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Ah, so you're trying to make BoE into something that it never was. The interface might be what people see and comment on immediately but it's not the only way in which BoE is an old-school product. Yes, in theory somebody could make all of the above changes and a lot more and end up with something that is more mainstream for today's gamers. But that's a truly huge effort. They'd be better off making a new game. Also -- it would no longer be Blades of Exile.

While those are definitely nicer looking, they are also a much more material change to the interface and the general feel of the game.

Hear hear on both counts.

The A:EFTP interface also does not have 17 buttons with completely unrelated functions crammed into a little rectangle.

Custom interface might be neat. The 6 large icons version is definitely not as bad as the 3 large icons version, but it still results in fewer items being displayed at one time. 8 was already just 1/3 of your inventory; now it's down to 1/4. That's still a real downgrade. I can imagine something that might justify it, but "bigger icons of items" is not one of them. These are not exactly interesting icons, and you're probably going to be staring at the same ones for most of your playtime. Basically, in some ways this interface redesign is "a solution in search of a problem." However, I can imagine really liking ADoS's last design if it simply used the old, smaller icons, with perhaps slightly bigger text and 12 items displayable at once.

Yeah, I strongly dislike this change. This makes inventory management even more cumbersome than it was in the Nethergate/Avernum engine games. I'm afraid it's a step backwards. I also agree that the giant "Charges" text is a waste of space -- what was wrong with the "Wand of Fire (8)" notation?

You probably copied more than you needed to. Exclude the "spoileralt" tags which are a relic from earlier forum software, not part of the script.

There is a version of original BoE that "automatically" runs through Dosbox? That was the line that had me, at least, assuming that George was using an updated version of some sort.

No -- rather there is a difference between original BoE (which was also available for both Mac and PC), and this reworked version. The original version should not have these bugs. But because it's very old, you need an emulator to run it -- it was designed for the operating systems of 20 years ago.

You can go Mental Magic as a Servile, but it will never work out as well as for an Agent/Infiltrator. Instead, you want to be a tank. The one thing that jumps out from your screen shot is the low armor rating. Not for nothing are serviles called Turtle Mages in some of those strategy central threads. It's worth the extra weight (and investment in Strength, if needed) to equip heavier armor, especially chest armor. That, plus perhaps some extra Endurance and further investment in Parry, is your friend. Also, keep in mind that regular armor items also protect against magic, fire, and ice attacks, at half the rate of their regular armor protection -- even though they don't list the effect in the item info window.

Bump? (And a reminder that there is no penalty for incorrect guesses...)

Those of you who are not Triumph may want to steal some of the remaining matches from him Newly Matched Clues: 512. Loop of Dullness -- Dummy item for a roll of 59-60 (TRIUMPH) "PDN sounds like a silly DnD-style item name." Slarty adds: An item (or anything else) that is dummied out in one version of a game typically means the item is removed from the game, as is its functionality -- appropriate for an item that might not do anything. "Dull" and "dummy" can also both be opposites of bright. Finally, a percentile dice roll of 59-00 on the Magical Items Table in the 2nd edition DMG leads you to the sub-tables for "Miscellaneous Magic: The Weird Stuff" 525. The Pity of Bilbo -- The ruling legacy (TRIUMPH) "is this a reference to the Ruling Ring, which Bilbo acquired from Gollum, on whom he took pity?" Slarty adds: In addition to that epithet for the Ring, Gandalf says "The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many," foreshadowing the the climax of the entire series. 526. Dillema Pickle -- Run the gauntlet of a salty Mystic regent (TRIUMPH) "“Ozzie’s in a pickle!” And he’s a Mystic regent for Magus. And pickles are fermented in brine, i.e. with salt. Huzzah Chrono Trigger!" Slarty adds: This is, of course, a Chrono Trigger reference; you run a gauntlet of challenges each time you encounter Ozzie. 528. The Point Entirely -- Partial idiom for bad faith debating (TRIUMPH) "I would expect the phrase to be "Missing the point entirely," but it's missing "missing," hence it's only a partial idiom; one who misses (or ignores?) the point his interlocutor is making certainly will be a poor debate partner." 529. Whose Line Segment Is It Anyway -- Finite saying for limited entertainment (DINTIRADAN) ""Whose Line is it Anyway" is an improv show, comprised of short skits. Compared with scripted TV shows that have continuity, it is "finite", or "limited". Definitely entertaining. Line segments, unlike lines, have a beginning and end point, and are also "finite", "limited"." 530. IRONY -- Overwhelming case (TRIUMPH) "I wonder if “case” doesn’t hint at the fact that this PDN is all uppercase letters." Slarty adds: This is also a reference to a famous line of Archmage Alex's about member Overwhelming and his attempts to force "aid" on the BoX community. Alex wrote "The irony is overwhelming." I believe it was a debate with alhoon, though, that prompted me to take on this PDN in the moment. 535. American Football Morality -- A kneeling legacy (TRIUMPH) "a reference to NFL player Colin Kaepernick's highly publicized practice of kneeling during the national anthem last year as a form of protest." 540. Tell It to My Chart -- Work about abstracted love (TRIUMPH) "references the song and/or album Tell It to My Heart by Taylor Dayne, but in replacing “Heart” with “Chart” has turned the love song in a more mathematical, abstract direction." Slarty adds: The chart specifically referred to the SW real life meetup chart, which was at the time being expanded due to meetings occasioned by a wedding! The specific inspiration for the song was this colorful incarnation:

The chart has also been updated; there are now about half as many PDNs and clues left, so it may be easier to narrow them down!

Newly Matched Clues: (Note: I am not listing everyone who got the clue right, just the person whose explanation is quoted here. In some cases there were several excellent explanations, so you may receive 3 points even if yours is not listed here.) 503. Pie’s Peaks -- Work about Zebulon and Norma (TRIUMPH) "obviously a reference to Pike's Peak, which is named after Zebulon Pike. Also, there's apparently a show called Twin Peaks (hence the plural) with a character named Norma who makes pies at restaurant." 504. Life Imitates Chart -- Minor truism for limited extrapolation (DINTIRADAN) "The truism in question is "Life Imitates Art". Extrapolation is what you do to estimate the values of a variable beyond the domain of a chart/graph/whatever." 506. Deconstriction -- You'll breathe easier when you take it apart (NIKKI) "Deconstruction means literally taking things apart. Constriction is something a snek does to mek you stop breathing. Deconstriction will therefore make it easier to breathe. I also feel like I'm missing a Derrida reference, but the only thing that springs to mind is differance: Slarty has changed one letter to make a new word, as Derrida did -- except the point of differance with an a is that it *sounds* the same as difference with an e." 508. Ill. -- More Midwestern than it appears (TRIUMPH) "an abbreviation of Illinois, a Midwestern state." 514. The Little Engine That Said -- Work about giving up Guessed but not largely explained. This is indeed related to The Little Engine That Could, but it's actually a reference to (warning: strong language) this work. 515. NOP -- Null instruction (DINTIRADAN) ""No Operation", a common assembly command. Fun fact: usually has a value and is not actually a null opcode." 516. Antigrind -- Run-of-the-mill opposition Guessed but not largely explained. There is a double meaning here, and the key is that the opposition isn't run-of-the-mill -- rather it's opposition to grinding: which is (1) generic, run-of-the-mill filler in RPGs; and (2) what takes place when an actual mill is running. 517. Golem Golem Golem -- Work about an orthodox wizard activity Guessed but not fully explained. The fantasy golem is often made from clay, and originates in Jewish folklore -- recalling the song "Dreidel dreidel dreidel / I made it out of clay." 520. International Colouring Contest -- Lucia Pamela's legacy (DIKIYOBA) "Lucia Pamela was a somewhat eccentric musician who (among other things) produced a coloring book. The band Stereolab produced a tribute song to her titled "International Colouring Contest" in reference to the coloring book. Hence, the color book has become part of her legacy." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEMRCjMsKeg 521. Re Runnings -- Work about Jamaican TV executives (TRIUMPH) "A fusion of Cool Runnings (the famous movie about the Jamaican bobsled team) with reruns (rebroadcast TV shows, something TV executives would be involved with)." 522. Tyra's Quinceañera -- Transferred account's legacy (DINTIRADAN) "That perfidious Tyranicus swapped accounts with Marlenny, who as I recall was Hispanic, I think? I'm guessing his stolen account turned fifteen at some point, even though he hasn't been around that long, the fraud." 523. Hasty Modulo and the Double Turntoise -- In which approximate arithmetic unfairly disadvantages Achilles (DIKIYOBA) "A modulo has several mathematical definitions, mostly relating to the remainder of a division calculation or in finding two things that would normally be different to be equivilant. Zeno's Paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles is a logical paradox in which Achilles races a tortoise but cannot overtake it because no matter how quickly he reaches the spot where the turtle was, the turtle has always moved some short distance ahead. I think there's probably a third reference to properly tie the two together, or maybe I just understand how the math works." Slarty adds: The other half of the reference was to a situation in which the foibles of a modular calculation results in a slower character getting two turns in a row, and thus getting to act more at a critical moment than a faster character. 531. Metaly -- Obstinately slimy draconic retranslation (TRIUMPH) "in the NES game Dragon Warrior, there was a monster called Metaly, which was a type of slime. Eventually the games and much about them was re-translated - now the series is Dragon Quest, and the monster is Metal Slime." Slarty adds: Actually, it started as Metal Slime in the games released as DW, then was Metaly in a number of releases, and has returned to being Metal Slime in recent releases, I believe. Metal Slimes are known for having incredibly high defense, making them very difficult to kill, i.e., obstinate. 533. From Fantasoft to Tyranicus -- Run the gamut of Spiderweb distributors (DIKIYOBA) "Fantasoft was a game producing/distributing company that helped distribute the Exile games. Tyranicus has done some work (like host the original graphics) to keep Nethergate available for people to enjoy." Slarty adds: And he packaged up the original Avernum games to allow them to be played on more recent systems, IIRC. 534. Cloak of Corak -- Misremembered item for a mysterious ancient Guardian (DINTIRADAN) "Google says that Corak is a Guardian created by the Ancients in the Might and Magic games." Slarty adds: I was convinced there was an item called "Cloak of Corak" in M&M2, but there isn't. I must have just mixed the two similar words together in my head somehow. 538. Some Prig -- Work about the ironically filthy (TRIUMPH) "a prig believes himself morally superior (or, other words, more pure) than those around him; "some pig" is the message Charlotte the spider famously wrote in her web; pigs are notoriously filthy." 539. Slarty is the NSA -- You can run, but… (DINTIRADAN) "The NSA is a US government organization that is known to spy on its own citizens, especially through electronic communication. Slarty is a SW historian who dredges up old content. We can't run from him." Slarty adds: No, no, you can run from the NSA -- you just can't hide. Oh, also, this was actually a quote from Salmon, of all people.

