Cantousent

Don't kick yourself. I only heard about the Project Eternity kickstarter because of a dear friend who had it on his facebook page. I'd been absent from the boards for a long time at that point.

Today, I started looking for a new pack/water solution for my hikes. So I have a funny request for you guys. March is when things start heating up around where I live. If there are any of you folks who have an idea about a good hiking pack with a bladder/water pouch built it, I'd appreciate it. I don't want to boggart this thread for it. A few responses are okay, but a PM or maybe input in the fitness thread would work also. I usually solicit advice broadly for this sort of stuff and then sort it out later. Other than starting a serious search for summer hiking gear, including buying a new booney hat (officially the name of it), I spent the day hanging around the house slowly smoking a corned beef brisket. Now, I'm enjoying a microbrew wheat and later I'll pretend to slowly enjoy some tawny port which I will in reality be slamming.

L, you doofus! lol Also, thanks for the keen updates, Mr. ISO. Good job! :hak's thumbs up:

As an aside, I think it would be funny if the upkeep on your stronghold was actually difficult. You know, took some skill to make it profitable, otherwise it barely or doesn't even break even. Imagine the howls of folks whose strongholds were foreclosed on them! lol I don't see it happening, but it's a funny thought. Sorry, back to looting, it's just hard to see exactly how it will work because they couldn't get it done to put in the latest beta build.

I don't know. I mean, it's a tossup as to which would be worse. Sometimes you could intentionally leave something on a corpse to get later. Except I think your stash doesn't have any weight, size, or shape limit? In which case, I guess it would be better if the glow left after you checked the corpse because there's no reason to return to it afterwards. Still theoretically could be an issue. ...But we're deep in the weeds with some of this stuff. Worrying about the glow on corpses going away after looting just seems trivial to me. I guess trivial in the eye of the beholder. :Cant's shrugging icon: EDIT: hehe thought "I man" might be confusing to tidied it up.

Hey, if someone wanted a romance in PoE 2, he or she could just start his own kickstarter with the $10,000 goal to fund it.

I would definitely throw in the 5 bucks or whatever to back the game in principle, but to get me to back at the same level, I'm sorry but I need to see PoE first. I love Obsidz. New Vegas is in my top five list of games. ...But I also think it's fair to see how they do with this project before I go all in on the next. :Cant's polishing his fanboy credentials icon:

I actually think the Planescape setting as itself trying to break away from traditional Dungeons and Dragons lore and conventions. That's really my point, even within a setting, the people try to break out of constraining conventions. It's that tug o' war between building on your base and exploring new ideas. I don't think WotC (or whoever holds the DnD license at any given time) crams everything into one larger universe because it's better quality. They do it because it fits better into a business model. I'm not putting that down, but I have no doubt some of the designers of various campaign settings and supplemental books would have heaved a sigh of relief if they weren't boxed in by previous work.

I don't know, you get a whole variety of views from the folks at the Codex. Hell, I saw someone trying to speak for the Codex recently in one thread and a whole bunch of other Codex folks came down on him like a ton of bricks. lol So I don't figure there's a hivemind thing going on or anything. Anyhow, while I don't think they look the same, I took the initial post more as a 'hey, look isn't this cool!' sort of thing rather than 'let's storm the barricades' sort of thing.

I'm sorry, coincidence or not, those two people do not look like twins. Either that or I need to turn my head the right way or something.

On the other hand, if you're into pixilation, the top elf is cuter. A little on the freckly side. <.< I've actually been impressed with the artwork I've seen so far, which ain't all that much. I went to the linked post in the OP and I was really impressed with the Orlan holding the dagger.

Because the original post of this thread referenced Oklahomans talking poorly about black people, and no one cares about Oklahomans. That was funny. This is normal thread evolution. There's really only so much to say about a clearly provocative initial post. As far as the Anti-Semitism in Germany and Europe goes, it's probably naïve to suggest that it doesn't exist, but I always think it's ridiculous to use the past as an excuse to assume blanket racism (or any ism) in order to impugn an entire nation. Racism and other bigotry exists everywhere, but I've always personally thought that you should either charge it on an individual basis or you should be able to point to widespread systemic offenses in order to make a case regarding a larger group. I mean, groups who's stated premise is built on racism are one thing, but German society as a whole? I dunno about that.

I actually don't care about the gossip aspect per se. I also think that's it's inevitable to have some gossip about developers. However, I closed this topic simply because gossip about designers on a forum hosted by the company designing the game isn't warranted. I don't know about Sawyer's relationship with Avellone. I assume that it's like any relationship between people who've known each other for years... complicated. To be clear: no one asked me to close this thread. The design team hasn't said anything about it as far as I know. I don't actually have anything against the thread and I don't care about gossip. I closed the thread because, while I don't care about gossip in general, I believe we should have at least some respect and decorum regarding the employees (or part owners or whatever) of Obsidian on their own forum.

Drunk posting is a time honored tradition, Tero. ...And some people drunk post without a single ounce of alcohol or any illicit substance. So, don't fret about it.

They're highly salted, so I'm assuming between smoking and salt, a good long time. On principle, I don't keep cooked meat over a few days out of an abundance of caution. I do, however, often make meals and then freeze half or more of them for later consumption.

