[Spoiler]

Shadowpin:  great in concept but doesn't seem to ever work.

This is actually decent; it just only works well against certain enemies (wolves, bandits, and orcs being the most prominent). Just cast it, tell your pawns to come to you, and then wait as the enemies wander into it. It also acts as a barrier; you can sit in it and shoot all day without guys getting close.

I just tried using the Mystic Knight's Stone Grove ability for the first time tonight. It takes forever to set off, but if you get it down it does some serious damage. I took a cyclops down from almost full health to about 1/4 of his last health bar in one go.

I also just fought the

Spoiler for Hiden:

hydra

which took some serious work to take down. This game just keeps upping the ante. 

Cloud shot sucks for doing damage. I think it's best use is to bring harpies down to the ground fast. But for anything on the ground, you'll need to use another skill.

As a side note, make sure the bow you're using does magic damage. I believe (and someone correct me if I'm wrong on this), it's the magic damage that's most important for Magic Archers.

I made the mistake of killing a Cyclops that was owned by the female bandits up towards the great wall direction,apparently he doesn't attack....which i didn't know,i just twanged an arrow in his direction and then my posse kick the shit outta him with spells..later on,i learned he was friendly and i was to feed him a Goblin corpse for a quest to get in favour with the Female Bandit leader...oh well

He respawns.

so does the bandit leader, which is odd-  I've cut her down twice.  she didn't drop a medallion though, so no shortcuts if I ever pick up that quest.

I had the same issue. I thought (apparently incorrectly), that I would need to talk to her first (like the other bandit quest). But even though none of the other bandits attacked me, she got aggro as soon as I got near. Killing her was self-defense, I tell you!

I made the mistake of killing a Cyclops that was owned by the female bandits up towards the great wall direction,apparently he doesn't attack....which i didn't know,i just twanged an arrow in his direction and then my posse kick the shit outta him with spells..later on,i learned he was friendly and i was to feed him a Goblin corpse for a quest to get in favour with the Female Bandit leader...oh well

He respawns.

As a side note, do those journal entries ever lead to something other than that quest? I was hoping to get them all and follow the clues to some sweet stash of treasure.

7-5

This is a damn good album, people.

High Maelstrom has a sweet effect but man is it a pain in the ass, especially when cast indoors. It completely blocks being able to see what's going on; I just have to run away from the monster and wait for it to finish.

[Spoiler]

I just had an epic battle with a (spoilered in case you don't want to know certain monster types)

Spoiler for Hiden:

beholder.

All three of my pawns died and disappeared (I guess because they were frozen and I didn't unfreeze them? Is there a way to unfreeze them without a potion?) with the monster still having two and half bars of life left. I got grabbed and chewed up pretty good a few times, and had to use about 10 potions, but I managed to take him down the rest of the way myself. And since I used a "get more experience" periot right before killing him, I winded up getting something like 70,000 xp for that battle. Woot!

Amazon also has Ryan Adam's "Live After Deaf" for $8.99. Not sure if it's a glitch or what, but on iTunes that same box set of 174 songs is selling for $120.

edit: looks like this was taken down so I'm guessing it was a mistake. Bad for Amazon, good for me!

They finally put up the correct price - $108.49.  I guess $8.99 was a bit of a mistake 

Score!

I've never used any of the tomes. Do they actually do some useful stuff?

For that matter, I've never used a jewel either. Is there any difference between a jewel and a potion other than the fact that most jewels are heavier to carry around?

So my pawn has been either a mage or a sorcerer his whole life (level 52 now). Obviously, he is pretty tapped out on learning. Is it worth having him switch vocations so that he can learn some new skills? If so, any suggestions about which are worth switching to? My goal is for him to go back to being a sorcerer as his main role, but I'm not sure if he's losing something by not learning anything new.

Amazon also has Ryan Adam's "Live After Deaf" for $8.99. Not sure if it's a glitch or what, but on iTunes that same box set of 174 songs is selling for $120.

edit: looks like this was taken down so I'm guessing it was a mistake. Bad for Amazon, good for me!

[Spoiler]

I played more after beating the dragon last night.

Spoiler for Hiden:

The new monsters are no joke! At least at level 54. As far as "common" enemies go, the hell hounds are especially tough. And the new chimeras are about 20x harder.

damn, I'm something like 44.

Yeah, I know. For the last week, I keep dismissing then rehiring Winter hoping she'll have leveled. You're killing me here, CeeKay!

[Spoiler]

I beat the dragon today. Was a fun battle, but actually somewhat easy. One weird thing though:

Spoiler for Hiden:

They had my love interest as Madeleine. While I did help her escape the castle, the whole time I had been working on the Duke's woman. I helped her escape and I'm pretty sure I slept with her. She even gave me her token.

