Gromnir

false equivalence has been the refuge o' putin apologists for years. crackpots would point out shortcomings in US and western legal and political institutions and then use as an excuse for russian excesses. were a ridiculous approach. to see same approach being used by trump apologists is amusing. to be clear, am not saying trump is a tyrant or despot such as putin. am saying the defense o' trumpisms is heavily dependent 'pon false equivalence. compare to obama or previous administration truthfulness and see similar mendacity. nonsense. need look at breitbart and washington post and see as equivalent journalism? hilarious. the President is, at best, a habitual fabulist. at worse he is a pathological liar. the defense o' trump truthfulness requires constant reinterpretation o' his words and reimagining of Facts. sure, even legit news outlets put unnecessary spin on stories. when you got a laundry list o' trump lies, why worry 'bout spinning one example to make trump look as bad as possible? is unnecessary. nevertheless, even the folks at time actual got the facts right. the time journalists accurate reported the change to the nyt headline, though why they would reimagine makes Gromnir a bit queasy. on the other hand, trump, and trump defenders, play fast and loose with the actual facts, and the degree to which they does so is far beyond anything we has seen from decades worth o' past administrations or legit media sources. the alternative facts lunacy is disturbing and the need for folks to defend is all too familiar. HA! Good Fun!

technically, tomatoes is also verboten. beans began appearing as a common ingredient in chili a fair bit earlier than tomatoes. *shrug* chili (and goulash) is so regional diverse, am thinking it matters very little if one is "authentic" when making such dishes... 'less one claims to be authentic. HA! Good Fun!

am still in denial regarding oregon v. smith. got penn state friends who is in denial 'bout sandusky and paterno. one o' the smartest guys we know is in denial 'bout sodium content in foods, which is kinda tragic considering his CHF. am suspecting more than a few o' us has been in romantic relationships explicable in retrospect only by recognizing a kinda lunatic's denial. am doubting charles would give you much grief regarding pluto denial. HA! Good Fun!

flat earth fun HA! Good Fun!

thing to avoid in poe2? wasted opportunities such as bestiary and exploration xp. am realizing such token xp were added late in the game to appease the per-kill xp folks, but coulda' been refined and enhanced rather than being simple mechanical. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68164-a-different-view-on-the-whole-xp-controversy/?p=1502749 http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68164-a-different-view-on-the-whole-xp-controversy/?p=1502756 utilized as part o' quests, players would still be getting mechanical rewards for completing bestiary and exploration objectives, but why not tie into an actual quest as well? HA! Good Fun!

two quick points: 1) the developers Never made claim 'bout poe being the "spiritual successor" to the ie games. game "journalists" and boardies invented spiritual successor. the label don't actual mean anything anyways as everybody has a different notion as to which elements and features is essential for a legit spiritual successor, but even so, obsidian never made such claims. closest language were "homage." a movie or novel will get homage language if a single character or even a single scene is clear harkening back to an earlier work, so am not knowing how much o' a functional limit is homage. 2) armours is already balanced, so... as already noted, speed is current linked to armour. the advantage o' light armour is the corresponding benefit o' increased action speed, and it is a significant advantage indeed. the naked glass cannon is a frequent addition to poe parties precise 'cause there already is a major and obvious advantage to going naked or light(er). 'course such fans o' naked rogues and priests has curious been at forefront to complain when they get 2-shot by charmed/dominated party mates. silly rabbits. point is if you are gonna increase benefits to light, you gotta apply a proportional burden. maintain balance. *shrug* solution: make desired dodging a modal whereby speed benefits is sacrificed. reality need never be an obstacle for these kinda features, but if folks need an explanation, a combatant focused 'pon dodging and defensive movement should suffer diminished offensive efficacy. create a modal which mimics the reality o' combatant anticipating their next dodge? fine. have the dodge modal reduce action speed... or create some other shortcoming to balance. point is if you are gonna add a benefit for those foregoing heavy armours, then to retain balance o' the armouring scheme, you must either add a benefit to heavy armoured combatants or invent a new burden for light armoured folks. reflection: our proposed modal is actual a weak burden and may be insufficient for retaining balance as we can imagine how such a modal might be abused. HA! Good Fun!

