Gromnir

two observations: first, am confused. presumably somebody with authority at codex, if such a person exists, asked those folks contributing to pj's review to "keep it under wraps," yes? however, earlier in this thread it were noted that sensuki received permission from the codex to post pj's rough draft. is Gromnir missing something? or is that why sensuki is "pleased with himself"? tell collaborators not to do exactly what sensuki got permission to do? ... second observation is that we got no idea why we continue to post in this thread. bad on Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

the only thing we will note, as we ain't heard how sensuki spins it, if pj offered a review to sensuki with the clear understanding that sensuki represented the codex and that the review were a submission to the codex, then... *shrug* no takebacksees on those embarrassing penthouse letters to the editor. the thing is, it appears to us that pj were going to sensuki personally for editorial review o' a work sensuki knew were incomplete. is so many things wrong with what sensuki did, but again, we only hear from pj. am not sure how sensuki spins, but am having a hard time imagining a motivation that makes sensuki actions less slimey. HA! Good Fun!

our understanding, based on nothing more than what we read here, is that pj went to sensuki for feedback on a review pj were cooking. for reasons known only to him, sensuki, w/o permission from pj, posted pj's rough first efforts on the codex boards with a rather colorful thread title to boot. am not knowing when this all occurred at codex, but the drama already happened at codex in "Twenty-odd pages of concentrated bile" and possible a few pms and/or emails. unfortunate, pj gets a shot to endure the insult anew 'cause bubbles reposted the "review" in this place. not actual fun at all.

given our already low opinion o' the codex, and sensuki in particular, am gonna admit to nevertheless being surprised that he would resort to such a petty and spiteful action. even protected by the anonymity o' the internet, it takes courage to share an essay, story or review. is going naked. go to folks for honest help and then have those same folks post your early efforts w/o permission is bordering on sacrilege-- writers and editors don't do that... evar. sensuki put much effort into his poe feedback, and he were mostly ignored save for bug identification and minor ui suggestions. that sensuki has not handled his impotence with grace comes as no surprise, but even so, am admitting that we would not have predicted that he would post pj efforts w/o permission. is something that ain't done. well, live and learn, eh? next time you want harsh criticism, ask Gromnir to take a look. HA! Good Fun!

before some person feels the need to offer "soon," we will observe that fans do not yet have a date or even an approximate date for the expansion(s) release. am recalling obsidian as having stated that more expansion details would be forthcoming in the week post e3, but whether a release date is among such details, we cannot say. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that shady would frequent think terrible thoughts 'bout us. when we ain't specific working on something where time is o' the essence, we... glide. in most circumstances, am preternatural patient and sedate. that being said, we ain't one o' those clowns that give the middle finger to the world as they take their time doing nothing. we will hussle across a street rather than making a guy wait while we saunter. woman behind us at supermarket checkout got a gallon o' milk? we let her go ahead o' us. our lack o' haste does not rob us o' awareness o' our surroundings. even so, am betting the fainéant impression we leave would set your teeth on edge. ... we don't look like a trevor... and the only brevin we know is the former point guard from stanford. we kinda look like esai morales. well, if you stuck esai morales' head on bane from the dark knight rises. so, more like a Grodd than a trevor. we tend to scare folks as is, which is one reason why we smile frequent and glide. HA! Good Fun! What does it mean to, "Look like a trevor"? preppy metrosexual? HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that shady would frequent think terrible thoughts 'bout us. when we ain't specific working on something where time is o' the essence, we... glide. in most circumstances, am preternatural patient and sedate. that being said, we ain't one o' those clowns that give the middle finger to the world as they take their time doing nothing. we will hussle across a street rather than making a guy wait while we saunter. woman behind us at supermarket checkout got a gallon o' milk? we let her go ahead o' us. our lack o' haste does not rob us o' awareness o' our surroundings. even so, am betting the fainéant impression we leave would set your teeth on edge. ... we don't look like a trevor... and the only brevin we know is the former point guard from stanford. we kinda look like esai morales. well, if you stuck esai morales' head on bane from the dark knight rises. so, more like a Grodd than a trevor. we tend to scare folks as is, which is one reason why we smile frequent and glide. HA! Good Fun!

