Polanski

sounds like an awesome game. With all the turn-based love floating around with the designers at obsidian, maybe we will one day see something similar in the PoE setting.

Choose what you think will be the most fun. I find it is always a good idea to figure out what function you want your main Character to have in combat. Do you want someone who does a ton of damage? Do you want some kind of tank, maybe someone who is also able to give as hard as he takes? Do you want a spellcaster/ crowd controller? Do you want a summoner? A healer? A buffer? A ranged or melee character? I think deciding what you want your character to do, helps alot in deciding your build. And most people seem to have one or two preferred styles that they enjoy. For unique classes, I would say the Monk, Cipher and Chanter (Tank, DPS and summoner/buffer respectively) all play in interesting and original ways, from what I have seen.

I would like it if time mattered, but outside of a few optional quests I highly doubt it. This is one of the (many) things Fallout did really well, with its main quest being 'get the thingy in 100 days' and then you are just dropped in the desert. The upcoming game 'Serpent in the Staglands' also seems to use time to great effect, with entire towns being razed dynamically over time and important NPC's moving towns or just dying.

I think the safest thing will be to avoid the forums as well. I will try to at least, also because it will be plastered with links to streams.

A lot can be said and have been said about the attributes, but they really looks to have fulfilled the design goal of 'not screwing over the player for taking alternative paths in character building', which was the case the DnD. As long as you do not play on Path of the Damned (or hard), I really don't think you can screw up your build so much that it becomes useless. Unless you actively try to that is (e.g. making a dps focused character with 3 might and 3 dex). I think living with some of the janky character traits/abilities, is part of what gives the character personality, instead of just being a numbers sheet from a powerplay guide.

I was personally very worried about allowing streaming before launch, but only because I didn't want the story to get spoiled for folks. The team has taken a lot of steps to reduce the number of spoilers that get out. But, times are a changin' and streaming before launch is where it's at now. We do have an embargo on streaming anything past getting your stronghold so that should preserve a good amount of the story. I feel the same way. You have done an absolutely amazing job in keeping the spoilers from us. I have been following the game development intensely, and know next to nothing about the story. That is quite extraordinary. So now I just have to hold on for 3 days and not watch any streams. It will be hard, but I am really looking forward to the 26th.

I actually hope that they have their skills assigned when we meet them. That seems to make a lot more RP sense to me. For me it's interesting to see what skills, talents and abilities the companions I meet have, they will hopefully also fit with their respective personalities. Re-spec'ing companions seems like a thing for mods or something you can do with hired adventurers.

I agree entirely with the reasons for externalized resources. I hope something is done about it, as I was also planning to do some modding once the game is released. I am sure OE has their reasons though, but if this is just a side-effect of some optimization, then hopefully it will be possible to reroll with to much effort on their part.

How does your party justify systematically luring in laborers to kill them for a discount in weaponry? Not saying I dissapprove, just impressed with the moral flexibility. I guess your main is a Death godlike Bleak walker paladin. Or maybe a cipher. Then you could actually force them to shoot their own arbalests right into their so-stupid-they-thought-this-was-an-easy-job faces, before you take them from their now-out-of-work dead bodies.

Have you played Tales of Maj Eyal? I loved it xP I have, but grew tired of it a bit too quickly. A lot of great ideas, but the playing experience actually ended up being similar to a hack'n'slash, where I would just click away without thinking. I sometimes go back to Nethack, but by now I think it's safe to say that DCSS is the best roguelike for me.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. I just discovered this game and despite its strange name, it is the best damn roguelike I have played.

So you're not going to bring any of the real companions?

You're dead - you die. You're exhausted - you pass out. edit: If you play with permadeath, which I think is standard and most people will.

Another thing that makes me want to bring Kana Rua and Hiravias, is that they are a great way to learn about these new races and their place in the world.

I have been wondering a lot about who to bring for the last couple of months (I am really exited to play this game). I will certainly bring Durance and Grieving Mother, even though I don't really care for priests, but they seem like very interesting characters and also seem to have a connection, which will be interesting to explore. I will bring Eder as he seems to be very involved with the plot, and is the only real tank, and I like to have a tank in the party. Then the last two places, will probably go to Kana Rua and Hiravias. But could also be Aloth or Pallegina (I am still not completely settled with that name), if their characters seem more interesting. I'll probably end up switching a bit between those 4 along the way. Sagani will have to be a seriously charismatic dwarf gal, to come along. Another problem is that I think my main will be either a cipher, a druid or a chanter, which will probably lead to some overlap. This thread really needs a poll btw.

How is this even a question? I think everyone agrees that dlc is from hell. They have already been out and said that they would like to do a real, big expansion in the same spirit as the old IE games' expansions. I won't mind if they make dlc though and hope for obsidian that they make money with it, though I have a lot more respect for companies that actually try to add real stuff in patches and instead make money from actual games. I am being idealistic, I know.

names of companions spoilers:

Do might/dex/con etc. affect the stats of the chanter's summons? Do equipment?

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66806-how-to-game-basics/ Isn't this what you are looking for? Covers the basic controls and systems for the beta. It might not be entirely up to date.

Okay, no worries There are going to be achievements in the steam version of the game (the devs have mentioned it and it's confirmed by the steam page). Ii don't know if opening the console will have any effect on them. I apologize for giving the wrong information then.

As far as I know, there will not be achievements in the game. Which for me personally also would not make any sense for this kind of game.

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/69199-possible-spoilers-modding-thread-a-simple-mod-and-console-commands/ Here Bester has collected some console commands. Including the setZoomRange There might be very minor spoilers.

Nice portraits and description no matter what gender I think it is a female, but it can work great for either gender. Maybe it would be a good idea to start a thread where people can post nice portraits they've found, that could work for the exotic races (godlike, aumaua, orlan). Then it will be easy to make a portrait pack once the game is released. I still love the portraits from the game, but more options are always nice.

It is hard to say, since there isn't any "real" companions in the beta, people have been playing. It does seem that companion dialogue, story, banter and quests are all very highly prioritized, and personally, getting to know the companions, is one of the things I'm looking most forward to in the game. I think the companions sound very interesting and I believe they will be very deep and well-written. A list of the known companions, with very short descriptions, as most is still unknown about them. Romances are not in the game, which is a heavily debatted subject, so look for other threads if you want to know people's opinions about that.

Do the extra copies added when backing also get the pre-order item?