INN OF LOST SOULS: general chit-chat thread

[PadTheMad]

I enjoyed HL2 - it did a great job of telling a story but it did take a while to pick up the pace, and there are a lot of quiet moments that I didn't necessarily get along with. I absolutely loved the episodes to death though. They seem to have a purpose, and there is a lot more ambience to them.

Seen as there's a lot of love for HL2 here, you may find this interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obFOc4SkkNI

(Trantor - I don't think it will spoil the game for you but you may want to watch it after you've finished it to get the full appreciation.)

[Gambit37]

That's pretty good, but this one is even better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo
Again, Trantor, don't watch this until after you've completed the the game and Episode 1, massive spoilers ahead!!!

Oh and while we're at it, I wish these guys would hurry up and finish!
http://www.blackmesasource.com/

[Trantor]

I wasn't already done with the airboat passage. I now got the certain firearm you were talking about Gambit. My friend also told me about it and even went so far to say this thing was the main reason to play Half Life 2. The game definitely picks up and I'm enjoying it.

This weekend, however, was a total Monkey Island weekend. I downloaded the Special Edition of the first game and introduced my girlfriend to it. We spent like 7 hours on it yesterday and beat it more or less in one session. Naturally, we had to download part 2 as well... It's more interesting for me since I never played the whole game back when it was new; it somehow didn't really work for me. I'm now enjoying it just as much as part 1. Still great games after all these years!

[Jan]

I've spent some time today playing Rogue - the old dungeon crawler from the 80s, where most of the 'graphics' is represented by ASCII symbols. The last time I played it was on my Atari 800, it must have been at least 15 years ago. It really brought me back in time - but I've also realised how inspired and well made the game had been. It does not 'distract' the player with any graphics or sounds, and it focuses merely on the gameplay. Although the large-scale ramdomisation of the levels is sometimes weird, it's very addictive and I managed to waste at least two or three hours of my life playing it today, and the day is not over yet.

[ian_scho]

Yep, Adamo introduced me to Stone Soup ages ago. It's really weird in so much that you will ALWAYS go back to it at least once every 6 months. (I think it's because I die so easily)

[Adamo]

Ian, just wait till they release a new version of SS - DCSSv0.7 (dosens of new features).

[MasterWuuf]

Bought Skulkeep for the PC. Hard to locate those, nowadays.
Looks like I could have downloaded it for free (right?). Still happy with my purchase.

Also bought Marine Sharpshooter for the PC. I was afraid my oldest son would forget DM2, for that reason.

HA. HA. HA. He found a CAVE in the Sharpshooter game. He couldn't find his way out.
One would expect that problem to be found in a DM-type game.

P.S. I need to thank a couple of you for help with CSB, as well as the DOSBox help.
(at this point, MW bows deeply, in reverential appreciation for the help)

[Jan]

You're welcome.

[MasterWuuf]

Christmas tree is packed away (fake one, which I figure over half of you realized that ).
The new year is no longer all that new.
44 degrees F, in Louisiana (that's COLD).

I'm going to try to follow ZYX's resolution idea; try my best at all times throughout the upcoming year.

Nice to know all of you.

[ian_scho]

Nothing wrong with fake Christmas trees!

[Gambit37]

I was noticing that the forums are generally a lot quieter these days. Have we finally talked about everything that's worth talking about?

[beowuuf]

We're all just stupidly busy after Christmas?

We're still talking about DM, just look at slide's thread! And my players are still going strong (insane people) in the D&D game. And people keep asking questions in the custom dungeon thread and discussing games. And there's still chatter in the informal thread. And Sophia's still releasing DSB stuff.

We've nevre been a high traffic sight, but we're still talking!

[Gambit37]

True, I agree with all that, but it still seems like the forums are much quieter generally than they were a few years back? I know a few old hands left. And from my own point of view, I don't get much free time any-more, especially not now I started my new job. I'm not complaining at all, just observing a change.

[Jan]

That's what I wanted to say. I have a few possible explanations for the forums being so quiet now:

1. Gambit has a new job.

2. Trantor has been banned again but this time someone forgot to un-ban him. Or, he has been banned so much this time that he cannot be un-banned.

3. Jan is worried of him bringing the whole forums permanently off-topic and so he just shoulds up and watches the others.

4. The others are busy with the D'nD DM game and reading the BW's long posts.

5. People have finally realised that DM is an obsolete game. Or, people started thinking it was obsolete. Or, people want other people to think that they think the game is obsolete, although they actually think that the game is not obsolete.

[Gambit37]

Cool, now we're talking again I'll add another one:

6. We've got to that awkward place where it's been so long since anyone said anything, that now everyone thinks "Ah, I left it too late to speak. Now I don't want to be the first to say something."

Oh, wait just a minute...

[beowuuf]

???

What are you talking about? If anything occurs to anyone, they still post a post. No one is embarrassed in to not posting anything to post anything. Unless you do mean just you, in which case just post something.


I'll also point out life has moved on from forums as people (in general) means of communication on the net. You blog. You tweet. Some people Facebook. Where once you would have used this forum as the sole place to discuss stuff, you now diversify.

I have at least once not replied to a thread here by you assuming I've done it on one of the other medium already. When in the end I hadn't.


