Gromnir

The combat statistics for all the aircraft currently in use am having no idea how accurate the data is from the link. am only sharing the first entry so individuals may know how the data were shared. [Name of aircraft] Air-to-air kills – Air-to-air losses – Losses to ground fire [Name of conflict aircraft was used in] [Nation that used aircraft in said conflict] Air-to-air kills – Air-to-air losses – Losses to ground fire F-16 Falcon 76-1-5 Gulf War (USA) 0-0-3 No-Fly Zones (USA) 2-0-0 Bosnia (USA) 4-0-1 Kosovo (USA) 1-0-1 Kosovo (Netherlands) 1-0-0 Kosovo (Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Turkey) 0-0-0 Afghanistan (USA, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway) 0-0-0 Iraq (USA) 0-0-0 Syrian border clashes 1979-1986 (Israel) 6-0-0 Operation Opera (Israel) 0-0-0 Lebanon War (1982) (Israel) 44-0-0 Lebanon War (2006) (Israel) 3-0-0 Intifada (2000-present) (Israel) 0-0-0 Soviet-Afghan War (Pakistan) 10-0-0 Border clashes (Pakistan) 1-0-0 Kargil War (Pakistan) 0-0-0 Northwest border wars (Pakistan) 0-0-0 Aegean Sea clashes (Turkey) 1-1-0 Venezuelan Coup 1992 (Venezuela) 3-0-0 HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* so complaining in spite o' not actual knowing? hardly shocking. *sigh* so what? is not that obsidian ignored your complaint, eh? your hyperbolic statements 'bout xp and why the degenerative aspects o' xp farming were sought to be limited is more evidence o' ridiculous. players most certain did not hit cap midway through the game, but admitted 'cause o' the blunder with bounties, the cap were reachable before twin elms. Gromnir has pointed out dozens of times how the obsidians blundered with their xp rewards as they were so sure they had a scheme which would have completionists and critical path players reach endgame separated not by a gulf but o' a trickle. again, so what? you diehard ie game romantics never explained why the per kill xp made the game better. the fact obsidian failed in their implementation and ended up with results more akin to bg1 is hardly some kind proof the ie games did better or that obsidian's goal were wrong. if you were reasonable and rational you would see how the complaints 'bout reaching the level cap early in poe actual supports what obsidian were trying to do. duh. bg2 did have a solution: bioware simply made it possible to level ad nauseum 'cause the only benefit were the hit point grant. no, you don't think to criticize them in spite o' the obvious hypocrisy. no, and is missed 'cause o' inane reply/quote, they did something complete different from what you describe and not at all related to your complaint. you didn't like endurance/stamina? fair. many didn't. the developers worked on endurance/stamina over the course o' two games and whether you believe it ended up better or good is an individual choice, they clear weren't implementing simply to be unnecessarily complicated or 'cause they hated the ie games. doesn't matter if all your complaints were either objective wrong or based on no more than feels, 'cause. just 'cause. you recall josh not responding and we show links. you recall xp divorced from reality? just roll with it. you recall endurance/stamina in a curious obtuse manner and we show link which reveals continued developer input attempting to find a better way to implement the feature. groundhog day. HA! you recalled incorrect obsidian level and frequency o' feedback for poe as well as the goals and behavior re: endurance/stamina. why would anybody trust your recollects? regardless, if were so meaningful and memorable then make those arguments. we can wait. tell us the detailed and well explained reasons for per kill xp, insta kills, pre buffing, resistance to endurance/stamina, etc. is definite bringing back memories o' poe... the indefatigable. HA! Good Fun! ps apologies for the late edit. seems we accidental cut off a couple sentences in our last reply/quote exercise in silly.

necromancy is not the strongest school, but as long as you play core or lower difficulty, you should be ok. most conjuration spells ignore sr, which early in the game is a big deal for a caster. if you are playing on a higher difficulty, then the best spells and dc boosting gear is likely pushing you towards enchantment or illusion. but again, necromancy is more than viable on core or lower difficulties and our first ember build were necromancy and evocation focused and she were highly effective. dirge bard is a kinda fun necromancer as you may spontaneous raise dead, are able to cast numerous necromancy spells, and the powerful enchantment spells on your spell list will work v. corporeal undead... including hideous laughter. the drawback for bards is after the change to guarded hearth, bard song competence bonuses do not stack with guarded hearth, which means your signature ability is gonna be useless during most boss fights. is a whole bunch o' azata abilities and spells which is gonna make your mind affecting spells particular powerful. a single level o' sorcerer, or all sorcerer, means you may take the undead bloodline which works similar as dirge bard secrets of the grave resulting in your mind affecting spells working on many undead, so is possible to play cleric or other class and effective get the necromancy flavour. an ecclesitheurge cleric with one level o' crossblood sorc and at least the charm domain is gonna be a serious powerful necromancer, able to cast many o' the best enchantment and necromancy spells. witch or wizard spell casters pair well with lich, though there is melee builds which also work well with lich. is possible to have over 1000 hp as a lich, so a few obscure melee builds become viable. lich and angel is kinda noteworthy 'cause if you choose the combined spellbook caster route, then it is tough to build wrong as lich and angel spells is ridiculous op. the writing for lich is a bit over-the-top, but if you want to be mythic powerful, roll stomping your way through encounters as you indulge in teh evhul, then lich is a win choice... we s'pose. there is a couple companions who do not like a lich commander. perhaps counter-intuitive, it is possible to keep all companions if you go the demon path. am personal not looking forward to doing another lich, but it is possible to choose gold dragon after lich, which is something we wanna try in part 'cause am not certain how such is implemented and is few aspects o' the game we ain't tried. haven't spoiled self. even so, is a long haul to get through lich to gold dragon. maybe requires patience we do not possess. is a whole lotta less than obvious pitfall choices with wotr class/ability/spell selection, so don't hesitate to ask for feedback when you arrive at a preliminary choice for your next commander. HA! Good Fun! ps am knowing we linked already, but ember's good end with nocticula is the current pathfinder canon. it is in a subsequent adventure path, return of the runelords, which has nocticula achieve her apotheosis, and obviously ember ain't the trigger, but by embracing her innermost warm and fuzzies the first succubus becomes a chaotic neutral goddess o' midnight, artists and outcasts. nocticula's redemption hinges 'pon time travel btw, so canon is no more improbable than the ember route.