got all the info we needed. xcom 2 is an xcom game with much the same gameplay as enemy unknown and enemy within but with a variety o' enhancements, improvements and alterations. ... 'course, they had us at "xcom." HA! Good Fun!

am admitting that Gromnir is curious 'bout implementation o' those two abilities as feats. carnage-lite on a rogue is likely unnecessary, though is possible that we do not have carnage available as it weren't specific mentioned. fighters is an underrated dps class that we frequent run outta essential talents with which to customize. this would make fighters a prime candidate for off-class talents in our playing o' poe. somehow add both a sneak-attack and carnage to a dps fighter? our off-tank monk builds already do excellent dps. give'em sneaky attacks strikes us as potential unbalancing. am admitting that am curious as to how we might build a high intelligence dps monk to exploit a carnage ability, but am similarly recognizing that such is not needed and possibly unbalancing. regardless, the most powerful off-class talent combis is unlikely to be stuff we can predict. due to an unanticipated application o' abilities, spells and talents, there will be a couple ridiculous overpowered builds that emerge with the expansion-- is inevitable. the thing is, sneak and carnage is obvious, so we suspect that the obsinaties is work to make sure that those talents ain't gonna be exploited... at least not in any predictable way. HA! Good Fun!

a vd review? how amusing. am gonna pass on clicky o' the link. however, is worth noting that the first game made by black isle after losing the "artistic" troika talents was planescape:torment. HA! Good Fun!

"Even though "spiritual successor of the Infinity Engine games" never figured in the pitch in those exact words, it is clear that that's what it was meant to be. These are big boots to step into. To what extent does it succeed?" HA! yeah, obsidian never said the words, and am not sure what "spiritual successor" means to the reviewers as they never define this bit o' nonsense, but that is the standard the reviewers will hold the developers to in the review? based on the quote they lift from the ks pitch, no bg2 comparison should ever be made, yes? is soooo tough to take reviews serious when they start off as this one did. not wishing to be unfair and dismiss the entirety o' the review 'cause o' an early stumble, we trudged onward, but our patience did not last long. "A visual style that looks like an organic evolution of Baldur's Gate 2 or Icewind Dale." *groan* "The Infinity Engine games made great use of one of D&D’s best features: Magic." okie dokie. am not gonna go further into the multiple problems with identifying magic as "one of" d&d's "best features," but this were the insurmountable fatigue point for Gromnir. perhaps you like the review 'cause you agree with reviewer opinions. perhaps you hate the review for opposite reasons. the degree to which a reviewer's conclusions match our own is not how we personal judge a review. this work in progress needs... work. one o' these days we is gonna get past the halfway point o' a codexian review before giving up the ghost, but today ain't that day. HA! Good Fun! ps the reviewer(s) is unlikely to take any Gromnir suggestion to heart at this point, but we would recommend that in future endeavours, they should exorcise any appearance o' really, very and i believe. those particular adverbs we mention diminish in efficacy each time they is utilized and is glaring beacons o' the author's lack o' imagination. shouldn't need explain why use o' "i believe weakens" a review, yes? am realizing we sound harsh. nevertheless, your efforts will be (somewhat) improved by taking the simple measures o' removing the aforementioned feeble language. really.

month or so ago we had a similar problem. if we cast a paralyze effect on a critter that were already paralyzed, the critter would actual be cleansed o' the original paralyzation. got 8 seconds left on paralyze and had grieving mother target a troll with mental binding would result in premature freeing o' the troll from paralysis. am not certain if this were ever fixed or if we simple became so annoyed that we changed tactics so that we avoided any possible layering o' paralysis. HA! Good Fun!

