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Kelandon

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Posts posted by Kelandon

  1. Is it OK to link to the shop and/or the specific BoE sections here? I just want to ask so I don't do a no-no.

    Because it's forum-related, I think it's fine. We do frown on for-profit advertising of unrelated activities, but this is neither of those. Better to link to the specific BoE stuff than to the general shop if possible.

  2. I don't know that I think the consequence is lack of "immersion," per se, but I do miss all three of those things. The A3 engine was kind of crap, so I'm looking forward to the remake of that, but A1 and A2 were good enough on their own that little things like these three become things that I miss in the remakes (because I'm not distracted by how much better the engine is, as I expect to be in the A3 remake).

  3. I guess you've probably read the wishlist thread, but I wanted to highlight one request I made over there: more variety in the number of accompanying Hands. In an initial sequence, we get 1. In the endgame, we get everyone. Otherwise we always have 2. But it would be cool to have certain special events in which we had more varying numbers, especially larger parties. Maybe for the last trip out to an area, they improved the portal and now we can take 3, not just 2. Or maybe there is some in-base quest on which we can take everyone even before the endgame.

     

    It doesn't seem like it would be very hard (though the fights may be a little harder to balance), and I think the effect would be really cool. Just a thought.

     

    EDIT: Also, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate that you're doing this. Both that you're putting work into the engine for the final game and that you're taking board community feedback.

  4. Not sure why that would be Kelandon, is it something to do with the crappy free web hosting I've used?

    Not a clue. I'm on a Mac anyway, so the download isn't really an issue, but I was curious about whatever additional information you might have on the site.

  5. 1. Cultural achievements are owned by the race that creates them. E.g., "twerking" is property of the Negroid race.

     

    2. Of course, the above does not hold for evil (privileged) races, only for good (oppressed) races.

     

    THIS IS WHAT SELF-PROCLAIMED PROGRESSIVES ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

     

    On a more serious note: Without the first assumption, the whole giant on clay feet called "cultural appropriation" just falls flat on its face.

    Again illustrating my point that the phrase "cultural appropriation" is terminally unclear and needs to be replaced with something that more accurately captures the phenomenon. The quoted post should not be possible. The only reason it's possible for someone to say this is that the poster doesn't understand what the phrase means. We can blame the poster, but frankly, I blame the phrase.

  6. Will we see you again?

    Given that Alorael is literally unseeable, probably not. However, you probably will see pixels forming letters on your screen representing posts from the so-called "Alorael" entity, and this may give you the impression of "seeing" Alorael. I assure that this is a mere delusion, and it is only a sign that you are going mad (as planned).

  7. For people who do want to challenge themselves not to use it, I guess you could always include a medal/achievement for going through the game without ever retraining.

    I like this idea.

     

    Eliminating the level cap and, if you must, replacing it with some other way to maintain endgame balance has to be the most common suggestion I've heard throughout the Avadon series, and I full-throatedly endorse it. It was sort of fun to be able to hit the endgame a bit overpowered in earlier Spidweb games — maybe on Normal you could continue to scale up normally but there could be some kind of slowing of level gains at high levels on Hard and Torment?

  8. Alright, I should have searched this a while ago instead of asking whiny question. Live and learn.

     

    http://www.blackgirl...-appropriation/

     

    ^^^ This actually makes it pretty clear which of my written universes are definitely appropriate, and which may be alright.

    Tevildo, it seems like you feel really, really guilty about being white. Stop it. It's not helpful to anyone.

     

    Part of the reason that you feel really, really guilty about being white is that you read things like this link. This author is Very Offended about something, but when you dig into the details, there's a problem. Her central point appears to be that white people should not write stories with nonwhite protagonists. Along the way, this author appears to make a number of other bad points and bad assumptions.

     

    There is something to be outraged about that is adjacent to what this author says. It is true (and awful) that women and people of color do not get a fair shake when they would like to be screenwriters and directors in Hollywood. Look at some numbers and it's hard not to see prejudice pretty instantly. This is a problem, and it needs to be fixed.

     

    But this author doesn't appear to have identified that problem. Instead, this author tries to say that white people shouldn't write about nonwhite characters. This seems pretty overtly racist to me. By all means, read things like this piece, but read them critically, just as you would read anything else. Listening doesn't mean agreeing, and there's a lot to disagree with in this piece.

