Amentep

Distract male opponents in a fight? Allow her to spend more money on training by cutting down on fabric to make her outfits? Or alternatively you could argue that its about challenging the societal norms of the time period (late 16th century); Ivy has lost her mother and father due to his obsession in finding the cursed sword; she finds out her real father is a pirate (a bit off societal conventions there) and turns to alchemy to create a weapon to try and destroy the Soul Calibur sword (briefly putting herself under the sway of Nightmare - could he have turned her to the outfit since he originally controlled the spirit of her sword?) so she's pretty much bucking western tradition of the period - why not translate that into the costume as well? (You could, BTW, say the same thing for all of the Soul Calibur women, pretty much, in terms of dress. Its all pretty much silly.) Re: Kratos - do only 90 pound weaklings put on a shirt? Or at least a toga covering half their chest? One can argue that Kratos is exploitative in that sense - after all women's desire to see men's well built torso is the long standing rationale for why so many male western character from the late 50s and 60s ended up shirtless, tied down on burning sand (or other traps) by outlaws (see many, many episodes of The Wild Wild West, Cheyenne, The Rifleman, etc). Mind you God of War is probably worse about the female characters than most other games, so probably no point going there anyhow.

I believe they referred to Varric as being necessary for charm/persuade (which obviously he wouldn't) which they complained about being missing from the game.

I wasn't a big fan of Snowblind Studios' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance but did like it. Ditto Black Isle Studios' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 although I probably had less fun with it than the original. I had a lot of fun with Snowblind's Champions of Norrath and Champions: Return to Arms though and am looking forward to Snowblind's LoTR: War in the North. My hope is for another fun hack/slash game. It seemed for many years there was always something in this genre to play (the BG: DA games, or the Hunter: The Reckoning games from High Voltage, etc. going back to the days of the SNES/Genesis with things like Arcus Odyssey) but that there's been a real drought of good console co-op hack and slash games recently.

IIRC the letter says that time is important - maybe the Champion is just always too late regardless?

I heard you can only do that as a rogue. Dunno if it's true however. I did it as a warrior. Tale - I know every character has options to interject; I was merely addressing a complaint I'd read that it was only possible to get that specific outcome with Varric in your party as an illustration of lack of communication skills for the PC; not sure that you can replace Varric in *every* instance, or if you and Varric are in the party together if you'll get the option to do it yourself, but it was interesting to me.

I read a review (here? somewhere? my motivation to check died a few minutes ago. Poor little guy) that complained that the persuasion ability was taken out of the game and now you had to rely of Varric. Turns out if you make the humorous/diamond (what does that represent? "You're a gem?") you can actually do the persuads that Varric does without Varric around whereas my previous character couldn't do that, taking mostly kind/rarely mean dialogue choices, but avoiding the funny. Of course not taking the nice route I find I can't persuade people to being nice fluffy kittens (which sadly has meant a little death for people. Oops). I've also noticed that my funny character has actually started conversations differently (ie funny) from the other character (who usually started conversations like a kindly grandma or questing knight or something). Now I actually want to play the game using mostly the red icons - giving people the fist! - just to see how I start conversation. Love some of the funny dialogue

I saw SUCKER PUNCH and quite liked it; I think it isn't going to be a film for everyone. Its a heavy visual film; much of it metaphor since the story is a double layered fantasy about events that happen in the real world (that is barely glimpsed). Kinda wish that hadn't cut most of the musical numbers - what we see in the end credits looked grand.

Errr...not CHECK I think. Sucker Punch's plot is - AFAIK - about a girl injustly imprisoned in an insane asylum who concocts an escape plan with fellow "inmates" which is presented as a series of fantasy adventures for the girls as the line between their realities and their fantasies blur subjectively for them. So what would you call the strange WW1 stuff? Its part of the girls' fantasies. I can't call it counter-factual r/w history because it doesn't claim to be historical; ie the setting isn't an alternate universe WWI.* *as far as I know - with a title like Sucker Punch I'm expecting a swerve. Will know after I see it...

Errr...not CHECK I think. Sucker Punch's plot is - AFAIK - about a girl injustly imprisoned in an insane asylum who concocts an escape plan with fellow "inmates" which is presented as a series of fantasy adventures for the girls as the line between their realities and their fantasies blur subjectively for them.

