Didn't Larian also make the Realms of Arkania (under a different name). If so then they have quite a heritage so DD is fairly far down their development timeline. Of course I could be thinking of someone else.
Attic Entertainment. Different folks, with a team led by the estimable Guido Henkel (who also was Project Leader for Planescape: Torment until a couple of months before release).
Anyway to address a few points. Alchemy really doesn't do anything for me as it is. It's so basic it's no different to buying/finding a potion.
Agreed. But it isn't a major feature of the game.
Let me add that KOTOR whilst looking great was kind of RPG lite I feel. Thankfully the sequel looks to have greater depth and at least turning the your teammates evil!
The important thing isn't turning your teammates evil, but whether the field of actions you can take increase, and whether these actions have repercussions. Five dialogs that lead back to the same dialog tree trunk are useless. Turning your teammates evil so they can snarl better and attack good guys won't amount to much, unless it opens up different abilities, different goals, and different rewards.
Betrayal at Kondor was dialogue lite, but it had so much freedom it was amazing really, especially when you consider its age.
"When you consider its age"? Though far leaner on visual options, at least a few earlier games had far greater options because they were designed before the air-tight boxes of modern, consolidated game publishers were built. Check out Chris Crawford's 1980s titles, for instance, and his extraordinary ability to create quickly shifting alliances and emotions among AI players. Or Will Wright's first SimCity. Or Garriott's Ultima VII. Or Jim Gasparini's complex Hidden Agenda, with its uncanny ability to mimic the tensions and complexities of Central American culture.
[b]Chapter 1 in BaK for example could be done very quickly or you could spend an age exploring, and it made sense in game terms to do so.[/b}
BaK was a remarkable game, no question. Unfortunately, the team that made it was fired right after the game was released by a Dynamix Vice President who had argued endlessly with the Project Leader. But the game itself did so many things right. Interestingly, none of 'em had to do with the creater of the Krondor books, who stayed aloof from the project. He only got involved in Return to Krondor--and sadly enough, insisted upon a much more stereotypical magic system. The assembly line production of AD&D strikes again!
