Vin

I'd think it'd be a good step up if I was treated differently at all for being a woman -- and I'm talking beyond the occasional, "Hard to imagine 'insert awesome hero title here' is really a woman. What a surprise," or, "You're a beautiful woman, Hawke," multiplied by four because every single friggin' NPC in that game will tell you how beautiful you are. Being treated badly or being pandered to are just as bad, in my opinion. There's classic sexism, where women in games are treated badly in-universe or out. Then there's the popular sexism where women are treated as totally awesome, although this is less in-universe and more of an external example, because men made them to be totally awesome. And expect the player to buy into it as they lug their beautiful, female plot-device around the countryside. If I am going to be treated badly in a video game for being a woman, I would at least like the option to kick the offender in his nethers. And if more than two people tell me I'm a beautiful woman in less than an hour, I'd like the option to kick them too.

You're dedicated, I'll give you that -- and a cookie, if I had one. But I ate them all. And that's okay because I know you won't judge me for it.

Seconding this. I find the lack of prior relationships in characters' lives disturbing. No one's ever married or involved with someone. They don't even have any friends except for after they join your group of awesome heroes and then they're your friend. They'll never fall in love with another companion or even feel attracted to another companion -- despite the fact that nearly ever single one of them will be attractive individuals -- they'll only ever fall in love with you. And no matter how "active" their sex life is, they've never had a kid. Ever. Even if they're a woman. Most likely because they're conveniently infertile.

And I'm sure you'd accuse MLK, Jr. of the same, no? ... You're comparing yourself to Martin Luther King, Jr.? You're preaching on a gaming forum and comparing yourself to Martin Luther King, Jr.? That's... beautiful and powerful. You have no idea. I'm not saying that the "plight of the overweight" isn't valid -- although I must admit to a bit of cynicism on the subject -- I'm just pointing out that there are plenty of other injustices in the modern media to care about. Fat people aren't the only individuals being treated poorly.

Selective acceptance is selective. Yes, I'm very sure the misrepresentation or lack of any representation at all of "overweight" people in the media is very distressing. And yet how many albinos have you seen in a recent work of fiction that aren't villainous freaks? Since when were individuals with mental or personality disorders given fair treatment? I mean, they're more numerous than albinos, but that's all they have going for them. You're cherry picking your issues here.

That's basically the entire motivation of an adventuring party for any given quest. It's why we break into the houses of hapless villagers and steal everything that's not nailed down.

Leesburg Florida. Full of sunshine, mosquitoes, and hood-born-and-raised drug dealers. And very unhappy old people. Who like to clog up the roads on the weekends.

As long as the buildings, trees, people, sky, cows, chickens, and ballrooms aren't all the same shade of dry mud. Except for the peasants; of course they're covered in mud. Some fun, gritty areas being filthy and dark is fine with me. I just don't want the whole world to be like that. Medieval Europe? Sure, why not? Everyone loves medieval Europe. To pieces. As long as the fantasy bits don't amount to mud-colored characters slinging spells around a Dark Ages-esque mud-colored world with maybe an elf or a dwarf here or there looking dour and standoffish. Also the color of mud.

Can I keep that last line as a quote forever and ever? Seriously. Thank you. It's so hard to find people who want unique-looking characters. I'll admit to being a little disappointed when I found out that Aloth wasn't actually purple; it was just the lighting.

