Profile for Or else o'erleap.

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
I have glasses. in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, September 29 2007 10:01 Profile Homepage #31
No glasses or contacts here, and I've always felt insecure about it. Myopia is, after all, linked to education and high IQ.

—Alorael, who now supposes it may be linked to obnoxiousness. On the other hand, obnoxiousness may just be linked to the internet, which would surprise no one.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Erasing Saved Games in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, September 28 2007 09:52 Profile Homepage #1
Mac or Windows? On a Mac, in the Avernum 4 folder, go into Avernum 4 Files. There should be folders called Save0 through Save19. Delete all of their contents.

The PC process is probably similar, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.

—Alorael, who would suggest deleting the folders except for the fact that he doesn't think A4 can figure out how to save if the folders don't exist. Maybe delete them all and then create empty folders called Save0-19.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Man or God in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, September 28 2007 05:05 Profile Homepage #211
There shall be no cloning of happy kittens.

—Alorael, who believes the most likely source of kitten entanglement is yarn. Unfortunately, any message encoded in the yarn will be lost to Kitten Play Factor.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Yay! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, September 27 2007 12:41 Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Thoughts in Chaos:

Whatever you do, don't get a snail. Two fish-batches ago, Nalyd had a snail in his fishtank, and it somehow managed to kill and eat all the fish before it died of overheating. We thought that it was the Siamese Fighting Fish, but when that disappeared too. . . Damn homicidal snails.
Let me see if I understand. Everything in the tank died one by one, and the snail was last. Therefore the snail killed everything?

—Alorael, who thinks there are flaws in your reasoning. Like snails not eating fish. And snails not being able to move in three dimensions like fish.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Which Spiderweb game do you like most? in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 26 2007 11:25 Profile Homepage #3
I'll go ahead and say Nethergate: Ressurection. A2 is always a contender, but the plot wins in that one.

—Alorael, who will note that G4 is a very good game if you like the Geneforge engine and that A5 will be magnificent with the same caveat.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Man or God in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, September 24 2007 05:24 Profile Homepage #157
quote:
Originally written by Safey:

For every action their is an equal but opposite reaction.
The fact that Newton's Third Law has been co-opted for causality does not mean it in fact says anything more than A exerting a force F must also experience a force -F.

quote:
However if something is infinite it has always existed and therefore nothing could have created it. If the universe had always existed then that means nothing came before the universe. However scientist all agree the universe has an age. They don't agree on exactly how old it is but they do believe it has an age. Simply this means something created the universe. Now what that something is you can argue and debate over but you know something that is infinite is responsible for the creation of the universe.
You know no such thing. Another finite entity could have created the universe after having itself been created. The universe could have spontaneously sprung into being; as you say, there is no complete understanding of early-universe physics, and I don't think spontaneous generation violates Newtonian physics anyway.

More importantly, time can only occur if there is a universe in which it can occur. Augustine addressed this theologically, but from a physical perspective time began with the universe and talking about what came before the universe is meaningless. Creation couldn't happen in a physical sense, and some spiritual creation doesn't necessarily require causality.

quote:
Things science can't quite explain:
The first fraction of a second of the universe (our laws physics seem to break down at those tempatures)[
Science can explain this, but it hasn't. Our laws of physics don't break down, but we lack the evidence to come up with theories that account for the early time that we can't observe.

quote:
The event horizon of a black hole because space and time have been folded into nothing
The event horizon of black holes has been well described, I believe. Black holes certainly have their questions left, particularly at the point of singularity, but those aren't unanswerable questions. They're still just unanswered or contested questions.

—Alorael, who should probably turn the questions of physics over to a physicist. Or, rather, he should accept that a physicist beat him to the post.

[ Monday, September 24, 2007 05:26: Message edited by: Mist Among the Imbeciles ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Skribbane in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, September 22 2007 09:05 Profile Homepage #10
The most critical piece of information is still missing. What is skribbane? Delicious!

—Alorael, who also supposes it's a gimmick, but now it's a slightly dusty gimmick.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Raise your hand if you LOVE Linear RPG's! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, September 20 2007 15:18 Profile Homepage #25
In many ways, MUDs already do (and have been doing for a long time) what you want. Shadowbane is also a step in the right direction, and it's free now. I think that's a bad sign, though. The market wants WoW.

—Alorael, who thinks could be happy very easily. All he needs to do is make a game in which your party consists of premade characters with personalities and he'll have KotOR with worse graphics and better everything else. Except Star Wars. Maybe.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Raise your hand if you LOVE Linear RPG's! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, September 20 2007 08:02 Profile Homepage #14
Geneforge is is the most plot-open game (or series) I know of. Otherwise, games like KotOR, which allows you to play either good or evil with minimal plot differences are pretty much it.

