Musopticon?

Because we are looking for familiar conventions where there are very little. Our minds try to bridge gaps between what is understandable and what's not and the result aches. Though I don't find Estonian odd or sounding retarded, thanks to known at least a bit how it works. And I think German is absolutely beautiful with the right speaker, yet many of my friends think it's an ugly ugly thing. And never mention Old Eng or ME, I hate hate hate remembering all the Werner laws and phonetic conventions and aargh...

Sacrifice! Shiny used to really shine.

I think it's better to cater to the main classes for the most part, unless you have certain factions in mind that respond to their prestige classes(like Harper Scout f.i.). You might even concentrate on the three basic archetype classes in D&D - the equivalents of thief, mage and warrior - since a barbarian and a fighter probably tackle opponents and obstacles rather similarly, same goes for sorcerer and wizard. Despite this, it might be worth it giving the monk and especially the paladin their own quests and dialogue(yes) trees to solve. Both classes have rigid mindsets that differ seriously from the open possibilities of other classes and there's likely a wealth of undead and unnaturalness for them to rid on the island.

I started doing the Chinatown quests in Bloodlines and gave up, it's like a completely different game. I don't know what they were thinking, or what the writers were drinking. So, a backlog of Hitman:Blood Money, Sins of a Solar Empire, CivIV:Beyond the Sword and Stalker: Clear Sky. All unopened. Gah, I wish I had like a million free weekends...

*slaps Grand Commander* Ok, I'm going now.

Not that fan input plays that much into dev decisions, especially not in the case-by-case way you are suggesting. On SMGs, I understand the pet peeves that people seem to have over design decisions, but I'd like to point out that it's not a combat simulator or even an fps. Making each weapon type unique, since each type responds to one skill and the special abilities therein, makes far more sense than giving the ability to fiddle enough with the weapons to smooth out the uniqueness. Hell, I'd like the ability to make a silent long distance smg with a tagged sight, but the sniper rifles, and the skill as well, would become kind of redundant then. Edit: JB, like all good JBs do, ninja'ed my post.

Truth to be told, most of Gothics combat consisted of sidestepping into a good position to unleash the front-front-front-combo, which gained in attacks with each new rank in a melee skill. IIRC, there was only the forward-combo, but you could mix and match pretty freely. Though that always meant your character would meticulously flail away the strikes while standing with their feet stuck to the ground. Freeform combos usually got you killed.

Wales still beats both of you in sheep/manlove quota, I totally know because I've been there. So suck it, you dolts. Last class today, then it's winter vacation time!

Well, MoM was pretty awesome. Plenty of problem-solving, situations, that asked for the group to act strategically and together, and lastly an atmosphere that balanced itself precariously on a precipice between horrific and hilarious. Suffice it to say, the first 1,5 hours contained for instance a situation which involved a wad of bananas and a crazed half-orc druid enraged by a monkey curse, an attack by clerks(yes, pen-pushers, not clerics) dropping from the ceiling and an instance with a wall of screaming masks. I want more, J. Logue is an awesome scenariowright.

GF: "Awww"

With a little luck they'll get rid of left-right-left-right combo. I mean, if I can kill an orc scout with a sharp branch...something must be broken. I admit that the combat through 1-2 was pretty enjoyable, just that the enemy AI problems and other issues got pretty dire the more opponents you had to face. I think I killed around double the enemies in Gothic 1 by standing on an unreachable ledge and raining arrows than in direct combat. 15 minutes of 5 shooting 5 orcs running in a queue around an obstacle gives a man time to ponder. I'd prefer if they'd do something about the lock-on system as well, less restricted - larger probability of hitting several enemies with wide arcs and swings. Ranged combat is also pretty awful as it is, so a revamp there wouldn't hurt either. Free targeting, better hit detection and perhaps cross-hair or a targeting reticle to spells. Then again, these are really minor nitpicks. Both early Gothics are really solid. Here's to hoping that there's still someone smoking apple weed and guzzling down rice schnaps while lecturing on the relative ease of psychokinesis. Risen needs moar pot-smoking zen paladins and gut-wrenching early escapades from undead tigers when your only possessions are a bag full of raw meat and shrooms, a pickaxe and a set of laid-back moral codes when it comes to material ownership and other peoples trunks.

I agree, " threw up" forms its own syntactic unit and the matter shouldn't be made more confusing by examining it on the morphological level. Phrasal verbs might be problematic to some wizened old coots, but when the issue springs up, I usually take to established grammarians(that agree with me), like say Leech and Svartvik, rather than delve into the much bigger issue of standardization. For me its enough that the communicative value stays intact from user to user. Also, linguistic student here. And man, I'm going to stay out of this grammar business. Postcolonial studies(read: language on the macro level) are enough for me.

I don't see any problem with Ubi's logic. An established brand name appearing with a new installment on popular platforms? That means serious cash. There's already a large fanbase, not to mention a large user base that they can rely on. Why not use the PoP brand? Not to mention, the devs are dealing with their own intelligent property, being the original PoP devs, surely they can develop the series in any direction that they choose.

It's hard to think how the combat could get any dumber, going by the last three Gothics. As long as the exploration and world are good, I'm sold.

^I want that in. Actual intro credits after the first mission(tutorial, perhaps?).

This is the big question. And I predict the answer is "yes".

I agree.

Okay, that's 27(yes, I baked them) pastries, around hundred cookies, 4 litres of gl

IWD 2 is a blast, I love it to bits. I love the hook horrors to tiny bits of bloody pulp with a hasted Shambling Mound.

Primordial - Empire Falls \,,/

Must be careful, lest you piss off Solid State society.

Yeah, there's also the relic hunt miniquests. Every time you hear a rumor of a lost ship somewhere in hinterlands, stock up on missiles and repair drones(against radiation and random bandits) and head out to the area. They are exclusively found in a hazardous zone, usually one containing radiation, mines, asteroids or radar scrambling interference and local bandits aplenty. The actual dead ships often contain incredibly over-the-top weapons, well out of your current load-out and illegal trade goods(drugs, artifacts, organisms, etc). After looting, it's better to dock on to a remote to autosave and then trial-and-error your way to the best market. Incredibly annoying at times, but a sure way to wealth. It also helps if you are a friend to the local bandits. This can be achieved very early in the campaign by killing the enemies of both your friends and bandits. IIRC, there's a rebel faction in the Badlands(near Itaca Station) that everyone hates. Keep killing them and you'll be neutral to the bandits. Later on it's possible to bribe your way to their good books and access Corsair bases. Pretty cool feature all in all.

Oh yes. Barbarian/Druid is pure win.

Yes.