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Which of these is worth playing? in Richard White Games
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, February 23 2005 13:39 Profile Homepage #20
Your Postliness is still where it belongs, and it has to be "Your" to stay gender neutral. Three cheers for political correctness!

—Alorael, who would rather play GC than Homeland. GC is just spectacularly not good. Homeland is very bad.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A3: The first party of explorers. in The Avernum Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, February 23 2005 13:32 Profile Homepage #6
Not lost, exactly. Three of them got dead, which severely inhibits reporting ability, and one is injured but planning to return as soon as he recovers, I believe. He doesn't do it in the first 500 days of A3, but maybe he's just a bit moribund.

—Alorael, who bets he put on the Xian Boots. That's probably the reason for all his foot dragging.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
ATTN: Mods - Spam Alert in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Wednesday, February 23 2005 13:27 Profile Homepage #8
It's unkind to speak ill of the fictitious dead.

—Alorael, who finds it highly plausible that many pieces of toast are consumed in ghastly breakfasts on highways in Ghana every day. Oh, the humanity!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
is there any body know auto translation tool in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, February 22 2005 16:59 Profile Homepage #1
There really isn't much need to translate from one English dialect to another. They're all mutually intelligible. Canadian French, on the other hand, would require some doing.

—Alorael, who believes that good automatic translation is an oxymoron. If you can't do it by books and you don't know someone who can do it for you, you'll have to leave it in whatever language(s) you know.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Favorite Plauge? in The Exile Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, February 22 2005 12:55 Profile Homepage #23
They are often described as feline or cat-like, the pejorative term for them is "kitties" (more frequently in E1 than E2 and E3), and they have fur. They don't really seem all that avian to me...

—Alorael, who would be interested in knowing what memory suggested bird people.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The Dingoes Ate My Baby! in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, February 22 2005 12:53 Profile Homepage #21
quote:
Originally written by By folk of men and elven-kin:

quote:
Originally written by unidentified random person:

Originally written by And Words unheard were spoken then:
quote:

Remember the "Wut do you look like?" thread?
I remember that thread ;D
You were that person hitting on Thuryl, right?
You've just narrowed the competition down to to everyone who wasn't hitting on Rosy.

—Alorael, who has reflected further and decided that it is, in fact, a significant reduction in potential members.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The end of the stupidity. in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 19:51 Profile Homepage #8
You mean there actually are real siblings on the internet who use the same computer and aren't just convenient excuses, Imban? I'm stunned! I really am.

—Alorael, who at least thinks that this is a good lesson in copyrights and plagiarism. And if Genoforge gets a free web designer out of it, who is he to complain?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Anybody out there finish Avernum 3? in The Avernum Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 19:44 Profile Homepage #9
Your dictionary is fine. Exile 3 and Avernum 3 use a strange new definition for dervish that doesn't appear in any standard usage.

—Alorael, who thinks the point of being made an honorary anything is not having to meet the usual qualifications. Besides, General Baziron is described as an honorary dervish who may not make the physical cut (monster type aside) but whose astute tactics earned him the distinction of dervish rank.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Question of Realmz?? in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 19:40 Profile Homepage #8
The Avernum games have just as much wandering as Realmz, but they have the added benefit of a plot that makes sense. In the case of A1, there's not a huge amount of overarching plot, but at least the world is cohesive.

Most of the good ideas from Realmz have appeared in Avernum in one form or another. There still isn't much in the way of outdoor towns (although I prefer the details of town mode), but NPCs appear in Blades of Avernum, action points can be increased or decreased (not to the level of Realmz, granted, but Realmz has insane movement and attacks).

The endless races and classes of Realmz were mostly for show. They weren't even remotely balanced, and there was little effort spent on integrating the later additions. Exile and Avernum don't compare at all, though, since they have nothing in the way of classes and races that only amount to an extra special trait.

[Edit: New Centurions is a minimally altered copy of Realmz. It's such a copy, in fact, that it still says Realmz in a few places, or it did in the last version I downloaded. Paying extra to register it after enduring Realmz would be voluntarily adding insult to injury.]

