Raithe

Although that does add another element to ponder on.. The Trophy Room! So at various points, significant enemies might leave something behind you can loot/hack off their dismembered corpses and have stuffed and mounted in your trophy room for you to look back on fondly and show to guests.. That, and to take groovy screen shots of the collection to boast out of game..

A dungeon crawl is basically one large complex (regardless of how it's actually set - underground, in a wizards tower, wahtever) to explore, fight the monsters and pick up loot.. They can be fun when paced right, but they really need a good atmosphere and some consistent story behind them. If it's just there for the sake of it, it's a meaningless grind for loot n xp. But with some form of backstory of why it's there, how it's been turned into a "dungeon" as it were, and a good reason for why you've decided/needed to go wandering through it.. The atmosphere builds on that. Not everybody gets their kicks from a dungeon (not all kinks are the same..) so if you do make it a "mega-dungeon" it really needs to be non-mandatory rather then an integral party of the story that has to be done. Personally, I need to be in the right mood to enjoy a dungeon crawl experience. So while I would say it's always good to put in a mega-dungeon if it has a good, consistent story logic to it... I wouldn't want to see too many resources pulled away from the main story and gameplay. It is a really nice throwback to the classic adventuring so it's going to touch that inner-gamer, but it needs to be balanced.

Actually finding it a little hard to sit down and play anything for any serious moment of time. Keep getting short half an hour bursts of some games, but the mood just isn't clicking at the moment. So having short pokes of TOR, Space Marine.. Having a ponder about trying Alpha Centauri too see if that addictive nature helps bring my gaming mood back..

The one issue of technology in a fantasy world that does interest me is the balance it has with how common magic is.. Such as if everyone has some simple magic that can be used to solve a problem, who is actually going to bother coming up with a practical engineering/science based solution to that problem? At what point does reliance on the one slow down research / practical applications of the other? How well does magic and technology mix? With advanced magic, there's usually a fairly well versed alchemy and basis of chemistry.. But with the casual applications of healing magic and such, how often will people really look into biology and medicine?

If you do get a house, it really needs to have some element of story to it. And several quests (large or small) over time, with the potential to have it reflect different aspects of your character. Not just some generic shack/hut you can pick up for 10,000 gold and is basically a couple of pretty rooms and plenty of loot-holding containers... If you can get it early in the game, you should be able to expand on it in some ways as you get more powerful/renown/wealth. Have quests that complicate matters, and depending on the outcome change the way your house can develop.

If you do get to wander around after the main storyline has been done.. You really, really, really, truly seriously need to actually have it mean something in the rest of the world. Okay, that is if the main storyline actually has effects on the world and various factions and such like. But in general, there has to be some reaction in the rest of the world to what you've just gone through and achieved.

From the outside observer, most the press has seemed to cover Romney and Obama are basically them making claims about how crap the other is, more then actually talking about specifics of what they want to do... It tends to make it very easy not to take either candidate that seriously.

"Nonsense. I speak horse. His name is Susan and he wants you to respect his life choices."

The balance of narrations with pictures, and potential cutscenes.. Things get increasingly harder if they're supposed to have the player character or companions involved. At least, if you can change the appearance of them and what they're wearing.. So you pretty much have to default to showing backgrounds and everyone else rather then include the party in them..

heh, and shortly upcoming "quality of life" improvements on 1.4 http://www.swtor.com/blog/quality-life-improvements-game-update-1.4 Including, finally:

Otherwise known as 36 of D?

On that other side.. it's about 5 years this October that Bioware was picked up by EA wasn't it? Has that timing of potential contract issues? <lurks suspiciously> Quick, let us all start positing the assorting Evil Conspiracy Theories regarding EA now...

Well it looks like a whole bunch (including Corellian Run) have been merged together to form a whole new "The Shadowlands" server. That and folks are getting the opportunity to rename their legacies, and handle potential multiple character names on a server issues.. Hm, and they've added 4 extra slots to create characters in (so from 8 to 12...).

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" One of those slightly quirky low-key drama/comedy/romance films, Steve Carell as an insurance salesman whose wife suddenly leaves him when its realised that a rather large asteroid is going to hit the Earth in a months time.. As the world slowly loses it's plot over that period, he receives a letter from the lost love of his life and ends up going on a road trip with his slightly flakey neighbour, Keira Knightley, to go find said ex-girlfriend.

Gracias for the swift update. It all sets the mind to inquisitive stirring..

Hm, Unless.. they could do in in a way of flashbacks within the game.... o O (queue Twilight Zone music....)

Yes, condolences indeed WDeranged.

The question of multiple npc's will also mesh into whether they're npc's who only have their own story, or whether they're actually tied into the main plot. We want npc's to have depth and not just be autonomatons that follow along to shoot, stab, or throw fireballs at thing. If you create random characters to fill out the party, they won't really get any depth or storyline beyond what you imagine. That's the major downside to that.

I wouldn't say it has to be connected to the main storyline. But it does help if it gets tied to your character in some specific manner. So its not some generic apartment that's the exact same for everybody. Whether it's more a fortified house, or some scholarly tower, or a renovated inn-turned roguish den... It should depend on the character you're playing. It really needs some form of plot or a few side-quests and mini-stroylines of their own wrapped around it. Something that really ties how you feel and how much you invest in it. Not simply some room with a bed and a bunch of loot chests you use to store stuff you can't carry with you. Or even something that will develop as you explore various aspects of it and any storylines relating to it over time and the game.

With doing a city, it's not just the architecture and set-up that creates the atmosphere, it's the people in it. The bigger the city, the more npc's, random background people, factions with their own wants/desires.. Heh, I'm trying to imagine if they did a city like Baldur's Gate or Sigil, and threw in factions with reactivity like Alpha Protocol... All the tiny things you might have said/done affecting the plots and plans of different groups of street thugs, merchants, noble factions, city guard, other adventuring groups in the area... It's that kind of thing you can set up for a pen n paper game. Create that sort of setting, make a list of each group and the plans they mean to do.. set up the timetable for each thing.. Then as the players go through it, at every point x on the time frame those factions plans go ahead, but you contrast with what actions the players have done and what consequences will have happened..

But can we get crates and/or barrels that we can pick up, wander around a dungeon with and throw down stairs at other folks?

I think it says it all...

It's not all just about the books and such, it's any method used to convey lore about the world at large. It's those sorts of things that make it more 'believable', and a living, breathing world. That and it further helps identify just how you play and react to various things within the game, whether it's directly storyline or side-quest related..

When you have "evil" options, make them Intelligent evil options. Not just moronic/slaughter evil. Depending on how open it is , and whether your characters can take the way of being a complete and utter magnificent bastard. Not just a good guy or a idiotic slaughterhouse. Or at least, some way of recognising when you might choose a "good" option purely because it suits your purpose for later down the line because you are just that sort of evil git who believes that's the way to get ahead in that particular situation... It's a very hard line to walk in rpg's in general, let alone figure out a way to do with a computer game. But that fine line of being boy scout good, ruthlessly pragmatic while looking at the overarcing goals for what you're seeking to do, or just being an utterly ruthless mastermind for your own benefit... Along with that, the way the reputation of your character builds in the gameworld depending on your actions and how you portray yourself. Which leads to how various factions might react to you as the game progresses. Some groups being more suspicious, hostile, or downright friendly... You might be purely out for your own benefit, but depending on how you act with people, they might think you are some wonderful hero. I kind of doubt it could be implemented in any simple manner, but it would be an interesting thing to see...