GibsonMcCoy
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Posts
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Joined
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I can't wait to see this.
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I'd love to see the Hyperion series done right myself.
And I need to reread those, it's been a few years. -
Quote:As always, I am overawed and impressed by your math skills, Arcana. I'm not, and have never been good with math. To be honest, I failed Math 1 three times in high school. I can't grasp the basic concepts for some reason, be it genetic, mental or just plain ignorance. Math was one skill that's always eluded me. I grasped English, History, Social Studies and Science without even trying, but numbers always leave me cold.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I don't think they do it deliberately, which is great for most players because it means it can be fixed. For me specifically, let's just say doing it accidentally AGAIN is just an epic face-palm moment. I respect our devs a great deal as professionals who love this game, but I seriously would not trust Paragon Studios to make change for a quarter.
Most people criticize the devs without a full appreciation for how complex and time consuming designing and implementing an MMO is: how many competing interests and varying skill sets have to be carefully coordinated and managed to produce a final product that is the sum of a large number of different people's judgement. I *do* know and appreciate all that and so I'm very moderate in my criticisms over issues that I know are complex issues.
This ain't complex. This is extremely basic math that has no excuse for "iterative design" to figure out. There's this school of thought among many game designers, including many of ours actually, that says math is not trustworthy, because it can lead to wrong answers. Iterative design is the right way to do things, because it allows you to take a reasonable guess, test it and see how close you were, and then adjust.
Math never leads to the wrong answers unless the people you hire to do the math suck at it. Game design - specifically the underlying mechanics of games - are just an engineering problem. They are solvable by the same mathematics and analytical design methodologies all other engineering problems on earth are solved with. Games are not magic in that respect that they can resist numerical analysis.
The creative parts of the game are a different story: they are an art not a science. But how much damage power bolt should do or how much XP a 43 minion should grant or how fast sprint should be are not creative decisions. The creativity element is in deciding what goals you have for what those things should do. Then creativity steps aside and engineering dictates how to satisfy those goals with precision.
For some reason, this seems to be an inexplicably controversial idea. I could probably duel Positron's blog for years talking about this subject, except I'm not really a professional game designer so no one actually cares what I think about the subject. As they probably should not. Without a resume, I have no credibility on that score except my experience as a player.
I do know the creative parts of a story quite well, having been a tabletop GM/DM/Storyteller/Marshall/Weaver/ Narrator for 25+ years, with a few writing credits to boot.
To clarify further, I'm not questioning the devs on creativity per se. I like the devs, I like this game, and I know how complex creating games are. Back in school, in the ninth grade (and I'm dating myself here) when I was learning BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN, I was asked as a project to create a video game out of something I loved. That love was Robotech, and I created a text-based adventure involving it that got me an A.
What I am questioning is why they chose to change things up so much, without considering the ramifications of what those changes meant to the playerbase.
As Samuel mentioned, fights are won and done before you ever accept a mission, at least it used to be. Now it seems that fights are over with you on the losing side if the mission calls for multiple ambushes if you're not playing an AT who can deal with hordes of mobs at once.
Of course, I could be wrong, and maybe the new people coming in, who don't have multiple 50's and tricked-out builds, actually have the advantage on us vets.
They slog through Praetoria and survive, and find Paragon and the Rogue Isles to be easy for the next 30 levels because of the time they spent gold-side. -
I picked up on the Joker reference as well, and again, the best friend not recognizing Vince was silly at best.
I did like that some characters got some development, and that Chess was not the main bad guy, at least in this case. -
I would suggest 'Vanishing Point' but it's chock full of violence, drug use and law-breaking.
Of course, it's also a classic film. -
All this talk of 24 and 48 player Leagues, 65% to hit in Tip Missions and 75% to hit for pets has me wondering exactly where this game is going, and if I'm going to stay with it much longer.
Don't get me wrong, I love the City of X franchise. Out of the 16 MMOs I have played, this is the only one I not only have a capped character on, but multiple capped characters. I love the idea of being a superhero or supervillian. I love righting wrongs and balancing the injustice put on the citizens of our fair city. Or in the case of CoV, causing the wrongs and injustice.
What I don't get is penalizing characters who specialize in one thing and do it well, such as /SR.
I have two capped /SR characters at the moment. Both are softcapped, one is Claws, the other is DM. I like both of these characters, and I nutured and played them from 1 to 50, through all the tribulations and triumphs, and my dm/sr has one of my greatest moments in gaming history. So why should they, or anyone other character with a specialized skill, such as being softcapped, be punished?
To be honest, this game is starting to remind me less and less of a superhero MMO and more of the DM I had once in a pickup group tabletop AD&D session who demanded that all Rogues (Thief at that time,) with a Dexterity score of over 20 use a d100 (back when lower was better) for Dex checks, when people with any other score over 20 were allowed to use the d20.
