Nonek

I did like this feature in Divine Divinity, it was a nice little touch of detail, however I would say that I don't particularly need a scabbard or sheath. If the weapon were placed on the belt or backpack when the character is in a relaxed situation that would be more than enough for me. That said I would like to be able to draw weapons at any time not just in combat, as I wish to be ready for ambushes and surprises, and venturing into a dungeon without weapons hefted and readied seems unwise. Edit: That said if this feature is not allready in the game then it would most likely be too much work to implement at this late stage I assume, unless it is less complex than I anticipate.

Strange, i've been insulted and verbally abused but have never once felt that those words infringed on my dignity, nor have I ever wanted to censor the people who spout such profanities. A small smile and a wink are the only acknowledgement I give them, and I prefer such open exchanges, rather than unspoken hate festering inside, suppressed by what one version of society deems appropriate. Speak as I speak, do as I do, think as I think has never been anything but a distasteful instruction to me, especially considering those who have used it previously. Edit: One has been perusing the Codex and the gentlemen there have some truly great news and editorial articles, the benefit of being largely unmoderated and not parroting popular tropes, as I see it there is always a need for a counter cultural voice and though raucous I believe there are gems hidden in that squalor. I do not obviously agree with much of what's said but I would defend their right to say it.

Slightly disappointing, however I understand that the gentlemen wish to attract more publishers and must accept a certain amount of compromise. I certainly hope that it is not the beginning of a slippery slope however, if so they lose their unique selling point and PR pitch, that of the "good guys."

More than fair and reasonable sir, I was wondering more on why Godlike have a dexterity bonus however, an otherwordly grace perhaps?

1. When I can see my protagonist constantly i'm far more connected to him, thus isometric and third person games are far more immersive to me than first person. 2. Games should never cater to the individuals who do not finish them, they should tell the story they wish without any constraints. 3. Accessibility is destroying the genre, constant pandering to the lowest common denominator destroys the game for anybody wishing for a challenge or cohesion. 4. On the whole games have devolved over the last twenty years, and the masses have cheered on this slide into mediocrity and championed degenerate design decisions, feature stripping and lack of content. 5. There can never be enough choice and consequence, my every playthrough should be different and unique. For instance Bioware's three different answers leading to the same result is truly degenerate design, easily discerned and making a mockery of interactivity, which should be the greatest strength of this medium. 6. The tyranny of loot collection is destroying good games, more need to have a viable and balanced economy. 7. Turn based combat is far more thrilling and involved than real time, the playing out of tactics, the wait for the results, the cruel fall of the dice and your enemies response, exhilirating. 8. Blank slate characters remain blank if the game does not acknowledge their actions, you may invent histories, habits and personalities for them but if the game does not acknowledge that then you may as well quit the game and use your imagination. 9. There is far too much combat in almost every game ever made, the thousands you kill on your quest do not empower the protagonist, they simply rob the foe of any potency and make them fodder. Ramp up the difficulty and make combat a gruelling deadly puzzle to be avoided at all costs, rather than a time sink and artificial barrier. 10. Apathy is death.

I partake of spectacles not the old monocle but as for pipe smoking, one is a great admirer of a good rough shag.

