Nonek

Paladin sounds a bit too WOW-ish for me personally, never played the new fangled classes that modern D&D created so I wouldn't have anything to compare them to. Have you thought of a challenge ability, where as a defender of the faith/creed/culture or whatever, the Paladin may call out a philosophically opposed member of the antagonists. Though I suppose with the Paladin being a supporting role his chances of vanquishing said opponent in single combat are slim. Like the second Wild Orlan, looks very Jack in the Green.

I always like dungeons and other locales with their own little tales to tell, like the vaults in New Vegas. The vault with the lottery, think it was 11, had so much potential and tragedy from such a simple mechanic. That certainly hit you in all the right places, it left me with a burning desire to harm the Enclave in some manner, then of course I realised that judgement had allready come in the denouement of Fallout 2. As for the actual level design, i've always preferred multiple approaches but also multiple areas inside the actual labyrinth. I often designed areas to be quiet, secluded and undiscovered for centuries. Hidden behind secret doors and cunning riddles these areas would feature glimpses of the past, of lost cultures and heroes etcetera. A nice little organic way of fleshing out the gameworld outside of a manual or journal entry. Crumbling broken hallways, where earth falls with your every careful footstep (a fabulous method of splitting up the party,) and any open conflict would result in thousands of tons crushing the protagonists. Endless rows of Sarcophagi, scrawled with undecipherable runework, the angular artwork of a lost civilisation and an unpleasant sensation of heavy watchfulness. Heaving and boiling pits of activity, where monstrous abominations toil and tussle in their own filth, and you are forced to pass by in the shadows, hoping that none of the creatures will glance in your direction. Desperate chases and dirty little melees as you run from a veritable horde, only to find your pursuers stopped and a dread feeling squeezing your very soul with its malign presence. You have stumbled into the lair of some forgotten dread bane, one that your enemies fear. Coming out of the gloom, to be greeted by the kiss of high winds and the heady sensation of standing a thousand feet above the ground, the crumbling narrow bridges barely wide enough for a mans feet. While far above the winged sentinels spread their pinions and behold fresh prey. A timeless place, a strangely dreamlike locale where vast wizardries were manipulated in an effort to tear it free from reality. The enchantment worked too well, the people of this place were trapped between the tick and the tock of the clock, while things that should not be, many angled abominations crept forth from the dark places between to feast and fornicate. A hero of old, preserved by sorcery or alchemy, hanging in a cocoon of spiderlike silken strands that hum with life and warmth. The scars of vicious battle adorn his frame, mortal wounds it seems, and yet they are long healed. Ornate, decaying and richly furnished apartments where half heard whispers are percieved and disturbing images glimpsed from the corner of ones eyes. Luxuriant couches adorn every room, with braziers beside them still thick with the stench of the black lotus leaf. Here the priests of a slumbering god came to dream, and in so doing leach from the foul essence of their titanic master. Here the mind of a slumbering god is near, and some measure of awareness still exists. What dreams may come if one should rest in such a place?

Can't see what exactly the danger is in an invasion from the Fade, demons and abominations in the last two games could be banished by the coughing of an asthmatic ninety year old. Unless they're aiming on blinding a vast majority of the populace through blurred textures.

Might it be possible to have a companion who spoke one of the more tongue twisting of languages, and your intellect and guesswork allow you to slowly gain an understanding of his tongue, like with the Dabu in Sigil? Might be a good way of integrating the learning into the game, and make pronunciation and such a more organic thing. The translation scenes with Fell were brilliant role playing to my mind, and equally they might be keen on learning some of the younger languages. Might be a touch too awkward to design such a character (with such a focus on linguistics) however.