—Alorael, who can see why most console RPGs are labeled interactive movies. On the other hand, he doesn't mind it. The stories of games that don't have premade characters with premade personalities tend to ignore the characters and their choices. At the very least they have to be one dimensional characters.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Raise your hand if you LOVE Linear RPG's! in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 19 2007 08:42 Profile Homepage #1
I don't mind linear plots. Sure, choices are nice, but they often come at the price of plot focus. Limiting choices arbitrarily and providing impetus to keep moving in one direction are not the same thing at all.

—Alorael, who doesn't like wide open games where you don't know how to continue the plot. Avernum doesn't fall into this pitfall, but many so-called non-linear plots simply mean wandering around lost for long periods of time.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Public Opinion Survey in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, September 18 2007 18:18 Profile Homepage #38
Are you arguing that the Celts didn't have iron weaponry in the 1st (or even 5th) century BC? I can't find any reputable sources, but there are certainly plenty that attest to the use of iron.

quote:
For exampleThe Celts had one major advantage - they had discovered Iron. Iron had been introduced to the Celtic peoples in Europe around 1000 to 700BC, thus giving them the technological edge to spread as they did. Iron was a far superior metal to bronze, being stronger and more durable. On the other hand, it required much hotter fires to extract it from its ore and so it took a fair degree of skill to use iron.
—Alorael, who in any case would give the advantage to even bronze over wood and obsidian. There's a reason the Bronze Age began in Europe.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Public Opinion Survey in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, September 18 2007 16:41 Profile Homepage #35
Ironworking became widespread over a very long time, but it reached even the most remote Celts by the 5th century B.C. and they would almost certainly be using iron or steel. Besides, I think the era of Nethergate and Boudicca's rebellion is as good a time for our stereotypical Celt as any, and that's in the first century B.C.

—Alorael, who thinks decapitation of a horse with obsidian requires as much superhuman strength as decapitation with iron, if not more. To have enough force behind it, the macuahuitl would have to be heavy, and that means bulky as well. Which would hack through bone better, iron or stone?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Public Opinion Survey in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, September 18 2007 11:37 Profile Homepage #29
quote:
Originally written by Ur_Vile_Wedge:

4.Samurai vs knight. Tricky, probably the hardest of the lot. Samurai could ride around and shoot, it is true, but they didn't have bodkin shafts, nor any real armor piercing arrows. The real question here is could (and would he even think of it) the samurai disable the knights horse? Once the knight gets off his mount, the Samurai is going to cut him to pieces. However, since knight's horses were usually also armored, (quite heavily) I think that sooner or later the knight is going to hit him with a lance or simply crash into him (do you know how much momentum a charging knight in steel armor has?!) and end the fight right then and there.
Stereotypically, I don't think either one is going to get a bow. Then again, stereotypically I don't think the samurai gets a horse, either.

quote:
5. Aztec vs Celt. If the Aztec guy was fighting to capture, (they often were to gain sacrificial victims,) I think that the celt would win. Also, if the battle were conducted at range, the celt guy has a huge advantage, with real arrows and such. However, if things ever got to hand to hand, I would give the win to the Aztec. Go read the accounts of Cortez and his men. An Aztec warrior, armed with a Macanah (a kind of club with affixed obsidian blades) was able to decapitate a *horse*. One hit with that thing and the Celtic warrior will be pushing up daisies.
A Celt's sword couldn't decapitate a horse with enough force behind it? Lucky hits aside, metal makes better weapons. It might not be an easy fight, and the Aztec certainly could win, but the Celt has more advantages.

—Alorael, who now wants to know what happens if shaper ninja in heavy plate armor gets into a fight with an Avernite samurai armed with a macuahuitl and a parrot.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Possible serious problem involving Thompson in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, September 18 2007 07:27 Profile Homepage #2
You are warned that using the editor can mess up a game. It's possible that there's no way to get to Thompson now, and nobody knows which SDFs are which so you won't get any help there.

—Alorael, who really thinks it may be old save time. Otherwise, you'll just have to go through the game without getting Garzahd. But hey, at least there's some alliteration!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What have you been reading lately? in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, September 17 2007 13:21 Profile Homepage #494
quote:
Originally written me:
Jordan is terrifying all fans by having an engaging race between the last book and a deadly disease.
And the book lost.

—Alorael, who is sad both that a wonderful fantasy author (and quite possibly a good person) died and that the Wheel of Time will never end with quite the words that its author would have chosen.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Public Opinion Survey in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, September 17 2007 05:11 Profile Homepage #9
One Exile/Avernite from a standard four-member party is doomed. It'll depend on synergies that just aren't there. A singleton, though, can probably take that shaper. All that's really needed is some Avatar or Divine Warrior, or sufficient potions to keep up some invulnerability. The Avernite will wear down the limited stock of creations and then pound the shaper into submission.

