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Everything posted by Cantousent
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"Ooh, we might finally get a real old vs young battle royale going. Who would have thought that would be the dividing line?" Even at 41, I'd probably be the end of the majority of the folks in this thread. :Cant's **** eating grin icon: ...But I'm almost a pacifist these days, so maybe not. The thing is, with all the posturing aside, I think stealing games, either hard copy or by download, is wrong. Not in some sort of remote or theoretical sense. I think it's wrong to take someone's industry and effort without compensating them. I can understand developers and publishers not wanting to work hard on something only to have that work taken without payment. Moreover, I think piracy (or intellectual theft or whatever clever rejoinder you have in mind) is bad for the industry. Some of the things about which some pirates complain comes as a result in part of measures taken against piracy, such as bugs. There's a lot of effort and money involved in trying to fight piracy, and the idea that developers and publishers should lie down and let pirates plunder their work without attempting to fight makes no sense to me. ..And we're not talking about remote jungle folks here. Is piracy in Southeast Asia a bad thing? Sure. I mean, it's still hard to get worked up about someone in a remote area of China or India stealing the game to play. I would be very surprised if the vast majority of us here don't fall into that category. I wouldn't be surprised if none of us falls into that category.
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If you work for 40 hours and you only get paid for 30 hours, are you greedy for demanding the pay for the other 10 hours? Good Lord, some of these arguments are idiotically self serving. I don't work for the game industry, but I do enjoy the games. I worked on a total of one game for one game company. I have no interest in working for a game developer. ...And I think some of the most vocal folks in this thread don't work for game developers or publishers. I probably don't make as much noise about it as people who have a financial stake in the industry, but that doesn't mean I don't agree with the idea that folks are due compensation for their work. Put on top of that the fact that the majority of people here probably have some means to buy games, and you've put paid to the ridiculous argument about some Southeast Asian sitting in his urt hut downloading games on coconut and string internet connection and power supplied by trained monkeys running around in a hamster wheel.
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LC... :Cant's shaking his head with a bemused smile icon: Has anyone else noticed how many similarities there are between New Vegas and Stephen King's The Stand? The Legion is like Flagg's crew, complete with brutal crucifixions for offenses such as drug abuse. Hell, I think one of the freeways has the same Yeates' quote found in The Stand. I only noticed all this because I just started reading the book recently. I think a lot of the similarities are striking, but I recognize it could just be that I'm reading the book soon after I bought the game.
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I agree. It doesn't matter to me at all if I can't customize everything about the PC as long as it builds into the story properly. Probably a lot of PS:T fans will feel the same way. Monte, if I remember correctly, has never been a big fan of PS:T. At least I remember arguing with him about it. I think the big thing is being able to decide what our class is and the like. If it's like PS:T in that regard, with the massive amount of freedom in switching between classes (even if there are only three as you say), then I'll be really happy. If they nail the story and the gameplay right, the fact that the PC is set won't make any difference to me at all.
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Actually, that's a good point. For folks who are curious, you hold TAB to turn your pip boy light on or off. I never really had issues with that. Like Tale says, you press R to reload and hold it down to holster your weapon. I'm trying to think, but I only recall one quest where I had to holster my weapon. On the other hand, if you're carrying a rifle or heavy weapon, you run a lot faster if you holster, which is useful for long hikes.
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I think it's quite the legitimate complaint to say that the damned guide doesn't load worth a crap. It is searchable, but that's only if it loads up in the first place. Like Lady Crimson was saying, I only figured out how to holster my weapons by searching the internet. Even then, it was hardly ever even a minor issue except for one particular point that jumps out at me. So, I have to figure out how to holster my weapon and I have to pray the guide actually loads. When it does, I don't recall it being very clear. I also recall that I had the same problem in Fallout 3. One or two instances where holstering my weapon was necessary, only in Fallout 3 I think it was required to get into one of the cities or something. Now, if a significant number of sales come from downloaded purchases, it's not too much to ask that the publisher find a better way to accomodate folks. ...And, yeah, the majority of folks have hard copies, but a significant minority does not. Frankly, I would think Steam and the publisher would want to make it easier to look up this sort of info. After all, when we say that we had fun discovering new things after hours and hours of play, we don't mean we discovered how to sling our damned rifle over our shoulder.
