Ozida

Well, interesting characters (not only party members) is a cornerstone of any story, IMHO. After all, why bother saving a village if you don’t even care about people living there? Why going into deep woods to find a little boy when his mother doesn’t have a heart-breaking monologue about her lost son?.. Otherwise it’s just another MMO: go there, kill 5 wolves, and bring 5 claws back. Don’t care why; don’t care how, just finish the damn quest. My favourite NPCs were ones from NWN. I remember one guy telling a story about his sick wife who he had to kill out of mercy. The voiceover was done remarkably with a feeling of tears in man’s voice. The whole thing had nothing to do with any quests, by the way; just a stranger on a street. But it got me into the plague and the despair it caused way more realistically than a narrative repeating "how bad" it was.

I strongly agree to that, except for the special items from boss fights. The last thing I want to happen after killing Super-Monster Orc King is to find out that his only and one Helmet of Awesomeness was destroyed because I’ve bashed him too hard on head.

I like the piglet, tbh. I could've come up with a name for it too.

No, really, I wasn't sure... Sorry, must be my lack of English Ok, to turn this into valid addition on topic, I’m excited for this game because of three reason: a) developers behind it and their openness to the community (plus it sounds like they’re having fun with it too); b) neat marketing materials I’ve seen so far (graphics, trailer, info, etc.) promising great game and c) alternative to BioWare games. Not that I do not like BW games, but it feels that they are the only ones left producing good RPG (no Japanase MMO, please :S). Some healthy compatition won't hurt.

Nooo...it is very old, its infinity from 2000! How innovative of them not to continue a franchise. Sure

[sorry for the wall of text, guys!] You know what comes to my mind when thinking about good romance in gaming?.. Don’t laugh though, but it’s Fallout 2. Although I can talk all day long how well F2 characters were written in general, there were few moments that could’ve lead to a full romance story IF it ever existed in the game. In particular, I’m talking about “the good, the bad & the ugly”: John Cassidy, Leslie Anne Bishop & Myron. If you haven’t encountered it during your playthrough (*spoilers!*), here is a short summary: - When playing as a female protagonist, and having both Myron and Cassidy in the party, Cassidy throws a line telling you to “stay away from Myron because he’s a bad guy” and that Cassidy doesn’t want to see you getting hurt (I don’t recall the exact quote, but it was something like that). My initial reaction was: “Well, that’s sweet. Thank you for caring!”. And I would see that as a perfect starting point for a romance arc. - When playing as a male protagonist, you get a chance to spend a night with Mss. Bishop. If you have enough charisma (and don’t rush things through), you get to know her background. I believe this actually evolves in some sort of side quest as you can try convincing Leslie to run away with the Chosen One… Or you can keep it as a one-night thing with some “minor consequences” (“Congratulations, it’s a boy!”). - Finally, Myron is the guy who can easily beat Zevran from DA:O when it comes to bad-ass romance. He’s a mean pervert believing any lady should be ecstatic to have him around (how old was he again?). And he is very vocal about his “sexuality”. Imaging how much fun would it be romancing a guy like that, always listening to his egocentric remarks and annoying jokes! Now, let me say that Fallout 2 was a perfectly fine game without any romance in it. I believe PoE will be as well. But it doesn’t mean romance couldn’t work with RPGs. It just has to evolve from a different perspective. For example, instead of making it player’s initiative all the time, confession can come out from a party member in the least expected moment creating some awkward situations (“I thought we all going to die in this dungeon, so I’ve shouted: “I LOVE YOU!” out loud . So… yeah… how are we going to deal with that now that everyone is staring and I don’t even know if you like me in the first place?”). And there should be an option for player to reject NPC’s feelings (and vice versa, of course). Or, let’s say, a rogue character tricks you in bed, and in morning he/she acts like nothing’s ever happened. And EVERYONE in camp knows about it… So, although good writing is hard, it does not mean it cannot be done. It just has to be above kindergarten level: Merril: “Oh no, I’ve killed all this people with my blood magic!” Hawke: “Don’t be hard on yourself…- ” Merril: “-..Ok, let’s have sex then! ^.^ ”.

