Shardbearer

My first introduction to Baldur's Gate was playing BG2 co-op via LAN at a friend's house. After immediately killing the giant spider in the circus tent I was kicked out of the game. I stand by my decision, I hate spiders...

I would like the decisions not to have clear cut obvious immediate consequences, and not to have definitive "good option/bad option" choices.

I'd say that depends on the magic system of the world, in The Kingkiller Chronicles books, a more intellectually-gifted person DOES make a more powerful mage.

Of course... I would definitely want an option to attack open, as well as if you anger the NPC enough they may attack you.

Honestly, plate armor's never been a big priority of mine. I tend to play classes with either medium to low armor, mostly leather or cloth. It always seems like most people and games focus on designing the plate though.

Ok, this isn't going anywhere, people are just repeating themselves over and over again and insulting each other...

For me, what tends to be visually memorable would be the world and environment design, as well as the creatures. I can't wait to see some art in this direction.

I'm betting that is exactly what the Obsidian devs are talking about when they say the publishers remove/tone down some of the more mature elements, and what they'll be able to surpass here.

I read a good article about it by an actual armorer here: http://madartlab.com/2011/12/14/fantasy-armor-and-lady-bits/ One reason is that there's actually quite a bit of padding worn under armor, so there's more room than you think inside.

Yeah, not into the boob plate with nipple bulge. From the practical and realistic POV, that's just meh. Very much get the vibe of "of course we're catering to stereotypical male gamer expectations, duh." True, hopefully that's toned down a little bit in final version. At least they avoided making the two-separate bulge mistake, There's a good article I read somewhere (edit: http://madartlab.com/2011/12/14/fantasy-armor-and-lady-bits/) on this mentioning how having two bulges would deflect strikes straight toward the middle where a normal plate deflects strikes to the sides.

Judging from the released concept art, I feel fairly confident in the aesthetics of the game.

This art style... I like. More and more with each release. I like how the gun looks, knowing its single shot and yet it looks like it packs a wallop!

I like it, it definitely needs to be something extremely low cost/low resource. I was going to mention that load screens, especially with the game being isometric, probably wouldn't last long enough, but you covered that with leaving the splash up until dismissed. Plus it's another opportunity for cool art.

I really like this idea, and actually, it was somewhat implemented in the latest Final Fantasy game. It was not based on duration away, just on where your progress was in the game, but it really helped me remember what the heck I was doing when I could only play off and on weeks apart. (Plus the story was really choppy imo)

If magic is pervasive in the world than I think the magic-users should be just as varied as everyone else. There's going to be more combat oriented individuals that might have a bit o' armor on at the expense of some maneuverability. There's going to be scholar-types (who admittedly can wear dress-like robes even in the real world), people who dress formally (suits, etc), rugged types, and even crazy inventor types I hope. I don't think the style of dress should be uniform for all magic users,

I think FF is a must for magic use and maybe ranged "abilities" like firing multiple arrows quickly in succession. I don't think you should have to worry about a basic attack arrow shot hitting you though, It's probably reasonable to assume your archers have a little skill. Similar with if you have 4 melee party members clustered around one enemy you shouldn't have to worry about friendly sword strikes, while in real life this would be a helluva risk. FF on magic can lead to some fun accidents though, or even better spell combinations on purpose in specific situations (trapping/rooting a feared/confused party member is incredibly useful).

Don't forget personal hygiene, Charisma goes down the more you forget to brush your teeth/clean your nails... I think there's a limit to the realism of the game. I play games to escape the mundanity (probably not a word) of my life, and giving me a second platform in which to worry about where I'm getting lunch wouldn't be very much fun for me.

I also concur.

This system is perfect for MMOs to mark individuality while everyone ends up with the same armor due to optimal spreadsheet conditions, but there's really no need for it in a single player game.

Sewers that were converted from the outer parts of catacombs/ruins/ancient caverns always were fun for me, also an opportunity to add to the lore of the location.

I really like this idea, not only are you using the factions/deities for boons, but in return they're trying to use you as pawns sort of thing, which goes well with the side-effects you mentioned.

I like this idea, while I'm not against combat by any means, I like when persuasion is in the form of a whole conversation and not just a singular do-you-have-enough-points-in-charisma stat check. I'd like it where you have to navigate the conversation by yourself, to varying degrees of success rather than a binomial pass/fail. Charisma/Persuasion skills could open up more dialogue options but these aren't necessarily instant win options and should NOT even be highlighted so you know which are which.

Have they even announced that gold is the currency? It'd be cool if it was something different, something related to magic use perhaps?

Increased complexity of battles with the higher difficulties is really the only thing that tends to get me to replay games at higher difficulties. Just manipulating HP/Damage won't make me want to revisit the same battles.

Honestly, I hope Obsidian makes their decisions regarding whatever kind of character interactions there will be and then doesn't tell anyone what they are. One because either way will just fan flames, and the two, I hate being spoiled.