ShadowScythe

Destroyed the Heart of Nagog and gave the mansion to Leona. Sent Rajani back with a warning. Freed the 'Krug' but told him to leave the city for his own safety. Baron Barrenbaron and Hans had to divide the land. Sided with the Cyclops. Spared the Dapper Old Gent and made him rejoin the Legion. Spared Jeyne- asked her to side with the Legion's cause (results in her being declared an apostate but she still lives in the ending slide). I tried to play the game as idealistically as possible and I was really surprised that I was able to get away with this in an Obsidian game (aside from the Dapper Old Gent and Wulf's epilogues the rest of the ending slides were pretty cheerful)

Ok now you got me curious...who's prosper and what's so bad about him?

There should be a character portrait to the side as you scroll. If not, I think it works in rows. Like top row is Lucas, then Anjali etc.

I don't see the logic behind the jump from "highly stylized" to "cartoony", to be honest. From what we can gather, it just means that the game will be, no **** Sherlock, stylized. Whether the title will look like a Saturday morning cartoon, a Frank Miller's work or an impressionist painting is to anyone's guess. EDIT: Just to clarify, I don't want to sound smug. I just don't understand where the assumption came from. Is it because of World of Warcraft? The new wave of similar-looking action-RPG like Torchlight and Crimson Alliance? Uh yeah, I was thinking more DA2 where they said they were going for a stylized look and were trying to make the game look more like the concept art (which looked pretty cartoony compared to the DA: Origins concept art)- so I was a little bit curious as to whether that's what people mean when they say stylized in Games industry language.

^Damn, that guy has a huge tongue.

Do many 2D games get made now that aren't XBLA/Steam/PSN titles? Also, is highly stylized just a marketing buzzword or are we to expect a really cartoony art style?

Speaking of other stealth games. I'm not big on Assassin's Creed's stealth mechanics. It always seems to just be "if you get detected YOU FAIL! DESYNCHRONISED/NO 100% SYNC!" so the stealth is more of an arbitrary restriction and an inconvenience rather than a genuine reason to go stealthy- I dunno as a result it isn't as much of an adrenaline rush as metal gear solid or DX1. I liked Batman Arkham Asylum's stealth, although I really started loving it the moment the gargoyles I think the game that has me the most on edge is MGS, mostly cause of that incredibly unnerving exclamation mark.

I know it's off cause my in game timer said something like 10-11 hours. But according to steam it's actually 17 hours, and I'd believe Steam because they've been right for me so far that's how long it personally felt.

Well they probably said that cause, again, no publisher would back a sequel to an IP that was panned and had mediocre sales. But yeah, Obsidian has the rights to Alpha protocol- it's just a matter of if anyone will publish it.

There's actually a fair bit of replay value thanks to the diversity of the characters. Also the Choice and Consequence, while light for an Obsidian game, is pretty heavy for a hack n slash. So there's a little bit of variation in story there as well. Also, was the 10 hour count from in game or Steam? Cause the in game timer is way off.

Yep, functionality is more important than aesthetics...I actually hated going into PiP Boy for that reason- thankfully project nevada slightly fixes that issue by at least hotkeying grenades to g.

Bakercompany does have a point though. In a combat system like this that isn't going to become party based what other stats do you want? All of the stats that Bakercompany brought up are very useful and go a fair way towards diversifying characters (i.e. attack vs will do you want stronger basic attacks or stronger skill based attacks. Will you sacrifice retribution for momentum. Is it more important to gain focus quicker with momentum or is your build more focused around getting crits with agility). Instead of strawmanning people defending the game as "Obsidian defenders" or whatever can you actually explain what additional stats you think the game needs. I agree with you on deeper character building though, it had some basic elements of it- but it could use more of this variation. I guess, at least the game doesn't suffer too much from jack of all trades syndrome- sure you can unlock all abilities but they won't be very good unless you actually build on them. Btw bakercompany you forgot Momentum, Warding and Retribution in your stat list.

@ Pidesco, well that makes a lot more sense...that number was really surprising when I first heard but considering the game had barely launched (and only in Europe for that matter) it makes more sense. I think, as Volourn says, Obsidian has a fairly dedicated- if niche audience that should bring up sales. Alpha Protocol still managed around 700k even with mediocre reviews and as a new IP, I think DS3 should be able to beat that and hopefully get the million mark.

Ah, I couldn't tell from the video preview that the radar isn't accurate at determining where the guard is. And I agree with you on the second point.

