Cantousent

I figure you must mean warriors would still have higher *dps* than mage/rogues? I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I think you must have accidently left out a word. If mages and rogues don't have higher dps and if they have just as much survivability as warriors, what's the point in the first place? I think mages and rogues should have higher dps overall while the warriors should be more durable. That's the point of having a party based system as opposed to having a system where every class can fulfill the role of any other class. On the other hand, upon rereading your post, maybe you're talking about the suggested change. To me, it really depends on how dramatic the change is. Certainly, they want to level the field a bit. They might not want to make mages as durable as warriors, simply not complete pushovers. If that's the case, I'm not entirely unhappy with the change. As far as the star ratings goes... ugh. I can just imaging gearscore for DA2. That would definitely not be an improvement. At least you won't have to worry about folks checking your gearscore. Players should take the time to test builds and gear combos. The less direction they receive, the less constrained they'll be. Hell, there's already too much dependency on number crunching in DAO in some quarters. I'll have to revisit these ideas after I've actually had at least a little sleep, though. I'm not even sure I understand them all properly.

I actually would rather they just made the warriors better able to (for lack of a better term) hold aggro. I don't mind playing a squishy mage if my warrior can keep the heat off of me. Having put the smack down in Arthas in WoW, I can say that it's also the responsibility of the mages and rogues to watch their damned aggro, but the point of having a game with tanks is that they need to keep the baddies on them and not on the squishies.

I hates scaling. I would never suggest it and it might be one of the few things that guides me to avoid a purchase sight unseen.

I think the solutions that the more serious/hard core gamers would suggest here wouldn't make the game better overall. Don't get me wrong, I completely believe in arguing for what you want in the game, it's just that everything works so well that I don't want a cure that's worse than the problem. I hate scaling with a passion. I hates it hates it hates it. I know you were explicitly not suggesting it, LC, just sayin'. I also think leveling npc weapon skills to 100 is *not* bad because it allows the player to fashion non combat heavy PCs. Now, maybe not all joinable NPCs should have 100 weapon skills, but some might end up being the heavy. Similarly, I think the slow leveling scheme, while it might appeal to a lot of locals here, is a completely idiotic design. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of things that I would suggest as changes for the game, but complining them would actually entail effort on my part. Ugh. I might do it anyhow as my own post mortem. After all, I like wasting my breath. Why else would I post here?

I remember flaming Might and Magic... IX? I think nine was the last one. Anyhow, aside from everything else, the graphics were horrible. The were placed in front of the clouds so that clouds would scroll by but you could still see the stars. The devs had licensed the engine and it seems to me they just didn't have the skill/support to use it properly. Very disappointing and I went rabid enraged nerd over it, mostly because I loved the series and I knew it would be the last for the foreseeable future. ...And I felt pretty guilty for being such a **** about it. Anyhow, I don't tend to fixate on graphics, but I definitely don't fall into the 'graphics don't mean anything' camp. If a game is ugly, I'm probably not going to be as interested in it. Like Hell Kitty, if that makes me shallow or something, so be it. I also prefer good music, voice acting that doesn't make me cringe, and female characters who have a pleasing form. I don't demand that everything be perfect, but who can honestly say they don't prefer good graphics to bad graphics all things being equal?

Actually, coopting someone who has been killing off your people isn't just feasible in a crpg, it's not competely uncommon in real life. Sure, the rank and file will probably still hate your ass, but the boss knows the best way to turn around the badass gun that's killing your folks is to get him to kill other folks.

I agree completely. I think it's the hot topic because there's nothing else going. I mean, for me personally, I suffer from defending my positions more vigorously than I care about them in the first place sometimes. For me, while I want to like what I see, there's a certain minimum level past which I won't care about the art direction or graphics nearly so much as gameplay mechanics and story.

