Nonek

Wear armour while swimming, especially heavy suits of chain and plate, and ones character is bound to be immersed. Ha. But in all seriousness I find Mr Fatback's point to be a valid one, it is usually the finer skeleton and long hair that identify a member of the female gender for oneself, and I have made the same mistake as that gentleman. Considering that the model we saw of the scale byrnie clad young lady is similarly of female proportions I personally see no need for the emphasised bust. I would ideally like it to be scaled downa little but it is not a matter of utmost import, simply a little grumble with the game, like my reservations with the Rogue's nomenclature or the stash. One will always have a few differences between the designers vision and the audiences expectations, however I do not think this one is too egregious. Edit: What does gender fluid mean, have functioning artificial wombs and testes been created and I didn't hear of it?

A truly repellant notion might be be that a broken body equals a broken soul, and that a mentally or physically disabled individual might be killed at birth because of this. That would be an obvious, tragic and disturbing effect of the knowledge of the souls immortality.

Seeing a powerful mundane animal that has become almost mythological in its hunting potency might be extremely interesting, perhaps it even has a soul. When I was a child I was told of the Lions, the Ghost and the Darkness while visiting South Africa, it was only when a film came out about the two predators that I was reminded of them and actually investigated their depredations. Truly disturbing. One can imagine a great Bear or Lone Wolf conducting a similar reign of terror. An animal that strikes from hiding then fades into rocks or long grass, and one must quickly remove that environment with spell or what have you to reveal it. Or perhaps a long trek through its hunting grounds, with the emphasis firmly placed on hit and run attacks, until one can find some place to beard it. Maybe it even haunts your stronghold?

There's doubt and uncertainty, but of a different variety from our own. There are an abundance of religious beliefs in our world that address the afterlife, promising everything from everlasting bliss for true believers to reincarnation into some higher form or whatever else, but all of those are striking at the same fundamental fear: the cessation of existence. A whole lot of people really don't like the idea of ceasing to exist. They want to believe they will continue to exist in some form or other. The people of PoE don't seem to have that as something to fear. They may not understand the rules surrounding it, whether their actions actually impact anything or not in regards to the way they return, but the existence of souls which continually return to the world seems to be accepted as incontestable fact. Without that conscious or unconscious fear of oblivion, I would imagine attitudes towards death and religious teachings regarding it would differ drastically from our own. Oh yes i've no doubt that there will be a far more alien perception of death in Poe, and i've no doubt that there will be cults taking advantage of this aspect, as well as religions and individuals. I'm not sure that anybody will just commit suicide hoping for a better life, as the uncertainty seems too substantial. However such things as mercy killing may be regarded as a saintly action, while suffering and old age may be regarded as a pointless activity, and perhaps even harmful to the soul. One point to be raised however is the addition of new souls, supposing that population is increasing then there must be many fresh souls born into the wheel, and what is their condition as immortal newborns? Edit: One can't help but be reminded of Tony Jay's Elder God in Legacy of Kain, oh what cruel fate to reduce Nosgoth to an MMO.

One is not particularly perturbed by this as the mechanics and content of the game are far more important in my personal view, however I believe that the emphasis on the figure is a valid method of identification if one is catering to maximum accessibility. Personally I agree with Mr Protagonist that such differences are not really needed for the players party, with differently coloured clothing, types of armour and helms, and more importantly highlighting of the portrait and character when moused over, the identification of the characters seems fairly simple without the emphasised figures. However I cannot see the outrage and vitriol heaped upon this trivial addition of a few pixels, there are far more important matters to discuss, hopefully without the venom. As it stands the armour is far more sensible than most we have seen, in other games where combat is fairly much non stop female characters wear shirts, and then there are always Superheroines who run around in their underwear. In comparison Poe seems eminently sensible.

The weapons range seems massively reduced and the hit detection completely off, a pity because I like the looks of it, it's the single edged axe with the spike on the back, first found at the bottom of a mineshaft in Khelbegen among some bones as I remember.

It's an interesting question but from what i've read it's still as full of doubt and uncertainty as ours, and far more than the AD&D model of actual certainty. Is the next life influenced by ones actions in this one? Does following one deity matter and is there a correct philosophy? What if ones soul shatters because of a traumatic death? What if some Animancer experiments with ones corpse? What if you don't reincarnate and people are lying? What if there is punishment inbetween lives? To me uncertainty is the most interesting position to be in, the afterlife seems to remain as much an unknown as the existence of a soul is a certainty.

Little tip: Don't use the Killer Axe, it's bugged, at that level I make use of the Orc Sword or the Sablazo. All of his weapons have very little range however so it pays to stay close to ones enemy.

How's the dwarf op? I've given him only a quick test and to me he felt like the knight but just less agile, so I never went for a full playthrough with him. It's the little fellows side dodge speed and distance, he's second only to the Amazon in these terms. Both Sargon and Tukaram are much slower to react and though the Barbarian covers around the same distance, the Knight covers far less. This necessitates playing Naglfar as a counter striker to my mind, and I find him to be extremely useful as such. Wait for the enemy to strike, dodge and then strike oneself. Edit: The chaps offensive moveset helps as well, they may not be as damaging as the Barbarians but they are quick to pull off (even the specials) and recover from, meaning he's quite good at picking a foe apart.

One assumes that the enhanced bust on the scale mail is to help distinguish males and females, after all the figures on screen will probably be less than an inch tall, depending upon ones resolution of course. Personally one is not upset, at least the young ladies in question have the ability to dress themselves appropriately for combat, a rare thing for female characters lately.