you are confusing poe2 with poe1, so, "yeah, no." am not sure how many times josh would respond ad nauseum to sensuki or others, in a single thread, trying to explain why water is wet or asking for more than feels arguments. am not sure the point regarding metagaming. obsidan were not trying to avoid making best classes or best abilities. how many times this point needed be made is baffling. what they did were make sure all the classes were viable and useful. the nonsense 'bout metagaming is just strawman silliness as that were never a thing... evar. heck, obvious poe and poe2 were designed with reload in mind. a few encounters were first time difficult even for Gromnir who had played the beta improbable hours. for poe, the radiant spore, raedric 1/2, anything with an ogre druid, the dragons (mowrghek ien were taking us more than one try or three,) concelhaut, etc... all those were quite obvious designed with reload in mind. as far as trash mobs, poe has far fewer than any ie game and as there is no xp reward for confronting them anyways there shoulda' been motivation to avoid when possible, but too many gamers, trained by innumerable previous crpgs, killed everything, 'cause. 'cause they would get more money even if they didn't get xp? 'cause you never know when a rando mob might have something kewl? dunno. on the wilderness maps, most o' what you could possible describe as trash mobs may be ignored. yeah, the endless paths were a mess and obsidian admitted such were a mistake 'cause they never planned on so many levels, so they kinda threw more than a few sections together w/o much design other than an attempt to minimal fulfill a stretch goal. edit: am gonna admit galvino's workshop felt like an unnecessary inflated and punishing slog. endless paths were bad and 'ccording to developers (who apologized) were the result o' rushed implementation, but the galvino's location offered almost no solutions save for punishing and repetitive combat and it were done intentional. that said, if you embrace the "spiritual successor" stoopid, then galvino's were a serious nostalgia moment for those who recall dragon's eye from iwd or any o' a dozen other simillar locations from the ie games. as for your feels about the difficulty o' a few trash mobs... *snort* so, what ie game got it right insofar as trash mobs? please tell. how is the feedback with owlcat going insofar as trash mobs, eh? see, statements like this show you is trolling. clear the effort weren't to be convoluted. maybe you think health/stamina were too convoluted, but obvious such weren't the goal and am gonna note the system were changed for poe2. heck, health/stamina were changed w/i poe as a response to the beta concerns. the folks who didn't get the bg2.5 or bg3 they wanted complained endless that obsidian were unresponsive when fact were obsidian were highly reactive and involved, but the developers didn't always agree with the leave it as it is pov and the feels arguments were providing zero help. you are remembering the way you want to, ignoring reality. not a new problem. HA! Good Fun!

not complete wrong. speaking o' time travel, set the wayback machine for 2016 HA! Good Fun!

got a few quibbles with the vid, but am gonna agree time travel is rare a satisfactory explanation unless is done for laughs, with the notable admission we enjoyed edge of tomorrow. even so, if the time travel plot device is a significant aspect o' the new indiana jones movie, am gonna be taking a pass until multiple reliable sources convince us an exception to our general rule o' applicability is warranted. HA! Fun! Goo

one o' the advantages o' having posted on these boards for so very long is a useful kinda perspective. top three complaints o' bg1 via community feedback: 1/2) too hard/too ez 3) the tedious empty wilderness maps punctuated by a gnoll or bandit encounter were not fun. inappropriate difficulty were always the most frequent complaint regarding the ie games, but the next most common complaint were regarding the horrible implementation o' "exploration" in bg. particular following totsc, the fan base were overwhelming demanding more durlag's tower kinda content and less o' the gameplay hour inflating rando wilderness maps and their micro-encounters. ... top three complaints for bg2 via community feedback: 1/2) too hard/too ez 3) not enough exploration. ... is a no win for developers. also, unrelated to your post, but... Balance in Single-Player CRPGs and Why POE II became unplayable for me seriously, there is rare a new topic on these boards. the exploration stuff we has seen do the pendulum thing in so many games? the suggestion that balance is pointless or that poe "failed," 'cause the obsidian developers hated the ie games? looking on the bright side, the #4 overall fan complaint for bg1 were likely regarding the underdeveloped bg1 companions, so clear the biowarians were able to glean something useful from boardie feedback and make changes which improved a subsequent title. is not all just a groundhog day situation with the end result being inevitable. HA! Good Fun!

