The immersive sim has seen a revival in recent years. Not only from larger studios like Arkane, keeping the faith alive with their time loops and space stations, but also from a bunch of smaller developers bravely exploring a typically ambitious genre. RPS has always had an affinity for these systemically luxuriant simulations, historically lauding the likes of the original Deus Ex as the best game ever made. But given everything that has come since, is that still the case? Only one way to find out: make a big list.
]]>Tim Cain wrote what is perhaps gaming’s most famous and influential monologue: the introduction to Fallout. “War never changes,” he says. “People loved it. I’m like, ‘I must be a writer.’” Yet much more recently, when Cain sat down to write his memoirs, nobody really liked what came out on the page. “I was really, really bad at it,” he says. “I had half a dozen people read it, and they all pretty much said that the stories were good, but my writing wasn’t.”
Cain’s writing strengths, as fellow Fallout originator Leonard Boyarsky has suggested, lie in shortform. Which was bad news for anyone who wanted to read the definitive account of his four decades at the heart of Interplay, Troika and Obsidian, three of the most important RPG studios of all time. Thankfully, though, it turns out Cain is a natural raconteur. The same anecdotes that appeared flat and toneless in his memoirs go down a storm on YouTube. There, for the past seven months, Cain has been delivering his stories straight to camera, as if at a dinner party with 73,500 other people. “When I started the channel, I would effectively just look at something in the book and be like, ‘I’ll tell that story today,’” he says. “Now I spend as much time answering questions and doing videos based on things people ask about.”
]]>If 2023 is remembered for one thing, it's that it was a 100% critical success year for the RPG. Role-players across the land have been feasting exceedingly well these past few months, what with the stonking success of Baldur's Gate 3 (and to lesser extents, Starfield and Diablo 4), so we thought it was about time to celebrate your favourite RPGs of all time. Your votes have been counted, your comments have been sorted, and the cream of the RPG crop has been assembled. But which of the many excellent RPGs have risen above all others? Come and find out below as we count down your top 25 favourite RPGs of all time.
]]>Boo! Did I startle you? GOOD. I'm currently competing for the title of trickster-in-chief here at RPS, and I'm never going to have a chance of receiving this promotion unless I reach my daily scare quota. If only there was a way I could package together a collection of scary stories as told my colleagues and claim them all as my own.
Aha! I got you again! They don't call me the Merry Trickster Of UK PC Gaming Websites for nothing! You've been Halloween'd, my friends! To celebrate spooky season, I gathered seven members of the RPS treehouse to tell me about one moment from a PC game that scared them the most. The results were exactly as I expected. Some recounted events in classic horror games that shocked them senseless, whereas others told me anecdotes about games that most wouldn't consider scary at all. The result is seven tales of spooks that are sure to chill your bones this All Hallows' Eve.
]]>I refer to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as "my favourite video game of all time" with such frequency that it's basically a catchphrase of mine. The thing is, though, I really dislike slogans; they're meant to stir up emotions while bypassing our capacity to think critically. So I thought this retrospective was a good opportunity to remind myself of why I still love this janky, weird ARPG about sad bloodsuckers so much, even 18 years after its release.
]]>Welcome back to the second edition of The RPS Time Capsule, a monthly feature in which the RPS Treehouse gathers round a small tiny shoebox to stick their favourite, bestest best games into from a specific year to preserve until the end of time. The first time capsule we dropkicked into space was all about the best games from 2010. This time, we're excavating the best games from 2004. Which games will make the cut, and which ones will be consigned to the all-consuming digital super bin? Find out below.
]]>Various folks behind Netflix series including The Witcher and Shadow And Bone have plans to develop films or shows set in the World Of Darkness. That's the goth fantasy universe which houses tabletop RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, as well as video games including the venerated Bloodlines. They haven't yet announced any specific project yet (nor indicated where they might find homes), but here's my pitch: a mystery show starring a Malkavian private eye.