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I finished the game as my own master this time. Interesting in that this is the first time I've gotten all of the companions. I think that was all of the companions. My favorite line is still Cass' from the previous run where she says something like, "We were going full speed ahead, but we were facing backward the whole time." Talk about the story of my life. Great job on this. I've spent 200 hundred hours on this game since I purchased it. Even if you assume I had to pause and step away for even a third of the time (which would be quite a liberal calculation) then I've spent 134 hours actually playing. I have barely done anything else in my free time even up to and including something I hardly ever do, which is to take meals at my computer. Truly an awesome game. Even now, I'm planning on more things I'll do. I plan on finishing the story siding with the Legion at least once and I've never put paid to those bastards who stole the dynamite. Cooke I guess he is. Even after a couple hundred hours, there're still quests I haven't done. Good luck on getting your face exactly right in the game, Calax.
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I decided to try out the Mount and Blade double pack for $10 and World of Goo for $2.50. Downloading right now. I'm hopeful for Mount and Blade, but two games for 10 bucks? I figure it's well worth the risk. ...And World of Goo has a 90% metacritic rating. I pay almost twice as much for a damned coffee drink. Even if I play a few hours of WoG, it's worth it.
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What's up with you and the dead poodles. On second thought, I don't want to know. Okay, I think survival should get a major overhaul also. In terms of your changes, Cronicler, they sound intriguing and some seem to be reasonable or even good, but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. I think that's how it goes. Anyhow, I also have some thoughts about what I'd like to see changed. They keep bouncing around in my bone box and I'm trying to sort them out. So far, no luck.
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What the hell is AOD? I don't think the graphics were bad in Dragon Age. The graphics in NWN were kind of bad in that everything seemed to have this bluish tinge. That was true of NWN2 for me to some degree, though, so maybe it's just me. I thought some of the scenes and some of the characters in Dragon Age were beautiful.
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I'm hoping to get one this time. After so many hours of playing, I finally managed to figure out what the deal was with Boone. I should have just gone and looked it up. What a pain. I'm thinking that BoS might fare better this run. Last time, I've gotten BoS updates, but never one that seemed like what I would consider a good ending. Of course, I also think the entire Vegas chapter of the BoS is incompetent.
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I get this. ...But some builds are better than other builds in every game. You can do whatever you need to do in order to complete the vast majority of quests no matter how you decide to build your character. What you can do is make it easier or harder based on character build. I maintain that the idiot pugilist can finish the game. The one thing with which I agree most is that guns are so powerful that they're almost broken. Ammunition is abundant. there is a huge variety of guns available for use or repair throughout the game. Weapon mods are at hand very cheaply for just about every model I've seen, even the varmint rifle. Hell, I've seen a couple mods for the varmint rifle. Additionally, I think the complaint should be that my high skill character with everything geared for skill points, from 10 ranks of stat bumps to an extra tag skill, is so deadly that I don't miss the other combat perks at all. I think the idiot pugilist should be so devastating in combat that my highly educated and erudite character would pale in comparison during battle. In effect, I suppose that the idiot pugilist might be better in combat, but my skill point character kills stuff so fast I don't see the upside of taking the extra combat perks.
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I disagree with mkreku completely. Tale has it right in that there are so many ways to overcome obstacles that having relatively lower skills in science, repair etc isn't necessary for anything other than extra loot. mkreku is right that having a high intelligence doesn't make you a better boxer, but, as virumor says, you don't need a high intelligence to be a master pugilist in the game either. I disagree with virumor in that repair has a lot of utility in the game. The thing is, as an adventuring tool, repair is somewhat limited. For dialogue and special checks, it can come in handy. EDIT: As for the assertion that the player needs to have certain skills to finish certain quests, that's not really true for most of the quests anyhow. If your medical knowledge sucks, you can still gather the medical tools to complete the quest. If your repair sucks, you can usually find the parts to fix the machine. The player doesn't miss out on all that much content and can do all of the crit path content. We want decisions to have meaning, but we assume we should be able to pick every lock and hack every terminal? Choice and consequence starts with the decisions you make when you build your character.
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Yeah, I saw that. I did go into Primm or somewhere in one game and found a group of people who were going to take over. Deserters or something. ...And it was waaaaay after I'd already resolved Primm's law problem. So basically I'm just very confused right now.
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Okay, but you have to admit that's a painful way to die. I mean, stabbed to death with a maul? Holy crap, don't want to piss that guy off.