That's just being boring. There's bed..there's the bath, the shower, the kitchen counter, the dining room.. Sometimes you just have to enjoy exploring the house in fresh ways.. What I've understood so far is that you chaps have hidden hot women in my house, and I have to go find them. Let us know when you find them all.

I agree. The combat plays like DA:O to me too, except where you could press a button and let it go (not recommended) in DA:O, in DA2 pressing a button and letting it go will cause your PC to attack once and stand around like an idiot (really not recommended). The choices for Warrior/Rogue/Mage in combat terms feels different and - if I have any complaint about JE it is this - in JE no matter what attack styles you took, your character always played roughly the same in the end (because of the paper/rock/scissors system - every player ended up with a martial style, a weapon style and a magic style hotlinked to switch between because you had to be prepared for enemy immunities and they all the types in a particular style roughly did the same thing, ultimately)

I gather she likes the branching storyline and choice and consequence of RPGs and - short of "Choose Your Own Adventures" that kind of thing is few and far between in the printed page. I gather that what she thinks would appeal to the currently-not-a-gamer woman would be a hybrid RPG/Point and Click adventure. Something with the ability to customize a character, but where armed conflict wasn't the problem resolution tool of choice.

Can I just say that, while I was away someone decided that using "awesome" in facetious way repeatedly was the height of snarky wit, and I for one find it annoying? Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. As to the Vault Dweller's review - one thing that I kinda agree and disagree with is the use of magic and everyone failing to notice. It *is* odd, and they kinda hamstrung themselves a bit with it because of how they did the setting but its also not terribly odder than no one batting an eyelash at you walking into their home or place of business and rifling through all of their locked chests if a rogue character (and this is more egregious a fault in other games where you can loot not just chests, but drawers, lockers and other things as if the inhabitants of the world decide to dispose of unwanted goods by dumping them into their cupboard until the next wandering adventure comes along and relieves them of it and saves them the trip to the local store through monster infested swamps to get the one copper the junk is worth). Probably just me, but I chalk it up to being part of the game mechanics and not the story portion of the game. Otherwise there are some fair points (although the constant shout outs to things not about the game are frustrating, IMO).

Thought I'd launch this by re-posting my last post - Y'see, this is where I get all controversial... it's like saying men would dig chick flicks more if you made all the garbage about dating, kissing and dancing optional and threw in a few more zombies / car chases / explosions. That is to say, stop it being a chick flick. Cue lots of angry chick flick fans who want to see Bridget Jones Diary, not Bridget Jones Zombie Apocalypse (which naturally would be cooler). You can't appeal to everybody. You just freaking well can't. Bio want a game for story fans for action fans for women for men for CRPG addicts for casual console gamers for.... everybody. They are seeking some sort of mythical alchemy of game development, the ambrosia that is the unigame that appeals to everybody. And this race to the lowest common denominator is what is killing their games and, by a process of mimicry and osmosis, the genre. *shrug* I may be plebian, but I still enjoy Bioware's games. But then again I'd probably enjoy a Role Playing Game where there was no combat (instead all the attribute/skills were in other types of skills and experience would be from - say navigating a tricky political situation) if done right. And I also have to point out that I did disagree with her, ultimately. I think the problem she's trying to address is actually built from a false premise; specifically that every woman who isn't playing games is an untapped game player as well as that every game player - male or female - plays games for the same reasons. In terms of Dragon Age 2 in general - I've been enjoying it. Even considering the reuse of maps, they did a good job of trying to use the reused maps in ways that didn't make it seem like you were running through the exact same dungeon (using doors to close off/change paths, starting at different points of the map). Personally - and I'm sure I'll pilloried for this - my impression thus far of Dragon Age 2 is stronger than Dragon Age: Origins (which I confess was rather middling in my opinion until I played with all the additional content/expansions which then made it feel like the game I'd originally expected).

I get up, go about my day and stuff happens. I don't pretend to understand any of it. I go to sleep and in my dreams, stuff happens. I don't pretend to understand any of that either. Life is what you make of it. Do you want a half full glass or half empty glass? It is up to you. Also, I like fuzzy kittens. Awwww...

