Do_The_Manta_Ray

@donpixel: Hunger Games The Mod? HUNGER GAMES the mod? Alright, Imma' calm down. HUNGER GAMES?! No, it's alright. You go watch Battle Royale now. Please, just go.

@mooseymcman: "Bombs of the Patriots". Or in lieu of that, "Bombers Sans Frontiers". If you really want to make me happy, though, go for the "La-Li-Lu-Le-Uh-Uh-Uh-Uh". Expect a good 15 updates by the end of the weekend as I can't seem to stop obsessing over this.

@n7: Genuinely great article. I appreciate how upfront and self-aware you're being about being somewhat overprotective, but that's something we all can relate to. MGO has always struck me as just brimming with potential. As you say yourself, it's incredibly diverse and flexible, allowing folks to take just about any approach they might conceive of, making for a very dynamic experience. There's been limitations in the past which prevented the game from really coming out of it's shell, especially in terms of movement. It's always felt rigid and stiff to me, which some people could argue makes for a more controlled experience, but I personally feel it really built a ceiling over how inventive you could be with your style of play. That's where this game seems to really differentiate itself from previous titles, though. As long as they build maps that take advantage of Snake's new capacity for moving about, I think we could be in for something really special here.

@sackmanjones: I'd personally recommend you do side-stuff until about level 5-6, head to Val Royaux and attend the myriad of requests you receive to meet folks; and then ride out the main story for a while until a bit more content opens up. At that point, "whatever" seems like a pretty apt description.

Many of the zones after the Hinterlands seem a bit more structured in terms of having a few really large quest-lines that take you through the majority of said area, and then some side-stuff ontop of that. Completing said larger quests also come with some pretty radical changes to the landscape in the aftermath, so you get to visibly see what you've done, which is a REALLY nice touch to making your actions seem impactful.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

I'd argue the two zones you just mentioned are among the less impressive ones in the game. So if you're already impressed at this point, just you hold onto your hat.

You're right, though, it is freaking gorgeous. The view from Skyhold, man..

Boy, I only just finished this quest not 10 minutes ago, and came away, mind blown out of the water. It's like a song I like or something. I've been loving this game from minute one; the larger story-driven quests have all been sublime in my opinion where-as the "open world" questing was a little bit less compelling, though still pretty great once you got into the groove of it.

This here section, however, completely outshines and outdoes anything before hand in the game, and arguably even in ANY Bioware product. It's cinematic enough to be worthy of an MGS title, with a fantastic balance between the dramatic and the downplayed. Songs are sung, bad guys are thwarted, dragons are menacing, character moments are had. All of a sudden, DA: Inquisition is threatening to topple my GOTY list as is.

I am all in.

I want EVERYONE online but me to use this.

Oh, they're just being tactful rather than polite, and the different being being polite and being tactful can be summed up fairly easily:

I'm sure that at some point in your life, you have walked in on a woman changing, in the shower or otherwise indisposed. The polite person would in such a situation say "Forgive me, Madame", where-as the tactful person would instead say "Forgive me, Monsieur."

.. That is a really good question. I'd really like an answer to this as well, if there's anyone who's got it. I wouldn't assume so, however. So maaaybe you should check out Dave's site instead.

That's a really pessimistic approach there. This is, at best, loosely related to the scenario you're naming, but different in tone and context. And I really think it should be okay to dish out constructive criticism towards the site as long as it's done in a pleasant and helpful manner. You're coming off somewhat threatening there, my friend. I realize that you guys have to deal with a lot of threads of that vile nature, but let's not jump the gun here.

Personally, I think it's a perfectly reasonable request. For instance, I really like Patrick and his work. I always check out Worth Reading and I stay up almost the entire night when Spookin' is live, which never fails to piss off my boss, but hey it's worth it. That said, if I were given the option, I'd turn his Twitter feed off. 90 % of it is links to his articles on the site, him lamenting the bears being crushed or him linking an article that deals with sexism. I already check the site, so I don't need the first, I'm European, so can't find it in myself to understand how you folks enjoy "football", and I'm trying to balance the amount of sexist related articles I read as it's easy to get desensitized by an abundance. The remaining 10 % that is him sharing his opinions on things I find really interesting, but it's sparsely dealt in that format, so overall it just isn't for me. On the other hand, I really enjoy Rorie's feed, and Vinny's filled to the brim with all things dreams are made of.

I'm sure other people share that view, and I see nothing wrong with giving folks the luxury of choice.

@humanity: But it has allowed me to peer into the depth of the human condition, to see past the conditioning of this first world, digitalized age, and come to grips with the beast that thrives inside me! It has undone the years of double-talk and from it, I have emerged, dark, hunched and glorious in my drive of unseemly appetites!

I really don't know where I'm going with this one.

Now, seriously, how's the music? In particular, they ran an old polish pop song in one of their trailers to fan-puppy-tastic effect. Is there more time/setting-appropriate songs in there?