Magister Lajciak

As far as I know you have the 4 party members you create yourself, and cohorts are like henchmen in NWN1, in that you can't control them directly. Muscle for hire basically. I have not heard anything about the specifics of the cohort system implementation, but that is how I too imagine it would work.

I don't want to turn this thread into a debate on 4e, but interestingly enough, at least one of the developers (I believe it was Mr. Sawyer) has stated several times that despite some of the video-game-inspired mechanics in 4e, it is not easy/suitable to translate well to the CRPG environment due to certain rules inherent to the system, such as marking.

I would sure like to see a fullblown Pathfinder game, but a mod for NWN2 would also be nice. Regretfully, I am not a modder - otherwise I would try to make one myself.

Seems like a very interesting card - I wonder when it will become available for notebooks in a mobile version...

Thanks for the info - it is relevant as I am planning on getting a new computer.

"Buy a new computer," would be my recommendation

Starcraft

Come on, everybody knows that you need separate people to pull chairs or to push chairs, as well as to turn lights on and to turn lights on. We also need separate people for each key to be tapped.

The laptop/notebook I will be getting will almost certainly be the Dell Studio model. I do not know whether to order it immediately after 15. September or if it is better to wait a couple of months for some new upcoming technologies (if any major ones are coming at this time - that I do not know).

Another issue is Windows Vista - I know people who have it and I dislike it so far. Unfortunately, there is virtually no chance of buying a good Windows XP system now. Vista appears to be exceedingly security conscious to the point that it hampers the normal functioning of programs. Is this being dealt with?

In the meantime, I will be served by my nearly three year old notebook/laptop. So far, though, it has been able to run almost everything I was interested in running. Here is the setup: Pentium M 760 (2GHz) 2GB RAM ATI Mobility Radeon X700 with 128MB of RAM 100GB Hard Disc Drive 15.4" screen Windows XP operating system

I will be buying a new notebook computer, which will serve as my primary computer for everything from work to entertainment for at least the next 3 years. My budget for the notebook will be approximately $2000 (U.S. dollars) or thereabouts and the earliest I will be able to make the purchase will be after 15 September 2008 (so approximately 6 weeks from now). I am wondering whether I should buy immediately at that point or whether there are any technological innovations worth waiting for. For example, if buying immediately after 15. September, the best processor I could get would get a Dual Core 2.5GHz Penryn - is it worth waiting for Nehalem, which comes out later in the year (but who knows when it will come out for notebooks)? Or perhaps a new mobile/laptop graphics card is just around the corner, or some other technical innovation worth waiting for is coming soon thereafter?

135 people is a nice number - it gives significant development strength, yet is still small enough that most people are at least familiar with one another if not know each other.

Here is a great site for tracking Diablo 3 developments: http://www.diablofans.com/

We will probably wait years until the game is actually released, but my appetite is already whetted!

Well, I would definitely welcome NWN2: NX3, but that is a bit premature considering that NWN2: NX2 is not even out yet.

Full author list for the Pathfinder Campaign Setting has now been announced by Paizo. The list is impressive and can be found here: http://paizo.com/paizo/news/v5748eaic9lb5

In fact, it would probably be feasible to create a Pathfinder RPG mod using the NWN2 engine. If I were a modder I would try exactly that, but alas I am not so skilled with computers as to be able to do that.

In fact, Mr. Sawyer has stated in the past that 4e, despite having taken some cues from video games, would be difficult to translate to a CRPG environment due some mechanics of the game (such as marking) that do not lend themselves to the electronic media. Pathfinder, being much closer to D&D 3.X edition, would avoid most of these issues.

Note to the above post: ... not that 4e has been designed with much emphasis on logic. The emphasis in 4e is on easy playability with logic taking a back seat.

I agree completely. The 3.X edition D&D alignment system was not perfect, but the 4e alignment system is much less coherent and logical still.

I am surprised that Obsidian is taking on so many projects simultaneously. Well if they can manage it, great for us - who wouldn't want more excellent games? Personally, I am hoping the unannounced project is KOTOR 3. Storm of Zehir (and hopefully more NWN 2 expansions to follow) plus KOTOR 3 would only mean more and more of my dollars going to Obsidian.

Good stuff - thanks for the preview links!

Same here Basically, trivializing magic makes it mundane for me and gives it a similar feel to technology. From what we are reading and hearing, I will like the nature and frequency of magic in the DA.

The term low-magic means different things to different people. For some, it means weak-magic and for others rare-magic. For me, it means non-trivialized magic (no hundreds or thousands of +1 swords, for example, available everywhere).