Personally i've never particularly gotten on with the childish simple caricatures that Bioware passes off as characters, they always seem to be there for one simple purpose, blunt and clumsy ego stroking of the protagonist. This is almost always at the expense of their own identity, take the guardswoman from Dragon Age 2, we're told that she is strong by all and sundry, but it is revealed in the game that she is incompetent at her job thus accounting for the bandits every ten feet in Kerkwall, willingly abandons that duty at the commands of the protagonist and cannot perform her most important assignments without the aid of the protagonist. The fact that she is a slave to the main character for years goes without saying, and has absolutely no reasoning or logical explanation behind it, it is just crude pandering. She even has to have her hand held when courting a man, as if she were some blushing virgin maid and not a widow, utterly preposterous. It is fairly much the same with all of Bioware's creations, they are barely sketched out archetypes, they evoke feelings of needy childishness, simplistic and disturbing in its clumsy attempts at empowerment. Whereas I will always remember Boone's tragic and shocking story, and the fate that you cannot change for him, merely alleviate in a number of ways through your actions. I have always felt that Obsidian create far more detailed, mature and realistic characters, rather than the Bioware staple of one liner spewing simpletons, whom are to be squee'd over and romanced by the strange people who frequent the BSN. Obviously Dragon Age 2 fairly aggresively ramped up the idiocy of its characters, with the upper, middle and lower right restriction on conversations, the fact that you could not get rid of the morons who followed you around, and yet ironically could not even talk to them even if they were supposed to be your family, but I think it's always been there. This emphasis on soundbites and style rather than substance and self respect, it echoes throughout Bioware's games for me, and though I can fairly much forgive many aspects of a game, such as hideously over elaborate art design and illogical renaissance fayre settings, poorly written and blatantly distasteful characters such as that moronic pirate stripper in Dragon Age 2 I cannot. If you want to make a wise cracking, cynical and veteran character I suggest you look at old Cassidy, a font of information in a changing world, a hardbitten and yet likeable companion who is useful, self motivated and uncompromising even though life has been less than kind to him. It was a pleasure to take a seat beside Rose and chat with her about the old man, and reminded me of how easily he spang off the screen. Really great characterisation. Or look at Arcade Gannon, a man on the run and in hiding, whose life has been hard even for the wasteland and yet he remains, a clever, hopeful and articulate spark of brightness and hope in a grim world. Yet this does not define him, he is also a realist and knows that sometimes the means to achieve an end are messy, though he wishes it were not so, and he is searching for a better way of conducting society than the barbaric way of Caesar or the increasingly fascist NCR. I really cannot compare these great, detailed and conflicted personalities to the simplistic caricatures of Bioware, who lets face it can be summed up with a few buzzwords.

Strangely enough this reminds me of the old RTS Warrior Kings, they share a certain ambience, and I was often a little disappointed when combat interrupted my civilisation crafting in that game. For the work of just one man this is a Herculean feat, I hope the gentleman finds success and thrives.

Be quite an interesting NPC (or perhaps even a protagonist) who has a weak sundered soul and yet is successful and driven, self motivated and ambitious with a keen mind and a strong will, who has none of the advantages of the spiritually potent and yet outperforms them through grit and cunning. Somewhat like the film Gatacca, a study in applying oneself versus natural gifts. Obviously Obsidian could make such a character far more interesting than my clumsy prose can.

Divine right again, I think that's a realistic approach that the mighty would seize upon. One thing that's always interested me is how a small warrior class may rule over the vast majority, say with the Norman warlords who rose to prominence in Britain, and how their culture basically comes to dominate the native race. Just as the Anglo-Saxons did before them I suppose, displacing, outbreeding and supressing the indigenous people who settled Britain by crossing the land bridge from Europe. I suppose the Britain's Celtic culture must have arisen from a warrior elite imposing that society upon them as well. Have similar small groups of conquerors had such an impact on Poe's world I wonder, and have they been born of one racial group or simply a collection of spiritually potent individuals?

When I was a lad we had it hard! We prayed on bended knee for ten hours in hot coals until our legs were burned to useless nubs, went to the workhouse for thirteen hours where we were beaten and tortured by Inquisitor Torquemada while assembling My Little Pony dolls, and finally got home to be crucified in cold blood by our own dear Mater, who sneared at our weakness, laughed and stabbed us in the side with a barbed spear. I'll say this though that childhood made us appreciate lifes little luxuries. Mind you Pater he was a hard man and didn't spare the whip like my mother, he decapitated my brother Bentley with a rusty claymore for chewing too loudly at table, and made my dear sister Ermintrude swim lengths in a pool of hydrachloric acid for leaving the tap running while she brushed her teeth.

Banished, very relaxing, yet detailed and satisfying. Edit: Thought i'd been playing for five minutes but an hour had passed, sign of a good game.

