Orchomene

I'm not totally sure it's legal (in some countries at least) for them to take the games back. It may be considered a breach of contract : the contract being selling a game at an explicite proposed price (even 0 is a price). Of course, it is certainly because it would cost some effort (and thus money) to take back the games whereas it cost them nothing to let things go. That's not like if they lost anything solid moneywise, only potential/projected earnings.

I won't repeat what others have already proposed, just add some for the stories : Anachronox, a Game of Thones RPG, Kotor 2.

Reading you guys made me buy the game. I'm still at the beginning but find it surprisingly close to the first xcom games.

I don't know if it's been already pointed out, but there is a simple solution : design a dungeon that is not just from top to bottom. If you go from levels down and up and down (e.g. lvl 1-2-3-1-2-4-5-3-6-4-2-1...) then you can have just one exit and shortcuts that don't seem artificial. Having to go from level 1 to level 13 level after level is just the basic design of dungeons. One can elaborate on this so that there is some variety. Plus, this can become a quite interesting 3D puzzle to find ways to go deeper.

I just wanted to say that I feel I have sufficient challenges in my life to not look for challenges in my games. I'm more looking for enjoyment, entertainment, relaxation. Like I love reading and there is not a lot of challenge in reading books.

The evil path is mostly meant to be played with a five member party instead of a six : PC, Edwin, Korgan, Viconia, Yoshimo/Imoen (if yoour PC is not a thief). Then in ToB you can add Sarevok.

250 + 30 shipping.

I pledged 15$. I loved that you could fly in M&M VII then cast all your spells on the creatures below. I loved also going with invisibility in the giant Titn stronghold, dodging groups of titans and dragons to catch artifacts and sometimes being caught and destroyed in a round of combat. Fun times.

First impressions of Of Orcs and Men. Fun gameplay : - you can slow down during combat to pile special strikes. In that it's close to the game of thrones rpg combat. Yet combat has a bit more punch and reactivity. It's more an action rpg in this aspect. Yet, combat aspect is not that important for me, so I'm not very impressed by it. - some stealth/assassination actions, but the corridor aspect of the level design makes it a bit boring. Linear. Too linear. I remember a bit ME2. Same thing. There are very few branches options, but most of the time, you just follow the corridor. Big deception for me in the level design aspect. At least, side quests do benefit from distinct areas, so there is no repetition. Graphics are good, I think. But since I'm not really into that, I can't really say. Just have a look at some video to have an idea. Storywise, it's difficult to say at the moment. It doesn't seem to be very impressive at the moment, but it's only the first part of the game. All in all, I'm not impressed. Sure, it's polished, a lot more than A Game of Thrones. It looks and plays like your flat AAA action RPG game. I don't regret having bought it, because it's fun. But if you are not into action rpg console games with punch, it's not really worth full price. At least, M/K controls are ok. For other aspects, I can't really say. Equipment doesn't offer a big choice at the moment, but since it's the beginning, I can't judge. You'd better get the opinion from someone that plays action games than me.

I gave some feedback just a few days ago : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61122-what-are-you-playing-now/page__st__120#entry1233352

Ah good, we found a guinea pig. Will be looking forward to your impressions. Count me in too. I'm downloading the game and will certainly play it the whole evening.

Spanish tercio : and a french arquebusier :

I know I shouldn't put any money in it. I have the three games (even if BD can't be played on win7), I even have Div 2 in double, having bought DKS containing Div 2 and FoV for simplicity. Yet, I feel like in a few days I will throw some money in it. I'm so weak, sometimes.

I've finished my third playthrough of a Game of Thrones RPG. I still think it's one of the best RPG scenario in a video game. The critic reception was bad for no valid reason (except maybe because big producers wanted the licence and it ended in a small company). OF course, one has to accept a smaller budget game than a AAA : so graphics that seem more like in a five year old game and animations less fluids than in an action game. Yet, the focus on the story, the mature orientation of the dialogues and choices, the intricacies in the intrigues respectful of Martin's books is wonderful. One thing I regret is the very limit C&C aspect. You can see that with the strong focus on story and the limited budget, C&C did suffer. Clearly in my top 5 list of cRPG for the story. So, to all those that think that story is the main point in a cRPG, you won't regret playing the game, I can assure you. The gameplay is correct, combat is RT with "pause". Not real pause, just slow down. But a sufficient slow down so that people like me somewhat retarded in action games have time to plan the PC actions. It plays a bit like in Kotor/Kotor 2 otherwise. You have just one companion but have control of him during combat. No QTE, no mini game. There is just the controlled dog attack that feels a bit like a click fest, but it's not that awful.

As far as I remeber, Air Temple is not better than Treasure Isle. It's a pitty PB does those kind of DLC when they have made in the past good extensions (see the Gothic 2 one).

