Profile for Or else o'erleap.

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Displayed name	Or else o'erleap.
Member number	335
Title	Law Bringer
Postcount	14579
Homepage	http://www.polarisboard.net
Registered	Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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Really anticipated ideas for A5?? in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Tuesday, March 6 2007 11:39 Profile Homepage #19 I like crafting too, but I question the assertion that G3 was more popular than four other games combined. In fact, I'd be surprised if G3 were much more popular than A3 alone. —Alorael, who doesn't even know what that false statistic contributes to the discussion. Crafting is nice. A3-style augmentation or G4-style addition and item creation are good stuff. More would be great regardless of how well other games sold. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Custom Avatars? in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, March 5 2007 16:07 Profile Homepage #2 You don't actually need to delete characters. Try clicking on the various buttons and bits of text on the new party screen and you'll find that you can customize the existing characters to your liking. Probably the most important part is selecting the "Custom" class so you can allocate all the skill points as you like. —Alorael, who hopes you don't mean a custom portrait for your characters. The only way to do that is to start replacing or altering game files. It's not that hard, really, but there's no in-game way to accomplish it. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, March 5 2007 13:17 Profile Homepage #93 I largely don't deal with the Bible, but I can see why it's tempting. Go to the Bible and you can be sure you'll confirm your beliefs. Everyone wants confirmation, and getting confirmation from not just a book but the Book feels great. —Alorael, who imagines it also feels good to be able to get over those niggling little doubts about whether slaughtering all those schismatics was such a good idea after all. That's a really bad confirmation bias. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Monday, March 5 2007 09:03 Profile Homepage #90 Prepend is the computerspeak antonym of append. The "secular" in secular humanism is nice, but you can leave it off without doing real damage. —Alorael, who just has trouble swallowing, say, fundamentalist humanism. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 23:37 Profile Homepage #87 quote: Originally written by Alec: The 'developed sense of morality' and 'modern understanding' you reference is the Enlightenment. The Jesus you would recognize (especially as a Jew, who has no reason to view Jesus as divine at all) is a product of Enlightenment morality, and is present exactly the same in modern Hinduism and Islam Hence my throwing up of hands and shrugging at the end. You can read the Bible and get out nearly any message you want. It's a huge, varied document. You can go on crusades and then make peace on Earth without ever putting it down because the text really isn't nearly as important as your cultural filter. That's actually my hope for religion. Avowed, proselytizing atheists and foaming at the mouth fundamentalists butting heads are funny, but neither side wins converts. A gradual transition from conservative religion to loose religion to semi-religious humanism to secular humanism seeems much more plausible. —Alorael, who has said elsewhere and maintains here that there's no need to prepend the secular. As long as your religion doesn't stand in the way of your brain or your relations with other human beings it's not a problem. (Believing in God is fine as long as you don't ask and don't tell?) Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Playing as the Vahnatai (?) in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 23:30 Profile Homepage #18 Oh, I can see doing something illegal and big. Sacking entire cities, setting off Phoenix Eggs in the Castle, assassinating every mage in the Tower Colony, that sort of thing. Mugging travelers on the roads just isn't that interesting when there are bigger fish to fry. —Alorael, who can see how starting out as Darkside Loyalist goons and working your way up to political assassination and overwhelming acts of arson could make an exciting game. It's just, well, unlikely. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Nethergate: Resurrection in Nethergate
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 23:27 Profile Homepage #48 You can't get back into Annwn after you leave, can you? —Alorael, who is pretty sure death is usually the other way around. Shadowvale is a funny place. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 19:32 Profile Homepage #84 quote: Originally written by Excalibur: I noticed that some of you had a little doubt about the credibility of the Bible. Really, if God is an all-powerful being, then he could control what humans say he said. So if you believe in God, why don't you believe in the Bible. Or do you think God is weak? The question isn't what God could do, it's what he did do. I, for example, say he could have created the world and everything inhabiting it in six days, but he didn't. He could have made a gigantic obelisk with the Bible written in every language and with angelic readers to help the blind and illiterate, but he didn't. He could have made the Bible immutable, but I don't see enough evidence to believe he did. —Alorael, who can also see God just being mean for the sake of being mean. He wasn't all that forgiving to Adam and Eve, after all, and everyone but Noah and his immediate family got a pretty bad deal with the flood. Why wouldn't God let people squirm over imperfect scripture? Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Playing as the Vahnatai (?) in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 19:26 Profile Homepage #15 quote: Originally written by Excalibur: What if you could play as an ogre, troglodyte, hill giant, brigand, Empire soldier, efreet, gorgon, gremlin, dragon, goblin, kobold, golem, etc.? You seem to have gotten two professions mixed up with your races. I know Jeff has said A5 won't be about saving the world, but somehow brigand seems a little too low. Besides, most brigands get slaughtered by adventurers in short order. —Alorael, who could imagine playing as a soldier. In fact, in A2 you are technically Avernite soldiers, and in A3 you are something like a combination of irregulars, spies, and scouts. Soldiering just isn't what Avernum is about, though, and the Empire definitely isn't what Avernum is about. Note the name of the series! Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Jeff Really hates RPGS>?!? in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 17:31 Profile Homepage #6 There was a game whose designer wrote that by decreasing the experience given by killing monsters to a third of its former level he tripled the length of his game. It was a freeware game that probably wasn't even finished, but it spoke volumes about RPGs. At this point, I think Jeff would keep churning out RPGs even if he hated them because they make him money. On the other hand, I still don't think he hates them. He may hate parts, but not all of them. And I, for one, will acknowledge that although I can't stand any MMORPG I've ever played (not many, granted) I enjoy the stats and advancement of most single-player RPGs. Progress and number crunching are fun! —Alorael, who gives the first post high marks for setting a new high mark for circuitous route in requesting Avernum Online. It's a shame to answer it with the standard three-worder: not gonna happen. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Illuminati in Richard White Games
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 13:36 Profile Homepage #1 I've played it and it's fun, but it gets most of the organizations so wrong it's just not realistic. It's also missing some of the better conspiracies, but I suppose that's to be expected. —Alorael, who also tried to get his family to join in. His assorted parents, siblings, and cousins mostly made odd faces and gave each other significant glances, then declined the offer. Very strange. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Chitrach Attack in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 13:34 Profile Homepage #15 For many of the name-change offenders you can rely on title as well. —Alorael, who can technically include himself in this category. Of course Drakey's foibles make this more complicated, as he has not one but two titles to be recognized. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Geneforge 4:rebellion. in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 10:38 Profile Homepage #8 quote: Originally written by Acidic Helixbolt: Shaping is doing harm, to some merely by the fact of it's existence. Like those farmers hateful for not being given new corn species... By that reasoning nobody should ever have any tools but their own two hands so that they can't be upset due to lack of things that would make their lives and work easier. I don't buy it. —Alorael, who uses that corn to justify supporting the Shapers. Yes, shaping is used for evil. The Shapers use it to exert control and the Rebels use it to wreak widespread destruction. Without a war, though, it can be used to protect (armies aren't inherently evil) and it can be used to produce ornks, modified crops, tools, and other beneficial advances. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 10:33 Profile Homepage #77 I'll answer despite being largely unqualified to do so as someone with only the most tenuous of connections to the Bible. quote: Originally written by Protocols of the Elders of Zion: a) Why? Because among the historical oddities and rantings there are genuine moral truths in there. You can do worse than using the Bible for advice. The only problem is having to filter it through a modern understanding. Love thy neighbor isn't a bad idea, but smiting and obliteration aren't socially acceptable anymore I guess that's my problem with the Bible. To make it useful you need to already have a developed sense of morality. If you've got that you don't need the Bible except to bolster your claims and possibly to bludgeon the immoral into mending their ways. [quote]b) Why is that understanding more worthwhile than an understanding of the Koran or the Analects?[/quote]It isn't inherently, but you can pick your creed as long as it has the right messages in there somewhere. Again, the books only become necessary because somehow humans seem to need books to legitimate their beliefs and ethical codes. quote: *c) Why is that understanding attended by reverence?* Treating morality with reverence makes sense to me. It's getting it mixed up in mysticism that makes me uncomfortable. [Edit: Here speeching American.] —Alorael, who notices that he's defending using the Bible as a heavily adulterated metaphorical guide to living a good life. In other words, he's either playing a weak apologist or failing to defend any point at all. [ Sunday, March 04, 2007 10:34: Message edited by: Rising Cycle Five ] Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
New Cold War US-Russia? in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 10:00 Profile Homepage #26 Three Mile Island probably would have been largely forgotten except for Chernobyl, which was an immense disaster. Chernobyl was run poorly by the standards of the time and plants are safer even without that much careful supervision now, but the damage is done. —Alorael, who thinks the big push for nuclear power will come when the fossil fuel crisis becomes bad enough that the cost of oil makes the perceived risks of nuclear power seem worthwhile. It's a shame that that will probably only happen after global warming has become an even bigger catastrophe. Don't put your reactors anywhere near the coast. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Avernum 1 Singleton in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Sunday, March 4 2007 09:50 Profile Homepage #25 Jeff definitely said something at some point about resistance applying to every point so that 50% resistance applied to 100 damage means you can take anywhere from 0 to 100 points. It's not a system that makes much sense to me, but that's how it is. —Alorael, who has never used any special abilities from traits or mind crystals except Divine Aid (in A3 only?) and Restore Energy (definitely A3 only). Most of them just aren't useful. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What happens when I gain a level? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 22:03 Profile Homepage #6 No, you can't delay gaining levels. There's no way to keep milking low-level creations for experience even among all the G1 spawners. —Alorael, who is sure that would have been abused to death and removed during beta. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Exile III Main Menu cutscene in The Exile Trilogy
