Gromnir

never existed. you express a mythical and expensive conceit that is embraced by fans rather than by developers and publishers. quality is important 'cause it impacts current and future sales. some developers is more concerned with long-term goodwill o' their fan-base... because that impacts sales. is perhaps ironic that the individual developers who pays greatest lip-service to the false idol that is "Game Quality" is frequent the ones least able to deliver... and we ain't just talking 'bout tim cain. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't say anything 'bout reducing budget. bio has less TIME. to get me:fereldan made in time for the Q1 2011 deadline, bio had to trim the fat... and the pc staples seems to be deemed fat. HA! Good Fun!

What about the experienced game designers that embraced the change? Jokes aside, designers don't decide what's popular or what can make money, which is the one and only point of this change - someone thought this way DA would be a better cash cow. Nothing to do with creativity. Also this way its more easily adaptable to consoles, which is again the same thing - more moneyz. am suggesting an alternative reason for the consolized changes we sees in da2: time. da2 development is relative short, and many o' the streamlining efforts is intended more to save resources than they is motivated by creativity or a genuine belief that such changes will create more revenue. bio is trying to cut fat from da so they can get the game released Q1 2011, and if some stuff many o' us view as pc staples can be cut, then so be it. HA! Good Fun!

no mistake. am fully aware that european and english is cultural rather than genetic. so what? 'course maybe you is talking to somebody else. HA! Good Fun!

we know what you mean warning: pg-13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15qc3_joy5A always brings a tear to our eye... 'members our time in southie. HA! Good Fun!

Freaking 'A' I'm not European. mk lumped England in with the rest o' enlightened europe, so we were willing to accept his misguided proposition. am apologizing if we offended any o' you snaggle-toothed plonkers with our flawed characterization. HA! Good Fun! ps mk might take note that plonker is not censored.

But I'm glad you came to your senses and admitted it! ... am not sure why you thinks our links is irrelevant. you suggested a difference 'tween euro and American free speech. we agreed that there is a difference: the US is more protective o' free speech rights than is virtual all o' europe. is bbc and international commentators who back that position up... as opposed to mk's gut level p and enis testing. as for our admissions... we admitted that you were dazed, confused, or complete ignorant, when you suggested some wacky correlation 'tween drunken uk college students being banned from future US travel, and your inability to say p and enis on the obsidian boards. many euros such as walsh and mc seem to understands that your rant 'bout freedom o' speech and p and enis is misplaced when speaking o' a privately owned and maintained message board, but if you wanna continue to expose your ignorance, we is more than willing to drag this out indefinite. keep up the good work. HA! Good Fun!

surely you can see the correlation 'tween a drunken uk citizen (ironically named luke Angel) being asked to stay outta the USA following an email tirade in which said bedfordshire resident threatened the President, and your inability to say **** sans censoring on the Obsidian boards. ... no? HA! Good Fun!

again, just 'cause mk is kinda slow to make connections, Gromnir has provided many links regarding how Free Speech is handled in the US and how educated folks outside the US compare the relative free speech protections o' the USA and europe (and sweden in particular.) free speech in the USA is offering citizens and the press freedom from government interference. free speech clearly is not meant to compel private citizens to endure offensive speech in their homes, business or places o' worship. actually, from a legal pov, it don't work any different in sweden either. however, Americans IS protected from government intrusions on their liberty, whereas swedish folks is apparently preoccupied with p3n15. here in the USA people can criticize muslims and jews and nazis and aliens from alpha centari. we can wear jackets that says "F&@% the Draft" when we walk into government buildings. burn a cross on a neighbor's lawn and you can gets thrown in jail or fined for trespass and other stuff, but NOT for hate speech or hate crime. sweden does have pretty expansive protections for freedom o' the press, which is why your example o' assange (the hacker and possible rapist) is noteworthy. even so, the Aftonbladet were fined in 2002 when some arguably racist yutz posted some ire-inducing messages on one o' the paper's message boards or chat rooms. the "racist" were posting from an American server, and his message were okie dokie in the US, but as the message violated sweden hate speech laws, Aftonbladet were libel for the publication. sweden has some pretty substantial free speech laws... compared to the rest o' europe. sadly, such swedish protections typically pale in comparison to American provisions. mk wanna argue that Americans is prudish 'cause the first baptist church o' Stillwater, Oklahoma doesn't let him spam 'em with p and enis references? fine. argue that those darn Americans is a backwards and prudish lot and at least you gotta silly but arguable point. the notion that Obsidian should be compelled to allow you the use o' their private owned and run board to promote your message (regardless o' whether that message is offensive or just plain inane) is incomprehensible to Gromnir. perhaps you don't understand the meaning o' "liberty". mk feels some sense o' national pride 'cause he can says p and enis on the ikea site? great. too bad you can't use " insulting language or behavior, whereby a person insults another by means of offensive invective or allegations or other insulting behavior towards him." you also is not protected when causing "agitation against a population group, whereby a person threatens or expresses contempt for a population group or other such group with allusion to race, color, national or ethnic origin, religious faith or sexual orientation." sssssoooooo pretty much half o' the stuff posted on the wot board is not actually protected speech in sweden... but you can says p and enis. congrats. HA! Good Fun!

