Amentep

I've seen bits and pieces of that - should sit down and give it a watch but its been on at an awkward time locally.

They misspelled "Charlton". http://youtu.be/9LUv3kbmNfg

For the record, the Disneyland castles for Cinderella (multiple references including Moszna Castle, Château de Chaumont and Alcázar of Segovia) and Sleeping Beauty (heavily based on Neuschwanstein Castle) were based on real castles not just some flight of fancy.

Part of this is because those characters are much older and less overall relevant in today's world. There is certainly loud pushback on a lot of assumptions about comic book/cartoon characters today, however. Some of the more common ones that I'm aware of (with exceptionally minimal understanding of the comic book scene since I have never read them) are things like the Hawkeye Initiative (the most classic pose being the various ones where a woman character is able to show off both her chest and ass cleavage in the same shot). Comic Cons and the like (as well as game cons, and really a lot of places of geek culture that have historically been heavily dominated by males) have started to see movements such as Cosplay is not Consent because it's enough of a problem. A friend of mine is a member of the 501st Legion out of Calgary (and is actually a huge fan of Darth Nihilus and has frequently cosplayed as him) and has had to deal with it personally herself. Yeah the Hawkeye Initiative is amusing in its attack of certain poor artistic decision some artists insist on continuing to make. I'm not sure I can really relate COSPLAY IS NOT CONSENT to body types in video games (unless you're making a connection regarding objectification and how it spills out from fiction into real life and I'm missing it?) One of the things I find interesting trend wise with cosplay is the pushback against people cosplaying outside of the race or gender simply because people assume that these extreme conceptual body types (super musceled dude, super busty woman) are easily replicable in real life by every person.

The basic idea of putting you in the situation by fiat of god could work - except it sounds like he made it something you were forced to accept rather than being forced on you (like, say, having your characters and some NPCs awaken in the past with no clue how to get there and a magic scroll explaining what had to be done that you could then argue over). Or your DM could have briefed you prior to character creation about what you know of the situation (the sun never rose) and knowing that your character has accepted a summon by the gods and started in the tower. Why you accepted the summon could be left to the player. Then the characters could be given the non-choice and all sent whether they agree or not. It seems to me he's having a hard time getting the ideas from his head and across to his players (same thing I had with that darn elephant; I just didn't sell it in the right way).

True, but when they're by the same company I can see people thinking they have to be the same. I'd rate Brave much, much higher than Brother Bear.

He is making perfect sense. And I see it like he does. I want to be able to do any quest at any time given that I am currently able to access it's location. Not only when some unknown condition has been met at some unknown point in the game. Constantly having to recheck every area of the game in case a previous action unlocked some hidden content sounds grating, especially when you do a replay of the game and already know that "this" quest should be "here", but it isn't. One way to solve this would be to keep the quests from being area specific; ie if you unlock quest Z after completing Quest D, then the quest giver spawns at the next logical area you enter the first time or something, perhaps seeking you out because they've heard of your success at completing Quest D.

Awww, thanks. I like to think I learned something over the years. But just that one thing. When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps? The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there." Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that. Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there. That's a cute story I commend your 10 year old effort I drew a map too! I wish I still had it.

My memory of the original Tomb Raider was that Lara Crofts bosom looked (not exactly) like a 3D triangle. It was only in later iterations as they improved the graphics did they hew to the proportions created by that initial triangle like quadrilateral form (or was it a pentagon?).

Kind of reminds of those characters we "rolled" up when I was about 13 and first discovered the AD&D game and got to take home my buddy's copy of the PHB and practice creating some characters. "Well sure I rolled up this paladin with 18/00 Str, 17 Dex, 18 Con, 12 Int, 14 Wis and 17 Cha, with 4d6 drop lowest. Why would I lie about something like that?" We did 4d6 drop the lowest BUT everyone rolled in front of all the other players, so we tended to have what we had. We also did 3d6 but 7x rolls and you place the 6 totals you wanted to keep. Although in Gamma World we did allow the scrapping of useless characters after rolling mutations.

