Tale

Planescape had one rogue, period. I'm getting the impression that we're going to get a more personal party instead of just picking up everyone on the road that happens to have their own dagger and isn't trying to stick it in us. Maybe it'll be a challenge to make sure those characters aren't annoying bleeps. While I do prefer the idea of having variety, I have been delighted by games without it in the past. And further, they may be doing something to mix up party composition needs. I don't really know. I'm conflicted. As I said, I prefer having variety. I'd like to be able to do both a full party jerk run and a full party heart-of-gold run. But the need to have the companions well fleshed out and recognizing their limited means tempers that for me.

Closing thread. We would like to keep discussion on this topic limited to one thread. I know it is difficult to maintain discussion in the other topics due to the passions involved, but this one was derailed right out of the gate.

I ask the same of you. Everyone has a different opinion on what's important to their interests in seeing it be a good game. Trying to tell others that their subject isn't worth talking about seems contradictory. Because you're here talking about it. Clearly it is an important subject to the people involved, yourself included.

I just can't say no to Claudia. I get creepy for Farscape.

I'm on the "I would prefer not to see romance" side, but one type of romance I actually would like to see is a less romantic one. Romantic love as we understand it is only recently so popular. And most adult relationships I see aren't nearly as romance obsessed as I see the romance of video games. Can I at least get it toned down a little bit? Two adults that find each other attractive and share the same opinion on whether or not babies make for good eating. Maybe they have sex. And that's about as far as it gets. But, no, they've all got to plan futures out together, up to retirements, and stare at each other wistfully while talking about how they're the most important thing in one another's lives. I just met you Visas, turn the creepy down. Shakespeare was a warning, not a schematic to be put in mass production.

I thought book author tended to keep the property rights nowadays, unless its some sort of shared universe (Star Wars, Forgotten Realms). Though being contracted for several titles also sounds familiar. I wish games developers could get that kind of leverage. But they need whole heck lots more capital backing them up.

There's too many of us as it is.

My original post actually suggested teleporting past a door. Though I guess a sort of immaterial phasing through would work equally as well. Give him something new with its own drawbacks to express his versatility. My point wasn't combat, it's that he doesn't need to take the Thief's schtick. It's okay to overlap with the warrior's approach to doors because that's the warrior's compromise, not one of his defining features.

If you're coming at it from a story point of view, then how can you simply discredit tossing fireballs at doors in interior spaces? Magic resistant locks would be easier and less expensive for regular use than fire resistant doors.

I don't really favor people getting stuck. In a game like this, I think multiple approaches should be valid. If a player struggles with the puzzle, they can, and perhaps should, have a character based option to overcome. Cutting the knot, as it were.

I'd rather see them blast the door down than use an open lock spell if forced to choose between the two. Being able to open locks like that is such an important part of the thief archetype that he should probably be the best at it.

Here's the thing I don't like about this. The Wizard actually has two ways past that door. They're the same two ways the other guys have, but he gets them both. He doesn't just have an open spell. He can also blast the door with a spell like fireball. So he has the ability to open the lock like a thief and the ability to just bash it in like a warrior. And this strikes me as too much versatility. Now, if we wanted to truly make the Wizard's approach unique, give him something like a teleport spell. The wizard can make it past the door better than the other two, but only for himself. It's a new way, with its own advantages and drawbacks. That's what I'd like to see out of utility.

I don't know that any calls for civility can salvage the thread at this time. So I am closing it. The subject is free to restart in a new thread in its own time. I'm noticing a pattern with the participants and would like to reiterate that if something about the topic makes it difficult for you to be respectful, then leave the topic.

Do you have some kind of "prove" about this statement? Here's MCA on Alpha Protocol. http://www.gamasutra...lep__Part_2.php Sawyer's gone on record saying he doesn't hate romances, but he doesn't think the player should necessarily be able to win. And that people tend to want them even when the author doesn't think it fits the character, like with Neeshka. That was 6 years ago. I don't know if he's changed or if he's willing to take it up as a challenge to write some to his satisfaction.

But if something is rarely being done good it doesn't mean the whole idea should be discarded period. I don't support discarding it "period." I'm making no argument that Dragon Age and Mass Effect should stop. The publisher tends to be the one asking them to include them. I suspect your idea of a well done romance and their idea would conflict. Sawyer himself was saying after NWN2 that if they can't be done well, they shouldn't. All those conditions you state seem like a better argument for avoiding it. That said, I'm about 90% certain they'll be included. Maybe just 1 or 2. And they might not even be traditional. Won't dare guess on that, I was betting against Dwarves and Elves. But I suspect they'll be closer to Neeshka or Annah than Jaheira and Morrigan.

Please stick to discussing the topic and not each other. If you must make claims and insinuations about other people, it would be advised to ignore the thread.

Because they rarely touch it well. I hate to abuse metaphors (which is a lie, I love to), but it's like looking at macaroni pictures in the middle of an otherwise colorful painting. It's also overdone and given too much attention in the public eye. I doubt you can disagree that a rather large amount of RPGs end up having it in some capacity. And not every RPG needs to be about the same themes as the rest. People would like a game that's different.

The way they said it made it sound as if it was tied to the Collector's Edition. Even if I read that wrong, I can't see them applying such a limitation.

Yes, it happened a while ago. Seemingly during the Atari-Hasbro license transition. It stayed up at Steam longer than other places. Strangely, if I'm recalling this correctly, places like Gamersgate got it back. Then they lost it again.

I definitely want to see more narrated sequences. That said, I still generally object to sequences that take control away from the player. Narration is good for introductions, describing a region, just general setting of the table. Or even dramatic dream sequences, as Baldur's Gate did.

Same old same old. Finished repairing an infected system here at work. By "repair" I mean I flattened the thing and reinstalled everything. Got the user back up and running, e-mail, found out our server password doesn't work, fixed that. The joys of small business. I get to be the IT department.

I don't personally believe that spoilers damage enjoyment. But not to get into that, I like bug testing games. Half the fun I had with Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Mask of the Betrayer was finding bugs, figuring out workarounds, and and delving into the toolset for fixes. Though I don't think they'll let me fix their bugs here.

Or arrested. Going around murdering people, ransacking people's homes, and ruining economies. Do they even pay taxes? Carting around more gold than most people can even carry, and none of it reported to the tax collector? Adventuring teams are just a criminal conspiracy.

#4 included information on a DRM free option, so I've updated the FAQ.

I like good fun. I didn't find any in Neverwinter Nights. It's a slower Diablo with worse loot and auto-attack. I manage to enjoy Neverwinter Nights 2 because of party control and a couple of good characters.