|
drat...I feel like I'm playing an IE game again with more interesting stories and characters with some reminiscent of Torment and Mask of the Betrayer. This time around the story feels more social as well as individual thanks to the clever implementation of "soul" factor, which naturally lets the players to think about what "actually" happened by gathering the fragments of individual, subjective stories (or even just images) and decide what they should do. Also, for anybody who played IE games, choose the hard mode-didn't even touch the normal mode but the hard mode feels just right to my memory of the old games. I stopped gathering info of the game once I was convinced that the backer beta was on the right track and left the revising task to the devs and those who come up with their actual play footage even if their opinions/tastes are different from mine more less, which is nothing but normal when we are talking of RPGs. So, I thought there wouldn't be a surprise but, honestly, I'm pretty surprised by the lack of bugs I found in my play so far. There was really minor ones such as path-finding-it's not rare to trigger traps even if my party found them, not mentioning micro-managing during combat. Also, quick option swapping list during combat gets wanky at times while I can have no problem in swapping them. However, these things are so minor that any IE veteran would find a way or another to deal with them. All in all, the game works pretty fine thanks to the efforts of testers both inside and outside Obsidian. Just dropped by to thank you everybody who was involved with this project. You are now giving me a hard time in finding time to get the time to play.
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2015 05:16
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 14:07 |
|
|
I couldn't but notice some people telling that the guns are always superior than the bows but did they try the bows on casters? This is also the communication problem since if you look into logs, you will most likely not to see the difference but try to hover your mouse on hostile casters-you will see they are wasting their time on trying to cast spells but unable to finish it before they fall. The added charm for PoE is that the equipment choices matters more and I do change equipment often depending on the opponents. From such viewpoint, I think inventory should have been optimized as such. Indeed, some backers went for nostalgia but, for this system, I don't think the inventory system is well suited. Hopefully, the devs would come up with better inventory system in the future. The weapon slot restriction is nice but I found it quite troublesome when I'm trying to equip the party members better equipment for each encounter. The underlying issue is similar to that of politics-while the devs may see best solutions but, communication goes always wrong since while the devs have a "bird's eye view" from a mountain top, the players only see things from the foot of the same mountain. Even if the devs wished for better like a platonic philosopher king, unlike real world politicians, things could go wrong. I know the devs feel bitter at times and even ropekid complained of it occasionally (a recent example is about the implementation of the stronghold) although he has a soft spot for 1986 film "The Mission." I do appreciate what the devs have been trying to achieve and, personally, at least so far, I'm very happy with my investment-both time and money on this project. So, please be patient with us and put our blame on the communication.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 1, 2015 09:00
|
|
|
Finished the game but yet to conquer the optional boss fight. One of the things I didn't like about IE games is that the players needed to rely on cheesy approaches (not tactics in my book...) when fighting against Kangaxx (even at normal difficulty). So, I kind of expected ropekid to avoid this but the fight against the toughest enemy (No Spoiler but you knew it when you fought against it) in PoE is too much based on random factor. If it chose to do the deadly attack, then, the party will be wiped out except a few characters, which made me reload quite a few time now. From where I'm standing, this is basically gambling on the enemy AI behavior. I searched the net a bit...well, some call it "trial and error" but, to my eyes, it's just gambling once more or less cheesy approaches are optimized and I thought ropekid was not into gambling. If this is going to be fixed in a future patch, I'd rather refrain myself from wasting my time on this particular fight. Don't misunderstand me, I think the game is very good and I didn't even have a problem with the end game boss fight on hard (I learned to use some consumables, here, though) but the optional boss fight feels silly-not because I'm kicked my rear end out but because I believe the game finally failed to keep the difficulty level without making it relying to much on luck or cheesy approaches. I know the fight is optional and I'm on hard mode. Then again, ropekid told that he had optimized the game balance on hard mode. About the story, it's not bad at all but I couldn't but feel that Obsidian are doing the similar theme from their past games. IMO, it's much more mature than that FR gods began to walk on earth since they were scolded by their boss and yet somehow traditional, mixing polytheistic tradition of bigger existences messing around with human politics, dating back to Greek tragedies with the hint of witch hunting and the technology unique to Eora called animancy. By mature, I mean it managed to make traditional themes more or less convincint to modern audiences. I may have played too