Nonek

Think i've got a piece on a shelf somewhere, yes it's by my collection of Blue John from the Speedwell cavern.

Divine Divinity, it's 2002 but quite good.

Personally I only usually peruse the 40k literature, but I would agree with you that the quality there has dropped over the years, there used to be some exemplary writers dabbling their toes in the Imperium a few years past, Ian Watson and such.

Can we appraise Mr Longs writing from his time with the Black Library? One suspects that working for that publishing house necessitates certain stylistic changes that might not best display his talents, personally I read one of his latest Slayer novels and the prose seems solid if unoriginal, maybe an indicator of his working to a fairly strict template. After all the Warhammer fantasy novel I read was my youngest lads, and seems eminently suitable for such an audience.

Heritage of Immortality or perhaps Legacy of the Immortal, designed to represent the immortal souls of the Eternity setting. Immortals End, representing Saint Waidwens slaying at Fellhammer. The Machinery of Eternity, the process by which souls are spun out over and again in Eternity. The Broken Soul, an epiphet for the protagonist perhaps. Edit: Considering Eternity is a world on the cusp of change perhaps the game might bear a name such as, Eternity: An Age Awakens or somesuch, that also symbolises the beginning of the franchise.

With our previous combat records and the young ladies abilities, I think i've figured out where the plot's going.

Started up this Bioshock: Infinite game, it's rather gripping but i'm left with the definite impression that whoever created it has watched that "Angelheart" film with Mickey Rourke and Robert DeNiro, the music, the conflicted protagonist and the setting all seem very similar. Not a bad thing by any means however, I do like a touch of noirish americana.

Casket of the Inconcievable. A small and ornate box, such as a rich dowager might store her jewellery within, but there is a certain omnipresent gravity about the humble container. No one can tell what the Casket contains, for no one remembers, but all users will attest to its magnificence and worth. Among the knowing and the wise it is said that the Casket is a repository of memory, thought and even the soul song of its past users. For when an individual stares into the Casket his mind and soul will be drawn within, to experience the most precious captured moments of previous users lives, and to have the sweetest seconds of his own existence drawn into the velvet lined depths as payment. The Casket has lingered in this world for untold ages, and so its memories are as diverse and vast as a thousand minds could hold: From memories as simple as primitive hunters exulting in the fierce success of the hunt, thick fur to clad them against the ice, warm blood and meat to fill their guts, bone to make tools and trinkets and blubber to rub into their aching joints. To devious generals, leaning forward in their saddles to watch their opponents take the bait and with a raised hand order the encirclement, engagement and eradication of a hated enemy, knowing that this day their land is safe, their children secure and their way of life proved superior. All these memories and everything in between lie within the Casket, the few brief scraps of happiness that the lowest beggar clings to, and the heady refined enjoyments that alleviate an Emperors ennui. To stare into the Casket of the Inconcievable is to leave a record of your happiest moments for future generations, and experience anothers joy as if it were your own, thus the Casket is prized and priceless. A glimpse of humanity across the ages, and perhaps the only true immortality that a soul can enjoy, though the Gods would fiercely disagree.

Why do you think that Bioware inspire such rabid obsession, if you don't mind me asking Mr Schu? Their output has always been (to me) fairly middle of the road, and yet the few times i've been on their social network, (to log in the Dragon Age's and purchase Mass Effect 2 dlc's) the disturbing nature of the fanbase has always struck me as rather severe. Is this somewhat analogous to the fan frenzies we see for girl/boy/Bieber bands, that are a "safe" object of idolisation?

I wouldn't mind if engaged in stealthy behaviour we had to stash corpses/the unconscious in darkened or secure areas, add another level to the stealth mechanic. Then again I suppose that if you're engaging in scouting being caught dragging a corpse might be a dangerous situation, especially if you're an Orlan or a skinny elf for whom a couple of hundred pounds of human is a real dead weight. Might add an air of danger and desperation if the bodies of slain guards were always in danger of discovery, and your infiltration had to be conducted in a quick, and dirty fashion. Or mayhap one could use tools such as dust of disappearance, a Ciphers illusions or a bottle of potent alchemists acid to hide/get rid of the evidence. Druids summoning a horde of vermin to devour the bodies, wizards transmuting them into another form. Perhaps even a cannibalistic companion or devouring pet, maybe thieves can call on shadow soul powers to enwrap their victims as they rot/slumber?

Thought their little memorial to the victims of 11/9 was rather classy, stumbling upon that was rather favourably immersion breaking, a nice touch.

I could see some half crazed Cipher babbling about the Bloom in rather nebulous terms, or other aspects of Numenera. I really wouldn't like to see anything as blatant as items or weapons drawing on the lore of either plane however, that fit in BG and IWD because after all they're on the same continent, but the Planescape ones always felt a little anachronous.

