Gromnir

So you actually WANT to spend time on constantly shuffling potions and healing spells even outside of combat? Or the even more retarded option of going to sleep in the middle of a bloody zombie-infested dungeon?!! I just dont get some people. I miss the rpg-atmosphere. Roll, create and develop each character. Explore, sustain wounds, set up camp at the end of the day, boil - prepare - and ingest herbs, have the cleric use first aid and heal some wounds. J. that is d&d atmosphere, not necessarily rpg atmosphere. HA! Good Fun!

eh? so what? lord knows there has been about a thousand times we wished we could buy only 2 eggs 'stead 'o a dozen... and some o' the "options" we has gotten sold with cars in past has been irksome 'cause we were certain that the shortage o' particular models were contrived. even so, why is "new" significant? don't want it? don't pay for it. is not limiting you or compelling you... is no pressure involved and is not as if da only works if you buy their extra widget. you want cheese on your burger? that will be extra. HA! Good Fun!

looks nifty, but takes 3 levels to get... After we take heal. the frost stuff looks nice with the potential for shatter. ... raises an interesting question. why does developers feel the need to gimp jnpc casters with such frequency. give 'em stoopid powers or spells that no player would voluntarily choose. sometimes such stuff makes sense within the context of game... but too often it feels as if developers is purpose making jnpc casters lame so that a player caster will feels better 'bout themselves... or to give player a reason to play a caster. am recalling edwin in the original bg. no doubt his presence in party emasculated more than a few would-be bg spellcasters. HA! Good Fun!

am not seeing the problem. don't like it? don't pay. am not judging the game based on the dlc. am not particularly bothered by the camp shtick either. if in nwn2 some character in crossroads keep had offered tangential dlc, Gromnir wouldn't have seen problem. same thing if we were in ebon hawk or similar camp location. 'course, if we were in severed hand and character bars our way to top level o' tower w/o paying dlc toll, then we would be perturbed. similarly, if we were on telos, and that blocked off portion o' the underground base were accessible through additional pay, then we would be unhappy... "this door will open if you pay $5.99 now!" is nothing unethical 'bout it... and am not genuinely getting the "jarring" criticism either. we were slightly amused, and a little impressed, by ea's mercenary approach. if game is woeful short, then we will wonder at failure to include in core game, and will criticize ea for their greed, but until we play game we simply see the chuckle value... and if we likes game enough, we may end up giving ea their bonus quid to play a little more da. HA! Good Fun!

Give Morrigan a healing spell. duh. as soon as she levels we will, but even so, morggain not have no area effect damage spell yet neither. will keep her mostly offensive, but yeah, at least one heal spell is essential. HA! Good Fun!

me dialogue is retarded. is a resource saving feature and nothing more. 'cause shepard has full vo, bio had to find some way to multiply his responses... typically not matter what dialogue wheel choice you make, 'cause shepard is gonna have 1 or 2 responses. wheel gives player the illusion o' choice. dialogue wheel interface may have more graphic appeal, but only fools and game reviewers see as innovative or neato. btw, Gromnir purchased yesterday afternoon and played pretty much non-stop through the night. played entirety of human noble origin and osterwhatzitz with a warrior specializing in 2h weapons... skill in combat and coercion. we also played through the dwarf noble origin with a dw rogue. normal difficulty (no patch). a few observations. writing were over-the-top in human noble origin. maybe were ok on paper, but with vo it just became tedious and sad. terrible. dwarf noble weren't so bad, but were not all that inspired neither. for the most part, the vo has been excellent. only have access to the following jnpcs: allister, morrigan (sp?) the french chick and sten. sten is a solid combatant, but the bard sucks... weak combatant and boring. sten is a bore too, but at least he not stink up the joint once combat begins. the problem with sten is that he is a 2h warrior, just like Gromnir. am not having much of a place for him in our party. for a sword and board guy, allister is a potion sink, but the banter 'tween him and other party members is moderate fun. did we mention that we really need a healer. seems wacky that there is only one in game. combat in origins were ez... less so afterward. Gromnir needs a party healer... stat. we had more than a handful o' reloads, and we used potions frequent. the rogue class is pointless (shoulda' had skills tied to stats and done away with the unnecessary class bloat) but our rogue seemed relative okie dokie in combat... we only played the origin an a little of the wilds with the rogue, so am not sure if we have enough experience to make accurate judgment 'bout combat or rogue efficacy. archery sucks. thus far, Gromnir has used more healing potions in DA than we did in bg and totsc combined. did we mention that we need a healer? graphics: no complaints thus far. game says we is only having a single core, but nevertheless, everything looks nice enough to Gromnir. btw, first thing we did after loading game were were to disable persistent blood spatter. am hopeful that there is more coercion options later in game. so far there has been almost none. feedback on this board suggests that there is good coercion options later, so we will keep hope alive. am hating when developers use persuasion to simply avoid fights. better be more/better options. the only thing we has spent money 'pon in game is flasks and potions. everything worth buying is current too expensive or not nearly as good as what we already got. combat tactics as a skill? is possibly the single dumbest thing we has seen so far. possibly the second most ridiculous aspect is wolves with overwhelm. get attacked by 8 wolves and 3 of them manage overwhelm at same time. reload. wolves? more thoughts later. gonna take a nap now. HA! Good Fun!

