Nonek

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.

There was some rather good discussion in a thread by Hormalakh in the other forum, ah yes here it is: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63687-limiting-rest-areas/

Nonek do you consider me a trusted source? I'll happily review DA3 for you. I am confident that it will provide a worthwhile RPG experience While I appreciate the kind offer sir, i'm not too sure our opinions would be synergistic. However I thank you for the gesture. @Keyrock. Apparently one of the combat design team, a gentleman called Flash (ahhhahhh) is making a full combat rebalance mod for the second game, that deals with the common bugbears you rightly point out. One assumes it's also a beta test for the third games combat system.

It does seem that most rpg companions are fairly much slaves to the protagonist I agree, they put their lives on the line and yet recieve nothing other than what the main character deems them worthy of, as if they do not deserve an equal share of the loot they have worked equally hard to gain. I dislike that, it does not lead to respecting the characters in their own right, they are less people and friends, more tools to be used and disposed of when no longer viable. For a developer like Obsidian that produces the finest characters in the genre, this serves to belittle them in my view. One can of course see the need for a party leader, who directs and controls the individuals strategies and panoply, but too often it goes without saying that every aspect of the companions life is directed by the protagonist for no reason other than tradition. This doesn't make me respect my companions, they appear to be extensions of my will rather than allies in the struggle. For the record Obsidian is much better at avoiding this than any other developer I know, whether it's Kreia's hidden motivations and subtle manipulations or Boone's steady refusal to be anything other than what he is. Even if these people are co-conspirators in the protagonists endeavours, they should still not be so meek as to turn over all control of their finances and belongings to the main character without suitable renumeration. Mercenaries of course fight and die for coin as a matter of course, but even they can pick and choose their cause and employer, though of course they cannot abandon that employer without their loyalty and future employability being seriously called into doubt. Personally if i'm leading a party of individuals into a hostile situation, I want their loyalty and their respect, treating them as worthless and undeserving of pay or avoiding any kind of responsibility to them, seems a little rum in my book. One assumes it would in theirs as well, there are as many (if not more) responsibilities as perks to being a leader of men. Then again i'm always thrilled at the idea of more options and features, so that if one wants to play as a rather selfish individual that playstyle is available. Perhaps spies in your camp and traitors become de rigueur however, so that your lack of loyalty is mirrored by all those around you. Perhaps your companions are even lured away by your foes, with adequate compensation for their time and effort.

The Illustrated Man. One word at a time he carved the spells into his flesh, litanies of power scrawled and shifted as his brow wrinkled in concentration. Not once inch of his skin remained free of rune or sigil, for an entire library of secrets and spells wrapped around his body, the lost learning of a civilisation long since vanished. Finally his work finished he arose, naked as a babe and looked up to the rising sun. There was time yet, time enough to save his people and their knowledge. At his feet the corpse shuddered and steamed, the illustrations disappearing from its flesh. He looked down and shook his head, another life wasted in his quest, used up all too quickly. Who would think that this aged and withered corpse had seen only two dozen summers, there was a price for bearing the library, a price that he still held was worth it. Looking at his illustrated hands the Man flexed his fingers into a fist and watched sorcerous fires dance and flicker, young and strong, this body would endure for a while. With a gesture he robed himself in nondescript sackcloth, and turned his face to the dawn. Maybe some clue would be found on this path, maybe some hint left by his creators. It had been many centuries since the last marker, but the Man did not give up hope. The library would be re-united with its reader, if it must wander until the end of time. No other option remained to it.

For me it seems not unreasonable that Pauly might well require you to make a donation to mother church to secure his aid, presumably they pay for his food, lodgings, the upkeep of his arms and armour etcetera. Carry has to give up a lucrative mark she's been casing for the past week or so, and put her life on the line to help you, it's only reasonable that you should recompense her for her time and possibly if she's not coming back make sure her family are provided for. You might have saved her life seven times but she will have aided you a like amount, and neither of these put food on her table or make up for a lost job. Her time is valuable, a good friend would see that and pay her without ever being asked, at least in my eyes. As for the aid of mercenaries, they are what I would want to take into a dangerous situation. Professional, disciplined and obviously highly skilled in their field, thus justifying their fee. It's friends and family that I would not want to be taking in to a life or death situation. I think that companions all too often are overlooked as expendable assets, their worth only measured in how much they concur with your opinions. I'd prefer them to have worth with or without the protagonist, and to easily justify a fair days pay for a fair days work.

I'll probably buy DA3 if it garners enough good reviews from trusted sources (not "professional game journalists",) unless it's Origins only in which case i'll do as the song says and walk on by.

Unimpressed by either of them, Dragon Age seems to be sticking with the silly Mage war theme, features one of the odious cast from the second game and seems solidly entrenched in epic generic bombasity. The Witcher didn't really tell me anything I didn't know. The latter wins in my estimation because it showed gameplay however. Edit: Didn't vote because I don't know what the games will play like, can only judge the trailers.