JFSOCC

But if you don't enjoy music you don;t have to listen to it. Does that mean the game should have no score at all? I'd rather they spend effort and love on a good sound, even if not everyone will get to enjoy it.

I can see myself enjoying a pub, this blasting loudly in my ear, hearing a bit of rumour but being able to hear the person next you (companion dialogue volume all the way down). "What?" "I said, let's go outside so we can discuss some options" "What!?" Man it would be so cool to have a scene like that in the game

Maybe it helps to express them as more general motivations it's personal it's actively involved they're dangerous they stand out, visually as well.

I've mentioned them in an earlier post, but since people apparently are posting links to examples of what they like, good idea here are some of mine, by all means check them out on youtube, you can browse some of the other songs on their respective albums. http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=P4p3MXrXlO4 From Quest for Glory V http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO7XeUgrcdk From Beyond Good and Evil /watch?v=7eqMszMGUww From Bastion /watch?v=8eqetqwcWEo Moiety theme from Riven. /watch?v=qBX17HxLy_g From Guild Wars I could only post so many links so the others just have the watch code to end at the end of the youtube url.

Cristophe Heral is a fantastic composer that did the music for Beyond Good and Evil (among others), Jeremy Soule did the music for Guild Wars, if you like true ambient music then get Robyn Miller, who did music for his own game (Myst and Riven) And well the music from Bastion won awards for a good reason. truly there are many great artists.

I've DM'ed alignment free pen and paper games that worked out just fine. You just have to substitute character motivation and personality. it also allows you great freedom since you can make essentially any npc into a more significant character should that deliver more interesting options for your party. Sure the inkeep "looks amenable and nice" and he might behave that way, and you don't have to go deeper. but that doesn't mean he is "lawful good" it's just an arbitrary thing that puts characters in boxes, makes stereotypes and boxes you in with them. stereotypes are boring and clichéd.

Well I think it's not so much about the lies as it is about having their own agenda, and the protagonist's well-being might not be their biggest concern. A good story is character driven and not plot driven. If you can motivate npc actions through them having their own agendas I think you'll get a rich tapestry with plenty of lying and backstabbing that isn't immediately obvious to the player. (as it so often is.)

make choices based on how people argue. We're born lawyers and philosophers, Go look up the "justice: what's the right thing to do" series on youtube on how many ways there are to look at things. from consequencialist to categorical(fundamentalist) thinking.

it's the munchkin thing isn't it?

Apathy is death.

I will be greatly disappointed if there's not some sort of talking piece of equipment to annoy me. Please no more goofy American voices from magical sidekicks. A sword that sounds like Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, The Narrator from Bastion, or Sir Roderick Ponce Von Fontlebottom from Jade Empire, something with personality. Like the sword in the Colour of Magic? "I'm magical you know!" "Can't fight!? don't worry, I'll make a hero out of you!" etc. anyway, mine would be

"Carth looks like he has something to say"

I'm wondering if alignments will make an appearance, they certainly have in the past with games strongly linked to DnD. let me be blunt, I hope not. I think it's a very poor way to characterize. "that man is acting evil because of his alignment" it's just ridiculous. I think you can do away with them entirely, especially if you want (as you seem to claim in the kickstarter video) to have more mature themes and dialogue. I think we're quite capable of seeing complex moral issues without seeing a prefix of "lawful-neutral" on a character. my two cents. Edit: sorry, apparently it was answered already. I did run a search before posting my question.

There's a couple of things I worry about with strongholds. For me, the whole game could be about building something up. I'm a builder at heart. My biggest worry is that the Stronghold a player builds will be "upgraded" to a maximum and then lose all relevancy, except for the few quests it may offer, and the way it acts as a gold sink by adding merchants and a storage place, and little else. I would like to see upgrades with purpose and limited by choice. Say, for example you are a spellcasting class, you may want to construct a "wizards tower" as an upgrade. instead of having this just be a player home, you could for instance think about spells that you can only do here. (because it is a place of power, perhaps thanks to a quest that makes it so, a ritual consecrating the place needing other spellcasters, I trust in the devs imagination here) Perhaps you can choose what type of tower and super spells you can cast here. be it ressurection or powerful curse lifting and healing, or maybe it allows you to divine truths that help you solve quests. cast plague spells on an entire region... whatever, something big. the point is that in this example your stronghold is functional throughout the game. different classes would have different benefits and choices facing them. balancing the power of such things can be done by limiting the benefits to only be obtainable at your stronghold, or making them costly (sacrificing XP for effect?) this way you can also add another gold-sink to your game, without making player wealth seem arbitrary past a certain point. Edit: Also, I would enjoy it if a stronghold remained accessible throughout most of the game. That wasn't possible in Baldurs Gate: Shadows of Amn, and I found it quite a pity to lose my thieves guild because I had to leave it for a few weeks.