Karkarov

I am not voting either way but sexism, racism, and bigotry when used correctly can help build a believable world and weave a good story. If they want to use those elements in the game Obsidian will, and I am sure they will handle it well. As for... "Why do humans always come out on top?" Well in a logical explanation I would say because they are smarter than orcs, breed more often than elves and dwarves, but aren't as close minded and self interested as the other races and far more interested in expansion. Meaning they don't sit around doing nothing a lot of the time and there are more of them than most other races. Orcs have many common traits with humans their society just tends to not be very ... progressive and often they aren't as mentally developed. The other way of looking at it is this. I don't care who you are, the person buying the game is a human. I don't believe for one second you identify with yourself as an elf in the real world so fantasy or not more people will be attracted to the idea that humans win everyone else loses than others. This could lead to more purchases due to the power fantasy aspect. Also.... maybe it is just me but I don't see any fantasy dwarves, elves, orcs, gnomes, or anything else running around in the real world. So it is a might bit more realistic too. Not to mention it is easier to relate to something you actually are in reality than something you are not.

Really the only difference between the Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2 approach is in the presentation of the map. In BG1 they made it look like it was the whole city, in BG2 they made it clear it was just "parts" of the city. The only actual difference is in your head based on perception from the way they present the map screen. Thematically it is better, but I won't care if they don't go that route. In fact I would actually prefer a seemless world, we have the tech and computers to do it now, so let's cut out as many load screens as we can.

There will be achievements in the steam version because I am pretty sure that is a requirement of steam. I am going to be playing it through a DRM free GoG option though so my move is pretty obvious. Heck even when I do play on steam I would turn achievements off... if it didn't also disable screenshots.

It is also pretty hard to get dynamic shadows on an object that is flat. I am sure they will figure something out to make it work, but even if they don't I would still be fine with it. Like you said this needs to run really well on a normal pc, like one you could buy from dell for say 500 or less. You shouldn't need a gamer pc to play this, and this is alpha footage who knows how much more awesome they will pack in for release or even beta. Personally I am very impressed, graphically it already looks better than Wasteland 2 or Shadowrun if you ask me.

I am all for disappearing corpses. Sure let them stay there while I am in the immediate area and or just took them out. However... if I leave and come back like 1-2 in game days later... I am going to find it odd if there are 15 bandit corpses right outside the town gates. Do the people in this town just not care about the smell? Where are the scavengers like wolves or crows? What about the other bandits, or am I supposed to believe these are the only 15 bandits anywhere near here? It just isn't logical for corpses to hang around past a certain point.

So I guess I am the only person who came to this thread to say he would love if cliche Do'Urden or someone like him does not show up in this game.

Very nice, I like what I see especially when I factor in youtube quality loss and the video is only 720p. I would love to see how the floating light/wisp looks when moved onto or near a player though and what sort of effects there are when a player tries to move through a large bush or similar shrubbery. My only real complaint (other than the shadows thing which is how it is for obvious reasons) is that the scale is a bit odd. The characters just feel like they should look a bit bigger on screen is all.

Dwarf Forge kickstarter? God I loved playing with that stuff in the past, you guys have some of the best pieces from what your pics show. I hope they do really well!

Dude shut up, you are the worst kind of internet trash there is, a know it all who gets butt hurt by anyone disagreeing with him on anything. I am sorry I threatened your fragile internet ego but most people who enjoy a video game will play it more than once. Me stating that I do so is not a "brag", it is not an "e-peen measurement", it is plain old bare bones statement of fact that if I enjoy a game I will play it more than one time. I am willing to bet most people on this forum also play games they like more than once, heck other people in this thread have even stated as such. Are they vile internet braggarts too because they admitted to playing Planescape Torment more than one time? But then again most of us aren't richer than god with so much disposable income it makes us feel bad to play a old game. I don't know how you make it through the day with these terrible first world problems you have to deal with.

Or maybe I am just saying when I "love" a game I play it more than once and find it sort of stupid that you claim you really enjoy a game but don't seem to think it is worth more than one play through. If you really enjoyed it shouldn't it be fun the second time too? I guess that concept was too high brow for you. And I am the one who is making a childish playground brag?

