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Heh. I remember in Kotor II- I was literally unable to go Sith, even when I had decided on it. Not because of any mechanical limitation, but because I just couldn't do the 'evil' thing. I'm too much of a nice guy, I guess.

I get that way sometimes... But I was having buckets of fun doing renegade bro-shep and just being a jerk to effectively everyone.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:
For some reason, I find myself unable to play anything else than a Paragon.

Going around doing stupid things and generally being a dick to everyone just does not feel like something Shepard would do, and taking a middle road punishes you a lot since in most cases you will lose out a lot of charm/intimidate advantages.

Advantages that are very significant, I'll add!

It's a very good example of poor and lazy writing. You pointed out the exact flaw: being "evil" means being evil for evil's sake. Which is stupid. To me, the "evil" solution should be a more pragmatic approach. While Paragon is the "I will do everything you ask of me!" type, "Renegade" should be "I have a goal. I will do anything to achieve it, even if it takes downing some civilians.". Even a Renegade wants to save the galaxy and how does killing a bystander for no reason contribute to achieving said goal?

The main problem is the downright idiotic Good / Evil system. A good game should remove it completely. Make EVERY decision a DECISION with its own consequences instead of making every decision a "+X blue points" or "+X red points" choice.

But that's the way Renegade plays, largely. It's pragmatic and ruthless, with a side of douchebag towards Bioware's sob storytellers. It's perfect.

Or it would be if it weren't surrounded by other Bioware writing, anyway.

In the end, things people might consider "pragmatic" often are dickish by comparison to other options. Of course, this depends on whether or not you consider the short term or the long term-- a lot of Renegade options, to me, seemed more like pragmatic short-term solutions to problems (quick and easy victories, bullying, etc), while Paragon options were pragmatic looking towards the long term (building allies, getting people to think of you as a hero, etc).

In the end, with the exception of one renegade interrupt in ME2 (think: fuel tank), very rarely did renegade stuff appeal to me.

Skyrim again - wielding the silver great-sword Peacegiver I am taking the fight to the vampire menace. And in time of dire need I unleash the fury within and start tearing the undead apart as a mighty werebear.

It's cool - my current character is a Nord hunter and associate member of the Companions(previously infected with the Werebear curse - which is why he preferred to live in the wilderness) who was nearly killed when vampires raided Whiterun, and so he began actively hunting them. He found a vampire plot to take over his adopted home town of Morthal, which he put a stop to. That showed him how they are a real threat to all of skyrim, leading to him joining the Dawnguard.

Currently running mods to enhance immersion - realistic needs, immersive patrols, frostfall, immersive hud, immersive armors, bandolier bags and pouches, climates of tamriel with supreme storms and volumetric fog, trade and barter, real shelter, wet and cold, etc.

I love all the extra armors - wearing an outfit that fits my character the whole way through the game? Yes please.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Ashiraya wrote:
For some reason, I find myself unable to play anything else than a Paragon.

Going around doing stupid things and generally being a dick to everyone just does not feel like something Shepard would do, and taking a middle road punishes you a lot since in most cases you will lose out a lot of charm/intimidate advantages.

Advantages that are very significant, I'll add!

It's a very good example of poor and lazy writing. You pointed out the exact flaw: being "evil" means being evil for evil's sake. Which is stupid. To me, the "evil" solution should be a more pragmatic approach. While Paragon is the "I will do everything you ask of me!" type, "Renegade" should be "I have a goal. I will do anything to achieve it, even if it takes downing some civilians.". Even a Renegade wants to save the galaxy and how does killing a bystander for no reason contribute to achieving said goal?

The main problem is the downright idiotic Good / Evil system. A good game should remove it completely. Make EVERY decision a DECISION with its own consequences instead of making every decision a "+X blue points" or "+X red points" choice.

I have always liked the way the Witcher handles things in this regard. No morality points very few good or evil choices and you often dont see the effect of your choices until a few hours later.

In the first Witcher game you come across

 Bromsy wrote:
Skyrim again - wielding the silver great-sword Peacegiver I am taking the fight to the vampire menace. And in time of dire need I unleash the fury within and start tearing the undead apart as a mighty werebear.

