Elerond

Given this is it possible to have a non-ego stroking companion? Elerond is forgetting those characters talked about you, but not in the nicest of ways. BG1 Jaheira for example talks about your character ALL THE TIME! Of course by "talk about" I mean bitching about how you are an incompetent leader, how she is better qualified to be in charge, and how you should listen to her instruction. I wouldn't call that an ego stroking. Half the BG characters can also just up and try to kill you if you do too many things they don't like. Dakon on the other hand dedicates his life and soul to you because you threw some highschool introduction to psychology crap at him over a pint at the tavern. So yeah, I would say the Torment characters are just lame ego strokers. The BG characters? Not so much. It don't matter are they nice towards pc or not, but that pc is the central character and they make that position stronger every time they focus on player character. Ego stroking can mean that everybody worship and love pc, but also characters that hate and betrayal pc are ego stroking because it shows that they think that pc is so important that they use their time to do those things. So in short ego stroking is all the things that make pc and their decisions matter. Companions are excellent way to ego stroke player as they are good and simple way to reflect player decisions and they also give writers options to forward story and also create conflicts that player need to solve (even more ego stroking).

Strongly Agree Agree No Opinion Disagree Strongly Disagree Really it's nothing about that. Or Xzar and Montaro, Edwin or Xan make the player feel important and I've failed to see how. I know the first BG didn't put the same depth in its companions background, but they had personality nevertheless. They react towards pc, they comment about pc, they comment what pc is doing, they see pc as someone they can travel with, etc. So they are ego stroking player, they may not be best or most direct ego strokers that there are, but they still all ego stroke player. Ego stroking is quite interesting things as it usually better if player don't realize that it is happening.

No, they're not. And no, contrary to what you're trying to say, the mere use of ego-stroking does not mean that Romance is occurring. And different motivations. And different feelings. Can it be any more clear and obvious than that? Specifically, I said that they're only ego-stroking. And that's the difference. When Bioware does a romance, the ego-stroking is just the beginning of the process. No, they're not. And no, contrary to what you're trying to say, the mere use of ego-stroking does not mean that Romance is occurring. And different motivations. And different feelings. Can it be any more clear and obvious than that? Specifically, I said that they're only ego-stroking. And that's the difference. When Bioware does a romance, the ego-stroking is just the beginning of the process. Companion romance is only only ego-stroking, because it is meant to make player feel that their character is loved/lusted/admired/etc. by npc companion. Bioware's romances are pure ego stroking from start to finish (which is large part of their problems). You said "So they have a crush on TNO. A crush that for Grace goes completely unrealized, and for Annah goes unrealized until she dies. That's ego stroking, not romance." Crush is in my book something that belongs in under romantic story telling aspects and when that crush is directed towards protagonist of story or protagonist of story directs feelings of crush towards some character in story that means that story has romance/romantic aspects. Romances like every other aspect of story aren't black and white things but things that can be only marginal things that are handled with couple lines/conversations or they can be main focus of story or something from between.

Oh right. Right. They're the same as Bioware Romances. I forgot. Just like Leliana, Morrigan, Isabela, Fenris, Anders, Viconia, Jahiera, Anomen, Merril, and Aerie, Grace and Annah will ego stroke you by sleeping with you...and.... telling you that they love you...and.... telling others in your party that they love you.... And the game will give you a choice to reciprocate that line of thinking, or reject it outright. Oh wait. That doesn't happen with Annah or Grace in PS:T. Ever. Edit: It's noteworthy to point out that even when you're talking to Ravel, and she demands that you tell her how you feel about Grace and Annah, you still don't get the option to say: "I love them"....only that you could love them. Yes they are same from ego stroking perspective, they are written differently and they have different content, but you argued that Annah and Fall-from-Grace aren't romances because they are ego stroking like other characters in PS:T, which is why I pointed out that Bioware's characters are same way designed to stroke player's ego and I tried to show why your argument about something being ego stroking means that it can't be ego stroking is silly. But anyway I am not here to convince you that there was romances/romantic aspects in PS:T as I previously pointed that it don't matter.

"The romantic NPC should be picky, it's obvious he/she has high standards. In Planescape: Torment, we made it pretty clear that Annah and Fall-From-Grace didn't express interest in just anyone, and the player was the only one out of thousands that ever piqued their interest." http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/1/entry-79-blog-o-romance/ ^So they have a crush on TNO. A crush that for Grace goes completely unrealized, and for Annah goes unrealized until she dies. That's ego stroking, not romance. And it's a theme in PS:T. PS:T is filled to the gills with exactly that type of "TNO is the only one who gets my interest." Dakkon answers only to the Nameless one; Ignus will teach no one but the Nameless one. No one can motivate and lead Nordom but the Nameless one. Ingress' teeth only respond to the nameless one. Fell worships the Nameless one and builds an entire studio in TNO's Honor and no one else (are you going to argue that There's a Fell romance in PS:T? In that they aren't any different from romances or any other companion characters that Bioware has produced. Ego stroking is one main purpose of companion characters, as that will make player feel that his character is important, loved, hated, liked, honored, feared, worshiped, etc.. So I would say say that by reasoning you give there is no romance in any of the Bioware's RPGs either like there is not any in PS:T.

