Gromnir

vol is being self-contradictory... again. if spells and talents is not woeful unbalanced, then there should be no problem with re-spec right? is not as if you is Adding talents or ability points. *chuckle* HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

somebody posted the dialogue formula. a high enough cunning score makes ranks in coercion unnecessary to succeed at persuasion checks. likewise, a high enough strength makes coercion unnecessary to succeed at intimidation checks. also, has been noted, there is invariably both a intimidate and a persuasion option when the dialogue route becomes available. ... is a very strange rule system. HA! Good Fun!

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doesn't change anything. the biowarians created the lore AND the gameplay. sure, is perfectly valid to consider gameplay before or above lore, but is no reason for the two to be in opposition. bio created. if there is a conflict, then it is an unnecessary oversight on the part o' the biowarians. that being said, we not see a conflict, but given how vague bioware was regarding their darkspawn and gods n' such, we didn't expect conflicts. is subsequent games where there will be problems. as soon as bio attempts to take the bogeyman out of the closet or from underneath the bed, Then they is gonna needs be very careful to make sure they hasn't created internal conflicts... or they can do as gorth suggests and simply wing it, embracing practicality and abandoning the geeks and nerdlings who actually bothered to read their thedas lore. HA! Good Fun!

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you really ain't familiar with how religions work, are you? HA! Good Fun!

Had a weird editing error in that last post. Bolded portion fixed. if Gromnir had not known that wynne were available at tower previous to playing game, we never woulda' gone there first... and the genuine reason we went to tower is 'cause we thought she were a healer (traditional d&d foursome). we didn't learn til much later that most o' wynne's healing talents were less than useful. our ignorance rand deep, and so we chose additional heal-focused spells as she leveled... figuring that the Next heal spell had to be a good one, right? *groan* thank goodness there were three o' those mage talent books for sale in game... were able to partial ameliorate our early mistakes. HA! Good Fun! ps as has been pointed out by Gromnir and others many times afore, a silicon-based puddle of goo from quilax-5 is probable gonna be human. if the audience is expected to understand the motivations o' the puddle, then it has gotta be human. orcs and sauron and other bogeymen monsters not need motivations and character. they exist to be scary. they exist so that heroes may beat them and show us what qualities we, as a society, consider important. why does monsters hide in closets and under the bed? reasons not matter if their only value is to be scary. grendel is the savage darkness lurking beyond the hall doors. in the old english, orc=evil spirit... bogeyman. dwarves and elves and puddles o' goo from quilax-5 is all gonna be human, regardless of shapes and histories. if author wants human audiences to Understand, then they got no choice but to make their creations... human. pps a grendel kinda monster is, in our estimation, a dead end for a game developer. as it not have motivations and character, your best approach is to describe as little as possible. your nightmare is different than Gromnir's, no? is no way to describe each person's personal fear, so is best to leave vague. describe grendel. describe lotr sauron. you cannot, because those antagonists were purposeful never described. can't really do that in a visual game... especially one that lasts +50 hours.

