Gromnir

Using increased emphasis on romances as a sign if their "decline" is a but curcukar, IMO, since that emphasis is placed there mostly by media/snarky gamers. For example, I don't think a romance has been morecore to a Bioware story than Bastila was in Kotor... Me2 has a wrong type of emphasis on romance in the npc stories due to locking out character interaction and progression outside romances, but it's something they did pick up on and fix for me3. Truly, the whole "BioWare focuses too much on romances" is more than a bit of hyperbole. Romances are still a tiny, optional part of every game, and arguably their presence isn't any larger than it used to. Hell, some people who work at BioWare have expressed frustration that their fans won't shut up about it and bring it up in every situation, instead of, you know, focusing on other parts of the game. There is much legitimate criticism to throw at BioWare. Their romances being cliche, cheesy and fan service is one of them. Their romances being the focus of the game, not so much. the irony being that the biowarians created the situation they now find distasteful. as bruce has identified, the biowarians made a safe haven for fans o' the companion seximification mini-game and alternative lifestyle advocates. bio writers were frequently active participants in the the romance love fests. yeah, we can sympathize with bioware to some small degree as we watched the evolution. as we has observed previous, is not as if bg2 romances resulted in some kinda dramatic overnight change. even the inclusion o' non-traditional romances in kotor and jade empire did not result in immediate and noteworthy alterations to the board dialectic. nevertheless, with each new game bioware pushed the envelope a bit further, and the writers and developers only complained rare about fan excess. so, now they wanna complain that all fans wanna do is talk romance? they coulda' stopped the crazy train if they had wished to do so, but they didn't. biowarians were laughing like pre-teens with their bare arses hanging out the windows as their silly locomotive o' love roared ever forward. complain now? *snort* bioware got what it wanted, but like in all the fairy-tales, it were too late when they came to realization that what they wanted weren't exact how they imagined. HA! Good Fun!

we dated an actress... once. HA! Good Fun!

kinda a sidenote: some o' the most bizarre feuds we can recall is literary feuds. writers can be... odd. is worth a google if you is looking for some particularly colorful insults. "literary feuds" will produce more than a few zingers. additionally, am not much o' a comic book fan, but am understanding that comic writers has been known to get surly. our experience is more with writers than other artists, but our limited experience is telling us that the insecure artsy types tends to be more prone to such stuff rather than less. 'least we ain't dealing with actors and directors, yes? some amusing examples: faulkner speaking of hemingway “he has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” hemingway on faulkner “poor faulkner. does he really think big emotions come from big words?” capote on kerouac “that’s not writing, that’s typing.” byron v. keats is probable too easy... am not certain what keats ever did to byron, but there is multiple sources o' byron verbally eviscerating keats, and byron didn't even have the decency to cease his assaults after keats untimely death. is as if keats' death only angered byron more as it forever removed the young man from lord fussy-britches reach. but again, am not suggesting a feud 'tween obsidain and bioware. HA! Good Fun!

ps keep in mind that we ain't suggesting that obsidian developers is dismissive o' bioware-- said so above. is also not 'bout burning bridges and open feuds. nevertheless, just as boardies here and at codex come up with reasons and rationales as to why bioware games sell better, so will the obsidian developers. am having no idea what conclusions they arrive at, but am suspecting the obsidian guys take pride in their work and is competitive 'mongst themselves and others in their field... am betting that they don't resign themselves to the fact that bioware is simply a better developer o' crpgs. and again, just in case is being missed, we don't know what any particular obsidian is thinking 'bout bioware. "Many writers, who work alone, in fact eschew competition..." am not doubting this is true o' some obsidians or even most, but that in itself is also telling, no? mini-game romances is biowarian. avoid competition is just as telling. but regardless, we don't know obsidian mind on this. that being said, we suspect it is a question worth considering. HA! Good Fun!