Also, has anyone taken the "kill the girl" option?

Season 2 of Louie is now up. Hilarious.

I also love how you can actually feel your character get more powerful. It used to be the cyclops, and then later chimeras, scared the shit out of me. But now I can take them down without a second thought; half the time I can even kill them without getting hit. Part of it is knowing what tactics to use and part of it is that my guys are just bad asses now. One or two meteor blasts and those guys drop like flies.

Seems like there are some potential spoilers in that trailer. But at least now I know there will be a return of a woman with three boobs!

[Spoiler]

This game has taught me (slight, not specific spoiler about a possible love interest in the game)

Spoiler for Hiden:

that not even being falsely accused of rape will prevent me from wanting to get with a girl if she's hot. 

On that note, what does being dragonforged entailed? As far as I could tell, the item didn't seem that much better than it was before (maybe it was even the same?).

AFAIK, dragonforged is just the 4th upgrade level, one you can't buy. As such it's probably just a small upgrade from level 3.

you're right about everything except the small upgrade part.  Going from 3 to DF is a huge jump in stats.  HUGE 

It didn't really seem that way for my leather bracers, but I don't remember what the stats were before killing the dragon so I can't really compare.

The future is now!



edit: just saw that this is a hoax. The true future is in 2015. Oh well.

Yes,  I think hiring high level pawns will unbalance the game a bit. You'll notice that high level non-friend pawns will cost too much RC to afford. I generally tried to only use pawns that were at most three or four levels above me, mainly for the reason metallicorphan stated above. If you're having trouble finding pawns your level, just use a rift stone to change the search parameters. There's one in the room behind the encampment's inn. There's also one in the big city if you've gotten there yet.


I just killed my first dragon last night. It was a pretty tough fight at level 49. I think I had to revise my pawns three or so times each. I also got lucky in that the dragon wasn't able to successfully mind control one of my pawns, even though he tried four or five times. I'm not sure if that's because I did something (like attack his hand and face?) or if it's just a resistance thing. Unfortunately, the one piece of equipment that became dragonforged was something I was just about to replace.    On that note, what does being dragonforged entailed? As far as I could tell, the item didn't seem that much better than it was before (maybe it was even the same?).

[Spoiler]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

I didn't think so either, but one of the linked endings (the control one, maybe?)

Spoiler for Hiden:

showed her face when going over who didn't make it and she wasn't there in the when putting the Sheppard plaque on the wall.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe that's the ending where all synthetics are destroyed. Now ask yourself: Is it coincidence that EDI isn't there after that event?

[Spoiler]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

I didn't think so either, but one of the linked endings (the control one, maybe?)

Spoiler for Hiden:

showed her face when going over who didn't make it and she wasn't there in the when putting the Sheppard plaque on the wall.

[Spoiler]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

The game gets better as you get further in. For the first few hours, I thought it was fun but nothing too special. Then as I started fiddling around with vocations and trying to perfect my pawn (and not dress him like a girl), the game just grabbed me. Plus, some of the monsters are just really fun to fight. And I actually don't think the story is as bad as people make it out to be. It's minimalist, sure, and the majority of the quests are "kill xx number of yy", but the actual story quests are pretty cool.

Well, the endings are definitely more fleshed out and better, especially the synthesis ending. However, they still don't seem to reflect outcomes based on the individual choices made from the previous games. And I kind of like the refusal ending, actually.

I just realized that the main guy from Salvation looks and acts a lot like the evil priest from Resident Evil (4?). I thought he seemed familiar somehow.

[wasn't]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Aliens in at least 6 years and don't remember the details enough to be able to compare the two settings. And my guess is that the average Prometheus movie goer hasn't seen Aliens very recently either.

If you don't remember the setting,and havent seen the movie in 6 years,  why would you be upset that you don't instantly get everything in the prequel? It IS a prequel, so some knowledge of the previous movies is expected. 

Odd. I thought the whole argument was that Prometheus wasn't a prequel and the casual fans are dumb to think it was. In fact, Ridley Scott himself said it isn't.

Sir Ridley Scott has told BBC Radio 5 live that his new film Prometheus is not a prequel to his 1979 hit Alien.

It wasn't a big deal to me that the movie wasn't a direct prequel to Alien. I realized that fact once the space jockey

died not sitting in his chair.

My point, however, is that the details in the film that indicate that it's not set on the same planet as the original movie are probably too small and obscure for most casual fans. The fact that so many people thought it was a prequel after seeing this movie is pretty good evidence of that fact.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Aliens in at least 6 years and don't remember the details enough to be able to compare the two settings. And my guess is that the average Prometheus movie goer hasn't seen Aliens very recently either.

