Gromnir

Prebuffs are just another gameplay mechanic. The problem is that like many things they were cut out completely instead of toned down and balanced. Even latest D&D has reduced their importance but didn't cut them out completely. calling something a mechanic doesn't make it good or bad. what about the prebuffs made them worth saving? perhaps some folks enjoy the ocd aspect o' prebuffs? before each major battle/encounter, one must go through largely the same exact ritual of prebuffs. does anybody believe that prebuffs is more tactically stimulating or engaging? that could be worth considering, but am not seeing how a ritual behavior performed dozens or hundreds o' times could evidence greater tactical sophistication than pretty much any alternative. am at a loss. HA! Good Fun! ps we forgot to mention the obvious, "because that is how it was done in bg2," non-argument, but was that necessary? the simple fact that something was done in the ie games does not mean it was a positive, right? that is obvious, correct?

I don't know about that. There can be situations where a game is so unusual that you 'misunderstand' how to approach it and you end up missing out on its brilliance until someone enlightens you. Planescape Torment is my example. It came out right after Bg1. The reason why I bought it is because 1) BG1 blew my mind, and 2) I really loved the Trailer....which was on the BG1 play disk. OK, so I bought the game and I proceeded to play it just like I played BG1. I rolled up a high Strength, high Constitution Warrior. Needless to say, my experience was complete Garbage. Because of my Low Wisdom and Intelligence, I got hardly any memories; ended up sacrificing Morte to the pillar of skulls because I didn't know better; had to fight my way past my other Incarnations in the fortress of regrets etc etc. It wasn't until I went online to Bash the friggin game as being a ridiculously Cheap "D&D experience" that people finally confronted me and taught me how the game is supposed to be played. So I went back, started a new game, Rolled up a high Wisdom, high Intelligence character, and then marveled at all the new things I was seeing and doing that weren't available to me before. am not certain we would call a low wisdom and low int play of ps:t to be garbage. our first run at ps:t were pretty much vanilla fighter, though we did test the other classes. weren't til late in the game that we started spending points in wisdom or intelligence. we enjoyed the game immensely. however, it were clear to us that some unpleasant developer were trying to have a joke at ps:t gamer expense. you couldn't play as a priest/cleric, and there were no magical defense adjustment in ps:t for high wisdom. so, for anybody who played bg, the first ie game, what possible reason would a rational player have for boosting wisdom above and beyond all other stats? for the xp bonus? sure, and that is why we put a few points into wisdom, but we sure as heck had no reason to think that wisdom would trump all other stats. we also didn't know at the start o' ps:t that combat would be so freaking terrible, so having a combat focused character were joke-on-us, right? the other end o' the ps:t spectrum is that once you play the game with high wisdom, intelligence and charisma, is there any freaking reason to play the game a different way? ps:t is our favorite crpg. even so, when some folks argue that torment is a steaming pile o' pretentious philosophy-for-dummies crap, served up with the worst ie combat and frequently tedious dialogues, we cannot argue 'gainst such folks with much force. ... 'course that is an argument in favor o' better balance, isn't it? HA! Good Fun!

in reference to the bold, yes, yes you did. you got a dopple you ain't sharing? You did it in this thread (no link needed) Mishandled development (which I replied to) No experience from combat Female gamers having a hard time in gaming communites you got no posts in the second two. you mention this thread: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66196-rpg-codexs-top-70-pc-rpgs/ but not only is there no posts from you, but Gromnir does not mention antisemitism or bigotry of codex in any way, shape or form. etc. 2 threads linked and one offensive image that resulted in a warning for you. we got no warnings. so, who got baited by whom? as we said, progress... codexian baby steps. HA! Good Fun!

