Gromnir

article we seen says that your "sith lords" character is, "a disgraced veteran of the Mandalorian war, an exiled Jedi just now returning to Republic space after years away." (apologies for not having exact quote, we is writing from memory, so we may be messing up slightly... but we does recall with certainty that the part 'bout being "disgraced" was in there somewheres. if somebody wants to correct our quote so it is accurate, we would appreciate.) redemption was a major theme in the original Star Wars movies, and it was also dealt with in kotor... though we thought kotor actually did a rather poor job in this regard. chris avellone's ps:t also explored redemption and regret. got another protagonist with a troubled past who has lost some part of self. ... regardless, we thinks that it is significant that you start out as a disgraced jedi... HA! Good Fun! p.s. we can delete this post to avoid clutter if craftsman wishes.

"Fallout universe is human dominated, SM and Ghouls are humans, in Fallout 2 being a human was only required because of the Vault 13 connection." uh... thanks, but how is any of those observations relevant to why or why not super mutants or ghouls shoulda' or coulda' been playable races in fo3? "In SWKotOR they had the "Revan" aspect and if we selected Twi

"Thats because you're an orc Gromnir, orcs likes shiny objects, it's in their nature, just like magpies and dragons " must 'members yet again to thanks dave and rob for permanently fixing the "Gromnir is an orc," misconception 'mongst those who played tob. *sigh* HA! Good Fun!

am not recalling where we said the ff8 romance was bad or inappropriate... was addressing maturity. just pointing out that it is hard to square drak's "maturity" comments with his observations 'bout a game that uses comas and dream sequences to advance such romances. may be appropriate n' all, but "mature"? has you seen seen kill bill? Gromnir thought it was great fun... was campy and over-the-top and had great action sequences and it not take itself the least bit serious... but at the same time, it managed to actually work in some good performances... folks saying ridiculous stuff, but being so genuine that it actually worked. however, mature would not be a good way to describe kill bill, would it? was completely unapologetic 'bout being immature... had everything that emotionally impaired 20 and 30 something males could hope for. maybe ff8 and silent hill is similar examples... maybe ff8 is just 'posed to be a fairytale. heck, we like fairytales. neil gaiman's Stardust is a great example of a fairytale that is also great writing... would give our right arm to be able to write like gaiman did in Stardust. is not a mature romance though... and it weren't trying to be. drak got problems with simple vocab at times. not know what a God complex is (lord knows we still wonder how linking a review and a plot synopsis could be exemplifying a God complex,) and we suspect that his understand of the meanings of basic words like mature and rushed and countless other terms is equally, well, suspect. drak is also unresponsive. example: drak makes claim that bio games is typically rushed and immature. Gromnir brings up examples of why we think such descriptions is inaccurate, and drak's response is that silent hill 2 is more mature than bg2. huh? could have told us that he likes chocolate more than vanilla for all the relevance such statement has for reinforcing a claim that bio games is typically rushed and immature. *shrug* again, drak is largely incomprehensible, and rarely responsive... is just plain odd. HA! Good Fun!

you know, it may be superficial of Gromnir, but we admit that we like items... but not powerful items. the thing is, we ain't really impressed with super powers. in most crpgs, super powered items is unnecessary and make game less fun once you is gaining levels/skills/points/whatever, so by the end of game we is typically equipping self for style points. ... is maybe a little childish, but we admit that outside of really tough battles we tends to choose equipment does something interesting or has a unique effect. have a gun or weapon or spell or power that has a nifty explosion with a dazzling light shower or crackling spooky green lightning effect that knocks back enemies, bouncing 'em off walls would be something we would use often... even if it not do much actual damage and even if it not actually the best tactic. am imaging that the problem is that

am rarely bothered by grammar or typos... typos and grammar is only an issue if you becomes incomprehensible, and we thinks we understood you well enough. no need to apologize (to Gromnir of all folks,) 'bout grammar and typos. is just that your points (1 and 2) seem largely illusory and contradictory to points made earlier in this thread by you and others.... but please, continue to explain how asking for more race options in kotor and kotor 2 is fundamentally different than asking for such a thing for fo3... Gromnir is fascinated... no doubt the obsidian developers, many of whom worked on fo3, is also curious. HA! Good Fun!

if you think they is cheap shots, then so be it... but honestly, you is being largely unresponsive and incomprehensible in your responses. can't talk with you 'cause you ain't really responding to us. is not an ego thing on our part... is just that you and sargy is now forming a select group of two: the only folks on these boards Gromnir will dismiss out of hand. congrats. HA! Good Fun!