If Prescott does have a slump the worst thing they could do is bench him. Confidence is a fragile thing even in pro athletes. Best thing would be to let him work through it. He's either their QB or he isn't. perhaps, but there is good reason prescott slipped in the draft as he has accuracy issues. last season he had the advantage o' playing behind the best ol in pro football, and elliot had a fantastic rookie campaign at rb, but prescott is fundamental flawed, and accuracy is typical viewed as a fatal flaw. there has been more than a few qbs who excelled in spite o' flaws. has even been hof qbs who were improbable. 'course such a bet ain't for the smart money. no doubt dumping romo is a show o' confidence in prescott and we get the psychological angle. even so, am not convinced it is a smart football move. time will tell, eh? HA! Good Fun!

from a football pov, it is a mistake to release romo. sophomore slumps for rb and qb positions is more the norm than the exception. once teams have actual nfl film to study in depth, flaws o' rookies is frequent exposed. cowboy fans could be in for a rude awakening at the qb position. with the cowboys ol, we don't have much concern regarding elliot on-the-field, but off-field issues wouldn't surprise us. for cowboys fans who believe their rb and qb problems is over, we would advise caution. sure, as shady observes, romo seems like mr. glass from the m. night shyamalan movie, but he is still was an upper echelon qb, and can be in limited situations. the broncos, and most other teams in desperate need o' a qb, is a bad fit for a guy like romo. even so, we would be shocked if at some point during the 2017 season, cowboy fans weren't lamenting the loss o' romo. 'course personnel decisions is not always as simple as Xs and Os calculus. HA! Good Fun!

he does, but apparently he prefers breitbart and fox news to the vast resources o' the executive branch o' the government. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/07/trumps-split-screen-a-two-hour-virtual-conversation-between-the-president-and-fox-and-friends/?utm_term=.8527934c8b89 this would be comedy gold if it weren't real. “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” 'course when called 'pon to provide any kinda proof, he calls for an investigation. ... calls for the investigation AFTER the public claim o' wiretap? a POTUS accuses a former POTUS o' what would necessarily be illegal authorization o' wiretaps. sorry. am knowing some folks voted for him 'cause clinton were such a terrible alternative, but how can folks not see this guy as anything other than unhinged and reckless? HA! Good Fun!

the crew will be a collection o' girls. there will be cat girls and demon girls and robot girls. one implausibly buxom lass will inexplicably be dressed in a maid costume. another will favor a curious fusion o' elizabethan era garb + miniskirts. the crew will be amazing competent save for boss battles. when confronted by a boss-level foe, the crew will theatric stretch out combat as long as possible while the Deus-Ex Cannon powers. at least one crew member will proclaim their love for the captain during these battles, which will give the cannon, a weapon powered by love and song and friendship, just enough charge to wipe out the enemy in a single dramatic volley. don't blame Gromnir. obsidian started it. HA! Good Fun!

too much tv. public defenders do have heavy caseloads, but the average public defender is likely more competent and more experienced than anybody an ordinary middle-class citizen is gonna be able to afford to represent 'em. is relative stiff competition to get hired by PD offices straight outta law school. why? work for a few years in the PD office and the big firms is falling all over themselves trying to hire you. also, more than a few folks working in the PD office is true believers. many/most folks we know who has spent any significant time in the PD office is true zealots o' the court system, and you want a zealot fighting for you if you is facing serious criminal charges. is the rich and indigent who get quality legal representation in the US. the middle-class is the folks who is screwed. HA! Good Fun!

