Lord_Mord

Oh, this kind of random. What has the gaming industry been working on, while I was away? They had 15 years and all they did was creating conventions for copy/paste. Why not both? Named loot could be a just little bit random. Kangaxx for example could randomly appear in one of four or five given tombs (They all look the same anyway) throughout the game. The Sword of Spider Killing, or whatever its name was could be found in this or that spider cave and so on. Everything would be less predictable, but there is still some control.

I don't know D:OS. How do they do that? Is every item randomly placed? Are there special items like the flail of ages? If yes, how do they manage that it doesn't feel random? I always liked the idea that a certain item waits in a certain dungeon, to be found by a certain CHARNAME (that is you). A Ring of Kangaxx isn't a Ring of Kangaxx anymore, if it isn't guarded by Kangaxx himself.

So what? On every BG-playthrough I have one guy specialized in hammers and one on flail, so I can use Chrom Fair and the Flail of Ages. That is kind of limiting, too. But fun.

I noticed, that everyone uses Eder as a tank. I dont know why. I boosted his accuracy and gave him two enchanted sabers. I use knockdown very often and this other thing that pushes enemies away. Usually that is more than enough to guarantee a quick but fun fight.

Just because of interest: What is the difference between CoOp and MP? Is it that you can fight against other players in MP? Would that make such a difference for the developers?

Yes, yes, yes!

Not really. Baldurs Gate wasn't that serious. And didn't have that mach dialogue. Everytime one of that romance and friendship mods are popping up, the game just stops and pLayer 2 has to read throught the whole thing, while player 1 picks her/his options. Just imagine that in PoE. Lots of pages with lots of text about soul this and that and pick your answer wise. That means a lot of reading and doing nothing for player 2. Then the dialog options in BG are rather simple. Often you only have the choice between good guy, bad guy, I only want the money and sometimes a funny clever guy thing. You can pick whatever you want, depending on your mood. But in PoE you can't just say: "Yeah, fk that guy, he sucks, lets kill him". That would be very immersion breaking. All in all, theres too much single-player-immersion-stuff and too much depth in it for it to be that fun in MP. Not that I wouldn't enjoy it still. But to be honest: It isn't necessary. Indeed. But that would require a lot of work. Player 2 (3,4,5,6) should be able to talk to everyone and have non-watcher-optiones just for her/him. That would consume a lot of time and money. As I said. I don't really "want" it. I would use it and it would be fun. But I accept, that it just does not fit. I don't want a game that does absolutely everthing I liked in the past. I want a good game. And I enjoyed playing it and afterwards sharing my experiences with my GF, either. She played it in a totally different manner. And regarding the kiddies: Sorry, I meant no offense. I just wanted to express the fact, that I don't understand anymore what is happening in the game industry. I dont understand WoW and why it is there. I dont like it and I cant imagine anyone who likes it, so I assume, that it is a generation thing (Even if I know people in my age, that like that kind of stuff). What I wanted to say here is, that I don't know, if the people that want multiplayer are like me (That means just nostalgic) or what I call hyperactive WoW kiddies (That means people that simply can't imagine sitting in front of the computer and playing an interesting story just for themselves). Oh. And I think you knew what I wanted to say. That's why you cut my sentence in half.

Then he should make it less strongholdy and more people will like it. If he abandones the idea and leaves it as is, everybody will remember it is the ****ty thing it is. When did the gaming industry become so uninventive? Game X has a stronghold that works a certain way. Game X sold well, so people seem to expect, that a stronghold works this way. I didn't play Game X or any other game since 2000. Josh promised a place, that the player can inhabit, not a specific mechanic, how that place would work. That can mean everything. I expected the stronghold to be like BG2, only better. And better does certainly not mean that wannebe-citybuilder-thingy. That worst thing about the BG2-strongholds was that unnecessary moneymaking aspect. Here in the forum there are only pro and con stronghold people, but can nobody of you imagine a stronghold that is just a bit different from other games?

I never had problems with it. They only thing that always confused me, was the Arena-Button. What the hell was that for? It seemed to do nothing.

The things mentioned above sound real good, but they also sound like a lot of work. Plus I and I think a lot of other people too, expected something different. Something more like the strongholds in BG2. And in my opionien turning the stronghold into something like this would be much easier. Just add a little interaction and a little less turnbased crap. Instead of a ****ty attack every X rounds, it would be nicer to have only 1 attack. Like you return to the stronghold and find it filled with, lets say trolls (Dont know where I got that from ). The trolls are not just standing in you main hall. They are everywhere, strategically placed and the main troll even has something to say ("I hate humans, so I invaded your fortress"). What I really like is the idea of having inhabitants in your fortress. I even was convinced the whole game through, that it would happen anytime soon. I want a cook and a gardener and maybe they would have miniquests and problems and something to say in general. Like: "Your garden looks ****ty, do something" or "Im so so saaad, do something" or "My magic ring got lost, do something" or "Lord Binky from the fortress nearby does not like you and is planning an intrigue". Most of the things, people want for the fortress would require some sort of change in the engine or the way things work in general. But even with the mechanics that are already built in, there is a lot of room for improvement. Like modders did with BG for the last 15 years.