It's cool - my current character is a Nord hunter and associate member of the Companions(previously infected with the Werebear curse - which is why he preferred to live in the wilderness) who was nearly killed when vampires raided Whiterun, and so he began actively hunting them. He found a vampire plot to take over his adopted home town of Morthal, which he put a stop to. That showed him how they are a real threat to all of skyrim, leading to him joining the Dawnguard.

Currently running mods to enhance immersion - realistic needs, immersive patrols, frostfall, immersive hud, immersive armors, bandolier bags and pouches, climates of tamriel with supreme storms and volumetric fog, trade and barter, real shelter, wet and cold, etc.

I love all the extra armors - wearing an outfit that fits my character the whole way through the game? Yes please.

Sounds awesome. Is the Werebear a mod, or is there some way of becoming one in the base game? If the former is true, I once again lament the lack-of-modness inherent with the Xbox.

Started playing Republic Commando again. I started it, but got distracted by other games.

I'm enjoying it, but man, it's obnoxiously difficult sometimes

Finaly got WoT working on my computer again, and have been busy blowing up stuff and getting blow up.
Currently working on the Brithish and the Chinese techs, but good lord the Covenater for the Brits seems to run on slow, but then again it beats having to zip around in an Stuart tank while being chased by Tiger tanks and such. Good times good times

 mega_bassist wrote:
Started playing Republic Commando again. I started it, but got distracted by other games.

I'm enjoying it, but man, it's obnoxiously difficult sometimes

I played that. I liked the squad system but the game felt old even when it was new.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:
Started playing Republic Commando again. I started it, but got distracted by other games.

I'm enjoying it, but man, it's obnoxiously difficult sometimes

I played that. I liked the squad system but the game felt old even when it was new.

100% agreed. It's neat, but it's hasn't aged very well, especially playing with a mouse/keyboard.

 carlos13th wrote:


In the first Witcher game you come across

Spoiler:

a person selling weapons to Scoia'tael which are non human guerrilla fighters you can shut the whole thing down and have to fight them or you can allow them to have the weapons and sympathise with thier cause, while you can avoid a fight if you let them have the weapons those same weapons are used to kill someone you needed to contact in a city later in the game.

The Witcher series blows most other RPG out of the water. Comparing The Witcher to ME is like comparing Shakespeare to a love poem written by a 14 year old

The Avadon series is good as well.

 carlos13th wrote:


In the first Witcher game you come across

Spoiler:

a person selling weapons to Scoia'tael which are non human guerrilla fighters you can shut the whole thing down and have to fight them or you can allow them to have the weapons and sympathise with thier cause, while you can avoid a fight if you let them have the weapons those same weapons are used to kill someone you needed to contact in a city later in the game.

But you don't want

 MWHistorian wrote:

 Ciciro wrote:

Anvildude wrote:
Still, I find it hilarious that after all GW's advertising and pushing and babying of their 'flagship' Spess Mehrines, the thing they've created with the most societal clout... Is ORKZ.

Thats because they don't mess with the Orks as much, so it has less of a chance of being ruined.

Right now Im not really playing anything, as it is a bit of a dry spell in PC gaming releases. (I mean GOOD PC releases. Risen 3 isn't good.)

Actually Dakka isn't a 40k invention. England used it in WWII when talking about machine guns.
If you watch Blood Diamond, Leonardo DiCaprio is phoning for an attack helicopter and says "Bring the dakka dakka." He isn't referencing Warhammer 40k.
Edit: Also watch "The Battle of Britain."

Really? I never knew that.
That's quite interesting

Fun Fact of the day!

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:


In the first Witcher game you come across

Spoiler:

a person selling weapons to Scoia'tael which are non human guerrilla fighters you can shut the whole thing down and have to fight them or you can allow them to have the weapons and sympathise with thier cause, while you can avoid a fight if you let them have the weapons those same weapons are used to kill someone you needed to contact in a city later in the game.

But you don't want

Spoiler:

to shut them down, because you'd be working against Nilfgaardian plans, then!

