Auxilius

You can easily have sex without romances being involved. You can also have romances without sex being involved. I think the latter is where most of Obsidian's past coverage of the subject has gone (with the possible exception of NWN2 with the tacky Elf stalker "romance", which felt completely out of place). While i loved Nwn 2 and mask of the betrayer even more, the romance options were , well.. terrible. Only Gann was decent. Stalker Elf, Self-righteous Paladin and Baldy Bald Wizard not so much... did i mention the wizard was bald? Very frigid too but mostly BALD. You failed to see the point of this romance if you stopped at her baldness.

French translation? Excellent initiative. This'll permit me to explain this game to fellow gamer friends of mine who can't read english. I cant understand why people are so elitist. The more people can play and understand the game, the better. It'll help to get a bigger fan pool for future games. And besides, elitism is full of crap. Because we can read english doesn't mean we are the only ones allowed to enjoy the game.

Well, no matter what comes out of this, it's a great recipe for a quest.

E: Also, a nice pop history book on the Albigensian Crusade is The Perfect Heresy by Stephen O'Shea. Catharism as it manifested in Languedoc/Occitania (i.e. as widespread cultural Albigensianism co-existing just fine with Catholicism) undermined the authority of the papacy and the Catholic church in general. The northern "French" nobles like Simon de Montfort who participated in the resulting crusade were pretty much just in it for the territories/holdings promised by the pope. Modern France owes much of its shape and culture homogeneity (e.g. the slow decline of Occitan) to the aftermath of the crusade. On this subject, I can add something useful. People out of France tend to think France is one homogenous land with a widespread parisian culture when it's just one tribe, the franks, who slowly dominated anyone they met in the vicinity. Of course, bloodlines in power changed over the centuries, merovingians, capetians, carolingians... but all of them had the same roots. Catharism isn't something you'll see taught in schools, because it goes against the belief France was always united. There is a belief here called jacobinism, who emerged during the XVIIIth century, where the state, to paraphrase Louis XIV, is everything. But the concept is much more older. France is one country, indivisible, and Catharism went against that because an indivisible country calls for an indivisible religion. Protestantism was revoked with the Edit de Nantes partly because of this. It was not the best move but the unconscious french ideology was preserved. Greed was a factor in the Catharism extermination, but there were more things at work. I could say more on this but it would be a complete derailment. And I'm not good enough with english to talk about slow cultural dominations. I'd like too though. It's frustrating. Just one final word: French people of course feel french but the more people study their regional history, the more they become regionalist. Occitania, Corsica and Britanny are asking for more autonomy nowadays. It's really limited though.

OK, now it's trolling.

I don't think it's trolling, considering how the game bombed on charts, hard.

It's an interesting topic where we can see the unconscious results of old folks' tale. And I just thought women were casters because their frailer body made them better at the Squishy Wizard part. Beard sometimes included. On the witch-hunt subject, why did they start to begin with? I know people need a scapegoat to explain their misery, be they cats or women, but what decide what should be hunted and what should not? The strong domining the weak? A man talented at talking? That's how riots and cults start. I think I'll restart The Witcher 1.

Meh. I thought like that before, but people made me realize she watched over him for twenty damn years at least, and since he was a child to boot. It's on obsession territory, and therefore, it's "stalkerish", on the unhealthy kind. People really are getting worked up fast over love interests. Frankly, Obs, whatever you do, be very careful. Although people didn't really care about Alpha Protocol's women. I wonder why.

When he's able to troll the man who has been escaped me and been a smug snake.

I wrote a message yesterday where I thought romances didn't take more than a week to be done. Looks like I was horribly wrong. 2 or 3 months for one character? Man, it's waaaaay longer than expected. Well, I won't look like a fool anymore at least. Trashman: He's talking about Elanee, the elf who watched the PC grow up and still fell in love despite that. Elanee is getting a lot of flak for that, some of it unfair. I'm not a fan of love shows but I've still seen this trope countless times. It's still creepy and stalkerish though. And Obsidian didn't develop HotU. Bioware was behind this and up to this day, I still think it's their best game. I'm not sure I would still think that if I replayed it today though.

I did a Pacifist Run thread not long ago about that. I'm glad the man behind Arcanum is telling us this. The best info is concerning the World Map though. Oh, how I dreamt of that. The possibility to explore and find random things in a 2D world.

Ne t'inquiète pas pour la fanbase, on sait s'élever au-dessus de tout ça/Don't worry about the fanbase, we know how to deal with this. Let's be honest, Bioware fanbase got an awful reputation and when you hang out on their forums, you kind of understand why. Thread hundred of pages long and all devoted to one character, one love story or one fan wanking, aren't helping (Talisweat.jpg). If you're worried, just read some threads here and there and make your own opinion.

