Monte Carlo

^ Not really. Chainmail bikinis might be OK in context, but I'm getting to the point where I find them embarrassing. Hey, we know Morrigan gets her kit off later in the game, maybe it would be nicer if she stays covered up 'til that point. I'm beginning to realise that one of my mage hang-ups is that they don't look cool.

Not really a Dragon Age specific observation, but why do mages always wear robes? OK, they must be comfy for pottering around doing experiments in your tower, but what about adventuring? You'd want a sturdy pair of boots, britches, a jacket and a cloak not to mention a belt, harness and pack for all your wizardly bits and bobs. You certainly wouldn't want a pointy hat. Or those curly-ended slippers with little bells on the end. I want to see a swaggering, sexy wizard done up like Captain Jack Sparrow or something. Not Gandalf. NWN2 had sort of gonzo-goth wizards, which was a start. cheers MC

I think of it a bit like chess-by-mail, I can happily make a move, save, leave it for a week then come back to it. This is why I love games and think they are extremely good value for money.

^ That's because I don't actually play that many games. I normally have no more than two serious games on the go at the same time, and am in no hurry whatsover to finish them.

^ The hype is there, we probably view it differently. As for the length of the game, am I alone in incessant re-starting? I'll do ten hours then realise that my character build is wrong. Start again. Rinse and repeat. This is my first 20-30 hours of play time, and for this reason alone I'm sure DA:O for me might well be 100 hours.

The first time I completed BG2 / ToB all the way through easily took me 100 hours, mainly because I did everything and I was using a number of mods. My first vanilla BG2 only game was about 80-odd hours, but I went critical path and motored through it. Like I say, in reality I'm expecting DA:O to be a sort of compact BG2 size, and similar interms of linearity (without the structural 'freedom' design flaw of BG2 whereby you could do most of the game then set off for Spellhold).

It was NWN1 old chap, he was a blocky and poorly-rendered figure, the precise nature of which escapes my memory. Although I'm certain that in real life Eric isn't poorly rendered nor blocky.

D&D must be a massive pain in the arse for developers. One the one hand you have instant brand recognition and sales. On the other you have to deal with the various interested parties. On top of that 4E is so meh-tastic, and removed from D&D, that maybe it's all over.

^ I remember the open games on NWN1. I have the hand / eye co-ordination of a kitchen table. I'm also, obviously, a sweet natured and collaborative person. I lasted about fifteen seconds on most servers. Never again. Although I did get to have a short online chat with the Eric Noah in his virtual NWN dungeon on NWN release D-Day release date +2. Hi Eric! What a nice guy. Cheers MC

^ all the reviews / dev comment I've seen hasn't put an approximate hour cap on it, they've just said that it's their biggest game since BG2 (but not as long). I'm reckoning, including inevitable re-starts and doing everything,up to 90 hours. I'd be well pleased with that. Maybe alanschu can assist. Cheers MC

I looked at Age of Conan and really, really liked it. But I didn't touch it with a bargepole. I don't want to pay a subscription to play a game. I don't want to have to put up with lamers and griefers to play a game. I don't want to be connected to the internet to play a game. So why don't they simply make a basic Age of Conan single-player core product and charge for DLC / modules? You open up a new revenue strand for every MMORPG because the feedback here is that most folks are playing them solo anyhow. Cheers MC

^ Thanks for your input.

None of this would amount to a hill of beans if it weren't for the fact that Bioware are trumpeting, as usual, a vertiable revolution in meaningful decision-making. Which it palpably isn't. Your decisions are marginal when compared to the critical path / story arc. Hey, before I get the usual barbs for my Bio-antipathy... consider this. 1. Bioware suggest that their game is a classic, massive, immersive, NPC-intense old-skool RPG. OK, the story arc is fairly linear in a roundabout way but everything else more than makes up for it. Hell, it's BG3 but with an original IP. 2. Bioware claim that their game is gritty, dark, ground-breaking. Your decisions really can make or break stuff. Admittedly, it ain't the longest game ever, but in terms of sheer originality and re-playability it's more than worth the price of admission (console gamers, I suspect, would dig this and I don't mean that pejoratively). To assauge old-skoolers, they hint at future XP / DLC to expand the franchise. Either of these would make me perfectly happy, rather than the repeated claims (for which Bio has previous) that they've Done it All. Cheers MC

Been playing lots of NWN2 recently, especially MotB, MoW and SoZ. These three show the versatility of the engine and D&D 3.5 rules. I'd be very happy with a NWN3, but obviously a bit more wary if it were 4E D&D. Cheers MC

Maybe the Blight's secret weapon is really, really bad pop music.

And, in a shock development, I declare this is a very cool plot twist. I like it. And, as others have said, there's a way around it. Hey, it's a fantasy game, there's a way around everything.

Hurlie, we could jobshare if you like. I also have an English accent and am Lawful Evil. I could get out there a couple of times a year to QA the whole nemesis business plan and go MWUHAHAHAHAHHAAAA in a slightly camp but sinister way. Cheers MC

You obviously haven't read that many of them because for the past few months I've said lots of positive stuff about Dragon Age, astonishingly the stuff I like. "The spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate" is nudging it's way to a 40/60 ratio of approval and despair.

^ They've made a hell of a fuss about choices and consequences, they've cranked the hypometer up to turbo. Yet the consequences article makes it clear that the 'consequences' aren't particularly consequential: I might need six or seven more healing potions. Wow. Maybe I'm missing something.

Still playing Company of Heroes on skirmish mode. Can't, for some reason, unlock the Germans as playable though, which is a bit strange. Still, playing allied factions with the airborne support option toggled is great fun, dropping gliders everywhere. Cheers MC

Whenever I hear Sten this is what I immediately think of... Cheers MC

^ I would make an excellent nemesis for this person. However, although the Bay Area is very pleasant, it is a bit of a commute from London. Cheers MC

^ Horses for courses - it's why I'll be wandering around with a dog and a golem.

^ To be fair, I'd rather they just showed off minor / mundane ones to show us how it works. From watching that what I do know is that I'm going to get bored / annoyed by the approbrium of my Tamagotchi NPCs very quickly. Cheers MC

Yep, I take your point, indeed you can leave them to it. But what you can't do, it would appear, is choose to help them and lose. Not without re-loading. So all those choices affect only the conduct of the battle, you might have to glug a few more healing potions (etc). Hey, even the battle at the redoubt at the start of IWD2 had all this. Cheers MC