]]>Whether you prefer wizards, sword-and-board warriors, the irradiated wasteland, vampires, or isometric text-heavy stories, the RPG is the genre that will never let you down. Accross the dizzing number of games available where you can play a role, there's something for everyone - and we've tried to reflect that in our list of the best RPGs on PC. The past couple of years have been great for RPGs, so there are some absolute classics as well as brand spanking new games on this list. And there's more to look forwards to, with rumblings of Dragon Age: Dread Wolf finally on the horizon, and space epic Starfield in our rear view mirror. Whatever else may happen, though, this list will provide you with the 50 best RPGs that you can download and play on PC right now.
]]>While Bloodlines 2 is the big Vampire: The Masquerade game folks are waiting for, it's far from the only game in the tabletop RPG setting, with the newest and weirdest being... a battle royale? Huh. Sharkmob, a Swedish studio founded by former The Division devs, this weekened announced a yet-unnamed battle royale that'll see vampires scrapping through the streets and over the rooftops of prague. Huh. A surprising use of the license. It's due next year, and all they have to show for now is a cinematic trailer.
]]>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was bound to have a few familiar faces, wasn't it? I mean, they're vampires so they tend to hang around a while. Paradox Interactive have released a new video announcing that yer girl Damsel—who seems much less likely to be in distress than the one causing it—will be making a return in Bloodlines 2.
]]>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is on the horizon, and we should be seeing it chomp its way into the necks of the general public some time in March next year. As it turns out, vidbuds Matthew Castle and Alice Liguori haven't ever played the original Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Other vidbud, me, has played it a bunch before, so in anticipation of brand new vampy shenanigans, I'm walking them through the World Of Darkness as a sexy Toreador fledgling called Ms Horace III.
]]>Remember that thing you like from 10 years ago? It’s probably getting a sequel. Shenmue 3. Evil Genius 2. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2. The calendar of upcoming games is packed with throwbacks that will revisit the worlds we left behind over a decade ago. Oddworld: Soulstorm is heading back to the strange homeland of Abe the skinny green freedom farter. Mechwarrior 5 is booting up a bipedal destruct-o-bot that was powered down in the year 2000. If your favourite childhood game is not getting a sequel, it's probably getting a glittering remake.
Reviving forgotten entertainment relics is nothing new (hi, George Lucas) but the recent glut of resurrections has made me wonder: why are developers and publishers so keen to go back to old ground? Why do they want to chase this sense of nostalgia? So, I asked them.
]]>E3 is getting started this weekend, otherwise known as the Encredible Electricity Experience, or sometimes simply “Hellweek”. It’s a very busy and exciting time to be a videogame liker, but you might need some help. Allow the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, to be your digital sherpa through this storm of fictional bullets and lightsabers. Let’s talk about what we’re looking forward to seeing, and the games that probably won’t appear (but that we wish would).
]]>Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines has been written about a lot on this site (far more than one would expect from a game with both a colon and a hyphen in the title, which should be made a crime). It’s a clunky, unfinished mess of an action RPG that runs better today than it did on release in 2005 only by the grace of a community made patch, but somehow it was formative for a lot of people who ended up at RPS. Past and present. What we formed into is a different matter, of course.
If you’re a straight man Bloodlines can be a liquid sex-and-power fantasy pumped, undiluted, into your veins (ahaha). If you’re something else it can be something else. And with all the rumours about Bloodlines 2 that are swirling around, I’ve begun to examine why I love Bloodlines so much, when it’s a buggy, unfinished, undercooked spongecake of an action RPG that collapses in its third act.
]]>The blood moon rises. The elders at RPS have reported feeling twinges in their necks and a mild taste of iron in their mouths. In other words, a sequel to early 2000s neckbiter RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines might be announced at the Game Developers Conference next month. The heavy teasing of an alternate reality game has been traced back to Paradox Interactive (the folks who own White Wolf, the publisher of the vampire RPG) and some clues have popped up. The company haven’t officially announced anything but players of the ARG discovered a date and city being mentioned by one of its characters. The 21st of March and San Francisco. And would you look at that. GDC is happening on the 21st of March. I’ve tried to calm the elders down by feeding them blood sausage and black pudding, but they won’t be contained. They’re convinced Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is finally getting a sequel.
