Master Dahvernas
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Posts posted by Master Dahvernas
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No I am not. I simply have a midrange system with a midrange video card.
Nothing special here. Maybe if people learn to read the Required/Recommended information of the game box some people wouldn't be having these problems. If people remembered when KotOR 1 came out it had ATI problems as well. Seems to me that people can't read and have a lousy memory.
Ahh, so you don't deny being my little nose-goblin then?
Bear in mind Hades_One considers 15-20 FPS playable. I kid you not. He'll even claim this to the day he dies... Er, dies again if he is already in Hades...
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It's good, but it is still lacking actual right and left channel separation in terms of specific tracks (instruments) and a more in-depth canvas (it needs a full spectrum, but you're not going get that because of the mono source material).
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you know what's funny? everyone at LA is complainign that no one officially responds to threads like this giving any sign of where the patch is at or if it's still coming... here you get a reply and are then rude about it... i can understand being angry about it taking so long but there's no need to be rude to the one person actually TALKING to us even if only in a short message... and i'm damn glad to hear the patch si coming since "patch canceled" theories and topics are cropping up all over due to lack of comments on the subject by LA.
Feargus is a PAID developer and representative of OE. What he posted is what he should be doing. That is part of his job, take the good with the bad. I am also sure he is mature enough to distance himself from any personal attacks on him (or OE) on a internet forum as well.
I am bringing this up because everyone seems to think that just because a representative of a company posts that this somehow is something "special" and that we should be greatful.
Remember the days when devs used to post all the time?
Does anyone here play (or used to play) Ghost Recon? The devs at Redstorm were constantly posting and interacting on the boards with the community and that was what made that game so special besides the game itself. They never kept you in the dark -- They also didn't realease an unfinished game either, but that is another story.
My point is that while I appreciate Feargus' posts... We are now at a point in the industry where we, as gamers and consumers, are greatful for limited communication from actual game developers when communicating is (should be) part of their job -- or used to be -- And we've been forced to accept less than that and are "amazed" when we get one, two cryptic posts.
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does anyone else have problems reading posts by Joncrow?
I think Joncrow is trying to emulate Jar Jar Binks
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The main concern I have is that from what I have read (scattered reports here and there) that the patch was actually done, finished a long time ago and now it is just up to LA finally release it...
But that the patch won't address half of the things addressed in the Bugs Thread stickied atop this forum.
That thread has 16 pages of SERIOUS, game-stopping and gameplay bugs that make this barely a beta-phase game they charged full retail for.
This is my greatest (greater?) concern right now in that we probably will get a patch... I know, hope springs eternal... But even if we do, it's not going to amount to much and it sure as heck isn't going to finish -- via adding cut content -- The game and make it better.
Here is the thing:
I think most people have finished the game by now... And no one really cares.
There is VERY little replay value in this game compared to the first -- which may seem odd, but is not if you think about some of the more linear choices you're forced to make regarding the Influence system and how you level up given the game uses skill levels to unlock portions of it -- And the horrible cut-endings and dangling sidequests only add to the frustratition.
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I have a strange bug that I can't figure out. When I am playing the game and I level up all my companions automatically become 100% dark side. I have tried re installing the game but nothing seems to help. Other than this the game runs fine. Does anyone else have a solution or even the same problem?
This is a common bug. No one has any idea how, or why it happens.
Luckily, I never had this problem when I was playing through, so it is not reproduceable for certain people than others.
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As for the 'great' reviews, every time I see them I can't help but wonder if they actually FINISHED the game before writing it. Let's face it, bugs aside (every new game has them), it was an engrossing and emersive game until the ending.
So, OE, fix the bugs because it is your obligation to your consumers and fix the ending if you expect us to continue to trust in your company's products.
Don't hold your breath for a finished (new) ending.