Which basically meant, anyone with an ability score of 1-20+ that wasn't Dexterity needed a roll of (Ability x5%) or less, while those of us with a Dexterity higher than 20 needed a roll of percentage (Ability x1%) or less, even though that was the one thing most Rogues had in common, and the one thing they specialized in.
To stay on topic, on my Brutes, Scrappers and Tankers, I love the ambushes. I'm Brock Sampson fighting ninjas forever when it comes to those. On every other AT, they are annoying and badly designed game mechanics.
Might as roll under a 21 on percentile dice if you're not a melee AT. -
Quote:I used to be a forum mod for a gaming company and we used VBulletin and never had any problems with it, so I think it's some mod NCSoft has running maybe.Originally Posted by Nethergoat
the sports forum I admin uses Invision and it's very nice.
We used phpBB for our gaming forums and it was also very nice.
Neither have ever evidenced the level of user hostility presented by Vbulletin.
It's still horrid though. It's hard to feel like part of a gaming community when you never know if that next page of new posts clicked is going to end with you looking over new posts, or a page saying you have to log in. -
I don't think it's dead, so much as, what was said before, cyclical.
Genres tend to feed upon themselves until they burst forth many duplicators and inspired-by films, books and games. Then a new shiny comes long, and everyone gravitates to it, putting a lull on the last big thing.
Everyone tires of that when something new comes along, and it keeps going and going until someone comes up with something that fits in an earlier genre, which sparks new interest in the subject.
That's why in the last 12 years we went from high budget martial-arts action films to boy wizards and from boy wizards to vampires and from vampires to werewolves and from werewolves to superhero films.
It will come back to space sci-fi eventually.
If you listen to the radio a lot, you'll see (well hear) this in action. A song will come out, be popular or hated, and will fade away. Then during an all request time a year or two or five later, someone will ask for that song and several people will hear it. They'll start thinking about it, and then they start requesting it as well, telling their friends about it, and buying the cd it's on or downloading it from iTunes or some other source. Suddenly that song is everywhere again. -
Quote:I agree.Originally Posted by Camper
I think the most appropriate answer is, "It depends."
A lot of people have the opinion that if it's off the first page, it's not worth reading, while others look back over everything they missed when they were offline.
I've always felt the "front page only" people were silly. That would be like not reading anything past A1 in a newspaper. -
Quote:Ironically, when I was on the other end of the table, and I'd try stunts in other games, I got funny looks.Originally Posted by Kelenar
These people are anathema to my existence.
Why just shoot the bad guy when you could dive through a window, land on a table and slide across it to do a land on chair and knock it over & riding it to the ground while shooting the bad guy? -
Quote:With my group, that's definately the case. Our first Silver Age Sentinels game included:Originally Posted by SuperOz
Ah yes...people had problems with Story Points when I ran it a few years back...but I began to wonder if that was just because players don't have enough imagination to use Story Points to their advantage....
S.
A Jedi-inspired lightsaber weilding former villian.
Archangel
A Witchblade user who was also head of a CSI lab in Empire city.
Tetragrammaton Cleric John Preston, who was transported back in time after the events in "Equilibrium."
Batman
Killcrow (a reformed villian from "The Tenth" comic series by Tony Daniel.)
My group at the time were some great friends, but none of them had any originality. The core group of villians I had made up to be their archrivals? All original concepts come up by my friend, Paul Baxter, and I while in college.
This was the same group of people who didn't like "Exalted" because they felt the Stunts rule was too much work! -
/signed as well.
I've never had as many problems with a forum as I've had with these. To be honest, my local paintball field used EZBoards, and it never logged me out.
Either fix the problem, or dissolve the forums completely and pass information to the playerbase via email, Facebook, Twitter and/or Myspace, which will tick off the customer base even more than getting logged out at random.
As much as I love this game, and as great as the devs are at communicating with us, I've never understood why big problems like this go unresolved, yet other things, like discussing other games, is a HUGE no-no.
If I was a new player and I couldn't even get the forums to cooperate with me when I had a question about the game, why would I think the rest of the game was any different? -
Quote:Very good points, Grey Pilgrim!Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
I personally don't like pairing MM with weapon sets because of the redraw. It sounds weird at first that I like EM with it, but EM can chain well with itself, or be used before a fight. MM doesn't work quite as well like that, at least in my experience with it. But go with what makes sense for you character, that's what matters most, I would say.
I went /MM for one reason: because I'm a huge fan of over the top, style before substance, Hong Kong Blood Opera, "One shot one kill? Pointless crap! Give me one case, one kill violence any-day!", bullet-time style A- and B-Action movies, and DP/MM fits the bill for me. YMMV of course
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Quote:The one with Sam Colt would be awesome. Even as a one shot movie.Originally Posted by Matthew_Orlock
If the CW wasn't so focused on creating shows around people 30 and under I'd love to see a show made around Rufus and Bobby. The episode this season that focused on these two was great...and Rufus was AWESOME in it in a comedic way.
Course I don't see that ever happening,maybe if they get around to making a spinoff they can shoot for the Wild west one about Sam Colt they wanted to do a few years back.