iwd were much more straightforward as far as finding a single set of tactics that could get you though every battle. although the level design were often lacking in places like dragon's eye (too many s-shaped maps with repetitive encounters,) the enemy ai was excellent, particular compared to bg and totsc, the immediate predecessors o' iwd. even so, the same basic iwd approach could be used for fire giants as could be used umber hulks and even for mages... whatever your tactics/approach mighta been. bg2 were more complex than iwd if only because the spell catalog were so much deeper and monster were more varied. the variety in bg2 monsters tended to lead to immunity and functional immunity to any weapon an unprepared party might be carrying. a wizard could be immune to anything and everything if you didn't know how to bring down his protections. a demi-lich had a silly catalog o' spells and weapons it were immune to. bg2 adamantine golems were pushovers if you could get them trapped in a doorway and you had the dwarven thrower hammer, or one bow, or a truck load of melf's meteors, but if not...p00p. spellcasters, and monsters with advanced spellcasting ability, could prove immune to everything. sure, true sight coupled with a couple ruby rays of reversal will take any mage down a peg, but if you don't know that or aren't prepared for such battles, you is likely to lose party members, or even wipe. etc. also, in iwd, a very linear dragon-crawl, it were unsurprising that you typical had the weapons you needed for every battle. bg2 were not a game on rails. in bg2, you might very easily be outfitted complete wrong, and if you didn't have a very firm grasp o' your spell caster abilities and pnp knowledge o' the critters you faced, bg2 encounters could prove extreme challenging. even so, there were still some basic strategies that made the game relative easy even without perfect equipment or meta-knowledge. still, you might need to buy potions frequently til your spell repertoire increased, and you would also needs explore maps very slowly and carefully, which could be v...e..r..y..b..o..r..i..n..g. we had some experience with higher level d&d pnp, so bg2 were not too much o' a shock, but even for d&d pnp vets, how many folks played beyond 10th level? most o' our pnp experience, and such experience started with the white box edition, were 7th level and below. is only a tiny fraction o' pnp experience that were actual useful to us in bg2, so we can understands some bg2 frustration even for folks who were thinking themselves to be d&d knowledgeable. go slow. scout ahead. always keep some undead around. don't skimp on potions. buy the highest + weapon you can afford early in the game. and if you got korgan, which seems to be the case, make him a tank and give him some hammer proficiency. dwarven thrower hammer is available early and can hit many seeming uninhabitable critters. korgan with some potions and under influence o' berserk is potential immune to most affects. give him the amulet of power and the cloak of reflection and he almost litteral becomes unstoppable while berserk... and he can single-handed turn demi-liches into little piles o' sand. HA! Good Fun!

and yet, we see from the above linked threads, there is many times we has referenced the codex in threads without any mention o' antisemitism, and without actual even being critical o' rpgcodex. but again, 'cause it seems to be going over your head, or through it without stopping, the two times we has mentioned codexian antisemitism in threads where you were also posting, you could not restrain yourself from leaping to defend codexian honor and virtue (heh). which were, to fellow codexians we s'pose, very heroic and charming and silly and kinda proving our point rather than yours. you got a button that is easy to push... though we didn't manage to get you to post offensive nazi images this time, so perhaps you is growing as a person. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68888-mishandled-development/?p=1519774 you get a warning for that btw? as to your beliefs, well... HA! Good Fun!

am not sure if you realize how self-contradictory you is being at this point. earlier you seemed to think we couldn't resist codexian lure. now... well you got a new theory, but is kinda a mess. "You mention it in many threads without provocation it seems." why yes, it does seem that way, doesn't it? *chuckle* conversely, we see that in the two threads where Gromnir slanders codex with poison in our heart (HA!) and you is present in the thread, you end up following us down the rabbit hole. we can makes a link to more Gromnir posts though. you may accidental end up learning something through all o' this. HA! Good Fun!

"Haha this is fun. I was referring to your automatic commenting about the codex being antisemetic, racist, misogynist, homophobic (and so on and so forth) having nothing to do with 'lolbaiting' me." ​well that is narcissistic. why on earth would every reference by Gromnir o' codexian antisemitism be tied to you? heck, am not even knowing what your join date is on this board, but you were either so forgettable that we don't recall, or were relative recent... at least insofar as regular posting is concerned. am genuine not sure of your point. we has baited other codexians other than sensuki, yes. what works on you works equal well on them... as we said elsewhere in this thread, you do tend to suffer from groupthink. how very odd of you. ​how is that list coming, btw? HA! Good Fun! ps is wonderful that we (you) is getting more codexians to share in our shared wisdom. actual spending efforts digging through our old post? good on you. more 'bout Gromnir and less 'bout... well, anything else it seems. huzzah. pps why on earth would you link the following 2 threads: No experience from combat Female gamers having a hard time in gaming communites you don't have a single post in either? clearly you is confused. this thread and Mishandled development is two in which we both posted, and both is wonderful indicators o' how easily you get drawn in by any suggestion o' codexian flaw.

