12857 réponses à ce sujet

[KnightofPhoenix]

It's not my fault! His bio doesn't mention bedding orcs...

[Addai]

Well, Oblivion orcs =/ Tolkien orcs. They're sort of like Klingons. Some animal features like big teeth, and aggressive, but otherwise integrated into society along with elves and humans. The half-orc I was talking about is a pretty noble character. His story is really sad.

[Costin_Razvan]

When I think of orcs I mostly consider Warcraft orcs, which are not so dissimilar to the ones you describe Addai.



Still..

[CalJones]

One of the sad things was that Blizzard was working on an adventure game where you played an orc - I think (this is going back a few years - was in the late 90s anyway) he was raised by humans or something and as it was in the Warcraft universe, it was an interesting story. But the project got canned.

[Costin_Razvan]

The story was not destroyed though. It actually plays a pivotal role in the Warcraft lore.



Thrall ( the orc in that game you mentioned ) is the Warchief of the Horde.

[CalJones]

I see (I never touched WoW, as I mentioned before). The adventure looked nice though - it was one of the games I was shown when I went to visit Blizzard and Interplay (coincidentally, I think it was the same trip where I was shown Baldur's Gate for the first time. And I practically came in my pants, needless to say - everyone else was making Doom or Build engine games and noone was making RPGs, so I was ecstatic that this little Canadian company had stepped up).

[Costin_Razvan]

The WoW lore is not based on just one game with 3 expansions. It came off after a very popular RTS series. Namely the Warcraft 1, 2+Beyond the Dark Portal, 3+The Frozen Throne. It has quite a very deep story to it.



Most end-game bosses ( I assume you had raiding UO right? ) are actually characters that were created in the strategy series: Kel'Thuzad, Illidan, Kil'Jaeden, The Lich King.



BTW, as for as I remember the lead designer of UO also worked on WoW.

[CalJones]

Dude, I know it was from an RTS series. I was a games journalist in the 90s...hence visiting Blizzard and Interplay.

UO was unlike pretty much any other MMORPG out there. When I started playing it, you could bomb around on your own and do more or less what you wanted. There was no levelling and no character classes as such, just skills, so you could build your own template.

Origin/EA didn't introduce raid-type dungeons until some time later, after WoW had come on the scene (and in direct response to that, I think - not that it helped). I'm not sure how it is now as I quit in 2007.

[Giggles_Manically]

Addai67 wrote...

Well, Oblivion orcs =/ Tolkien orcs. They're sort of like Klingons. Some animal features like big teeth, and aggressive, but otherwise integrated into society along with elves and humans. The half-orc I was talking about is a pretty noble character. His story is really sad.

Is that the Grey Prince from the Arena quest line?

Felt so bad for that guy.

Also yes TES Orcs are awesome.

[Joy Divison]

Costin_Razvan wrote...

It's good. Quite very good.

Fun stuff to be able to crush your enemies at every turn but to feel overwhelmed on a grand strategy level. I need to conquer all of Germany and take West Prussia and Warsaw.

That means winning a war against 8 Nations ( Poland-Lithuania, Austria, Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria, Courland and two other minor nations ), though only Poland and Austria are nations with more then one region.

That said even minor nations have strong armies....and Hannover is protected by Great Britain while Poland is allied to Russia and Austria is allied to the Ottomans.

World War right there.

Poland allied with Russia?  Ottomans with Austria?  Wow, you must have been a naughty naughty boy to have those inveterate enemies as bedfellows against you.  Sounds good!

[Costin_Razvan]

Well...they start off allied. But OK I DID invade them all!

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 24 décembre 2010 - 05:09 .

[CalJones]

Giggles_Manically wrote...
Is that the Grey Prince from the Arena quest line?

Felt so bad for that guy.

Also yes TES Orcs are awesome.

Ah yes, that poor sod. Which reminds me, now that I have a clean Windows install, I can reinstall Oblivion and play it again. My last install got completely borked and I was never able to finish the Brotherhood and Thief quest lines.

[DragonRacer13]

CalJones wrote...

Giggles_Manically wrote...
Is that the Grey Prince from the Arena quest line?

Felt so bad for that guy.

Also yes TES Orcs are awesome.

Ah yes, that poor sod. Which reminds me, now that I have a clean Windows install, I can reinstall Oblivion and play it again. My last install got completely borked and I was never able to finish the Brotherhood and Thief quest lines.

Oh, wow, you definitely need to finish those quests. I felt the Brotherhood questline arc was one of the best of the sidequest/guild stuff.

Looking forward to 2011... DA2 in the spring, then ES5 in the fall... just wish we had more Loghain to look forward to.

[CalJones]

Not to mention ME3 next Christmas or thereabouts, and Witcher 2. Going to be a good year, I reckon!

[KnightofPhoenix]

Being the complete history geek that I am, I rented a book on Augustus to read on Christmas break (Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Everitt) for I quite shamefully did not know as much as I would have liked about this great person. I knew the basics, but that was it.