Kittens bully Puppy

I can't say for sure but I am pretty confident that your name will be included as I don't see why they would drop backers that used different site than kickstarter to back the game from credit list in book as it will be in in game credits anyway and all the names are in same database.

I can promise with very high probability that update will be released before March 27th of this year.

Which is better depends on your preferences especially in remastered where they use HW2 user interface in HW1 too, which removes one biggest minuses that HW1 had compared to HW2. HW1 and HW2 are quite separate from each other, so I would say that you don't need to play HW1 to understand HW2, but I would still recommend that you also give HW1 a try as it has also excellent campaign.

Quantic Dream is heavily tied to Sony, so I would predict that if they will ever do anything similar they will do it with Sony (Pictures Entertainment).

I am not as sure that this will improve quality of Telltale's games, at least in segments where Telltale has excelled as Lionsgate has different perspective on what sells and what makes good story, than we have accustomed to see from Telltale, but of course this means that Telltale will probably have much larger budgets for its future products.

You can make right-click menu look like it was in previous versions by copying following css code to your firefix profiles userChrome.css #context-back image, #context-forward image, #context-reload image, #context-stop image, #context-bookmarkpage image{ display:none !important; } #context-back:before, #context-forward:before, #context-reload:before, #context-stop:before, #context-bookmarkpage:before{ content: attr(aria-label) !important; -moz-margin-start:32px !important; } #context-navigation{ -moz-box-orient: vertical !important; } #context-navigation > .menuitem-iconic { -moz-box-pack: start !important; } If you don't know what userChrome.css is, then look this page first http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css EDIT: for some reason it loads error page for me when I click link so if it does same then here is URL as whole and it should work at least when you copy paste it to address bar http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css Easiest way to find Firefox's profiles in windows is to search %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles (windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8[.1]) In profiles folder there should be folder named xxxxxxx.default (x are random characters), where you can find chrome folder where you should create userChrome.css file or edit existing one if one exist already (you can just paste above code in end of file if one exist)

Nope, TotalBiscuit is actually a fair reviewer that is older and knows and understands how modern games have gone down the drain in last 10ish years. His Dragon Age Inquisition reviews was less than stellar and he often reviews indie games and less AAA games and bashes mercilessly on all AAA games that are bad (Destiny, Watchdogs) without fear of anyone.He also invested a lot of his own money and time to run his own esports team and help young players from around the world compete in Starcraft 2. TotalBiscuit don't review games, which is thing that he constantly repeats, he only gives first impressions. He and Joe have much different way to approach games and they have bit different tastes. And they target their channels bit differently, like for example Total Biscuit looks only PC games and focuses quite lot on indie games and games that he things need more recognizability, where Joe don't focus any specific platform (although he currently favors PC) and he reviews mostly games that he is interested or that are hyped lot. Reviews and first impressions are always subjective, meaning that one can't be any fairer than another, because they give subjective opinion of the game. Of course one could argue that TotalBiscuits format to show more unedited game video and comment over it is fairer way to do things than Joes way to show gameplay clips that show what he is talking at that moment, but both formats have their strengths and weaknesses. It should be remembered that when you look reviews and first impressions you should look up what kind games reviewer/critic likes then you have better ability to determine how well reviewer's/critic's opinions correspond with you tastes. While it is true that his "WTF is .." videos are just him playing a game for 30 minutes while talking about it, he does live twitch shows where he is not afraid to bash games on objective flaws that big sites are afraid to do. And he explains well why. Also he does not hate modern games, but does not love them instantly because of good graphics or similar bull**** that console kiddies buy them for today. But even his twitch streams aren't reviews but even fresher first impressions of his as he gets familiar with games (if he don't play Dota 2 or Heartstone, which he plays much more, although at late those streams have been quite rare, probably because of his health issues). In review you should have much fuller picture about game (quoting here TotalBiscuit himself). Objective flaws are bugs or features that don't work (pointing these out isn't any unique feature that TotalBiscuit has, like you can see from Joe's Total War Rome II's review), everything else is more or less subjective flaws. And I haven't seen Joe give instantly good review for game because it is good looking. And I would point out that TotalBiscuit was quite positive about Watch Dogs (which I count in worst console kiddie hype game in last year) in his WTF, which is probably because he didn't actually played it enough to realize how repetitive it becomes.

