Amentep

I'm not sure I presented a false dichotomy and I'm not saying that Obi-Wan couldn't have been the central character; I'm just saying that if Lucas is going Joseph Campbell again then Anakin's character arc fits that role better than Obi-Wan (as Obi-Wan's story is antithetical to the monomyth). I'd disagree that nothing was at stake with respect to Anakin; his romance with Padme and his friendship with Obi-Wan were both lost - after the loss of his mother probably the only two things that really meant much to him.

I see your point, but I'm not sure I agree; if Star Wars IV-VI is the archtypical Hero's Journey, then there's no real reason that I-III can't be. Anakin can still be the character who is introduced into a magical world, wins a decisive victory and returns to grant boons to his fellow man (remember, ultimately from the story's perspective, the prophesy that Qui-Gon thinks he will fulfill is true and as in all monomyths, Anakin achieves the goals of his quest (even if, ultimately, his quest ends up not being what he thought it was)). The problem, then to my mind, isn't the overarching hero's journey and focusing on Anakin. While they could have focused on Obi-Wan entirely and probably had a decent film out of it, he's ultimately Han Solo in the original films. The difference being that Han and Luke ultimately end up on the same side after they separate but Obi-Wan and Anakin don't. He provides a different perspective on the events in the film, but ultimately I don't think Lucas was wrong to make the first three about Anakin (I'd argue, for example, Anakin's betrayal of Obi-Wan is important only in how his hubris in dealing with Obi-Wan led to him becoming Darth Vader; the real choices that Anakin made were all in his scenes with the Emperor. Betraying Obi-Wan was only a consequence of those previous, more important actions).

Curiosity question, what is the context of the use of "Goon" in this? I'm suspecting some kind of alternate definition from the norm the way its used (something common in online gaming?)

Big Wheel vs Green Machine, now that's a debate I remember (oddly after 30-something years)

^Pernilla August, IIRC. There's a lot about the prequels that are fairly similar to the other films in the series - look back at Star Wars: it is plot heavy and doesn't contain a lot of character development (why Han and Luke are pals at the end when they're still bickering as late as the choice to rescue Leia seems to be writers fiat; why Leia has bonded with either is never explained; Luke is more crushed by Obi-Wan's death (a man he was only vaguely familiar with prior to his saving him from the Sand People) than he is his Uncle and Aunt who raised him as a son). But it also - very rightly - excised a lot of back story (the scenes with Biggs, Wedge and Cammie, the scene with Han and Jabba) to make sure the story really stick to the exciting path of the rebels vs empire. Phantom Menace doesn't excise these scenes, and I think it effects the pacing a good deal. A lot of film problems can be ignored if the pacing keeps pushing us past them. ANH also starts Luke as an adult and I still think fundamental mistake #1 for PM is not starting Annakin off at an equivalent age.

Except the plate would be from the wrong state if I did that.

Cut them. Or merge their role into a new character who is sorta like them but better?

Driving home, I got behind a Toyota Highlander and noticed it had weird vanity plates - "BE ONLY". Then I saw it had a special made license plate frame with three words on it "There", "Can" and "one" So yes, you're probably getting what it said - HIGHLANDER (car logo) There can (top of frame) BE ONLY (license) one (bottom of frame)

Not familiar with the series, so will American Truck Simulator recreate every major city, or just select parts of the country?

Nice work Suburban-Fox and KazikluBey, I'd worked out what the first one should have looked like but never had time to try and set anything down. Nice to see them realized.

I'm exactly the same, I have enjoyed every Bioware game I have played. Or maybe it is more fair to say the " good far outweighs the bad " around the overall Bioware gaming experience . Nothing to be embarrassed about I'm not embarrassed. I just felt it should be pointed out that there's probably a fair lot of people who have enjoyed the Bio games even with their flaws like I do.

