forfs

Aw hell naw! They can have him after he finished his work here, and since it's the ETERNITY project I don't expect him to be done soon.

Well if you're a human you could dual to cleric, that would be epic change of plans I usually get Viconia even if I'm playing good party. Because in BG2 you can change her alignment I tell myself that I was working on it for the entire time, but that's just cheating myself, she's just too "good" to not have her in party... I feel playing Baldur's Gate without Viconia is like playing Torment without Dak'kon...

Game systems can have any number of explanations, or none at all. Perhaps because one can't see the heart. Perhaps because it is more firmly embedded in the chest than a hand is attached to an arm. Perhaps for some nebulous reason involving the person's body more strongly resisting attacks against more vital organs. Perhaps because 'game balance'. Also I'm really not sure what your second sentence has to do with this particular conversation arc given that the example had rather specific limitations. Waht doesn't it have to do? Implications of magic have to be seriously considered in order for a world to be truly believable. And while you can invent any explanation, not all are good nor make much sense (and again require you to be consistent). Take for example the "you can't see the heart". Fine. But I can see the head. So why not rip the head off insted of the arm? So as you can see, you have to pay attention to explanations and the workings of magic. If you apply logic to magic you can make every single spell inconsistent. Give me a spell description you think is consistent and I will make it ridiculous with logic. I can make any spell insta-kill. Your suspension of disbelief should start the minute you accept that there exist magic. At this point such questions as "why not stop his heart when I can stop his hand" are invalid. A correct answer to any of such question is (to quote "Your Highness" movie) : magic, m***f***

It could be very interesting mechanics. Say computer determines thug's behaviour based on: 1) His aggression level (taunted, provoked or generally aggressive enemies will tend to ignore obvious danger) 2) Your team's apparent power (i.e. equipment and "fame") 3) His own power Consider these situations: 1) You're wearing full plate, but your reputation as a fighter is low in this parts of world. Thugs outnumber you, and their boss, although wearing only leather, considers himself to be master in blunt weapons (i.e. good vs plate) . Should they run anyway? I don't think so, at least not initially, while their boss is still standing. 2) You have great equipment and are quite famous, but you still need to confront thugs without them running on first sight of your party. You could remove your armor, so you are less intimidating or maybe make part of your party invisible, so that they will gain some confidence, talk to you, maybe revealing some secrets before they attack you thinking you stand no chance. 3) You are tasked with escorting someone trough a dangerous neighbourhood, but you are low level. Your mage could make illusions of more people in the group or visually enhance your equipment. You better be damn sure it doesn't get dispelled in the middle of street! Problems I could see with such system: If it relies heavily on items you wear, it would be difficult to asses the power level of a mage or a warrior that doesn't use heavy armor (like kensai kit from BG2). If it relies more on level, what you wear wouldn't matter, and we would be back to square 1.

Why do people hate finishing moves so much? If done properly they can really improve the game. Let's say they are only executed when all of the below conditions are satisfied: 1) Proper position (to avoid weird teleporting to face an enemy) 2) It is the last enemy standing 3) game rolls 20 on d20 4) you didn't see it in the last 30 min And you don't lock camera in any way during the move and you don't slow the time down. What could be possibly bothering you about such finishing move?

I am not tired if it's done correctly. In Guild Wars 2 as a mage you have ONLY spells from 4 elements, yet it can still be quite interesting (waving a whip of lightning, morphing into a tornado, breathing fire, burning ground you walk on, conjuring up a rotating shield of rocks, which you can also hurl at enemies etc. ) It all boils down to design. I'm almost sure that guys at Obsidian are not limited just to the arcane elements, so it perhaps may be possible to build a wizard that doesn't use them. I wouldn't strike arcane elements off just because they were uninspiring in other titles. Having said that, I'm all for new ideas, provided that they are cool. Maybe will post later some of my own...

I wonder... on many of your lists there is Fallout but not Fallout 2, why? I always thought F2 was as undeniably superior to F1 as BG2 is to BG1... I must admit that I have never finished the original Fallout, it didn't engage me as much as F2, and the initial time limit bothered me greatly

Well I don't think it's that uncommon. I can't really point to a good example of a "true" npc (i.e. not your companion) that changes it's alignment in a realistic ways (there are lots of instances where it is done, but unrealistically "Oh my god what have I done, you are right I'll be good now"). However I can point to few examples where I think it was done at least not terribly: Viconia in BG series can be persuaded to be good, as well as Sarevok. Also, few of the companions in KOTOR2 can change their alignment to match yours. That's from the top of my head. You rise a very interesting point however. I guess it all boils down to the quality of writing. It's much easier to create obviously over the top evil wizard character, and much harder to show his good sides too and provide you with a dilemma. That's what I liked about the "evil" Theyrn in DA:O for example. I think there should be sort of Witcher-like morality choices, where sometimes no matter what you choose it's never 100% good, sometimes neither of the options is even 50% good.

It's probably neither easy to implement nor small, but I'd love to see combo fields much like in Guild Wars 2 MMO. Short description: If say wizard casts wall of fire, and then archer shoots an arrow trough it, the arrow catches fire. Same with acid, etc.

Now that I think of it, I would love to have some means of taking notes in game. I always circumvent this limitation by taking physical notes (greater chance of loosing it) or writing it in Biography window (which is awkward). Would be great if there was some means to write in PE. And it's role-play friendly as well !

I hope for something similar to exploring different planes in torment but I don't really care if those are planes, dreams or what not, I just hope for really diverse environments, with interesting history, because at the end of the day that's what planes were. I'd love to see some hellish and celestial environments...

If you think about it, fixed isometric view is completely novel compared to free 3D view. We had 3D in our lives for millions of years whereas isometric projection cannot be older than the oldest human drawings So it's kind of state of the art perspective, I guess that's what kids do nowadays, playing them games isometrically...

Not really all weapons, but also activable items: Can of whoopass Upon activating, item vanishes, summoning a group of donkeys that plummet from the sky on unsuspecting victim. A necklace of inappropriate thoughts Cursed item, that decreases ability to talk to opposite gender, while increasing chance of scoring critical hits (more focus on vulnerable areas) A sword of a thousand cuts A relatively good damage sword that shatters and damages everything (player included) in <insert radius> exactly after 1000 cuts are made (big shatter damage). Glass pistol A high damage pistol that has an increasing chance to explode in hands of the shooter. Exploding effect is negated in hands of a mage, but he can't wear any armor. Gold grinder You can produce gold powder (it costs gold coins though) that when thrown in the air reveals invisible people (friendly fire possible). Rick & Roll A powerful elven(?) weapons (sword & hammer) that when swung on the battlefield (only dual wielded) produce inspiring sound for the party and irritating sound for the enemies <insert appropriate bonuses to morale and hit chance>

people hate on fallout 3 lock-picking mini game, but I really like it, the problem in F3, F:NV and Skyrim is that the screen is always the same no matter what lock you try to pick. So the chest in ancient ruins has the same looking lock as a door in a village and a night stand? besides, FNV mini game is first person, while P.E. is isometric, which creates sort of dissonance. FNV style would be the best i think. at most you can add the need for specific lockpick types for specific lock types but no more than that. let's say 3 diferent types of locks and 3 diferent types of picks if you have the right pick and the skill you can try to open the lock fallout style and that's it. yeah, but wasn't that somehow already covered by levels? (you couldn't pick hard lock below 75 skill etc). I'm all for some mini game, but there would have to be some system that lets you skip it on your 100000th lock or else it becomes a chore