Nonek

I think the line should always be drawn at using terms that are objectional in the eyes of the whole world, such as "french."

Could some approximation of one of the monolithic dynasties of the USA be used to simulate royalty, such as the Kennedy's for instance? Royalty isn't the key theme. The Quest for power (and revenge) is. The US version simply replaces the King with the President. It chronicles Frank Underwood's attempt to gain power and revenge after promising his support to a presidential candidate and then being screwed over. It's similar to Uruquhart's quest to become Prime Minister. It's not an exact equivalency but it works. I can't post any more details since there would be way too many spoilers for either series. Hmmm sounds more like a direct transition of House of Cards rather than To Play the King to me, however i've not seen the american series either so I couldn't possibly comment. What I think might be interesting if they try to americanise To Play the King is to deal with the modern royalty, celebrity and their unelected but popular and fashionable agendas. Might be ripe ground for making a few points about the preaching of an extremely pampered and privileged minority, who at the end of the day have no real power base or mandate from the people, and yet despite this feel they have the right to dabble in politics. I can think of a few nice key scenes, mixing withering social commentary and perhaps the fickle nature of social media as well.

Could some approximation of one of the monolithic dynasties of the USA be used to simulate royalty, such as the Kennedy's for instance?

Got to agree with Mr Sawyer on this, the fantastical really only becomes so when the reality of the world and its internal consistency is detailed and logical. Tolkiens hobbits starved and were exhausted, the fellowship were stopped by bad weather and locked doors, Boromir was corrupted by desperation and a deep seated fear, none of this took away from the more fantastical portions of the books, they added to them as being otherworldly.

Philippa did kill Radovid's father, humiliate his mother, usurp the power of the Redanian monarchy and try to kill the one man who found out about all this (old Djikstra.) To my mind Radovid's restraint and commitment to a lawful trial and then a lawful burning were quite admirable. That said yes, she is a fine example of a powerful and clever individual, whose plans for taking over Aedirn are quite noble, even if the means used are vile. Edit: I was a little less shocked I admit because I know that Sorceress' can regrow their eyes over time, as happened in the books. That and I expect that such a magnificent character will return in some manner, though I believe Borch Three Jackdaws might want a word with her. I would say that my Nameless One was consumed with regret over Ignus' upbringing and abuse, also felt pity for Boone, Dog/God and any number of others, and surprisingly enough Jayne Kassynder. I sound like a big softy don't I?

Wouldn't be at all surprised if Yennefer, her memory gone from her time with the Hunt, had intrigued and seduced her way into Emhyr's bed. There's a note in Shilards tent that i've just found, giving his regards to the Emperor's consort, strange wording for false Ciri the Empress and the whole thing gives off a Chekhov's gun vibe to me.

I think what might recieve bonuses for almost any background, considering the largely agrarian population, are makeshift farm implements: Bills, forks and such, which any Dyrwood peasant might know his way around, no matter his upbringing. Or perhaps they have a similar law to the old English custom of training with the Longbow on the Lords day. Might be a nice way to add a little cultural flavour, the Glenfathans might be trained in fighting with the claymores, dirks and targes of their clans by their fathers, mothers or other close family members. The Dyrwood might turn out highly effective Fyrdmen, who spend quite a few hours every week drilling under the eye of the local Thane and his Housecarls.

It is rather strange to hear how many developers trot out this idea that the player should be restricted for the sake of cinematics, I on the other hand thought that cinematics should be used to serve, enforce and reward the player, not handcuff him. After all the benefits of games is interactivity, and if one wishes for a cinematic experience one can attend a cinema.

No that's not what I said, I was joking about inclusivity going too far, and harming the Thief games which were originally designed for careful planning through familiarisation with the setting, routines, flaws and mechanics. When the developers are insulting their potential players grasp of the simple mechanics of previous games, simple mechanics that a few games (even modern regressed titles) share, then that is worthy of note. It speaks of how little these developers think of their audiences learning ability and patience, and is fairly damning however you choose to dress it up. Edit: Sorry forgot to add, in my opinion.

