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Halloween Jack posted:It's funny you say that because didn't they make a Pool of Radiance sequel with a bug that would totally gently caress up your hard drive? Yup! It'd take out your system files if you uninstalled it. It also didn't have the Wizard, the Bard, or the Druid. The review is hilarious: quote:The first and most glaring (and frustrating) problem with POR is the fact that the encounter levels are way (as in light years) out of whack. I got out my DM's Guide at one point and tried to figure out the challenge for an early encounter. My party was four characters of fourth level which in game terms was worthy of encounters up to level six if you're a sadistic game master. The enemy Orcs I was trying to defeat worked out to be an encounter level 12. In a table-top game, the players would have strung up the DM who did this to them. I save-loaded for more than two hours trying to defeat this encounter, which is one of the most discouraging things that can happen in any game.
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May 18, 2017 16:22
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Siivola posted:You keep writing it with an L. Oh, huh, I guess I did.
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May 18, 2017 16:25
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Kwyndig posted:Wasteland 2 in my opinion is still bad, but yes, it was terrible on release.
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May 18, 2017 16:39
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Halloween Jack posted:I'd gladly play versions that were just, like, 16-bit graphics with balance tweaks and friendlier play control. Like the rereleases of Final Fantasy 1 and 2. The kind of product that a small indie studio could do and release on Steam. this is Beamdog's schtick, fwiw also careful what you wish for because a lot of the later FF rereleases that were developed using this basic model are ugly as poo poo (and have terrible UIs because they're like DS games ported to iPad ported to PC but that's unrelated)
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May 18, 2017 16:44
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Cease to Hope posted:also careful what you wish for because a lot of the later FF rereleases that were developed using this basic model are ugly as poo poo (and have terrible UIs because they're like DS games ported to iPad ported to PC but that's unrelated) The graphics on the FF4 and FF6 rereleases are crimes against humanity
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May 18, 2017 16:57
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gradenko_2000 posted:Yup! It'd take out your system files if you uninstalled it. Is it hilarious because he's wrong on the encounter math or hilarious because he's a trying so dang hard?
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May 18, 2017 17:13
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Ominous Jazz posted:Is it hilarious because he's wrong on the encounter math or hilarious because he's a trying so dang hard? Yes.
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May 18, 2017 17:42
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Ominous Jazz posted:Is it hilarious because he's wrong on the encounter math or hilarious because he's a trying so dang hard? Considering it was a 3e game there was no way for the encounter math to be right.
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May 18, 2017 17:46
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Tyranny is a pretty good game by the way if you like choices having consequence.
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May 18, 2017 18:06
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Tough game to play on Iron Man unless you're playing a psychopath. "Wow that's a lot of blood. Good thing I'm savescumming...oops."
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May 18, 2017 19:46
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Pope Guilty posted:I had an idea for an ultralight Cthulhu game, which I'm calling Quicthulhu ("Quick-thoo-loo") since as far as I can tell nobody's used that before. Have you taken a look at Cthulhu Dark? http://catchyourhare.com/files/Cthulhu%20Dark.pdf
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May 18, 2017 21:38
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LuiCypher posted:What work did he not do? He's zero for two on promised stretch goal novellas, and is more or less confirmed that he will never actually do them. If it was just the Pillars of Eternity, like...sure. You quit your job there, and there was probably at least a little internal drama with how THAT shook out, so fine. But when he also never did the Wasteland one, it starts looking a hell of a lot more like just sheer uncaring.
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May 18, 2017 21:39
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Helical Nightmares posted:Tyranny is a pretty good game by the way if you like choices having consequence. tyranny is depressing as poo poo. it probably doesn't help these BG-alikes that they're all super nihilistic downers. pillars starts you off with dead babies and corpses hanging from a willow tree and goes downhill from there. it's even in the names. wasteland, tyranny, torment. how exciting!
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May 18, 2017 23:01
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The problem was I remember Wasteland 2 somehow coming off as just very grindy and boring. Tyranny and PoE were fun (Tyranny more so).
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May 18, 2017 23:07
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Grim is what you make of it. I'm doing another Tyranny run just to try the option "Pin a note to them and boot them off the tower. Message should survive the impact." 
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May 18, 2017 23:14
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Cease to Hope posted:tyranny is depressing as poo poo. it probably doesn't help these BG-alikes that they're all super nihilistic downers. pillars starts you off with dead babies and corpses hanging from a willow tree and goes downhill from there. it's even in the names. wasteland, tyranny, torment. how exciting!
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May 18, 2017 23:19
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Helical Nightmares posted:The problem was I remember Wasteland 2 somehow coming off as just very grindy and boring. I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who felt this.
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May 18, 2017 23:38
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Just realized I basically created fantasy Stan Rogers for this 5e game. He's a human bard who doesn't like how his tribe is changing (modernizing).
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May 19, 2017 01:45
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Turns out there is an untranslated Russian "edgy-gritty" reboot of Lord of the Rings. This really feels like something that would be written by a fedeora.
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May 19, 2017 18:35
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Covok posted:Turns out there is an untranslated Russian "edgy-gritty" reboot of Lord of the Rings. Yeah, this is another "what if EVERYTHING in the original novel was a lie?!!???!! and It's not even clever - he doesn't rewrite events that could be mis-perceived or talk about how history might have two perspectives, it's literally just "Aragorn was a liar, the Elves were occupying fascists, So much post-Tolkien fantasy is a shitpile of right-wing nonsense. Zurui fucked around with this message at 19:16 on May 19, 2017 |
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May 19, 2017 19:13
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Covok posted:Turns out there is an untranslated Russian "edgy-gritty" reboot of Lord of the Rings. Full communism now, sharku
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May 19, 2017 19:28
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Is there ANY fantasy/scifi that isn't creepy or rightwing bollocks though? Like, even Terry Pratchett's Discworld features a benevolent dictator who rules by dint of everyone being too scared for their own hides, okay with the status quo, or too stupid to take him out, and that's not even the most egregious example. Goddamnit I'm really tired of seeing tepid military sci-fi and GRITTY DWARF NOVELS on the shelves.
