JFSOCC

There's a fantastic collection in the Military history museum in Delft.

Who says they're supposed to be anything more than what they are? Feudalism is fractal in nature, large cities exist at the center of large areas, and the scale decreases as you progressively look at smaller and smaller areas. The problem is the assumption that these towns are supposed to be something more than they are, not the fact that you can explore them completely, which is by most people's standards a good thing, I believe (though most people evidently aren't into a game like PE). It's a fantasy game, and if you can't accommodate a decrease in scale in your suspension of disbelief then I'm surprised you can accommodate many other more glaring discrepancies, such as... oh right, the fact that you can't actually explore 90% of some cities because of artificial restrictions, for example. Feudalism is fractal in nature. I'm going to remember that one, that's a very expensive bull**** sentence. You have nothing against smaller settlements, to each his own. However, I paid into this game hoping to push "Big Big City 2" because I am a lover of the big cities. I get bored in the wilderness. Athkatla was one such because it had a large density of content. Big and empty is false scaling. I don't care much HOW it is done, although I suspect that having a city span several maps is the easiest way to provide content dense areas AND the feeling of a large city. (and has infinite potential for modders to "fill in" parts of the map which are as of yet unused) But, I suppose if the developers could create an actual city on a map, realistically and it'd would be entirely seamless, that would be just amazing. However I think that would require a tremendous amount of extra work to fill in completely. I thought The Strip in New Vegas was particularly empty, I hope there will be much more to do in BBC1 and BBC2. (and no, not the broadcasting corporation) That said, big seamless cities have been done, and successfully. Assassins Creed games, pretty much all the Grand Theft Auto games, I thought Guild Wars 2 had a pretty good approximation of a metropolis. Of course these are not isometric games. I don't know what the options would be for P:E. It felt like a huge sprawling city because it was dense in optional content.

we're their grooming stations

that's a nice twist there at the end

Was the final stretch goal ever in question? I mean, it sounds to me like they wanted to do all those things anyway, but were maybe trying to get a little more funding first.

Yes, we didn't crown our king today, we inaugurated him. And there was much rejoicing because it also fell on "queensday" henceforth too be known as "kingsday" Queensday is a national holiday on which there is freetrade (us being a traders nation historically speaking) meaning that the shopping malls are full with children in what is essentially "Giant yardsale day" fun for the family. Btw, as head of state but not government, his position is ceremonial more than anything else. the royal family is a useful tool for international diplomacy, and have some cultural merit, but hardly much more. much fun was had, sunny day too.

I despise random encounters with a passion. They will **** up my pacing. I'm moving towards the end of a quest, then all decked out, towards it, I get interrupted 2 times. That's not fun.

[spoiler][/spoiler]works as well

I find it interesting that I always feel guilty dropping someone from my party, whether I like them or not. That's because they were dumped on me in the first place. If I could make a decision prior to joining my party I might never experience characters that annoy me

This is Frickin' awesome. (any terraria love?)

exclusive agreements need to go. I don't have a playstation, I'm not going to pay 500 bucks for one. I have a fantastic computer. I want to play that game, I also want to play Journey.

Sometimes I think I feel old, then I realise I have no idea what feeling old feels like.

In Knights of the Old republic, playing a dark side character actually made them ugly. That makes me not want to play dark side for this effect, and I think that is stupid. I expect a little bit of ego stroking in an RPG, which means that if I want to play as "tall, dark and handsome" I should be able to do so without compromising my stats. Idem Ditto for if I want to play with any other look.

I believe you are talking about difference between character driven and plot driven. Yes, Character driven is better.