As I said rarely a pure good or bad choice in the witcher depends on your leaning and who you want to support. Often both sides are dicks.

 carlos13th wrote:

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:


In the first Witcher game you come across

Spoiler:

a person selling weapons to Scoia'tael which are non human guerrilla fighters you can shut the whole thing down and have to fight them or you can allow them to have the weapons and sympathise with thier cause, while you can avoid a fight if you let them have the weapons those same weapons are used to kill someone you needed to contact in a city later in the game.

But you don't want

Spoiler:

to shut them down, because you'd be working against Nilfgaardian plans, then!

As I said rarely a pure good or bad choice in the witcher depends on your leaning and who you want to support. Often both sides are dicks.

Very much so. I prefer to favor Nilfgaard on everything, as they at least aren't all corrupt, incestuous, bastards that hate non-humans

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 carlos13th wrote:


In the first Witcher game you come across

Spoiler:

a person selling weapons to Scoia'tael which are non human guerrilla fighters you can shut the whole thing down and have to fight them or you can allow them to have the weapons and sympathise with thier cause, while you can avoid a fight if you let them have the weapons those same weapons are used to kill someone you needed to contact in a city later in the game.

But you don't want

Spoiler:

to shut them down, because you'd be working against Nilfgaardian plans, then!

Oh but I do, is there anything I loath more than Elfs & Dwarfs wanting to of a few humans, then its damned people from the south meddling with stuff

Except the Witcher's southerners are much more civilized, and have funny accents.

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Except the Witcher's southerners are much more civilized, and have funny accents.

Civilized......rigth and I am the second coming of the lord almigthy And never trust a man whom talks funny and smells of tulips

 Trondheim wrote:

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Except the Witcher's southerners are much more civilized, and have funny accents.

Civilized......rigth and I am the second coming of the lord almigthy And never trust a man whom talks funny and smells of tulips

Tulips smell great!

In all honesty, Nilfgaard sounds like a much better place than the North. I mean, there's almost no crime, no corruption, and much less incest! Of course, I might be a little bit biased, seeing as Emhyr var Emreis is my proud avatar

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Except the Witcher's southerners are much more civilized, and have funny accents.

Civilized......rigth and I am the second coming of the lord almigthy And never trust a man whom talks funny and smells of tulips

Tulips smell great!

In all honesty, Nilfgaard sounds like a much better place than the North. I mean, there's almost no crime, no corruption, and much less incest!

You make it sound like those thigs are all bad Ano no! The smell od your dying enemies smell great, tulips are for women folk and girly men

I'm glad so many people hate elves. They annoy me so much. I'm actually rather unhappy Tolkien was so fond of them.

------

As far as gaming goes I've been playing 'endless space' which is fantastic but a little samey once you beat it a few times.

I started trying to play galactic civilizations 3 but it's in beta and most of the game is under lockdown for the beta. Honestly I prefer 'endless space' which cost much less. As it stands the game is too much like half a game or one quarter of a game. Space battles are resolved instantly without cinematics of the ships fighting, the only way to win is pure combat based (no economy, influence, technology, etc. victories are possible), the game starts off with you in auto-war with the A.I. players with no possible trade of any kind even available

That said there seems to be a multiplayer feature to galactic civilization 3 which is rather interesting. Also there's a new feature where you can spend points on being pragmatic, good or evil with various boosts for each one. The choices are given for every planet you colonize similar to what they did in galactic civilizations 2 except all planets have it and they have long term effects if you throw enough points into a feature. Basically a choice on a planetary level good, evil, neutral gives you galactic points for your choice. Choosing good on a planet gives good points basically whereas neutral gives neutral and evil gives evil. So it's a balance of what's good for you on the planetary scale and what's good for you on the galactic scale. This seems to have a lot of promise.

Also I'm pretty sure this is different now but I think population and happiness effect things much more than they did. They show how much your unhappiness is giving negative modifiers to your planet (so far from what I can tell over-population and negative income can effect this). It also seems that farms are important in several ways. Farms increase population but it seems that being near the limit of your population actually forces the over-population negative morale modifiers which makes sense but I don't remember galactic civilizations having that (it was more based on how many people were on the planet rather than how many could be supported and how close you were to that amount).

