Gorth

The shortest version of Morgoth (or Melkor) and Sauron I can possible imagine. Morgoth was of the "Valar", the first beings amongst Eru's creations. Morgoth was more skilled and gifted etc. than his siblings and it got to his head, to a point where Eru told him to stop being childish and humiliated him in front of his peers. His temper and attitude went downhill from there. Sauron was a "Maia", as was the Balrog, the 5 Istarii (Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast etc.). Originally one of the good guys (ok, neutral then), until recruited by Morgoth, to lead his armies against the Eldar, and later also Edain, Numenorians and all their offspring Sounds a bit like Palpatine and Anakin, The Emperor and Darth Vader ? One wonders where Lucas might, amongst others have gotten his inspiration from. Ok, probably not from The Silmarillion, but the similarities are there. Morgoths evil stems from his resentment of not being able to shape the universe to his will alone. Eventually, it blinds him to all else and he becomes obsessed with conquest and domination. If he cannot create it to his will, he can take what is there an mold it to his diseased mind. Sauron was just the henchman that tagged along, doing his best to please his master and do his every bidding. Sounds familiar ? Edit: Yes, this was the very short, very interpreted and completely unauthorised version of the story of Morgoth and Sauron B)

:D

Dead simple logic really. B) Sister Egenia (spelling?) is an old, wise, robe wearing woman. Yoda is an old, wise, robe wearing gremlin, Elminster is an old, wise, robe wearing man. See a pattern here ? It must be the robes. Otherwise, throw 80%-90% of the loot away. A tiny group of people walking around with anough firepower/magic under their robes to arm a small army to the teeth, please... Would be nice with a few mundane (whatever passes as mundane in the gamesetting) items, that can be tinkered with to improve their performance. That is, if you have access to people who can do it, whether they be party members or just available locally. Want a flaming arrow in a fantasy setting ? 1 arrow 1 Bottle Liquor 1 Strip of cloth Mix all ingredients Ignite shortly before use, point away from inflamable objects. Want an armour piercing blaster ? 1 standard issue blaster 1 supercharged energy pack 1 string of heavy duty energy wiring Attach objects to each other. Do not attach the red wire to the blue plug, You'll void the warranty Point business end of blaster toward adversary and pull trigger until conflict solved And so on and so on and so on... Let people work hard for that little extra. If they can't be bothered to do that, they can still complete the game, they'll just lose some bragging rights.

Ritual undressing ? The sight of it paralyses your opponent for the critical 10 seconds you need to rearrange their anatomy with your lightsaber ? Otherwise, you're pretty much back to a pick between the supernatural and technology. Come to think of it, has any of the races or characters in any Star Wars game or movie ever exspressed some sort of faith ?

:D I know when I'm beaten

Tell us when you are going to start french kissing FFG, I'll sit back and watch (*Mumbling something about the funnny sideeffects of a succubus' kiss*) At least Annah only left teeth marks on you

Sounds like a fun idea. Even if I didn't like most of the old mini-games (I'm a Pazaak addict), this could be a small game within the game. Offer interesting limbs or software upgrades as rewards for solving sidequests, not based on skills only. B) There was a bit of it in Kotor, with the modules you could customise your droids with, but it has more potential to be interesting, if the stuff was harder to get by. The interview mentioned something about taking stuff apart and put together again. Like C-3PO... ? Lets say, once you install the core software, you droid take on a certain role in your party, and you could look for spare parts and add-ons all over the galaxy for it. Increases the posibility of adding party members to your team, that you like, for their personality and not for their usefulness, because you can tailor your droid as a second player character, compensating for skills your favorite company (and yourself) doesn't have. If you are a combat monster and your favourite companion is a tech/mechanic, make the droid specialise in protocol and diplomacy, if your are a the tech guy and your favourite companion the charismatic one, make the droid a mobile gun-turret etc.

Yes, they spoke "Evil English"

From a more "generic" developer: For me it's the feeling of accomplishing and creating something. In my business, software doesn't come in boxes, often not even on cd's. Yet, when your work is done, somewhere some people are actually using, and often depending what you do. Very good for stroking the ego 80 hour work weeks with people you get along with, joke with, go out and have curry with But most of all, the "creation" part, once you put you and your gang to work on your design, there will be something there, that wasn't there before. A bit like planting a tree. The morbid humour when deadlines approach, "If this doesn't work, these 250 guys depending on this can forget about pay-roll next week", or the odd easter-egg. Wonder if that FMO actually believed it would format his harddrive ? Before the corporate systems, it was visuals and special FX. Took great pride in the "Ooh", "Ahh" and "Wow" results Before that, it was... I'm getting too old... time to retire now...