Tomorrow, I will be smoking a corned beef brisket for several hours throughout the day. ...And I don't have an electric/gas smoker. I use coals on a cranked bed and put in my own wood chunks at my own timed intervals. I will also make pickled cabbage, roast carrots and potatoes, peas, and gravy. In addition, I'll pick up a decent bottle of port or sherry. ...And, while I'm at it, I'll pick up some sort of microbrew or some such. Maybe hard cider.

lol I blame spambots for the fact that new members have a probation period of being on moderated status! It *was* a little long, and I've never made a long post myself of course :Cant's whistling while looking at the ceiling icon:, but I agree about the crowdfunding. I pledged to ToN based on this one. ...And I loved Wasteland 2, which I got free for pledging to PoE. I'm already satisfied with kickstarter. In fact, I'm backing Seven Dragon's Saga also. I don't have the cash to back everything, and I'm saving a bit of a reserve just in case Obsidz does another one. I have to admit that while I'm a fanboy, I'm not rabid enough to pledge until after I've seen what they do with PoE, but if I enjoy it as much as I hope, then I'll back the next one also.

I have to admit I was never a bit fan of many Dungeons and Dragons setting, even though I've loved Dungeons and Dragons. I especially appreciated the 3.x edition. It kind of lost me at 4th edition and then I stopped paying attention. Still, there will be new settings to explore outside of old Dungeons and Dragons settings. Just like there were new novels after Crime and Punishment and new movies after Lawrence of Arabia and new rock songs after Hard Days Night.

I strenuously disagree with the premise about Dungeons and Dragons. My favorite of the whole batch was PS:T, and it deviated wildly from BG. I liked all of the IE games, but it was a pretty mixed bag and some of them relied more on tried and true Dungeons and Dragons settings and themes. If being a spiritual successor means that the games slavishly follow the same routes the old one did, I'm not for it at all. A well done new IP will certainly shine in its own right without plumbing the depths of hashed out DnD settings. The way to honor BG2's spirit is to create something that excels in its own right, not something that chains itself entirely to the past. EDIT: I cut out some of my own commentary as perhaps unfair to a new member. After all, I would like to welcome you even if I disagree. :Cant's broad grin icon:

I knew a guy in Korea who constantly attempted to get me to try LSD. I always said, "does it *look* like I need to do LSD to get in trouble?!" As for you Woldan... :Cant's blowing a raspberry icon:

It's funny you describe the premise of BG3 like that, because from the Pillars Wiki: The player witnesses an extraordinary and horrific supernatural event that thrusts them into a unique and difficult circumstance. Burdened with the consequences of this event, the player has to investigate what has happened in order to free themselves from the restless forces that follow and haunt them wherever they go. Obviously I don't know the story of this game, but cancelled titles don't always die completely. One example that Josh Sawyer and Chris Avellone worked on is Fallout: Van Buren. From the article: "One of the more significant elements of the plot and back story of Van Buren was to be the war between the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel. One of the main designers, Chris Avellone mentioned that aspects from Van Buren would appear in Fallout: New Vegas such as the NCR- BoS war and a companion from Van Buren, Joshua Graham appears in heavily modified form, as does an antagonistic faction known as Caesar's Legion." Good ideas and stories can often be adapted, and since the games weren't released we may never know what was borrowed or referenced. I'm sure Obsidian will do a good job with this one though. Oh my goodness! When I first read this, I thought it was some sort of Black Hound wiki. I wasn't dismissive. I just figured that one of the people who followed the game at that time had put together a wiki and was citing what Sawyer had said about it at the time. In rereading it, I see that it's the Pillars wiki. That's... that's just awesome! I'm so happy to hear this news. I haven't been following as much as I could because I don't want to get spoiled too terribly much, but if I'm going to see something beforehand, *this* is something I'm happy to see. Thanks, man!

I thought there were more. I seem to recall a graveyard with some large sepulcher and... skeletons? I dunno. It's hard to look at old Black Hound stuff because I really thought the ideas behind the game were great and then I want to see it made, which is now impossible. The idea that the PC wasn't some great hero or there to save the world, but just happened to witness something that marked him and he spends the rest of the game trying to deal with this situation that came at him completely out of the blue. No preconceived notions about him being heroic or evil. No save the world chosen one story line. Just this guy and a highly personal problem that, if I recall correctly, started to become larger than just *his* problem. I *want* that story, and we're never going to get it the way it was set up for BG3. So it's just self inflicted torture to keep following it. It's like watching the food channel show a great recipe for your favorite dish only to realize you're having peanut butter sandwiches on stale bread for dinner that night.

I dunno. I think the human one is actually pretty lame. At least if I remember it right. I dislike bonuses that kick in for things going south because the idea is to build characters who work sufficiently that you can keep things from going south in the first place. Better to have something that helps you win faster rather than lose slower in my opinion. EDIT: Although, in my admittedly mostly ignorant of the beta party in the party thread, I used Moonlike for a member.

Still looks a little grim, but at least it's up past 60 grand right now. :Cant's crossing his fingers icon:

To be completely serious, it's probably habit. If you grew up drinking a lot of soda, you probably habituated yourself to it. If you're staying in good shape otherwise, you should permit yourself a few vices, although the idea that the soda is bad for you so you should find some other liquid in which to pour copious amounts of booze is a little... well, silly, Shady. Still, you say you're pretty healthy, so don't sweat the soda. ...But if it's a real issue, I'd say just cut it out completely. Don't buy it. Scrupulously avoid having it around to tempt you at all. /Dutch uncle mode