David Hingtgen

Actually, one annoyance with Bioware games is that there's SO much interaction with so many pairs, that you could play the game 5 times and still miss a huge chunk of it. Luckily Leliana's easy to court, so I can try for the Leliana/Morrigan spat next time... (actually, I could probably still try to get it now) Sten is like Bao-Dur in KOTOR2 (not Bioware, I know) in that he just doesn't seem to talk past the initial conversation or two, and I think there's like 1 line that "opens him up" and if you miss it, he'll never say anything again.

That's a new one:

Just an FYI, but I just finished Redcliffe (I *think*, as it's the quest that never ends) in the longest, most roundabout, most goody-two-shoes way possible. So if you're going for a light-side character trying to do things the hard way and spare everybody, feel free to ask about rewards, difficulty of certain tasks, etc. (from looking around, it may be the only way to unlock a certain specialization) BTW---while Drake Scale armor has awesome stats, to the point that it may be end-game armor for Leliana, looks-wise it's just blueish leather. I was expecting, you know, scales... PS to people who have won or are more than half-way through: Are you skipping like every optional question and not reading any of the codex? I've got like 28 hours (Sat and Sun were non-stop playing), and am MAYBE getting to the half-way point. But I do ask every question I can, and read every codex. (hey, I paid for it, and people worked on it--so I read/ask/listen to everything there is) Of course, my 2nd playthrough will be MUCH shorter, as I'll have already heard and read most things---I'll only need to pay attention to the "new" stuff by being evil/mage/human or whatever. I remember this one set of books in Oblivion, that once I collected the whole set, I "sat down and read" in the game. Took an hour I think. But it was a good story.

There never really was supposed to be an A+/B model (not as we know it). Remember, the original F-14B had the F101, but nothing ever came of it past the prototype. Then the C was proposed, and also never happened. Then the D came and was approved---but the engines were ready long before the avionics were. So the decision was made (since the TF30 sucked so bad it was a safety issue) to immediately refit as many A's as possible with the new engines, while waiting for the avionics to be finished. When the avionics were finished, all the "half-converted" A's were to be "finished up" with a full conversion into D's. Similarly, they built new F-14s with the new engines intending them to be upgraded later as well. But, time/money/Cheney happened, and no plane ever got a "second" conversion to finish the job. Now, as the "re-engined A" was to be simply that, nothing more, and only exist as a TEMPORARY status while awaiting new avionics---it was called the A+. Nice and logical. B and C were already taken, and you couldn't call it an "F-14-interim-notD". But the Navy's ancient computers didn't like the "+" symbol at all, so they had to rename it SOMETHING, and B seemed fairly logical for a "slightly" modified A, as the original B never went into production and most people didn't know about the original one anyways.

Bringing along Wynne AND Morrigan has helped a lot, but I REALLY don't like that party. But can't deny the effectiveness. Morrigan status-attacks everything, and Wynne heals me. So I can go kill everything while they're helpless. Still, I either kill everything quickly, or my party dies even quicker. Prolonged fights just don't happen.

I really don't think PVA glue will hold over time---or even beyond one or two transformations. For the YF-19's plastic, I found that Plastruct Plastic Weld works well---only thing that would actually weld it, instead of glue it. I could only find one place saying what it actually had as the main ingredient, and they claimed it was MEK---methyl-ethyl-ketone. If you can find something with that in it, it should be much better. Look for a glue that is very watery, and lists ABS as something it works well on--most of that type should work well on YF-19 plastic. (you do not want the stuff plumbers use for ABS pipe--that stuff is far too thick, and often black) Note that you can't "cover" the piece with these cements---you'll have to apply it only to the cracks/edges. It will eat at whereever it touches---but that's what makes it strong.

