RaccoonTOF

The issue being discussed here (at least as brought up in the OP) is not so much centered around the heroines (or heroes) as it is about the rest of the inhabitants of the world in general, and the cultures they are part of. And the same can not always be said for them, even in Obsidian games...

Really want to see what the concept for the Godlike are visually, though I think this might be a bit tricky to pull off just showing us a single Godlike companion if they are as varied as the planetouched from D&D. Also definitely want to see a chanter, paladin, and cipher as companion choices - though no particular preference towards any of them being Godlike

Eh, I criticized the same stereotypical approach to men too...

I'd love to see a tarrasque-like creature, in as much as it has extensive lore behind it, is unique, otherworldly powerful, "impossible" to kill, etc - but i would not like to see a direct copy of the tarrasque itself for sure

That clip from Rob roy is actually a perfect example of what I mean by most people having the wrong idea of what a rapier is - that is a pretty much stereotypical example of a smallsword (though slightly wider than most), and not of a rapier

Personally I'm glad that P:E isn't going to have any standard "system" of alignment - most people judging my actions from the exterior would probably consider me RL to be Chaotic Neutral, while in actuality I think I would be both 'Lawful' and 'Good' - the difference being that while I have absolutely no morals, I have a very strict code of ethics which I stick strongly to, and that I have a very idealized sense of what is "Good" that doesn't mesh very well with common perceptions of the concept

Also remember that what makes one a monk is not so much their "martial arts" as it is their asceticism - by their very nature, monks would not be given towards possession of gaudy/expensive weapons or armor, and thus whatever methods/techniques employed by "fighting monks" would have been developed along those lines...

I've actually pointed out, or tried at least, that I would like to see realism in ALL forms. And here by realism I don't necessarily mean historical accuracy, but in-world and physical plausibility. If said mostly naked monk is treated as having the same "armor" value as someone in full plate, then yes, I'll be just as quick to call foul on that as well . If his defensive abilities are of a more mobility-related and/or mystical/soul-use based nature, I won't find that any less plausible than the use of magical barriers by wizards or divine protection by priests. Hell - if that "boob plate" defense value was gotten through being enchanted, I'd have no issue with that either beyond a personal aesthetic one...but claiming that purely through the shaping of the steel the defensive value is the same as a "properly" designed breastplate? No...that I'm not gonna buy...

Totally agreed on the multiple techniques and that not every weapon fought "like a sword". This is actually part of why one of my favorite RL weapon styles is a quarterstaff That said, when using a staff, my 'reaction speed' to a change is definitely slower than it is when using a rapier, and a large part of that is the inherently "slower" use of the staff. In motion, they both may be moving at the same linear speed (in fact, while I've not measured it 'scientifically' in any way, I strongly suspect and 'feel' that the staff is actually moving faster in use) but the 'reaction speed' of the staff is MUCH slower than the rapier. As for your comment re: the rapier and firearms, do bear in mind the difference between an actual rapier (usual blade length of 3-4 feet) and a smallsword (what is often seen as a rapier in most films, generally with a blade length on the order of 2 1/2-3 feet and often much more slender). The "side sword" would actually be the more proper direct lineage for the time period the game seems to be heading towards being set in (though it was also still being used after the development of the rapier as well), which is of similar length as the rapier (longer than the arming swords) but with a blade width and weight about halfway between an arming sword (one-handed sword) and a rapier, for better cutting potential. The biggest differentiation between a rapier and a side sword though is actually usually the hilt design, because a rapier is gripped in a different manner than 'traditional' swords, usually keeping a finger or fingers along the blade itself, and thus the hilt evolved to protect the hand when held in that position. Just a case of something where the "ornamental" aspect of the design was indeed actually a direct result of the functional aspect

Uh...most of those nobles accompanied their armies to war, and actively fought. In some cases, the entirety of the army would be made up of nobles ranging from petty lords to dukes and kings, though for the most part it was "bands" which were made up of tiers of freemen (your "average person") raised from the lands of minor nobility, led by said nobility, and merged into larger groups under successively higher "ranks" of nobility. That is what the entire feudal system was based on... Edit: never mind, I think I misread your post there. Yes, most of the "fancy" weapons shown above were ceremonial or dress weapons/armor - not meant for actual combat use. That's not to say that the people that had them made did not also have superior quality FUNCTIONAL combat weapons/armor which were actively used by themselves in combat however

