Harry Easter

Steamspy says that Deadfire sold 100-200.000. At least they guess it. But Pillars also needed some time to sell. I guess Pathfinder could become a sleeper hit. Weren't they all sleeper hits at first (except for D:OS 2. That one sold like crazy, I know that :D ).

Hero-U, by the creators of Quest for Glory. Played through it and still thinking about it. I love this game and really hope for more entries in the series :D.

Hmm, I think they could still get lucky. The biggest RPG coming out over the next few weeks is the definitive Edition of Divinity: Original Sin 2 and there is still some nostalgia about D&D 3.5. Pathfinder is also quite successfull if I read it correctly. Summer is also the time, where the big releases are at hold, so why not? 100k sold units should be in there for them. Let's wait and see.

I dunno, I think they found a good compromise, with showing you right at the beginning, that you might be to weak. You have to do some quests, so you spend time with your environment and get sucked in. So the illusion of starting to live in the Archipelo is given. Not a bad solution and with Magran's Teeth we have an in-story reason, why we leave Eothas alone for a while.

Eotha steal our soul..that's really not a choice lol You still can say "screw it" to Berath and leave it at that. There seems to be enough of your soul left for a new life, so you can just run away. There just won't be a game :D.

I had the same ending and thought first this was a bug. But I made my peace with it., that it doesn't exist. The developers seemed to think this was the best situation for the story and it worked kind of out. Same with Edér. Eh.

Hmm, in the first game, the Watcher was someone driven literary by their past. Your soul/old life wouldn't shut up until you found Thaos and killed him (that's why you couldn't just talk it out. Your old live was a self-hating little bugger). In part 2, the Watcher decides to get involved by themselves. Maybe it started with "well, now since I'm here, I can hunt that Eothas, I guess", but like the gameplay we decide why we do this. Maybe to rescue the souls or just to see what happens, but it is our decision (just like it is our decision how much of the Deadfire you want to explore). In my mind we are a bit tired, but still get our ass up to do what's right.

TBH....I never could get into Morrowind. I played all *the best* and *kinda best* RPG's out there but....Morrowind? I really disliked the 'dialogue' system. Which was a shame! The music was awesome and I also enjoyed some other features but....yeah. That dialogue was a game-breaker for me. :/ (Unlike many other games, I didn't play Morrowind as a kid. If I would, my opinion could have been different.) Bethesda games work best, when you ignore the story most of the time. But yeah, the dialogues hindered Morrorwind a bit. A shame, since the world and story were quite intriguing.

I like: 1. Personality tags, that can influence dialogues (thanks Obsidian and Larian!). 2. Backgrounds, that also influence the game a bit (at least change some attributes). 3. Classes. 4. Free character creation. 5. Interesting races (elves and dwarves can stay interesting too, as long as the details are good!). 6. Almost every setting (Fantasy, Post Apocalypse, Sci-Fi, you name it. Still miss another Arcanum, though. Or another good rpg with vampires). 7. Companions. 8. Turnbased-combat (best combat there is). 9. Different solutions to quests. 9. Smaller, but denser gameworlds. 10. Lots and lots of dialogue-options! Talking your enemy to death is the best way to defeat them! 11. Armour sets that are hidden throughout the world or a reward. With backstories! Same goes for weapons. Edit: 12. Exploration like in ELEX or Gothic. It is also a good tool to tell more about the world via the environment.

You should probably revisit the main plot dialogues. It's very clear. The Wheel is the reincarnation process, with it destroyed the gods tell you that souls will no longer travel back from the Beyond. By whom? The gods? The same liars that have an interest to keep the system alive? I don't know if we can consider them as reliable sources. What I got out of the story was, that no one really knew what Eothas deeds would accomplish.