many games by them but, somehow, the story felt familiar to me, which is probably rather luxury. There was even an interactive narrative style established from Sith Lord, where the lightsaber color "accidentally " matches what is depicted by the protagonist-a similar technique was applied when the game lets the players tell about the Watcher's "past"-relationship with fixed NPCs. Furism posted:I was in Caed Nua, clicked to fast travel to Twin Elms. I get a notification that the Undead Army was about to attack Caed Nua. I travel back, and now it's too late As for stronghold in general, I'm still on the side of thanking the devs for not making it necessary to clear the game. However, I eventually put my excess money on it since I began to be annoyed by the interface constantly gives me messages about how much money the fortes was robbed and I felt guilt about ignoring it. BTW, does anyone know why Black and White Cat is tagged as "the Cutest Cat" when the tab key is hit? I started with the backer special pets but, somehow, I ended up with jangling cats. Also, I wonder why ropekid didn't slip in his late rabbit as a pet.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2015 16:05
|
|
|
Jon Do posted:I dunno about all that, but the encounter you're talking about is pretty bullshit. I didn't really figure out how to cheese it, I just went back out and finished the game.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2015 16:14
|
|
|
@Jon Do It's just a single fight on whole the game but it puzzled me after communicating with ropekid. Also, if I have to repeat again, I'm happy with the game itself, of course, though. @Kajeesus If it used the attack only once, then, I'd say, you are very lucky. I just gave it up since I found it nothing more than gambling, if I have to expect the AI to choose the other attacks.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
Kajeesus posted:The game does do a pretty weak job communicating it, but your character is supposed to be slowly going insane. It doesn't come up in any sidequests, and if you're the average player, the vast majority of your playtime is spent in sidequests. When you see ropekid as a lead, the story tends to feel rather dry compared with the tone of your usual fantasy materials. So, there was no surprise there. His characters tend to feel distant but convincing. Personally, I like how PoE depicted the lives and the thoughts of ordinary people in the imaginary setting. However, I understand if some people find the main story less dramatic. Then again, I'm tired of fantasy materials since they tend to be overly dramatic with characters full of themselves. If there are emotional factors, I'd like it to be more of Torment rather than comic villeins in over-used fantasy RPGs whether they are Japanese or Western. Also, as some people pointed out, the protagonist is tied with the main story through his/her ability as a "watcher", which keeps some room for the players to imagine their own protagonist, compared with something like Torment, where the protagonist has more fixated background. Although I think the story of Torment is much memorable than usual fantasy RPGs, many found its main theme is redemption while PoE tries to give more space for the players to interpret with the cost of less drama. Basically, I feel ropekid is avoiding putting specific story on players and seems to like a style which lets the world tell its story while the players gradually explore it like the example of Darklands. As a side note, in PoE, there are some Avellone characters who have more emotional content. So, I've gotten an impression that, quite contrary to the title of this thread, I feel, with PoE, ropekid tried to balance between his own ideal and the demands of the majority of fantasy RPGamers. Personally, It think he is successful in making the story tolerable for those who played IE games in their younger days.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2015 02:32
|
|
|
Read the path 1.05 note. Some UI improvements such as item sorting sounds great. Judging from the fact that the patch note doesn't even mention the boss fight and even weakened some abilities such as petrification and paralysis, I guess the fight design is intentional. I think that weakening these abilities is the right choice, though. Thanks you, those who wrote about the tricks although I had done my search task and figured out how it generally works (just respecting other people's time by trying not to ask random questions without doing some basic researches, here). What kept me reluctant is rather archaic hardcore gamer question: once the base tactics is established, it becomes a routine and, at the end of the day, it goes down to how much time I'd like to sacrifice on executing the routine. This may sound funny for words from an exclusively single player gamer, but I'd like computers do the routine for me than I'm doing it for computers. Guess I'll avoid the fight since I find myself not that hardcore-I have no intention to even touch Path of the Damned at all, after all. Just thank the designers for leaving it optional.2house2fly posted:He also did a bunch of the Lore and world building and probably had at least some influence over the main story. I think there's a similar vibe in PoE to New Vegas; it isn't all big and flashy but the game world builds interest because there's clearly a lot of thought put into it and you keep finding little things that are part of the larger whole. It feels consistent, like a place where people live. rope kid posted:We discussed who wanted to write which character. I wanted to write Pallegina because she was from a neighboring area and could give a local-outsider take