"Another scheme, known as "Tip-Tow", involved a B-29 modified to allow F-84s to hook up wingtip-to-wingtip using a clamping module on each of the B-29's wingtips. which came to an abrupt end on 24 April 1953, when an F-84 flipped over and tore off the wing of the B-29, with all crew killed in the disaster. The problem was that there were vortices around the B-29's wingtips that made the hookups very troublesome." Severe vortices? Off of a gigantic unswept wing at high speed? You don't say. See the XB-70 for what happens when small fighters get near a heavy bomber's wingtips.

I'm keeping Leliana as my archer. (I'm playing the backstabbing rogue, and I make much use of it---plenty of ways to "backstab" from the front) She always died very quickly in melee, even though I gave her good armor and weapons. She does much better as an archer for me---she alone took out the last 4 enemies while everyone else was dead in my most recent battle---a zillion bandits. I'm still trying to make Alistair a tank---but I mean if shield+Templar abilities+"defender" tactics aren't enough, I don't know what is. (plus for being a Templar, he doesn't seem that good against mages). The final Templar ability looks awesome, but that's like 20 hours away. What's the point?

There's not nearly enough Macross to consider a remake. Maybe when it's like Star Trek, with zillions of episodes to the point that they're just repeating the exact same ep with different actors. Only remake when: A. It's been a LONG time since ANYTHING was made for the series. See Galactica. B. It's gotten stale due to repetition and reuse---TOO much has been made TOO recently (and of not-so-good quality). See Star Trek and previous Batman movies.

Yeah, the boards are pretty unanimous in saying that 2 offensive mages=much easier game, whereas with most RPG's it'd be 2 death-dealing dual-wielding knights.

I just had my first shatter a bit ago. What about all the zillions of fights before you have anything that can freeze/stone? (and I still can't make it a primary tactic---would need another mage for that) I'm currently having Leliana/Alistair/Wynne in my party (I'm playing a Rogue, but about as armored and weaponed a rogue as you'll find) and it works better than most, but I don't especially LIKE the party. Morrigan would be better, but she just doesn't have quite enough offense yet to make up for the lack of healing. (Wynne's only offense seems to be earthquake, which is basically unusable in a lot of areas due to its MASSIVE effect range)

Definitely sounds like it's broken inside from that description. Have you tried opening it up to see if it's easily fixable? Of course, since that feature is ONLY needed for GBP armor, it might be easier to just glue it permanently in place. Personally I think that's one of the dumber design features of the new VF-1----an ugly, easily-broken hinge in the middle of the fin, that is ONLY needed for an obscure armor that doesn't go with 90% of valks, that 90% of owners won't buy anyways.

I'm still not sure if EA counts views to a character page or the profile, so here's my profile page too: http://social.bioware.com/profile/6720 Anyways---combat in DA is a chore to me. EVERY fight is tough. Most encounters take multiple attempts. IMHO it's just flat-out due to enemy numbers. No matter how buff my tanks are, they cannot withstand 4-6 dudes pounding on them, while the mages are setting them on fire, without my personal help---and my PC is usually burning, frozen, AND stunned, since nearly every encounter is an ambush and you're surrounded by mages who will toss out EVERY status effect spell there is right at the beginning. I can't tell you how many times I have died before I could even do a single move, due to just being SWARMED by enemies/effects right at the beginning. Apparently once you hit level 12 everything changes due to certain moves opening up, but right now, I'm struggling a lot. And I don't *think* I suck---having played KOTOR, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect multiple times each I think I know Bioware's ways. Plus having played console RPGs since FF1 and DW1 through FF12 and Oblivion. But most encounters go like this: Die very quickly the first 3 or 4 attempts, then win easily the 4th or 5th try-----doing basically the exact same thing every time. The winning battle usually involves me figuring out which way to run like hell at the very beginning to try to dodge SOME of the mega-mage-assault, so I'm only burned, instead of frozen and burning and stunned. Healing is a major issue---healing spells are uncommon and I don't really want Wynne in my party. But if you give a character a tactic to drink potions at 25% health, they'll just guzzle a dozen in a battle. Plus, you can't drink potions when you're stunned and frozen and burning, and characters seem unable to use items on other characters. SO many times I've watched 3/4 of the party just sit there and die, because they're stunned and burning, and the mages/archers etc just keep stunning them. PS---yes, reviving sucks due to view. There was one boss fight I never could revive someone, as I couldn't find their body to aim the spell! In short---I love the story and world, but really don't like the battle system.

