Karkarov

The trolls in the update look fine, almost like they are water dwelling creatures.... which by the way .... the original "troll" story implies they live under bridges in caves that open onto water. Go fig.

Eh this was a nice update and all but the fact that the portal still isn't out is beginning to be become a little glaring. Obsidian knows that if the portal isn't released in the next 2-3 weeks at this point it isn't getting released in 2013 because the same "holidays" reasoning is going to be applied again only this time it will put them out of action for the better part of two weeks instead of 3-4 days. That out of the way... I hope the zoomed out area views were still in progress. The closer view with the trolls looked really nice but the distant maps just seemed sort of lifeless. There wasn't enough shading on the trees or grass and the scene just didn't seem "alive".

Dark Souls (like every other From Software RPG) has a codex too. It is just hidden in item descriptions, signs/writing on walls/statues around the levels, and multiple conversations with various npcs. Also in the case of King's Field in the manual That said From Software RPG's aren't about the stories, they are about atmosphere and exploration.

I think you are confusing D&D on the whole with the Forgotten Realms. Plenty of D&D campaign worlds had very mysterious deities, or were totally unclear about their existence, powers, or motivations. Ravenloft for example.

Eh who knows. I would like to see the backer site, and god forbid those really hard to implement forum badges or whatever. Truthfully what I "really" want is some live footage with commentary from Sawyer. Can be a basic dungeon, a generic bandit base in the forest, don't care, just give us something other than still frame images. Also if it is called "Tuesday update" why is everyone sure it isn't getting here until Wednesday? Give Obsidian some credit, they should have been planning this one for other a month, if not more.

That's just it, most devs and games DONT support this. The ones that do are actually most often FPS'ers which are just as much about console as PC and MMO's which are designed to have totally moddable UI's anyway. Also what do you people think a TV is? I hate to bust reality on you but any modern graphics card can connect to any modern TV and it will work just fine. Like I have said in other threads, I am posting this from a TV RIGHT NOW. Guess what? The text is clear as day from 3-4 feet away and I don't have "refresh problems". You don't need to "design for TV" at all. Unless you mean "design for 1080p" which they probably should do since that is the resolution all modern games are designed around first and the most common resolution used TV, Monitor, or otherwise.

Which was my point. Every living person in the forgotten realms should know the basics of the faith based around say Lathander. So.... you should never have to click on the statue in the first place, your "codex" for lack of a better current term should literally have this basic info in it outright. If it is something anyone with a decent education would know then the PC should know it right out of character creation. The reason game developers do it the way you apparently hate so much is simple. The player gets told about information relevant to what they are doing "right now" as opposed to just knowing it in advance but it being in some massive info dump. Dev's know most players won't know their original unique world lore going in and and won't bother looking it up unless something prompts them to in other words. While I understand that approach, I hope Obsidian just says "to heck with them" and lets the players have that info outright and the ones who read it better understand the world and the ones who don't... Well they just don't really know what the hell is going on. However like I said, if you come across something that is new data through whatever means you should get an update message letting you know new data was added.

Which is easily resolved by simply only putting information in the codex the player would actually know, and unlocking additional data if/when they encounter some in game information source that gives more knowledge. Such as a book, exploring a ruin, or encountering the info first hand by talking to say the person the Codex entry is about.

I agree DA:O's codex was unorganized as hell, but it was still a nice codex. I feel Mass Effect 1 is probably one of if not the best ever made for a game but I am not expecting something that detailed and minute for Eternity.

Because the guy who made the poll wants you to vote for BG2 style interface.

I don't want to know any details of the plot, or more than basic summary of the plot centric NPCS, and as little as humanly possible about your "nemesis". That said overall lore, history of the area, info about major cities and guilds, class/game mechanics, weapons/armor, etc etc.... I want to know as much as possible about those things before release. Particularly world lore, history, and game mechanics. Plenty of non story specific screenshots would be great too.

Yeap. Edair still looks better on paper and is more user friendly though. In they end they sound the same spoken aloud so whatevs.

I am not sure spoony was implying that was a good questline.... in fact it sounds mudane and frustrating as holy hell. I don't mind a big epic questline (assuming the main plot doesn't count ) but I don't want it to turn into the uber fetch quest/busy work from hell like that.

Wouldn't know about that. When a woman is wearing a metal plate on their chest their breasts are going to get smooshed regardless of their size. That said other armors, like robes or leather, won't have the same issue. What I am saying is I want female characters to look female. But the armor should still be functional in appearance not high fantasy or unwearable dress armor crap.

It all comes down to how the warning is delivered. An NPC you meet on the way through the forest warns you of dangerous wildlife being more active lately = ok. Approaching a cave and noticing there is a pile of dead bodies, bones, and scorched earth around it = ok. A book you read in town telling of a tower you one day visit and mentioning how the mightiest heroes of the day have died tried to explore it = ok. Imoen running forward and yelling at you that this area is too dangerous for you = bad. Automated pop up warning that is totally out of game telling you that you are entering a deadly area = bad.