I just finished with reading about his war with Antony and I saw something familiar. In many ways, Agrippa is to Augustus what Loghain is to Maric.

Yes, I know it's extremely insulting to Augustus to be compared to Maric, but I think the comparison has some merit when it comes to purely military matters. Augustus is a brilliant politician and visionary, but being a great general is not his forte (he was good at managing wars on a macro scale, acquiring resources and keeping the army calm, which is an incredibly difficult task). This flaw of his was apparent in Philippi and his war against Sextus Pompei, where his victory against the latter can almost solely be attributed to Agrippa's military genius. It's true that Augustus played larger roles in the Illyrian campaign and the war against Antony, but he was always guided by Agrippa. The only campaign where Augustus did not have Agrippa with him was his campaign to take Alexandria, but no fighting occurred as everyone deserted Antony.

Add the fact that Augustus and Agrippa were childhood friends. So I was reminded by the Loghain / Maric duo, even though Maric does not come even remotely close to being worth Augustus' sandal. The comparison is more between Agrippa and Loghain, both military geniuses and adept at administration and more importantly, both fiercely loyal to their friend.

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 25 décembre 2010 - 06:46 .

[Costin_Razvan]

 Yes, I know it's extremely insulting to Augustus to be compared to Maric, but I think the comparison has some merit when it comes to purely military matters.

For the first time on these forums you have utterly baffled me Knight.

Augutus vs Maric? I know there is some merit to what you are saying but seriously Knight, seriously?

[KnightofPhoenix]

Costin_Razvan wrote...

 Yes, I know it's extremely insulting to Augustus to be compared to Maric, but I think the comparison has some merit when it comes to purely military matters.

For the first time on these forums you have utterly baffled me Knight.

Augutus vs Maric? I know there is some merit to what you are saying but seriously Knight, seriously?

Well I did say:
" even though Maric does not come even remotely close to being worth Augustus' sandal"

I was trying to compare Agrippa and Loghain. A thousand Maric can't be compared to Augustus.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Hanz54321 wrote...

KoP,

Have you not watched the HBO Series Rome? It's historical fiction, but wow . . . I figured you'd have seen it.

I did just recently, that's what prompted me to read more about it because I knew that HBO had many historical innacuracies (for drama I guess). It was nice nonetheless. 

[Giggles_Manically]

I can see some similarities in the Augustus/Agrippa vs Maric/Loghain comparison.

Augustus and Maric were better in politics than in war. Although Augustus is like 10 times the politician Maric was.
Agrippa and Loghain were both interested in geography and maps, and rumor has it that Agrippa knew the Med. better than many sailors.

Agrippa and Loghain do both share the trait of being no-nonsense generals who were both very practical. I do think that Maric and Augustus were very lucky to have these men behind them in the conflicts they fought.

On the whole though Augustus took over one of the worlds largest empires, beat down many opponents, outmaneuvered and underpowered the senate, ran a PR machine that was unmatched, and ended up being the beloved hero of a Republic that he very cleverly shifted into an empire.

There are few people who can even come close to Augustus in terms of pure political skill in history,

Well Maric did save Fereldan he was pretty much tagging along with Loghain and Rowan. Whilst being angsty over dem elves.
No real comparison between the two men.

edit- There are many good comparisons to be made between Agrippa and Loghain for sure. But comaparing Maric and Augustus is like comparing a golf cart to a Lamborghini. 

Modifié par Giggles_Manically, 26 décembre 2010 - 02:46 .

[KnightofPhoenix]

Giggles_Manically wrote...
No real comparison between the two men.

Indeed, none at all.

I've been aching for writing an article or essay about the similarities between Caliph Mu'awiya and Augustus. Many people (even comtemporaries) describe Mu'awiya as "The Caesar of the Arabs", while I think it's more pertinent to compare him to Augustus. Both share a remarkable amount of similarities (differences notwithstanding) in the general context of a polity based on a city-state (Rome / Medina) naturally adapting to the reality that it became an Empire and evolving accordingly. 

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 26 décembre 2010 - 02:53 .

[Giggles_Manically]

I watched a BBC doc on Augustus and was literally in awe of him.



He changed the very nature of Rome, but made it look like he was just its humble servant the whole time.

Bhelen would be a better comparison to him really.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Giggles_Manically wrote...
Bhelen would be a better comparison to him really.

Indeed, but Augustus was more sublte. He included the Senate in his new order and never needed to disolve it, thanks to his enormous political influence, his control over clientelas and due to the fact that most of the opposition were purged because of the proscriptions, he practically owned them anyways.

The book I am reading on Augustus is almost making me drool.

*dream sigh* Brilliant individuals like this make me happy inside.

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 26 décembre 2010 - 02:58 .

[Giggles_Manically]

Damn....



Now I am tempted to recreate him in Dragon Age and make a Augustus Cousland (or Aeducan).

Still have stuff to do in Oblivion though.