our sister were smart, athletic and made friends easily. as an out-o'-state student she were accepted to uc berkeley as a molecular and cell biology major. in high school she played soccer and were the team mvp. she were also on the student council... secretary or somesuch. we bring up 'cause our sister eventually confided that she sorta hated being our sister during high school. she went to berkeley mainly 'cause that is where Gromnir went, and 'cause she didn't get into stanford. in spite o' being a soccer star, she were constantly being compared to her brother who were all-state in multiple sports. she did student council partially 'cause we had no interest in such stuff-- it were the "one thing" she had that were different and better than us. Gromnir never felt the least bit competitive towards her, which only made things worse for her. weren't til years later that she were able to get over the competitiveness. now the thing is, most every place we has worked, or any teams we has been part o', competitiveness and envy were always a factor... and sometimes encouraged. got forty and fifty year old men women working for a prestigious firm and their "office politics" is just a sad way to make immature rivalries sound better. there ain't no way bob deserved that promotion. mary is such a freaking brown-noser. blah, blah, blah. hell, as a coach or boss we has purposeful singled-out a person for praise or perks simply to get a reaction from the rest o' the "team." even if the guys at bioware and obsidian were absolute bestest buddies, we wouldn't be quick to dismiss their competitive nature. HA! Good Fun!

no matter how clever your sophistry or enlightened your ideals, you will never convince a tiger to become a vegetarian. am gonna leave for you all to decide if the promancers is the sophist or tiger. "2: Keep in mind that Bg1 had no romances, but Bg2 did. This suggest it is entirely possible for romances to be in PoE2." the quoted material does raise an interesting question. obsidian is not bioware. that observation is beyond contention, but in and of itself it means nothing. ask the hardcore fans here or at rpgcodex what is defining qualities that distinguish the two developers, and some folks new to these boards might be surprised. is would be hard to argue that obsidian has been more successful at selling games, so the folks who prefer kotor 2 to kotor or motb to nwn is forced to find differences other than raw sales data. "obsidian makes smarter games that don't pander to the prurient interests o' the bsn crowd." such debates will often include phrases such as "lowest common denominator" to be identifying the fans o' bioware games. the "console crowd" is another dismissive label. is a somewhat silly debate, nevertheless, one is wondering how obsidian sees itself as different from bioware. am doubting the obsidian v. bioware bit is something the developers discuss... much. additionally, it is worth noting that obsidian is not a single entity save as a legal fiction that is having benefits for taxation and investment-- different peoples at obsidan is likely having different perspectives. still, we cannot help but wonder how obsidian sees self, and if that identity might not have impact on future romance. romances is a biowarian staple. what Gromnir considers romance is not actual what bioware includes in their games, but we do recognize that bioware has been able to alter the very definition o' crpg game romance in the relative short period o' time they has been making games. when folks here and elsewhere discuss, debate and/or dismiss the merits o' crpg romance, they is arguing 'bout the companion mini-game that bioware has made integral in their releases. have romance 'tween two characters and both o' them is not the player character? before the turn o' the century such a romance woulda' been as likely, if not more likely, to be at the heart o' a discussion o' crpg romance. when Gromnir suggests that the bestest crpg romance we has ever encountered in a game is ravel puzzelwell's love for the nameless one, we is typical fighting an uphill battle, and we is needing necessarily start by proving that ravel's love for tno should be counted as a crpg romance. the very scope o' the question has been redefined by bioware. yeah, obsidian no doubt recognizes the popularity o' romances, but how does obsidian sees self in the present context? from a cynical perspective, would obsidian wanna deal with comparisons to bioware insofar as what has become a distinctly biowarian feature? is our understanding that obsidian included some limited version o' romance in AP and that the romance itself were, to put the best spin possible 'pon it, having very mixed reviews. if obsidian embraces some kinda us v. them mentality as does the relative fan-bases, it is possible that obsidian might wish to avoid comparisons related to romance. obsidian don't have biowarian experience with the romance mini-game. also, and while am certain obsidian could never admit, what if obsidian has a distinctly codexian perspective and is seeing bioware as a developer that is catering to the console crowd and the least common denominator? turned into a pillar o' salt might be just punishment for looking back towards sodom, yes? romances is one o' those distinctly biowarian features, and if one embraces the belief that such romances is an exercise in developer decadence and excess, then obsidian needs necessarily bring themselves down to biowarian level to craft such features. again, am not actual saying that obsidian is afraid o' competing with bioware or that obsidians is dismissive o' bioware and/or bioware style romance, so those o' you who has used reply/quote to refute should now be feeling a bit silly for indulging your reflexive urges. Gromnir is simply posing a question: how does obsidian see itself? perhaps you don't think the question is relevant. is a fair pov, but we cannot help but wonder at how constant being compared to bioware might influence obsidian. HA! Good Fun!

