Fardragon

I think we have some people being afraid of spiders to thank for giant spiders. If you want to invent a scary monster, you are going to base it on something people are scared of, aren't you? I seem to recall Ariadne being changed into a giant spider back in ancient Greek times.

Aside from Edwin's necklace and Viconias's magic resistance, which BG1 and BG2 companions had (useful) special abilities that the player could never have? Coran: Illegally high starting Dex Kagan: Illegally high starting Con (giving him regeneration) Safina: cast Charm Eldoth: create poison arrows Alora: lucky rabbit's foot Dynahair: Slow Poison Tiax: summon a ghast Faldorn: Summon Worg That's just a few I can remember off the top of my head. Sure some where next to useless and a couple didn't work in the original release, but several where quite powerful. Even Imoen had an attribute total worthy of a power gamer.

There is room in the world for both light and dark stories. Given the people writing PoE I wouldn't expect a particularly lightweight story, and I would rather have people write well in a style they are comfortable with than right less well in some other style. It's particularly easy for a light-hearted story to descend into farce if the writing isn't good enough. Having said that, I don't think PoE is all that dark, certainly compared to GoT.

I think there is an inherent value in top down and isometric gameplay which was lost for a time in the rush to 3D. Not just nostalgia, the format offers something 3D first and 3rd person games do not.

I think that Obsidian have missed something when it comes to companions. In BG1 and 2, most of the companions have abilities which are simply unavailable to any player created characters (without using an editor). Thus giving a reason to take them even after you have heard all their conversations. Aside from the odd arctic fox and cat shapeshift which are weaker than abilities the players can choose, Obsidian NPCs don't really have any unique selling points beyond their conversations. True for other Obsidian games as well as PoE.

If I'm "playing myself" I think in terms of moral and character based decisions, not in terms of skills. I usually play Mass Effect as the Sniper class, but I know for a fact that I am an absolutely lousy shot in real life. My preference for stat based, rather than twitch based combat has more to do with a fondness for mathematics and complex character creation than whether or not one is more "role playing" than the other. The bottom like is I don't care if you call a game an RPG or not. What matters to me is "is this the kind of game I like?". It so happens that PoE is the kind of game I like, despite it's many flaws. But as far as I am concerned, it's biggest flaw is it's setting. Not because it is inherently bad, but because it feels old and tired and cliche and I feel like I have seen it all before. Whilst I personally like retro space opera, and I think that would make a good setting that hasn't been used for that kind of game before, I would be interested in anything that gets me out of Generic Fantasyland.

@Qistina I don't think I misunderstood what you where saying. In that sense the Arkham games come pretty close to being perfect "role playing" games, since they put you right into the role and make you feel and act like Batman. However, when I play PnP games I often play a character who acts pretty much the way I would (if rather braver). Not really much role playing involved at all. So when I look for a CRPG I look for something that resembles PnP gaming, which means it might not actually involve much role playing!! Hence a very literal definition is unhelpful. What I really want is a PnP simulator, not a role playing game. @FlintlockJazz As for genetic engineering, that can feature in any SF subgenre. The original Jurassic Park novel was very much "Hard" SF, but the Jurassic World movie will be very "soft" SF indeed! There are two reasons for that. One is the nature of the summer blockbuster movie - it's designed to entertain, not provoke thought. The other is discoveries made in the field of genetic engineering and cloning, which have caused recreating dinosaurs to look very much less plausible than it did in 1990 when the novel was written. But as for "would I like to see a SF CRPG in which genetic engineering was a major theme?" I really don't care one way or the other so long as the story is good.

RPG is a Role-Playing Games, the game where the player is playing a role, meaning you as player playing a role in said game A "role" that need an interpretation, since playing a role doesn't always means playing a character, but a character is a role. For example, in an act, you play a role of a king but also play a character of a king, let say "King Arthur", you not only play a role of a king but the character himself. But if playing a role itself is not playing the character of said story. A role of a king is not King Arthur the person. So there should be RPG and CPG...CPG is Character Playing Games in which most Bioware games now is As a definition that isn't very useful, since it makes the majority of computer games, from Donkey Kong to Call of Duty, RPGs. What I consider a CRPG is a game that tries to emulate the experience of playing a Pen and Paper RPG, which is why I consider things like an interactive party and stat based combat important.

Something to do with these card games perhaps?

