Sabin Stargem

That depends on the magic, I suppose. Maybe they have a system of magic mirrors for communication?

Examples of games that use NG+? Well, in Chrono Trigger your characters retain their stats and the inventory is kept, with the exception of plot items. This was good in that game, as there were about seven or so endings, and you could also literally go straight to the endboss and confront him with only Chrono. In many cases, NG+ is very handy for getting through a game quickly the next time you play, which is good if you wanted to explore other branches of the story. However, some games go a step further and offer bonus content, such as allowing you to defeat bosses you couldn't the first time around, so the story can be changed. NG+ Games *Harvest Moon - Animal Parade You keep your tools, skills, and start with the best pack-back. *The World Ends With You Divided into episodes, you can replay the game from start to finish with your badges. *Super Robot Wars The idea of this series is that you play as the good guys from several different mecha animes through a turn-based strategy game. In newer entries of the series, you can pick a favorite series at the start of the campaign, which allows you to fully upgrade the mechas and characters from that series. When it is time to play through the game again, you retain your upgrades, your previous favorite series, and can pick an additional series. You can also adjust the difficulty of the enemy, and pick out special abilities for your main character. *Arkham City You get to keep the upgrades given to your Batman, and some collectible quests are already completed. *Tales Of... (series, later entries) Throughout each battle you are ranked according to how quickly and effectively you completed it, and earn Grade accordingly. Grade can be used for short-term benefits, or saved up to use when you begin a NG+ savefile. Benefits of NG+ range from keeping your techniques, boosting experience gain in future playthroughs, and so forth. *Growlanser Generations The various rings you have earned are retained. This makes battles much easier, as your character would be much better equipped for taking down enemies. *Lufia II You get 4x XP and GP for each fight. This means that you could conceivably beat an early boss that otherwise would defeat your party in battle. However, he still wins by plot armor. The benefit for winning is to receive a rare and powerful item that allows you to hit a enemy multiple times when you use it. *Persona 3 & 4 Mechanical benefits given by Social Links are kept, and your social statistics are maintained. This makes battles much easier, and you can focus more on befriending people because you are not trying to build up your skills. Very nice. *Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey You keep your demon compendium and gear, but you also get the Red Carpet application, which allows you to explore the game without random encounters.

Arcanum and Fallout 3/NV are not the only games that react to your actions, there is also Vampire Bloodlines that has news about things that occur throughout the game. They don't mention your character (with the exception of Malkavians), but stuff is still happening.

No permenant death, that forces me as the player to reload in order to get at the story-related content of the game. Doing it KOTOR and Pokemon style is best in my opinion, as the game is testing you on your ability to win battles, not your willingness to ignore the story.

Unless there is a point to inventory management that actively determines the failiure or success of your character, then the game should just give a infinite and well-sorted bag of holding. As far as I know, the only kind of games that do well with inventory management are the roguelikes - at least then there is meaning to what you do and do not take with you. In games like Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Baldur's Gate II, and pretty much any other WRPG, I would repeatedly leave the action head back to my player house to drop off my loot for later sorting, selling, and archiving. This is busy work, so the game must either fully embrace the ramifications of inventory management on game design, or just go Pokemon style.

I would prefer a class-less game with NG+.

I would like a playerhouse that is in the form of a caravan, ship, or even a airship. This would allow the player to take their home to quest hubs after getting rid of obstacles that prevent the home from getting there, and these portable houses would be a great way to have a all-in-one location for storing the loot, talking to the companions, and getting crafting done. As a kleptomaniac, no stone is left untaken, so having a house is invaluable.

Hm. Lightning bolt might actually work, considering that at least some of the gun is metal - it is likely to blow up, in my opinion. However, getting hit by the shrapnel or bullet is also fairly high. Alternatively, use mind magic to temporarily have the soldier to channel the skill and personality of the storm trooper named Wilhem.

I prefer a countdown timer to appear when a timed quest is accepted. This is reasonable, considering that the alternative is for the player to wander off since most games do not impose time limits - technical limits and player behaviors should be taken into account when designing quests, and the timer is one such mechanism that may be useful. By the way, some of you may be interested in the Devil Survivor series, as it uses a clock for each day in which you could talk to your companions, conduct battles, and see events. Time management is fairly important there, so that might be relevant.

Personally, I think classes should not define a character - skills should determine the classes. So if you have many summoning spells in your arsenal, the Summoner class is unlocked and applied to your character to add a bonus that adds features that improve that aspect of the character. Being able to obtain multiple masteries should be possible, and some characters may react if you have a class that correlates to their interest. For example, a herbalist may discuss the recent troubles with the local flora with a player who specializes in alchemy.

If there is the possibility of a modding community similar to what was there for Baldur's Gate II and the other Infinity Engine games, then the modding tools should be powerful. This would help keep modders around, and help perpetuate interest in sequels that use the Eternity Engine. Besides the fans that modders may attract and retain for Eternity Engine games, I think that a modding scene would help Obsidian spot modders who have a future in videogames, and to have a more likely chance of recruiting them to the studio. After all, one of the reasons why Project Eternity exists is because of the people who are part of Obsidian Etertainment - without them, it is likely that the project wouldn't have broke $1,000.

Go for romance options. That can add depth to the characters, and gives the game another way to hook players into the world.

