Amentep

And if you talked to the Shaper, he reveals that the documents are forged. Is the Shaper the guy in the library? I never asked him about that. Yes, how is it possible they wouldn't recognize the forgery since I showed them both the same documents? I believe the idea is that Bhelen's man is presenting the documents filed with the Shaperate, which is supposed to show that while Harrowmount promised the two families two different pieces of land that what he filed in the shaperate gave them both the same piece of land; remember that the Shaperate is supposedly closely related to Harrowmount giving Bhelen an angle to play (the Shaperate even says he's related - but also that he's related to most of the noble families) and the idea is that he's not playing fair with his duty - allowing Harrowmount to snooker other nobles. Also there is a female Dwarf off of the opening dias who will also explain Harrowmount/Bhelen's divide; the argument in the Senate chambers also clues in on some of the basics. For me I felt there was enough information to make an informed decision on.

Depending on the bugs involved, I could easily see them dropping a few points for them.

I enjoyed the Deep Roads, but then I liked the combat in Dragon Age. My only complaint was that it was sometimes hard to manage the loot.

I tend to give certain people/teams/company some benefit of the doubt on sequels or new games. But if bad games kind of use up that goodwill then its hard for me to go back to buying games from that group even if its a sequel to a game I liked.

I really, really enjoyed Tomb Raider - jumping around, solving puzzles and shooting stuff. I bought Tomb Raider II and didn't like it. I went ahead and got Tomb Raider III hoping it'd be more like the first one. Didn't like it either and haven't had anything else to do with the series. That's about as close as I've come to buying the sequel of a game I didn't like, I think. I never beat God of War - I had the same revelation that entrerix had, only about half-way through the game. Can't see a point in getting any of the sequels as it seems to be more of the same (although perhaps more ridiculous). That said if a sequel appeals to me enough, I'll get it even if I didn't play the first game.

Comic strips and comic books are older than radio and television and arguably dramas in both of the latter two formats have a better chance of being seen as art than any in the former two. Comic strips didn't even start off as entertainment for children - it was that (oft forgotten) family entertainment. Adventure strips, romances, gag strips and dramas - they all populated the early newspaper page attempting to provide something for everyone. The comic strips' ties into panel gags in older magazines even belies a more adult origin. "Comics" problem is that they marginalized themselves (in the US at least and partially out of necessity). Note that any book that originally was published in paperback form (a form arising in the 1950s and as opposed to being serialized in a magazine or appearing first in hardback) was considered "trashy", so the problem isn't really format but perception (nowadays, the $12 trade paper back is the ideal for anything but the most likely sellers as its a profitable product*). Even still the classical arts have struggled with modern variations - there are many who wouldn't class an abstract artist as really being art, for example. I personally struggle with considering something like Duchamps' Fountain as art even if I intellectually understand the point of the piece, the emotive part of me that wants to connect with such a work refuses. I absolutely can't get behind the comic panel pop art of Roy Lichenstein because I don't think that portion of his work is properly transformative enough. Which kind of leads me into games; most games visual representation doesn't match the dynamics of a painting, a photograph or a film. The stories aren't complex enough generally speaking to compare with other narrative arts. The very fact that - even if a game was of the highest artistic value - the experiencing person has to play the game in order to find the art** will make it a tough nut to crack in terms of artistic merit (at least beyond those already inclined to see/experience the medium). In this sense I suppose I've never had any problem with spending my time and money on games provided I get something I enjoy out of it. So I can't say that I feel that I have "game shame", although occasionally the rare occasion I rather vitriolically dislike some game makes me think I'm spending to much time holding a negative passion against something. *Arguably, the commercial & disposable intentions of a new medium work against the majority seeing it as art which may explain why the early (commercial) years of any medium are so sparsely populated with well regarded works **interestingly, classical art has been slowly bringing in ideas of making the individual a part of the art itself something already achieved in a some way in games

"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."

I liked the bit where I clicked on enemies and they died.

I'm more worried about it being a downloadable game to me...kinda makes me think there won't be much to it.

Can't say I'm too wild about Gamma World 4e; really don't like the card mechanics and while they try to keep character creation open (its a bit more open than 3e at least) it still seems less robust than earlier editions of the game.