@Aramintai Is that so clear? I think organised religion was founded with the gods and when you travel through the Deadfire, that imply that there are other kinds of worships, so it isn't completely without merit. Still not sure, that it is that clear. I mean when we assist Xoti and the vailian Animancers we can send souls through Adra into the core of the world, so I think reincarnation is still possible. But with Eothas destroying the Wheel (the apparatus, not the act of reincarnation), the organised process was destroyed and since everyone depended on it, there will be chaos. As long as there is Adra, reincarnation is possible. At the moment it only has to be done manually (with the Animancers opening portals and the followers of Gaun collecting souls). Mortal bodies, yes, but not big Soul batteries like the Adrabody of Eothas. Mortal bodies are not suitable, like we saw with Waidwen. @Sotof That would make sense, too. Like nature taking care of it and then the Wheel destroyed the natural order? Wouldn't that imply, that they tried to make sure that only the strong and good souls get reincarnated? I have a feeling that the Enwithans would that kind of people^^. @Synx That is a good summary of his motives. He reads like a self-righteous jerk in the lore description, so I bow down to this very astute analysis. And I wouldn't see, that what we did wasn't nothing. Our decisions may lay the groundwork for more animancy in the world and giving the souls a place to rest in Eothas body is a nice detail. I find the ending at least interesting, because it showcased how powerful one god really can be and how much of a chance mortals would have against him (read: none). I'm more interested how we will continue this. Will we travel to the living lands and fight for ressources with other factions (the lands were mentioned at least twice. Considering that Deadfire was hinted in the White March, this could be a good clue)? Or will the last part of the trilogy take place in Aedyr, the most powerful nation of the world, that collapses under the destruction of the natural order? I would find this kind of interesting, like playing the war before the post-appocalypse. Maybe they could add a fourth game. Pillars of Eternity: New Caed Nua, does have a ring to it .

Arcanum was my favorite game for a long time. The world is a good example how to take familiar clichés and creating something deep and unique. For me, the world just works and with Troika deconstructing all the old tropes, they created one of the best (maybe THE best) story in an CRPG. Was the combat crap? Yes. Were some companions wasted potential? Yes. Did I still love the quests and the endings? Yes. A sequel would be nice and I would envisioned it like this: All good endings came true and all the superpowers of the continent go to war, because they are at the peak of their power and there can be only one. It would be like WW1 with steamdriven machines and magic and the player tries to stop a cult of necromancer from escalating the war too much (since they would profit the most of it, because dead soldiers are the best recruits for undead armies). Simple set-up, but it would work as a standalone plot and a good callback to the first game. I would polish the graphics a bit and turn the combat-system into a turnbased system. Done. Perfect. But after seventeen years, I think a spiritual sequel in a new world with new lore would work better. After so much time a real sequel could never top whatever I created in my mind^^.

Okay, my two cents on the issue: 1) I think there was reincarnation before the wheel, because souls were always drawn to adra. The only difference was that reincarnation was way more chaotic and destructive (look for example at those bloodthirsty druids in Twin Elms, who sacrifice other people to strengthen other people souls). 2) The Engwithans created the Wheel and the gods and established a perfect system for people to die and come back and keep souls strong. Problem: the gods grew corrupt and are now more about fighting each other than doing their job. The wheel is more like an automatic system nobody needs to take care of. 3) With Eothas destroying the wheel kith and gods have to create a new system, if they want to survive. There will still be rebirths, but it takes more time for the souls since they don't have the guidance of the gods anymore. That's why animancers, watchers and people like Xoti now get more important: they can guide the souls back through the adra into reincarnation and they have to build a new system. 4) The gods can't do **** about Eothas plan because their bodies were destroyed a long time ago. I also think, that they are afraid of getting absorbed by the big Adra-statue that Eothas has become. So I think it makes enough sense, but this change came one game too early in my opinion, after what we learned in Pillars 1. On the other hand: this is a big gamechanger and I'm curious how Obsidian will use this in Pillars 3.

