Blackman

In my experience Potential doesn't really do anything. I thought it capped the max values, In this example the camp doesn't have much to do with it. Seems like the boxing is just capped at 76%. His progression makes sense though as he's a BJJ fighter. He just "rolled" high for the hidden 'destiny' stat. But you're right. The max values for wrestling seem high compared to the striking maxes.

Sure, the Rumbles were average perhaps but boy that main event was worth the re-subscription on its own. Haven't followed the story other than that the Usos crack up from Samy's jokes and that it elevated the latter. Everyone expected the turn and the match at Mania (it can't be Cody vs Roman right?), alongside an Uso brothers match, but the way they delivered it... that was some A*-stuff right there. The way KO crawled towards Zayn at ringside given the history they have... The prolonged doubts of Zayn and the confirmation of the megalomaniac nature of the 'Chief'... At least that's how I interpreted it and it the delivery of everyone involved was brilliant. Apparently their segment went too long on monday and it caused the dropping of a cage match, but given the importance of the storyline I guess that it perhaps a right choice. Curious at the continuation of the Wyatt family and how it ties in with Alexa. I used to love her 'first' character and missed out on her reinvention to her psycho version, but what she was now was just really dull, so I hope some development will come in the coming weeks. I was hoping for a Mysterio and son development but I must've missed it somehow (?). They also screwed up the no30 entry for the women's rumble. Nia's appearance and her whole "bitch/angry" persona doesn't work for me. I hope she was just back for the rumble... I don't like the continued fixation on the numbers and records. People don't care. They care about the moments. The spot with Logan Paul was a highlight. Ripley winning was expected, but there was no need to sell the Phoenix "spear" an hour after it happened like it was some kind of otherworldly move. It makes a mockery of all that happened in the rumble itself.

AI programs seem to suddenly be making the jump to mainstream these last months. Have some people already experimented with that kind of art? I thought I've seen some posted pictures that were supposedly from AI programs. Honestly I refuse to call myself an "artist" for dabbling in digital art that doesn't involve me drawing the entire picture instead of using 3D props and models as a base. At most, I'd be a "composer". In reality, I'm someone who plays with digital Barbie & Ken dolls and dresses them up and 'poses' them... Not a pretty picture, but essentially... that's what this is...😅 The things I've seen online - if they are indeed the result from just the input of half a dozen words - are impressive and do give us possibilities to populate an entire database worth of workers for any fictional database, without the 'artist' either having to resort to measures to reduce time (like the Thunderverse) or working for days to get the required pictures rendered.

Yes, that screen was a great addition to WMMA5. I believe it filters fighters who've lost in their last fight and you can easily add the filter for losing streak. Just make a habit of visiting it after each show.

Sure, but those games are generally not worth talking about. Take Marvel Avengers, for instance. The game was plagued by the AAA "live service" treatment where they lock cosmetics behind either agelong grinds or money. Now the game is declared "dead" (which is what you get for a live service game, imo "Sonic Adventure II" f.i. is still very much alive as a game), and cosmetics are given for free. Given this development, I'd give the game perhaps a 7/10 as well, as the gameplay was decent. Considering its current price and some fun I've had playing the campaign, this isn't such a bad game to play. However, I'm not going to recommend it, because there's better stuff out there. Anyhow... it's you're REALLY a Marvel fan... it's not like I'm not NOT recommending it... But I'd rather people ignore the game now. Personally I cannot abide them treating Spiderman as an exclusive character. I understand Playstation exclusive studios. It's business. I understand timed exclusives (like Tomb Raider). People need to have patience (and eventually you're playing a 'bugfixed' game). But actively keeping content away from a significant part of the customers, even after a game "dies"? This just breeds contempt. I personally can cope, but many won't. Not a smart move by the devs imo.

From what I've seen it looks a bit rough, but I too had a great time with Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 on the DC, so I wanted to give it a chance... someday. Still need to finish Sonic 1 actually. It's one of my shames

And you will not be alone in that. But the chances of that happening are indeed more or less what you indicate. Remember how hard the WWE2K community had to nag to get the GM mode back, and what we got was a watered-down mode of just 1 season with almost no replayability. They just made it as a way to get back the sales after the disaster release that was 2k20.

Sorry to not jump on the whole "Saudi's bad" bandwagon, but you can probably say a similar bad thing on anyone in the "consortium" of a bunch of random people, which you seem to be completely fine with. The SWF (not the TEW company obviously :p) of the Saudi's is a complex construct with several 'owners'. Nevertheless a LOT of people are going to have problems with this, even if they were to announce that "nothing is going to change", because we all know how that will go... XD

If he doesn't want to do it, it is what it is. Afaik developing games is not his job, and even if it was he's not working for a company so he can choose what he makes. If he was a fan back then and isn't now, I highly doubt the scene will pull him back as it continues to evolve towards this way. Honestly I myself am way less of a fan as back then. But the games are still awesome. So I'm afraid it rather sucks for us. Fact of the matter is that all other alternatives rather suck in comparison to this series. There is the official UFC games but those are games of a different nature.

