JFSOCC

That's a lot to digest, give me a while.

Strange order (reverse,) but both good, if a bit tedious at times. I don't understand why concision is such a sin in the world of writing. Diamond often writes as though he's just padding for extra page length. It's especially tough when you're dealing with subjects for which there is a dearth of evidence, and that's something Collapse suffers for. In collapse he explains that he's had a lot of criticism on his previous book (saying that he is accused of environmental determinism and tries to frame everything in that way), and that is why he decided to take you through the step by step process of "Why we know this is true" So he talks about how ice-cores are analyzed as much as he talks about how animal middens are analyzed, so we know with certitude that he is not making **** up. So that there is very little room for misinterpretation or doubt. It makes his books a little harder to read, but all the more scientific, and I find that exceptionally refreshing.

I just don't understand how people can call him weak. He's lean, but have you seen those muscles? I certainly am not that ripped.

I'm not judging this book by its cover

I don't think that's the ultimate reward. in fact knowing the map could decrease your enjoyment since you know what's out there and there is nothing to surprise you anymore. But I'm the type that resents that our planet has been completely mapped already.

I've always viewed magicians as a type of scientist, which is why they don't appear to be very productive, and why there aren't many of them in a feudal society. powerful cities could perhaps support an academy of them, but this would be a prestige project like having a university. It might simply not be very effective, let alone affordable for magicians to train and learn outside of a school of some sort. So you'd have low-level hedge mages living on raw talent, exiles, and hermits that once studied at the academy, but these are limited in ability or power by neccesity or choice. to put it plainly, a magician is a highly specialised proffesion that is hard to support in feudal society, but not impossible.

I'll be ok if some quests are marked as "urgent" as long as I can't have 2 active at the same time, and as long as they are optional side-quests.

there is that, I also have 4 third party rulebooks with alternative or prestige classes accentuating your point. You have to makea balance between1. not overpowered 2. distinct 3. plays like the player wants to play it (role playing) 4. rewards the player based on how he chooses to play. I kind of liked morrowind in that respect, you could choose how you played by simply playing that way, but, I think this also allowed some very powerful combinations which might have been OP. So perhaps it IS a good idea that some choices would eliminate other choices.

I was pleasantly surprised by skyfall. Finally a James Bond movie that felt like a James Bond movie.

I agree, although I've read Mort several times as well. Fantastic book. I just finished David Wong's This Book Is Full Of Spiders - Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It which lacked the braincracking insanity* of its predecessor (John Dies At The End) but was still highly entertaining and had a much stronger structure. Still a rare example of horror comedy that exhibits both horror and comedy. Next on the list is Yahtzee "Zero Punctuation" Croshaw's new novel "Jam". * I have to agree, sometimes a little mary sue. I excuse it because it is supposedly an epic character, one of those once every few generation people. and he has a fair amount of character flaws. (such as not being overly concerned about making enemies)I wouldn't say the story could be quickly summed up, however, any more than any other book could. He's narrating his life to his biographer.

Well I haven't made any mods, I've helped others making theirs, but I don't desire a job in the game developer world, well, maybe narrative design.

Those are only fun if it's people you're hunting down, not animals/non-sapient monsters, and you get the option to help said people by letting them go, paying off their debts, and/or proving their innocence instead of killing/capturing them. Like in the KotOR games. in other words, not just a filler quest. but one that is worked out and is fun.There's a difference between filler quests and small, low powered quests. One is to provide padding by adding a lot of mediocre content, the other is to fill the game with diverse and cared for, but not always hyper-big content, to provide better pacing.

I would enjoy it if not every ruins had a dungeon, cult or something attached to it. Sometimes a place falls into disrepair, the people leave because maintainance becomes impossible or too expensive. There have been plenty of empty ruins in RL. That said, it wouldn't be much of a game if most ruins had nothing associated with it. I'm a builder at heart. If I can rebuild a ruins as a project (possibly as stronghold) I'd probably enjoy it. clearing the roads towards it, repairing or building bridges, guarding the roads with paid soldiers... etc.

I've truly done my best with formatting. I think a lot would be lost if I did a TL;DR, but here goes.TL;DR: A map with (large)parts randomly generated, with access to special quests as a reward for exploring.

You're free to use it. I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise. Let's just say I release this idea under a creative commons license About the implementation. Yes, It would probably require that at least part of the game had a different style map. It certainly is possible in certain engines, Warcraft 3 had a type of map where trees could be cut by peons/peasants, and a regrow mechanic seems just to be placing those trees back (with an animation, of coure) So yeah, you'd probably need a base map, and lots of tree-shaped props with animations that have them grow or be removed. and then you just populate a map with these. That's the trade-off, but I think that would be OK for certain sections, like the wilderness. I also believe that the quests themselves could take place on pre-made maps, which would load (possibly seamlessly, if technology allows) after following a trail towards it. So these spots, while present in the wilderness, would be distinct from it.

no time limits for me, thank you. I take my sweet time playing.

I'm currently reading Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, after having read Collapse ages ago. (both are recommended) I'm also currently reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb I'm also reading I, claudius by Robert Graves. Though I only progress intermittingly in each. I'm eagerly awaiting the next Patrick Rothfuss book for some hard-core highbrow fantasy. but that's probably 2 years away, at the rate he writes.

Ok I apologize, it was a mild troll. I think my stance on save scumming was clear before: I wish to encourage good behaviour without forbidding or punishing behaviour like exploiting and save scumming. I think it is impossible to prevent save scumming (hence my example) and other ways to exploit it. But an engaging game would not entice you to save scum. (that said, it's hard to get that precisely right.)

"make mods" best advice ever.

in an recent interview it was mentioned that you have to be ok, as a developer, that people will not see all content you create. So I am not worried about that being a consideration.

No idea if it is easy to create. I would make it open in the sense that you can enter it at any time. but the idea is that going back later would lead to different content and encounters. The forest/world is vast and you wouldn't find your way back without landmarks. Quite, that's one of the reasons I started thinking about a solution. I'd like to add that I forgot some possible content for #2. You could restore bridges, find (tame?) animals, come across bones, natural obstacles such as quicksand, things like that. the wilderness without the wisps would not be content free, but the wisps part are the more significant quests and encounters, and thus they should stick out.

just because a quest is a side-quest doesn't mean it has to be half-assed. I say no to filler quests.

if you go off-road, yes. And I'll leave it in the middle how safe the roads will be, but significantly safer, at least.