When I was 10 I created a dungeon with an elephant in it. It wasn't the only thing in it and in my defense I was 10. Oh yeah and the Elephant had fallen through the ceiling and had half-hit points because of it. But did the players care about my finely crafted dungeon? Noooo....but then they wouldn't let me run them through TOMB OF HORRORS either...and quit my Star Frontiers game too...a sign perhaps? The quest hook was "there's loot in a dungeon, if you like loot go there." Morale of the story: Not everyone is equipped to be a good DM. Or don't let 10 year-olds create adventures in an RPG no matter how much they pester everyone. Something like that. Anyhow, does seem a really big plot railroad there.

I haven't seen anything in Wasteland 2 that jumped out and slapped me in the face making me think "my god...that's terrible." And I backed it. But then, I'm pretty reasonable in my expectations for the game, I guess.

To muddy the waters even more, there are a lot of women who defend, lets say, Powergirl's bosom because the stories have grown to accommodate the character addressing the issue that she's got a large chest and how that makes her perceived (ie the creators have tried to "own" the issue rather than ignore it). There's a complex dynamic that exists in relation to character creation that I think would be best left to the creators creating what they think works and the audience embracing or ignoring it. Personally I'm just as discouraged by pundits complaining about the body types used in DRAGON'S CROWN (which is OTT but then just about everything in the game is) and those who criticized Obsidian for making a conscious decision to avoid "boob armor" in PE and demanded sexy fantasy armor in the game. I'm happy to let people create what fits their game and letting it work (or not) on its own merits (or lack of same)

Since when? A lot of people seem to enjoy comics, too, and cartoony body proportions certainly exist there. In fact, i'd posit they were imported from there. One would think that cartoony body proportions came from...well...cartoons. But then I don't think anyone is complaining about Betty Boop on the thread. Or Daisy Duck. Or Minnie Mouse. Jessica Rabbit maybe? That said massive mammaries in superhero comic books are a modern day hot button topic in comics communities as people wonder whether "breast size" actually counts towards existing characterization or if its just continually perpetuated titillation. Heck there was outrage - OUTRAGE - when DC attempted to have Wonder Woman wear pants a couple of years ago, much less doing something like...de-emphasizing Power Girl's bust (which also gets cries of outrage).

I've been enjoying this series and I'm looking forward to the last episode, you should watch American Horror Story if you enjoy Sleepy Hollow. Its got its horror\fantasy appeal as well I dunno, I was iffy on AHS based on its premise, but people I know who are huge horrorfans watched it and was dissapointed by it so I've never checked it out.

I liked MU better than MI simply because it didn't get stuck with a certain degree of over-sentimentality (the one flaw I've always had with MI). And while Cars 2 isn't as good as Cars I thought it did good in being fun for what it was doing. Now I hate-hate-hated Wall-E (the second half is terrible and illogical) and Up (one of the most blatantly emotionally manipulative movies I've ever seen) but I loved Brave a whole lot. While I can understand the comparison to BROTHER BEAR, I think it does its own thing and I'm quite fond of it. For my movie watching - The Last Wagon (1956) Richard Widmark, Felicia Farr, Nick Adams, Susan Kohner. A bit of a typical and atypical western at the same time. A lot of tired tropes (Widmark plays a "white man" raised by Comanches wanted for murder that he did to revenge the murder of his full Comanche wife; captured by a lawman who is the last brother who murdered his wife). Its turned on its head when only the "kids" - older teens and one boy - survive an attack and have to look to Widmark to help them get out. Nice trial bit at the end. Okay if you like 50s era westerns War of the Gargantuas (1966) - the weird sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World (aka Frankenstein versus Subterranean Monster Baragon) that - in the US version at least - cuts any connection to Frankenstein. Somewhat plodding for a kaiju film, and Russ Tamblyn looks perpetually bemused at the proceedings. Some nice effect work but the mostly human monsters are weirdly less emotive than other Toho suitmation work. Okay but doesn't distinguish itself much. But at least Brad Pitt liked it. The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) Tom Conway again stumbles upon murder, this time reunited with pal and ex-criminal Goldie Locke. Together they encounter young heiresses, a criminal smuggling conspiracy and murder. A bit too much going on, really, and the mystery is muddle by presenting a confusing narrative not explaining who people are until the last minute. Still Conway manages a breezy attitude typical of the series and has fun with the material. Also amusing is Goldie's attempt to improve his tax bracket by getting married. Doesn't make me forget The Falcon in Hollywood, a series highmark. The Burrowers (2008) Low budget western horror; people are kidnapped and a group (led by Clancy Brown) go after them, thinking that it was a raid by Native Americans. Only it wasn't, it was locust like monsters that used to feed on Buffalo, but they're not there and have switched to human feed. Its actually a pretty good film excepting a few moments of character dumbness, but I felt the end really ruined it - one of those "oh humans are monsters too!" kind of things that was unnecessary to the story being told (but typical of films where someone feels the horror should have some kind of commentary on humanity buried (not so deeply) in it).