on what was going on, politically. Rauatai and Naasitaq are too far away to have intimate stakes in what happens with animancy in the Dyrwood, but the Vailian Republics are right next door. I liked writing a character whose physical differences were both a benefit and (mostly) a hindrance to her. She just wants to serve her country, but aside from the ducs and the ambassador, people can't help but make her appearance/the circumstances of her birth a inescapable part of conversations. Also, because I knew I wouldn't have much time to spend writing, Pallegina appearing later in the game was helpful. As for Paladin class in general, there were discussions about Paladin class but, basically, it comes down to the class' strength is not that obvious since it tends to be "modal" and basically it's designed as front-line support class. Also, there was no class symbolic items such as Holy Avenger. However, the designers put an offensive ability called "Flames of Devotion," based on board feedback. As usual, internet boards get nasty at times but I think the designers made use of them quite well to avoid hard-landing. Rascyc posted:Aloth is probably the one that annoys people the most due to the low'ish might but eh.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2015 07:10
|
|
|
@3Romeo http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/105-patch-beta-bugs-and-support/ @Comstar I've gotten an impression that your resolution setting may not be optimized for your monitor. Go to Option>Graphics Check "Resolution" section at the top If you are not sure of your monitor size, go to this site and look for "Screen Size" section. If you are sure/find that nothing is wrong, you may like to report it as a bug.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2015 04:14
|
|
|
Scorchy posted:So I think this is a pretty fool-proof way to beat last boss in the Endless Paths without relying on luck, scrolls, traps, landing a petrify or other normal cheese stuff. I tried a bunch of other stuff but this seems to be the most reliable. The only thing it needs is a Chanter with level 3 summons.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2015 12:01
|
|
|
ProfessorCirno posted:What I want from PoE 2 is for it to be kinda more specific about some stuff. If you're gonna have a stronghold, give it some in-game space. Right now the stronghold is at an iffy spot between BG2 (totally ignorable) and NWN2 (actual major plot point). I dunno what sorta reviews Obsidian got for NWN2 about it's stronghold; maybe some people really hated it being a major in-game plot point? But I'd take it over the PoE stronghold a thousand times. Likewise make enchanting a bigger deal if you're going to have it at all. Right now it's really generic; 90% of the time I use it, it boils down to "better make this thing's Quality go up and give it fire." It's ALSO stuck in this weird spot where I assume you didn't want unique enchantments that non-enchanter characters would miss, but enchanter oriented players in turn get nothing really special. It really lacks the "cool factor." Nothing in enchanting makes you go "poo poo, yes, that's awesome!" Comstar posted:why there aren't intelligent weapons that are someone's soul IN the weapon or armour. Or weapons that Animancers injected souls into. Sea Otter fucked around with this message at 16:30 on May 12, 2015 |
|
#
¿
May 12, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
About possible enchantment implementations, quite many choices in this game is set in stone at the first decision making. At one point, the devs talked of PC respec but they seem to have changed their mind. Indeed, some people didn't seem to happy with the idea. Making in-word economy generous softens it to some extent but it takes time for the players to grasp in-world economy till they spend some time on the game, which can keep some of them hesitant before spending money on some costly choices. So, I asked for a system which allows the players to respec enchantment like The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky although some people seem to have mistaken the suggestion as if I were asking for the exact same system. I understand some people hate respecing in general but it would be nice if there are a middle ground area which let the players experiment a bit with no or low cost. Leinadi posted:I think the combat in the game still feels a bit repetitive and... well, I feel there could be less of it in many areas. So some of the main problems linger for sure, but yeah, if you find Hard too easy and *want* a harder challenge then I'd highly recommend trying the game out on PotD. To me, it feels like "how it's supposed to be played" basically. As for alternative lines for party member deaths or knock-downs, indeed, although I play with 0 knock-down policy, I couldn't but notice that party companions over-reacting at every single death of summons. However, alternative voice-overs won't come free. 
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2015 08:53
|
|
|
Gort posted:Compared to Baldur's Gate, the number of abilities you need to trigger per combat is much higher - even the lowly fighter class gets a couple of knockdowns. Generally speaking, in this game, while micromanagement-related positioning is basically fixated on defenders/attackers divisions, or more plainly, tanking, the players are able to customize the extent of ability-based micromanagement much freely than the older IE games. IMHO, this latter characteristic lets the game feel more akin to turn-based game especially when we pause as we like while the former fixation on tanking probably made those who played the old games with constant positioning unhappy.
