Gromnir

I'm really not trying to be obtuse, nor do I argue your point, I'm just really baffled by your specific example based on my own experience, because I can't remember a better two-handed sword than Lilarcor before the end of the Underdark, and that, for me, is past the mid-point of the game. well, as you can see from the link, there are such weapons.... which is largely irrelevant. the point is that the uniqueness o' the talking sword does not make it your weapon o' choice once other superior weapons is available. you aint arguing with us that the unique nature o' the talking sword made you use it longer than other more traditional magical weapons? no? then... *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

That sounds unfair. Firkraag's dungeon and Firkraag himself weren't the De'Arnise castle or Umar Hills. It was one huge, difficult dungeon! I'm confused, why would any non-paladin give up on Lilalcor before coming back from the Underdark (and even then, the only best choice only has a +4 alteration bonus with no special ability)? The +3 alteration bonus made it work against 95% of enemies and it provided a few immunities to status effects. What two-handed sword was better than that? not unfair at all. yes, it were a difficult dungeon, though not considerably moreso than de'arnise or umar... be honest. regardless, any paladin is gonna do it before leaving for spellhold, and potential very early. http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/twohandedswords.php#null any +3 weapon or better with an additional effect is better than the talking sword... of which there is a few available before return from underdark. regardless, you miss point-- intentional or not. in spite o' uniqueness, most folks is gonna give up the +3 talking sword as soon as they find a more effective sword. am sensing intentional obtuse, but perhaps am wrong. HA! Good Fun!

people is not honest. tell us that uniqueness is what made carsomyr kewl is bunk. if carsomyr were a +2 weapon that dispelled on a hit, nobody would speak o' it. there were a talking sword in bg2, but by mid-point o' game, nobody used it. people tell us that unique is what they want. bah. unique is only neato if the unique ability is powerful. so again, you make a weapon with a unique AND powerful ability that is usable only by the folks who had foreknowledge or dumb luck on their side? is just one o' the things bg2 did wrong. HA! Good Fun! ps am all in favor o' a few genuine unique abilities attached to weapons, but the goal should be to balance such... and ere on the side o' weak for unique.

sure, is just a magical two-handed sword... that is +5/+6 and has all those additional enhancements you mentioned... as well as the often overlooked dispel-on-hit, which seems frequent forgotten. HA! Good Fun!

Conversely, is everything perfect with the game? There was nothing that could have been done better then and nothing that could be done better now? If we're enslaved to BG2 (which I also quite enjoyed), then what do we do? Have a game with a sword identical to Carsomyr in every way except for name? Designers *must* push the envelope. They have the right and obligation to pursue their own vision. Otherwise, we're going to have nothing but increasingly cheap and unfulfilling counterfeits of a dwindling number of original games. I actually respect that you don't like what you consider bad balancing in the game. Moreover, I can sympathize with you to a certain degree. However, I don't agree with the idea that BG2 was a great game solely, primarily, or perhaps at all because there was a sword so manifestly superior any rational player with prior knowledge to its existence would automatically plan gameplay around accessing it early. You can love BG2. I can love BG2. It's a really great game, but I don't believe for a moment it was good because the devs put in such a specific weapon. Having a weapon that truly has a special feel and for which you have struggled long and hard, one that will serve for a good amount of time from the point of acquisition (certainly not one that renders all other choices foolish from early in the game forward), and has some special history and lore? That's all good. I think PoE could have done better in giving that feeling to me, I suppose. I've seen some games that feature such a weapon that grants the player choices upon acquisition in order to make sure it's in a usable form by the party. That makes some sense to me. you took the fun out it. we woulda' been much harsher while reaching same place. *sigh* bg2 (and d&d) is a wonderful game that is also deeply flawed. heck, am recalling how funny some o' the bg2 purists were during poe development. no doubt cant witnessed more than a few folks who railed against proposed features for no reason save that obsidian were planning on doing different than bg2. were doubly amusing 'cause some o' those same bg2 purists appeared to loathe d&d, and they frequent became defensive and confused when confronted with a feature that were having origins in ad&d. am not recalling how many predictions o' doom we heard from the purists. ... you do realize the kinda restraint am showing not to go full medival-mode, yes? HA! Good Fun!