Of course Psionics is "space magic". It is still a core feature of the Space Opera genre. The Lensmen series is considered a genre defining example of Space Opera, and that features characters throwing planets and stars around with the powers of their minds. It makes Mass Effect look seriously grounded. "Space Magic" runs through all Space Opera and is essential to it's functioning. I'm an Astrophysicist, so I've read the various scientific papers discussing FTL travel using warp drive. The maths is very interesting as a thought experiment, but they require a source of negative mass in order to warp space in that way, and there is only one way to get one of those - magic! Other taken-for-granted genre staples, such as the "deck plates" that generate the artificial gravity that lets characters conveniently walk around are just as magical. Space Opera hinges on Clarke's 3rd law: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Ergo, any magic can be explained by sufficiently advanced technology. The only thing differentiating Space Opera from Space Fantasy (if you consider it a separate genre at all) is that Fantasy does not try to suggest that there is an in-universe scientific explanation for the magic. Occasionally the Magic Happens. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is considered an early example of Hard SF. Verne realised that in order to remain submerged for an extended period his submarine would require a power source that did not exist at the time, so he created a magic one. He didn't predict the development of nuclear power, he merely created a necessary plot device, and we got lucky. Just as often, it doesn't happen. We haven't discovered Carvorite, nor are we likely to. Sometimes we can try to make it happen, such as the Star Trek Cloaking Device. But even if we get it to work it was still just a magic cloak when it appeared in "Balance of Terror". Sometimes it goes the other way. Jurassic Park tried to be scientifically plausible when Michael Crichton wrote it, but we have now found that DNA completely denatures within around 540 years. P.S. As for not talking about your other points about GELFs and whatever, I don't have an opinion. They are plot elements that may or may not appear. And on RPGs, as others have pointed out, there is no hard and fast definition (unlike Space Opera), but I would suggest you ask yourself why you think Deus Ex is one, and if so, what is Bioshock and what is Arkham Asylum? All I know is what I look for in a CRPG: the ability to create my own character (including backstory), a party of NPC companions who interact with my character and I can control in combat, a story that doesn't have too much railroading and combat which is stat based rather than twitch based.

Biotics is just variation on psionics, which is a staple of most Space Opera. It features prominently in Babylon 5 and Lensmen, and is also found in Star Trek, Blake's 7 and Humanx Commonwealth, plus many others, including some "Hard" SF, such as Dune and the Traveller RPG. It has a "scientific explanation". It's not REAL science, but it is no more unreal than the explanations for FTL travel. Realistic science is NOT a component of Space Opera. Do some research if you don't believe me. That is why the introduction of midichorians to Star Wars was so controversial. Adding a "scientific" explanation for Force powers changes the genre of the entire saga - it doesn't matter how bonkers the explanation it is, as long as it exists. Fortunately TCW did a good job of restoring the mystical balance. Cuthonic enemies are also a common Space Opera theme. They are found in Babylon 5 and Humanx Commonwealth, to name but two. The ideas of an axis, with hard SF at one end and "Space Fantasy" at the other is itself incorrect. SF has many subgenres (e.g. Planetary Romance) and they do not all lie on a straight line.

Mass Effect is quite clearly Space Opera if you read the definition, as is Star Trek, Bablyon 5, Blake's 7, Lensmen, Humanx Commonwealth, 1980s Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica and so on. They don't have to feature "realistic" science in any form. Space Fantasy is Star Wars, some Japanese stuff, Guardians of the Galaxy (original comic) and occasionally Doctor Who. The requirement is they include "magic" in some form. None of the Deus Ex games come close to what I would consider an RPG. A few choices in which skills to upgrade and multiple paths through missions doesn't make an RPG.

I think you have a very narrow definition of what Science Fiction should be, and dismiss anything else (including all Space Opera) as "Space Fantasy" out of hand. And I wouldn't class Deus Ex as an RPG. It goes in the "shooter with token RPG elements" box with Mass Effect.

Yes, something like the X-Com isometric approach would be good, but it's still really a skirmisher when you consider the actual ranges involved. A Sniper rifle can shoot a few hundred meters, rather than the few thousand it should be capable of. But that would cost a lot more money than using existing resources, and I don't think such a game can be made at all unless it can be done on a modest budget. And what do you mean "not just space fantasy for once"? The only "space fantasy" CRPGs I can think of are the two KOTORs, which is hardly saturation point compared to the number of pseudo-medieval fantasy games out there!

