Gromnir

... ok, we hesitate to share, but what the heck. when we were at Cal in the late 80's, there were a quasi-popular punk lesbian band in town called "The Flaming Fist." gives the name a different spin for us. HA! Good Fun!

Well I try to use it only when I think "ah, that means I'll say something snarky and cutting" and then it turns out that bioware dialogue comes out as ignorant lout, which is really not what I wanted. Heh, I'd actually remembered how he wanted to kill the guy and did that, you got a major boost of affection for letting him off the guy. Of course, I haven't used Andronikos for anything beyond crew missions since then.. Yeah, I actually solo'd the Boarding Party flashpoint yesterday. Since you have to do that before The Foundry, and whenever I've been on the Fleet station I never see people wanting to do Boarding Party. So I ended up forgetting about it, and then remembering I had it..since I was about 10 levels above it I just ran through it without too much hassle. Of course, then I get back to the Fleet..and suddenly there were a whole bunch of people wanting to form groups to do that flashpoint.. Hm, I don't think I've actually done the Alderaan or Hoth bonus series either. Hoth bonus is level 47. HA! Good Fun!

I'm about to go to taris and I am level 35. To a planet that is 32-36 I think. So still a bit ahead. Only done two flashpoints, but all heroics. We even skipped Nar Shaddaa bonus series so we wouldn't run further ahead. Nar Shaddaa bonus series doesn't open up till your about level 35. From around 30+ most of the bonus series don't open up until you're returning to the worlds at a later point in the class story. narshadda bonus becomes available at 29 or 28. is a tough slog, but can be done at that level. btw, dont poke any dead jedi corpses on taris. alderaan (sp) has the most obscure bonus location and level. the initial offer occurs on the fleet space station, and is a level 34 quest to contact some lord in house thul. the bonus missions actual start at level 40. weird. some random bald woman on the fleet space station offers the bonus set for alderaan? why? ... am surprised to have not seen complaints about the foundry flashpoint mission on this board. admittedly, our biggest complaint were that the sadists at bio clear were making a sick practical joke when they set it as a level 37 mission. nevertheless, am betting that more than a few kotor2 fans is miffed by foundry. *snort* HA! Good Fun!

have played a little bit. been kinda busy, but we have played. the mmorpg bit is virtual complete new to us. ... odd. is similar but different to sp crpgs. can play most portions solo, but the heroic and flashpoint material is almost impossible w/o a group. we were invited to join a guild. go figure. *chuckle* is some nice people in the guild... but 1/4 is hardcore pvp players who like to announce each and every victory on the guild channel. datacrons is... stoopid. stopped looking once we spent +30 minutes trying to get to one on nar shadda. a ls sith inquisitor (am playing as a healing sorcerer) is having a story. is not genuine engrossing, but is enough to keep us playing. oh, and the dialogue wheel still sucks. those three word leads often have little in common with the eventual response. annoying. companions provide experience payoffs if you buy advancement with gifts. *snort* the pirate is a dps machine... see, am picking up the lingo. didn't know dps til recent. completing every available quest on a planet before advancing is not the normal practice for mmorpg players. the goal o' most players seems to be to reach 50 asap. as such, our behavior has resulted in an odd level bloat-- am more than 4 levels above planet level suggestions. is... funish. will keep playing til end o' our 30 day subscription, but probable wont pay beyond. we got as a gift, and is amusing, but am doubting we could stay genuine interested for more than a month. HA! Good Fun!

am having a n00b question: what are instances? we were reading 'bout some exploit that allowed players to reach level 50 after only a couple o' days, and there were repeated references to "instances" in conjunction with "warzone servers." is all greek to Gromnir. from what we can tell, warzone is pvp, but we got zero idea what is "instances," and the search function at the swtor boards is purposeful disabled for some oddly timed maintenance reasons. am not particular surprised that some exploit exists that allows lightning leveling, but am hating to be ignorant o' the jargon/vernacular that the kids is using these days. am a preternatural curious person. somebody wanna help us out with "instances"? thanks. HA! Good Fun!

not omnicidal. death of force wouldn't result in the annihilation o' all life or even complete human (or sentient life) extinction. for kreia, no force = freedom from tyranny. personally, we had great sympathy for kreia's goals. we thinks chrisA coulda done a better job communicating kreia goals to the player as his attempts at deep and profound often gets a bit... hammy? maudlin introspection and dime store philosophy not work any better in games than novels-- audiences mentally blackout when reading or listening to self-indulgent author ramblings. even so, we thinks that given the inherent corniness o' the star wars setting, kreia were believable and compelling. HA! Good Fun!