first of all, you is a bit late with the P and Enis clarification, but thanks for the info... and proving our point 'bout trivialities. type p3n15 and "forum" into your favorite search engine and you will find dozens o' American fora that allow the term... but so what? is not a meaningful free speech issue, and it sure not have anything to do with threats o' violence 'gainst the President. mk might be unaware, but threatening elected officials in sweden with physical violence is not protected in your homeland. publishing state secrets is also illegal in sweden, so am not sure of your point regarding assange, who is being prosecuted in multiple countries for hacking. assange has fled many different places. the fact that sweden might offer him a safe haven is hardly something to be proud of, but is historically consistent. am recalling that more than a few ww2 war criminals fled to sweden. as for the rest... nice rhetoric, but no substance... which is what we has come to expect from you. generalizations 'bout the evils o' American media and government is hardly convincing. we provided cases showing how free speech is handled in the US. we also provided American and international articles identifying the differences 'tween American free speech and the euro/swede ideal. and most damning o' all, you still wanna ignore that your initial post were complete off the mark and pointless in regards to free speech. "I see a clear difference between how Europe (or at least the Nordic countries, Germany, France and England) and the US behave in regards to this subject and I am genuinely interested as to why it exists." the writers at the bbc, cbs and elsewhere also see a difference. they recognize that the US is more protective of free speech than most other western nations. maybe you should actually read the links provided... you might learn something. we learned origin o' p and enis, but you has learned nothing. sad. HA! Good Fun! ps

the mako is mindless and frequent tedious, but it is harmless. the hammerhead, on the other hand, adds genuine gameplay. the problem for some folks is that the gameplay added is closer to the adventure or platformer end o' the spectrum. we don't mind the hammerhead missions too much, but we don't feel that skipping over rivers o' lava with a bouncing car is particular fun neither. as for the sentinel... it is unfortunate, but tech armour becomes useless at higher difficulties, so the sentinel has a potential pointless power. on the other hand, warp and overload is near essential powers. we almost always play the infiltrator, but if bio balanced out tech armour for more challenging difficulties, we would have a tough choice 'tween infiltrator and sentinel. HA! Good Fun!

'cause they is more concerned with where and when they can say P and ENIS? throw a tantrum 'bout trivialities while losing sight o' the big picture? we thought that such silliness were a mk characteristic rather than a swede thing. perhaps we were wrong. another couple articles identifying the difference 'tween euro views o' free speech and American. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Jan28.html http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/18/...in5319877.shtml HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* we were hoping you would ask... http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...03_0015_ZO.html http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...91_0397_ZO.html http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...15_0568_ZS.html http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/hist...05_0377_ZO.html http://supreme.justia.com/us/432/43/case.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11254419 "The United States stands apart from many other Western democracies in priding itself on a near absolute commitment to allowing freedom of speech." http://jurist.org/dateline/2010/05/germany...-of-privacy.php "Europe and the United States share many legal principles. But they differ as regards notions of privacy and free speech. While European media outlets have been prohibited from publishing truthful information that the courts have found to be irrelevant, the American press has not faced such a restriction." etc. want a few dozen more linkies from the bbc and elsewhere? we woulda' provided more, but is pretty much a Given that the US is far more protective of free speech rights than is virtual all other western nations. we wouldn't thinks we would have to provide evidence on such a well-known and fundamentally inarguable proposition, but mk needs to be shown that fire is hot and water is wet? fine. you got it. have fun educating self. ... "Feel free to find a big European company board that doesn't allow me to write a P with an ENIS at the end" as that is an english word we can see how you is kinda limiting right off the bat... and we doubt that ikea and the ship building companies that comprise sweden's notable international corporations probable don't have open message board posting. ssssooooo, again, give us some examples. inability to use p and enis is what concerns you in reference to free speech? HA! well, as J. Harlan once observed, "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric." but you see, while mr. cohen could wear his jacket emblazoned with the message "F@#% the Draft" into a county court house in LA w/o fear o' govt. interference, nobody (other than mk) would assume that the administrators o' a privately run message board should be compelled to allow such a posting. again, use your brain for 5 minutes and consider the consequences. St. Mary's Church in Stillwater Oklahoma decides to have a message board and mk believes that he should be able to spam 'em with P and Enis references? why? but still, this is all beside the point as you Complete fumbled with your original post. raise Freedom o' Speech and American in reference to a privately owned and run message board is the result o' your ignorance. once you recognize that point you will maybe be able to back out graceful... but we doubt it. HA! Good Fun!

