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Gromnir

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Everything posted by Gromnir

  1. should be opposite. ship-to-ship combat, sans boarding, utter ignores potd difficulty adjustments. as soon as you finish port maje you are able to acquire a ship and "hunt all the pirates on the sea" w/o player level or potd affecting such combats. from a pure practical pov, hunt pirates should be the First thing you do after acquiring a ship as 'posed to waiting to level. hunt pirates provides a starting player extra levels, superior equipment and a bit o' extra 1007. hunt pirates at end o' game when you are at or near max level and already have endgame gear is, from a pure practical pov, wasteful. level 6 player in a dhow with imperial long guns and/or double bronzers is no less capable o' pirate hunting than a level 18 player with same ship and canons, so why wait to level 18? is one ship (two ships with BoW installed) which needs better than a dhow to be easily sunk by a low-level player, so get to the killing asap. aside: we do recommend doing a single quest which to lower your ship purchase costs before engaging in an all out war 'gainst the pirates o' the deadfire, but if such metagame offends, then be knowing the potential 10% discount is hardly a dispositive factor in ending the pirate infestation in local waters. is much misunderstanding regarding the practicalities o' ship combat even after months past release. HA! Good Fun!
  2. gonna disagree on this point. alcoholic drinks were not part o' the sailor's life to keep 'em drunk, though no doubt it were a possible secondary benefit. booze is high carbs and not requiring special storage to keep "fresh." compare to bread, which not only goes stale, but is painful to consume. am not joking. the bread and water punishment were not 'cause o' the blandness o' the diet but 'cause such a daily regimen causes rather severe constipation. as odd as it may sound, the main reason sailors drank while at sea were 'cause o' pragmatic considerations related to sailor health and fitness. HA! Good Fun!
  3. the thing is, potd actual makes the ship bounties your best early leveling option as 'posed to an insurmountable obstacle. the turn-based ship combat does not appear to be affected by potd… 'least it weren't pre 2.0. can do a substantial number o' bounties with the defiant sans any serious upgrades. with a dhow and imperial long guns salvaged from shipwrecks at 0 cost to the player, you are able to overcome all but the most difficult adversaries and complete most bounties and acquire more than a few pieces o' superb gear all at whatever level you is after leaving port maje. player level is not a concern in ship-to-ship combats, so do as much ship combat as soon as you get a ship is a practical way to level quick and acquire fancy gear. pre 2.0 we typical depopulate the deadfire waters o' any ships save merchants and the black isle bastards before we bother doing any quests. ship boarding efforts is, from our pov, a waste o' the best leveling option in the game. HA! Good Fun!
  4. US remote is requiring a different frame o' reference than many folks will immediate understand. many years past, when we were a wee-tyke on a small ranch in the middle o' god forsaken nowheres, our nearest neighbor were ~1 mile distant. not uncommon. at least we had roads to connect... roads which were impassable 'bout 1/4 o' the year due to mud or flood or snow. one mile distant to dr. quinn when you got heavy forest and uneven terrain seperating you is much further away than it might first seem to be. also cannot count on a life threatening crisis to happen only during pleasant afternoons rather than dead o' night blizzards or thunderstorms. growing up remote and subsistence as did Gromnir kinda takes any o' the jeremiah johnson style romanticism outta the equation for us. cold, with nothing to eat save ketchup soup, and hoping grandmother's fever would break soon 'cause were no way to get her to the doctor or the hospital 'til the weather broke. am needing a break from humanity frequent, but is no way we wanna go back to off-the grid. worked too hard and long to get on the grid. HA! Good Fun!
  5. They locked your thread? After you asked so nicely? Inconceivable! well, the thread question were answered, so the thread became pointless. closing were almost inevitable and perfect reasonable. HA! Good Fun!
  6. am willing to consider living off-the-grid, just as soon as we figure a way to squeeze our current kitchen into a unabomberesque shack in the woods. HA! Good Fun!