They do seem to cry a lot and show emotions in general, when I walk past Mrs Nonek's reality television programs i'm often amazed by the sheer amount of blubbering going on, usually men as well. Very strange, it seems the generation who handled their problems quietly and privately are fading away. I have also noticed youths seem to glory in uniformity, the same tattoo's, the same piercings, the same clothes, individuality seems to be very much on the decrease while fitting in with a social grioup is on the increase. And what is with the helmet hair, are these young slimey headed gentlemen trying to look as stupid as possible? I suppose i'm just an aged anachronism, who's not so emotional, nor so needy, and certainly doesn't dance which seems to be another craze that's appeared from nowhere. When did food become so important as well, you can't get away from cookery programs with tones of ridiculous gravitas. Also is there something wrong with the spines of modern children, they all seem to slouch, even in formal situations rather than sit up straight. Need their thighs slapping with a yardstick if you ask me!

1. Eye of the Beholder 3: One of the few games i've stopped playing, uninstalled and given away. That bad. 2. Ultima 8: The jumping, killing children, the waste of all the promise that was shown in the build up to revealing Pagan. Still finished and must admit there were some good parts to it, such as meeting the Demon in the Black Sword. 3. Ultima 9: No, just no, what the devil were you thinking Mr Garriot. Finished and wished i hadn't. 4. Dragon Age 2: almost finished, gave up when the glowing Templar woman shot into space, uninstalled and haven't touched since. Probably the worst narrative, plot, setting and characters i've ever seen in a game. A tremendous step back in the medium, but I got sixty hours worth of game out of it so it served its purpose. Did she show up in ME3? 5. Mass Effect 2: The usual illogical and nonsensical Bioware plotting and blatant protagonist empowerment, but at least unlike DA2 this was fun, even though everyone in the Galaxy is sickeningly stupid.

What I personally find interesting is that the Aedyrean's seem to have merged their culture with the Elven species, despite the fact that they cannot breed and so are not racially related they seem to be co-existing peacefully, that's very interesting and quite new to me. I assume that Dwraves have also been swallowed by their nearest dominant culture rather than keeping their own cultural identity, now is this a great opportunity to see a really dynamic mix of species and the various races of Humanity, or is there something lost in the Elves and Dwarves having been swallowed by the Human state. Or maybe that state is more of a conglomeration of different cultures and species, all sharing common ideals and goals. Can speciesism exist in such a far ranging and diverse culture, or are there other hatreds born of more subtle differences? Soul strength, religion obviously or cultural superiority by inhabitants of the old dominant Empires. It seems quite strange to see different species treated as brothers, how did this come to pass, when did the early tribes of men cast away the fear and hatred of the stranger, and instead embrace them as countrymen? I'm interested to see what manner of leadership has arisen in the Free Palatinate as well, because we all know that there's no such thing as freedom. What manner of government is used by the Glenfathan's, and how deep within their culture does the protection of the Engwithan ruins run? Are these societies still largely agrarian, with the vast majority of people working the land and being largely self sufficient, with luxuries available at exotic locales such as the nearest market towns? I look forward to finding the answer to these questions and more.

I'd be interested to hear the reasoning for the Godlike (of whatever parent species) to all have the same attribute bonuses, and why they have those bonuses, assuming there's a reason. I quite like the idea of the Godlike being of different body shapes, so that some equipment is not useable by them, personally i'm hoping for a Satyr race that has no shoes slots because of the cloven hoofs. All told i'm liking the fact that they're not simply Genasi, and add a little touch of the other into Poe's cauldron of species.

This can only be a good thing in my opinion, without the necessary background and the societal make-up we're left with a gameworld that will feel artificial, like Thedas or the Forgotten Realms. The fact that we're in a colony newly split from an ancient Empire obviously raises certain ideas of a "New World," and I for one welcome exploration of its varying strata. Obviously I will take advantage of any chance at power and ruthlessly subjugate at the first opportunity, but it would hardly behoove a citizen of the time to do anything less, power at that time meant simply winning or dying as history shows repeatedly. My character will live, prosper and exploit the stinking peasantry. And when and if a popular revolution arises back both sides in secret while proclaiming public neutrality, so that his ascent into the next order of power brokers is assured whatever the results, while ensuring he profits from the conflict.