PieSnatcher, Namutree, Honestly, if the game is good without a romance part, I’m on your side, folks. Just saying it would be a nice option, that's all.

Make romance a DLC-option, IMHO. Spend some time working on it after the main game is finished, and then throw it on market. People who like romance options (like me ) will buy it; others will enjoy the game as it is. Why make such a big deal of it?

I’m very excited for upcoming Pillars of Eternity and truly look forward to this game!!! That being said, I’d like to share my entreaty with a humble faith that developers may check this friendly note one day. Seeing how some of recent titles turned out, I sadly start to lose faith in gaming industry. It takes lots of effort nowadays to find good story-driven game with well-thought characters, convenient combat system, easy-to-use inventory and long playability. Patches are anticipated to come right after each new release because it almost expected for a finished product to be buggy. (And I don’t mind fixing a bug here and there… but just look at DA:I). Downloadable content can now contain some information crucial to the main plot that was cut out simply for the sake of few extra bucks. And I’m not even talking about character’s customization (people like their protagonists to be unique? Pfff!). The main point here is not for me to complain, whine or argue. I simply ask: please, do not let me down! And if PoE is truly what it seems to be (and, once again, I’m very hyped for this game ), I will be very committed to invest in future games. All the best to all of you!

Voted for "yes". I have no problems waiting longer for a high quality game. Have seen enough rushed games in past 1-2 years, and they were just wasted potentials.

Oh, God, I loved setting my enemies on fire or tearing them apart with machine gun back in Fallout. If they can pull something similar in PE without going into full video-scenes, that would be great. Otherwise it’s just a waste of resources to make custom video for each single enemy.

I agree with what Aedelric said. A pet companion is fun, as long is it is not dull enough to jump into every singlt enemy and fight to death. Maybe some 'behaviour commands' could help, where you can order your pet to wait before a fight or to run away if it is critically hurt.

As an option, sure it would be nice. But God forbids if you must play it to achieve something in the game, and if it takes devs time/ effort from SP content.

What I meant was introducing characters that come “out of nowhere”. For example, a player faces the main enemy, the antagonist, that’s supposed to be really bad… and then suddenly, at the very end of a game, it opens up that this main enemy was just a puppet of some more evil character that player had no information on during the whole game. It may sound like a good idea to some, an interesting twist, but it is actually annoying. At least I know a great example of *X company* mentioned above that did it and failed at it greatly. It is just inconsistent. If you ever want to introduce a new key character at the very end, at least give the players small hints to be prepared for it.

To add my two cents: I’d like there to be some really scary looking people. They should not be hostile, but because of their inhuman looks (I mean, something really different that would make “normal” people very uncomfortable by just looking at such creatures), they would’ve been treated bad by others. For example, such race could offer a help in hard times, but because so many people just don’t like their looks, there offer would be turned down rudely. Or if you play for one, other characters may react with great negativity towards to you. I think it would add a nice “bitter” feeling showing humans as somewhat racists, and could lead to a potential side-conflict.

I am late to the party (newly registered), but I want to wish Crhis all the best too! Happy past Birthday.

↑ Taiga would be nice.

Yes, I'd give the same advice. BioWare obviously tried too hard to be not too “video-gamy”, but it didn’t work very well for them. Typical clichés that you would see in most games are: 1. Super-weapon/ God’s sword/ Magic “solve-all-problems” item - an easy “key” to a victory. I am sorry, but this just gets boring, IMHO. 2. Random characters… yeah… they just don’t work without a good history behind them. 3. Paranoiac evil master. Villains play great role in the plot and they should really encourage hero to fight. Another maniac who just wants to rule he world is not really interesting. The best villain that I’ve seen in RPG was Kerghan from Arcanum. Extremely interesting character and in my first play through I have actually joined him. I hope this is not too long of a list.

You guy are great! All those fantastic games you have brought to us are legends! Replaying all of them constantly. Can’t wait for this project to come out too. Ssorry, I just have to say it: please, don’t try to do what other company *cough* BW *cough* did. Please no random glowing characters at the end and no super-weapons that just magically kill the entire enemy. This is all I ask for. Pleeeease... But I have trust in you knowing how to do things right.