Gromnir

played wildstar over the weekend. we were too busy (or perhaps we is too old) to do a marathon session, but we were still able to get a character to level 17. an extreme brief list o' pros and cons follows. good -we likes the aesthetic. 3d duck dodgers... with star wars influences. also, the notion o' playing a psychotic pink bunny with dinner plate sized eyes who wields psychic powers... appeals to us. - had assumed that the targeting would be off-putting, but actual combat were kinda intuitive. more important, combat was fun. -we only scratched surface of the game, but there were an extreme variety o' environments and critters-- diversity were a plus bad -buggy. we had connection issues. freezes and weird ui nonsense that required us to /reloadui every 20 minutes or so. -crafting is... weird. sure, we were more focused on leveling, but crafting is not intuitive. - other than combat, much o' the game is non-intuitive. had no idea what/how were were 'posed to accomplish things via the ui and the in-game explanations were less than helpful at times. -there were a gold cost that were attached to doing group missions-- seemed excessive. -subscription. am not gonna pay for 2 mmo subscriptions at same time. is a matter of principle, not money. HA! Good Fun!

With 16+ toons, legacy storage is one of those things I've been pining for since... well, since I created my second toon I suppose Now if they could just get rid of unmoddable armour (lots of cool looking stuff gets sold to stim vendor because it's outdated pretty fast) and stuff that is bound on pickup (make stuff bound to legacy instead), I could save a gazillion credits by not having to use legacy armour/guns to ship stuff around between toons. we played wildstar over the weekend-- free beta. as fun as the game were (despite being buggy as louisiana swamp in august) am thinking that the thing that bothered us most were the lack of easily moddable gear such as swtor orange shells. is amazing that something that doesn't impact gameplay in any genuine fashion (pun intended) would be something that would disturb us. am recognizing that wildstar has some kinda "costume" feature, but it is far less user-friendly than swtor moddable shells. having to pay 3 gold to join a 5-man heroic were also kinda disturbing. took us 2 days o gameplay to get 8 gold total, and we needs to use 3 to do a mission that might end in complete failure? still, am seriously considering taking a closer look at wildstar. HA! Good Fun!

Agreed. I couldn't get over the idea that the big lunk in front of the party was essentially exercising a limited type of mind control over every enemy we faced, regardless of their intelligence and training, their leadership and discipline, or their ability to comprehend human speech. I couldn't help but imagine how much more interesting and fun the game would be if tactical positioning were a more realistically effective way to manage which party members faced the brunt of enemy attacks. Of course, such an approach would've forced everybody to play the game the way I played it-- zoomed all the way out in the overhead tactical view and pausing every 4 seconds on average. am suspecting that what ruined squad-based tactical combat, were something ridiculous simple-- nomenclature. d&d 3e, originally, didn't have to contend with mmo vocabulary, so when you looks at a game like toee, there ain't no specific tank abilities or some kinda distinction 'tween a barbarian as dps or a paladin as tank. you scout ahead with your sneaky character and see a giant mob o' bugbears in a room, so what does you do? plant your most heavily armoured guy in the doorway and then lob a fireball into the room? is one way to do it. and perhaps your barbarian would actual be the guy playing as your door. when bugbears try to get past your door to reach your spellcasters, you gots folks with reach weapons or ranged turning the goblinoids into kibble. is other tactics that would work... and if enemy has spell casters too, then you has need o' changing your tactics. all this were possible in a pre-mmo world. the thing is, once tank/dps/heal distinctions became the norm, developers were able to use abilities to substitute for crafting complex tactical scenarios to challenge players. is much more difficult to come up with complex geography or scenarios in a game than it is to tweak ai a bit and add waves of mobs to challenge a party. mmo nomenclature made design easier for developers 'cause it added a layer o' tactical complexity, but it did so in a way that was much more simple to add into games than were considerations that, particularly w/o a meaningful z-axis, were technically demanding. am thinking that if mmo nomenclature hadn't become popular, developers wouldn't have been so quick to use it as a crutch. mighta happened anyway, but am doubting the change woulda been so stark and ugly. HA! Good Fun!