I'm on my third playthrough of Game of Thrones RPG. I really think it's a good game that has been poorly received because it lacked some polish.

I think we can't answer by a simple yes or no to the question. What is important is the intention of the makers of the games. Of course, there is nothing in a RPG that makes it unable to be enjoyed by someone that loves playing a FPS (I think so at least, but I don't play shooters at all). After all, I'm a lot into grand strategy games like Europa Universalis or war games. Yet, I do love a game like PST. Would I like a mix between both ? Not really sure. I didn't feel very impressed by the gameplay of King Arthur, the roleplaying strategy game fo instance. To get back to what I wrote about intention, I would say that if the developers intent to develop a RPG that is enjoyable both from the gameplay and the story, that may become a success. But if their intention is to transform a RPG into a shooter with RPG elements and story, there is no reason for it to be a success. You don't add apples and oranges. Just to make things clear, I enjoy both RPGs and strategy games. I don't like shooters and action games (at least those I played and that are considered very good games by those that like shooters or action games). I sometimes like mixes between RPG and strategy games (like the heroes of might and magic series) but a lot of the mixes didn't convince me (King Arthur as stated above or Spellforce). So those mixes are not a success for someone like me. To get back to Bioware, which made a lot of games I do appreciate, I stopped buying Bioware games after ME2. I didn't like ME2 and thus lose interest in the following product. Now, for me to get back to a Bioware game, I need to be convinced again by people I know (here or elsewhere) that the gameplay is less action/shooter/cinematics. And I'm no hater or deceived fan. I'm just a guy that play games that I enjoy and don't play games I don't.

On Gamersgate : http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-NWN2MW/neverwinter-nights-2-mysteries-of-westgate

The only puzzle I remember in VTMB is about Ginger Swan.

I think that in Europe, people already know about the game. In France, there is CanardPC which is more hardcore gamer than others and there are already a lot of discussions about the game since the beginning of the Kickstarter project. I don't know for the other european country, but I expect that in Germany, the project is closely followed by a big fanbase. Don't forget that even if a lot of european countries don't speak english as their ntive language, we are relatively numerous here.

Etherlords. I'm so glad that GoG managed to get it. I love Etherlords 2 and couldn't find the first one anywhere. It's kind of a mix between heroes of might and magic and magic the gathering.

I don't think it's a real issue. You translate Smith into Dupont in french. This is the cultural equivalent. Hightower can be translated into Hautetour easily because it sounds ok and can be a name in France. What is difficult is to translate totally imaginary names from one language to another because you are not sure of what was the expected sound impact of the name. But even for that, professional translators can manage good jobs. If you look at translated books, outside of poetry and songs, translations are ok, at least in french. But french and english are quite close in sounds, so it's not that hard. German or polish into french is more difficult.

Dead State may come out on December 2013, with some luck. Otherwise, I don't know more than those already written above. And we may still get good surprises.

I pledged : Dead State 20$ Shadowrun returns 15$ Wasteland 2 65$ Project eternity 280$

As far as I remember, every Interplay game had localization. If it's only text translation, the cost shouldn't be that important. After all, the budget of PST and IWD wheren't that big if you compare it to "modern" games. YEt, PST had a very well done french translation with slang well translated in "argot" (french slang). After that, it demands on what you want for PE and Obsidian. For me, it's pretty simple : I gave my money to have a gmae I love, but I also gave my money so that PE could become a commercial success, to show that there is a demand in video game market for mature games that focus more on the story and intelligent interactivity than only focus on action. I also wish that Obsidian would benefit from a commercial success so that they have a strong IP, so that they can have funds for other risky projects of their own. Thus, not having localization at release would lower the sales, the first month sales. When you look on the market of mature and tactical video games, you can see that Europe and Asia are not small markets at all. For RPG, you can't forget that Germany is one of the only market where nobody thought that RPG was a dead genre. Look at all the RPG dev companies that are in western or eastern Europe. Look at the number of backers here that are from Europe. Then consider that for each backer in Europe, there are a lot of potential customers that are not backers because they don't follow english news boards, kickstarter or even if they now that are anxious to get an only english written game. Those gamers had the luck to be able to enjoy all these IE games in their native language so they totally know what they can expect from PE. For me, not having at least EFIGS + polish and russian would be a strategical mistake. And even if I play most of my games in english and don't matter if the game has no localization from a gamers perspective, I'm not only a gamer here. I'm a backer. I consider involved in the project and want the best for it. I want it to be a success. I want to see big smiles on the Obsidian teams faces when they will see that the game is loved and sales worldly well. I just understand at all how a backer would consider that localization would not be good for the project. Ok, not for themself directly, but come on. It's not only about ourself, is it ?