Tigranes

Wouldn't '135 employees' include people like Rob Ginnis (community manager) as well though? Heck, it could even include secretaries and whatnot.

They are? Well then, crap. And yeah, I really didn't like Shandra's character, but I don't think I would have liked the contrived nature of the forced NPC even if it was someone I liked, like Sand.

*shrug* Does it matter if it looks like FF? It is quite cartoony, but those floating texts and the kind of things you find do look interesting. If they can integrate the skills into play in a coherent manner (e.g. Spot gives you further LOS, Listen warns you similarly, Survival and/or Stealth allows you to avoid enemies), then it will function great. Also really looking forward to special, non-combat and easter egg encounters - those will be great. And with trade mechanics, how about intercepting wagons? Hell, you could even put in wagon runs a la Fallout if ou wanted.

Being forced to join the Wardens can't be any more restrictive than being forced to be a Bhaalspawn. Aren't they sort of like individual special agents anyway? And, obviously, you'll be even more special and individual! It really depends on the implications to your actions and choices during gameplay, and sometimes, a level of restriction is necessary and benefitial. At least Sandra won't tag along.

Yesterday I taught myself patchwork CSS. And the world cried a single tear.

Really? Because even Oblivion showed dialogue and AI. The Witcher had massive videos showing dialogue, quest solving and C&C. Even Diablo 3 showed dialogue. You have a point that most trailers will *focus* on the fireworks, but Bethesda has been unusually evasive, and I don't think it can apply. The only examples they've really given are Megaton, the ONE conversation with a bully in the Vault and... a single screenshot of a generic conversation node which is apparently not representative.

Yep, and that's part of the reason I think. Some (not all) journos love to interview them more than they want to be interviewed... Exactly, it's not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how few people highlight the fact that Bethesda refuse to release informaiton about roleplaying/dialogue/C&C options.

Not sure what's with the NMA references, as I'm reading right now, over there: Which is fair enough. But that's the thing isn't it? Are those masses of American reviewers dishonest in their uncontrolled enthusiasm for their game, or is the problem that they really are that enthusiastic and positive? When Adam Sessler (that's his name right) makes an orgasmic cry every time Todd shoots someone with Bloody Mess - maybe he's actually excited? Maybe he really could play that for a hundred hours? I don't really find that a far-fetched suggestion. I think many such journalists really did think Oblivion was a fantastic and sophisticated role-playing experience (albeit with flaws), and don't shudder upon hearing 'Oblivion with Guns'.

I think the buildings still look too sanitised, but other than that, I'm getting a Thief: Deadly Shadows vibe for some reason. I thought that game had a kind of unique 'leathery, also shiny leather sometimes' look to everything. I liked it.

As I recall, there was one special ability which acted like a carbon copy of VATS. I made that comparison before in the AP forums. And personally, I was glad that it would only be one special ability, because I had been suspecting I would not like VATS that much (I didn't like Max Payne's bullet time, either). And the gameplay footage we've seen reveals VATS to be a boring piece of non-gameplay that is perfectly suited for juvenile "WOO LOOK AT EXPLODIES" but not much else. I mean, you are determined to accuse certain people of 'doublethink' and bias, and that's fair - I know a couple of your jibes at me have been on the mark - but aren't you doing kettle/pot yourself with some of these? Anyway, not too bothered by Bloody Mess since outrageous and 'they-look-the-same' body explosions were in the originals, too. Disappointed it hasnt improved, but not a big deal. More concerning is the dumbness of the combat AI: I suspect that the enemies dont move while your VATS is executing because they realised players die too often when that happens (or the shot % would no longer be accurate if they moved, now would it? So they have to force a TB situation and make them freeze in time). They don't really seem to take cover like Beth said, either.

Watched the vid, t hanks Jaesun. Sadly, I'm already bored of VATS after that. I mean, the originals' combat weren't that great, but basically this is your standard shooter game, except sometimes, you can make people go boom with lots of splats!

Disappointed that all they wanted to do was achieve the highest number of exploding limbs in a single minute record, but not surprised. We still don't really know anything yet. Positives: the ad was very nice, though the babies popping out was off. The environment looks great in action. It might or might not look exactly Fallout, but it stands well and I think I would enjoy exploring it. Negatives: VATS never gets old? Sorry, it's already old. Havoc technology means everyone explodes at the same places in the same way, and it looks really, really unrealistic when you throw a grenade slow motion, and the other guy just stands in the same spot while its coming at them. They don't even look at it. It's like "oh theres a nuclear missile coming my way, I'll just stand still and maybe shoot at you, shall I". It's not good GAMEPLAY, it's not COOL, and it's not IMMERSIVE. Exactly which box does this tick? We have yet to see most of the game of course, no dialogue/etc yet. And for all their hyping about enemies using cover, we haven't really seen that in this trailer either (in one of them, raiders do take cover, but thats because they spawn behind cover to begin with. When left up to AI they just run out, then stand still while Todd shotguns one.)

Believability has nothing to do with having dwarves or elves. It's more about the internal coherence/plausibility and the vividity of the description - and Tolkien certainly has both.