At Eidos they have a simple philosophy on player inclusivity, that it is speciesist to design only for those with opposable thumbs and higher levels of reasoning. From what I remember the original Thieves weren't all that complicated, there was a little nuance, but nothing that a quarter of an hour spent learning the games peculiarities in the tutorial couldn't remedy.

Wonder if one could have a certain sort of character oft reborn into the same culture, whose soul feels more comfortable in certain familiar armaments and raiments. Perhaps even with light penalties for not adhering, and bonuses for doing so, be an interesting point of character creation I think.

Well the enhanced edition of Assassins of Kings offered two large quests, one for each path as well as numerous changes and modifications to the base game. I suppose one could judge that as dlc.

Personally I found the choices in both Witcher 1 and 2 rather satisfying, especially as they queried ones morality by asking the questions rather than bluntly enforcing their own answers, and didn't particularly have a mandate to obviously enforce. The choice of whether to slay Foltests get or let her serve as a bargaining chip in the game of thrones, the choice of whether to support the one good man in the Order, or a bad man fighting for what seems at first glance to be a worthy cause (if one knows nothing of the Aen Elle) or just walk away from their little war was inspired in my opinion. In terms of micro in game choices I don't think either Witcher game can be beaten, whether that be the the choice of whether to support your brother Witchers or defend the laboratory at Kaer Morhen to the choice of whether to let Letho of Gulet walk away. Macro choices are a little less enforced, but then again what lasting effect can one itinerant monster slayer have on policy and succession, though I will say that my support of Siegfried and slaying of Adda were nicely implemented in game. Geralt may try and shape things to his will, but personally i'd be dissatisfied if he was treated with the same blatant and blunt protagonist empowerment that other games mistake for satisfying progression. After all the world of the Witcher is a noirish world, where the lesser evil is sometimes all one can possibly hope to achieve, despite ones intentions and actions. In the Witcher 2 one loses to Letho during the prologue, very much making the game some what of a tragedy, but I would say that this enforces rather than robs the player of agency. Every choice is tremendously empowering and personal, rather than playing into the epic confrontation between the Northern Kingdoms and the Black Ones, whether that be giving Loredo and Moril's child to Seherim or rescuing the scared little girl who watched her father slain while under your protection, they intersected with the grand political machinations of potentates and power mongers, but that was not what made those decisions important in my eyes. As for Geralt himself, i've been amazed throughout both games as to how much I can mold the gentleman to my own playstyle and alter his outlook on situations. Most games I play as a barely defined entity, picking from some binary morality system, and of course changing their looks to suit my personal tastes, however I felt that there was a little more depth and real growth in the Witcher. True the white wolf is somewhat defined as very much a man of bone dry wit, old fashioned sensibilities and vast experience and skill in his area of specialisation, but once again the micro choices where the real meat of the game and character lies are left wide open. However I realise that this may be just my personal evaluation, and respect others opinions and choices, I don't think there's any reason to foster a rivalry between Bioware and CDPR, after all they're enormously different products when looked at closely. Edit: I must also add that the game had a nice logical motivation for every aspect that my character undertook, at no point was I forced to take a dislikable option because there were good sensible reasons for my every choice, for me personally a narrative that is logical and a plot that is rational are enormously satisfying. I feel that this is the least any game can do, otherwise it's slightly insulting to ones intelligence.

Also independence day for the subcontinent if one remembers correctly.

I had no problems, and there's been quite a few patches so far. However a few recipes and formulae are changed in the base game, so be prepared for a number of differences.

If you wish for a rough demo of combat for the Witcher 3 i'd personally install Flash's Full Combat Rebalance mod for Witcher 2, rolls are out, pirouettes from the books are in and combat as a whole is rebalanced and tweaked for more reactivity and precision response. Still not to everyones liking, but i'm finding it quite enjoyable, hopefully they'll allow strafing and circling in the third game.

Personally i'm hoping the Elves at least are a different species and not a race of humanity, I really don't wish to be connected genetically to any tree sniffing, frollicking, daisy humper, however distant that relationship may be.

Apparently Mr Charles Dance will be voicing the White Flame Dancing on the Graves of his Foes, Emhyr Var Emrys, Emperor of Nilfgaard in the concluding part of the trilogy. Rather fitting I think.

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.