Ink Blot

I don't want Obs to shell out more money for shipping. While I'd like to have my goodies at launch, I'd rather wait and get it all in one package if it means saving Obs some money. I can still play the game at launch anyway. So, yeah, option 2 for me I guess.

Yep, same here.

GOG for me. Although I use Steam, I don't like DRM (yes, I know Steam isn't inherently DRM, let's not get into that discussion) and won't tie a game to a particular client if a DRM-free option exists (I also have a strict policy of only buying games that are tied to clients when they're on a deep, deep discount: tie your game to a client and you severely devalue the game in my eyes). So yeah, GOG will always be my first choice over Steam. *edit* Oh yeah, one of my rigs on which I play games is not connected to the internet. So Steam means I can't play them on that rig. A further reason to go with GOG.

Possible, although I think there are only 2 pre-order bonuses, and not 3.

Yeah, I wouldn't put too much stock in that then. GOG's notorious for having little glitches on their forums and in peoples' accounts. I'd suggest contacting them if it really bothers you and see what they say about it. I don't have a pre-order on my shelf, unfortunately, since I'll get a key from my backer pledge, but I checked out my Witcher 3 pre-order on my GOG shelf and there's nothing like that, and as far as I'm aware there's no DLC planned for PoE at release, so I'd chalk this up to just an oversight, error, or glitch on GOG's part.

Where does it say that? Which version? I checked all three versions of the game available for pre-order on GOG and I can't see any mention of DLC at all. Or is it just in your account library? If so, that's likely just an error/glitch or perhaps GOG's listing some of the goodies as DLC erroneously. I've seen some odd things with GOG and pre-order listings, so I wouldn't be concerned until the game is released and then see what is listed and how.

Pretty much my thoughts. I find limited vendor gold about as enjoyable as being required to eat food in an RPG, which is to say about on par with dental surgery.

Nice! Thanks for the heads up.

You get a complete collection regardless. It makes no sense to upset about this. It's the exact same stuff no matter where you're getting it from. Not sure you understood what I meant, so I bolded the relevant bit.

I'll vouch for that. My days of perfect eyesight are long behind me, although I only need glasses for anything close in. But I find the text in that shot is a bit blurry for me. Ultimately, I can read it, but it takes some work.

I don't personally care, as I can (and will) do as you suggest, but I know other people like to have everything in one place, whether it be Steam, GOG, or whatever. I believe Barry is a very dedicated collector and has a great desire to have a 'complete' collection on GOG or whatever other services he uses.

I wouldn't. The whole idea of backing the project is to get the game made - a game we want to play. The goodies are nice extras, yes (and don't get me wrong, I want them as well), but if you're pledging just for the goodies and/or to get them cheaper than someone who decides to buy the game when it's ready, then IMO you're missing the forest for the trees.

It's not the 5 bucks or even the moderate difference between Steam and GOG (I actually don't think anyone's even brought that up). It's the price of the other editions and the fact that they're digital only. See my comment to Sensuki about the Royal edition pricing.

Yeah, the price for the standard edition (Hero) I can see. Not really too concerned about that. But the other editions... ouch. Like I said, I'm only going by the comments on the GOG boards, but there seems to be a lot of negative reaction to the pricing (83 Euros for the 'Royal' edition). This kind of pricing is what you see for physical collector's editions, not generally for digital only. I just hope they haven't priced themselves out of more sales and overall profits than they'd gain with lower pricing.

Who decides the pricing and editions for the game offered on Steam and GOG? Is it solely Paradox or do you guys have some input? The reason I ask is Steam has the Hero edition (49.99 CDN) and Champion Edition (66.49 CDN). GOG has three editions: Hero (44.99 USD), Champion (59.99 USD), and Royal (89.99 USD) If the reaction on GOG is any indication, there may be something to be concerned about here. Why not a standard edition with the option to have upgrade packages to add extras? People are finding the different editions both confusing and upsetting, mainly because they can't upgrade their pre-orders if they want (the different editions were announced at different times). There is also a lot of negative reaction about the pricing. The most common comments I've seen are either "I'll wait for a steep discount a year or so down the road" or a flat out "Not buying this game at all". Note that this doesn't make any difference to me personally, as I threw a lot more money at the game than this, but I do think the pricing is a bit over the top, and the I hope this doesn't negatively impact sales of the game.

