rjshae

Well DA:O had more voice acting, I'll give you that. Whoopee. Both games have a decent amount of lore. What DA:O has in skills (limited though they are), PoE almost makes up for by having a broader range of ranks.

DA:O boiled down to skirmishing tactics, since you couldn't hold a front line. It was a rare battle where you could make an interesting tactical decision. That's not difficult to improve upon; even BG had it beat.

That's a lot of bull. Okay, yeah, I said it.

I think he feels safer on SomethingAwful. It's behind a paywall, he gets the kind of feedback he wants and doesn't have to deal with criticism or the drama of the real world. I bet it's cozy. This isn't the real world. It's a fabricated construct where the sociopathic gaming stasi attempt to control the discourse through obtuse criticism and disinformation memes.

'Cept for the whole pantheon thing, of course, which wasn't around in the Renaissance or the U.S. Or reincarnation.

It seems like I just blew through Act III. Guess I need to take a completionist run.

Yup. Another perspective would be to compare the perceived difference between the ancient religions such as Chrisitanity and a newly invented religion such as Scientology. The former has acquired its moral authority over centuries of cultural indoctrination; the latter was the recent creation of a science fiction writer. Which do you think holds a stronger sway among the people (Hollywood notwithstanding)?

I noticed this also actually. I didn't do a whole lot of experimenting with it, but it annoyed me when I noticed it and I did do a bit of double checking. There is certainly something they lock on to due to the nakedness there. I know in NWN2 the enemies are set to attack the lowest AC party member this also annoyed the **** out of me. "Appear at points the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places you are not expected." "So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak." Sun Tzu, Art of War.

As with others, I'd like to see more development of the Stronghold, such as: A means to integrate the resting bonuses. More ambient characters, including guards and a butler. Politics. Economics. A nearby community to protect. Have a dragon devastate the place in response to your behavior. A means to let your pets loose to wander about. I'd also like to see some packaged encounters for inter-area travel in response to your prior choices.

I like the Wasteland 2 approach of using a rolling quicksave; very nice feature that.

I quite enjoyed playing it, as much as anything I've played recently. To me, many of the complaints I've read are overblown. They just didn't match my experience. Could it be improved? Certainly. There are many little details that could be incrementally polished up or expanded upon. I'm hoping they work on enhancing the experience with the expansion set.

Before applying logic to magic, one must first ingest suitable mind-altering substances.

"good" is all about survival; helping some people survive, and not at the expense of others, is a good, positive outcome. As for whether believing in "false" gods is a bad thing... that's probably a question that will never be answered.

Guns don't break immersion; it's your fantasy gaming expectations that break the immersion. Take a look at the history: guns were available for use in Europe by the 13th century.

I'm hoping they make the Stronghold more relevant in the expansion. Maybe bump up the costs a bit so it takes longer to complete, add some guards that use the barracks, give the various storekeeps and the priest more of a back story, perhaps let it shelter some refugee/settlers, give it a nearby mine to protect and develop, &c.

So... will this mean they will have mod sales? I think it will work itself out just like the indie market. Only some of the modders will be really successful at it; others will give up and return to the free modding community.

A similar thing happened with Weeping Mother; I never actually added her to my party, yet the epilogue gave details that assumed I had.

I'm curious, did anybody find a need to swap out spell books for a Wizard character? There didn't seem to be a burning need to use more than the four spell slots per level they provided. In fact, for several spell levels just one or two spells were sufficient. But perhaps it was just my play style.

I suspect the term "starting to show its age" is an invention of marketeers trying to start a new gaming fashion trend. "Hey, this engine is really starting to show its age. Why not buy our new, much more expensive engine with all the stunning graphic widgets and doodads? It's all the rage in the console market."

Not sure, but my war bow-wielding rogue did max damage in the party. Presumably that's mainly a result of the initial sneak attack.

I do know that Baldur's Game is not the ultimate representation of this niche market; it had many flaws of its own. I don't think I've ever played a game that was perfect, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it.

I think the world map for BG had just under 50 area locations; apparently the PoE world map has ~30. So in that sense it's smaller.

The current season of Vikings is the best so far.

To me, something that might have made crafting more fun would be summonables. I.e. create a potion or scroll that can summon a temporary ally for a fight.