Spider

I play very much Exalted. And the dice problem isn't really that bad. Sure, every once in a while you'll need to roll an absurd number of dice, but most of the time it's manageable. And it's fun. Second edition removes a bunch of dice rols too. So then there's even less, but more bookkeeping in combat instead (and more tactical). My group doesn't play second edition at all though. The more tactical nature doesn't really go well with the rest of the group, so we stuck with first edition, which works extremely well for us. Edit: This just goes to show that D&D isn't the only game that can have problems with the old fanbase when releasing new editions. We tried second edition a few times, then decided it wasn't for us.

Or you can just go Bookmarks-> Organize bookmarks and then file-> export and put the file wherever you want.

Brian Mitsoda is Creative Lead, if that helps any. (although I'm sure MCA was involved in the origins of the game somehow. Isn't he like head of creative at Obs or something?) Also, I don't think Ferret splitting is what caused the cut content. I'd guess they were behind schedule and stuff needed to be cut, regardless of who was heading the project. Maybe more could have been kept if Ferret had stayed, with him being more up to speed and all, but then again the rest of the team should have had a decent grasp on things I guess.

That's one way of looking at it, I guess, but I think "freshness" has nothing to do with it. I like the way the AV Club put it. Obsessive collecting is the name of the game. While I can make up all the crap I want for a Pen and Paper game, Magic just isn't the same when you're using proxies. You'll probably hear the same complaints about it that you'd hear from WoWers who sweat out for an awesome weapon only for it to become common and thus passe within the span of a few weeks. Magic is an extreme example of that "freshness" being an incredible moneypit. I know "pro" players who will blow hundreds of dollars at tournaments because the "official rules" get slightly altered and their decks are rendered useless. There's something to be said for a game you can sink only about $300 into and have it last for 10 years or more. This is getting off-topic something fierce. But I feel a need to respond to this, because I think it's a common misconception. 1: While one game of Magic is indeed short, a game session isn't. You don't play one game, you play 20 (or any arbitrary number). 2: The most successful players don't "sink vasts amount of money into buying all the latest and greatest cards". They don't have to. They only need the cards for specific events and can usually borrow most of what they need then and there. Yes, the best players use proxies extensively, because their driving goal is to win tournaments. There are players who do spend these amounts of money, but they are not the hardcore tournament players. I've been on both sides of the fence. I used to buy a lot of cards, but when I was on the top of my game (at that time I was ranked as one of the top players in Sweden and I've competed both at Worlds and the Pro Tour) I didn't buy hardly any cards. 3: Even if the top tournament players did spend this kind of money, they are not representative of the typical customer. Most players won't even go near a tournament, completely satisfied with playing with their friends. These are the players that WotC makes the most money from, not because they buy so many cards, but because there's so many of them. 4: While releasing new expansions is good business from a money-making perspective, the "freshness factor" can't be underestimated. Many card games fail when they stop innovating. Even magic fails when they stop innovating. Players quit when the game gets dull and repetitive and many come back when new expansions are released that they find fun. Again, my apologies for going so heavily off-topic.

Thank you. Besides, it's all semantics. Read the original post again. mkreku even talks about the streaming maps function built into the engine. Also, having read the man's rants on these message boards for some time, there really can't be any confusion as to what he's talking about. He's almost as obsessed with streaming maps as Sand is with female characters. (by the way, the second paragraph isn't directed to Hell Kitty, just the thank you) (by the way 2, did Oblivion have loading times when entering buildings? It's been ages and I really can't recall. I know there were loading times when you teleported and I'm pretty sure there were none when entering dungeons. Other than that I can't remember.) Edit: And yes, I suppose I was a bit unclear when focusing on the loading times. But that's just because I know that loading times is what mkreku hates. And Gothic 3 didn't have any. But the "open-world" vs "open-ended" point Hell Kitty made was the one I was trying to make. Edit 2: Also apologies to mkreku for putting words in his mouth. Feel free to correct me if you think I've gotten your stance on the issue wrong.

The financial aspect can't be neglected. I've said it before, for a company that is in the publishing business it makes sense to put out new editions of their best selling books every now and then. They probably don't need to make the kind of overhaul WotC tend to do every time (something along the lines of 3e to 3.5 is more common), but the radical changes also have their place. Keeping things fresh. That 2E lasted as long as it did is more a testament to TSR:s lack of business sense than anything else. And in my opinion it was hopelessly outdated when 3E came around. Maybe not the rules themselves, I guess that's up to opinions (although I think the rules were as well, but that's me). But the production values were pretty awful. Layouts were bad, art was nothing spectacular, the overall presentation was kind of lacking. If you have the most popular RPG in the world, it should show. They were simply outclassed by companies like White Wolf in that respect. As for the grand overhaul, I think that decision kind of makes sense as well. It may not be necessary, but I can see where WotC is coming from. First, they clearly want to keep up with the times, so from what I understand they're adopting a lot of MMORPG elements into the rulebook. Given how large that market is, it makes sense to try and convert people to P&P rather than the other way around which has been the norm until now. I'm not sure it'll work, but I can understand why they'd try. Another aspect to consider is that WotC:s most successful game (Magic) is one where they change the game in a fairly radical manor every year. And that is part of why the game is still so popular, it always feel fresh. Granted, RPGs are a different beast, but it's not a stretch for WotC to think that those customers may actually like things to be shaken up every now and then as well. They've probably done extensive research into this. They're not stupid. (note, I personally could care less how many editions they release. I'm not a fan of D&D at all, the number of 3e games I've played can be counted on one hands fingers. I predict that to count the number of 4e games I could probably lose the hand. Not to say it's a bad game, just not my cup of tea. My interest in this is partly because I used to work on the retail end and the distributor end, and because whatever WotC does will affect the hobby as a whole. So I follow the progress with interest and curiosity, but that's all. I guess I'm a bit weird that way)