Cool. Nothing special yet, but that screen with the GUI and the fighting (with the lightning spell) gives me good vibes, looks like the gameplay could indeed be something in the tradition of Baldur's Gate. Still the same old generic fantasy art direction, but honestly, I don't mind too much at the moment.

I know we are on inventory by now, but I just wanted to say: the reason I despised Dungeon Siege 1 (never tried 2, apparently its better) wasn't because it was simple, streamlined, etc. I mean, I played Diablo 2 religiously (and revived it just now). The problem was that, if Diablo 2 wasn't deep, it was fun. What it did it did incredibly well. Dungeon Siege doesn't do anything well. There is no "well its got a crap story but at least X". It just "well it's got a crap story, and crap gameplay, and crap.. uh." Anyway. I think inventory systems shouldn't be considered independently: it's all part of your economy. For example, Morrowind and Oblivion had a thousand different little bits and bobs of alchemy and crafting you pretty much had to keep, so it made sense to have an unlimited number of slots (and the option to buy houses or whatever). In Diablo 2 it wouldn't have made as much sense because Charms, for example, are a gameplay dynamic that is dependent on the idea of having to make hard choices: you need to plan out and economise your inventory screen just like you do your character. And because Diablo 2 is about calculating all those crazy combinations between items and the permutaitons of each item, having loads of space for inventory (and thus carrying a large amount of crap around) would just make things very messy. On the other hand, for example, IE games, with their use of D&D rules, encouraged you to carry around more than one or two weapons per character - you wanted to carry around the Mace of Disruption for undead, Wave Halberd for elementals, the Hammer +1, +4 vs. Giantkin, etc. In that case their inventory system made sense: allow a lot of room (though not TOO much), and get rid of inventory tetris.

*shrug* the only real problem with DA's visuals is that it looks like a carbon copy of LOTR. Where's the creativity? Which really leads to the central 'provisional worry' - that for all its talk of difference and rich lore and dark fantasy, the trailer looks completely different from the description.

True, but they haven't mentioned many things in years, so I'm still holding out some slim hope. You do have a point, though.

Although, Dragon Age has promised (if this hasn't been changed since) much larger scale combat than we're used to seeing in Bio/BIS CRPGs. I wouldn't mind 'dated' graphics at all if that means we actually have larger scale battles and all the tactical gameplay differences that come with such a decision.

Graphics do look pretty nice. Hope the "METROSEXUAL BLONDE HERO (POSSIBLY TROUBLED) FIGHTS OFF THE EVIL ORCZ" theme isn't quite so prevalent in the game, we'll see. As Volourn says, this ain't Diablo 3. I'm pretty satisfied that we got as much as we did.

Fantastic. Definitely something to consider, I might have to work out internet payments after all.

The best disguise!

I love Volourn so much. Give me a kiss, Volo. 'Origins' probably makes sense actually, because the kind of vibe I'm getting is that it's going to have a little bit of 'post-civilisation' about it, not so much the generic fantasy 'there used to be a supar magical golden age before this' but more 'post-apocalyptic' fantasy. So both in terms of hte origins of now and now as a new origin. That sounds a lot more pretentious than I mean. What. The PR thing *was* lame though, I can't help but think that it was just bad management and they didn't anticipate the trailer being delayed.

Well. Why did we expect this to be as good as Diablo 3, again?

Definitely, but I'm not strong enough to wear any of their Plated belts! So I'm holding out on that. I really don't feel right putting more points in Strength, but maybe that's just got to happen. I party generally with a summon-necro and a diablo noob paladin, though more of my friends should be joining up. Did the first 2 Act 4 quests and stopped just before Diablo, doing alright so far and hardly ever dying. spamming Blizzard and level 6(?) lightning until I get to level 30 (4 more to go.) Got myself a socketed circlet and put in a normal Skull just to tide me by - at least it's a circlet and at least i'm getting some manaregen. Character screen now shows 250def thanks to pelta lunata, isenhart case and circlet, which isn't too bad, along with ~90dex. As long as I steer clear of things like deathknight poison I'm generally okay. I lost something like 40k soloing mephisto, though, so I only have about 80k money. I've got some 'investment' items (don't need, sell for +20k) that I'm holding on to, finally some flawless and perfect gems (hoarding topazes), and generally finally looking a bit rosier. I think I will take you guys' advice about circlets anyway, though - I forgot about circlet gambvling, but I remember now, it's just the thing to do. That's what I'm thinking. I'm not too far off (+200hp at the moment), though. There's never any point putting more than 1pt in static, of course. It's been a favourite since I started playing back in Day 1 (what, 6 years ago?). I took your advice. Now i have 2 CB, 2 CL (synergy rite?), 6 Lightning. Will put in more later, but now saving up for level 30 tier skills. Actually, turned out to be a crappy 10%. i don't know how the hell I thought that. My gear is generally okayish though, for a starting character. Sadly, all the great drops I've had were for other chars (great necro head, great barb helm..). Hoping that Diablo can get me something.

I expect the children will be made invisible (or given beards and called dwarves), and the drugs will all change to alternative names that sound like "Sanitary Medicine Kit A". Voila!