poe and poe 2 is crpgs. as crpgs, a computer is handling all the math. complexity o' mechanics is not presenting the same kinda problem in a crpg as it does in pnp. in point o' fact, we like complexity. we like complexity save for the axiom that increased complexity results in more ways for a system to break or be broken. even so, such issues is more o' a headache for the developers than the player. has a thousand different status effects and an equal number o' damage types don't bother us in the least, as long as is rational AND transparent. therein lies the problem, eh? poe, with few exceptions, a number o' which is identified by the genesis poster, is rational and internal coherent. unfortunately, too much o' what happens in the rules is not readily apparent to the player. our new favorite example: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90670-3045-please-please-fix-traps-have-been-getting-2x-their-penalties-for-god-knows-how-long/?p=1867622 traps became broken soon after release when obsidian attempted to fix 'em. rogues solo killing adra dragons largely 'cause o' overpowered traps were not the intention o' the developers, so traps were nerfed. unfortunately, without somebody actual doing spreadsheet analysis, we didn't realize what exact happened with the trap nerf. we couldn't see what were happening, and so a broken mechanic remained unaltered for years and in spite o' a considerable number o' patches. is not complexity which is daunting or bad. the computer can handle the maths regardless o' complexity. nope, what is the problem is transparency, or lack thereof. there will be bug and mechanic related inconsistencies in even relative simple crpgs. such inconsistencies and bugs can be fixed, but only when somebody recognizes a problem exists. lack o' transparency o' poe led to a considerable number o' problems going undiagnosed for a long time. as with the above linked trap issue, Gromnir frequent knew there were a problem, but we could not identify the flaw in the mechanics with any specificity. such obscure but lingering inconsistencies and bugs were a source o' consternation when playing poe. like it or not, poe2 is gonna be more complex than poe. multiclassing alone is gonna create a whole new level o' complexity. fine. as a player we can handle the complexity, but we need to have the mechanics be more transparent. increased complexity will result in increased inconsistencies. is inevitable. as long as the mechanics is more transparent, the inconsistencies will be identified and fixed. 'course the more basic problem is how obscurity hinders the rpg experience. what damage modifiers is additive or multiplied? can't always tell simple by looking at a handful o' damage totals in your combat log. something so seeming fundamental as how critical damages is generated were a matter o' considerable debate and conjecture w/i the community. even the developers didn't seem to know how critical damage totals were generated. so if the player don't actual know what abilities, attributes and talents actual do in the game w/o a detailed spreadsheet analysis, how can the player choose abilities, attributes and talents with any kinda confidence? complexity ain't the problem. not need poe 2 to be simplified. is greater transparency which is required. game will be more fun if mechanical inconsistencies is identified so counter-intuitive results is either fixed or explained w/i the game. furthermore, if game mechanics is more transparent, the gamer will be less daunted or frustrated by often meaningless tooltip descriptors. have player rational decide 'tween a +.2 weapon speed modifier or +1 might increase should not be requiring a 3rd party spreadsheet analysis. is more fun for player when they can actual see what benefits and shortcomings is resulting from character generation/development choices. HA! Good Fun!

not particular elegant as it largely contravenes one o' the goals o' the original poe xp grants-- to make a critical-path-only playthrough viable. am not sure what the genesis poster's display o' completion % is meant to indicate, but am thinking a uniform slowing o' xp awards as one levels is unlikely to help increase the completion percentages, eh? 'course am thinking the genesis poster fails to recognize a more salient lesson from his achievement sharings: the level cap is a non-issue for most players. am personal tending to be a bit dismissive o' achievement-based conclusions our self, but taken at face value, an extreme small % of purchasers is going to finish the game and is no way to tell what % o' people who finished the game were ocd completionists, but such is gonna be less than 100%. am s'posing making the ie mod approach optional could be beneficial. the completionist could opt for a slower leveling rate while allowing the critical path player to nevertheless have enough xp to success finish the game. alternative would be to simple substantial decrease any non-critical path xp award. regardless, the biggest question for Gromnir is regarding what the developers has learned since poe. again, the developers were highly confident regarding their understanding o' experience awards pre-release. post release we only ever recall hearing from the developers 'bout the bounties as a source o' xp bloat, and clearly the bounties weren't the entirety o' the level cap problem. am genuine curious to hear 'bout what the developers learned 'bout the causes behind the tendency for completionists to reach the level cap far earlier than anticipated. HA! Good Fun!

