Plano Skywalker

I have no problem with a game being an "offline MMORPG" as long as it provides what MMORPGs provide: a sense of dynamism and community. In Morrowind, you felt like you were the center of the universe with a bunch of one-dimensional sprites all around. Oblivion claims to fix that with Radiant AI. But the lack of true dialogue (they don't wait for your response) scares me a bit.

Morrowind is good if you like exploration and the ability to make your own spells, join whatever factions you wish, etc but the lack of good dialogue is a real bummer. If you like sandbox games, then yes, try Morrowind. You may also want to try Pirates! and Fable: The Lost Chapters.

I have never really been into comics...however, I probably will be buying a few of these.

simply put, if they want to use worlds like Dantooine again, there needs to be more to see than just the starport....we need to be able to swoop bike to a different section of the planet. I don't care if it is real-time swoop biking or just cutscreens....not being able to move away from the starport is a big deal for me, especially for retread worlds.

oh, OK, so they finally did make it a part of the core rules. Makes sense (although, early on, they did take a neutral stance on the matter). thing is, the PS setting is ripe for cerebral puzzles, very "high level" (not in terms of the actual level number, mind you) roleplaying. in short, I just think it is hard to do right but has the potential of being awesome.

I actually have no problem with that argument. Thing is, NWN2 people will have amateur-created adventures and (presumably) official expansions (both shrinkwrap and downloadable, again presumably). What kind of stinks is when a game like KOTOR 2 or JE has relatively short content and you know there ARE NO EXPANSIONS. I think games like that should have at least 3 official expansions to tide you over to the next title in the series.

ahhh, but 3rd edition says that the "planes" is but one way to conceptualize how the universe works. basically, PS was "canon" in 2nd Edition. It has been demoted to theory. which is ultimately good....PS was a neat idea--like eating Kiwi fruit is a neat idea from time to time....a mainstay it is not.

thing is, even with all its limitations, I have replayed that game several times...more so than with K1 or JE. what is there is really good, IMO.

full exclusivity would be a mistake, especially for LA....limited time exclusivity (like the other titles) would be the way to go IMO.

PNJ is the "unannounced project" and, because it is U3-based, it is most assuredly not KOTOR 3. here is the thing though: if everyone from NWN2 went over to KOTOR 3 then Obsidian's 4th title (assuming it is planned and is KOTOR 3), then the staffing for the 4th project might actually be larger than the staffing of the third project...not to mention that much of the creative aspect of K3 is probably already in the can since K2 was a cliffhanger. I suspect that *some* work is already being done on K3 but it is, at the moment, very much under wraps (small team, part time projects by the other teams, etc).

RPGDot: Previews have indicated you will include an Influence system along the lines of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. How have you refined the concept and can you provide some examples of how Influence will work in NWN2? MCA: We've made the influence system more widespread than in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, but the fundamental mechanic is a little different - while you cannot corrupt others like you could in the KotorII, your decisions whether alignment-based, goal-based, or even favoring one companion over another can cause some companions to open up to you more, while others close themselves off to you. sounds really good.

Malachor V -- biggest problem: how in the blazes can that thing have a sustainable atmosphere?....it would have been much better if you were bobbing around in jet-pack-enabled environment suit. the immersion of having to wear that would have made up for its dullness. (but, then again, these games don't have much of a "Z-axis" now do they?) Peragus -- too flat and also gave away too much of the main plot, IMO. OK, now here is the thing (yes, this does relate to possible future SW RPGs but no, this is not an invitation for hate spam): in both games, your first planet gets "destroyed" somehow. why is that? for one thing, it helps keep the game linear for the first 2 planets...it helps advance the main plot. but do they really believe we are dummkopfs? do they really believe that we will go to the second planet, then go back to the first planet and wonder why we can't advance the plot on the first planet? I want to be able to return to the first world in the game....IMO, Taris was, by far, the most fleshed out world between both games and it was a destination that I could not return to. PLEASE devs, give that device a break....even an 8-year-old can advance the plot without something like that. Trust me.

on the one hand, I agree that K2 was not very "star warzy" but, then again, I am not really into the EU. The EU lore actually has quite a different feel than the movie era. If Exar Kun can destroy the ghost of Freedon Nadd just by calling out through the Force, kill every Jedi on Coruscant and then get his spirit trapped in pyramids, then K2 can do what it did. K1 had a classic movie feel....K2 had an EU feel.

there are "glitches" with the Xbox version but no showstopping bugs. one of the problems with K2 was the fact that the Xbox version had no Live support (K1 didn't need it...BioWare just told LA to take a hike every time they needed more time). this is my theory anyway: since the Xboxers cannot get patches, they didn't want the PC format to have patches...problem was, the port job was rushed and there were actually more bugs in the PC version (including showstoppers). since LA finally released the patches, there is not as much of a reason to choose the Xbox version over the PC version. and, if you are in to the whole mod thing, PC format is the only way to go.

we could have a thread called "Ideas for SW RPGs". Just a thought.

ya know, perhaps we should get together and all PM a mod to lock this baby. "

would like: when you go to a planet, you then get the following 2 options: 1) land 2) orbit basically, orbiting would tell the system to make things a little more dynamic....NPCs start walking around more and striking up conversations with you and with each other. it is also when you orbit that you can Force meditate, watch holocrons, play Dejarik or Pazaak, train your padawan and things like that....basically, it is just a way to tell the system "ok, we are doing fun stuff now...do not interrupt with main story triggers". a way to compartmentalize your space experience. also, a little more variety in the space animations. if you are going from Dxun to Onderon, you don't need to see the ship jump into hyperspace (because that didn't happen).

while I didn't like the tone and didn't agree with everything he said, I probably will get Hammer and Sickle and Space Rangers 2 because of that article.

do you prefer high fantasy or alternate settings?

Morrowind GOTY (with Tribunal and Bloodmoon) is a good, 3D, open-ended cRPG, single-player.

story-driven or open-ended?

do you prefer single-player or a party-based experience?

IIRC, GURPS is a rule system, not a setting.

PC only?

"unsolicited" means they did not initiate the communication. so, all fan ideas are, by definition, "unsolicited". your best bet would be to find someone who runs in SW circles who has private fax numbers to game designers and/or LA/LFL continuity people. that way, everyone would have plausible denyability that the story did not come from a 16 year old fan with too much time on his hands. but finding someone like that might be just as hard as getting a job with a game developer. sooooo, your best bet, ultimately, is to just snail mail your idea to Obsidian (I have heard that LA actually sends stuff back unopened). You will never know whether they read it until you buy K3 and, presto, there it is!