Kronos

Great update and keep up the great work. When I make millions, I'll make sure to buy out OE, and give you guys loads of cash to make the IE style games that I love. I have great faith that this is the game I'm waiting for, so don't let me down Have a great Christmas and New years.

Nice, it looks like the plan is coming together.

Agreed. My halfwit barbarian should definitely NOT know about that fancy sword made at the other end of the world that I just found in a locked chest in the corner of that bad man's room.

Awww, don't be like that... Although there is a point there. I do think his world-building should be taken into consideration though.

Sounds like a good idea. I think something that needs to be included though is centers of excellence. It is something that happens in the real world and ensures monopolies. eg: the german car industry, the japanese electronics industry, hollywood, silicon valley, british warm beer and bad teeth, french wine, etc... In the real world, when a region creates a speciality product, more people from the world go to that region to learn and contribute to the speciality product which creates further specialisation and further increases the monopoly of the nation. I'm more for the notion of having these centers of excellence in the games.

Okay, George Martin is the obvious... But seriously where is the love for Robert Jordan; Wheel of time anyone, remember that? I remember reading the first few books as a teenager. READING, that was a very new experience for me as a was never interested before then with teachers shoving Shakespear down my throat. However that was me hooked on fantasy and my english grades took a significant turn for the better as well:)

I'm sure OE won't make this mistake.

Yep, couldn't agree more hate monks. what's the point of picking up all those cool weapons and interesting armor if you can't use it on a companion. I always feel a bit cheated by that. And seriously - open palm strike by half-naked man takes out heavily armored knight in full steel plate who first shoots with a crossbow and then uses a sword and shield... I don't think so.

I quite like a happy ending, just depends on your definition of happy ending though. I thought the ending of planescape: torment was satisfying, so I was happy:) I suppose the point being that I want to feel happy with the ending they give me. Unlike ME3 (weeps at the injustice)

I suppose another way of looking at the question is by looking at how in the real world most people are a byproduct of their life experiences. eg: in an alternate universe or reality instead of being an engineer with a wife and 2 kids you'd become a drug dealer that got shot and killed at the age of 24. The concept being that there are a few pivotal moments in life that can in reality take a person down differing path and would affect the future personality of a person. How to implement it in a game though? I don't think you'd want to change a companion's core personality, perhaps some understandable and easy to relate to class variations or multi-class opportunities.

It's a good concept. I agree with Alexjh somewhat on this in that the classes would need some really tight limitations on what can and can't be done. Perhaps another interesting idea is that as you interact in the world and with a companion, certain dialogue options and stituations/conflicts in the world will perhaps move a NPC's personality in certain directions which can affect class. eg: Aloth could have several conflicts in the game world where he shuns the use of magic to skewer enemies on the end of that nifty sword of his or where he decides to influence a situation by getting inside someones head and by 'persuading them' to simply let you and your party walk into that restricted area. These sorts of choices could potentially affect the personality of Aloth going forward and potentially make him lean more towards the fighter or cipher class. The personality repercussions of these choices should be felt on a continuing basis hence leading him to be more brash or manipulative depending on these initial choices. The following outcomes thus occur: 1: Aloth adopts a slighty different personilty depending on which options you've chosen. 2: Aloth becomes either a pure wizard, fighter/wizard or cipher/wizard depending on your choices. This way you can have a slightly different experience with companions and also have them fill differing roles in you team; which allows for cool new interactions on different playthroughs. Well there's my 2 cents worth.

Suppose it was just something that I really liked... Not really out to offend anyone about my tree idea Haven't gotten around to as much posting as I'd like with a new born baby and all that jazz. Anyway, this is what forums are for, to express your veiws. If I want to post the same thing a hundred times or once that is my perogative. What I was really getting at was to have some nicely fleshed out concepts of deities. PS: The name comes from Druidic text. Deithe being druidic for: "gods" (actually a superior elder race, which while far more wise and powerful than mortals are likewise bound by the basic laws of the universe; it is never used in the singular for an individual). Bile (pronounciation 'bili') being druidic for: any large, isolated sacred tree. Crannog being druidic for: artifical island dwelling. I was just playing around with some stuff on this one and might have gotten a little over-eager on my postings.