Spoiler much? new bsg were 2004. you figure on waiting another decade before watching? rosebud were brand name of Kane's sled. apollo creed beats rocky at the end of the movie. jr weren't actually shot-- it were all a dream sequence. the chick who kinda looked like a guy in the crying game were actually a guy. we would spoil christmas/easter/tooth-fairy for you, but sometimes you give impression of being 'round 8 years old, so we will forebear and lets you continue to enjoy your childlike ignorance. HA! Good Fun!

am not complete disagreeing, but we will observe that saying "Dragon Age" in the above statement is a bit misleading. we would suggest that the tactical sophistication of bg was actual a bit inferior to da:o. we is talking 'bout a crpg version of d&d 1e/2e that only went from level 1 to 7-10. from a tactics pov, a fighter had very limited options in bg: ranged or melee. flanking didn't give you special bonuses. there were no advantages to superior elevation or cover, so once a fight started, the fighter types had few options 'tween choosing ranged or melee... 'cause choosing weapon proficiences were actual a strategic concern. mages and clerics had a limited catalog o' spells, and the option of mass summons coupled with grease/entangle and firebals or arrows o' detonation made strategic concerns almost completely academic as there were a guaranteed win-every-battle strategy in bg. again, comparing first game to first game seems fair. now that we has removed the rose-colored glasses regarding bg tactical sophistication, we will observe that compare da2 to bg2 is a whole different scenario. da2 greatly increased the "action/combat" focus o' the da series. whereas bg2, perhaps because o' the inclusion o' more diverse and powerful enemies, necessitated greater tactical sophistication than bg. fight spellcasters, dragons, illithid, drow, undead and fiends were requiring much more diverse tactics than previous ie offerings. conversely, the leap in tactical sophistication 'tween da:o and da2 were not near as great as the evolution' o' the ie offerings. furthermore, it is da2 that genuine felt more like a actiony game... not da:o. bg improved 'pon the tactical sophistication o' bg by an enormous degree. da2 chose to improve combat not by increasing tactical sophistication to a significant degree, but by making combats more actiony. da2 design goal were not nearly as focused in improving tactical sophistication as were bg2. honestly, it seemed to us that many o' the da2 combat "improvements" were the result o' a n endemic half-assery that should embarrass biowarians and ea. the extravagance o' bg2 were replaced with a sad frugality. bg2 improved bg but did not make wholesale or fundamental changes. da2 improved da:o by reducing tactical sophistication, adding the ninja pounce option for enemies, and recycling an excessive number of maps. da2 were not near as bad a game as some might suggest, but for those expecting da2 to improve da the same way bg2 improved the bg series, peoples were bound to be disappointed. da:o were popular. makes one wonder why the biowarians/ea decided that changing the da formula were a better route than simply improving what worked in da:o. HA! Good Fun! ps Gromnir is currently using excessive painkillers, so if our post above were insensible doggerel, we apologize in advance,

nwn2 is an obsidian game, not bioware, so that comparison is questionable as well. HA! Good Fun!

compare da:o to bg2 is a bit unfair, no? bg2 has benefit of bestiary from bg, totsc, iwd and the stuff added, finally, with bg2. heck, iwd were a black isle game, so bio got benefit o' a second developer's art. da:o, on the other hand, were game 1 in a new series. lord knows we got no idea what is relative effort to create 2d o' bg vs. 3d o' o' da:o, so am not certain how to balance that issue in favor o' bg or da:o, but at least we is limiting to a single offering from a single developer. now, you may return to the seeming pointless p3*** measuring. HA! Good Fun!

agreed, we highly recommend that wals should go unto the peoples with chronic diseases and lay-on hands. am suspecting that before he gets three confirmed miracles he will either contract something horrific himself, or he will get beaten to a pulp by peoples who don't much like the idea o' being fondled by a grubby englishman with pretensions o' glorification. either way, we thinks that the experiment would be an entertaining learning experience. HA! Good Fun!

the notion that there is canon for any sci-fi or fantasy world/universe is inherently wacked. is all made imaginary to begin with and all it has ever taken to complete invalidate fantastic canon is for the license holder to allow for change. heck, even if you obstinately cling to notions o' canon, all that is required for complete upheavel is one jackarse writer to manage to gets time travel worked into a script or story and your beloved canon's foundations is reduced to sand-- anything can be changed with time travel. ... am thinking of the new battlestar galactica tv series. recall the silly "all along the watchtower" music and sudden having new cylons revealed... and some wackiness with tigh's wife being the Big Brain behind the cylon plan? is not as if that were planned from the start o' the series. the "and they have a plan" was a mystery to the writers as much as to viewers. the show's creators were asked 'bout their big reveal and they were surprisingly honest that it just kinda happened organic. they kinda hit a wall with story and didn't know how to advance it. gotta bunch o' sci-fi geeks sitting in a meeting wondering, " so now, where do we go?" somebody suggests something crazy/insane and in a moment o' poor judgement (or perhaps because nobody has anything better) you gets new canon. argue over canon is making sense if you thinks you is arguing over the literal Word of God. sure, if you is an atheist, such arguments may strike you as utterly ridiculous, but at least is understandable why peoples would want canon for religious dogma. canon for star wars? *shrug* is like arguing over scooby doo canon. has fans debate how mr. carswell could be the ultimate villain in more than one episode. is... nuts. HA! Good Fun!

