Cantousent

What is this mysterious "orange box?" I might be interested in blasted one or all of you.

haha lol This was funny. Nothing like humble pie early in the morning. I actually spent some time discussing the spirit eater mechanic in my "review." While I was vague, I certainly had a lot more to say about it than the blurb in question. hehe. Anyhow, the spirit eater mechanic is central to the story. It's a curse, but some folks might look at it more as a blessing. :Cant's wink and smile icon:

Woo Hoo! They owe me a game! You hear me Obsidian?! You hear me?!? :Cant's poking fun at Obsidian icon:

If New Egg shipped any faster, it would be here before I ordered it.

Well, XP pro supports 4 gigs, and I don't see the need to go for Vista just yet. I think this will do the trick. Now I'm just waiting for all the stuff to arrive so I can build the rig. Then I'll have to clean up all the excess crap in my harddrive and give it to my wife, who will have to clean up all the extraneous gunk in her hard drive and give that to her folks.

Okay, next question. Will 64 bit XP be able to play my games?

"I hated having to make judgement calls all the time." I don't see how you can DM without making judgment calls all the time. Unless you take a prepackaged module from a prepackaged campaign and then forbid your players from trying anything creative in the least, you're going to make judgment calls as a DM.

This just occured to me. Will XP be able to see the whole 4 gigs of memory?

Having been the person who used the term "pseudo-philosophical" in the MotB thread, I'd like to stipulate that the term is, indeed, pejorative. It literally means false wisdom love, or false philosophy. I hate the very term. I warn you that, being unable to sleep, my posts will probably be less than coherant. I'm sure you won't be able to tell the difference. At any rate, this is my take. Krezack is entirely right. The medium shouldn't dictate the value of philosophical discourse. It is for this reason that novels, plays, and movies play such an important part in expressing wide assortment of philosophical points of view. Plato didn't write a text book. He wrote dialogue between interlocutors, some of which I have translated for my own personal reading. It is silly to suggest that game cannot express philosophy. Games can be viable literary vehicles if we only allow.

"....sorry if this has been discussed before." Hahaha Seriously, though, this is an important question if we're ever to take games as legitimate literary vehicles.

The difference in the Plextor isn't that much in price, but I don't really need that level of quality, either. Anyhow, it wasn't a bother, mkreku. I finally went with your motherboard. I took Bok's advice on the evga. I went with the memory because it wasn't a huge difference and I like Geil and OCZ and I wanted 2gig modules. Plus, the Motherboard is rated for DDR2 800, and I don't know what the bottom end is in terms of memory. Finally, the difference in price between the Raptor and the Raptor X is $5, and the Raptor X was higher rated on various sites. This is a done deal. Turns out we need to get the wife's old system to her folks in two weeks, so I bought the list I posted earlier. As always, snappy snappy pics.

I think the real issue is distance - in particular initiating risky conversation at point blank range. Even in hostile situations people talk without goons standing in front of them, blocking the view. They'd usually do it further away, with the goons flanking them, maybe in slightly advanced positions. The difference is they're far away enough that it's not a blade in your heart as soon as the dialogue window closes. I agree, but the reality is that I can stand with the goons ahead and in front of me but I can still look past them at the enemy. Nevertheless, like you and I have both said, there are ways of dealing with the issue, and I completely agree, regardless of where the goons stand, that I'm likely going to want to keep distance if I'm facing someone who will imminently attack me. That way, we can follow your example completely, as the fighter types will be on the flanks, but ready to move forward to block a potential foe.

Hey, be nice to Alvin, you scurrilous rat bastards. :Cant's pumping his fist icon: Anyhow, NPCs still interject, but how much really relies on their abilities? I don't think it checks their skills. I think MotB just checks to see if they're in the party. However, some NPCs will help considerably in certain dialogue. Some of them provide different options in dialogue. So, keep that in mind. My problem isn't the NPCs. My problem is that my NPCs have conversational skills that the PC cannot use except in scripted events. At least that's my understanding. One of the Obsidz folks can correct me if I'm wrong. That's good, because having the NPC have an impact on dialogue options is great, but I would rather be able to use the whole party at any time in creative ways. I want the game to check their skills, not just verify their presence. I would like to be able to have someone with a high diplomacy skill try to work some silver tongued magic on a potential foe. That way, if I want to develop an NPC's conversational skills, then it will make a difference in the game.

There was one entire area that is not path critical, although I think most folks will play it. The length actually seems quite good. I agree whole heartedly that NWN2 was a bit bloated, but MotB seems to have stayed trim without being completely devoid of any side areas. One of the reasons I think the game is so great is because they took enough time to tell the story without having excessive (to borrow from Aegeri) orc cave areas while not making it a single beeline to the endgame. Like most non-sandbox games, it's linear, but there is enough side content to reach the level cap, even if you start at the minimum level for the expansion. For me, it is a great mix. Hope that helps.

That's a good point, Gorth. NPC conversation skills are a loss in the current scheme.

Hey, conversation skills come in right handy in this game. One of the advantages of my build is that I have full diplomacy, which I use. Don't get me wrong. The problem is that all conversation hinges on the PC. Hell, that's one of the advantages of playing a class, like the rogue, who has both diplomacy and bluff (if I remember right) as class skills. The problems isn't that the PC doesn't use conversation skills. The problem is that the PC ends up teleported right next to the bad guys which, in my opinion, resumes my disbelief. The PC should not be forced to stand next to the person in order to use conversation skills.