Always enjoy looking up and learning new things, so i'm all for this. Had the opportunity a few years ago to attend a recital of Beowulf in the original old English performed by an RSC veteran, it was absolutely captivating, even though I admit that I had professor Tolkiens translation open on my knee. Think it might be an especially interesting route for the Chanter to take, finding purer Glenfathan translations of the more modern saga poems. Edit: Recently played through Icewind Dale 2, and had my liitle one interested in Latin, simply because he wanted to know what the spellcasters were saying. Now that's what you call educational. Next up Total War, and all the Sun Tzu qoutes.

This being an Obsidian game though, one of those old souls will have to be railing against its confinement, crying out for release and asking the protagonist to break the blade asunder. I served righteously throughout life, now let me have my promised rest etcetera. Edit: Indeed what if in other religions the blade is a weapon of evil, standing between souls and their rebirth on the wheel. Be a nice little perplexing situation.

Severance: Blade of Darkness is also highly recommended, the best combat system in any game i've ever seen. Very hard, and each character has their own style of fighting that needs to be mastered, but highly rewarding once you've become fluent in the mechanics.

And features added for the sake of features hasn't been working out either. There's brilliance in simplicity: If you have to keep adding more and more layers of simulation to make a mechanic work, then maybe you're better off just dumping that mechanic. I'm sorry Micamo but i'm afraid that I have to refute that statement completely, games have not been adding features. There's been a culture of streamlining, content ripping and feature pulling in most every game for the past twenty years. All it has produced is much shorter campaigns, less alive gameworlds and far more padding through endless trash mob slaughter. As well as utterly inconsequential WOW like sidequests, that serve no purpose but to erode time and generate small amounts of xp and gold. Look at Dragon Age 2 where you can't even speak to your companions and supposed family, where npcs are ghosts that you can walk straight through, where every dungeon is re-used again and again, where quests are alternating corridors of combat and conversation, and there is no answer to any problem other than mindless slaughter, where you get sidequests by picking up hats and returning them to a stranger. This got many 10 scores from the corrupt gaming press and was hailed as innovative, that's what this blind urge to whittle down and pull features has produced. Significantly sub par games. I personally donated to the kickstarter because: 1) Obsidian have proven with every game that they still have that ambition to innovate and expand. 2) It promised an old style game from when features and complexity were not so looked down upon, though in truth even the Infinity engine games pale in comparison to Wizardry and Ultima. 3) I humbly admit that i'm a reasonably intelligent gentleman who's able to handle a fair amount of complexity and tasks, I do not need everything simplified or made so accessible that even single cellular life may understand it.

I don't know Licketysplit I think Zoraptor is correct on the UI, that was obviously made for a controller, and CDPR have stated themselves that they are focused on an often overlooked demographic, the mature intellectual middle class male who has grown up with gaming. They are obviously using a fan favourite sales pitch, wherein they treat their customers with respect, and provide matchless support for their games, thus ensuring brand loyalty. I truly do not know about whether they wish to make their own IP's, as their line on the Witcher has repeatedly been that they make the games that they want to play. I can however imagine that right about know they're heartily sick of Sapkowski's protagonist, and looking for their recent successes to allow them some creative leeway. Whether the share-holders are, well that's another matter.

In general i'm against features being jettisoned for the simple sake of streamlining and ease of use, it certainly hasn't produced better games over the past few years, so i'd have to disagree Pony. I think resting could be a brilliant mechanic if it's rationed and balanced, say by the amount of water, firewood or vittles you are carrying. Even in the most crowded of dungeons one can imagine that there are entire abandoned wings that the party can barricade, defend and use for recuperation. Dungeons after all do not have to be linear corridors, with combat placed every few feet, personally i'm hoping for big sprawling maps where one can easily get lost in the darkness and interesting little features abound around every other corner. I'll agree that they haven't worked in the Infinity engine games, but in my own opinion that's because not enough time and detail was spent implementing them, and wringing every last bit of potential out of them. And there is a massive amount of potential there, so many ideas and great roleplaying features, as we've shown in many other threads.

Holy to which deity?