  7. changes in punitive damages have nothing to do with veterinary medicine. animal doctors in 2018 are similar subject to punitive damages as is auto makers or fast food chains, and as already stated by Gromnir and others, market forces do not work same for HUMAN health care. exploit market forces is exact why pharma bro got himself in trouble, and why even bigger pharmaceutical companies may charge +400% o' their production and r&d costs for specific meds-- when people will pay anything for a widget, supply and demand is no longer a useful model. the most costly aspect o' the current healthcare model (please reread the pbs link we provided earlier) is due to predictable behavior o' market forces. each insurance provider already negotiates for costs separate resulting in enormous billing and administrative costs. also, territorial exclusivity is already a factor in many veterinary practices. unlike medical insurance plans, veterinary clinics and hospitals is typical small businesses and they is frequent the only provider in town, or county or whatever. etc. is a horrible analogy. wana discuss specific solutions to the health care problem? okie dokie, but animal medicine model is not analogous. worse, is misleading. suggest same science behind treatment o' animals should result in similar results for treatment o' people complete ignores reality. gd proposed solutions is not new or revolutionary. unfortunate, each "solution" results in a whole new set o' problems. example: wrongful death and malpractice ain't reliant on punitive damages to be inspiring fear in doctors such that they test for everything jic. even so, you wanna change punitive and then what happens the next time an automaker discovers a fatal flaw in a car they is already producing? car builders estimates likely number o' fails and then calculates smaller % o' resulting lawsuits and the cost to settle such lawsuits. if mitigation costs is less than X (a value which would decrease profits beyond an acceptable level), then is no need to repair the fatal flaw and the lethal car remains in production. society has determined such reasonable and rational business calculus to be unacceptable, and for good reason. oh, and most malpractice insurance wouldn't cover punitive damages as insurance, by definition, covers accident. a doctor or hospital engaged in willful bad behavior won't be able to use insurance to cover punitive damages save in extreme rare circumstances. sure, punitive damages is a busted model, but suggest solution is simple is straightforward or in anyway related to veterinary medicine model is patent ridiculous. healthcare for Humans is an extreme complex problem. during attempted obamacare repeal, trump mentioned how he were surprised by how difficult and complex the problems o' healthcare were... his surprise were not surprising. each thread gd pulls is gonna unravel two or three more threads, which is ok. however, is an abject fail to indulge in oversimplifications such as analogizing to animal healthcare. such shenanigans should be verboten. HA! Good Fun!
  8. again, you are equating two things not at all analogous. sure, the science behind animal care and human care is the same, but for reasons we is repeating at this stage, veterinary services and automotive repair have far more in common than does vetrinary and human health care. and again, reasonable limits on punitive damages is a whole different issue than is pets+ property. carve out a special niche for doctors and health care is problematic. law don't like niches and exceptions. why should incompetent doctors and hospitals be able to avoid consequences which injury to you by your local supermarket or barber or whatever cannot? veterinary is again not the least bit analogous as all we is speaking to is property loss. again, not even remote analogous. as to death panels, we included links, one from psychology today, which speaks to the silliness and pervasiveness o' the fear o' something which never was and were never actual suggested as part o' any national health care proposal. some fears is reasonable. others is just stooped. not hard to decide which category death panels belong. your analogy sucked. period. not analogous. honest. as soon as people is treated same as cattle from legal and societal perspective, then you got a notion worth discussing. HA! Good Fun!
