AGX-17

Do I dog companion? No. Do I want a dog companion? No. Dogs can't cast spells or wear +2 steel plate. Don't see much use.

What's a "muggle"? Is that some kind of my little bronies thing?

Good thing you managed to get in on this while malls still exist.

What "background stuff" and "feats" are you referring to in F3/NV? I assume by feats you mean traits (or do you mean perks? Probably not since perks are only gained on level up,) which weren't in F3... The player's entire background is set in stone in F3, and until Lonesome Road it was up to your imagination in NV. But since Fallout's morality is a sliding scale that goes either way based on your actions after character creation (which was implemented in a poorly designed way in F3 and was bugged in NV due to NPC karma values being wrong,) is it really relevant to your issue with "moral questions"?

I love that sort of character creation when it's well implemented. And different bonuses and elemental proficiencies depending on when you were born. It could also be optional and simply provide bonuses like in Morrowind rather than determining base attributes and derived stats/skills.

The ability to turn into an animal has always been kind of pointless to me, since it's humans who always win fights with animals. I would assume a Ranger to be likely illiterate, a woodsman or hunter of some sort whose knowledge comes from direct experience living off the land rather from fancy-pants book learnin'. I've always imagined Rangers as being born and raised by experienced, self-sufficient parents, learning the weaknesses of critters and monsters through firsthand parent-to-child teaching. Salt-of-the-Earth types.

I don't think the goal here should be cut & pasting old BG and P:T characters and changing their names "for old time's sake." The idea also betrays a lack of faith on the part of the idea-proposer in the Obsidian team's ability to create interesting, original, memorable characters.

Comeliness? Like as in attractiveness? I've always thought that should be seperate from charisma. You can have a physically unattractive but charismatic leader (Hitler, humor me, was no Adonis, yet charismatic,) or a physically attractive, offensive idiot incapable of leading a party down a linear path. I do not oppose this in the least. Of course, that would just lead to me making my PC a 10/10 on the attractiveness scale every time... Well, if it's defined as Adonis there's no incongruity there, as Adonis was a Hellenic god of Beauty and Desire belonging to women (meaning worshipped, adored by women.) I don't think we're going to be making our own character faces like in Oblivion, Mass Effect or Fallout 3/NV, so there's no risk of cognitive dissonance/hilarity by having a butt-ugly character with a maxed out physical attractiveness attribute.

The people who have no wit are the ones who use the term "snark" in place of "dry wit" or "sardonic humor." QFT Dave Gaider used to write good dialogue for games until he started worshipping at the altar of Buffy. The original BG 1 / 2 games had a decent balance between a serious quest, some moving stuff and gonzo moments. Little brush-strokes of humour is needed, because traditionally Obz goes for some serious themes. David Gaider's work in DAO was simply sub-par. Loghain, "tactical genius straegtist," just blunders into what looks like a pre-planned alliance with Arl Howe (who just thought it was a good idea to murder the 2nd most powerful lord in the realm at a time when he had no expectation the king's army wouldn't slaughter his rebellion,) to overthrow the king and take power for himself but it was just "WHOOPSIE COINCIDENCE!" according to Gaider's own words on the Bioware forums.

American geneticists (tee-hee) have already used genetic modification to extend the lifespan of flatworms by up to 5x, the human equivalent being a 70 year old posessing the young body of a 20 year old. That said, Russia's scientific achievements are unassailable, so if they develop cybernetics and gene therapy I'll be signing up. Aging is wear and tear that goes without repair. That's exactly the problem to be addressed. There are various factors in aging (individual genes, length of telomeres, etc.) but addressing each one could likely extend lifespans by a significant amount. There should probably be a one child policy for anyone who becomes effectively immortal, for the sake of resources/environmental concerns, but that's a few decades out at the very least. Not that I wouldn't prefer being a sentient colony of self-reproducing nanomachines anyway.

Why stop there? Why not take his loincloth? His man-panties? His fundoshi? Leave a naked corpse and pay someone to take his soiled undergarments. Better yet, harvest his (or her,) corpse or organs and sell them to schools of anatomy! Inventory: Fresh Human Cadaver (12) Health Potion (6) Iron Short Sword (3) Rotting Human Cadaver (34) Rotten Human Cadaver (47) Wooden Buckler (2)

I don't mind, if the companions are all making combat barks, the PC should, too. Unless I can't stand the available voices. But on the other hand, if I really like a voice, I'd want a fully-voiced protagonist... What a conundrum.

Multiple endings, of course. Also allowing for sequels, but not mandating them.

