Amentep

Uhm no. Per the head of Larian themselves Divinity: Original Sin had a budget of around 5 million euro's which is more than 6 million US dollars. Obsidian had a budget of about 4.5 million USD. So Larian had at least a million more to play with, combined with the fact that they had their own in house engine to use which saved tons of time and resources which equates directly to money saved for other parts of the game. Wasteland 2's graphics looking good is a matter of opinion so there is nothing wrong disagreeing with me. That said I think the UI is painfully bad, the environment art is okay, but the character models are flat awful and look straight out of year 2002. You're a bit wrong. You're counting Larian's budget with Early Access on steam vs POE with no Early Access. If you compare KS vs KS then POE had double the amount. When POE is available at Steam Early Access you can be sure as hell it will make more than D:OS. They recently updated UI. It changed a lot from when I first tried beta. It's better now. Not the most beautiful but it works and is thematically fitting. Char models do look bad indeed. Larian had already funded D:OS and was quite clear the kickstarter was to adding stuff to a game they were already committed to funding and completing - as I recall. The money D:OS raised on Kickstarter was about 19% of the total budget indicated by Larian. Pillars wouldn't exist if the Kickstarter had failed; it is entirely funded from the fans as far as we've been told (I believe Feargus indicated Obs would absorb any overages if they existed on the game).

And nominated for WINTER'S BONE and AMERICAN HUSTLE

Wolf of Wall Street The Lego Movie I'd suggest both are extremely good at what they do, and will stand the test of time. Wolf of Wall Street is a 2013 film, released in December and nominated for 5 Academy Awards for the 2013 year. For my part I saw THE MUMMY RESSURRECTED (2014) - I do tend to enjoy any mummy film (its a character flaw) but this was one of the weaker efforts. I don't mind low budget films (and this is probably a microbudget film - the trek through the Egyptian dessert looked like someone hiking in the High Sierras) but I don't understand why so many low-budget scripts decide to pad their time out with pointless inter-character bickering instead of some other kind of character building. Add in some lame direction (we shouldn't know, for example, so early the motives of the dad character; also why so many two angle talking head shots?) and IMO the leads being more wooden than the supporting cast (never a good sign) and there's not much to recommend here (unless, like me, you have a soft spot for Mummy films). Then I watched TARGET EARTH (1954) - low budget sci-fi film about a small group of luckless individuals who miss the evacuation of a city and are stuck hiding from oversized robots destroying any human they find. Fun with Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Richard Reeves and Virginia Grey (all familiar to old time movie/tv viewers - amid many other credit Crowly had a re-occurring role on MAVERICK, Grey on WAGON TRAIN, Reeves a perinnial gangster on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN and Denning in other B-Movies (THE CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN and TV Shows (Mr and Mrs North, Michael Shayne, Hawaii 5-O). The film also has genre vet Whit Bissell in it (this time as a scientist as opposed to his usual military roles). Not the earliest role I've seen him in (that'd be THE CRIME DOCTOR'S DIARY from 1949). Overall movie was good if you like low-budget 50s sci-fi films.

To be fair, when PHENOMENA was released in the US (as CREEPERS) it was hacked to pieces (losing 20 minutes) and was, generally speaking, a mess. That said, I don't recall the CREEPERS cut being about an ancient evil (although I've only seen it once so maybe my memory is faulty on this point). The film is about a girl (Connely) with psychic powers to control/communicate with insects helping a paralized entomologist (Donald Pleasence) who has been trying to help track down a mysterious serial killer for the police with his knowledge of insect life cycles. The edits that I'm aware of mostly cut gore (it is an Italian giallo film) and two major dialogue sequences. Luckily most of the modern versions of the film are direct from the Italian version (which is very much superior and - in my opinion - Agento's best film).

Finished Tuned for Murder (I'd guessed wrong on who the ultimate villain was). Now reading The Smiling Dogs. So far we have politicians being driven crazy by visions of a short man with bright red skin leading a bright green dachshund lead by a chain of daisies. And the dog is smiling. Also something about mineral springs in Montana and at least three murders and two attempted murders. No clue how its all going to connect up yet.

There are a few, but I'd also look at, say, the Amish in America for example. Its a parallel society that has decided for itself what it needs within the confines of a much larger culture.

But understand, you've defined poverty and non-poverty, and declared that your version of poverty is bad. But the definition is still yours, not theirs. During the 40s and 50s there was a big movement to bring money and erase the blight of poverty from the Appalachia area of the US. But most of the people who grew up there never really knew they were "poor" until the government came and pointed out that getting water in a well and pooping in a hole was bad compared to tap water and an indoor toilet. And that's not to say they were stupid and just didn't realize that there were other meats to choose from than squirrel and opossum* for dinner. They had a different life than people in Washington, in New York or in Chicago had. And because they had a different life they expected different things out of it. Not better/worse but different. Understand that the "average indigent South African" at this point may not be a separate society within your society but a part of your society, and therefore remains culturally similar in expectations, if disenfranchised within the larger society. What we're talking about is more akin to if you went to, lets say, North Sentinel Island with a huge armed force and telling the Sentinelese that they're living in poverty and you're bringing them a better way of life and killing those who don't accept your way. Or going into an Orc encampment and killing them all and looting their bodies because they've been attacking people who wander on their lands. *for one thing, there were turtles, raccons and chipmonks.

