Exploration System

[Semper]

Quickly browsing through the forum pages revealed that there's no topic about how exploration will be handled. in this regard only baldur's gate was mentioned and i think that's because of its non-linearity. we know that they're thinking about camping:

 

I've talked with Tim about this for a while and here's the thing: camping out in the wilderness and setting watches and getting ambushed by jackasses has a great classic A/D&D feel to it' date=' but it got pretty silly in games like IWD2. I'd like to build in reasonable mechanics that make you rest in the wilderness, but I don't want it to result in the sort of degenerate "rest after every fight" stuff we've faced in the past.[/quote']

 

i can think of 4 different system

 

1) a traditional 2d map where several locations are selectable (e.g. iwd, bg, nwn, etc.)

2) an interactive 2d map with free roaming as a partycursor; perhaps even with a fog of war (e.g. arcanum, fallout)

3) an explorable 3d overland map with skill usage and the party leader as representation (nwn2 soz)

4) as onyx is capable of world streaming even an open world would be possible

 

personally i would like to see the return of the third option. there was a lot of work put into this system and it felt kinda nice to choose which party member would fit the needed skills to overcome different situations.

 

last and most important question: WILL THERE BE MOUNTABLE HORSES?

Edited September 15, 2012 by Semper

[Monte Carlo]

I really, really liked the SoZ overland map thingie / minigame. Would he happy to see something like that, but with bigger and more distinct wilderness areas.

[Oerwinde]

The SoZ style overland map would be a good way to make support skills useful as well.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Considering the Infinity Engine/old-school feel they're going for, I'd enjoy a hybrid between Arcanum/Fallout's maps and the skill usage/additional mechanical layer we saw in Storm of Zehir.

[C2B]

According to Gamebanshee

• Instead of 3D graphics, Project Eternity uses 2D pre-rendered and hand-painted backdrops, just like old Infinity Engine titles, but improved by modern technology.
  

[Humanoid]

I'd prefer fewer denser areas rather than a fully explorable world because it tends to lend a better sense of scale without the risk of having sparse, repetitive filler plains - consider the 3D and 2D implementations of the Elder Scrolls respectively for the downsides of this. An abstracted overland map like options two and three is potentially interesting but only if there's reasonable stuff to encounter without it turning to the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, or combing the whole map methodically looking for that special location - it's potentially interesting but probably outside the scope of this project (and when done badly, completely pointless like ME2/3's manual flying around). In view of that, I'd personally stick to option one at this point.

 

 

As for horses, I'd probably lean towards abstracting them - purchasing horses reduces the time elapsed travelling between locales, but having to actually manage them would be a bit much I think. Think of a system like FO2's car I guess.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'm torn between Fallout style and BG style :<

 

I think it was Baldur's Gate where you could actually travel to an area through fields and suchlike and do stuff on the way but also select areas you had already been too?

 

I hope I'm not remembering that wrong. Icewind Dale felt a little smaller and contained than BG too. So I have those seperate in my head.

 

Fallout and Arcanum was fun with the exploration though....can't decide.

[Undecaf]

Considering the Infinity Engine/old-school feel they're going for, I'd enjoy a hybrid between Arcanum/Fallout's maps and the skill usage/additional mechanical layer we saw in Storm of Zehir.

 

This would be my choice as well.

[Delterius]

Skill usage is what won my vote on the SoZ system, but aside from that it seems like a more aesthetic choice than anything.

 

One thing I'd like to discuss is how open exploration itself is, like the differences between Baldur's Gate and Shadows of Amn. I personally lean towards the first game.

Edited September 15, 2012 by Delterius

[Tychoxi]

FO way is better!!!

 

I see BG way almost identical to FO, except its of a lesser kind (you cant click anywhere in the map except marked locations, you dont see the awesome "trevelling dotted-line" but you still got random encounters whilst travelling, you still get to find new locations by "walking" close to them or by being told about them.etc).

 

Arcanum's sandbox style aint my cup of tea.