pre kotfe, we level'd a bunch o' new characters on harbinger. because o' 12x xp, we managed to get 10 characters to 60 in just over a month o' swtor play. heck, given how fast we level'd, it took less time to get to level 50 then it did to go from 50 to 60. however, with all the new influence demands, am kinda burned out. gotta a large number o' npcs that we gotta ply with gifts and goods. the sheer number o' companions and alliance npcs we gotta influence is daunting, and the gameplay required to increase influence involves us doing little more than constant running gift missions as shady is doing, and then feeding stacks o' gifts to... whomever. and jawa scrap methods for quicker influence depend on cartel market, which we has religious avoided. we refuse to pay real money beyond the subscription costs to improve our characters. am thinking we happen to have a total o' 3 jawa junk on one character at jedi covenant. regardless, am likely to do similar to shady has done to this point and am gonna get companions to 20 influence and then just kinda stop. we will max influence on one companion to take advantage o' the sooper-dooper crafting crits, but... we simple don't have the ambition to do this nonsense on many different characters. HA! Good Fun!

Bingo bingo... in the sense that this is exact what we would want the developers to avoid. carsomyr were a ridiculous overpowered weapon that you could gets early in the game. get your ultimate weapon and armour early in the game and then... well, that's it for equipment improvements for burt the paladin, eh? oh, and if you didn't follow the old soa boards and you were not aware that carsomyr were a greatsword, then the joke is on you burt. you chose long sword and so you end up with carsomyr envy for the next 50 to 150 hours o' gaming. sucker. etc. carsomyr is a great example o' what were freaking wrong with bg2 weapons. yeah, it's a game, so folks understandably wanna win, and better equipment means a stronger character. unfortunately, the presence o' powerful equipment, particularly if that equipment is only available to a particular build, is a bad idea. so yeah, "bingo." carsomyr were exact what obsidian should be attempting to avoid, regardless o' the fact that similarly powerful weapons is an attractive nuisance. HA! Good Fun!

am not genuine concerned 'bout the level cap, but to each his own. the thing is, we tend to be disappointed with expansions. HoW, for iwd, were blasted by fans because the level design were poor/rushed AND because it were short. am recalling how irate were Gromnir with HoW. am not expecting white march to be a HoW inspired collection o' "S" shaped maps wherein we fight a half dozen mobs o' mooks, but part 1 will necessarily be shorter than part 1 & 2 together. waiting will result in us getting more content... and one expects that the content we do get will be more polished from having additional fan feedback and development time. we can wait. alternative is for us to play and judge white march part 1 whilst attempting to keep in mind that it is only 1/2 o' the complete expansion. am self aware enough that we know we would be overly harsh with criticism if we played part 1 while needing wait for part 2. HA! Good Fun!

warhammer were always our fave o' the heavier mechs. with light armour relative to its tonnage, and mediocre speed, the warhammer didn't necessarily fit with our basic combat philosophy. nevertheless, the warhammer could serve up the pain with an impressive arsenal o' weaponry that made it lethal at distance and when fighting in a phonebooth. 'course, in all honesty, am thinking we mostly liked the warhammer for the aesthetics. http://punakettu.deviantart.com/art/Warhammer-low-poly-52346440 yes, giant and bipedal weapon platforms is silly, but sometimes it ain't 'bout the practical. HA! Good Fun! ps our favorite clan era mech were actual the linebacker-- a mech o' similar size that corrected most o' our problems with the warhammer. http://punakettu.deviantart.com/art/Linebacker-low-poly-48191603

so much for early access-- harbinger is down. HA! Good Fun!

same HA! Good Fun!

