Hi, this is my first post. I found this site while googling for Chris Avellone. I hadn't heard of Obsidian prior to that, so I was glad to find out so many Black Isle heavy-hitters joined up to form a new team. I look forward to your new game.
I have a feeling Delaware will be a PNP-wannabe RPG, that's why I'm writing this post.
What I was wondering is why there seems to be a focus on D&D on the part of PCRPG developers. I'm a console gamer but I play your games because they have a usually great story (if not story, then dialogue), good soundtracks and decent gameplay. I think D&D really hurts the enjoyment of CRPGs from us non-D&D fans because it has what I feel is a boring combat system where the characters barely improve through-out the game. I believe console-style combat and character development is the way to go, with game progression giving you cool new spells that you can cast without worrying about resting (MP system), and level-ups increasing your abilities beyond just a better dice roll.
I know typical PCRPG developers are the type who play PNP D&D, but is that the only reason you make D&D-like RPGs? Surely you'd access a broader audience by removing D&D from your games? Losing it doesn't mean dumbing down, Final Fantasy X had some amazing tactical battles that were more tense than anything I experienced in the BI games. In an ideal RPG, we'd have your freedom in character development, non-linearity, and excellent storytelling coupled with console-style gameplay.
Also, to Chris Avellone, if he's reading this...what happened with Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance? When I heard you were writing the story prior to its release back in 2001, I recommended it to everyone and was hoping we'd finally reached the day where console RPGs would have storylines that didn't suck, but the result was very disappointing, with a generic storyline with almost no dialogue. Since you're no longer a Black Isle/Interplay employee, hopefully you can tell us (well, me) what happened without worrying about PR. If you feel you did a good job on the script, then I apologize and hope you aren't offended by what I said.