This thread practically has me drooling. When I think of mega-dungeons, what I always come back to is a city that was built on top of a ruin, so some of the old architecture is still there, but the party would at some point venture down into the bowels of the old ruins. They'd be mostly flooded, of course -- maybe there's a lake in the newer city or on the edges of it -- so the ancient stone walls are slick and shining. And, naturally, the deepest levels are completely submerged in some areas. Pit traps, fake rooms that close off and fill with water, marble statues that become animated and attack the characters. Giant spiders are a given. So are monstrous plants and glowing fungi. Wading through slanted hallways and dropping down through the windows of fallen buildings. Wading through knee-deep water with white, slippery things brushing against your ankles. Probably with their teeth. Or a tomb built in levels would do, crafted by an ancient warlord to house his remains after he died, much like the barbarian king from the first Icewind Dale. Nothing says "fun" like reawakening ancient evils or walking through a room filled top to bottom with rows and rows of coffins along the wall where some mass ritual took place. And all the coffins would have to open up at some point. Obviously. I'm in love with the idea of realistic illusions as well. Maybe at some point the player triggers something and is suddenly walking through the ruins/crypt/cave-thing and is suddenly able to see it in its former glory -- perhaps even with its inhabitants there. Glorious ballrooms where hundreds died -- for some reason or another, like an awesome spell-gone-wrong, or ghouls that crawled up from the underground. Or all the recent inhabitants were cursed and now they are the ghouls. The possibilities are just endless. But I demand large, story-based and lore-packed dungeons filled with haunting music and eerie lighting. Or no lighting at all.

Those are some suspiciously specific generalizations there. Unsurprisingly, it's not hard to tell what group you believed yourself to be a part of before you decided to let us know anyways. Have some decency and cover up; your bias is showing.

I was thinking it was a spell scroll in his other hand. I don't even know if this is worth pointing out, but I wasn't exactly being serious. I don't actually think he's holding a fish.

He's not a meatbag. I don't see any permastubble. And he's holding the back half of a fish in one hand and snakes in the other. I'm so excited for this game.

Is there a category for those of us who are incredibly easy to please and yet also quite picky? There are very few games that I haven't enjoyed, whether they suck or not. And I'm well aware that they suck; it's usually not hard to tell, especially since finding flaws in them is not only simple but strangely enjoyable. But that doesn't mean I have the IQ of a two-year-old or that I'm a fanatic basement-dwelling weirdo with BioWare posters and pictures of naked Morrigan fanart all over my walls. Goodness no. I hate that woman. I like all the classics, but I like some of the modern ones too. Not because of their game mechanics or because of some supposed quality in either. I just enjoy the stories and the characters. And some I enjoy more than others.

A generic-looking world inspired by medieval Europe with generic-looking "I'm so original because I'm different from the classic stereotypes!" companions. Especially if said world is inspired by medieval Europe and very little else. Only with elves and dwarves, slavery, and modern cuss words to make people giggle naughtily or feel like they're playing a really mature game.

Bring on the unique companions. The more variety the better, in my opinion, especially if each has their own little quirks that makes them unique -- it could be a special ability, a character-specific item. A character could be a jack-of-all-trades, while another could be an amazing mage, but with a limp. There shouldn't be any "best" companions, either. Also, I couldn't be more tired of the whole "every most important character is a human" thing. I really don't want a fun, happy group of mighty whites -- or an unhappy one, for that matter. With maybe a single elf and drunken dwarf to make things look less bland. It shouldn't be absolutely ridiculous, but is a goblinoid or orcish companion too much to ask for?

I want to make a short character that isn't a halfling or an elf. Seriously, can we get some love for those of us who haven't topped five-foot-two? I'm sick of playing statuesque human women or perma-stubbled men with rippling abs. I can't relate to either.

Giant spider, plz. All big and fluffy with adorable glittering eyes. Skitter skitter skitter.

I don't care how badly men treat me in-game... as long as I can kick them in the crotch for it later. :D