Says the dude. Someone who can expect a member of his gender to be the protagonist of almost every book, movie, and game out there. *groan* forgetting for a moment your selective focus on hemingway v. williams characters... what a LOAD. is hyperbole even when going past the last 100 years, but you is either very poorly read, or is exaggerating to a ridiculous degree if you honestly believing your claim. regardless, why the heck does it matter how your gender has suffered in media over the centuries? does bending over backwards to inject pro-feminist elements into lit in the 21st century makes up for the oversights o' past authors? forget for a moment that a majority o' authors since the dawn o' written history has been male and thus inherently more capable o' breathing life into believable male characters, what is the point o' observing a paucity o' female protagonists before drew wrote his book? is complete irrelevant. good or bad character... has nothing to do with feminism. blanche and stella is incredible characters regardless o' the fact that they is weak. were elzabeth bennet weak because she relented? maybe. we likes the protagonists in jane eyre, to kill a mockingbird, and alice in wonderland. heck, phillip pullman's protagonist in his dark materials trilogy is one o' our favorite fantasy protagonists, along with gaiman's coraline. strong. weak. whatever. get over it. HA! Good Fun! ps our favorite obsidian characters is almost invariably female-- we got no axe to grind. kreia were the best character in kotor 2... no question. ravel is our all-time favorite crpg character. is Not gender that is important.

am not gonna read the book, but on principal we would happily wishes apocalypse on any blog (or blogger) that focuses on the lack o' pro-feminism in a work. might as well slam Hemingway 'cause he didn't put strong female characters in the old man and the sea. yeah, we know this is the 21st century and you is expected to pander to all races, colors, creeds and sexes if you wanna be mainstream, but is disappointing to us even so. maybe the blogger in question can next read a streetcar named desire and slam 'cause blanche and stella is pushovers. bah. drew either does character good or he does bad-- gender should be an incidental factor. HA! Good Fun!

things Gromnir likes: cheescake james joyce gershwin tunes rugby ... we has no urge to combine any o' the aforementioned. HA! Good Fun!

the more we hear o' this, the more it sounds like a vanity project. the south park guys like video games and they thinks it would be kewl to makes a south park crpg. sure, south park is hardly having a natural setting for a crpg, the 2d pov is necessarily limiting, and there is no built-in rules mechanic to facilitate the development o' a combat system for a cartoon that didn't deal with combat save as sight gag shtick, but at least bioware isn't making it, right? *snort* am 100% in favor o' folks trying new and original, but this don't seem original so much as it just seems... stoopid. HA! Good Fun!

dunno. 'ccording to a couple articles we read, ea/bio is HOPEFUL of having 3 million subscribers by summer o' next year. over the beta weekend that occurred USA thanksgiving, they had 2 million players who averaged 12 hours o' gameplay. maybe the the ea/bio guys is all a bunch o' howler monkeys throwing p00p at each other, but to somebody like Gromnir who gots no idea what goes into a mmorpg development, it sounds like their testing gave 'em a pretty good notion o' what the initial high-water mark for server stress is gonna entail. sure, one weekend is not the same thing as 1 week or 1 month, and Chaos will needs to be paid her due as the unexpected becomes ordinary, but it sounds like there is no underestimation. HA! Good Fun!

is it a pc game? am guessing it is probable a handheld or somesuch. very limited depth, no? gonna satisfy a western crpg gamer who has played other obsidian titles such as kotor 2 and motb? you and your three cartoon pals wander 'round a small town in colorado and do... what exactly? silly stuff, right? is a ridiculous starting point from which to build a robust western crpg. HA! Good Fun! i play western crpgs, fallout is my favorite. I loved mother/earthbound. Why does the genre of game matter? genre? who said anything 'bout genre? we mentions the platform. old consoles and handhelds could be offering fun gameplay, but that gameplay were necessarily limited. HA! Good Fun!

ah. that explains. not much difference 'tween handhelds and oldie consoles. HA! Good Fun!

is it a pc game? am guessing it is probable a handheld or somesuch. very limited depth, no? gonna satisfy a western crpg gamer who has played other obsidian titles such as kotor 2 and motb? you and your three cartoon pals wander 'round a small town in colorado and do... what exactly? silly stuff, right? is a ridiculous starting point from which to build a robust western crpg. HA! Good Fun!

... am gonna go out on a limb and guess that the core gameplay o' the mario crpg involves combat. the only mario game we has ever played is donkey kong-- arcade version back in early 80's. is not hard to imagine a mario crpg in which a character (or group o' characters) fights there way through mobs of... whatever. is not the funny that makes south park game improbable. we got no difficulty imagining core gameplay o' a mario crpg. same may not be said o' south park. HA! Good Fun!

