Azrayel

Red blue and green in that last picture were so atop each-other it just sort of clashed for me, like at first glance I thought it was a splice together of three separate images. I'm sure the way it flows in game will be very different and I'm not aboard the Monochromatic train, so I shall reserve my judgement for now//but I'd just say the "modern" Glanfathan elf stuff seems to be very well-themed in pallet and texture.

As someone with 159 friends on Steam; : Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is owned by 3 others I've talked to all of them and none of them actually played more than like the intro. : Thief: Deadly Shadows is owned by five other people, only one has played more than an hour of it. : Stronghold Crusader Extreme HD is owned by only me but Stronghold Crusader HD isn't; couldn't tell you which of the two I played (would've been in offline mode) but fun game.

one extended sequence depicts characters getting anally probed by alien creatures Core content indeed, good sir, indeed!

Have y'all considered a suite of randomized questions we should be able to figure out, like "Finish this phrase: Pillars of _______"? I know lots of people turn to that over Captcha but iGuess it runs the risk of someone really wanting into your system and finding out all the answers.

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iK,r? I'd say I've seen some pretty flat art in my day; lots of paintings at the US National Gallery, for instance still, I get what he's saying, even if it's simplistic and I wouldn't say you can disqualify anything as "art" so easily as it lacking a component one would prefer. It's like when people propogate the delusion of binary gender!

The highlighted part is what makes me question you know what you're talking about. Chinese people? You mean the Han? They're basically the only people allowed to be in government or make money in a meaningful way, but there are Chinese Peoples. The brown, Muslim Uyghur who recently had a genocide conducted against them? They've grown to accept this? The Zhuang who grew out of Guangxi and speak mutually unintelligible dialects which resemble phonetically but are not Chinese? China is a multi-ethnic state teeming with unrest and surrounded by increasingly faulty attempts to censor the 'net. While "the Communist Party" is still effectively the only party, Beijing is starting to deal with other figureheads cropping up in other localities' Communist Parties. Top that off with all of the remaining states they border having anti-China pacts with not only one another but also the US, and you see a burgeoning blob straining to press out of its britches even as its organs seek to break loose from its blood-red seam. It isn't a place of complacancy because the midnight news hasn't been able to tell the Western World about the fine detail goings-on since Tiananmen, and we do the Chinese Peoples a disservice to insinuite from ignorance they are complacent in all of this.

A great example of this is Yahtzee's new freeware, side-on survival Lovecraftian-horror game The Consuming Shadow. You've got 72 hours to save not-Britain from the encroaching terror by figuring out a 4-rune banishment ritual. Every random dungeon (it's a roguelike) contains more clues to the invading God's identity-- it's randomized each time and there are several-- and sometimes occult texts to teach you spells (that eat up your sanity). It gives you xp after every go round (EDIT: to specify, after each death your deeds are scored and it accumulates over play-throughs) and each level gives you a new bonus point to spend on game start in various factors. As safe towns turn into dungeons an you slowly begin to realize the patterns you're losing time even as you're making strides and getting game-changing equipment. Anyway, enough rant-- I highly recommend you try this if you're someone interested in flow as anxiety v control. http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/conshadow/ Also: Mihaly, never heard of him but the wikipedia article already has me hooked. Thanks for edutaining me, fellow formite.

Better'n'uttin; Still trying to guess what el big updatio is though. Big newz or showing off lots of stuff I'yde guess, the vertikal slyce mayhaps.

Can we hope to see glimpses of geography (i.e.: maps) beyond the Dyrwood and its immediate surroundings in P.E./the bonus materials? It's been pretty fascinating trying to figure this stuff out.

I don't think one can describe second generation or third generation Englishers of being capable of deportation to anyone other than England. Although now I think of it, I suppose we could legally just send them to the Orkneys. They can try causing trouble up there. My dear Red Blooded Britain, this is what Australia was made for! Tally ho I say, tally ho.

In a word: why? I understood the pitch as a personal journey rather than a "save teh world or **** it up trying" quest. It was a refreshing pitch, and if the world is apathetic unchanged uncaring towering above the player in cruel rigidity even as they spiral through personal cataclysm is that not narratively interesting in and of itself, so long as it doesn't come across as poor design?

I generally see it as a collateral damage factor. Like if they get trapped in an AoE in a crowded room or they're prisoners and you're trying to free them or maybe they pick pocket you and you decide to be a l'il bit unreasonable about it... I mean, I can think of lots of scenarios in which the player kills the kid NPC-- but what about NPCs killing the kids!? In Skyrim if a dragon hoses down a child: nothing, nada, zilch. You don't watch in horror as you fail to save their young life. That makes them emotional deadweights good only for bitching and moaning and making people go make mods to let others kill them because they're so annoying. I say the game was funded by people who put their money where their mouth was about faith in these devs; is it too much more of a stretch to hope these people will only execute sensitive points in the game sensibly? Obviously we all have our own sensibilities, but ****, who's taking Les Mis down for kids getting killed? Nobody. It adds emotional impact the way games use the death of love interests, mentors, and companions-- the difference is games are much more trapped by the tropes that are permissible and it's become a creative padded room. If the fans cry boo before hearing Obby out I think it'll dampen the vibes of creativity; even if not very much, I really would hate to see that happen to PE. So whatever our view generally on the subject, pretty much all sides with at least a valid argument for theirs being represented in this very thread, can we at least come to a consensus that the guys making this game will handle it well however it turns out? Hopefully. Anywho. ~Azrayel

"even distant Rauatai" And now I want to know more!

