What are you playing right now?

[Bartimaeus]

Hey, you're welcome to join in, too, if you want! At this point, it's really more of a discussion than an argument, however...

[Amentep]

Psh, it's just his boots. The rest of the party probably doesn't even have any boots by the time you meet him, anyways! Of course, he's a monk and can't equip much else...but that's not the rest of the party's fault.

Reminds me of Neeshka in NWN2 - "And I may have accidentally back-stabbed some people in the past, but if they couldn't see me coming, well, that's their loss"

 

Yeah, you can do that, too. After doing that, you could also use the "Infinity Cracker" program which you could just run once in the base game directory and it would crack any IE game to not need the mandatory play disk inserted/mounted, which is what I usually did because I'm so lazy I don't even want to remount my ISOs every time after rebooting...lol

I just...can't bring myself to use crackers. I dunno why, I've tried but I feel irrationally guilty - even on age-old games that I have all the discs for and stuff and am just using it for convenience.

 

Yeah, no: Valen had a neat little part in being the one to contact you for Bodhi to invite you to the graveyard after you'd gathered 15k gold in the vanilla game, and that's the part she'll keep when I play the game. And anyways, there's already too many party members anyhow...

 

We'll have to differ a little on that last note, though: moddability has always been one of the things that seems to make or break a good or even great game's community (especially in regards to longevity), particularly for singleplayer games. It's not likely I (and many others) put a few thousand hours into the IE games throughout our youth plus additional time through adulthood without great moddability: it can (and ideally will) therefore manifest as much more than merely "a nice bonus", then.

Yeah I know a lot of people like mod/mod community and only want to support that. And it sounds like Beamdog hasn't done well with the modders from what y'all are saying, so that explains some of the ill will there. 

 

This argument is still going on?

"Look, I CAME HERE FOR AN ARGUMENT, I'm not going to just stand...!!"

 

"OH, oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse."

 

"Oh, I see, well, that explains it."

 

"Ah yes, you want room 12A, Just along the corridor."

[Keyrock]

Hey, you're welcome to join in, too, if you want! At this point, it's really more of a discussion than an argument, however...

No no, that's fine, you folks continue.  This may be sacrilege to say, but I'm over the Infinity Engine games of old.  I started replaying BG1 a few years ago and after about 2 hours I was just "ugh no".  Same thing when I tried to replay IW2.  They were great games that I loved when I was younger, but I have no desire to ever play them again, not even Planescape: Torment, which was by far my favorite IE game.  I just don't care any more.  I don't care what Beamdog did with the EEs.  I don't care if they added to the games or butchered them.  The only Beamdog game I'm even remotely interested in is Siege of Dragonspear and that's because it's a wholly brand new game, though the fact that it's being built using IE is a bit of a turn-off.  IE was a good engine for its time.  By today's standards it kinda sucks.

[Malcador]

Well, apparently in DFC I can get more people killed so am excited to finish off Book 4.

[Bartimaeus]

Reminds me of Neeshka in NWN2 - "And I may have accidentally back-stabbed some people in the past, but if they couldn't see me coming, well, that's their loss"

I just...can't bring myself to use crackers. I dunno why, I've tried but I feel irrationally guilty - even on age-old games that I have all the discs for and stuff and am just using it for convenience.

I would...uh, just like to note for the future...that even though that particular one is called "Infinity Cracker", they're actually just referred to as "cracks", not "crackers". I only make a note of it because the way you used "crackers" there was hilarious to me and made me laugh out loud, which probably wasn't your desired effect.

 

Yeah, I have no such qualms. But that comes with being the type of person that likes to memory edit (generally known more collouquilly as "hack"), hex edit, mod, tinker, et cetera...to get whatever they want done...so long as it doesn't personally and negatively affect anyone else, of course.

 

 

Yeah I know a lot of people like mod/mod community and only want to support that. And it sounds like Beamdog hasn't done well with the modders from what y'all are saying, so that explains some of the ill will there.

They actually did do some cool engine tweaks that opened up the doors for modding certain things or for just making modding certain things easier (you'll note that I did give props to some of the tech guys in one of my earlier posts, ). However, as far as I've been aware, it hasn't really mattered much at all for actual mods, so it ends up not being a very important point to me, .

