Profile for Backwards impaired.

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Art of the Divine in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #4
Hahaha Andres Serrano, i really like his art despite the materials he likes to use. Some of them are really quite aesthetic, and he's interesting to study too. I'm doing him as one of my contemporary artists for the HSC.

I know is has nothing to do with any of the games, but here's a snippet of my major work i made this year. It's due in two days and i'm still not finished! :o

IMAGE(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b333/Janduen/d4d20711.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b333/Janduen/picture3.jpg)

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
The Abominable Photo Thread IV: A New Hope in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #222
Thank you. (: I did camera work that day and felt particularly crappy, so your compliments were well recieved. Also the photo is about a month old, but still 17.

quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

Very nice indeed. And a resident of Australia, too. If I weren't opposed on principle to using the SW forums as a dating service, I'd ask if you lived anywhere near Melbourne. :P [/QB]
Since my principles seem to be running thin today, I can say I don't live near Melbourne. Pity. :P

[ Sunday, May 07, 2006 23:22: Message edited by: Backwards impaired. ]
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
The Abominable Photo Thread IV: A New Hope in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #207
Okay, why not:

IMAGE(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b333/Janduen/moi3.jpg)

:P

P.s Despite appearances, am not high in that picture.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Best Bad Guy in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #24
Hannibal Lecter. Definitely.

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. ffffffffff"

Mmm.
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Descriptions in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #4
Anna, 17, tall, short brown hair like Natalie Portman in 'Closer'. Croatian born. Beautiful eyes. Witty and intelligent, fantastic sense of humour, she inspires smiles and makes friends wherever she goes. Loves to shock people. Makes a fool of herself in modern history and art, especially in front of Erik. Creative-minded, dreams a future career as an actor. Loves Ewan McGregor.

Ula, 17, taller than her mum (tall), hazel eyes, dead straight hair. Polish origins. Worldy and positive, sensitive, confident and assured in her opinions. Totally passionate about Opera, she is a fantastic singer and hopes to pursue it in the future. Her ipod is called Wolfgang. Adores Teddy Tahu Rhodes. 'Cultured'. Her nose gets itchy when she's acting.

Hayley, 16, short, golden bouncy curls. Looks extremely innocent (which makes her a target of freaky men), but is also very opinionated, outspoken and full of bite. A loyal friend, halarious, unpredictable. Often looks like Rene Zelwegger. Enjoys ordering under the name of 'Jesus' when going to Boost juice bars. Also an aspiring actor.

Deb, 17, short, long brown hair, brown eyes, Brazillian origin. Odd, with strange ideas and a creative center. Makes big gestures when she speaks, often forgetful (unless when remembering the game). Gullible, but has more fun being so. Romantic. An aspiring actor, loves the smell of scotch tape and books, old or toxic. Has lost the game.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
how did you find out about spiderweb games? in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #33
When i was about seven or eight my family had an ancient macintosh laptop (which still works!), and my dad always brought a new copy of MacFormat every month. The first one i played was E1 but i couldn't get through the demo, but when i played E3 next i was completely hooked. Six years later my sister says to me "You are STILL playing that?!"

[ Sunday, February 05, 2006 00:49: Message edited by: Backwards impaired. ]

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Is this game nothing but combat? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #31
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

Please explain to me how spending half an hour walking from town to town or bashing your head into every available wall is "challenging".
By not walking, you miss alot of other things besides random monsters. Many people just skim through the easiest route to get to places in new areas and miss out on interesting events that they may otherwise not see unless they pass over the area a few times. It is more challenging and rewarding because it takes time. Not for everyone, evidently not for you, but i'm just stating a personal opinion here. Finding secret passages is challenging because you don't know where they are. The means of finding them is unfortunate, but finding them is enjoyable and it adds a sense of mystery as to where they will lead or what you will find in them.

quote:
Save your game. Try the unidentified item on. If it's cursed, reload your saved game. If it's not cursed, wear it. Again, I don't see how this is exciting or challenging, and it's only "mysterious" for the few minutes before you take it back to town or cast a spell to get it identified.

