Rhaeg

Well, that explains that then. If Paradox did not send out the beta code to be used for a review (and I somehow doubt they would do such), someone decided to write this piece without having received an official preview copy. Nothing you can do about that since every random 'gaming journalist' with access to the beta could do this. If this is what happened (and we still do not know with 100% certainty) it's a low move by the writer, especially since he even complains about other gaming websites having access to versions of the game that are a better representation of what the end version will be like. *scratches throat* Hey mister writer of the crappy review!!! Beta versions are used to test, get feedback and improve, ya dummy Get in line for a real preview copy if you're a real journalist! Oh, and there's a DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "THEY'RE" and "THEIR" AND I'M NOT EVEN A NATIVE SPEAKER OF YOUR LANGUAGE! ... Well, I'm glad I have that out of my system! Oh and btw, does anyone think we may have given too much attention to some random person from a random website? Ah well, it's good for community building and all that. Common enemy etc.! Huzzah!

Cheers Havelok. There are a LOT of BG portraits online, so there should be something for everyone then

Ah yes, I see! Paradox is to blame, it says so right he.. ... wait a minute ... *frantically searches for reason to blame Paradox* ... ... Ah crap, let's blame them anyway. Paradox is evil!!!!

Speaking about portraits: can anyone tell me what sizes will work well with PoE? I was especially wondering if BG sized portrait files can be imported directly... or will they be too low res and look ugly? And maybe a general "post your character here" thread wouldn't be such a bad idea, I might even post something too!

Yes, I also think this is a ridiculous review by a guy who claims to be an RPG fan but for some reason has never heard of using pause in the middle of combat. BUT... (Adding more dots now before continuing to increase suspense) ... I also have trouble understanding why a game developer would give a game 'journalist' access to a beta version that is still full of bugs and lets a player start with a full party with several non-starter skills in an area that lacks any introduction to the game (both story and game mechanics-wise). I'm not sure if that is what happened here (maybe Obsidian did not know the guy was going to use his beta access to publish a game review), but I've seen small game studios do this kind of thing before in their quest to get word of their game out to as many people as they possibly can. Similary, they will also give review copies to reviewers that are far outside the target audience of the game. The end result is always the same: bad reviews by often clueless people that do more harm to promoting the game than they do good. I'd be very careful with giving out game access for review purposess.

Heh, have to say I did not expect a serious answer to my question

Can someone explain to me what's wrong with red boots?

*European scratches head dumbly*

Just be glad that you're blonde so the manly grey hairs won't show yet, manly Mr. Soon-to-be-thirty-without-beard. Signed, dark haired Mr. Thirty-something-with-bearding-ability-but-visible-grey-hairs :/ (I think I was 18 when I first played Baldur's Gate... this game is fine for nostalgia, but it does make me feel old... ) *plans to roll a YOUNGER looking character*

This one might have to grow on me. I think it could work great in setting the atmosphere for some area in the game, but as a main theme? I don't know, I don't recognise any parts yet that I might find myself whistling along with soon It sounds a bit generic to me even. RPGs such as BG1 & 2, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age: Origins do have theme music with a very clear identity. But like I said, maybe it still has to grow on me and I certainly would not call it bad music or anything.

I agree completely. Romances in cRPGs are so enormously shallow, I find it hard to understand why many people seem to want (or even demand) them so badly. To achieve the romance is no challenge at all: always say nice things to the companion you want to romance, or yes, just dump some gifts on him/her. Then the romances themselves are completely shallow: a few lines of unique dialogue* and badly animated sex or hinting at sex. But hordes of people seem to love their romances, so I'm sure I'm missing something. * Of course, this can be extremely well written dialogue, but that goes for non-romance dialogue too.

Meh, for some reason I can't really enjoy playing as female characters... hard to immerse myself in that role, I guess So I always play male characters, but if I would roll the entire party myself, sure, I'd add some female too.

Don't forget your chance to win a free copy!

I don't mind realism in an RPG, but not the irritating kind. Elder Scrolls has the limited vendor gold, but all it makes me do there is dump money to invest in merchants and spend skillpoints to overcome it. Not because it's a cool thing to do, but because it's irritating when a merchant does not buy back the loot I've been dragging along all the time. I do like realism like day and night cycle and NPCs walking around and having a daily routine - those things at to the overall atmosphere. On area transition: "You must pee and poop before venturing forth"

I see 6 options in the poll, so roll a d6. Seriously though, in a game that focuses so much on tactical combat, go with someone who can explain why they're doing what they're doing. That person does not even have to pick the 'perfect' option, but being able to act quickly (too much delay looks bad in such a presentation) and being able to verbalise the thought process that lead to the choices that were made both lead to something that will not look too slow/complicated/scary to the average fan.