well, that is... horrible? that were his "analogy"? am wondering if he actually cooks. not that it matters, but first of all, cooking and baking is different. ever see a baker periodically tasting batter to make sure it is right? 'course not. baking, when done correct, is chemistry. learn to measure, mix and apply heat. and the thing is, if you show us a picture o' a german choclate cake, Gromnir can make you one without too much difficulty. red velvet? angel food? whatever. sure, might not be exact what you want, but chances are it is gonna be a whole lot closer to what you meant by "cake" than if you leave up to our imagination. you are allergic to strawberries? oops, we made a strawberry shortcake. our sister loved pineapple upside-down cake. pineapple upside-down cake? made the mistake o' making a chocolate truffle cake with alternating layers o' dark chocolate and white chocolate ganache for her birthday one year. when she saw the thing you woulda' thought we had run over her dog or somesuch. a picture o' a cake is a damn sight better guide than is imagination. ... now, if you tell us that we should make a moist yellow cake with bittersweet chocolate frosting (d&d p&p rules,) but you tell us we is making for a strict vegan who is highly intolerant o' gluten and is diabetic.... and we only have access to a microwave oven, that would be a bit like trying do d&d p&p in a crpg. Gromnir could gets something that might eventually look a bit like a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but it would taste like... well, it wouldn't taste very good. tell us to make something delicious for the aforementioned person using a microwave oven and we coulds indeed come up with a meal plan, but yellow cake with chocolate frosting would not be on the menu. 'course we would complain 'bout idiotic vegans and their nonsense pov, but that is beside the point. can't make a cake from a picture? *snort* HA! Good Fun!

best live band we ever saw. HA! Good Fun!

probably the dragon... or perhaps she were the table that others has suggested needs be romanceable. *shrug* am doubting it matters. HA! Good Fun!

aside: am gonna observe that adapting d&d, which ain't necessarily computer friendly, is in some ways more difficult than coming up with brand spanking new combat mechanics. so the feat of cain in toee is, on one level, more impressive than it would seem. still, adapting is not the same as creation, and the flaws o' d&d ain't gonna be blamed on cain as would flaws o' a genuine original set o' mechanics. HA! Good Fun!

Viable? What does that even mean? In any event, No way. No Way, with a capital N. I most definitely will *not* accept PoE having combat equal to DA:O. Not when Obsidian has all the inherent advantages on its side to make PoE's combat at least 5 times as good. ( It's a PC exclusive, which means it doesn't have to adhere to console limitations; It's an Isometric Top down view game, which means better natural tactical battlefield play; It has 11 diverse classes, which means more combat party variety; And it has Tim Cain, one of the elite industry masters at designing great combat mechanics) If after all of this they still give us something equal to DA:O, then they will deserve whatever shame and scorn that gets hurled their way. hmmm. you must be speaking o' his inspired work on the vampire game troika did. everybody holds that up as a model for great combat mechanics. no? toee did have excellent combat, but the thing is, that were d&d 3e. is not as if cain actual designed the mechanics. he did do probable the best job of adapting the d&d 3e turn-based rules to a crpg we can recall. 'course he screwed everything else up with toee, so he pretty much doomed even the possibility of there being another tb d&d game being made anytime soon. thanks. well, how 'bout arcanum. sure, combat in arcanum were horribly unbalanced, but you could, you know, shoot guns n' stuff & use swords. ... so, perhaps not arcanum. fallout? Gromnir is a fan of special, but am not gonna rave about the combat mechanics therein. "you chose energy weapons at the start of fallout? haha!" had similar balancing issues as arcanum... possibly worse. *shrug* cain gets loads o' deserved credit for his work on fallout, and if you wanna put special tunnel-vision goggles on to examine toee, you could say he did a fantastic job with the combat mechanics o' that game, but otherwise, we weep for the industry if he is one of the elite insofar as design o' combat mechanics is concerned. HA! Good Fun!