Uh yeah, I have beaten BG2 before. Which is why I said "do something new" in my post. Also no, there is no good route with Bastard Swords. Not in BG1, not in BG2. Even if you somehow got the best one as early as possible it would still be sub optimal to any number of other weapons you could find at the same or near same time. Yes originally the game used "weapon groups", but the point is still valid and stands. If the game doesn't support your build than your build is gimped, even if mechanically there is nothing wrong with it, that was the point I was making. Also after researching it to be safe and finding out it doesn't work long term I went with greatswords.

Input lag however is a notorious concern of high-def TVs. ..... You guys should know I have gamed on this thing for over 4 years and had absolutely no issues. That aside we are also talking about a top down perspective real time with pause single player RPG. I don't think refresh rate is going to be a big issue.... just sayin.

This is a REALLLY good point. I bought the just out Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition from Beamdog and wanted my main character (fighter) to go a different route than normal. I thought, hey I bet bastard sword and off hand short sword or shield might be cool? I am not dumb though and did my due diligence. Come to find out there are hardly any bastard swords in the game and the best bastard sword is a joke compared to even the second or third best long sword or top two great swords. If I went that route I literally gimped myself simply because the game did not have a great end game bastard sword... period.

Very well stated *wink wink nudge nudge*

Interesting that you'd bring this up. This is a true statement for AAA titles who's distribution is carried out in the traditional manner (Major outlets like Walmart, Best Buy, Microsoft and Sony and the like simply won't carry Adult Only game titles) thus killing a game's sales. But would an AO rating have the same effect on a PC-only kickstarter game? Hell, does the ESRB even bother Rating crowd funded games? Yes it would, and yes they will rate it. No AO rated game has ever made good money, some of them didn't even get released. Also there is no reason to even make a game for that rating, you have to do some pretty tasteless things in your game (like show detailed rape as in the player is doing it) and I am pretty confident Obsidian has no more interest in that type of "gameplay" than I do. Going by your logic, it's unrealistic for wemen to be warrior in general co no women fighters, secondly "priests" where not wearing fullplate armor lige this Uh.... what are you talking about? Plate armor wasn't designed like it was because it showed off the "male" shape well, it was designed that way because it made it more effective at deflecting hits. Putting "boob" plate on a person literally makes it less effective as armor as it actually funnels attacks right to dead center of the persons chest. Even in the picture of whats her face the chest section is flat which makes it less effective at handling blows. She would literally be safer wearing normal plate armor. Also what's with this bigotted sounded attitude? There are plenty of women soldiers in this world and they wore the same armor as men, not because it was designed for men, but because that design was the most effective protection in battle. Don't believe me? Try looking these rare women warriors up, I believe some of them fight in this organization called the united states military.

Lie tags have been and always will be stupid. It is far easier to just give the option to "Let me join you on your bandit raid!" then we you actually get to the raid part let the player act as they choose. If they go along and pillage obviously they weren't lying. If they stop and slaughter the bandits in a surprise attack well.... they were lying.

Yeah, but her looks in general is "can't be called anything other than functional." So what do you propose they do if putting her in realistic armor and having her act like a man (you know, exactly how she is in the books????) isn't acceptable? Why Cersei is wearing that is simple. It isn't armor at all. She doesn't fight in the books, she doesn't fight anyone in the show, it is retarded "dress" armor that she has for show. Just like the giant gargoyle shaped cod pieces noblemen used to wear for their portraits cause they thought it made them look more well endowed. If you want women wearing realistic looking plate armor prepare to look at armor that looks like what Brienne wears in the show. Because that is realistic armor. (Other than the color, bronze metal? Terrible for plate armor.)

It isn't even really looking up builds. Most games are badly balanced. I will borrow Alpha Protocol again. There really really WAS a "best" build to use to beat that game and it was obvious to anyone who played it and experimented with all weapons. Most games fall into this trap, if you know the mechanics and study them your research just shows that build X simply is better so you just go with it and don't really need to "look it up" to know that. Games like Dark Souls and Demon's Souls on the other hand are balanced really really well. However the internet will still insist if you want to be the "best build" you must start as one of these classes, use these weapons, have at least these many points in these stats, etc etc.

Not going to happen Indra. Cookie Cutter Builds aren't too ARPG for anyone, even Call of Duty has them. As long as there is gear, levels, and some form of skill/class selection there will always be cookie cutter builds. Even if the game is perfectly balanced and they actually aren't really "better" than other builds they will still emerge and people will still insist they are the only right way to play.

Eh I think the show does a really solid job with Brienne of Tarth. Her armor can't be called anything other than functional.