1541

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)

« on: February 24, 2014, 05:13:17 PM »

Well screw, Drew. How dare he write the games and books to just leave at the end?! I lost any respect I may have had for him.

1542

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 24, 2014, 05:11:42 PM »

some roleplaying game that doesn't let you play the way you want

Fo realz. I love playing unarmed characters cause those powerfists are pretty damn awesome. What kind of rpg is this?!

1543

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)

« on: February 24, 2014, 04:59:08 AM »

This was the rough plan before the original lead writer left at the end of ME2.

Ah, so that's why the game seems different. The story lines are generally weaker and don't continue previous themes as you mentioned. Do you know why he left?

1544

Science & Alternative Science / Re: My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 23, 2014, 07:43:56 AM »

This tumor was his entire stomach. I don't think it was a matter of touching it in the right way since I was basically petting, brushing, and grabbing a tumor for the last 6 months.

1545

Science & Alternative Science / Re: My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 23, 2014, 12:22:37 AM »

Damn, well my dog must really be one tough son of a bitch.

I would place my hand on his stomach to steady him while I stretched out his hind legs every morning for his stiff hip. I would pet his stomach. I would hug around his torso. Every time it rained we would towel him off everywhere. I brushed him frequently, especially around the side of his belly where he sheds a lot. I even felt and prodded his sides when I thought he felt bloated. Literally, no sounds.

1546

Science & Alternative Science / Re: My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 22, 2014, 01:17:07 PM »

My dog had a tumor removed the size of a rugby ball, it's not easy to notice.

The only point where I knew something was wrong was when she yelped after stroking her stomach.

I wish mine would have yelped. I might have known sooner.

Was hers benign or cancerous?

1547

Science & Alternative Science / Re: My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 22, 2014, 12:14:19 PM »

It just seemed like he was gaining weight. Because he's a senior we take him to the vet every 6 months. Nothing weird showed up in his blood levels. It must have grown very fast because he was around 42 lbs during his last check up. I did notice he felt bloated a couple weeks ago, but that's all I thought it was since he never acted strangely. The only indication was him peeing inside.

And it was much larger than his head.

1548

Science & Alternative Science / Re: My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 21, 2014, 09:38:49 PM »

That is one tough dog

I bet he's up about now as if nothing happened.

He's a little wobbly on his feet sometimes but that's probably the meds. He gets pain medication once a day and antibiotics. He had a cough too and she was a little worried that it might be cancer in his lungs, but I told her he usually has one when he's shedding a lot. She thought it might be allergies then so he's taking benadryl too and he hasn't been coughing which is a good sign for his lungs.

Other than that, he thinks everything is fine. He even tried to jump in the car when we brought him home. He's terrible with the cone though. He keeps bumping into everything and scraping it along the ground.

That couldn't have been cheap.

I did set up a credit line, but it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. She's a great vet. She took him to her house overnight rather than set him up at an emergency place and didn't charge me for the x-rays that were too dark or light. Of course, the expenses aren't over yet. We have a check up tomorrow and his sutures will be removed next week.

And it helps that my tax return was large.

1549

Science & Alternative Science / My Dog's Giant Tumor

« on: February 21, 2014, 08:02:33 PM »

So here's the screenshot of the vet's post on facebook about it. Then I posted just the pictures. Like I said, the tumor didn't encompass any of his organs so it came out in one clean chunk and that is just the tumor. She had the theory that maybe he was never neutered (I got him as a rescue so we don't know his early medical records), that maybe these were testicles that never descended and grew into a cancerous mass.

Pre-surgery he weighed 47 lbs and post he's 38 lbs.

1550

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 10:20:44 PM »

If you spend that much time on character creation then sure. I can see it getting annoying.

But if a game also doesn't draw you in with any kind of good story or environment then it also sucks.

And shouldn't character creation take awhile for a good RPG? That's just kind of standard really. The first Fallout didn't seem like too much of an RPG in the first 5 minutes. More like a point and click rat fighting game.

I'm having trouble working out what you're trying to say. Is it the mark of a good RPG to spend time on character creation or is it in fact crappy if it takes more than five minutes?

As for F1, Vault 13 is only a place to begin, not the game in full, there's plenty of story if you allow the game a little time to get rolling, a large chunk of it comes from the large cast of characters you meet out in the world. If you're looking for a big attention grabbing thing right away, it doesn't have that, what it does have is a world rebuilding itself and lots of stuff to do to help or hinder its progress, ultimately these combine to offer rather a large story surrounding the fate of the future NCR. If you judge it to be a bad game on the first five minutes alone, that's your problem.

First, we can stop assuming I made a judgment off 5 minutes. I played for about 20. I made it to a vault in the east and experienced several crappy battle sequences. If the story gets better great, however I'm sure the combat remains terrible. The only person I talked to was a caravan trader. Yay. They could have at least started you off inside the vault rather than outside which makes it seem like they're discouraging any opening story.

Second, yes it is the sign of a good RPG to spend time on character creation. Usually, I know what I want and it doesn't take too long for me on modern RPGs simply because they're not as thorough as the older ones. If you're spending too much time creating your face then you should remind yourself that you'll never look at it and it doesn't matter. Remind me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the original Fallout ask you to pick a character with a backstory? I thought that was weird. I would rather they feed me a backstory through dialogue with NPCs, but whatever.

It has a high rating, so it must get better at some point. I was just wondering when. Then again people really love FFVII and I never could get into that.