I do believe that I may have become a little too good at Severance: Blade of Darkness, i'm currently just starting the Island of Karum and have yet to take even one blow, then again when played correctly the Dwarf Naglfar is a little op. May have to restart as Tukaram or Sargon, maybe do a little tinkering with the stats file.

i'm glad there's been nothing revealed about the plot. i hope it stays that way. We are deliberately trying to avoid talking about the plot very much. We love talking about the world, but we don't want to spoil any surprises. A very wise choice in my own humble opinion, one of the strengths of Obsidian is the unexpected places that the plot may wander into and the great confrontations that arise, Marburg, Atris, Myrkul etcetera. Personally i'm very glad that they've chosen armours that actually do their job rather than the unusable and pointlessly encumbering spiky versions we see in all too many games, or even worse the ceremonial pieces used for combat that some designers favour.

For all of the condemnation poured upon those whom want a more faithful IE experience, there was also a considerable number of requests from those who wanted a modern, simplified and dumbed down arpg, catering to the lowest common denominator preferably in a 3d engine. Personally I found these demands far more unrealistic and nonsensical.

It all depends on ones personal preferences I assume, for some the IE games are represented by the interesting locations and soundtrack of the Dale, for others the chess like strike and counter strike combat of the Gate and for yet others the choice, consequence and recativity of Torment. Personally i'm hoping for a little more of the Dale and Torment's best features as I personally thought that the Gate prioritised combat a little too much, to the point where there was no other method of solving any scenario but yet another melee. However i'm more enthusiastic for the Darklands reactive text segments than any other feature, but then again i'm a bibliophile. Personally I have my problems with various aspects, but i've had problems with every rule system i've ever played except for the one I created for pen and paper, and this does not dilute my enthusiasm for the game. Obsidian are my favourite developer due to the quality of their previous work, not for any other reason, i'm not a blinkered fanboy outraged by any suggestion of complaint, indeed I think criticism is fair and useful when valid, well conveyed and reasoned.

If I may make one suggestion Mr Emperor, when near the end of chapter one you have to make a binary choice, choose the Elf first time. Far more enjoyable path, though of course it's up to you.

This is all well and good but more importantly when are we going to get a sequel to Spaceballs?

Always wondered what the rest of Oerth looked like, thank you for the map Mr Obyknven.

With that clarification I think you do have a point in terms of the fantastical species Sheikh, presumably they are not simply races of humanity like in other games because they have spent millions of years seperated from each other or never shared ancestry, thus extremely alien skull shapes might be warranted. Personally I think the Ooh Mama looks satisfactory in this regard, the Elf not so much.

I'm unsure what exactly you're desirous of Sheikh, is it different skull shapes (Negroid or Mongoloid rather than Caucasoid) or more fantastical elements you are requesting?

Indeed, Severance was years ahead of its time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egad_InYl6I Think i'll pop into GOG and download it tomorrow myself, thank you for the reminder gentlemen.

I had not heard of this, I was aware of the Viking warrior class' vanity, with the importance they placed on fine clothing, armrings and other jewellery and decorated combs for their hair, but I hadn't read of braiding being a cultural element amongst them. Most illuminating. One imagines though that even these stout fellows who bathed more regularly than Christian men, were sometimes irritated by their long locks. After all their sweat stained and lice infested gambesons must have been quite odorous on the campaign trail, and their hair similarly filthy and infested compared to our modern day cleanliness. I imagine that with the Aventail helm they often wore it might become frequently caught as well, though the far more common basinet might benefit from the padding. Edit: For a full visored helm however i'd still say that extra heat is a consideration, during the midst of combat when ones breathing is frantic and desperate heat will of course be a consideration, and it is well known that medieval knights would keep their visors up until the very moment of combat for this and vision reasons. Add long hair under the arming cap, coif and helm itself and I imagine that it becomes fairly stifling. Of course vanity must still be rightfully considered though.

I don't know what you're talking about. It's fine, but it's not all that different from any other interview I've read on the pro sites. I swear, this weird antagonism people have towards something that's ultimately just another branch of entertainment journalism... Having worked in print journalism as a lad i'm somewhat biased Ffordesoon, but apart from poor working practices and lack of objectivity, I simply believe that most game journalism is not fit for purpose. They are now on the whole merely indie PR firms, and do not exercise the necessary amount of criticism that one would expect of a journalist serving the public. However this is a personal opinion, and as I pointed out somewhat biased, feel free to think differently. The editorials of the Codex are on the whole equal if not superior to most professional sites, as well as taking a far different view from the mainstream press' urge to streamline and feature strip under the umbrella term of innovation, and thus I regard them quite highly as a counterpoint to the steady degeneration of the medium. That said I have not the mettle to venture onto their forums for any extended period of time, i'm fairly sure i'd never recover from the trauma.

Once again the RPG Codex's editorials humiliate the professional "game journalists," absolutely splendid article chaps.

If you hide your make up in a dark enough spot I assume no one will find it. Edit: Sorry, couldn't resist.

I doubt there'd have been many spoiled nobleman at that time, they'd have had to keep their hand in as military service was a part of feudal obligation, and generally a wise precaution in the cut-throat world of medieval politics. Add to that trial by combat was a legitimate method of solving judicial cases, and it would seem to be extremely unwise to let oneself be untrained in battle. Certainly throughout modern history the brunt of warfare in English history has taken the highest toll on the gentry, though that was also because if one couldn't afford a commision, then courageous actions were a legitimate alternative. That said I imagine that kings who are renowned as peaceful and saintly might have worn such locks, as they had strong right hands such as William Marshall to stand at their side.