LA controls all intellectual property rights to everything that would go into finishing the game (artistically) and they have given no indication that they intend to "rectify" the situation since they (LA) don't seem to think the game is not finished... Which, technically, it is... But the ending is just so bad that they can just brush that off as "subjective opinion", unfortunately.
This is why I blame LA for the state of the game in terms of storyline. I also blame OE for the state the game shipped in, so I blame both parties.
Do you want to know how rushed this game is?
Load up a saved game right after you wake up on Peragus. Go to the sealed blast door at the end of the hall -- the one where you have to bash it open.
The actual tutorial that pops up (if you have it enabled) says "Use the buttons on your D-Pad to blah, blah, blah."
The D-Pad is a button from the XBox controller (I have an Xbox).
It's little things like this that tell me this game is a rushed port more than anything else.
Also, little artistic choices also tell me that game was rushed.
For example, all of the Peragus corpses are bland and decayed -- like they've been there for years. This is not logical given the scenario happened in three days AND the fact that if you replay KOTOR... The corpses are all varied and just look more polished. This might be nitpicking, but presentation in this case is everything and the game just isn't presented well in my opinion. Hell, look at the blurry, 640x480 movies as well.
This is why I blame OE in terms of the game itself.
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It really depends on your soundcard. Creative cards like the Live 5.1, Audigy and Audugy 2 all have hardware support for eax so there should be little or no performance hit. Other cards like the Live 24bit and Audigy LS (and all the onboard soundcards) process eax in software mode, which really does kill performance.
I also found that reducing both the 2D and 3D voices to 16 (16x2=32 channels) helps make both KOTOR and TSL run much better.
However, to get both games to keep those settings, you need to make your swkotor.ini files "read only" or else the game just puts in their default values. This might help as well...
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It is rumored that Geforce 5 (FX) series boards have some design flaws that prevent them from properly supporting certain features in hardware (such as pixel shaders). The nVidia driver has to implement parts of these functions in software to work around these flaws. So some of these cards may be slower than Geforce 4 when using certain features. If you want nVidia, you should probably go with Geforce 6.
This is fact.
Pixel Shader 2.0 specs require a minimum of 24 point floating percision.
Nvidia cards are designed with only 16 and 32 while ATI has 16, 24 and 32. Most developers use 24 percision and since Nvidia just does not have that... They are forced to use the 32 percision floaters which of course slows down the rendering because it is actually being "upsampled" and then "downsampled" again -- versus ATI that just goes from 24 to the GPU and is rendered -- And this is the FX series main flaw.
What is so interesting from a hardware guru's perspective is that the whole reason the FX line sucks is that Nvidia became arrogant and thought they didn't need to work with MS when DX9 was being developed (summer 2002) and thought they'd develop a card on their own that would run DX9 shaders and things just as well (if not better) than ATI... But in the end, ATI beat them because they did work with MS and knew about the 24 point path and designed their chips to incorporate that vs. Nvidia who didn't.
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You're both forgetting we are comparing two different things when discussing console vs. PC:
Games sales and hardware sales.
Consoles destroy PC games sales -- always have -- and that is unfortunately what big publishers look at more than anything else these days because publishers aren't hardware manufactuers.
It is true that hardware sales fuel PC technological innovations, but that is an entirely different market. This is why I said PC games are dying in terms of game sales... And they are. Like I said, they fall third behind consoles and hand helds.
Also, just because you know how to customize a PC... 90% of the population neither cares about, or knows how. This is the market that consoles appeal to: The casual gamer.
Like I said, everyone makes good points on both sides of the argumet.
I, however, just happen to view it as that PCs are still on the way out as far as games due to that market being dominated by console sales and that effects development times and game design since a lot of games are designed with the console first and foremost and the PC as an afterthought. THIS is what worries we most and is already happening and why I think PC games are "dying" in terms of their complexity and why PC gamers may have no choice but to either stop playing games in the future (because they are lousy console ports like TSL)... OR, just play dumbed-down versions of console games to get their gaming fix.
