Badmojo

Yea, thief/assassin, would like to actually have missions like this. I also would like to do some freelance work and find more than simple 12 gold in a nobles house. My dream is to have the freedom to rob anybody, anywhere, anytime. Just make it really hard for rich people. If there is a bank, I want the OPTION to rob it, I do not care if its really, really, really hard. That is the point, only a master thief could rob it, but I don't want it to only have something pathetic like 5000 gold, this is the BANK, it should be up the shazoo with money, robbing it should allow your characters to retire and buy an island or two. The point is, that I should be able to attept it anytime, but until I get the necessary skills, I will not get to it. I also want multiple options to get in. From lockpicking the safes, to blackmailing/seducing the keys/codes from a manager, to bribing the gaurds to get away, to finding hidden passageways..etc. It always bugs me that I could be a theif, but I could not break into a bank in games. Or as an assassin, I actually don't assassinate many people.

This, please. It seems that a lot of posters would like to see resting done away with entirely, but I'd like to see resting mechanics tied to party skills. A party with a higher stealth skill (overall, or that of the party leader, or of the companion with the highest rating) would be less prone to interruption by wandering monsters, which could be detected in advance by a search skill. A survival skill could help in finding safer resting spots and determine replenishment rates. Also, as another poster already said, picking up an item owned by an NPC shouldn't be a crime worthy of capital punishment. But rummaging through an NPC's cupboard right in front of them should cause a negative reaction of some sort. Perhaps the PC might get a specific reputation for thievery (but only if they're seen stealing), and would be mistrusted by the 'lawful' but liked by the 'chaotic' or corrupt. Another for non combat magic!

I actually mentioned in another thread that I think bringing someone back should have a cost depending on the school. Necromancer Low level - can create a gate to the deadlands, a small dimension where you can fight weak monsters to bring the soul of your companions (or other) back. You can get loot and XP along the way. High Level - trade a captured soul (or human sacrifice) for payment exchange of a soul of the dead person to bring them back to life. You can also try to bring them back without paying, but there is usually a consequence. For example, a random person the character have interacted with dies in the world and the characters will know, Someone else comes back to life, someone (usually an enemy) possibly comes back as a vampire/zombie, the character you bring back comes back wrong and is a vampire/zombie/etc Demons/cult/priest - could bring you back, but there is always a price you have to negotiate.

Like was mentioned, permenant death and crippling characters doesn't achieve anyting except having people reload. Few people will keep playing if they have to lug a body back to a temple/doctor, or reserection is too expensive/difficult, or some other thing.

Permadeath/crippled is pretty useless because people will just reload. I honestly prefer character to get knocked out, as long as one party memeber survives they will all come back. However, I can see a few interesting possiblities. Being brought back by different ways. Necromancer Low level - can create a gate to the deadlands, a small dimension where you can fight weak monsters to bring the soul of your companions back. You can get loot and XP along the way. High Level spell - trade a captured soul (or human sacrifice) for payment exchange of a soul of the dead. You can also try to bring them back without paying, but there is usually a consequence. For example, a random person the character have interacted with dies in the world and the characters will know, Someone else comes back to life someone (usually an enemy) possibly as a vampire/zombie, the character comes back wrong and is a vampire/zombie/ghoul/etc Demonologists/cult/priest Call up a demon/being of power/worshiped being - ask for them to be brought back, the being will do so, but you have to do something for that being at a later date. The price is usually high It could make death interesting.

I love this stuff and definetly want to see it in more RPG's. It is sad that modern games (reluctant to call them RPG's) just have everything solve by fighting and not using your brains.

I choosed 2, sick to death of traditional races and want something new. I would give a grudging acceptance of 3 if they were REALLY original. However, most "original" ideas are not that original. take the witcher, elves and dwarves just seemed like reskinned humans to me. I want the races to feel really different, I want them to look and ACT different, to be alienish and not just tall pointed eared humans who live in trees and short humans who live in mountains.

I do not want to see multiplayer, not even as a stretch goal. It is very time consuming and takes resources away that can be used to create a better multiplayer. Adding multiplayer will slow the game development down a LOT and end up with a lesser product for it, so no multiplayer please.

So, I half agree with and the other half I don't. I agree with no full VO, I like reading large blocks of text and branching dialog, having partial VO only at important moments is the best solution, the best bang for your buck in otherwords. I also think the MODERN version of bioware, or EAware should be avoided at all cost (although some of the older crew that left before EA took over might be good). However, I like romances in games, not subtle victorian read between the lines like some people want, but real romances in at least DAO and other games (I don't care about sex scenes, a black screen is fine like the old games) level. Although I bet the could do better. I also like little things like owning a keep/fortress and upgrading it, it is FUN for a lot of us. It is something to do besides the all mighty quest and missions, there is nothing wrong with adding extra dimensions of gameplay.

Romances should not be a stretch goal (especially a ridiculous high one that you KNOW will never be reached), it is something that has been in a lot of RPG's and is obvious that many people enjoy it. If you do not like it then you can ignore it.