this were the problem faced by the obsidian developers. fanbase wanted bg3, but those fans couldn't express what were essential for a bg3 'cept that anything not like the earlier games were wrong. josh would ask here or elsewhere why some aspect or ie staple were necessary and the fan bases would predictably split w/o providing any meaningful guidance. the little things added up? non specific combat issues and narrative changes were a gestalt bridge to far? not "spiritual successor" enough, even though obsidian never promised such. personal we had very specific problems with the poe narrative, but am not gonna suggest poe were lacking in the writing department compared to bg or any other ie game save perhaps ps:t, recognizing that both ps:t and poe kinda lost momentum at the end. fortress of regrets and breith eaman/sun in shadows were similarly tedious from a gameplay pov and the culmination o' the respective stories were almost anti-climactic and representative o' a common problem for near all bis/obsidian games with the conclusion being either rushed or just plain unsatisfactory. 'course we kinda beat the narrative issues o' poe and deadfire to death many times. one frequent overlooked negative o' poe writing we will address specific 'cause is so often ignored were the fact the poe companions were unnecessarily, but understandably, tasked with all kinda world building exposition. new setting for poe meant there were gonna be considerable info dumps o' world lore, and the joinable companions were an obvious vehicle for communicating such lore. were a mistake to use companions. 'cause o' the nature o' companion quests in a crpg being advanced primarily through dialogues, a player were functional compelled to endure every lore drop 'cause you never knew which new dialogue option were the one which would lead to furthering the companion quest. awkward. clumsy. yeah, the lore dumps were optional, but as a player you had no way o' knowing which dialogues were in fact optional, so the exhausting exercise o' world building exposition were carried out in large part by joinable companions which could make 'em feel dull. am gonna suggest it were a mistake to have companions do the world building exposition even if the companions were the obvious way to achieve world building and recognizing that the lore drops were in fact technical optional. however, am thinking poe achieved a major advancement with their companions... which they inexplicable abandoned in deadfire. crpg companion quests/romances is often tangential and largely insular from the main quest. doing so makes sense from a gameplay pov 'cause the developers don't know who is gonna be any individual's essential party member. by giving the player agency, the solution is to be making individual companions less integral to the story even if they is essential for some particular plot point. more than a couple kotor/kotor2 companions, for example, were integral to plot but they did less to bolster themes o' the respective games... kreia being a noteworthy exception. for poe, obsidian did different in spite o' fact what they did should be the obvious approach-- all poe companion quests/stories reinforced the core themes o' poe in spite o' fact they were largely tangential to to the main plot. all poe companions, regardless o' being functional insular, tangential and optional insofar as the core narrative were concerned, explored questions o' faith. duh. obvious. why doesn't all story-driven crpgs do as did poe? 'course you would have individual companion stories bolster the main narrative from a thematic perspective even if they is non essential to the main plot, yes? nevertheless, so few games do so. oh well, as the first title in a new ip, poe succeeded far more often than it failed... though it did fail at times. deadfire were an improvement on poe, save for writing aspects such as the narrative relegating the player to a kinda pointless observer insofar as the greater events involving the gods and eothas as well as once again including companions who contributed almost nothing useful to the core narrative. HA! Good Fun! ps so is clear, purchasers and prospective purchasers do not owe developers a detailed accounting o' why they is ok with game A but not game B. we can't explain why we prefer vanilla to chocolate ice cream, but remains true that as 'tween the two, am gonna choose good vanilla as 'posed to good chocolate. is up to obsidian to make games people buy. no doubt obsidian developers, believing they has crafted an excellent title, wonder at why their sales don't match a few other developers. would be helpful if the player feedback were a bit more constructive, but is obsidian's job to figure out the right formula success. even so, the poe feedback pre and post release were a nightmare from our pov and musta' been worse for obsidian. typical we saw a comical polarized torrent o' support or condemnation following each obsidian suggestion, and the feedback were ordinarily devoid o' reasons or rationale as 'posed to fan feels.

our first reaction were to sneer at another vulgar (and kinda ridiculous) christmas cash grab. then we reflected 'bout what is perhaps our favorite christmas album. not on same album, but is making our top 5 o' christmas tunes. so 'pon reflection is tough for us to chide lucas arts or disney or whomever were responsible for releasing your shared title. clear would be hypocritical to aim scorn at star wars if am ok with peanuts, eh? HA! Good Fun! ps added greensleeves 'cause fantasia on greensleeves is also among our top five christmas music tunes and am thinking the vince guaraldi bit is fantastic regardless o' how we feel 'bout jazz.