Yeah, I think that's hardcoded, unfortunately.

The first few entries have been received. Please feel free to send PMs at any time... remember, you can always add to them later (whether or not I have replied yet) so there's no need to wait till the evening to submit.

Are you my mother?

505. Precise language boing can do all for you 507. Spiderweb Go 509. Guia 510. Duplicitous Melodious Flea Bag Eve 513. Jade Jade 518. The Wilting of Reality 527. That name is already in use please choose another 532. The Mechanical Sound 537. Read-to-Wear Elemental listener Brokenly powerful robotic exploit Imaginary item for a weary doomsday protagonist Overlapping legacy Bound aphorism for good faith debating Work about a state disciplinary apparatus Make it a work! High-stakes forum dodgeball There was no particular meaning to this one

"My names," Slartibus said to the Demon, "are like--" But the Demon knocked him out of the way and replied: "SLARTIFER!!! SLARTIFER!!! SLARTIFER!!!1!!!!!!1!!!!!" It's time to banish some more PDNs! In the post below, you will find a list of 38 PDNs (chronological) and 38 crossword-style clues (sorted into groupings). Your task is to correctly identify which PDN is described by each clue. You will earn: 1 point -- simple match 2 points -- match with a good explanation 3 points -- match with one of the best explanations NEW RULES, inspired by Dikiyoba: 1. You now make guesses by sending me a PM, rather than by posting in this thread. (Please make my life easier by keeping all your guesses in a single PM thread.) 2. I will respond to each set of guesses in that PM, telling you which are correct and which are incorrect. 3. After approximately 1 day, I will update this thread, revealing all matches that have been guessed. For each match, I will print the best explanation that was given; that person is guaranteed to receive the maximum 3 points for that match. 4. For the first update, I will wait 2 days instead of 1 to give everyone time to join in. 5. You may use Google (or any other resource) to figure things out. You may also discuss matches here, or anywhere else you want. But you'll only get credit for matches you submit via PM. You don't have to wait for me to respond before you submit additional guesses! However, you only get 1 pending guess for a given PDN (or clue) at a time. (Given the finite possibilities, I think that's necessary.) Note: When making a guess, please paste the entire PDN (with number), as well as the clue. Please do not retype it from memory as this tends to introduce confusing errors. For example: 1. Dame Annals -- Murasaki nickname

I mean, we could all decide to register as thirty year old male Canadians, for purposes of comparing our scores with each other.

I know I was the one who posted this originally, but it looks like what Diki pointed out in 2012 still holds -- the results of this particular version of the test are given as percentiles scores for an age and gender grouping rather than for the population in general. As a result, looking at scores from different members side by side will be very misleading. It also still does not provide any results unless you pick "male" or "female" which is not great in general and, as we know from the last poll, is not great for SW in particular. Perhaps there is a better version out there?

Huh, that... sure is a similar use of "Shaper".

One of the other dragons (Athron in a different game, maybe?) also says they aren't related. There is also the matter of their genders, which have changed... https://encyclopedia.ermarian.net/wiki/Talk:Dragons#Re:_Dragons.27_gender

On the plus side, at least the AI "plays fair" and does the same thing when the enemies move