WotanAnubis

Can't it be a mix of both? And why not throw cultural heritage into the mix? But if I had to pick one out of Class/Culture/Faction, I'd choose Faction. Class and Culture are static facts about where your character came from before the game, whereas Faction is about decisions players make during the game and inform who your character currently is.

I consider stretch goals to fall somewhere between promises and extras. Obsidian promised a party-based, isometric RPG and on that score they so very have to deliver because that's why I gave them my money in the first place. I did not give them money just for the promised stretch goals - they are nice to have, but not my primary concern. So when it comes to stuff lke the Stronghold and the second city and whatnot... I won't like it if they end up cut, but if the reasons for it are good I'll accept it. I do expect them to deliver on their stretch goals, but I can be grudingly forgiving if not all of them are met.

The one thing Dragon Age really did right was cast Kate Mulgrew as Flemeth. She's just delightful.

Well, now I want to know a bit about the rejected monster ideas. Things that didn't make it for one reason or another can also shed an interesting light on the development process.

This is something I can't really put into words, so I shall put it into music instead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsX5GoK-j_A Mystical. Dreamlike. Beautiful. Melancholic. I'm not looking for harsh reality. I want something with softer edges. Which is not say I want it bland and inoffensive. Just something that isn't... I dunno... crude. Should've just stuck with the music.

The most important part of a Stronghold, besides having a place to store your stuff and party members, is interior decoration. I'm basically imagining a cross between Alpha Protocol and Skies of Arcadia here. Alpha Protocol, in that, over time, you will all kinds of mementos as a result of finishing quests which will then be on display at your keep. Let's say, for example, some art collector's manor got burgled, you hunt down the thieves, return the loot and the art collector gives you a painting out of gratitude. That painting should then grace one of the walls of your keep. Skies of Arcadia in that, while I wouldn't want to micromanage every single piece of furniture, it would be nice to give the place a bit of personality. In Skies you eventually recruited two builders who could give your base a certain look (one builder made everything look Western European and the other made everything look Asian because they came from the game's not!Europe and not!Japan respectively). Since Project Eternity will have a different cultures with different aesthetic senses, it would be nice to hire or recruit architects and decorators from different cultural backgrounds to liven up your keep a bit. The ability to mix-and-match is a must, of course.

NPC reactions could be interesting, but in my limited experience people tend to just attack on sight when you're in beast form. Maybe in areas with lots of Druids NPCs won't raise an eyebrow when a spiritshifted druid wanders into town, but in more urban areas the guards may react somewhat nervously or aggressively to the clawed animal walking about.

Visually, maybe. Mechanically, I don't think so. After all, werewolves are known for becoming very strong and wild when they change and very rarely keep the ability to cast spells.

(Spider-Man) But more seriously, it could mean the druid develops more arms and/or legs and gains the ability to use webs and venom. I should've seen this reply coming. Why didn't I see it coming? Actually, I was thinking more driders at the time, but they don't work because they're basically centaurs but with spiders instead of horses.

Exactly! BOOOORING! About as generic as possible to me. This is what I think of Dyrrvood when I look at the concept: Funny. The Dyrwood guys remind me of the Orlanthi from King of Dragon Pass. Who are quite far from being boring. Anyways, the Vailian women (and men, too) are looking pretty swank. So I'm leaning towards playing one of them. After all, who doesn't like big hats with big plumes?

We must go to different sites, then. The way I hear, everybody hates the Hollywood sewers and the fact that the endgame is all combat all the time with no opportunity for dialogue and very little for sneaking. Anyway, yeah, my first run through the game was as a Malkavian, which was fun. Until it turned out they don't have defensive Discplines and the offensive ones they get barely work on bosses. I don't mind admitting I only managed to beat one of the final bosses because they glitched out and got stuck. In my opinion, if a game gives you multiple ways to approach its content (in the case of Bloodlines fighting, talking and sneaking), you should be able to complete the game in all those ways. Or a clever combination of them, anyway. My Malkavian could turn totally invisible for a long time, which should be useful when it comes to launches sneak attacks for a lot of damage or something, but the bosses saw through my magical invisibilty anyway. But anyway... Druids don't shapeshift into a complete animal form? Well, fair enough. Prevents overlap between them and the Ranger's pet, I suppose. Also opens the way for some interesting character design, even though they may not be easy to see what with Eternity's zoomed-out camera. I mean, just what would a spiritshifted spider Druid, for example, look like?

That sounds like a bad idea. A class that becomes totally or even mostly useless comes the endgame is not good a class. It's a newbie trap made all the worse because you couldn't even see it coming. It's one of the reasons VtM: Bloodlines' endgame gets so much flack. Invested a lot into dialogue skills because they were so useful early on? Too bad! Should've rolled a gunslinger. Rolled a druid because shapeshifting sounded fun? Sucks to be you! Should've rolled a fighter if you actually wanted to finish the game.

Bear, wolf, venomous spider. The classics. Anyway, we do know that the Druid's animal forms will have supernatural powers commonly associated with those animals. If that is the case, I wouldn't be surprised if the wolf form (if there's going to be one) will come with some kind of lunar magic. And bears, of course, would go berserk.

