JFSOCC

Nice thought, especially if it differed based on your skills and knowledge (lore, common knowledge, etc) So, You enter the Bazaar district in a trading port and you could get As any class with low lore: "I've entered the Bazaar, where goods from around the world are traded, but known especially for the fine dyes made there. If you know where to look, all kinds of goods could be found" or As a Rogue with low lore: "I've entered the Bazaar, where goods from around the world are traded, but known especially for the fine dyes made there. If we know where to look, there might be a fence for our goods somewhere around here" or As a Paladin with low lore: "I've entered the Bazaar, where goods from around the world are traded, but known especially for the fine dyes made there. No doubt the place is rife with crime" or As any character with pretty decent lore: "Established in 1420, the Defiance Bay Bazaar is truly a wonder to behold, built over a natural clearing, the Bazaar proper is actually excavated out of the hillside, goods from around the world are traded here. or As any character with high lore: "Established in 1420, the Defiance Bay Bazaar is truly a wonder to behold, built over a natural clearing, the Bazaar proper is actually excavated out of the hillside, during it's construction workers hit on pre-existing tunnels, evidencing that the place may have seen society long before the Aedir empire established here. Goods from around the world are traded here" Each hints, subtly or not so, at a crime operation in the Bazaar, the last one points to the most likely location you could find it. None of them tell you explicitly where you can find it, only one tells you whereabouts you should look.

the first part is good the second part is telling you what you should do, which is not good.

Romances a means for character development, and from that perspective I'm not opposed to it. Romances tend to be corny and either over or underdone, so from that aspect, I am opposed to it. Romances may give interesting content or choices, so from that aspect I'm not opposed to it. (in M:E I choose to let someone die because I had to choose between her and my character's boyfriend) Romances may not be likely in the narrative setting. A party which is always under way may not have space for romance to bloom, it may simply not make sense. From that sense I'm opposed to it. Romances developing in the worst opposition shows a message of hope that life can thrive even in the darkest of times, depending on the game, that may or may not be a message you want to send, so from that aspect, I'm ambiguous about it. There is a significant group of players who have the desire to see romances included, since players who don't care for it can ignore it, I don't see why they can't get what they like. Romances might take some work to get into the game, but I also don't think the team is a afraid of work.

Ring of in-jokes. Makes you think of funny things, making you laugh while no-one else gets the joke.

As long as we have landmarks to identigy places with, I'm sure we'll get to where we're going. But, streetsigns seem a fine idea.

I won't say you're wrong, but I have trouble seeing it.

I agree, most of the time they're not funny. A funny prank has the following aspects: The victim can logically know it's a prank, if they pay attention and use their mind. the prank fools them because of who they are. The prank is harmless. this includes not having a five hour cleanup The prank is linked to some charcter flaw the victim has. For instance someone obsessing over leaving the toilet seat down may find all toilet seats in the building ducttaped up. There is purpose behind the prank, ridiculing an aspect of a person without making that person feel bad. This is why punk'ed is so fundamentally unfunny. What's fun about a really scary joke, one you could have no way to know was not real, which isn't even close to making fun of your character. However, when someone 'has it coming' I'll chuckle at their misfortune. Some ape who always dances on the stairs andacts the buffoon and then faceplants on the stairs... I'll laugh, as long as he's unharmed.

Fetch quests aren't fun because of the activity, not the result. Just getting X of Y and returning to spot A is what makes it boring. How about this Kill X of Y then throughout the game, there are only X+2 instances of Y to be found. They are rare, each poses a different challenge, they're hard to find. One is in the private menagerie of a rich lord, none to happy if you kill this rare bird. One can be found on top of a precipice in a distant land. One is a mother with a roost of 3 chicks, will you contribute to the extinction of said bird?. Another one is killed before your eyes by another adventuring party, they need the gallbladder to concoct a cure for their lord, and are unwilling to part with it. One is found surrounded by enemies. Halfway through, you get an alternative offer, capture this bird instead of killing it for the Horticulturists, who are most interested as well. A priest needs one of these birds for his divination ritual as a sacrifice. He too will offer a reward for it, and may try to take it by force or guile when you refuse. And then when despite all these offers you return with your x corpses or trophies to the original quest-giver, he's nowhere to be found. The Horticulurist and priest in question are mysteriously slain, and then one day you wake up to find these items missing from your inventory. that's much more fun then going out into the meadow and killing your 5 boars and returning with the boar tusks.

He's a reformed man, isn't that right, mac? I've seen some great discussion and arguments coming from him.