Pledged, recently finished a playthrough of Divine Divinity and was very impressed, it's what I personally think Diablo should have evolved into. I also like their mission statement that they're making games which they wish to play rather than courting demographics, seems an eminently sensible position. I do hope they don't go too far on the humour front however, but stay classy and respect their own gameworld.

Thief: The Fog Project. They just don't want any existing fans to buy this at all do they?

Looking at the Gentlemens work i'm left wondering what his rendition of Sigil's Lady of Pain would look like, there seems an almost ethereal quality to his art that in my mind lends itself automatically to the Planescape ambience.

If it is done then i'd prefer it be subtle and hinted at rather than outright stated, such as the various madmens allusions in Spellhold, or the branchings of Ravel that we see in both Icewind Dale games, self referential flourishes rather than blatant brush strokes. That's my personal opinion however.

In terms of Deities and Mortality personally i'd prefer that we remain in the uncomfortable grip of ignorance and doubt, not having the cast iron progression of the D&D planar progression from Prime to Petitioner and such. Having death and the supernatural remain the great unknowns is in my own humble opinion a far more interesting situation than a strictly laid out map of existence, both material and spiritual. Then again this leaves plenty of room available for making other dimensions more than the realms of Gods and Spirits, make them something truly unusual and otherworldly, though perhaps this would more suit the upcoming Numenera's ambience and theme. Just so long as we are not subjected to the dull and blurry re-used levels and assets of something such as the Fade in Dragon Age, an utter waste of a premise that sounds infinitely interesting, an eternally shifting dreamscape where emotions and thoughts trump physicality.

Having thought further on the subject of Planar travel i've got to admit that i'm somewhat ambivalent on the matter, on the one hand we have the obvious arguments for added depth and variety, a touch of the beyond if you will. On the other i'm of the mind that if you make the world of Eternity as deep, rich, interesting and beautiful as the single screenshot we have so far seen, then there will be no need for planar travel. Thanks to past civilisations, magic gone awry, soul energy interacting with the land and what have you we can have very interesting and disparate locales appearing in the game that reinforces the vitality and complexity of the Eternity world. Even without the touch of the supernatural we can have arresting geographical and historical locations, such as the Old Man of Storr and Hoy, the Gordale Scar, the Ring of Brodgar, Maeshowe, Skara Brae, Cheddar Gorge, the White Cliffs of Dover, the Severn Bore, the Lake District etcetera, etcetera, and these are just a small selection from the British Isles.

So basically the Innkeepers married with children?

I like the somewhat chittering background ambience, but the melody in this is mostly absent, intentional to foster an air of wary unpleasantness?

One form of crafting that i'm not against is the art of the Fletcher, from what we know of the Yeomanry of England almost every archer had a working knowledge of that craft, and could easily find feathers, clothyard shafts and make his own glue from scavenged natural elements. The only sticking point I can see is the arrowheads, pile, broadhead and what have you, for which the services of a smith will be needed if he chooses to use them. Could be a nice camp activity for the Longbowman character, trimming and checking his fletching, picking out and straightening wooden shafts over the fire, stirring a little pot of glue etcetera, etcetera. Edit: Have enemy archers also carrying such components, and they should be easily scavenged from the corpses. At higher levels of the skill you could inscribe runes of finding and wounding into the arrowheads or even use rare baneful metals and composite materials.

Finished Mask of the Betrayer, as usual after such a roller coaster ride i'm left feeling a little saddened, I really wanted to join Kaelyn and tear down that damned Wall. If there's an unambigious statement of evil in the D&D setting that is it, a judge of affiliation not deeds, designed to keep the denizens of the multiverse blindly enslaved to false gods. I at least ensured that she has a decent epilogue, but the ending I recieved rang hollow while that structure still stands. Ah well it probably no longer exists in the fourth edition, and we've got the worlds of Eternity and Numenera to task us with such moral quagmires in the future.

Had to laugh at one comment I saw on this DLC, "In space no one can hear you vomit." I'm assuming the writer didn't enjoy it. Funny but a little too harsh I think.

I've got to say i'm also somewhat trepidatious of what streamlining would take place if another Kain game was made, seeing as most major developer see the need to cater every game to single cellular life in their aim for as broad a market as possible, but I still hold on to that terrible and bitter illusion that is hope.

Personally I can't see why they'd make another game about the cliched karate kicking supermodel when they are sitting on the narrative brilliance that is the Legacy of Kain series, labyrinthine plots, shakespearian prose and self motivated independent characters surely trump another round of shooting more waves of incompetent mooks.