And I don't see how finding a rare and valuable item is any less special just because you know what it is as soon as you find it.
It builds suspense. If you can't identify it on your own instantly you have to take it somewhere, and those few minutes are exciting. Sometimes you have no way of reaching a town and you have to make a choice to use an unidentified item or not and just see what happens. This makes items in my opinion more interesting and more challenging (when you have to take them to be identified.)

quote:
See, my definition of "dull" includes having to fight endless random monster encounters, whereas yours apparently includes not having to fight endless random monster encounters. I'm not sure what's so fun about horses either. It seems we are at an impasse here. If you really don't like the portals, you don't have to use them.
Sounds pretty reasonable to me, i won't. But it seems to me in this game you need all the experience you can get from battles to improve your party. The portals do have their advantages though once you've passed places a billion times.

quote:
I'm not at all sure that things to which the solution is almost invariably "reload your saved game" significantly add to the game in any way. (Mind you, I usually tend to reload if a character dies even in A4. It's just no longer completely unreasonable to choose not to in some cases.)
It often forces you to try a different option or take a smarter tactic. Part of the challenge i beleive is in trial and error. Besides, what importance is placed on death if they never die? Frustration of one of them dying is great. If they just go unconcious, it's like 'sure, who cares.'

quote:
So you end up bashing your head against every single wall in every single room by force of habit. Again, I do not see how this is fun. But hey, maybe I'm just jaded after headbanging my way through literally hundreds of BoE scenarios full of secret doors for the sake of having secret doors.
Maybe after a while it becomes dull, but i'm sure i'm not the only one who found them at least a little interesting once upon a time. It's just a part of discovering a new place.

quote:
The combat is of a much, much higher quality than in previous Avernum games. TM will probably gut me for making this comparison, but let's put it this way. Do you play BoE or BoA? If you liked TM's BoE/BoA scenarios, you'll probably like A4. If you didn't, well, you might not.
The combat is probably better, but at what expense? According to people's responses in this thread it seems it has replaced all else. Couldn't the extra challenge in battle have been placed in with difficulty settings instead?

Unfortunately i haven't played TM's scenarios so i can't really judge it by that. I'm not stubburn enough not to try A4, it could have much more going for it as far as i know, but it's taken out some of the elements that i personally loved such as identification, puzzles and secret doors and just repaced it with more combat. It's all about progress, moving onwards, but never stopping to smell the roses.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Is this game nothing but combat? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #26
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

[quote] Originally written by Jeff in "About Avernum 4":
I have ruthlessly pared away all of the stuff that caused busywork and confusion without adding fun. Needing cash to train and only being able to train in a few places. Gone. Identifying items. Gone. Expensive, difficult resurrection. Gone. First Aid and Alchemy skills that were perpetually worthless. Redesigned to actually work. And there are portals to travel instantly from town to town, though it takes a little time to find them.

[/quote]No money needed for training, no identification, no puzzles, portals instead of walking, no secret doors? It seems Jeff has dumbed down this game to its maximum. The whole reason for these things i thought was to bring in a bit of mysetry and provide a challenge.

1. It was great to charge for training because not only was it more realistic, but it gave you more of a reason to take rewards and jobs.
2. Identification of items gave you an extra choice. Something that is unidentified is a mystery, and whorth the excitement of finding out what it actually is. Without it how are you ever going to acidentally curse yourself, or be surprised to find you have a rare item? It's a part of the unexpected that comes out to surprise and interest you.
3. If you can just transport yourself everywhere by portals, you don't get half the fun of encounters, horses and battles etc. It's just too damn easy, and dull. They better be expensive to use once you find them.
4. Ressurection is something that should stay difficult. Sure it was annoying when someone in your party dies, but once again it provides a challenge. It makes you re-load or move on, but it brings variety into your game or alows you to do something in a smarter or better way.
5. Secret doors, i love them. They surprise you when you find them, sometimes they're obvious, but most people always go back to find them. How often have you gone back to a dungeon to find all the secret doors?

