Profile for Ash Lael

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Price in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 11 2005 17:52 Profile Homepage #14
quote:
Originally written by Jewels of the Forest:

You're missing alot. Even though the demos were huge, they're still only thirds or forths of the whole games. You should buy them... ;)
No, I shouldn't. I don't enjoy them even close to enough to make a purchase worthwhile. They're mainly just loads of fighting glued together with crummy or non-existant storylines.

Geneforge was good, though.

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Recommended Reading in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 11 2005 17:46 Profile Homepage #48
The Salmon of Doubt was to be the third Dirk Gently novel, following on from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul, not the Hitchhiker series. While there was speculation on Adams' part that the story (or rather, the ideas in the story) would work better in a Hitchhiker book, at the time of his death the half-finished Salmon of Doubt was still a Dirk Gently book.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
What are you addicted to? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 11 2005 17:36 Profile Homepage #74
quote:
Originally written by Jewels of the Forest:

So says the 'Voice of Reasonable Morality.'
Have you ever read the stuff he has there? If 10 Reasons to Shoot a Child doesn't prove that the Internet carries no consequences, I don't know what does.

[ Saturday, June 11, 2005 17:40: Message edited by: Ash Lael ]

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
My New Forum in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 11 2005 17:25 Profile Homepage #12
quote:
Originally written by Andrew Miller:

Wow Ash, that was pretty brutal. Why don't we keep it civil - it's not like he's TM or anything. ;)
If you sugarcoat it (I'm sure you're a nice guy, and we really appreciate your effort, but...), they tend to swallow the sugarcoating and ignore what you're actually trying to say.

Mind, he seems to have ignored me completely anyway, so maybe my technique isn't any better. :P

I give it a week, maybe two, of traffic from people who like to post simply for the sake of posting. After that even they will get bored with it, and it will dwindle to a complete halt.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
My New Forum in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Friday, June 10 2005 22:37 Profile Homepage #3
Sometimes you see someone with a dirty mark on their face. It looks horrible, and they have no idea it's there. You feel torn. You don't want to point it out and embarass them, but on the other hand, how bad will they feel when they eventually realize that they've been walking around with this big blotch on their face and no one told them?

I prefer the former option.

No one cares, and you're annoying.

From one friend to another, you understand.

[ Friday, June 10, 2005 22:38: Message edited by: Ash Lael ]

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Price in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Friday, June 10 2005 18:46 Profile Homepage #9
You'll notice that Zeviz referred specifically to the Blades games in the next paragraph, so I think it's safe to assume he wasn't including them in that statement.

Mind, I still prefer the Exile Trilogy to the Avernum Trilogy. Never registered any games from either, though.

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Revisions of BoE scenarios for BoA question in Blades of Avernum
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Friday, June 10 2005 17:01 Profile Homepage #2
It's not at all practical to port a scenario to BoA, but it may be an interesting exercise to remake a scenario in BoA (though it's highly unlikely anyone will do so). By 'remake' I mean take the original scenario, and rather than just doing it all over again, make it the way YOU would have liked the scenario to be done. An adaptation, not a copy.

Quintessence would be the perfect candidate for something like this. It has a great premise but (in my opinion) a pretty flawed execution. Also, the 3D factor could make walking around on the gem pretty trippy.

[ Friday, June 10, 2005 17:02: Message edited by: Ash Lael ]

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
How do we pronounce... in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Thursday, June 9 2005 19:00 Profile Homepage #17
My screenname is pronounced "Unbelievably cool guy".

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
WARNING : Do Not Read EraserHead's Topic, Apology, or Hello Topics - Nasty Images in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Thursday, June 9 2005 13:22 Profile Homepage #93
Given that 'sex' in that context was (obviously) referring to gender and not the act of intercourse, I'm not sure if I want to speculate on why that might be ironic.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Worst Game EVER! in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Wednesday, June 8 2005 20:45 Profile Homepage #118
The original Myst took my breath away. It was the first time I'd ever seen 3D graphics, and it blew my mind that something so beautiful and amazing could be created in a computer.

Then Riven came out, and it was so much better. I realised that the original really was quite... I don't want to say lame, but certainly incomplete. In Myst, everything existed purely for puzzles. Some of those puzzles weren't bad, and the whole thing looked really nice, but there was definite room for improvement. Riven really was close to being as good as a Myst game could be. The puzzles fit within the logic of the world, and stuff had a good, sensible reason to be there rather than simply for the sake of puzzles, the world was less static, and it was even more spectacular.

Myst III... eh. Fun, but not great. I did like Dourif's performance, but the whole storyline felt too tacked-on to the other two, and it was pretty static for the bulk of the game, and somehow it just didn't feel as spectacular.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Why do you like BoE but not BoA? in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Tuesday, June 7 2005 20:26 Profile Homepage #56
quote:
Originally written by 4.808 x 10^3:

Stareye warned him rather severely, and he has since settled down quite a bit. Since he's still not being insolent or unkind to other members, there's no reason to punish him.

