Amentep

I didn't know who Oghma was, despite growing up in Candlekeep in BGI. The point of PST was to find your past so arguably the whole story was getting to know the man I was controlling. FO1 and 2 I could only create a background as far as the parameters of the game (start in a vault, start in a tribe) would let me. A video game can't actually let everything you know in your mind exist at the end of character creation like PnP; therefore there will always be things that are filled in for the player (even games that allow for a more robust background like Arcanum).

Well you can accidentally romance someone by picking dialogue options trying to be nice to a traumatized party member without realizing you're starting a romance that will end up with an elven baby in your inventory. BUT, even assuming it was optional, including romances would take development time from other aspects of the game to make sure they work right, so including them could be a trade-off in terms of resources allocated for the game. So an argument from a game design point could be made that even optional romances might be too demanding for the purposes of the game. So its possible to argue against romances without actually disliking romances in games.

One thing I liked about BGI was how certain people wouldn't join or stay in your party without certain other people. Yes this led to metagaming with people stripping characters they like and sending them to fight an orc horde with their unarmored body, but that should have just resulted in the other character ditching the group. But it did make me feel like the characters existed outside of their relationship to my character. Eventually I think games will move to address relationships outside of the player (ie character A is a relationship option but if the relationship is not pursued and character D is in the group, A & D will start a relationship).

If they support the Mods, won't that just antagonize the Rockers? I kid, I kid. I think one concern would be whether it could affect the devlopment cycle of the game or not. Heh, maybe they can do a seperate kickstarter to fund mod tools after the game is done.

I suppose you could create, in character creation, a way to "build a backstory" and have the game address it, but that would probably require more time and effort to check dialogues against than its worth would be. I didn't mind KotOR 2 either, but maybe there's a way to address the problem by making sure if a generic entry background for the character is created, the dialogue reflects it?

Its relatively easy to get bogged down in micromanagement with making cash weigh what it really should weigh. I suppose its possible to create a system where it'll work, but it'd be easy to create a system where you're constantly trying to shift coins around the party to make their pockets weigh the right amount, which is really just a variation of Inventory Tetris, IMO.

There's a lot of interesting things that could develop a game world like appearance expectations (what is attractive, how do people get treated when they do and don't conform to norms) and treatment of individuals due to age (do they honor or disrespect age; what's important to the culture). This is the excitement of having a new setting because each of these things could be considered and addressed and become a part of the game world.

I think typically the complaint is that video game narratives aren't currently robust enough to build a truly nuanced romance and that too often romance is "right dialogue choices + timing = sexzor scene" in terms of gameplay. That said, I think most relationships in games are essentially the same sort of thing (with some exceptions), so personally I'm not necessarily against romances even understanding that at the moment gaming really can't handle them with much "realism".

I think too often using the Tolkein races either results in just a retread of those racial dynamics OR in trying to subvert those dynamics that the creators know the fans are familiar with. Going for something new might give more leeway to build from the ground up without having a need to address the traditional relationships, but on the other hand might take a lot more time to plan. I trust Obsidan's crew to come up with something I can live with though.

exactly. do it like in baldurs gate 2 and it will be perfect. Although maybe not the elf-baby inventory item.

As long as there is depth, I'm not too particular. That said, I've always thought it'd be cool to see a game that used "elemental magic" to be based off the 5 Phases of China (Wood/Tree, Fire, Earth, Water, Metal) or even something like the seven Chakras (Time/Space, Light/Dark, Ether/Sound, Air, Fire, Water, Earth) as opposed to the Helenic elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air and later Aether)

My first D&D character ended up with a wild Psionic talent back in the day, so I'm always cool with psionics being in the game.

If it was toggleble like in FONV - sure. As a mandatory requirement...well nothing is as unfun to me, personally, in a game as having to carry a ton of water and food around to travel 10 feet. Mind you this could just be left over trauma from my wagon train always ending up dying of exhaustion or dysentary in OREGON TRAIL too...

I loved old school portraits that were painted and looked cool. I wasn't as crazy about the disconnect in look and color scheme between the portrait and the in world avatar (such as not being able to get hair close to what you want, or color schemes not matching and stuff). That's not something that crops up with the 3D portraits.

While I think it'd be neat to not have the traditional races, I'm not sure it'd ultimately "break" me if I saw Elves and Dwarves and Halflings women with beards because of a lack of resources (heheh IWD2, I

Got to say...I think I have no opinion on this. Most relationships in RPGs are perfunctory or forced upon you (I couldn't create a character with a family, for example, or a family is forced upon me). So in that sense I don't mind romances but don't really need them either.

I've seen Chess classified as a sport. I never would do so, again to me the dividing line is what is the competition about - Chess competition isn't about physical movement, ie the winner isn't decided by who made the most deft pawn advancement.

Thanks; I didn't have that experience, but I suppose we all view things differently. Maybe it helped that I've read part of the book series...?

Is that from the Great Gatsby? From the Django Unchained Trailer (about 1:20) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUdM9vrCbow

I...actually don't remember.

Chess and table tennis would beg to differ. No, I'm of the opinion that the term sport has become so diluted as to become meaningless, so it doesn't matter where it's used. If hopping up and down on a horse can be considered a sport, anything can. Chess isn't a sport. Table Tennis is. Sport should be classed as competitive physical activities. Note that while there is physical activity in chess (and in video gaming most of which involves moving the arm in chess or the hands in video games), I think the litmus test is whether its the physical activity iteself that is being competitive. In other words Table Tennis pitting two players' hand-eye coordination and skill with the paddle can be a sport but the competition in chess isn't the skill with which one moves ones knights or how one elegantly handles a castle move. At least that's the way I see it. Anyhow esport or competitive gaming holds no interest to me; I've generally found playing with people I don't know well to be a fruitless endeavor at best. But then I play games for my own entertainment, not to prove I'm the best at it.

yeah the rating areas show up on the pawns I use, but its all empty and there doesn't seem to be a way (or point) to me adding such.

Same as her other movies, gotcha. Lol, I think this is the first movie I've seen with her in it. *checks credits* Nope I saw her in Cold Creek Manor, but that was almost 10 years ago and I can barely remember that movie much less the small part she'd have had. Well to be fair

Sorry about that. My Pawn is a mage all the way so far. Possibly thinking about making her a sorcerer, but I'm also thinking of doing sorcerer for a few levels to level up my overall magic, but haven't decided yet. With being totally offline, are their just random pawns walking around? I'm not quite how that works. Yeah there are computer created Pawns just wandering around or hireable in the rift. They don't level up, whatever items you equip them with are gifts but their non-equiped inventory goes to storage when they're removed from the party.