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Punctuation rains from the heavens

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Posts posted by Punctuation rains from the heavens

  1. I appreciate the positive approach, ADoS.  That said, let's try to practice some good boundaries as well.  Please do not insert personal conflicts (even friendly attempts to resolve said conflicts :)) into threads that have nothing to do with them.  PM is probably a better venue.  Thanks.

     

    (IMHO, that is particularly good advice for handling this conflict, since poor boundaries are what caused it to arise in the first place.)

     

    Locking this thread since the original topic seems to have run its course.  If someone has more to say about window-closing or any other flavor of face-smashing :), please feel free to start a new topic.

  2. Those 16 names are accurate, as is Randomizer -- what better name to choose when the letter order is randomized, and when I consulted his lists to review a few names -- but your list of remaining letters is not accurate, I'm afraid.  You have two letters missing, and one added in excess.  Not sure where along the way that happened.  What you should have left at this point is:

     

    AAA

    D

    H

    II

    M

    NN

    R

    S

    T

     

    The two remaining characters are both definitely important -- each to their game.  One is closer to the beginning, and one is closer to the end.

  3. This is a known issue, unfortunately, and you're right that it was caused by the IPB forum software update.

     

    The admins are in touch with IPB to try and get it resolved.

     

    In the meantime, you can right-click and open in a new tab/window in order to change pages (or like posts).  This is a pretty bad workaround, but it's the best option till this gets fixed.

  4. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
    IIIIIIII
    OOOOOOOOOO
    UUU
    YYYYY

     

    HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
    LLLLLLLLL
    MMM
    NNN
    RRRRRRRRRRR

     

    CCCC
    DDD
    GGGGGGG
    KKKKKKKKK
    P
    Q
    TTTTTTTTTTTTTT
    VVVVV
    ZZ

     

    SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

     

    Pathass (1)

    Sss-Thsss (1)

    Legare (1)

    Khrez-Yss (6)

    Ghavassa-Oss (6)

    Ess-Kalyn (6)

    Thissa (2)

    Ssschah (2)

    Quessik-Drayssa (6)

    Zhavress (6)

     

    Ahsoth (3)

    Hsska (3)

  5. No, I was talking about non-Slith Kyass.  It's been a while since I've played, and I remembered that Kyass was pro-nonhumans, but I guess the slith-sounding name did me in.

     

    Honestly, Ess, I think this one is borderline impossible.  You could give me a curated list of every Slith in the games and I still would find it borderline impossible.  The standard for who gets included is simply... very, very low.  I can see arguments for or against this random quest-giver or that craftmaster or that slightly-more-memorable-than-most dungeon boss.  But beyond the obvious ones, I don't know how to even attempt to reason out which ones are and aren't included.  And there's too much of an overlap in letters to eliminate names with any confidence.  And 30 is just a large number.  Take away the 10 most obvious (which I'm not even sure is easy to agree on; the 6 most, maybe), and you're still left with a massive pool of sliths and a massive pile of letters.

     

    I think you're going to need to give some more clues.  x political figures, x quest-givers, x mages, x from a particular game, I dunno.

  6. In the interests of helping this process along, I'll play Vanna White for you, Triumph.

     

    AAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEE, IIIII, OOO

    Y, W, LLL, RRRRRRRR, HHHH

    C, DDD, G, MMM, NNNNNNNN, P, SS, TTTTT, Z

     

    Names pulled out: Trajkov (1), Goettsch (1), Zakary (2), Barzahl (2), Khyryk (3), Alwan (3-5), Greta (3-5), Litalia (3-5), Ghaldring (4-5)

    9 names + 1 member left

     

    There are now more single letters (#thanksbeyonce?):

    C - Monarch?

    G - Greiner??  Agatha??  Hoge??  Gnorrel?

    W - Rawal?

    Y - Rydell?

    and G - Taygen?

    and W - Diwaniya??

    P - Learned Pinner??  Phariton???

    Z - Eliza??

     

    The lack of remaining letters eliminates some other possibilities: Shaftoe, Heustess, Lankan, Mehken, Akhari Blaze

     

    sPidWeb, randomiZer, slartY, edGWYn

  7. I still have a hard time believing there are actually 30 sliths who interact that meaningfully with the party.  I have a feeling there will be a few that no one comes up with.  But let's begin.  I don't think it's reasonable to do this one non-comunally.

     

    Letter sort:

     

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
    EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
    IIIIIIII
    OOOOOOOOOO
    UUU
    YYYYY

     

    HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
    LLLLLLLLL
    MMM
    NNN
    RRRRRRRRRRR

     

    CCCC
    DDD
    GGGGGGG
    KKKKKKKKK
    P
    Q
    TTTTTTTTTTTTTT
    VVVVV
    ZZ

     

    SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
     

    Ess, clarification please: I assume that "All sliths listed have some important interaction with the player" means Sss-Thoss is excluded -- he's a major figure, but he's dead before X1, so he never interacts with the player.