yeah, we mentioned above that we shoulda' started doing companion gift runs when we first resumed playing swtor, but we didn't know how companion influence would work and if old gifts would become useless for new companions. couple things we learned real quick: 1) save basic comms to buy the level 8 gifts, but dont use them... yet. ok, that sounds odd, but hear us out. the vendor on fleet that sells level 1 & 2 greenie gifts is still in business. if you got time on your hands, and you wanna do comp increase most efficient, you can BUY your way to level 20 influence w/o too much pain. as soon as you get a new companion, head to fleet and boost their influence to level 20 with monotonous gift giving. if you use your comm purchasable level 8 gifts, or the level 5 gifts one can acquire from diplomacy or investigation or treasure hunting or whatever, you will quickly gain too much influence to get results from the level 1 & 2 gifts. so use cheap gifts firstest. after doing all the star fortress fps (which you can do solo?) you will likely have a full set o' the gear you could be able to purchase with basic comms anyways, so save those comms for level 8 gifts. 2) your companion legacy affection increase perks are no longer useless. for 180k of credits, you can increase both gift and conversation influence increases by 30%. purchase these immediately to maximize their use. is mind numbing dull, but if you wanna increase companion influence (new or old companions), take our advice and invest in the perks and buy your way to level 20 influence asap. conversation gains is static and do not decrease as you increase influence, but gift usefulenes does decrease as your influence increases. use gifts as much as possible before any conversations. hell, if you got the full 1000 basic comm max, am believing that you can get a majority o' your new companions to level 40 (reach 20 with level 1-2 gifts and then to level 40 with your level 5 or 8 gifts) long before you finish the chapter 1-9 material. again, am not suggesting that our advice is fun gameplay, but it is efficient. HA! Good Fun!

'bout 6 weeks ago, when we started replaying swtor (though we played almost none the last 2 weeks) we considered stockpiling companion gifts for future sale. 'course, we weren't 100% certain that gifts would have any place in 4.0. shoulda' gone with first instinct. HA! Good Fun!

"While there was some diversity among the 10 winners, no English learners were elected, even though they make up about a third of enrollment." am suspecting this is a big part o' their "problem." most folks is not comfortable speaking in public. esl students is understandably tending to be less comfortable speaking in front o' groups. any school election we can ever recall had the candidates do speeches and some even had to answer student body questions. regardless o' the demographics o' the student body as a whole, to win election you need have kids run for the offices that is popular enough to win and is willing to speak in front o' some large group o' fellow students. regardless, seems obvious that you fix the "problem" before elections next year. administrator made an error. seems clear that hiding/delaying current election results would be viewed as unfair and we suspect that if there is any racial tensions at the school, such issues (dislike that word) would only be exacerbated by highlighting the "problem." was a teachable moment *snort* for the administration more than students. HA! Good Fun!

we got no doubt that a few directors and studios has various agendas they wanna push. is nothing new. push anti-communist then five years later it is anti-military. save the trees. save the planet. does such stuff give the sjw conspiracy nutters ammunition? dunno. hell, original star trek tv show weren't exactly being subtle about the diversity o' their cast, were they? star trek were fantastic stuff. am suspecting that is a generation o' nerds in the late seventies and early eighties who watched star trek as kids and learned more 'bout diversity by accident than they ever got from school. 'course they also learned that women is 'posed to wear go-go boots and dangerous short skirts... or nothing but green paint. baby steps. then again, have a traditionally white male character played by a latino woman and folks will ask, "why?" hell, am gonna admit that for recent fantastic four movie we were curious how they were gonna manage a white sue storm and a black johnny storm. adoption were our guess, but we did wonder, "why?" Gromnir does not feel oppressed if santa claus is played by a white guy... and we don't feel empowered if Denzel Washington gets to play George Washington. *shrug* have a white female and black male protagonist for star wars = sjw? unless the conspiracy nuts got more info than we is privy to, we don't see it. oh, and we agree that the lightsabre cross-guard is silly... but so too is a lightsabre. and the sabrestaff that darth maul used were equal dumb as the crossguard thing. HA! Good Fun!

it is amazing how quickly we forget. marino may not have been particularly agile, but he had the quickest release we ever saw. we could go down list o' marino qb attributes, but we would simple be describing the ideal pocket-passer. well, ideal pocket-passer attributes on the field. kinda a head case early in career. rivers is a fantastic qb, but is likely that with benefit o' hindsight, he will not even be recollected as the best ever qb to ever play for san diego. dan fouts likely gets that title. other great qbs deserving mention and likely a place before rivers on a list o' all-time greats who never won a championship is gonna need include fran tarkenton (for certain) and arguably warren moon, sonny jugenson, ya tittle, and john brodie. jim kelly? he had such a great supporting cast and failed to win a super bowl, but in spite o' playing half his games in likely the second most unfriendly qb venue (rich stadium is comical windy at times) kelly were named all-pro in 1991. rivers has not yet even managed 2nd team all-pro. regardless, is no way we put rivers ahead of fouts or marino... not yet at least. HA! Good Fun!