"sounds like gromnir is developing a bit of a crush on a certain young hot n manly college boy... " no... but admitting that we feels a great deal of envy for those folks who enjoyed their 4-5 liberal arts education/vacation. sounds critical, but isn't. honest, if we could do all over again, we woulda' taken advantage o' those college years to do more than study, work, and play ball. to stay on-topic, Gromnir rarely understands the graphics wh0res who dissect screen shots. silly big weapons is... silly. *shug* is hardly something that is gonna discourage us from playing or enjoying. is a couple o' fantasy crpgs that don't use over-sized weapons, and they suck. Gromnir dealt with wacky big weapons in ps:t, bg, nwn2 and a host o' other crpgs we did like. am too tired to be bothered by big weapons, particularly as da does not appear to have reached the excessive anime standard for such things. excessive blood spatter is also a bit cheezy, but the persistent blood can be disabled, no? HA! Good Fun!

I played my first 24 hours on normal and found it very comfortable. There are a number of people who find the game HARD, and think that people who are having an easy time of it are bragging douches. It's a very strange place to be in as I don't consider myself l33t and I dislike combat heavy games. Telling others that the game isn't that bad and that they (sigh) need to learn to play isn't an expeirence I'm used to. I really have no idea how people are stuggling so much with it. I will say that around 2am last night, I bumped the game down to easy. I'm running into a 'random' encounter whenever I travel, and they annoy me. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the loading times. ... am not sure if we would call you a "bragging douche" (charming), but although Gromnir ain't played the game, we might be tempted to deride your observation 'bout combat difficulty. after all, in the other thread you referenced a portion o' the game as being something o' a deathtrap, with those evil biowarians leading you into a portion o' game that were far too difficult for you when you first encountered. no doubt you see the seeming contradiction. as we said, Gromnir ain't played yet-- we waits for feedback... and typical we hold-off til the first patch. unfortunately, am looking at some scheduling issues in a couple o' weeks that may result in Gromnir choosing to forgo our patched-first policy and ignore good sense. feedback from folks sounds mostly positive. if we is real curious we can head down to best buy and watch while some 20-something slacker plays the xbox version they got on display... guy was playing on tuesday and when we stopped by yesterday he was there again... probably a liberal arts major at local university. HA! Good Fun!

that depends on how you play the game, doesn't it? nameless were actual kinda a weak character, which is understandable given how necessarily vague and flexible he must be. HA! Good Fun!

I'm going to throw this post right in your face next time you accuse me of going off on a tangent about semantics, Grommy. The watermelon comparison is silly, even for you. Especially considering that if you want you can sample the fruit before buying it! So drop the "force" from the arguments. You are still left only with those two options. I was just following in on the idiocy of comparing a Broadway play to a videogame. You figure out the rest man, I don't share your enthusiasm for the absurd. actually, you started the absurdity.... is how we ended up with your either/or fallacy. am uncertain why you not abandon the "force" silliness. is not either/or as there is a multitude of options available options competing for your entertainment dollar. is not only two choices and there is no force. watermelon is no more ridiculous. is a blind purchase. you not know if you is gonna get a good or bad watermelon 'til you cut into it and take a bite. damned grocer is forcing a blind choice on you... evil bastards. the real difference is that only person who genuine thinks that the game purchase (sans demo) is a blind purchase is numbers. the game purchase is neither forced nor blind. "Well you know, you could always research your purchase before buying it thus you aren't blind." numerous people has made the same comment, but number ignores. is vol kinda obtuse. HA! Good Fun!

