Root Access

r.tanner.f

4:33 PM

quite morning in here

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f yeah i've been kind of waiting for someone to reply to an email and was disappointed at the lack of chatter

but i always have fun talking to you, Tanner :)

r.tanner.f

@allquixotic We have good times man =D If I ever make it to the east coast I'll have to hit you up.

allquixotic

lol. WA state is a long ways away, i don't have a reason to go up that way anymore

now the other Washington (DC) I can do

around here, since we're within an hour's drive or so from the capitol, whenever you say unqualified "Washington" people always, always assume DC, even if you mean Washington State

r.tanner.f

We have locations all down the east coast, I imagine I'll get sent to a couple eventually...

@allquixotic There's nothing good in this state anyway =D haha

allquixotic

do you travel often?

r.tanner.f

4:47 PM

Seattle is meh, the rest of the state is dark cold and snowy

@allquixotic Nope. Never even been on a plane. Never seen the ocean. xD But I've only been at this job for 9 months, and the rest of them travel fairly often.

allquixotic

I like trains. (Seriously, I'm not talking in the voice of asdfmovie.)

I don't do planes. I like trains.

r.tanner.f

Never been on a train either.

allquixotic

whoa

r.tanner.f

Wait... that's ironic O_o This entire business is built around trains.

allquixotic

so you've only ever traveled by car/bus? how about boat?

r.tanner.f

4:48 PM

Umm... took a ferry once on Puget Sound.

allquixotic

that's it? wow...

I LOVE boats so much, omg... boats and trains... my faaaavorite methods of travel of all time. :D

Hennes

fun remarks from about a years ago. "Modern laptop batteries now contain more energy per weight unit than the explosive in a handgrenade. I wonder when aeroplane security will realise this."

r.tanner.f

Haha, I'll have to try those. I don't want my kid to grow up like me (never travelling; living in the same town his entire life.)

allquixotic

I can't recommend planes (I have vertigo and ears that are very sensitive to pressure changes) but trains at least can get you alllll the way to Canada, and across the entire US

I'm actually fairly well traveled within the north american continent, considering I've never been on a plane

just takes me longer to get there :P

I think I'd only ever go to Europe or Asia if it were going to be a permanent / semi-permanent one-way trip, like completely moving my life to take up roots in another country. and I'd probably take some kind of boat instead of a plane, lol

Hennes

Boats take a long time though.

allquixotic

4:54 PM

boat rides are relaxing. I was on a cruise this past summer. it was incredible to have a nice dinner inside the cruise liner and then go up on the roof and watch barges come into Boston Harbor and feel the wind in my hair and watch the wind turbines

Hennes

And from what I hear from US people here it is quite different.

allquixotic

boats do take a long time, which is why I wouldn't want to have a lifestyle that required me to frequently transport between continents

I would probably decline a job that demanded such rather than take a plane

some people take a plane to work every day as casually as I'd take a train to work. just can't see myself doing that.

Oliver Salzburg

Planes are like prisons. Once you get on, you can't leave and are locked into a tiny spot. And once you get off, you feel like you're in another world.

allquixotic

@OliverSalzburg they're also prisons that require continuous, active, inherently-flawed human technology to operate correctly to keep you from dying

Hennes

I usually hate plane. Crowded, loud people nearby. Very tine chairs with no legspace 9I am only 1.87m. Average for a dutch male, but the seats only seems suited for children). And it takes hours to get though customs.

Oliver Salzburg

4:59 PM

I hate travelling period :P

allquixotic

"flying coffins" -- if any part of the propulsion system fails, chances are extremely high that essentially everyone on board is going to die

trains, cars, even boats, to an extent, do not carry the same consequences of failure in the event that the pilot(s) become incapacitated or the propulsion system fails -- there isn't enough inertia to pose a threat, so the vehicle just slows down harmlessly to a stop; also, you can literally jump out of a boat/car/train and in most cases survive unless it's going unusually fast or you hit something on your deceleration

@r.tanner.f I might be able to convince someone to go with me to Seattle to see the Orioles play the Mariners though

during the 2013 season

r.tanner.f

@allquixotic Nice. I'd definitely head over to Seattle for that.

allquixotic

5:17 PM

so it looks like I'll probably hold out until Microsoft releases a Surface Pro device based on Intel's Haswell. Not too keen on buying a new Ivy Bridge system so late into its release cycle.

If they're iterating at even a small fraction of the rate that mobile handsets are, it won't be all that long.