     

    -----

     

    And yes, Sindu makes some motions in the direction of a reasonable point: when someone from outside a culture writes about that culture, that person should not portray the culture in a stereotypical and racist fashion. Of course, the same is true of someone from inside that culture. Authors in general, regardless of background, shouldn't portray an entire culture in a stereotypical and racist fashion, partly because it's offensive and partly because it's bad writing. Stereotyping and racism might have been a legitimate criticism of Bold Riley; I don't know, because I haven't read the graphic novel.

     

    But read carefully: that's not Sindu's point. Sindu wants "a story that was written for me by people like me" (my emphasis). That is, she doesn't want a story written by white people at all. Why? Because she's a flagrant racist.

  9. As for the Washington Redskins, here's a bit of appropriation: the word "redskin" is similar to the word "gay". It was chosen by the people it represents, and then was appropriated by people outside those groups to use as slurs. Also, the "racist" logo was created in close collaboration with Native Americans and appears to be a realistic face with realistic attire. Both name and logo were intended to honor Native Americans. Wikipedia says that at the time the name and logo were chosen, the coach and four players were Native Americans. The controversy is baloney.

    This sounded awfully convenient, so I did some checking. Your source of information is the football team's owner, and you get three Pinnochios! The true origin is just as exploitative and stereotype profiteering as you would expect of 1930's America.

     

    Besides, the origin is almost irrelevant. The term "redskin" is clearly a slur today. It dropped out of widespread use half a century ago, when explicit racism started to be uncool. (Started, mind you.) So having a team in the nation's capital whose name is a slur is clearly wrong, and an eyesore to boot.

     

    I might have a different view about the Cleveland Indians or the Atlanta Braves, at least if they back up their nominal "honoring" Native Americans by using some of their revenue for charity work in tribal communities (or something, anything, that makes it look not fake). But the Washington Redskins? No. Not cool.

     

    (I confess, by the way, that I somewhat have a dog in this fight. One of my great-great-grandparents was Native American. I don't feel like we're honoring him at all with this team name.)

  10. I don't know if it's the scenario or the game itself, since this is literally the first time I've played it on the laptop, but yeah, the game would frequently crash during cut scenes, often resulting in missed flags and blocked progress. I got around this by constantly having multiple saves, and keeping my fingers crossed. It was worth it.

    This is odd. It sounds like your version of BoA really does not agree with your computer. This sort of thing happens in Exodus, but it really shouldn't happen in The Magic; I didn't do anything too fancy or too extreme here. I don't know why this is happening.

     

    I did think it was weird that I had the option to tout my future leadership with Sophia before I learned about it myself.

    Ah, fair point. Maybe chalk it up to absurd boasting? If I ever release a 1.0.1, I'll change this.

     

    The only other thing that struck me as odd was the way AP were deducted for using the Magic. They were apparently only ever taken from the lead character. So if my speedy archer went first and used it, she kept her AP, but the warrior lost his for that round. This was pretty easy to scam by having the warrior wait.

    This shouldn't happen. I just loaded up the scenario again to make sure that I hadn't accidentally screwed this up in the most recent release, and no, this isn't how it works on my computer. AP gets deducted from the person who uses the magic. I have no idea why this is happening on your computer.

     

    I suspect that this is some sort of BoA bug on your computer, not a scripting problem, sort of like the above.

    And was it intentional for the casters to be able to spam attacks on the same turn for as long as their SP held out in Danatha? Don't get me wrong, it was a lifesaver, but it kind of felt like cheating. Of course, you were tossing a level 9 party up against some serious aggro, so all's fair I guess. Though I guess it also would have been possible to just stay invulnerable and run out the clock?

    I think this is the same BoA bug as above. But you can actually stay invulnerable throughout the whole battle, and that is intentional.

     

    Glad you liked the scenario! It's really encouraging.

  11. But here's my problem, with every new release I see the original diminished. Avernum truly added nothing game system wise. Maybe it was easier to fathom, but I've never needed or wanted easy in this context. Now we have Avadon, which is essentially another rewrite of the same material. That would be fine, except when I played I again saw a further dilution from what I saw in Avernum. Skill trees? Do we really need that?