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The article -- Thanks for linking to that; I knew I just didn't imagine what I said -- Brings up a point that I think people are being a little too gracious on and that is:
...The gamers have more critical feedback, which is awesome, and I think some of the comments stem from using the same engine as the previous game and the attempts to make the game feel more like The Empire Strikes Back...TSL doesn't even come close to ESB for one big reason: ESB has a self-contained story WITH AN ACTUAL ENDING. Period.
I know that LA is to blame for cutting a lot of the content that would have finished the game... But realistically, I don't think that would have mattered in the long run, to be honest.
I know there are tons of storyline discussion threads in the other forums... But I just want to say that no amount of technical patching -- what we are all waiting for -- Is going to change the core story which, in my opinion, suffers from what most game devs and storytellers do whenever they consciously decide to do a quote-un-quote darker story and that is they revel in the darker themes and forget about everything else; forget about telling a coherent and interesting story.
In fact, I think I know exactly where the inspiration to TSL came from -- aside from Fall Out2. There are two scenes in the original KOTOR:
1) When you first get off the elevator in the Undercity you are presented with the choice of either giving the two beggars hassling you some credits or just scaring them off.
Sound familiar? (Nar Shaddaa and Kriea's "lesson")
2) The Sunry trial on Mannan that puts you in a very morally ambiguous position... Especially, if you know he is guilty (which he is).
These two scenarios are repeated ad nauseum in TSL... But that still doesn't make up for lack of a real ending, however, nor is it enoug to base an entire game on, and I think gamers who are critical of their gaming experience do notice this and it bothers a lot of the fanbois/gurls because there is truth in their criticism...
Just like when I said that Chris was surprised that people like the storyline overall... Which a lot of people DON'T for some of the reasons I just discussed above.
Anyway...
How 'bout that patch?
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I guess this is as good a place as any to bring this up...
But how many of the bugs do you think this patch is really going to fix?
Have you taken a look at the Bugs thread stickied at the top of this forum?! It's 16 pages long and most of them are NOT repeats of what others have said. Oy!
My worst "fear" is that the patch is only going to address the very basics and that means no more CTDs and possibly some engine optimizations for ATI cards (and all others) as well.
However, half of the gameplay bugs -- like defense bonuses not stacking; dialogue loops; incomplete quests; etc. -- Probably will NOT be fixed and that is what is the most frustrating thing of all...
Because we sure as Hell are not going to be getting any kind of content patch that actually finishes this game, so it is almost what is the point of a tech patch since the game itself, at the core, really is not that good for a lot of non-technical related issues?
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dabise
You bring up some interesting points.
I'm torn between the two.
I'm also at a point in my life... 30s... Where gaming isn't the end-all, be-all of my existence as it used to be and is for a lot of younger people. Games are a form of entertainment and not how I define myself.
I do give consoles credit for their ease-of-use. This is how they are marketed as well.
However, what is interesting is that we have a kind of Gordian knot going on with PC technology always advancing -- which you hate -- Because this is actually what propels advacements in console systems, ironically.
Here is the thing:
If consoles become more like high-end gaming PCs in terms of hardware... Like the proposed XBox 2 and PS3 are going to be... Then I am hoping that game developers will start to USE that more "advanced" technology and start making games that ARE complex and that aren't limited to the hardware specs that most console games are currently limited too. This is the only bright-light I can see at the end of the tunnel...
But like I said above, the more complex a game is the longer it takes to make and the more money has to be put into it, and publishers like EA, Ubisoft and others just are not into that as much as they used to. It's all about profits and it's all about quantity over quality. Hell, TSL is a prime example of this for LA.
As sad as this sounds, I don't think we are going to see another game with the size, scope and complexity that Bioware had with the original KOTOR -- This goes for any console game and not just SW or RPGs.
KOTOR took three whole years... And it shows. It is still one of the best CRPGs on ANY platform in my humble opinion, SW fan or not.