Luke

Is Baseball to Americans what Hockey is to Canadians?

allquixotic

@Luke nah, I think American Football is to Americans what Hockey is to Canadians

Baseball is actually less popular now than it used to be... it WAS the #1 sport until football took over

Luke

Gotcha

allquixotic

nowadays you get skyscrapers downtown installing huge LED arrays to beam team-colored light (purple, in Baltimore) all over town if the team makes it to the playoffs

Luke

We don't care for FB here, it's either Hockey or Rugby... And our national sport is Lacrosse, but I don't even know of any actual non-high school teams

allquixotic

5:19 PM

not so much glory for baseball

major league baseball is marketed as a good, wholesome family activity, so you see a lot of young kids and large families there -- "the ole ball game"

still plenty of older fans but mostly kids now. football is more geared toward the 25+ crowd (male AND female)

Luke

That's cause they wanna see them big strong guys :P

allquixotic

and the men want to see the cheerleaders.

baseball does not have cheerleaders. at all.

Luke

True... Except mascots in huge costumes

We only have 1 MLB team, the Toronto Blue Jays

And I don't think we have any NFL, but we have CFL... I only know of 3

allquixotic

I know. the Blue Jays are in the AL East, with my home team and favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles

I'm actually going to a Blue Jays vs Orioles game later this year

at Toronto

the Blue Jays really fell apart last year... injuries mostly... early in the season, many of the "pundits" thought that the Blue Jays would be destined for the world series, or at least make it to the playoffs, but they weren't even close by the end

r.tanner.f

@Luke I think it's more hitting people and beer. USAians have a thing for violence and booze. =D

Luke

5:29 PM

Nice edit @r.tanner.f :P

r.tanner.f

Haha, now that it's been brought up it's going to bug me.

@Luke How big is rugby there?

Luke

I know

I still won't use it in regular speech though

Only in high schools

To bring out the redneck in us

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f USAians ftw!

r.tanner.f

Oh, incidentally, my town is all about hockey.

We have a huge freaking arena that gave us a massive debt (which we defaulted on) that's used primarily for our hockey team.

That and drinking beer. Lots of beer. And hitting people. Good times.

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f it takes more money to operate that arena than it makes in profit?! whoa

never heard of an unprofitable sporting event before... well, it's rare... I mean, people tend to like sports and go to them and stuff

r.tanner.f

5:36 PM

Oh, the hockey games sell out all the time. It's just a small town so... what do? They wanted to do concerts and whatnot in them, but it's hard to get big names and we've had a lot of shows not sell enough seats to go on. It's been a real mess... I think it's just been mismanaged.

allquixotic

:/

r.tanner.f

We did have B.B. King though =D

allquixotic

Orioles baseball is the only real sport I'm very much into...

the Ravens are in the football playoffs but I don't really care

BGM

Hello, fellows, I need some advice for purchasing a computer.

allquixotic

@BGM you've come to the right place

r.tanner.f

5:43 PM

@allquixotic Seahawks lost by two in the playoffs yesterday... No surprise I guess. They always give us enough hope to watch them fail at the last minute.

@BGM What're you looking for?

BGM

We have a conference room with a very large table, a ceiling-mounted projector,
and a Control4 box.

I need to purchase a computer that will sit under said table, and use the
projector for its screen. Since it will go under the table, I need it to be a
small box.

My requirements are that it be fast, have lots of RAM and a good networking
card, since its main usage will be for video conferencing.

It needs an HDMI port to connect to the screen, and from 500gb to 1 TB for disk
storage.

It needs a CD/DVD reader (no burner necessary) and a blu-ray player would be

Luke

BB King?

Mainly video conferencing? Built in Video Cards should be enough for that these days

allquixotic

@BGM things I need up-front include: country you live in, desired form factor (laptop, full size desktop, mid-tower, micro-tower, or smaller than micro-tower), your budget (local currency is OK), and.... that info you provided is useful

Luke

A simple i3-based system or even an AMD E350 series system would be enough

BGM

I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856101117
but one reviewer says it isn't good for gaming, and video conferencing is like gaming in a way.

Luke

5:44 PM

Both come in small Mini-ITX form factor

allquixotic

@Luke are you sure? 1080p video encoding and decoding simultaneously could be interesting on an E350

BGM

@allquixotic - I am in Kansas City in the USA. I don't want a laptop, but rather a sort of "mini" computer - Windows 7.