    I think you may be a little off-base here. (And I'm going to assume that when you say "Avadon," you mean A:EftP, because Avadon is not a remake of anything.) The point of the remakes has never been to make them easier. The point has been to improve their compatibility with newer Macs and to create a consistent look-and-feel throughout Spiderweb's games (the Geneforge look-and-feel, or at least it originated there). It was necessary to remake Exile when Apple dropped Classic mode, and to remake Avernum when Apple dropped Rosetta. Granted, the remakes weren't perfectly timed with those developments, but the writing was on the wall, so I think the remakes were driven in part by those changes.

     

    I can understand being frustrated with the remakes because you're not getting much in the way of new writing (which is really where Spiderweb stands out in my opinion), but, to be fair, the remakes aren't the majority of Spiderweb's output. By sometime in the next year or two, Jeff will have remade Exile 1-3 twice and Nethergate once. At the same time, he will also have released Avernum 4-6, Geneforge 1-5, and Avadon 1-3. That's 7 remakes and 11 new games in about 15-ish years. It's worth keeping some perspective.

     

    And, to be fair (again), the remakes have changed the graphics, the game mechanics, and the engine. These are real changes. I don't think it's accurate to say that the game mechanics have been simplified; A:EftP deleted some things but added others (such as traits). The net effect seems to me at least to be a set of mechanics about as complex and interesting as what I've seen in Exile or the original Avernum. You may not like the new game mechanics, but that's a different complaint than that they're being dumbed down.

     

    So really your complaint boils down to the fact that Spiderweb has spent a little less than half of its time over the past ~15 years remaking some games to change the graphics, game mechanics, and engine in ways that aren't particularly aesthetically appealing to you. That's fair, and I agree in part; I quit halfway through Avernum 2: Crystal Souls and may not finish it. But my reaction is more a shrug than anything else. I probably will skip a remake or two, but Spiderweb is still putting out plenty of new stuff, and I'm looking forward to Avadon 3.

     

    If Spiderweb really does decide to remake Geneforge, as is rumored right now, then I have to admit that I'm pretty skeptical. But I'll wait and see.

  12. The Magic answers this question.

     

    The Bahs/Exodus party dies in a scene that takes place between Exodus and Homeland. There is a flashback to it in The Magic. Hence, the Homeland party is a new party.

     

  13. I do pay attention when people mention that they played something of mine. Part of the reason that I'm still considering finishing the Slith Homeland trilogy is that people occasionally write to me about playing Bahs or Exodus. (I recently had a fun and rather lengthy conversation about the hints about the plot of Homeland buried in Bahs, Exodus, and The Magic. This was maybe the most motivation I've had in the last eight years to finish the trilogy.)

     

    So it really does make a difference if you post and mention that you've played something recently, especially if there was something you liked.

  14. I've been meaning to find time to dust off some of my scenarios and get them released. If people actually still played BoA I would be more inclined to.

    Apparently a few people still do, judging by the reaction to The Magic.

  15. Understand that I'm asking out of genuine ignorance and curiosity, not disagreement. I just can't come up with any example of people who are usually considered "black" in America (in a racial sense) without any African ancestry. Even your Haitian colleague presumably is black because she descends in significant part from African slaves brought to Haiti by the French, right? That makes her ethnically/culturally different from African Americans who descend from African slaves brought to the American South by the British (or whomever), and that's probably why she doesn't want to identify as African American, but she's still descended from Africans ultimately, right?

     

    And sure, Indians may not be a good example of non-European white people, although sometimes they are considered so. Maybe Armenians or something? My point is just that I can come up with people who have at times in certain circumstances been considered "white" but who have basically no European ancestry, but I can't come up with people who have been considered "black" who have no African ancestry. And it would be interesting to know who I'm not remembering right now.

     

    Orrrrrrrr... am I misunderstanding you, and are you just saying that some people passed through other countries along the way? Something like the Hispanic/Latino designation, which ultimately refers to people who are usually (but not always) of some mixture of European and Native American descent, but who bear the cultural heritage of Spanish colonialism in the New World in some way. Hence, the Haitian to which you were referring of course has African ancestry, but there is more to it than that, and that's what you mean.

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