HoonDing

Elves weren't tree-huggers in Tolkien's stories, in LOTR they basically represented stasis. Their Rings' power was to render their realms invulnerable to the ravages of time. Tolkien created the Ents to represent the struggle between technology & nature. I prefer Tolkien's archetypes over the way the majority of Jordan's characters evolve into whiny, insufferable emo kids. Mat's the only one whose character basically stayed the same... and ironically only Nynaeve evolved in a positive way.

Same reason for why in most fantasy stories the Gods don't simply come over and whack the bad guys.

Drakensang/Venetica/Hordes of the Underdark

Story & characters aside, MOTB's combat is disappointing. Just letting Gann & Kaelyn spam high level druid/cleric spells is enough to easily win every fight. Or just putting Okku in front and have a Kit-Kat. I only lost a fight when I entered the Vault of Myrkul too early & unprepared. SoZ's combat required some tactics here and there, and like in BG if you entered some areas too early you'd get clobbered. Especially the end fight required some good tactics in order to win.

Heh, Jordan eventually turns all men into pussies under the thumbs of the girls... it even happened to Juilin (sp?) & Bayle Domon, lulz. The whole shtick between Tuon & Mat was brilliantly written, though.

I didn't know about this. Excellent news. I absolutely hated the book that didn't have Mat in it... I think it was book 7 or 8. Mat's plotlines were the only thing that saved books 9 & 10 for me... Mat's probably the only major male character that doesn't turn into a whining pussie. I had a really hard time not skipping the plotlines of most of the girls in the book. Jordan really turned an epic (books 1-5) into the fantasy version of Dawson's Creek. I was really surprised & glad that there were actually things happening in book 11 & the most tedious plotline in the entire series wrapped up. That's a huge can of worms you're opening, mate...

I wonder when the NPC action figures will be released.

This reminds me, where did RPGMasterBoo disappear to? RPGCodex?

That's why in FO3 you shoot first (mini-nukes, by preference) and ask questions later.

I thought it would be something like "Whack the Elf!" or "Outdrink the Dwarf!". Disappointing.

If Oghren cannot be tossed in the middle of a group of mooks and do a insta-kill roundhouse attack with his battle-axe, I will be sorely disappointed.

The CE is all sold out here. I blame Marilyn Manson.

Morrigan's ears are hideous, more gorilla-like than human. Too much shapeshifting, perhaps?

Collagen aside, I don't really like the look of crazy Leliana either. In most screenies I've seen of her she looks like she just drank a bottle of vinegar. Wynne must be the only good-looking woman I've seen in DA so far.

Was Sten modelled after Mr. T?

The woes of the fledgling adventurer:

Why? It's pretty short and fun. Besides:

Wait... is it possible to spontaneously kill NPCs? Not just by ticking them off by destroying holy urns or strangling their grandmother?

It makes sense to do it yourself though when you don't have a follower around. Sarah Lyons was supposed to lead the Brotherhood after her father, so she couldn't die.

It's dark fantasy. It's all about losing.

Combat & story is all meaningless for me if the game setting isn't interesting. Oblivion, generic as it is, at least takes place in a setting with unique & imaginative lore. There's tons of detailed lore-books dealing with geography, religion, racial phylogeny, history... pretty much everything. The same is true for the Dark Eye universe. I don't doubt BioWare can craft interesting stories/characters & write witty Eddings-like banter, I just hope DA:O doesn't disappoint lore-wise. But from snippets I've read so far on the wiki it doesn't sound very earth-shattering.

Bloom is for newbs. Just look at the HDR in Fallout 3... so lavishly frivolous..