Maybe Tommy Lee Jones as Sam, with another hunter with a different cultural perspective on the supernatural, maybe Benecio Del Toro or Lenny James. Misha Collins would have to play Castiel, even in a cameo.
Of course, they promised long ago to reveal why the boys are from Lawerence, Kansas (possibly one of the most supernatural places on earth) and why they're named Winchester (having to do with the curse on the Winchester family who made the guns) and they've not really touched on either. -
Quote:As I mentioned in another thread, I've been on a Western kick lately, and I've got all the Serenity RPG books, so I may start one of those.Originally Posted by SuperOz
Heh, me too....but it's taking a well-deserved rest along with my 13-year Star Wars campaign which is now down to 'casual' status.
Now my fun is to challenge myself with other games; Doctor Who is a fun one to try, just for the potential variety from session to session....though my baby is my Star Wars game. I never seem to get tired of it.
S.
Of course, I loathe the system that it uses, so I may adapt it to my beloved Silhouette System (Dream Pod 9's awesome creation, used in Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Tribe 8, Gear Kreig and CORE) or the Storyteller System. -
For Cheat Code, my Claws/SR scrapper, I'd have to go with Lyndsy Fonseca, "Alex" from 'Nikita' and the love interest from Kick-***.
For a lost teddy bear, Kat/WP in a CGI or animated film, voiced by Jason Statham.
Blends, my spines/da, is Natalie Portman
Keira Knightley was the basis for Imminent Violence, so I'd have to give the role to her.
My Warshade, Revolutions of Ruin, Robert Downey, Jr. -
Quote:Yeah, true.Originally Posted by SuperOz
Ran an over a decade long campaign of it....and I own nearly every sourcebook and boxed set they made...it'd be nice if they did, but they made that awful reinvention of the game which didn't do so well.
S.
I've got a 16 year old World of Darkness chronicle that's gone from San Francisco, to Atlanta, to Columbus, Ga/ Phenix City, AL, to small town South, back to San Francisco, and back to Atlanta again.
Having gone through three moves, 4 editions, and a rotating and ever-growing cast of players and NPCs, I've got notebooks full of stuff on it.
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I'd love to suggest "Dead Man" but it's 121 minutes and rated 'R'
It's got an all-star cast, including Johnny Depp, Robert Mitchum, Crispin Glover, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, John Hurt, Alfred Molina and Iggy Pop.
Probably the most understated and beautiful Westerns of all time, and it's not a Western, per say, but more of one man's search at a new life, and the price that comes with it.
Not so much violent as graphic, lots of harsh language and a different view of what the Old West may have been like.
I'd also add (and I doubt any of these fit the criteria):
"Equilibrium"
"Big Trouble in Little China"
"Seven Samurai"
"Throne of Blood"
"The Boondock Saints"
"The Usual Suspects"
"Casablanca" (best film ever made)
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"
"The Princess Bride"
"Jacob's Ladder"
"My Cousin Vinny"
"Sling Blade"
"Way of the Gun"
"Stardust"
"The Thirteenth Floor" (which still makes my jaw drop when the twist is revealed, even after 12 years.)
"Man of LaMancha" -
/signed as well.
I also agree with Triplash's suggestion of the zone being taken over by the enemies until they are beaten back.
I think it'd make the game feel more alive for lack of a better term. -
Even after Supernatural ends it's run, and it's been a great run so far, I'd love a Castiel spin-off show.
Maybe Cas and Bobby? Or if Jim Beaver is tired of the character, how about Cas travelling the country helping people with Victor French?
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I like my DP/MM a lot. Lock em down and shoot em all!
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Congrats!
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Heh, I just got through reading that myself.
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Big congrats!
I love my Warshade, but I don't play him enough. Too many new shiny possibilities with GR that revitalized my altaholicism, but I don't regret ever making and playing a Warshade to 50. -
Quote:New desktop! And I was going to quote the pizzaman scene!Originally Posted by Matthew_Orlock
This is why I watch this show..well that and the soundtrack,humor,pop culture refrences I understand..and things like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ESOGHVt0pI
" I don't know. I just looked at her in the eyes and told her it wasn't her fault that her father Gene ran off. It was because he hated his job at the post office"Quote:Originally Posted by Gaderath
Cas has some truly fantastic 1 liners...
"This isn't funny Dean! The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."
*To Lucifer* "Hey! A**butt." *throws molotov cocktail*
*Voicemail* "You have reached the voicemail of: 'I don't understand... why do you want me to say my name?'"
"Are you drunk?" "No. Yes." "What happened to you?" "I found a liquor store." "And?" "I drank it."
"Maybe one day. But today you're *my* little [censored]. "
"[after downing five shots] I Think I'm starting to feel something"
"This isn't funny, Dean! The voice says I'm almost out of minutes!
"
"I learned that from the pizza man. "
In response to Dean saying God might be in New Mexico on a tortilla: "No, he's not on any flatbread. "
Castiel is awesome!