Excellent thread IndiraLightfoot! Dreams Dynamic content heavy cities with a ton of factions and exclusive content for all factions. Dynamic stronghold which plays an integral part in the story, not just a project off on the side. Weapons and Gear you can personalise (using crafting) to fit your playstyle. Diverse challenges with many different approaches to solving them (not all equal). Enemies/Monsters with (diverse) signature skills and tactics, so you know what to expect when you encounter another of the same type. Hidden doors and secret tunnels. Best gear available in large cities, not a small town near the end of the game. Save-game exporting so in the sequel I can continue with my character, not just her levels and skills. Narrative conveyed through level design and artwork as much as text. (you'd be surprised how much you can learn from seeing a head on a spike, on each spike along a perimeter, no?) Seeing even one of my suggestions make it into the game. Factions which you can influence the nature of. The ability to smack some sense into people talking down to me. Factions which remain relevant throughout most of the game. Marathon game. (more than 60 hours of gameplay per playthrough) A victory condition which includes something other than defeating a boss mob. Dreads Exposition dumps of ANY kind. Areas becoming irrelevant as the story progresses. Stronghold becoming irrelevant as the story progresses Stronghold only becoming relevant near the end of the game. Limited skill-choices and ways to differentiate your character from other characters of the same class. Playstyle pigeon-holing. Class-personality Pidgeon-holing. (no, my rogue is not a streetwise commoner, no, my wizard is not an aloof booksmart ivory tower derp, no, my druid does feel comfortable in the city) Team-members who hate each-others guts. They'll have to work well as a team. Single-solution combat puzzles. scripted events taking power away from the player. (like force-dropping you out of stealth, or positioning you unfavourably just before an encounter) Corridor hell levels. (levels with lots and lots of corridors, linear or not) Anything unavoidable which an intelligent player could see coming. Undead. Min-maxing required to be an effective combatant. Noble sacrifice plot. (fallout 3) Leave everything behind plot (KotOR II) I'm sure that's not all of them. There is this niggling thing at the back of my mind saying I've forgotten something important. So maybe there'll be a part deux.

"fashionably late"

not a big fan of dungeon crawling tbh, leave that to the 15 levels of the mega-dungeon, and let me get on with the actual role-playing part.

I really wanted to have a good discussion, but when two posters start duelling there's usually a new post before you can get yours through. And tbh, that's not very conductive to discussion. Whenever you see 4 posts in a row with broken up quotes from the post before, answering part by part, with veiled insults and mockery, you know a discussion has degenerated.

oh don't get me wrong, it looks pretty much like myth busted to me. Plate can't be pierced with arrows unless you have an arrow storm and worn down plate. clearly.

I love the internet. of course it holds the answer. Nerds worldwide must have been having this discussion on many forums before. that's 10 hits out of 57, almost no hits early on and with significantly more hits as the plate gets damaged. Maybe durability makes sense after all...

for someone who knows nothing about guns, what am I looking at?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IszW6GL82U&t=00s01m 1 minute in

You asked your expert friend about the early 16th century? I did. His specialisation is ancient greek military history, for which he's working on his PHD, but he's quite knowledgeable about the early renaissance period too. And he thinks gunfire had low lethality? Steel prod crossbows? How does he explain the drastic growth in casualties of the 16th century, which is usually attributed to close-range shooting? I can get Ancient Greece, as bows of that era had tremendously low power, but it's a little hard to buy that shot at Cersole or Bicoccia didn't kill anyone. not talking about guns, just archery units. And he's arguing that it was actually that the bow units were so powerful that they tended to be the first to be engaged to get them out of combat quickly.

am I the only one who was hoping to see many non-wombat skills? I guess it requires a level of creativity which detracts from having structure and scope. But I loved the many different ways to solve challenges you had in Quest for Glory 5 because there were such diverse skills and classes. And I thought it was cool you couldn't do everything. With a limited skill pool it'll be fairly easy to get most of them high in your party.

it's not evil if it's true, amirite?

Yes! I'm curious about that too! Ambient sounds, music, feedback sounds (like hearing a whoosh as you swing your sword, or a clank as you drop an item, or a click when you successfully open a lock)

Have the choiceless part be in a skippable prologue. (with maybe a confirmation dialogue "are you sure you wish to skip the prologue?") Much like Fallout 3, if I recall correctly, you can immediately move outside the vault and start the game, missing some of the stuff which is really just to get you acquainted with the mechanics.

I've always dreamed of Empire. I think it would be incredibly cool to work for a faction (or start your own) rise in the ranks, take it over, and then have a steady source of income through that faction. In Baldurs Gate II you could get this from the thieves guild, or have your own castle and lands, a theather which ran a show... That's the kind of thing I hope to see here as well. I also hope more factions competing with eachother, for instance, perhaps A trade guild is interested in buying a warehouse at the dock, but so is the thieves guild for their smuggling operation. The Holy Church of Hezeng wants to build their house of worship there. Not every faction can get the spot to expand on. Especially fun if you've joined a few factions and now have to choose which of the factions you support will get that spot.

And Hugh Jackman