if you ain't in a thread participating, it would not seem to be within metaphorical earshot, yes? queerer and queerer... queerer doesn't sound like it should be a valid word, which is also queer. 85 rpgcodex posts and you note 5? actual examples: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/45350-does-obsidian-intend-to-make-an-rpg-like-fo/?p=725755 yes, slanderous indeed. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/46782-official-fallout-forums/?p=766166 no mention o' those things you seem to think inevitable follow Gromnir slander for which you must defend. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/54229-dragon-age-discussion/page-9?hl=%2Brpgcodex+%2Bgromnir&do=findComment&comment=1014101 shucks. no disparagement o' codex despite somebody even linking to a codexian review. how does we hold ourself back? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/54409-dragon-age-discussion/page-19?hl=%2Brpgcodex+%2Bgromnir&do=findComment&comment=1038688 hmmm. seems critical of soz review only. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/55421-fighting-in-tunnels/page-2?hl=%2Brpgcodex+%2Bgromnir&do=findComment&comment=1043619 more horrible slander referencing the cesspit that is codex? maybe not, eh? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/39742-obsidians-feargus-urquhart-at-rpg-codex-forum/page-3?hl=%2Brpgcodex+%2Bgromnir&do=findComment&comment=541259 another bad example for sensuki it seems. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66436-bittersweet-eternity-an-open-letter-addressed-to-obsidian-entertainment/page-6?hl=%2Brpgcodex+%2Bgromnir&do=findComment&comment=1464868 our codex reference here seems only to identify them as hardcore crpg fans. etc. given the 85 codex threads we see, many of which we don't involve ourself in any way, we seems to have only a tiny fraction wherein we reference the wonderful qualities o' antisemitism, misogyny, homophobia or any other similar such quality. so, wanna try again? btw, we still ain't speaking 'bout your linked list, is we? have another fish? HA! Good Fun!

not fooling anyone save you you mean? am running out of fish. ​still no discussion o' the list you posted? *chuckle* as we said, at this point we can be complete transparent and you will still continue with the farce. lord knows o' the dozens o' threads on these board with some mention o' codex (quick search says 85), we has participated in few, and in most such threads where we has participated, a rpgcodex reference by Gromnir is nowhere to be found. conversely, if we do happen to "slander" codex and you is anywhere in metaphorical earshot... well, is like flies to p00p. complete transparent and still the performance continues. HA! Good Fun!

had an asian girlfriend at berkeley that taught us where to eat chinese and thai food in the bay area. sadly, she were a rich girl and so we only really learned where some o' the most expensive asian restaurants in the bay area were located. am not sure how helpful her teachings were in the long run. we do know that she Loathed china town restaurants as they offered fodder fit only for the tourists. *shrug* we has been to more than a few asian countries and we learned to never buy meat from a street vendor in thailand, and that if anybody offers you anything they describe as "cheese" in an asian country, it likely is something foul and non-dairy related... weird fish-paste that smells like a pile o' dirty jockstraps. HA! Good Fun!

Careful now, you're starting to act like a Codexian from GD. really? we thought we were mocking you. care for another fish? *shrug* regardless, there is no vulgarity or bigoted comments or the aforementioned pming, on our part, so it don't look all that much like codex. nevertheless, you still choose to stay off-topic in the thread you created and nobody is discussing your list anymore. heck, we can reveal this to you with complete confidence that we will get you to jump for us moments from now. ... am wondering if we can get you to jump through a flaming hoop on command? we could take you on tour. HA! Good Fun!

Sorry, but I don't believe you. ah, another qq? and still you prefer to keep this about sensuki and Gromnir? very, very queer. is both revealing and expected. HA! Good Fun!

fixed. took out the superfluous puffery. however, am betting your four-letter word were different than ours. HA! Good Fun!