next wednesday, eh? admitted am not interested in being part o' the alpha, but am gonna be positive 'bout the milestone occurring earlier than we had anticipated. sure, we saw at twitter the alpha were gonna begin before end o' the year, but am nevertheless a smidge surprised. does owlcat enforce a hardcore nda for alpha testers? if not perhaps shady (if he does alpha) shares feedback. HA! Good Fun!

am pretty sure the "stupid stuff" were intentional and such ham-fisted additions were a result o' fans not getting the first movie. raiders of the lost ark was s'posed to be b movie fare, but with aaa production values... plus enough overt classic movie homage to have even the most hardcore movie fan chuckle a bit. unfortunately what @Amentep, lucas, spielberg and kasdan saw as the point o' the indy films is not necessarily what audiences liked 'bout raiders, so particular in temple of doom, and crystal skull, the makers o' the film were a smidge less subtle(<-- sarcastic hyperbole) and went all-in on what inspired them to make the movies in the first place. everybody in raiders is playing it serious as they deal with over-the-top nazis and improbable events-- stupid stuff. 'course the raiders audiences were treated to a john williams score, incredible sets as well as great performances and fantastic camera work, so audiences understandable took the film more serious than were intended. is just a guess, but am thinking temple o' doom were an effort o' the film makers to course correct, so audiences would be able to enjoy the indiana jones films the way lucas and spielberg enjoyed flash gordon and similar fare. unfortunately, temple of doom kinda underwhelmed or confused audiences, so there were a return to formula with last crusade. keyrock is clear a fan o' the temple of doom kinda material, which is hardly a shock. the thing is, am thinking lucas, spielberg and kasdan, 'mong others, were wrong to try to accentuate and rehabilitate the stupid stuff. the old flash gordon, buck rodgers, and spy smasher serials weren't intended to be stupid at the time they were made. we look at such films today and smile approvingly at the b fare, but is not as if the makers o' spy smasher saw themselves as purveyors o' ridiculous. am gonna suggest temple of doom and crystal skull unnecessarily wanted audiences to realize the indiana jones films is b movie fare by pushing the "stupid stuff" a bit too hard. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna observe just how difficult it is to hit the right balance o' serious v. "stupid stuff." those familiar with the fallout franchise o' crpgs will recognize just how contentious has been fan response following every fallout title release subsequent to the original. is a not insignificant % o' fans who are extreme serious 'bout fallout. personal we saw fallout as overt camp, but Gromnir pov is so not how the game were viewed at nma.

end result is same, but much sounds different. for example, we got a serious tax advantage for capital gains in the US, but it don't cover real property save for your personal residence and even then there is a limit. US capital gains is nevertheless a factor, but only in a tangential way and is likely not a root cause o' our current rental crisis. is also a mistake to generalize as a US issue given each state and city is gonna have laws, rules and ordinances which change the equation more than a little. most other western nations tends towards a bit more uniformity regarding such stuff as taxes. for example, prop 13 has a significant impact on your personal suffering as a california resident, 'cause compared to most states, property taxes is low, and is lower for people who has owned their property a long time. might come as a shock, but regular people tend to move every decade or so on average... 8 years is the number am recollecting. is more motivation for would-be robber barons to hold onto their income generating property than is for the case o' real people who likely need move at some point for jobs and the like. 'course as hurl is no doubt painful aware, the bay area is not the same as the rest o' the country or even much o' california. rental problems have been an issue for decades in the bay area and is magnified and different compared to parma, ohio or hillsborough, tennessee. however, regardless o' the state or city, depreciation and maintenance cost deductions as well as the ability to carry tax losses forward to subsequent tax years means that owners o' rental properties rare lose in the long run. am s'posing being the owner o' rental property is a bit like being the house in vegas. the biggest single cause o' our current US rental crisis were a result o' the great recession which predictable saw more property end up in fewer hands. covid made the issue worse and if we enter a full blown recession next year, then chances are the property ownership number is gonna shift even more in favor o' the haves and the have-nots will find it more difficult to rent... or buy for that matter. is no ez fixes though 'cause if you are a landlord and your costs sudden increase, then chances are you end up passing on the pain to your tenants, no? would be swell to blame IT ( "it" being whatever you believe the root cause to be) on the fat cats and wall street folks, but the problem is the people most likely immediate f'd by any meaningful solution is the poor and young. HA! Good Fun!

medicare covers all americans over the age o' 65 (and younger people with disabilities and... other.) medicare recipients get freebie shingles, influenza, pneumococcal and hepatitis b (maybe, am not certain on the hep) vaccines. if you are over 65 and keep your own health insurance, then chances are shingles is gonna be a part d thing. 'course the cdc recommends the shingles vaccine for everybody over 50, so... HA! Good Fun! ps added a link for part d which most folks is unlikely to read, but is so many exceptions and provisos that a brief summary would end up being more misleading than clarifying. honest, we cannot understand the logic behind much o' medicare coverage, if there is any logic, and part d tends to be a particular arcane aspect o' the plan(s).

