William_Dhalgren

Oh, you like math. Sometimes I forget people do that for fun :-p

Also, I don't think the battle calculator sucks out the fun. Neptune's Pride gives you tons of information about your enemies/allies. The level of information everyone has to use is part of what defines the game. The battles play out without any randomness, so you're either calculating each battle by hand, using a calculator, or not going to win.

Your research is lost if someone sends you a tech.

Here's an online Neptune's Pride Battle Calculator: http://www.josteinb.com/npCalc/

This is a picture taken by my familiar shortly after I teleported out of my crashing vehicle. You'll notice that I was able to save my book of magic. I'm quite pleased with myself.

I find it amusing that Chris thinks his Neptune's Pride civilization will exist by the next podcast. Muhahahahahahahaha

Great job being a failure. This game plays like Counterstrike in molasses. I didn't even level up while playing.

The point is that labeling an enemy type "lunatic," which is a stigmatized word that dehumanizes people suffering from severe mental illness, and then just having them be "crazy" (another one of those stigmatized, offensive words) and attack the player on sight is a horrible thing to do. Patients in any type of mental institution don't jump out of holes in the ground and and start choking other people. It's an archaic stereotype. To think about it in another way, what if the game were set in a cancer ward and the Joker was recovering from chemotherapy. Wouldn't your reaction be a little different if you had to beat the crap out of an enemy type labelled, "cancer patient." "But cancer patients aren't violent," you might say, but neither are most people suffering from mental illness. Even the "criminally insane" are not necessarily violent, they're just unaware of the consequences of their actions. People associate violence with mental illness because it's a stigma. In fact, having a mental illness does not increase the risk of violence: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20090202/mental-illness-and-violence-a-link Once again, I'm playing and enjoying the game, so I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, just shed light on an issue that's of personal interest to me since Arkham Asylum slams your face into the cold concrete of stigma that's associated with mental illness. http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/OEL99-0004/default.asp So...uh. We all still like wizards, right?

Batman makes you fight everyone, because it's dangerous to open a door with enemies at your back. He also forces the player to beat the shit out of patients in a mental institution, even generic, endless fellows labelled "lunatics" because he deems them unworthy of a name. I totally wrote about it on my blog. I still really enjoyed the game, though. Definitely worth a rental. I'm not much of a collector, so a once through of the main narrative and an hour in the challenge rooms was enough for me. I'll be reading the comics now. The concept of the game is interesting to me, and I've been told that aspect is explored in more depth in that medium. fwiw...

This is a momentous occasion. Question for the Grand Wizards: After meeting you, has anyone ever said that they never found you funny again? The answer may influence my attendance at the meetup, and possibly PAX entirely.

Hmm, I wonder if my mom still has it tucked away in the rune-protected vault beneath our tower. I can't imagine she'd throw away something as wondrous as a wizard's cloak, so maybe I will dress up for the meetup.

Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" is quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCjspyo-_aI

apparently i kill these threads. in an effort to revitalize it, my mother made me a wizard costume when i was little with a tunic + hooded cape. i wore it with an old man wizard mask for at least three Halloween's in a row.

i like places with adult beverages.

i'll be at PAX and would enjoy meeting up with some fellow Thumbs.