Diogo Ribeiro

Obsidian comes from the Obsidian Earring that the Nameless One used in PS:T. Rumor has it it was based on one of Feargus' secrets (wearing earrings). >.> <.<

Sorry, but you're the only one making that assumption. What I said is not in any way making any kind of assumption. You were the one that assumed that giving absloute character freedom to a player would be placing some form of burden on player's shoulders. All I did was point out that freedom is not a burden, unlike story-driven games, where you must comply with a larger, and usually stricter, set of rules. If you somehow feel that what i wrote has anything to do with that answer, well, go you.

Chronicles of Ny, by Clownkeep (weird name, i know. Incidentally, Bethesda's title seems to be anything but an RPG.

I'm guessing you didn't quite grasped what i said.

Not so much of a burden, as its paramount to RPGs. More freedom is also hardly a burden, as its not mandatory, unlike story-driven games.

^I did. O'course, people who just care about the story, usually don't mind gross assumptions made by the company on their behalf - such as, no matter what you want, your character would be depicted as a soldier.

"Realistically", lightsabers don't exist. But it's possible to implement them correctly, as was done in Jedi Outcast or Jedi Academy. Most games end up doing this at one point or another, based on several situations ranging from high-level combat, to mage combat, etc. Reloading because of combat isn't new, and basing the reason for excess reloadings on a vorpal weapon is iffy at best. However, castrating lightsabers and have them operate like if they were nothing more than magical swords like ye olde standard D&D magic sword isn't the way to go, either. It depends on the system used. In an action RPG, it would be possible to have the lightsaber function as it should. Even if people come up with the whining based on it being too hard for them, and prefered the lightsabers to operate like they did on KoTOR, then a different method could be used, like having lightsabers hack away a limb based on, say, targetted attacks + critical hit elements.

I also tend to prefer the character which isn's special, or isnt special in the way of inhuman abilities. Most SPESHUL character often are special in name only, and have barely anything special to their namesake. The main problem you get when you're given a special character from the beginning is that it's already been dictated in what he is special about, and most if the times, you just sit and watch him/her get special on its own (specially true if the story is enforced heavilly on players). The idea of beginning as a regular character in a more freeform game allows players themselves to become special in their own way. Liked it a lot when i played it some years ago. I felt the game was good, but too short. I heavilly disliked one or two puzzles, specially because i don't remember being any logical guidelines at the time. I remember the puzzle of the bug which crashed into some control panel and ou had to lift or rotate its parts to reach the controls. Probably i might find it easier if i play it today, but at the time it was hell.

This can be said of Bioware games on a whole. They tend to focus on story, and its production values. I'm almost willing to bet that, if the game turns out to be not as good as KoTOR, it'll be Obsidian's fault; but if it turns out to be better, people will attribute the achievement to Bioware instead of Obsidian. Then again, we still haven't been clued on what Obsidian's contribution to the game would be.

That sucks <_<

I actually played the first game - Little Big Adventure - but never got around to playing Twinsen's Odyssey.

Earthbound and Secret of Evermore did this to a degree. And Freedom Force also did it to a degree.

I think calling it "Europe's 9/11" is an exageration. We're talking of a country which has already had to deal with sucessive terrorist threats for many years, by the hand of ETA. And the tragedy that happened in Spain is hardly comparable to that of the WTC, both in magnitude, casualties or even of changing views on terrorism. And besides, is there anything that could change people's views on terrorism after 9/11? I think most people became unfeeling towards this kind of situation after the WTC deal. This bombing in Spain seems almost mundane in comparison (and thank god for that, as it would be terrible if it was any worse).

Like any mailing list, one could just select to receive one or not. Its not like Obsidian would mass mail it against people's will.

So it seems my future gets worse... <_<

I'm guessing it'll perk up when some form of announcement is made.

Oh, that explains why NWN OC is a better roleplaying experiance than PS:T. No, it explains why NWN is more about roleplaying your character than a premade one.

Character creation is always relevant and important to roleplaying. No, character creation != roleplaying, but you will have an inferior roleplaying experience if you separate both. Thats not to say a game can't give you the same, or even better, roleplaying options than a game that doesn't have a diverse character creation (an example would be a game with a plethora of options but weak roleplaying such as Baldur's Gate 2, versus a game with many more and much better roleplaying options, Torment, which doesn't have character creation, just statistical point attribution). But you assume that character creation isn't important to RPing, when it is by the sole fact that roleplaying is primarily about deciding to play a character of your own creation. Customizing abilities to flesh out the character you want to play allow for a much wider range of roleplaying possibilties than a pre-made character. So, DE is more of an RPG, because it has one more ending than KoTOR? <_< Subjective, subjective and subjective. Check.

Character creation taken out of context, like done above, isn't roleplaying; just like having NPCs to "join your group" also isn't roleplaying if also taken out of context. However character creation is crucial to roleplaying, as it determines what type of character you'll play. No "if's" or "but"'s, thats how it is. Also if you go by the rule that KoTOR's choices are meaningless. then for the life of me i can't see what Deus Ex has over it. All choices are meaningless as well. Only in the last level do they matter, and they're made right there (as all you've done before is even more meaningless). Deus Ex operates like Thief, with a general mission objective and ocasional side missions which you may or may not complete. I could spend the rest of the day taking games that follow a similar structure and yet aren't RPGs.

It was so long ago then it would be a hard case to say that they copied it from FF4. Just about everything in a CRPG has been done at what point or another. I am sure it wouldn't stop something from saying it though just like how some talk about how much Planescape Torment stole from Final Fantasy (and I don't really mean the spell cutscenes either). I wasn't saying it copied from it, just that it was the first thing i remembered when i read Sam's initial idea. Having replayed it recently, it was easier to remember.

I'd say no, things like the D&D license don't actually hold back game design. Its up to a developer to be as original as he wants. D&D, and other licenses, present mere guidelines, not constrictions per se. What i do believe however, is that D&D compromises game development as a whole. Most CRPGs out there take influences from D&D. The use and abuse of fantasy settings is one factor. The other is the use of class-based systems. You're bound to find many, many CRPGs which while not D&D, still use the classical fantasy setting with stereotypes to promote itself. And unfortunately these are a winning formula (god knows why). Fantasy settings nowadays are terrible and cliche; and class-based systems are usually very restricting (nothing beats out a well-balanced skill-based system). The problem is many developers think fantasy + classes = t3h w1n, and don't try to invest in other settings. Those that do try other settings, however, end up having other aspects that bring it down, and marketing folks, being the smart bunch they are (not), automatically think that because some non-fantasy, or non-class-based games failed, then they will always fail.

It was taken by the Demons of Balance! :ph34r: But yeah, taking Kiel's buckler was strange. They probably thought the +1 to Dex was uber.

^Eons ago FF4 had the standard drama of a Dark Knight on a quest to become a Paladin. Rather simplistic and contrived, but it was the first thing i remembered when i read what Sammael wrote

It had some problems with remaining true to SW, though. The most notable were the neutered lightsabers, which jsut acted and felt like regular magical swords.

Final Fantasy 4 already did this :D