Nope. But if its taken seriously as a game that needs to exist as a game in its own right, not just a marketing tool for the show, then it's a start. you could say the same o' any game based on any franchise. again, no insight... save to recognize that we do not have similar debates when discussing d&d games or star wars games, or tom clancy games. the danger o' being a money-grab tie-in (or whatever) is different in this case than in the aforementioned. ask self "why?" HA! Good Fun!

obsidian has some o' the codexian need to inject why-bioware-sux into every thread that exceeds some vague critical mass. oddly enough, at bioware every thread that continues for at least 20 pages eventually gets a ghey romance mention. am gonna leave it up to you to decide which fanbase is more wacky. HA! Good Fun!

I used to share your cynicism, but then I played Arkham Asylum, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Tie-In Game. You're right that tie-ins are usually lousy cash-ins, because they typically try to get by on IP alone. Good tie-ins are successful because they have a great alignment between theme and gamplay - in Arkham, Rocksteady nailed the gameplay of CQC and stealth. The greatest accomplishment of Arkham Asylum is that your character will perch deftly on a gargoyle wearing tights and big ceramic bat ears and you don't feel like some fiddly furry creep - you feel cool, and you feel lethal. Based on the Game Informer article, the new RPG seems to be RT hack and slash running on Onyx, which (like DS3) runs a very real danger of becoming generic gameplay with a tacked-on theme. I could see this as worrying. But this IP is kind of built to make use of traditional RPG tropes and perhaps surmount them. You mentioned earlier that Obsidian may as well make a Jersey Shore or Big Bass game, but the difference between those IP's and South Park is that South Park has its own developed universe and metaphysic - it even has 'lore,' or whatever term nerds use to designate the fake history of a fake setting. It also has elements important to storytelling - an often editorial worldview and real honest-to-goodness themes. Among those themes is the role of imagination - more specifically, how imagination is often willfully self deluding, self aggrandizing, and ego inflating. And I'm sorry, but how is this not characteristic of nearly every RPG you've ever played? There's a reason why Avellone refers often to ego-stroking and power fantasies as recurring design goals. RPGs are often about elevating the scale and stakes of the game, chiefly to accommodate the expansion of the player's ego as s/he trivializes former challenges. The twist in South Park - and this is potentially rich for both story and gameplay - is the opposition between the "power" of a person's imagination and the powerlessness he or she feels in reality - there are inevitably moments where characters in the show come down from their fantasies to face the indisputable bummer of real life. Consider for instance the episode where the boys are playing ninja: they're drawn as these massive muscle-bound anime characters in their fantasy - until a goddamn throwing star ends up in Butters' eye. They're once again themselves, small and vulnerable and in trouble. I honestly believe there's more freedom and potential in this franchise than in, say, Star Wars, D&D, or Warhammer, which are so hemmed in by 'canon,' prior world-building, and fanbase expectations that their settings are downright claustrophobic. But then I was one of the people who looked forward to Alpha Protocol, so maybe I'm just biased against swords, lasers, and laserswords. Hi, JM! If Obs can step beyond making a game that is little more than a promotional tie in or an income stream for a tv series, as most of these tie-in games are then that would be great. WHat I see as worrying is Deadliest Catch: The Game. But if the sights are set much higher, then I'm all for it. so, if its good and innovative, you will like it? not particularly insightful, but is hard to argue against you. *shrug* until we get a better idea o' the actual gameplay, we is gonna continue to be dismissive o' this seeming April Fools Joke that somebody took too far. HA! Good Fun!

as we noted in another thread, we could easily see south park as an adventure game, but not as an rpg. move forward to uncover the next one-liner or sight-gag? sure, we get that you can builds a (short) game 'round such stuff, but we is talking 'bout a crpg, no? is south park, so is probably not gonna be a combat game. if it IS a combat game, then we is not seeing the point. use the south park world to create a combat crpg? ... sorry, but this whole project makes no sense to us save as a way for obsidian to make some money at the inevitable cost of reputation. oh, and is not that Gromnir is a south park 'hater,' so disabuse selves o' that notion. we likes a good majority o' the south park material. after all, mr. garrison's "merry f&*#ing christmas" is one o' our favorite holiday songs. HA! Good Fun!