Let me guess, because most also got bogus stacked charges like "Resisting arrest"? bad guess. am only considering felony charges, and oddly enough, resist arrest is simple misdemeanor 'ccording to fed. individual states do distinguish misdemeanor and felony resisting arrest, but felony requires violence. run from cop or pull away from cop to avoid drug possession charge? no biggie. folks have been watching too much tv. there is a growing assumption that cops is bad. there is bad cops. the thing is, there ain't enough bad cops to explain the numbers. speaking o' tv, that is why we got the terrible minimum sentence and three strikes nonsense. all it takes is a handful o' publicized stories o' felons who get probation and then commit heinous and violent crimes for the public to be demanding minimum sentences. is not that the media is creating the problem, but the public reacts more to images o' dead children on the 5 o'clock news than it does to reasoned discourse. HA! Good Fun!

mechs is an implausible upgrade o' tanks, no? railgun tech is gonna require a rather significant change in ship design. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

am much conflicted 'bout avengers 2. ultron is fantastic. sure, the extinction-level event he engineers is a bit queer, but is worth noting that ultron is a perversion o' tony stark, and tony is a bit o' a drama queen. well-written and spader gives good performance. biggest flaw with the movie we see is utter predictable. ensemble casts is making very difficult to meaningful develop characters. as a transition film, the ensemble nature is even a greater impediment as scarlet witch and vision is added while attempting to give adequate screen time to the core avengers. HA! Good Fun!

ps:t suffers a great deal if you play other than high wisdom & Intelligence. charisma were also important to a lesser degree. ps:t is the game that taught us to always play a high wisdom & high intelligence character our firstest time through a black isle and/or obsidian game wherein such a choice were possible-- is a kinda metagame, we s'pose. iwd has a party with no specific protagonist, so the wisdom/int bit aren't genuine tested. nevertheless, play kotor 2, motb, and even nwn2 w/o enhancing wisdom & intelligence (and charisma) and you will miss opportunities and options. our favorite kotor/motb characters is rogue/cleric multi-class with extra points in intelligence for more skills and better dialogue options. and more recent, poe is rewarding the resolve and intellect player, which came as no surprise to us as our initial 3 runs through the game, regardless o' class choice, were with slight variations 'pon the following spread: m 10/d 10/m 10/p 16/w 16/r 16. rogue, priest or paladin? didn't matter. sure enough, best options for exploring dialogues is available by inflating poe versions o' wisdom and intelligence. ps:t and kotor 2 is enjoyable enough w/o focus on the cerebral attributes-- we have played both games that way. even so, after having played a high wisdom and high intelligence character in ps:t, we always made our first run through a black isle/obsidian game with those attributes. HA! Good Fun!

With current tech I think the next step in big weapon platform is gonna be orbital or some kind of high altitude glider/VTOL. For future tech, gravity manipulation is definitely where I see us going. well, if you are encompassing more than land-based big weapons platform tech, then obvious next step is, predictably, naval power. HA! Good Fun!

we got nothing 'gainst offering the player hard choices. we got nothing 'gainst making right choices less obvious. even so, we recognize that the nature o' these crpgs makes moral dilemmas inherent different regardless o' the degree o'... immersion. can't do moral dilema same as movie or tv or book. can't do same as rl. we will note that our most frequent complaint with handling o' good v. bad consequences is gonna be disappointment with the bad guy consequences and options. the bad guy options, almost w/o exception, is petty and/or opportunistic. our sense o' esthetics makes bad guy choices an unlikely option, but the limits o' game design is a significant obstacle towards improving the complexity o' moral choices. HA! Good Fun!

it might be bad, but am in agreement. we got no interest in battletech pvp. also, implementing pvp, once promised, could require disproportionate resources. "best laid plans..." and all that. it is possible that by reaching the goal for pvp, the sp game will suffer. HA! Good Fun!