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I don't think so, Humanoid. I got two very distinctive endings for both groups in one of my runs. I never figured out who the misfits were for sure, but the other folks had a happy ending. Well... both groups had a more or less happy ending, but they were different. EDIT: I went to the saved game and watched the ending again. Humanoid is right. There was only one ending with the misfits and now I don't know what other group I was thinking.
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I ran into some people in Primm who acted like they were going to take over the place. I passed a speech check and they left and I got a slide for someone called the misfits. I think they must be the same folks.
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To chime up in agreement, the blood splatter in DA:O was so over the top in places I laughed out loud. However, the game was so fun I can't imagine that I wouldn't enjoy DA2 if it has the same look, feel, and gameplay. The screenies in MC's post (#92 of this thread) look pretty much like DA:O. The artwork isn't bad either. The frieze has a certain classical feel to it. Not really competition for the Elgin Marbles, but it does convey a peculiar sort of Greco-Roman/medieval atmosphere. It even gives a certain vibe of grandiosity on par with nazi architecture prior to WW2.
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...And I felt so strongly about it, I apparently had to say it twice.
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I thought the BoS segment was irritating in how it resolved also. I won't go into spoilers, but I thought that any avenue I took didn't matter because the entire membership was hell bent on dwindling into nothing, and I tried a whole slew of methods on it. In my current run, I'll do something a little different, but I still don't see what good it will do. Otherwise, it was an interesting faction, but certainly the BoS is more of a bit player in this game than any other Fallout I've seen thus far.
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Earlier tonight I did the Return to Sender quest and this time I told Hanlon I would have to turn him in. The speech tha he gave was actually quite short, less than ninety seconds, I'm sure, and it was also pretty well written and well delivered. I think the designer who did that one really deserves a pat on the back. Two gripes, however. The first thing is that the audio when he delivers the speech doubles. How sad that such a poignant moment would be undone because of such a simple bug. I cannot help but think that someone on QA must have documented the glitch. Luckily, the speech is also inserted as a note, but that's after the fact. The impact of the moment is derailed by the mistake in the first place. The second thing really isn't a gripe so much as 'too bad' sort of thing. It's entirely appropriate that his weapon, which appears to be a unique named weapon is red, which means you must steal it, and the ranger comes into the room and stays there which means you have to steal it right in front of him. Frankly, I can't bring myself to steal the poor bastard's weapon in the first place and it's fitting that only someone so low as to steal the noble ol' feller's weapon would be able to get it in the first place, but it's still too bad. Overall, I think Chief Hanlon is good in that he has excellent dialogue, but the player need not read or hear any more than he must. The voice actor sounds a little weird, but I think he pulls off the idea of an old ranger very well. As a side note, I took Boone's beret for the first time today and I laughed out loud when he asked to have it returned. hahaha
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"Now, if my personal desire for combat challenge was 'fixed' just by not using a sniper rifle, I'd be fine with that, and conclude that the game wasn't 'easy' so much as only that one weapon is overpowered, so I should stop using it. But with a lot of testing & trials, for me at least, it's NOT just because of one weapon. It's the whole general concept of how dmg/weapons/DT blah blah works. But again, not trying to say there should be any mandatory change. Would just like another difficulty option." I agree with you even more than you do. lolol What I mean is, I don't think the player should have to deny themselves something so integral to the game in order to find challenge in playing. I mean, the sniper rifle is totally brutal. In fact, I think guns are brutal as a category. Why should I be forced to deny myself the build I want because I'll run roughshod over everything if I use it? I mean, I might *choose* to create challenge by making a gimp PC. I shouldn't have to build a gimp PC in order to face some challenge. The only thing I will say is that most players probably don't find it so easy they can't enjoy the game. That's my gut instinct, though, so I offer it as something less forceful than an actual assessment. The 'exp for skill check' format is so ingrained in the Fallout system, I think it'd be hard to get away from it. Elder Scrolls has a use based system, but even that's open to abuse as players hop repeatedly as they run so they can bump up skills. ...Or cast spells at various weak animals to build up magic. Build a better mousetrap and you get a smarter mouse, I guess.
