Thanks for your thoughtful response. That's what I created this thread for (besided giving Larian direct feedback). I agree with most of what you've written (not with every detail) and I think your passage about general game design is a very important one in this whole discussion. The first and foremost question in game development should always be whether the game and its mechanics are fun and entertaining or not and because of which reasons and not if you fit into a certain overal thinking pattern or genre. Of course you can't always cater to everyone's taste but at least you try to make a "round" experience. That's what we are all talking about. How to make the experience even rounder and more "homogenic". I agree that this whole hardcore/old-sohool vs modern/casual doesn't help much in the discussion and even does the discussion a dissservice by leading to more dogmatic conflicts instead of talking about certain game mechnics with a more open-minded attitude. It's perfectly valid to criticise a lacking map or the exact opposite but that should always happen in respect to the whole game design and of course based on personal tastes instead of dogmatic category thinking (ala this has to be that way because it's a game of genre X).