Started a new run on Fallout: New Vegas, after my first attempt at Hardcoremodus went nowhere. It's still sooo good. I just enjoy th worldbuilding and the excellent writing. I arrived at Novac and will take my time. But right now, it's still the perfect ending for the Fallout-Series.

Hmm, I thought a bit about Fallout 3 yesterday and what SonicMage117 wrote about the Bethesdagames last year. To be honest, in hindsight I think that we could conclude the series perfectly with Fallout 2, New Vegas adding a bit more stuff to get a more nuanced epilogue (or what they planned in Van Buren). That's one of the reason why I considered Fallout 3 more of an Spin-Off, that was fun, but didn't destroy the previous games much since it concentrated on it's own region. Only two things really annoyed me, was the return of the Enclave as a strong faction and the more open nostalgia to american history (which wasn't really a thing in the first two games). But I gave it some thoughts and came up with a few ideas to explain the big presence of the Enclave and how to implement the theme of an America, that never was. Fallout 3 Your playercharacter is a patriot: Better yet, he was born in Vault 50, the most patriotic of all the vaults, whose inhabitants were fed even the most absurde propaganda the higher ups could think of ("There's a reason, the rich are rich. They brought applepie to the ignorant working class and all was well!"), so they would be loyal workers, who do the dirty work in the rebuilding process. One day the Vault opens and Soldiers of the Enclave are at the doorstep. They need recruits for their fight against mutants and anarchistic-communists and your vault was chosen! Your character is part of the first wave of recruits, but your Vetibird gets shot down and you awake in the middle of the wastes and now you have to find your way in an America, that isn't what the propagandavids promised you since you were born. I think we could even let the whole childhood-part stay, since it would still be a good method to show what the Vault (and the Enclave) believed to be the real american experience. The Enclave isn't really the Enclave: They are just a bunch of Raiders, that got their hands on Power Armour and Blasterrifles, after Supercomputer Eden recruited them for his purposes. After the destruction of the HQ, Eden got activated and spread his propaganda wherever he could. The biggest gang in Washington, the Eagles, were the first to answer and under the guidance of the Supercomputer they created their version of the new gouvernment and really believe to be the good guys. Too bad, that President Eden still wants to kill them off with the other mutants, since they aren't pure humans in it's eyes. Edens longterm plans are to open all the Vaults in the Washington Area and repleace it's "mutant" followers with Vaultdwellers and finding Vault 5, a storage facility, where thousands of fertilized eggs of humans and animals are stored. The new Enclave would naturally consist of racist pricks, since those guys never change, no matter who wears the armour. President Eden believes every word he says: ... even the stuff about apple pie. It makes sense for me, that an A.I. that is filled with Data about an false Utopia, would consider everything beneath the standards of the old world. That's why he isn't only a moustache twirling badguy, but the last surviving "real" American in Fallout, a classicist and racist, who dreams of rebuilding the world the same way it was before. That this isn't possible (because of all the radiation and stuff) could turn him crazy, so he may try to activate old satelites in the orbits and bomb the world for good away. The Brotherhood of Steel members in Washington were banished from the main-chapter: After the destruction of the Enclave, one group felt that it was up to the Brotherhood to unite the Wasteland, but they were banished, so the flew with Veti-Birds from Navorro to the capital Wasteland. Their plan is to get the technology of the Enclave and create basically the same state as them, but without killing mutants ... well, at least not the human looking ones. If the player plays it smart, he can change the course of the Brotherhood, since in contrast to the Enclave, enough member critisize the old ways and how stagnant the Brotherhood has become in the last 200 years. The Enclave created their own Supermutants: Or to be more precised, one of the Vault-experiments finally came to fruition. Vault 96 was filled with soldiers and their families, to breed the perfect soldiers for establishing order in the Wasteland. The soldiers trained their whole life, it was mandatory to spend eggs and sperms so the reserves were secure and the food was full of experimental drugs and steroids. Over the centuries the inhabitants of Vault became faster, stronger, smarter, BIGGER and BALD. So bald and BIG. After a long wait the Vault finally opened and they were ready to fight the good fight. Too bad, that they have forgotten their old goals and history and now consider fighting the greatest thing in live. They kill everyone, they don't consider to be good slaves (or breeding material) and a Supersoldier in a power armour is an unstoppable force and even one of their naked recruits is still a dangerous enemy for everyone, who isn't a trained soldier. And who is, in this time and age ...

