Cantousent

Okay, I need some help.

Dammit, Lou, I'm speechless. I'm also still trying to understand it. Plus it scares me.

Oh, Shutup, baley. I'll do another report on you myself. Who are you again?

How do you pick something up and move it in the game? I still haven't done it, but there's this body on a trap and I'd like to move him off of it so the trap quits springing.

Have you guys considered that maybe Hades just wanted to score a pic or two for us? Hell, I was hoping for an in-game pic, and if the excuse is a look at the new menu, so be it. Anyhow, stop picking on the guy already.

They always were. TOMBS reports serve three purposes: Stroking someone's ego, attacking someone, or some combination of the two. That's it. The best TOMBS reports are ones that have at least some sort of insight into the member. What we do might not be psychoanalysis, but it's certainly some sort of analysis. So, I don't know how to respond to your question, Child, but my latest report on Pixies looks a lot like reports I've done on most of you folks. However, Mothman still owes me a roast and I'd welcome a roast or two from others if they have the time to write a report. :Eldar's smiling because the licks of flames tickle his backside icon:

This report regards the PixiesRock. It's not a long report. It's not even really a report. It's mostly an observation about our correspondence over the past several months. Pixies is perhaps one of the most talented people on this board. While I get the impression he's still rather young, he delves into a wide variety of disciplines. After all, he's a musician and a composer. He has made a place for himself within the pantheon of the T.O.M.B.S. universe. He has created the Atomic Death Squad and stands, with surreptishus, as the head of that august body. As the co-founder of tADS, Pixies has created a vibrant online community in support of his own super group. Finally, in the persona of Lou Gutman, he has shaken the very foundations of the Obsidian Fora. Pixies is a great guy, but he

I dunno. At level 20, it's pretty much working the way that 10k fists cited for my mage. Sure, I hop around like a rabbit, jumping over stuff to stay away from people, but I can stand toe to toe with Daedra and smite them with glee. The only things that cause me real grief are people who take away my mobility or silence me or both. They really kill me. I've been in all sorts of cramped spaces, but I make do with what I have. All in all, however, I don't like a strict scaling system. Gromnir suggested some sort of "ceiling/basement" thing that would have been much better. "...and heaven help the character who foolishly gained some levels by having Speechcraft, Alchemy etc etc as Major skills. " That would be me. It was stupid to have Speechcraft as a primary skill, but it didn't make the game much harder in my experience. It mostly just irritated me as I could have used a more helpful skill. Hell, I should have taken Alchemy.

No matter how you cut it, SS, there are a lot of goofy side-quests in Oblivion. Firkraag just isn't on the same level as wine hunting, root pulling, or fish mongering. There are a lot of goofy side quests in all these game, and I've complained about folks setting their attention on side-quests while the world is burning around them. I don't think it's a bad thing. Hell, I really enjoyed the Dream side quest. I've enjoyed a lot of the side quests. ...But all side-quests are not created equal and so comparing something like the quest to kill a red-dragon (something perhaps compelling enough for the PC to deviate from his over-arching goal) to running back to a village to save a cat from a tree is just silly. You're using the wrong argument anyhow. The point isn't that all games have side quests. The point is that Oblivion is built upon them. If you don't like the very idea of side-quests, then Oblivion might not be for you. Nevertheless, it's that very freedom to explore and interact and take on a silly side quest or two that makes the game compelling for so many of us.

I'm a huge Groundhog Day fan. I had the video tape and literally wore it out by watching it. My wife bought me the DVD, which has stood up quite well. I just asked my wife how many times I'd seen it and she just rolled her eyes and said, "I have no idea." She's tired of me watching it.

I've put in almost 40 hours of play. I'm still quite happy with the game, although my character is only something like 16 or 17. I don't know why I haven't gotten up to as high of levels as you guys. I might spend a little less time playing, and I've only used trainers a couple of times, but you'd figure I wouldn't be so far behind other folks who're already in their 20s. I tend to walk around a lot and take in the scenery. I dunno. I guess I should get back to the main quest. My only problem is that

My Pixies friend. You know, Mr. Pixies Rock. I get a report done sometime today.