we lived through the late 80s and 90s, so we saw real life day traders o' the time. gonna be tough to shock or frighten us with cgi cocaine madness from a single bear. HA! Good Fun!

as somebody who dislikes anime with extreme few exceptions, am almost surprised to admit we has enjoyed a few anime tunes... and am purposeful excluding cowboy bebop's tank 'cause it is the example every anime hater offers for the exception to a rule. yeah, not many likes for us, but the infrequent anime earworm is nevertheless more common than a show worth watching. doesn't need be chipmunk fodder one more... and is from a gonzo show no less. not quite chipmunk if inching closer. btw, we will cut anybody who let's it be known we said something positive 'bout anime. HA! Good Fun!

y'know, we played a few hours o' bg3 and it is not a noteworthy terrible game, but it was indeed forgettable. is not that bg3 played terrible or looked terrible or sounded terrible. were not even so bad it were memorable, but we had/have no desire to play more. recognizing our limited play, we found the characters not at all interesting and the combat kinda dull, but it weren't more terrible than character generation, tutorial and early game content for a bunch o' other d&d games. nwn2 didn't exact have the best intro content either, but we weren't so utter indifferent after after a similar time investment. is just weird, 'cause we can't say what we saw o' bg3 were particularly bad... well, maybe the quasi-dhampir companion, or whatever he is s'posed to be, were kinda middling horrible, but even Gromnir almost forgot his name as we were writing this post. forgettable kinda nails our feelings and our motivation for giving the game another chance once it is released is = 0. even so, am having difficulty explaining why bg3 were so... meh. finished colphyr and picked up our inevitable darkness reward. no rift appeared after we dispatched the scorcher o' souls, but there were a spot on his tiny island we could interact with to uncover bones which were the container for the loot. guess that means we will star act v. rl will make our progress a bit slow, but am gonna try and finish before the new year. HA! Good Fun!

a multitude o' sports games also have role-play elements. am gonna suggest you are being a smidge disingenuous. which is exact why we had (bad) multi-player tacked onto near every crpg after the original diablo were released. again, am not seeing a mmorpg solution in your considerable response. sure, is possible to add what is effective a new game or mini-game onto a crpg to give it life beyond the level cap. mindless and repetitive farming o' mobs so the player could afford a personal house they may decorate in drezen is exact the kinda thing we would expect to see in a mmorpg. *groan* apologies, but am having difficulty imagining a mmorpg which eschews the loot grind after hitting max level, and such is exact the kinda thing a game such as wotr or poe cannot indulge for reasons already stated... 'cause y'know, balance. is not practical or realistic to create a new and alternative ending for completionists where after sooper grinding they join a raid to face the real boss. and am pretty sure many mmorpg players feel stuck in progression once they exhaust the grinds, which is no different than the level grind in a single-player crpg... save that it is even more mind-numbing and repetitively grindy. example: am knowing more than a few obsidian board posters who only play swtor when there is a new story expansion release. so thanks, but no thanks on the mmorpg schemes for fixing the level cap issue. pour gasoline on a fire why don't you? see, this is exact what drove the obsidian developer nuts. some vague and ill-formed, but very real, sense o' nostalgia were the ultimate obstacle to pillars success. were no way to overcome warm fuzzies which even fans couldn't express in a meaningful way. punishing your bg2 paladin if it weren't built as a two-handed weapon haver made the holy avenger and the game more memorable... 'cause. obsidian tried to be reasonable and rational-- first mistake. this is not a major issue for a well known sequel. whatever name recognition obsidian enjoyed for pillars were unlikely to spillover to the sequel. those folks unaware o' pillars but recognizing the obsidian name contributed to deadfire in any event? how many such backers? deadfire were not a new and unknown ip meant to appeal to people who liked the ie games. deadfire were purposeful sold to fans o' pillars. is kinda similar for owlcat and wotr as the russian developer is hardly an unknown quantity, for better or worse, following kingmaker. you are also preaching to the choir regarding numbers o' purchasers contributing to crowdfunding as we has made this exact point many times. the deadfire numbers is highly misleading but last we looked, in 2017, if you added all non investor contributions (buy game were curious separated from buy all the add-ons in their totals), the backer contribution for deadfire were $2.1 million, which were ever so slight ahead o' wotr kickstarter. the problem which shoulda' been obvious to obsidian were the number o' backers were far less than pillars and less than wotr. obsidian had developed a hardcore fanbase for pillars but that fanbase were smaller than those number o' persons initial interested in pillars. major warning sign which went unheeded. but again, smaller numbers o' deadfire backers were willing to spend considerable money to get the game made. less people, but more enthusiastic. what an incredible resource wasted 'cause obsidian were chasing fantasies o' d:os2. as to writing efforts, am not gonna try and convince you that somehow our opinions regarding bg2 writing efforts is more astute than yours, 'cause they ain't. for most players, irenicus were the cliché wizard gone mad with power and the fans were more than ok with such. we don't get the appeal o' the wotr romances either, so... HA! Good Fun! ps the silly buy a house and decorate it, while not our notion o' meaningful gameplay post level-cap, is the kinda harmless addition we actual do see as useful for dealing with the considerable money glut which is as much a result o' completionist gameplay as is early hitting o' the level cap. make better gear available via stores only makes balance problems worse, but the trivial aesthetic options, with a big in-game price tag, could makes players feel as if there is something to do with all their useless loot. quality o' life or token aesthetic improvements is exact the kinda thing which could alleviate the excess money issue.