By 'NCR officer' do you mean Manny, Monte? Basically, you're trying to catch Benny's trail, so you need to talk to Manny in Novac. He won't give you the info unless you do the 'Come Fly With Me' questline. You can also simply walk into his room and read his mail to get the info. Once that's done, you'll have to head north to Boulder City. Once there, you'll find out that the Great Khans you need are in a hostage standoff with the NCR. There are several ways to handle that problem. Also, and don't resent me for suggesting it, but make sure you have the right quest selected in your pipboy. EDIT: Sorry, Tale beat me to the punch about Manny. Monte, there's an entrance right where the officer is. You missed the door to another map by the NCR officer.

Yeah, I had to call my credit card company in order to straighten things out with GoG. It ended up working fine, and I managed to get a few games from them, but now they're gone anyhow as I understand it. I can't recall a significant problem I've had with a game due to the anti-piracy efforts on the part of publishers. The poverty argument falls a little flat. After all, did they pirate their PCs also? Did they pirate their operating systems? Did they pirate the electrical service?

It's called Bioware and it's the rpg forum equivalent of dumping gasoline on a fire. Hey, I *like* Bioware. I've certainly purchased their games over the years. Yes, I skipped ME 1/2 and some of the NWN xpacs, but I spent a lot of time playing Dragon Age. I mean, if I've concentrated on the art, it's because that's the topic about which we know most. ...And, frankly, if you think it's all great, good for you. Seriously, no biggie. I'm not trivializing your tastes, but I think dismissing the discussion because you don't find any beef doesn't really add much to it. As more things come out about Dragon Age 2, a title I plan on purchasing, then I'm sure we'll broaden the discussion. I advanced an opinion about artwork in games and what I hoped to see in Dragon Age 2. I'll probably continue to act in the same way about other facets of the game as they come to light.

I don't understand this. Are you saying you don't care about the artwork or that no matter how visually ugly or pleasing the artwork is, you just care about the gameplay? I mean, I have some things I prefer over others, and I'm just stating those preferences. The DA2 artwork is the topic for discussion right now because, as I understand it, it's one of the few things about which we have substantial information.

Yeah, I thought it was pretty cheesy that I couldn't mod unique weapons. I seriously doubt I ever download a player made mod, but that sounds like one that would be useful. The thing about the spy at McCarran is that you need a high enough skill to defuse it. It says science/explosives when you activate it. If you don't have those skills, you can still defuse the bomb if you confront, kill, and loot the codes off of the spy. I suppose you could sneak and pick his pocket for the codes. Frankly, he's a rat bastard spy, so it never occured to me not to confront him and then plug him a few times.

There's a bunch of cheap games on Steam. $5 or less even. There's one that looks kind of intriguing: Winter Voices. Sadly, it's one of those games that intrigues me, but I suspect some of the indy cheese will poke through. I opted out of Alpha Protocol also. Partly because I don't have time and partly because it didn't get very good press. The price is right, though. Time is the big factor. After New Vegas, I don't want anything so addictive that I'm losing sleep playing when I have the chance to sleep.

Yeah, I usually use science, but if you don't have a high enough science/demolition, you might end up needing the codes. Otherwise, just stay out of his sight and you get the info. If you don't finish eavesdropping on him, apparently you don't find out that he's put a bomb on the tram until too late.

What I did, which requires way too much in terms of timing, is towait outside and follow him inside. Then I stood at the bottom of the stairs until he finished talking. Then I confronted anf killed him. Finally, I went to the tram and to the vent with the codes I got off his body. If you don't follow more or less the same plan, in my experience, you fail. I had the damndest time figuring out what was wrong with defusing the bomb and after *a lot* of trial and error, that's what I did and it's the only thing that seems to work consistently.

Friendly fire is very very forgiving in New Vegas, but you *can* shoot your friends in combat. Overall, New Vegas would never be a very good shooter in terms of the physics, but if it were completely based on player skill and reflexes, I would be crying bloody murder instead of praising the game. ...And my fps skill and reflexes at 41 are *damned* good.

I can't remember wear to get those party hats LC has in those photos, but I wonder if Rex would hate me if I went around wearing one of those. I found one at some point, but now I can't quite remember. No biggie. After I helped out Rex, I replaced him with ED-E. I do miss the knockdown effect, though. That was right handy sometimes.