well heck, the south park movie did (shockingly?) pretty good, but this ain't a movie. maybe the movie ain't the best barometer? anybody got another example o' south park media that has done good? we know creator's o' south park has been involved in some serious bombs when they has tried to stretch beyond their tv series appeal. baseketball? team america: world police? is not as if having the creators help is actual... help. dunno. makes sense if somebody offered obsidian a barrel full o' money. after alpha protocol and ds3, am wondering if obsidian actual cares 'bout their reputation? money grab makes sense. HA! Good Fun!

is not april 1, is it? no? ... if this were a free flash game, we would look forward to playing it-- 15 minutes o' irreverent entertainment. a full length crpg? we could see developing a south park adventure game perhaps, but a crpg? did fergie lose a bet with the devil? *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

have not played an mmo in over a decade, so am a complete n00b with such stuff. we noticed at the swtor board there were mentions o' class skills... but such skills didn't seems to work as kotor, nwn, d&d or other crpg skills we is familiar with. can somebody explain or link us to an explanation? also, we read some blogs from folks who has played and a recurring complaint we saw were regarding customization-- the lack o' it. appears that physical customization of avatar is limited, and that abilities/powhaz customization is also pretty limited. meet one 23rd level sith sorcerer and you has met virtual all 23rd level sith sorcerers. advanced classes bifurcate the core classes, but is that enough to keeps interesting? anybody that has played got an opinion on swtor customization? we got some time-off in the near future, and we has been gifted with a copy o' swtor, so we will probable fiddle with the game a bit, but am looking for feedback... feedback w/o having to deal with the bio/ea/lucasarts boards. HA! Good Fun! ps we sure as hell ain't gonna take oner advice to play for an entire month before judging.

am agreeing and disagreeing. agree on protecting natural folks Liberty rights more than legal persons, at least in principal but in Gromnir example and your example, we is not talking liberty rights, is we? protect property is different, and suggesting that one person, real or otherwise, gets deserves less protection o' his property right simply 'cause he has more property is, well, un-American. we will observe that one aspect o' our hypo is not analogous to ucd: the students at uc davis were not simple trespassers. is an admitted significant difference that we did not mention. nevertheless, am thinking that a great disservice has been done by mischaracterizing the reason why the protesters were being removed in the first place. even during the late 80's and early 90's, back when Gromnir were at Cal/Boalt, protests on campus were pretty darn common. at Cal we witnessed protests o' fee hikes, affirmative action policies, tree removal, and even public nudity on campus. some o' those protesters were quite lively. no biggie. the occupation protests is different. is not the protesting that is provoking a response from governments and universities, but rather the nuisance that accompanies the occupation. obviously Gromnir is fascinated by the whole situation. public forum doctrine were kinda the area o' first amendment law in which we gots our feet wet. kokinda and iskcon v. lee marked a serious philosophical change for the Court re public forum-- am curious to see if the present Court holds the line. HA! Good Fun!