Yes and no. "Giant" weapons, greatswords, polearms and the like were not SLOW for sure, especially not as described in the post you were responding to. They were definitely slowER than their smaller counterparts however. This is in fact one of the main reasons why rapiers (true rapiers - not the smallswords that many people think of when they think of rapiers) came about as a natural progression from arming swords (your typical one-handed "knight's" sword). And even those arming swords were used partially for speed and nimbleness at handling, especially since their lighter, quicker, one-handed nature freed up the other hand for a shield as you mentioned. So I'm all for seeing relative speed differences between weapon types, but nothing along the lines of "this sword attacks twice every round, that greataxe attacks once every 3 rounds" sorts of differences. Your points on armor are definitely valid as well - the main issue with wearing heavy armor was not an issue of speed, it was an issue of endurance. Most skilled fighters (and in this I can draw directly from modern RL experience and observation) in even full plate can move almost if not as fast and nimbly as they do in nothing but cloth - they just can't keep it up for hours on end without a break. Given what we know of the combat system so far, I would much rather see heavier armors lead to an increase in rate of stamina drain/fatigue, rather than a loss of dex/agility.

Just whatever happens, make sure that the dialogue and story actually matches the onscreen representation as well - none of this "she was a plain, drab blah blah" and then toss out supermodel mesh #17 on screen. Or worse, attempt to be "PC" and bring "variety" in a manner that is words only - such as Disney with Sofia... Edit: Link for those that don't understand the latter reference - http://thefw.com/disney-first-latina-princess/

I'll second that request for mead...Dusk has been tormenting my thoughts of it for the past two nights in chat...

Looks good, I just hope you don't burn out trying to keep it maintained as development goes on and post-release

I believe that is what the last choice category is for...and why it is currently leading the poll

Just thought I'd point out they they are not actually using the Infinity engine for P:E - that is going to be the inspiration for the style, but not the actual engine used for the game. Same deal with game mechanics - it will be entirely their own game system, not any existing ruleset that is just altered for their world.

Most likely a Godlike (though I wish they had chosen a different name for the same concept ) Cipherdin who is NOT "religious" but still a zealot (possibly even going so far as to be deliberately anti-whatever-deity-he-was-touched-by) going through with Trial of Iron enabled (assuming that it can be enabled from the start without any sort of "unlock" mechanism as I assume and hope for...)

The problem with that is if we get to sixteen, then we can get the square root of four. That is much more "even" than multiplying five by three. OCD doesn't have to be "even" - preference for odd, preference for primes, preference for divisible by 10, etc can all be equally OCD For P:E I like the idea of powers of 8...

This in itself is enough to qualify for beauty in the minds of many

I'm not for them looking like "men with long hair in full armor" either - if you read the second link that Uncle Bourbon posted above, you will see that there are other ways of making "feminine" armor still be realistic. Sure, it might be "more" realistic to not add the "feminine" touches, but as you say, this is still a fantasy game. However I would like to still see realism and consistency within the universe created - yes, magic is "unreal" for example, but when you have an established system for the magic, and then something comes along and breaks that system in a totally over the top way without a good explanation, that breaks the "realism" of that magic. To say that massive plates of thick metal armor protect you by the inherent qualities of the massive plates of thick metal, and then to go and have that same armor, same defense value, when worn on a female character suddenly be missing 3/4 of the body coverage...that breaks the realism. And actually those are the sorts of things which bother me more than "boob plate" honestly, but if someone is going to make a blatantly false statement or call into question legitimate arguments which are made for realism based on incorrect facts - then yes, I think there is nothing wrong with rebutting those statements either (like the post I quoted above by Gyor, trying to use "the reason in history why they didn't exist"...)

Actually...yes. I've made both chain and "half-plate" armors for SCA participants, along with a number of other materials. And there are plenty of other sources available to back it up if you choose not to take "my" word for it. One fellow who posted an article over at MadArtLab earlier in the thread I believe explained it well there also, and there have been countless discussions on how and why plate (and other forms of) armor were shaped and designed as they were in historical reenactment circles. There are a number of other misconceptions (such as maneuverability in "full plate" armor, mounting a horse, etc etc) which have been disproven time and again too, yet people still seem to persist in believing them - often due to movie depictions and/or reliance on older history books and the like which did not have a very good real understanding and only went for the "common sense" explanation - and lemme tell you, when designing weapons and armor for actual combat use, "common sense" actually ends up having VERY little to do with real life...

