Gatt9

Considering the massive amount of misinformation, disinformation, and complete speculation in your post, anything they do will now look like a work of genius in comparison.

...and a LOT less details. 2d graphics are still the prettiest to this day. BG2 looks a million times better than Warcraft 3 or even Dragon Age. I would argue against that. Dragon Age Origins looks the way it does because... -Of an extended development time making it's engine dated on release. -Support for extremely outdated console hardware. 3D graphics can look just as good as 2D. Often better, because 3D graphics can beneift from Transform and Lighting, Bumpmapping, Lightsourcing, and many other effects. It's also substantially faster since it can fully use the graphics card, while 2D art doesn't benefit much from hardware acceleration. Honestly, alot of the problem is simply the outdated hardware consoles have and the Publishers requirements that everything be made for them.

I agree with this. The Mass Effect series was the first time a game has ever really bothered me. One character wandering around on alien worlds, and fighting, essentially nude. Another one with proportions that would make Barbie anorexic, and in the third game, every time she walked on stage the camera angle changed to waist level and was positioned directly behind her so half the scene was her butt. Half the time I'd wondered if I'd wandered into a 80's nerd's fantasy of Star Trek + Porky's. OTOH, Leliana was a very well represented female, very attractive without looking like the art was influenced by Dead or Alive Volleyball.

Hoping JE Sawyer will respond! About 15 years ago on the BI boards, there was a discussion on the topic of magic items like The Deck of Many Things from D&D. The discussion was around how to implement such a thing, specifically around reloaders. (IIRC it was triggered by a Wand of Wonder being included in one of the games) It was an interesting discussion and JE Sawyer had very interesting observations. So here we are, 15 years later. Sadly, the RPG market has not included any magic items beyond Sword + 7. Magic Items with interesting and potentially unpredictable effects remain missing from the RPG genre (Just using D&D as an example): Deck of Many Things, Mirror of Lifetrapping, Divination spells, that kind of thing. I think it's a area where alot of innvoation could occur that would change the genre for the better, by moving beyond the "Flaming Sword" only type of Magic Items and pull in more of the mystery of them. I'm wondering what JE's thoughts are on this subject today? For reference, my original stance was to generate the "Rolls" on game creation so the Player couldn't "Reload" his way out of bad "Rolls". The counter-arguement many put forth was that people just wouldn't use them once they hit the bad roll, so over the years my thinking has become that arguement is correct, and my view today is that it should be an option like "Iron man" mode. Of course, I'm also interested in the community's thoughts too. So I pose the question: Unpredictable magic items, some not even combat related, "Yea or Nay" and if "Yea", should abuse be prevented?

I also vote for a new IP. Personally, I think the Old West genre is highly under represented in RPG's. I think there's *alot* of room to work there, especially with a Fallout type exploration feel to it.Lawmen, Bounty-hunters, Indians, Villians, snake-oil salesmen, etc. So many myths at the time, Indian Legends, tall tales. I think the Western has potential. The Starflight games could also serve as inspiration for an RPG. Those games never fully explored their potential. Another currently popular genre with almost 0 exploration would be the Pirate era, you could mix in a little recruiting and leveling mechanics there. I'm sure there's some great story that could be told based on that, though this could tread dangerously close to Sid's Pirates. But if a sequel to something is what the majority would prefer, then I would vote Planescape as well. Regardless, I'll kickstart anything Obsidian would be doing. I've seen your talent, and followed you for 13? 14? years. I know that you could turn out something incredible.