I can spend up to $450

Luke

@allquixotic Ya, it works

allquixotic

$450 USD? whoa. extremely low budget. gonna have a tough time building out a decent box at that price if you don't have a case, PSU, RAM, HDD or DVD drive yet

Luke

It also has an SSD, cause it was built as a silent computer, but it's great

www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3681

BGM

5:46 PM

I could spend more if I could prove to my boss that it is the way to go.

allquixotic

well, an AMD APU is definitely much heftier on the graphics front than an Ivy Bridge

Luke

Build a system with that, get an Antec 110 chassis,, 4GB (or 8) of RAM, and Windows 7 Home and a 40GB SSD. All for under $400 CAD

allquixotic

provided that it can do the encoding and decoding with the GPU part rather than the CPU, it should be good

BGM

I already have Window 7 pro in bulk.

@allquixotic - So I need a good graphics card...

allquixotic

I wouldn't go with an SSD personally unless you know that your storage requirements will be extremely modest and fixed (i.e., people won't be dropping 10 MB Excel files on the local drive and leaving them there forever)

@BGM no -- the AMD APU he linked you to already comes with quite good GPU on board

but the question is whether the software you use for video conferencing is gonna use the GPU or the CPU for the encoding/decoding

Luke

5:48 PM

It works great with Skype

allquixotic

if it's all in software (CPU), that tiny E350 CPU part might not do it at 1080p

you'd need at least decoding hardware support

r.tanner.f

@Luke For real? Don't know BB King?

allquixotic

if not encoding also

Luke

I'm sure GTalk too, but I don't know

BGM

They will use a lot of skype, I am sure. I am really new to AV stuff. I can program, and hack Windows...

Luke

5:49 PM

Then get that motherboard I suggested, make sure a small SSD will work, ???, PROFITS

allquixotic

if it's just Skype, I think that supports GPU-accelerated decoding

BGM

@allquixotic - they probably will drop 10 mb excel files and leave them there....

Luke

@r.tanner.f Never heard of it, and the search bar is a few too many pixels away from me ;)

Tell them to store stuff on their central server

allquixotic

@BGM then I wouldn't go with an SSD. getting SSD at significant storage capacity is prohibitively expensive

r.tanner.f

B.B. King

Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an African-American blues songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time (previously ranked No. 3 in the 2003 edition of the same list), and he was ranked No. 17 in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time. According to Edward M. Komara, King "introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed." King was in...

King of the Blues :P

Luke

5:50 PM

Ahhh, blues... Don't care for Blues, sorry

BGM

I found a program called "BearTalk" that does video conferencing. I've played with it and like it.

allquixotic

there aren't any real disadvantages to using a 500GB or 1TB mechanical HDD, unless the occasional clicking (which may get louder as the unit ages) is a real problem, but if you install soundproofing in the case or buy an HDD specifically designed to be quiet (probably 5400rpm for best results), it's not going to be perceivable by the human ear

BGM

@allquixotic - Can't you get an SSD of 1TB for around $150?

4

allquixotic

besides, if it's on the floor....

Luke

No

No you can't

allquixotic

5:51 PM

@BGM LOL NO. if you could, I'll take 200 of them

Luke

Maybe for a couple grand

allquixotic

1TB SSD runs about $1750

BGM

SSD = Solid State Drive, no? Isn't that the kind with the spinning disk?

allquixotic

the cost of an SSD increases almost exponentially with capacity

@BGM hahahaha no :)

you have it backwards :)

BGM

Sorry, got it backward.

allquixotic

5:52 PM

SSD = Solid State = doesn't move, just electronics (integrated circuits) -- flash memory

Luke

SSD-IN-PEDPX800G301 Intel 910 Series 800Gb Ssd - $4272.66

BGM

Oh yeah, a giant flash disk... got it.

allquixotic

HDD = hard disk drive = rotating platters... cheapo, main problems being noise and read/write speed

Luke

But tell them to store files on a server, and NOT leave files on the local system. Period

BGM

So y'all say that an SSD will make it work faster, but shouldn't be used for storage.

Luke

5:53 PM

If you have a small budget, they need to cut corners, and that's going to be one of them.

allquixotic

@Luke that would be ideal, but sometimes you can't adjust user behavior

Luke

That's what Group Policies are for ;)

allquixotic

@BGM an SSD would make the operating system boot up from a cold boot faster, but if they're only doing video conferencing (which isn't related to disk I/O at all) and viewing Excel files on a USB flash disk, then the SSD won't even be in the picture

r.tanner.f

@Luke If they had someone running an AD environment, I don't think he'd be asking us these questions =D

allquixotic

you would care about an SSD's read/write performance if you were playing 3d video games or storing video files on the hard drive and encoding them in real time (video conferencing doesn't store them on the hard drive)

BGM

5:54 PM

My users are impatient and not tech-saavy. They'll store things on the local drive no matter what I tell them.