You don't need money to spit on Richard Garriott.

I guess it's a good time to resume thoughts that maybe will let people relax for... oh, 6 minutes. Pro-romance: Love is cool if it's tastefully done Anti-romance: Love isn't cool if resources that could have been used elsewhere are required Well, all people, just tell yourself maybe MCA, TC or GZ (I hope) will waste, 3/4 days and that will be it. Crafting a love story isn't hard if you got good characters to begin with. Basically, if Obs writers know their work (Which I believe they do), they will write something love-related once the world has been built and the NPCs has ALL been defined. It won't get in the way or anything nor will it reduce the quality of the stories and quests. It's not a debate, not an anti-debate mut a "adebate". There is almost nothing to talk about. And since my favorite romances in any video game were the Handmaiden and Visas basically because it was a result of Force Brainwashing and did a good job at showing how emotions can easily used for your own profit. Frankly, if romances are not the end but a defining factor to a bigger theme, I'll all in. For example: the elf who loves you have to go under awfully old and outdated religious rituals so she could be all yours, something akin to the muslim religion. Once she's done with it, she would lose all freedom and be completely yours. She's adventurous? Bah, the PC can now order her to stay at home and keep the kitchen clean if he wants so. The PC would then have the difficult choice to do: live his love relation with the damn elf, despite the consequences, or go against his feelings and reject her so she can keep living as she want? Then, he'll meet pious people who will tell him a little more about the place of religion in their lifes, and how the values it carried on since centuries helped her to stay civilized and united against exterior threats. It's not the best example, but for something that took less than 5 seconds to think about, it will have to do. Give zest to George Ziets on this one.

Well, everything has been said. The player character should be under the possibility than anyone can kick his ass at any moment if he's going too far. It also means any evil choice must be weighed. For example, I could kill this annoying archmage and take his loot, or sell his knowledge to the Sand Raiders or something, but that means the Prince who is employing will certainly be unhappy, and send trained (and brutal) killers after me. Then, you can use the protection of your new allies or deal with it alone, depending of your cunning. I know everyone should play the game like they want and "MWAHAHAHAHA EEEEEEVILLLLLLL" runs should still be a possibility but being evil with no consequences always rubbed me the wrong way. Besides, calculating evil is much more awesome but no game, except for Planescape Torment and Mask of the Betrayer (Somehow, because being evil in MotB was being one hell of a ****) did that. Actually, writing about this gives me a new idea: what about being evil AND popular? After all, if you slay the mad king for your own gain, people will still thank you. Even if you tax them like a socialist french president, they're afraid they'll be killed over some insane rambling.

MotB managed to create 4 great endings so I believe Obsidian can do the same once again. Besides, endings of the story are not the same thing than endings of the quests. If Obs is using a system similar to what was seen in Fallout New Vegas or NWN2, we should be fine. I want my choices to have consequences and that's Obs motto. It would be sad to see them try something else. When the Portal dude says it's impossible to create 5 satisfying endings, I just believe he didn't try hard enough.

YOU BET YOUR ASS THIS IS! ... Hum, sorry, too much happiness to control. It should be over soon.

Well, even if the results are overwhelming, 1/3 of the voting pool still want romances no matter what. Welp, looks like we're going to get them. I'm not against it as long as no resources are sacrified for them. I still voted Yes/Yes/No like a true representative of the Master Race .

I'm not a fan of this soul business but the way exploration, culture and technology is been handled is mighty fine by me. I'm a writer (amateur and I don't plan to join the industry since my mother tongue is french) and when I create different worlds, I make sure these parts are believable. I don't go too deep in them though since I've to deal with entire planets. I still manage to avoid the Planet of Hats trope. This game is starting to look more and more like the Arcanum 2 I've been waiting for such a long time. Thank you Obsidian :singletearofpurejoy:.

Of course. And make the pirate leader the toughest mofo in the game. Brownie points to those who understand.

Well, if someone from the team read this thread, here is a good way to resume me: the more complex the dialogues the better. Stats, skills, reputations and past actions should influence any dialogue. This way, even when if you're just renting a room at the inn, it feels like you're your character at every moment.

I'd like the sheep, please.

I'm not even following the issue but I know there have been at least four threads on the matter. Why are LGBT people so adamant about this? Is this ionsecurity at work or what? I don't see gypsies or hinduists trying to fight for their representation in games. We're truly living in an era of peace if it's the biggest matter, if only on the Obsidian forums.

Agreed, 22 pages are a pain to follow.

Too many people would have an access to the beta anyway. But maybe I'm biased since I planned to give 140 nerd bucks.