From what I can tell of the gameplay, imagine that the combat is basically the exact same as 7, except you have freedom of movement rather than everybody standing in lines. So sort of like 12. That's my guess until we know better.

As for episodic, I doubt it's going to be standalone episodes. It's probably going to be more like telltale episodes, ending at major points in the story or possibly even cliffhangers. I could easily see all of the 'escape from Midgard' of disc 1 being the first episode, and you don't even get to see the 'open world' until episode 2 or later. It also wouldn't make sense if your stats and inventory and stuff didn't carry over from previous episodes.

I just hope they don't pull a half life and do like 2 episodes and then never finish. =P

Sort of like 12... Hmm... Maybe. I agree that we'll have to wait and see. The glimpse we had offered little more than an opportunity to speculate.

I can see the "Starcraft 2 model" working as long as save files carry over, which I can't see how that would be difficult (think Mass Effect or earlier Dragon Ages). Even if you buy the later installments, the game can offer a default save file that offers slighly less inventory and weaker stats than what you would have had if you played the previous game.

And yeah VALVe really made a mistake marketing the episodic model. So many conflicting statements made about the benefits of the episodic model, mistakes learned from why you don't do the "episode previews," and eventually abandoning it altogether (and by now VALVe must realize they can't do Episode 3 since too much time has passed). I mean, I'm sure it inspired point and click adventures to adopt the model successfully. While games like Alone in the Dark and SiN screwed it up horrifically (SiN only screwed up because the company chose mobile gaming and abandoned the PC development completely, so it was doomed regardless of how well SiN Episodes: Emergence sold).

Good chat Thortok2000. Always happy to have discussions like this.

Agreed, good chat. ^_^