I actually liked DAO system, I do agree that the love meter was a bit cheasy, but there needs to be some way to gauge if your making progress or not. I actually like the long tolks, not just in romance, but in just friendship, talking stuff, having the characters open up too you, influencing their decision and personality. It was nice and actually was very bonding. I do NOT want the BS that was in DA2, where you had to hit some secret switch/diyusyion to activate the romance/friendship conversations, it was horrible. DAO did it good where you had moments of resting at the camp to talke and get to know everyone.

Oh, they HAVE to have that as a possible ending...please, please, please obsidian!

I have taken on gods, I have seen the end of civilizations, I have flown ships across the universe and back, I have done all this and more in games, I am tired of the great battle is your ending and then leave. No, I want a lot more closure than some stupid battle (DA2 anybody?!?!) taking on the big bad. I want to feel a little closure in my choices I made. This is not retirement, this is jus the lull before the storm of the next game. Its a moment to let your character rest, or keep adventuring, or whatever he/she chooses. I just mentioned emporor as an example. Oh, and for the love of cthulhu, do NOT leave a cliffhanger ending! Have the story wrap up at the end and whatever sequel should be something completely different.

Having *some* different body types is fine, but It will be very depressing if the majority of characters are fat/old/ugly and all the attractive women are covered head to toe not showing any skin.

I hate those types of endings that are open to interpretation, I also hate games like DA2 which only had one ending. You do all this stuff, given freedom to choose, and then you have the exact same ending that is meaningless (deus ex:HR, ME3..etc makes me rage). It feels pointless, I want to feel my actions led to something, not meaningless interpret the ending the way you want. There is ways to make all the threads link back together in a sequel, its a pain, but it can be done. The question is, do you want a fantastic game with a memorable personalized ending, or do you want a forgetable generic meaningless ending?

If you don't like it then thats cool, but some people do. I like romances in games (er, not so much having a child topic), it gives your character a purpose besides the mighty quest. As long as its optional, then those who don't like them can ignore them while those who like them can follow that path. Just make the characters interesting, with interesting personalities. I like getting to know the characters and it actually make sense to chat them up to build up relationships. Also, what about a few outside relationships. Here me out, a delimma, a nobles daughter is kidnapped, the noble offers a high reward and the hand of the daughter in marriage for anybody who saves her(perhaps is a guy if the character is a strait girl). The noble is well connected and you could jump on doors will open if you accept the marriage, or you could take the money and not get married. A few outside romance OPTIONS could add a new layer of play. I am thinking of fallout 2 and the forced farmer forcing your character to marry his daughter if you slept with her. It is little things that add a new dimension to gameplay. I can understand some do not want it, but other do, different game styles for different people.

So, how should the game end? Of course I want multiple endings and branching storyline, thats a given. But at the very end I think there needs to be a moment to talk to the companions/sort out any loose ends/and say goodbyes..etc. Sort of like the end of dragon age origin, then I want it to go through and tell what happened to all the people/places you interacted with, with following artwork showing whether you made peace, or created a living hell, what happened to the people/places after your adventures, what happens to your companions, and finally what happened to your character, did you became the emporor, or went with your romance to live away from adventuring and decided to raise a family..etc

How about this to be a possible ending to the main character if they choose to go with the romance ending? Of course this all depends on your choices, they type of personality the characters have and what they talked about. If the romance optioned said she wanted children and to live on a farm (just an example!), then the ending give a rundown of all the things the character has done, what affect your actions have had on the people, and finally showing an art picture of a farm, a woman teaching sword/magic to her children, looking up too the screen smiling, there is an outline of a shadow in in front a human form which is obviously supposed to represent the player character and your looking through your player characters eyes. I don't know, that could be an end goal for people who choose that. I don't know about actually having a kid, although I think becoming friends with kid characters, and offering to adopt them at the end of the game (replace the kids in the scenerio above with the adopted kids) would work maybe.

I prefer magic systems that allow different types of magic, I don't like restrictive magic rules that says that one type of magic just cannot exist because it conflicts. I also do not just want 4 generic magic types we have seen a bazillion times. Fireballs/lighting/healing..etc. have been done to death and will be dissapointed if we are stuck with only the generic magic that we see in every single game. I listed necromancy/demon/etc magic because there really isn't too many things you can point to and call it 'evil', I definitely do not want a rehash of magic vs anti magic like da2. Having evil mages that just use the same spells/skills as everyone else does not make them unique. Also, evil powers supposed to be tempting, getting the same thing whether you are good or bad again would be dissapointing. I really want the game to have some unique powers besides the generic types.

The aliens seemed unique at first, until you realised they were just reskined humans most of the time. The point went home when you walked into a shop and this honken alien is smoking a cigar...really. I want aliens to be trully alien, not just reskinned humans. The older games did this much better.

