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anyways, who else likes what about the original Conan book n movies n stuff? lemme hear some opinions or theories about like plot elements that were hinted at or etc. like does anybody have anything to say about the story of the first film or the books or whatever?

Quote from Dauroth

The first movie with Arnold was very good. The second one was quite bad.

The first one is a classic, in my opinion! The second one was pretty bad, but it was still watchable!

In my opinion the first one is often underestimated by general ppl as a dumb action flick when in truth; between it's art direction, plot, and characters, the film get really really deep into your head. The same goes for Beowulf and 300 and The Last Action Hero.

DUDE Dauroth whered u get that pic? Hey the new conan doesnt look bad, I guess between the mustache being gone and the bulking up he looks pretty good. Im not saying im 100% sure the new movies gonna be awesome, but Im willing to give it a shot.

Anyway who here has read the books? has anyone read "The scarlet citadel" story of conan?

and for those who havent read the books yet, its basically a crudload of short stories about Conans adventures, fighting lovecraftian horrors(HP Lovecraft n Robert E Howard were close friends) and giant snakes and ape monsters and armies, and uh picking up chix who are either cowering behind him in skimpy clothing or decked out in battle armor n fighting beside him.

Quote from Zhar

I actually used to read the books, they were fucking badass.
Movies were alright, though I didn't hear of a new one coming out... will definitely check that out.

My feeling about some of the casting choices in the film is kinda mixed. Their two finalists were some dude from Twilight*spits derisively* and Jason Momoa who got the role. He looks badass and defenitely would be an awesome barbarian but isnt exactly how I (or most everyone else, including RObert E Howard himself)imagined him, which as a Celtic/Germanic raven-haired square-jawed He-man, whereas Jason is more of an exotic kinda muscle-dude with dreadlocks. Jason Momoa reminds me more more of that badass Tribal capoiera warrior from that Conan live-action tvshow(that had awesome casting choices but terrible terrible 90s writing)

I think one of the coolest things about Conan's world in the Robert E Howard books is that its in a kind of spectrum from like ancient to medieval styled stuff. Like how Conan goes from a loincloth to viking chainmail or mid-eastern scale-mail to in his older days full medieval knight armor. Kind of like the Barb in diablo 2 his styles n weapons change in terms of local armor styles and upgrades in weapons/armor technology.

BTW have you read the Conan story the Scarlet Citadel? I wonder if those monsters he met in the pits are the same/homages to monsters in other RHE stories(satha, the worm, thog, etc) know what i mean?

Who else knows who Conan the Barbarian is? Strangely a few ppl these days dont. Anybody else out there a fan of the books or the comics? And what do u think about the movie thats coming out in like 2011?

getting women into video games such as Diablo is diffucult and dangerous, but could be Very awesome if done right. Basically as I see it, if she has any sort of sub-mainstream/mainstreamGamer interests such as popular and easily digestible anime( ghost in the shell, bleach, cowboy bebop, etc.), video games in general, star wars, or popular sci fi(like battlestar galactica or transformers) then that could be utilized as a gateway and it will be more likely she will be interested in listening to Diablo ramblings or playing it.

But most often and tragically, trying to talk to "fully mainstream" women about gamer stuff ends in EPIC FAILURE. Especialy Diablo, it means devil for pete's sake. and FEW THINGS are worse than dealing with a chick who gets weirded out by ur gamer interests. THEN of course its a test of whats more important.

On the other hand tho if she has a chance of being interested, i think the idea that women can kick butt as a female character in Diablo will also sell them on being interested in the game. But it would be best i think to not say stuff along the lines of: "zomg! look at the amazon's awesome powers and skillz... AND CHECK OUT her amazing pixelated bum! Do ya see how it shakes when she runs? wait! why are you leaving?!"

those are my thoughts

You know what Im wondering? The Tyrael on the front page of the Diablo site had his wings changed recently, yes? what if more of those changes occur and by the time the game is released hes all corrupted just like that angel that transformes in the artwork where his wings become all fiery! Tyraels wing design on the front page in the first few months looked VERY much like orginal Tyrael wings, NOW they look like they are undergoing some kinda change.

does anybody know what i mean?

I totally agree that an acton figure or charm would be hella awesome. Maybe if they had different themed boxes like theres a collectors edition Barbarian version with a Barbarian poster and figure and box artwork etc. or a wizard edition with a wizard fiigure and a wizard poster n stuff. The more free stuff they throw in that can be displayed proudly the better!

Seeing all of these charts reminds me of both the layers of hell in Dante's Inferno(The layers could correlate to the different things listed, like the wizards, avengers, n whatever) and most importantly the universe in norse myth whuch had a specific structure. There was a huge tree around the middle of which was midgard or middle-earth(sounds familiar to LOTR fans cuz tolkien was a HUGE fan of norse myth.)

Now Sanctuary is in essence, a middle-earth, where the human world is between hell and heaven. Just like How Midgard is above the horrifying realms of the giants and trolls and below Asgard (Which is the Norse equivalent of Heaven, or rather, where the Divine Gods dwell)

WHOAH waitasec... Trang-oul is a dragon that carries Sactuary right? Jormungand, or the Midgardsorm is the name for a huge dragon which encircles Midgard(the human world).

Maybe the final thing will be that Diablo and his brethren bring about some sort of Ragnarok

The Barbarian is a great class that I think is too important to leave out. The Barb's appaearance alone is awesome in that he can appear like a uber muscular he-man/kratos type dude or be a fully armored berserker covered in spikes n stuff. Not to mention its a friggin MANLY class to play as, unlike the characters in so many games these days *cough* final fantasy XII *cough.* I think his involvement in diablo is hella important.

man, it feels like its been 6 months since their last update. The next one better be awesome! probably the next big character class.