Tolkiens orcs are just another kind of elves. Took the loving hand of Melkor to "adjust" them, but hey, sometimes you have to make do with the tools available a couple years ago, when the first genuine screenshots o' da were getting released, there were criticisms that da looked just like lotr. Gromnir didn't see it. we pointed out that pretty much any fantasy game with elves and dwarves can be compared to tolkien... if peoples try hard enough to make connections. additionally, Gromnir were avoiding spoilers. nevertheless, we then gets info that the darkspawn is perverted elves 'n such and Gromnir cried foul... we pointed out that bio were unnecessary sucking off of tolkien teat if they gotta make their orcs altered elves 'n such. ... take it for what it is worth... believe what you will, but gaider actual responded to Gromnir's criticism. gaider claimed ignorance. apparently he, nor anybody else who wrote the da story, actually knew the tolkien lore 'regarding the genesis o' orcs. Gromnir criticism that orks=darkspawn and that tolkien orcs were twisted and perverted elves were news to the biowarians... first they had heard of such a thing. really. *shrug* is hard to believe that nobody at bio knew, but we suspect that many genuine didn't. tolkien is a tedious read for the most part, and we wouldn't force his "prose" on anybody... save as some kinda cruel punishment that probably violates the Geneva Convention and the Eighth Amendment. hobbit, farmer giles, and the short stories... those is readable, but the other stuff is soul-numbing save for the serious geeks and nerdlings. it is Possible that the biowarians were ignorant, but it is amusing to us regardless. in trying to distance selves from tolkien, they unwitting did exact as tolkien? tickles our sense o' whimsy. and aristes is correct 'bout the da warriors. a well-built 2h warrior in da is a serious glass canon... though again, it does fit into easily into the damage-dealer half o' the dealer v. sponge split identified by enoch... it just ain't belonging where one would initially expect. HA! Good Fun! ps for what it is worth, Gromnir believed gaider when he claimed ignorance... otherwise he woulda' been able to construct a far better excuse for his copying o' tolkien. am thinking he were honest surprised to find out that they had replicated tolkien's efforts.

"They should have been extremely insular, maybe like an organised criminal group, demanded outrageous blood sacrifice for their support and dabbled in all sorts of forbidden stuff." am thinking there is no "should have" with a new and original universe. possibilities is limitless. Gromnir can thinks of dozens o' ways we woulda'/coulda' done. the thing is, we get how bio ended up with their elves. the women gamers who like elves so much probable wouldn't share MC's appreciation for a mafioso elves approach... and they probable wouldn't like most o' Gromnir's suggestions. bio didn't manage to evoke any genuine pathos with their alienages and dahlish stuff, but am betting that such were a goal. instead of have tuvok lead dahlish you coulda' used tony soprano? sure. sounds fun, but am doubting that Di would wanna play as carmela. "I'm looking forward to my rogue run. I usually don't go in for warriors, but it seems to me that they have enough of a talent spread to be interesting. We shall see." it really is terrible that the biowarians limited rogue skills and talents to rogues... and gave you two poorly built rogue jnpcs. archery is swell... during last 1/3 of game, so the french chick not pull her weight for much of game. also, to make her genuine effective as an archer it makes sense to focus on dex as 'posed to cunning... slows her development as a chest-opener and trap disarmer. as for zevran, he is an adequate combatant, but he is not initially having any o' the rogue skills or talents that would make him anything other than an adequate light-armed & armoured melee fighter. there is some very good melee fighters in game, and the mages is workable (though it takes a few levels to get wynne genuine useful). on the other hand, the rogues is teh suck, so for a pc it actually makes sense to play a rogue. poor game design leads to counter-intuitive reason for playing rogue. go figure. HA! Good Fun!

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1 post. now chris, does you really needs to create an alt just to do a little internet guerrilla ego boosting? is kinda gauche, no? HA! we kid, but if you encouraged your significant other (am leaving gender neutral as we not know his preferences in such matters) to do your dirty work is it not just as bad? HA! Good Fun!

it is your imagination. zevran is an elf... barely. as an aside, if you is trying to romance both morrigan and the french girl you might want to stockpile some gifts. HA! Good Fun!

we recently started a new game on nightmare. am having a hard time recognizing a difference 'tween hard and nightmare. as for how to get dlc you may not necessarily have earned/paid for... apparently so many folks has had problems getting the dlc that at the bio social site there is directions for manual installs of all the dlc. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/58/index/81613 HA! Good Fun!