  9. it is a major oversight to ignore how different veterinary care is from human healthcare. one o' the fundamental differences in treatment o' non human animals is care for beasts is viewed with practical considerations which is deemed inhumane when speaking o' people. give us all the anecdotal you want, but every time the old dog falls you do not take it to get an mri, and no matter what kinda insurance you got for rex, am doubting it covers the equivalent o' stage iv pancreatic cancer in a human. no doubt hospital stays would be much cheaper if we could house patients in accommodations similar to a veterinary hospital, eh? of course if your pet needs a transplant there is an organ donor system for such, no? gd's pets no doubt have organ donor option checked on their driver's licenses. *snort* oh, and the reason why animal doctors is only on the hook for actual damages is 'cause animals is freaking property. for chrissakes, am hoping we do not need explain how fundamental different the law views people as 'posed to toasters, bags of grain or fido. we treat humans and animals fundamental different, and much o' the cost difference is attributable to such differences. overlook or ignore such differences is requiring magoo-like myopia. oh, and the death panel stuff has been a boogeyman for a long time. proof. show proof. when obamacare were being debated, the spectre o' death panels were frequent seen haunting public debates on the evils o' socialized medicine. am pretty certain there is still a million dollar prize for legit proof o' ghosts. do same for death panels and money would be equal safe. https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/dec/18/politifact-lie-year-death-panels/ https://www.vox.com/2017/2/12/14588086/death-panel-town-hall https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/death-panels-obamacare_us_571503d1e4b0060ccda3c0a9 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/scientocracy/201301/why-it-is-so-difficult-kill-the-death-panel-myth HA! Good Fun! ps (edit) is a talking heads song which plays in our noggin frequent when gd posts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=068AFYvd58E
  10. Trump claims Americans need ID to buy groceries. har har. as to cost o' healthcare... https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/why-does-health-care-cost-so-much-in-america-ask-harvards-david-cutler disproportionate administrative costs is far and away the biggest culprit. is why single payer would be having similar disproportionate impact on lowering health care costs. is actual more impactful than would first seem given how each provider is negotiating costs separate. meds and procedures costs different for provider A than for B, and while government contracts is hardly a model o' streamlined efficiency, is not hard to see how larger contracts for meds and services in bulk is tending to reduce cost per unit. able to buy 1 million widgets instead o' 100 or 1000 predictable reduces per widget cost. our healthcare professionals make ridiculous amounts compared to the rest o' the world, but our medical training also costs ridiculous. cut doctor and nurse pay by third or even half w/o dealing with costs o' edumacation would be pointless. unfortunately, as with all healthcare issues, to fix any one problem you need fix three other problems with broad social impact as well. agiel notes just how many people is employed in an administrative/billing capacity by healthcare providers, many o' whom would be out o' jobs with single pay. can't ignore such folks, can you? also, and it may seem cold blooded to mention (but am admitted a bit cold-blooded at times) is our understanding the typical american accrues 'tween 1/3 to 1/2 o' their total life health care costs during the last five years o' their life. gd mentions veterinary medicine as a more reasonable model. got a friend who were a veterinarian for many years and large % o' her practice were simple the euthanization o' pets who were too old or whose treatment woulda' been too expensive to consider. as practical as it would be to adopt the veterinarian model, am doubting it gets much support, for what should be obvious reasons. age issue is also predictable exacerbated by our legal system 'cause every time grandpa (likely on blood thinners for afib or somesuch) gets a bump on the noggin, if he gots enough healthcare coverage he will likely get an mri. given malpractice issues, US doctors treat defensively and expensively to cover their arses... jic. etc. the healthcare problem is not a problem but rather a multitude o' problems which touch many other facets o' the American economy and American values. blame government. blame pharma. blame doctors or lawyers or lizard people from utrizaximaz VI. whatever. problem is big and solution won't come from any single and simple change. fix any one thing and chances are you break three other equal vital parts o' the economy. is why nobody has fixed yet. failure to fix ain't so much 'cause o' government incompetence or capitalist greed but is rather a result o' the problem itself being overwhelming. need for situation to get bad enough before people is willing to consider the truly drastic measures needed to fix. meanwhile, national debt continues to grow. is a situation made considerable worse by obamacare... a situation not being addressed by the current administration. HA! Good Fun!
  11. gotta love lists. https://www.google.com/search?q=cartoon+sweden+hate+speech&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS699US699&oq=cartoon+sweden+hate+speech&aqs=chrome..69i57.6247j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 is more than one example just for cartoons. peruse at your leisure. but you are aware o' journalists being criminalized in sweden for offending religious or other social groups, yes? so compared to US where such is verboten... am not getting how this can be so complicated for some folks. and hey, let's not forget 'bout the wonderful new law which goes into effect january 1, 2019: the Fundamental Law on the Freedom of Expression. bit o' a misnomer, eh? yeah, compared to other eu nations, sweden is better, but is not same as US. HA! Good Fun! ps (edit) we did predict how this thread would go sideways and off-topic by responding. wanna discuss further, should do in a newish thread.
