ... and he told me that Everquest was the game I described. I wanted to buy the first Dungeon Seige.

That depends on the semantics of "law", too. Just because you live in the jungle, doesn't mean there isn't a law (of the jungle) ...

I used to do commercial focus groups: free beer and pretzels whilst people ask you a series of questions about their new and exciting marketing ideas ... AND you get paid!

I'm glad that you come with (self-certified) sub-titles, Magical Volo!

Pity he'll have to search for this thread as it has been spammed out of existence ...

Superman 3!

So how do you know that people are not just "computers with look-up tables"? The problem with this analysis is that it ain't science (in the strict logical positivism sense). It makes a good point, initially, but it is, ultimately, an anachronism. Artificial Intelligence has made a lot of advances in recent decades. Back when I was at university, scientists had created a theta wave from a small series of artificial neurons. They weren't sure how they had, at the time (maybe now they do: I haven't kept up to date): it had spontaneously occurred when they switched the "mind" on. ...

Yes.

... And opinion is not fact!

I am almost scared to ask, but what is "NWN TP"? :ph34r:

Now that was a surprise!

How is playing a level 50 character with maximum stats testing the balance of the game? I think you missed the rest of my post, so I'll quote it here for you.

If only my father had bought me shares in Apple Computer Inc, rather than the Apple //e computer ... *sighs*

She's just using you to get to me <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's not what she told me last Saturday night. "

But will we control the chip ... or the chip us?

That was the nub of my thought: if the extremists / criminal overlords are able to keep outside the jurisdiction of the police, who are constrained by the use of legal means, then would it be expedient to allow some to act outside the law, in order to enforce it? And if the answer is yes, then how do you prevent them from over-reaching their mandate (effecting coups / etc)?

I have no problem with a Massively Multiplayer Online game, per se, but I am quickly turned off by being a drone trapped in repetitive gameplay ...

Spam infestation detected and destroyed. Area lockdown effected. Please leave all nuked-sand-turned-to-glass in the pit.

I hated SoU, especially the end chapter. It just ... wandered around and ended with a predictable and boring and eminently skippable slog. (One of my characters was totally over-encombered, carting around all the loot I had raided, and I still beat the silly game hands down ... silly boring end-boss).

I often use entirely mouse-based movement in FPRPGs lately. Traditionally, I'm ASDF for twitch gaming (FPS, MMORPG), as this is the fastest twitch configuration for rapid and complex character control and has the additional advantage of putting the fingers permanently in typing position, for the sake of any typed commands. That works out like this: Forward: D Backward: A L-Strafe: S R-Strafe: F L-Turn: X R-Turn V This means that the fingers do not ever need to lift from the home row or move from key to key for essential motion, and thus, do not produce even a moment's delay in twitch play. Keyboard-only circle strafing (as opposed to mouselook circle-strafing) still requires that one finger drops to the row beneath ASDF (to hit X or V), however. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Cool ... I might even give this a whirl, although I try to use the default (long story). Can't you hook up a gamepad? I'm sure there is an option to do so (I remember there was the option to reverse the Y-axis in the control options). Or would that add strain to the wrist?

Good word! As for judging others ... be careful with that lens, in case you catch a glimpse of yourself ... "

Well, maybe the problem is that it is not possible to serve more than one master, simultaneously ... those who OCD level-grind and want 150+ levels for their