gets credit as being lgbt but those elements is implied more than overt so could disappoint a few viewers who were expecting paradigm shifts from an admitted lesser known 80s bowie flick. we don't wanna ruin the experience by saying too much. am gonna highly recommend not reading wiki or on-line synopsis before viewing. to this day we do much approve o' the score and is why we share. regardless, we were reflecting on movies we consider important but relative unknown and this were among the first to come to mind. ... nevertheless, at the risk o' tainting the well, we will observe we enjoyed merry christmas mr. lawrence a bit more when we were younger. such reevaluation doesn't make the film less worthy o' consideration. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna admit the initial reason we thought o' mr. lawrence is 'cause we saw one o' those a bit too early best christmas movies polls and 'course being Gromnir, our first thought were the lion in winter. others making the cut is edward scissorhands, stalag 17, kiss kiss bang bang, the hudsucker proxy, rocky, gawain and the green knight and the animated 1966(?) how the grinch stole christmas tv special.

am not seeing the mmorpg solutions. those games just keep adding new content and the only real goal o' mmorpgs is the levels and gear. for mmorpgs, there is no end, at least not if the business model is working correct. with the exception o' a very few mmorpgs, the quests and story is just an excuse to power-up-- decided not story-driven. those games also have quests/encounters which is designed to be failed by many, at least initially, and time and again developers o' single player rpgs says failure is not a viable design option. put an intentional unbeatable quest/opponent in a game and developers keep telling us that gamers are all too stoopid to take the hint-- gaider, sawyer and others has had surprising similar input on this aspect. ... you do realize that single player crpgs have a difficulty slider, yes, so... am trying to follow your train o' thought here re mmorpgs and am missing something(s). as to the following: many people agree. the thing is, many people disagree with you. is why the crowdfunding for poe2 were far better than we saw for kingmaker or even wotr. the fans o' pillars liked pillars a great deal, but pillars also clear annoyed many initial purchasers o' the title from obsidian. pillars were indeed sold to fans o' the ie games and many o' those folks were expecting bg3, or rather their idealized bg3. obsidian admitted (and intentional) did not deliver a bg3. all o' which is a curious bit o' aside 'cause you ain't actual suggesting that the reason pillars failed is 'cause o' crafting and their level cap issues? poe2 also didn't fail with fans o' pillars. the problem was, 'ccording to the poe2 post mortem from josh sawyer, obsidian spent considerable more money on poe2 than poe assuming they would succeed in the same way as the sequel which were d:os2. misguided. the poe2 developers made clear early in development that as much as pillars had diverged from ie game trappings, poe2 were gonna go even further in distancing the ip from bg2 and d&d legacy games. inexplicable, the obsidian brain trust didn't realize they were forceable shrinking their potential fanbase. were bg2 writing better than pillars? if bg2 worked for you, then it were indeed better. am a fan o' much o' bg2 writing... and not so much a fan o' other parts. bg2 is a big enough game we were able to overlook story and quest shortcomings. irenicus, btw, were a shortcoming, but he shouldn't have been so. is a whole lotta parallels with macbeth in bg2 which worked, but the writers (and voice actor) fumbled at the end which is why so few fans saw him as he were intended and instead just wallow in the ham. regardless, am gonna suggest there is a whole lotta rose-colored recollection regarding bg2 from folks which made pillars an instant fail. if you followed the pillars development, it were mind-boggling how the most polarizing threads on these boards were the result o' obsidian suggesting they were gonna do ________ different than bg2. fans o' bg2 couldn't necessarily articulate why they needed __________ to be in pillars other than the fact it were in bg2, but am thinking obsidian failed to recognize just how invested were 50% or more o' the fan base in having pillars be bg3. obsidian were trying to make a game which fixed many o' things which were busted in the ie games while keeping what the developers saw as the essential qualities making ie titles memorable. the developers missed. they failed to realize that what obsidian saw as busted mechanics and the trappings o' d&d pnp nonsense ported unnecessarily into a crpg were no less important to players than were minsc & boo or the dragon fights. aside, 'cause this is always missed, the one ie game curious absent from the pillars sales pitch from obsidian were... Obsidian Entertainment and our legendary game designers Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and Josh Sawyer are excited to bring you a new role-playing game for the PC. Project Eternity (working title) pays homage to the great Infinity Engine games of years past: Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. Project Eternity aims to recapture the magic, imagination, depth, and nostalgia of classic RPG's that we enjoyed making - and playing. At Obsidian, we have the people responsible for many of those classic games and we want to bring those games back… and that’s why we’re here - we need your help to make it a reality! Project Eternity will take the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur’s Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment. no mention o' bg2, eh? in spite o' bg2 being the most popular ie game, obsidian specific avoided mentioning. why? obsidian were going for "nostalgia" and "homage" o' bg, iwd and ps:t. obsidian were not trying to replicate or recreate the ie games and they most assured weren't trying to make bg3, which is precise why they left bg2 out o' their sales pitch. bg2 were not the first title in a new ip. bg2 developers enjoyed being able to follow multiple ie game releases which succeeded and failed in various ways and bioware had a chance to correct, refine and add to their game. perhaps you has heard from reviewers or board pundits the bit 'bout how obsidian failed to deliver the "spiritual successor" to bg2 and the ie games they promised? doesn't matter "spiritual successor" o' bg2 (or any o' the ie games) is not what they promised but such don't change what fans wanted. am also having no idea what your +6 spear tangent is 'bout. am thinking you don't know what the issue were, so channeling here is leading to confusion o' those o' us who does know what were the complaint. honest. HA! Good Fun!