One of the stated intents of the Kickstarter was to explore a fantasy world with a realistic set of consequence for the fantastic elements, surely that's exactly what you're asking for? Edit: Oh and forget point five then if you wish.

I far prefer the Angyar Dead Contract quest to the exposition on the beach with the old man at the shrine, for any number of reasons. One, we get a look into the lives and trials of the ordinary sigil native. Two, we are given a quest so that we become involved rather than just listening to a stereotypical conservative caricature talking at us. Three, we have a choice in how to complete the quest and thus affect the world around us. Four, we are introduced to the Dustman factions interactions with the natives of Sigil, and the Dead Contracts are explored in more detail. Five, we are introduced to a hint of our own backstory and the possibility that we might well have signed many such contracts, and that just like with Angyar there is a cost. Six, we are introduced to a little more of Planescape weird and wonderful world through interacting with it, thus following that most important of all novelists rules show don't tell. Seven, we become used to a few more words of the chant, though in truth being English I was allready a little familiar with many of the terms. Eight, through my attitudes and handling of the quest I can define my own character, taking into account what Mortai Gravesend revealed. This for me is what a quest should do every time, exposition is cheap and can be doled out at any point, but actual interaction and change affecting the gameworld and yourself is far more valuable. After all we're playing in an interactive medium not reading a novel, though I personally like both passtimes.

I'm thinking more Chinatown.

Surely it should be contrasted to a film noir, Geralt is after all basically a Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade archetype in a fantasy setting.

Strange that one has not seen many men whining about having to play as a female in the Tomb Raider games. Edit: Or women whining about having to play as Duke or G. Freeman, I wonder if this sense of outrage is only triggered by games with character creation?

I always found Torment to be a very good demonstration of limited voice acting paying dividends creatively, on my last playthrough I was amazed at the amount of lines that were not voiced, that I had a clear recollection of thinking were. I'm not sure whether it was because of the extremely distinct characters, their voice sets or what, but once introduced my imagination seemed to fill in the gaps without conscious effort. The voice sets of Icewind Dale were exemplary though, I still catch myself ocassionally muttering. "Easy as Goblin pie."

Isn't that the dictionary definition of "game journalist?" My mistake your description doesn't include corrupt.

Isabela is created as a juxtaposition. Her appearance is meant to illicit a stereotypical reaction. The thing about Isabela, however, is that her presence in the game is much more about female empowerment than female fan service. In fact, she's utilized in a variety of ways to throw the gamer off kilter somewhat. If you listen to Isabela's conversations, she is very much about empowering not only herself, but the other females of the group. She recognizes Merril's naivety, and takes her under her wing. Her and Aveline don't get along at all, but in the end she's still about smacking sense into Aveline for some of the absurd preconceptions and reservations that she has - and does so in her decidedly crude and Isabela sort of way. Yes Isabela fits a common trope, but her creation was done so in a way to challenge the stereotype, as opposed to simply being an attractive woman that exists solely to serve male love interests. She initially rejects Hawke, and ultimately isn't actually interested in any sort of maturing, serious relationship unless you happen to be rivals with her, a position that many gamers are unwilling to take (especially since most assumed Rivalry = bad). In my anecdotal experience, Isabela is typically a character that resonates quite strongly with female gamers actually. First impressions were typically not very favourable, but I think that is why many ended up really enjoying her as a character. At least in the discussions I have had. /shrug That said, I actually agree that BioWare can make much bigger steps in this direction and I hope they continue to do so. I don't doubt that Isabela was used in marketing because of her appearance rather than her character, and stuff like that is much less interesting and I'd like to see us be more bold in the ways that we approach appearance and marketing, rather than falling on the safe and easy tropes. I'm sorry that I seem to be harping on this point sir, but I can't help but call you out here. Isabella had empowerment as a motive? This is a woman so stupid she can't wear appropriate clothing in an enviroment where she'll suffer from hypothermia, so idiotic she doesn't realise that the combat every ten feet in Kirkwall requires armour of some kind. She is massively incompetent, unmotivated and basically a slave to another character for ten years, putting her life on the line at their bidding. This isn't empowerment, those are the actions of an idiot. If this was the writers intention i'd suggest that they go back to the game and make an enhanced edition, because they failed spectacularly, and certainly hindered the depiction of women in video games. No disrespect intended but i'm surprised anyone would champion passive slavery and rampant idiocy as positive female characteristics, much less try to spin them as empowerment.