Luke

Then set up folder re-direction

When they think it's the desktop or Documents folder, it secretly goes on the netowrk

BGM

@allquixotic - Okay, then I'll decide on a regular disk drive, then. I've worked with them and they are familiar.

@Luke, I follow you there. It's an idea.

allquixotic

@BGM right -- familiar, reliable, the performance won't blow you away, but it doesn't sound like it needs to

also, cost being such a huge factor for you, an HDD is definitely sane

Luke

We sell 40GB SSDs for $39 from Intel

allquixotic

for reference, 40GB is barely enough to hold Windows on once you've installed all the service packs, Microsoft Office, Skype, maybe Firefox, a few extensions, an idiot who puts a 200MB folder of pictures from their holiday party on the local drive, whoops... out of space

BGM

5:56 PM

They will store some music files there, too.

I am thinking a 1 TB drive.

allquixotic

1 TB will at least allow you to go longer periods between having to go into the conference room after hours and delete 2-3 year old cruft or put it on the network drive

with a tiny drive you'll be going back in there every other week lol

for RAM I would recommend no less than 4GB as that's pretty much what you need to multitask on a modern operating system like Win7

BGM

Yes, I know, I'll have to clean it out from time to time. Understood. I already manage 20 desktop computers and 25 ip phones.

r.tanner.f

@BGM Music? Why music?

allquixotic

RAM is an enormous performance boost when you get to running more than a handful of browser tabs, though -- because of disk page cache -- I'd say that having 8GB of RAM would lead to a faster system than even an SSD because of all that extra RAM for page cache

BGM

Because the conference room is also our recreation room.

allquixotic

5:59 PM

in my experience, more RAM translates directly into performance in almost all cases (except during initial boot-up) -- once the system is running, more RAM = performance

BGM

@allquixotic - yes, I am planning lots of ram. At the least, 8gb, as you say.

allquixotic

the OS will literally use all of the RAM you put in there, even if programs aren't using it, for page cache, which is just incredibly fast compared to even an SSD

r.tanner.f

@BGM Use Pandora. Multiple people dumping their music on to a 1 TB drive is going to go sour fast IMO.

BGM

Never heard of Pandora.

r.tanner.f

=O

allquixotic

6:00 PM

@r.tanner.f well, there's that, but if people have songs they specifically want, there's no stopping them really :/ (and Spotify is a better choice imho)

a TB can handle a whole crapton of MP3s and pictures though

r.tanner.f

@BGM pandora.com spotify.com/us

allquixotic

Pandora is more like a traditional radio station where you can't choose exactly what song to listen to

Spotify lets you pick specific songs and listen to them as many times as you want

BGM

Interesting.

allquixotic

I am subscribed to both, so I'm not hostile to either method of listening

I use Pandora to discover new music and new artists

I use Spotify to listen to what I already like

BGM

Back to the computer, fellows, if you don't mind. Okay, so I've got a 1tb hdd, 8gb ram minimum...

allquixotic

6:02 PM

Spotify is relatively bad at discovering new music compared to Pandora

BGM

For graphics, what should I have?

allquixotic

@BGM I'm going to agree with @Luke to use the AMD E-350 APU, which has a graphics "card" built in

BGM

gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3681#ov

allquixotic

in fact, the E-350's GPU is basically the same one as a mid-range Radeon discrete GPU

the performance is comparable, and it blows away the performance of Intel's on-processor graphics

BGM

Sorry, the one that was linked earlier?

allquixotic

6:03 PM

Yes

are you planning to connect this box using ethernet or wifi? and what's your ISP upstream/downstream like? have you already tested video conferencing using another box on the same ISP?

BGM

Okay, I have to put that in a box. Putting all these things together is the hard part. I've only ever built two computers, and the packages were already matched. I need a case...

Ethernet.

allquixotic

for reasons entirely unrelated to "celebrating coworkers" bringing in a microwave and using it in the same room as the computer, I am extremely grateful (even though I won't be using this computer) that you decided, for your sanity, to use ethernet

Luke

Running away, BBL

allquixotic

you are a man of principle -- I respect that.

BGM

@allquixotic I don't know about the ISP.

