Nonek

Wonder if the more cunning adventurer could utilise spells and such to silence enemy guards and patrols, say a Cipher steals the words from their mind or a Wizard snatches the air from their lungs? Rather nice accompaniment for stealthy diversions I should think, give it some bombastic shakespearian title such as: "Be still thy vicious tongue."

Last time I played I went for a four person party like Azure: Paladin, dwarven fighter, gnome illusionist/thief and an elven druid, the druid especially had a lot of powers that I would consider essential, if not overpowered. The atrocious pathfinding of the infinity engine is a lot better with a smaller party, and the xp gain is a lot quicker.

No my complaint extends to Varrics dress code as well, his sturdy buff coat needs to be done up not left open like an idiot. As for Conan the legendary Cimmerian usually dressed in appropriate harness for the region and circumstances he was encountering, such as the heavy mail he wears throughout Queen of the Black Coast and the full plate harness he dons when leading troops in Hour of the Dragon. My analysis is not based on gender but rather verisimillitude, i'm not a fan of style over substance. Edit: And i'll state for the third time that a woman does not need to be half dressed to be overtly sexual, especially if her choice of clothing would mean she'd freeze to death and die for the sake of appearing sexy, to think any woman would be so idiotic as to do so is a massive disservice to women if not downright insultive.

To me that is a problem with her character however, as it makes her feel even more of an unbelievable caricture than the innappropriate attire and lack of armour do, realistic and believable motivations are important to establish a characters personality and backstory, when all of this is just thrown away for the sake of the illogical BUT THOU MUST plot, then I fail to see why I should particularly care about that character. Much like with Avelines incompetence as a guardswoman and dereliction of duty despite the Qunari presence. If there were problems with the narrative then make a better one, or go back and release an enhanced edition, if a small company in Poland can do so then a big firm like Bioware should be able to easily. After all making Dragon Age 3 a better game doesn't do much for those dissatisfied with DA2.

Personally i'd have been fine with Isabella (Varric too) if she'd have worn armour into the endless monotonous battles that spring up in Kirkwall, worn appropriate clothing for the climate that ensures she won't die of hypothermia (you can be sexy while fully clothed,) stopped talking about sex in every conversation (sounded like an eager virgin who'd never been touched,) was motivated enough to pursue her own "urgent" objectives, didn't sit around for ten years in the same spot despite those "urgent" objectives, didn't come and go at the orders of another person, if I could kill her etcetera, etcetera. Basically if she acted like anything but the blatant fan service caricature which she was. Edit: I'm not against power fantasies and empowerment in my escapism, I just prefer them to be not so hamfistedly and clumsily blatant, subtlety and nuance are not a writers enemy.

Personally for me, as well as the opportunities that all encounters should bring to the group not being explored enough, I think that the pacing of them is somewhat off. With an open world game such as New Vegas or The Black Gate one can choose when to thrust oneself headlong into the jaws of adversity, creating a pace that suits one own taste, whether that be combat heavy, exploratory or what have you. However with many single player rpgs one must trawl straight through repeated combat scenarios, which even at the best of times when one is at the edge of the seat praying to the god of the dice for a good throw, eventually become repetitive. Now i'm not saying that the rhythym of encounters should be on and off and repeat until the end, i'm saying ensure there's enough alternate content lying around so that the players may unwittingly make that choice according to their own tastes. Even if it's just the simplest of content to add atmosphere and of course expand the gameworld.

Looks positively stonking! Especially liking the parties varied armour and the antagonists Hotline Miami-esque masks. One has the feeling that room is going to be rather frustrating to broach.

Nice to hear that they're adding in races and horses, definitely saying the right things, but i'm a touch wary personally. I remember the "story" trailer for Dragon Age 2 which was rather economical with the truth, this new video seems very similar. Still proof of the puddings in the eating.

With their eyes?

1. There will be a player home, later a stronghold and numerous party camps for resting. 2. Inns sound very fine. 3. In total agreement, there's a lot of good underused meat on that bone. Edit: I also like your addendum point of the characters performing little actions, if Atton had been shuffling a pazaak deck, HK cleaning and stripping a firearm etcetera. Really builds and reinforces character at very little expanse, and a sudden change in that behaviour might serve to convey a change in attitude very effectively. If the gregarious drunken warrior who is usually singing at the bar with a pint is suddenly sat alone on his bunk whetting his blade, it makes a clear signal.