I don't have the game. I called Fry's and asked if they had Dragon Age: Origns CE for the PC. The lady said 'yes.' I drove over, the lady said 'I mean tomorrow. Come back tomorrow at 8am.' "Are you sure you have the Collector's Edition?" I ask. "Yes, we have 60 copies!" she replies, while showing me a picture of the regular edition. "The Collector's Edition?" "60 copies!" sounds familiar... and fry's is worse than most. some joker who is typical selling stereo equipment is suddenly working in games department for the day. whatever it says on the computer screen in front of him is gospel... is why we is general patient with such folks. chances are they is never gonna own their own house. getting chewed out by Gromnir would be overkill. HA! Good Fun!

And I don't think you have thought that through. Oblivion is the same whether you play 2 hours or 200, the game doesn't change and you get what's advertised - you get bored, but nothing the developers can do can change that. A good demo gives you a good feel of how the game plays. This is 100% subjective and no review can substitute that. What the hell man? Isn't that what I said? The options you are left with are to purchase blindly, or not purchase at all. I'm not saying that automatically grants the right to download the game, or that EA is putting a gun to anyone's head. You are forced into that in the sense that no other options exist. Also, when they make 80-hour long plays, I'll demand they make a demo, too. no force. maybe you claim that you were "forced" to buy watermelon blind 'cause they not allow you to demo it before purchase? you keep claiming force, but is not a single reasonable person that would claim that you were forced to purchase. if available alternatives exist, then there is no force. is also arguable, from economic pov, that force is impossible for luxury items. is pretty common for entertainment to be purchased "blind". HA! you not wanna rely on waiting and reading reviews, or playing on acquaintance's computer before purchase? that makes you lazy... or stoopid. not make force. again, you maybe use "force" for effect, but it simply not work. numbers not recognize either/or fallacy any better than he recognizes straw man. *snort* and what the hell does 80 hours have to do with anything? if play were longer you would expect to sit maybe through first act and then have option to pay? hey, maybe for season tickets for the Chicago Bears, Gromnir can get first 4 games as sorta a demo for season... then pay for rest if Bears is playing well. am not sure what you mean by a demo for play. in any event, is no force, so your rationalization is weak. HA! Good Fun!

You mean you have other options outside of those two? So what are they? your entertainment dollar or euro is extreme flexible. other games. movie, sporting events, naked mud-wrestling... whatever. take your entrainment dollar and spend elsewhere. available alternatives destroy notion o' force... is a pretty fundamental concept. and fact that this is a luxury item pretty much makes "force" a ridiculous notion. Gromnir were forced into a blind purchase of 2 Broadway show tickets 'cause the alternative were not seeing the show? HA! does demo make any less blind than available reviews? wait a few days for and no doubt you get genuine feedback from a trusted source. maybe you even get an opportunity to play on an acquaintance computer. regardless, notion o' "force" is silly in present context. overstatement for effect perhaps? or were it a genuine rationalization for piracy? HA! Good Fun!

Oh no, you got me now. We don't need to turn this thread into another piracy "debate"(read: flamewar). If you think someone is advocating piracy, report them, as simple as that. why would Gromnir report? as we noted already, the rationalizations for piracy amuse us. you wanna play board mod? be our guest. HA! Good Fun!

