JFSOCC

I've watched a bunch: The Year of Living Dangerously, with Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson before we knew he was a crazy crazy man, excellent film. Thoroughly recommended. John Dies at the end. Quirky, the kind of horror/humour film I love. Different from your usual Hollywood fare, and that's a good thing. Zero Dark Thirty. Meh, it was not what it was made out to be. It's okay. The Joneses. Pretty decent flick, but nothing special either. The Brass Teapot. Plot driven stuff, nothing special. decent time waster, good acting.

Why blame kickstarter for what a con-artist does? If you weigh kickstarter's successes against its failures, it's got a much much better rate of success than most venture capital businesses do.

Shadows of the old world Suns of the new world. (about old world influences coming over to the newly discovered lands) Just thought it'd be nice to have a suggestion without eternity our souls.

We're the PC gaming master race.

Got the latest update, and I'm considering asking for my money back. NOT IMPRESSED. I mean the example story given, is a steaming no, screaming pile of ****. Obvious and trite. Mr. Long doesn't inspire me with confidence either. His resume speaks against him.

that guy is such a nerd, lol. I lol'ed with the katana plonker comment

Someone else already posted attack of the phantom but I still like it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o1eTJhFP9k (his others are funny too, but also have the unfunny "I'm a psychopath with a prostitute in the basement" skits in between.)

I hope it's going to be big. really big. like, get declared legally dead because you haven't left your room for weeks big.

Gah! I hear that in Disciple's voice

ah but when you're accosted by a drunk guy, "the harder you grasp, the more will slip through your fingers!"

especially games with stealth, like Alpha Protocol, where bodies lying around should alert enemies, they just vanished.

that's probably a much better idea than mine.

Maybe a lot of work, but how-about corpse-states on a timer. 1-3 days: fresh 4-7 days bloated, ugly messes, carrion flies droning and making you miserable, oh and the smell! 2nd week, half-disembowelled by predators (provided in the wild) or gone (urban or other non-isolated environment) 3rd week, skeletal remains (isolated or wild) or gone (public) I dunno, sounds like a lot of work. still, would add a great deal to immersion.

The Chroniclers. Some call it hero worship, others cultural pride. They are historians, story tellers, keepers of lore and secrets. Oh, and they're mostly old people without the strength to do much more than work Sundays. In Big Big City 2, the rulers have seen it fit that whenever someone of importance is about to die, or has died, a statue of that person is raised. It's not strange that they call it the City of Statues. Big deal, many cities do that. But the leadership in BBC2(not the broadcasting corporation) found that just a statue seems to mostly get ignored, except for getting a nice icing layer of pigeon crap. It was then decided that each statue from now on would have a chronicler. Someone with time on their hands to keep the statue clean, and answer passers by about the man or woman depicted. Chroniclers are trained to learn as much as they can about their subject, lore, myths, things fans and historians care about. The Base of these statues is hollowed out and in it is the small office of the chroniclers. On the walls you'll find guiding texts to convey the basic information of who said statue was and what their importance was. But if you care to learn more, you can always ask the pensioner who is the chronicler of said statue, for a small fee, of course. Some statues have more than one chronicler, especially more important ones. And the little museums have become quite the tourist attraction, please exit through the gift shop. The Chroniclers themselves are a diverse bunch, they even have younger members, and they've unified under their own guild, with city council permission. Their Guild HQ has a sizeable library containing biographies on most statues, plus information about the statues themselves, should they ever need repair or replacing. During the Iconoclastic Fury about a century ago, many statues were destroyed. After this, the guild maintains a small group of martial artists which can be outsourced to any statue whose chronicler fears it might be defaced or destroyed. The Political landscape of the City of Statues shifts constantly, and sometimes statues need protecting. Unbeknownst to the City council, but a public secret in the guild, is that some chroniclers allow beggars and other vagrants to crash their statue-museums at night, as long as they keep the place tidy. Some Chroniclers take the opportunity to educate the beggars about their history. It's also believed that some statues have secrets, and that some chroniclers are more than just pensioners doing their civic duty. Such conspiracy theories are only natural of course. No doubt some of the chroniclers put that rumour into the world themselves to make their jobs seem less dull. All Public statues (and some private ones) no matter how small, no matter how crappy the part of town, have a chronicler.