I agree with David's recent tumblr that put forth the notion that, for some people, having some of the stuff exist in any capacity is akin to "shoving it down your throat" and that for these people, it's often the case that the only acceptable solution is to not include it at all. Which is quite the dichotomy. There's plenty of people on the BSN that loathe BioWare's attempts to be inclusive for homosexuals (among other things). It's in large part why the forum is so divided and hostile as it is. Isabella is created as a juxtaposition, as requested and created by her very female writer. On the surface she is the stereotype, but that's the point. She is a sexual being *because she wants to be* as opposed to "she has sex with the player character because that's what her reason for existing in the game is." If you're referring to the inadequacy of her clothing offering protection, I always find it interesting that this criticism doesn't often apply to people like Varric (who has decided to leave his entire torso completely undefended), and also fits the caricature notion that the art style has. It's fine to NOT like the art style (you'd hardly be alone) of DA2, but be consistent. As for Aveline (whom I also liked Oerwinde)... if you're referring to the entire cast as "unmotivated slaves" then clearly this isn't simply a case of "insulting depiction of women." Tell Mr Gaider to play Fallout: New Vegas and talk with Arcade, subtlety is not a writers enemy and it makes for far more realistic depictions. My objection to Isabella's attire is mostly down to the fact that her state of undress in a temperate seaside city means she would contract hypothermia and die within a few hours, especially as she's a native of much warmer climes. In regards to the constant combat every ten feet, yes it does seem idiotic to go without adequate harness, the boring dwarf included. Though I seem to recall him wearing a sturdy buff coat, which would be as fine a piece of armour as any other for a rogue if he'd button it up. It's fine that in juxtaposition she wishes to be a sexual being, but at the cost of losing a limb to hypothermia or combat? I really don't need to defend my dislike of that, it's not an artistic choice it's insultingly idiotic and no human being would do such a thing, thus why she remains a caricature in my eyes. As for the entire cast being unmotivated slaves, yes you're correct and I was wrong, they all are and it's an insulting depiction of humanity in general. NB - However as i've stated before repeatedly the game was enjoyable and fun, so on some level it worked, and therefore fulfilled its raison d'etre. That's something to be proud of, and there's nothing wrong with catering to the target market your firm has chosen, they're a vocal and growing minority. I would simply caution that championing any cause carries inherent risks, as ones behaviour must be beyond reproach and I don't believe that your companies handling of women has been. However I may be utterly wrong in my appraisal, feel free to dissect or dismiss as you wish. Edit: Sexuality is not limited to lack of clothing in my eyes, far from it.

I think that this is fairly much uncontestable, partially due to the fact that their standard defense for any decision they're challenged on is to lionise themselves as white knights and demonise their accusers as homophobes and misogynists, no matter the logic or justness of their accusations. In courting the kind of "people" who frequent the Bioware Social Network they've forged their own mandate, which they will have to keep to, despite the insulting depiction of women in their games from the half dressed idiot Isabella to the incompetent guardswoman whose name escapes me and all of the other unmotivated slaves to the protagonist. However I would add that the games they make are fun and entertaining, with solid gameplay and easy to understand mechanics. A few years ago I would have added with rigorous bugtesting, but the state in which the Awakening expansion for the original Dragon Age is left so many years after release is positively shameful.

In terms of banditry I thought Betrayal at Krondor handled this well, your scouting skill could spot ambushes, you could then avoid or try to ambush the ne'er do wells.

Myth: The Fallen Lords, forgotten how good this was.

I've got to agree this form of quite blunt protagonist empowerment is becoming a little distasteful. Personally I found it refreshing to play Thief on the highest difficulties where killing is seen as sloppy, the mark of an amateur and automatically fails the mission. Or Alpha Protocol where the mission stat summation include a tally of the orphans you have created, which brings home that however justified the slaughter, it is still not right. Worse is the fact that our use of violence is so often clumsy and reactive, if we need to achieve an objective of elimination, why are we always tasked with trawling through endless waves of similar mooks guarding that objective. Why can we not plan, infiltrate, evade and eliminate without the inevitable mass murder. An anti material rifle from half a mile away, poisons, manipulation of dangerous individuals, exerting leverage through blackmail etcetera. We are almost always portrayed as hardly capable, and certainly not innovative. There is a place for violence, and massively over the top bullet ballets as we see in the first two Max Payne games, and they are without a doubt satisfying and distinctive. Deus Ex Human Revolution missed out to my mind in only offering a smart player one path to gain the optimal amount of xp, that of non violence, when it was viable to play Jensen as an embittered and on the edge individual who was struggling with a life he neither asked for or wanted. Severance: Blade of Darkness gave us the best combat ever brought to computer games, but there was never actually that much of it, facing two or more foes was a rare thing and extremely dangerous. Which leads me to think that to make the combat more acceptable it needs to be rationed and improved, made dangerous and have far greater consequences in and of itself. Vast masses of foes, all generic and basically lining up to be slaughtered one after the other by the self appointed messianic deliverer of justice just seems clumsy and nasty to me, whether it's in a shooter, hack and slash or rpg. I'd rather my opponent be humans just like myself, equally dangerous and equally interested in staying alive, life shouldn't be cheap. There also has to be far more effective forms of protagonist empowerment, whether that be the perks of Alpha Protocol, the feats of New Vegas or the consequences being shown in the narrative. I sometimes don't mind playing as an idiot barbarian, in fact I enjoy it, but give me the option to play intelligently and with some degree of morality. If for no other reason than it would make a change. As Kreia says: "Direct action is not always the best way. It is a far greater victory to make another see through your eyes than to close theirs forever." Too long, didn't read: Make combat meaningful, reactive and dangerous. Obviously there are bad examples such as the endless waves of slaughter in Dragon Age 2, but there are also good examples such as Fallout: New Vegas and Torment. I'd rather have the latter than abandon the feature entirely, too much of that and we have a graphical picture book not a game.