It's a matter of waiting long enough to hear the plan. If you don't do it just right, you can't reach the monorail in time even if you reach it several seconds before it heads out and explodes.

Hey, you pay for the game, you should be able to enjoy whatever it lets you do. It's like the King telling you that Rex attacks folks in hats. Made me wonder if he'd attack Boone for wearing his beret all the time.

Fallout joinable npcs have always been a pain. I'm exactly with you in regards to the stories, Starwars. I mean, you could miss the associated companion quests and you're not losing a huge part of the game. The quests are fun, but there's so much other content that it's no huge deal if you don't explore all of them. On the other hand, if you want to do the companion quests, it adds a lot to the game.

I never knew all that LC. I always ended up offing him because I said I'd turn him in and he attacks me. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, eh?

Well.... yeah, Nep, but you broke off the next part where I say that a lot of games have the same tendency. Maybe it was a false association the first time I said it, but it seems weird to quote me after I've corrected myself only to leave out the part that essentially agrees with your position. On the other hand, I do think it's stretching it a bit to cite the big bad baddie in Baldur's Gate as a counter example. Sarevok is the UBG of the game. You'd expect him to be over the top. By comparison, the kobolds and other bad guys aren't armored contrary to the laws of physics. Contrast the way the characters look in BG/BG2 with WoW, where very early in the the game the characters end up with oversized weapons and armor. ...Or with any number of games that do the same thing. I suppose I shouldn't have besmirched anime. I beg forgiveness for singling them out for a sin shared by many. I even respect that some folks like the over the top armor and weapons of the art in some of these games. Nevertheless, I don't prefer the style and I hope that Dragon Age 2 stays more or less subdued. In comparison to a lot of other games, I think Dragon Age wasnt' so absolutely silly most of the time. I suppose someone could dredge up the exceptional counter-example, but that's the feeling I got from the bulk of the game. I think the tendency is to make things so over the top in order to convey the prowess of the weapon or armor. It's more fearsome looking and so therefore it must be more deadly. That just doesn't reflect how things are in reality. *cue 'it's a fantasy game' response* For example, I used to have this .22 with a folding stock and a banana clip. I'm sure it looked a lot more impressive to most folks than the .45, but it certainly wasn't more fearsome. Hell, I wouldn't want to be shot by either one. Aw well, I'm sure I'll pick up Dragon Age 2. I'll play a mage and wear whatever goofy robes or whatnot because, whether I think the artistic design is a little silly, that's how the convention goes in games and I'll still enjoy it anyhow. :Cant's bemused smile icon:

That's funny, Humanoid. Those silly assed mages. :cant's tongue in cheek smile icon: The big thing about AW is that you can really use just about anything except high dex stuff.

Like mr i says, you can always range with your AW. I think you should probably be able to take the first specialization you unlock. Frankly, after my first run where I unlocked AW, I went the mage tower route first the other two times. From memory, AW and SS were the easiest to get, but SH wasn't hard either.

I unlocked Arcane Warrior fairly early in my first run. I seem to recall that I went to the wood elf lands and there was some sort of glass bauble or something that I found. Interacting with it, I found that there was a spirit trapped within and I freed the spirit after it taught me the specialization. You can hit the Elf lands early, but I wouldn't wade right into the tombstones with the undead right away. Go get your arcane warrior spec first and then come back to fight the undead. You don't need them to do the main questline for the area but you *will* find the arcane warrior spec on the werewolf crit path. If I recall correctly, I learned the Spirit Healer from Wrynn and shapeshifting from Morgan. I never went the blood mage route because, while some might be worse than others, they're a pretty unsavory lot altogether. The big thing about dual speccing for Arcane Warrior/x is that the stuff that lets you live longest also sucks up mana like crazy, but that's why blood mages can get away with things a little easier, I think. I've never played one, but I understand, from in game, that they have an alternate source for magical power such as hit points. Of course, you don't really want to sacrifice a lot of hit points from your main tank either.