Into the Breach. Love it, even if I lose always in the last round of the finale :D.

I know what you mean. Most gamewriting seems to be about sliming down a story, so it becomes playable. And like I said, the story of Pillars 1 was good and that's why I only tried to tweak minor details in act 2 ... well and two more flashbacks would have been nice :D.

Okay, now some thoughts on Dragon Age: Inquisition This game didn't need a very complicated mainquest, since most of it is considered to spend on buildung your little Empire. Most of my ideas would have changed the beginning a bit and Corypheus plans and his followers 1) Give the Inquisitor a real backstory: In this case we are the newest pupil of the Divine, who was raised to be a leading figure to either keep the Fereldans in check, who got more ****y after finding the Ashes of Andraste (human Origin) or convert mages back (mage Origin) or bring heathens (Dwarves, Qunari, Elves)into the church. It would have give us a clearer connection to her and also provide us some Origins, since we are not an Orlesian. In the beginning of the game she would send us on our first missions so the population could get a good look at us and we can meet the other party members. It would be a slicker entrance and we had some time to get a feel for the world. Then Corypheus blows up the meeting between Mages and Templars ... 2) Corypheus, his plans and how he blew everything up: Corypheus used the Red Lyrium Statue of Meredith as kind of a false prophet, channelling Souls into the Red Lyrium she was made off (the souls used her as their mouthpiece). And after he was sure that his enemies were in one place he blew it up through magic. This is also the reason, why the portal to the Fade appeared. After killing the Leaders of Church, Templars and rebell Mages, Corypheus steals the Ashes of Andraste and calls it a day. His plan? Being a deeply religious person Corypheus wants to make ammends and give the people the world they deserve, by summoning the ghost of Andraste (that's why he needed her Ashes), imprison her in one big Elder Dragon (maybe one of the Archdemons) and feeding it with Red Lyrium, pure magic and Souls, creating an anchor in this world. Itshall became an item of worship the desperate Orlesians can pray to, so he can collect their prayers and the resulting magic for the biggest Blood Ritual ever. A Ritual which will kill thousands of people, but reshape the face of reality, since the Fade makes everything possible. Corypheus knows that he will die too, but it is a small price to give everyone the paradies they deserve. He believes in the ritual, since it seemed to worked when the elves used it the first time ... 3) Corypheus followers: Templars, Mages, Grey Wardens who don't want to die and Dark Spawn, enhanced with Red Lyrium and possessed by Demons. He also controls them through Red Lyrium, That's it, what more do you need? And the Architect hates him for using the other Spawns, so he has a reason to reappear and give some exposition about him to the player.

