Maria Caliban

... I didn't know we were arguing.

I picked up Naamah's Kiss during lunch. I'm so awesome, I get to leave work early!

I suspect that like Fallout 3, many posters will have trouble considering this a good RPG, but a large number of us will buy it because it's still better than the alternatives. Personally, I like BioWare. I enjoy interacting with their deveopers. I like playing their games and I believe have all of them. I understand BioWare games fail to reach an ideal of RPGness, but 1) I play PnP, so no cRPG reaches my ideal, 2) I read a great deal of fantasy, and every few weeks I get a non-Tolkien setting, and 3) I like elves, which are difficult to find outside cRPGs or DnD.

I'd guess otherwise on both counts. The Blight is mindless while I suspect the Archdemon has too alien a mind to make deals.

I assume that's it. They'll probably murge into BioWare Mythic and Mythic will handle the MMO while BioWare handles the single player RPGs.

The elves were smashed twice, enslaved once, though they're only slaves in the reminants of the Imperium. The Dalish elves aren't slaves or servents. Aristes, I get it that you want a 'different' setting, but Thedas isn't meant to be a 'different' setting. It's meant to be BioWare's take on fantasy. They have elves, dwarves, dryads, werewolves, undead, dragons, and hordes of evil; they're not attempting to rewrite fantasy, just recast it in ways they find interesting. According to the Bible, snakes can disrupt immortality by chatting with them.

According to Dalish legends, Elvhenan once dominated the lands of Thedas. They were beautiful, pure, immortal, beloved of the gods, in touch with nature, and wise beyond measure. When the humans of the Tevinter Imperium appeared, they became friends, but found that interacting with humanity caused them to lose their immortality. They isolated themselves but the humans of the Imperium went to war with them, destroyed the elven homeland and enslaved them. After the first Blight, Andraste blamed the immoral magical practices of the Imperium for the problem and led a crusade (or barbarian invasion) against them. The elves rebelled, helping her take several cities, and were rewarded with the Dales, the second elven homeland. The Dalish elves were formed when the Chantry, the religion of Andraste, decided the elves were heathens and led an Exalted March against their kingdom. The Dalish elves are refuges from that war.

Yes, it's a land under seige by a supernatural army lead by a powerful creature.

I live to serve! A run down for those of us just join us: Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player, party-based computer RPG coming out for the PC and XBox 360 around November of this year. You control yourself and three other companions as you explore the dark, heroic world of Ferelden as a Grey Warden, an elite warrior group dedicated to fighting the Blight. Dragon Age: Origins features a new ruleset, not based on any PnP system. The Origins are the 'first chapter' of play, which introduces you to the world and your place in it. You can be male or female for each one. They are: Human Noble (fighter or rogue) - You are the youngest child of Ferelden nobility. Mage (human or elf) - In a nation that hates mages, you were raised in the Circle Tower under the eyes of the militant Templers. Dalish Elves (fighter or rogue) - The remnants of the second elven homeland, your clan wanders the land, keeping out of the way of the authorities. City Elf (fighter or rogue) - You've lived your life a second class citizen in an elven alienage, and now it's time for your arranged wedding Dwarven Noble (fighter or rogue) - You're a dwarven noble trying to survive the political machinations of your homeland. Dwarven Commoner (fighter or rogue) - You're part of the underclass. Your face is branded, and the popular religion teaches you have no soul. After the origin story, you

There are sex origins: Human noble City Elf Dalish Elf Mage Noble Dwarf Commnon Dwarf

You're right: one unselfish act means that the thousand years of bloody tyranny totally do not count. That this unselfish act wasn't all that unselfish and didn't solve the problem is beside the point.

Kain was the pillar of balance who decided he'd rather lead a blood crusade to rule the world. Instead of saving the world, he opted to crush it under his boot heel. He believes humans are worthless chattel. Not only is the guy evil, but he is blatantly, stereotypically evil. But, like Hannibal Lector, he's charismatic, intelligent, and compelling. He has a certain nobility and dignity about him. Here is another villain I don

Lady Crimson inspired me: Awww. So cute!

How could you guys forget Kain?

Okay, there are two women talking in the video. One is Morrigan and the other is Leliana. Virumor mentioned both. My first paragraph was about Morrigan's voice actress, who is Claudia Black. My second paragraph was about Leliana's voice actress, who is a woman from Paris, France.

Morrigan's voice actress changed. It's now Claudia Black, the woman who played Aerun Sun in Farscape. She's a real french woman from Paris.

For those of you interested in the romance video from E3: here it is.

I just noticed your signature and the last sentence has passive sentence structure. "A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small." In active sentence structure, it would be, ' A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where petty morality would not bind the scientist, where the small would not constrain the great.' American style guides tend to demonize the passive voice, and I thought it was a good example of how passive voice can create stronger sentences than the active voice.

That last sentence is an an excellent use of passive voice. And then people say altruism is unnatural.

I believe this is a problem with RPGs in general. cRPGs are based on PnP RPGs which were based on wargames, and carry unnecessary baggage from both. For me, the important part of an RPG is the ability to customize your character and to express that character through various choices that have meaningful consequences in the world. You don

Alternatively, to play a wandering barbarian dwarven prince. No, but I have noticed that the crawling poop and milkspew factories called 'babies' are kinda cute. I sometimes find myself thinking it would be neat to push a watermellon sized human being through my happy parts and then have it leach off me emotionally and physically for 18 years. I've been told that's a sign of old age.

Really? Why is that? Burned out from waiting? Unknown, but I suspect that's it. In general, cRPGs and computer gaming is less appealing to me right now than they were a year ago. I plan to pick up the game when it comes out, and believe I'll enjoy it, but can't summon the excitement or interest I felt previously.

Multiple viewpoints in a game is like multiple viewpoints in a novel. It broadens the scope of the action and can add complexity and novelty, but at the same time it's important to make each character unique and not water down player identification with the characters. It

You're in luck. She's a druid who just happens to sleep with everyone and is marked by *two* gods travelling from England to Chi, um, Alba to Ch'in, which is only half the world. Here's a review I found: http://io9.com/5294955/a-druid-saves-the-w...e-careys-latest It's good to see Jacqueline Carey still has her finger on the pulse of her fanbase.

An addendum: Have you read Naamah's Kiss? I dropped the Kushiel series after book three (Ph