"That freebie DLC dagger is destabilizingly powerful if you pump your Dex to unlock it at level 4. (It requires 26.)" didn't you say that such stuff is for wusses? HA! Good Fun!

so... who said pick pocket were a big score for human noble origin and ostegar? *snort* vivid imagination. "nothing to steal" is common for most soldiers at ostegar, and those targets who does have 1007 typical produce a few bits, a deep mushroom or an elfroot. we did get a belt that boosts con by 1 point, and some ice arrows. what a waste of a skill point. HA! Good Fun!

well, that is kinda the point, no? the dahlish were once proud people and fought battles with the humans. the elves lost. they lost the battle. they lost the war. they lost their land, and they eventual lost their culture. am recalling that fort edmonton were destroyed by indigenous peoples in the early 1800s. our understanding is that relations between the indigenous peoples and those of euro descent has improved only slightly since that time. no doubt the biowarians is not having to look very far for source material. HA! Good Fun! ps please don't take Gromnir's comments as some kinda approval o' the bioware approach. regardless of where the biowarians drew inspiration, Gromnir dislikes traditional elves on principle, and bio's da approach didn't make us feel any additional appreciation for the tree-humpers. sarel Did strike a chord with us (in a bad way) as he were extreme familiar, but am not a big fan o' how the biowarians chose to depict their elves. even so, we can see how a bunch o' kanadians in edmonton, trying to pander to elf-lovers & be different from tolkien at same time, could end up with da elves.

... am risking being called sexist by contributing. *sigh* women likes elves. don't ask Gromnir why, but when there were the Ladies of Neverwinter site running it were interesting to hear women likes and dislikes 'bout the romances and character choices in bio games. Carth were considerable influenced by feedback from the regulars at Ladies of Neverwinter... so said Gaider. regardless, women like elves. there doesn't needs be a good reason, but apparently the effete tree-huger shtick really appeals to the ladies. also, women likes suffering. no, is not that women is masochists, but women does like their hero types to have a Tragic past. da elves is recognizable as elves, so for folks who wanted to play elves da elves has appeal o' tradition. also, the da elves is victims, and that kinda woe seems to score points with women. maybe bio screwed up the execution, but we don't believe that they hate elves (not near as much as does Gromnir) and am pretty sure they were trying to make elves appeal to those people who already seeming likes elves. also, am thinking that the elf parallels to numerous native american/indian peoples is too obvious to overlook. perhaps it were bad to draw on real world examples, but we can see how the biowarians could end up with their elves if they looked to the history of dispossessed peoples. *shrug* if it makes you feel better, play the dahlish origin... before completing origin you can strip your female companion down to her unmentionables and end up with a mage robe that is arguably better than any mage garment we found (not purchased) until much later in game. +1 mana regen in combat, +4 spellpower, and +4% mr ain't bad for early in game, no? HA! Good Fun!

Descent? Did the dragon fly around when you guys were fighting it? That would've been pretty cool-- it stayed put for me. yeah.... "cool." it were not so cool when Gromnir managed to freeze said lizard in mid-air... just out of reach of our melee combatants. is ssssooooo wrong that a gargantuan frozen lizard would float likes a Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon, laughing silently both at Gromnir and gravity. if Di has soldier's peak dlc, then you gets an alice in wonderland "drink me" option... choke down dr. mengele's secret formula and gain some extra super-powers... powers Gromnir never genuine made use of in the game. HA! Good Fun!

ok, now i have to ask, what exactly do you do for a living where you had to deal with this kid? "worked"... is past tense. we worked at a Juvenile Hall for a few years while we were still in school... which is a good long time ago. Beeson were not nearly the most... colorful. as for newc's belief that allistar is in-character... well, vol agrees with him, so that right there should give him pause. in-character? after the archdemon dreams and seeing the broodmother and watchnig duncan knife ser jory... how's bout a short answer question? "I will stand idly by and allow the darkspawn horde to kill, torture or transform every man, woman and child in Fereldan (and possibly all of Thedas) because _______________________________________________________________ so, what is an appropriate answer for allistar, one that seems plausible given the manner in which al were developed up until the landsmeet? really? you musta' genuinely despised al and thought he were a complete monster if you believed it were possible that he would you wanna talk wacky comparisons? you is the guy comparing to some guy and his stereo. HA! Good Fun!

the only thing we regret 'bout allistar and morriagn HA! Good Fun!

the sergeant doesn't care about the oars. he tells you Not to kill the mercs in the pearl, but he leaves matters up to you regarding the oars. HA! Good Fun!