Since part 2 is almost here, I wrote some ideas on Pillars of Eternity 1 I wouldn't change much, because I found the first and third act very strong. Act 1 introduced us to the Dyrwood and the mentality of it's people and the bigger themes of the story, while act 3 had with the best quests and gave the narrative a very good conclusion and a good glimpse how different Eora really can be. The second act was the weakest thought, but only three of the two bigger quests and those I would rewrite. Changes as follows: Put more flashbacks into the game: at least one for every quest we ended. It worked in the Asylum and after the process and gave our backstory and Thaos real depth. A bit more interaction between our old self and the hight priest would've been fine. Besides, I enjoyed talking with the old madman. Okay, now to the two main-quest: Dyrford: I would just combine the Skaen Subplot with the actual interactings with the temple. In this case the Leader of the Skaencultists would've been an Agent of the Leaden Key who unites upset Dyrwoodians to kill as much Natives and Animancers as possible, so the soulsucking machine gets more food faster and the gap between Glanfathans and Dyrwoodians becomes even bigger than it is now. Throw in a little talk with Skaen himself and the player would have got hints, that the gods aren't as unimpeachable as the players may have thought and the god of rebells in the service of servants of the goddess of order would also have been a big hint that the masters can also be the slaves. Heritage Hill: This one is tricky, because nothing really happens in the end, we really don't know more about the spires than before. But it could start with a murder and the belief that a Fampyr was behind it. The player investigates and finds out, that the suspect was a businessman that traded in glanfanthan artefacts and put a lot of his money into founding animancy and peace treaties with the natives. He was also the servant of a fampyr, who controlled him behind the curtain. The Fampyr was once themselve a member of the Leaden Key, but had to flee, when they couldn't overthrow Thaos. The murder was orchestrated by a high official of Defiance Bay, who wants to discredit the dead and all he stood for. This quest could bring some complexity into the story, working with an shadowy creature who IS a real threat to mortals, but also show how the Leaden Key is undermining the gouvernment of the Palinate. After the awesome animancy of Thaos and the cult-activity of Dyrford, this could be a fun murder investigation with a lot oppurtunities for roleplay.

Love this, hate Fenris too, but also liked his concept (and the idea of having guys like him being an type of enemy. He also would have worked better as an antagonist). I will write stuff down about DA: I, because it goes a bit in another direction, but I have some thoughts on DA2, too. I liked the story of the game, except for the ending and I would just rewrite two things: Let Corypheus be a real character and give him a good build up: It is implied in the story, that Red Lyrium is the concentrated essence of sacrificed slaves of the Tevinter Empire. Kirkwall was the biggest market for slaves, Corypheus was imprisoned under the city and one of the magisters, that entered the City in the Fade. So why not combine those four aspects into one? In this version Corypheus was the Lord of Kirkwall, but got mad and was imprisoned by rebells. Over the centuries he could feel the pain of the slaves and mages, that died in the dungeons of Kirkwall, feel their suffering, hear the pleas for redemption of the Lyrium addicted Templars. The Lyrium also started to grow into his skin, so the voices turned really loud. It got only worse over the reign of Archtemplar Meredith and the experiments of Orsinos secret circle of blood mages. A lot of blood flew into the streets of Kirkwalls and Anders big ritual is the last straw to finally let him free. Maybe Hawke gets caught in the explosion and Corypheus resuces him, because he sees a likeminded spirit in them and himself? We don't know, but he leaves the city, the souls of tens of thousand dead people in his head, ready to change Thedas for the better, even if it doesn't want it. I think this would fit good into the whole "sins, hate and miscommunication" - theme of the whole game and give Corypheus a certain aura of mystery around him. It would also be a good payoff, for all the hints the game spread through in-game documents. Lets us choose one ending and live with it: I never liked that we fought Meredith and Orsino no matter what we choose. I found it kind of cowardly. Either we live with our choice, or we don't. And it is still a bit hasty, that Orsino loses all his cool and turns into a big monster. or Meredith should be the final boss: If it doesn't change anything, stay with Meredith as the solidary antagonist. She had a good build-up and an interesting polarising personality and I like the idea, that she really loses it when she sees that Corypheus is HER fault. Maybe it is even Corypheus, who uses his magic, so she gets transformed by all the red Lyrium in her body she might have consumed over the year? It would be a good example of his might and there's kind of poetic irony in this transformative act.

really? from what I seen it seems so much more ... cartoonish (and I don't mean aestetics) while old ones feels more... i don't know, gothic? Huh. You sure you mean D:OS 2 and not D:OS 1? Because the graphics in 2 are way more realistic and the tone is way darker. I mean, there are Plant-design-armours, but even those look more realistic than the helmets in D:OS 1 (although I liked those too. Sometimes colour is just more fun). @SonicMage Okay, Skyrim I can get, but why Morrorwind? Because it doesn't present it's story at all, while Skyrim tries, but fails? @Katphood Oooh, me too. I have a lot thoughts, but for me it comes down to shrink down the world and give the mainquest more focus. @Gromnir True, but it is still fun to read the reasoning of the others and a fun thought experiment for your own creative content (at least I like to do this, while working on other stuff. It also makes me appreciate the stuff I already like more).