they seem to like their nano-monsters over there (and why not) I watched an episode of Dr. Who, a friend of mine was trying to get me into it, in it was a monster that would work well with some tweaks. It's really too bad that I already have a blink beast, because the name would have been perfect. Gazers are powerful mantis-like creatures which fight by forcing the player to make do or die choices, by locking enemies down and by exponential strength in numbers. Blue Gazer (is the male of the pair) (not to call it a beholder) Whenever you look a Blue Gazer in the eyes, you must pass a will save check or suffer from confusion. Whether or not you pass the save or not, as long as you keep looking at the Blue Gazer's eyes, it cannot move, and it cannot take damage. Should you take your eyes of the creature for an instant, it will launch itself at you, it's terribly fast, has eviscerating piercing attacks that deal large amounts of damage, and has a stunning attack speed. The trick to beating a Blue Gazer is by having one strong willed party member look it in the eyes, while the rest of the team position themselves for attack. Unfortunately, Blue Gazers are often found in groups. Sometimes they are led by a Dominant female, known as a Yellow Gazer. A Yellow Gazer has health regeneration, and hardly takes any damage, plus has powerful eviscerating attacks. It cannot move beyond a crawling pace, except when you meet its gaze, in which case it launches itself at whomever is looking at it knocking that person over and fast attacking it with it's powerful mantis-like claws. Anyone looking a Yellow gazer in the eye must pass a will save check or be stunned, anyone succeeding the save will still be slowed. Immature Gazers, known as Critlings, are White or Green, although they are functionally the same, as gender is determined by environmental factors only. White or Green Gazers have none of the abilities adults have, but are agile and fast. They have a sickening smell as a defence (aura effect) which causes nearby enemies to lose concentration or, if the smell becomes overpowering, get dazed. If someone is dazed, looking at a Critling will cause that person to lose all actions and be "engaged" by said Critling. Any Critling which gaze you meet cannot move, but can be damaged. Critlings are always found with a mother (Yellow Gazer) nearby.

And I never once did state that you'd be able to see the intended victims inventory.

Yes! that's what I meant! Though as for blaming the nearest person, I dunno, I think that could lead to weird situations, like someone accusing his wife of stealing his wedding ring, because she was standing beside him.

Well there is not an original idea in the world, but when I posted it, I considered it an original take. Still if other games have it, can you tell me, does it work well there?

For once I wish people would read before they have their judgement ready. First off, tell me where I said you'd be rummaging through someone's inventory? You bump into someone and 10 seconds later he realises his purse is gone. If the bump is sooft it might take him longer because it's only after he notices the missing weight. And a more difficult target, say someone on alert, would be harder to pick. just let the skill take some time, maybe with an animation. this way harder targets, more time needed, and you can scale the skill level needed as a player progressess while still letting him feel he's improved since he can see his skill work well on those with rewards which after a while hardly matter, but at first were needed. Edit: Oh right, I should have known it was you who would piss vinegar and try to desperately find fault with it. AGX always negative.

The idea is simple but it adds a little gameplay to pickpocket. Instead of having your skill level in pickpocket determine is it's a success or fail, let it determine how long it is before someone notices a pickpocket. IE: You approach a victim, you press pickpocket, and you must rush out of range before it would get noticed. The time you have before it gets noticed is based on your skill level. So the higher your skill the more leisurely your attempts become. Except harder targets require more time pickpocketing. You've made pickpocket into a game, and the ease of it is determined by stats, everyone wins.

This is a redicio ad absurbum argument since no game can possibly explain everything about a setting. Creating little or no lore makes a conventional setting shallow and mundane. Ergo, having meaningful lore adds depth. Adding more lore adds more depth, although I'll admit there's bound to be a point of diminishing returns. Some people will want to see more lore than others. Hence, you please the most people by accommodating the those who want a lot of lore. If you don't like all the lore, nobody is forcing you to read it. Hence, I'm not still seeing a problem here. I believe I nuanced my point well enough in the rest of my post.

Does a game like this need achievements? I don't think so. But should you wish to add them, take a page out of Team Fortress's book. With variation in hard to get achievements, easy to get achievements, and grind achievements. And rewards based on the number of them unlocked, not specific ones.

To me the naysayers sound whiny. Waah, it doesn't fit how I see how things should fit together. therefore it must be wrong. And you fail to see the potential that planar travel brings: Infinite variety in landscape, in style, in culture and wildness. infinite worlds. And infinite potential.