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May 19, 2017 19:38
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The Deleter posted:Is there ANY fantasy/scifi that isn't creepy or rightwing bollocks though? Like, even Terry Pratchett's Discworld features a benevolent dictator who rules by dint of everyone being too scared for their own hides, okay with the status quo, or too stupid to take him out, and that's not even the most egregious example. What we need is gritty military sci-fi that is all about the failures of facism and the necessity of socialist, liberal democracy and whismcal dwarf novles about fortresses and weapons sold to elves made of elf bones! Unironically!
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May 19, 2017 19:40
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That latter bit sounds like most Dwarf Fortress LPs tbh.
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May 19, 2017 19:43
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The Deleter posted:That latter bit sounds like most Dwarf Fortress LPs tbh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk
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May 19, 2017 19:50
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Covok posted:What we need is gritty military sci-fi that is all about the failures of facism and the necessity of socialist, liberal democracy This is Starship Troopers for anyone who actually reads the parts of the book that aren't pew pew. The protagonist and his society are indistinguishable from Nazis, everything he believes is propaganda, and the unending state of war is manufactured to keep the corrupt, ideologically bankrupt fascist government in power.
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May 19, 2017 19:53
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Gau posted:This is Starship Troopers for anyone who actually reads the parts of the book that aren't pew pew. The protagonist and his society are indistinguishable from Nazis, everything he believes is propaganda, and the unending state of war is manufactured to keep the corrupt, ideologically bankrupt fascist government in power. Except the author was in support of this stuff, IIRC.
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May 19, 2017 19:54
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Liberal Democracy is as bad or even worse than Fascism, as it often breeds the latter as a preferable alternative
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May 19, 2017 20:00
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Covok posted:Except the author was in support of this stuff, IIRC. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would like a word with that but also authorial intent is meaningless
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May 19, 2017 20:08
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Gau posted:The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would like a word with that but also authorial intent is meaningless Yeah, pretty much. I read that Heinlein was genuinely surprised that people liked Starship Troopers enough to give it a Hugo (I'm not, given SF fandom) and also liked The Forever War. Mind you, as someone who grew up having his dad get him to read a lot of SF from that era, I've since become increasingly disappointed by the other stuff those writers did especially some of their more awful views and later books...
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May 19, 2017 20:25
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Covok posted:Except the author was in support of this stuff, IIRC. I think a reasonable reading would conclude the opposite, but it doesn't really matter. That's been debated for a while.
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May 19, 2017 20:25
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Wasn't that supposed to be Noam Chomsky's Lord of the Rings? My big disappointment from Sci-fi is probably reading Inherit the Stars enjoying the nerdy "anthropologists ON THE MOON" story, and then looking up James Hogan. 
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May 19, 2017 20:48
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The Deleter posted:Is there ANY fantasy/scifi that isn't creepy or rightwing bollocks though? Like, even Terry Pratchett's Discworld features a benevolent dictator who rules by dint of everyone being too scared for their own hides, okay with the status quo, or too stupid to take him out, and that's not even the most egregious example. Pretty much anything written by Iain Banks or any other Scottish author active during Thatcher's reign.
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May 19, 2017 21:40
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I mean, I think it's uncharitable to call all fantasy/sci-fi right-wing. But I think that unless you specifically go out of your way to write something averting it then it would be possible to point out "right-wing" themes in them. I mean, it'd be pretty hard to characterize Terry Pratchett as a right-wing author...but yes the patrician is basically a tyrant who more intelligent and competent than everyone else and there are other themes or ideas that, out of context, could be called right-wing. Part of the problem is of course setting in general (i.e. classic fantasy tends to involve monarchies, tyranny, etc. as "okay"). But largely I think it's just the nature of fantasy/sci-fi fiction in general. They're about important, significant individuals (not groups or movements) doing important things in a world full of threats and dangers. And "world full of threats and dangers" is basically the selling point of fascism and the extreme right...everything you hold dear is in danger and you and your beliefs are always under attack by the large, vaguely defined "other". That's also the basic formula for producing a plot. Can you work around that? Definitely. Is it necessary? No, not really. I can shoot people in the face in GTA or beat someone to death with a dildo in Saints Row without believing that these are acceptable actions in the real world. I can read a fantasy book and cheer for a heroic king without therefore assuming that it would be applicable to real-world politics.
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May 19, 2017 22:26
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China Mieville's stuff can generally be counted on to be free of right-wing bollocks.
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May 19, 2017 23:02
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Mr. Tambo posted:China Mieville's stuff can generally be counted on to be free of right-wing bollocks. Except for his collaborations with Zak S.
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May 19, 2017 23:21
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*riding elephant palanquin of my own brains * I don't read sci-fi novels
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May 19, 2017 23:25
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Arivia posted:Except for his collaborations with Zak S. I'm not sure if Zak S poo poo is right wing so much as just awful human being, but yes probably skip the picture book.
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May 19, 2017 23:27
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Arivia posted:Except for his collaborations with Zak S. Dammit Mieville.
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May 19, 2017 23:28
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Mr. Tambo posted:China Mieville's stuff can generally be counted on to be free of right-wing bollocks. The trade-off is that it's full of navel-gazing smug self-importance so YMMV.
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