Then let me do it, since I have a few ideas :D! Mostly rewriting a few characters. Mass Effect: 1) Shut the Reapers up: The Reapers worked best, when they were this silent force of nature, who just destroyed everything in their way, so this should be a no-brainer. They are basically god /titans in this universe, so they don't communicating with us. This makes them way scarier in my book. 2) Make Reaper-cults a thing: There was this one scene, where the geth prayed to the Reapers. I thought it was a strong image and it could have be a good device to unite all the antagonists of the series. They want to be assimilated and "perfected" by their machine gods, so they sabotage the citadel to make the victory for the Reapers easier and fastening the ascension od the other races. 3) Turn Liaras mother in the main-antagonist of part 1: Saren never worked for me. He basically was just a hired though, more of a doer than a planer. Liaras mother as a patriarch made much more sense for me. She had the ressources, the experience and she was a religious leader, so it would also fit with my thoughts on section 2. There's also more of a emotional connection to her and genetic perfection is part of the doctrine of her race, so I'm suprised nobody ever used this and turned them into the antagonists right from the beginning. Saren could have been her right hand, a role way more fitting for him. 4) Let Miranda take over Ceberus: Miranda is the perfect foil to Shepard. While we play a hypercompetent hard worker, she was created to be perfect. She's smart, ruthless, knows a bit about biotics and SHOULD be a charismatic leader. She also has no problems making her hands dirty and with a perfection-complex she should have a good reason for merging with the Reapers. She could kill TIM at the end of ME2 and get in contact with the other Reapercults (see 2), so everybody would be as perfect as she (she also would be quite crazy, of course). 5) Don't let Shepard die at the beginning of part 2: Let them die at the end and then get cloned two years later by the Reaper. It would have used the two year gap of 2 better and gave us more conflict potential, because Shepard wasn't there when the Reaper invaded earth and brought the citadell down to their knees. It would also make Shepards situation more ambigous, since we don't know if it wasn't to convenient, that Shepard just escaped from the cludges of the Reaper ... I also like the idea of fighting a whole army of Super Shepards, who command the Husks :D.

@Chilloutman Naaah, it's pretty good! You just have to take your time, because they try to deepen every aspect of it. But it can be a bit slow. @HulkO'Saurus Haha, I disagree on most of it, but I can see where you're coming from :D. I think Dallis is one of the better antagonist in the series and they spread enough crumps to fit everything together. The NPC's are part of the bigger story, which is a tale about power and corruption and intentions. Some characters may not have an arc, but they fit the theme. As for retcons: I can't think of bigger ones, except the elves, but even that you can explain. The lore of the Divinity-Universe was always kind of vague and people in it tend to lie or tell it with their own cultural biases, so it worked out for me, especially since they used other stables of the series (parallell-worlds, talking objects and animals, everybody can do the magic, etc). But still no bad points, though . @HoonDing Maybe just a joke, but I actually like this idea. Cloud could have turned into Sepiroth, which would turn the motivation of the group upside down .

@Hulk O'Saurus I think the story of D:OS2 is good as it is (act 3 just needs more content), but I like this idea so far . So you would turn Fane in a one-man-army? @GhostofAnakin The funny thing is, we had an ending, then suddenly the Starchild appears. Even if the build-up was clunky, at least with Shepard and Anderson dying the emotional build-up would have been enough and nobody would have grumbled (at least not as loud).

Shadow Tactics is indeed nice, but I also like the Surge. I would also add Hand of Fate 1 and Leap of Fate to my list (getting longer^^)