OC. My first time through they're definitely going to be guided by my own moral compass, but in subsequent runs I'll go nuts with different choices.

Charismatic douchebag. Charisma overrides a lot of things when implemented properly. Besides, my opinion of the character is colored by my knowledge of the books, so there's another aspect.

Hi AGX I like you and I appreciate your input on various topics so please don't take offense at what I am about to say below. I find people that criticize grammar and spelling on a gaming forum annoying, supercilious and there critique irrelevant. The main reasons for this are Are all your posts grammatically perfect every time you say something? They need to be if you are going to point out mistakes in others I always ask "can I understand what someone is saying in the post". This is surly the most important point in any post. This is not an English exam and we shouldn't be judged on grammar. Finally English isn't everyones first language so to be critical on someones grammar and spelling is just petulant and unhelpful to the purpose of what a forum is, that purpose being discussion. I think it's important that if you want to make a good impression in the English speaking world, it's important to get grammar, syntax and punctuation correctly. If you were applying for a job with an American or English company it could make a real difference! I value your contributions to the forums so I want to help you be the best you can be at the (current) global tongue. Until Mandarin takes over. In which case I will rely on my half-chinese cousins to do all my talking for me. Also, movies! Rewatched The City of Lost Children. Not exactly labyrinth, but I was in love with Miette when I saw it as a child (we're the same age, the actress and I, don't get any funny ideas.) Still a great movie.

Team Fortress 2 is still fun. Testament to Valve, testament to my idiotic waste of money on in-game purchases (hey, at least I have an unusual multi-class hat. IT'S A HAT.) Actually it looks great on my demo (it's the Sherlock Holmes type hat WITH PLANETS, I have it paired with the beard/pipe combo so it looks so classy.) The pink parrot doesn't really work with the look but I have it so I use it. TF2: Fashion simulator 2012. It was alright aside from the Mary-Sue nature of her character. Most of the DLC's narrative is focused on how amazing and stupendous she is. And honestly she's not that good looking, guys. Used mods to replace the unique end-loot gear look like the Orlesian hunting outfits which looked better. Liked the way it responded to how far you've progressed in the "story." As if there were a coherent storyline from start to finish in DA2.

Wrote a page and a half of my architecture final essay, then took it easy, got drunk, did surprisingly well as Dido (why's she so pale? Anti-middle eastern sentiment!) in Civ V (maybe I'm onto something here,) and cursed the lack of sea resources available for a naval/mercantile power like Carthage. Still pursuing gainful employment.

I thought it was great, even though Stannis was represented as too cold-blooded. I liked the story of Proudwing and how it implied he was a kind child hardened by Robert's bullying and circumstance (books only, friends!) I think Robb's actor is fine. And you're right. I'm looking forward to the See, even people who click spoiler won't be spoiled! I'm still more interested in REAL SPOILER THIS TIME Obviously there are major changes from the books (all that lesbian fake orgasming for one,) but anyway, it's to be expected. I like the girl who plays Arya, if only for the fact that she doesn't have the horse face described in the books. Overall the cast is B at worst, A+ at best (opinions, opinions.) Peter Dinklage does a fine job in spite of his poor fake British accent. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau makes me swoon even though I'm a (theoretically) heterosexual male. How charismatic.

But then it wouldn't be isometric anymore, would it? If you mean just circling the camera around while maintaining the same 3/4 perspective, you know they make games with maps that rotate, or an option to have a rotatable map, right? This would be useful, and interesting. Give it some of the old school feel of having to map out a game with a pencil and paper like back ye olde tymes of the 80s. Maybe give the player a variety of drag & drop icons to map out the notable locations like treasure, traps and so on, rather than simply auto-filling points of note.