I know what you're getting at. Like in your AP example, I've restarted Lionheart several times with different characters. Character creation is fun, so I enjoy that, even though the game is also pretty much broken. OTOH, I only played through it once, because the game as a whole simply isn't fun enough to make me stick with it. Personally I can't think of any game I would call a "masterpiece" to be honest. That word is thrown around wayyyyy too lightly in this thread. Though I can think of a number of games I consider to be great. Which is why I have to scratch my head Ffordesoon because you can bet any game that I "love" I have in fact played it more than once. Some games I have actually beaten 3-4 times I enjoyed them so much.

Actually IWD is the one Infinity Engine game I am totally blase on. The mechanics were good but I found the narrative uninteresting and mostly been there done that, and the setting felt very generic. I had played plenty of RPG's with similar settings, locations, and enemies. It was a mechanically functional game but there was nothing memorable about it. The one thing I agree with that most people in this thread have touched on is that the Infinity Engine games are all leveled at three different goals. IWD = Mechanics/Gamist I win thing PST = Pure narrative BG = Tried to do all three. BG 1 sort of failing at it, BG2 sort of succeeding. So it is no surprise to me the only Infinity Engine game I consider to be a great game is BG2.

Christ man get a sense of humor. If I was attacking him I wouldn't have ended the post by saying what I just said wasn't true. Just like he didn't actually mean what he said in his post based on what he put in a spoiler. There is also no need to attack a post when it is just a joke and or a troll post. All that aside I don't have a clue why you think it is silly to discuss how you would review a game if you were being paid to do it in this thread. There is no reason you can't be objective while also posting why you didn't like a game. Also it boggles my mind why you think you would need to make special comment for Planscape. You realize an 8/10 is actually a great score right? Like the professional benchmark on metacritic is you score an 80 out of 100 or higher. So there isn't much of a "dragging down" going on in an 8/10. Personally I would give it a 6 out of 10 at best.

My ability to not care could not be higher than it is. If they want to give us custom selection circles that's cool but I won't care if they don't. There is nothing else really worth talking about though. If your selection circle color choices are going to make the game worse if you don't get what you want I only have three words. Get over it.

And I heard you liked stalking little girls. This statement I just made is also as accurate as the one I am quoting which is to say.... not at all.

.... You guys realize say... Mass Effect 1 has a customer shepard who makes hard emotion decisions with no right or wrong answer, gets to "win" quite often, but always has a logical set of rules and world building behind it all that makes everything viable and believable. Pretty sure that hits all three just fine.

Hang on, people end up being Harmonium guards or unarmored tattooed undead because karma? And for that reason, noone who is destined to go about life unarmored could don a suit of armor and profit from it? Noone has a sword like Dakkon because noone is destined to wield it/ has accumulated enough sword karma? Ok. Not sure if the developers of PS:T would agree here (any feedback, Mr Avellone?), but I'll accept that for now (really horrible idea both logically and artistically though). Also, maybe the Queen of Pain places people with a Sorting Hat? Sorry. Still, even if we assume you arrived at a right conclusion, how are we to judge all this, gameplay-wise? How can you justify i.e. the class-changing of the Nameless One, or his constantly growing attributes (depending on your choice) with a completely deterministic universe? More importantly, has the game profited from all this? Uh no, he is uh... sort of going overboard. Harmonium in PS:T are not well represented because every one of them I met was a joke compared to how they were supposed to be. They are the absolute arbiters of the law... imagine Judge Dredd except he doesn't execute people as often. That's what the Harmonium is supposed to be. Also in Planescape you only have karmic debt or weight if you think you have karmic debt or weight. Your choices are definitely yours and not pre ordained. Which is another thing I hate about PS:T. There is only one "good" ending and only one "right" way to play the game. This is not how planescape should have been represented.