Thanks! I always wondered if there was a point to Pick... you mean a purpose other than showing how poorly elves is treated? the sword is actually a solid get for so early in the game. our recollection is that it is tier 2 grey iron, gives +2 to attack and +10 to physical resistance. but am probable off on one o' those attributes. HA! Good Fun! Honestly, I found the servants in Castle Cousland, coupled with Iona's comment about how well Bryce Cousland treats his elves, a better example of the poor treatment of elves than Pick. Pick just came across as a village idiot whose only real use was as a gopher. If Bio had followed up on that red-headed elven woman that the quartermaster asks you about, that might have been better. Imagine helping him find her, then she gets whipped. You step in to stop the whipping, and everyone turns on you because you don't seem to realize that whipping elves is good for them (NOT in an S&M fashion) and that what's being done is proper. Now that would have appropriately demonstrated how poorly off the elves are in Fereldan, IMO. am agreeing that the elf origins and human origins do a better job with introducing us to elf lore, but you understandably get 0 elf background in either of the dwarf origins. no doubt the developers felt compelled to give the player some elf background considering they may possibly have received 0 up to that point. you are able to get some commentary from the ash warriors regarding elves... and from the quartermaster. is all kinda pick related. "Do you get more XP if you use Coercion, rather than simply killing the two schmucks?" am not sure 'bout those examples. it were our impression that using coercion typically robbed Gromnir of easy 1007 and experience. however, am certain that the red oars mercenaries resolution netted us more exp through coercion than combat. were actual kinda surprising. HA! Good Fun! btw, we just had a chance to recheck tainted blade. no wonder the numbers is borked. with starfang and the dead thaig dagger we gots observable base damage o' 40.5 main hand and 32.4 off hand. use tainted blade and the numbers immediate jump to 53.3 and 45.2. those numbers would be higher if we opted for some slight different equipment, but Gromnir has been putting all points into cunning for quite some time, and current adjusted cunning is 50. also, we don't use all our runes as damage runes... makes far more sense to use paralyze runes. so base damage is a bit more important for us. however, keeps in mind that morrigan, with every cold boosting damage item we can find, typically produces a blizzard that is doing 9 points o' damage to enemies every few seconds. tainted blade is doing 10 points o' damage to our character at the same/similar rate. our character is a dwarf so he naturally has a slight higher con score than other rogues, but even so, our initial impression regarding tainted blade is reinforced. should not be part of the equation although it Signifficantly boosts the cunning builds dps.

Thanks! I always wondered if there was a point to Pick... you mean a purpose other than showing how poorly elves is treated? the sword is actually a solid get for so early in the game. our recollection is that it is tier 2 grey iron, gives +2 to attack and +10 to physical resistance. but am probable off on one o' those attributes. HA! Good Fun!

am gonna disagree 'bout the number o' attacks. really. Gromnir has compared a dozen times, and with momentum we is easily able to see three attack totals leap off the screen as zev shifts to get a backstab opp. and in boss battles you is even less likely to get your 100% backstabs. dragons and revenants do not let Gromnir sit on their arse all day long. some significant portion o' attacks will be against unflankable opponents, or 'gainst critters who immediate turn on you when you try and flank. the improved attack rating makes a big difference... particularly as cone of cold duration has been reduced. being frozen meant that boss were immobile but still target worthy. btw, on hard and against bosses, Gromnir is never able to get use of the taunting and force-field protected tank tactic some people utilize. this would be another great boon for achieving a higher rate of backstabs, but am never able to pull off. against mobs we will has stoneheart enabled shale run in to some target rich environment, use taunt, and then spam the area with area effect spells after we protect shale with a forcefield. that way even if there is archers or spell catsers who is able to continue to move/attack, they will focus on shale. ... you know what happens when we use force field on shale 'gainst dragons and revenants? we effective take shale out of the fight... even if we used stone roar. am wondering if there is some step we is missing. HA! Good Fun! ps to open the tranquil chest in ostagar you don't need coercion or stealing.