Of course this could all work the other way. We could also see matriarchal societies, where men are the ones facing discrimination. I've only heard of two primate matriarchal societies: Some tribe/s on a southeast asian island (learned about in a cultural anthropology course and I forget the details beyond men never move out of their mother's house, and they act as fathers for their sisters' children if they have any, they don't conduct incest, but males never move in with their sexual partners oe live on their own and their children are "fathered" by the brothers of their sexual partners,) and the primate species Bonobos. In the case of Bonobos, which are effectively a variant of Chimpanzee, and just as closely related to humans, females dominate the society. But it's not the domination of aggression that male Chimpanzees use (terror, violence,) it's that the females are a united front (refusing to submit, showing threat of force rather than force itself,) in curbing the aggression of the males (Bonobo males are just as aggressive as Chimps.) The second, more important, and more ironic method is through sexuality. Sex is the basic unit of social interaction in Bonobo society, every individual in a Bonobo social unit engages in sexual intercourse with every other, conflicts are resolved through sex acts rather than violence, and most importantly, because all the females have coupled with all the males, no male can take the risk of killing any offspring because there's no way to know who the father is. When a new Alpha chimp takes over, he'll kill all the young of the previous Alpha, like lions do to the cubs of a rival male after taking over a pride (sometimes they'll kill their own cubs, it's such a strong genetic imperative.) This matriarchal society in nature doesn't function so much like patriarchy inverted, but more like the patriarchal ambitions of males curbed by coalitions of females. Another point of note is that when two different chimpanzee groups meet, it usually results in violence and possibly cannibalism, but you can probably guess what happens when groups of Bonobos meet. If you can't it's The structure of Bonobo society reinforces the idea that the more control of their own sexuality women have, the more sexually equal a society can/will become. This obviously doesn't apply exactly to humans due to the amount of time it takes for human offspring to reach maturity and contribute economically, as well as because of the individualistic nature of capitalism, with neoclassical/chicago/austrian school economists (who dominate the field with their irrational political dogma,) and conservative political pundits focusing on the ideal of the "nuclear family" and looking down on extended family cohabitation (another situation in which women tend to be more equal.) Food for thought, anyway. At any rate, in a high-medieval/early renaissance setting, it would require mass female rebellion against the patriarchy to achieve some form of sexual equality, and it would require male allies to truly accomplish this. Highly unlikely without a printing press and some way to covertly spread this message to all women and formulate a plan.

Finally someone necromanced this thread so I wouldn't have to. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot-0-KyPd0Y As the saying goes: "Real men ride each other."

Say this to citiezens of Panama, Somali, Iraq, Yugoslavia , Afghanistan, Lybia, Yemen, etc. You say this as though Soviet Russia didn't invade Afghanistan in 1979 and fight a decade long war attempting to conquer a territory which had no desire to be part of the Soviet Union (which they lost,) finally withdrawing in 1989. Even without American aid, the Afghans would still have outlasted and defeated the mighty Soviet Union as they did. This game of international interference and support for corrupt regimes was played by both sides of the cold war, although I assume from your words Russians aren't taught this in their schools. America's international crimes, deposing democratically elected leftist regimes, have gone unpunished, but that doesn't make Russia a shining beacon of justice, hands clean of blood. You probably were never taught about any of the anti-Soviet resistance and rebellions in countries like Poland, Ukraine and Hungary, and if you were, you were probably taught that they were evil capitalist shills and not oppressed, occupied people revolting against an occupying force and a puppet government. I wonder if you've ever asked a Pole or a Hungarian why they revolted against the Soviets. I don't believe that you'd listen, and if you did, you would smugly think to yourself that they're malicious liars who have been corrupted by anti-Russian propaganda (lol, propaganda is fine art thread, imagine that,) or stupid sheep being misled by revisionist histories. The time for Nationalism has long passed. And there has never been an American invasion of Somalia. There were American attempts to deliver humanitarian aid (cue conspiracy theories,) to Somalia which were met with hostility and ended shortly thereafter. The only countries to invade and occupy Somalian territory in the last 20 years have been African countries, Ethiopia and Kenya.

I don't think there are AAA developers, just AAA publishers, (and they don't necessarily restrict themselves to AAA titles.) Given enough money and enough dictatorship from the publisher, most moderately sized dev studios can make a "AAA" title. AAA games are the summer dumb action blockbusters of the gaming world. They have to be simple, stupid fun to appeal to the largest possible audience.

... Really? The ME games repeatedly went out of their way to show you just how freaking awesome the PC is and by extention just how freaking awesome humans are. I could see their Lovecraftian influences when they first introduced the Reapers in ME1 but after that they went in the most unLovecraft direction possible. Yeah, they went to extreme, ham-fisted lengths in ME2 to say "out of all the species of the galaxy, humans are the most special! Every human is a special snowflake, even their DNA is prized treasure and they are super diverse despite having lived on one planet until the last 35 years. And now they dominate the galactic stage! Because they ARE. SO. SPECIAL. The Reapers see it, too! Special snowflakes." Cue "I believe I can fly" and a montage of butt-ugly human NPCs from ME games. They even control the largest single territory on the Galaxy Map despite all the other Council species having been present and exploring and colonizing for centuries or millennia before humans made first contact with the Turians (who should control the most space given their military power.)