If it's only down to private property rights, how would you explain the difference between the rest of the world and America? 'cause is a false comparison that you ain't supported with any facts. oh, and don't use some insignificant fringe euro developer to prove your point. small indie developers, whether euro or american has gotta be more flexible and understanding o' their potential customers. folks like bioware (non-USA) is gonna be much more careful 'bout censoring as they gots more exposure and more potential harm can be done. so, find numerous similar messageboards used as advertising (rather than complaint/feedback) and show us difference 'tween american and euro. in any event, YOU is the one who is avoiding.please return to the genesis o' this disagreement. have already forgotten the drunken limey threatening the President with extreme violence? free speech rights has zippo/zilch whatsoever to do with your perception o' censorship on a private message board. do a little research; USA free speech rights is more expansive than similar euro protections. must be our morals. HA! Good Fun!

To me it is not obvious. All these boards, in different countries, are roughly "advertising" (as you put it) for these various companies. Why is it OK to write **** on an advertisement in Sweden but not in America, if it is completely unrelated to American moral standards? What drives them to censor their own board? What are they scared of? Note that I am not claiming it to be written in law either way, I know they're 'voluntarily' censoring us (which you laughably refer to as their "liberty" to do so, unless you can find a place where self-censoring isn't allowed), just that it is what I believe Obsidian conforms to: they are scared of what the general American consumer thinks of them. so... what was your point? am suspecting you didn't have one to begin with. *shrug* a private company, without any government interference, chooses to run message boards promoting their games free o' the taint o' profanity and pr0n. has nothing to do with Americana or morals. it sure don't have nothing to do with American Free Speech law as the First Amendment is a grant o' protection to private citizens 'gainst the threat o' GOVERNMENT censorship. you know, once you realized that you were talking nonsense you coulda' simply stopped. HA! Good Fun!

They're not compelled.. yet they do. Ever wonder why? no. seems pretty obvious why they would. as we noted, these boards is a source o' advertising for Obsidian. am fully cognizant o' reasons why Obsidian would wanna keeps things pleasant. duh. and in any event, there ain't no rational connection linking American free speech protections which is meant to insulate citizens from government action, and the behavior o' Obsidian on their private boards. is complete unrelated. HA! Good Fun!

actually, you is wrong. as a government actor the White House has far less latitude to censor than does Obsidian. is numerous reasons that the White House could still enforce rules that might limit some free speech, but govt. actors need to be overcoming pretty significant legal obstacles that Obsidian would not face. schools has been the early battleground for determining the extent o' freedom o' speech on government run websites. schools is finding out real quick that they gotta be very careful 'bout how they present their messages to the public. am hopeful that hurl is not teaching his students wrong 'bout free speech. HA! Good Fun!

So why are they censoring us, ****roach? You think they're trying to protect your ****ing kids? It's a **** kind of freedom when you have it but you can't use it. Obsidian reflects American moral standards. eh? you got some funny ideas 'bout America. Obsidian is not legal required to follow some kinda American Ideal regarding freedom o' speech. after all, Liberty is also one o' those concepts we hold dear here in the U.S. o' A. is no laws forcing Obsidian to be open and charitable regarding free speech... for reasons that would be obvious to anybody with a pair of firing synapses. has a functioning business model wherein employees could resort to a Free Speech defense at any time? has this board, which is first and foremost an ADVERTISING tool, become filled with profanity and pr0n? HA! there is a yutz born every second. free speech is a prohibition on GOVERNMENT action. Obsidian is not America, and they sure as heck ain't compelled to reflect "American moral standards." HA! Good Fun!

sorry sucker, but this ain't an American board... is an Obsidian board. freedom o' speech as set forth in the First Amendment is a prohibition on State action. "Congress shall make no law..." and to the rest o' you bemoaning the injustice done unto some poor uk kid... to stir the secret service to action you gotta threaten the Prez with death, serious bodily harm, or kidnapping. so, a drunken limey threatens Obama with some kinda significant violence and is subsequently informed that he should not be making any US vacation plans in the near future... and you clowns thinks that it is the US o' A that comes off looking bad? you know, part o' Gromnir wishes that we live long enough to see China become the world's dominant military and economic super power. no doubt it sucks to be recognizing that folks in Washington D.C. can disproportionately affect your lives whether they intend to or not. *chuckle* am suspecting that the well-intentioned but misguided bumbling o' Pax Americana will be recollected with fond nostalgia when the epicenter o' power in the civilized the world shifts to Beijing. HA! Good Fun!