This is actually quite wrong - at least in regards to armor designed for function. Segmented full-plate armor has that distinct forward "wedge" shape, tapering to a narrow waist and then flaring thigh guards for very practical reasons - to shed blows away from vital areas with the least chance of trapping an enemy weapon or focusing the force of an attack. "Boob plate" instead would actually focus most of the attacks directly, or almost directly, at one of the most vulnerable areas of the body (central torso, just below the sternum) with the maximal concentration of blow strength. NOT a good design for practical defense. Now, that said - when talking about "fashionable" armor, then your second point comes into play - just as the muscle cuirass in real history, which was a piece of "dress armor" not "battle armor" in almost all cases. Wearing "dress armor" I can perfectly understand "boob plate" style armor - just as I can understand the desire (men and women both) for wearing skimpy or tight leather, cloth, or any other material. But that armor should NOT have the same "defense" value as a suit of fully articulated plate designed in an appropriate manner for defense...

The Berbers, the Sardinians, in many ways the Iroquois, much of the Celtic political and economic system(s), and others are all examples from our own history. It also depends on exactly how you define "truly matriarchal" - true, due to "human nature" as it has been expressed through our own history, most of the matriarchal societies are not in fact "female dominated, male subservient" societies in a direct reversal of traditional patriarchy...instead they tend to be much more egalitarian societies, in most cases doing away with much of the hierarchy and "dominance" reflected in patriarchal societies, with the women tending to be the focal point of political, economic, and social issues without "lording it over" the men. One of the key factors which has seemed to lead to a stronger chance of matriarchal society is less physical conflict with "outsiders" (though some matriarchal societies are still strongly aggressive within their own society) and abundance of "expansion space" reducing territorial conflicts. The strong presence of both of the latter in the "focal points" of "civilized humanity" over our history has indeed contributed greatly to the dominance of patriarchal societies, but they are most definitely cultural aspects, and not biological ones (though generally the bias-shift does come about due to the biological factors such as greater average male strength, the ability of a man to father children among many women simultaneously, etc, the core cause which makes those differences "superior" is a cultural one). In my own examples I gave above, one of the campaigns was a very egalitarian society much as would be represented by the human-historical examples which we have. The "female-dominant" example which so shocked my poor egotistical male warrior player was admittedly however based on women - through "spiritual" ties which were also caused/the cause of their ability for childbirth - being the most dominant "magic" wielders, thus making it definitely a case of a distinct power dynamic which was "flipped" from the traditional world view. There are a number of other ways of approaching the situation which I've yet to explore as well, including such things as a non-militaristic society where the only advantage of the "extra strength" of men is in hard labor functions, freeing the women for the administrative/intellectual roles, "psionic" type campaigns where the stereotypically more empathic women have an advantage, through to real biological role reversals which cause a society similar to that of a pride of lions - along with drastically lower quantities of adult males through either natural elimination in "combat" situations, and/or biological or cultural reductions in male birth rates. Edit: ACK! Thread merge while posting...now I need to go read all the merged posts...

Currently it's likely to be sort of our "guildhall" I guess, there will be forums for members of the Order, a live IRC chat http://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=ObsidianOrderofEternity, suggestions of an "In Character" section so that we can start fleshing out our "roles" in the Order even before we know more about the game, etc etc. I'm sure as the game comes closer to completion, it is likely to develop into more, perhaps hosting collections of mods (likely at least some "Order Centered" mods - there is already an "official" site for the game mods which will be available on release), etc etc. Really it's going to be what WE make of it in the long run...

This is one thing that I strongly disagree with (though I know there are those that feel this way, but I wanted to make clear my view as well). The stories and "roles" in a "role" playing game ARE part of the "gameplay". In fact, in my eyes, they are the single most important part of the gameplay, far more so than any individual mechanics choice. Sure, the conversations and depth of companions may not affect the mechanics of the game much (although in the referenced PS:T those interactions were in fact such an important part of the mechanics of the game itself as well, that most guides even emphasized the effects of int/cha over str/dex at character creation...). But they certainly affect the GAMEPLAY drastically. I actually would love to see at least 1-2 companions that are NOT likeable, but that the player still wants to bring along in the party despite them being disliked...this adds even more to the potential dynamics amongst the party members. Yes again referencing Torment, but Ignus was definitely not very "likeable" but many many people chose to "put up with this" to bring him along, and it could have some very serious effects on your game if/when you did...