Another important feature is that I think depending on population of a planet it effects all production as well so you can't expect a low population planet to produce infinitely more even with a crap ton more factories. I suppose this makes sense as well but it's going to really focus more on farms and reproduction facilities.

Starports are now in space instead of on a planet and they are very much vulnerable to attack (possibly too much so in my opinion). You can select sponsors for your starports (planets that provide industry) and the farther away they are the less industry they can provide to build with including some which don't provide anything. You can have multiple sponsors per starport so 3 planets could be helping production for one starport. This would seem to work out that you may want to have a couple factory worlds in close proximity to each other for such boosts.

There's a few things you can choose to do instead of building on a planet. For instance instead of building you can increase income, increase research, increase birth rate and increase approval rate with certain activities on the planet. I'd like to joke they probably throw a spring break party for the increased birth rate feature ;P.

Another negative feature seems to be that the game has unreasonably high requirements to play without much in the way to actually lessen graphics or anything that may make things run infinitely smoother. I'm finding my game running at a crawl.

My opinion on galactic civilizations 3 is definitely wait. The lack of features now is a big deal being in beta and all. If I could run this more smoothly I might change my mind. If you don't think you can run the game then definitely wait until there are better features to lower graphics and such in the options menu. Honestly if you want a 4X strategy game get 'endless space'. It's a complete game and last I checked it is much cheaper, runs better and doesn't feel like a beta test or alpha. I honestly feel the beta test was a bit premature since things feel so incomplete. Anyway you'll thank me later provided you even care for 4X strategy games.

----------------

Also should you play Galactic Civilizations 3 you absolutely have to update your video drivers! I found this out the hard way.

Fired up Space Marine and beat it again, I avoid the MP like the plague as I can't stand it. But the single player is a blast, I love butchering me some Orks.

Also reinstalled Doom 3, fantastic game. It's held up pretty well considering it's age and it's still creepy as feth with surround sound headphones. Upside down human head spiders hiding behind monitors FTW!

Also, can anyone speak to the quality of Company of Heroes? I've seen videos and such but never had the chance to play it. Worth spending a few bucks on it?

The first company of Heroes is really good fun. Dawn of war 2 was built from that engine I believe. Haven't played the second game though.

I've been playing Divinity 2. Note the "I've been". I haven't played anything after that experience. *shudder*

What experience?

 carlos13th wrote:
The first company of Heroes is really good fun. Dawn of war 2 was built from that engine I believe. Haven't played the second game though.

Second game is almost like a really big expansion pack of the first game really.

Dark Souls 2. And I hate boss fights with multiple guys, especially so close to one another(Sentinels and Gargoyles)
There isnt even a Summon for gargoyles.
I know gargoyles are optional, but I need to key to kill the lost sinner.
I am loving it, but it is frusterating me and im loving it.
What I dont like is how there are so many bossfights near one another. the areas are so short.

 Paradigm wrote:

 Bromsy wrote:
Skyrim again - wielding the silver great-sword Peacegiver I am taking the fight to the vampire menace. And in time of dire need I unleash the fury within and start tearing the undead apart as a mighty werebear.

It's cool - my current character is a Nord hunter and associate member of the Companions(previously infected with the Werebear curse - which is why he preferred to live in the wilderness) who was nearly killed when vampires raided Whiterun, and so he began actively hunting them. He found a vampire plot to take over his adopted home town of Morthal, which he put a stop to. That showed him how they are a real threat to all of skyrim, leading to him joining the Dawnguard.

Currently running mods to enhance immersion - realistic needs, immersive patrols, frostfall, immersive hud, immersive armors, bandolier bags and pouches, climates of tamriel with supreme storms and volumetric fog, trade and barter, real shelter, wet and cold, etc.

I love all the extra armors - wearing an outfit that fits my character the whole way through the game? Yes please.

Sounds awesome. Is the Werebear a mod, or is there some way of becoming one in the base game? If the former is true, I once again lament the lack-of-modness inherent with the Xbox.

I'm fairly sure it's a mod.