Granted, i haven't yet played the game. However the impression that i'm getting doesn't sound very good. It's as though Jeff's dumbed this one down and removed part of the mystery, and if all this game is just hacking down monster after monster, i'm probably better off chopping up some carrots for dinner instead.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Official Election Final Round Voting in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #51
My vote to Thuryl.

Go Aussie go!

[ Saturday, July 16, 2005 00:10: Message edited by: Backwards impaired. ]

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Avernum I: The Movie in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #51
quote:
Originally written by Ash Lael:

Many, many BoX scenarios have nothing to do with Jeff's plotline. Probably the majority.
Now that's an answer, and you do have a point. To be more specific i just meant some basic elements: the races, monsters, class systems and the world of Avernum are still used. In that way they still have a strong connection to what was originally made by Jeff.

This is going off topic now, but being Marxist or not doesn't give you a right to go insulting people.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Avernum I: The Movie in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #48
quote:
Originally written by Marx' Martyr:

quote:
Originally written by Backwards impaired.:

Yeah I can see how Blades is an interactive sort of fan fiction
Screw you and die.

Blades is where you can change/make new stories from the basics of the Avernum plot by Jeff. This is very similar to the principles of fan fiction.

You could at least EXPLAIN your objection, and be less of an idiot.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Avernum I: The Movie in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #40
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

[QB]Three main reasons. Firstly, Jeff's games have kind of a small audience. Secondly, Jeff has said that he doesn't really approve of fanfiction. Thirdly, Blades of Exile and Blades of Avernum sort of make fanfiction unnecessary.
QB]
Yeah I can see how Blades is an interactive sort of fan fiction, they run on the same principles but just different meduims. Jeff's dissaproval of fanfics really doesn't make much sense then.

Anyhow, i think there's definitely alot of potential in the story to make a movie or a book. It just needs to be in the hands of a good writer. I can also see some natural locations being used too, like mountains and caves and such. Kind of LOTR style.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Avernum I: The Movie in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #29
If anything from the exile/avernum story was to be made into a movie, maybe it would be better to have all three stuck together, as a sort of history. Of course the writers would have to develop the plot alot more and cut out the useless, but otherwise the story is really quite interesting. At least it could be better than A LOT of other movies that i've seen.

Speaking of which, why are there no avernum/exile/nethergate/geneforge fanfics?

P.S Don't give Vin Diesel a role.

[ Saturday, June 25, 2005 02:07: Message edited by: Backwards impaired. ]

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Elections: The Registration Thread in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #22
I'll vote!
(Me too)
(Me three)
I hope there's room for multiple personalitites. :D

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Star Wars! in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #56
Saw it today - bloody brilliant! That's all.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
E3 Ruined World: Who did you think was responsible for the plagues? in The Exile Trilogy
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #9
At first i wasn't really sure, i just figured i'd find out in due time. But when i kept finding suspicious little vahnatai items everywhere i eventually put two and two together. I guess those guys just don't know how to clear up evidence properly.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Music Preference in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #30
quote:
Originally written by Archmagi Micael:

quote:
Originally written by BainIhrno:

The only music I have a great interest in are the soundtracks to the LotR movies.
Pretty Much the same here, do I do have a few Countries and Pop etc. But a lot of the time I just listen to movie soundtracks. LoTR, PotC:CotBP, HP, etc.
- Archmagi Micael

I know what you mean, i can't stop listening to soundracks at the moment! I'm currently hooked on Phantom of the opea, moulin rouge, lotr and romeo and juliet sountracks for now. My friend has also taken a fascination with opera and tagged me along for the ride, and i've taken a liking to listening to Carmen as well as a few others.

Also anyone who hasn't heard Mad World by Gary Jules is surely missing out.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
How did you got your username? in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #57
I can't say supercalifragelisticexpialidocious backwards for my life. xD All my friends can, where i can't so hence my current name. Up until this point i was The Red Book, but that's just for my love of lotr.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Next question rollin in... in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #10
Apparently misc still exists on Web archive. Ah, don't you just love history?