Y'see, this is where I get all controversial... it's like saying men would dig chick flicks more if you made all the garbage about dating, kissing and dancing optional and threw in a few more zombies / car chases / explosions. That is to say, stop it being a chick flick. Cue lots of angry chick flick fans who want to see Bridget Jones Diary, not Bridget Jones Zombie Apocalypse (which naturally would be cooler). You can't appeal to everybody. You just freaking well can't. Bio want a game for story fans for action fans for women for men for CRPG addicts for casual console gamers for.... everybody. They are seeking some sort of mythical alchemy of game development, the ambrosia that is the unigame that appeals to everybody. And this race to the lowest common denominator is what is killing their games and, by a process of mimicry and osmosis, the genre. *shrug* I may be plebian, but I still enjoy Bioware's games. But then again I'd probably enjoy a Role Playing Game where there was no combat (instead all the attribute/skills were in other types of skills and experience would be from - say navigating a tricky political situation) if done right. And I also have to point out that I did disagree with her, ultimately. I think the problem she's trying to address is actually built from a false premise; specifically that every woman who isn't playing games is an untapped game player as well as that every game player - male or female - plays games for the same reasons.

To be fair, her response was in regards to getting more women into gaming; while I disagree with her, her point as I see it was that for women who'd like to play an interactive story like a RPG, the combat mechanics will keep them from connecting with the game/medium. Ahem Perhaps I should have said "don't have a legion of game developers busting their door down with new Point and Click games to satisfy the demand of gamers who'd buy/play point and click games"? It would. Or at least reduce the combat to very specific gameplay bits. The combat was nto well-integrated into the game regardless. But PS:T is a bit of a rare gem, no? Anyway, there's plenty of room for combat free games. If BWare wants to go that way, it would probably suit them well. They seem mighty infatuated with the singular brilliance of their writing. I think PS:T is a great game. But then I enjoyed the combat in PS:T; hell I played BG and IWD at that point so I knew what I was getting into. Then again I enjoyed the combat in DA2 as well. I'm a simple man of simple pleasures.

I remember people suggesting that PST would be a better game if someone took out its combat. Point and click games used to have an audience.

There's a

Thanks! It'll probably won't turn out that way though - I have a terrible track record with these sort of things...

Red Lantern District Inn = The Blooming Rose Also Viscounts Keep and I think the Alley map (used for the gas plot, for example). Did you count the Disused Path underground in the Docks? (I'm thinking its unique, but my memory...hazy - maybe its the Merchant there throwing me off). Also the Approach to the Wounded Coast (the ambush site for Aveline's re-intro after the first year and the escaped Mages quest) I don't think is used for anything other than the Approach to the Wounded Coast. There's the Generic Outside Map (used for the Ironbark quest, the last map in the Ketojan quest, etc) I'm assuming the Dock House is the generic interior used for the two foundries and a lot of the thieves quest?

My sneaking suspicion is that some Protheans did something to humanity (per the trinket the Asari Consort gives you's revelation when used on that Prothean object that the Protheans visited/did something to early man) as a last ditch effort to create something that could eventually stand against the Reapers (since the death of the Prothean's took some time (per Vigil on Ilos) and there's indications the Mars outpost was remote relative to Prothean society, IIRC) and that its this that the Reapers/Collectors were ultimately trying to figure out.

Freudian slip?

I've been trying to avoid spoilers for the game (so I can explore it all at my own pace) but when I first played DA2 and saw that they were reusing maps I thought there'd be a number of people who didn't like it. Personally, it hasn't effected my enjoyment of the game at all.

Unless that's all part of the dwarf origin, I guess I missed all of that somehow. I wasn't even able to get into the Senate chamber until the very end as I recall. The female dwarf off the opening dias is there for all origins (in fact it was a Human Noble PC that I first talked to her) but I think she is only there at the very beginning. The Senate Chamber - if you go in it once you'll see Harrowmount/Bhelen supporters arguing and the head of the chamber kicks everyone out (including you). If you do this Bhelen and Harromount's seconds will be easy to find (Harrowmounts will be standing outside the building instead of in Harrowmount's estate). Its possible that if you start some of the quests these things are no longer available. No, the Shaperate literally says the documents you are showing him are not the actual documents. Bhelen's man gave you fakes. And when you go back to him, he says he doesn't care. It's a test of loyalty. My point was that Bhelen's second is telling you these are the documents filed in the Shaperate, but they're not; the idea is that Harrowmount filed them, not what he actually filed with the Shaperate. I was trying to address why the two nobles supposedly hoodwinked by Harrowmount would be fooled by the ruse - its because Bhelen supposedly the documents you have are what was really filed with the shaperate, not the deal that was arranged (but of course its all a ruse).