Some freepictures (faces are direct exports from a game obviously).

Upon hitting chapter 4 I just quit Pathfinder II as the whole thing was getting a bit too "epic" for me. Instead replaying Baldur's Gate again (where the "enhanced edition" is actually worth it). If you get around the tedious inventory system it's still one of my favorites. Talk about "Epic": they have the Tony Hawk Pro Skater remake for about 13,5$ right now and it's worth every penny. Lovely nostalgia hit there, for that alone it's worth getting. They also have the new Gotham Knights game already for 22,5$, but reviews blast the game for being poorly optimised, CTD'ing and essentially worse than the Arkham games, which installs a lot of doubts.

True. I think it also has to do with there being more rounds, so more "end of rounds", which are more exciting to fans. Not sure, but because of the shorter lenght fighters spend more time in that "end of round" state which results in modified judging and (probably) an excitement modifier.

Is it? Weird that they picture her differently, but after doing a search now it's crazy how different the depictions are. It's been a while since I read the books, but it's on my list to do as I still have some unread books in the series that I purchased ages ago and still haven't read. Nice books though, and I'm afraid books will always be the coolest thing about it. As for "sucking at D&D". It's all about commitment to the lore (Monster manual) and knowing the spells and their effects. The hard modes are tailormade for so-called "powergamers" who like to min-max everything, which ironically constrasts with the real D&D. Afaik I've never completed the game on "core", which is the default difficulty. It's all about not going through the hassle of selecting spells each day based on the battles that are to come (because powergamers know the game in and out). Most people will just take the "we'll see"-approach. If you look at the achievement stats the fighter is by far the dominant class people take. It's just easy and unconditional: smash stuff.

Elminster! How suitable it'd be for "easy mode" or the newly-made "story mode" (BGII:EE and Pathfinder), where you literaly cannot seem to die (unless you turn off AI I guess and just, like, sit there and watch with popcorn how enemies are chipping away at your HP). Maybe you're right and they had a good vision but corporate trashed it. But this is indeed why a lot of games with promise are falling apart. Some suits directing the game towards "trends" or perhaps just "what my son would think is cool", just toying with people's motivation and sanity (as the so-called "crunch" will be a result of their meddling). "Hey, this Horizon game is doing really well. Make your character look like that." Maybe it's doing well because it's a coherent and fun game (allegedly). Funny how the name "BG" summons so much thoughts with people, given it was so well-designed. Even though BG2 has absolutely nothing to do with the city (it gets mentioned maybe?) the name carries a long of weight. But yeah... Pathfinder: Wrath is a good game, especially because difficulty is so customizable. I'm done with reloading 4 times because I made some errors. I'm not reloading FIFA after I eat some goals, I'm not reloading TEW when an intended design choice ends up backfiring. I had to reload in BG2 because it was such a chore to re-equip characters. They STILL haven't changed that btw.

I could've stomached it, were it not for the imo awful enbodiment of Drizzt and (especially) Catti-Brie, the latter looking like the protagonist from that metal dinosaur meets Tomb Raider game (Horizon?). I recall from the actual books that she's short and stocky (she was raised by the dwarves so go figure). Wulfgar's official art had him sport the long hair (Conan-style). Drizzt doesn't have that stern, stoic look that should define him. Sure, Bruenor looks the part, but I haven't seen much variety in depiction of dwarves... If it was really lorebound and had some magical component: sure. Instead the 'special' abilities and effects don't fit pure combat characters like Bruenor, Wulfgar and Catti-Brie and make sense (how do you "manyshot" 5 arrows?). I get it, as it makes it less dull, but combine this all with a mediocre to plain bad game, and I'll pass. So who buys this, really? They've done well to alienate the D&D fans. The loads of bugs on release and the abundance of better alternatives at the time make the casuals pass as well. So who bought it: dare i say impuls buyers who buy on release before reading any reviews at all, or don't trust them out of some naive idea that "it won't be so bad". The fact that the actual remake of DA gets a lot more interest speaks for itself.

Yeah, sometimes renders are really good but as I'm playing the series since WMMA2, I've grown attached to some originals (which really aren't bad compared to some "vintage" TEW renders), and just can't make the switch unless it looks 95% like the originals. I tried to replicate some TEW ones but it's a really hard thing to do (and - in my case - a long undertaking).

