Well, you have to remember one other thing here too. The game we are mainly talking about here is BGII. This is a computer RPG. Computer is a DM. Ok, that's cool with that. Only thing is that the game really doesn't reward you for playing a certain type of character a certain way (in many respects anyways). I don't mean good and evil here, although some of that comes into play too. I mean about how you deal with the problems in the game. When NeverWinter Nights comes out, I'm going to treat the game a little more seriously. There is supposed to be a LIVE HUMAN DM in that game. Then we can at least get some real roleplaying in the games. I'm going to reserve some of my hopes until I can see how powerful they are going to allow this DM to become, but if we decide to do odd things that actually have a chance to work, it would be great if we could actually do that. You see, so far, most role playing games (computer) promote stats over ingenuity. I too have been role playing for some time. I started back in 78 and have been playing off and on ever since. Actually got the 3rd edition rules and stuff and hoping to get a real PnP adventure started soon. I feel that if you are playing the computer then it's ok to mod up your characters cause the computer is gonna do the same too. It's how they offer a challenge to role playing games. I mean, look at how they fight. Have you ever noticed how magic users get really stupid a few minutes into a battle? They seem to have the need to do something and will just cast everything they have in memory. They do have some intelligence in what order they cast their spells, but I mean it's just about crazy. I was fighting some Yuan-Ti Mages and they were casting CONFUSION and CHAOS around like they were going out of style. They actually did affect my party members (It was me, a fire elemental, and an invisible stalker), but they just kept on casting the spells on them. WHY? They already were controlled. Then they finally ran out of those spells and cast DOMINATION on them. Ok, why again? They were already controlled. Eventually, their spells ran out and the stalker actually took everyone out (including the fire elemental). I did have to go and mop up the stalker, but hey . . . It was either that or go rest somewhere until he was unsummoned. Again, they don't give you too many options. Now, don't get me wrong here. There is a lot of co-ordination involved in programming something this intense. I believe that Black Isle did a GREAT job with this game. It's just that you can't really create an artificial intelligence that can capture a human yet. Then there is the point about savegames. You want realism? Get rid of savegames (except for day's end maybe). Make it so that if you die, you die. You never did say if you used that option in the game (or I was reading so stupidly earlier that I just missed it). I have a friend that only saves his game when he is finished playing for the day. Never goes back. If he makes a mistake, it's on him. He always overwrites this same file when finishing for the day too. He does export his character, but only when he is going to join a multi-player game. Everyone has their own flavor. I'm not telling you that you should play different. I'm just saying that it's not really too important how we play. Either way, it's still a computer game.
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