Cantousent

I hate all these new prestige classes. The only thing that saved the Neverwinter Nine thing was the fact that it was home brewed into the campaign.

Yeah, that "kid" was probably you giving your Valedictorian speech.

For my part, I like a lot of skill checks, and I don't just mean in dialogue. 3.5 has a lot built into skill checks. In fact, I think they should be as important as feats during gameplay. So, for that reason, I don't think I'd get fed up with a lot of skill checks. What would irk me is if the skill check didn't make sense. Even worse, I would grow tired of checks that were thrown into dialogue just to use the skill and not because it adds to the game. I say have tons of checks, but include those checks where they would make sense. Since "meaningful" is the word of the day, I'd also make those checks meaningful in terms of the story and circumstances. DnD already has a skill check built into every merchant transaction. That's meaningful on a variety of levels. It not only grants a benefit to folks who invest in appraise, but is certainly appropriate in each use. It's not just thrown into the dialogue just as an opportunity to use some obscure skill. Something that's easier for me to do in my PnP campaigns is to make all these skills meaningful. In a computer game, the design team must go out of their way to accomodate folks who want to spike their Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate. They have to find some sensible way to include checks for tracking and survival. Since the roleplay side of the equation is simply never going to compete with a good PnP group, the design team has to find ways that make use of roleplaying skills and feats while making the experience seem natural. so, I guess it all depends, ultimately, on how seamlessly the design team can incorporate the use of these skills in to the game world. If they seem natural, then I don't think we'll reach "too many" any time soon. If the skill checks appear artificial, then even a small number will jump out during gameplay.

Hahaha That's one drumstick I'd like to see. Can you imagine the dinner you'd have? Seriously, though, I thought charisma governed bluff. Now I'm not sure. I pretty much thought Charisma governed all of the discussion skills. (Diplomacy, Intimidate, and bluff). I usually create a smooth talking mage in my games, which is tough in DnD since Diplomacy is cross classed. On the other hand, Mages have tons of extra skill points and so you can have a decent diplomacy even if you can't ever peg it. As far as wisdom goes, I think a lot of us would like to see the return of PS:T dialogue where all of our stats have somes sort of play. A lot of games have been doing more of this lately, it seems to me. The NWN franchise has been pretty good in this respect, even if imperfect.

Oh, I was really angry about it anyhow. Even my original post wasn't meant to cause genuine mayhem so much as have fun at Tigranes' expense. I barely passed high school. I didn't attend a great many of my classes. I guess they have phone dialers now that automatically call if you don't go to school. I would go to some of my classes but I skipped so many I lost track of truancies. I guess, in that respect, I make a poor defender of public schools. Well, I did the same thing in private school which is one of the reasons I ended up in public school. College is different. I did well in college because I wanted to do well. Maybe Tigranes has a point. Maybe meta has a point, and I've known him to bash teachers and teaching from time to time. Still, I just can't help but think that it's better to have good teachers and that students can get more out of school than the excision of their initiative.

Wow, that is necomancy at it's best. haha Seriously, have you used the service much, Bok?

"But I agree completely with Walshingham our school system is a complete joke, even higher education is pretty bad." If making gross assumptions and extrapolating from that point forward makes me a criminal, I'll share a cell with you. On the other hand, although I didn't agree with your posts in this thread, I was probably mostly addressing my friend Tigranes, who actually said: "I rather see HS, and to an extent middle school, as that stage where the middle-class developed countryman is rid of his capacities of initiative and are rendered reactive subjects, just doing what they're told enough to get by." The big clue is that I use the same language in my post: "Yeah, going through high school rips initiative from the middle class Bourgeoisie." If we're going to be cell-mates, you've got to stop taking all this personally. That, and I get the top bunk.

Yeah, going through high school rips initiative from the middle class Bourgeoisie. Give me a break. I guess we should do away with school and just have an unending wellspring of ignorance. I'm not a teacher. I would not be one for the world. (again, at least) Nevertheless, I have the utmost respect for teachers. Many of them work in trying circumstances and some of them work in impossible environments. Even so, they generally produce educated people. ...But that doesn't matter. Hostile folks can sit at arms length and spit vitriol at teachers. Not just any teachers, mind you, but popular members of the community like Hurlshot. So, you were a student once? Good for you. I suppose being a student in one school gives you a mastery of the subject of education. There are no mysteries for you, having been a student. Some time ago. In some state. Kind of like being a virus gives you a complete understanding of medicine.

Look where Gromnir got his photo. I looked around and found it, but he'd already posted his pic. It's got a lot of our desktop images on it.

So, you're my opposite?

I can honestly say, with the hope that I don't offend, that I'm more interested in this "title" than I am in Aliens. I mean, I like the Alien movies, but I'm a bit leery of how it's going to pan out as a computer game. As a matter of fact, I'm more confident about the module now than I was when I first heard about it.

Damned Camera decided to take a dive. I took the picture of the old monitor a night or two before the new one arrived. Somewhere during that time, the camera died and I had to take the next picture with my wife's old digital. Getting the monitor was a pain in the first place. I ordered it, but I usually leave the house around 6am and I don't get hom until after 8pm. So, they tried to deliver the monitor for two consecutive days. At that point, my wife arranged to have it sent to her work. Great. It weighs 60 pounds and it won't fit in either of our mustangs, so she had to get help from a friend and then she and her friend and her friends two sons had to help take it out of the truck. It's really not so much the weight as it is the bulkiness, though. I mean, she and her friend wouldn't have had a problem if not for the size of the box. Anyhow, adventure over. Here's the new one: I'm not going to include a before picture because the message board isn't letting me upload both picture and I'm getting increasingly irritated. So, the new picture will have to do. As for the dual monitor thing, is it worth it? As you can see, I have limited desktop area for two monitors. I could get a bigger desk, I guess. I've usually gone cheap on the desks, but time change.