  12. They keep being told how free they are and how they are fighting for their freedom overseas, so at some point they start believing it. To be honest I very much doubt that is true for Gromnir and given his occupation he was probably talking about certain laws. Freedom of speech I can imagine, for instance. freedom o' speech is indeed different in US. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11254419 same goes for freedom o' press and religion. we always get some person from sweden or similar telling us 'bout how much freedom o' press is respected in their country, then we show 'em case 'bout a journalist being criminalized for writing stories which offended some specific religious or social group. laws regarding government takings and searches and seizures by state agents and dozens o' other examples is just plain different in US and we would literal be able to spend days going into examples and the rationale behind differences. is difficult to explain to folks how words such as reasonable suspicion and probable cause can mean complete different things in the US than does same or similar words in europe. second amendment rights discussion would, all by its lonesome, reduce this thread to ashes... which we would like to avoid. most significant, powers o' our fed government is far more limited than one sees in europe and fundamental rights is less subject to legislative or Court shenanigans. even ridiculous mosley case which on its face would seem to be a triumph for those extolling value o' eu privacy, resulted in limits on press as well as there being a recognition o' a complete absence o' any basis for what constitutes protected privacy, so Courts o' non elected persons get to decide just how much privacy is appropriate to protect an orgy o' indeterminate qualities and a similar group o' non elected persons could, by little more than whim, change the level o' protections. am recognizing how for the ordinary citizen, liberties is not gonna be a big deal. most people live quiet and social conscientious lives and never come into genuine heated conflict with neighbors or government save unlikeliest o' unlikelies. only criminals and ne'er do wells is concerned with what they can get away with, yes? "what 'bout my right to security or the right to be free from being offended?" even utilitarians such as mill would turn over in their grave to hear how personal liberties could/should be sacrificed to protect individual desire to avoid being uncomfortable. *shrug* is a major tangent from the substance o' thread, but starting from basic structure o' US Constitution which promotes government gridlock, to individual bill o' rights protections, the US is different... but we have this same discussion every couple o' years with folks from sweden or austria or some country whose name we cannot pronounce and need look at a map to make sure we ain't confusing with moldova. every nation in europe gots free speech and protection from unreasonable police searches or from inappropriate government takings. words in those laws protecting citizens is often the same, but US protections is actual very different. HA! Good Fun!
  13. single greatest 80s song? perhaps. ... also gets our vote as basis for a new obsidian crpg. chess rpg set in bangkok, reykjavik, hastings and other locales? each city representing a new challenge just to make it to the tournament with you, an upstart grandmaster and a small group o' loyal accomplices/companions perhaps resorting to dirty tricks to foil your adversaries, or perhaps taking moral high ground and instead need deal with traps set by nefarious and unique opponents. factions? sure. brothels? why not? get all the traditional crpg trappings. heck, final boss could be an actual dragon in disguise whom you face in a life and death chess showdown in bangkok. am kidding. mostly. HA! Good Fun!
  14. if is true fans did not pester, then we assume is in part 'cause proust were a machine, cranking out volumes every couple o' years. there were one long gap 'tween volume 1 and volume 2 publishing, but weren't proust fault as book were ready for release, but pesky world conflict interrupted schedule. george r.r. martin is, converse, doing his darndest to achieve harper lee status insofar as length 'tween volumes. james joyce efforts to get dubliners published as he wrote it has taken on almost mythic quality because is the exception rather than rule. is kinda amazing how many great works by famous authors were actual serialized-- chapters were often released in periodicals with strict deadlines compelling the genius author to write faster if he wanted to be eating well next month. am suspecting dickens would experience a fit o' apoplexy if were explained to him how martin has been able to spread his efforts over many years and 'cross multiple media. HA! Good Fun!
  15. as we noted earlier, the 'bove isn't genuine related to thread topic, but am thinking obsidian deserves credit for the faction implementation in deadfire. perfect? not by any means, but check out all the threads wherein folks is debating the merits o' each faction and how tough were to choose since they all were smarmy and or repugnant in some way. much quality gameplay involving factions and while ultimately you get to ukaizo regardless, we cannot deny we felt as if we were making a tough and significant choice as we decided 'tween factions. as an aside, we will note rauatai is actual the only reasonable choice with admission personal we went pirate for our first run-- wanted the ghost ship and didn't wanna lose certain joinables from our party. regardless, rauatai is the folks who got their act together and offer most potential for improving life in the deadfire... though am not surprised Gromnir seems in extreme minority who advocate for rauatai control o' the deadfire. again, am thinking obsidian deserves credit for factions, and for much other stuff in deadfire. even so, recognition o' obsidian accomplishments do not in anyway change our feelings 'bout fundamental narrative shortcomings with, due to the focus o' this thread, a particular emphasis on curious way in which the game resolution were handled. heck, we ain't even in the group o' folks who were flummoxed by the deadfire story-- we got what obsidian were doing with eothas and the wheel. even so, for reasons already stated ad nauseum by Gromnir, we cannot help but believe the deadfire narrative as a whole were mishandled. coulda' been a better game, but woulda' required basic framework/approach kinda alterations. HA! Good Fun!