PoE is indeed a stellar game but its lore strays too far from the D&D standard imo. New random races, soul-stuff that was hard to grasp for me without spending hours reading on all the lore (not all voiced obviously), and reading up on the hundreds of spells and their effect. I just didn't have the energy and didn't end up committing to PoI2. The Pathfinder system at least kinda copies the spells so it's an easy transfer. The last games under the Forgotten Realms / D&D setting were kind of average. The last one, an action game with Drizzt, was so bad imo that I just stopped after the first mission. Thank god I didn't purchase as it was part of the Xbox-subscription. So back to BGI&2 I guess, though I must admit it aged somewhat. Too bad the remake didn't touch the textures (or much rather: sprites). The dream would be the Pathfinder or ToI engine on the D&D lore, but I doubt we'll ever see it in that lovely party-based 2.5D engine. Dragon Age worked but only because there was the option to zoom out.

Talking about v1.0 releases, BGIII is supposedly going to release this year. I must say I wasn't a fan of Lariat getting the license. Though they make excellent games, their engine isn't really my style, and it seems they threw aside the party-based combat. But I'm so hungry for some good D&D games that I'll put that gripe aside. I love the style and gameplay of the Pathfinder games, but dislike their setting. I like it dark, like the WItcher or Diablo games (and the earlier BG games obviously), not a story that feels like a campy roadmovie with a compulsory side-game tossed on. I absolutely love Gwent, but players shouldn't be forced through it.

The best time I ever had with CK2 was the Game of Thrones mod. If Elder Kings is thàt good, I might be checking that out soon enough. Dragonborn as expansion isn't that great imo to make Skyrim worth installing again, but any new content was a breath of fresh air. Plus the area is all new.

Apparently people don't like her anymore. I watched a recent match and - though I still think she debuted at a remarkable level - it seems she has improved very little in the last years and is still doing the same stint, same gimmick. It will eventually bore people as her E-skills are below average, if not bad. Still, it seems Trips is doing a great job. PPV's are back to being close to sold out instead of struggling to get 50% attendance. I'm close to going back to the WWE Network. Needs more Emma though.

Yes. I got the game (twice) since release and only now I've done the Dragonborn expansion. Some user-made mods are more fun imo though. Not sure how one would roleplay HHH. They've done many animations for the game (my eyes cannot unsee what I've seen, let's not go into details) but a Pedigree is yet to be made.

I beta'd that game. It's a very solid conversion of the physical boardgame, which I've only played twice as it's a pain to find 5 other players who actively want to play this game (above a plethora of other games). For the next game I've contemplayed replaying Baldur's Gate 2 for the gazillionth time (now with achievements apparently) but will end up playing Pathfinder 2 tomorrow. Finally finished Skyrim but still need to do the major mods like Beyond Bruma, the imperial one and the forgotten city. Started the Falskaar one at first but that's... not a good one imo.

True that. At that point the adagium "a delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever" no longer applies, and they indeed stopped caring. But people's buying behaviour kept constant, and the publishers figured out pretty quickly that it doesn't really matter whether you put in lots of bugfixing hours better spend on a new game. Several publishers with an insanely bad rep atm, and people just don't care and keep buying their stuff.

Maybe it's really a case of freak issues that are trending online, making people believe the game is a mess. For a console game with standardized settings (never had the option to change gfx settings on console). Either way, encountering an issues of this nature would kill the immersion for me. Immersion is a big part for a game like pokemon. This is also why I never play games on release (barring Adam's games I guess, because he actually gets it right). I did with " Gwent: Witcher Tales" and the difficulty level was so poor that it ruined my experience. They tweaked it afterwards, but no sense to replay a story game. Never again. With this mindset I enjoyed Batman Arkham Knight on PC, as in the beginning it was plagued with issues. I also at least mildly enjoyed WWE2K20, which was a disaster at first. Plus, you pay 50% less. I can't quite understand why people preorder it and then start complaining once it goes on sale after a mere month because of a disastrous launch. I know next to nothing about economics but seem to 'get' that once your product has soured with the public, you need to do something in order to save your investment, or watch the game melt into obscurity, where people forget about it and just don't want it. But I'd be surprised if Nintendo would implement this, as they've never done that. But then again, they never have this issue. Nontheless, despite all the bad press and trending issues, people just continue to buy the game. So why on earth would they even spend resources on it and fix it, if people are ok with it? They are under no obligation to fix it. They offer a product that doesn't claim to be glitch-less and you buy it and don't return it within 2 hours of gameplay? It's on you... This happens more and more, with people defending games with obvious errors like some mad fanboy. The bar has been lowered.

I keep an excel of all the resources used. I'll PM you to not bother the people here and clog the thread. I can send you the 'character' file too so you can load it and tweak it to your liking. I used a different skin from the V4 era on Jaime to make her look like Cat and less 'latina'. The Belle hair is even from V3 and should be free somewhere. It's so old that it's the actual hair used in her original render. It still looks good to this day and not "out of place" like some old hairs (like the one I used for Raven). The renders just posted are not improved that much. Just some sliders/morphs on the face and the lightning, which is the same one I send you through PM, just with the dome rotation 30 or 330° (and x-axis raised to 20 to lessen the shadow on the face).