Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's the norm, nor does it mean it's right. I'm sure you enjoy roleplaying getting 30 pieces of Boar Meat or Skeleton Bones for the local "quest giver". Yeah. Seems like a realistic and engaging world to me. Griding to level 70 really makes me create characters that are engaging and unique and create moral dilemmas by themselves. Everytime I hear something about going on raids and running instances really gets me into character and makes me think that I'm somehow not just another generic Human Mage. The fact of the matter is, D&D is designed as a game that engages your imagination and encourages roleplaying, while WoW is a game designed to get you to keep grinding and collecting widgets so you'll buy the next month of the subscription. While you may not play it that way, it's still how it was designed and intended to be played. It sounds like you've never played D&D under a good DM.
While you may have a point, I'm sure things like that will be streamlined into other skills or ideas. Take 3.0->3.5: Animal Empathy was removed and given to Rangers and Druids as "Wild Empathy". Didn't hurt anyone's character concept. Innuendo was removed and streamlined into Bluff. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept. Intuit Direction was removed and streamlined, along with Wilderness Lore, into Survival. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept. Pick Pocket was streamlined into Sleight of Hand. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept. Read Lips got streamlined into the Sense Motive skill. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept. Scry got removed and replaced with a better system relying on will saves. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Now, look at that list. We have a decent number of skills that many would consider "useless" but others would want. They never removed any functionality from characters, they made things work better. They replaced skills that didn't need to exist. That's what I'm seeing them talking about with 4.0 - Use Rope will no longer exist, but be integrated into another skill.
Tell me the last time you had to roleplay Use Rope in a fashion that was any more than "I tie the rope into a beautiful, sturdy knot" and you might convince me. Roleplaying has nothing to do with useless skills - those skills just get in the way,
I hate to reply to myself, but there's no "edit" button on slashdot, so here I go:
Yes, it does have to be WotC that rewrites the rules. Trust me. Fan-based rule rewrites have happened, many a time, and they have never caught on. They don't have that "Wizards" seal-of-approval. They're not often play-tested, nor made by developers with years of experience. Go around on the Wizards boards sometime and try and find me a serious fan retooling that is used by more than a small handful of people. You won't. Like it or not, the people that play D&D shell out their money for a book of rules. They could go to the fans, but for some reason they feel that what Wizards provides is worth spending money on, while what the fans provide is to be swept under the rug. Much like how you pay money for the Harry Potter books (to give an example) but throw fanfics into the bit bucket.
I just brought in several more players to my gaming group just the other day. If you really think that WoW is competition for D&D, you've never really played the game. D&D engages the imagination and uses this thing called 'roleplaying' that WoW severely lacks. Computer games, no matter how hard they try, simply cannot capture the imagination and cooperative element that pen-and-paper in-person role-playing games provide.
However, if the only D&D you played was "by the book" or "hack and slash", then yes, you would probably be better off with WoW, or even Diablo.
I seriously doubt WotC is dying. The D&D franchise is still extremely large. It may take years for people to switch over, but they'll be making their money, one way or another.
I think you missed the point. We're not saying he shouldn't be allowed to block firefox users - we're just saying he's a massive dumbass with a broken business model.
It seems that, for any device that comes out these days, we first see the NES emulator, then other emulators. This is then followed by ports of Doom, Heretic, Hexen, and maybe Duke3D. This is then followed by Linux, Quake, and Descent. It's only after all that do we see actual new things being made for a platform.
I swear, some people have nothing better to do but port old games to every platform imaginable.
Clearly you're wrong, as it's easy to misinterpret your post as being serious. The only indicator that you were being sarcastic was the slightly higher use of absolutes.
Of course, I'm wrong too if you WERE being serious.
I think you missed the point of his post. He's using the "two wrongs make a right" analogy, and you pin him for claiming all business is evil, and then get modded up. Those aren't the same at all. For shame, Slashdot.