I don't think we are going to see this level of quality from the big publishers in the future and it is only going to get worse as console players dictate the market so-to-speak because here we have another Catch-22 in that there are a ton of adults -- like you and me -- Who like games, but also want complex games like KOTOR...
But we're not going to be getting them because (once again) they take too long, are too expensive AND the majroity of console players don't want those kinds of games as well. Console players are mostly pre-teen to 20s males as far as demographics go. They don't want "thinking" games. They want all out action games and games that are easy to pick up and play. KOTOR is NOT that an easy a game to pick up once you first try it given all the D&D rules AND the fact that it takes a lot of control -- the combat -- Out of the hands of the player is another factor why games like KOTOR just will not be favorable in the near future from my perspective... But this doesn't leave us with any PC alternatives because like you, myself and others have said... PC games are in fact dying whether people want to admit it or not, unfortunately.
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However, having said all of that, my position on the console v PC debat is simiply this; if developers stop making games for the PC I will stop playing games. Or, will continue to play only the games I own now from time to time. I cannot see myself supporting the console gaming industry because of the limitations I perceive.
You are the only other person besides myself that I have seen in my internet travels who, as a gamer, has actually said what I feel is the key to making gaming companies and publishers sit up and take notice.
You nailed it on the head.
If we don't like something, stop buying the product.
HOWEVER... The big Catch-22 is that most gamers will NEVER stop playing games, regardless of platform, but especially console players for the reasons we discussed above. The same goes for PC gamers who think devs and publishers walk-on-water and it is perfectly okay for them to give consumers beta versions of games at full retail prices (these are the posters who flame people like us whenever we present civil, valid complaints about the shoddy products we pay for like KOTOR2).
Game companies have consumers... gamers at least... by the short-hairs because they KNOW we will never give up our hobby. Period. Hence, they can treat us like crap and continue to do so unless a lot of us just grow up and learn to live without like you said.
I am at that point in that I have been gaming since the days of the Commodore 64, I've owned various consoles and also a gaming PC.
However, what is going on in the industry (as a whole) is just not something I feel is going to get any better and is going to focus more on cross-platform simplicity and less complicated gameplay which for someone who is in their 30s (vs. 14, 15) is not very appealing since I want complex and challenging games that the PC can offer like flight sims, military sims, etc etc. I just do not see that level of sophistication continuing on any platform because the more complex a game is made, the more it costs and as we know, big business is all about cutting costs yet still (unrealistically) demanding windfall profits.
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I would have gone for the 6600 or 6800 personally.
Why?
Because if you are into games... And I don't mean first person shooters where super-duper frame rates are a necessity... But games like NWN 2 and others that are going to be using Shader 3.0 and other new elements then you're going to want a card that will give you decent performance (the 6800 is by far the best card on the market right now, hands down) for a couple of years at least and you won't have to run out and get a new one.
Chances are that with that 6200 you are going to have go out again within the next few months (by Christmas) and get a better card because you will see slower frame rates on the 6200 than others and even in a CRPG like TSL... It becomes annoying. Probably, even moreso since you aren't distracted like you are in a FPS game with tons of things going on and can focus on just a few static images.
Hell, you could get a vanilla 6800 (non-Ultra; non-GT) and unlock the additional vertex and pixel pipelines uisng Riva Tuner and you will have a card that performs at the GT and Ultra levels, but on a budget price. This is what I did with my ATI 9500 Pro. I softmodded it to a 9700 and saved $200 dollars (at the time).
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It might be your drivers.
Those are not officially supported Nvidia drivers.
Try either the latest official ones (71.64), or Omega, or DNA, or Xtreme G (third-party) drivers because at least those are stable drivers and this way you can rule out your drivers and concentrate on other possible culprits if it isn't the game.
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PC advancements in technology such as rendering may drive consoles...
But the bottom line is that doesn't matter to the average console player one bit... And MS and others know this.
They market consoles on the ease-of-use. Period.
