HoonDing

There was recently an interview with Brian Fargo on the Bethesda blog.

If the combat is as deep as Severance: blade of darkness, the game could be really good. If not, there's still the half-naked Elven chick to distract the player from any shallow gameplay.

It's awesome. No romances, no playing psychiatrist for party members, just plain old buttkickin' for goodness. Also downside is absolutely horrible pathfinding.

Morrowind did it alright. Until around level 10 when one suddenly became invincible (which made sense, considering the story). Still Oblivion has some areas with set leveled creatures & NPCs. You won't kill guards or Umbra at level 1 without meta-gaming knowledge.

*cough* Horse Armour *cough*

Does he even partake in the three/foursome?

Divinity 2?

In the new Drakensang game the PC is not a chosen one, but a random greenhorn that tags along with the group of real heroes, who even save the life of the greenhorn in the beginning of the game. I like that. Even in the first Drakensang game, one was not a chosen one, but again some random schmuck that happened to be a friend of a retired hero.

It is much harder to become Arena champion at level 1 than level 20. Agronak gro-Malog is a set level 10 character. Also note that people have finished Morrowind & Baldur's Gate at level 1.

The system I like best is from the Gothics, lacking level scaling but still possible to kill a high-level foe at early levels with the right tactics (which in a lot of scaled games would be impossible due to foes with too powerful spells or too powerful melee damage). But one needed to find trainers to increase skills & attributes. Unlike Daggerfall & Morrowind, the player wouldn't also become invincible around a certain level, but the game remained challenging until the end... even exaggeratingly so in Gothic 3 where one would go into Nordmar at level 30+ and still get raped by wilderness animals.

Any DA:O ending that doesn't include Alistair drinking himself into an early grave in obscurity is simply unacceptable. It's more satisfying to make him King by persuading him to marry Anora, keeping Loghain alive and make Loghain the hero after doing the dark ritual.

FemShep is awesome, thanks to Jennifer Hale. MaleShep? Let's say there's a very particular reason why I haven't even finished a ME1 run with a male.

I really loathe that Princess Leia haircut half the females in Ferelden seem to have.

Started another run of Divinity 2 with an unarmed warrior, just for laughs. I'll also be replaying Drakensang 2 with an Elven fighter, after the patch is released.

Spending 20 minutes summoning skeletons or 20 minutes killing identically looking bandits/darkspawn/goblins/undead: which is worse and why? At least in Elder Scrolls one can buy training and max out everything without grinding.

There's a good chance they'd just call Shepard insane. Especially that Turian councilor.

*summons Volourn* Awakening > MOTB

Before the deluge of DLCs, I played a melee/unarmed character and it was pretty fun... but with the DLC inclusion of Albino radscorpions, Feral ghoul reavers & Super mutant overlords (not to mention the tribals/hillbillies from Point Lookout) I doubt it would still be possible to play without abusing the Chinese stealth suit.

The game doesn't end after finishing the main quest, right? Would you mind answering my question? I'm really curious about that. Haven't really had a chance to test it (I put traps in doorways and lure the enemies over them, rather than trying to use them as chokepoints), but I think it's the same as in the previous game. But at least now warriors can learn a 'Taunt' skill that alleviates the 'issue' a bit. Then again, enemies run through party members in Dragon Age as well...

Spamming some more Drakensang.

I previously forgot to mention Divinity 2: Flames of Vengeance.

Finished Drakensang: tRoT yesterday. Will replay as an Elf or mage... there were a few instances in the game where I really wish I could've hurled a fireball or use the paralysis spell, which Elves can't learn. Not to mention unlike the first game, NPCs will react differently depending on class/race of the PC - so there's a lot of replay value. Even playing as a thief/rogue is worth it now, since there are many instances during the main quest where violence can either be minimized or completely avoided using sneaking, thieving & social talents.

My human noble would've jumped the gloating bastard when Loghain took him along to Eamon's estate. And any other character would've jumped Ser Cautherine for calling the PC a churl. For a dark heroic fantasy, there's never a Renegade interrupt around when you need one.

Most kids come into contact with violence from a very young age. Visit any playground at schools, and count the kids fighting. It's basic human instinct, fueled further by violence seen on TV. When I was a kid, we'd mostly emulate the A-team... later came the Power Rangers... nowadays it must be Pok