]]>Either Paradox, who these days own Vampire: The Masquerade & World of Darkness publisher White Wolf, are getting into the Netflix & Chill game, or they're they're gearing up to reveal a long-awaited follow-up to the legendary Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
They've come up with Tender, ostensibly a dating site. Whose metadata just so happens to read "Whether you’re looking for meaningful friendships, true love or simply a late night bite with a kindred spirit, Tender is here to help."
By the pricking of my thumbs...
]]>You could be pretty naughty in cult RPG favourite Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines before, but now you can be downright evil in the Clan Quest Mod, a massive fan-made expansion. While the mod has been around for a while, today's release - version 4.0 - is the biggest yet by far. It adds a whole new quest hub, a cast of fully voiced characters and the chance to join the murderous Sabbat. There's a new humanity system that lets you do some awful things and deal with the consequences later, plus the chance to diablerize (cannibalise, vampire-style) your rivals. Tasty.
]]>Maybe my perception of time is getting a bit wonky in my old age, but didn't we just finish Spring Sale season a week or two ago? No matter - cheap games are always in style. GOG's summer sale opens with a giveaway of Goldhawk Interactive's solid X-Com tribute Xenonauts. GOG also asked us to pick a few favourites from the sale, so check out our list on GOG.
]]>As an assortment of Halloween sale events grind to a halt now that we're officially in November (the month of Black Friday deals), a few more rise up to bridge the gap. So here's a handy-dandy look at a bunch of them. Are you sitting comfortably?
]]>Not only does a great hero need a great villain, villains are usually just so much more fun. Whether it's the tortured lost soul who can only find peace by destroying the universe or the cheery psychopath looking to see the world burn, it's no wonder that many of the greatest films of all time have been defined at least as much by the baddie as any individual scene. Darth Vader, the Terminator, Norman Bates, Dracula... villains get people excited. A great villain lives forever, death be damned.
]]>It's Summer Games Done Quick time again! You know what that means. The final seal has been broken, the rivers are turning to blood, and High Dread Azagorath is free to destroy the land. But while people wait, they're doing speed-runs. And in celebration of that, I thought I'd take a dig through the archives for a few particularly impressive and interesting ones that take that whole idea of a fifty hour epic and beat it down so quickly, the hero's hometown doesn't even have time to finish smouldering.
]]>There's a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it's never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future's typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we've had for the last few years is false hope. Hope that World of Darkness would bring the complexity of Eve to the mean streets of Chicago or wherever. Hope that the right person with a big chequebook would get hooked on something like The Dresden Files or Hellblazer. Hope that games like The Secret World would lead the way.
So much wasted opportunity, just sitting there and waiting to be seized.
]]>We are living in a golden age of big-budget PC games that offer us choice and freedom. Be they descendants of the System Shock model - finding a route around a meticulously-crafted, locked-down and hostile place, most recently seen in Prey [official site] - or the roleplaying games based around choice and consequence rather than action alone, they are legion. There are so many, even, that I'm not sure we can fully appreciate how good we've got it.
]]>The problem with fantasy is that it's often not very... well... fantastical. Far too often, even brand new worlds feel like Tolkein or Warcraft or Star Wars with a few twists, and the serial numbers scraped off. The good thing about this is that when a game does take us somewhere new, it feels all the more special for it. This week then, a quick look back at some which have caught my attention for their sense of place. That doesn't necessarily mean super-original in the great scheme of things, or even not based on a licensed work, or even necessarily that the world contained a great game. These are just a few settings that have stood out from the crowd as cool ideas that surprised, inspired, and deserve borrowing or dusting off.
]]>White Wolf, who are now owned by Paradox, have released a new Vampire: The Masquerade game. Book. Gamebook. A new Vampire gamebook. Ahh, jokes. They've launched a pair of new gamebooks set in the World of Darkness, one Vampire: The Masquerade full of conspiracy and a Mage: The Ascension tale that's, y'know, also full of conspiracy. White Wolf say the launch of these World of Darkness Preludes [official site] "marks the start of [their] emergence as a transmedia entertainment company", which also sees a new Werewolf: The Apocalypse game on the horizon.
