Recent content by SSX-BlueFlames

Nobody has bought a game since the mid-1990's. Since shortly after their inception, end-user license agreements have been stating quite clearly that the end-user has the right to install and use game software, but does not have ownership of anything more than the physical media (if that) and...

When it comes to Ubisoft's DRM policies, I've been voting with my wallet for years. The presence of StarForce on all physical copies of Silent Hunter III has caused me to investigate the DRM scheme used in each of their titles that I've been interested in since. Silent Hunter IV is the only...

I stopped playing anything elf-related many years ago. At the time, at least, the elves/half-elves were really overplayed and they consequentally started to become uninteresting. Of course, when I DM, you'd think the whole race had gone extinct, since I now have a well-entrenched habit of...

I've so extensively house-ruled D&D that I effectively use a custom edition now. Edition 3.5 was the basis, but a Second Edition player would feel right at home with my character creation and leveling rules. Then there's the completely original stuff I've sprinkled on top, like the nautical...

Baldur's Gate, Planescape - Torment, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age - Origins.... Basically, the Infinity Engine games and everything that evolved from them: Implementing pause-and-play was a design-by-committee decision. These pause-and-play RPGs are all too complicated to be realistically...

I just turned on manual targetting in Silent Hunter IV for the first time, something I've been working myself up toward for a while. That means I now play a game that requires me to remember Trigonometry. Realism. That's not to say I only play realistic games, but when I play a game with...

Towers with circular bases. I tell myself I'm going to stop with the cylindrical structures, and then I find myself unconsciously plotting out a circle, instead of a square/rectangle. They're a headache to do correctly, and if I muck them up in the slightest way, it bothers me to no end...

º Diablo in Diablo II. One of my big problems with Diablo II is that Diablo is the only character given even a modicum of development or motivation. He has a prison to escape, a Hell to resume managing, and a world to conquer. The player character is there for ... money? Maybe? Being that...