The planets certainly looked different, but from what I remember they land on the planet in Alien during a storm and most all the time on the planet is spent in the ship. So you really never get a great look at it.

If you've seen the old movies, you know this isnt the same planet, due to the name.

I have seen the old movies. In fact, I watched Alien again less than a week before seeing Prometheus. But I still didn't realize it wasn't the same planet until I read that online. Seriously, do you think most people who casually watch these movies will remember that the planet name that briefly popped up in Alien was LV-426 and not LV-233? As far as I know, that's the only way to realize that this isn't the same planet, right?

[Spoiler]

Slight spoiler requested:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I just killed the cockatrice and now the duke's dude wants me to go on another quest. He states something like "you likely be gone for awhile, so make sure to do everything you want before starting. Two questions:

1) Will accepting this quest cause me to lose any non "kill-30-foozles" quests?

2). I recently switched vocations from a maxed up Mystic Archer to a now 3rd level Mystic Knight. Is this going to be a quest where I'll want to be at my best? That is, should I switch back to my Mystic Archer vocation before beginning the quest or will I be able to manage with my low level Mystic Knight skills?

My pawn just suffered a grievous insult at the hands of EngineNo9. He returned to me after a long play session with EN9 and was wearing a dress! Specifically, the "Set of Lady's Garb" which in the description says it is only worn by men without shame. Worse, it dropped his armor by 100. And the final insult? EN9 rated my pawn's appearance 5 stars. 

I don't know that I'll ever be able to look at my pawn the same way...

Mrs. Doubtfire, recut.

 

Triumph and Kenneth together in Chicago.

I wasn't that disappointed in the plot holes (I didn't think there was THAT many), but I was disappointed in the 2 dimensional characters and use of tired horror tropes towards the end of the film.

David was great, the basic story of the Engineers and how they create life was interesting and the sense of awe when discovering the Engineer's planet was sufficiently inspiring.

+1

I thought the first half of the movie was exciting and interesting, and then everyone starts to act like idiots. It might have been posted before, but this article gets at many of the problems I had.

"Prometheus" suggests to me that Ridley Scott, Jon Spaihts, and Damon Lindelof all must have had some very interesting conversations and some very heady goals when they sat down to start work on this movie.  I appreciate the ambition.  I think the most basic conceptual mistake they made was attaching this in any way to "Alien."  I think the idea that the film is structured like a mystery, slow to yield any real information, is also a problem.  It is a largely passive experience for the characters, and as a result, it is the sort of film where it feels like we're watching something happen at a remove.  Because there are things that have to happen to underline the points of The Big Message, characters act in ways that no human being would, functioning more in service of the action than having the action result from the expression of character.  If none of that matters to you, then "Prometheus" might well be a great experience for you, but when I don't recognize basic human responses, then drama doesn't work for me.  It's that basic.

Its not as full of plotholes as many people around the internet assumes.

Actually, it is full of more plotholes than many people assume. 

Its probably not petrification, since it doesnt work. What's happening is the same in every Golem fight - Once you damage it sufficiently, it will freeze for a short while, and then suddenly burst back to life. It has happened in every Golem fight I had, and my wizards doesnt use petrification.

There were times that it fell to its knees and the glowing bits still lit up and I could damage it. And then two or three times it fell to it's knees, turned the same color that other monsters turn when petrified, and none of the glowing bits were lit up. In that stage, I could do no damage to it no matter where I attacked and it took a minute or two before the golem would move again. I just assumed that it was because my pawn was casting petrification (although it doesn't make much sense to be able to petrify a stone being).

Have you tried taking it to an Apple store? They are real good about replacing defective hardware, or for a nominal fee if you are out of warranty, you'll get a new one...

It is out of warranty and unfortunately the nearest Apple store is 1.5 hours away. Looking around online, it looks like a fix costs $100+. I've watched some YouTube videos on how to replace the digitizer and ordered all the parts I need, but then stopped trying to do it due to excessive nervousness. 

Just fought a golem for the first time last night. That took awhile. It didn't help that my dumb pawn kept petrifying him preventing me from doing any damage.

I've also been enjoying the Magic Archer vocation; while my guy isn't as powerful as he was as a ranger (probably because I haven't upped my magic ability), the honing arrows are great.

TLDR:  You pawn wasn't the one making the mistakes 

No, I understand how golems work. My pawn was actually petrifying him. It would make his glowey bits and the rest of his body all turned to stone and was undamagable.

interesting, golems are supposed to be immune to all magic save exequy (sp?) and immune to petrification

My pawn is apparently so good he can make golems susceptible to completely ineffective magic.