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2015 10:40
|
|
|
Yeah, although I'm not a mod myself, it feels like mod task-I think (hope?) PoE managed to make enough denominator to keep decent mod base. BTW, talking of the AI, does anybody have an idea on why the devs made the range of rods/wands 10m, which is shorter than 12 m or the range of (cross)bows while they indeed made the range of magic longer. This 2m contributes the back-row characters constantly break the formation by trying to reach their effective ranges, which obstinately requires routine-ish micromanagement at my end. AI evaluation between attack and formation may be nice but I've gotten an impression that this is probably solved simply by adjusting the ranges. Nycticeius posted:There would be some situational conditions I'd love to have automated (like endurance regen spells on low endurance). I remember a mod that came out for Dragon Age Origins that greatly expanded upon the AI scripts available. Which was awesome.
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2015 12:59
|
|
|
@Nycticeius I think you are right. In any case, it's one of the occasions where I feel the AI is plotting against me.  @Furism Thank you. Since I haven't played DA;I, I was wondering if the motivation was genuine or not. Well, I'm glad I supported this project. And yeah, PoE priests are basically for support, which can change the tide both subtly or directly rather than just healing.
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2015 13:53
|
|
|
Enjoyed the documentary, too. Not much of new info and I think I've got many more info through browsing but it's nice to see how lives of the game designers in action. I may sound less grateful at times, which, however, is simply because I don't have to mention the better part of their games. rope kid posted:All that said, respec systems can be a little tricky, especially when the system allows the addition of abilities/talents/perks, etc. outside of leveling. So it does take time to implement. As for the late balancing issue, I didn't notice it. Partly because I didn't pay much attention to the stronghold options, I hadn't know the bounties till I read the update. Also, since days of IE games, I think I unconsciously balance my game through force-marching. In PoE, the party members are normally under fatigue effects. In any case, this seems to have been the most excessive rewards regarding the stronghold. After playing PoE, personally, I don't mind if the stronghold is not optional as long as it won't require me to go back there. Reading some comments, I feel it can be different things depending on the players. Is that a base where the players can go back and decorate for fun or does it also have some convenient functions benefiting the core gameplay? Or is it an integrated interface for more top-down economy management simulation system? I'm not a great fan of traveling back and forth between the base and quest destinations (while tiring my party members)-The fatigue element and stronghold don't go hand in hand in this game. Also, if the base has too convenient functions for adventures, it may feel like forced on. However, these functions can be separated. So, how about just letting the players invest their excess money on the world economy through the interface, which wouldn't be so annoying since it can be done on the move? Also, quite many base management options can be replaced as a camp management ones such as resting benefits. So, why not let the players access all the options related with stronghold through the interface anytime while keeping those who want to have the base hub enjoy the pure cosmetics by actually going back to the stronghold, time to time? A tricky part is the occasional attacks (BTW, did anyone actually enjoy it? For I found it quite distracting), but, if it is translated into random encounters on the move, for example, it probably gives another layer naturally mixed into the gameplay. Sea Otter fucked around with this message at 05:09 on May 23, 2015 |
|
#
¿
May 23, 2015 03:53
|
|
|
What I want from the difficulty is to keep the game play interesting. If "challenge" means that I need resort to rely on a specific tactics/strategy especially routinely (traditionally cheap summon tactic, for instance), it would make the game less interesting to me. If I crank up the difficulty, it simply means I need more tension. Pretty subjective indeed but I think it's the charm/luxury of a single player game, where I can play my own game in my own term without social annoyances including vanity-I can be thoroughly honest to myself. So, it's very natural for me to make full use of the feature of IE games, where I choose a moderate difficulty level (admittedly no PotD player here) and force-march till my party cannot fight any longer since it keeps the game play tense without locking out from tactical choices available especially when I let my party rest fully. Kanos posted:I don't really get the point of travel/time fatigue besides as a waste of the player's time. As for resource management in general, I'm puzzled by Expert mode hiding some info since I think it's mainly for immersion rather than difficulty. As long as I am concerned, what I wanted to see was just additional layer(s) of resource management. If it is done properly, it can keep tension. That said, it should be offered as options rather than forced on every single player. For my own interest, I simply need a resource management mode and related options would be enough. However, for those who would like to have more elaborate stronghold gameplay, they may want independent difficulty options related with it. This would also prevent them from stepping on the toes of those who are not interested in stronghold game-play. There is a game called Dragon Commander by Larian, which, in fact, made tactical and strategic gameplays step on their toes each other by mixing both factors-Swen himself admitted this. Then again, IMO, I think it would save development resources if the stronghold options are translated into camp options and thus integrated into resource management options. Rascyc posted:I dunno if this answers your question but I was combing the old archived thread for a bit and found a ropekid quote on respecs that may answer you