Though i'm (reasonably I think) nauseated by the preponderence of zombies in modern media, I am actually quite enthralled by one aspect of your introduction, the fact that it may well be ones own tomb. Maybe I just read Erekose at too young an age, but the thought of a protagonist long dead but suddenly reintroduced to the flesh, and all the sensation and memory it brings is (for me) quite interesting. Torian Kel of Arcanum is criminally underdeveloped in my opinion, as there was such inherent richness implicit in his situation, and yet despite that he is still one of my favourite characters in the game. A game where you are literally examining life and all it holds could be quite enthralling I think, especially with a strong backstory of the deeds you commited while alive. Raziel confronting and denying himself in the fortress of the Sarafan was a marvellously intriguing moment in Soul Reaver 2. Something like that but examined in more depth, and open to interpretation, bias and all manner of other variables (including of course ones own choices) could serve as an interesting mechanic for a player. Somewhat like Nameless' search for his memories in Torment.

Setting vast cauldrons of hearty soup before the starving, and then making them eat it using FORKS! Muahahahaha. Oh and gratuitous mustache twirling. The psychological cruelty of the Practical Incarnation with his pawns (especially Deionarra,) and Michael Thornton's last exhortation for Mina to be quiet come to mind as classy implementations of evil. Nameless' manipulations of Ravel, Ignus, Daakon and Vhailor all also spring to mind as well done, thinking about it he was a rather ruthless chap. Edit: The mocking of G22's Albatross, gloating over Sis' murder, rather shocking.

I always preferred the deep and conflicted characters Obsidian and Black Isle before them created, so as the zenith of that i'd have to place my vote with Torment. Though obviously Kreia stands out in the Sith Lords, her characterisation quite frankly embarassing any other females written by other companies. Cass and Boone from New Vegas also stand out as being excellent examples, along with many characters from the New Vegas dlc's. My one gripe would be the simplistic and rather cliche'd characters of the original campaign of NWN2, but they totally redeemed themselves in MOTB so i'll not waste any words over them.

I still ocassionally get my old Diablo cd out and have a good old dungeon crawl, can't be beaten for atmosphere.

I know from personal experience how depressing and hurtful some abusive and downright scathing e-mails and comments can be, I wish the wife and kids would stop sending me them. But seriously, though i've made a few complaints over certain issues I still believe Obsidian will make a cracking game suited to my tastes: They enthralled me with The Sith Lords when I despise Star Wars, they enchanted me with NWN2 when I was very wary following the first games awful campaign, Alpha Protocol was an innovative revelation, New Vegas especially with Mr Sawyers mod a delight, its dlc a model all of the industry should be following, Dungeon Siege 3 one of the best arpg's i've ever experienced and a world away from the distasteful automated combat of the first game. I know it sounds blinkered and fanboyish, but the gentlemen seem to be right up my proverbial alley. Keep on buggering on.

I have to disagree with Torments cast being horrible and immersion breaking, every single one of them was intimately connected to the protagonist and bound by the central theme of the game, Morte and Nordom were certainly used as comic relief in quite a few situations but that was not the only layer they had. Indeed tragedy, perception and deceit were as important in their make-up as the humurous, the memory scene between Morte and the Practical incarnation was a perfect example of this, they're multifaceted and behind every one of Morte's jokes and Nordom's ill worded observations was another meaning. Personally that's why Torments cast enraptured me, and served as a perfect means of immersing me in the story and Sigil, not only were they good walking, talking and reacting exposition, they were also fresh and multilayered. It is very rare to find subtlety and depth in rpgs, for instance compare Nordom and Morte to the one dimensional Minsc, who was just a one trick pony. Edit: For the record i'd be fine with less npc's, it didn't hurt MOTB at all.

Ah that would explain my ignorance then, thank you very much for the clarification.

Sorry to interrupt but what exactly is a game account? Something like ones Steam library?

The respected gentleman might say that, I however could not possibly comment.

Entrance or first level: Peddlers, hastily erected flophouses, maimed veteran delvers begging for charity, hard eyed robbers watching newcomers, bawdy houses and gin houses, secrets, maps and ward tokens being sold by suspicious characters, etcetera.