  16. posted this once before... or twice. "I'm not a doomist. My attitude is always to be critical of what's around you, but not ever to forget how lucky we are. I've traveled around the world. I left thinking I was a revolutionary. I came back real right-wing patriotic. Since then, I've kind of mellowed in between. It affected me permanently and totally."-- danny elfman am amused danny elfman would capture our feelings 'bout living in the USA. living in the US is nice as it is one o' the few remaining places an American ain't made to feel as if he should apologize for being American. slight hyperbolic? maybe, but only by a little. stuff in the US tends to be bigger, whether is house and yard or portion sizes at restaurants. Americans smile and laugh easily, which makes most foreigners uncomfortable. fact foreigners is suspicious o' American friendliness and mirth says more 'bout them than Americans. am thinking we could spend every day o' the rest o' our life visiting US national parks w/o becoming bored. is so much we haven't yet seen o' the US and the diversity o' peoples and places is kinda unique in our experience. heck, in CA alone we has surfed mavs and skied tahoe same day. we got a couple acres o' land se o' idaho falls immediate adjacent to a former tenant who still runs a christmas tree farm. is likely where we will retire. rugged w/o being genuine wild. remote without being inhospitable. no doubt there will be rueing and regrets the first time we need dig out our driveway after a blizzard, but am nevertheless looking forward to our retirement property. as to possible living elsewhere... no. given our line o' work, we is particular aware o' just how different the US is than anywheres in europe and most places on the planet when it comes to personal freedoms. sure, with greater freedom comes greater possibility o' suffering, and some o' the suffering ain't necessary. even so, as a kinda real life horatio alger for 21st century, am appearing a bit hypocritical when complaining 'bout the flaws o' the US system. never visited south america. been virtual everywhere else but not south america. maybe we need visit machu picchu and points south o'mexico 'fore we dismiss rest o' the world for permanent residency. HA! Good Fun!
  17. is few things more contemptible than a handful o' government busybodies trying to circumvent the legit laws and ordinances resulting from the democratic process. sure, the minneapolis folks ain't doing anything illegal, but their attempt to do an end-around o' ordinances so as to move confederate statues... oh, wait. regardless, is nice to see folks in minneapolis recognizing one need not simple accept obtuse rules and laws w/o question or response. find a way to deal legal with a silly ordinance is often more practical than changing the law itself. kudos indeed to folks willing to go extra mile to see a common sense result achieved in face o' abject stoopidity. HA! Good Fun!
  18. lack o' general player impact were not a Gromnir complaint. most responses we bothered to read in this thread (am admitting we skipped a few) were focused 'pon game resolution rather than more general questions o' player control o' narrative. point out faction choices and the insular and tangential companion quests as examples o' player agency is largely unresponsive regarding the thread topic. as to why player choice should matter in the ultimate resolution o' a crpg, we believe the answer is axiomatic regardless o' feigned confusion. developers have complete control o' plot, so saying the end o' deadfire doesn't make player control reasonable utter misses the point. HA! Good Fun! ps mechanical speaking, lack o' player agency at game resolution is more than a little odd given that game end is the least problematic point at which to offer meaningful player choice. bifurcation o' narrative at the end is less a hurdle than at any other point in game. even in-name-only crpgs with little opportunity for player impact 'pon story typical make end choices vital precise 'cause there is no messy bifurcation multiplication o' narrative to concern the developers. because choice at end does not impact any previous content and does not lead to bifurcation w/i the current title, player agency is gonna be most common seen at the end o' even the most "linear" o' crpgs. as such, deadfire resolution is particular odd.