Well the season finale for SLEEPY HOLLOW was a bit of a humdinger. Figured out part of it, but hadn't yet connected all the pieces. Glad its already renewed, hate it when shows go for the cliffhanger season end and then don't get renewed...

Kang the Conqueror is always the most important. Indeed. Take that Immortus! If the celeb in question is sexy, upwards of 75%. Are 90% of results still photoshop fakes though...?

Finally beat normal mode for Dragon's Crown...kinda of got side tracked. Now completing quests and heading to Hard mode.

You'd also have to consider, if I googled a celb, am I trying to find out information about the celebrity or their latest product or even a past product? If I see the trailer for Wolf of Wall Street and can't remember its name but remember that DiCaprio is in it or that Scorsese directed it...well I'm going to search their name. If I see a movie in passing that has Lon Chaney, Jr in it, I might search for Lon Chaney Jr so I can open IMDB, Wikipdedia, and any fan sites in various tabs. Also how many searches are made in a day? If I search for Jesus Christ, Mahatma Ghandi, Miley Cyrus and Kang the Conqueror, how do you know which one is actually important to me? Also if I search for Rhianna and accidentally close the search and search again and the browser crashes and I open it again and search again for Rhianna, and then link to site but its not a good site, so I hit google again and search again...well that's a lot of searches that might be something simple like trying to find the name of a song I heard on the radio and not an obsessive search for news on Rhianna or pictures of her on vacation falling out of her bikini top. Or something.

Oh yeah, there's more out there than just the 1880-1890 period (although a game during the Klondike Gold rush could be interesting now that I think about it). There's some good story material to mine possibilities from in that western history. The Mexican war for independence followed by the Texas Revolution followed by the US Mexican-War period would make a good lengthy backdrop period too (1810-1846) Actually makes me wonder...1800s-1830s in South America could be interesting as well (Brazil becoming an independent kingdom, then Portugal trying to regain control, Argentina civil war, Peru initially as a staunch colonist and then the Bolivar revolution, Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador all fought for independence during this time, IIRC). Throw in the ancient cultures, contemporary ethnic cultures, the descendants of the Conquistadors and you have a pretty interesting period to work with.

Would love an Arabian Nights setting (the stories are quite diverse so a lot to play with). And Wild West or Weird West would be cool I'd also take a 1930s era pulp style game too (some of the pulp villains are just as crazy as anything High Fantasy or Sci-Fi - for example THE OCTOPUS by Norvell Page - throw in late Lovecraft, Dashiell Hammet, a little Shadow, Doc Savage, Spider and Avenger, some of the historical period - prohibition, gangsters, Japan's invasion of Manchuria, etc and you have a whole lot of things to design from) That said, what I really want is for Obsidian to make a game they're passionate about making more than anything else.

You right, that's more of an enigma. Unless the teahouse is more modern than what they are saying ? There's actually more than one path up the mountain; the government has closed off some paths because they're dangerous and created safer paths which may not correspond to the original paths the makers of the temple took. There are settlements all up the mountain and a Taoist/Daoist shrine was located at the base, so more than likely they shifted supplies through the settlements in stages. I'd guess - I don't know for sure... That's interesting about the alternative routes, how do you know this if you don't mind me asking ? Read about the mountain after the pictures were posted.

Personally I think those Obsidian concepts that cropped up some time back about a time travel science fiction game were actually early stages of Avellone's time machine, which he's clearly successfully made with the help of funding from Obsidian's other founders. When the concepts got leaked, Obsidian created the "game" concept to explain the artwork so people wouldn't realize they're now in control of all time and space.