Gavin

[SIZE="1"]Just finished Fable 2, a decent enough game, though not as good as the original. The new firearms add a bit of depth to combat on the strategic front, but sadly it remains the hack, slash, shoot and magic grind as it was in Fable albeit with magic having been struck rather forcefully with a nerf-bat. Story-wise, the game starts out rather well though sadly that's about all I can say positively. After the tutorial level the similarities, homages and outright copy-pastes from Fable become glaringly obvious. [spoiler]Lucien starts appearing as a misguided anti-villain but falls hard into the clichéd territory of wanting to bring order and justice to a chaotic land by using the god-like power of the Spire.[/spoiler] Not quite Jack of Blades, but equally he lacks any real presence in the game aside from a couple of villainous pontifications before the inevitable. I'd originally thought some of the side characters from Fable annoying, Thunder's constant blustering, Briar's grating arrogance, the Guildmaster's...voice. None of that would prepare me even remotely however for group of misanthropes, morons and vanity-driven fops that Fable 2 saddles you with, save the dog of course, he's awesome. [spoiler]Hammer not only refuses to shut up throughout most of the game and has several dull philosophical and ethical debates but sees fit to blame you, the Hero, for the situation which forced you into working together, and better still should you choose anything but the most selfless ending whereby you entire family (and dog) remains dead but all those poor workers from the Spire (and coincidently her father apparently) are brought back to life she has issue with your moral fibre.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Garth[/spoiler] was by far my favourite side-character next to the dog, but sadly that's not saying much considering he's woefully underused. Finally and lamentably I'm brought to my number one reason for cutting Fable 2 down by at least a rating: [spoiler]Reaver[/spoiler], I don't care if he's voiced by [spoiler]Stephen Fry[/spoiler] from the moment I interacted with that prat I wanted to jam my pistol between his eyebrows and empty his cranium of what little intelligence remained in it. Further revelations only increased this loathing [spoiler]his willingness to steal the life-force of others in order to keep himself young, and the fact the imbecile was the one responsible for the annihilation of Oakvale 200 years beforehand[/spoiler] Not only that but the pillock [spoiler]betrays you, realises Lucien has no plans to spare Reaver and then at the end kills Lucien if you're not quick enough to do it yourself[/spoiler] at no point are you ever given the option of at least beating some humility into him. In the end Fable 2 is a distinctly average game, suffering from Peter Molyneux's routine overhyping of anything he's attached to. A 7 is generous in 2009 given how poor the in-game graphics look only a year after release, the repetitiveness of the gameplay, the unimaginative story and woeful side-characters. I also loath Molyneux continues to make the game easier, in terms of finance for evil characters and punishes good ones but the poverty-stricken hero is solely confined to his games. If you played and enjoyed Fable it might be worth a rent, just don't expect too much.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Calibri]My roommate just turned off the light. Me: "AH CAIN'T SEE MAH MAC AN' CHEESE" :animecry: Him: "Eh, I don't think it's goin' anywhere." :animesmil[/FONT][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]It's a trick, he turned it off to steal your food.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Magus'][size=1][color=navy]My only gripe so far is that I don't think I've seen Kenpachi at all during all of this. He should be all over this trying to fight off everyones zanpakuto.[/size][/color][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"] Main consensus is that Kenpachi probably isn't going to appear in this arc because he'd 1-shot most of the zanpakuto including Muramasa in the space of a single episode. There'd also be the problem bringing him in would potentially mean giving hints about his zanpakuto's name/form/whatever. I'd like to see him in it, right from the beginning but I don't think he'll appear until the very end.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Calibri]I randomly browse this thread for a few pages, and the only conclusion that sticks in my mind is that Kishimoto is into Scientology. Has to be.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]I guess that explains the Fair Game letter I received, I'd originally thought it just a very late reprisal for that time in Melbourne when one of their cultists tried to recruit me and I simply laughed in his face and not very politely requested he go have intercourse with himself.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Agree with Ace, Uchiha really has revealed itself as the parody we all thought it was. And just wait for the realisation that the 10 tailed beast is just part of the sealed form of the 11 tailed beast who makes up the planet, but he's just part of the 12 tailed beast who makes up the solar system etc, etc, ad nauseum.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] Here for Raiha's obligatory Obama-rage post.[/font][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]lol[/SIZE]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Calibri]Fix'd[/FONT][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Dear God how tired was I when I wrote that... But yes, the point stands: stubbing one's toe is ridiculously painful compared to other injuries.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Certainly I'm curious what prompted the Nobel committee to award President Obama the Peace Prize given he has not been serving as the US President very long at this point and his concrete achievements on a "world peace" scale would tend to be quite limited. I do congratulate the man on achieving this accolade but I would have to agree that political motivation seems to have played a rather large part in this. I can only hope his future actions merit this award.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Stubbing a toe far more painful one would logically assume it to be.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]I have to say I find this whole thing hilarious. Maybe it's because my family are so laid back but texting at dinner/day out was/is nothing major so long as it's not taking to an unreasonable degree. If I get a text message at dinner I'll answer it, or if I need to send one there's no issue with it being sent and if this happens two or three times there's nothing really said about it. Now it might be different if I spent the whole dinner texting and didn't engage in any conversation but that's never happened. This to me seems more about parents failing to instil within their children a desire to make dinners/days out family time rather than just a problem with could be solved by telling them not to text at dinner. If they're bored, they're bored. [/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Happy birthday you dithery old fogey.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][URL]http://www.comicsalliance.com/2009/10/05/super-social-networking-comic-book-character-facebook-status-u/[/URL][/quote] [SIZE=1]That was just awesome, particularly the first set with [spoiler]Mephisto and Spiderman[/spoiler][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]I lol'd. Pretty cool publicity stunt that doesn't come across as overly hammy. Guess this means the Trek crews are going to be fighting over whose ship gets send up first. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Boo'][size=1] That's racist. [/size][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Nicely done Boo, that'll teach her to speak kindly about people. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Lawliet']Also I am very curious what is going on with Yammy. He is obviously doomed, seeing as his opponents are main characters, popular captains, and Unohana.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Yammy is being saved for Unohana. It's going to be a relatively short fight to showcase why Ukitake and Shunsui (and by and large most Shinigami) can be silenced by her simply changing the tone of her voice, let alone drawing her sword. Am I the only one who wants to see Chad evolve futher with his Hollow powers, maybe to the point of Human-Arrancarisation ? There's been too little explanation of his powers and Abuello for my liking so far. Oh, interesting apparently once the Arrancar arc, and a smaller (filler) arc are done the manga is going to focus on Isshin and his background for a while. Here's hoping my former Royal Guard, former leader of the Shiba clan theory holds water. [/SIZE]

