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QUOTE (Epicedion @ Jun 16 2013, 12:32 PM) *
This is pretty much what's happening with the 'always online' single-player games.
Yeah, note that Sony's spent the last week making Microsoft look like idiots over this very issue, and winning a lot of goodwill from their potential customers in the process.
And EA the f****d up company killing sim city for me (i didn't want to believe them) and selling 1 Mio copies on day one and this
http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/14/console-wa...uy-an-xbox-one/QUOTE
Except that these things have been working for decades in-game. They've made the explicit choice to continue the existing lore, so they're a little late to the party to write in stuff like this.
apples and oranges - 5th Edition is not the next step of 4th its a different one. It is like the skillwire levels that changed from 3rd to 4th. IMO its not benchmarked 4th against 5th as I am not going to play both games at the exact same time.
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Again, the problem is that these are technologies that apparently didn't need this previously. If they want to toss in a major shift in how their technology works, there has to be an accompanying plausible explanation for that shift that answers the question "so why don't we just use the older technology that worked just fine without these penalties?"
As far as I know right now (havent seen the book yet!) it is about
bonuses. So your gear still has an advantage, just if you want to stack a bonus on top of it you'd have to go online.
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The reason was given by JH in a blog
"Hackers were not useful in combat (because apparently no one uses radio communition, drones or tacnets) so in order to be useful they need something to hack (like items or cyberware). Since everybody (especially the player) however knows, that being online is a potential hacking/detection problem, everybody (especially the players) went offline - which is not acceptable. So to make everything having a price and hackable 8because, you know, hackers cannot do anything in combat) you only get the good goodies if you are online. "
Example given in the blog : your googles with a vision enhancement catches info bits from the air and so you get +3 to perception. But now you are hackable"
That is the official reasoning behind "everything must be online".
My request, that faces can do something in combat (like cursing for killing) was unfortunately ignored.
I get that you are not comfortable with this. I also think that the reasoning sucks for setting plausibility in game because it is no reason for
in game. This reason has to be made up by the respective GMs and their players to make their game world consistent.
This shows what gets to me about the discussion: Is it about how JH or whoever explains the out of game reasoning tip of the iceberg of the game development discussion in a blurb or is it "How do I make this plausibly work in may game of SR(5th Edition)?"
btw I am totally backing you up on that "heartstopping swearword face martial art" (Dim Talk derived from Dim Mak comes to mind)
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Again: a possible explanation should not lead to new questions or problems.
I want to make sense.
Every argument, especcially in a make believe game, has three possible outcomes:
1) It is circular - hen and egg
2) there is some domagitc "last rule" or premise ("Canon" the almighty book of the LAW)
3) Inifinite regress (Answers leading to new questions, as solutions tend to lead to new problems)
So if making sense is your thing, what is stopping you? But you want
others to make sense for you, and thats the real problem here,
neh?
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And then what happens to you when you step into a jammed, shielded, or otherwise blacked out area? Does all your gear cease functioning correctly?
"Sorry, dude, there's a rating 8 jamming field here, your eyes and ears no longer work."
Oh, you mean how in 4th Edition a Adept/Magician stepping into background count? As far as I know its the bonuses on top that go away, not the functionality, but I will know more when I hold the book in my hands.
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I understand there's a metagame reason, and I may even agree with some of it, but I'd like to see that it's not all metagame handwaving.
This I can totally relate to!
love,
Sunshine