     

    Also, you said you took names from the non-remakes -- does this mean Kyass is excluded?

     

    So.  Really obvious sliths to use (I've underlined these letters above):

     

    Pathass

    Sss-Thsss

    Legare

    Khrez-Yss

    Ghavassa-Oss

    Ess-Kalyn

     

    Questionable:

    Kyass (?)

     

    Thissa

    Ssschah

     

    Sss-Schai

    Sss-Bahss

    Sss-Voss

    Assotho

    Ahsoth

     

    Aktitoss

    Shath

    Gleth-Sss

    Malachite

    Hossiko

    Pelin-Ath

    Gless-Thsss

    Seleeass

    General Zhavress

    Hrramen-Drayssa

    Breck-Drayssa
     

    I don't have my dumps of the scenarios or later games anymore, so I probably missed a bunch there.

     

    Also, my money is firmly on Kelandon being the SW member Ess has chosen to include.  But we'll see.

  8. I'm sympathetic -- I know how it feels to have a frustrating user interface element that makes a task I care about not flow the way I want it to.  It can be really irritating, not that any one instance is the end of the world, but having to keep encountering it over and over.  Sometimes it might feel like it's a use case that's unique to me, other times it seems like something that large swathes of users would do.  Either way, it's no fun.

     

    That said... I think there may be some extreme statements here.  "Important flaw", "jumbled mess", "tragic waste", "throwing away"...

     

    This is a pretty unusual use of the journal system -- it was designed for quick note-taking of important information, not for recording literally every dialogue in the game -- and yet it still works effectively enough, for that purpose, that you prefer it over using a dedicated text editor.  Which is fine -- things don't have to be used as their designer expected them to be; more power to you!  But if it doesn't work perfectly for that purpose -- which it wasn't designed for -- that's not really a flaw, it just means it's not a great fit for this other task that it wasn't designed for.  Ditto for the deletion issue.

     

    Again, I can totally understand the annoyance, but this hardly causes the story to be "wasted" or "thrown away."  You have options here: you could save and reload after deleting, you could just use a text editor, you could record fewer entries to begin with.  There isn't a perfect option for you, but there are options.

     

    (Relatedly, and still sympathetically: "this game made by a huge development team did it this way, why can't your one-man development outfit do that?" is I think a question that answers itself.)

  9. For an alternate jumpstart for someone:

     

    Ess observed privately that this was actually a very kind scramble, and he's quite right.   There are a relatively large number of some low-frequency letters, and a small number of some higher-frequency ones (with the obvious exception of 'A').  So how would I start?  Probably by doing a count:

     

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEEE, IIIIIIII, OOOOO

    YYYY, WW, LLLLLLLL, RRRRRRRRRRRRRR, HHHHHHHH

    B, CC, DDDD, GGGGG, J, KKKK, MMM, NNNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTTTTT, V, ZZZ

     

    I'd then go after the obvious names connected to the letters that appear more than expected, particularly K, Z, and Y:

     

    Khyryk

    Zakary

    Barzahl

     

    And I'd add three more names that seem completely impossible to leave out, given their relevance to three games:

     

    Litalia

    Alwan

    Greta

     

    Those all fit and that leaves:

     

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEE, IIIIII, OOOOO

    Y, W, LLLL, RRRRRRRRRR, HHHHHH

    CC, DDDD, GGGG, J, K, MMM, NNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTTT, V, Z

     

    B has been eliminated completely.  But Ess brings up a good point, that the B could instead go to Akhari Blaze, who actually overlaps with Barzahl in a number of letters.  Akhari Blaze would also claim the last 'K', though.  Is there any other significant figure who would want that K?  I can only think of one: Trajkov.  Trajkov would himself claim the only J and the only V.  So let's think about those: are there any other big names with a J or a V?  I can't think of any.  Somebody like Pirik doesn't rise to the level of these other names (and she uses two rare letters, anyway).  Taking Trajkov off:

     

    AAAAAAAAAAAAA, EEEEEEE, IIIIII, OOOO

    Y, W, LLLL, RRRRRRRRR, HHHHHH

    CC, DDDD, GGGG, MMM, NNNNNNNNN, P, SSS, TTTTTTT, Z

     

    The single letters are now Y, W, P, and Z.  Who seems most indispensible for each of those letters?

    Y - Taygen?  Rydell?

    W - Rawal?

    and W - Diwaniya?

    P - Learned Pinner?  (Who knows about "Learned", but it does use up an awful lot of letters with big piles -- OTOH, there's always Learned Darian.)  (Phariton would be a weird inclusion, I think.)

