Dectilon

Depends on what 'at the center' means. In The Witcher 2 you certainly impact the events of the game, but there are a great many important things happening around you that, while they're not directly related to you, pull you in through proximity and through the various factions using you as a pawn. It doesn't make you feel powerless, but rather intrigued to see what you can do to impact the big events. This is as opposed to being fantasy-jesus. A sentence I hope will be absent from the game altogether is "I guess you're right...". Way, way too often (most recently in bioware's games) you can talk someone down from a political view, personal conviction or even ****ing drug abuse with a generic phrases.

I'm personally tired of ooh-aah choir in game/movie soundtracks. Not in the sense that I don't think they have a place, but they're used too much. Be it carmina burana-style choir to convey disaster/desperation or wavering ooh-aah choir to convey mystery, it should be saved for those moments so it retains its effect. I'd like to talk a little about fantasy rpg-music in general. I, like a lot of people, loved NWN2. However, I feel that the music was a weakness of that game. Not the individual tracks mind you, but the overarching theme of doom and gloom. No matter where you are, be it a friendly town or city, or deep in a orc citadel the music conveys this sort of lingering depression. Once again, I'm not saying those sort of tracks don't have their place, but I hope Eternity goes for a bigger variety. There are so many more things to convey in a fantasy world than mystery and darkness. Adventure, revelry, bravery, zeal, insanity, various cultures and serenity. Given a musical queue, those all sound very different in my mind. I'd also like to make a note about combat music. For a long time now there's been this idea of having an area theme and a combat variety of that theme. In NWN2/Oblivion/etc I feel like combat themes have a tendency to either not sound like combat themes or sound way too overdramatic for what is actually going on. Having the music go into doomsday mode because you stumbled over a starved rat only to cut out again instantly as it dies a second later does not good atmosphere make. I also feel like combat music doesn't have to be in minor. Not to make a direct comparison, but jrpgs often have the combat theme convey adventure rather than desperation. It's a game after all, and combat is one part of the fun! If I were to offer up something I feel is worth taking inspiration from it's the heroes of might and magic-series, for example this battle theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ObS62Js-4 Some field themes in major would also be nice. Surely the whole world isn't dark and mysterious, even if there's danger? Maybe I'll hurt my "cred" bringing it up, but I think FF12 had some great field themes (when I say field themes I just mean 'not in a city or dungeon') like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjP6z0YOlSA Obviously I'm not saying either style should be taken wholesale, but I feel like music in fantasy rpgs could do with a bit more variety. edit: dang it, forgot to comment on the tracks themselves. The second and third track with the glockenspiel have a soothing sound, and I can't recall hearing anything similar in any games as of late (or even looking pretty far back). Very nice, gives me hope for the rest of the soundtrack! Okay, I'm done! Sorry if this post ended up being a bit bulky.

For a long time now dynamic music has been a part of the genre. By dynamic music I mean music that shifts on the fly as the situation changes, so there could be one track for when walking in a forest, and another that starts if you encounter enemies. Personally I've always found the transition to be terribly grating. Having the music become incredibly dramatic just because you walked too close to a undernourished wolf, only to have it end three seconds later as you swat it away like a fly, doesn't work very well. Even in a slightly more extended battle, say against some bandits, I feel like the music often overemphasizes the threat. It's not the same type of game, but I feel like the Heroes of Might and Magic-series often found the right balance. For example, this theme from HOMM3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ObS62Js-4 manages to convey a dramatic battle without sounding like you're now fighting for the fate of the world like this track kinda does http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shGBqcpWfCQ&feature=relmfu Ultimately, my point is that I think it'd be nice to have a catch-all theme tied to an area to lend the area itself personality rather than switch between two discordant tracks just because a small battle breaks out. And also to not always go to themes in minor. I mean, I loved NWN2, but I think it could've used a few more tracks in major. (I hope I'm using minor and major correctly. English isn't my first language)

If I donated, I'd like my money to be used to keep any and all internet memes out of the game.

I was just playing Blood Money, and it definately hit me how fun it is to go in and out and leave nothing to suggest that the deaths that just occured were anything but accidents. I hope there will be just as many tricks for sneaking as there are for combat. My biggest concern currently is that you could build yourself into some kind of tank that can play Wolverine with gun-wielding thugs. I know it's an RPG, but it'd be unfortunate if you were taken out of the immersion by something stupid like that. Not that Mass Effect really tries to be realstic, but it was kind of grating that both you and the enemies could take a zillion bullets to the face.

I know it was mentioned in the video that the boss fight will be more dynamic in the final release, but perhaps that wasn't the best bit to show off as promotional material. It didn't look very good at all to be honest. If we're talking James Bond-style secret agents here then the one-on-one fights should be among the more riveting experiences. Take the first chase in Casino Royal for example! I hope you're cramming stuff like that into this. I'm counting on you guys to deliver a great experience, because I'm buying AP day 1. To me you're one of the very few developers who can actually write worth a damn. And I don't consider BioWare to be one of them, so my standards are high