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2015 21:48
|
|
|
Codex review gave me an impression that the writer didn't follow the development process closely-even at my level. Quite many outcomes were pretty predictable based on the general design decisions-either it stems from designers, backer preferences or potential market. The "potential market" is common sense and I wouldn't have to add it if the reviewer hadn't chosen the normal difficulty. It's already recommended from different sources that IE game players should play at hard difficulty, which is normal mode equivalent for them. If the game is played at normal difficulty with frequent rests, it must be quite underwhelming. That said, personally, I'm surprised by the encumbrance restriction and item degradation of the Witcher 3, which is often regarded as a hardcore factor, didn't seem to enrage many people. Then again, the game's forte is, I think, the hand-crafted world/quests like PoE. It's obvious that CD Projekt RED had worked hard by modestly learning from different games and dealing with criticisms on the past works. The world feels detailed and even minor characters can be related to. The latter part makes the game more emotionally engage-able compared with PoE. The two factors are synergic since it's the absurdity of the world (in camusian sense) which works as a common medium between the players and the imaginary characters, either it is called pathos or catharsis.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2015 03:08
|
|
|
rope kid posted:Many people compare the Witcher 3 to other Witcher games or TES games, not IE games. There are different expectations (or an absence of expectations). Anyway, it's not a big secret that the players can be partial to a certain gameplay and that the designers have to be cautious when introducing a new gameplay to an established genre. This even dates back to the reactions when you came up with an idea of lock-picking mini game into the Black Hound (or was it Van Buren?). You tried the official interplay board first and came to here probably to see how different audiences would react. I think NV hardcore mode/ropekid mod did a good job in introducing additional gameplay factor without upsetting FO3 crowd, which made me wonder why you didn't do the same or similar approach in PoE, for example, allowing the players to turn on/off resource management options such as rest frequency. There is, of course, Expert mode but, as I wrote before, I feel it puts different factors in one box. Furism posted:Most people probably don't care, but since the game has been released now I'm cutting off the Dev Tracker website. It was mostly a side project to test some stuff (using PoE as a good topic) and now that's done.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2015 02:36
|
|
|
I was wondering why they didn't use Durgan steel setting in crafting and, in a recent interview, ropekid mentioned stronghold but just as a possible future implementation. However, multi-classing came as surprise, well, at least, to me. Wonder if the monk companion is Forton or something based on him.Rascyc posted:Please take confusion/charm/dominate out in the expansion, yeah!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2015 12:51
|
|
|
A new option may be to wait till the expansion comes out with the higher level cap. Compared with some people around here, I haven't put much effort/time till the AI favors, which made me feel like I'm playing with a slot machine than a fight which encourages me to optimize tactics, or tried cheese tactics around the net. Also, I realized to have missed all the bounty fights given through the stronghold. I simply froze my save after fighting it and had never touched the game since. Also, this makes me wonder-the new expansion may allow the players to decide if they want the enemies in the new areas to be scaled or not but, won't this make the enemies in the old areas rather underwhelming for those who started the game after introducing the expansion? This may sound odd considering the dragon fight but she was an exception although I haven't fought against bounties. About attributes and mind-controlling spells, As a side note, considering the climate of the new areas, probably, Eder will end up with fighting against the temptation of petting fluffy animals. I wonder if I could give him a level of ranger to let him have his own companion (shame that there is no way for us to hear him calling the name of his companion). Sea Otter fucked around with this message at 08:17 on Jun 19, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jun 19, 2015 07:32
|
|
|
DrShevek posted:The best PoE review that may never be published: Engagement, Engaging? I agree with the point about the enemy varieties but, oddly, in my own play-through, I found the end game dungeon was full of teleporting enemies. Bring Your Own Camping Supplies I agree with this one-I'm repeating again and again but I don't know why the devs didn't let the players choose different difficulties, customizing their gameplays depending on their game play preferences for each group who like resource management and one who think that is just a hindrance and waste of time. That said, the devs are most likely to have left the option of how often they rest/reload up to each player.