Unfortunately, they do have PCs beat in this respect because PC gamers are a niche marketing group since most are hardware and system enthusiasts -- similar to automobile enthusiasts, music enthusiasts, etc, etc. -- Who go beyond just playing games and who fuel those innovations in technology with their high-end purchases.
However, again, the point is that most console players could care less about any of this and just want to be able to sit in front of their 40" HDTV and play a game like UT2004 with their friends online.
I am not trying to downplay the importance of PCs as hardware innovators... But like I said, with consoles bringing gaming to the masses, it doesn't matter from a publishing perspective -- as stated -- In that most console games are simplified and tailored to a less demanding audience than PC games...
And I fear this is going to lead to the "one-size-fits all" approach to cross-platform development... Hell, it's already here... And this will only help but decrease PC game sales and development more because it won't be cost effective for PC game designers to concentrate on more complex games when compared to just making one game for all the platforms and just porting it... Hence, what I said about the industry heading toward a very dangrous slope where PC gamers may have no choice but to settle for less.
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As I posted on another thread...
This idealism that PC games -- and by extension, KOTOR -- Means something "special" to LA is ludicrous.
Why?
Becasue console games are the wave of the future, right or wrong. PC games come in third after consoles and hand helds in terms of market share and sales. Ergo, all publishers are now concentrating on consoles as the primary revenue generators and PC ports as an afterthought.
This is very relevant to what is going on with TSL because LA is just like most other publishers in the world of gaming right now: The quick, easy sales of console type games that generate a short amount of profit for a short time and then they move onto the next quick sales. The days of product quality and reputation are long gone.
The only way you're going to see anything of significance happen that will make publishers like LA -- and companies like OE to some extent -- Sit up and take notice is when console sales start to plumet because this is what has their ear right now and in the near future with the XBox 2, PS3 and GameCube 2 all coming in the latter half of the year... And I don't see this happening since console gamers are a completely different demographic in terms of age and expectations and who will settle for less if given the choice.
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So is it console gaming that the simplistic gameplay and mediocre graphics are getting carried to from PC gaming, or is it the other way around?
Bingo.
Consoles have hardware limitations which carry over into game design and innovation.
In an ironic twist, this is the other big reason consoles are so popular because a lot of stuff that PC gamers take for granted are now finally reaching a larger audience and to these new gamers it is all new and amazing.
For instance... Online gaming.
It seems pretty silly to PC gamers since we've been doing it since '95 with the original Quake... But again, the average consumer who is not PC savy who hasn't been playing these types of games, let alone, online with other people around the world, this will be a big deal to them.
Also, part of this marketing strategy is to cater to younger audiences. PC games cater to ages 25+. Consoles are pre-teen to early 20s. Again, it does take less to impress someone who is 14 vs. someone who is 35. I say this not as an insult, but as a point of fact in terms of how the market demographics of consoles and PC games differ greatly.
As far as the emulation goes...
MS will find a way to keep console games on consoles and PC games on PCs simply because there is no money to be made if a game isn't platform specific. I know that emulation isn't an officially supported design element of games and platforms... But MS isn't going to come right out say, "Buy a game for XBox 2 and play it on your PC" because they WANT you to buy that XBox 2.
This is where the games industry is sliding down a slippery slope since most average consumers aren't as demanding or critical of the games they play and this is why it will be easier for developers to just "slack off" and produce mediocre games.
In other words, the fact the average consumer is playing in their living room with thier friends on the internet is novelty enough for them. It doesn't matter that the game is very simplistic (most of the time; DM; TDM; CTF) compared to PC gamers who are older and who want more sophisticated games like Flight Sims, racing sims; military sims; etc, etc.
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Are you trying to win favour with the Exchange, or upset them? You probably just need to do a bit more, one way or the other. What kinds of things have you done already?
It is also a reported glitch that the meeting with the Exchange doesn't trigger.