I can't speak for others and personally I would prefer other features. But I would enjoy a MP, too. I played a heavily modded BG for about 8 years with my girdlfriend in multiplayer again and again and it would be very nice to have the option to play PoE together, too. Of course it is stupid, the story of the game is so much single player. But I'm nostalgic. Would be fun to kill that ****ing adra-dragon together. Maybe it's just me and all the "We want multiplayer"-guys are in fact hyperactive WoW-kiddies that use computergames as chat platforms, I don't know.

First let me say: You already convinced me. But just for the sake of whatever: Didn't the game say, that the undead in the graveyard district were soulless? Maybe I understood something wrong. And the hollowborn? They definitely have no souls or I didn't get the point of the whole game. Maybe they have brains, I don't know. So either a spell can manipulate someones intellect or soul. Not sometimes this and sometimes that. Oh, I almost forgot: These are fantasy computer game bats. And the Skuldrs have very big ears and very small eyes.

But it would make sense. Why should I be able to play around with a Vithracks mind? But on the other hand, maybe it depends on who's mind is stronger... Buuuut what about mindless creatures. Made of stone or something. Does an animat have a will to bend? A mushroom thingy? Can I blind a bat creature or does it use sound? Can I sicken a desease pudding? Frighten a ghost? At least I would not be confused, if I couldn't.

That is funny. My girlfriend and me killed that thing yesterday evening. He is actually not that hard to kill (Once you figured out how), if you have a good fighter in the group and/or summon some planars. You just have to debuff him and then make a lot of damage. But killing him with magic only (no summoning) should be quite hard. I'll try it soon. In my opinion, the opposite is true. They are totally overpowered. They make too much damage. The only difference between a mage and a fighter, if the only thing they do is creating damage is the animation. And there are strategies that can even make them more powerful (I went through half of the game just with my mage and Aloth). Like dazing, damage, dazing, damage (I killed the big troll that way. You know, that headhunter job everyone complains about, because it is sooo hard). Add a druid and you don't even have to face your enemies anymore. Just create an area of thorns, fire, slicken, whatever you want and burn them all alive.

That was fun.

I wouldn't have announced it in the first place. I didn't expect it very soon, so I was positively surprised, when they said it would come soon. Now it does not come, I'm here every day and I'm starting to feel stupid. It is the same feel I had with facebook, before I decided to finally delete my account. That's the opposite of a hype.

Someone said, that announcing the expansion and then being silent for weeks creates a "hype.". Maybe it is just me, but returning to that forum every day and finding nothing may create clicks, but it does not make me feel hyped in any way. It is just boring. It is so pointless. Why don't we save our effort and just lay down and die.

Offtopic, OK. But this is getting creepy.

Why don't we just wait for the expansion? Obsidian promised something and it did not make it into the game. But it seems as if they try to repair it. Yes, that makes it easier for the stronghold haters to say that they were right and strongholds are boring and useless. But even the haters liked the BG2 strongholds. The stronghold quests in BG2 were not very complex, some of the strongholds were boring as hell and all of them had very stupid management mechanisms that did cost you a bit of money sometimes and made you a bit of money sometimes. But in the end it didn't matter, because you were filthy rich anyway. Sounds like PoE for me. The only thing that made them fun, was a little bit of story woven around them. Maybe that is, what we will get ... soon.

Journal Popups? The last thing I want for BG is journal popups.

Right forum. I didn't know and I wouldn't have found it out (I'm pretty shure, that is grammatically wrong) on my own.

I don't like your tone, but you are right. I still can repeat almost every audio of Xan, Xzar, Minsk, Jan, that evil dwarf and that mad gnome from BG1 and Imoen of course, but I rather would forget hers. Many people hated the german translation (NPCs had strange dialects. The polititian guys that surround Sarevok sounded like Austrians), but I liked it, it made them even more catchy. I often repeat their sentences when talking to people . These are things, that you can never get out of your head until you die. Xan is still my favourite, but after playing him as a mod, I understood that other people interpreted his character in a totally different way. There is not much of a character there, but lots of room for interpretation. Maybe that is a reason for many people to think those were great characters. And they were. But not the same for everyone.

But party AI doesn't stop you from using micromanagement. You can still order them around in whatever way you want, even if you don't outright turn it off. I liked the combat so far and had no real problems with it, but being able to equip my guys with more complex routines they can also execute automatically might really come in handy. I didn't say it would stop me, I just wondered, why anybody would use it. There are, at least in my opinion, more urgent matters. But I got my answers and I think, I understand now. I always thought of it as a game playing itself, but I missed the point. I still wouldn't use it, but at least I know, why people wanted that.

This is a little bit off-topic, but I'm curious: Why do so many people want party AI? Isn't that sort of game about micromanagement? Isn't it boring to control just the main character? I find it annoying too, that my party members stop attacking, when their target is dead, but for me it would be enough, if they would continue with their last given task until I tell them to stop.

If not, please delete these pointless posts.