Not so. The game told me that I'll be going to Wyrm's Tooth Glacier which was a bit of a giveaway, so I loaded up on fire before going there. The entrance to Lower Dorn's Deep made it clear that there's gonna be more fire deeper in, so I swapped my spells on the first rest. The salamanders and constructs at that point weren't much of a problem. Honest, did not metagame there, just took an extra rest when I saw what the environment looked like. (Edit: also Wyrm's Tooth was really easy, I don't think I even used much magic there, just chewed through everybody with Stabby the Berserker.) I talked to some people before going into Artisan District, and they told me there's a crazy mage there building an army of Umber Hulks. So I loaded up on Chaotic Commands. Honest to God, this is what I did. I almost never felt that the game was suckerpunching me. It did a little in Dragon's Eye when I was kind of led to expect more Talonians (-> memorize Hold Persons and other cleric-suppression things) but then it turned out they were actually Yuan-ti. And that's about it really. It wasn't super-obvious about it, but if you're paying attention the clues are there. Not at all like "let's go to de'Arnise keep to get Viconia and Korgan some nice weapons." we always had at least one slot devoted to chaotic commands as it were so very useful against an incredible array of mind affecting spells. actually, most iwd and bg2 encounters were easily addressed by summon undead and have the summons get to furthest range o' sight, then inch forward. no metagaming. enemy ai would invariably have summons attacked first, giving us time and space to set up appropriate counter-measures. also, chaotic commands had a good duration at 1 turn per level. similarly, potions o' clarity were easily purchased in either game. have scout under influence o' invisibility+ chaotic commands/potion of mental clarity+speed and we could disarm every trap on a map and reveal almost all enemies undetected. we would also be immune to those annoying fear or confusion auras so many enemies utilized. after scouting, send undead ahead and when we is just getting into range o' the toughs, we cast cloudkill and/or whatever aoe spell we chose. OR if after scouting we saw that we were complete outfitted inappropriate, we could leave, sleep and return after memorizing the appropriate spells. might seem like cheese, but not meta. is more than a few encounters that required us to alter tactics in iwd and bg2, but the basics o' scouting and using undead as pmd (old non-pc pnp nomenclature for polish mine detector) were extreme effective for a large % o' encounters. paying attention to dialogues were also invaluable. typical the developers gave clues, if one were paying attention for such. HA! Good Fun!

well, it is good to hear that you are out of danger. sounds like you had the bacterial variety, yes? you are a bit older than is the typical meningitis sufferer. am glad they were able to diagnose and treat you quickly enough. am no med expert, but viral meningitis swept the ucsb campus when we were there a Long time ago, so we heard at least a little about the disease from all the doctors and nurses that were explaining to us the dangers/symptoms/treatments o' the disease. get well.

well going by the spirit o' the contest, the poster with the guess closest to the actual release date would likely be the winner. as we don't current know the actual release date, we surely don't know the winner. that being said, as the thread were abandoned following the change in release dates, it makes it kinda difficult to identify a fair cut-off for submissions. oh, and we do not look down 'pon carrion feeders. gromnir is only one letter away from grimnir, so it would be bad luck for us to be ill-disposed to carrion feeders. HA! Good Fun!

why can't you do such stuff with prefixes and suffixes? in nwn 2, you could create weapons that had a wide range o' qualities and attributes. have grobnar use ________ metal to build a +(whatever) warhammer of (something nifty) and (something kewl) is beyond's stun's capacity to role-play? we hope that isn't the case. is role-play tied to the developer giving the weapon a name? that doesn't sound like Gromnir's rp experiences from pnp. is it 'cause the player has some choice in making the weapon and deciding its qualities what offend's stun's rp sensibilities? why? would not acquiring resources to craft a personal weapon be sounding like the kinda thing stun could role-play? HA! Good Fun!

have been hearing some attic noises of late that make us think we got squirrels living in our house. we really should call somebody to take care o' that. humane catch and release is soo expensive. perhaps release a feral cat to drive out the squirrels? ... am not serious about the cat btw, but am almost certain about the squirrels. HA! Good Fun!