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It's not broken design that you can carry around a variety of clothes that give you +2 or +5 to certain skills. Frankly, I can make the vast majority of dialogue checks without bothering with changing clothes. ...And, yes, it's extreme to game the system by stocking up on clothes because you want to have the bonus for some specific check. There's a wide variety of ways to overcome most obstacles in the game. You don't need such a variety of clothes in the first place. Now, some folks might want to carry around five or six pounds (or more) of extra clothing just because they can eek out that extra ten points, at most, for specific skill checks that are undoubtedly not necessary in the grand scheme of things. Hey, enjoy the game however you want. Now, as opposed to clothes, magazines are a one shot item. It's not gaming the system to use an item in a way that is intuitive and natural. It's not intuitive that you carry around several changes of clothes in a game where the PC would naturally garb himself with the outfit that best compliments his particular build. On the other hand, it makes sense to carry the magazines with you. Here, how about this solution? It would be completely idiotic but would undoubtedly satisfy some of the 1337 gamers here: give magazines weight. .5 or 1 lb per magazine. Wouldn't hurt players who find and use them as they progress the plot line. Might make players who go out of their way to scrounge every magazine they can find during the game think twice about how many they keep on hand. Most players can certainly make skill checks they want in their chosen build without either magazines or extra clothes. If I build a science sharp shooter, I can make the checks for those skills easily. By marshaling magazines and the odd scrap of cloth or two I can make a wider variety of skill checks that are largely unnecessary in the first place since a science guy sharp shooter can do everything that needs to be done in the game. An idiot pugilist can finish the game. A player can reach level 30 without going outside of the character build at all. All this gnashing of teeth doesn't make sense to me in the least. I've spent over 300 hours between Fallout 3 and New Vegas. This petty nonsense about the abundance of skills in New Vegas is really a side show. It wasn't even a big deal in Fallout 3. Folks are worried about leveling and skill points? I think the balance would be better, although still imperfect, if they gave quest only experience. No bonus other than outcome by using any skill. No extra experience and no kill experience. That way the devs would have a better idea of how the PC will level. It still wouldn't change the fact that the game is huge and the devs have to make the game winnable for both folks who just take the crit path as well as those folks who hunt out every side quest.
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I don't know. If you have advanced warning and want to game the system, you can game the system. It's good that magazines are weightless, but carrying around a bunch of different clothes for the off chance opportunity to use them in a dialogue skill check sounds extreme, and I think designing a game to to ward off extreme behavior is probably unwise. In Fallout 3, I had a huge reservoir of skills. One of the things I mentioned about the game at the time was the number of skills I had at 100. I've been trying to break the skill pool this game, and it just isn't happening. Now, I will own to the fact that Comprehension is a no brainer choice. It's so universally useful that it work in every build. By using comprehension, folks will probably have no problem passing the vast majority of dialogue checks in the game. However, some of that relies on planning on the part of the player and some of it also relies on advanced knowledge. If you're on subsequent runs, look stuff up in walkthroughs, or use the editor to plan for situations about which you would not otherwised be forwarned, then it's not a design flaw. Tig, I'm not ingorning your comments. I've just been thinking about them since I read them and trying to come up with a cogent response. I don't want to blindly defend the game, which is absolutely useless, but I don't want to dredge up complaints just to establish street cred either. Now that I've spent so much time playing, I want to conisder my response before posting it. :Cant's rueful smile icon:
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Yes, and that's the reason, when someone has last 50 EUR/USD in their hands they rather go buy some food and pirate the game, than buy the game and stay hungry for next two weeks... such are the priorities of life... Okay, if you're really down to your last 50 bucks and you need those dollars to buy food, then maybe you should go out and get a second job. How about you buy a deck of cards for 1 buck and spend the rest on food? How about you take up basketball with your friends? How about you get a job and have some disposable income so you can afford things like computer games? You spent every last penny on your PC, your home with the electricity to power your PC (unless you're so poor you also siphon electricity from your neighbor), and food? So now, having worked so hard to have all those other things, you have an excuse for pirating the game? ERRHHHHHH wrong answer. By the way, do you pay for your broadband, or do you steal that from your neighbors also? I cannot believe people are still seriously pulling out something so stupid as the 'poverty' excuse for computer game piracy. It's the lamest damned excuse I have ever heard. There's an ol' Aesop aphorism that "a tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny." I think the same must be true of all these poor, downtrodden lowlifes who pirate games. "A criminal will always find a pretext for his crimes."