A lovely update, though any update without Tim Cain photo-shopped to something silly and more video of him playing Arcanum feels like it could use a bit of animancy-- holy shazbot the wyrk he's doing on Strongholds sounds great! I can only imagine the potentially hilarious encounters; although, honestly, throwing a party and inviting your favorite NPCs could be even better than vagabonds and ghastly horrors assailing it. Which leads me to the question... How much money do you need for a Sid Meier's Pirates esque dancing miniGame? Think of the applications! Conflict resolution outside of skill checks for navigating high society!

Great expectations for this artist already. <3

Hey was waiting for this, didn't realize it'd be Wed-- oh hey it was posted 11:something P.M. on... OK though seriously, it was fine then. But this week as well? Y'all, just shift this stuff to Wednesdays and get to bed sooner. All good internet things happen Wednesday anyways-- there's no use in fighting it, give in to the ebb and flow of the inter-souls...

I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm just slightly disappointed. I told myself I'd keep up hope that the impossible "weekly update" promise would be upheld. Regardless, I don't oppose the theory of waiting longer for updates and getting more out of them/freeing up more time for people to be doing their jobs. It's just I hardly remember to check as it is...

As an aspiring liberal arts **** of the future, iDon't know how much help iCan be, but here are my two cents: --Don't lowball yourself out of what you're in; go to what you really want to do (and don't let your friends' or others' lives determine that for you), because you don't sound like you've got any love at all for webDev --Konsider TES; iKnow it sounds lame, but they've hired many modders from their community//they have a toolkit, although I shan't rain praise on it it's functional and relatively intuitive. The community's also pretty friendly and welcoming to fresh meat so I think if you set yourself down and treat this like a job, nine-to-five a mod for whatever amount of time you can arrange. If you kan't or don't want to mod TES, konsider the multiplicity other options-- but really, they're the only people who make a habit of hiring their modders, and you yourself said you didn't wanna just do modding B®e(a)st of luck broSkii. Also, as a fringe, have you konsidered changing tracks to a less boring liberal arts? PubAdmin's where promising young intellectuals go to die inside.

This has justa gotta be in there! I'm in the love with the idea already; if not a stone, a book of some sort. It'd make for a similarly functioning device on an appropriate technological level-- although the Soul Stone idea was nifty and ought to be a UI mod however the cookie crumbles, not to mention the aforementioned to the studios as it'd be Obsidian. Speaking of UI mod, supposing the unimaginable happens and we don't actually get this sort of interface it sounds like the team is leaving things highly mod/Able; even without specific tools I think that the technical wizards should be able to whip something up. If they managed it before the games were built in Unity, iShould imagine it'll just be a cakewalk now.

I believe this has been reiterated to death; the OP had a poor choice of words, but we can let it go for the sake of the greater discussion. Evidently he's in good company! So perhaps we can, rather than put our **** in something experts have spent lifetimes discussing and writing gigantic texts on, show a rather easy example in a mainstream game (indeed, a series already mentioned here once before). Assassin's Creed's Templar's ideology (had to make it possessive; had to). These Templars are like any terrorist organization; you take out a leader or 2nd in command and they've got another one over night. The more you kill of them the more they use it to fuel their recruitment drives. Given the pre-existing religious conflcit I don't see this as being hard to weave into the game as a part of the greater Journey of Self Discovery and Such as a Watcher (a paper someone someday shall surely write, once we've actually gotten our grubby mitts on the game). Example: City A is full of group B's worshippers working in the shadows against nation A and its blasphemy. Group B, to this end, gets a bomb (which we know can level entire cities in the world of P:E) and is working on assembling it underneath the legislature or temple or somesuch (Guy Fawkes style). The Watcher is then presented with a choice; help sow discord in the ranks of group A because you think they're twats and only the people in the legislature will be killed by the bomb, deliver the bomb to group B's hideout instead (via cablecar or portal or whateverMcGuffinisthe****athand) and give the tossers a right tossing. Thirdly you disable the bomb, also known as "pussying out," and as I'm baselessly assuming a Watcher is meant to be a mediating agent in the world of P:E gets a big thumbs up from whatever cause they stand for. And, you know, everyone who enjoys not getting killed. You'd have to grapple with collateral damage (either way innocents get killed if it goes off underneath the city) between the ideologies. You don't stab the ideology, but you do figuratively bloody one or the other's nose a bit. Perhaps this just incesses it, but hey-- you are fighting the good fight, aren't you? Conversly if the bomb doesn't go off, group B goes with the backup plan and storms into the streets to combat group A head on. They're not particularly gunning for civilians, but there's still a right mess in the streets that the PC has to sort through. Both sides will be like "mate, what happened with the whole bomb plan?" Might be fun to give the PC a chance to keep playing both sides until they and the party are safely out of the city, having to excuse their way through every barricade as to why the other side hasn't shot them silly full of arrows and bullets. TL;DR: You can fight ideologies with swords, magic, and even bombs; it's just the roundabout fashion of coersion.