 

@Keyrock: Personally, I still really quite like the Infinity Engine, in all its antiquatedness. You can say that it's nostalgia or whatever, but I don't really think it is, given the amount of time I've put into the IE games...but rather, being so used to it, being so familiar with it, and appreciating the strengths it has even today vs other engines used for games of a similar vein, such as the NWN series and the Dragon Age series...while also conveniently being very used to its weaknesses, as well as being used to working around them. Ah, it was a simpler time...

[Amentep]

 

Hey, you're welcome to join in, too, if you want! At this point, it's really more of a discussion than an argument, however...

No no, that's fine, you folks continue.  This may be sacrilege to say, but I'm over the Infinity Engine games of old.  I started replaying BG1 a few years ago and after about 2 hours I was just "ugh no".  Same thing when I tried to replay IW2.  They were great games that I loved when I was younger, but I have no desire to ever play them again, not even Planescape: Torment, which was by far my favorite IE game.  I just don't care any more.  I don't care what Beamdog did with the EEs.  I don't care if they added to the games or butchered them.  The only Beamdog game I'm even remotely interested in is Siege of Dragonspear and that's because it's a wholly brand new game, though the fact that it's being built using IE is a bit of a turn-off.  IE was a good engine for its time.  By today's standards it kinda sucks.

 

I'm like that sometimes. About 2005 or so I got to where I couldn't play any of the IE games, they bored me to tears. Now after a decade, I'm playing BGEE and its the first time since the first time I played I think that I'm actually trying to play it.

 

But retrogaming is tricky, sometimes its hard to find that spark. Like for me I can't go back and play old platforming games. Yeah loved Super Mario World and Sonic 1 and 2 and Decap Attack but...I can't play any of them now.

[Bartimaeus]

I'm like that sometimes. About 2005 or so I got to where I couldn't play any of the IE games, they bored me to tears. Now after a decade, I'm playing BGEE and its the first time since the first time I played I think that I'm actually trying to play it.

 

But retrogaming is tricky, sometimes its hard to find that spark. Like for me I can't go back and play old platforming games. Yeah loved Super Mario World and Sonic 1 and 2 and Decap Attack but...I can't play any of them now.

Everyone's different. Using your example of Super Mario, I personally love the 2D Marios, and can play them pretty much any time...which is weird, because I actually played SM64 at about the same time as I played the SNES ones (not that unusual, given my relatively young age, I guess...and then I later played Sunshine and enjoyed it, too), and then found by the time that Galaxy rolled around, I really quite disliked all of the 3D Mario platformers...but still liked the 2D ones. Conversely, I really like the 3D Zeldas (...with the exception of Skyward Sword), but really don't much care for the 2D ones.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

I would...uh, just like to note for the future...that even though that particular one is called "Infinity Cracker", they're actually just referred to as "cracks", not "crackers". I only make a note of it because the way you used "crackers" there was hilarious to me and made me laugh out loud, which probably wasn't your desired effect.

Haha, I didn't even catch that I did that. Awkward! But now I've laughed out loud as well.

 

Yeah, I have no such qualms. But that comes with being the type of person that likes to memory edit (generally known more collouquilly as "hack"), hex edit, mod, tinker, et cetera...to get whatever they want done...so long as it doesn't personally and negatively affect anyone else, of course.

That was part of my problem with mods. Like in general with computers my least favorite thing is actually tweaking stuff, getting stuff to work together, troubleshooting, that kind of thing. I can do it but I find it a bit tedius and tend to get distracted easily.  So when there was things where you've got to remove this mod, add this mod, then add the previous mod and then add the new mod you wanted...eyes glazing...over...zzzzzzz

 

They actually did do some cool engine tweaks that opened up the doors for modding certain things or for just making modding certain things easier (you'll note that I did give props to some of the tech guys in one of my earlier posts, ). However, as far as I've been aware, it hasn't really mattered much at all for actual mods, so it ends up not being a very important point to me, .