True story: I've liked every Bioware game that I've played. Yes, even NWN official campaign. That doesn't make them perfect, somehow even with their flaws I manage to be entertained to greater or lesser degrees. I imagine that a lot of the people who make Bio's audience fall into the same category as opposed to those vocal diehards posting regularly to their boards and the vocal anti-diehards (die-easies?) posting elsewhere. As long as DA:I is an enjoyable game on its own terms, I'm okay with that without having to place it in some mythic pantheon of RPGs.

I never did finish the Nosferatu I created...should go back to that someday.

"Dragon" is still in the title. So is "Age". And "Inquisition" has at least two I's.

Not talking about muscle at all, I had just never seen arms that thin and long before. Looks scary. They look proportional to me; they seem to match the rough proportional size to the rest of her body.

I would have said "hideous shoes" but that's just me.

I dunno, they look fairly standard thin-girl arms to me. Its not like glamorous women of the '50s and '60s were - traditionally - into toning their muscles.

I think ASM2 hints at a couple of ways they could take it.

Yeah, Deep Silver (who bought the Sacred 3 IP) has Keen Games working on Sacred 3; former Ascaron developers are doing Unbendend (Franz Stradal being the only one I know for sure is on it, as he did the interview I linked).

May have been too close, or perhaps some other game created problems. This interview seems to imply they're wanting to distance themselves from the past - http://nichegamer.net/2014/04/unbended-interview-the-new-rpg-from-the-former-ascaron-devs/

I dunno, maybe it'll be "Unbent" by the end of production? Mind you it could just end up remaining awkward sounding - not unlike a lot of Japanese title (Bravely Default?)

Sacred 3 is comming out later this year. Hope it's good. Actually, due to that game being developed by a different developer and being more of an action game, I'm looking forward to, I believe it's called Unbending which has only started development. Interesting - thanks for the tip I'd seen the UNSACRED announcement but couldn't find anything else - turns out the name is now UNBENDED - http://www.unbended.de/ I might buy Sacred 3 if it turns out to be interesting because I like action RPGs, but right now it seems kind of generic. Definitely a different approach to the game series, ditching the open world. Seems almost more CHAMPIONS OF NORATH than old Sacred.

Personally I quite liked Dragon's Dogma, but most of that was because I enjoyed the combat; most of the quests and character interaction is perfunctory at best (which isn't that dissimilar to Sacred 2 which I'm playing now which is a giant open world full of fetch quests). Is that really "infinity engine" or "D&D rules" though? seems to me what is most memorable to you about the IE experience wasn't the engine (RtWP, Isometric, pre-rendered backgrounds) and the stuff from the D&D license (the classes and class roles, the lore (potions, spells), THAC0, etc). I may be wrong, but that's how it seems to me. I'd argue that what people don't want is to try to beat an RPG with an "non-viable" build. I don't think the IE series had non-viable builds. They did have some non-viable playstyles (a rogue was a poor fighter in general who could do certain kinds of good damage in battle and who removed traps, opened locks and scouted; but the idea of actually trying to stealth the game with a rogue was non-viable, unlike its P&P equivalent. In PoE, quest RPG makes the idea of stealthing a game somewhat more viable, for example).

Lets see... AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2: Enjoyable; one thing the new films get over Rami's films is that wise-cracking persona of the character. Nice to see him constantly chattering. Nice carry through for where they've taken the Parkers (which carries some of what happened in the comics), with the build up. Also I thought they did a good job of creating an interesting villain with Electro. GRAVITY: Tense film, very enjoyable. STAR WARS: These are not the droids you're looking for.

Am I the only one that finds it silly that CCP would buy White Wolf*, stop White Wolf from working on anymore P&P games** so that they could concentrate on the World of Darkness MMORPG and then can the same? You'd think, even if it wasn't working they'd scrap it and do it again otherwise...what was the point? Sucks to be White Wolf, I guess. If anything actually exists as more than "in name only" White Wolf. *Technically, I think it was called a merger at the time, but when two companies merge and the other stops producing anything and becomes, relatively, non-existent...well it sure seems like CCP bought themselves White Wolf (see also Turner Networks and Warner Brothers) **I think all of the new RPG material is done under license to Onyx Path, which, IIRC was established by a former White Wolf employee.