I think that vendor prices can be tweaked between areas easily, but what iThink would be better for P:E than a dynamic economy is-- a scripted economy! (scripticonomy for short, and sCripCon for the college class). How do iMean? You see, there will be a finite amount of options to impact the economy/story at the same time. Also, if random encounters are included when traveling that could be involved. EXAMPLE 1 Your Stronghold is in disrepair; gathering resources isn't a problem, but keeping beams and boards replaced and holding up is. Most carpenters aren't willing to take up living with you, given the danger and oddity of it all. However, the carpaneter of a small village whom you saved (or didn't) from bandits is willing to, assume you foot the initial cost of 500 coin to move his workshop. You get the immediate benefit and immediate cost of having wood-based (bows, arrows/quarrels) processed crafting components\products in your Stronghold and the ability to repair/sell them with your carpenter-- but the town now has no carpenter! You take a rep hit, but it's not too big so oh well. Later on in the game a band of brigands is sweeping through the region with a vendetta for you. Between your Stronghold and them is the small village, and in want of their "fine goods" they attack the village (you can help them defend or stay holed up in the Stronghold). With no carpenter the village bearly even has stakes in the ground and their doors barred. This fight sees bandits entering from 180 degrees of the area and sneaking around buildings for cover, with the NPC defenders getting picked off pretty fast. WITH carpenter however, it's a whole new ball game; assuming some other conditions are met they'll proceed to rebuild the old stockade they had when they were still a new colonial-ish settlement. By the time the brigands are on the war path the wall is all but built; it's just missing a gate. There will also be two sally doors that get busted in, but three doors top 180 degrees; of the PC decides to stand and fight with them they will be easier to repel, and even if they don't the village stands a better chance. Conversely, the stronghold will have some weak points it wouldn't've if you don't hire the carpenter and any attack on it will be harder to repel. EXAMPLE 2 Random encounter: you come upon a camp with several wagons and some tired guards. The caravan master meets with you and informs you that his expedition is stuck because an investor fell through. Unless he can find another 2000 coin he won't be able to cut the deal and buy low from his connections at X to make a mad profit at Y. The player can either coerce an NPC to finance the deal and cut you in on their profits (should they make any) or pay it yourself. Random chance, skill, or another variable will determine the outcome. If all goes well you'll make a lot of money after a few quests when the deal gets made and the caravan stops by your stronghold. EXAMPLE 3 A heated political rivalry for control of the city comes to a head when the Watcher and company blunder in, searching for answers and getting wrapped up in the conflict despite (or in accord with) their best efforts. Ultimately the decision comes between two leaders for the city: one is an old merchant who had some people murdered to make sure things fell into place, while the other is a young nobleman who's playing by the books and wants to clean up the city and is full of idealism and righteousness. Get the merchant in power, business booms and the status quo is protected. You are rewarded financially by your rep boost is minimal. Get the noble in power, and business is derailed by his inexpereince despite social injustices being addressed and violent crime being combatted. He cannot spare you much coin, but knows that loyalty is not bought-- your rep is boosted greatly with both the noble's faction he works with and the common people, but everyone who makes a living off the market square is a great deal poorer. These things, while not "dynamic" strictly speaking, are the sort of things you can easily incorporate into an RPG without all new systems.

This is the culmination-- I fear Sawyer will, over vacation, finally... shave. We need a beard time lapse, ASAP!

That actually just sounded like bad audio quality/Acting, not dramatic as much as guys in the office trying to be dramatic 'cause they can't really afford to put out for a V'Actor. EDIT: Keith Michael Richardson has done far more than Kestelman has. He is remarkably well known now. He was even Sebastian in Kingdom Hearts II!

That doesn't really work when your "meta-plot" includes licensed content from IPs you have not licensed. The point of having a meta-plot is that it does not require a license and there isn't a solid link, they're really more of common themes-- except rather than using tropes that everyone will find bland and cliche, it's something unique to the creator: a sort of signature style. They don't try to sell parts of the same painting to screw the previous one's owner, they just leave a similar mark-- and considering most "paintings" today look like the same polaroid ad nauseum, I'll take the alternative any day. Have you played the game? The acting is superb and brings the character alive in so many ways; I'm writing one of my college essays about Kreia, and she's done the same or more for many different characters over the years. EDIT: Is there an edit lockout after a set amount of time? Only post in this thread iCan edit is this one. Wanted to add a pole.