—Alorael, who will point of Blades of Exile and Blades of Avernum as examples of what can be done with the respective engines by diligent designers. BoE in particular takes Divinity, Realmz' scenario editor, and heartily puts it to shame.

[ Monday, February 21, 2005 19:42: Message edited by: Kamchatkan Legionnaire ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Eagerly awating my Genforge 2 (Christ... sounds like a single's add....) in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 14:53 Profile Homepage #3
There's plenty of stupid. The trick is to water it down enough so nobody notices until it's too late.

—Alorael, who also prefers Avernum's engine to Geneforge's. He'll manage to make the transition succesfully one of these days.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
back at you in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 09:26 Profile Homepage #1
The illegibility of your post isn't helping your case.

—Alorael, who will lock this offshoot too.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Anybody out there finish Avernum 3? in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, February 21 2005 09:14 Profile Homepage #4
The number of people who show up for help and stick around after winning and who show up only after winning means that the number of people who have completed any given game is always on the rise while the number of people who are on the boards and who haven't completed any given game tends to remain static or go up more slowly as people who have no interest in a game join.

—Alorael, who brings you this overly analytical look on behalf of nothing in particular.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Which of these is worth playing? in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 22:04 Profile Homepage #15
No, but you're in a minority of two.

—Alorael, who finds GC to be one of those games that's more fun to hate than play. It doesn't have any horrible featuers (it's not slow, it doesn't erase your hard drive...), but it also doesn't really have any redeeming features. Thus, the only think to do is mock it horribly.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Favorite Plauge? in The Exile Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 22:02 Profile Homepage #18
Bird people? There aren't any in Exile that I know of.

—Alorael, who would guess that it was a subconscious thing. He needed a name for his cat people and his brain provided nephilim. He used it without thinking on it too much. It turned out to be Biblical.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Tower of Magi Demon in Exile I in The Exile Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 21:54 Profile Homepage #2
I thought the same, Kel. As far as I can tell, though, he really isn't tied to anything but Linda and doesn't do much of anything except serve as a minor obstacle between you and an important item.

—Alorael, who was very much disappointed by Adze-Haakai. He was expecting at least a little bit of a climactic battle and maybe the annihilation of the Tower of Magi. Instead, he got an easy battle and a pat on the back.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Online Ordering in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 21:51 Profile Homepage #3
Are you sure you selected MasterCard as the type of credit card used to order?

—Alorael, who has neglected to do that once or twice. It doesn't expedite his order.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A thing of interest... in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 21:48 Profile Homepage #12
Fiction pretty much has to be better or more interesting than the real world. Otherwise nobody would bother to read/play/look at it. We're all stuck with reality, more or less, but we at least get a choice in our fiction.

—Alorael, who will note that there is also a degree of choice in reality. You can be a pessimist or an optimist! You can even choose to see the world through the eyes of Fox News, although it's not very advisable.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Exile in The Avernum Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 21:44 Profile Homepage #6
I at least hope he keeps outdoors. They aren't exactly my favorite part of a game, but there's something very nice in wandering around without knowing whether or not there's a cave to stumble into. On the same note, the disappearance of secret doors would be unpleasant.

—Alorael, who wouldn't mind having the prettier graphics and animations of Geneforge, though. They would make up for the drop in art quality from E3 to Nethergate/Avernum.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
my website in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 21:41 Profile Homepage #35
Since his largest audience is likely to be from these parts anyway, I think there is enough leaning force to make the pictures disappear or the proper credit appear.

—Alorael, who also welcomes Cavanoskus back. Oh, and he gives the website a rating of "The writing style makes my blood pressure rise dangerously. Closed window and didn't look back."
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Which of these is worth playing? in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap.
Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 11:52 Profile Homepage #13
The only one of those I'm familiar with is Master of Orion. GC is kind of like that only godawful. It's much closer to Starbound II (another Mac-only game), but still inferior.

—Alorael, who definitely thinks that GC could be thought of as a Master of Orion wannabe with all the good parts excised and all the bad parts magnified to an absurd degree. If it were any less fun, it would be banned by the 8th Amendment (That's no cruel and unusual punishment).
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Speculating about Avernum 4's plot in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 11:13 Profile Homepage #148
There are wars between Exile and Avernum all the time on these boards!