I've made copious complaints about that very issue. It still exists. I hate it. As I see it, I don't have to be standing right next to an enemy, who is clearly set to attack me any minute, to exchange words with him. Why not have the PC speak but have the fighters and other meat shields between him and the bad guys? You won't be stuck playing a fighter type, however. First of all, mages have spells to help deal with these issues. For example, my mage builds invariably invested max points in tumble, which does wonders. Second of all, while there are cases where bringing the PC to the front causes some irritation, mostly it's a non-issue. What really burns me isn't that it makes it more difficult so much as it really tears me out of the game. Every single time it happens, I think to myself, "Why the hell would my super-genius level mage not stand behind the muscle to talk to these people?" Hell, why approach them at all? I'd says, "Stand where you are if you want to talk. Any closer, and it's not a discussion. It's a fight." This should probably have been in my original write-up, it irritated me so much, but it's kind of specific. On the other hand, it's not specific to MotB. Most of these dumbass games seem to follow that trend. Really breaks immersion for me.

I've created characters from all the classes. However, I did the vast majority of my builds in a very speicific prestige mage class. I'd also suggest, if you think it's too easy, that you leave the NPCs at home and solo the game on hardcore. The game will be considerably harder. I think it would be a shame to miss all the NPC interaction, but if difficulty is your deal breaker, then that's the way to go. EDIT: mkreku, do you have a screenshot of your character levelup screen? I'm curious as to why you can't take Assassin.

Yeah, and having the NPCs do more damage to the party than the enemy makes the game much harder.

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail $149.99 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $189.99 EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $529.99 Sony NEC Optiarc Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM $17.99 GeIL Value Series 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model GX24GB6400DCKA - Retail $239.99 ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $184.99 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Kentsfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6700 - Retail $549.99 Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM $139.99 ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail $53.99 The grand total is $2,240.87. A couple of notes: I had the devil's own time with my Asus video card. Actually, that would be two, since I had to RMA one right away. Anyhow, that was cutting edge at the time. I've decided to go with a more established 8800 rather than getting the 8900. I also went with the evga brand this time. My last build had an Asus motherboard, with which I have had luck in the past. I decided to go for mkreku's recommendation and take the abit. It was highly rated and there seemed to be some cooling problems with the comparable evga motherboards, and the evga brand is more expensive at any rate. As always, now that I've established my build, I'm more than happy to take advice or listen to commentary. My last build, other than the cursed video, which finally died and I replaced, has been great. I'm hoping to avoid the video conundrum this time around. So, comments? Also, my budget this time around is $2,500. I will not go over that amount for any reason whatsoever.

No, the Sis has an 8800gts. I bought an 8600 to replace the one in this system.

You know, it's funny. My video card bit it on my desktop. I installed an 8600 on it, since the wife is getting the old system anyhow. In the meantime, my sister decided she wanted a new system. She had a budget of $1k. I suggested the build, which includes an 8800 evga video, 2 gigs of ocz memory, a core 2 duo, and a seasonic psu. After taxes and shipping, it came out to $1,080. So, I did buy the system. I just didn't buy MINE yet. :D

MotB will not test your mettle as a tactical combat sim, Aegeri. It's tougher than NWN2, but it's not a "bragging rights" game. I think, overall, it's much tougher than either NWN2 or NWN. If you enjoyed PST for the story rather than the combat, then you'll probably enjoy MotB. However, with your focus on combat, I don't want to mislead you either. I haven't seen a single title in the entire NWN franchise that posed a harsh test of combat acumen. As I said, the combat is difficult enough that I found it entertaining but not so tough that it will turn away players who don't focus quite so clearly on combat. I believe MotB is a step in the right direction, true, but it is not the IE. The focus in the IE games was party tactical. Sure, some folks used AI to run characters, but I think there was a certain understanding that the life expectancy of the party rose considerably if the player took an active hand in queuing up orders. My take on the NWN franchise is that there is an understanding that players will only occasionally issue orders to each individual party member. Some folks might go through the game without issuing specific orders to all members at the same time. Nonetheless, the specific source of your ire, the orc caves, does not repeat itself in MotB. I can't cite specifics, but I can only say that areas where you might find the combat too easy will be quickly completed and behind you. I also suggest that there will probably be more people who find the game difficult than easy. In fact, for a couple of reasons, you might find the game to be quite difficult as well, even if you don't find the combat as challenging as some of games from "the good ol' days." :Cant's easy grin icon:

Yeah. It's pretty. It also comes with three 120mm fans, two top and one bottom. I think the PSU at the bottom is strange, off the cuff, but it doesn't really bug me. It's under $200 (barely) so it fits my price range on the case (again, barely). I've read that it's actually tough to work inside the case, but the quality looks quite good. It's only a bit more expensive than the Thermaltake. I'll have to think about it.

That wasn't his argument. his argument appears to be, "You haven't done better, so your credibility as an insider is suspect." I don't agree, by the way. It didn't seem to me that Kaftan was throwing his weight around. He was just slamming the game, which is a perfectly legitimate exercise in a gaming forum. On the other hand, kaftan's arguments, as always, are heavy handed. I've taken his disclaimer as true over the years, but his arguments still tend to be more bludgeoning rather than cutting.