the level cap, and how easily it were reached, represents a curious problem. we weren't surprised by a completionist reaching the level cap early, 'cause such were crpg normal. so, why the surprise, eh? if a game such as poe is balanced so a person playing the critical path is able to enjoy the game, then w/o scaling, we anticipate the completionist will reach a level cap early. needs to be enough xp for the critical path player to be level'd appropriate, no? the thing is, in a game such as poe, a game offering considerable optional side-quest content, there is gonna be a gulf 'tween critical path xp totals and completionist xp totals. obvious, no? is a basic problem. kinda silly to actual think Adding the expansions woulda fixed a problem so inextricable linked to critical path v. optional content. after all, the expansions were effective increasing the disparity 'tween crit path and completionist totals. reasonable and rational expectations woulda been for the problem to increase rather than decrease, no? a couple patches did address a few o' the more busted xp quest grants. the bounties were clear providing excessive xp and as such they were scaled back via patches. nevertheless, the underlying and fundamental issue were not gonna be solved by adding considerable more optional content as were offered via the expansions. what were strange 'bout the level cap problem were not that a player could reach cap early in poe, 'cause such were the normal in most games. yeah, the patches fixed worst xp quest offenders faced by players who finished poe soon after release, but even so, the problem were a fundamental one. were also less than strange to observe how adding expansions made the xp gulf worse rather than better. nope, what were strange 'bout the level cap were how certain the developers were concerning their understanding and control o' xp grants in poe. when those largely token exploration and bestiary xp awards were added to the game, folks questioned how such would impact level disparity 'tween completionist and critical path players. the thing is, the developers were certain they had a handle on the issue. josh described the process by which xp awards for an area were viewed and compared, and how easy it were to keep total xp awards balanced. while the problem o' level caps being reached early by players in games with considerable optional side-quests were the norm (ask any completionist who played bg with totsc how early they reached the cap,) what were unique, in our experience, were the poe developer confidence. given how the problem were largely a constant 'cross decades worth o' crpgs, the developer belief, developer certainty, were unique. we were assured a poe completionist would only be hitting the cap near the end o' the game. so, am admitting curiosity regarding the poe2 cap. am curious to discover what, if anything, has been learned by the developers regarding their clear misplaced confidence in the poe scheme to control xp awards. why were the developers so clear wrong 'bout where in the game a completionist would reach the cap? what changes, if any, has been made to the inadequate xp control mechanisms utilized during the poe development? HA! Good Fun!

didn't like mind numbing witcher 2 combat. thus ended our relationship with the witcher franchise. even so, our biggest gripe with witcher were how it mocked adolescent Gromnir. am absolute certain a Gromnir at age thirteen woulda' thought witcher were the bestest game evar. at thirteen it were easy to mistake bloody, gratuitous and cynical as being equivalent o' mature, when in point o' fact, the opposite were true. witcher were clear designed to appeal to our inner thirteen-year-old, or at least a part o' our adolescent self we like to pretend never existed. unforgivable. “It could have been--it didn't have to be obscene.... It could have been--a bird out of season, dropping bright-feathered on my shoulder.... It could have been a tongueless dwarf standing by the road to point the way.... I was prepared. But it's this, is it? No enigma, no dignity, nothing classical, portentous, only this--a comic pornographer and a rabble of prostitutes....”― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and "is nothing wrong with b00bs and blood in a fantasy story. conan the barbarian is still our favorite fantasy movie. is nothing prudish 'bout our tastes. sadly, there is folks who mistake a mature rating for mature story... and there ain't nothing particular noble or profound 'bout gratuitous violence and sex. what kinda bizarro opposite-world do we live in where adding comic quantities o' b00bs and blood adds to legitimacy? wanna use a clockwork orange and the postman always rings twice as examples o' media that is arguable mature? hell, use fight club as such an example. michelangelo put naked folks on the ceiling o' the sistine chapel, and he made man as beautiful as God. that were a profound statement. witcher? HA!" witcher 2 combat were indefensible bad and the writing were, perhaps ironic, immature. the mature rating for witcher games were a reference to adult content but nothing else. there ain't anything inherent wrong with such pandering. we can see the appeal o' indulging the inner adolescent. can be good fun to give free reign to id, but call it what it is, no? 'course we see little chance o' poe2 becoming a kinda witcher 3.5. not gonna tilt imaginary windmills. HA! Good Fun!

these threads always makes us reflect 'pon a william butler yeats poem: the darkness drops again but now i know that twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards bethlehem to be born? curious. HA! Good Fun!

just one o' those days am not actual a monty python fan, but every once in awhile, a skit or song just kinda sums it all up for us. HA! Good Fun!