]]>So, a confession. My plan for this week was to talk about Obsidian's Tyranny [official site] - the game, not any rumours of Feargus Urquhart openly stealing puddings from the company fridge no matter how well labelled! Unfortunately, that plan hit a tiny snag... I haven't had a chance to play much of it yet. A shame, simply because the genre is well overdue a game that, to quote, Kakos Industries, Does Evil Better.
This week then, a tribute to and call out for the games that at least did evil interesting.
]]>We're coming to the end of the Summer Steam Sale so chances are you've picked up the things you'd already got your eye on, but there are always games that sneak under the radar or come from genres you might usually ignore. That's why we've put together our final recommendation list. Here's a whole list of things we love and why we think they're worth your time! (Don't forget to check out our earlier picks and the comments, though - I picked up a bunch of games that had escaped my own notice through reader enthusiasm...)
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I've checked the RPS master Have You Played document seven times now, convinced that I've made an error. How could we not have written one about Vampire Bloodlines yet? In many respects, the modern gothic RPG is the ur-RPS game, a game of promise and ambition way before its time - and way beyond its own capabilities - and one with Things To Say in addition to darkness and choice and strangeness and cities and consequences.
]]>Friday evening is the perfect time to do something which is fun and exciting for a bit but doesn't necessarily mean anything, so let's gab about how White Wolf recently filed a trademark for "Vampire Bloodlines" specifically in relation to video games.
I realise it's only been a few weeks since we last crowded around a burning barrel to mutter "Coo yeah, wasn't Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines lovely? Wasn't it broken? What could it have been? Where is the first-person immersive sim future I was promised?" so hey, don't push yourself. Just... quietly nurse a pint for a minute to think about the possibility of a new Bloodlines game.
]]>RPS will not - cannot, even - stop going on about Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Look! Kieron tried to be less of a dick, Jim wished for more games like its "action-soap opera", we interviewed writer Brian Mitsoda, and Cara got all S.EXE - twice. And it's one of the best RPGs, the best horror games, the best RPG worlds... we like it, okay. So sure, I'll mention that Troika's 2004 RPG is now sold on GOG too, with some vital community-made fixes included and all.
]]>Not for the first time, I've spent quite a while recently pondering the nature of roles - more specifically, mechanical role versus narrative role. When we think of RPGs, what we're usually thinking of is the latter. You play the role of the Hero, but in a universe that's typically designed to let you define that however you like. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but there's a key difference between that and stepping into the shoes of someone more specific. Geralt in The Witcher 3 for instance is - spoiler alert - a Witcher. Every encounter revolves around that, every system involves it, every decision has, whether it's by your choice or Geralt bringing it up, a mercenary element that reinforces that asking for money in exchange for your services is expected and not, as is often the case, the first step towards douchery and getting the Evil ending.
I've also been playing a lot of Hearthstone. The two things are linked.
]]>There's something oddly comforting about radio. Comforting because it's so familiar, so natural. Odd because it's a comfort that most of us don't really use all that much these days, at least not in the ways that games just casually assume. It's a little like the whole audio diaries thing - it makes a vague sense that everyone in a city like Rapture might record their daily crimes and schemes onto audio tapes, even though in reality that whole idea became obsolete when Facebook/Twitter added status updates.
But I do love in-game radio. It's an amazing narrative tool, a great way of filling in the gaps the screen can't show, a constant companion in the loneliest of situations, and not a bad way of making music diegetic - a term that translates to 'let's see who now sneakily Googles diegetic'. Forget Spotify. Never mind video. In RPGs, nothing can kill the radio star, unless of course you walk up to them and shoot 'em in the face. Then, sometimes. Though usually nature still finds a way of keeping them on the air.
]]>The news that Paradox Interactive had purchased World of Darkness creator and publisher White Wolf a couple of weeks ago came as something of a surprise. It also raised a lot of questions: what would become of existing third-party relationships? What are the plans for digital spin-offs of White Wolf properties? Can we expect another Vampire: The Masquerade CRPG at any point in the near future?