And that's really how it should be. I'm not going to help anyone if I don't have the means to do so. If I've got a cell phone, I call 911 for them. If I don't have my phone on me, well, it's sadly not my problem and I can't do anything about it. If there's something I can do, I will, but that's usually not the case. Having the law require me to help would not be a good idea.
Yes, I looked it up. A 67 and a 33. Sure seems faster than that when you're in games, though.
Makes you wonder why they thought something of that speed could provide a decent web experience. Props to Opera for making it work, even though it, like I said, is almost unbearably slow.
For the record, on same ancient PDA (300 MHz), Pocket IE still runs faster than Minimo (no surprise there) and Opera Mobile (a bit of a surprise). PIE's rendering engine is speedy, at least on machines it's built for.
It's using 40 Megs in the task manager right now (two tabs), and sometimes gets up to several hundred without trying. I have a minimum of extensions installed, as well.
If that was the goal of the browser, it has failed miserably.
First comment: Arguably, Windows is better for the average person. Try getting Grandma on the command prompt. Additionally, More != Better, however in this case, the Wii is clearly a good product, unlike the Windows/Linux comparison, where most people here assume "Windows sucks."
Second Comment: Good for you. I'm still happily buying Xbox games. Nintendo happens to hold a mass appeal to me, as they happen to have a track record of having amazingly fun games.
Exactly right. The N64 era is well over for the consoles. Nintendo's trying for mass appeal, and it's obviously working.
And, how is it a bad thing at all? They're dominating the market, especially if you count the DS. No, I don't think too many people will be pissed off at Nintendo with things like Smash Bros. Brawl coming out, which has the appeal to both casual party gamers and to the hardcore.
Mario's always been able to make fun of itself, and has always been confident in its own ability to be awesome - Mario never goes overboard to try to please. Sonic, on the other hand, has had, since Sonic Adventure, what I like to call "Bad Anime Syndrome".
Allright, good.
I agree with your original point, Sonic Team just CAN'T make a good 3-D game (well, secret rings was good, but it's not a platformer, it's something new entirely). And they can't write dialog. And their voice actors are all annoying.
Really, when I complain about a camera angle being worse than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry, there's a problem with your camera angles.
And the clipping! They never got 3D clipping working quite right. Your characters feel boxy and jerky and you can get stuck on levels easily.
They should just sell the franchise to Nintendo or something - those guys know how to make a 3D platformer!
Oh boy, the Genesis! Heh. That's funny. You see, because they linked it in to a Sega reference while still being grammatically correct! Boy oh boy, I'm still laughing from that one. Yeah. Not.
Mario RPG succeeded, in my opinion, because of its blatant disregard of the Mario universe. It introduced new characters, new plotlines, and new ideas. It took a memorable character and surrounded him with awesome. In this regard is why I think that the Paper Mario games can't stand quite as high as their predecessor (except maybe Super Paper Mario).
Doing the same thing is the only way that a Sonic RPG can work. There are too many flat, retarded characters (Sonic included, really), little true plot (other than OMG EGGMAN IS DOING EVIL AGAIN (I liked him better as robotinik, honestly)), and a catering to a younger crowd with its infusion of CUTE and TEH AWESOME. If Bioware can throw all of that out (and I hope to God that they do), make a whole new universe with different plot and characters (Who was the most memorable of Mario RPG? Geno. He was unique to that game.), new and interesting ideas, then they might have a chance at making a decent game.
However, if they try to keep around characters like Cream and Cheese, the whole Chaotix team (Who cares about them? Seriously? Nobody cares) or even Amy Rose, it might end up sucking royally.
Have you played the Sonic Advance games, or their sequel on the DS, Sonic Rush? Or how about Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii? All of those are excellent games, and the first two (well, 5, because there's 4 sonic advance games) are in the same vein as the old sonic games.