Nope, TotalBiscuit is actually a fair reviewer that is older and knows and understands how modern games have gone down the drain in last 10ish years. His Dragon Age Inquisition reviews was less than stellar and he often reviews indie games and less AAA games and bashes mercilessly on all AAA games that are bad (Destiny, Watchdogs) without fear of anyone.He also invested a lot of his own money and time to run his own esports team and help young players from around the world compete in Starcraft 2. TotalBiscuit don't review games, which is thing that he constantly repeats, he only gives first impressions. He and Joe have much different way to approach games and they have bit different tastes. And they target their channels bit differently, like for example Total Biscuit looks only PC games and focuses quite lot on indie games and games that he things need more recognizability, where Joe don't focus any specific platform (although he currently favors PC) and he reviews mostly games that he is interested or that are hyped lot. Reviews and first impressions are always subjective, meaning that one can't be any fairer than another, because they give subjective opinion of the game. Of course one could argue that TotalBiscuits format to show more unedited game video and comment over it is fairer way to do things than Joes way to show gameplay clips that show what he is talking at that moment, but both formats have their strengths and weaknesses. It should be remembered that when you look reviews and first impressions you should look up what kind games reviewer/critic likes then you have better ability to determine how well reviewer's/critic's opinions correspond with you tastes.

Chanter are best class if you want to create summoner

It is also sold in amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forging-Divinity-Andrew-Rowe-ebook/dp/B00TKFFR36

Magic users don't stomp over other classes (with exception of ranger maybe, but it is currently stomped by all other classes). Although wizards are most versatile class in game in role wise, but other classes are usually much better in specific roles. Other magic user are contained more specific roles: Ciphers are damage dealers, but rogues are usually more consistent in this role (ranger which is also damage dealing class usually can't compete with them in damage dealing). Chanter are support caster they aren't that good in direct combat or damage dealing, but their chants work as flexible way to buff your party and their invocations, are good, but as they need to first power them up they aren't overpowered, especially now when their summons don't live after combat. Priest are another support caster class, who have much wider selection (as they get all their spell during level up instead of selecting some of them) of spells in their use that they can cast in higher rate than ciphers and chanters, but they are also less powerful, but priests are most versatile support class meaning that you can rely on them in any situation Paladins are final of support classes they are most passive caster with their modal auras that de/buff, but they are most able support class in armed combat. Druid are crowd control class which is role that they share with wizards, although because of wizards versatility druids often fare better in this role than wizards. Druids like priests also get all their spell during level up. Classes that haven yet mentioned are Fighters, Monks and Barbarians that are front line classes that can take damage better than any other class and they deal damage best after damage dealing classes. And games engagement mechanic gives them ability to work as road blocks for enemies.

Reviews of PoE don't matter me in traditional sense as I have given my money to it already over two years ago, but good reviews mean that there is higher change that game will be commercial success, which would mean that Obsidian probably will make sequel for it or another game in it's style that is placed in Eora. So even though reviews will not in anyway direct how I use my money in consideration of this game they still may have personal impact for me, by heavily influencing how probable it will be that I will get more games from Obsidian in style that I love very much.

Of course it depends on one's definition of what an RPG romance is. But that's really not saying anything. It's like going to McDonalds, ordering a bag of fries and then telling everyone that McDonalds serves 'French cuisine'. No. Broadening the definition of romances so that one can cite great RPG classics like Planescape Torment and say: "See? the best written games have them!" Does not fly with me. In this case in my opinion you try narrow what romance means, so that you can say that PS:T didn't had one. But anyway it is really quite meaningless in any way if everybody involved thinks that how PS:T handled things was good and would like see replication of it.

Torment didn't have romances. That depends on your definition what romance is, but Torment had romantic tones and references in people's relationships with Nameless One in it, but it didn't have similar nearly mini-game like romantic relationships that Bioware uses in its games these days.

He has heard about PoE before he ever heard about Darkest Dungeons, as he interviewed BAdler at E3 2014 about it, but Darkest Dungeons was several days steam's best selling game and it is popular with twitch streamers and youtubers, so it is probably much better known game with his viewers than Pillars of Eternity, at least until PoE actually comes out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8E-MR1V05E

"Food! Where!!"

It can't, and they wouldn't do it even if it could, because it would be a waste of resources. We're not talking about sword swings, or death, or anything so common. We're talking about an animation that will only ever be seen after every single one of the following conditions are met: 1) There is a chanter. 2) that chanter has the skeleton summoning chant, and employs it. 3) the skeleton survives for the duration of the spell. This is not skyrim. The devs here do not have 5 years and $100 million in funding to spend on unique animations that most players will never see. Chanter's have multiple summoning spells, not just skeletons and all summonings are until end of combat or dead (previously they were until dead or rest) . Making summons disappear with fading cloud of mist/smoke effect is not unique animation, but quite generic animation that should be quite easy to scale to size of summoning. Would such effects be waste of resources is purely question of preferences, but as general rule visual feedback is not waste of resources, but also it is not usually highest priority for resources either.

If there need to be any effect/animation when summons disappear, I would say that but cloud of disappearing mist or smoke where summons are to show that soul power that manifested summons has become part of cycle yet again. But I am not sure that even such simple animation can be added in this point of time, but maybe content patch or expansion could add such if you feel to give it a try.

If you are backer you can buy it from here http://eternity.obsidian.net/backer/addons Otherwise you need somebody else (who is a backer) to buy it for you, because I think that in this point of time you can't anymore become backer