We contacted new White Wolf CEO Tobias Sjögren to discover the answers to those questions and many more.
]]>Update: There's now a press release with a couple of extra quotes.
Update 2: A little more on what Paradox actually intend to do with White Wolf now they own it. There's going to be "an immediate change", and "multiple digital games titles are planned." More below.
Swedish publisher Paradox has purchased "White wolf and all properties" from EVE Online firm CCP - a final nail in the coffin of the latter's troubled plans for a World Of Darkness MMO. This also means that Paradox now owns the rights to Vampire: The Masquerade.
It's Paradox's "biggest investment ever;" White Wolf will, however "operate as an independent entity with a dedicated team."
]]>Most RPGs ask you to save the world, but not all of them offer a world worth saving. Honestly, there's been quite a few where given the choice I'd have joined the evil overlord just to beat up all the potion vendors who wouldn't even give me a discount before the final battle, and for the mere chance of stabbing the guard in Act 1 who wouldn't let me into The Town Where The Actual Bloody Game Starts.
This week though, I'm interested in the other side of that - the worlds that become more than just a place to grind for loot and XP. The places that feel real. Beloved worlds, which don't necessarily correlate with beloved games. I really enjoyed Skyrim for instance, but Skyrim as a world largely leaves me cold for reasons that have nothing to do with the Frostfall mod. That's not the same as saying it's bad, or any real quality judgement at all, simply that for me it never became a second home, more than a playground. Fallout New Vegas meanwhile, despite its problems, ticked all of the boxes. It was a world I could believe in, get immersed by, and not want to leave, which given the current political climate around the world is quite probably for the best.
Here are some of the most special worlds for me. How about you? Note, we're talking entire worlds, as in the settings for whole games, not specific places like, say, Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII or FFXIV. Those are cool too, but... another week!
]]>Given a choice, I almost always play as a mage. Swords? Pah. Divine magic? Save it for Sunday School. Give me control over the elements, the power to reshape the very building blocks of the universe according to my every whim, and if at all possible, a cool hat. It's an easy fantasy to indulge in almost any RPG out there.
I just wish it was a more satisfying one.
]]>They say the definition of madness is repeatedly trying the same thing and expecting different results. But hey, the Malkavians of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines have lucked into stranger things, so I figure there's at least a chance that one day I'll fire it up and find a whole new adventure waiting. Today was not that day. Tomorrow isn't looking too likely. Yet still it feels like it's our best chance, until someone else finally figures out that urban fantasy is a painfully untapped genre for RPG awesomeness. (Looking at you, Hairbrained Schemes. Still time to ditch that boring Battletech license!*)
Still, while waiting for Shadowrun: Hong Kong this week, I felt that urge to head back to Santa Monica and check out some old haunts. The timing seemed fitting, especially with the launch of a new version of the Clan Quest mod the other week - one of several projects attempting to keep Bloodlines healthy over ten years after launch.
]]>I've been conservative with Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The only modding I do is boshing on ye olde unofficial patch, without even enabling the optional new bits, and maybe replacing my character model with a nicer NPC model. I might be bolder next playthrough, as apparently we're spoilt for choice with Bloodlines mods at the moment.
Mega-expand-o-overhaul Bloodlines Antitribu [official site] came out last week, with oodles of new clans, models, levels, weapons, skills, quests, characters, and so on. A new version of big overhaul mod The Final Nights [official forum] arrived too.
]]>EVE developers CCP have put the kibosh on a fan remake of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.
The remake, known as Project Vaulderie, was billed as a non-commercial endeavour focused on recreating Troika's RPG in Unity. The reasons for the remake were partly to do with making it more stable, partly for modding reasons, partly to add multiplayer, and partly just to bring it up to date in terms of the graphics and technology.
]]>This is the second part of my Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Diary. You can read the first part here.
All of this is huge spoilers so it's only your OWN fault if you read any of this and then ruin your whole life because you spoilered this wonderful game and then you will never like anything again and love will seem hollow.
