FlintlockJazz

The journal seemed fine to me. Sure had some problems, but I have never seen a in-game journal that didn't. As with anything in life, the perfect game journal is a pipe-dream we should strive toward but realise we may never achieve.

You know what I think the problem is? That RPGs have too many attributes in general usually. Take a look at Wasteland 2: they went and created a 7 attribute system just so they could spell out CLASSIC with it and ended up with redundant attributes or ones they faffed out with stuff to try and make a reason for it. I honestly think they should just look at the attributes without preconceptions and go "Do we actually need an attribute for that?" For instance, do we really need Strength (or Might) and Constitution as separate attributes? A physically strong person will tend to also be healthier than someone weaker than them, maybe give the option to choose a 'speciality' for the attribute to represent them focusing on body building over cardio or vice versa. Likewise, in D&D you had intelligence and wisdom separate, sure you could get smart people with no common sense but that is more a roleplay thing or possibly a Flaw than an attribute surely? While it is renowned for being overly complicated, GURPS 4th edition did at least do one thing right in my mind in that it had just 4 base attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Health, and Intelligence. It had sub-attributes based off these 4, such as Perception and Hit Points, that could vary to a certain degree from the base attribute. Strength was even the one that determined that Hit Points (Health was for Fatigue and cardio activities), and the editor for 4th said that he wanted to rename some of them to more accurately reflect what they were (such as renaming Intelligence to Mind since it wasn't just academic ability) but was limited by being required to keep the same names for them by the owners. So instead of saying, "We need another attribute to cover this aspect!" I think we should be asking ourselves, "Do we actually need this or that attribute?" I would have no problem with them cutting down on the attributes in order to make the ones they have more relevant, but then I'm probably just weird.

Can't agree there. The Darcozzi family is spread out now. No reason an enterprising knight/Adventurer who got on the good side of the local family lord/member in the Living Lands can't join the guard who protect that lord and the family's interests. Outsiders did join the mafia after it left Italy and Russia. The Byzantine Elite guard were a bunch of Vikings and Byzantines could join them etc lots of examples. To the recent post it makes no sense at this point unless you get a mid game quest. To be honest when it comes to being a Paladin I don't think they should let you change orders. It's not something that's done easily considering it takes a particularly Zealous individual to a cause to become one to begin with. What *spoiler tag* Happens to Pallegina seems to me a rare circumstance. Ah the Varangian Guard! Comprised of pissed off elite Saxon warriors who left England after the battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. EDIT: I am referring to the Varangian Guard in the late 11th century of course.

But she was fine in the visions, wouldn’t you say? Only at the end was it a problem? Perhaps the takeaway is that massive story dumps in a single conversation are not as satisfying? We also didn’t discover the truth about the gods; we were informed. In the same conversation, we are informed of Thaos’ plan for Woedica. We don’t even find Iovara on purpose. Contrast that with Planescape Torment. Find your journal. Find Pharod. Find Lothar. Find Ravel. And so on and so on. It’s a hunt, following thread after thread, piecing together the tapestry. Imagine chasing an unknown for an unknown reason and not meeting Ravel until the end of the game and learning everything then. Actually no, she wasn't fine in the visions either. In fact, one of the problems is that when we we finally meet her in person I thought we were finally going to get to see what it was about her that made all these people follow her, because I did not see it in the visions. She lacked that quality that would make people die for her that she supposedly had and just seemed like an obnoxious airy fairy who talked about finding your own way (as long as its her way) whose principles you are not allowed to confront or debate, portrayed as fact without evidence. If she had been portrayed as a fanatic like Thaos, just the opposing side, it may have been more satisfying, or at least not so fricking 'perfect'. And yeah, informing us the 'gods aren't real' didn't help, especially since her reasoning is not that they don't exist but that they were created: at that point I had no idea that the gods were NOT created beings or were supposed to have existed before the world. I knew at least some of them had portfolios that managed aspects of creation but then so do many of the Faerun gods in Forgotten Realms and half of them have been replaced by others including mortals! Real world religions have or had gods that came about after the creation of the world and were even created by other beings, the Greek gods in particular, so the bigger surprise was that I was supposed to think they were the ones who came before the world and that was supposed to be a pre-requisit for godhood. If that's the case, that ruins my goals for ascending to godhood then! Not to mention mortals (sometimes with a god/dess in their lineage somewhere) ascending to godhood in some manner, usually great heroes. I know this is gonna get smacked as heretical, but if you think about it, the various Saints in Christianity (and equivalents in Judaism and Islam) could very well be thought of as demigods or mortals ascended to godhood. Oh definitely, I even considered using Saints as just such a demigod level myself in a tabletop campaign (that never got started, though I may now use that idea for another campaign...).

