Agremont

That's a relief.

I liked Jeremy's work in IWD, but generally his music is a tad too generic for my liking.

YEs I do think that cats could be very interesting as familiars. Even more interesting if they were a bit independent and unpredictable.

I think I only got the receipts from paypal. I'm sure that will be enough though. I didn't pay through my account but through a direct pay option where you just gave your information. Hopefully there won't be a problem with that. It would be great to know for sure.

I'd like a cat, not only because I'm a cat person but because it hasn't been done so much.

But they were hardly achievements were they? We're discussing the modern gaming "phenomenon" achievements. Getting little badges and whatnot.

I've honestly never understood the appeal of achievements. I hate it when there's an immersion breaking pop up telling me I used my first healing potion (or whatever pointless achievements there is). Edit: There's been a few good ideas in this thread though. So if achievements are in, I hope they're invisible.

But that's kind of what people have been asking for. Something more restrained and believable. That's been done to death a hundred times over. "Exotic" has as well. And P:E is meant to be in the style and spirit of BG and IWD, both of which are traditional in their design. So the art direction they've gone for makes sense in that way. Exactly where has exotic been done? Apart from PS:T I have a tough time recalling the last atypical medieval world in a PC RPG. Look, fantasy can mean that the ground is made of turtles and that people clobber each other with fish while riding pogo sticks. It doesn't have to be a ****ing Tolkien derivative, which I'm thoroughly sick of. Making an Infinity engine game doesn't mean anything apart from it being 2D isometric and semi turn based, RPG. Everything else is open to interpretation. Maybe this depends on what one means by exotic. I was talking from a visual standpoint mainly. And there's plenty of over the top outlandish designs in that respect. I do see what you mean though, and I agree to an extent. But I think there's great power in the traditional, provided it's done right. I also think the setting was a large part of the overall feel of IE games, an that setting was mostly Tolkienesque. PS:T was the odd one out but luckily it looks like the new Torment game is going to be using an unique setting which will help capture the feel of the old game. Just my view.

But that's kind of what people have been asking for. Something more restrained and believable. That's been done to death a hundred times over. "Exotic" has as well. And P:E is meant to be in the style and spirit of BG and IWD, both of which are traditional in their design. So the art direction they've gone for makes sense in that way.

But that's kind of what people have been asking for. Something more restrained and believable.

The land of blondes and meatballs.

Looking great! I love the colour and lighting, and the atmosphere is definitely there. The characters look pretty sweet too. I realize this is still early in development but there were a few things that could be improved, like the way the characters stop when they run for example. Also the way the bushes swayed looked a bit off. All in all though, great job guys! I'm really excited about this!

Strangely enough, a good mix of appearances would be weakened by a complete lack of any super model appearance. Yes that's true. I hope it didn't seem like I suggested that.

Complex, sort of grey (as opposed to black and white) characters are the most interesting to me. I would like a healthy mix though. Also no super model looks as standard. That's just gives things a redculous feel, in my opinion. I'd like a good mix of appearances too.

I think they're making a backer site were you can sort all that out.

I really like the last picture. Nice use of light and shadow. And I never thought of old American military looking like that.

Always interesting to hear how game developing works. Good update. A bit dissapointed about the lack of a waterfall animation though.

That is amazing! Who's the artist?

Far out man.

Of course there should be fat npcs in the game in the form of merchants, chefs etc.

No. The portraits in those games are vulgar. Hideous abominations. I can't take anyone's opinion seriously if they think the Baldur's Gate portraits were good. It's a matter of taste. I can understand your viewpoint but I think they have wonderful character. At least the ones from BG1.

Take it easy dude, I didn't say his art is bad. His painting style is very similar to how Frank Frazetta's was, who also specialized in 'rough' scenario drawings. Those paintings focus on the whole scenario and use an intended lack of detail to give the whole image a 'wild' undertone. Character portraits are focused on the character naturally, therefore details are very important to read the facial expression. However, Sweet's style omits details intentionally which therefore makes it unsuitable for character portraits. I guess calling Sweet average was maybe a bit harsh. For his intended style his art is good. Comparisons with Royo & Co are kind of unfair since he can hardly called the 'standard'. I think the original painters of BG 1 & 2 did a good job. Keldorn is still the best Inquisitor / Paladin style character portrait I've ever seen. Imoen's BG2 style portrait was also very good since she was a very lively character in BG1 and she had a slightly sad undertone in the facial expression which showed how the harsh events in BG1 scarred her personality. It's a very 'deep' portrait. I've rarely seen a character portrait that fit a characters personality so good like that. I actually don't care who makes the portraits for eternity as long as he does a good job. Further, truly good art doesn't need an expert to acknowledge it, it needs an expert to make it. Nobody will ever convince me that Picasso made good art. His art was crap, is crap and will ever be crap. I'm taking it easy. I only reacted to the average bit. I understand what you mean about Justin's work. I prefer BG1's portraits to BG2's, mainly because of the colours. The colours in BG2 are too I don't know, pale. Not the best description but hopefully you get what I mean. I also like the "character" of the ones in BG1 more. Keldorn and Imoen was probably the best of BG2's portraits I would say. But the general style is, for lack of a better word, eww to me. Btw, it is the same artist that has done both games portraits. Mike Sass.

I take it you don't know much about illustration and art then. There's nothing average about Justin Sweet's art. You may not care for his style though, and that is fine. But that's subjective, not objective.

Skilled, but no thanks. Way to gaudy for my taste.

As much as I like Justin Sweet's work, I would rather see something new. To me his work ( and Jason Manley's) is too connected to the IWD series.