Eh it is just going to be like a WoW rogue. Lots of prep, perfect positioning, unload with a set of specific skills.... then start prepping again so in 30-40 seconds you can do damage again. Meanwhile the guy with the two hander does steady reliable damage to multiple enemies the entire time. On a "pure damage" number crunch the two hander guy probably wins.... but the Rogue will still be better for one on one bursts of massive damage at a short time. In other words two hander is for trash killing, rogue is for precision strike on high threat target. I don't get this, a two handed sword deals much more damage than a dagger against one person. I don't know anything about MMO's because I don't play them, but I know how steel works and a two handed sword doesn't affect multiple people when you hit one. Edit: Does Warcraft have a different set of physical laws governing mass and impetus? Sorry for the derail but this sounds utterly idiotic, I thought Eternity was going to have some authenticity to its arms and armour, not MMO rules.

Hopefully you're right Infinitron, and it's limited to attempted assassinations.

Dear Lord I hope not, a two handed sword should do significantly more damage than a rogues dagger, that's just painfully obvious. If my huge Oomama's being out dps'd by an Orlan with knitting needles i'll be rather upset.

Until recently I still thought hipsters were low cut jeans from the seventies, like Robert Plant wears at Madison Square Garden in the Song Remains the Same.

I agree their reasons for joining will probably be varied and organic, which personally I like because it avoids being too formulaic, and revolves around their individual quirks. However this still leaves us on the horns of a dilemna, on one side you have Krakorov who believes that since this is a game about his character that he is automatically the master of the companions, and all loot and resources are automatically his to do with as he pleases. The game's about him and that's perfectly valid. Then there is my position that we are either a group of like minded individuals (a classical AD&D party if you will,) who are motivated by a common goal and working in unison, or I am hiring various persons to aid me in my personal endeavours. With the groups fortune either split amongst us by myself, or a wage paid to each member, depending on the difficulty of the task and various other factors. Perhaps this is another thorny issue that should be relegated to a toggle or the more realistic modes of play? If it's even implemented at all, the development allready seems extremely ambitious.

Yes this is what i'd prefer, if they were able to pay for their own needs and not be reliant on the protagonist, it's a rather clumsy form of ego stroking that personally I find a little distasteful. I'd prefer them to be free companions rather than indentured dogsbodies. With their own lodgings, preferred arms and armour, the means to buy their own vittles and whatnot. Though potions obviously need to just go away and die, they were silly in AD&D, and they're silly now. Obviously their pay would be substantial, because they're putting their lives on the line for somebody else's objectives, and they will one assumes be skilled, potent operatives. Of course we should have a final say over their weapons, armour and tactics so that it's not like the ridiculous system in say Dragon Age 2, fit only for the lowest common denominator, but that goes without saying. If they're partners in your endeavour, then that loot you pick up is partly theirs and you're not paying them, you're just in charge of distrinuting the proceeds of the latest venture. Which should always be fair. But as a professional mercenary or a hireling, which just sits better with my sensibilities than the term adventurer, they are employees whom you must pay a fair wage to and to whom one has a duty of care, if one wishes to later hire others at none astronomical prices. Edit: It would be nice if at some point the exact relationship between the protagonist and companions was defined by Obsidian. Whether they are sellswords whom one is hiring, perhaps at a reduced rate through common goals. Or whether they are fellow party members, taking an equal share of the profits and risks like in AD&D, where the player acting out the party leader role is merely the administrator of the group and not the employer.