one o' these days it is serious gonna come back to haunt us. relationships for us tend to be brief. am purposeful attracted to attractive, smart and wholly disagreeable women. knowing that they is rude, bigoted and/or hate children, the elderly and customer service persons, gives us a built-in excuse to be keeping our romantic relationships brief... brief but typical kinda exciting and contentious. we do keep expecting something to go horribly wrong (more famous last word) but so far... have never had a favorite bird species. ravens? too sinister we s'pose. HA! Good Fun!

Always an excellent idea As I said I have no real knowledge of bald eagles or most any birds if I'm being honest we know very little about birds. ... untrue. we does know a fair amount about birds, but such knowledge is largely limited to culinary aspects as 'posed to biology. nevertheless, we has been relative close to bald eagles, so we can admit that they is impressive looking beasties. the females can be quite large too. that being said, we agree with teddy. HA! Good Fun!

is best not to believe everything you read. bald eagles sound like birds. they can scream loud enough to startle people, but their typical call is... hmmm... am trying to think o' something similar. a puppy yipping? we got some bald eagles near where Gromnir lives, so am quite familiar with them. *chuckle* we had a girl friend we took hiking to see a bald eagle that were nesting near a lake close to our home. nest were goodly sized and in a tall pine. we had never gotten closer than about 50 meters to the bird(s) and the nest-- no reason to as tree were very tall and any closer would have us trying to stare up at the birds from underneath the nest. our "girlfriend" wanted eagle feathers. we pointed out that it were kinda illegal to take bald eagle feathers. "you're an indian. what good are you if you can't get some eagle feathers?" ... in our defense, she were extreme attractive. regardless, the reason for the law is mostly to prevent hunting and disruption o' nests. we saw no real danger to the birds, so we obliged. the ground cover 'round the tree, and most everywhere, were a rather dense straw-colored weed that rose to 'bout mid calf. this made the area a bit dangerous for snakes, so we were treading careful and looking for signs o' venomous reptiles more than feathers. even so, we did not at first recognize just how extensive the eagle's bone-yard were. 'bout 10 meters from the tree, we noticed a duck head... relative fresh. clearly where prey were plentiful, the eagles were not fastidious eaters. looking closer down 'mongst the weeds and it were obvious that in a 10-15 meter circumference 'round the tree, you literal could not step without stepping on evidence o' widespread eagle slaughter-- mostly duck parts, but also fur-covered bits that we assumed belonged to rodents o' varying sizes. we didn't find any feathers, and our girlfriend were less enthusiastic about searching after we pointed out the litter the eagles had left at the base o' the tree. that being said, it never occurred to us that the bald eagle's call were its defining characteristic. it sounds like a bird... or a puppy. as for charles mann's book, well, it has a self-evident premise that is worth consideration. there were indeed many thriving cultures that existed here in north america before columbus arrived. pretend like white settlers tamed an empty wilderness is a tad overblown. unfortunately, he kinda went further than necessary. mann, for reasons that seem unnecessary to us, took as a given that white diseases killed off something near 95% o' the indigenous populations. he also insisted that the land-bridge theories o' asian migration to the new world were bunk. dna testing has recently made the land-bridge theories a near certainty, and the 95% number were always... excessive. there were major tribes o' native americans in ohio before the settlers arrived. the iroquios, delaware and shawnee had "considerable" presence in ohio (as well as others) but they weren't exactly horticulturalists who were beautifying the landscape before settlers arrived, and they didn't have anywhere near the numbers mann would wish. as an aside, some o' those native americans were understandably a bit hostile towards the invaders. ohio alone is 'bout 112,000 sq km. england is 'bout 130,000 sq km in size. am not certain how mann could possibly imagine that populations that were largely hunter-gatherers were gonna sculpt the landscape to the degree he envisioned *shrug* don't believe anything you read on the internet. do further research for yourself. HA! Good Fun!