—Alorael, who started out wondering if he should say Avernum vs. the Empire, Exile vs. the Empire, or Avernum/Exile vs. the Empire. He decided on the former, but his subconscious apparently had the last laugh.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Exile in The Avernum Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, February 20 2005 10:40 Profile Homepage #4
He has made much of the sparkly new engine for A4, though. I thikn it's safe to say that it won't be the old Nethergate/Avernum engine, and having Avernum with a Geneforge engine would make me, for one, very unhappy.

I'm not sure the new engine means all new graphics, though, although Avernum's graphics leave a great deal to be desired. Assuming he doesn't completely overhaul the concepts behind the engine, it might actually look and play quite similarly to the old games. Compare Exile to Avernum and you'll see the same AP, same basic combat system, and many other similarities. There's no reason for all that to be thrown out the window. Jeff has always said he goes with what works, and Avernum clearly worked.

—Alorael, who actually isn't sure that a Geneforge-like engine for A4 would be such a bad thing. The combat would definitely have to be heavily altered, though, or he'd have to avoid playing A4 like he avoids Geneforge.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
A Question of Realmz?? in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, February 19 2005 21:35 Profile Homepage #2
[Edit: Kelandon posted while I was writing all this. Oh well!]

Fantasoft, the creator of Realmz, was somehow related to Exiles 1 and 2, probabably only for distribution. Fantasoft appeared in the credits and information for those two games years ago, but I don't know if that's still true for newer versions.

Exile 3 was purely Spiderweb, and it's the graphics from that game (later also added to Exile 2 and Exile 1) that appeared in Realmz. I don't know which game got them first, but I'd bet both companies purchased them from a freelance artist without paying extra to have exclusive rights to the sprites.

Now for something slightly off-topic. As another mostly former Realmz player, I have to say that even Exile 1 is really a superior product to Realmz. Realmz is buggy and has severe balance problems, and whoever wrote the text for it desperately needed an editor. It has potential, but that potential is largely unrealized. Even Divinity only helps it so far, and BoE far outshines it in that arena too. In conclusion, Spiderweb makes good games and Fantasoft made a good effort.

Yes, that was a long complaint against Fantasoft. I can't help being bitter.

—Alorael, who also supposes that Spiderweb and Fantasoft could have pitched in together and made a joint purchase of the art. The early relationship between Spiderweb and Fantasoft suggests some willingness to cooperate.

[ Saturday, February 19, 2005 21:36: Message edited by: This moniker is even better. ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Favorite Plauge? in The Exile Trilogy
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, February 19 2005 21:27 Profile Homepage #14
The word troglodyte means cave-dweller and comes from the Greek word for cave, so that definition makes more sense than fish-men (not a meaning I've ever come across). Jeff's troglodytes always struck me more as militant, somewhat bestial humanoids who enjoy killing, maiming, and destroying. The only real evidence for any real-world basis is the word "khazi," and that is arguable. He could have just taken an uncommon word and used it, or it could be either entirely coincidental or subconscious like the word "nephilim" for cat people.

—Alorael, who certainly doesn't see any evidence of Indian culture among the troglos. The only trace of Mongol in them is their tendency towards mass violence, which could be likened to the Mongol hordes. Every invading army would seem Mongolian by that reasoning, though.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Speculating about Avernum 4's plot in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, February 19 2005 21:19 Profile Homepage #143
There is a war between Avernum and the Empire in A2, and that war makes up about 2/3 of the plot (there's a reason for that specific number, too!). There's no such war in A3; in fact, your Avernite party goes around saving the Empire.

A war could start in A4, but it would be a reverse from the events of A3. On the other hand, A3 was completely opposite to the relations between surface and caves in A1 and A2. So, in a nutshell, we make up anything we like while Jeff does his own thing.

—Alorael, who liked massacring the Empire more than saving it. The vahnatai are niftier allies than a bunch of prim and proper human soldiers with real authority problems in that the authority ruling over them is highly problematic.

[ Sunday, February 20, 2005 11:10: Message edited by: This moniker is even better. ]
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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