Why are they less fortunate? Because they don't live like you do? The idea that - in generalities - you can "improve" the lives of "less fortunate" you're already assuming that your way of life is correct and those who don't live that life need your interference to be enlightened to your righteousness. Not sure what you mean here; Ebola hasn't really spread far from its sources (as far as we understand them) because of the way it transmits from animals to humans; a hemoragic fever like the hantavirus that is spread by air in rat droppings is much more mobile. Once in humans, we have a better understanding of how to prevent transmission there as well. With regarding WHO and Ebola though, I don't think anyone would argue that there aren't ways to educate people about public health to the benefit of all populations. Heck, even trying to stop the mentality where people with HIV would rape virgins with the idea that it'd cure aids isn't really the issue. To pull this to goblins and orcs, the cultures of the adventurers rarely have them lecturing orcs on disease tranmission, but more likely having them stick a knife in them and loot their corpses. In D&D IIRC Orcs don't even have a good diety to follow, so they're paper enemies, with no complexity supposed to represent the "evils" of the uncivilized there only to destroy the "good" culture, so thus must be destroyed first. Now far be it from me to say they need to be more than 2 dimensional, but I recognize that people can rightly see the problem built around a "cowboy and indians" ethos.

To me, I interpret what ashtonw is saying to be that tribal cultures in sci-fi/fantasy are often seen as backward subhumans in need of the enlightenment from (or eradication by) the main culture. Its a reinforcement of the type of cultural imperialism that says it is okay to play colonial and bring civilization to the savages because its for their betterment to be forced to follow your culture than their own. Mind you just as problematic is the Noble Savage view of primitive culture; in this scenario they should be embraced and emulated -- if not joined - because they have held on to an inherent "honesty" lost in modern culture. This view can eradicate an existing culture just as easily as the other...

Yeah, I understand that's their thing. Its not my thing, I guess.

I almost made it 4 minutes through that. I guess I'm not the audience for those "Everything wrong" videos (and yet I enjoy Honest Trailers, go fig) but much of it seemed awfully nitpicky.

I remember the Mine Rowdy. Wish I knew there was a clown class, though. But I never got the FR supplements.

I don't think the stylized mountain is as attractive as the yellow logo (its kinda chunky looking). The font is similar but thicker. I wouldn't say sucks so much as not as good personally though.

Maybe? I'd rather wait and see what kind of game it looks to be before really assuming that it's going to be bad at this point. There are certain elements of their campaign that I like, to be honest. Whether the game when announced will be something that interests me (I don't play MMORPGs, for example, or online in general) still needs to be seen.

The idea of a Justin Bieber F2P iOS game (presumably complete with microtransactions) coming from venerable old Sierra seems to me to be the kind of angry statement made by people who think the existence of such a game is an affront to gaming and illustrates the soulless nature of a rebadged company that only exists to "ruin" an established company's former glory. Apologies if I misread the statement.

Mmmm, the brown rat aka wharf rat aka sewer rat. My mom was attacked by one she when she was a little girl in bed, not that dissimilar to Gromnir's experience. The people around the area would sit on their porch and shoot the rats as they moved around the area from house to house in search of food but some would still get inside houses. My mom lived near a chicken processing plant which supported the population for the most part, but made them nuisances in the poor neighborhood around the plant.

And even if that were true (AFAIK there won't be further announcements until Gamescom 2014), how would it matter? Not something I'd want to play but why would it matter to me? I don't get the hang-up that every game developed has to be developed for me in mind, and anything that isn't - particularly if made by a venerable/rebadged publisher/developer - is a reason to rage on the internet.

In the end, what will matter is if they make good games (new IP, old IP, whatever IP).

Yeah, I never really played evil, but I used to play with a couple of players who loved to play evil. Probably should replay BG1 at some point - it has definitely been too long; the fine details are lost.

Current word is " Winter 2014". Don't think they've been more specific than that (probably wouldn't want to be, until the Beta starts going anyhow)

Technically in P&P you don't have to have a party. I've played in P&P games that actually had two different small groups running around (sometimes with opposing goals) and solo players running tangentially with a party. This may be my faulty memory but I didn't think that initially you knew it was the Iron Throne organization that wanted to kill you, only that Serevok had killed Gorian and wanted you dead. I thought the Iron Throne connection to Sarevok was made after you go to the mines and that's what leads you to need to follow up in Baldur's Gate. If I'm wrong, mea culpa, it's been a number of years since I played BG1.

I think - and I may be reading too much into Stun's post so I apologize if I misrepresent him or his position - that in a Pen and Paper game (the only way you have true freedom to play an alignment) an evil PC would not necessarily choose to look into the mine mystery over other options. I could easily see a Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil character wanting to try and join the Iron Throne, or join the bandits for example, rather than stop either group. That might not be successful and lead them to conflict, but the game ultimately doesn't support that. The end result is always that - good or evil - you are narratively shoe-horned into certain positions. You can justify it in your head, but its not a case of the game actually allowing you to roleplay evil, to be fair.

I know its popular to hate on Bioware, but I admit to a lot of curiosity about what this could be. I've liked most of Bioware's games, so any new IP they may be doing still has some interest with me and the supernatural / Fortean / Secret World feel of the various materials out their is intriguing, to me at least. EDIT: I just thought she had big ears. I've seen people with big ears like that before.

Antelope or Stag...choices, choices. What can I say I like not having the average carnivores we see for rangers.

Besides, everyone knows that chunking monsters is a reward in and to itself. Hence Gauntlet's popularity.