F4T C4T

I haven't done any multiplayer gaming in months and this sounds like the perfect thing to get back into it. I love Mount & Blade! I'm moving house next week though and I might be disconnected from the net for a while but I'm definitely interested in joining in at some point. Add me on Steam. I'm trying to rid myself of the horrible F4T C4T tag (stupid teen me) so my ID is now Adynod.

Really looking forward to this one too. I saw it somewhere a little before the kickstarter and as soon as that popped up it was an instant backing from me. It was the Eyvind Earle inspired background art that did it for me. I love his stuff.

Pledged! It's great that you guys are bringing this back in style. Can't wait to see it all come together again!

My SSD was fried during a power surge last week (I suspect). Luckily I only used it for Windows and software and a separate HDD holds my Steam folder. However, I loaded Skyrim up today only to find that all the saves were stored in the user docs... on the SSD. Crap. So, this is an obituary to Adynod, my Khajiit friend. Taken from us before his time, a mere 68 hours old. Let it be known that he made the finest of rugs. His spirit will never be too far away, In fact I imagine he's behind us all right now; crouched with bow drawn. Rumour has it he was last seen in a cave near Riften and should I venture that way again I shall build a small shrine on which I'll lay a single poison tipped arrow. http://steamcommunity.com/id/F4TC4T/screenshot/488876370013156950 Farewell friend.

So I take it Mr. Gaynor is going to be working on this? (note how I avoided an obvious 'Hot Scoops' joke...)

Lovely work Thumbs!

Congrats to Dan! I should check out his Privates sometime, get a feel for a BAFTA winner.

I just received an email informing me I have a copy of this courtesy of Venus Patrol but unfortunately I don't own any Move controllers! I'm going to have to borrow some in the near future and give it a go.

I have a horse and a Housecarl (the wonderfully shallow Lydia) and until my most recent Dragon fight, a dog called Vigilance. They do/did a good job of keeping up with my mad horse (who stands perpendicular to any surface he stands on) but to be honest my preferred style of travel is by myself, sneaking through the landscape with bow in hand. It's slow but I'm just soaking in the atmosphere and landscape at the moment. Maybe once I've been over the terrain a few too many times I'll start using the cart but for now I don't mind the inventory management. It makes me evaluate what's actually worthwhile for the character I'm playing. Being a lightly armoured, bow/knife wielding Khajiit who specialises in poisons, I don't have to worry about a collection of heavy weapons and armour dragging me down. I collect alchemical ingredients, pelts and valuables for the most part which allows me to explore several areas before having to offload. My biggest bane is special items (magical most likely) too good to pass up, or quest items. It's funny, these weren't really rules I set out with but have just evolved as I've played and I'm enjoying sticking to them now. I've largely ignored quests apart from a few of the main ones and I think once you get dragged into the mindset of completing all those miscellaneous ones the fast travel becomes too great to ignore. I have been tempted. For now, looking at a far away place on the map and preparing for the journey is still a massive part of my enjoyment. Like I said, I'll probably get to a point where that's not the case and then I'll use fast travel, but I'm about 40 hours in and I'm not tired of it just yet!

@Elmuerte, yeah for real! I won't say any more about it though. What happened that night is between me and my pal Sam. I will say that that quest line is epic. That reminds me, is anyone else here not using fast travel at all? I made a decision early on to never use it as my main enjoyment from this series comes from the random stuff that happens or is found between places. It does mean I haven't reached many of the big places yet but all those bandit lairs and crypts nearby? They have been stripped. I look forward to the dog in that place.

I said I wasn't going to get the new year as I'm at a critical point in my career. I'm about to leave my job for the freelance life and I'm currently doing full-time and freelance work in the evenings. So... I now have a house in Whiterun, 2 dragons under my belt and last night I got so drunk in the Bannered Mare I ended up the other side of Skyrim unaware of the previous nights events. It appears goats and giants were involved and I may be married. I love this game.

I just found this and it reminded me a lot of Dark Souls.

I like the nature of it, precarious walkways, rickety floorboards an all. My main gripe is lower down with the constantly re-spawning flying things. I kill a pair in hopes of wading through the next area of poisonous swamp unimpeded and there's already another two preventing me getting across again! They're really quite annoying. That and the horrible frame rate around the area. It's definitely the worst I've encountered so far.

Thanks Sno. I uncursed myself at expense, beat that boss 2nd go and realised that yes I'm going to retreat to upgrade and restock a few things. Blight Town is the most challenging area for me so far, I'm feeling ill equipped for a lot of things.

I'm scouring the The Depths at the moment which I'm hoping provides a better entrance into Blight Town than the Drake Valley one I've found. There's a foreboding boss battle before then though. I don't know what it is yet but I'll have to face it once I've uncursed myself, grrr! On the plus side I have a Divine Estoc now and while it's slightly worse for the mean time, I'm hoping it proves useful in the long run. Going to have to farm those slimes some to upgrade it though.

@twmac, I'd be interested in a tournament! I've had this game for ages but only played against the shoddy AI for the most part. I tried a brief spell in the RPS Divisions of Death! which were more satisfying games to play but fitting it into my schedule at the time was tricky. @Chris, that sounds pretty cool, although my interest in Blood Bowl is the nitty gritty tactics of the match itself, working against those dice to pull off an awesome touchdown. I don't know if a card game would keep my interest as much.

