nikolokolus

I think I've figured something out. If you like romances in games, perhaps you liked playing with Barbie and Ken and pretending they were getting married and pooping out lots of babies? If you don't like romances, chances are, you preferred GI Joe action figures and you liked imagining Cobra getting his ass kicked. (God help those of you whose parents forced you to merge your play time with your baby sister and combine GI Joe action time with Ken and Barbie country club time). The thing with RPGs is once upon a time they were mostly about GI Joe kicking Cobra's ass, and then at some point -- hard to pinpoint when exactly -- Barbie started showing an interest in GI Joe and all of sudden poor Joe had to start having feelings and being all sensitive and crap. Before you know it, Barbie moved in and started decorating Joe's house with frilly curtains and making him watch Bridges of Madison County and Twilight on the weekends. Now (thanks to Bioware) GI Joe has hung up his rocket launcher, quit the army and become a mopey, emo, D-bag -- an emotional cripple, cut adrift in a world where he's ill-equipped to keep that dirty Ken from stealing Barbie. I know the days of role-playing games being tied to tabletop war games is over, but I'm so damn tired of RPGs being turned into melodramatic, interactive soap operas. I just want my barbarian, Tahvo Ukonnen, of the Northern Steppe to be able to cleave that goblin in twain without having to ego stroke a bunch of navel gazing, water drinkers that choose to tag along after him.

A little variety is nice but thinking about the scale of the character models on screen in an infinity-esque game it should definitely not be a huge point of emphasis. Just using 3-D models instead of sprites should make adding animations quite a bit easier however.

Co-op in a game all comes down to how action driven it is. If PE ends up text heavy then co-op just doesn't make much sense.

So are we certain that weather is geophysically driven? Perhaps there are "thin" spots in certain parts of the world where the elemental planes bleed through? Use your imagination.

When did RPGs become the Sims?

Nik likey!!

Who said things have to go the player's way?

You... you've... changed. *sobs* I'm thinking Dionarra from Torment, anything else and I say burn it with fire. But she romanced the other guy... Exactly my point

I signed on for the beta but I'm having second thoughts... I might just convert that extra 25 bucks into some other add ons

You... you've... changed. *sobs* I'm thinking Dionarra from Torment, anything else and I say burn it with fire.

Maybe they'll post an updated total next week?

Constant running should eventually impose some kind of small competence penalty, maybe not draining stamina but a small ding to damage and or to-hit, etc.

I'm a GIS analyst by trade and I have a MS in geography and I couldn't possibly care less if a fantasy world follows the laws of physics or principles of physical geography. In fact I'm always pleasantly surprised when a fantasy world zigs when I expect it to zag- all part of what makes fantasy fantastical.

Is the planet spherical and does it rotate about an axis? If the answer is no, then throw out the coriolis effect and assumptions about climate.

If a love interest is a central part of the narrative then I'm fine with it, it's the romance-as-mini-game that I detest.

Why? My dad was a mechanic and I've known all kinds of people who use tools for varous jobs, including myself. Do you think a professional thief/locksmith would buy cheap dollarstore grade tools that will break when used when his life could depends on success or do think he'd buy mastercraft tools, something he can consistantly rely up when ever he needs it even if it means paying more? The only time I see workmen using disposalable tools is when thier too broke to afford something proper. An amauter thief may use a bobby pin like in FONV, but a professional will have proper tools for his trade. It'd be like giving the fighter a sword that breaks each time it hit someone. An alternative would be enchanted tools just like you have enchanted weapons and grimoires. So an enchanted +5 lockpicket set that boosts the mechanics skills when lockpicking by 5 to 10 points. It cost more then cheap lock picking tools, but its reliable and reusable. So who knows, maybe there will be masterwork tools that don't get consumed at the rate the cheaper stuff does? But let's not forget, it's a pre-industrial society; it's not like you're going to walk in to a Snap-On dealer and pick up a bunch of drop forged stainless steel whatsits and gamahooches whenver you like. possessing and/or manufacturing a set of tools like lockpicks is probably something that is frowned upon in civil society. maybe these tools are frequently improvised by the rogue himself and only a very select few smiths in the game world are shady enough to agree to make higher quality stuff?

Trial and error baby. No dodging cursed items unless you have a very strong legend lore type spell or have your item examined by a certified enchanter.

It's bad enough that I have to put up with elves. No orcs please

Here ya go

I guess if people have a kink for 2 inch tall sprites? ...

Sometimes it makes sense that "ecological niches" vacated by one group or power would be replaced by another over time, but considering that the game is going to award experience points for overcoming challenges and not piling corpses like cord wood, I find the farming re-spawns to be a little bit silly. Should rival gangs move into turf vacated by the local thieves guild I wipe out? Sure. Will the wererats infest that level of Od Nua that used to be run by the ogres? Why not. That kind of thing is fine, but I don't want to clear an area only to come back in a short amount of time and find the same kind of group or monsters that were just removed.

Hire Tony Di'Terlizzi

What past Obsidian games are you referring to?

I can't vote. the options are basically "super sexy ladies" or "androgynous lumps of flesh" No middle ground? :Edit Sexiness and nudity are not the same thing.

Maybe that's what Obsidian should do, send out 75K madlibs that users can fill in and send back?