You should never have to apologize for your personal taste. I think Komarck intends in some of his artworks that the background is some kind of different in style (which a significantly higher degree of abstraction) or even incomplete to put more focus on the characters. The "photorealistic" style for painting human bodies and espescially faces will always be a matter of discussion: some people like it because of its details and realstic approach other just don't like it because of the "too often photoshoped" look you described in your post. Your critics of the flat and not well proportioned armors I can see your point in some of the pictures. But this collection of artworks is made over the last decade and Komarck really fine-tuned his ablities in that topic in the last few years. It's also much more difficult to get that right if you paint in a more realistic looking style which much movement in it than if you paint scene stills which a much greater abstraction. There you can hide these slight errors in artistic interpretation and "purposed imprecision" I generally tend to add apologies beforehand when I post. Because I'm usually not trying to be rude, but it's hard to convey that through just words on a screen. I understand what you mean. But when I say that it looks too "photoshopped" I'm not speaking of the photorealism. I have no problem with that, besides the fact that I think it maybe contrasts too much with the other aspects of his artwork, which as you've pointed out are more abstract -- and it's a little jarring, especially since the perspective is always wrong. What I mean by his work looking "photoshopped" is that's it's simply very obvious that his paintings are digital, which is in line with my comments about the textures looking flat. It's hard to describe, but I think you know what I'm getting at. Also, your point on it being harder to cover up mistakes with a more realistic style is spot-on. It's always easy to tell more experienced artists from the amateurs, because the latter group will almost always try to hide the flaws in their artwork with style. Which only makes their mistakes all the more glaring. As I said before, he's a good artist. A developing one, too, apparently. And there's nothing wrong with that. Watching an artist's abilities grow and his personal style change and perfect itself is actually really exciting. But his style still doesn't really go well with me. Then again, considering my taste in artwork... I'd rather have portraits with a more natural look, less squeaky-clean digitalized than Komarck's but not as abstract and disturbing as Justin Sweet's.

Oh, that's a hard one. So many good memories and so very few of them involving other people. It was playing Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark, during the fight with Vix'thra I had good old Valen and Deekin doing the distracting while I ran straight for the phylactery. And the two bone golems guarding it started bashing my squishy little sorceress into a pulp when Valen comes rushing in and dispatches them in quick order and it was just such an awesome rescue I started laughing. Then it struck me that he was supposed to be keeping Vix'thra busy when lo and behold it drops down from the ceiling on top of us. Deekin was dead in a corner somewhere by that point. Good times, good times. I give Icewind Dale special mention as well, because I was, like, seven when I first started playing that game. I had no idea what the heck I was supposed to be doing, but I loved making new characters. Over and over and over again. In fact, most of my memories of RPGs are from when I was really young.

It's fantastic art, definitely. But I don't like it. There's something strangely artificial and stiff about it. Like a picture that's been photoshopped too many times. The clothing and armor textures are flat and too smooth. The proportions are... off in a few of them. The composition, too, in most of them feels a little shallow, or cheap. It's great artwork, and goodness knows I'm not nearly as skilled. But it's not a style I can appreciate. Hope I didn't come across as rude, but when it comes to art, I can't shut up.

There's nothing bland about a player-created party unless the player makes it so. That being said, I'm really excited for the NPCs in this game. But on, say, a second or a third playthrough, I'd like to be able to craft my own party dynamics (and I'm not talking about combat statistics here), and create my own story. The characters the player makes don't have to be a mindless bunch of here's-a-wizard-cleric-fighter-and-a-gnome. Just as much love can go into their creation as can be put into the creation of an actual NPC by the developers. They just won't be tied directly to the story and the player has to make crap up as they go along. The option should be there, though, or at least it'd just be nice to have. There's a strange sort of attachment that comes with making your own characters. And while it's possible to become attached to NPCs already created -- especially NPCs that have been created well -- it's not really the same sort of love.

More than better dress-up options, and significantly more than romance subplots, I want this. Very much. The ability to change the basic build and height of your character. I mean, they'll be tiny sprites, so what size chin they have or the shape of their eyes is pointless, but a little appearance diversity would be welcome. As a five-foot-two-and-a-half-inches-tall chick, I want the ability to make a shorter, slimmer character -- one that's not a halfling or an elf. Just... it would be nice. Being able to make a male human that is not a hulking meatsack would be refreshing, too.

Aye, I'm thinkin' I be likin' the idea o' pirates. At least for the exotic diseases if nothing else. Plus, those blackened teeth are so fetching. To be more serious, I'm definitely on board (har har) for the idea of pirates, or at least a wretched port town filled with human scum and literal scum alike.