[Gore]

To be honest, gore is something I only notice if it falls around the extreme ends of the spectrum: missing completely, or stupidly excessive. If it should be there - it should be there, period. But don't put gore just to put more gore, please. When it's very overdone it triggers in my brain as 'revolting stupidity' to which I respond with 'ok, bored now'.

 

I feel the same way. It would be odd for a modern game if combat was a sterile affair in which people slapped each other with what must be foam weapons until one side falls on the floor, but I get nothing out of seeing geysers of blood and chunks of flesh bouncing around with every hit - if used anything more than sparingly, such things would look absurd and distracting.

 

And as for the Dragon Age blood-splattered cut scenes - I'd like my party to at least carry around some towels, please, and to use them before talking to people.

[Better Dungeon Design]

Merchants in dungeons, deadly monsters every five feet on the road the peasants take to market (without some reason for it) and people somehow getting through all the monsters and traps ahead of you without having affected any of them is all a bit silly, yes.

[Implicit quests and content]

I'm also a big fan of this. It makes exploration feel more worthwhile, and makes the world feel deeper and more real to me. Completing a quest that someone in the inn gave me is all well and good, but piecing together something from scraps of lore in the world is a much more rewarding experience. It makes the game feel like it's set in a real world with a history that extends beyond my quest, rather than it being some sort of WoW-like "go to next location to pick up today's batch of quests" experience.

[Did you miss out on the Kickstarter? PayPal options are still up... but not for long!]

And another. For some reason I only just learned about PE, and so had unfortunately missed out on funding it on Kickstarter. Being a fan of the Infinity Engine games I was disappointed by that, and was then surprised to find that you're still accepting donations here a month later. Thanks!