I think so as well (with the caveat that maybe a one time award for disarming a new type of trap or springing a new type of lock - much in the vein of XP for killing new creature types - may make some sense), but FFS, that's precisely the reason I don't bother reloading for the few XPs it would give. Hormalakh, I honestly wasn't intending to bash you. As I said I'm just so sick of reading threads across various game forums about how this or that mechanic should be removed or revised because it's 'degenerate gameplay' when it can only be exploited if the player chooses to do so. I'd far rather the devs concentrate on other, bigger things, than these (of course, I'd far rather they'd concentrated elsewhere than actually implementing trap and lock XP, but c'est la vie)

Honestly, I don't understand why this is a concern. Some players will reload, yes. Others won't. Who cares? The 'hand-wringing'* and angst that seems to be displayed at the fact a player may exploit the reload function baffles me. WHY do people give a crap? If you don't think reloading to gain that pithy XP for disarming a trap is worth it, then by all means don't bother reloading. *I put this in quotes because I realize that's not what you're doing here, but it just seems that there are a lot of threads/posts concerned with how players might exploit the game to gain a small advantage or more XPs. I just don't get why it's a big deal.

Hmmm, this is encouraging. I'm going to have to wait for further reviews, but this sounds very much improved over DA2 (and DA:O for that matter).

I've seen a number of reports that the PC controls for DA:I are crap as well as the 'quests' being just MMO fetch/kill quests and boring as hell. I'm not impressed. Was thinking I'd pick up the game right away, but I think I'll wait until it's heavily discounted. I'm not a BioWare hater, but I think I'm at the point where I'm ready to move them to my 'C' list, unfortunately.

There was no 'assumed empathy' other than the fact that the characters you create are... Desert Rangers. I don't even get your complaint. As for the 'Cochise' thing, that's part of the history. Did you read the responses when you asked about it? Or did you even ask about it? There's quite a bit of lore and history to find out if you delve into it, which explains a lot about the Desert Rangers and why things are as they are in the game's setting. If you still don't give a crap about the Rangers after that, then you can, as noted, just betray them and call it a day. Full disclosure: I never played Wasteland 1 and knew nothing about it going into Wasteland 2. I never felt there was any assumption of empathy.

My lawn... get off it, whippersnapper!

I think that was Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. My buddies and I played as many of those old TSR modules as we could get our hands on. Somewhere in a storehouse there's a box with all my old AD&D hardcover rule books, a ton of TSR modules, and the original box set that Monte Carlo provided an image of upthread. (I'm picturing that end scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, as I've no idea where my parents stored that stuff). Anyway, as for the topic, I turned 50 this year and my first game was (I think) Pong which a friend of mine got as a gift. I think we were 13 years old? Can't recall for sure - it may have been when I was 14 or 15, but 13 seems about right. We were all completely blown away by that game. Anyway been gaming for a while since then...

And it is physical, but that doesn't mean just Strength. I look at Brute Force as I said earlier: it's more about knowing where to apply leverage and force than about pure Strength. Sure, you'd think a really strong guy could kick in that rusty door better than a weaker guy. But have you ever tried something like that? If you don't know where to apply the force, you can do real damage to yourself - and not succeed. @Lephys: no demolitions wouldn't fit that category. It never even crossed my mind that Demolitions was anything other than the knowledge of explosives and mechanical devices that are designed to go boom. As noted, if you try to Brute Force a mine, you'll get your arms (or legs) blown off.

No, you misunderstand me. I go by the assumption that our Rangers are exceptional people. The average Joe has no chance of becoming a Ranger, and therefore our Ranger's stats show how exceptional we are compared to the average. So all stat scores are positive and better than Joe Average. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it makes perfect sense, but viewing it this way makes it easier for me to pas it off without getting into a horrible logic/sense loop and tearing the whole thing apart. Because when it comes right down to it, no matter what system is used, you can find all kinds of logical inconsistencies. I try not to drive myself too crazy by overanalyzing them.

I don't look at a 1 as meaning they're inferior in that particular attribute to the average Joe. I feel the characters we roll up are exceptional when compared to the regular Wasteland denizen. They're just not as good as someone with a higher score in that attribute. So someone with a 1 Strength can still Brute Force an object. I'd look at it as higher ranks meaning you know better where to put your weight or apply pressure in order to get results. I made mention of the fact this might make more sense if the attribute gave a boost to your percentage chance the higher the attribute was, and I was informed that this is actually the way it works for many skills. I haven't tested it yet though. But if that's the case, then your 10 STR character will have a better percentage chance at success than your 1 STR character, given the same number of ranks in the skill.