But that is what mkreku was talking about. Well maybe not RAM. Open world is akin to Oblivion and Gothic, where whatever you do, there won't be any loading once you start playing. And the opposite would be where basically every single house has it's own level and load time, like in BG2 or Bloodlines.

Bloodlines wasn't a mix. As soon as you went anywhere, there was a loading screen. And horrible loading times at that. Yeah, the hubs were big, but if anyone you wanted to talk to was in their own separate area.

Except that Alpha Protocol is starting to get hype now. And it's been reported to be scheduled for an early 2009 release. Add to that the fact that Project Georgia has been known about for some time (what a year? Year and a half?). So it's quite likely that Alpha Protocol and Aliens are fully staffed. Hell, Alpha Protocol could even be the next release from OE. (unless there is a third team working on a NWN2 expansion of course. What project is Montgomery Markland assigned to anyway?)

I know that selling 3E was very easy at launch, to new and old players alike. But that is because it was so aggressively priced. The core books sold for ten dollars/euros (at the time they were pretty much the same) for the first year or so. Getting those hardcover, full color books that cheap made a lot of people interested. Of course, this was a marketing strategy probably trying to solve the very problem you mentioned. I worked in a gamestore at the time and D&D was the second highest selling game we had in there for some time. The only game performing better was the new edition of Swedish classic Drakar och Demoner, but that was kind of a given (here in Sweden anyway).

TotL is the final patch amd imcludes everything done prior to the release of the module.

They don't really march around in formation in 40k. They do in Fantasy, but 40k is much more loose. Sure, models need to stay close to the rest of their squad, but they can still be fairly spaced out. I think DoW captures that part really well.

It should be, yes.

Seeing as how the bites in Llyranor's post are probably from an actual article, that'd explain the name-dropping. It is typically much easier to explain how something works by using examples if possible. If it's taken from Obsidian's fact sheet, then it would be kinda sucky though (but I seriously doubt that). All in all, seems like it could be a fun game.

What forum changes? I'm apparently blind. Ontopic: Hi to Annie and Brian! (at least I think that qualifies as on-topic, at least they're PG devs, right? So a relative to the topic? Maybe the unwashed cousin no one really talks about? Not that I'm saying the devs are unwashed... I should probably stop this before the hole gets any deeper, huh?))

I thought we knew sales were pretty good for an expansion? I know I've seen that said somewhere.

There was a dedicated forum. It's been removed, but before that happened a few tidbits of information were released. Like the one I wrote above. I could be confusing things though and that could have been said about PG instead. I'm sure someone will come and put the record straight.

Wasn't New Jersey the game that was supposed to be a new IP, but heavily influenced by some other IP (that may or may not have been used in games before)? So probably not KotOR3 then.

On the other hand, wasn't basically all of those except MCA fairly unknown talents before MotB?

Actually, that is what MCA stands for iirc. I don't remember where it originates from though. (for a long time I thought it was a nickname Sawyer gave him, there was a while where he wrote about some people as dj:s and such. So I thought MCA meant MC Avellone. This was during Torment's production. Man I've been hanging around these boards way too long)

Also, my limited experience with new Requiem tells me that the covenants would matter more in a story anyway. The clan is just who your parent was, the covenant decides your outlook on life. So clans would correspond to races in D&D, while could be compared to class (although it's more ideology than profession, so not really). It gets a bit more complicated if you start throwing bloodlines into the mix, but I doubt anyone making a Requiem computer game would even consider them . The themes of Requiem are different enough to those of Masquerade that you can be in control of your own fate though. And I imagine chosing your covenant could be a very integral part of the game, if a more open ended approach was to be taken. Side quests opening and closing depending on who you ally yourself with, a little like New Reno in Fallout (and yes even with the possibility to work for several factions at once, at least up to a point).

Sadness. TQ was a really good games. In my eyes the best diablo-clone I've played (and that includes Diablo 2, but not 1).

What are the other three then? Aliens, PG and? Or do you mean the rumored NWN2 expansion? Why can't MCA be the lead on that one? Maybe he is happy because he got to do a campaign that takes place in the planes or something like that?

Nope, I've got the exact same intel as you. I just felt it was fairly obvious that the recommendation was sort of redundancy against idiots. Or wait, wasn't there something about skills having different levels? (re-reads thread) Yeah, there was the whol trained vs focused thing. So I guess Thieving and Stealth are in the selectable list in case you want to chose to be focused in them from the get go as opposed to just trained. Makes sense to me anyway. (then the inclusion of the skills in the build option would just be a redundancy check, so to speak)

Although grouping them all into one skill makes sure that every last damn rogue will have those skills. Since it's a mandatory skill for the class and all (and with how all skills autoprogress in 4e).