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 22:01 Profile Homepage #4 That was unfortunately two computers ago. I'm not sure the scenario still exists anywhere I can get to it, and if it does I have no idea where it is. It's not among any of the begun and abandoned scenarios I can find in the BoE folder, but there are more scattered all over. —Alorael, who doesn't think it would take too much work to remake it. It's just a matter of watching the E3 opening again and again. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Jeff, please respond - Magic and Avernum 5 in Avernum 4
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 21:58 Profile Homepage #47 Daze lets you hit your enemies while they can't hit you. Forcecage just puts a fight on hold. There are very few circumstances in which it's useful. Most of them involve a very pesky ranged attacker or spellcaster you can't quite get to until you hack through the meat shields. How often does that come up? —Alorael, who is quite happy living without Forcecage. It's very nasty when used on your party and it's not worth using yourself. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
what is the best A game in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 18:21 Profile Homepage #40 quote: Originally written by Excalibur: I think the golem factory is cool. You have to navigate through conveyor belts ad try not to fall into the lava pool in the center. In E3, yes. In A3, conveyor belts were replaced by lasers as the golem gimmick. The Factory is therefore much less glitchy but stilll mind-bendingly frustrating, and only sometimes in a good way. quote: Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar: Bashing the whole series at once to disprove my points isn't proving how Avernum 2 is the best. I still don't understand what you see in it. I've explained what I see in it, and you obviously disagree. Bashing the whole series wasn't trying to prove my point, it was a commentary on the battles as a whole. They range from mindless to challenging and somewhat interesting, but there really aren't any that made me really think that something incredibly neat was being done. —Alorael, who now thinks back on Nethergate and realizes that one of its strengths is that it relies very little on killing a single important enemy. The only important killings are Castle Aethdoc, which can involve more subtle assassination; Samael, who isn't a fight at all; and the final battle in the Spire of Ages, which also isn't really about critical characters. The most important enemies you face are your four counterparts that you never meet. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 18:14 Profile Homepage #63 Lawrence O. Richards is apparently an ordained evangelical Christian with no background whatsoever in science. Actually, that would explain why he'd propose that problems with C14 dating undermine something other than anthropology, archaeology, and very recent (relatively speaking) biology. But anyway, since Richards has no background in this at all, what does he cite to back up his claims? —Alorael, who has no problem with evolution seeming improbable and creationism therefore seeming palatable. Seeming isn't accurate, though. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Playing as the Vahnatai (?) in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 18:02 Profile Homepage #1 In Jeff's view, there should never be vahnatai PCs because they are meant to be an alien and mysterious race. Stepping into their shoes and really getting to know them also makes them less exciting. Playing entirely as PCs is a little bit different, but it has similar problems. Either you would be playing as characters and in an environment too different for you to really relate and immerse or the vahnatai would have to be humanized. It would also ruin the vahnatai's wonderful ability to provide deus ex machina on demand. —Alorael, who has decided that as far as plot goes he'd rather either see races done thoroughly or left out completely. Avernum 3, for example, makes very little sense with a party full of sliths. You still fit in on the surface? You're still pale? You should play as a bunch of humans or the game should include the overwhelming complexity of having three (or four, with vahnatai) very different races. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
what is the best A game in The Avernum Trilogy
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 14:20 Profile Homepage #35 Both the games have great dungeons. It's not worth bringing them all up. My objections to A3's important battles? In order... Bojar was a generic wizard who happened to get a name. Quick fight, nothing special. The Alien slime is just a lot of pounding with occasional detours to kill the spawned slimes. Boring and not difficult. Elhioc was at least hard. The golem crystal was hard to fight, but it's more of a puzzle since you can kill it with lasers and not get your hands dirty. Rentar should be an "epic" fight, but you're not actually supposed to kill her. She summons faster than you can kill. The result is that it's pointless to actually engage in combat. All you do is slog slowly towards the control panel. —Alorael, who doesn't actually think Avernum has any truly exciting and necessary battles. A4 started making fights more interesting, but before that there really just isn't much. The Ziggurat, the troglos and giants, and Rentar are huge battles, but otherwise they're nothing but more hack and slash. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
On the Road to Weapons of Mass Destruction in General
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Saturday, March 3 2007 10:57 Profile Homepage #59 I hate my neighbors because they're gay at 4:00 in the morning. Partying is all well and good, but there comes a time when you need to be joyous more quietly. —Alorael, who supposes it would be okay if they had abortions at 4:00 in the morning as long as there weren't too much screaming involved. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
What happens when I gain a level? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Friday, March 2 2007 21:57 Profile Homepage #3 Health, energy, and essence are calculated with formulas that include class, stats (Endurance for health, Intelligence for the other two) and level. The more of the stat you have, the bigger the change per level is. —Alorael, who likes the fact that it makes no difference whether you raise Intelligence to 10 and then gain five levels or whether you gain the levels first and then raise Intelligence. You still end up with the same character. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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