Covnam

I'm going for 'all of the above', as the conversation options should vary based on any number of factors. One conversation would give you more options if you have a better persuasion skill, one might become more favorable if you have a high charisma stat, another might give you more options if you use certain spells or abilities, and still another should depend on your standing within a faction (for example, a mage in the mage guild would get more choices when speaking to another member than a fighter). There could even be additional options depending on things you can't change once you create your character like gender, race or class.

This depends on how classes are implemented. There might be a generic figher class and mage class, but depending on how customizable they are would dictate whether or not other classes like monk or cleric are needed. If a fighter can take unarmed offensive skills and defensive skills that rely on dodges w/ light armor then you have something similar to a monk. If the mage class has different schools of magic and one of them is healing/protection, then you have a cleric. And so on. Hopefully we'll see this kind of versatility so that even though we only end up with 5 or 6 classes, the combinations become much higher. This could also let the game have more variety in it's classes than the usual staple of classes.

I'd prefer they'd stick with their RTwP system as they have planned. Queueing up several attacks was mentioned above and I think that would be a good thing to have if they weren't already planning on implementing it. Not only does it help manage a lot going on on-screen, but perhaps it will help it be closer to a turn based style for those who want it. I can't imagine Obsidian having both systems though, you'd likely need to have abilities function and play out differently depending on which system you were using and that would just add more work for a feature that may be unnecessary for most players.

Being able to upgrade the house over the course of the game would be great. It could be tied to side quests (help the local carpenter get a new room etc), companions (who could add their own touches), a representation of your current standing in the game (reputation or power level for instance) or simply a money sink. Along similar lines, if housing does make it in, then any major quest items/rewards need to be able to be displayed in said housing. Upgrade the house enough and it can get a dedicated trophy room

I like the thought of tying magic to a characters soul and I think it would awesome of they could have spells change with the characters. So even if a few characters cast the same spell, each one would like different depending on their personality/beliefs. So if the pc can change alignments (good/evil etc) a spell cast by a good character would look bright and shiny but an evil character's same spell would look dark and foreboding. Now obviously this could add a lot of work depending on how the game engine handles spell effects, so having unimportant npcs use generic versions would likely be understandably required. This would give the magic in the game more variety visually without having to have dozens and dozens of spells. Don't get me wrong, in a p&p game I love going through tons of spell lists, but in a game, I don't want to have 4 toolbars full of spells with more sitting in my spell book. I agree that spell ranks shouldn't be used, in general they should just scale with level. Spells could also cap at different levels to give a range of options if needed depending on the spell casting resource system used to balance the game. I definitely don't want to have to memorize or pre-select spells on my mage before heading out and into battle. I can understand it's use in D&D with hundreds of spells to choose from to balance the class, but since I doubt there'll be that many, I'd want some type of resource management system to balance the class. I'm not to picky about the specific system as long as it keeps magic use fun.

I prefer the traditional expansion pack to the more common dlc that is seen today. Especially since most dlc tends to add to the existing game, but is useless if you've already finished the game. New weapons, another companion, a new bar? Great, that would have been fun months ago when I was going through the game, but now it's not a reason to replay the whole game. With an expansion pack I know that it takes place after finished game and contains a whole new storyline (along with other content) to follow.

I think this really depends on the character and where he's coming from. If he's just starting the game as some random guy in a crowd (or worse off) then it makes sense that he's no better then anyone else and may be taken out when the game first begins. If he's a war vet though, then I would expect him to be a bit more powerful then the average bandit on the road.

I don't think gold should have weight. Doing so would just add tedium for no reason. Sure it might be more realistic, but not for any worthwile reason. If it had weight, then they would just as likely have a place to store all that money or just put in items of more value that weigh less, which just gives more work for the player to do to manage it without and benefit outside of making it more realistic. This is easily something where fun/gameplay overrides realism imo.

I enjoy a well done romance in games and agree with the Op that sex shouldn't be the final goal, just a part of the romance arc between two characters. It would also be nice, though I understand would be a lot to implement, if an npc that is in a relationship with the pc actually acts different while out in the world during normal gameplay. Usually the only time a romanced companion acts differently to the pc is only when you're having a conversation, and even then usually when it relates to the romance arc. By the end of the game, regardless of what's going on, the two characters that are involved with each other should not be behaving the same as if you had never romanced at all. It would would also be interesting to see your companions form their own relationship/romance. Why should the pc be the only one allowed to fall for someone? Of course as the pc, you should be able to both help or hinder that romance.