Sannom

I think the hotkey system is pretty easy to understand : since the game's combat seems to encourage the player to mix stances and attacks, I think it simply means that the keyboard mapping will follow the console mapping : one or multiple keys to switch stances, and three keys to activate the abilities linked to that stance. The player won't need more, it's not a hotkey-friendly system that was shoe-horned on a console controller, it's a system based from the ground up to only need a gamepad's buttons. If there was more than three skills by stance, but that the player was still limited at three skills by stance in 'direct access', hotkeys could have been useful for switching between configurations of skills. But here, it's not useful. Hotkeys to directly switch from one ability to the other doesn't seem necessary for that game. Heck, I think it's designed in such a way that having hotkeys would go against the design goals! It's not like Fallout 3's system where there is a potentially unlimited amount of weapons and consumables that you can use, and it justifies the use of hotkeys that the player can map at his leisure. We don't really know what the partner thing is based upon, but if its true, I'm nonetheless expecting something in the vein of AP, with reputation with your followers bringing some kind of bonuses depending on its level.

Well, we're actually aware of that lack of customization since a long time ago. Dungeon Siege 3 is starting to really shape up as a strange kind of game for Obsidian to do : JRPG and action games influence, limited customization, etc.

What kind? Gameplay ideas or character ideas? If it's the latter, some of those ideas certainly seems straight-forward and quite simple, like the elf whose natural beauty was tarnished by the acts of men, or the man who lost his humanity to politics.

Nah, but there are conflictive news about a lot of subjects. For example, in the PC Jeux preview I talked about at one point, they said that PvP was out of the question, despite another preview announcing the contrary earlier. I deliberately didn't talk about it in my summary of the preview because of that.

How many Europeans do we have here? I'm French, WorstUserNameEver (it really is) is Italian (or at least lives in Italy), I now we have some Polish... And it's funny that Nathaniel would say what he says at the end when his company created one of the few games that can't be easily dubbed in other languages (Alpha Protocol).

Lucas certainly doesn't look like Frodo on that concept art

Almost only new images, in fact. Three or four of the ones that we already knew, but the rest is new.

Well, I just received my PC Jeux with the dossier about DS3 in it. Some new stuff : - they give us a more 'detailed' synopsis : apparently, the Tenth Legion's headquarters is wiped out at the beginning of the game, leaving only two survivors, the Grandmaster and the player. The player's goal is to join up with the legionnaires that were out on missions and then discover what the hell is going on. - there are passive talents which bring different kind of bonuses, and they are developed with talent points. The activated abilities are developed with a separated 'currency'. - as said in the Canard PC preview, each class has nine abilities separated in three stances. For each ability, there are two different paths you can take. Examples included damage VS critical, or speed VS range. - the developers promised a story open enough that there could be many parallel paths, and many side-quests. They also talked a little about the Onyx Engine, with a final sentence that I can't tell if it's either a guess on the part of the journalist or something Obsidian told them : "next step, being able to create a completely open world".

Hum, I want to test that . Okay, in a recent magazine preview of the game, they talk about passive talents that are developped alongside the activated abilities, with a different 'currency' used to develop them. The preview however was a bit unclear on whether we will gain all those talents eventually, or if we will have to chose wisely the ones that we want to develop in order to compliment our playstyle. What's the good answer?

@ lace stalker : I'm the opposite actually, I loved Heck but I would really prefer for Obsidian to go without him for the sequel, or perhaps only through emails, and then bring him back for an add-on, DLC or sequel . I think it's better when an 'ensemble darkhorse' of that magnitude is only used from time to time.

That was the first issue brought up when we learned that Obsidian might have gained back the Alpha Protocol IP : in order to have a sequel, they would have to find another publisher than Sega.

Well, they do seem to have specific plans if they ever get to work on a sequel. I think Chris Avellone said that he considered their plans for a sequel as an 'original concept'.

Like I said, not really interesting : no intel on the story, classes or even gameplay (he didn't mention the stances). It's actually kind of disappointing on a journalistic level for that magazine. Either he was completely uninterested or he didn't get to ask questions, but it really isn't really an interesting preview.

The Canard PC preview isn't too exciting : most of it is taken by the tale of how the journalist's dog died while pulling his sled in Paris' en-snowed streets (don't ask ) and the journalist says that he couldn't really build an opinion of the game. He played the game for one hour and a half on the X-Box 360. Apparently, he could switch between the characters, but he's not enthusiastic about the infinite shared inventory and regrets the absence of a real skill tree (apparently he gained all of them fairly early). The graphics were beautiful however, and he liked the writing, which he felt really had the "Obsidian's touch". The game felt linear and scripted, the developers told it was because he played a early level of the game. He concludes by saying that he's expecting a honest action-RPG saved from genericness by Obsidian's knack for writing.

To tell the truth, I'm expecting some harsh words from this magazine given the quasi-worship they showed to Obsidian with Alpha Protocol (9/10) and Fallout: New Vegas (10/10, and an article written as someone who finally "saw the light" ).

There is a preview in the latest Canard PC, as expected, I will tell you more as soon as I can get my hands on it, this evening (for me) or tomorrow.

I think it will be better if I put a thumbnail : Whoever was responsible for that design must have been a fan of Power Girl.

Okay, if this image is really the costume that Uli Booi was supposed to wear at some point in the game, I think we can safely say the game was completely in the 'camp' area : Even Sie's and Omen's outfits don't reach that level , and God knows that Omen has one of the most stylish and 'grand' outfit of the game. EDIT : what with the backpack? Seriously, lady ?

I don't think that the importance of the missing stuff is exaggerated, it's more that there is no way to re-create what Obsidian wanted to do from that incomplete stuff, especially when it comes to the ending. It was deemed 'incomplete' for a reason after all! Yes, I think that he was said to make it flatter because Mike was to have a less 'affirmed' personality when the game changed his formula. His character was probably a lot more defined in the earlier versions of the game. The funny thing is that the more we learn about the earlier versions, the more I think they were kinda Heavy Rain-ish. Alex Brandon's description of that boss fight in the plane, someone talking about a time where the game was more 'adventure game' than in the final product (I think it's the person on the Something Awful forum, Comte de Saint-Germain), etc.

What.

It's weird, a guy on Something Awful who apparently interviewed a lot of people about this game seems to believe that the first iterations had a lot more 'camp' than the finished product. And given what we know about the hostage situation in the plane plus the free-fall duel that ensues, I would be inclined to believe him .

They did it. You'd think that people would have learned by now

Well, we've learned that the engine was designed to accept DLC, that's the only thing new I learned in that interview. Seems those little interviews with Alvin and David Hoffman are just the warmer-up to the coverage we should receive soon. Both are equally uninformative and short.

The Ta

That's weird. On Hard with a 'normal' character and a regular assignment of point in Pistols, critical hits to the head with tranquilizer darts function perfectly (except for those helmet-wearing CSP in Ta