Varana

Not entirely sure which forum section this is supposed to go... After I've cleared an "undiscovered" island, I get prompted to enter a name when leaving the associated dungeon. If I hit "Cancel", it automatically defaults to "Unnamed Island" or somesuch. Can I access the naming prompt somehow to name the island later on, or is that the one and only chance?

"Artlessly and vulgarly"? Serafen is artless and vulgar, but that's his character. For the rest, I don't think it's in any way out of the ordinary. Especially given the ... social status of many of the people you talk to. Gonna rename my ship to Navio d'Amor now.

Prompted by the last Extra Credits episode: It's really nice to have an easy and comparatively affordable respec option available at all times from the start. Stat-heavy games should do that more often.

Also, modern game engines are optimised for exactly what the Witcher and similar games do: real-time streaming of 3D assets. It's what makes or breaks an engine: Can it run games like that fast with many details? PoE takes such an engine and uses it in a non-optimal way. Maybe they can streamline the process here and there, and there are certainly other issues as well, but I think an important part is that they're using the "wrong" engine. (Not that there currently is a right one.) Wait. Why have I never noticed that???

Ah, see, I didn't know about the "sword CRUSH!!!" part (haven't seen it in the game, yet). In that case, it is pretty unique (and will probably stay that way even after weapon distribution gets an update), and I'd rather keep it as it is. I mean, I won't lose any sleep over a change and will only post an extensive forum rant if I'm really, really bored and/or drunk. But generally speaking, as a preference. Edit: Hah, I can change my vote. Nice.

Voted "no preference" but in the end, I'm fine with it, and there being very few unique clubs is a convincing argument. As for the "obsidian sword", I'd think that rephrasing the description would be better. Maybe including a line like "Macahuitl are often called obsidian swords" for the bad*ssery. :D

Some concepts and stories of the Endles Paths were interesting and fun. But it was overdone, imho; several levels were just filler, or one small nice idea that was maybe great for one or two rooms had to power a complete dungeon level and failed at that. Sure, environmental storytelling is a thing, but if the Endless Paths are anything to go by, then Obsidian still has a lot of levelling up to do in that department. I for one think that the Endless Paths were a nice Kickstarter idea that didn't scale very well. Shrink it by half, and you get a tight but varied dungeon.

I could buy some at Fort Deadlight.

Mostly because no one thought the story of D:OS was particularly interesting, or even good. I can't remember a single serious D:OS review that praised its story (maybe some that came out right at the beginning and didn't actually play the whole thing). Particular quests or areas, sure, But the story as a whole was not received very well. Which was absolutely not a problem because the focus of D:OS was so obviously completely elsewhere. The story was never a liability for a sequel because no one really cared about it.

Together with Italian, it's also reminiscent of Catalan, Occitan, or some similar language, esp. in how words sound (like "Ducs Bels"). Belfetto is a composite of bel(lo) and fatto, I'd think.

First play-through: a paladin. Reason: Played a paladin in my first run of BG1, BG2, NWN1, and PoE1. Don't remember the IWDs. After that, I usually go for interesting mechanics, or interesting roleplay (if such a thing exists in the game), and sometimes I plan around the party members I intend to take. Like in my second PoE1 run, I played a priest of Eothas because I wanted to have a cleric, I didn't want to bring Durance again if you paid me for it, and I chose Eothas because I could at least imagine interesting situations, roleplaying-wise (even though the developers couldn't be bothered to write Eothasians decently). I never really try to recreate myself in an RPG. Sure, choices will sometimes reflect my own views, but I'm not actively trying to do that. I mean, it's fantasy... I cannot for the life of me play an "evil" character and have fun with that, though.

Oh, for many people posting on English-language message boards it's not necessarily about not understanding themselves. I've been playing games in English since Ultima Underworld, I read a lot of English, and I'm fairly confident I get what's on the screen. Although more obscure, purple or obsolete phrases can rip you out of the flow. But your native language feels more natural, you're more at home in it, and you understand things faster and more... subconsciously? Not sure how to express that. It's a lot more intuitive, and even if you're quite good at a foreign language, it's still more of an effort. When I listen to German music, I have to make an effort if I want to _not_ automatically get the lyrics (and I usually fail). In English, it's the other way 'round - most of the time, I can easily switch off understanding much of the lyrics. Hard to explain.

The problem with that "losing your mind" thing, though, is that it doesn't seem too severe, or even mildly irritating to you. BG2 at least had a few cutscenes with the Slayer but essentially, suffered from a similar issue. Luckily, BG2 had Imoen, and PoE1 had the Hollowborn - so you could use them as secondary motivation while the game failed to make the primary one seem urgent. But while both purposes coincided in BG2, in PoE1 it's not readily apparent that both are connected. Even if you wanted to solve the Hollowborn problem, you only charge after Thaos because it's the only thing the game offers, until you do certain quests in Defiance Bay. That's (one aspect of) what people mean with "telling not showing": You don't _experience_ your Watcher problems, and growing insanity. You are being told that it's really bad and you should do something about it but it never seems to actually affect you. That disconnect is, imho, one core problem with the storytelling, and many other problems are a result of it. Also, the info dumps - Lady Webb but also the anti-Thaos girl (don't remember the name) right before the end. Much of what you find out about the whole story is told to you at very few points during the main quest. It's not that the story in itself is bad - it is not, on the contrary, I think the general idea behind it is very interesting - but that the pacing is quite off, and makes the story shine a lot duller than it could've been. That the main quest is only loosely connected to the rest of the quests, doesn't bother me at all. I'm a fan of the Bethesda approach to main quests - point the player in its general direction but if they don't care about it, that's entirely fine. :D The urgency problem ("why am I saving a kitten in a tree while I'm the Chosen One to fight the world-destroying bad guy?") - yes, that's a very common issue, and very hard to write around. The main difference is how good you can hide that dilemma, mostly.

People seem to have quite a difficult time accepting polytheism... Being a cleric of one god, or the champion of another, or praying to a third, or making sacrifices or pilgrimages in the name of a fourth, doesn't mean you have to somehow deny the existence, power, or divinity of any of the others. You can do all those things simultaneously, and that's perfectly normal (as far as being the champion of a god is "normal"...)

In den Optionen wurde "gibs" wieder mit "'Führungs'-Effekte" übersetzt (oder wohl eher aus PoE1 übernommen). Richtig wäre vielleicht "Blut-Effekte" oder sowas. "Umherfliegende Leichenteile" ist zu lang. :D