-I remember Irenicus' dungeon but I guess force-marched through it. The same thing happened in PoE. So, while I know I can just track back, I simply didn't do it. Instead, I probably reload a lot compared with average players. I'd like to play each fight with tension and risk but I don't like to repeat the same areas. Also, I'd like the "Vanican" system to have its weight. Rock, Paper, Fireball/The Active, the Passive, and the Modal I think this is quite a hard problem to solve in the given format. BG2 was way heavily on mages while PoE disperse the weight on different units. I wonder how things will get in higher levels, where each class will have more abilities. One of the keys would be to give the players enough attractive options for passive/modal abilities. Stealth, Needs Work This is problematic since the stealth is given as skill and skills seem originally supposed to have not direct impact on combat. Backstab is more or less fun ability than practical, too. Something like making Shadowing Beyond per encounter may work but, in that case, the abilities will feel as a pair. Balance In All Attributes I'd say this is a balanced review about the ability scores. Something Old, Something New Just one point. Wizards and druids may be interchangeable in PoE but how about druids and priest in older games? Lackluster Skills I've gotten an impression that some skills would have significant role in PotD, too. In any case, skills are not assigned well, falling in the middle of combat/non-combat fields, IMHO. Items, Crafting, and Enchanting Besides the implementation of the stronghold, it's another aspect which is criticized as not fully developed but I think the devs are doing something in the upcoming expansion. The devs were thinking about an additional funding campaign but, instead, seem to have decided to complete unfinished businesses in expansions. Considering "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Kickstarter" part and some people who have difficulty in ignoring the backer content, I think they came up with a better option. Interplay of Content and Mechanics/Difficulty Curve This makes me think that, at least, there should be a level scaling or some kind of compromise, at least in the main plot, after all. I wonder what will happen in the game with the expansion if players start the new game. IIRC, it allows the players to choose level-scaled version in the new areas but what will happen in the old areas?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2015 06:57
|
|
|
If someone waited this much, how about waiting more? If you are into dialogue, there are additional characters coming with the expansion. That said, the line of thinking such as dialogue-build can end up with rather disappointing any way since it's not like PST or something else which dramatically increase the dialogues depending on builds. PoE dialogues are more or less offering subtle variations rather than dramatic effects on different builds.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2015 07:38
|
|
|
@Volume I agree that the negative one is more to the point than the old positive one at that site. Now thinking about it, probably, putting these extreme reviews would be the style of the boards, which tends to add fuel. However, if you are not so frequent net users especially focused on this particular topic, then, the fair and balanced review would be a good read.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2015 08:12
|
|
|
One of the things that keep me wondering is how these "soulbound weapons" work. Partly because the backer content, there are not so many weapons which let the players feel attached to special weapons. Some people told how they miss the special weapons such as Holy Avengers, Lilarcor and Crom Faeyr. No mention about crafting system update, so, I guess they are most likely to be special weapons which feel more woven to the main plot and the protagonist, which could explain why the devs seem to be tight-lipped with the actual presentation of them.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2015 04:51
|
|
|
rope kid posted:We weren't really tight-lipped about soulbound weapons. We talked about them at length during our presentations. rope kid posted:* Examining one shows that they are a soulbinding weapon and lists what classes it can bind to. In place of an Enchant button, they have a button to bind the weapon to the soul of the character whose inventory it is currently in. If a class isn't on the binding list, it can't be bound to that character. Binding doesn't mean the character is forced to use or equip that weapon, but while it's bound to the character, they're the only one who can use it and advance its powers. You can sever the binding if you like, but you will lose all progress on the weapon (it warns you of this).
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2015 06:15
|
|
|
DrShevek posted:So, if enough of these soulbound weapons are made, the player will have plenty of options. Edit:Beaten by ropekid himself :P
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2015 06:40
|
|
|
DrShevek posted:I think a better solution is to make the player pay a crap ton of cash to reforge the weapon into something else. It just doesnt seem right to outright subvert the character building choices a player makes.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2015 07:04
|
|
|
Yeah, I thought it was obvious considering what the devs have been doing, which is one of the reasons why I believed in this project although I'll definitely find a new thing to complain of in the expansion, too (I hope I won't sound thankless because of the "rinse and repeat", which I consider GM and the players interactions). As for IWD series feel, there may be ways to make the area isolated such as affecting on party conditions but this won't be a popular option. Indeed, IWD series felt it less convincing that the characters walk through the snow-heavy areas but, probably, in that case, I should be playing a different game or climbing snowed mountains.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2015 07:43
|
|
|
