GrueWithNoLight

That is exactly what I thought. Wouldn't break the main story, but would allow most of the mechanics to shine through

I really like the OP suggestion. That just smacks of the right balance between convenience, usability, and risk (being that you could miss something if you weren't paying attention). And the added info on encumbrance would be welcome too. You might be able to do right-click on the corpse, pulls up a list, then as you decide what you want as you highlight it, if the portraits of your companions were numbered, you could hit that number and it would send it there. It would make zooming through the loot much faster without eliminating the decision making process (which I enjoy, I admit). +2 zorkmids

Samwise and Frodo at least... I kid, I kid... You kid? You mean it's not an epic saga of two men's love for one another transcending the world they live in and sailing off into the sunset together? Not an epic saga, more a short story

My main problem with romances usually revolves around time. I'm sitting there for some hours on end at a time, but probably for one play through it lasts about a week. I realize that in game terms a whole bunch of time has supposedly passed, but for me the progression from friend to something else happens so fast that I'm just irritated at it. No, I dont really love you. Go away. I can see friendships developing, sure. Getting out of tight spots together can generate that camaraderie, fine. But the insta-romance just leaves me wishing they had spent the precious commodity called time on more monsters, more areas, or more quests. Or all three. At least with those I know I will get some use out of them, even in multiple playthroughs. I understand there are those who like the romances. I get it. I just think of romances like...an appendix. There, but kind of useless and occasionally getting red, angry, and rupturing my gameplay.

If they do it like Valve, if you point at an icon within the game there are recorded messages by the developers, sometimes about the level, sometimes about design, etc. You generally have to purposefully activate and would do it after you went through the game. I like them, myself...

I think Blackstream has the right of it. Without knowing exactly how far funding would go, Obsidian had to make an educated guess as to how much content there would be. However, we handily met that challenge, perhaps more so then they ever imagined. Writing down, "We will do X" is far easier than actually planning it, scheduling it, and producing it. What works in our favor is that this team seems to be comprised not only of talented people, but passionate people that genuinely want to produce something special and experience right along with the players something cool. These are, literally, our kind of people making the game. And because of that, I am reassured they will give us something most entertaining. But I do get the feeling that they may be scrambling somewhat to fill the empty spaces in their developer party. I would insert a smiley here, but I am a Grue and that violates the contract...