this particular devil is a bit more elusive than suggested. am gonna opine label as pacing severe understates the reality o' the issue. as a developer, one need ask the following: what is the necessary levels & powha to complete the game? obvious the player needs be provided enough xp and gear rewards so they may reasonably overcome game challenges, yes? with a game offering considerable optional content, the developer challenge is to try and make so a critical path player is able to finish but a completionist don't hit the level cap too soon. not as ez as a few might surmise. 'course you may always add infinite or functional limitless levels, but then you got the problem o' the completionist becoming so disproportionate powerful the late and end game challenges become underwhelming, which results in different but equal predictable complaints. remove xp awards for optional content is a reasonable and rational solution, but not a practical one as fans dislike not being properly rewarded for their in-game efforts and level scaling foes is problematic at best. ok, now add dlc such as treasure o' the midnight isles... is the same/similar problem as is excess gold/money for the completionist. the critical path player needs have enough money to buy useful gear from stores, but a player who does everything in the game is gonna predictable have more money than the critical path player, correct? if gear impacts player powha, then a player with more money is necessarily gonna have more powha. the game, balanced so a critical path player may successful overcome challenges, becomes a snoozefest for the player who is overlevel'd and overgeared. predictable the completionist player grouses 'bout how they got millions o' gold/rubbles/whatever and nothing 'pon which to spend. so, what is the level cap solution? dunno. before they released pillars of eternity, the obsidian developers insisted they had a solution to disparate xp rewards for critical path players v. completionists. absent per-kill xp grants and the like, there were obvious a bit more flexibility available to the obsidian developers than is the case for owlcat, but obsidian failed to achieve meaningful results in spite o' the fact it were a stated goal to minimize the gulf 'tween casual and hardcore player experiences. aside, is the advent and popularity o' computer games which created this problem. sure, the old d&d 1e monster manual had xp values for critters, but it were never intended that each critter kill and lock picked were resulting in individual xp gains. in point o' fact, d&d xp rewards were s'posed to happen only after the completion o' an adventure and were the result o' a kinda kinda gestalt analysis. following the adventure, the dm would come up with party and player xp rewards custom tailored to how those players overcame obstacles, then the player would "train" and potential level-up 'tween adventures. years o' regular weekly pnp d&d gameplay would possibly get you to double-digit levels in 1e. mega dungeons and computer games in particular changed the xp equation and not necessarily for the worse. unquestionable different. the thing is, every solution we has seen so far either didn't work or were hated by players. bg2 is a good example o' fail as thac0, saves and spells learned/known don't improve past a certain point in d&d, so all you got at level-up were a hit point or two. people complained. d&d solution were to stop providing additional power with subsequent gained levels.as a fix, tob added sooper powers to bg2, which had people complaining. etc. HA! Good Fun! ps, the biggest problem with wotr alignment is alignment. pathfinder using d&d legacy alignment and owlcat making it a crpg mechanic is a mistake. make good, evil, law and chaos objective quantifiable and then integrate the resulting morality axis as a game mechanic were stoopid from the inception. is only possible to mitigate the stoopid, which is hardly an ideal outcome. pathfinder needs an alignment exorcism as 'posed to a fix.

