Nonek

I'm sorry but if I were Allfather Odin and I saw such things being made under my name i'd send Thor to smite the makers about the heads and shoulders with Mjolnir, that's horrible. Sorry not a fan of the japanese comic thing, is it Animu/Minga?

I think they should have Linnorm, great wingless serpents with eyes that spellbind the weak of mind and poison like fire in their jaws. Their mailed hides should turn blades like the stoutest iron, and their voices contain the terrible wisdom of too much knowledge, gained over centuries stewing in their own pits of greed and hate.

I'd tut.

I'm thinking these Glenfathans have quite the insular society where such practises might flourish, as a barbarian seems to be a touch anachronistic for what we know of the rest of Eternity. I suppose you might equate them to the highland clans surviving in Scotland while the rest of Great Britain moved farther away from tribalism, and we all know that our kin north of the border are still a bit tasty with their knuckles. Worst scrum i've ever been in was against a team of Glasgow lads, and apparently the old highland charge was dreaded by the redcoats. Suddenly struck me, Grampy Bone and Sulik, Obsidian's already touched upon this.

The Obesity thread got me thinking (when not posting bad jokes), what if one of the societies in Eternity believes that they can take the strength of a soul through one simple act? That doing so is honouring the dead and keeping the ancestral spirits appeased, and they do this through the ritualised eating of flesh. They might even extend this to the strongest of enemies they face, so that their feared reputation as cannibals and monsters is actually their highest showing of respect to worthy opponents. Would that be judged as evil and misguided, and what if it actually worked, that there were dead talkers who could call upon the souls of the long ago consumed to advise and protect the tribe? Make for one hell of a moral quandry.

Yo mamma so fat light can't escape her gravitational well, ah yeah.

I wouldn't bother Anubite, a few of us agree that Dragon Age 2 is a bad game (in our own opinion) so why bother either defending it or hating it. Move on forewarned and forearmed, while it's useful to pinpoint your own preferences so that you can avoid unwise future purchases, there's nothing you can do about past ones. Then again Winter is Coming so a nice ball of hate boiling in the gut can keep one deliciously warm on those long nights.

Achievement unlocked: Eaten all the pies. Achievement unlocked: Big chief Obese. Achievement unlocked: Big, huge, gargantuan, not seen on the earth for sixty million years boned. Achievement unlocked: Tired of being fat and ugly? With the super wizard weight loss 2000 you don't need to worry about those unsightly pounds ever again. You'll still be ugly though.

I don't know about strength decreasing due to age, I can lift more now than i've ever lifted. Dexterity I can see however, can't match the pace of my youth on the rugger field.

Old Oliver Cromwell is a good advertisement for the protagonist being swept up by circumstance later in life, the Lord Protector was a simple farmer and gentleman for the first forty years of his life before experiencing a religious conversion and forging a career in politics. This led into his fighting for parliament, gaining great renown as old Ironsides and eventually freeing England of the decadent Stewarts, and arguably making the first steps away from the divine rights of the monarchy into the future of rule by the people for the people. Others who experienced their greatest hour outside of youth: Winston Churchill 65 at the dawn of World War Two. Caesar 48 at the battle of Alesia. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington 46 at Waterloo. These three gentlemen had fairly successful careers before these dates but these were undoubtedly their greatest hours.

Does anybody think that the game they experienced immeditely prior to playing Dragon Age 2 influenced their perception of it, for me it was the Sith Lords so the female caricatures such as the incompetent guardswoman and porn star pirate seemed especially juvenile next to the nuanced, strong and philosophical Darth Traya. That and the subtle gradual introduction of the Exile's past rather than the tacked on nature of family Hawke, really served to alienate me from the game I think. I suppose my objectivity was compromised in that regard.

Kreia.

Wouldn't even pretend to know anything about earths climate, well beyond my sphere of intellect, but does anybody in the know know what effect the magnetic fields currently fluctuating state has on the climate? I know that it's essential to preventing the suns rays from frying us like a scottish mars bar, hence the aurora's australis and borealis, but i'm unsure of the other implications on our little planet.

Obsidian are quite good with this though aren't they? You have the Exile who seems to have had a much fuller and longer life than that befitting a youngster, Courier Six whose long wandering and career doesn't seem consistent with a youth and Michael Thornton who appears to be somewhere around thrirty or so to me (maybe more as a veteran.) Most tellingly though you have the Nameless One's response to Kossah Jai (I think it was) when she calls him lad in passing, where he leans forward and lets her see the long ages of Torment behind his eyes. That seemed to echo my own distaste with that appelation being used so prominently in almost every rpg, indeed in almost every myth following the pattern of the hero with a thousand faces.

At some point if they include romances, the protagonist should wake up in a pit, only to hear. "It puts the lotion on its skin, it does this whenever it's told."

Damn that's an inspiring interview, I must now play Cipher first, there's no other option.

Like a lot of the people above i'm a firm believer that the fantastic must sprout from a solid grounding of realism, and even the most fantastical aspects must abide by their own logic and laws, even if we do not know or are not told of them. Internal consistency as others have stated.

It's Torment, a blind archer who saw the hearts of his foes, impossibly cool.

Fixed with the exception of extraordinary events, one would assume we'll be playing adults at the height of our physical capabilities, so they shouldn't change dramatically with the aforementioned proviso of course.

Having a bit of a film noire urge, thought Dead Money might fit in with the oeuvre, as i'm playing all I can think is that i'd love to see Obsidian do a film noire game.

Or a living eye mounted upon the musket that sees the hearts of its enemies, Xachariah style?

SPOILERS for those still experiencing the story. I found the villain lady ultimately unsatisfying Nepenthe, mainly because she's just a slave for the mcguffin rather than having any kind of realistic human motivation, apart from the the massively overused and simplified, "mages are dangerous," backstory. The mcguffin invalidated any motivation or logical impetus. Obviuously there was was not much of a logical reason in the conflict anyway, with the mages fighting for freedom and equality in feudal kingdoms (so they can go back to the nobilities bondage rather than the templars.) Even so I expected far better from the makers of Master Li in Jade Empire, who was quite impressively well reasoned. I'd rather have an antagonist like him, Irenicus, Kreia or any of many others, who are shown interacting with the protagonist throughout the game rather than one introduced when it's mostly over. Whose motivations are human and logical rather than nothing more than mcguffin born madness. I did not feel I had accomplished anything when approaching the last battle, other than pity for the lady and a fair amount of disgust for the entire conflict and its staging ground, as well as having the patience of a saint for putting up with the waves. Still as I say, it passed the time for sixty hours or so which is I suppose its raison d'etre fulfilled, so i'm not as passionately derisive as others.

Torian Kel was all kinds of cool.

I wouldn't call him a bastard Volourn, but he just didn't seem to do much except complain at me and whine about his brother. I couldn't even kill him or tell him to do one, horses for courses I suppose. Still better than Oghren. Also he just stood around in his room, never sat or made any other action.

Every single one of them got on my wick, mostly played solo for that very reason halfway through chapter 2 onwards, and it improved the game immeasureably. Dwarf = boring, Abomination = whiny, Guardswoman = incompetent, Sister = super boring and whiny, can't remember the rest but all of them partook in absolutely cringeworthy supposed humour, that buffy like infantile stuff that's called "snarky" I think. Hardly Wilde. The Qunari stuff got me through the game, really wanted to join them and overthrow the feudal kingdoms of Thedas. Chapter 3 I just went through the motions until the McGuffin slave flew off into space. That's when I gave up and uninstalled, still sixty or so hours of entertainment made it more than value for money.