QC and the molds are not materials. LEGO's main asset are the molds and their QC. Also, I've never seen a "normal" toy with mold tolerances anywhere near LEGO, and I'd assume they don't typically have molds of the same class. Certainly not any Yamato has. (yes, that's a knock on Yamato---their molds are rough, and always have been)

Going slight back on-topic, AFAIK, for most any kit/toy, cost of materials is one of the smallest factors. Changing materials might lower the price by a small percentage, but there's nothing you could use to chop 20% off or something.

Now see if I had a Challenger, I would so get those wheels and possibly the hood pins.

Played WAY too much Dragon Age today. Did the entire Tower of Magi. Also, Bioware's social site is still WAY behind. Strangely, it records achievements almost immediately, but it's still showing inital equip for appearance, has stats from 15 hours ago, and equipment from 10 hours ago. (game-play hours, not real hours) I was hoping that today's update might show my current armor (which rocks) but it still shows "lost it 2 hours into the game" basic leather. ::edit:: Updated most stats, but still shows everything from the beginning. ::edit 2:: Oh, it seems the website only updates for those who get visits to their profile. Which is like counter-circular logic, as I don't "show" it to anyone because it hasn't updated ever and still just has the base level one equipment/appearance. Ah well, if anyone wants to help, go check out my character's page: http://social.bioware.com/playerprofile.ph...;nid=2298482811 (no, I don't go updating it or anything---it's automatically generated simply by playing when your 360's online---but I would like to show my character to a person or two, without trying to photograph an LCD TV)

I thought Alternators didn't sell well due to the HUGE gap between the early releases, and the fact that after the first couple---they all seemed the same. There were really only 2 or 3 basic designs, just different body panels. Plus the frankly frustrating transformations---so many parts that Z-folded in just 2 or 3mm, with hinges so tight you couldn't imagine they were supposed to move, combined with parts that LOOKED hinged that weren't, or parts that moved that weren't supposed to due to loose tolerances. It really didn't help that Hasbro simplified the instructions, which was most evident and "really made it harder than necessary" with Smokescreen/Bluestreak. I've compared the US and JP instructions---the JP ones have more steps---and they help! Hasbro actually eliminates a few, and they often are "little" ones that show exactly where that little 3mm Z-fold goes and what it does. Hasbro just says "move the arm over here" while the Takara ones show "unlatch this, fold that over there, THEN there's room to move the arm over there, if it's rotated 180 degrees first, then again afterwards".

Nope. Different feet, different arms, different upper legs, different shield, and different wingroots. And a different upper torso (it looks similar, but needs to be heavily resculpted to accomodate the different shoulders/shield). And I'm just talking about shape differences that'd need new sculpts. Nearly every other piece (the few reusables like nosecone and crotch plate) would need re-tooling, as the verniers and sensors etc are all different. PS---don't forget new tailfins.

If the white is the same as the 1/48, Pollyscale's "Reefer White" was the closest match I found.

And still not a single anything for Grace.

Yeah----my -21 won't have the back plate that flush no matter what---even with the legs and belly plates entirely removed from the plane. I can't even force/hold it in place that well-aligned.

If anyone has a spare decal for the head of Alto's, I could use it.

I'll add in that if you like the banter among your party members from ME or KOTOR, you'll *love* it in DA. And if you're a Farscape (or Stargate) fan, Claudia Black voices a main character.

Yeah, but won't a double-sized screen make a lot of games look quite pixely?