I can agree with OP that combat animations are looking a bit outdated. As BlueLion said though, don't expect any improvements on this before release - these things just cannot be changed overnight. Apart from the lovely looking levels themselves, which IMO are incredibly beautiful works of art, graphics do not belong to this game's strong selling points. A game like Dragon Age: Inquisition does a better job at that, but that is not a very honest comparison in many respects (like: budget, technology used, etc.). Everyone needs to decide for themselves if they are able to look past the lesser bits to enjoy the stronger parts of this game (story telling, character creation options, ... ). C'est la vie

Hey all, I spotted and watched this new vid which I hadn't seen mentioned anywhere yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHsYvnGVVkE While showing (mostly) familiar stuff I thought it was a nice video because the previewer seemed genuinely enthusiastic about this type of game. Also near the end it features what seems like a (mini-)boss fight which he did a pretty decent job at. Last but not least, he promises to do another video soon where he can give away 5 keys to the game to people who have commented in this one, so I thought I'd share this with you... even though that will mean a smaller chance for me to win

I am new here, late to the party but an old IE fan, have seen quite a bit of footage over the past few days and with that in mind I would suggest the following, for what it's worth: - Forget about story and anything text-based. It doesn't come across well in such a quick presentation and clicking through text at high velocity won't get you any new fans. It won't hurt mentioning that this game is heavy on story and dialogue of course. It is a strong point of an RPG like this one, after all; - Showing companions is equally meaningless, at least showing them in game would be. Exploring these characters takes time and I would not want to be spoiled ahead of time anyway. Some kind of short slideshow presentation (a cool picture, some summary of their backgrounds) of the NPCs that might join you on your adventure could work though; - Crafting is still a bit vague to me, but I could easily have missed stuff about that. Haven't seen much of it in videos yet though; - A stronghold event could be nice to show. I've read about them and wouldn't mind seeing something of that play out on screen; - I would like to know more about customizing the looks of my characters after character creation. How do the looks change from lower to higher level? Some companion characters seems to start out with personal armor, but does this gear lvl up with them? Can you retain a companion's special look throughout the game (as far as gear goes)? - Show combat. I know it has been shown before, but since it is hard to show text-based story stuff, you pretty much have to focus on combat for a part of a quick presentation. Combat is a significant part of the game anyway: - IE style combat is usually pretty slow, so please have someone play who knows what they're doing. Make use of all the characters in the party (having characters standing around doing nothing looks bad), don't spend too much time thinking about what to do next and do anything else you can to keep the action going; - Let the person who is controlling the fight tell the audience what (s)he is doing. If you're new to this kind of game, it'll quickly look like meaningless or incomprehensible clicking. You don't have the visuals of a Dragon Age:Inquisition, so explain the tactics; - Perhaps you could show how an 'unusual' party fares in a hard fight: how does a party without a heavy armor character survive against a hard-hitting foe? It seems to be something you want to be possible in this game, but I am guessing it is hard for many people to believe such a thing could work: everyone is used to the tank-healer-dps trinity these days. These are just some suggestions, I am pretty ok with waiting a few weeks and seeing what the game is like for myself

I did on page 5!

Of course I agree that it would probably have been awesome to have this "Durance and the Grieving Mother" content in, but on the bright side even reading about this makes me very hopeful that there is more high quality characters and dialogue to be found in this game. At least I highly doubt that they have cut all of the well developed character interaction with this little nugget

Ah great, an apology thread, that's a very good place for me to make my first post here! *looks away from monitor in shame while typing this* Aye, I need to apologise to Obsidian as well, for I have sinned greatly... I'm not sure how to tell this, but... I have only found out about this game about a week ago, only to find out about all of this Kickstarter business that was started up and was already closed months ago. And now I see all these forum people with cool backer emblems and such and it will be immediately clear that I sinned by not backing up this great game from the start. All I can hope now is that I am not given a bright red Forum Badge o' Shame or some such. And of course I have started trying to repent by preordering the Champ edition on Steam! The bad part is that I used to be a big fan of all the IE games. Baldur's Gate was the game that really got me into cRPGs and the first game in the genre that really impressed me on various fronts. I even followed Obsidian a bit after that and played KOTOR2 (such excellent writing, Kreia is still easily the best NPC I've seen in a cRPG) and Alpha Protocol, but for some reason they fell of my radar after that. Also, I do not buy a whole lot of games and do not read many game news sites and such. I guess this is how all of this happened. So there you have it folks, a confession full of shame and even more shame. May the great Obsidian forgive me!