Not everething modern is excrement. Every modern RPG is below the IE games? Hell yes. I liked NWN2, Mask of the Betrayer, DA:O, New Vegas, Wither 2. None of them comes close to BG2 or Torment. Mask of the Betrayer comes closer.In fact if not for the awful camera and controls it would be on par with Black Isle games. But other than that that five games we hadn't have a good RPG the last years. And if NWN2 OC is a good RPG is dabatable by others That's so wrong it isn't even funny. Other than BG2 I would play NWN 2 over any Infinity Engine game. Better gameplay, better graphics, better characters in your party for the most part, better customization, actually mostly faithful to the source material, not so anti trope it is a trope. I am sorry but it takes more than a "story" to be a good game, but while we are at it the story of NWN2 is actually perfectly fine anyway. I would rather play any of the elder scrolls games from Morrowind up than any of the Infinity engine games, Mass Efffect 1 is a better game than any infinity engine game, Witcher 2 is better than any infinity engine game in all but the story department, Dragon Age: Origins IS an infinity engine game just with better gameplay. There are many games these days that even blend RPG elements I would rather play than any infinity engine game too. Such as Dues Ex HR. I am sorry but games have gotten a lot better since planescape torment and I dare say planescape torment would have been better as an adventure game to begin with. It's mechanics are total garbage and it is un-fun to play. Meanwhile why is planescape even a part of the name it isn't faithful to the source material, it was money wasted on a license they went out of their way to not use and or butcher. And by the way the story isn't that good, it isn't bad, but it is no where near what it needs to be to carry the broken mess that the mechanics are for anyone who has any standards of what is actually fun to play. In fact if I were to do a thesis on how not to make a RPG I would use Planescape Torment as my topic.

*coughs* rose colored glasses much Junta? Planescape is a downright crap game with a good story and Baldur's Gate 1 is a downright average game with an okay story. I am more forgiving of Baldur's Gate because it came first, they didn't have tons of other games to improve upon. None of the infinity engine games are actually a "great game" in my opinion with the exception of maybe Baldur's Gate 2.

No kidding, right on OP! If you don't want me to have huge amounts of money do the smart thing and don't give me items or loot I can turn into huge amounts of money .

Well for one thing nets don't work well outside of one on one fights. They are very... cumbersome and unwieldy. You can't have a real weapon ready at the same time as the net, or a shield for that matter. Also in a party environment you net a guy sure, but you still have to draw your weapon/shield and there are still 4 (or who knows how many) other dudes standing there, not to mention you can always miss. It just isn't a very good weapon outside of an arena, hence why you never see it getting used in anything in the real world other than ambushes and .... the arena. Where as a mage can cast a web that covers a whole area, no need to worry about accuracy, doesn't need to put down any of their accoutrements to do it, and can even get more than one person at a time. Hence for mages it works, dudes with nets not so much. That said fighters should have skills like hamstringing, stunning, "melee engagement", disarms, and other such moves that can hamper a enemies ability to move or attack. Of course fighters also get the most reliable, most time honored, and absolutely best CC to ever exist. It is called "Stab it until it dies". It has infinite duration and the target doesn't get a saving throw.

Uhmmmm no. Tanking mechanics are dumb and gamey, this is coming from a guy who has exclusively played tanks in MMO's for almost 10 years. They are not using point and click movement ala Infinity Engine games, this type of set up only works when characters have physical size and take up space while occupying some form of "grid" that exists even if you can't see it. Also tanking is the backbone of the trinity and the trinity only exists to make an easy mechanic to balance that requires multiple players. This is a single player game, there is no reason to include mechanics that are designed for multiplayer environments. Even games that are not MMO's and do it well (like Xenoblade Chronicles) probably would have been better off without it to begin with. So gonna have to respectfully disagree. I want tactics, not gamey mechanics.

Also while thinking about it maybe this could be expanded to work like the "overwatch" mechanic of X-Com and maybe convert it a bit. Such as a mechanic where a ranged character can "engage" or "pin down" a target and then when that target attempts to take an action (movement, a spell, an attack) the ranged character attacks and if the attack or "effect" of the attack succeeds then the action is prevented. This being a bit more flexible would have to have more limitations though, such as only being able to "pin" one target, and not continuing to have additional actions where as a person in melee engagement still keeps their normal options as well. Anyway random thoughts for range loving sissies I will stab my way through the game regardless.

Ever heard about comparative method? Also, we have AOO's now Yes the melee engagement mechanic was clearly "inspired" by attacks of opportunity. cwutididthar?

Nice first post, totally concur a lot of good suggestions there that all make sense and can add some more tactical depth to the gameplay. But Barkley must also shut up AND jam which makes it tough to be a caster! Also we would know who the villain is which is sort of a spoiler alert... it is that traitor Michael Jordan!