  19. Yes, and it would've been useful to a lot of people's understanding if the information had been discussed more than a handful of times, and had been an essential part of the game's narrative fabric rather than being thrown at you occasionally. People learn through repetition, which is why presenting the same information many times but with different framing and slight expansion is a standard narrative technique.And this is why we can’t have nice things: people who insist on having everything spoon-fed to them. exposition is spoon feeding. instead o' letting the audience reach conclusions by observing actions and behaviors o' characters as they deal with obstacles, we get a disembodied narrator laying out raisons d'être and thematic focus like a butcher in a bloody smock placing pork chops in a display cabinet. is no elegance. is no art. sure, the obsidian writer throws in a bit o' purple prose to to dress up the pork chops, but is just meat... cold, thick, dead meat. theatrical cut or director's cut o' blade runner(1982)? why? or http://www.url-der.org/a_clean_well_lighted_place.pdf hemingway does more in a few pages than obsidian does in tens of hours and cutscene narration after cutscene narration after cutscenenarationafter... am not expecting hemingway from an obsidian crpg, deadfire is not a short story after all, but while the developers try and dazzle us with complex plot, flowery prose and excessive gosh darn exposition, they could instead be developing meaningful character and theme. poe1 were actual a good move in the right direction with all joinable companion side stories sharing common theme with the main narrative. "bout time" says Gromnir as we has been lamenting for years how crpg stories is wasting the joinables on tangential stuff when such characters is better suited than the protagonist for advancing narrative. deadfire backslides with joinables once again relegated to telling largely insular and discrete stories which less direct impact larger thematic concerns than in the earlier title o' the series. in poe we is privy to past memories-- we get a glimpse o' the o' the bar in hemingway's story. in deadfire, the narrator tells all, spoon feeding. the deadfire story had a relative limited number o' key plot points. deadfire developers clear wanted to indulge player demand for greater opportunities for "exploration" than were available in poe. if you is gonna tell a story as/more complex as poe but with much less content devoted to critical path, then you need be far more deft than were the case in poe, or you need resort to exposition. am understanding why the obsidinaties resorted to exposition for deadfire. reasonable approach given limits. am nevertheless thinking the developers made a mistake. HA! Good Fun! ps we didn't hate deadfire even though it may seem so from recent posts. contrary. even so, am thinking there were fundamental flaws in the deadfire narrative approach. story suffered 'cause o' fundamental approach. is why simple change to resolution would not improve the game and story over much for Gromnir. problems were basic.
  20. "we expect the campbellian rpg progression-- meet god, challenge god, become god. it's in everything from deus ex to , y'know, baldur's gate." am thinking where josh initial went wrong, particular for folks in this thread, is he allowed a poster to summon the spectre o' campbell in spite o' fact such were wholly inappropriate. invoking campbell to lend credence to observations 'bout typical rpg progressions were specious and yet josh went along with the initial proposition. campbell monomyth sure don't require confrontations with gods wherein the hero is eventual supplanting the adversary deity-- quite the opposite. typical monomyth examples utilized by campbell involving the protagonist confronting a deity as often as not end with the hero suitably humbled while embracing newfound piety. also, as previous stated, monomyth ain't a rigid organizational system with seventeen (or twelve) essential elements which must be actualized in a specific configuration for campbell observations to be meaningful... though am admitting we see it taught so at high school levels. am mild horrified when kids is given the Odyssey or Beowulf and then instructed to identify the seventeen stages. regardless, josh coulda'/shoulda' discussed criticism o' deadfire's failure to meet a player's expectation w/o all the campbell baggage. monomyth and campbell were, from start, a red herring and best approach woulda' been a blunt and brief dismissive aside. as to perceived failure o' resolution o' deadfire… our problems with the deadfire narrative were numerous, but none were individual fatal. the resolution were one small aspect o' our criticism o' deadfire, and am certain changing the Final Conflict w/o making other changes woulda' had little impact on our overall enjoyment o' the game. example: there were relative few essential plot encounters in deadfire, and many o' those were handled with heavy-handed exposition... 