mostly a repost from the expansion thread, but our current observations on the issue is... "fighter is an obvious class for Gromnir to be considering the benefits of the off-class talents. particularly when we play eder as a dps fighter, we run outta abilities and talents that we is genuine interested in taking. some kinda mini sneak attack option would be something to consider for one o' those last couple slots as we most often use such a choice on a utility feat that, while useful, is sorta a compromise pick. our paladins, on the other hand, is less likely to run outta useful choices. our ranged/support paladins, particularly the gunners, has more than enough choices to utilize all talent opportunities. a tank paladin has gotta use multiple talents as it is to make 'em viable tanks comparable to fighters. "chanter-specific talents is currently limited and kinda lame. perhaps we would consider playing a chanter as something other than a secondary tank once we get a looksee at the options. maybe" am also gonna note that our poe druids often load up on the elemental talents mostly 'cause we can't think o' any better way to spend 'em. 'course any relevant discussion w/o seeing what are the actual options for off-class talents makes this a wonderfully pointless thought experiment... like killing schrödinger's cat. can a tank choose to acquire a mage arcane veil? hell, we suspect the folks who play the low constitution and unarmoured rogues might be even more curious 'bout an arcane veil talent... but only if it gives meaningful benefit. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna note our initial disappointment with the off-class talents idea. instead o' coming up with new and unique ways to improve talent choices for classes, obsidian will simple use already existing abilities and talents to pad the existing talent lists. feels like bloat. however, we will need to see the talents and how they actual improve classes.

paladin as needing/benefiting from the faux multi-class? huh. fighter is an obvious class for Gromnir to be considering the benefits of the off-class talents. particularly when we play eder as a dps fighter, we run outta abilities and talents that we is genuine interested in taking. some kinda mini sneak attack option would be something to consider for one o' those last couple slots as we most often use such a choice on a utility feat that, while useful, is sorta a compromise pick. our paladins, on the other hand, is less likely to run outta useful choices. our ranged/support paladins, particularly the gunners, has more than enough choices to utilize all talent opportunities. a tank paladin has gotta use multiple talents as it is to make 'em viable tanks comparable to fighters. chanter-specific talents is currently limited and kinda lame. perhaps we would consider playing a chanter as something other than a secondary tank once we get a looksee at the options. maybe. regardless, paladin is not the first class we were thinking o' when we heard 'bout off-class talents... and we refuse to call 'em multi-class talents, 'cause ain't anything like multi-classing based on the description we got so far. off-class talents works for us and is less dismissive than faux or fake class talents. HA! Good Fun!

if you have one item that boosts accuracy by 5 and another that boosts accuracy by 6, only the +6 item will be counted towards your combat accuracy. in most cases, bonuses do not stack, and only the greater modification is applied... but that ain't always true. nakia suggests checking your character record sheet as suppressed bonuses will be clear identified. in our initial example, the +5 accuracy boosting item would be identified as being suppressed. it would be smarty to switch out the +5 accuracy item in favor o' one that would provide a meaningful benefit in combat, yes? HA! Good Fun!

wouldn't be sunderland. for nma, codex and other sinks o' True fallout fandom it would be more akin to fans who would see their own coaches and players as purposeful betraying them. be that as it may, am perfectly happy with the soccer hooligan analogy. yes, the typical soccer hooligan is mostly hot air and can only attack when protected by the anonymity o' the faceless mob, so the chances that they would ever carry out their espoused threats o' violence is unlikely. on the other hand, bottle throwing jackarses mindlessly burning dumpsters is a perfectly analogous. HA! Good Fun!

is also kind o' a head-scratcher. why would scaling ruin combats for level 12 parties? scaling is introduced to deal with the unbalanced combats the genesis poster identified as problematic in the core game. *shrug* as to codexians, the grognards has always been irrational about a variety o' gaming issues. that being said, poe difficulty for late game, even when one accepts the impossibility o' getting uniform satisfying difficulty, particularly in a game wherein the player has choice regarding the order in which they access maps and content, were suspect. optional scaling for the expansion material makes sense. along similar lines, add an option to the core game so that pivotal battles could be scaled more appropriate would be a fix worthy o' consideration. such an option would not require the obsidians to go back and re-tool every encounter, but major encounters could have the difficulty bootstrapped as it were. HA! Good Fun!

unexpected apt description. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3DS7NdJces HA! Good Fun!

milf lover? *sigh* a beavis and butthead reference might be too 1990s, eh? HA! Good Fun!