I don't think anyone is actually doing that. The anti-piracy squad is on a hair trigger, as usual. an over-sensitive pirate responds? if people claim that individuals is "forced into a blind purchase or no-purchase situation" when speaking of luxury items... use as an explanation for piracy... *shrug* and looks at junai's typical doggerel. does high price o' entertainment have anything whatsoever to do with piracy... or were that a non sequitur with no real purpose? bah. HA! Good Fun!

am always amused to hear folks rationalize the piracy o' a Luxury item. please continue. HA! Good Fun!

development and publishing games is a business endeavor. if developer and publisher ain't making money, then they will not be making additional games. heck, Gromnir liked ps:t, but its economic failure guaranteed that there would be no sequel or similar game from bis or any other developer. on the other hand, as much as diablo ii bored Gromnir, it were immense popular and developers is still making clones. sales is much more relevant to future game development than is the personal taste o' an individual gamer. HA! Good Fun!

"Take TOEE (Temple of Elemental Evil) for example, here you had a game with the best turn D&D based tactical combat engine of the time. There were no expansions or add-ons (other than the free and idependently developed Keep on the Borderlands by CO8.oRG). The game died, and they did not maximize its potential income." ... am not sure what the above has to do with dragon age. toee were 'posed to be a quick and cheap development... were plans for multiple d&d modules using same engine.unfortunately, troika missed deadlines and ruined whatever relationship they mighta' had with atari. once it becomes apparent to atari that there ain't gonna be no sequels with troika, they got a choice 'tween shipping a half-baked product before end of fiscal quarter, or missing quarter and trying to work with an antagonistic developer to fix toee 'fore release. toee didn't have to be a big seller to make atari money as it were envisioned as a quick and relative cheap development, but toee were a failure before it ever were shipped. HA! Good Fun!

am assuming it is more than just the diablo ii clone it appears to be. HA! Good Fun! No. Why would you assume that? Do you find it unfathomable that Sawyer would find a well-built Diablo clone to be enjoyable? "enjoyable" is different than "it owns." am willing to concede that if you liked diablo ii, then a well-built diablo ii clone would be enjoyable. 'course, one wonders what is reasoning for playing the clone when the original is still available. better graphics? ownage is achieved through graphics and cloning? kinda disappointing if true. HA! Good Fun!

am assuming it is more than just the diablo ii clone it appears to be. HA! Good Fun!

spirit-eater were... stoopid. not the idea, but the implementation. took 'bout 20 minutes to figure out the gaps in the reason used to implement. afterward, if playing good, you not need to worry 'bout spirit meter save as a somewhat tedious pre-adventure ritual... find place where undead spawn, and max out meter before going off to thaymount or ashenwood. spirit-meter were an annoyance that not actual add to gameplay. never played evil, but am betting that world map travel weren't no fun for folks with high rate o' hunger. even so, if good end were busted, am betting that evil side were similarly flawed. also, the original pre-patch alignment bonuses/hits for the spirit-eater were likewise ridiculous. took 20 hours o' gameplay to get 'nuff dialogue options to equal the amount o' possible law-boosting points you could amass from 20 minutes o' suppression + rest sequences. am thankful Gromnir never played a bard or barbarian. btw, the joinable npcs for motb were a big disappointment. am sounding like a broken record, but if dove were a human & male paladin, would anybody have given a damn? personalty o' damp dish towel and colorblindness Not = great character. o' but 'cause dove is having wings That makes her kewl. bah. motb jnpcs were all gimmick and little substance. make gann a human or elven roguish womanizer... with mommy issues. lame. o' but he's Blue... literally. *groan* yet another character that woulda' been reviled as cliche if not for the gimmick. make gann a hagspawn, and presto-chanego, the overused cliche becomes novel. the bear were kinda a neato concept, but we didn't get much development past the concept. etc. Gromnir liked motb, but the end were weak... as is typical for obsidian games. am always forgetting the name o' the betrayer guy... which is a bad sign as he is the ultimate adversary. never developed requisite interest for the titular character--didn't hate or admire or feel requisite pity for the betrayer. if not for the silly end battle, the betrayer coulda' been nothing more than a macguffin suitable for Hitch****... which woulda' been ok if other adversaries Did gets development. again, we enjoyed motb, but the spirit-meter were flawed and the writing were inconsistent at best. then again, they managed to get maxwell's daemon into the game. HA! Good Fun!

when bg2 joinable npcs were first released to public there were criticism that they were too "cartoony." the pastels were not embraced, and minsc, in particular, looked like a predictably buffoonish character from woody-woodpecker episode, complete with ridiculously toothy grin. folks pointed to recently released iwd portraits as a more aesthetically pleasing alternative. maybe iwd weren't "realism," but at least it weren't cartoon neither. mike saas responds by making bg2 portraits gritty and realistic: he added scars and piercings. *groan* 'least minsc no longer looked like a bio attempt to mock victims o' down's syndrome, but we were amused that biowarian notions o' "dark and gritty" were to remove smiles and add scars and piercings. am hopeful that the bio writers ain't as lazy as the bio artists were. HA! Good Fun!