I always figured it was supposed to be from the American "Deep South". "Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel" sort of fits with that theory. branagh, olivier and others seem to equate american with folksy somehow. *shrug* oldman did an acceptable job in romeo is bleeding and the professional, so we can only assume he was going for a regional thing... and the twang and name does suggest louisiana drawl HA! Good Fun!

"There was nothing in the game which made me feel bastila was worth fighting for." exactly. 'course, is not just that bastilla seemed like she weren't worth fighting for... is that we not see any reason why she would want to be saved. bastilla seemed miserable most of the time. lugubrious... almost commicaly mournful. second time through game Gromnir did bastilla romance just to satisfy curiosity... we chose the obvious responses to advance the romance along. was an empty and hollow experience. bastilla was a broken character for a number of reasons... the tragedy was that she could have been fixed rather easily. a couple extra dialogue encounters that showed that she had a sense o' humor and a love of life might have done it. what a waste. am thinking that part of the problem bio has with certain characters falling a tad short is that you got multiple Kanadian writers. these guys is so busy being polite to each other that they probably not give each other useful criticism. " that was a very good character you got there, eh." "you really think so? i personally liked your dialogue much better. by the way, that is a great touque that you got on. wanna go and watch some curling? i have a big bag of cheesies right here." just a thought. HA! Good Fun! p.s. drak continues to reinforce our already dismal opinion of him... is like he is responding to imaginary people sometimes.

thanks for responding... please continue as you seem to be proving our unstated point quite nicely. HA! Good Fun!

"You really cannot stop making comments on stuff you dont know and use guides and reviews to push some point ... why I am unsure, god complex perhaps?" ok, that not make much sense... for a number o' reasons. do you even know what a god complex is? *shrug* besides which, reviews and guides from reputable sources seem likes much better sources that reliance on drak. comas and dream sequences is soap opera clich

is a problem from gameplay standpoint... 'cause the non-jedi classes ain't anywhere near as powerful as the jedi. would have had many complaints. 'course, d20 star wars is partly to blame. folks howl that blasters is nerfed... but truth is that jedi lightsabre wielders is nerfed much more by comparison. 15 levels of jedi class(seems to be the average numbers of jedi levels taken by players,) means that you is doing something like 5d8 hp of damage with a lightsabre in the d20 system... which is nuts. blasters is nerfed in kotor so that at start of game you not die in every early battle 'gainst a blaster wielding foe. lightsabres was nerfed in kotor 'cause they is stupid powerful in the hands of a jedi... but even so, with force powers being reserved for jedi, many gameplay changes would have to be made. actually, we was pretty impressed with much of the d20 REVISED star wars rules.(never saw the original, but we hear they was offal/awful.) with jedi powers being skills as 'posed to powers as in kotor, it takes only a few adjustments to be making pnp jedi classes less munchkin. also results in all the abilities scores actually being useful... min/max point-buy is much less likely gonna result with legions of 8 int jedi walking 'round. as for story... gotta change lots of stuff on dantooine, and some dialogues on a few other planets... but you not determine difficulty of writing story by asking what changes would have to be made looking back on a finished story arc. would not have been much work to deal with story if game had been designed from start to allow you freedom of choice with the classes. basic plot changes very little. the changes to preserve gameplay balance would seem to have been much more difficult for a developer than story elements. however, other than a relatively small number of role-play fanatics, how many players would honestly have NOT chosen a jedi class their first time through kotor or any other star wars game? Gromnir woulda' enjoyed playing such a character at some point, and so would many obsidian posters... but it is hardly an option that a significant number of players is gonna use... and the number of first time players who made use of such an option would be infinitesimal. wasted resources. bio has, over the years, designed games to appeal to the Average Gamer. this seems to result in games that is widely popular and commercially successful

