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EDIT: You know what? This isn't worth the time I'd spend discussing it.

An excerpt from the original Mass Effect reveal press release: So, yeah, it was absolutely meant to be the first in a trilogy of games. Also, you're not going to convince anyone who disagrees with you on BioWare games by telling them they're gullible fools for enjoying them.

The ending of ME3 is pretty bad for a lot of reasons, but it's true that it shouldn't diminish the experience. The problem is that the stories of the Mass Effect series have been bad since 2, with issues that range from pacing, to theming, to simple logic. The series banked largely on its character arcs, and those character arcs were concluded unceremoniously with a (later to be retconned in the Extended Cut) "they probably stranded over a primitive planet and might have died there?"

The stretch goal was for playable races, yes, but it's hard not to see the world turning out different if they couldn't have those races as playable. It's not as if much of the stuff that ended up in the game in terms of lore had been designed back then, anyway.

I imagine Andromeda won't put you in the condition to make earth-shattering choices, just so that they can contain the scope for the future.

1) The Watcher's Awakening is different from Maneha, in that it's not a single, clear memory holding her back. Also, depending on how early into the game you do The White March, chances are the Watcher doesn't even know exactly what her problem is. 2) This one is left unsaid. It's worth noting that you can only meet Adaryc after you've already dealt with Maerwald, so it's possible rumors about the state of Caed Nua's previous Watcher have gone out, though admittedly in that case he should know about the new Watcher already. Not something I'd classify as a "plot hole" in the grand scheme of things, but on a second read it's inelegant. 3) The spirit that manifest in Durgan's Battery seem to be able to do so because their essence was infused in the White Forge, not because of the Watcher's powers. At least, that's how I understood the process, especially considering you fight a number of them. 4) Honestly, this isn't a plot hole. Depending on the crew she ran with, it's not hard to believe she didn't kill people "in cold blood", which is very different from killing someone during a fight. She probably did a number of other questionable things as a pirate, though. 5) The Leaden Key plot is resolved in the Flames-That-Whisper cave. According to their note, they were trying to destroy the White Forge. Funnily enough, that would have prevented the plot of The White March Part Two from happening. 6) Chances are I missed this, but it's never resolved in game. They were probably just killed or didn't manage to make it in time, though, the trek to the White March isn't easy. 7) Ondra contradicting her principles isn't really a plot hole, it just shows that the Gods have plenty of character flaws, which goes hand in hand with one of the game's themes about questioning authority. She also has sentimental reasons to want to hold onto the labor of Abydon. The problem with answering questions like these is that the scope of the Gods' actions and their limits aren't defined by the narrative. Right now it's hard to say whether that was an easy shortcut for the devs to add human encounters to the map, or it's simply due to some behind-the-scenes hard rules for what the Gods can and can't do. That said, the Gods definitely appear to be pretty unwilling to speak to their subjects directly, with the Watcher being one of the few notable exceptions ( ). 9) I'm not sure I understand the question? Just because Ondra knows a lot of things, it doesn't necessarily mean her logic is infallible. She seems to suffer from a lack of foresight and tunnel vision and a lot of her actions have to be read through that lens. 10) The Eyeless aren't Ondra's creation. While she gave them a new purpose, it's very likely she can't take that back once given. If it were Abydon, I imagine it would be different. 11) The Eyeless don't seem to possess Abydon's memories, though, not individually. The only time they express that notion is when they've been defeated and their essence coalesces. I think one of the writers of the game argued on these forums that it was a state of heightened consciousness and that they only had so much sentience because they'd been regrouped. 12) This is easy, and I'm a bit surprised you missed it, but Abydon was killed by one of the crashing fragments of the moon that fell on Eora (the same one that generated Caryon's Scar.) The skeleton of him can be found on top of the Abbey of the Fallen Moon. 13) See 11.

I don't think they ever *announced* another Guidebook in the first place. But I'm gonna guess it would be released together with a new game, or ahead of it. I have no insider info, mind you.

Are you suggesting that OE isn't running their business according to the demands of random people on the internet? How dare you! Well, yes, but I'm also suggesting that the timetable might be, to a degree, out of the hand of the team. It's also likely they're going to partially crowdfund this title, in which case the timetable from announcement to release won't be short. Which might be a good thing, as short announcement to release windows seem to work better for titles with a sizable budget and expensive marketing campaigns, two things PoE2 will most likely lack.

I'm going to guess their internal timetables depend on budget, staffing, market concerns, and a number of factors that don't include their actual forums.

I kept Durance out of my party for most of my first playthrough on Hard and did just fine. I'm sure things would have been more complicated on Path of the Damned, but Priest are just *very useful*, not necessary, in my estimation.

I mean, the reason I referenced the gameplay teaser specifically is that it came from a time they were far enough into development to show a bunch of areas that would end in the final game with very small changes (Heritage Hill, an early version of Ondra's Gift, a bunch of Engwithan ruins, the vertical slice areas) and creatures and combat. That's about where I'd expect development to be right now, especially when you consider that the team likely couldn't start working on the sequel full-speed until they were done with the expansions.

Just to keep things in perspective, the gameplay teaser for PoE was released roughly 15 months before the release of the game. So... yeah.

I would imagine those layoffs were already public knowledge by then. Now the whole thing was given away by MCA which makes it seem more than just genuine "hope you all find a job soon". It would have been public pretty soon anyway: http://venturebeat.com/2016/12/08/obsidian-lays-off-undisclosed-number-of-its-amored-warfare-staff/ And I don't really think it makes sense to avoid discussing it to not hurt a company's PR. I imagine the people affected were grateful they got some help looking for some work right now, especially because, while it will happen early next year, it's tough news to hear during the holidays.

I don't know. I feel like Tyranny has better combat tracks and a more coherent atmosphere in terms of soundtrack. Pillars constantly oscillates between wanting to homage the sense of high-fantasy adventure of Baldur's Gate (most of the combat music) with the cold, evocative atmosphere of Icewind Dale with its own dark themes, and I don't think the balance was hit in that respect. Also, while The White March has the highest highs (the Stalwart theme and that short track that plays when the White Forge is awakened, and also that really nice combat track that plays with the Alpine Dragon), it also has some really low lows, like that annoying track that plays in the cave of the Flame-That-Whispers ogres. But of course, as with all music, this is very subjective, and I have a very, very rudimentary understanding of composition and instrumentation choices. EDIT: Added some positive examples because I realize I was a bit vague in the praise.

Recruiters never do this stuff privately. Obsidian people also put up links to open job posts on Twitter when other companies had layoffs. I agree that retweeting a 4-year old tweet is bizarre, though, but it could well be a mistake.