—Alorael, who now wants to see some other matchups. Pirate vs. Viking would be a whole lot of fun, although the most likely result is back-slapping and taleswapping as the two try to drink each other under the table. In that contest, the Viking definitely wins.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Public Opinion Survey in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, September 16 2007 19:33 Profile Homepage #4
1. Pirates would have a huge advantage on a moving ship from experience, and guns are good to have (although pirates weren't armed with the very best of modern weapons!). That said, the stereotypical ninja is trained to a far greater extent. I think I'd go with the ninja on this one. In fact, I think any assassin could probably take out your average pirate.

2. The Spartans were individually dangerous and made good use of phalanxes, but the Vikings were the masters of individual berserk combat (stereotypically, at least). I think iron arms and armor might carry the day here, and individual combat isn't really what the Spartans were most famous for.

3. The Shaper has a larger group with him, but the Avernites are all quite impressive. I'll just call spells a wash and say that while creations are impressive, PCs are always more impressive and outnumber the shaper four to one. I'd give the victory to the Avernites, but not without casualties.

4. Good question. I know less about Japanese cavalry than European, but I think European emphasis on mounted combat and especially the use of the lance and heavier armor would give the knight and edge here.

5. Iron weapons and armor (although I suppose the stereotype is naked) against essentially Stonage Age armaments? I don't think the Aztec could remain armed long enough to win.

—Alorael, who doesn't think the stereotypes are especially meaningful, since stereotypical ninjas are practically magical, stereotypical samurai are definitely mystical, stereotypical knights are brutes, stereotypical vikings are even more brutish, the Spartans are now heavily 300ized, and Celts have become uniformly berserkers (like Vikings). Really, weaponry and techniques steadily advanced, and the most recent fighter would probably be the winner.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
How Did You Find Spiderweb? in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, September 16 2007 09:07 Profile Homepage #20
I heard about E1 from an acquaintance. A month or two later I also found Exile on a CD packed with demos and bad shareware.

—Alorael, who really thinks Aran didn't quite pick the right link this time. It's interesting, but it's also irrelevant spam. This is an official warning.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Erika in E3 in The Exile Trilogy
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, September 15 2007 09:21 Profile Homepage #5
Sulfras's treasure room is also unreachable, and while I'm pretty sure you get a message for killing any dragon, I don't think there's anything more for killing all three. I'm not sure I've ever done it, though.

No, Erika doesn't show up if you don't have her amulets or never ask her to activate them, which makes a few areas in the end slightly harder and means she survives. Since Avernum 4 assumes her death anyway, amulet use is canonical.

—Alorael, who had to look up Abruzzo. He's in Wainscotting, which is almost due west of Bremerton. Unfortunately, that means heading west to Moon, south across the river, west to the mountains, south around the mountains, back north along their western side, and then west and south again along a peninsula.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
noob info in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 12 2007 20:57 Profile Homepage #120
quote:
Originally written by Azuma:

quote:
Originally written by Gauldoth Half-Dead:

SBlah blah blah something I didn't say blah blah I cheese noodles reproachful blah snarky comment

Bork bork bork.
FYT... but not really.
FYT.

—Alorael, who thinks maybe the FAQ needs a little FYT section. Sometimes it seems like nobody gets it.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Need Avernum Lore in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 12 2007 16:49 Profile Homepage #6
Only because I failed to copy and paste it right. It works now.

—Alorael, who doesn't think its not working would have been any great loss.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Need Avernum Lore in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 12 2007 12:04 Profile Homepage #4
There's also an effort here. It never got anywhere as far as I can recall, and I can't find the main site (if it still exists), but it's something.

—Alorael, who now misses the amalgamation of Avernum, Arcana Unearthed, and homebrew that was somewhere on the web. It wasn't relevant at all, but it was neat.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Man or God in General
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, September 12 2007 10:48 Profile Homepage #74
Much of the Biblical interpretation of Satan is very much read between the lines. But let's go with the very basics: Satan was an angel who rebelled and fell, as per the Book of Milton. God created Satan. God created Satan with a rebellious urge, God permitted his rebellion, and God did not repair the damage. Either God's plan requires evil, a position that many would certainly question as "good" in any meaningful sense, or God is outright evil.

So what's your Biblical interpretation? I don't care why Satan rebelled; I want to know why he was created with his proclivities and why God did not cause reconciliation, which he clearly could.

Wiz mostly got my second objection. Heroin isn't evil. And joy isn't always the right emotion; satisfaction works too, or even entertainment. Why do people murder, steal, and rape? Why do people lie and not feel particularly bad about it? Why can politics exist?

—Alorael, who doesn't see why God would or should give anyone the capacity to understand him. Does he say he did? Would it not be acceptable for him to lie in order to further his ineffable goals? That's actually an interesting question even if you accept the Bible as the word of God: why does that make it true?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

Pages