]]>When you think of California, you probably think of sun, people wearing shades, the wide, flat pavements sunbleached and neat. But when the night falls in Santa Monica, CA, it gets mortuary cold. I'm staying there this month and I found myself thinking of Jeanette the other night. Something about a tumultuous relationship, smudged kohl, and Jeanette.
So I paid for another copy of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and I went to visit video games' most animated goth chick seductress. She lives above the Asylum club in a Santa Monica where the sun never comes up. For this week's S.EXE I thought I'd write you the first part of my spiral into the dark, sexy overtones of one of the best-written western RPGs we've got, and my quest for someone there who gives a damn about me.
]]>EVE developer CCP's World of Darkness MMO might be naught but fang and ash, but Vampire will never truly die. Not so long as Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (and, you know, a massively successful White Wolf role-playing setting) is still alive and kicking. But wait, that can't be right. Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines developer Troika keeled over way back in 2005. Any other game would be buried and forgotten by now, but Bloodlines' community - presumably made up of real immortal vampires, as that would explain how they have so much time (read: all of it, ever) for this - forges on. So here we are in the year two-thousand-and-four-of-the-teens, and there is a brand new Vampire patch. I know. I know.
]]>Good, in fact excellent, tidings for those who find themselves able to enjoy Fallouts both old and new, and for anyone who lived through the 90s heyday of PC RPGs. Tim Cain, the main brain behind the original Fallout and later co-founder of the much-missed Troika, has fetched up at Obsidian. Until this July, he was at Carbine, working since 2005 on what turned out to be Wildstar, but today we discover that he's now Senior Programmer at the Fallout: New Vegas/ KOTOR 2 devs. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE.
]]>I'm guessing all these patches are iterative and not of much interest to the rmore casual Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines observer by now, but whenever one of these fan-made updates passes by my inbox I still can't help but double-take and think 'wow.' You guys are wonderful. Completely mad, but wonderful. Bloodlines is now seven years old, was essentially abandoned by its publisher after its developer closed a few months after release, but the fans have just kept on going, fixing things, improving things, digging up locked away extra content and generally trying to keep their dream game alive. And, in a vampire fetishistic subset's case, entirely gratuitously add oodles of bare breasts wherever possible and regardless of any effect on atmosphere or internal logic. I'll stick to the fixes and restored content, thanks.
]]>Who remembers the above charmer? I polished him off with a sledgehammer. Felt good.
The umpteenth unofficial Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines patch has been released, bringing us up to version 7.2. This time the few changes are all very minor, so I'm really posting this as a reminder. If you haven't played Bloodlines with these unofficial patches that not only fix the game, but dig out and restore a stash of Troika's unfinished quests from the game's files, you're missing out on one of the single biggest gems PC gaming has to its name. 7.2 patch notes below.
]]>A while back I posted about the tragedy of games like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Following that one of the original Troika team, writer Brian Mitsoda, got in touch to talk about the project. A veteran of Troika and RPG-devs Obsidian, he's had plenty of experience in the words that make up videogames. What follows is a discussion of Bloodlines, Troika, dialogue, character design, and inaccurate porn geographies.
]]>There's a bittersweet flavour to playing Bloodlines. It's not because of the vampiric moodiness and the twilight tales that it tells, nor the real-world tragedy of its costly development finally undoing brave development studio, Troika. No, the sense of sorrow comes from the realisation that there's nothing like this on the horizon. The idea is begged: why should there be so few games like this? Oh right, because it's so very hard to do.
]]>[This is an extended version of something I wrote for PCG. Well... I didn't write it for PCG. I wrote it for myself after something had moved me in the flawed-but-oft-magnificent Vampire: Bloodlines and I sold a cut down version of it to PCG months later, as it's spoiler central. It's very much my personal experience with a memorable section...]
"Power Corrupts" has never been true. In my experience, Power Seduces. “Corrupt” implies it’s akin to sprinkling a little shit in an otherwise immaculate meal. The problem with power is that it just makes everything better. And when someone’s staring up at you, saying you’re the best person in the world and they’d do anything - anything - you ask, could you say no?
I thought I could. I was wrong.
]]>