Oliver Salzburg

6:04 PM

Woah I've just cast my 600th vote on SO \o/

Gold!

allquixotic

you should scroll up in chat a few days and see my rants about wifi -- but it's neither here nor there since you don't plan to use wifi :) and I'm glad :)

@BGM well, run a speedtest on a computer connected to the same router that you plan to connect the conf room PC to

BGM

We have wifi for the Control4 to enable the remote control - but its only in-house stuff. Everything else is hardwired.

We have three T1's coming into the house.

allquixotic

three? hm... are they somehow joined so that they act like one logical network, or are they separate?

BGM

No, they are joined as one.

allquixotic

oh good.. so your theoretical throughput should be symmetrical 4.5 Mbps

BGM

6:06 PM

Yes.

Sorry, I'm a bit of a bonehead.

allquixotic

the symmetrical part really helps -- I think that's more than enough for video conferencing

the downstream isn't all that great but the upstream is better than what some people have on cable and they get 40+ Mbps down

BGM

On the speedtest I got 1.54/1.98

allquixotic

@BGM I just googled around a bit, and it seems that Skype supports hardware decoding using DirectX with an AMD E-350 (or similar generation graphics card at least)

r.tanner.f

@allquixotic Nice.

allquixotic

this hardware offloading of the decoding will mean that your CPU won't be taxed as hard by the video conferencing

BGM

6:09 PM

Sounds good.

allquixotic

this is important because the E-350's CPU part is very weak while its GPU part is very strong, so you want as much as possible on the GPU

now, as for sourcing parts, you can probably either buy them new or used depending on your preference, but I personally recommend Amazon or Newegg for a hassle-free delivery and good return policy

BGM

Fellows, I have to go now. I'll come back after lunch, and if anyone is still around, I'll pick up. Thanks for your time and attention.

allquixotic

np, enjoy

Graham Perrin

6:21 PM

@Sathya thanks for your edition to my scripting question

Zero Stack

Does anyone here know anything about devcon or dpinst?

r.tanner.f

Ok, this is ridiculous. I'm wearing a sweatshirt under my long sleeve + a t-shirt and flannel pants underneath jeans. Still freezing. Why does my office share AC with the servers?

Sathya

@GrahamPerrin you're welcome! :)

allquixotic

Here's a *tentative* shopping list:
[Foxconn SFF R20-A1 Barebones inc. chassis, AMD E-350 and motherboard $149.99](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119058)
[Kingston HyperX 8GB DDR3-1600 $48.99](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104173)
[ASUS 24X DVD Burner $19.99](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204)
[Samsung Spinpoint 5400rpm 1TB SATA3Gb/s HDD $69.99](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152379)

screw you, cutdown (my new name for the limited chat markdown)

it's only budgeted at $288.96 you can get: chassis, mobo, CPU+GPU, PSU (first item), RAM (second item), DVD/CD reader/burner (third item), and HDD (fourth item)... all bases covered...

mobo has on-board gigabit ethernet (Realtek 8111E, solid chipset)

this is actually so cool-looking and so cheap-sounding that i might get one for myself as a media box or a router, undecided

though personally i'd go IVB with a decent quad core if possible, and get a passively cooled nvidia PCIE 4x for graphics

Mokubai

Hi everybody!

allquixotic

6:34 PM

@Mokubai howdy Mr Mc

Mokubai

How's you, you keeping busy?

allquixotic

yep, very busy...

our team has to get 12 deliverables out the door by COB Friday this week.... considering the average is approximately 0.4, that's asking a lot

I'm gonna be busy this whole week, and worse as the week goes on

then the same thing again the last week of January

also going a little overboard on my leisure activities in the evenings, hehe

Mokubai

Nice... who scheduled that then?

allquixotic

(you should recognize a gravatar or so)

@Mokubai the customer

i think they're testing us

Mokubai

Hehe, you're a guild master or something iirc....

allquixotic

6:38 PM

yeap

Mokubai

what game is that? can't find any info, think I'm blind....

allquixotic

swtor

Mokubai

Is that a good mummorpeger? The other half and I play WoW, and if we can find a decent free one might be able to rope a couple of mates back into playing regularly

Tried Rift and Aion and just found them gimmiky and a bit sad

allquixotic

if you're a star wars fan, it definitely helps -- if not, well, I still think it's better than WoW

the F2P (free to play) restrictions are only annoyances that tend to slow down your level advancement, more or less... it's not pay to win, but if you subscribe to the monthly fee, you will generally be able to look cooler, do more stuff (more frequent PvP, flashpoints, ops) and have a minor gear advantage