... ok. ... you recognize that cultures change, but you wonder if a multicultural society can somehow avoid such change? am honestly not certain what your definition o' a "multicultural society" is to begin with. take a look at some Inodnesian nations and the degree to which the cultures of those peoples has evolved and changed over the past five decades. you tell us that certain aspects o' cultural diversity does not rise to the level o' your envisioned multicultural society w/o any real explanation or justification. does a predominant national identity somehow preclude the possibility o' a multicultural society? why? ask folks in the Southie neighborhood o' Boston if they is feeling like they has lost their Irish culture... ask folks o' the Polish Downtown in Chicago if they has become lost to their heritage. the Oglala o' Pine Ridge has, in large part, retained core beliefs and language o' the Lakota people. 'course Pine Ridge also gots infant mortality and poverty more in line with 3rd world countries than what one would expect in the United States. other Indian/Native American reservations has had considerably greater success as they has attempted to retain their culture, but such reservations is, as the name implies, synthetic creations. our recollections o' cultural anthropology from University is blurred due to remoteness, but we seem to recall that Culture were a damned expansive term. a school could have a culture, and the individual departments and sports teams might also has thriving and identifiable cultures. organizations and clubs on/off campus might also breed identifiable and distinct cultures. if a single school campus could breed so many healthy and enduring cultures, then why would stepping off campus kill the prospects for multiculturalism? expansive... not limited. am thinking that mesh is using "multicultural" different than the way it were taught to us... which don't mean that he is wrong. after all, our school were (and still is) the largest and most enduring hippie freak show in the United States. HA! Good Fun!

With what? Your comment that it looks like a 3rd rate game's alpha stage. this would be a good time to compare the Age of Decadence thread to the DA:2 thread. HA! Good Fun!

in the U.S. of A., grad school endures as the only remaining form of legalized slavery. HA! Good Fun!

Thanks for this little gem of irrelevance Gromnir. Did you have anything of value to add to this thread such as links to chemistry tutorials or text suggestions? linky there... something o' value & relevant to the thread. as a person who has hired more than a handful o' employees, am gonna inform you that a major reason for choosing college grads has got 0 to do with what the prospect learned in school. the degree is proof that an individual can gut it out for four years and finish their education. is nothing wrong with taking time off from school, but every month you is away from school the harder it will be to return. don't put off too long or you is gonna wonder where time went, and you is gonna be stuck with a crappy 40k a year job when you is in your thirties and forties. til you go back to school, you is a drop-out. HA! Good Fun!

*sigh* regardless o' your intention to return, you is a drop-out. many folks intend to return to university and never do. for the moment you is a drop-out... and that got nothing to do with you being a bucket-head. HA! Good Fun! btw, is loads o' drop-outs who has gone on to be extreme successful, so don't feels so bad/sensitive.

I think you've hit my nail on the head. Ashdown was precisely the sort of supremo (q.v. Gerard Templar in Malaya) required. Send him to the 'Stan forthwith and give him some clout. The pity is, and I'm genuinely not being chippy about the Yanks, the US foreign policy machine consists of almost nothing but careerists you are rightly leery of. Iraq proved that US civilian administrators are NOT match-fit. You'd need an ex-military man, as the US armed services has thrown up a generation of thoughtful, imaginative generals whjo might be ideal for the role. which respected ex-military man would take the job if he is gonna know he do not have genuine support o' the current administration? what sorta respected ex-military man With Clout is actually gonna be chosen by the powers that be? as a student o' history, you is of course aware that the region you speak of has had a tumultuous past. the success o' outsiders to stabilize has been limited and typically a considerable 'mount o bloodshed were necessary to achieve moments o' relative "peace." the "consequences" you spoke o' earlier looks like war to the casual observer. *shrug* am thinking it is too late for this administration to make genuine progress. sadly, by the time a new administration comes to power, the necessary military and infrastructure resources will have been pulled outta the region making new efforts impractical/impossible. HA! Good Fun!