last post o' the day for us. to the genesis poster: the only thing wrong with your post is the date you chose to post it. am not agreeing with you, but that don't make you wrong. lack o' Gromnir agreement surely don't make your post bad. nope, your mistake were waiting until July 4, 2014. game is functional feature locked, and this particular topic has been beaten into utter insensibility. no romance thread may exist on this board without it becoming a disaster in part because folks has argued so much that their perspectives has been hardened and refined to extreme degrees. there is no room for change in the game or in the opinions of your potential respondents. get sherman to set way-back machine to 2012. is only way you post gets the respect and consideration it would otherwise be due. HA! Good Fun!

is not a language thing. example: "From that perspective, I don't think char creation is the main selling point to focus on." we Never suggested or even implied such. is not language that is getting in your way. *shrug* go up and down the board and look at threads about people guessing at ability point distributions and skills and talents and many other such queries. people is guessing. we don't know. regardless o' whether or not you think glorified rat killing were as important as were character generation insofar as an e3 demo, the complete absence o' queries 'bout the absence o' character generation in the demo were odd at best. as a journalist, why would you not ask? why would you not offer obsidian response to such a query if they provided one rather than letting mannock try and invent excuses for obsidian. Gromnir's guesses as to why there were no character generation is noted above, and they is no more likely or unlikely than mannock's guesses. that is precisely why the so-called journalists should ask. as for our rudeness. *chuckle* HA! Good Fun! ​ps our font size gets screwy with every post. is very odd

am about to head out and celebrate. joyous felicitations to all fortunate enough to be American on this day. to the rest o' you... you has our heartfelt condolences. HA! Good Fun!

Is that joke still funny? Was that ever remotely true? Or is it just in the US? Americans. taking vol serious, about anything, is what is funny. don't be that guy. is not your fault, 'cause chances are you don't know better, but vol reason is not necessarily human reason. HA! Good Fun!

"Well we know there's gonna be char creation, so with you logic above, why should they show char creation?" first, we said that absence o' character interactions and combat (even rat killing) would be newsworthy. "if such had been absent, THAT woulda' been newsworthy." see? am trying to help. were combat absent? were interactions absent? were character creation absent? ding-ding-- we got a wiener. also, unlike combat in a level-based system that changes significantly as you level, character CREATION takes place when? character creation, by definition, is start of game. is odd that you would not realize. no need for further clarification? btw, Please reread. am not complaining 'cause we didn't get to see what we wished. getting to see very basic combat mechanics were having some use. tutorial combat does at least show how interface works and some basic mechanics... although showing d&d rat killing without context o' knowing d&d rules is somewhat confusing, yes? why is Gromnir missing a rat? got feedback text enabled? no? why not? if yes, what the hell is thac0 and how are these numbers being calculated? am complaining 'cause at this late date, there is a great deal we do not know. to offer little that is new/news and have e3 game "journalists" not ask why? that is the gripe. also, am hoping you really don't believe that the backers o' poe ain't concerned about character generation. is not much we can say to that. tell you what, if you honest believe that, create a seeming silly poll that actual asks question: do you care about character generation in Pillars of Eternity? most folks is gonna not understand question 'cause the possibility o' there being "no" responses will be limited to extreme small pool o' people. HA! Good Fun!