 

Yeah full props to the mod community for skill and perseverance.  There were a lot of talented and dedicated people who put a lot of work into their mods.  Having tried to make mods for things that put out modding tools (and generally never getting anywhere) I can appreciate the work they did.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Amentep

[Bartimaeus]

That was part of my problem with mods. Like in general with computers my least favorite thing is actually tweaking stuff, getting stuff to work together, troubleshooting, that kind of thing. I can do it but I find it a bit tedius and tend to get distracted easily.  So when there was things where you've got to remove this mod, add this mod, then add the previous mod and then add the new mod you wanted...eyes glazing...over...zzzzzzz

 

Yeah full props to the mod community for skill and perseverance.  There were a lot of talented and dedicated people who put a lot of work into their mods.  Having tried to make mods for things that put out modding tools (and generally never getting anywhere) I can appreciate the work they did.

 

Whereas I will literally rewrite parts of IE mods (and then save the newly edited installation files for subsequent installs) for the purpose of taking out little bits and pieces that I don't personally care for, tweaking with my own tweaks on top of the tweaks the original mods were supposed to be doing, adding new related tweaks/changes to certain mods that I want whatever that is to be a part of so I don't have to repeat the work in the future, etc. Tinkering is in my blood.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[HoonDing]

The best argument for Beamdawg is no more messing around with multiple discs.

 

Not to mention 10+ year old disc versions may carry volatile copy protections.

 

[Amentep]

Whereas I will literally rewrite parts of IE mods (and then save the newly edited installation files for subsequent installs) for the purpose of taking out little bits and pieces that I don't personally care for, tweaking with my own tweaks on top of the tweaks the original mods were supposed to be doing, adding new related tweaks for certain mod that I want to be a part of so I don't have to repeat the work in the future, etc. Tinkering is in my blood.

Yeah, I'd like to have the patience to that.  Well and skill - I passed my three required programming classes thanks to the ability to understand the underlying theory and logic.  None of my programs ever worked; I tend to bork things if allowed.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Amentep

[Mamoulian War]

The best argument for Beamdawg is no more messing around with multiple discs.

 

Not to mention 10+ year old disc versions may carry volatile copy protections.

 

Well, all infinity engine games had an option for full install of the game, so you never ever had need for a disc swap after installation and proper set up of the game cache. And IIRC the copyprotection was old safedisc, one of the most lite copyprotection, which were used at that time. So that argument is just some PR talk done hastily without checking old editions executables and their setups, to justify whatever reason they had...

 

/hint cashgrab /hint_off :-P

[Bartimaeus]

From what I recall, I think different releases, over the years, had different protections. You're right, though, in that the original releases' copy protections were very lightweight...but I don't think the same was true for re-issues in the mid-2000s.

 

(e): I also recall those later re-issues having improperly pre-applied patches that caused other problems...

Edited February 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Osvir]

Overwatch Closed Beta. BOOOM! This MOBA will rockz yourz zockz. It's freaking awesome. Feels like it's very early though, and matches go super fast but it is also super fun. It's good. Really guuuuud.

Still hanging onto TESO, leisurely and casually. Not so much lately been working too much but it's still there (Level 40-41 last time I played~). I've finished 3-4 regions~

Also working my way through early early game Pillars of Eternity again with a Cipher. Makes me want to be unemployed again so I can just crush it, because my work schedule is crazy I barely get any time into it T-T

Maybe I should ask for a couple of days of vacation....

Edited February 18, 2016 by Osvir

[Oner]

Overwatch is a Team Fortress clone, not a MOBA.

[kanisatha]

For those interested in Beamdog's EE IE games, there is an alternative PoV to what's been expressed in this thread. I played those games when they were first released back in late 90s and BG1 is my all-time favorite RPG. Beamdog's EE versions are awesome! I hate having to add mods to my games and have no patience for them whatsoever. The new UI's are far superior to the old UI's and the nostalgia for the horrible old UI's is something I just don't get. There are no serious bugs in any of the games and they run beautifully with no crashes even on Windows 10. And the touching up they've done in many area maps is also well worth it. I have a 4K display and the areas look fantastic even with my very high display resolution.

 

I am happy to give my hard-earned money to Beamdog for their EE's, and am eternally grateful to them for making BG1 and BG2 playable again for me.

[GhostofAnakin]

Back to Destiny.  The Dark Below was incredibly short.  It felt more like those random raids/strike force missions than an actual expansion.

 

Also, do I ever suck at FPS.  My character is level 28, with level 20+ weapons.  The Dark Below has level requirements between 10 to 16.  I was getting my butt kicked quite a bit.