'course the need for exposition were increased because o' the small number o' encounters. see what we mean? am not liking the exposition, but can't fix without fundamental changing the deadfire story advancement. can't fix one aspect in isolation. deadfire resolution improve poses similar problems. eothas were never meant to be the UBG (ultimate bad guy) as is typical in crpgs-- we get that. again, is not a monomyth issue, but rather a crpg trapping to be having a UBG, and a UBG in a game which character development options is focused 'pon increasing combat efficacy better make a combat resolution possible or there will be failure to meet reasonable player expectations, regardless o' what writers do with the narrative. deadfire, as with the ie games, is a story-driven, squad-based, tactical combat game with rpg elements. with twenty leveling opportunities to bolster squad combat powhaz and tens o' hours o' gameplay, much o' which is devoted to combat, one would assume the developers would recognize the need to make a combat resolution option worthy o' the player's time invested in the title. don't need fight eothas to satisfy players, but one needs make a final combat encounter which is a culmination o' efforts which led up to finale. "so, that's it?" is our reaction to the guardian encounter. the final adversary is, from narrative perspective, minor. is little build-up o' the obstacle the guardian represents. anticipation is negligible. successful resolution is predictable anti-climactic given absence o' anticipation. ukaizo. not gonna belabor the point as others has already spoken to the issue, but ukaizo is wasted content. unlike the guardian, there is anticipation and wonder surrounding ukaizo. is the city on the edge of forever... is eora's el dorado and atlantis, is shangri-la and avalon. nevertheless, our chance to interact with ukaizo is tragic limited. the final dialogue with eothas is problematic but representative o' the endemic deadfire narrative problems rather than something resolution specific. the watcher is, as the title implies, a witness to eothas' efforts. more exposition. more slides. the watcher must stand aside and watch as events unfold in a preordained manner. is a game, but instead o' gameplay or even meaningful interaction we get overwrought narration while the single biggest question Gromnir has following our previous encounter with the gods (i.e. why exactly is breaking the wheel possible dooming eora?) is not even an option 'mongst the limited dialogue options we got with eothas. final encounter with eothas is not terrible as game resolutions is tending to be, but in spite o' fact we had no assumption we would need fight eothas, we were nevertheless largely unsatisfied with the ultimate encounter o' deadfire. final eothas encounter were ultimate resolution o' a game, and we get same exposition and impotence as every previous eothas encounter. got other thoughts, but is already a bit long-winded even for a Gromnir post. in any event, am certain there is no simple fix for the deadfire resolution and am equal convinced the campbell spectre should be exorcised from this thread as it were nothing more than a phantom from the very start. where is father merrin when you need him? HA! Good Fun!
  21. a number o' folks in Gromnir's community, which is a good +30 minutes east o' sacramento, regular commute to the bay area. ... madness. HA! Good Fun! From east of Sacramento to SF? $5 says they would not recognize their houses in daylight. I haven't been out that way since '93 but that would have been a hell of a commute then. I doubt traffic has improved since. these guys are leaving @ 5:30 AM and getting back ~8:30-8:45 PM. is maybe a month during the year when they see daylight at start and/or end of commute. take pittsburg bart partway seems like a popular option. am not believing we could do such a commute for more than a few months w/o going insane, but am knowing multiple people who has been doing for years. gives some pov on just how bad is housing situation in even nor cal such that folks would willing do such a commute for a nice 3-bedroom in a gated community with a bit o' lawn to call own. HA! Good Fun!
  22. is less a hurdle than one might imagine given the sacred-cow status o' American agriculture. democrats and republicans has for generations been making all kinda special exceptions for farmers. is harder for us to do the mental gymnastics which explains how it is republicans invoking all the current deep state silliness when for decades such were the purview o' conspiracy nutters and leftists. after all, the deep state were a tool o' the military-industrial complex, no? deep state kept minorities downtrodden, women stuck as second-class citizens, and were enriching a small cabal o' mostly family run businesses which had control o' US infrastructure and economy... or somesuch nonsense. fast forward and somehow mister turtleneck is iconic o' deep state 2018? is the liberals who is secret controlling all levels o' government? yeah, the bureaucracy is resistant to manipulation by the executive branch. other than at highest levels, career bureaucrats tend to be insulated by practical considerations from the machinations o' party politics. obama and clinton had similar issues with the bureaucracy as did reagan and trump. bureaucratic indifference is a long way from deep state. somehow the deep state didn't get the memo that they is a tool o' the liberal left. all those clashes in ferguson and baltimore 'tween cops and minorities were no doubt engineered by the deep state for... well, am having difficulty coming up with a reason, but no doubt the current crop o' trump sock-puppets and conspiracy fans populating this board can explain. we followed nancy into the upside down a couple years ago and there is no going back. facts is alternative and scientific data is politicized. school teachers need guns to defend from grizzly bears and the president gaslights during a press conference with putin… and gets away with it. don't expect rational or reasonable. but again, more serious, farmers has always been different. HA! Good Fun!