Slashdot Mirror
Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's the norm, nor does it mean it's right. I'm sure you enjoy roleplaying getting 30 pieces of Boar Meat or Skeleton Bones for the local "quest giver". Yeah. Seems like a realistic and engaging world to me. Griding to level 70 really makes me create characters that are engaging and unique and create moral dilemmas by themselves. Everytime I hear something about going on raids and running instances really gets me into character and makes me think that I'm somehow not just another generic Human Mage. The fact of the matter is, D&D is designed as a game that engages your imagination and encourages roleplaying, while WoW is a game designed to get you to keep grinding and collecting widgets so you'll buy the next month of the subscription. While you may not play it that way, it's still how it was designed and intended to be played. It sounds like you've never played D&D under a good DM.
While you may have a point, I'm sure things like that will be streamlined into other skills or ideas. Take 3.0->3.5:
Animal Empathy was removed and given to Rangers and Druids as "Wild Empathy". Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Innuendo was removed and streamlined into Bluff. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Intuit Direction was removed and streamlined, along with Wilderness Lore, into Survival. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Pick Pocket was streamlined into Sleight of Hand. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Read Lips got streamlined into the Sense Motive skill. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Scry got removed and replaced with a better system relying on will saves. Didn't hurt anyone's character concept.
Now, look at that list. We have a decent number of skills that many would consider "useless" but others would want. They never removed any functionality from characters, they made things work better. They replaced skills that didn't need to exist. That's what I'm seeing them talking about with 4.0 - Use Rope will no longer exist, but be integrated into another skill.
Tell me the last time you had to roleplay Use Rope in a fashion that was any more than "I tie the rope into a beautiful, sturdy knot" and you might convince me. Roleplaying has nothing to do with useless skills - those skills just get in the way,
I hate to reply to myself, but there's no "edit" button on slashdot, so here I go:
Yes, it does have to be WotC that rewrites the rules. Trust me. Fan-based rule rewrites have happened, many a time, and they have never caught on. They don't have that "Wizards" seal-of-approval. They're not often play-tested, nor made by developers with years of experience. Go around on the Wizards boards sometime and try and find me a serious fan retooling that is used by more than a small handful of people. You won't. Like it or not, the people that play D&D shell out their money for a book of rules. They could go to the fans, but for some reason they feel that what Wizards provides is worth spending money on, while what the fans provide is to be swept under the rug. Much like how you pay money for the Harry Potter books (to give an example) but throw fanfics into the bit bucket.
I just brought in several more players to my gaming group just the other day. If you really think that WoW is competition for D&D, you've never really played the game. D&D engages the imagination and uses this thing called 'roleplaying' that WoW severely lacks. Computer games, no matter how hard they try, simply cannot capture the imagination and cooperative element that pen-and-paper in-person role-playing games provide.
However, if the only D&D you played was "by the book" or "hack and slash", then yes, you would probably be better off with WoW, or even Diablo.
I seriously doubt WotC is dying. The D&D franchise is still extremely large. It may take years for people to switch over, but they'll be making their money, one way or another.
I think you missed the point. We're not saying he shouldn't be allowed to block firefox users - we're just saying he's a massive dumbass with a broken business model.
I thought all anyone here had to say was "It's not very fun and it's too expensive for what it provides!"?
Yes, nice accomplishment indeed.
It seems that, for any device that comes out these days, we first see the NES emulator, then other emulators. This is then followed by ports of Doom, Heretic, Hexen, and maybe Duke3D. This is then followed by Linux, Quake, and Descent. It's only after all that do we see actual new things being made for a platform.
I swear, some people have nothing better to do but port old games to every platform imaginable.
More like what wasn't released. And by that I mean Starcraft Ghost.
Agreed. Next time somebody sends me a .daa file, somebody's going to have to pay for it.
Clearly you're wrong, as it's easy to misinterpret your post as being serious. The only indicator that you were being sarcastic was the slightly higher use of absolutes.
Of course, I'm wrong too if you WERE being serious.
I think you missed the point of his post. He's using the "two wrongs make a right" analogy, and you pin him for claiming all business is evil, and then get modded up. Those aren't the same at all. For shame, Slashdot.
