Quick lunch post. I haven't been keeping up with the thread, so I don't know if everyone has moved on from dissing the writing quality or not. I find it pulpy and ridden with cliches. Not infrequent loredumps. Companions feel stereotypical and over-the-top, and most are rather predictably hiding a terrible secret. (Even Regill, whose military pragmatism I really liked in the limited exposure we had to him in the alpha, seems to have turned into a one dimensional ultra-disciplinarian.) The mortal traitors are harboring almost ludicrously awful grievances. Prominent pozzed characters add a new layer of annoyance. But as a longtime enjoyer of the fantasy genre I see pulpiness as integral to the genre. And it isn't all pulp, imo. For instance, Staunton's dynamic with Minagho and with his brother was complicated and interesting. Although you're forced to interact with the pozzed npcs, you're given several opportunities to humiliate some of them - if you're small and petty and that's your thing (I am and it most certainly is my thing.) For the time being I am liking the writing. Constant loading screens are a much bigger fail.