@Toblix: I was unaware of Theodor Kittelsen, thanks for the link!

I enjoyed that exchange twmac and my feelings are similar to yours about a lot of things. I liked the re-reading chapters of a book bit. It does feel a bit like that, coming back to a section with more understanding and appreciation rather than a dull grind. Your friend Dylan sounds like he was trying to push through the game too much rather than explore it. I felt like that in the beginning, especially when stuck on certain bosses (Taurus/Gargoyles grrr). I was focused too much on beating them and moving on to the next boss. But then I started to explore the rest of the areas and even systems that I'd ignored through a combination of fear and lack of observation. I had nothing to lose at those two points so I had a different attitude to dying, I just wanted to see as much as the game would allow if I wasn't able to get past this stupid demon. By exploring though I gained more insight and tools that helped me through those barriers eventually and that's when "elation" comes in to play. It speaks volumes for the level/world design that it is such an eternally interesting space to explore. It's not a huge world but a compact and incredibly varied one. Even with no enemies I never get tired of rolling through barrels, they're like Mario's coins in the way they attract me.

I had a quick look for a DVD after seeing it and found the same thing Gwardinen. I think it's worth finding out if any independent cinemas near you are showing it, the ones near me usually have stuff a while after it's come and gone at the bigger ones. I don't even know if this has been at the bigger cinemas to be honest. I'd also recommend the subtitled version. It's set in Norway after all and it's an important part of the whole experience in my view.

I saw a Norwegian film called Troll Hunter the other day and want to recommend it. It's all Blair Witch/found footage style camera work and going in I was expecting a horror film. It's actually more of a mocumentary with a great script and sense of humour. I had a smile on my face the entire time and the atmosphere in the small independent cinema I was in was amazing. It's subtitled which I mention only because getting a seat with a clear view of the bottom of the screen is essential! I had to peer over some guys massive mess of hair. I don't want to link to the trailer because I feel it give's too much away (I didn't see the trailer before going), but here's a review from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/08/troll-hunter-film-review The trolls themselves look just like scandiavian trolls should too. Obviously inspired by the classic John Bauer, they also reminded me of Paul Bonner's take on them.

@PiratePooAndHisBattleship: I was off work sick yesterday, spent the whole day in bed. Guess what I did to pass the time? I'd gotten to a frustrating point with my thief where the only weapon I was proficient with wasn't enough for bosses in general (Gargoyles grrr) and had no magic/reliable ranged attack either. So I started a new character, a knight, in hope of wielding heavier hitting weaponry with a side order of magic. After 4hrs I was almost back to where my thief was but I had some very different frustrations and ended up going back to my thief. I just love the way he plays and the Estoc, despite it's weaknesses, coupled with backstabbing works great for most enemies. So then I spent another 4hrs as my thief in which I explored everywhere I could and hadn't previously, putting any fear of losing stuff behind me. I collected some great items along the way and finally figured out that it's better to face bosses in human form because co-op boss battles are awesome and mighty helpful to an underpowered thief. I feel pretty deep into the game after this experience, I've linked up many of the places I can access which feels great after wondering how to get to many of them for such a long time and I've finally rang that damn bell. Currently I'm preparing to fight . Sno, I have similar frustrations with the command stacking when I use my talisman to heal twice in a row. Those things are precious to me! Lastly, f*ck Ghosts.

I managed to break through my barrier over the weekend. Defeated Mr. T and after that everything started happening a bit more. Bell Golems are my current bane. I also have many other options to explore right now which feels good. I'm pretty adept at close combat at this point as long as I have room to manoeuvre around enemies. I managed to get a hold of a heal spell which has proved invaluable. I use it pre/post combat because of the time it takes and estus' for emergency mid battle healing but I desperately need some form of decent ranged attack for bosses now, I'm too weak to face them up close. Preferably some form of magic as arrows and bolts are too much of a chore to keep in stock and pretty weak. It feels like everything has opened up now and I'm really enjoying exploring this game. ...and now I've just seen Sno's video. I am so inferior!

Oh man, hearing you all progress so much is demoralising! My 5th attempt at the Taurus didn't go too well. It was very close though! Thanks to Sno's advice I've found some new areas to explore and a better main weapon in the Estoc. It suits my play style quite well and is more powerful than my bandit blade. Goading an attack then dodging backwards followed by a thrust destroys most hollow soldiers straight off. I still feel I'm lacking in magic which might help get some extra damage on the big guys although the miracles available to me sound a bit pants on closer inspection. I'm going to go stockpile some fire bombs for my next encounter with Mr. T instead. I've been ignoring the obvious options for extra damage here and judging by my last attempt a couple of them would tip the balance. Oh and I think I would have been better off without that damn master key! I let myself into an Undead Dragon's play area last night.

I'll keep in mind the locking tip! Thanks for spoilering the Taurus tips as well. I'll come back and read once I've done him in. I'm intrigued by the chopping of tails though! The bow is an integral part of my survival now but I don't like fighting without my small shield so the crossbow is less useful.

Yeah, I've been caught on the top of the tower before. I was wondering how he'd react to that and... yeah. I managed to fit 40-odd minutes in when I popped home for lunch today (a benefit of living so close to work). I managed to beat the black knight on my third try. Woo! It took 4 backstabs though and he caught me a few times mid roll. It was an epic fight! I got a nice little present for my troubles too.