And that's really how it should be. I'm not going to help anyone if I don't have the means to do so. If I've got a cell phone, I call 911 for them. If I don't have my phone on me, well, it's sadly not my problem and I can't do anything about it. If there's something I can do, I will, but that's usually not the case. Having the law require me to help would not be a good idea.
Is that so!
Exactly. Government is never a good substitute for parenting.
Yes, I looked it up. A 67 and a 33. Sure seems faster than that when you're in games, though.
Makes you wonder why they thought something of that speed could provide a decent web experience. Props to Opera for making it work, even though it, like I said, is almost unbearably slow.
For the record, on same ancient PDA (300 MHz), Pocket IE still runs faster than Minimo (no surprise there) and Opera Mobile (a bit of a surprise). PIE's rendering engine is speedy, at least on machines it's built for.
Except that the DS Browser is slower than fscked fsck. Pocket IE on my ancient PDA runs faster.
If only Firefox had achieved that goal.
It's using 40 Megs in the task manager right now (two tabs), and sometimes gets up to several hundred without trying. I have a minimum of extensions installed, as well.
If that was the goal of the browser, it has failed miserably.
First comment: Arguably, Windows is better for the average person. Try getting Grandma on the command prompt. Additionally, More != Better, however in this case, the Wii is clearly a good product, unlike the Windows/Linux comparison, where most people here assume "Windows sucks." Second Comment: Good for you. I'm still happily buying Xbox games. Nintendo happens to hold a mass appeal to me, as they happen to have a track record of having amazingly fun games.
Exactly right. The N64 era is well over for the consoles. Nintendo's trying for mass appeal, and it's obviously working.
And, how is it a bad thing at all? They're dominating the market, especially if you count the DS. No, I don't think too many people will be pissed off at Nintendo with things like Smash Bros. Brawl coming out, which has the appeal to both casual party gamers and to the hardcore.
Mario's always been able to make fun of itself, and has always been confident in its own ability to be awesome - Mario never goes overboard to try to please. Sonic, on the other hand, has had, since Sonic Adventure, what I like to call "Bad Anime Syndrome".
Allright, good. I agree with your original point, Sonic Team just CAN'T make a good 3-D game (well, secret rings was good, but it's not a platformer, it's something new entirely). And they can't write dialog. And their voice actors are all annoying. Really, when I complain about a camera angle being worse than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry, there's a problem with your camera angles. And the clipping! They never got 3D clipping working quite right. Your characters feel boxy and jerky and you can get stuck on levels easily. They should just sell the franchise to Nintendo or something - those guys know how to make a 3D platformer!
Oh boy, the Genesis! Heh. That's funny. You see, because they linked it in to a Sega reference while still being grammatically correct! Boy oh boy, I'm still laughing from that one. Yeah. Not.
Mario RPG succeeded, in my opinion, because of its blatant disregard of the Mario universe. It introduced new characters, new plotlines, and new ideas. It took a memorable character and surrounded him with awesome. In this regard is why I think that the Paper Mario games can't stand quite as high as their predecessor (except maybe Super Paper Mario).
Doing the same thing is the only way that a Sonic RPG can work. There are too many flat, retarded characters (Sonic included, really), little true plot (other than OMG EGGMAN IS DOING EVIL AGAIN (I liked him better as robotinik, honestly)), and a catering to a younger crowd with its infusion of CUTE and TEH AWESOME. If Bioware can throw all of that out (and I hope to God that they do), make a whole new universe with different plot and characters (Who was the most memorable of Mario RPG? Geno. He was unique to that game.), new and interesting ideas, then they might have a chance at making a decent game.
However, if they try to keep around characters like Cream and Cheese, the whole Chaotix team (Who cares about them? Seriously? Nobody cares) or even Amy Rose, it might end up sucking royally.
Have you played the Sonic Advance games, or their sequel on the DS, Sonic Rush? Or how about Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii? All of those are excellent games, and the first two (well, 5, because there's 4 sonic advance games) are in the same vein as the old sonic games.