If you've done all the sidequests on Nar Shadda (LS or DS) this should trigger the meeting and the event chain that follows.
Your best indicator is if you get the Red Eclipse Slavers on board the Ebon Hawk fight. This means the meeting with the Exchange is not far behind.
If you've done everything and are still not getting the meeting... Try paying that Bat thing at the entrance to the entertainment promindae 2000 credits (if you have them) and this usually triggers the Exchange if you are stuck.
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XBox 2 will (tenatively) have a Pentium IV, 3.0 GHz chip with ATI X800 type GPU and 512 MB of RAM. Essentially, a high powered gaming "PC" as the current XBox is a 1999 era PC with all of the components it has.
The main goal for the XBox is so that future game design... Namely, MS... Can be cross-platform compatbile.
This is what is most disturbing of all.
What this essentially means is that no longer will developers have to concentrate on specific platform versions of their games. The version for the XBox will be the same version that gets released to the PC... Complete with all the simplistic gameplay and possibly mediocre graphics that consoles inherently have compared to a PC.
The big reasons consoles are so popular is that they brought ease-of-use to the masses who want to play games. All a consumer has to do is pop in a DVD, hit a few buttons and they are off playing a game.
There is no tweaking of .ini files. No driver swapping. No hardware conflicts since all system specs are universal for a particular platform.
This is the main reason consoles are taking off and will only become more popular over time: The average consumer has no desire or need to know how a PC works in order to play PC-type games.
This is also the area where if you want to make some kind of statement to companies like LA and OE to some extent that if you get console gamers to boycott buying console games THEN publishers will sit up and take notice because as it currently stands... PC games are dying. They are ranked behind console and hand held sales overall and that number itself grows smaller each day.
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Poetic, but utterly futile.
Why? This is why:
Lucas Arts has to relieze that Obsidian's reputation is on the line, and we the customers support their efforts now and in the future.If there is to be a KOTOR III, and if Obsidian gets the job, they need our support. However, they need to give us the customer their support as well.
LA knows that most of the wrath gamers have will be put on OE and it really doesn't matter if we don't buy future LA products... At least, PC products... Because KOTOR III, regardless of who does it, will most likely be an XBox 2 product first just like the original and TSL were and then a PC port because consoles are the major cash cows of publishers now and in the near future. LA will rake in the dough via XBox 2 sales, so it doesn't matter if PC gamers get upset.
Face it.
PC games are dying. I don't care if you've played games for 20-30 years starting with the Commodore 64. This is 2005, and consoles have brought gaming to the masses and as a consequence, this is where the emphasis is going to be from now on with PC markets and sales being an afterthought. Hell, PC games rank third after consoles and hand helds respectively. That is what is most disheartening of all... But I accept it.
You can "rage, rage against the dying of the light" all you want, but in the end, it won't make a bit of difference as far as LA and OE (to some extent) are concerned.
What would make a difference is if CONSOLE players boycotted KOTOR III and other CONSOLE games because that is publisher's bread and butter and where significant drop in sales will make them sit up and take notice.
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Okay, that was humourous. Not the crashes, but your reasoning.
Bobstar reaches level 1:
Feats granted...
-Scoundrel's Luck
-Lucas Arts Prodcut Awareness (adds a +3 bonus to intelligent buying decisions to help avoid buying LA products in the future; +4 bonus for consumer awareness; this feat is always active).
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The sky really must be falling.
Big business is going to kill us all... And is already in the process.
Just look at the real reasons for Iraq.
And yes. I *am* an American and know exactly why we are really there *cough, Haliburton; General Dynamics, cough*. Freedom of the Iraqi people -- whom don't want us there any more -- My arse...
Bugs
in Star Wars: General Discussion
Posted
No.
All you do is go to the Party screen (third button from the RIGHT; looks like a flower petal) and add them back.
Obsidian should have given you a Pop-up that said "You can Now Add Party Members of Your Choice" at that point in the game.