Deithebile - The 'First Tree' with acquired sentience. The deity acquired sentience over millenia as fauna waxed and waned over the course of time and it is debated wether Deithebile has deity status - diety status has however been attributed to Deithebile as it has an immortality of sorts and has a great level of control over the habitat and inhabitants it its sphere of influence. Diethebile is a peculiar deity in a sense that it is bound by its gargantuan fixed physical self and has a purpose that is barely know. What is know is that the area surrounding the mighty tree is densely vegetated and contains the treetop citadel of Bile Crannog. This entire area is know as the realm of Deithebile. On occasion, Deithebile has communicated with certain druids and rangers - the first know occurence of this was during 'the awakening'; which is the first recorded instance of sentience. During this time Bile Crannog was founded, and the various principals on which the town still bases itself were established. Some scholars speculate that the young god required a symbiotic relationship with the sentient races in order to ensure its security as it is on one hand one of the most vulnerable of dieties as it can simply be razed to the ground but on the other hand can potentially be one of the most powerful in that it has an incredibile loyalty from the denizens of Bile Crannog due to actually providing for them a bountiful livelihood. Some of the more sceptical scholars believe that it is Diethebile's intention to gradually spread its presence over the entire known world; although most aren't concerned about this prospect as it will surely take many more mellenia until such an outcome could occur. Bile Crannog is a peculiar place where the doctrine is to 'live off & with the land'. People don't interfere with the vegetation; however with the intervention of Deithebile, the surrounding lands tend to 'accomodate' the increase diversity and size of the population of Bile Crannog by revealing new treetop and ground clearings to construct various buildings and by revealing new and larger pathways in the surrounding forests to accomodate increased logistics needs. Contrary to the usual trend of increased deforestation that follows in the path of a growing city, the forested lands tend to expand in size to support the increased needs of the town as in turn the influence of Deithebile slowly increases. The town consists only of those that live in tune with nature and also has a strong economy that exports the famed and scarce sap that comes from Deithebile - the sap is famed for it's healing properties which is a very rare commodity in the world and fetches astronomical prices. It is anticipated that Bile Crannog will eventually swell to this size of a city. One of the stranger customs of the land is to 'bury' the recently deceased of the city by dropping them into a mighty tree hollow that exists in Diethebile, it is veiwed that by doing this the spirit of the deceased has more likelyhood of making there way back to Diethebelle in the next life, some wonder as to what the real implications of this tradition might actually be. Please like this idea, it came to me and I think it could be really cool and a concept around this could be interesting in terms of potential future conflicts as well as just a really neat environment.

Deithebile - Eldest world tree with acquired sentience, acquired diety status over millenia as fauna waxed and waned over the course of time. Diethebile is a peculiar diety in a sense that it is bound by its gargantuan fixed physical self and has a purpose that is barely know. What is know is that the area surrounding the mighty tree is densely vegetated and contains the treetop citadel of Bile Crannog. Diethebile has on occasion communicated with certain druids and rangers - the first know occurence of this was during 'the awakening'; which is the first recorded instance of sentience. During this time Bile Crannog was founded, and the various principals on which the town still bases itself were established. Some scholars speculate that the young god required a symbiotic relationship with the sentient races in order to ensure its security as it is on one hand one of the most vulnerable of dieties as it can simply be razed to the ground but on the other hand can potentially be one of the most powerful in that it has an incredibile loyalty from the denizens of Bile Crannog due to actually providing for them a bountiful livelihood. Some of the more sceptical scholars believe that it is Diethebile's intention to gradually spread its presence over the entire known world; although most aren't concerned about this prospect as it will surely take many more mellenia until such an outcome could occur. Bile Crannog is a peculiar place where the doctrine is to 'live off & with the land'. People don't interfere with the vegetation; however with the intervention of Deithebile, the surrounding lands tend to 'accomodate' the increase diversity and size of the population of Bile Crannog by revealing new treetop and ground clearings to construct various buildings and by revealing new and larger pathways in the surrounding forests to accomodate increased logistics needs. Contrary to the usual trend of increased deforestation that follows in the path of a growing city, the forested lands tend to expand in size to support the increased needs of the town as in turn the influence of Deithebile slowly increases. The town consists only of those that live in tune with nature and also has a strong economy that exports the famed and scarce sap that comes from Deithebile - the sap is famed for it's healing properties which is a very rare commodity in the world and fetches astronomical prices. It is anticipated that Bile Crannog will eventually swell to this size of a city. One of the stranger customs of the land is to 'bury' the recently deceased of the city by dropping them into a mighty tree hollow that exists in Diethebile, it is veiwed that by doing this the spirit of the deceased has more likelyhood of making there way back to Diethebelle in the next life, some wonder as to what the real implications of this tradition might actually be. Please like this idea, it came to me and I think it could be really cool and a concept around this could be interesting in terms of potential future conflicts as well as just a really neat environment.