I dunno, sounds pretty personal to me. But then again, I'm stoopid. Yeah, he's taking it personal, see below from earlier in the thread. Have pity though, Gromnir's experience with the codex appear to include being PMed by Nomask7 which would scar the most accomplished warrior let alone someone with such a delicate id. who is nomask7? friend of yours? am not certain we indicated in that post that we had personally received pms such as that at codex. doesn't appear that way from our post. HA! Good Fun!

see, again, that works better if we hadn't already pointed out that we were baiting you. "Haha." ​oh well. in any event, you do seem to have answered the primary question we posed in our previous post: personal or codex? we don't find you all that interesting, but if you wanna keep soft-balling stuff, we will keep hitting it. "q_q"? heh. oh, and to stay on-topic, we still haven't read the actual codex list. random internet lists is, well, random. http://arborist101.com/power/gas/ http://toothbrushclean.com/top-10-electric-toothbrushes/ oh and http://www.thetoptens.com/best-religions/ am much more interested in how somebody rated world religions than we is curious to know what were the 1-25 (or 1-50? as we said, we didn't actual see the list) crpgs for 2014 as rated by codex. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking amish is lumped in with christianity umbrella, otherwise, they got robbed.

that is poor deflection. lets talk 'bout your sensitivity. if codex is scaling to our level, and you is all so much more thick-skinned than us, then why would you care if we find codexian bigotry to be unpalatable? is you that concerned with Gromnir's opinion that you will rise to the bait each an every time we hold it forth? does you need respond to the offering like some trained porpoise? you do make a mighty amusing splash, btw. we could discuss codex, or we can continue along the line o' argument that you chose wherein we point out personal shortcomings o' the other... which is admitted gonna be easier for Gromnir as we gets to be the one responding to your less than artful attempts at deflection. is up to you. Gromnir and sensuki as the topic, or codex? personal, we prefer to discuss codex (not that there is much left to discuss) but you seem to wanna keep talking 'bout Gromnir. queer... and use that in the denotative rather than connotative manner. oh, and no. HA! Good Fun!

I dunno, sounds pretty personal to me. But then again, I'm stoopid. maybe you is just too sensitive. ah, poor n00b gonna qq 'cause we says bad things 'bout codex? and your mother is sooo ugly that... *snort* HA! Good Fun!

we appreciate the double entendre 1987 buick grand national gnx HA! Good Fun!

is having bruce on our side a good thing? *shrug* Gromnir is actual pretty thick-skinned when it comes to race/culture humor and parody. you weren't gonna find us protesting over johnny depp's tonto portrayal. we has laughed at over-the-top homosexual characters in movies without the least feeling o' guilt. nevertheless, when bigotry becomes overt and intentional cruel, we do not believe it should be indulged or ignored. pretending that bigotry is no big deal or is only immature, or isn't "too bad" is a terrible pov. antisemitism, racism, misogyny, homophobia is not the fault o' the listener for their failure to toughen-up. we ain't jewish. we ain't a woman. we ain't a homosexual, or black or arab or any o' the other groups that is frequently targeted at codex. heterosexual, male, native american, catholic lawyers is such a small demographic group that we suspect we will never personal face anything but the most accidental and stoopid codexian bigotry imagined. admitted, the codexian retorts we faced in this thread were pretty darn stoopid, so perhaps we is overly optimistic. regardless, our contempt for codex is not personal, but it is genuine. foster and/or condone an environment o' overt bigotry? how can anybody suggest that such a thing is okie dokie? HA! Good Fun!

one o' the advantages o' living in the valley here in nor cal is not having to deal with salted roads and sidewalks. we don't mind snow or ice near as much as we dislike salt. a couple years ago, we broke down to peer pressure and purchased a bmw suv. previous to that, our primary driving vehicle (we do own a second car that we only drive 'bout once or twice a month) were a 1988 ford ranger. we had that truck for almost 25 years, and it ran as well, if not better, in 2012 as the day we bought it. is no way we coulda' maintained our truck for a quarter century with midwest or east coast road salting. for all the good salt does to cars, we might as well have be driving over ridley scott aliens. HA! Good Fun!