you keep mentioning games we hasn't played http://faqs.ign.com/articles/495/495769p1.html "They return to Balamb Garden with Edea and Rinoa's comatose body. "Back in Balamb Gaden, a worried Squall lies on his bed running over the events. Quistis suggests they visit Edea's house where she and Cid now are. Squall firsts stops off to see Rinoa and is saddened by her state. he then goes to Edea's house, which was also their old orphanage, accompanied by Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine. There Cid apologizes for his indecisiveness, explaining how torn he was between destroying Sorceress Edea, but losing his wife for ever, or keeping Sorceress Edea alive in the hope Edea Kramer could be saved but at the risk of the rest of the world being endangered by the Sorceress. Edea explains how she was under the control of Ultemecia all this time and how Ultimecia now intends to resurrect Adel, a former Sorceress who once ruled Esthar. With Edea unsure of why Rinoa is in a coma, it is decided Ellone must be found to help them. "back in Garden, Squall announces that Edea is not the enemy anymore and should be left alone, Cid will also be staying with her. They all then decide to search for the White SeeD ship. Squall then goes back to see Rinoa and becomes a bit overwhelmed with the strength of his feelings for her. He slumps forward and into another dream..." yes, enthralling stuff. considering ff popularity with teens, we must be missing something in translation... but you type "rinoa-squall coma" into google and see what comes up for you. mentions the coma and dream sequences... and please keep in mind that you can't have a reaction to a coma 'less somebody is in a coma. the whole point of the clich

the real fun part of this thread is recognizing those folks who was complaining 'bout bis plan to make super mutants and ghouls player character race options for fo3, but is now complaining that kotor/kotor2 protagonist must be human. HA! Good Fun!

btw, one of these days we is gonna get around to writing our book 'bout Fritz Haber... now there is a great model for a crpg villain... is german too so he gots an evil accent already. HA! Good Fun!

comas and dream sequences is a good way to do romances? ... no wonder we has a hard time finding common ground on what constitutes "maturity" in games. personally, we prefer the ravel and nameless one stuff... particularly when tno returns to sigil and confronts mebbeth/ravel in her hut in the hive. HA! Good Fun!

watch/read, "Deliverance." HA! Good Fun! p.s. we prefer our redneck "villains" to be something more akin to, "The Great Santini," but that wouldn't really work in a crpg.

newc observations is generally true, but a bit of an overstatement... in virtually all american ww2 movies, the nazis is all brits. why? probably 'cause most americans couldn't tell the difference 'tween a british accent and a german accent... but we all know that non-americans tends towards evil. besides which, there is very few noteworthy german actors. heck, otto preminger cast himself in stalag 17 for chrissakes. back in the 40s and 50s even the french characters was usually brits... we suspect that this was just a way to let us all know that the character in question was Foreign. when lucas did his star wars flicks and recreated nazis, he cast numerous english folks. is no hard and fast rule though... gladiator, for instance, cast an american as the sneeky villain, and an aussie as the hero. 'course, brando doing mark antony still makes us chuckle a bit. am not sure what accent gary oldman was going for in The Fifth element, but it weren't brit. is no real rules... is something that probaly started as a matter of convenience, and then folks begun to expect it... go figure. HA! Good Fun! p.s. "I do not contest this; though this is one of the reasons I dislike the Star Wars universe, I will accept this as a fact it is. However, this is not the problem in the KOTOR series. The problem is that Bioware has never realised what "evil" really is. " untrue. bioware simply took evil as it were portrayed in the origianl star wars movies... and recreated.

tob felt rushed to you? ok, if you say so. tob had more new material and detail than any other expansion we can name

Like pretty much most of Bioware work to me ... 'cause the first thing that comes to mind when you thinks of BG2 is that it feels like it was rushed. HA! and no doubt some kids equate a mature rating with maturity, but that is not Gromnir's way of thinking. regardless, drak is free to voice his opinion... and each time he does so we feel a little less guilty 'bout dismissing him so readily. HA! Good Fun!

am not sure how the biowarians came to embrace their current romance model. you gots these tangential romance stories that seems to be lifted from comic books or teen tv soap operas