A classic case where "less is more" (like lingerie B) ) Since Kotor was a game for all age groups, some of the younger audiences might need the guiding hand to figure out, what they were actually supposed to do As for me, I prefer the way it was handled in PS:T, you had to work hard *and* pick the right dialogue options, and acquire the necessary skills just to flirt around with Annah, and about half a kiss was what you got for all your effort. I appreciated that kiss more than a night with Viconia, Aerie and Jaheira together A little innuendo is ok, but with style please ?

Jawas were a nice touch. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy freeing Iziz' (spelling?) tribe and exterminating the sand people. Funniest dialogue though was between Carth and Bastila when she admits to actually having lost her lightsaber Or when Bastila uses the force to "trip" Mission. Liked the "spooky" background music when running around in the Star Forge, reminded me very much of the encounter with The Emperor on the Death Star in the movie. Actually quite hard to define "best" here, depending on whether one appreciates humour, action, interesting environments etc. Personally I like a bit of subtle dark humour in games. Kotor had that. Hope the sequel will elaborate on that.

12 month development cycles wouldn't be unrealistic, if the publisher handles the sound, using existing engines and preproduction being done already before the company is founded. Could make for a fall 2004 release of a first title followed by a second title, whose production began around Christmas 2003 with a release date of february 2005. Two titles with 12-14 months + some preproduction time in the works ? Could also be, that they are so busy playing UT2004 and console games, that they need like 18 months to produce their first title on an existing engine Also depends completely on the head count. Can't wait to see some company profile and bios on their website Naive hope: They put as much effort into the story and characters in all that time, as they did in PS:T

Hey, I'm new to boards, what did you expect ?

Finally got enough xp to gain a level in the Obsidian Board B) Guess what ? No skill points to distribute ? No "Persuade" and no "Intimidate" skill ? And feats ? Forget about feats ! No "Power Post" and no "Flurry of Posts" "Critical Post" anyone ? When will Obsidian Board 2 be released ???

Ehh ? Hang on a moment while I try to look that up in the dictionary... Found it. Looks about right

Ehh ? Hang on a moment while I try to look that up in the dictionary...

Actually, whatshisname who runs the academy will let you fall through your test if you suggest that, when you recite and elaborates on the meaning of the Sith code. The Sith philosophy is not about cruelty for crueltys sake, but evolution in its most basic form to make the Sith as a whole stronger. That is also the entire purpose of Sith's taking apprentices and grooms them to the day they are ready to replace to old leader of the pack so to speak. I would rather compare the Sith to a pack of wolves, where the younger ones are tolerated by the pack leader, even though one of them is bound to oust him one day. The point is not to be cruel to the individual, but get the strongest leader for the benefit of the pack.

Sheesh, you look almost as old as me... wait... you are almost as old as me

Who decided that Annah came with a tail then ? That tail... Feargus, was that the guy who picked the Box Art ?

For those who cares, there is a link to a picture of me this thread: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=587 The thread itself was mostly an internal Kiwi joke, being all rabid about Lord of The Rings etc. Picture on Yahoo is genuine though Edit: Your turn Mr. T.

Depends on what the developers and the publisher are trying to accomplish with the game. Do they wan't it to be a combat game or a role-playing game ? They usually don't really go that well hand-in-hand as players (and fans) of the one or the other will resent the osther aspect of the game for intruding into their favourite aspect If I buy a game that claims to be a crpg, I expect a roleplaying game, not a combat game, if i want a combat game, I'll go buy a combat game. Usually makes for a better overall experience to keep genres seperate For the records, I like combat games. Anybody remember Exploding Fist by Melbourne House for the C64 ? Coolest combat game ever B)

How much ?

Not getting evicted from your office space could also be a consideration

Sounds interesting Thanks

Well, since you are asking... Fewer characters would be nice. Add more depth to them. Using Kotor as an example (since you didn't ask specifically about Kotor), it was a minor pain having 8 npcs, of which you would only pick 2 to accompany you most of the time. And these 2 were more often than not picked for combat skills, not for any roleplaying reasons. Personally, I could have lived with a selection of say 4-5 npcs to choose from. Even better if the effort that went into the 8, had been spent on 4 and thereby making them all more interesting than they were, it was just too unevenly split between them. Make problems solvable but other skills than the blaster and melee ones, to make it more attractive having a thief/diplomat, a pilot/mechanic or a scientist/tech type etc. npc in your party. Make deeper relationships between the npcs and the pc. No, that doesn't necessarily mean romances. You could have a droid that hates your gut, but is bound by a restraining bolt, a mercenary who wants a percentage of all profits you make, a jinxed smuggler who needs you to bust him/her out of jail every time you leave a new planet. Plenty of ideas. The point is, if your group is smaller, odds are, that you care more about the fate of each, whether it's like or dislike. Ah well, enough listening to the little voice in my head...