You might even spend longer a day talking online, but you are probably spending far less time speaking in any one place now. The same has happened on the Lone Wolf forums. I'm constantly interracting with or at the very least seeing what is happening with a Lone Wolf fan every day, but the posting rate on any one forum is way, way down.

It's just how life has developed. My TV watching habit and the amount of cinema I watch is way, way down. My media consumption has never been higher.


That's my take on it, anyway.

[Jan]

(I'll just leave this post as a placeholder in case I had something to say. Then, I'd say it and inform you about saying it in another post, and this will give me even one more post - but only if I find something to say. *rubs his hands* Now, I only need to come with something really really important, or smart, or both)

[Jan]

???

What are you talking about?

I think Gambit is bored ATM. I'm bored ATM too. I've just finished my presentation on the Israel - Palestine relations, and now I'm bored. I plan to be bored until supper. I use no Facebook, no Tweeter, no Blogs, no nothing. This Forums are my only mean of communication with the outer world.

Did I already say I'm bored ATM?

[beowuuf]

Aww, I'm sorry I'm so slow or there would be something on the LW forums today that might temporarily relieve your boredom!

[Jan]

Oh, OK, so these forums are one of the only two means of communication with the outer world I have.

And, finally, it's a supper time!

[Ameena]

I hadn't noticed the forum seems quieter...then again, as I'm one of the players in Wuffy's DM/DnD game, I'm posting regularly in that, as well as responding to Slide's posts about DM/CSB over in his thread. I suppose the other areas of the forum have been less busy, though. But I don't think I post here any less than I did when I first joined back in, erm...2003, I think.

[Gambit37]

@Beo: My #6 was just a joke about human nature, and not really meant to be taken seriously.

As for blogging and tweeting, I hardly do either these days. I haven't blogged anything interesting in over 6 months and no-one reads my blog anyway. And on my blog and Twitter, I just engage mainly with other Web people. I don't have chatty conversations with people on Twitter, it's not that kind of medium. Good conversations still end up on blogs and forums, even if they started on Twitter.

Anyway, I didn't raise the issue to get people talking on the forum more. I had simply observed the forums are quieter than they used to be. I just wondered if anyone else had noticed, that's all.

[ian_scho]

Well I'm definitely busier than before. It's unlikely that I'm causing the rest of the world to be busier... But it's possible.

I agree, however, that the actual "I'm making a dungeon and it's going to be the biggest with the largest file size..." type category of posts is down in most recent months.

[zoom]

I have been more or less - merely been lurking , checking posts but not really contributing anything.

I also noticed a decrease in posts/day on the forum.

Things changed ;
RTC is pushing the daisies,
DSB is becoming slowly more critical mass, it needs dungeons!!
Csbwin went to a slight halt with conflux now released completely; but there is the wiki ..
people are busier, - and using diverse channels like beo stated- where´s Adamo- did he or others retire from here- any news?
dm2win -next to other things like from bit, rasmus - is seeing the light of day...
but these are heavy programming things.
3d clones , like the one from DSE came to an utter halt because of dire need: graphics/3d models that cannot be made over here it seems too advanced stuff!

I would say there are still some pretty interesting things going on, but the energy is not focussed enough to try out a new engine or build dungeons next to job/life or create graphics for new program you´d have to switch etc)

THe most active threads are the D&D ones atm! (no offence!) It is just , I lost the grip on those and now honestly do not read it !
honourable mention of Trantor´s dungeon, generated good attention.


Personally, there are still some things -apart from dungeons- we could discuss.
like:
I heard that in ireland horses are running wild and are scattered over the landscape because the owners do not have the money anymore to feed them.. and so they let them loose! Very sad and quite disturbing!!!

[beowuuf]

Well, people might not be boasting as much about dungeons, but Adamski re-released his upside down, ToC is still going strong, Conflux has gone through a couple of iterations, Zed is tinkering, oh, and let's not forget TRANT RELEASED HIS DUNGEON! WOOHOO!

[oh_brother]

I did not really notice a slow down, but then again (1) I have been busy and (2) since I am in the D&D game there is always something to read.

Just looking at things it seems that Zoom is right - some people seem to be migrating from RTC to DSB, and it might take some time for them to produce anything worth talking about. Still a lot is going on...both Trantor's dungeon and ToC are generating great reviews, I must give them a go sometime!

I heard that in ireland horses are running wild and are scattered over the landscape because the owners do not have the money anymore to feed them.. and so they let them loose! Very sad and quite disturbing!!!

Yes, I have not seen this myself but I have heard about it, very sad. It is becoming a global problem, due to the economic crises and poor winters coupled with the high costs of maintaining such animals. It is hard to know what is best to do...some horses are slaughtered and exported as food but that is not really a happy ending, and anyway can only happen when they can trace exactly where the animal has been and what medication (if any) it has taken. Drastically reducing breeding programs should be the first step I would say – to prevent further suffering and to increase the value of current animals.

[Zyx]

Something missing is a big team project for the next 10 years.

[Bit]

Think Sphenx just broke the limit for maps in DM2 - it's 256 now...

[MasterWuuf]

My cold has dropped into my chest, leaving the most disgusting voice I've heard in many years.

And my Geographical Tongue flared up again.

I'm sure not going to wish for 'twin' kidney stones, to go along with the package.

[Bit]

I know what you're talking about, fighting my cold since christmas. I visit a doctor really rarely, but today i did.
Voice didn't vanish completely like last winter two times. But sounds really rough.