Not a single one of all quests I have done broke for me. That's great! For you, that is. For me I had to start over from my last game because as I was ready to start the endgame I went and found Victor dead, Lucky 38 hostile and I was unable to go for the end I wanted (siding with Mr. House). I restarted and ran a minimum number of missions to get through all the House quests just so I could see the end (I'd restarted 2 other times due to other issues with the games and frankly was ready to move on but wanted to at least see the end once).

Playing Dragon Age with all the expansions from the beginning. Also started Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage.

Finally beat the main game. Ignored almost all sidequests for fear of breaking the main quest I was on. Sorta fun, but think I'll put it aside now.

I didn't like Red Dead Redemption personally. Can't really say much about the article because its a personal recollection and I wasn't there (and we're certainly only getting one side of the story).

I only used the loon watch report for the Europol numbers summary of incidents (as I didn't want to do the maths myself); I figured their agenda might make their article itself somewhat suspect. The numbers Europol actually reports are the number of "Failed, foiled and successful attacks"; they don't make a distinction in success, only that there was a terror plot. One interesting thing scanning through the Europol numbers is that while their numbers indicate a low number of Islamist terror plots failed/foiled/successful in Europe, it seems to indicate that arrests and convictions for Islamist terror plots are second only to Seperatists. So either the few failed/foiled/successful plots have huge rings of accomplices or there are some people being convicted of being terrorist who perhaps shouldn't?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_F...Animated_Series

RIP; condolences and thoughts with his family and friends.

Are you really dissing Eye of the Beholder? I didn't like the original Eye of the Beholder; I kept getting attack in the back and my characters would die before I got turned around good. I did like the GBA remake they did for it where they went with a turn based fighting system. To tell the truth I'd have a hard time deciding what is underrated and what isn't (but am reminded I need to finish Deadly Premonition and Nier at some point) since my main interest in games is "do I like it?" not "did anybody else like it?" I suppose I'm a bit myopic on that point. Oh I've never played Fallout: Tactics. Should remedy that one of these days, as I think I'd like it.

Unless Boone not looking around is a sign that the computer Boone isn't capable of recognizing things around him in a way that effects how quickly he notices/targets opponents, in which case its not an aesthetic issue. Don't know if its the case cause...console and no internet connection = no patch. But also just because something is an aesthetic issue doesn't mean it couldn't impact a users experience in the game (for example how I'd get frustrated in Oblivion and quit because I couldn't create a face that looked remotely like something you'd see in real life (exploded face syndrome)). Totally a cosmetic issue - I could have ran around in first person with a clown face and it wouldn't have effected the game, but it really did bug me.

I think there are jaded grumpy cynics. I remember on Black Isle there were a number of posters who seemed to hate or have major issues with *every* game that came out; would over analyze press releases and accuse companies of lying based on vague statements made early in the development cycle of a game. If those aren't jaded or grumpy cynics, I don't know what is. That said not liking a game is certainly no reason to dismiss the opinion of another poster. I get that you didn't like ME1; I liked it - easily as much as I did KotOR. But that's me, I certainly wouldn't expect everyone to feel the same. Heck I liked Jade Empire and I seem to be in the minority on that too.

I believe the statistics are derived from Europol reports. A summary at Loon Watch in early 2010 led to a breakdown of Islamist - 5* Separatist - 1353 Left Wing - 104 Right Wing - 2 Single Issue - 6 (only 2007, 2008) Not Specified - 52 (includes Single Issue 2006) The addition of 2009 data puts it at Islamist - 6* Separatist - 1590 Left Wing - 144 Right Wing - 6 Single Issue - 8 (only 2007, 2008, 2009) Not Specified - 62 (includes Single Issue 2006) *Apparently the report indicates an attack in 2008 in the UK that wasn't reported going strictly by the numbers published this would be 6 for 2009 like mkreku posted but should be 7 if the UK incident is counted.

I've never understood the "Day One!" stuff beyond cyber-oneupmanship.

I like to think I'm chipper and I've never played a COD or Madden game.

But don't you see...I don't post to NeoGAF! I'm the root of this particular evil...