My friend, that is simply not true, I've never posted on said site. As I recall we used to have a good relationship back in the days... if you aren't the poolofpoo from codex, then so be it... will take your word for it until proven otherwise. HA! Good Fun!

back in 1975, we went to a white sox game. bucky dent signed our mitt. didn't even ask for money. weird. still have the mitt, btw. HA! Good Fun!

am glad you clarified, 'cause when we think of combat systems, we rare consider quality of animations and spell effects. make sure "ninja-pounce" looks kewl and different than "vampire-slam" is kinda removed from comparing d&d thac0 to a combat system that uses armour for damage resistance... or similar questions. HA! Good Fun!

genesis poster is possibly the only person we would ever use "ignore" feature to block. we once got a pm from him at rpg codex that were a depiction o' an individual being urinated and defecated 'pon. classy. HA! Good Fun!

Monte I have come to realize that there is a perspective to Romance I haven't explained and you anti-romancers haven't realised. Basically promancers truly embrace and understand the RPG experience on a greater level than people who don't interact with the Romance options. I can explain it to you if you want? In my mind, a smooth jazz soundtrack begins playing right around the last sentence of this comment. in our head we hear guns n' roses', "welcome to the jungle." ... and carl sagan explaining the drake equation. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

I can't wait to develop more meaningful and complex relationships in an RPG this makes one wonder why you have interest in the bioware romances... is a virtual oxymoron-- meaningful bioware romance. by definition, an optional game romance that is both insular and discreet has rather harsh limits on how meaningful it may be. HA! Good Fun! Gromnir surly you realize that Romance adds to a deeper connection with party members in a RPG , this has been irrefutably proven. You do know this right? "The romance is 'deeper', wink, wink, nudge, nudge - say no more!" Well the if they're going for "realistic" I hope it would include - PC can pursue characters romantically that will never work out (romance can fail for reason other than PC choosing to fail it) Romance "approval" rating that includes considering how the NPC is treated in combat (if your love interest keeps getting knocked out in every fight, s/he might think less of you), how you treat her/him, how they perceive you treating others, etc. rather than just what you say to them in camp (or worse, what gifts you give them). we added above that we genuinely don't know what the following means. "The different types of sexual orientation of the different kinds of characters around you is also more complex than in previous games. I think there's going to be a lot more realistic... realistic... you know what I mean..." realistic = 2d sex... perhaps? is visual realistic? is interpersonal realistic? am kinda making assumptions considering context, but the biowarian is doing the, "wink, wink, nudge, nudge," in regards to "realistic," so we don't real know what that means. really. HA! Good Fun!

Ditto. Deluxe edition. does that come with a poseable action figures and a cloth map? everybody knows that the cloth map is the gold-standard o' the fantasy cartographer's craft. get a bonus dvd with soundtrack and a developer "making-of" documentary? those is kinda standard for Deluxe editions. perhaps some collectible pogs? otherwise nameless commoner #5 becomes a romance option with Deluxe Edition, but ain't a Joinable NPC unless you get the Collectors Edition. needless to say, Gromnir will not be getting the deluxe collector's funkalicious edition o' da:i... not even if it does go olde skool and include a cloth map. HA! Good Fun!

I can't wait to develop more meaningful and complex relationships in an RPG this makes one wonder why you have interest in the bioware romances... is a virtual oxymoron-- meaningful bioware romance. by definition, an optional game romance that is both insular and discreet has rather harsh limits on how meaningful it may be. "The different types of sexual orientation of the different kinds of characters around you is also more complex than in previous games. I think there's going to be a lot more realistic... realistic... you know what I mean..." ... no. we have no bloody idea. honest. HA! Good Fun!

we were an infrequent observer o' the ps:t forum and extreme rare participant. am doubting music were a huge factor for us at the time. we liked the music used in the ps:t trailer, but that were Not Mike Morgan. iwd is the game that kinda opened our eyes (ears?) to the possibilities o' great game music. previously, we were only concerned when the music were noticeably bad. HA! Good Fun!

'cause its been a long time since we posted any blues HA! Good Fun!

more important: they better all be romanceable, or there will be hell to pay. HA! Good Fun!