Deithebile - Eldest world tree with acquired sentience, acquired diety status over millenia as fauna waxed and waned over the course of time. Diethebile is a peculiar diety in a sense that it is bound by its gargantuan fixed physical self and has a purpose that is barely know. What is know is that the area surrounding the mighty tree is densely vegetated and contains the treetop citadel of Bile Crannog. Diethebile has on occasion communicated with certain druids and rangers - the first know occurence of this was during 'the awakening'; which is the first recorded instance of sentience. During this time Bile Crannog was founded, and the various principals on which the town still bases itself were established. Some scholars speculate that the young god required a symbiotic relationship with the sentient races in order to ensure its security as it is on one hand one of the most vulnerable of dieties as it can simply be razed to the ground but on the other hand can potentially be one of the most powerful in that it has an incredibile loyalty from the denizens of Bile Crannog due to actually providing for them a bountiful livelihood. Some of the more sceptical scholars believe that it is Diethebile's intention to gradually spread its presence over the entire known world; although most aren't concerned about this prospect as it will surely take many more mellenia until such an outcome could occur. Bile Crannog is a peculiar place where the doctrine is to 'live off & with the land'. People don't interfere with the vegetation; however with the intervention of Deithebile, the surrounding lands tend to 'accomodate' the increase diversity and size of the population of Bile Crannog by revealing new treetop and ground clearings to construct various buildings and by revealing new and larger pathways in the surrounding forests to accomodate increased logistics needs. Contrary to the usual trend of increased deforestation that follows in the path of a growing city, the forested lands tend to expand in size to support the increased needs of the town as in turn the influence of Deithebile slowly increases. The town consists only of those that live in tune with nature and also has a strong economy that exports the famed and scarce sap that comes from Deithebile - the sap is famed for it's healing properties which is a very rare commodity in the world and fetches astronomical prices. It is anticipated that Bile Crannog will eventually swell to this size of a city. One of the stranger customs of the land is to 'bury' the recently deceased of the city by dropping them into a mighty tree hollow that exists in Diethebile, it is veiwed that by doing this the spirit of the deceased has more likelyhood of making there way back to Diethebelle in the next life, some wonder as to what the real implications of this tradition might actually be. Please like this idea, it came to me and I think it could be really cool and a concept around this could be interesting in terms of potential future conflicts as well as just a really neat environment.

Deithebile - Eldest world tree with acquired sentience, acquired diety status over millenia as fauna waxed and waned over the course of time. Diethebile is a peculiar diety in a sense that it is bound by its gargantuan fixed physical self and has a purpose that is barely know. What is know is that the area surrounding the mighty tree is densely vegetated and contains the treetop citadel of Bile Crannog. Diethebile has on occasion communicated with certain druids and rangers - the first know occurence of this was during 'the awakening'; which is the first recorded instance of sentience. During this time Bile Crannog was founded, and the various principals on which the town still bases itself were established. Some scholars speculate that the young god required a symbiotic relationship with the sentient races in order to ensure its security as it is on one hand one of the most vulnerable of dieties as it can simply be razed to the ground but on the other hand can potentially be one of the most powerful in that it has an incredibile loyalty from the denizens of Bile Crannog due to actually providing for them a bountiful livelihood. Some of the more sceptical scholars believe that it is Diethebile's intention to gradually spread its presence over the entire known world; although most aren't concerned about this prospect as it will surely take many more mellenia until such an outcome could occur. Bile Crannog is a peculiar place where the doctrine is to 'live off & with the land'. People don't interfere with the vegetation; however with the intervention of Deithebile, the surrounding lands tend to 'accomodate' the increase diversity and size of the population of Bile Crannog by revealing new treetop and ground clearings to construct various buildings and by revealing new and larger pathways in the surrounding forests to accomodate increased logistics needs. Contrary to the usual trend of increased deforestation that follows in the path of a growing city, the forested lands tend to expand in size to support the increased needs of the town as in turn the influence of Deithebile slowly increases. The town consists only of those that live in tune with nature and also has a strong economy that exports the famed and scarce sap that comes from Deithebile - the sap is famed for it's healing properties which is a very rare commodity in the world and fetches astronomical prices. It is anticipated that Bile Crannog will eventually swell to this size of a city. One of the stranger customs of the land is to 'bury' the recently deceased of the city by dropping them into a mighty tree hollow that exists in Diethebile, it is veiwed that by doing this the spirit of the deceased has more likelyhood of making there way back to Diethebelle in the next life, some wonder as to what the real implications of this tradition might actually be. Please like this idea, it came to me and I think it could be really cool and a concept around this could be interesting in terms of potential future conflicts as well as just a really neat environment.