Valmy

It doesn't. Most people know nothing of it and do just fine. Gaming history is only of use to a designer if he plans to milk nostalgia or take risks in their design. Most developers have absolutely no need for it. So...no developers ever study games before designing games? Well that explains some of the products I see out there. But maybe "gaming history" means something different to you than "knowing about games that have already been made" because I find the idea developers have no need of that being...dubious.

I ordered the guidebook but it looks like it will not be available before the game. Any place I can find info about the various cultures and so forth in game world, at least enough to create good characters? Or do I have to rely on the (decent enough, granted) Wiki?

There is little doubt in my mind that PoE will be a commercial success, at least initially, at this point.

While I am not a huge fan of his style, I have respected Angry Joe's reviews. I have always found them thoughtful, in depth, and useful. They are very long and he clearly takes the time to play the game and develop thoughtful opinions on them. I just have to get past the stuff he feels he needs to do to entertain his audience. But I care far more about substance than style and Joe has a lot of substance. If he likes it, that is a very good sign in my book.

Well other people sometimes act out of emotions or irrationality and do not have the full robotic control you do.

I meant self-loathing from a moral perspective, guilt, not 'oh I am ugly' or 'I am just too shy'. And again I disagree. People who are just 100% confident in all their moral choices and can rationalize and justify everything without a shred of guilt are certainly out there but they are not most people. But anyway as I said when divine beings are so physically a reality I am not sure this applies.

Are we talking about BG1 Jaheira? She only had a few lines. One of them was how 'better leadership' would help the party and man...that did not sit well. But hey this is just like, my opinion man so it may not be true in every case.

The extreme reaction fans gave Jahiera in BG1 for simply saying her 'unhappy' phrase when you got to reputation 20 was telling. Players do NOT like companions who question their leadership.

Yeah in D&D it is a game mechanic, where what 'good' and 'evil' means is more or less clearly defined (altruism = good, personal gain at other's expense = evil). Not so here so the dynamic is different. I definitely prefer that.

This is rather pointless since this is not real life. We have actual Gods interacting with the world, it seems to me we have viable moral authorities. So let me turn the question back around: who are we to consider ourselves above the Gods? I don't think they are viable moral authorities though. In fantasy games, even Gods are morally subjective and "flawed". Your statement sounds like you're thinking in terms of modern religion. Think more like Greek myths and legends kind of gods. You know, Zeus having sex with everything in sight and all that... And since one God has already "died" in this fantasy world (the Godhammar Bomb incident), humans are more than capable of challenging them! As others have said, the vast majority of people consider themselves to be "good" and are only interpreted as evil by other people who don't agree with their actions. So if you want an "evil" companion, what you really want is someone with a moral compass/culture eccentric enough to justify what we would consider "bad actions". I am actually thinking of Greek Myths and Hubris since the question was 'who are we to declare something moral or immoral?' Well that kind of gets turned around when there are divine beings doesn't it? And thinking that the divine Eothas was harmed by the Godhammer Bomb is nonsense. This is simply testing the faith of his people. HERETICS WILL BE DELT WITH HARSHLY. I am not so sure the vast majority of people consider themselves to be righteous. Many people consider themselves to be bad people. Self-loathing is a pretty common trait, particularly as you accumulate regrets over the course of your life.

How sure are we about the release date? I want to make sure I am taking vacation on the correct days.

Well it could be useful if he was reviewing the game. But since we have no idea what the learning curve of the game is it is not really useful. I don't think a beta intended for veteran IE players being hard for newbies to get is some incredible revelation we needed a review to tell us. So I fail to see how it is anything but worthless. Now if he posts a review of the actual game that has this complaint then, yes, it would be useful feedback. Glad Angry Joe liked it, he is a good litmus test for how a lot of gamers will feel.

Man those are some long snakey walls. Probably not even worth defending that, I would withdraw all my peeps to the keep. Also it should have been built on a hill, but hey when you are taking over a ruined fortress you cannot be too picky. Sure beats building it yourself. And wow it is both! How awesome is that?

According to the wiki, the stronghold is Caed Nua, north of Defiance Bay. I've got no clue which location is the correct one. I thought Caed Nua was the super enormous dungeon we unlocked and expanded during the kickstarter campaign. Edit: Oh no sure enough that is the stronghold.

unless someone blow up my house because of his "cultural" affairs, i agree (cf recent news in france) So you have no authority to judge the morality of something unless it is something you don't like? I mean blowing up your house may not be dishonorable at all to the other guy. So you are saying there are no moral authorities unless you feel yourself personally aggrieved? Seems a bit arbitrary. Glad this game does not take place in the real world.

This is rather pointless since this is not real life. We have actual Gods interacting with the world, it seems to me we have viable moral authorities. So let me turn the question back around: who are we to consider ourselves above the Gods?

None of the nations you can be from are on the map. The Free Palatinate of Dyrwood is a former colony of the Aedyr Empire. The Free Valian Republics are former colonies of the Valian Empire (Old Vailia). I guess it is important to the plot of the game that you are a foreigner.

"Jihadists" are not evil, they're idiots. At least those ones who cannot tell lesser jihad from greater and still claim to be muslims. Ugh. Come to think of it, I don't know a single person in a real life considering oneself "evil" or even "neutral" in general. I mean, does those labels even make sense for a real person? As far as roleplaying games go I always thought distinctive alignment system more of a compromise to fit overly complex personalities and motivations of a real people into at least some rules to play by. Would be good to see NPC made without such boundaries for once. That said, I believe Obsidian guys could do it nicely if they'd like to. For once? Seems to me they usually are outside of games with an alignment mechanic.

I'm trying and failing to remember the Kotor2 companions. Annoying old woman, stupid gambler.... and... uh. Huh. Someone actually named Disciple? If they ape KotoR 2 might as well throw the whole thing in the bin now. I am sorry for your poor and distorting memory. You might not want to entirely trust it since admitting it is bad, however. Kriea an 'annoying old woman'? LOL? What is your great example of an awesome character you want to share with me? Because that is a hilariously unfair characterization.

Huh. What about those of us who love our own characters? Seems a bit presumptuous to make this declaration. But judging by other recent Obsidian games I don't think 'alignment' will be a problem for our party composition. In AD&D games it was a gaming element to consider but I cannot really think of a game outside of that context where this applied.

So we get the joy of playing on beautiful painted backgrounds.

CKII has sold over a million copies since September 2014 and considered a success. Resident Evil 6 sold 5 million plus copies and was considered a failure. You have to understand this as a matter of return on investment. Obsidian has a target number they want to hit; anything higher is gravy. Plenty of coverage on "mainstream" sites does not correlate to better sales. I have never said the game won't sell well, I just temper my expectations and don't buy into hype. Wow really? CK2, a game that came out in 2012, has sold 1 million copies since Sept 2014? Amazing. Go Paradox!

They have been adding more portraits as the builds have gone by. Any Betas can confirm?

I will be playing right at release. Bugs and all.

Yeah I noticed that. A little error in poll design.