Don't give them morality armor. That doesn't make sense, and it comes off as pandering to the politically correct.

Ye old X-COM is definately the gold standard when it comes to simultaneous combat...but I still would like to see turn-based combat revitalized for the WRPG. I really enjoyed BG2, but having BG2's encounters mixed with a system similar to D&D 4th Edition would be sweet in my opinion. That is why I suggested the after-action replay feature, because I know that presenting exciting combat sequences while retaining the fidelity of turn-based combat is difficult. I have not seen any game that has tried this idea, so I am curious if it could work.

I would favor a system similar to Titan Quest, where the player has a number of abilities that have a cooldown period, combined with a overarching mana bar. This would allow some in-combat flexibility, but players would be recommended to invest in a wide variety of spells. When it comes to the spell schools, I think that they should be divided into individual elements or schools, with each having three core abilities, with these abilities having upgrades. If it where my own design, this means each school gets an Offensive Spell, a Defensive Spell, and a Utility Spell. There is a reason to invest in multiple schools, however: Spells from two different schools can be combined into new spells. These combined spells are divided into tiers, according to how many schools are involved, and generally become more powerful or have additional uses. For example: [Tier 1] Fire = FIREBOLT, which is a small bolt of fire. [Tier 2] Air + Firebolt = FIREBALL, because the air is providing oxygen for the flame, which makes a bigger boom. [Tier 2] Fire + Water = STEAM, which means that characters caught within the fog would be scalded. Especially good against aquatic creatures, like frogs and crabs. Persistant. [Tier 3] Fire + Water + Psionic = STEAMBOX: The enemy trapped inside an invisible box, and then the box is filled with steam. Also a defensive move, since the enemy is trapped within the confines of the box - though they can still use items and move around. The size of the box is dependent on the caster's skill in the Psionic Defensive spell Forcefield. FIRE Offense Spell - Firebolt: Throws a simple ball of fire, which can burn foes and objects. Upgrades add homing abilities, increase the number of firebolts, and increase odds of cauterization. Characters who both possess the Firebolt skill can throw a firebolt(s) at their allie, who can take these balls and throw them in turn at another allie or enemy, which allows parties to daisy-chain their firebolts across the battlefield. Defense Spell - Circle of Flame: Wraps allies in damaging flames. Upgrades adds fire effects to weapons, makes the flames cause cauterization which prevents injuries from being healed, and barriers of flame can be set up. Enemies are free to move through the firewalls, but receive damage in the process. They can put out the Circle of Flame's effects with certain spells, like those of Earth. Utility Spell - Flames of Desire: Drawing upon the passion that fire is affiliated with, characters can use this ability in battle to attract enemies and friends to themselves or specific objects. For example, see that spike pit? There is something nice down there. Often used by thieves, assassins, and saboteurs, because they can make the guards kill themselves or have targets pursue objects they desire, which is good for getting them out of the way. Resembles a spell used by Twilight Sparkle in the Friendship is Magic series, where the entire town was fighting over a worthless doll. PSIONIC Offense Spell - Telekinesis: Move enemies, allies, and objects on the battlefield. Number and size is determined by upgrades, along with the force of throwing. Defense Spell - Forcefield: Creates a wall of force on the combat grid, which prevents enemy movement. Upgrades allow the player to set up more barriers, to encapsulate enemies, and to add barriers to allies. Utility Spell - Telepathy: Can be used in combat to know the enemy's next move, and outside of combat can be used to get information. The player can upgrade the amount of information that can be obtained, the rate that telepathy cools down, and increase the number of NPCs that it checks.

Ugh, cel-shaded looks terrible. Maybe 10% of cel-shaded ANYTHING has looked good. I don't know which examples of cel-shading you dislike. I come from a background based on anime and animation, so that colors my preferences - but then, everyone has preferences, so no suprise there. Here are games that I have played and enjoyed cel-shading for: *Okami *Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker *Persona 3 & 4 *Paper Mario: The 1,000 Year Door A rather short list, but to be honest I haven't gotten the chance to extensively play most modern examples of the style. I am hoping to get a crack at Valkyria Chronicles someday.

One of the bigger problems that can plague a modern RPG is the division between keeping the gameplay fun, understandable, and presentable. As much as I enjoy turnbased combat, it is often true that it doesn't lend itself to being exciting, mostly because the shiny bits have to be stalled in order for the player to dole out commands, assess the situation, and so on. While I really liked The Witcher and Fallout New Vegas, I would like to see a turnbased game that is also attractive. To my mind, the key would be to seperate the gameplay and presentation by having the player conduct the entire battle in turn-based fashion, and then give the player the option to watch a video that replays the entire battle, with the option to save the recording, to check the combat logs, and so forth. This would be a very good way to make battles fun to play and watch in my opinion, and would grant Let's Players the ability to show off their battles.

I think that a ship would be ideal, especially if it can be moved through bodies of water to each major quest hub after barriers preventing access are removed. I tend to use player houses to store my loot, companions, and to have a all-in-one location for shopkeepers since I am a packrat by nature. Having a portable and well-executed player house would be very nice to see in the game.

Personally, I would prefer 3D graphics that use a isometric camera angle. This would give the developers more flexibility when it comes to graphics, cutscenes, and so forth. I am hoping that they go with a cel-shaded style, since realistic aesthetics tend to become dated pretty quickly.