RPGWatch Feature - Blade of Destiny HD Review

Nice review, Fluent. Made me want to try this again, after putting it far aside after a Day 1 attempt. I'm not a fan of timed games, but this doesn't sound bad...and it seems to make sense in the game world....doesn't sound too "gamey," if that makes sense. Things feeling right is what is most important to me. Dig the sound of all the survival elements.

Again, thanks for a well-written review.
 
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C'mon. I got this first on my list when googling "elephant in the room". It's not that hard to figure it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room

Not me. . . . I was referring to the prior poster, who had never heard the term before. Even if the term doesn't come up in day to day conversation, it's used in American television/media all the time. And Many American TV shows and books have a world wide audience. Thus, it was frankly shocking that a term I had considered universal apparently was not. Interesting to learn.

It reminded me a Star Gate One episode where a scientist was just as excited to discover his original scientific beliefs were found to be wrong.

BTW, that prior poster figured it out simply by reading it in context, so there's that . . .
 
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For us non-native americans there are a lot of these things that don't make much sense but are part of American culture. Phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs", "easy as pie", "piece of cake", "a bigger bang for your buck", "Full Monty", "go bananas", "high time" and many more like that, some are easily discernible, some can be understood because of context, but some others I still scratch my head when I hear them. And let's not even go to the 'slang', that almost seems to me like someone is putting random words together to see if something sticks.
 
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You get 2.5 years to complete it, though, which seems like a ton of time.

According to the presentation at the RPC this year, this is longer than in the original game.
 
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"Figures of speech like "first, let's talk about the elephant in the room" are something I haven't heard before"
It's because your intellectual level is rather not very high.
:roll:

Colloquialisms have nothing to do with intelligence. They have a lot to do with culture though. And they rarely translate well between languages AND cultures.

Yes. It just doesn't exist in the German language.

We do have the elephant in the porcelain shop, though.

Not me. . . . I was referring to the prior poster, who had never heard the term before. Even if the term doesn't come up in day to day conversation, it's used in American television/media all the time. And Many American TV shows and books have a world wide audience. Thus, it was frankly shocking that a term I had considered universal apparently was not. Interesting to learn.

For us non-native americans there are a lot of these things that don't make much sense but are part of American culture. Phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs", "easy as pie", "piece of cake", "a bigger bang for your buck", "Full Monty", "go bananas", "high time" and many more like that, some are easily discernible, some can be understood because of context, but some others I still scratch my head when I hear them. And let's not even go to the 'slang', that almost seems to me like someone is putting random words together to see if something sticks.

It's exactly like this. Things widely known in the English language might still be unknown elsewhere. And I believe that the wide spreading is just a bit exaggerated, imho. People might utilize the English language but still not realize what figures of speech mean unless they have learned them at school or elsewhere, or looked them up in Wikipedia or so.

Using a tool doesn't necessarily imply that you know how it is used in other parts of the world. In the famous Alexander Koenig Museum in Bonn, the former capital of Germany, there is a display of several metal beer cans, lined up so that a dead chicken can be roasted over them. It's acting like some low-level barbecue thing. The display says that this comes from a place in Africa (don't remember its name anymore).

And, besides of all that - idioms are among translators worst nightmares. Extremely difficult to translate when there is no equivalent in the translator's language.
 
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It takes a bit of practice to be able to naturally write in a fashion that can be easily read by a variety of people without being overly dry or clinical. We are talking about a subject that is supposed to be entertaining :) I thought it was a decent writeup.
 
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For us non-native americans there are a lot of these things that don't make much sense but are part of American culture. Phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs", "easy as pie", "piece of cake", "a bigger bang for your buck", "Full Monty", "go bananas", "high time" and many more like that, some are easily discernible, some can be understood because of context, but some others I still scratch my head when I hear them. And let's not even go to the 'slang', that almost seems to me like someone is putting random words together to see if something sticks.

Note that many of those idioms are not American in origin--American culture tends to borrow liberally from others. :)
 
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Thanks for this review. Good to see a current opinion on the actual game and not just the "OMG ITZ BUGGY!" thing. Might give it a buy soon.
 
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A mediocre level in comprehension of english language required to understand idioms like this and not a Ph.D. in policy or societal science. :]
 
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In any event, I appreciate your input, Alrik. I will keep this in mind for future articles.
 
I've updated the review with just a slight addendum to announce the release of patch 1.31. The game-breaking bug I experienced has been fixed and the game has made a huge leap forward in a number of areas. To anyone interested in this game but have been waiting until it's more stable, I think now is an excellent time to jump in. Have fun in Aventuria!
 
For us non-native americans there are a lot of these things that don't make much sense but are part of American culture. Phrases like "it's raining cats and dogs", "easy as pie", "piece of cake", "a bigger bang for your buck", "Full Monty", "go bananas", "high time" and many more like that, some are easily discernible, some can be understood because of context, but some others I still scratch my head when I hear them. And let's not even go to the 'slang', that almost seems to me like someone is putting random words together to see if something sticks.

Most of those phrases are actually of English origin... just saying.
 
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Didn't phrases kicked the bucket long ago? ;)

PS:
Our grumpy old counterparts at the Codex don't like this review because they are … grumpy for life. :)

This review is the final piece of evidence that RPGWatch is a cesspool with no standards.

I send them this little frog to brighten their minds and miserable thoughts:

attachment.php
 

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Only slightly related to this thread:
If you are interested in the original you can currently participate in a speed test on gog.com and win Realms of Arkania 1 and 2 (english version).
I am not sure about the chances to get it, but I guess they are extremely high, I got it on the first PC I ran this test on.
Just did it to fill up my gog library (don't see a reason to play a game in a translated language if I can play it in the original one).

Link to the test: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/help_us_improve_your_download_speeds_and_get_a_free_game/page1
 
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