"When they commited their evil deeds, they didn't describe in intimate detail how perverse and cruel and nasty they were, randomly throwing in adjectives like 'pathetic' and 'worthless' to describe pretty much everything simply to show how mean they were." not get your point. vader walks in on leia with a with a torture device. we see the remains luke's family, slaughtered by stormtroopers in one of the most grisly scenes of the entire film, admiral announces that a planets is destroyed to make a point. the emperor tries to goad luke into attacking, and announces the imminent death of his friends to accomplish this. etc. "When they commited their evil deeds, they didn't describe in intimate detail how perverse and cruel and nasty they were, randomly throwing in adjectives like 'pathetic' and 'worthless' to describe pretty much everything simply to show how mean they were. "If they did, it would've been pretty lame." as noted above, they did on more than one occasion... the absence of specific dialogue is hardly meaningful. you not have actors in a game who can be subtle. you not got great camera work or direction and you only can work in so many cutscenes and they is rarely is detailed 'nuff to have the same impact as something on film. you got loads of dialogue though. a game is gonna convey story through dialogue. compare the amount of dialogue in The Grapes of Wrath book v. movie. is lot less dialogue in the movie, no? is not just a matter of length neither. *shrug* so it ain't that all of the sith was spouting their evil rhatoric, but you thought too many did. when an admiral balks an order to destroy a planet in kotor or when you meet an archeoligist more interested in knowledge than power or when you convince a student that the sith way ain't all that it is cracked up to be, or when you meet any number of sith on taris who, whether it be in bars or in the undercity, who just seem to be following orders rather than having AGENDAS OF EVIL, then you see as exceptions proving a point? okie dokie. HA! Good Fun! p.s. "I don't think this point is being missed by anyone" was a comment by phosphor... we was being economical by responding to both o you in one post.

btw, it seems that folks still is missing the point of irenicus... but that fault is mostly the fault of the biowarians. his motivations was hardly as simple and clich

"Even with Darth Vader and the Emperor, dialogue spoken with no purpose but to show how 'evil' they were was the exception rather than the rule. " oh come now... that ain't true and you know it. the dialogues and scenes with the emperor and darth vader was almost exclusively included to show us just how nasty they was. dress 'em up in black and play ominous music, and have them torture folks or reveal plans to kill/hurt the hero's loved ones and friends. "The Sith can represent evil without having every last Sith trooper long only to kick puppies and launch children into orbit unprotected." is hardly accurate. is a number of folks on korriban that not fit this description including archeologists and students and prospective student, so try not to be overstating for effect... diminishes your point. "I don't think this point is being missed by anyone" really? sure seems that way. go read some reviews or maybe check out some threads at bio or here or codex. if you have folks saying, "why are the villains and heroes in kotor so stereotypical," when the reason "why" is so damnably obvious, then we cannot help but think that some folks has missed something. look at reviews and threads here and elsewhere that talk 'bout how unoriginal kotor story and characters was. why is the kotor villains and heroes so stereotypical? answer:

"With that in mind, I'm not sure I'd want them to stop using a formula that, for whatever reason, worked for me personally." yeah, but the formula is also a trap. can kotor2 do what kotor did... can it simply give us a recreation of star wars characters and plot and themes? the obsidians have a great opportunity with kotor2... they is gonna be developing one of the most anticipated titles of the year, and Gromnir don't think they has the luxury of being able to take advantage of bioware's simple (albeit very clever and undeniably efficacious) approach to story elements. obsidian is going to have to do something different... or maybe not... kotor was a game that despite so many seeming flaws, succeeded with an overwhelming number of folks... gestalt. example: combat was very easy and poorly balanced, but it had a kewl factor for most peoples that made it enjoyable... and the cinematic aspect of combat (something that necessarily limited its tactical appeal,) further bolstered the feeling of nostalgia that seemed to be the main goal of the game. lightsabre combats was looking like movie lightsabre combats 'nuff to make folks get that warm and fuzzy feeling they gets when they recalls first having seen such battles on the Big Screen... which was reinforced by the story aspects. would a turn-based kotor with overhead perspective have been able to create a nostalgic glow in folks as they watched one of their party avatars move forward 4 hexes and then take a single swipe with their lightsabre? so