Karranthain

2/10, wouldn't read again.

Voted turn-based. Guess it backfired.

I've touched upon the matter of culture influencing the designs in this topic : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64287-cultural-equipment/?do=findComment&comment=1361958. I hope that at least some of the things that you've mentioned will be factored in; that is a lot of work, granted. But I think it makes for a very believable world.

Perhaps I'm seeing things, but I think it's an axe. I think it's probably the combination of the two, for an instance, this is probably one of the most popular designs out of Morrowind : And yet it obscures the face of the wearer completely. It's strikingly unique, however. Of course, when it comes to PE, which will have very little in the way of character facial features customisation, having exceptional helmet designs is all the more important.

It's Edér now. Smugdér. He actually looks less smug now. Both versions that we've seen have been in poor quality though, so hard to properly gauge his smugness.

I think he wasn't an employee then.

I'll just point out this topic: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60371-narrated-sequences-instead-of-cutscenes-lets-use-our-imagination-again/ And here's an interesting post : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60371-narrated-sequences-instead-of-cutscenes-lets-use-our-imagination-again/page-2?do=findComment&comment=1196362

I concur, such inter-party interactions make for a far more interesting game. With time, I hope that we'll see our party members developing bonds, rivalries etc. It's also important that these relationships aren't static - some companions could, for an instance, start off really liking each other but as time passes they begin to develop a mutual dislike etc.

I loved that movie as a child. And it has David Warner too. The plague doctor masks are quite a sight too!

You mean this one? Pretty cool, yeah. Some other examples from the Path of Exile : When you think about it, some would be a nice fit for Vailians.

And much longer than most paid DLCs.

It wasn't bad planning, it was an insanely short development cycle with an unreasonable sense of demand to push the game out the door. I have no clue why they did it, but they made DA2 in like... a year and a half? That isn't much time for a AAA budget RPG. Hell it takes Square Enix like 5 years to make 1 numbered Final Fantasy it seems these days. In fact I am willing to bet that PE has already had as much or even a slight bit more dev time than that. Personally the Bioware hate on these forums is getting pretty old either way. I am sorry their games sell well, I am sorry Mass Effect is going to be on pretty much every "top 10 games of the last decade" list for anyone whose opinion matters, and I am sorry Dragon Age 2 kinda sucked. That said if Dragon Age 2 is the worst game they ever make.... they still have a better roster of games than 90% of other developers out there. It's worth noting that Fallout: New Vegas had a very short development cycle as well; many aspects of its predecessor were largely improved (most notably: writing). And it could be argued that it's a much more complex game. As for the second paragraph - it's a classical example of argumentum ad populum.

Aye, masks would be nice too, some other examples :

Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see more, have you done any work on PC portraits, perchance?

Oby's getting sloppy. Anyway, I'll just add that some people (I count myself among them) actually prefer 2D backgrounds. As in I've been waiting (and hoping) to play a title like PE.

Sallets are great, I agree - as I've mentioned before, very intimidating. By the way, does anyone remember whether PE will have an inventory tetris? The helmets that I've posted reminded me just how I miss things such as these :

Well, since we've already seen them - how about releasing high-res versions of these portaits, eh Obsidian?

Agreed, as much as I would've liked to see IWD style portaits in PE, I really like these! These are quite similar to what we had in BG, but much, much better.

I've recently started playing Path of Exile - and I was pleasantly surprised with many of the designs I've seen in this game. Many historical patterns are clearly referenced, sometimes very creatively. Continuing the theme of the helmets, here are some examples from that title (warning, there's a lot of them; I might not have denoted their types correctly in all cases) : HELMETS, PART II I. GLADIATOR HELMETS 1. Secutor 2. Samnite 3. Murmillo II. GREAT HELMS 1. Enclosed 2. Great Helm 3. Crusader-style III. BASCINETS 1. "Pig faced" 2. Fluted 3. Elaborate IV. ARMETS 1. German-style 2. Elaborate V. SALLETS 1. English style 2. German style VI. VARIOUS 1. Chainmail Coif 2. Aventail 3. Barbute 4. Close Helmet 5. Burgonet As you can see, that's a lot of potential designs - and the list isn't even near comprehensive. Share your favourite helmet designs!

Or it could be a musical statement! You never know with these shifty fellas...

And I bet the majority of the bow-wielding populous laughs in a perplexed manner at anyone running amok with a gun. "You'd rather trust a hand-held explosion to propel a piece of shrapnel into your target from a distance than you would the strength and steadiness of your own arm and bow? HAH!" I imagine a lot of piratey-type fighting (even if the piratey-type fighting I'm referencing is mostly Hollywood stuff and not historically accurate), in which you you'd take advantage of an opening and basically draw your pistol and fire it at point-blank range (or very short range) to make accuracy not such an issue. More of a charged-up punch with a bit of range than something you'd just run about firing at people with, or sniping with from atop a wall/tower/tree. Which, honestly, for video games, is a pretty interesting role for guns. Pistols could, in fact, be mechanically handled like consumables - i.e. you place them in the quick-use slots. Using them would be as simple as clicking on an appropriate icon and then selecting the target. After firing the icon changes and the weapon is now useless. Clicking on the icon again would start the reloading action, which would put the character out of action for a while. It could be also done automatically, when changing locations. At the cost of reduced versatility, you could even consider carrying more than one pistol.

Apologies, two of the images went down, here they are : 4. Sallet : 5. Highly decorative crest :

I've promised I'd write a post about helmets, so here goes, first part of the series (warning, image overload) : HELMETS, PART I More often than not, most games feature rather disappointing helmet designs; it isn't a coincidence that helm removing mods are routinely made for a variety of titles - and regularly become very popular. All of this is, I must say, rather surprising, because there's a wealth of very unique, and most importantly, aesthetically pleasing designs to choose from. So without further ado, here's the first batch (not just of helms themselves, but also of various decorative elements) : 1. Feathered : 2. Crested : 3. Plumed : 4. Sallet : 5. Highly decorative crest : Share your own favourite decorations, designs - and not just the helmets, but also other assorted headgear.

Indeed it is - and did you mean this one :

Aye, it actually is - it's called Tonlet (which is the name of the "skirt") armour : Are you a bad enough dude to wear a metal skirt on the battlefield?