Edit: It looks as though most of the topics don't work anymore, but at least it's something to look on with fondness.

[ Thursday, March 03, 2005 20:55: Message edited by: The Red Book ]

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
How many? in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #11
Originally written by Dolphin:
quote:
I honestly didn’t put a ton of thought into it. I’m Dolphin but I don’t live in the middle of the pacific ocean.
:P Thank you, that just made my day. xD As for being on topic, no, i don't recall thinking you were from Cairo.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
New look for www.spidweb.com in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #6
I quite love it actually. The colours are definitely a lot nicer than they were before, and the top banner is very funky. So far i think it's the best layout out of the ones that i've seen.

Does the jungle type one still exist somewhere? I've never seen the first layout either and i'd be curious to see them again.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
You can drown plowing the fields or you can drown seeing the sights in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #2
It's hard to find the words to say anything about this disaster. It's a complete horror. Worse, they expect that just as many people may die of the resulting diseases.

I can only hope that they can get as much help as is humanly possible.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Recommended Reading in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #10
Pride and Prejudice was alot of fun to read, it really gives a very interesting/witty outlook on the customs of those times. It's a good read unless you have some problem with a book that's mostly in a womans point of view, but if that's not you then i'd reccomend it.

As for the Da Vinci Code it's a pretty good read too, i wouldn't say mindblowing but really intriguing. It's really all in the way that it deals with things that could very well be true in real life. And if you like art history then definitely go for it, though i don't think you'll have an easy time picking one up at the library just yet.

(A little off topic, but dosen't anyone think that the Da Vinci Code's been a little over publicised? Here in Australia they've come out with at least 5 books about the original, hardcover editions with pictures, a documentary as well as the prospects of making a movie about it. It's crazy. Not to mention that documentary was just terrible.)

Another good series that i've always liked is the Earth's Children series by Jean. m Auel. In the first book ( Clan of the Cave Bear ) we're introduced to the main character called Ayla, who is separated from her family and lost. Then who she meets is what really begins the story, but i won't tell you much if you do happen to want to read it. All i can say is that it really gives a beautiful human quality to people many have long considered uncivilised. It's a really good book, and if it doesn't get you into wanting to read the rest of them the first time i'd be surprised.

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Speculating about Avernum 4's plot in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #10
My guess is that whatever will happen, as some of you said it will most probably center around the empire-avernum-vahnati tirangle. There's just too much uncovered ground for them to ignore.

As a result of the destruction of the monster plagues there's no doubt the vahnatai are angry. They even said it was just the beginning of their revenge. So they're going to have to do something, they can't just sit there.

The questions Kyna pointed out i also feel will be very important. There are more than enough people still bitter with the avernites, and i have no doubt they could overule Prazac. The problem there is that could start the whole story again, but maybe a common cause could unite the people once and for all? Maybe the fight against the vahnatai.

But what i really hope they include in avernum 4 is a great big avernite city in that open area they told us about in AV3. Then in there we could find all those classic averites that we've known and talked to who had longed to return. Maybe Anamixander would be the mayor? I'd like to see Marrian and Ko married with kids, the reaction of that man who had never seen a bird and the surviving charcters from AV1 there among other things. I had hoped something like that in AV3, but if there was such a town in AV4 it will make going through AV3 more worthwhile.

Written by Kelandon
quote:
What I would like to see is a bit different. I'd like to see Vantanas, and a strange new jungle environment, and lots of new monsters and stuf.
I'd like to see a bit of jungle too, though i have no idea where exactly he'd put it in. I'd also like to see some kind of monkey inspired monster, something like cannibalistic monkeys. (They exist, and they scare me. :|)

(Edit: My 50th post! *mad leprechaun dance*)

[ Sunday, December 26, 2004 00:21: Message edited by: The Red Book ]

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00
Delivery Time in General
Warrior
Member # 3804
Profile #2
I live in Australia and it took me a little over two weeks to get my letter in. Hope it comes soon. :)

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"This......is a TREE! What's it for?" -Exile III
Posts: 75 | Registered: Saturday, December 20 2003 08:00

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