[Obsidain why you lie to us?]

 

6) The magic system is going to be stupid. See number 5.

 

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.

[Do not make the game isometric]

Making the background 3D on the other hand instead of flat 2D texture allows you dynamic resolution, dynamic lighting, more dynamic world, realistic physics and the list goes on and on.

 

...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-Support for extremely outdated console hardware.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Honestly, alot of the problem is simply the outdated hardware consoles have and the Publishers requirements that everything be made for them.

[Please include women with shirts on.]

I think that nudity can be entirely justified if we're talking about a succubus, siren, nymph or some other fantastical, supernatural creature meant to seduce people in the game world. I don't know about other countries, but at least in Sweden there are male counterparts of "naked woodland nymphs" in traditional folklore, so there aren't necessarily any problems on that (feminist) front.

 

Silly armour for female characters, or unrealistic sexist portrayal of female characters in general, is one of the most immersion- breaking things in a game that I know of. I can't stress enough how much I want Obsidian to avoid these stereotypes. Also, I would personally like to avoid having any female NPCs who are physical (strength- based) fighters. Arcanum did very well in the area of having realistic NPCs of both genders. I don't want to limit the character creation system much (if at all), since women fighting (physically) against men on equal terms DO exist, however it would be very silly if female soldiers are just as common as male soldiers. This is the essence of making a truly "mature" game world in my opinion - I want to play in a world which makes sense, not some 12 year old boy's sexual fantasy.

 

Yes, male characters are also stereotypes, but it makes much more sense that a travelling adventurer/mercenary should be strong and physically fit, than it does for a female mercenary to be very slim, busty and good-looking (assuming she gets paid to fight, that is). Good looks won't help you in combat in any way.

 

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.

[JE Sawyer, a discussion from 15 years ago]

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?