Some members just need a chance to adjust to the way of these forums vs. what it was like on their other(s) forums or just their personal lifestyle.
When I read this, my brain nearly exploded, as I thought you were referring to the thread I linked to. :D

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Idea - Scenario Storyboard Contest in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Tuesday, June 7 2005 20:11 Profile Homepage #7
I'd be all for it. I've got a bunch of cool ideas, but not the time/determination to make them happen. In the unlikely event that someone felt like taking one of my 'blueprints' and making it into an actual scenario, I'd be quite flattered. :)

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
A large Rebellion in Blades of Avernum
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 21:41 Profile Homepage #8
Hey, they have a better chance entered as is than if they hadn't been entered at all.

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
WARNING : Do Not Read EraserHead's Topic, Apology, or Hello Topics - Nasty Images in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 21:26 Profile Homepage #2
I escaped pain. After seeing his BAN ME posts, the moment I saw an image starting to load, I shut down the browser.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Why do you like BoE but not BoA? in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 20:18 Profile Homepage #53
Well, the "I have not seen these alleged misdemeanors" argument seemed pretty reasonable for a few days. Then I just happened to remember that particular thread this morning.

No, the issue isn't all that important or worth worrying about. But the idea of an inconsistent and unfair *i arouses my curiosity. :P

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Why do you like BoE but not BoA? in Blades of Exile
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 17:46 Profile Homepage #51
quote:
Originally written by *i:

This is neither the time nor place for such discussions. As far as universal enforcement, I hate to say this, but I am unable to read every single post on this board. I largely skim the topics for things that are blatantly offensive and out of total context.

fatman -- This is your final warning. Discussions on this board are to be related to BoE, not discussions of board policy. Feel free to carry said discussions on the General board.
Forgive me for continuing this here, but I didn't think it would be helpful to start a new topic in General over this. Given that the f-bomb was dropped here, and you posted later in the topic, it would be fair to assume that you read it. Why did you say nothing about that incident, and warn fatman with banning when he called Kel a half-wit?

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SupaNik: Aran, you're not big enough to threaten Ash. Dammit, even JV had to think twice.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
wut game do you like most in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 17:29 Profile Homepage #10
Helf is Alorael, and he is not an administrator. He is, however, a moderater, which is the next best thing.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Juicy stuff on SpiderWeb’s firsts in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Monday, June 6 2005 17:27 Profile Homepage #16
I eat men's souls for breakfast. Or so I've been told.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Sunday, June 5 2005 22:34 Profile Homepage #190
quote:
Originally written by Dervish Malachai:

For instance, how is someone who plans on teaching English going to get relevant experience of any shape, sort or size?
...I really hope that was a hypothetical question.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Sunday, June 5 2005 17:57 Profile Homepage #183
quote:
Originally written by Custer XVI:

I particularly enjoy your consistent assessments of the value of information gleaned from universities vis a vis the 'real world' - e.g. same level of drunkenness, but less profound things to be said of and during it - while considering that your career depends primarily upon the high-learning-heavy skill of talking into a metal cylinder.
I don't understand this sentence.

Once again, I freely recognise that there are many professions in which a degree is not only useful, but essential. I'm not referring to those.

As for social skills, I'm not all that amazing myself. I feel uncomfortable in large groups of people, and I've had to overcome a hatred of using the telephone (which has now subsided to a simple disliking). But really, just making a couple of calls with a prepared list of questions is nothing to worry about.

To those who advocate Uni on the basis of becoming well-educated regardless of employment opportunities, well, your choice. I don't think you'd learn anything more than you would by just going out and doing stuff, but I'm hardly an authority on education. :)

As for going to Uni for fun, well, your idea of fun is pretty different to mine. But if that's what you like, hey, whatever.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Karma? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Sunday, June 5 2005 00:34 Profile Homepage #19
quote:
Originally written by 4.808 x 10^3:

Me = "Republican fundamentalist" = low karma. That's pretty much how it goes.
Personality is a bigger factor than politics, I'd suggest. Speaking as a fellow right-wing fundie, y'know.

[ Sunday, June 05, 2005 00:35: Message edited by: Ash Lael ]

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Summer jobs anyone? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 21:37 Profile Homepage #43
quote:
Originally written by SprungSpring:

Also, hell wouldn't be ruled by satan, it would be ruled by cows.

I went to a farm when I was 10, and I was nearly kicked in the nether regions by a mad sheep. That is why I never want to go on a farm ever again.
Sheep are the wimpiest animals on the face of this earth. Annoying as heck, yeah, but not scary.

VCH: Every place has it's own drawbacks. But yeah, dairy work is one of the worst (in my opinion).

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 20:44 Profile Homepage #171
quote:
Originally written by Zeviz:

Creator, while your advice is probably good in general, there are many occupations that wouldn't even consider an applicant without a certain degree. This is especially true in large companies, where managers can not hire a person just because they like him.
That's very true. Note that I have repeatedly said as much.