What? The game isn't out yet. It's pretty hard to judge a game before it's in our hands. This actually made me laugh out loud. haha

That's it! I'd probably be someone's animal companion! ...Or I'd be some Red Wizard of Thay's dung beetle familiar. I'd hate the guy, but what could I do? I'm a dung bettle.

Yeah, I remember that picture. Cute cat. Anyhow, I've got my new monitor. It really doesn't take up much more space than my last one. I might end up getting a new desk so I can set up dual monitors. Reading the board, it doesn't make much difference. Playing game though... oh brother! Woo Hoo! My camera bit it, and I'm pretty much exhausted, so I'll do the picture things tomorrow.

In reality, I'd probably be a priest. Either that, or maybe a bard. No, wait, a bardic priest! That's it!

Ah, but you'd still be LE. :D

The producer hypes the game? Good Lord, they should have fired him if he hadn't. He's the producer. What did you expect him to say? "Well, when you're looking at giving out game awards, remember this is just an expansion." Now, I have yet a different outlook on this. The producer is not, at this time, trying to manage our expectations. That's a good sign, right? I dunno. Just an errant thought.

Yeah, I've heard audio-books are a good thing to use. Traffic was actually pretty good today. I got here in a little less than an hour and a half. Woo Hoo! I've also already managed to secure one interview. The only thing I haven't done is mention that I intend to post the details on a message board. I won't post any discussion unless the interviewee gives me the okay. However, I'm confident that, except for specific sorts of information, most folks won't care. Some might even be a little flattered that I'm interested enough to interview them and post it. That's my hope, anyhow. Now, how's this for cool? I managed to break the game in a specific way. So, I send in a bug report about broken progression and keep doing my job. A couple days later, the bug needs to be regressed. Since I discovered the bug, and since I can replicate it consistently (100%), the person regressing the bug asks me to do it again. I follow the same steps and.... BAM.... verified failed. I verify it failed and send it back. A couple days later, the bug needs to be regressed. The person assigned to the regression doesn't even bother. He just assigns it to me. I follow the steps and.... BAM... verified failed. So, the person trying to fix this problem wants to see what I'm doing. I've been saying what the problem is in my reports, but it's far easier for someone to see these problems if they're there while you replicate them. What's funny is that it wouldn't be an uncommon experience for folks of a similar mind-set in their character builds. Like all the other bugs I've found, it wasn't something I did to break the game. I was just playing through an area and it happened by accident. Well... it happened by design, but the end result was definitely not part of the designers design. Awesome. Of course, it's also meant a lot of drudgery doing the same area over and over again, but even that is kind of a fun if I know it will help the game.

I was thinking of a making a game development RPG. You know, different classes with special abilities. QA: Flurry of Bugs Hasty Report Programming: Confound Pathfinding Smite Plot Critical NPC Artists: Mystery Icon Invoke Clipping Designers: Create Circular Dialogue Leap of Logic Producers: Fist of the Dictator Not Now I'm in a Meeting Owners: Three Martini Power Lunch Create Minion Seriously, I was actually irritated by something yesterday. Maybe even angry. I'd noticed something I thought was clearly a bug over a week ago. I went up to the developer lead, one of the developer QA people, and one of the publisher QA people and mentioned it. It was related to an issue we'd been discussing previously, and so I could not manage to convey to them that the problem was actually worse. In fact, I grew a bit heated, as I am sometimes wont to do, and I said, "It is in fact NOT misleading. It is, by definition, wrong." At that point, I figured I should probably remove myself from the discussion. I knew they were blowing me off and hadn't really been paying attention, which, in retrospect, doesn't make me angry. We'd been talking about it and I had only been working for just a little over a week. The new guy doesn't get much traction, and that's fair. However, yesterday, the same publisher QA person comes into the office and says that he's seen something that's a real issue. It was the exact same issue that irked me so much on memorial day. Well, he wrote it up as a bug, and so that's cool. I have a lot of respect for the guy. Yeah, I think he's a bit strange, but he probably thinks the same thing about me. Still, he's a good rolemodel for new testers. I disagree with many of his dialogue suggestion, but his research and dedication are above reproach. So, it all worked out, but I was a tad bit irritated about it. ...And when I'm irritated, I know I look really mean. As meta can attest, I'm actually a rather urbane and friendly sort in person. At least I hope he can attest to that. :Cant's sideways glance icon: Since I'm not sticking around, I've got to talk to folks. I was going to be patient, but I'd like to have... I dunno... interviews with some of the key folks in this project. I'd like to talk to them and write up a report for the board community here. I don't know how I want to approach it just yet, but I know I don't have much time. Maybe 2 1/2 months on the outside. If push comes to shove, I will literally ask to have a short interview. If the answer is no, then it's no. At any rate, I'll let you all know how that goes.

Cut it out already, you're making me blush. I didn't remember, by the way, but I plan on searching for it.

Swine

Grim Fandango was a great game and the graphics really helped set the tone from the very beginning.

Damn it, Gromnir. It would have been nice to know that before I bought the damned thing.