@kanisatha a word of warning re: oracle-angel, 'cause am not sure if it is mentioned at neoseeker-- spontaneous casters no longer benefit from the accelerated spell book advancement for spells known/learned. for an oracle-angel your caster level for spells known is not mythic level + oracle level; is oracle only. from a practical standpoint, this is likely o' minimal concern and as a first-time player you may not even realize there is a newish "handicap," but it is worth observing how prepared caster angels now have a noteworthy advantage compared to spontaneous casters. HA! Good Fun!

am not gonna speak to romance, but as much as am disliking camellia as a character, is also our opinion she is one o' the three most effective companions with the additional advantage she is highly versatile as well. at earliest levels, whether ranged or melee, camellia is unimpressive from a damage output pov. dex focused characters who don't have sneak attack lack the damage potential o' high strength 2-handed weapon havers. 'course camellia has hexes, so from an action economy pov, her value to the party may nevertheless be significant even if she isn't killing stuff as quick as other companions. protective luck, chant, fortune and evil eye is all hexes available early and they represent serious difference making potential even if you do not resort to exploiting chant to extend the duration o' those hexes outside of combat. later in the game the metal curse is worth your consideration. you need take an additional spirit to acquire the metal curse, but particular on higher difficulties when every point o' ab or dc is essential, the metal curse hex is a major boon. tanky, dual wield or ranged? is also skald potential. if you are playing core or lower, crazycakes makes for a decent tank. taking fencing grace as early as possible, as well as outflank and improved critical feat(s) will result in significant damage output increase for even a tanky camellia and camellia is the best tank companion... sorta. animal companions should not be viewed insular and discreet from the humanoid companions which is responsible for adding 'em to a party, but such is what inevitably happens. from a practical pov, a few o' the animal companions is gonna be your best tank options for most o' the game. 'course as an angel oracle, depending on the build, you may be your party's tank by taking advantage o' stacking charisma bonus cheese. assuming you don't need camellia to tank, then is best to consider other uses. dual wield or ranged... or skald. hexes is fantastic, but perhaps you got ember in party? skald is a viable option. with a 13 charisma, camellia only needs three more charisma points to cast all her skald spells; is plenty o' headgear which will get you those points. reckless stance and inspire ferocity stack and are untyped. what that means is that your camellia skald will be boosting party-wide ab by +10 with sixteen levels o' skald and that +10 will stack with morale, sacred, competence or any other source o' ab boost. if your party includes numerous animal companions, then the beast totem and animal fury rage powers is also essential as you will be adding a considerable number o' natural attacks to all party members, but is likely animal companions will make the best use o' those additional opportunities. additionally, the bard spell list provides nice personal and party buffs, including early offerings such as unbreakable heart (do not sleep on this spell as it is a life saver when facing a few swarms,) mirror image, sense vitals, haste, displacement and good hope. with one level o' spirit hunter and at least 16 o' skald, you do have three additional levels with which to customize. all skald levels from 2-20 is fine, but consider the level dip into demonslayer and possibly loremaster. after considerable hours invested in wotr, am thinking a camellia spirit hunter is best designed as a dual wield melee fighter. is admitted a glass cannon build. camellia starts with a high crit-range weapon, so if you go with party-wide outflank and you have a bunch o' melee combatants, then you should always be considering how best to exploit critical hits. with the outflank teamwork feat, when camellia or a fellow companion crits, all adjacent comps with the outflank feat receive an attack o' opportunity. at early levels you won't see the advantages o' outflank, the ever ready mythic ability and the improved critical feats, but as your party receives more attacks, the crit opportunities also rise. camellia cannot out tank an angel oracle and most o' the animal companions make for a better tank option, so am not seeing the point o' trying to be a middling secondary tank. going with a full dual wield camellia generates additional attacks of opportunity for your party, and each such opportunity represents considerable damage. even so, is a situation where camellia won't appear to be pulling her weight until the mid point o' the game. neoseeker, which you already mention, has a decent ranged build for camellia, but is not a sooper high damage build, particular early. regardless, is ez to see camellia as underwhelming earlyish, and by the time she becomes useful, Gromnir has ordinarily sent her to join luca brasi. HA! Good Fun!

boys suck at school isn't the actual title... and is admitted kinda misleading, but... counter-intuitive, at all levels save the apex, women and girls is doing better than men and boys in education and jobs, at least in modern western economies. am suspecting asian nations is not accounted in the analysis, but am having no basis for such save anecdotal which is now admitted a decade past current. solutions is likely to trigger folks on both ends o' the political spectrum, so am not optimistic such trends is addressed or even studied further in any meaningful way. HA! Good Fun!

occurred to us 'bout a month ago our short ribs recipe and pot roast is near identical save we use more red wine for the ribs and no prunes. am gonna add prunes next time we make the short ribs, 'cause why not? good luck with dinner. for us, dinner is ordinarily the ez part and is family which makes the day difficult. HA! Good Fun!

another surprise, but this time positive. animal control retrieved the corpse, and on thanksgiving day no less. 'course we had just moved her, 'cause we assumed it were unlikely anybody would retrieve her before monday after the holiday weekend. given the bruising we saw, the poor thing had clear been hit by a car before she managed to limp her way next to our doorway to die. well, is back to playing nurse to our little and a-bit-less-likely-to-die-immediate dog. as odd as it sounds, am genuine thankful, and not just 'cause his 24/7 care got us out o' family thanksgiving. is hard to see much improvement from the dog, but he don't look as if he is suffering as were the case a month past. is current an unseasonably nice 66 degrees, and is only noonish, so am gonna take the pooch outside to absorb a bit o' sunlight and fresh air in just a bit. happy thanksgiving day. HA! Good Fun!