Well, 20 minutes and 5 isn't all that different in terms of how much of the game you experienced. Shady Sands, which is en route to Vault 15 from your starting location, is generally where people stop first, in it you meet Aradesh and Tandi, get Ian in your party, fight some radscorpions and Khans and generally get a feel for how pretty much everything in the game works. I can understand people not liking Fallout, really, I can, but I think a lot of people either do what you did or they get killed in their first random encounter and just quit. It's the kind of game that requires a patient and methodical approach, and I'd really advise giving it a few hours at least before dismissing it, it just isn't the kind of game you can assess in 20 minutes.

As for character creation, in a traditional RPG like D&D, as I understand it, each player designs a character and comes up with a backstory for them, they then play that character according to the information they've decided upon. In Fallout, there are three premades with their own backstories that you can play, but by far the most popular — and recommended — option is to create a new one from scratch with whatever backstory you like. I guess it depends how much imagination you want to put into it, personally I didn't like how F3 handled backstory, it was far too prescriptive for my taste, but I can appreciate why some would prefer to have an opening sequence like that rather than having to come up with their own motivations for whatever they're doing.

Oh, then I didn't make it to a vault. It wasn't Shady Sands either as there were no people.

At this point I'm comparing the game more to something like Baldur's Gate than the newer Fallout games. In Baldur's Gate it takes awhile to create the race, class, weapon variety that you want.

Then, you spend some time in the Candlekeep, getting to know people and a little basic foundation for your own background. It reveals just enough so that you know a little about the what you're getting yourself into. But the motivation when moving forward is still something that you can come up with. But your simple back story is revealed through casual encounters with the people which I feel is more authentic.

1551

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 09:30:01 PM »

It has a high rating, so it must get better at some point.

??????????????????????????????????????

Not sure what you're questioning...

Bad games never get high ratings, apparently.

You hate everything, so I can see how you're confused.
I find high rated games to be generally enjoyable in some way. Especially since I love this genre and the new Fallout games, I'm sad I haven't enjoyed this one yet. Which is why I'll try again.

But maybe it's high rated because of its gameplay mechanics, which you've already demonstrated not to like.

Nah, it looks like it's for the writing and style. It also apparently has one of the top best endings.

1552

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 09:00:41 PM »

It has a high rating, so it must get better at some point.

??????????????????????????????????????

Not sure what you're questioning...

Bad games never get high ratings, apparently.

You hate everything, so I can see how you're confused.
I find high rated games to be generally enjoyable in some way. Especially since I love this genre and the new Fallout games, I'm sad I haven't enjoyed this one yet. Which is why I'll try again.

1553

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 08:51:39 PM »

It has a high rating, so it must get better at some point.

??????????????????????????????????????

Not sure what you're questioning...

1554

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 08:45:19 PM »

The only person I talked to was a caravan trader.

Incorrect, you speak to Kenneth Mars right at the beginning.

Right. The guy who just kinda talks at you and pushes you out the vault.

1555

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 04:12:07 PM »

If you spend that much time on character creation then sure. I can see it getting annoying.

But if a game also doesn't draw you in with any kind of good story or environment then it also sucks.

And shouldn't character creation take awhile for a good RPG? That's just kind of standard really. The first Fallout didn't seem like too much of an RPG in the first 5 minutes. More like a point and click rat fighting game.

I'm having trouble working out what you're trying to say. Is it the mark of a good RPG to spend time on character creation or is it in fact crappy if it takes more than five minutes?

As for F1, Vault 13 is only a place to begin, not the game in full, there's plenty of story if you allow the game a little time to get rolling, a large chunk of it comes from the large cast of characters you meet out in the world. If you're looking for a big attention grabbing thing right away, it doesn't have that, what it does have is a world rebuilding itself and lots of stuff to do to help or hinder its progress, ultimately these combine to offer rather a large story surrounding the fate of the future NCR. If you judge it to be a bad game on the first five minutes alone, that's your problem.

First, we can stop assuming I made a judgment off 5 minutes. I played for about 20. I made it to a vault in the east and experienced several crappy battle sequences. If the story gets better great, however I'm sure the combat remains terrible. The only person I talked to was a caravan trader. Yay. They could have at least started you off inside the vault rather than outside which makes it seem like they're discouraging any opening story.

Second, yes it is the sign of a good RPG to spend time on character creation. Usually, I know what I want and it doesn't take too long for me on modern RPGs simply because they're not as thorough as the older ones. If you're spending too much time creating your face then you should remind yourself that you'll never look at it and it doesn't matter. Remind me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the original Fallout ask you to pick a character with a backstory? I thought that was weird. I would rather they feed me a backstory through dialogue with NPCs, but whatever.

It has a high rating, so it must get better at some point. I was just wondering when. Then again people really love FFVII and I never could get into that.

1556

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 03:10:36 PM »

The game crashes. Start over.

Damn. So close.

1557

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 02:47:08 PM »

You punch at the nearest Deathclaw.
You miss.
The Deathclaw attacks you with his claws.
You are near death.
The other two Deathclaws comes closer.
What do you do?

Cast magic missile.

1558

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 12:50:28 PM »

You exit the Vault.
You're level 1.
Your weapon is a 10 mm pistol.
Three wild Deathclaws appears and charges at you.
What do you do?

Throw away pistol and use fists.

1559

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 12:24:28 PM »

Would you prefer Deathclaws right from the start?

Yes.

1560

Arts & Entertainment / Re: Fallout series

« on: February 19, 2014, 12:14:16 PM »

If you spend that much time on character creation then sure. I can see it getting annoying.

But if a game also doesn't draw you in with any kind of good story or environment then it also sucks.

And shouldn't character creation take awhile for a good RPG? That's just kind of standard really. The first Fallout didn't seem like too much of an RPG in the first 5 minutes. More like a point and click rat fighting game.