Naurgalen

1) Kefka: One of the few bad guys that really can make u want him dead. A crazy bastard who backstabs his way to power without any remorse. 2) Ravel Puzzlewell: I can write a wall of text to explain why she rules so hard, but I have not that time. So ill say only: thank u Chris for one of the best characters I ever read. 3) Raistlin Majere: He does every single thing for power: to prove himself and everyone who looked him down what he was capable off. He starts really weak and diseased, but is far smarter than most, mysterious, and has no real ill wishes even if in the end, he can sacrifice anyone to reach his goals. 4) Ozymandias from Watchmen: A Superhero or a Villian? He is one of the best examples of grey moral I can think, and that makes him so unique and awesome. 5) Darth Vader: But what I like about him is his downfall: how his ideals, his anger, his fear and even his love are twisted by Palpatine developing him into what he hates.

1) Dakkon: He is deep, loyal, somewhat wise and while blinded with the deceives of the past Nameless you can help him to overcome them making him really stronger: not only by stats but character. 2) Morte: Fun as hell, he has more layers than u would ever expect from "the clown" making him deep while a little deceiving 3) Garrus Valkarian: Badass, serious but with little fun moments, the "bad cop" and a loyal companion. Its like having batman as a friend. 4) Morrigan / Kreya: Both are mysteries with their own agendas, for the ones they will do whatever it takes. Both are powerfull, inteligent and manipulators to the point you cant be 100% sure what are they thinking. I only prefer Morrigan a little more cause she in time can reflect that she is a vulnerable human. 5) Liara T´Soni: The character is good and I like how they made her a little naive but not stupid at the beginning and how later she "matures" far more. But what makes she stay in the top five is the relation she can have with shepard and the dialogues that come with that. I felt it was really well made. Honorable mentions: HK-47 "the meatbag killer master", Deeking "the "frail" but courageous bard, Fenris (the only DA2 char that I think its interesting with all his revenge past), Jaheira with his Khalid "problem", Wrex, Keldorn and every single character from Planescape: Torment :D.

Story wise you can make a party revisit the same place almost every time you want. In fact it has been made: Remember the town of Curst in Planescape:Torment? Its not a mega city like Sigil but you still visit it 2 times for the "same" reason (Trias) and both are REAL different. It really adds to the story and setting (belif power!) + it IS your fault. I would love to see that kind of things in PE again, but better: making them you choice to happen.

There ARE rat-men in Planescape: Torment (and craniumrats lol), but yes, i would love to play something less halfling and more unique.

I feel like the least used way of portraying elves in PC RPGs is the magical one. I like "nature" elves, but badass archimage elfs like the ones who constructed Myth Drannor -a proud and heavy magical race that uses it like us technology- are far more interesting.

Please, I loved the one in Planescape: Torment where every time you discovered a new plot character, race, faction they had a nice picture and lore to complement it. That kind of things makes you understand far better the world where you are and deepens the role play you can make. In a sense, its the same as the details in BG2 weapons, but far more interesting and useful if the world is deep and well made with complex relations of powers (factions, divinity, races, etc...)

We don't know if they are going to use rag-doll physics, that's a "simple" way to make 3d-deaths more unique.

You know, having a gigantic statue doesn't mean you cant have different "biomes" at different profundities. I like the statue idea even if it started only by artistic chance: it gives you a mystery to solve: why a gigantic statue? how has it transcended time? what represents it to the dungeon and to the world

Like some people said, the setting does not allow for some things like full non-lethal: I'm not believing that you will just knockdown a dragon without him waking up later and going for revenge. (and that's assuming you CAN knockdown a dragon)

Time Stop is the best spell i can think. But finger of death, mirror image and even the most common magic missile are usefull spells that every good mage has to learn (?)

TIME BENDING SPELLS ARE AWESOME 1. Time Stop: This is the kind of spell that makes you feel really powerful, even while knowing that it last only a couple of seconds it makes you grasp what a God can be. (and shudder in terror when one enemy cast it) 2. Haste: Best party buff, ever. Can be balanced with fatigue. 3. Slow: Why fatigue your party? 4. Providence: Peek at the future and get bonus to evade X attacks / fatal attack or whatever. 5. Contingency spells: I don't think any smart Wizard wont use this in a real world situation 6. Erase /From Time/: Like Imprisonment, but can be used on other things (walls, smoke, chains whatever) 7. Wither: Strong debuff-damage, make something far older than what it is etc...