I never really had a problem with the radial menu. Whatever else, the radial menu in NWN was not my main source of grief. Of course, I probably won't care about the menu they use for NWN2. I tend to adapt pretty well to different interfaces. Well, I can't play FPSs on the Xbox, but other than that.

But of course, Mr. Rock.

Pardon me, but I'm going to do something rather uncharacteristic and reinstate the 50 TOMBS points WinterSun granted Blank. If WinterSun no longer wishes to grant those points, then I grant them in my own name.

I hate my horse and I would gladly feed it to the mountain lion if I thought I could get some coin for it. Just a quick question: are you guys raising your difficulty settings? I've left mine the same for the whole game and I've fought everything using nothing but destruction magic. Nothing but destruction magic. I don't even equip weapons. I've used bound helmet about ten times. Other than that, I've not used a conjuration spell. The thing is, running back and forth, using potions, and spamming fire/ice/electricity works for everything I've faced so far. Daedra, human, or beast. I'm just wondering if you guys have your settings raised.

I'm not entirely on-board with the scaling, leveling, or skills. In fact, I think the dialogue is second rate a lot of the time, tedious most of the time, and hideous the rest of the time. The combat is unexciting. The NPC interaction ranges from irritating to laughable and I often find myself clicking past responses just to get to the point. ...And yet, there it is: the great gaming experience I was trying to find. It's a wonderful game. The quests are insteresting. Some of them have minor puzzles to complete. Some of them give me a good feeling of accomplishment. I love looking at the castle from the distant hills. The colors and textures are always good and sometimes breathtaking. The sense of exploration is balanced by a quick travel scheme that gives us the best of both worlds. There's a lot to dislike, and some nasty little bugs, but I can only judge a game by my overall satisfaction. The fact is, however, you're much better off if you're used to the wasd movement scheme.

No, I'm with Lyric Suite. I had to experiment with the thing for a while before I was satisfied. I like playing good looking female characters. Simply put, if I'm going to spend hours looking at a character, I want to find that character pleasing.

Do you want me to find you independent sources? Name what you consider independent, and I'll dig up a few for you inside twenty minutes. This is hardly the first time this sort of allegation has been made; why are you acting like this is some sort of out-of-the-blue accusation? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'll save a longer response for when I have time, but let me just ask, if there is better evidence, evidence that comes directly from the Pentagon rather than evidence that comes from a report that allegedly cites the Pentagon, why did you choose to lead with this article? Yeah, Commie, dig it up. I'd love to see better evidence. Furthermore, my smug friend, if you really hate the abuses foisted on the public and the military by Halliburton, then you should really hate the folks who've made this issue as partisan as it is. That's the fact of life. It is a partisan issue, whether you like that or not. So, when folks are suspicious of a clearly partisan source, then you're going to have to deal with it. You don't like it? Thank your back alley brawling Democrats. There were legitimate complaints agains the Clinton administration that never got a second look because they looked like political attacks of opportunity. First of all, why weren't there more complainst against Halliburton during the Clinton years.

This game is an RPG. I don't need wikipedia or some other such nonsense to give me that fact. Folks complaining that Oblivion is not an RPG are probably the elitist scum who put themselves on the fringe of gaming and ensure that publishers don't listen to their voices in the first place. I sure hope I didn't step on any toes by telling the truth just now.

This is TOMBS. We're all part of the simulation. Plus our boards are completely incestuous. :Eldar's poking fun at Pixies, tarna, and Mistress icon:

But you should, Commie. For a good reason you should. If, and I mean if, the attack is politically motivate, it might not be true. The article does not provide sufficient evidence that the allegations are true. The idea behind the media is that you evaluate the source of any article, and this article, with the exception of Bunny? (How could I overlook Bunny, a "news" item from one year ago) So, they have a single source from today's news and one source who has been the center of controversy from 2005 onward. Don't even care about the proof, apparently. The source of an allegation is important in a news article. If you discredit the source, you discredit the charge. If this report came from an independent source, I would find it more compelling. I can say, based on what I remember from journalism class, that that's exactly how you're supposed to write it. So, according to you, the headline: "President Bush was charge and convicted of crimes against humanity" is perfeclty legit. When the reader later finds that the court was the Obsidian Forum Community (OFC), the paper's already sold. Yes, I can find a lot of examples of an article leading on the reader. In my classes, this would be the equivalent of modern yellow journalism. No, I'm not, Commie. I'm really not fine with it. I want to see justice done also. I just see this article as being completely devoid of worth. It should have come clean and tried to provide a balanced view. If Halliburton has carried out the sorts of outrageous excesses Waxman charges against them, then surely an independent source, with appropriate oversight, can confirm this report. If Halliburton did these things, then I say fry them. Of course, I said that in my original post. Hell, I said it twice. You're not getting what I'm saying. I'm saying that I'd rather not give Waxman a pass to push his political agenda. Could he be right? Sure. ...But the article is single source, and don't make me laugh by citing the article's one line/last line reference to Bunny. I understand this is an issue for you. I have two family members overseas right now, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. I have friends overseas. I don't want Halliburton to get a free pass either. I don't want any company to get a free pass. Nonetheless, I don't want to try Halliburton in the center ring of the big tent of the media circus. Surely, if they've defrauded the public to the extent that all these people allege, there will be evidence. When that evidence comes in, I won't eat my words. I'll do what I would have done all along, be glad that justice was done.

Not at all, really. Oblivion has a first person shooter style perspective. Oblivion uses a completely different ruleset. In Oblivion, the character advances in level by advancing in his seven primary abilities. Those abilities advance as the character uses them. NWN uses the Dungeons and Dragons ruleset.

Oblivion is really stealing sleep from me. It makes the Through a Dream Darkly quest all the better. Aw hell, I think that's the name of the quest. I really enjoyed the hunting mission also. I'm almost done with all the Mage Guild recommendation missions and I'm quite enjoying myself. I think, if I had to pin it down, that the quests make Oblivion. Morrowind just had sucky quests and drab surroundings. It's too bad, because there were things Bethesda could have done with the Morrowind scenario that would have made it much more compelling. Still, that's all done and over. They made good with Oblivion and I'm hopeful for FO3. The biggest beef I have at this point is the dialogue. It's disjointed. I hate the speechcraft mini-game with a passion and I hate it more and more as I play. I find the other aspects more than make up for it, but I still hate it. Here's the problem: there are four choices for the mini game. I can admire, boast, joke, or threaten. Each NPC will respond with a strong positive, weak positive, weak negative, and strong negative to one of those tactics. For instance, El-Dar, the pathetic mage has a strong positive to threaten, a weak positive to boast, a weak negative to joke, and a strong negative to admire. The way the mini-game provides a clue to these responses is a wide smile to the strong positive, a faint smile to a weak positive, a slight frown to a weak negative, and a curled lip to a strong negative. The only problem is, those expressions are often out of place. For instance, El-Dar has a wide smile for threaten because it's a strong positive response. ...But he's not happy when the player threatens him. He's just easily bullied. Instead of a wide smile, he should have a fearful look on his face. Likewise, he could have a fawning look on his face for boasting. Of course, it might be difficult for the design team to accurately depict all the various expressions which is a fair statement. Even so, the expressions irritate me. Likewise, I don't like the fact that folks will exhibit such massive mood swings during a single conversation. For instance, El-Dar joyously calls to you as the savour of Kvatch. He then tells you that he'll pay good coin if you avenge the death of his wife. After that, when you ask him about rumors, he tells you, in a hushed voice, that Kvatch was destroyed. Finally, he exclaims how much he loves living in the Imperial City. El-Dar doesn't need someone to avenge the death of his wife. He needs someone to provide him with Lithium Carbonate to treat his bi-polar disorder. The dialogue and mini-game suck in Oblivion, but not enough to make much of a dent in my overall satisfaction with the game. However, Fallout 3 is a different story. What I liked best about the Fallout series was the dialogue. I liked playing a smooth talker with a fast gun. I relished every conversation that took advantage of a high intelligence/high charisma scores. I looked forward to seeing the story unfold by investigating different activities and discussing the results with NPC throughout the games. The dialogue system in Oblivion is simply not up to the task.

Damn it, Atreides, you didn't even vote in your own damned poll. Well, so far genetics are winning by a margin of 1-0-0