... hyperbole, right? that better be hyperbole. *shrug* as we stated earlier, we think that based on the video and released reports, the actions o' the university cop in question were over-the-top. we don't have enough info to be confident in our pov, but that is our impression. that being said, we thinks some folks in this thread is being ridiculous. hypothetical based on initial true facts: a bunch o' folks in Gromnir's neighborhood discover that we is representing some high-profile gang members in a first amendment case. the concerned parents gets organized and actually hold a protest on the street in front o' our home. high point o' our career. shoulda' taken more pictures. (end of reality) ok, now imagine that the protesters decide to camp out on our front lawn. hmmmm. is not as funny no more... trampling our lawn and breaking sprinkler heads? *grumble* nevertheless, we figure that the protesters is gonna eventual leave when they get tired. unexpected turn of events: the protesters set up Camp in our yard. they pitch tents, and have campfires and use our water. huh? even so, Gromnir endures for some time... days... weeks. unfortunately, the protester/squatters is hardly organized. bad things begin to happen with more regularity. some fights occasional break out in our yard as drunk protesters fight over nothing. we find used condoms and garbage in our rose bushes and agapanthus. oh, and btw, the protesters is NOT walking all the way to the nearest public restroom whenever they needs to relieve themselves. the protesters is a nuisance, and they is creating a growing health and safety concern. and guess what, since the occupiers is being open and notorious in their squatting, Gromnir may eventual be subject to multiple civil suits. (the above examples is the ennumerated reasons for ejecting the ucd protesters... though no mention o' roses and agapanthus.) what to do? we call the cops and ask for help. we says, "please remove the protesters from our property." unfortunately, when the cops arrive, the protesters refuse to leave. the protesters sit outside our door and dare the cops to move'em. what to do? should cops throw up hands and leave? is not a good choice from Gromnir's pov. ... would we want the cops to spray a dozen seated protesters to encourage them to leave? would we want to be demonized on tv for demanding the expulsion o' the filth on our lawn? no. wait til 2:00 am when fewer folks is 'round and then dismantle the makeshift camp. if the few protesters who is in our yard at that time still refuse to move, then single out the mostest mouthy bastard and spray him. one example gets as much mileage as twelve. spray is less likely to result in injury to the cop or the protester, so we got no problem with using spray, but use reasonable and rational. nep's weapon distinction is not particular compelling. cops is more likely to injure protesters by physically moving 'em and cuffing 'em. cops is more likely to get injured if they put hands on protesters. so, what is the difference 'tween ucd and Gromnir's hypothetical? the fact that ucd is a big organization and that Gromnir is a private citizen makes no difference, Nor Should It. Gromnir deserves no more protection than UCD just 'cause we is small-time. how 'bout public v. private property? nope. is loads o' cases that show that "public property" is not some kinda open area for protest. can't set up a table outside a post office on a sidewalk, so why should you gets to set up a camp on campus. that being said, parks and streets does gets gets special first amendment consideration for protesting. at ucd the locale were a quad at a public university, so maybe you got "public forum"... but even a public forum does not necessarily give protesters free reign to camp out indefinitely... 'specially when the protesters is creating genuine health and safety problems. we has seen a number o' people serious injured when being restrained and cuffed. as we noted in another thread, we were admonished when we worked corrections 'cause we preferred to lay-on-hands as 'posed to using spray. the reason the supervisors criticized us is 'cause they believed that we was creating an unnecessary danger to self, residents and other staff. spray were believed to be a much safer alternative... safer for everybody involved. we not got specific numbers to back up other than those provided in our links above (am wondering if anybody actual read the doj report), but spray is widely accepted as safer. spray IS safer, but our problem with spray is probable resulting from the fact that it is so much safer. some folks is too comfortable using spray. spray is NOT particularly dangerous compared to any kind o' grappling and is far less likely to result in officer discipline, so some officers is less restrained when using spray. fear is not always a bad thing. fear keeps people from doing stoopid stuff... or it should. HA! Good Fun!

first given the misinformation in the article, we would be very suspicious o' the coughing up blood claim. how the heck does that even happen unless the guy already has a bleeding ulcer or some such? having worked corrections, we is sad to admit that we has seen literally dozens (if not hundreds) of people pepper sprayed, and we never saw no coughing of blood. sounds like bs *shrug* we already admitted that this one guy appeared to be going over-the-top with the spray, but recall your original comment, "Wow. I didn't know pepper spray was that common in America. Kind of tragic. Your cops are pretty ****ed up." you is taking way too much for granted from one clear inaccurate article. anecdote from corrections... just for fun. 'bout 30 minutes before the end o' our night shift we is doing a room check. while residents is locked down you gotta peek in each room every 10 minutes, plus one random, per hour. is our last room check o' the night before going home and getting some sleep. do some paperwork, fill-in next shift, then drive home and sleep the sleep o' the dead. anywho, we peeks in one room and see *aison standing over his sink, rubbing something on his face. what the *uck? "hey *aison, what the *uck are you doing?" *aison slowly, creepy slow, turns his head and just kinda smiles at us. now just so you understand, *aison is a very large fellow, at least 300 lbs, and he stinks. Gromnir is no push-over, but particularly with so little time left o' our shift, we do not wanna have to deal with *aison. we had been forced to "dip" *aison in the past when he attacked some peckerwood in the showers. was not our favorite memory. wrestling an angry (and possibly insane) fat, wet, naked, black behemoth in a shower... protecting some 105 lb skinhead from getting killed? not again. even worse, Gromnir would needs to author an incident report if *aison caused a ruckus before we left the unit, and that would take us at least an additional 30 minutes. *groan* "look, I am serious. what the *uck are you doing?" *aison lifts his right hand and shows us the pulpy remains o' a crushed orange gripped in his meaty fist. with a deep, raspy voice, *aison says, "Rub it in your eyes... makes the spray hurt less." our jaw probable drops... not sure. whatever. "I don't care what you have planned, but you are going to stow that $hit for at least thirty minutes. You got that?" *aison smiles again and then finally gives us a brief nod before going back to his bunk. Gromnir returns to the bubble and informs our co-staff 'bout *aison. we then go home and sleep unconcerned. three days pass and then Gromnir is back at work. sure enough *aison went ape and attacked multiple residents and staff at breakfast not long after we had left him sitting in his room rubbing orange remains into his eyes. we gave him extra pop-tarts that eve. HA! Good Fun!