As for resource management, one of the places where I lost the track of devs thought. Some people felt the spirit eater system and its resource management forced on them in Mask of the Betrayer. So, I thought rope kid came up with Hardcore mode in New Vegas, by which he managed to secure these players from the "nuisance". Then, with this game, he seems to have forgotten about it and have put the combat difficulty and resource management mini game in the same box. BTW, is Goldrot Chew yet to work? About the friendly fire system, the devs are caught in the middle of conflicting opinions of the players. Rope kid, in fact, seem to have liked to do away with friendly fire but some people didn't like it. The final outcome of red and yellow circles are a middle ground after the trial and error but I do think it's not only unfriendly to some players but also the AI, either. The stronghold implementation is another example. While some players liked to see more of stronghold, some others didn't like it to be forced on. The devs couldn't but give the players abundant money without decent other money-sink candidates since, otherwise, when some people chose to invest on stronghold construction, it would put them in obvious disadvantage since it's a huge money-sink. At the same time, I presume that the devs couldn't make the cost cheap since it would be unnatural for the cost of buildings. As a result, some people found the cost expensive for what was offered. The devs may have come with a better system if they had had enough time, though. In fact, FO4 devs appear to have come up with an economy system where the players can pool the resource for crafting and stronghold construction, which may be to avoid a direct tie to the in-world currency or currencies. I admit that the settings are very different, though. That said, well, I, myself, nagged a lot. If he finds our nagging/criticism pointless, he will rightfully ignore it but, from my personal experience, he usually comes up with some kind of answer. That said, of course, sadly, it's impossible to make everyone happy.  and they have more people to nanny... Mr.Pibbleton posted:Oh yeah I imprisoned one guy as a peaceful resolution and then his family stopped by during a fast travel and left before I could release him. I hate how missable stronghold events are. Again, I'm repeating this but, when we come up with the word "stronghold," we'd probably better be specific about what we actually mean by it. Rope kid may anyway make these factors into pieces and assemble them like Joshua Graham, though. For example, beside items, BG 2 stronghold quests gave the players status and a base (probably, not all of them, depending on the classes judging from my brief search hits). If such series of quests are tied to class-specific weapons, then, soul-bound weapons seem to be something similar with looser restrictions. From the look of it, they appear to have brought a decent middle ground although, admittedly, it all comes down to how the actual content will turn out.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2015 03:03
|
|
|
@dwarf74 Does this help? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80382-aloths-grimoire-broken/ It seems to be related with IE mod 4.30.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 26, 2015 03:39
|
|
|
DrShevek posted:Part of the issue is you tried to please both those that wanted a stronghold and those that didnt. By making it so divorced from the rest of the game, it felt tacked on. There should have been quests and reactivity tied to it. It should have mattered more to the game world. That Duc should have been reaching out to you way more since you just became a vassal of his or whatever. There should maybe have been some kinda mini war between you and Raedric too (instead of just the random undead assault) or other such connections with other in game factions, etc. rope kid posted:When I'm gifted a game that I realize I don't like, I just stop playing it. With a game that I purchased, I might try to stick it out, but when all I've invested is time, I don't see the point in putting more into it. BTW, Just a random thought. I still think resource management need some work but how about graded camp supplies with various bonuses, which may be purchasable at venders and/or attained through stronghold upgrades (either special venders or crafting-or even directly through the crafting system)?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2015 01:40
|
|
|
@Gyshall Depends on how you imagine the "stronghold." If it is tied to the story and a gigantic castle, then it would rather limit the story about a ruler-the reason why the protagonist of NWN2 was called knight-captain even through expansions… Yeah, despite of the printed name of it's lead designer, the main story of the game appears to be based largely on the idea of Ferret Baudoin, with which he tried to follow the stereotype: an individual of a humble origin gradually becoming a powerful existence-probably something in line of D&D Immortal rule set route, I imagine. It's not like I'm blaming him for what he aimed for but, to say the least, it was not much in terms of the story variation. @DrShevek Even in IE games, the rest restriction was not so strong so I understand what they did in PoE, to some extent. However, somehow, the devs tied the difficulty level (mainly combat, of course) with the number of the supplies, which probably increased the back-tracking routine of PotD players although some of them may simply want challenging combat-not resource management. Putting independent resource management options would be a nice start, IMO-in that case, I imagine not so many players would complain of stricter design like you suggested. After all, it's a single player game with "Your game, your challenge" motto. For the time being, I think what I suggested would be more meaningful than the rest upgrade option of the stronghold.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2015 02:55
|
|
|
rope kid posted:Do you want us to cut six quests and ~20 characters/dialogues from the expansion areas for the stronghold? rope kid posted:Twin Elms isn't extra content. All in all, I believe the devs did their best in realizing the initial concept while making the game commercially successful, too. Did they promised too much with the stretch goals?-Probably, in certain parts, but, as a whole, the game is already a solid work and, even from commercial point of view, product. That said, hopefully, they will be eventually able to do some "unfinished businesses" through their upcoming works.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2015 02:19
|
|
|