[quote name='chibi-master']Your idea of humour disturbs me.[/QUOTE] :p

[quote name='chibi-master']No. Just. No.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Your lack of humour disturbs me.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Because this crossover needs to happen: [CENTER][IMG]http://zeitgeistglee.250free.com/Gotdrill.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Well bit of meandering but at least we ended the chapter with Sasuke unconscious and Madara is possibly going to spill the beans on his master plan. Shame we didn't see too much from the Tsuchikage, I was hoping to see a bit more of his badass grandpa routine, and we all know Uchiha are weak against rocks. [/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Yeah, the chapter could've been wrapped up pretty easily in 5 or 6 pages instead of 19, though at least we've got confirmation on Halibel actually dying from Mashiro and a potential explanation for that ridiculous "3 minute" rule for the Vizard. That said, getting to hopefully see a chapter dedicated to Kensei is going to be good, even if it means we're only a little away from being whisked back to Hueco Mundo again.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Shinmaru']Hope you enjoy [b]Darker than Black[/b], Gavin! The series isn't quite as good as I hoped it would be when I watched it way back when (the ending is a bit lackluster), but it is good enough for me to look forward to the second season. Plus, November 11 is badass. The most badass month of the year gets the most badass character in the series. Oh yeah.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Finished out the series on the way home on the train. I didn't think the season finale was too bad [spoiler]although it did annoy me slightly they killed off so many characters[/spoiler] so I'll leave final judgement on that until I see season two proper which if the trailer has anything to do with [spoiler]doesn't have much to do with season one[/spoiler]. Added to that yes, 11 was quite the badass.[/SIZE]

[CENTER][IMG]http://zeitgeistglee.250free.com/TTGLCaptainCrunch.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

[SIZE="1"][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_arrest_of_Roman_Polanski[/url] Noticed we didn't have a thread on this so I figured I'd create one. Honestly it's an open and shut case for me, Polanski's "contributions" to the world via his cinematic work do not, and should not in any way prevent him from being properly tried over a crime as horrific as drugging and raping a 13 year old girl three decades ago. The fact that up until very recently the French and Polish governments, as well as numerous celebrities (so what is "rape-rape" Whoppi ?) supported his release is equally heinous. The simple fact is if he was not a celebrity there would be no controversy surrounding his arrest and extradition. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Timber'][SIZE=1][COLOR=Green]I prefer My Life Is Average, personally, but FML is fun too. MLIA is a lot happier and less fake, though.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Just got through a couple of pages, kudos for passing it on.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Dropped SEED Destiny after the wedding crash episode, simply lost the will to keep watching it. That said I started watching [B]Darker than Black[/B] earlier this week and I'm really enjoying it so far, the plot itself is pretty good but it's the characters which make it a hook for me, particularly Gai, the dude cracks me up whenever he's on-screen.[/SIZE]