Well Nakia, it really depends on how it translates on your screen. I have a 17" screen and the text is definitely too small. It's not that bad as far as dialogue is concerned but managing inventory and reading the journal entries may strain your eyesight. It probably works better on a larger screen but I really can't tell. Besides there is no UI mod that I know of that makes the text larger (I would gladly use it). The UI mod I've found makes it more immersive by taking many things away (definitely not something one should use for a first run). Regarding graphics, it's not that bad as you can enable captions for objects and characters you can interact with (the drawback is that it tends to get a bit crowded at some points).

Fake Scottish accents tend to get a bit boring, that's for sure. It's not as much as American accents being suited for Elves and Dwarves as having some sensible art direction that makes the way accents are distributed more coherent. If humans in Ferelden spoke with a large variety of accents it would have to represent existing social and geographical specificities. British accents in that respect have the advantage of classifying people. Hence a Fereldan lord won't talk like a commoner. American accents don't work in the same way and are perhaps too diverse. I think that the gruff American accent of Oghren suits him perfectly for instance. It makes him sound like a badass (or a fratboy) and that didn't work in the same way for the Witcher Geralt of Rivia IMO. Geralt's American accent clashed too much with other characters whereas Oghren's accent is consistent with him being a Dwarf in the DAO setting. In any case it's not worse than the fake French accents for the Orlesians in DAO. I say fake because they are the stereotyped version of how English speakers would imitate a French accent (the real French accent would probably be worse, trust me). Still, I like how Leliana talks, the voice actress must have worked really hard on keeping a distinctly French accent while talking good English (I hate when French actresses who can't talk proper English are cast in big budget Hollywood movies -Juliette Binoche being an exception as she really can act in English).

Things aren't that bad Celtic Dream! In other games Dwarves are a bit like Santa's little helpers whereas in DAO they are the most fearsome fighters and the coolest (and weirdest) characters. Think about the facial tattoos, the Provings, the Legion of the Dead, the Silent Sisters... Dwarves in DAO rule. Besides, female Dwarves are not bearded ladies like in old IE games (if you looked at their avatars), in DAO they can be hot.

As for the Alistair/Zevran mix, it's a chimera. Why is it that girls want their perfect guy to be a sensitive fellow (probably too sensitive as far as Alistair is concerned) AND a take charge kind of man at the same time? It's just like guys who want their girls to be both needy and independent (so they can go out for drinks with their mates and know someone is waiting for them at home but won't make a scene when they come back at 2AM reeking of beer).

What I find really ironic is that Alistair has a very strong feminine side while Zevran is definitely more manly. Given their sexual orientations and the way they look, it's not what one would have expected but then once again, given their characters and histories it makes a lot of sense.

So you don't like Elijah Wood? I'm not fond of his acting and truth be told he gives me the creeps. It's not natural to look like a thirteen-year-old kid when you're almost thirty. It's downright creepy.

You should definitely check it out.

Despite what I've been ranting about it's still a very good game (if you don't mind monster hunting and taking your time to find out more about NPCs, quests and the rest). The story is very good (although you're limited to playing one character). The music is probably the best (along with the original Fallout and Arcanum) -except for a few tracks that sound way too modern to me.

The overall feel of the game is quite good actually as far as realism is concerned. It doesn't look like just another rendition of a random medieval setting (think Martin Lawrence in the Black Knight). If anything, The Witcher looks more medieval than DAO. Just take a look at some concept art for the game and you'll see what I mean. I grew up near an old castle and I can say that they definitely got the architectural details right in The Witcher.

All this make the lapses in the dialogues all the more glaring though. I don't know whether this has to do with the translation and if the original lines are any better. I just feel that those unfortunate lines feel like they're straight from some random TV series (like Hercules).

To be fair, DAO is not better when it comes to lines that feel as if they're straight from some Hollywood movie (and I don't mean that in a good way). At times some lines remind me of the worst buddy movie comments from The Lord of The Rings -the movie- like the dwarf tossing line or the "you're late" comment...

Such snide remarks tend to cheapen the whole thing and turn it out into a Joss Whedon script which is not bad for a Joss Whedon piece (in which characters are more preoccupied about their badass look than they are about anything else) but which is pretty bad when it comes to The Lord of The Rings (but Peter Jackson obviously thought he knew better how to tie the story together and thought he could improve Tolkien's work when all he did was introducing some major plot holes and inconsistencies not to mention terribly cheap lines like the dwarf tossing one). What I found most amusing was that he had the gall to criticize Willow when he (knowingly or not) imitated it on more than one occasions (the tavern scene in the first movie and the Gandalf vs Saruman fight which looked a lot like the fight between Fin Raziel and Bavmorda -I don't know why Jackson got rid of the "saruman the many colored" scene, it's just one example in a long series of stupid choices resulting from a really bad interpretation of the book. A much better version can be seen in the cartoon:

Lyon didn't play its A game and the Bayern ruled the game after they scored. I hope the next game will be better though.

Time to go back to Orzammar!

Well, I'm off to see the game. My fingers hurt really bad right now.

They don't make movies like this anymore. If you can ignore the costumes and focus on the story you may enjoy it. I first watched it thinking it would be something that would be easy to mock but there is a certain depth to it. You just need some willing suspension of disbelief to enjoy what it has to offer.

Of course it doesn't hurt if you're into science fiction from the 60s or the 70s or if you liked Excalibur or other movies by John Boorman.

Thanks man, that's reassuring, for a moment I thought there was something wrong with me.

That's right, the "out of bullets" line was awesome (the one after he used the car to crash the helicopter).