am kinda conflicted. every application for school, scholarships and jobs we ever completed til we were in our 30s we identified our self as white. our maternal grandmother were mostly white, but to say we identified as white were stretching the definitions. so, when you get right down to it, we did similar stuff as rachel doleval. our motivations mighta' been different, but fact o' the matter is that checking the "white" box on literal dozens o' applications were... peculiar. *shrug* affirmative action angered us. is not that we thought affirmative action were bad (though we did think it were counter-productive until a few years ago) but rather that we were offended by the presumption that we needed affirmative action. even worse, we were able to observe that folks assumed that we had benefited from affirmative action. coulda' had our sat scores tattooed on our forehead and most o' our fellow students at Cal woulda' nevertheless assumed that we gained admittance to university either 'cause o' sports or our native american heritage. 'cause o' affirmative action, the starting presumption were that we got help from a program that handicapped whites and asians. sure, we could eventual prove to folks that we had earned our place through hard work and/or talent, but the assumption were hard to overcome. and if we ever did check the native american box on an application, how would we know for certain that we didn't get help? am not certain o' the psychology behind rachel whatsherface's choices. don't care. the thing is, did she actual gain some kinda advantage from her mischaracterization? when she applied for a scholarship to howard, there were no place on the form to identify her race. she submitted test scores, recommendations and samples o' her work. w/o knowing that rachel were white, she received a full-ride scholarship. she kept getting hired and promoted, and as far as we can tell, all o' her lies were related to her parentage and race. is no suggestion that she lied about accomplishments, achievements or experience, yes? am conflicted. we wanna dismiss her as a loon. our kneejerk reaction is to be offended by her false portrayal o' her race. even so, condemning her would be personal hypocritical and am also having difficulty identifying a specific harm she perpetrated. she lied? sure, but lies were all 'bout her race. is something wrong with the whole scenario but am not sure if rachel is what we think is the genuine wrong. HA! Good Fun!

prreeeetty sure in this instance 'silly' is synonym for 'singularly genius' yes, no doubt it will one day join the pantheon o' other great fantasy card games... like yu-gi-oh. ... HA! Good Fun!

as long as Gromnir need pay no more than we has always paid for our use o' these boards, we would gladly subscribe. consider us a subscriber. hell, we will order two subscriptions at the current rate. so, how many s&h green stamps is awarded per subscription? HA! Good Fun!

there were one durgan (sp?) steel weapon in the core game, and it had the speed mod in addition to being exceptional. would be kinda funny if the speed mod were inherent to durgan steel, but still bugged so as to be impotent. well, maybe not funny. ogre cannoners trigger our sense o' whimsy. as an aside, the devil of caroc and zahua is having individual cards in the silly poe card game. the devil is a rogue and zahua is a monk. devil looks like an artificial being. possible jnpcs? edit: am seeing that in the kickstarter update, devil and zahua is specific identified as companions from the upcoming white march expansion, and devil is indeed a construct. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2081578473/pillars-of-eternity-lords-of-the-eastern-reach-car/posts/1266758 HA! Good Fun!

the companions, none o' them, is required to advance the main Plot. in terms o' Story, all the companions contribute to the core theme(s) o' the game. kana rua, sagani and pallegina all got insular side-quests, just as does the rest o' the companions, but the real key for Gromnir is what those companions contribute to the Story as 'posed to simple the setting or plot. *shrug* sagani were a bit heavy on the info-drop exposition, but we were satisfied with her thematic contributions. the traditions o' her people required sagani to sacrifice years o' her life for a goal she were ambivalent 'bout. why? why did she sacrifice? were there value in such sacrifice? kana were exploring a different kinda faith. what happens when the intellectual makes a discovery such as the one kana made during his trip through the endless paths? am not saying sagani or kana were great companions, but they most certainly had quests that contributed to the Story o' poe. HA! Good Fun!

No dev in their right mind would ever work for the Codex. For one, it's just an internet forum. For two, they hate everything. Not true. They like Fallout 1, MCA and Tim Cain. I think you mean "They hate Fallout 1, MCA and Tim Cain less than they hate other stuff." Likes a pretty strong word. I keed, I keed...RPG Codex likes a lot of stuff (and individual members have wide variety of tastes); there's just not a lot of games that meet the irrational and capricious standards they set for "good game" status. fixed. wouldn't mind consistent high standards, but certain titles and developers are subjected to a different level o' review by the codexian mob. HA! Good Fun!