Well, I'd say the story and the interaction with the NPCs are the most important parts of the game. But that's just my point of view, and you have yours. that question were asked, but we only saw once. developers noted that they didn't wanna spoil. so, while we thinks it is passing silly to show wolf killing as a way to highlight your new game, your query were addressed and given response. and apply simple reason, it makes sense that if you don't wanna spoil, you don't show interactions that is gonna be important in the game. show interaction with mayor pufnstuf or wilhelmina witchiepoo? given limited resources, we didn't expect a dedicated e3 demo that could show off Real combat and Interesting interactions. you got the equivalent o' rats in the basement. huzzah. and no single interaction is gonna be more signification than character creation. the only possible such interaction that might challenge character creation for significance would be the end-game interaction. you folks has played crpgs, yes? we expect some o' the journalists must have. HA! Good Fun! Combat is combat. If you want to show the basics you can do it against wolves just as well as against demons (or whatever). And it wasn't just the combat, they showed the scripted text interactions too, they showed how quests could be completed in several different ways, the way you could give your char a background (through interaction with a NPC), etc. did you think it were at all possible that there wouldn't be multiple ways to complete quests? we were told that would be in game and it ain't anything particular difficult to do in a tutorial area. every ie crpg had some such. confirmation in the demo were, we s'pose, nice. if such had been absent, THAT woulda' been newsworthy. and "Combat is combat.," is either a bad joke or complete misguided. poe has a class-based system with levels. show rat killing in basement o' iwd would give you a good idea o' what combat 'gainst yxunomei would be like? sure, you get a look at interface, but comparing such combats and saying "combat is combat" is a clear myopic perspective. but hey, even IF you honestly thought showing tutorial combat and interactions were important, that still don't change fact that character generation is also extreme important. you admit so yourself. absence o' such should be glaring and noteworthy. HA! Good Fun!

Well, I'd say the story and the interaction with the NPCs are the most important parts of the game. But that's just my point of view, and you have yours. that question were asked, but we only saw once. developers noted that they didn't wanna spoil. so, while we thinks it is passing silly to show wolf killing as a way to highlight your new game, your query were addressed and given response. and apply simple reason, it makes sense that if you don't wanna spoil, you don't show interactions that is gonna be important in the game. show interaction with mayor pufnstuf or wilhelmina witchiepoo? given limited resources, we didn't expect a dedicated e3 demo that could show off Real combat and Interesting interactions. you got the equivalent o' rats in the basement. huzzah. and no single interaction is gonna be more significant than character creation. the only possible such interaction that might challenge character creation for significance would be the end-game interaction or some monumental story bifurcation, and that is gonna be arguable. class, race and other starting options is vital throughout game. you folks has played crpgs, yes? we expect some o' the journalists must have. HA! Good Fun!

is only bad pr if character creation they coulda' shown were unimpressive. either current options were limited or interface were unfinished or... who knows what the "or" were. they showed you and throw-away npcs kill some wolves? well, at least it weren't rats in a basement. regardless, if you gotta class-based crpg, how you make your character is gonna be the single most important thing you can do in the game. and absence o' character creation when you got a s'posed summer beta and winter final release is prompting a game journalist to ask no questions 'bout such absence? ... wth? what kinda dr. mesmer act were obsidian pulling, or is the current crop o' game journalists such freaking sheep that asking questions don't occur to them? does obsidian give out a list o' approved questions or somesuch? how does no such questions get asked? HA! Good Fun!

agreed, but while am admitting that Gromnir has never been a freddie prinze jr. fan, he appears to be a genuine game fan. yeah, that shouldn't mean anything, and perhaps his acting has gotten better and it is all just an act, but his enthusiasm struck us as real. he were having fun. he don't know ronin and in spite of the fact he has more grey hair than Gromnir, he comes across as kinda a 40ish year old kid. even so, and for complete irrational reasons, we like freddie prinze jr. vo more now than before we saw the interview. HA! Good Fun!