    Z - Eliza, maybe, though Moseh is a bigger deal, and Shaftoe's out entirely due to never having an F.

     

    Of course, some of these letters could also be in the Spidweb member.  The W and P might be in Spidweb, the Z might be in Randomizer, the Y might be in Slarty, or W and Y in Edgwyn, to pick on a few recent posters.  Choices, choices...

  10. I'd say I'm usually in Kel's camp -- Hard -- but there  are some SW games that become painfully unchallenging with optimized builds, even on harder difficulties.  Geneforge 1-3 and A2:CS are good examples.

     

    I'll also say that Torment is usually tormenting at the very beginning, and then quickly becomes less excruciating.  There are definitely games where I'll start on Hard for sanity, then switch to Torment after a few level ups.

  11. 3 hours ago, Ess-Eschas said:

    I’ve managed to find 15 Geneforge characters and a Spiderweb member in this tangle.

    Out of those 16 total names, 14 are correct.

     

    3 hours ago, Ess-Eschas said:

    Don’t tempt me, Alorael. If you’re not careful, I’ll make an even scarier one of these, just to give Slarty something to get his teeth into. Unscramble these 30 sliths from the Avernum series, perhaps? :)

    Please do!  I mean, maybe pick something more interesting.  Nothing against Sliths, there just aren't 30 major ones.

  12. DM2 would be a real-time dungeon-crawler.  DM1 pretty much originated that genre.  (And you do start on your own.)

     

    The thing about the flakes is google turns up literally nothing with any RPG + flakes search I can think of except for you posting this question on three different forums 🙂

     

    Can you give any more concrete details about any of these memories?

     

    1) What did the demon/devil look like?

    2) What did the flakes look like?  Color, size, distribution within the clear bag?

    3) Was interaction with the demon/devil done via a text menu or something else?

    4) Do you remember anything about stats, character classes, etc.?

     

    11 hours ago, WolfSpider said:

    when you encounter the enemy, as in you see them in your area and have to run into them or them you I suppose and you get to the engagement screen.  And once that happens you get the choices of fighting, dialogue, giving, bartering, etc.

     

    Hmm.  Seeing the enemy at a distance and having to run into them (or them you) sounds like Might & Magic or Dungeon Master.  The choices of fighting, talking, bartering, etc. sound like Wizardry.  But none of those did both, that I am aware of.

     

    Anything look familiar here?

    https://www.neogaf.com/threads/can-we-talk-about-old-school-first-person-dungeon-crawlers.469298/

  13. A clear bag, i.e. plastic, seems awfully out of place in a medieval setting!  Are you sure it couldn't have been a flask (even a flask with flake looking things inside)?

     

    That said: clear containers with stuff in them + trees + NPCs with pointed ears + raining + dungeon crawler immediately brings Dungeon Master II to mind.  It had some colorful interface elements as well:

     

    Dungeon Master II: Skullkeep DOS A merchant displays a helmet

     

    Dungeon Master II: Skullkeep DOS The inventory screen and moneybox

     

    Let's Play Dungeon Master 2, p. 1: Setting Off into the Rain - YouTube

  14. That's a long way of saying "Game Genie" ;)

     

    That's pretty different -- although it does "patch" the game at runtime, it literally patches a couple of bytes, and it doesn't use a premade patch -- you enter a code that just tells it which single byte to patch.  So that's more of a patcher than it is a patch itself.  It's also limited to a few extremely tiny modifications.  Not really relevant here, that's all.

  15. 26 minutes ago, TheKian said:

    What Slarty said is that patches can be in a somewhat legally gray area but have been upheld by courts.

     

    I did not say the second part, and I in fact linked to a Wikipedia article that states: "while redistributing complete games with adaptions most likely does not fall under fair use, distributing the modifications as a patch might be legally permissible; however, that conclusion has not been tested in court."

     

    I definitely did say the other part though.  Asking Jeff would be the courteous thing to do, for a small-time designer that is pretty good to his fans.  If he says go for it, you're definitely in the clear legally; and if he says no, then you can't share it here regardless of anything else.

  16. I googled the flakes and immediately found... what appears to be you asking this question some years back, hehehe :)

     

    https://www.dosgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20339

     

    With that added info, like flakes possibly being water flasks, this sounds an awful lot like Ravenloft: Stone Prophet.

     

    https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/ravenloft-stone-prophet/screenshots

     

    - first person view

    - space-time portals in intro

    - start near an NPC's tent

    - given dagger at start of game

    - water flasks are apparently quite central

    - bags are also a thing

    - early on, you can randomly encounter a dust devil, who can blind you, which would explain your experience of always missing -- as would its immunity to weapons with less than a +2 magical bonus

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