The backers cooperated to save the company from their possible demise (I think there must be quite many people including myself sensed something wrong with their situation...) and the devs essentially did their great job in proving themselves in return within the limited resources. From where I'm standing, I believe that it's already a good example of crowd-funding project. So, basically, I'd rather hope stronghold fans would be happy, too-well, as long as it won't distract the game from its core gameplay established by BG.Diomedes posted:I think what might have been better would be to have a more realised stronghold, but also make it optional by making it mutually exclusive with one or two other options that are also cool. I think back to BG2 and while there wasn't a choice - it was set by class - there were different strongholds.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2015 02:55
|
|
|
Wizzzrd posted:Amen to that. All I know is I want more of this world. I want more dialogue, I want more characters, I want new locations. What I don't want is the devs to take all the resources they have and throw said resources into the goddamn stronghold. Personally, I don't post poo poo about games online but this world has so much to it to work off of. I just can't see how people don't understand that this game and it's world has a plethora of potential and instead of getting excited about the new characters or the new locations or discussing how perception will affect accuracy and the builds we can create out of it or speculating on multi-class abilities instead we're bitching about how mediocre the loving stronghold is. Yes, it could use some improvement I guess but it's the whole "the forest through the trees" thing. Put too much on the stronghold and the game as a whole is going to suck rear end. I mean obsidian doesn't have eight-hundred people to make a game like this. Hell if they did it would suck.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2015 06:39
|
|
|
Rascyc posted:Jeez dude he was making a joke involving irony and it was a good chuckle :> As for patron and artist relationship, yeah, somehow, it's ancient and, in fact, rope kid complained somewhere that he knew one example where the devs had freedom under publisher model, which must be, in a way, ideal for the devs and Planescape: Torment was said to be made in such an environment. However, in reality, with middlemen or not, in most cases, the devs probably need to satisfy end-users. Then again, how is it unfair considering equality? How many of us can do whatever we like to do and get paid? Do the service for the others and get paid by them-does this sound odd/unfamiliar to your ears? That said, I post my subjective opinions since, personally, I believe role-playing game is done through master and player communication. The communication process can go wrong especially on the net but it's one of the things rope kid didn't quit for years.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 19, 2015 01:24
|
|
|
sassassin posted:They should make dlc where you abandon your stronghold in favour of one that isn't obsolete and indefensible against modern gunpowder weapons. rope kid posted:And yes, the stronghold is a money sink. We have virtually no economic drains in the game. Purchased items, crafting, and the stronghold are the only three and they're all things you don't actually have to interact with (though most people buy a decent number of items). rope kid posted:We don't, unfortunately, but based on observations and conversations, a lot of players buy at least a few uniques from stores. As for the relative power of items, some of it is subjective and a lot of it depends on when you encounter the item. Some people don't stumble across a store until far later than they are expected to and the items don't seem as appealing.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 04:35
|
|
|
@Scorchy I don't have any problem with such view. I just think a possible problem about store items is that, different from drop/dungeon loot, only the money is the barrier once the store inventory is available. So, without any scaling system, which is pretty unpopular due to Bethesda style sandbox RPGs, there can always be obsolete items (Exactly speaking, wilderness loot can be obsolete but the players probably don't expect much when they just "clear out" low level dungeons/opponents). If crafting system can upgrade unique items in wider range, it would be a possible solution.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 09:06
|
|
|
Furism posted:Maybe we could get some middle ground. Like for instance, hire one of the Copperlane merchant to come to the Stronghold (could get us access to nice wares and/or more revenues) if you complete a quest. Or offer some NPC to craft things for us (also in the stronghold) instead of going to jail. Or once you beat The Master Below, find that there's a node of Adra Ore you can harvest. Little things like that, that I don't see take so much development time now that most of the heavy lifting is done for the stronghold. @Krowley We all know that we are not professional but just posting ideas for fun. If you are not happy with that, you can always skip reading or even make use of the ignore list. I actually don't know how things appear at some other ends, including devs' viewpoints and, even when such ideas must appear amateurish to professional eyes, at least, they often give me what some people expect from the game. Also, at times, some presentations of the game frustrate me enough to make me try to follow the steps of how the devs might have thought.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2015 15:03
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 14:07 |
|
|
Rascyc posted:Yeah. If you are going to just increase your stronghold quest count than I'd rather that content creation go into other areas. As for SW stuff, it's definitely a part of marketing. I only know one-Star Wars Battle Front-the marketing is so loud that it reached even to my ears. It must be too huge to fail for EA.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 22, 2015 00:27
|
|