Rest anywhere, but camping spots have benefits which make resting actually useful. And I'll reiterate: Gamify recovery. If you have to set up camp, set a watch schedule (or not), choose defences. choose the size of the fire (might attract foes) then during the night you'd have sick members vomit up their sick, put on salves to aid wound recovery etc. Camp is also a good time for Companion character development. So if you set two people on the same watch you might get some interesting banter. And it makes resting not boring but part of the experience. Gather wood, light fire. clear perimeter. (maybe some resting areas need clearing first?) put tent up (or sleep on the bedroll) Place alarm trap (what distance from the camp? all along the perimeter, or just the most likely approach?) , place caltrops(idem). And all these things have different costs benefits to the resting effects. If you only have one healthy person and the rest needs to recover, that is going to be one long watch for him. What food do you prepare and how. (supplies or local) It's also an idea to have campfire tales. A good way to get lore and a sense of teambuilding. Different companions have different tales to share. High speech options and you might tell a few cool ones yourself. Some resting areas might have interesting night-time experiences. Wisps, soft music in the distance. Characters randomly wandering off and getting lost. Strangers walking into camp rambling. Just do something with it. don't make it press button here, minus x damage, cripple cured. that's boring, that also encourages grinding because it's fast and easily repeatable.

Fallout new vegas: I'm sneaking with 100 stealth through a deserted area, from a mile away 4 people from caesars legion arrive. I can't avoid them. They tell me I'm marked for death, and battle ensues. If you don't absolutely have to script an event, don't script the event.

Disney isn't going to let go of anything unless it makes them a buck. I don't see them letting a small studio like Obsidian getting the call. Would be cool if I will be wrong though.

I couldn't wait to get back home today so I could play F:NV. Finished Old World Blues, it was kick-ass. Now I am playing vanilla and I'm contemplating upping the difficulty level a bit. Where OWB was challenging as hell, I now seem flush in food and ammo and the like. Also enemies die too easily. Hmm.

Next playthrough you will graduate to doing the same with Deathclaws Wait, are we talking Lonesome Road? I stil rate Dead Money as best, but the more times I play Lonesome Road the more I like it. No I did not mean lonesome road. It was a vanilla game, and since I moved at a crawling pace, the road was long... I have however since bought and installed Old World Blues. Which I got to say, is pretty F-ing awesome. I went into it at level 8, though the game recommends 15. It made it so much more challenging, it's the most fun I've had. It feels good needing all my skills for once rather then breezing through as I'm won't to do if I can. I've been learning to love food, despite the rads. The difficult decision between movement-speed or having enough supplies to survive when the medkits are gone again. Because I don't manage to save them much, despite my best efforts. The limited amount of rest spots make you plan your attacks as if your life depended on it, because it does depend on it. Oh and let's not talk about ammo and my poor decision to invest in guns rather than energy weapons. I've gained 10 levels today, skin of my teeth for every quest. (though I did find an exploit where resetting a test through failure allowed me to get infite xp. though after 3 times it became tedious enough for me to move on) But man, when I get out of here I'll have a safe home base, and some kick-ass perks to help me out back in vanilla. Not to mention some kickass armour. What can I say, hard labour brings sweet rewards. Worth it.

Have you ever heard of or participated in the Eco-Challenge? that is still the single most coolest thing I ever seen on tv and I'm pissed there are no DVD's of it. ---- Yesterday I spent all day gaining my first 6 levels in Fallout: New Vegas, and walking a few miles on "the longest road" while overencumbered, crippled and hunted by Legion assassins which were more powerful than I by far. It was fun and challenging. Lession learned: Stealth boy is best kept for escape.

I hope crafting will be simple enough that I don't have to change exotic ingredients or blue-prints if I don't want to. I prefer the option to modify weapons with specific mods, the higher quality the weapon, the more can be modified.

As long as they feel like they are massive metropolises.

Barbarian Rogue tries to pick a lock, fails, gets angry, tries to bash in the door, fails, gets angrier

Gamify resting? Maybe it's cool to have "setting up camp" as a gameplay element. You would position your camp, place cantrips, alarm snares, if you want some traps. You set up a watch schedule (optional). If you feel unsafe still you may place barricades and the like. This way, it takes time to set up camp, since the human race is filled with comfort loving lazybones, no-one is going to put up camp to heal a minor injury, because while setting up camp might be fun, doing it every 2 minutes for a few minutes will get tedious fast.