I want historical RPG Josh is mentioning. In of the interview Feargus mentioned an idea to do Noir RPG which is something I have been wanting for a long long time. I would take Cyberpunk over space opera. Cyberpunk has been done - the Shadowrun games aint bad, and there are others. Anyway, I am sick and tired of grimdark. I want bright colours, rocket ships, ray guns, and small furry aliens from Alpha Centuri. Shadowrun ain't Cyberpunk. It has qualities from Cyberpunk, but it has dwarves, elves, orcs, magic, etc that detracts from the cyber and punk elements that are meant to be the heart of cyberpunk.

That was my favourite bit for two reasons: pommel strikes, because that is awesome, and that they were being used on Tekeha, that non-dwarf companion...

But she was fine in the visions, wouldn’t you say? Only at the end was it a problem? Perhaps the takeaway is that massive story dumps in a single conversation are not as satisfying? We also didn’t discover the truth about the gods; we were informed. In the same conversation, we are informed of Thaos’ plan for Woedica. We don’t even find Iovara on purpose. Contrast that with Planescape Torment. Find your journal. Find Pharod. Find Lothar. Find Ravel. And so on and so on. It’s a hunt, following thread after thread, piecing together the tapestry. Imagine chasing an unknown for an unknown reason and not meeting Ravel until the end of the game and learning everything then. Actually no, she wasn't fine in the visions either. In fact, one of the problems is that when we we finally meet her in person I thought we were finally going to get to see what it was about her that made all these people follow her, because I did not see it in the visions. She lacked that quality that would make people die for her that she supposedly had and just seemed like an obnoxious airy fairy who talked about finding your own way (as long as its her way) whose principles you are not allowed to confront or debate, portrayed as fact without evidence. If she had been portrayed as a fanatic like Thaos, just the opposing side, it may have been more satisfying, or at least not so fricking 'perfect'. And yeah, informing us the 'gods aren't real' didn't help, especially since her reasoning is not that they don't exist but that they were created: at that point I had no idea that the gods were NOT created beings or were supposed to have existed before the world. I knew at least some of them had portfolios that managed aspects of creation but then so do many of the Faerun gods in Forgotten Realms and half of them have been replaced by others including mortals! Real world religions have or had gods that came about after the creation of the world and were even created by other beings, the Greek gods in particular, so the bigger surprise was that I was supposed to think they were the ones who came before the world and that was supposed to be a pre-requisit for godhood. If that's the case, that ruins my goals for ascending to godhood then!

The reason why they give more companions than you can take is because if you piss off or get killed a companion you will still have a companion around to take their place rather than being forced to have a smaller party (this is for those who don't use hirelings). Also why they added sidekicks, as the increased reactivity in the full companions could lead to a player pissing them all off and so needing less reactive party members (notice there are four sidekicks, exactly the number needed to fill out a party). I don't like being forced to choose between two companions, I don't mean them having a disagreement after a while and being forced to choose but having to choose which of two companions I can recruit. Didn't like that choice in Torment: Tides of Numenera between the two companions you get at the start, felt contrived and considering I knew next to nothing about either one of them was too soon to decide. Plus, I don't see what the issue is to have them stashed on the ship, its not like they can't react to things you do while adventuring, companions surely talk to each other to avoid that. Eder: "Aloth tells me you kicked a puppy..." PC: "Yeah and I liked it, and you won't complain because I bought you a gift!" *gives flower* Eder: "This ain't Dragon Age, now bend over!" *inserts flower up PC's arse*

I didn't realize that specific part of it, and talk about karma... Yep, except that it all seems to be random luck as it seems to indicate that without the gods' involvement reincarnation is random. Its the line "Hedhwr, give this bitch a heir worthy of Glanfath" that nailed it for me, and really makes it dark when you think about it.

Yep, take note that it wasn't actually the raider incarnation that rapes the mother of his next incarnation themself, as the raider incarnation is female. She orders one of her men to do it before being killed that same night and reincarnating into the unborn child.

Don't make me send you to your room without a copy of Pillars for supper!

No Iovaras personally. She came across as a mouthpiece for the writer.