Quote from "Ranim" »

I cannot possibly stress this more: Knights were not rich, nor did they have forts, if anybody would have those it was a King or favored Lord. Think about it, honestly, there were thousands of Knights and only a few Forts, the typical knight lived in a Manor. which is just a big house surrounded by hovels for their subjects, and farmland.

Also, they were not very religous, many could not even read, as education was, as training was, not easy to come by. That does not necessarily mean they were not religously motivated. It's kind of complicated, their relationship with religion is much like most christians today, they say they're christian but they don't go to church and quite a few don't know even two hymns.

They were the chastized low class of royalty, if you even want to call them royal, that does not mean they are innately rich, training was NOT cheap and armor was neither. These men only found glory and riches in battle and plunder, thus is chivalry.

The best a typical knight could muster was a weapon, possibly a shield, and full body chain mail, maybe even some plate if they're lucky.

Japanese Samurai were directly funded by their Lord, Japanese Armor typically was hard leather with bamboo and silk for ceremonial purposes. The japanese sword was a slashing, yet well made piercing weapon. I don't know but I think training was free under japanese lords. If you're thinking otherwise it may be lordless rounin that you're thinking of.

Dude, whata about Knightly Orders? The Teutonic order and the Knights Templar were very wealthy and had huge fortress/monasteries. The Knights Templar grew so rich that even King Phillip of France was in financial debt to them.

Knightly orders were warrior-monks who lived most of their daily lives in the monastery either training or praying. Read up on the Teutonic, Templar, or Hospitaller orders to see what I mean.

Quote from "Paladin88" »

Well, your average 'samurai' would have been a highly trained warrior with years of combat school practice, while your average Joe knight would have been the first drunk and broke fool looking to make a living or a name for himself that chanced upon some weapons and armor...so the 'average' knight would get a definite beating in a controlled environment.

Also batman kicks superman's ass when using tiberium tipped darts. Or was that cryptonite? lol

Dude, I have to agree about Batman, but once again Knights were pretty well-trained. Hundreds of thousands of knights lived the majority of their lives in fortress monasteries where they prayed and trained all friggin day until they got called out to battle. And a person didnt just "happen" on armor, nobody would leave it lying around, as the victor of a battle would often take the slayed opponents armor for his own army. And also Im not talking about peasants or improbable random ppl who found armor. Im taking about real full-fledged knights who were dubbed and trained and were once squires and all that.

Dont forget that Knights also used Lances, maces, flails, warhammers/mauls, and axes, plus, they used a variety of swords ranging from short swords used along with shields and HUGE long broadswords like zweihanders and claymores.

And most knights as as far as what Ive read were Not of modest means, but had a great deal of financial backing. There are two breeds of knights. The first are wealthy lords who go through the whole cycle of dubbing and whatnot and usually get more ornate armor and then theres the 'order' type of knights who had more basic armor that was mass-produced but far more practical. Knights in Orders were warrior-monks who spent every day in a monastery fortress either praying or training until they went to battle. (Holy crap this reminds me of Space-Marines from 40k! Makes sense since thats who theyre based on!) The Teutonic order and Knights Templar were pretty large and well-to-do orders. The Knights Templar were in fact destroyed because the French King Phillip was so terribly in debt to them financially. and the Teutonic order for a time had their own country. Plus, armor and weaponry was pretty damned expensive and needed alot of maintenance, a knight needed to either be a wealthy lord or in a powerful order as far as I know.

You know the funny thing? The fully armored barbarian from d2 looks WAY more like a Knight of the Teutonic(aka German) Order than like a Viking. Northern European countries like Denmark and Germany(Which makes sense) used alot of horns or wings on their classic Great-Helms. However Vikings did not, aint that messed up tho??

Okay let me rephrase the question of this topic, is there anything that Knights are better at than Samurai? Because everyone who I ask says Samurai are better and cooler and I need some logical argument to back me up in my opinion of knights other than the fact that they looked more BRUTAL, which is an unintelligent(yet hella-METAL!) sounding remark.

Quote from "kefka666333abc123" »

KNIGHTS ALL THE WAY BABY!!!....nvr was a fan of far eastern stuff........at least not compared to medieval stuff form like europe

HELL YEAH! The only far-eastern thing I do enjoy tho would have to be Final Fantasy Games. Yaknow that makes me wonder who would win, a Magitek Knight from final fantasy 5 or some kinda samurai bunny person from one of todays cruddy final fantasy games.

Now as far as most of the opinions that Ive seen:

In terms of cunning sneakiness the samurai wins. He is all at once a shadow and a dragon that can destroy a foe as silently as swaying grass billows in the wind

In terms of brutally loud and proud and roaring thunderous battlefrenzy the knight wins(I dont think a 6 foot 5 knight in huge armor complete with a horned helmet(of say... the Teutonic order) would tread lightly) his armored boots would shake the ground and he would roar out a challenge!

In terms of absolute blinding speed and finesse the samurai wins, for he is a master of all that is agile and graceful. His sword is made for sweeping arcs and is a graceful dance of death

In terms of who breaks the most stuff and rampages, the Knight does definitely. In an evil sense theres loads of historic films about bloodthirsty knights burning towns and ancient cities in their various wars. Haha its no wonder just about EVERY dark lord has major and recognizable knightly qualities(Sauron, Darth Vader, Golbez, Exdeath, Garland, etc.)

those ar my observations as to what has come up the most that Ive seen

I wouldnt call that lame, that was a well-spoken and educated response. So now I guess the Knight's techniques were all brute force, while those of samurai are of speed and finesse.