You were giving lessons of straw men fallacies, just a few posts ago. That's a textbook example. Not bad, Grom, not bad. Not exactly what I had in mind when I said you could do better, though. I think the question is, "is age of consent legislation the best way to protect children from sexual predators and abuse?" Since, by your own admission, its value as a deterrent for similarly aged teenagers isn't that great, and nobody actually bothers to enforce it in those cases. The Ancient Egyptians were just an example to show that just because CONGRESS set it up that way it doesn't mean it's the ONLY way. Gee, who woulda thunk it! Oh, wait. They are "barbarians", right? am not sure you genuine know what straw man is. how is dollar limit for grand larceny different than your argument regarding consent age? some clown steals $499 and is petit. steals $500 (or, when in CA, any any amount of avocados) and he is likely to face grand larceny charges... am serious 'bout the avocados thing. is arbitrary. is a distinction that could conceivably send some person to prison for life if is facing 3-strikes. if is fails 'cause is arbitrary, then there ain't no difference, is there? is literally thousands o' laws that got arbitrary limits and thresholds. you got a Constitution that protects us from the tyranny o' the majority, but otherwise is society that decides on rules to govern selves. the investment o' the citizenry in the process makes for some seemingly odd laws, but that investment by people also means that Force is not needed to gets most people to follow the laws. "I think the question is, "is age of consent legislation the best way to protect children from sexual predators and abuse?"" nope, that were never the question. laws ain't 'bout best way to protect. laws don't necessarily have to find least restrictive or ideal means o' protection... never has, talk 'bout slippery slopes. laws is also 'bout expediency and vengeance. am gonna have to introduce you to RW again? only the most ignorant o' flower sniffing hippies thinks all laws is only 'bout bestest. Best? HA! again, is of, by and for the people... people not make best laws. has never Evar, been 'bout best when you is talking 'bout representative democracies. as long as the governmental action be "rationally related" to a "legitimate" government interest you got a valid law in this country. is not plato's philosopher king. and Congress never set no age o' consent... is different from state to state. nevertheless, if you thinks you bolster your argument by comparing morality judgments made by democratic elected representatives o' new hampshire or idaho with those o' the pharaohs, then good luck with that. HA! Good Fun!

am sorry, but is silly in extreme. 55 and 65mph is arbitrary. so is 18 years of age for consent and $500 for grand larceny. so, obviously we can't have no speed limit, age of consent or dollar amount for grand larceny. *snort* as walsh mentions, if you think 18 is too high, then what number you think is appropriate? doesn't really matter though... 'cause once you agree that some age of consent or speed limit is beneficial, or that it makes sense to distinguish petit from grand larceny, then you is just arguing details... can always quibble over the exact perfect number or measure. so what? admission that laws depend on an arbitrary limit or number in no way invalidates 'cept in silly message board scenarios referencing the high morals of the ancient egyptians. huh? HA! Good Fun! ps you gotta be a complete idgit if you suggest that the only valid and useful law is one that is infallible. numbers, Gromnir would like to introduce you to the Real World... apparently you two has never met before today.

am not certain why you think the principle is invalidated 'cause o' the hypocrisy of the author. a father who never brushes his teeth teaches his children to brush twice a day and floss regular. is the dad's message false? how 'bout michael vick doing humane society commercials 'bout treatment o' pets? is false that dogs should be treated humanely? hypocrisy of the messenger does not invalidate the message. the fact that principles espoused in the declaration is more valid now than it were when written makes principles false? HA! Good Fun! ps "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," sounds better than, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all white men are created equal". just doesn't roll off the tongue as well.