I've played dozens of MMOs... I don't find SWTOR to be particularly worse than any of them -- if anything, it's a synthesis of the best concepts that have surfaced in MMOs in the past few years

doesn't really do anything completely new, but it doesn't have any huge "aw, man, that sucks" type moments

unless you're free to play... but then, most people who are F2P eventually subscribe after the F2P restrictions eat away at their soul over time ;D

r.tanner.f

Is it good if you're a KoTOR fan?

allquixotic

6:46 PM

it has a very vibrant roleplaying community on my server at least, and the one thing that SWTOR does that departs from most other games is the quality of the quest missions

@r.tanner.f if you like Kotor, SWTOR is essentially a sequel to KOTOR 2, but an MMO too

in fact, I will retract my previous statement about it not offering anything new -- the one huge thing it does is.. ok, have you ever played Mass Effect? either of you?

imagine the storytelling quality, ALWAYS voiceovers, great animations, etc. of the Mass Effect franchise, now map that into the Star Wars universe, and an MMO. welcome to SWTOR!

Mokubai

@allquixotic Are the quests better then? WoW has gotten better lately but they're still basically fetch/kill quests...

r.tanner.f

Yeah, I quite liked Mass Effect as well

Mokubai

@allquixotic No, thought about getting it a couple of times tho

allquixotic

@Mokubai Mass Effect's campaign plays through like a movie... with cinematic quality... there is no such thing as an NPC that just talks to you in text, everything is voiceovers, animations, cutscenes

SWTOR's campaign plays through the same way, but with other people in an MMO environment

Mokubai

Hmmm. May well mention it to mates when we get together.

allquixotic

6:49 PM

my guild actually has problems getting people together to do stuff as a guild because people are just so dang interested in their class quests and the storyline

"I don't wanna do PvP, guys! I'm having too much fun!" is common

Mokubai

How... odd...

Not that I'm a great fan of PvP stuff, generally stick to PvE myself

allquixotic

the game requires an absolute beast of a rig to run at appreciable graphics detail, and the on disk footprint is basically about 20 GB

NOT for the casual office workstation

but it's got a ton of content

Mokubai

but getting a bunch of people together to storm a dungeon used to be fun

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f just FYI, Bastila Shan's granddaughter is a major character in SWTOR

and the destroyed / rebuilding Taris (which got bombed to heck by Darth Malek) is a featured questing area

Mokubai

Our rigs should cope, not particularly top of the line, but more than a match for any game I've seen so far

r.tanner.f

6:51 PM

Whoa, so it really is a sequel. Are the game mechanics still similar?

allquixotic

@r.tanner.f no, the game mechanics are nothing at all like KOTOR 1 or 2, except for the alignment and how it affects you

Mokubai

Well, the other halves is a pretty hot rig. mine is aging gracefully now

r.tanner.f

Aw :(

allquixotic

the alignment system is pretty much unchanged from kotor 2 except that when you make your character, you select Sith Empire or Galactic Republic

if you select Sith Empire, you can't be a Jedi, no matter how "light" your alignment; you still use Sith force powers

the classes use a branching structure: each faction (Empire and Republic) has four core classes: two force-sensitive and two non-force-sensitive... each core class branches into two specializations

the main storylines are built around the core classes, so there are eight separate storylines (four per faction) which are completely different, no overlapping quests, etc

some people call the game "KotOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" because of this

no wonder it's 20 GB

Mokubai

Will put it on my "List of games I should give a try"

allquixotic

6:55 PM

the abilities, combat, etc. are very MMO oriented... there's no aiming or point and shoot; you get tons and tons of abilities and you'll be using your number line (1 - 0, -, =), shift plus those keys, and probably a numpad and all your mouse buttons

it's just target and button mash (in the correct order and at the correct times)

@Mokubai it's free except for the huge download size, which can hurt if you're on capped internet, but you should be able to transfer the files between rigs to avoid downloading it for each friend

in my experience the game doesn't require any special permissions and it doesn't even have to be "installed"; just copying the game directory from one box to another is sufficient to get a running copy of the game

Mokubai

The download isn't a big problem, getting the time to play it is... I have too many games that need playing already (#firstworldproblems)

Daniel Beck

@allquixotic It had to go free to play? Already?

allquixotic

@DanielBeck yeah, but it's worked wonders on their profit, apparently... they implemented it "perfectly" so that you can enjoy the game as F2P, but it really makes you want to subscribe

most people would rather pay up than quit, because it's really a fun game, so they get more subs than they would if you had to lay down money up-front

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