  23. a number o' folks in Gromnir's community, which is a good +30 minutes east o' sacramento, regular commute to the bay area. ... madness. HA! Good Fun!
  24. not sure if you going for irony. you do be recalling how it were gifted who wanted to go emoji + sarcasm in this thread 'stead o' serious. am also recalling how last few times gifted has seen some kinda tragic flaw in Gromnir response, it were typical following a comic gifted blunder. can add another such to tally if you wanna continue. 'course if the mod wants to engage in and even promote this kinda silliness, we will indulge for as long as he wishes to do so. tacit approval and all that. oh, and to answer earlier query, we didn't find any gifted posts condemning republicans for blocking obama efforts. after all, such a post from gifted woulda' been noteworthy, but we have no recollection o' such and cannot find. if gifted would like to show us how he ain't being transparent in his condemnation o' political gridlock, we would appreciate a linky or two. willing to wait. will we be waiting comic long time? as for housing costs and market forces, am admitted a beneficiary o' the current scheme, so am hardly unbiased. that said, we would hate to be a young person in 2018 attempting to buy our first home. as we noted during the recent prez election, our two biggest concerns for US was, and is, wealth disparity and national debt. 'cause o' generational wealth disparity, is exceeding difficult for a young person to purchase a home, particular if mom and pops do not own a home. family wealth is inextricably tied to home ownership in this country, which is why the housing bubble burst near a decade ago were so disastrous. the current scheme is skewed disproportionate in favor o' the haves vs. the have nots. as to market forces, such is borked 'cause the banking system is once again borked. market ain't responding reasonable 'cause loans is not being provided reasonable, just as were the case previous to the last housing bubble crisis. we seeming learned nothing from the great recession. our personal situation is unique and hardly useful for drawing general conclusions. sure, we came from modest means and no history o' property ownership, but we benefited from scholarships, and a whole lotta' luck, to get education and job opportunities not common to our peers. current situation benefits us great as we have diversified portfolio and enough cash so that if/when there is another housing crisis with tens o' thousands o' folks defaulting, the value o' our property will once again go into the crapper, providing an enormous loss which we may then carry forward for tax purposes almost indefinite while being able to simultaneous purchase foreclosed properties at dimes on the dollar. housing crisis which destroys retirement plans o' many tens o' thousands and ruins credit o' many younger folks actual benefits folks such as Gromnir. system is borked. HA! Good Fun!
  25. am gonna suggest josh uses (or distances deadfire from) monomyth... odd. most heroic stories have elements common to monomyth, and deadfire is hardly exempt. heck, typical heroic stories only have the protagonist symbolic crossing water. am thinking is not difficult to see monomyth elements in deadfire and in point o' fact, the monomyth doesn't demand a specific final confrontation with the UBG (i.e. the Ultimate Bad Guy.) ubg confrontation is an understandable game trapping, but not monomyth. monomyth doesn't require deadfire protag to fight eothas anymore than it requires odysseus to do battle with poseidon. sure, in a game which is built 'round increasing the combat efficacy o' a character or party, it is reasonable for the player to expect the final confrontation will make combat possible. not monomyth but rather common sense is at work when players is expecting a possible final battle in a combat driven game. *shrug* am only getting snippets o' josh responses to a discussion held remote from this place. as such it is all too easy to cherry pick those lines from josh responses to suit whatever conclusion we might wish to find. regardless, am always disappointed when we see folks, not necessarily josh, identify the monomyth framework as a kinda straight jacket. does deadfire have common monomyth elements? yes. does deadfire arguable have common general monomyth progression? josh not seem to think so, but am suspecting more than a few folks would disagree. in any event, being able to see common and divergent elements is useful when crafting a narrative. HA! Good Fun!
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