[quote]And, your advice works only for those with very good social skills. Not everybody can pick up a phone book and start calling random people.[/quote]Bull. Write out what you're going to say on a piece of paper beforehand. Practise with a friend. It's really not very hard at all.

[quote]Besides, the university time can be very fun and you never know when you might need something that you've learned there. As for the money, unless you go to an expensive private shool, the money spent on tuition is much less than the money spent on living expenses.[/quote]Sure. But it's my opinion that:

1) It's more fun to take time off to do something fun than to go to Uni.

2) It's more likely that you'll learn something that might come in handy later in life by doing stuff in the real world than by going to Uni.

3) Living expenses apply regardless, and there are things that are more worthy of your time and money than Uni (in general terms). Hey, maybe you could have just as much fun earning money!

All depends on what it is that you want to get into, of course. Some people, I think, just go to Uni because it's something to chew up the time while they're still deciding what they want to do with their lives.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Summer jobs anyone? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 20:22 Profile Homepage #40
quote:
Originally written by VCH:

Oh bad deal. Dad can cut your money off. I'm working on a Dairy farm for the summer. Four of my Uncles own it. Its not a fake hobby farm with 20 cows either. More like 1,500 animals. 10.00$ per hour 14 hour per day 7 days a week. July+August.
My sincere sympathies. Dairy farming made me realize that hell would not actually be hot. It would be cold, wet, and filled with bovine excrement.

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00
Who are you? and What's your IQ? in General
Ash Lael
E Equals MC What!!!!
Member # 5491
 written Saturday, June 4 2005 19:41 Profile Homepage #166
quote:
Originally written by PoD person:

I think education is necessary to give everyone a fair shake. Sure, you can work your way up the career ladder if you have the right contacts and you're an unusually likable person, but I think, Ash, that you're working from the assumption that you are the norm, when it seems to me like you are the exception. Employers can't afford to give everyone a chance, so people pay universities for an opportunity to prove themselves.
In terms of my chosen field, I am not an exception in any way. I started out doing volunteer work at a community radio station for close to a year, ended up getting a low-paying job at that community station, moved on to another not-quite-so-low-paying job at a different community radio station. If you look at the professional radio and TV personalities, at least over here, this is how most of them got started.

Of course employers can't afford to give everyone a chance. That's why you make sure you're the stand-out guy they can't pass up.

Want to run a business and have no contacts? Get the phone number of a small business owner. Cold call him. Explain that you're a young person who's interested in his profession and ask if he could spare a few minutes of his time to answer some questions. He may say he's too busy, but generally he'll be happy to help. Have some good questions handy. Ask him how he got into his position. Ask him what a good place to start is.

The least you'll get out of this is some useful info. More importantly, you'll have demonstrated to someone already in the industry that you've got initiative, intelligence and ambition. If there's some low-level job available (and there often is room for another person, they don't tend to advertise unless they absolutely need someone as it's quite a hassle interviewing applicants, etc), there's a chance he'll offer it to you on the spot. If not, you can still apply. He may well remember you.

Once you have that first foot in the door, make sure you do more than is expected of you at every opportunity. You'll get noticed and given more responsibility. Eventually, you'll probably get the chance to partner in the business.

When we were on the dairy, my Dad would have quite happily paid $50 cash-in-hand each day for someone reliable to come and do the milking in the evening. He never got anyone, because it was too hard to find someone good. The offer was made to a few of the local lads, but they didn't seize the opportunity. If they had, and they'd gone out of their way to help out with any other jobs that came up, they would not have stayed a one-milking-a-day employee for long. From there, they could have taken on share-farming, and worked towards getting a herd and farm of their own. And evenif they didn't know the opportunity was there, a phone call out of the blue to ask a few questions about running a dairy would have worked, not just with him, but with many if not most of the dairy farmers in the district.

If I'd wanted to keep cutting stone, the door was open for me to move from being an employee to a sub-contracter. From there, a business partner or my own stone-supplying business would have been a possibility.

Now, I don't like milking cows and I don't like lifting stone, so I took neither of those opportunities. But the same principle applies to a great many professions. If you want to make movies, move to Los Angeles and get a job as a Production Assistant (go-fer) on a film set. No education necessary, just a willingness to work your backside off.

Obviously this doesn't work for every kind of job. But it's still worth talking to people already in the industry. Find out how they got into it. I'd really strongly suggest doing this before spending the money on Uni.

Sorry, that was a ramble. I just don't see the sense in spending some of the best years of your life and a whole bunch of money on something when half the time there's a more efficient, cheaper, quicker option to get where you want to go.

VCH: While working at the game studio would be cool, especially considering they made one of my favourite games, I just don't enjoy the scut work of game making nearly as much as radio work. So even if I got an offer, I'd turn it down.

[ Saturday, June 04, 2005 19:42: Message edited by: Ash Lael ]

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Sex is easier than love.
Posts: 1861 | Registered: Friday, February 11 2005 08:00

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