Stick with "Fighter" is you prefer it for the "guy in armour who stands at the front and takes the hits". As it's based on PoE background is separate anyway. It could be a pirate, a bounty hunter, or wealthy playboy weapons designer rather than regular military. The Scout/Ranger is intended to cover the guerilla fighting style. The advantage to using PoE rather than designing a new system (based on GURPS or otherwise) is fairly obvious. With a lot of the groundwork already done it would require far fewer development resources to make the game, which is pretty much essential if you are targeting a niche market. Added to that, Obsidian wouldn't have to pay anyone for a licence. Furthermore, connection to another successful game, all be it in an entirely different universe, aids marketing. The trouble with "Hard" SF is you open up all your convenient plot devices to scientific scrutiny. Why does that sniper rifle only have a range of 20m? Why is that hero duel wielding giant swords against guys with plasma cannons? How does FTL travel work? How does psionics work? Why don't those insectoid aliens collapse under the weight of their own exoskeleton? How come that armour fits a human and an orlan? However, if you make it clear that it isn't to be taken deadly serious, you can have your laser swords and plasma pistols with "it's fun" being the only justification needed. This approach worked perfectly well for Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. Besides, far to many games have caught the "dark and serious" disease (AKA Nolanitis). I want to play a game that isn't afraid to be fun. Eww, you just want a reskin of Fantasy! Ewwwwwwwww! Seriously though, a lot of the 'issues' you list there is because you are trying to fit sci-fi to the system used by Pillars, a game designed for Fantasy. Pillars is designed for close up skirmishes not gun battles, and that is precisely why it would not work. As for wanting hard, I specifically said I wasn't asking for hard like 2001, just harder than the Space Fantasy Magic we have been getting. There has barely been even Star Trek level of hardness in sci-fi shows these days. Oh, and just because it looks at how transhumanism would affect society wouldn't mean it would be dark and serious, on the contrary Transhumanism fiction tends to be optimistic and bright as compared to the future envisoned by Cyberpunk. And fantasy is just a reskinned Western. So what? I like stories of swashbuckling action and adventure, and I'm sick and tied of the same old generic-fantasyland scenery. Which is another problem with "hard" SF: it tends to be about issues, not adventure. Who am I? What is the nature of reality? It's all a time paradox! (see: Intersteller, Oblivion, etc). The adventure and fun gets squeezed out. If you are going to do a top down or isometric party based game it has to be about close up skirmishes. Which you can only really justify with "soft" SF. If you are going to do realistic gun battles you are talking about moving to a 3D 1st or 3rd person viewpoint, which immediately movies you into shooter territory and limits party size. I really, really don't want another Mass Effect* or CoD clone!!!! PoE is a lot less fantasy-flavoured than D20 for example, in terms of things like names for stats and skills and prevalence of firearms, rates of fire and reloading. *Okay, I would buy a Mass Effect game that didn't force you to play as a badass space marine, but it still wouldn't be a RPG.

According to Dungeons and Dragons 1st and 2nd edition, only humans have mid-life crises.

If I was in that world I would sure be convinced it was the Maker's doing. The coincidence is just too massive. The interesting thing is, given a sufficiently long span of time, massive coincidences will inevitably occur, and before you know it some entirely sane person thinks they are a prophet and a new religion starts up.

It's deliberately left obscure. Maybe the protagonist was chosen by God, or maybe they are just stupidly lucky and there is no God. You have to decide for yourself what you believe. Not at all chosen by God, remember that The Maker have left and don't care about anything anymore. Secondly the thing at your hand is magic, you just accidentally get part of it at your hand. It have nothing to do with divine whatsoever, it just what people want to believe about you. You can just i. agree with them then proven false ii. deny them and proven true Both of above is the conclusion, you are not The Chosen One, you can only wear a mask and the mask become you or throw away the mask put upon your face. Sorry, but you are guilty of taking the in game lore at face value, when the game itself makes it clear that it is myth, and may contain little or no truth. The Maker may or may not have left, or may never have existed in the first place, or there may be some other entity entirely manipulating events.

That would depend on which country's education system you where talking about. For example, the English/Welsh National Curriculum makes it quite hard for students to specialise until quite late.

I think it is actually a bit of a dogma. Fantasy game? Must have classes. SF game? Can't have classes. I don't care much either way, so long as it's good. Shadowrun makes a decent compromise. However, there are huge logistical advantages for Obsidian to reuse the PoE engine and as much of the game systems as possible, which means classes. Which I'm fine with.