I guest i'll just have to settle for shapeshift until a new update comes out I know, right? Is it just me or do druids always get the short end of the stick? Sometimes they're quasi-fighters who aren't actually good at fighting and sometimes they're sort of like mages who don't really have many (or any) useful spells. On top of that, shapeshifting spells tend to rely on Strength for dealing damage and since Mages don't really rely on Strength, shapeshifting is often quite useless.

I don't know. Considering their inspirations I would not be surprised if one made it in as a bonus boss or something. But I kind of agree with the OP. I suffer a bit from dragon fatigue (though it's not nearly as serious as my zombie fatigue - seriously, let them rest in peace already). Surely we can think of some other big intelligent fantasy creature to take the dragon's place for a bit? Phoenixes have already been mentioned. Maybe Sphinxes. Griffons. Or just make something new up.

I voted for Plot, but Character Development is a very close second. A good Atmosphere and interesting world is a not too distant third. Choice & Consequence is certainly nice to have, but it's not essential.

Thirty minutes of failing to get past some wolves. I know Troika games may not have been the most balanced, but this is starting to get a bit silly.

I suppose I wouldn't mind of mixture of DA2's "every party member has their own place where they hang out" and DA: O's "campfire". Basically, when not in your party the NPCs would just go hang out wherever it is they hang out. But we successfully funded a Stronghold. So I would like it if we could invite NPCs to, well, move in said Stronghold once we get it. Assuming it's a castle or something - something large enough that it could logically house a bunch of people. That way you could keep the NPCs you like near you and the NPCs you don't like much would be out there somewhere (implied to be) doing their own thing. New Vegas already kind of had this, but the Lucky 38's Presidential Suite really was way too tiny to keep your party in,.

Let's give this a go... Alias: The Lady of Silence/The Silent Lady Portfolio: Silence, Solitude and the Night Enemies: None, really. The Lady doesn't really involve herself with anyone. Speculation exists that she dislikes the louder, more exuberant kind of god, but since she always avoids everyone, there is little evidence. Symbol: A white circle inside a black square. The Lady of Silence has always been a minor goddess, associated mostly with lone hermits or hunters stalking their prey in the deep wilderness. It was only with the advent of cities that her influence grew. Wherever it is loud, hectic and crowded she can be called upon to help people find some measure of calm and inner peace. Though she has no churches or temples, improvised shrines to her adorn many a household - especially after a baby has just been born. It is said that hermits, cloistered monks and withdrawn scholars have her favour above all others, but she's also considered a patron of hunters, assassins, thieves and spies - anyone who wants to be silent and hidden can count on her help. Almost anyone, anyway. Rumours persist that there had once been a cult of assassins who worshipped her above all others and dedicated their kills to her. The cult was short-lived because every time an assassin went after a target, a branch would snap loudly or a vase would be knocked over or the assassin would invariably tread on a cat's tail. No evidence of this cult has ever been found and it is often suggested the Lady started the rumour herself to make sure nobody would ever really dedicate themselves to her. Finally, her association with the night is somewhat weak. She does not bring forth the night, nor does she rule over it. But at night her silence fills the world and she is considered to be at her most powerful at night. Sightings of her are extraordinarily rare, but when they do happen they happen at night. The Lady looks like a woman in a heavy black cloak that obscures her entire body. Only her face has ever been glimpsed, always briefly and only partly. As a result, nobody can agree on what she looks like. Some say her skin is white as ivory and her eyes are like emeralds. Others insist her skin is black as night and her eyes are like rubies. The only thing everyone can agree on is that she's beautiful.

I'll probably go Druid because I like nature-based character. Just such a pity most games don't really focus on such characters.

So... Druids are going to be shapeshifters after all. And they'll also get "natural -- and some supernatural -- abilities associated with [the creatures they shapeshift into]." I wonder how those supernatural abilities are going to work and if those associations are from Earth. I suppose shapeshifting into a bear would give you some hefty berserking powers, but other than that I don't know. Wolves can do something related to the moon, perhaps? Foxes are often portrayed as tricksters of some kind, so maybe shapeshifting into a fox will give you some kind of illusion magic or something?

Corrupt/Redeem my companions? No, maybe not. But I wouldn't mind being able to sway them towards my side. Eternity is gonna use a faction reputation system, right? Well, I'd like to be able to convince my companions to join whichever faction I happen to support. For example... you know how in New Vegas Arcade is really opposed to joining up with the Legion? Well, it'd neat if, with the appropriate Speech checks, dialogues, mayb sidequests, whatever, I'd be able to convince Arcade that siding with the Legion just might be an acceptable course of action, making it so that he'll stick with me even when I go for a Legion victory. Something like that.

Kind of tricky. In general terms, I am favour of the ability to lie, but I don't want it to be a chain, either. Like, if I tell a questgiver "I will totally go do X" without an explicit 'lying system' in place, then I can still decide to go do X or not go do X. Whether it was a lie or not is entirely in my hands. But if instead I say "[Lie] I will totally go do X", I worry that the game will hold me to that. That the game itself will not allow me to change my mind and go do X after all. I would not like that at all. But other than such hypotheticals I'm OK with lying.

Huh. Learn something new every day. Still sounds like a bit of a pun, though. For this particular goddess anyway.

Ah, so it's not just me then. "Woedica" sound kind of like deliberately and unsubtly jamming together "woe" (because, you know, lost throne/power and all that) and Boudica, queen of the Celts who was eventually defeated by the Romans, I believe. As such, it doesn't really sound like a name to me. More of a description.