pure selfish pov: am gonna be playing the beta for likely dozens of hours, so as to trash mobs, we says, "feh!" true trash mobs is utter unnecessary, even as a teaching vehicle. is no reason for any combat encounter to be devoid o' unique tactical challenges. peoples don't learn by simple repeating same action ad nauseum; needs be increase and variation o' challenge to stimulate learning. this ain't a muscle-memory exercise such as throwing a curveball. steady increase and change. is also no narrative excuse for mind numbing repetitive encounters as the developers and writers have complete control o' the narrative. if the developers cannot come up with reason for absence o' trash mobs, then we weep for their lack o' creativity. is no reason for genuine trash mobs, but we expect 'em to continue to be staple. such encounters pad game hours, which is gonna continue be a game measure discussed by fans and pundits beyond release o' poe2 or any other crpg current in development. additional, such encounters has become integral to the curiously constant broken crpg economies-- need some way to provide players money and 1007, yes? most daunting for developers is the reality o' such encounters being expected, and player expectations is not only unavoidable but also impossible to fully satisfy as this thread should illustrate. gonna get poe2 trash mobs regardless o' necessity or benefit. as such we would plead for obsidian to make the best o' such inevitability and both minimize and vary. HA! Good Fun!

oh, and being relative humorless is not bad. our linked post 'bove mentions elmore leonard's admiration for hemingway and hemingway were a decided humorless author. you can be a funny guy and not be a funny writer. can be a great writer and not be funny. for poe2 to be having more humor do not require josh humor or josh appreciation o' humor. even so, am not gonna imagine qualities into josh which has never been exhibited in previous games. yxunomei. is 'bout as funny as josh ever got with a character. HA! Good Fun!

no. just no. chris avellone were driving force and creative lead for old world blues. josh took the reigns for honest hearts. notice a distinct difference in narrative tone? HA! Good Fun! They're both listed as narrative designers for OWB though? Each of the Fallout: New Vegas DLC's was very deliberately taken in a different direction in terms of tone etc. -- my understanding was that wasn't so much "Avellone writes like this, Sawyer writes like this" as it was a conscious choice to make Dead Money a noir homage, Old World Blues a B-movie zaniness homage, etc., with basically each DLC taking on a different genre. I could have sworn I'd read a Somethingawful quote where Ropekid talked about deliberately writing more humor into Old World Blues but I could be wrong. I know that he wrote a number of rather silly Somethingawful in-jokes into New Vegas (Zybourne Clock / Johnny Five Aces specifically). He doesn't actually hate fun. have no idea 'bout what you read at something awful, but you are taking way too much outta context from simple seeing josh named for writing credit o' owb. is gonna be any number o' writers on even a small dlc such as owb. not everything in owb were funny. there were funny stuff in virtual every game obsidian has made, with the exception o' honest hearts, but such don't mean every obsidian writer is funny or likes humor. honest hearts were josh's baby. he coulda added humor. or not. went most decided with not. heck, can probable simple check for "humor" and "sawyer" on these boards and you is gonna see how josh prefers less silly and were very much disliking bg 1 style and degree o' humor. HA! Good Fun!

no. just no. chris avellone were driving force and creative lead for old world blues. josh took the reigns for honest hearts. notice a distinct difference in narrative tone? HA! Good Fun!

trump narcissism is so profound, he actually thinks the oscar mix-up last night were 'cause o' hollywood's preoccupation with him. ... *sigh* HA! Good Fun!

octopus can be tough. am suspecting kraken will be even more resistant to tenderizing. recommendation: while is considered sacrilegious to freeze seafood, for octopus we use a flash freeze followed by a refrigerator defrost. as long as freeze is fast, the ice crystals formed will be relative small and will not alter the octopus much save to tenderize. slow freezing makes for larger and more destructive crystal formation in your seafood or meat or whatever. quick freeze is like having thousands o' microscopic knives make improbable small cuts to 'muscle' tissues. even so, if you like your octopus as mild as possible, with little seafood taste, then avoid our freeze suggestion. HA! Good Fun!

when we try and pronounce, it calls to mind otis day and the knights HA! Good Fun!

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/88772-josh-sawyer-regrets-hard-counters-sillier-companions-and-more/?p=1838895 as kinda a guide, josh hated bioware's implementation o' ad&d 2e rules in bg almost as much as he hated the silly humor in the game. if bg levels/type o' humor were your taste, then you find no willing ally with one o' the narrative leads for poe2. entertainment with a crpg duration o' dozens of hours needs humor to be anything other than punishing oppressive. poe2 needs humor. in spite o' religious and "colonialism" themes, we won't get the mission (1986). additional silly won't make poe 2 good or bad. as with anything else, is gonna depend on obsidian execution and your personal taste when ultimate determination o' success o' story elements is evaluated. HA! Good Fun!