Stick with "Fighter" is you prefer it for the "guy in armour who stands at the front and takes the hits". As it's based on PoE background is separate anyway. It could be a pirate, a bounty hunter, or wealthy playboy weapons designer rather than regular military. The Scout/Ranger is intended to cover the guerilla fighting style. The advantage to using PoE rather than designing a new system (based on GURPS or otherwise) is fairly obvious. With a lot of the groundwork already done it would require far fewer development resources to make the game, which is pretty much essential if you are targeting a niche market. Added to that, Obsidian wouldn't have to pay anyone for a licence. Furthermore, connection to another successful game, all be it in an entirely different universe, aids marketing. The trouble with "Hard" SF is you open up all your convenient plot devices to scientific scrutiny. Why does that sniper rifle only have a range of 20m? Why is that hero duel wielding giant swords against guys with plasma cannons? How does FTL travel work? How does psionics work? Why don't those insectoid aliens collapse under the weight of their own exoskeleton? How come that armour fits a human and an orlan? However, if you make it clear that it isn't to be taken deadly serious, you can have your laser swords and plasma pistols with "it's fun" being the only justification needed. This approach worked perfectly well for Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy. Besides, far to many games have caught the "dark and serious" disease (AKA Nolanitis). I want to play a game that isn't afraid to be fun.

It's deliberately left obscure. Maybe the protagonist was chosen by God, or maybe they are just stupidly lucky and there is no God. You have to decide for yourself what you believe.

Thinking about it, the Pillars of Eternity game engine (although far from perfect) would adapt quite well to a Science Fiction/Space Opera setting. It's already dominated by guns, just add duel wielding one handed guns and an ammo system. Damage types become kinetic, thermal, ion (organics have natural resistance), cryo, bio and psi (synthetics have natural resistance). Replace "trinket" item slots with cybernetic implants (find an autodoc to install them). Tweak the skills: Stealth, Athletics unchanged Lore -> Science (allows ancient alien artefacts to be used) Mechanics -> Demolitions Ditch survival (and food), add an Intelligent System Interface (hacking) skill, Piloting, and a Persuasion skill. Tweak the classes: Fighter -> Soldier. Only class able to equip Power Armour. Other Armours toned down in power. Ranger (+some Rogue) -> Scout. Stealthy, with a Cloaking Ability, bonus for attacking from unseen, can snipe, designate targets, summon drones (on a per fight basis) to act as scouts or decoys. Cleric (+ some mage) -> Meditech. As well as providing healing (at range and AoE with dart guns, nanite clouds and chemical clouds) can also stun and debuff enemies. Uses a medikit that works like a grimoire, equipped with various abilities that you can change out between fights (and cost credits to buy). Rogue (+some paladin) -> Spacer. Good at rapid melee and ranged DPS with fast weapons. High critical chance. Can learn a leadership aura that boosts allies attack. Chanter -> Scitech. Has a force field projector which they can use to protect the team or themselves in combat (various defensive buff auras). Has a robotic companion which can help (AKA get in the way) in combat. Cypher -> Psion. Much the same, but instead of gaining Psi points through combat starts with a pool which they can replenish by draining Endurance (possibly leading to unconsciousness). Monk (+ Jedi and a little Chanter) -> Adept (Okay, Shadowrun rip off). Uses internally focused psionic energy to boost physical powers. Instead of Wounds, gains power through fighting. [i can't think of a good substitute for Barbarian or Druid] Races: Human, Reptalian race (cos' I like lizard people), Insect race (obligatory), Synthetic (machine) race (obviously) and Orlan (just because). Elves, dwarves and orks are banned.

I'm not to keen on all this post-apocalyptic Fallout stuff*. There is plenty of it, and it's all as depressing as so much else these days. I want some proper space opera with spaceships and aliens!!! Given the difficulty in getting a licence for another Star Wars CRPG, something like Space Frontiers/Alternity, Lensmen, Polesotechnic League or Humanx Commonwealth would be good, done with the PoE engine. There was a Traveller CRPG in the 90s which was okay, apart from lousy space combat. Traveller does take itself a bit too seriously at times though. *I would be up for a new Dark Sun game or remake though.

I think this gets to the root of the problem: in a "good" romantic story - Casablanca, Dr Zhivago, the Arthurian myths, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest - romance is a cause of conflict, and the protagonist has to make a choice, either choice leading to tragedy in one form or another. The Bioware style romance is pure wish fulfilment. The protagonist can save the world AND get the girl/boy. Good storytelling requires they choose to do either one or the other. The only Bioware romance that fits that criterion is in Dragon Age Origins, romancing Alistair, then marrying him to someone else and sacrificing yourself to save the world. And even then the penalty for copping out, saving yourself and marrying Alistair isn't really significant.