Undead (i prefer if they are ethereal vs zombi like) or Modrons-Constructs have REAL interesting concepts in a game like this cause the firsts lost his souls (if not, they will reincarnate) and the seconds doesn't have one to begin.

That's really quite simple, with real-time rendering you have to make compromises, as it, understandably, requires a lot more computing power. At a certain point, you get something which is just too complex to render in real-time. So, no, you cannot always achieve the same effect in real-time as you would in pre-rendering. As for the details - pre-rendered backgrounds are made to look the best at a particular angle and distance, so understandably more time can be spent on ironing every little nook and cranny, so it'd just look perfect. You also have to make compromises with pre-renders; it becomes almost impossible to do dynamic lighting and shadowing; it is very difficult to represent depth convincingly with the orthographic projections they use; every animation has to be isolated, looped and pre-baked which makes it much harder to get good-looking stuff that moves like water, foliage, clouds, haze, etc., leading to unnaturaly static scenes. I think at the point we're at today, we get better-looking graphics, with more detail and artistic freedom, by going with a real-time than a pre-rendered approach: plus of course we get camera freedom and resolution independance. Apparently Obsidian has decided otherwise, and I'm quite curious as to why. The difference of a fixed point vs free 3d is huge and depends on the game you want to make. Roaming cam "problems": Even the witcher 2 gets silly if you put the cam on certain places: enemy's, structures or things (columns, trees, stairs etc..) can block your view in the middle of a combat, small interiors are a pain in the ass to navigate and the developers cant control 100% what the player sees, so you can miss things that are happening while you are looking at other side. Thats good for immersion, but not for a story-wise or strategic approach's: 2 things that a good RPG must have. Resources-Budget problem Working in 3d means that every object MUST be made in 3d, thats FAR more work (you have 6 sides to work at) than just make a 2d (and even 3d) object which will only will be seen from 1 perspective. Movement and light As it can be seen on the videos on this thread, these 2 things are not a problem today in 2d with the right art direction.

Smart traps are fun. The suiciding one in Planescape ruled f.e.. They are like mini puzzles. Normal traps can be a hindrance if you are replaying, but can be solved making them appear semi random (random, but in designed places) in the dungeon. But maybe the best are the combat traps: those that you or the enemys thiefs can put to zone control or ambush.

The thief allways has advantages vs a mage at lockpicking/trap detection/disarming - He can stealth and lockpick at the same time - Anti magic lockpicks or fields arent a hindrance - Thiefs abilitys are more like infinite "free actions" while mages consume spells, drain fatigue/mana or whatever is the magic resource making him vulnerable - Most mages wont detect a lockpick trap for thesecond and third reasons

If we are really wanting to be creative: Every single universe has humans on it, and they are allways the predominant race. Even Planescape has this cliche. What if humans are the strangers this time? The outsiders? Dont get me wrong, I like castles, towns and medieval citys. But I would love 100% more a game where im going through more "alien" places: like when you are in the "survival of the fit" underdark , the "matriarchal-backstabbing" drow city or "Semi magic-tree city" Suldanessellar in BG2. Or the infernal planes, the modron mace, undead nations and even Sigil with his "doors everywhere" in Planescape. Those kind of places look and feel diferent, couse they are made not from/for a traditional/medieval human perspective even if they are super d&d classic and/or cliche.

Now that you are not limited to the infinity engine, please, make the terrain count: maybe some things are destructible, others pusheable (throwing boxes at your enemys?, making a barricade to hold a swarrm?), maybe water conducts lightning? or you can throw people from a bridge? whatever, but make it feel like its not something only aesthetic.

I think that magic based on exhaustion its better from a roleplay-logical perspective. In a sense its the same as mana, but at least it gives you the option to cast a spell knowing that it probably will fail (or crit if u have more than -for example- 70% your energy). What I REALLY REALLY dont like to see its 6 spells to cast like diablo3-dragon age and maybe the sorceress class in d&d. What compells me about wizards is the ability to select (or have selected) the best spell for the rigth situation: using your REAL int to win the fight. Wizards must be versatile.