^^Fair enough...I guess I just feel like elements in the game have to have some sort of purpose...but whatever, 3rd person is optional- I don't have to stick to walls and cover if I don't want to, and I guess I might end up appreciating those elements as I actually play. ^This would be true if it weren't for the fact that you already have a radar on your UI that seems to have some basic elements like guards outlined on it.

Of course the cover shooting and takedowns in DX:HR could be done in first person, just as all the conversations in DX could have been in first person instead of switching to third. Was is necessary that Eidos Montreal or Ion Storm Austin design their games this way? Of course not, there is no need for a perspective shift in either game, but that's the way the devs did it. Games are chock full of "unnecessary" elements, but people tend only to label the elements they dislike in that way, and I think it's a poor criticism. Still haven't answered what the purpose is for the perspective shift or any of what I've said for that matter. I'm asking why a developer would change the perspective when the first person perspective is fine the way it is without constantly shifting the camera mode and I've explained fairly clearly why I don't understand the need for this and instead you've simply said "Deal with it...oh and just stating that you think it's unnecessary is 'poor criticism'". I'm not criticising the damn thing, I thought that was pretty clear, I'm asking why people think it's a good design choice and you're being overly defensive for some reason. Because that's a cutscene and this is gameplay and I find that to be a huge difference. I'm ok with control of the camera being taken away in a scene that already consists of my control being taken away (mostly, I guess there's still dialogue but that's beside the point). I'm not...as receptive...to control of the camera being jerked away from me randomly in gameplay when I should have proper control and interaction. I don't think so, I happen to have excellent peripheral vision in real life. Try working that into a game mechanic. To check this, I took cover in my bedroom next to the doorway leading into the living room. I could see the other side of the room fairly clearly with peripheral vision but not the side I was taking cover behind. Maybe the camera could be restricted so that you couldn't tilt the camera enough to see the side you were hiding behind but could still see the other side of the room fairly clearly?

^^ Wow I feel like I'm being strawmanned massively here...I think the feature is unnecessary because it just seems like cover based shooting and takedowns can be done in first person without the need for a perspective shift that, again, looks disorientating. It's not that I don't like it and therefore it sucks and EM sucks and Deus Ex is RUINED FOREVER; it's that I don't understand the purpose of it and I'm not sure the benefits of it (better field of view) really outweight the flaws (turning melee into a 'cinematic' button prompt and taking control from the player as well as wonky camera shifts etc). Again, I suppose I should actually go play rainbow 6 or something to determine just how it actually plays but the previews don't give me a good impression on the constant perspective shifting (rest of the game looks good however) Fair enough to your first point though.

Typical Obsidian railroading. /sarcasm

Isn't that...sort of cheating? I mean you abuse the camera to look around a wall that your character shouldn't be able to see in his current position...it feels really cheap and what's wrong with just leaning? Also I haven't played R6 or the DXHR leak, but judging from video previews the constant switching between 3rd person and 1st person looks really disorientating and quite unnecessary...I'm guessing it's not that bad when you actually play it?

How would PC controls get fixed if there is nothing wrong with PC controls, can you explain what exactly you perceive that something is wrong with PC controls? WASD controls are pretty bad. Sure you can get used to them, but you shouldn't need to- pressing A and D shouldn't turn the camera but the only the player, press a should make the player go left instead of slowly turning left it's all very awkward and could be better. That's my only issue with pc controls, camera could be improved as well though.

Mirror Reinhart revives the player and companions? huh, he's more useful than I thought.

I used Reinhart in my first and only playthrough so far. He's tonnes of fun. I pushed a lot of stats into Will and Agility and eventually late game loot gave me the stamina boost I needed to get out of glass cannon status. my main tactics were dropping Geometry annihilation at the very start to take out all the trash mobs and then switching to gauntlet stance to lightning strike any powerful mooks/bosses. If the mobs ever came too close I'd drop Clockwork trap. Mirror leap and those streams of magic abilities weren't as useful imo- though I suspect they'll be a lot more helpful in MP for healing the crew. For default attacks I just used entropic magic stance so I could build up focus at range- I never used standard gauntlet attacks cause Reinhart is way too fragile.

I expected the final battle to take place in the causeways with Jeyne twisting the environment all around her and the whole map just going completely trippy. The ending in the mournwield was a suitably epic conclusion though and didn't disappoint.

press c to bring up character menu and select party select to choose companions.

Not sure how many people read the DS3 forums here (and why would they...) So I figure I'll post this quote from Eurogamer's interview with Nathaniel Chapman. Familiar IP? Is this the IP that Feargus said was an offer he couldn't refuse?