Next year we will probably keep it a bit smaller, but my plan is to hit the East Coast in two years. I think I'll probably find a nice park in Pennsylvania and take trains to the big cities. not a bad idea. lancaster, pa is having an amtrack station. get to philadelphia from lancaster and then go anywhere worth mentioning. even so, you will still be spending much time on trains. perhaps amusing, we had to get to reading from philly a few years ago. is no reading railroad as in monopoly game, so we had to rent a car. don't know why that were amusing to us. we hate i95. HA! Good Fun!

"At E3 Obsidian demonstrated the first couple of minutes of the game - minus character creation. The latter should regardless be as extensive as in the games upon which many current Obsidian employees worked around the turn of the millennium - then primarily under the legendary flag of Black Isle." why? why does the interviewer seem happy to accept that obsidian will do "extensive" or quality work with character generation? what kinda bs journalism is that? and why no character creation from obsidian? is arguable the single most important aspect o' a crpg-- particularly a class-based crpg. am mystified and disappointed. why does obsidian not wanna share, and why on earth is the candy-arse journalists not bothering to ask the mostest important questions regarding crpgs? this is one o' the best poe articles, and it hardly says anything beyond what we knew from kickstarter sales pitch. HA! Good Fun!

Gromnir would you say you found Ravel attractive as a Romance option if she had been one? And there is judgement here, I generally never question anyone's Romance interest the insurmountable flaws inherent in bio-style romances that we has identified ad nauseum would turn the love o' ravel for the nameless one into something trite, juvenile and laughable. your incarnation o' the nameless one has no history with ravel, and almost immediately after meeting her, the core ravel, the real ravel, is dead. there is, thankfully, no basis for anything other than an unrequited love. alter ravel character such that she were capable o' being won via the sex-'em-up companion mini-game would require fundamental changes. a romanceable ravel would be different. ravel would be different and not better. HA! Good Fun!

am a fosse fan, and all that jazz is frequent our favorite fosse. is autobiographical in kinda a twisted way. fosse actually had his real life mistress play the lead character's mistress. richard dreyfuss, who were initially tabbed to play the lead, were disgusted by the script and fosse and dropped outta the project. "uh oh. i think we just lost the family audience." ha. primary female dancer in the scene above may be recognizable to fans o' the 1982 conan movie. HA! Good Fun!

in one sense, this sounds like a good thing. nevertheless, one does wonder what is the point of classes if you can customize outta class roles. also, 'cause is becoming a theme for Gromnir, we feel compelled to mention that we has been told by obsidian via interviews and such that we know everything about poe other than story spoilers. and yet we find it more than a little perplexing that we know so little detail 'bout how we will be able to customize characters. weird. HA! Good Fun!

we were gonna make some kinda snarky comment about preoccupation with material crap that don't in anyway improve the game, but about a week ago we spent $2900 (we ended up saving some dough... they wanted to charge us $3400) to get an alternator replaced on our bmw x5 4.4l. were in the shop so we had to drive our "other" car... http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/59764-cars/?p=1178738 is funny 'cause buick is releasing a new grand national gnx, so am gonna probably buy one. have actual seen a commercial where they describe as darth vader's car. so, any comments we could possibly make 'bout stupid materialism is clearly nothing more than hypocritical blather. HA! Good Fun!

"Takei pointed out what many have noted, that Hobby Lobby has invested in multiple companies that manufacture abortion drugs and birth control." this is bs btw. the 401(k) that employees o' hobby is able to take advantage of allows those employees to choose mutual funds that include Evil Corporate Entities. bah. is not worth going further into this point as is so darn ridiculous. nevertheless, some idiot who clearly don't know anything 'bout 401(k)s did some ninja research and somehow twisted that into hobby hypocrisy. personally, we think hobby does themselves a disservice with their stance on birth control and health insurance pays, but for now, it is their right to do so. but the 401(k) crap is... nonsense. HA! Good Fun!