Amentep

Pardon my ignorance, but what do you mean by PiE's ? Great...now I'm thinking about Pie.

Could be worse, you could fall asleep to Sir Roger in THE PERSUADERS! only for the episode to turn out to be "That's Me Over There" and end up with Tony Curtis' attempt at an English accent.

I used to be that way, and still mostly am unless I'm sick or suffering some sort of injury pain (or the general pain I get from my old ankle injury). In fact I've actually fallen asleep standing up (propped against a wall). Get me comfortable enough and I can fall asleep (got to be careful driving when tired).

Re the Mandarin -

I'd go so far as to say - if they don't stuff up the end (and I think I'm about 2/3 or 3/4 through) - that its the best one since the original (mind you I stopped playing the games in the series about midway through 3). Its not perfect - - but it does most of the things it tries well and I really like Lara's character and development like you. I'm not sure how they'd sustain this game model in a second game not so greatly hinged on a pivotal point for her character, but I'd like to see them try.

Playing Tomb Raider currently. Am enjoying it.

Yeah, I'll be honest its the OTT aspects of Saints Row that got me into the series. I don't think I'd have like 1 has I played it. So looking forward to 4.

Good luck Calax. I helped train a new employee. yay me!

I would cautiously recommend YA. Its not quite through the first story-arc, and I think the second story-arc is more indicative of the long term prospects of the first. That said, I like the characters, we get a decent story that feels important while also serving as an origin for the new team. Some good dialogue and some interesting artwork that takes some unconventional storytelling choices really has sold the title to me so far. I'm currently reading NA and enjoying it.

To paraphrase Heraclitus, "You can never step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you" has always been true. I think the only real difference, in this case, is that development makes people notice the difference more, not that it was never different.

See, I personally feel that conservative tactics feel right. After all, you're supposed to be a guy living in a dangerous world and fighting for your life. I guess there's a difference between how people look at PRG's. Some look at them like leasure strolls and don't like anyting that "inconveniences" them. In other words, they don't want to adjust to the games pace, they want to force their pace on the game. I also find it funny that you're prefectly fine with backtracking to getyour armor fitte,d but backtracking to get food and healing is bad? For serious? The problem I have with the conservative tactics angle (and perhaps I could have put it better) is when its used to make a short game seem longer. Like the kind of thinking that leads to "you could run through the entire map of the world in 20 minutes except you have to eat so all the backtracking adds value length to the game". Note that with armor fitting you already have armor (if you bought some), you just can't use the new armor until its fitted. If you're going to starve to death you can't continue on without food. So its also not exactly a 100% the same scenario And I've said several times that my position isn't terribly consistent because, again, my experience has been that food implementation is either busywork created as a money/time sink with little gameplay value or it has too much value and the game becomes "where do I get my next meal from" simulator and not "adventuring in the lost city/cave fighting/rping/whatever. Again this is an emotive position; which is why if its going to be there I favor a toggle. Not arbitrary, its based on my experience. The thing is - for me at least - you'd need to look at several different things Where do you get food from? If you always buy it are there always ways to make money so that you can get it (I can't remember the name, but I remember playing a game in the late 80s where it was possible to be stuck with no money and no way to get money and no way to survive without food to travel where you could get money.) If you can search for food or hunt, are the skills to do so done in a reasonable way (in particular, since most characters start out low skilled, could a character survive with low skills in the early part of the game?) How often do you eat? Is there a "food meter"? Or is it time based? How are screen transitions handled; is it clear how much food is used between them? If there are travel points like BGII does your character ever forage for food while traveling or do they always eat from the supply? If time based, since the game world won't have a 1-to-1 ration in the passage of time, is it clear how much time has passed? How is the player notified of hunger states? Is it satisfied-hungry-starving-dead? Or more granular like satisfied-need to eat soon-should eat now-hungry-really need to eat-extremely hungry-starving-almost-dead How do you know how much one food item effects hunger? If I eat an apple am I full? Not full? Many meter based systems basically encourage you eat everything in sight which seems to be poor modelling for food systems. If I'm starving why would eating three turkey dinner fill my health meter? Shouldn't there be a limit to how much I could eat and drink (thus making it impossible to go from starving to satisfied)? Because of this if I were to play a game I'd rather buy abstract "rations" that are equivilent to, say, 1 day of food. It carries a weight, takes item spots, etc, but isn't overly granular. My preference would be for the rations to be eaten automatically and the game to notify you when you're low on rations (maybe something like rations last X days, notify when X > Y where Y is the number of days it takes to get to nearest known town). Hunting/gathering can add to rations stores. But I gather the kind of thing being promoted here is a lot more robust and along the lines of "you must carry 10 gallons of water with you and press a button everytime you are thirsty". Could be wrong though.

