Keyrock

I can't really nail down any one thing that I enjoy about RPGs above any other. I would say story/narrative/character depth since I really enjoy story driven games (story-driven RPGs, adventure games), but at the same time I've really enjoyed games with very little story that are mostly focused on gameplay and combat (loot em ups). I love exploration, but I've also enjoyed more linear games. I love some games with tons of dialogue, lore to read, cutscenes to watch, but I find it tedious in others. In the end the elements that determine whether I enjoy the whole package vary greatly. Take Venetica for example. That game has tons of flaws, subpar graphics, glitches, mediocre at best voice work, a so so story, repetative gameplay, limited weapon and armor options. Yet I loved every second of that game. Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and I'm not sure I can explain why.

Well, at least he gets to work with Brian Fargo and the team an InXile. InXile and Obsidian have already showed a willingness to work together (the bonds of Black Isle and Interplay are hard to break it seems), so working at InXile seems like the next best thing to having him at Obsidian.

I'd be much happier is this waited until Chris Avellone could be a part of it, but even if he's not, one way or another this needs to happen. The greatest RPG ever made needs a sequel. Kickstarter is already making many of my seemingly impossible dreams come true, this would be the ultimate dream come true (whether Kickstarted or not).

To me, and everyone has their own system, I'm not saying my system is better than anyone else's, choosing GotY, and rating games in general, is very easy. It all comes down to how much fun did I have playing the game. I can compare strength of story, characters, gameplay, graphics, audio, and so on. In the end, all that stuff doesn't matter in the least if I didn't have fun playing the game, or I got very frustrated during parts of it. For me picking Resident Evil: Revelations (My GotY) and Sleeping Dogs (My runner up) was easy, as those two games easily gave me more hours of fun than any other game while at no point making me frustrated or angry. More fun = better game, simple as.

I'm glad you're liking the controller, it really is far superior for certain games. I'm sure you'll get plenty of use for it in other games too.

I remembered having troubles with the dragon on Mt. Galardrym in NWN2 in the past. Not this time, I carved right through that chump. He managed to take down Sand during the fight, but everybody else stayed on their feet. I guess having several characters with fire immunity helps. I'm getting kind of excited knowing the ending is coming up.

Wait, what was the PSU doing in your hand? Do you mean you were turning on the computer via the power switch in the back on the PSU and it exploded in the case with some of the explosion burning your hand? I've had many PSUs fail, but never explode. Ouch!

I don't think I can afford to spend $100 on this, but HOLY **** the CyberDwarf Body Pillow looks awesome!

Still plugging along in Neverwinter Nights 2. I'm at the beginning of Act 3 now, just saved Nasher's behind. Having not played a D&D game for a while, I had forgotten how awesome Tenser's Transformation is. When they write in the description that it "turns you into a walking engine of destruction" they're not kidding. Too bad it will be useless to me once I got higher level in Stormlord because it will be more beneficial to me to keep my spear and imbue it with massive amounts of electricity rather than polymorph and use Tenser's Sword. Still, for the next few levels I'll be using it liberally. I also just got my butt off Peragus (destroying the whole area in the process) in KotOR 2, but I'll likely concentrate all my efforts on NWN2 for a while now since I'm close to finishing it.

Same here. I've been a supporter since well before the Kickstarter. The good news is that the Alpha should be coming up in the next couple of months and I'm in on that. I'll give impressions once that stats.

I used to do this too. These days I try to be pretty "fair" when handing out gear, plus often gear is more suited to certain classes thus the choice is clear and easy. I try to keep my party as equal in power as possible, I feel they function better that way. With that said, if a piece of gear is equally beneficial to my PC and a companion, my PC is getting that gear.

True Doom Murderheads rejoice! In just 1 day the project has already blown past its goal. Now the question is where will it end up? Also, the chiptune medley on the Kickstarter page is fantastic.

The only companion I can think of that you could do that to in Infinity Engine games was turning Viconia from Evil to Neutral in Baldur's Gate 2. I don't remember whether this was in the base game or the ToB expansion. /scratches head

Baldur's Gate II had this. If your reputation got too high (good) the evil party members would progressively bicker more and more until the left the party / attacked you outright. Vice versa for low reputation (evil). Yeah that's right, I forgot they had that in BG2 also.

But why would they follow the player character, then, aside from "Oh you are the CHOSEN ONE! I must follow you in your quest to fulfill the prophecy!"? Charisma, fate, chance, strength in numbers, ulterior motives (they're using you for their own gain), there could be any number of reasons. Why does anyone associate with anyone else? Why do people become friends? Edit: Also, I don't want my companions mindlessly following me just because I am "the leader". I want them questioning my decisions and motives, suggesting alternatives, threatening to rebel or leave, or even following through and leaving the party or straight up attacking me. If I have a Paladin companion and I decide to help a conspiracy that will poison a town's water supply, making people sick, and making the town easy pickins for a band of marauders, I don't want the Paladin to begrudgingly follow my lead, I expect him or her to leave my party or even actively try to foil my plans. What I'm saying is that I want my companions to take an active role in steering the party and not just tagging along for the ride. Edit 2: There was an old RPG where your party members could mutiny against you. I can't remember what it was called... Was it Ishar?

While I don't particularly want my companions to overshadow me, I wouldn't want my PC to be way more powerful than my companions either. I don't want my PC to be a god while the others just tag along. Plus, I would very much like some NPCs to be more powerful, either in level, equipment, influence, wealth, etc., than my character, especially early on. I'd be completely fine with there being parts of the story where I must simply run away from enemies and escape overwhelming forces.

Grim Dawn - The spiritual sequel to Titan Quest?

Don't you DARE hurt that squirrel. The Obsidian Order Rodent Tamer would be very displeased.

Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden was definitely a special kind of lunacy. Color me very interested.

I'm playing Dikembe Mutombo's 4 1/2 Weeks to Save the World. It's a flash game and an ad for Old Spice deodorant, but dang it's pretty funny.

I'm a HUGE Orc fanatic. I always play as an Orc or Half-Orc if that's all that is available. Obviously I voted "Yes, fully playable". Green for the win! As far as Orcs being overused, they're not nearly as overused as elves and dwarves.

/hangs head in shame What shall my punishment be, sir? //eyes Singapore cane leaning against wall nervously (It really is a fantastic game though)

I know I'm breaking some kind of cardinal rule by nominating a handheld game, but I don't care. My 2012 GotY is Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS). In my opinion it's the best Resi game ever made. In addition to a great, beefy campaign that brings back the claustrophobic tense feel of the classic Resi games, the game also has a ridiculously fun and addictive Raid Mode that can be played solo or co-op via wifi. I got over a hundred hours of "Holy **** this is fun!" out of Revelations. Sleeping Dogs (PC, PS3, XBOX360) is my runner up, based mostly on the fact that I only got about 40 hours of "Holy **** this is fun!" out of it.

Well if you can put up with Kojima's usual hijinks (ridiculously convoluted plot, twists and turns seemingly simply for the sake of twists and turns, or to get him out of a corner he painted himself into, having the gameplay constantly interrupted by communications) then I can tell you that it's easily the best game in the series.