genuine realistic combat would be less than entertaining in a game. one need take any number o' liberties to add appeal to an inherently terrible and exhausting exercise. am knowing that some folks is constant demanding more realistic combat, but such has always struck us as a desire based on ignorance. but you ain't talking combat... 'least not direct. why we bring up combat when you is talking morality? we will get there, promise. realistic morality? hmmm. start with understanding that we don't know what cant and others mean by morality 'less they get specific. is more than one definition o' morality. regardless, extreme goody-two-shoe is possible to pull off in real life. some such folks can be annoying if they tend towards proselytizing, and if such folks seek to subvert the dominant moral/political paradigm, then they better have an army at their back or they will end up as martyrs. however, if one is believing in relative morality, then good is what a society deems as admirable, no? would be peculiar if society rejected the good man, no? it happens, but is noteworthy because is the exception as 'posed to the rule. the typical good person lives a life that is appreciated by the small (or large) number o' people they manage to interact with during their lives. mother teresa were known and loved by millions. bob, the postman from amherst, mass., were known and loved in his neighborhood. is nothing inherent prohibitive 'bout being good... again, depending on definition o' morality. play bad? am not gonna go too far down the rabbit hole. get folks to come to any kinda consensus on what is good and evil is impossible on these boards. w/o some kinda fixed starting point, we is doomed. even so, play the psychotic evil that is allowable in most games should have more in-game costs than is typical. show up in a town and rob from multiple homes and perhaps kill a few folks, and even if you do so w/o witness, there will be investigations and questions and likely arrests. the game character who do not have some kinda leverage with the local authority playing it overt bad strikes us as far less reasonable than playing good. now, play a more scheming kinda evil where you do not actual commit overt acts o' violence and larceny is plausible, but again, is mechanical prohibitive. the scheming bad guy needs a plan. craft a complex and long-term plan when each encounter is purposeful insular and discrete is alternative implausible or undesirable. we has suggested the option o' adding a scheme for the intelligent bad guy, but admittedly, is not a perfect solution as you would be simple following the developer's proposed scheme rather than crafting such a thing. in any event, to all outward appearances, the scheming bad guy is not gonna seem evil... which means that the bad guys is gonna need do frequent good or at least harmless in most encounters. the heroic aspect may be complete divorced from morality depending on definitions being used. and in any event, one can be a bad man who has acted heroic in the past... and nothing 'bout bad past prevents a man from being heroic in the future. however, is easy to be heroic in a game 'cause the sacrifice is never genuine... which is a mechanical necessity similar to the aforementioned lack o' realism in combat. run into a burning building In A Game to save peggy sue and her puppy may not be a morality issue in any event, but is not particular heroic neither if there is absence o' genuine possibility o' real harm. give imaginary gold that you got in abundance to help the imaginary homeless person? where is the sacrifice. w/o sacrifice, where is the heroism? game heroism is necessarily an illusion. IF you use definition o' morality that requires the good man to sacrifice for his fellows, then yeah, play genuine good is impossible for Mechanical reasons. am not sure how the morality conundrum is specific related to aod in any event, save as it is applicable to any and all crpgs. regardless, ordinary and everyday good should be ez to play, whereas bad should have obvious and typical prohibitive costs. most important is the realization that heroism is impossible to manufacture in a game. don't expect realistic heroism any more than realistic combat. HA! Good Fun!

the number o' folks incarcerated for drug offense stuff is a bit misleading. yeah, mandatory sentencing guidelines does result in folks getting ridiculous prison terms for mere possession. however, keep in mind that the guy who has drugs on possession while committing a home invasion or carjacking gets drug offense as well as the theft/assault/whatever. should come as no surprise that people who commit crimes is frequent under the influence o' drugs or in possession o' such. the number o' folks in prison when the only charge is marijuana possession, for example, is relative small. in 2010 there were between 63 and 73 people serving time in fed prison on noting save a marijuana possession charge. the reason why is a range is that we can't get details on 10 o' the marijuana sentences. HA! Good Fun! ps we do agree that the drug war has put too many folks in prison, though problem is more complex than is often described.