Edited September 15, 2012 by Tychoxi

[Jozape]

I'm torn between Fallout style and BG style :<

 

I think it was Baldur's Gate where you could actually travel to an area through fields and suchlike and do stuff on the way but also select areas you had already been too?

 

I hope I'm not remembering that wrong. Icewind Dale felt a little smaller and contained than BG too. So I have those seperate in my head.

 

Fallout and Arcanum was fun with the exploration though....can't decide.

 

You are correct. BG1 was like that though not BG2. I would love a BG1 style exploration system. That or the overworld style used in Fallout and I think more recently Storm of Zehir. I never played that game much, but I think it's basically the same thing.

[mkreku]

Since we're going with an isometric view, I am hoping for a map like seen in the first Sacred game. No loading times, just a gigantic landmass, open for exploration at any time.

 

So I guess I voted for streaming.

 

I must add that even though I enjoyed Sacred, it was not really a good game. But I was always intrigued by the sheer size of that game. Imagine a talented studio using similar technology! Now that would get me very interested.

[Tigranes]

The 2D/3D options there are unnecessary, the systems could be done in any.

 

So I'm going for a beautiful hand-crafted 2D map with SOZ-like encounters and still checks.

[Tamerlane]

Whatever system it is...

 

... just make sure I'm not fatigued if I travel to a location 24 hours away. I think it's assumed that my party would rest at some point along the way, yeah?

[Labadal]

interactive 2d map with free roaming (e.g. arcanum, fallout)

 

I found the exploration in these games to be very fun, so I'll have to go with that, but I don't mind if they use

 

traditional 2d map with selectable locations (e.g. iwd, bg, nwn)

[Kissamies]

The 2D/3D options there are unnecessary, the systems could be done in any.

 

So I'm going for a beautiful hand-crafted 2D map with SOZ-like encounters and still checks.

Yes, I don't care whether it's 2D or 3D, but I want my free roam overland map. Skill use and wandering encounters in old Ultima/SoZ style would be plusses as well.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Kissamies

[HangedMan]

Considering the Infinity Engine/old-school feel they're going for, I'd enjoy a hybrid between Arcanum/Fallout's maps and the skill usage/additional mechanical layer we saw in Storm of Zehir.

A thousand times this.

[Volourn]

1 or 2 are the best two - espciially since they stated that the focus will be on the PC and the npcs are just actors in the P's story.

[Smejki]

I like when I see how I (as a dot) walk the map from location to location and it takes time. And I don't care if the map is 2D or 3D (Battle for Middle-earth came tomy mind).

[Arkeus]

Nwn2 soz- style. The overland map there was really, really fun, and improving on the concept could really make Eternity unique.

[Zephyr Falcon]

I would like a BG2 style map, i.e. the interesting locations pop up as you learn about them.

I don't really expect them to build a whole and complete world. In BG2 the world didn't seem small and was also very much filled with interesting and beatiful sights. In that game I always assumed there was more beyond the screen I could see, but also that the stuff beyond was less interesting/important.

 

But I would like to see skill use implemented on the travel map. Allowing you to travel faster (if time is of any importance in the game) cheaper (living of the land) or avoiding enemies.

[dlux]

open world/streaming

 

I never really liked this Skyrim-Esque technique. For example, you take all of the areas of a map from a game like BG2, then paste them together with some generic filler and BOOM you have an elder scrolls map. Seeing that you only use the warp system anyway (after you find a new area at least), what is the point? Wandering around in Skyrim is boring anyway. It also really never made much sense to me that you take a huge area, like Nevada in Fallout New Vegas for example, but ingame this area is only like 3 x 3 Kilometers large. lol, wtf? ^^ (don't get me wrong, I really liked New Vegas anyway).

 

I prefer a HUGE map, with points of interest, similar to Fallout 1+2. If you read up on lore and talk to NPCs, then you should also be able to find new points of interest based upon the tips that they give you. Now that is awesome. The regular "let me mark that on your map" by a quest giver should also be in the game of course.