I didn't invent the example I gave with Eder, it comes from a developer, I just can't find it. So no, as the game stands at the moment, companions have a narrow list of classes and multiclasses available (and preset subclass choices) which you choose when you first meet them. Choosing not to believe me doesn't make it any less true. I didn't claim you did, and don't pull that attitude with me, alright? I never said I chose not to believe you, I didn't even quote you or reply to you, just that there were clearly options to still multiclass. The evidence for what I said is in update 40 video, 1:03 to 1:08, where it clearly states that multiclassing is available at character creation OR when a companion first joins the party.

For the machine to distinguish between Dyrwoodans and non-Dyrwoodans, it'd probably be necessary for nationality to somehow make peoples' souls appreciably different on the basis of where they were born, and I'm not sure Obsidian really wants to go *there* any time soon. As far as I recall, the souls have to travel through the machinery to achieve the various outcomes (with the possible exception of outright destroying them), so it's quite possible that Sun in Shadow itself was simply outside of the radius of the effect, in that it was the place the essence was sent away from and because it's far enough removed from the Dyrwood itself that you need help from the gods just to avoid dying on the trip over. Plus, isn't it beneath Twin Elms which is in Eir Glanfath and not the Dyrwood? Unless Dyrwood refers to the geographical location rather than the nation state.

Yes Alpha Protocol is an RPG, though it plays like a third-person Deus Ex (first game). It has one of the best choice and consequence in a game, doesn't really open up until later though. I think they portrayed Geralt in some cases badly especially in the first game that have created an image of him that isn't right. Many seem to think he is a cold-hearted anti-hero type when in reality (of the books and games) he is meant to be care deeply for his friends and tries to do the right thing in a world that is bad. He's actually a good guy, he just gets stuck with some ****ty decisions sometimes.

They stated in the video you can choose to multi-class a character when you first meet them and accept them into your party. This implies the option for multiclassing a companion who does not have more than one compulsory class is still in.

Err, you're mixing him up with Eder there. We are talking about Aloth, who joins because he is currently working for the Leaden Key and knows you are involved which he doesn't tell you at the time, he merely states that he doesn't want to travel alone and considering that you both need to leave town a companion for the road isn't that strange a thing in those times. Yoshimo really doesn't work if you look into it in detail, but I won't bother doing so here as it is irrelevant to the discussion.

Suppose I'm the odd one out but I liked the grimoires and books. Gave them a nice touch and wanted to customise their appearance more. The books are used as conduits in Pillars, to channel the energy through. I guess by your logic all druids, wizards, and priests should be insta-killed while casting for concentrating on forming the spell and not on the enemy either, and everyone else should be insta-killed whenever they try to use a scroll or drink a potion.

Eder smokes the Man-Meat!

I suspect because it was done abroad. If I had done it here they would probably have followed up on it better as they have done with others I know who have had similar injuries, but since I did it in Italy (the Dolomites specifically) I suspect I have fallen through the cracks somewhat. Hell, I didn't even know they were putting plates in until the day of the operation, and its only with the recent x-ray that I found out they had put wiring in there too apparently.

I hope this time rods will be actual rods, walking stick -sized rods instead of whatever they were meant to be in PoE. Like the rods in the picture below. Though in PoE2 I would envision them as slender metal things to distinguish them from sceptres, tapering to a point that you point with while holding it by the thicker end.

Yeah, as Wormerine pointed out he does have a reason to follow you, he just doesn't tell you then why he is. What, you took him at his word that he is following you for no reason? You let strange elves who start fights by calling peasants sister-fookers follow you without wondering if there's something more going on? Weirdoes...

Were they purged? I know Thaos goes in there and kills Webster, but I don't recall seeing any other dead bodies and just presumed they were sent away by Webby who knew he was coming or were outside dealing with the rioters?

I fricking hate it when you start a game and you immediately get swamped with 'pre-order bonuses' and dlc weapons that it immediately has to tell you about and fill your inventory with! Every time I started Deus Ex Human Revolution I would have this overpowered crap that would unbalance my game immediately shoved into my inventory, hence I hate weapon dlcs and other small or 'nickle and dime' dlcs as a result.

Say what? I don't cosplay at all, does that mean I do not play any games? Whoah, what have I been doing with all that time? And the cash? I dunno man! You better ask them, cause apparently they think you been dressing as Shaundi! https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/4/3/15154850/agents-of-mayhem-gameplay-preview-video-saints-row-volition-sleeper-hit