Monte Carlo

thanks MReed mods feel free to delete.

@ Grey storyteller dude... It's because the debate is, by virtue of the subject, one that ends up being binary. You either find romances lame and a waste of time or you don't. I try to empathise with the romance fans and... fail. They leave me utterly unmoved and then, as I think about them and how they strike me as utterly superfluous they begin to annoy me. Firstly because they detract resources from Stuff I Like and secondly many romance fans (but not all, and I'm not saying you are one of them, you are clearly a pleasant and thoughtful person) are the type of people who fervently Love Stuff I Hate. So that's where I am. I struggle to engage meaningfully with something I view as utterly pointless, verging at destructive. It's like trying to persuade me that candy floss has ballistic protective qualities, or that Scientology is a completely valid worldview.

Wow, you seriously missed your saving throw Vs Irony there.

Hello Obsidian. I realise that an NPC is a massive undertaking, what with writing, quests, programming, VO and whatnot. The current number of NPCs would be less of an issue in a four-character party, but six? Aren't we all going to have roughly the same party? My proposal is to allow us to make our own NPCs off-the-bat, IWD style. I can see where that might cause balance issues (but then again it shouldn't really) but the low-ish number of possibilities is an issue for me. I'd be really happy with a 50/50 party, the characters I've created being mooks. I know others will hate the idea, but then again it's just an option.

Relax. My post ended "with best regards." Why get so het up about it? As for Shakespeare, I thought casting Ben Affleck in the movie was genius.

In Norfolk do you have special mice to deal with your extra thumbs?

I loved the sing-song West African accent for the Diablo 3 Witch-Doctor. And the Russian male monk accent too. I agree that the Bioware 'Noo Yawk' Dwarves in Dragon Age felt odd, but then again it was meant to be The Sopranos with battle axes and beards. The UK is very odd in that it is a very small country with a plethora of regional accents. Most of the ones you hear in games are posh, but the one that made me cringe was the **** Van Dyke accent of Simeon Havarion (sp?) in BG2.

Seriously? The loudest, most vocal minority are the romance fans. They have been ever since all the Buffy fans infested the Bioware forums.

^ Yes he's right.

I wouldn't know how to mod if my life depended on it, but given the number of Infinity Engine mods I've enjoyed over the years I say a big yes to modding tools.

^ Yes, that's a goodie.

I have already given them $140.00. If they want more they must bend to my will! Bwahahahahahahaaaaa.

I'm left-handed. Berk.

Why? Give them a break with RTwP. It's not D&D shoe-horned into a computer game, it's bespoke.

The option to make your own party and play NPC free should be in there, purely for re-playability.

It's still as much fun as drinking beer with a raw egg in it.

LOL the OP was trolling, right?

Yes, that's true, but Deionnara wasn't a romance, she was a plot hook. I'd like to hear a developer's view on this, but given that the passions run deep on both sides of this debate they might make like Switzerland until after the Kickstarter.

Look at Dark Fantasy in other games: as I've said before, despite the Marilyn Manson "This is the new ****" and blood-spatters, Dragon Age was about as dark as a Ren Fair.

If they decide not to and add it as DLC I'd be cool with that. Both of the big dungeons in the BG saga were add-ons. Having said that, I think a lot of folks would like a mega-dungeon. But they could just as easily put a part of the dungeon in the core game then expand it in DLC (remember the mysterious door in Kuldahar in IWD?).

I think they are going for a BG2 type approach, but city areas aside they were too small for me. I'd prefer BG1 style but that ain't gonna happen.

Our conspiracy is truly international.

^ This

There was a let's-play on the old boards called 'To Dream the Impossible Dream' where this dude solo'd BG2 with a Jester. Which is a pretty gimped character to solo with. He went on to solo IWD / HoW with a sorcerer. It was awesome fun watching his progress, and working out how to squeeze 100% out of every spell, ability and potion.

No I think you make a perfectly valid point there. However, for most of us I think that solo-ing (a noble aspiration) is something we do as a third or forth run, as a replay challenge. And part of the fun is solo-ing a game designed not to be solo'd.