YOUNG AVENGERS is cracking my up. Such a neat title, crazy artwork good quips. I'm curious to see what the second storyline is about. AVENGERS #10 was an interesting one; what happens in the story is certain to come back down the line if Hickman's FF is anything to go by. Also go Manhatten Projects second trade - can't wait to dive in this weekend.

I fail at the internet - I can't find any pics of the crown. Anyone want to help a brother out?

I like armor and weapon maintenance too. In fact I've argued for not being able to use found armor until you've had it reworked to fit your character. I still hate food mechanics. Its all about what button I want to press, I guess. Partially because I find food mechanics to be busywork, a way to make the game seem longer by forcing constant backtracking and conservative tactics lest you run out of food and suffer the penalties/death associated with it. That said, plenty of earlier games didn't have food mechanics back in my earliest days playing games, so I don't really see modern games not having them as being a "games now are dumber" situation.

I've only ever read Slott's comedy stuff (She-Hulk, Great Lakes Avengers) which was always funny. For whatever reason though, as much as I can tell that he likes Spider-Man in interviews and stuff, nothing about what he's done on the title interests me.

Kickstarter isn't really a storefront though. But you are right that it doesn't guarantee excellent games; odds are there will be some stinkers that get made (and good games that don't get funded).

Does raise the question though, what was the gigantic, flying, fire-breathing lizard doing in the low-cut leather cuirass in the first place though... I'm led to believe they're not particularly supportive themselves... Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Be sure to try the veal... OBTOPIC: I like the look that Obsidian has provided so far.

Does his medical insurance cover such a prescription? Or is he going to have a large out of pocket expense?

Eh, been playing video games for 20 something years...if I'm a casual, I doubt I'll ever change... Actually I'd think taking a dump in the wrong place and being caught - literally - with your pants down by an orc war band is about as exciting, tactically, as slowly starving to death unable to find or buy food. I've never made any attempt to hide that I don't like food and water mechanics - I'm not sure how you could miss that in my first post: "I suppose its really what level of micromanagement you want. But I don't generally find food / water mechanics fun." When I mentioned the inconsistency, my point was not that my opinion wasn't inconsistent itself - I did say "we RPG players" after all, so as not to take myself out of the equation. The whole set-up is arbitrary in what we can / cannot have control over. For my money, I'd rather the need for food / water to either be completely optional toggle or be abstracted so that its not heavily micromanagement focused. But in a choice between total inclusion or total exclusion I'd vote to exclude.

I got the first trade - its pretty nutty stuff full of all kinds of big crazy sci-fi ideas. Definitely looking forward to the second trade.

The thing is, if the daily constitutional could be a part of the resting mechanic, then certainly one could assume that the character eats and sleeps during screen transitions* and buys food when they're buying there potions. Frankly while I could feed myself if I were to make a long trip, I don't typically fight Kobolds while going to visit relatives, so its not like I have comparable experience. It seems to me - and I find this funny - how for RPGs we players want to make use of the PCs talent/skill/abilities ("No we can't have an action game because it relies on the players button pressing skill and not the PC's fighting talents) except when we don't ("Yes we must plan our PCs meal schedule in minute detail and tell him exactly when to eat because we must not rely on the PC's ability to feed themselves, something they've been doing for the past 20 - 30 years but instead the players "eat now" button pressing skill). *It disappointed me in BG II when my party would arrive after a long trip and be automatically tired. You mean they walked 3 days without resting? WHY?

I suppose its really what level of micromanagement you want. But I don't generally find food / water mechanics fun. I can't think of a game where I felt they added anything but annoyance to me as the player*. There was nothing more fun back in the day getting to a point where - you couldn't continue unless you took a 7 day trek across the dessert you only had food to last 2 days and would starve to death after 5 you didn't have the money to buy more food the monsters in the area wouldn't reset so you could kill them for more random gold drops unless you left the area which was a 7 day trek across the dessert... That may be a slight exaggeration, but that's certainly what it FELT like. To me it felt like an excuse to pay X amount of money, force the player back to towns and have them press the "eat" button every so often. Much like defecation or urination I don't see the appeal in modelling it in the game.** *note: as I avoid this mechanic as much as possible, I've not seen its implementation in games where it was optional. **I'd actually drop sleeping from the game as well if it weren't for the fact I like the idea of random encounters while camping.

I kind of liked it, but I thought the first twist was given away in the trailer. What I'd consider the second twist, I didn't see coming, however, until the end. Probably was a bit over-long though.

Having never played any of the Warriors Orochi series, how does it compare to Dynasty Warriors (which I confess to a soft-spot for).