Was it the Celt's who used to have a belt tax amongst their warriors? The more holes made in ones belt, the more tax one would have to pay, sounds a little mythological to me but you never know.

Personally I think people are really getting a little over sensitive, everybody's a Troll unless they agree with your opinion or react with po faced seriousness at all times. Is there no place for a little obvious humour, or must we all tiptoe around each others feelings and fear upsetting anyone? God help the satirist's and comedians if this ever becomes the case! You can't even apply logical and fact based criticism without facing a wave of Trolling accusations now, spirited discourse with a little humour interspersed is a good thing and if the participants cannot see that humour then they have the problem, not the so called Trolls. Addendum: Why am I seeing so many accusations of immaturity lately, I mean personally I see that as a good thing, to retain ones youth and sense of fun. Then again i'd love to drop forty years or so and be a ten year old again. Don't be in such a hurry to grow old, it's not a bowl of cherries.

I don't discriminate. I just see unreasonable people, and reasonable people, on whichever side. It's pretty funny when someone gets a reasonable point made against them, and they have to refer to "you promancers" or some such, just to bestow some unreasonable argument upon the immediate poster to which they're replying, just to still have something to argue against. *shrug*. Maybe one day there can be actual exchanges of the perspectives of both sides of something like this, instead of some kind of "which side wins?" battle royale. But, this is the internet... so probably not. 8P Lighten up Lephys, nobody can take the bombastic, over the top rhetoric i've been spewing as anything but ridiculous piffle. As i've said in serious mode it's perfectly fine for all of the npc's to find the protagonist unattractive, or take take a little time developing the relationship, rather than just being restricted to one game. There are almost infinite methods of interaction with npc's so the avoidance of romance is hardly a hindrance, indeed it may allow us to form a far more stable relationship than a little pillow talk and a quick tumble. Well that's my thoughts on the subject anyway, others may differ but I think the decision is perfectly valid and in fact a good move by Obsidian, but that said i'm bored of the subject now and can't think of any more bad jokes so I shall retire from the discussion.

@Bryy: I shall not try to sir, your mind and opinions are your own. @Drudanae: It's unclear, some ascribe him as a relative of Cirilla and her lineage (an unknown bastard or somesuch) while others argue he is just another Source, a powerful reality bending sorcerer. CDPR left it unresolved, though personally I suspect the former.

Ahhh and now we come to the real question brothers and sisters, what shall we name the august body that has arisen to defend the wise decision Obsidian has taken against the hordes of the depraved Slaaneshi? Nomancer's, Nochancer's, Nonopantsdancer's? Inquiring minds want to know. The Obsidian Order of Twisted Insular Touchy Sods? The acronym is rather troublesome however.

No it isn't and no it won't. I agree with Keyrock total clickbait, unlike Bryy I have a lot of time for CDPR as with GOG and their unrivalled support of their games they seem to be the good guys (refreshing in this industry) but these articles are always utterly ludicrous. Edit: To be honest I don't believe the two titles will bear that much similarity, so I can't see where competition would arise anyway, though I can see a lot of Bethesda hikers being a little put out with a set protagonist and a story, choice and consequence heavy game rather than the usual accesible sandbox.

The Bulldog of Bishop's Stortford?

Pop down the gym for a buffing sessions, shave and moisturise for a few hours until I vaguely resemble a human, throw myself in a bath of Blue Stratos, adorn myself with a small fortune in gold and jewellery, slide on my Staying Alive suit and then wine, dine, dance and jingle jangle jewellery my lady love into our hotel bed for a vigorous session of horizontal hokey cokey. Then go home to the Wife with some flowers.