[Osvir]

Overwatch is a Team Fortress clone, not a MOBA.

If Heroes of the Storm had no level ups and was FPS, no critters nor "nexus", would it be a TF clone too?

 

Edit: But I might be mistaken ofc, googled "MOBA" for a better definition and it say "a.k.a. ARTS, action real time strategy". I suppose that adheres to top-down control and typical strategy game elements.

 

TF has classes (5 or 6?). Overwatch is a bit of a hybrid then, between typical FPS, but also Heroes/Champions a la DotA, LoL, HotS, SMITE~

 

No RPG elements but abilities and Ultimates. Fast paced action.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Osvir

[ShadySands]

I'm pretty sure Overwatch is a team based FPS with heroes as the classes

 

Not that that is bad or anything, it's just not my jam. I've heard it's shaping up to be one of the better ones but I don't like shooters

[Oner]

Tried playing The Division open beta. Game still doesn't load, as was the case last time.

Go Ubi!

[Amentep]

For those interested in Beamdog's EE IE games, there is an alternative PoV to what's been expressed in this thread. I played those games when they were first released back in late 90s and BG1 is my all-time favorite RPG. Beamdog's EE versions are awesome! I hate having to add mods to my games and have no patience for them whatsoever. The new UI's are far superior to the old UI's and the nostalgia for the horrible old UI's is something I just don't get. There are no serious bugs in any of the games and they run beautifully with no crashes even on Windows 10. And the touching up they've done in many area maps is also well worth it. I have a 4K display and the areas look fantastic even with my very high display resolution.

 

I am happy to give my hard-earned money to Beamdog for their EE's, and am eternally grateful to them for making BG1 and BG2 playable again for me.

My experience is similar; I wasn't a big mod fan (as indicated above - I did try some; some were good but the modding community wasn't really integral to my continued fondness for the games). So for me the BGEE give a good experience reminicent of the original with some ease of use enhancements that means I don't have to find my 7 discs, install, save the discs contents to folders on the HD, apply a crack so I don't have to continue using an optical disc drive, apply a bunch of mods to get it to where the BGEEs are already with a straight download.

 

That said it seems fans who like the mod community feel Beamdog hasn't done right by modders, so I understand where they're coming from.

[kanisatha]

 

For those interested in Beamdog's EE IE games, there is an alternative PoV to what's been expressed in this thread. I played those games when they were first released back in late 90s and BG1 is my all-time favorite RPG. Beamdog's EE versions are awesome! I hate having to add mods to my games and have no patience for them whatsoever. The new UI's are far superior to the old UI's and the nostalgia for the horrible old UI's is something I just don't get. There are no serious bugs in any of the games and they run beautifully with no crashes even on Windows 10. And the touching up they've done in many area maps is also well worth it. I have a 4K display and the areas look fantastic even with my very high display resolution.

 

I am happy to give my hard-earned money to Beamdog for their EE's, and am eternally grateful to them for making BG1 and BG2 playable again for me.

My experience is similar; I wasn't a big mod fan (as indicated above - I did try some; some were good but the modding community wasn't really integral to my continued fondness for the games). So for me the BGEE give a good experience reminicent of the original with some ease of use enhancements that means I don't have to find my 7 discs, install, save the discs contents to folders on the HD, apply a crack so I don't have to continue using an optical disc drive, apply a bunch of mods to get it to where the BGEEs are already with a straight download.

 

That said it seems fans who like the mod community feel Beamdog hasn't done right by modders, so I understand where they're coming from.

 

Well, I don't understand where that's coming from given that a great many of those very same modders are official employees or consultants of Beamdog.

[Bartimaeus]

Indeed? It is my understanding that Beamdog is actually a quite small operation (and understandably so) - I would not think they would be employing a "great many" of IE modders. I know some modders definitely have "consulted"/worked with them at least some, but actively employing a "great many"? Let's see evidence of that.

[Amentep]

Company size on their linkedin is 11-50. 

 

Based on that I'd guess a lot of consultants or temp employees?

[Bartimaeus]

I know in the early days, some modders definitely worked with and helped them - as I said in one of my previous posts. But I think saying "a great many" of them are currently employed or even occasional (paid) consultants for Beamdog is stretching it pretty far...