I don't think you're understanding the point I'm making. You're still illustrating one "real" choice. No matter how many little things going into it, it's still a choice of two divergent outcomes. You're still only describing one real choice at the end of the game that leads to different endings. That's a silly concept if you ask me. Tacking on various endings to a game doesn't make the plot better. My point, to sum it up as succinctly as possible, is that so many people are begging for choices just for the sake of choices. They're fine with the mere illusion of having a real effect on the world. I'm not. I don't want choices for the sake of choices. I don't want the illusion of choice. If I'm going to fight the demon army in the end and save the world no matter what, then write me a story that leads up to that. Write me an amazing story that leads up to that. Don't force multiple storylines into what should be a single storyline culminating in that single event. yes, all roads lead to rome, but you can influence things by your choices alter in the game. If you help some bandits in the game, you can call in your favor to increase your man power against the big bad, didn't help stop that disease because it would cost the mayer money early on? Congrads, you now have a plauge killing most of the town population, help the crazy father build his flying machine instead of selling the plans and killing him? You now have air support. The little choices affect the big choices later in the game. yes, its an illusion, I will take illusion over having on a few fixed points of actual change. You also do not have to change the world, you can change bits of it at a time.

Is this even going to the ratings board? The only people who will be getting a boxed set will be the backers, and everything else will be digital distrubution through steam and possible gog. I don't think they need ratings, but not sure. If they don't need ratings then they don't need to hold back. Edit: Rating boards are a joke, I have seen games that are way mature get a E rating, and games that are not even disney get an M rating. They way they rate stuff is get some random people off the street, they watch the worst parts of a game (not the whole picture), then decide what rating to give it. Like I said, a joke. Since its going to steam, I say do not get it rated, just have it unrated and put in whatever obisdian wants, pretend the rating board does not even exist.

PST did it real well, you had a lot of options pop up based on your stats/knowledge. I would like to see that again, also Vampire the masquerade bloodlines did it well also, you would get new options that were in a new colored font that allowed you to know it was a special option. For example, you would be talking to someone, and then a pink text apeared to let you know there was a seduction option, a blue text opion apeared to know you can persuade, green I think meant threatened, red meant you could use a power to drive someone insane. I love these added bonuses, not just knowlege, but using skills/abilities like using magic option in a conversation piece. Sort of like when you used the force to persuade someone in the jedi games. I also like the option to punch people, or try to pickpocket, or throw a fireball, or seduce, persaude..etc. Based on your stats, it should give you an idea of the percentage of success though. Again, PST did this really well.

So, what magic schools would you like to see in the game? I hope to see Necromancy (summon dead, communicate with dead, create army of undead, suck the lifeforce from people, steal souls and have access to their powers/abilities) Elemental (lightning, fire..etc, old hat) Nature (create vines that wrap/trap people, summon bees/birds..etc) Demonology (summon demon, turn into demon, gain power from demon) Summoning (sommon other worldly creatures/beings to fight and do your bidding) Illusion (become invisible, disguise yourself) Pact magic - Making pacts with demons/gods/beings of power Construction magic (create artificial creatures from elements that you can summon to fight for you later, even the dreaded flesh golem that is made from different species parts) Mind magic (manipulate people, turn enemy to friend, make enemies fight each other, turn people into thralls, force to tell the truth, make people forget) Shadow magic (creat tools weapons from shadow, create shadow creatures, create an area of darkness, become invisible in shadow) Body magic (healing, shapeshifting) Cannibal/ghoul magic (eat the dead to gain power, high power allows you to transform into that person with all their abilities/skills/memories to use as a disguise) Telekenesis (throw objects, pull objects, create force fields, use wtih lockpicking can unlock doors/locks) Etc.

I am sick of elves and dwarves and want some really NEW unique characters like PST pulled off. Still, if they change them up enough and make them interesting enough maybe it would be interesting, but it needs more than a simple new coat of paint. With that said, even I end up using them but changed up. I have a setting (a dark victorian era in personality/style, but technology/magic is a bit anachronisistic because of various reason) Human created elves and other species a few hundred years ago as slave races. Elves were modeled after a childrens book based on fictional beings called 'elves'. They were created to appear as tall thin humans with alien features that are pleasing to look at and desirable, but their looks and personality is alien enough that people will keep a distance. The first generation escaped and these wild/free elves reproduced and hid among the disenfranchised (they live within a huge city, too much backstory, but basically they are ignrored because there is too much going on for the government to worry about them unless they cause problems). The wild elves actually have shorter lifespans than humans, but they are strong and have perfect memories. The second generation created after the escaped free elves were fixed so they could not reproduce, created with a subserviant personality, and were born addicted to a drug that keeps them young/healthy, if they stop taking the drug they go through painfull withdrawl and age rapidly. The second gen elves have only been around a few hundred years, but theoretically they could live thousands of years. Also the second generation elves come with different speices, some were created to be intelectuals, some were created for war, some were created for pleasure, some were created as servants..etc. You can usually tell by their skin color/looks/and tattoo markings (used for identification, and whose property they belong too) Something in this range would be cool.