Jump to content

mutonizer

Members
  • Posts

    307
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by mutonizer

  1. Well, that's why usually I'm more focused on (and like more) overall strategy. This means I'll take great care with preparation, character synergy, items they wear and overall battle plan with a couple variants for specific situations and then let things run once battle is actually engaged. In IE, that meant using various scripts (especially more advanced ones from mods) and then, mostly, let things run once actually in a battle, with only very small surgical actions from my part when needed but not so much twitchy clicks every half a second and whatnot. Legitimate tactics, I find, usually end up exploiting a particular flaw with the game, even mildly, and usually do in very hands on manners (lots of direct commands during battle, second by second plays, etc). For example, range kitting or baiting, pre-igniting with heavy AEs, pre-buffing short term duration buffs just before engaging, etc. It all comes down to personal preference of course, many people love being very hands on during battles but I think it's better, overall, to plan a good AI to respond to strategies like I described (something really missing usually are NPC groups AI cohesion, rather than multiple individual AIs), than to try and block people actively using tactics and being very hands on because that not only causes frustration for them (via artificial limitations), but it's also impossible to do unless you lock everything down and put battles in their own very controlled bubble (bit like locking combat, etc).
  2. Which, to me, pretty much leaves everyone with, at best a "meh" way to play which serves only to make people who don't really care feel good about themselves, and people who care, feel frustrated about the whole thing. Personal preference of course and a lot of people just don't care so I understand why you'd want, to sell more products, make things easier for people who don't really care much. It's just a bit annoying when you actually do care
  3. This is a single player game, why would anyone want them to spend time and effort on trying to prevent players who want to use cheesy tactics from using them? They'll find ways anyway, use editors to hack max out their stats, save scum and whatnot. Focus on AI? sure, but not to prevent abusing behavior, only to make things more interesting and challenging for everyone else. Main issue for me is that all this "combat/non combat/etc" thing makes everything feel gamey, as the OP pointed out. Personal preferences of course, but I like giving strategic orders more than having to push buttons.
  4. I'll just add a quick personal opinion on this: Not so much character creation but character development. That was (and still is as I play IE games around once or twice a year usually) a huge factor in my playing again. The sheer amount of ways to develop parties is staggering. Mods. Without them, I'd have stopped playing a long time ago but with them, especially the ones really focusing on AI (like SCS, etc) and the like, the replayability of the story itself wouldn't have carried me this far. With them however, it makes combat (which, let's be fair, is a HUGE part of the game) insanely interesting and challenging, therefore making "story" aspects feel like a breath of fresh air where you finally go "phew, that's a welcome sight!" instead of just skipping through them. At least that how it affects me. As an added note, this is why I really hope there will be a mod very early after release to add combat experience. I really want that choice between: Risk (of fighting versus trying to avoid a fight) and Reward (XP vs not expending resources) Companions? As long as they are NEVER forced upon you, I'm 100% fine with them and yes, they can be quite interesting, really helping in shaping up your character's story. NWN2 drove me nuts however and I cannot count the amount of times I started a new game, all high up on anticipation, only to immediately close the game and uninstall it soon as I was reminded how stupid and annoying that dwarf was an hour in and how he did NOT fit with my character concept whatsoever.... Story? Not really. I mean sure, it WAS there, and still is, but the surprise effect is gone after the first time. That said, it doesn't prevent you from enjoying it and it's still great, but come on, maybe one replay, maybe two if you're really pushing it, but after that, you pretty seen everything the game can offer on that front. I mean it's a crucial aspect but to me, not really for replayability (long term that is, as in, 20+ play-through of BG1&2/IWD/etc and still playing them years later)
  5. Well, I'm ok with that too personally but remember that at it's core, the whole thing was about the Health system. While it got derailed by a jab at me by referring to "try using clever tactics" after I tried to explain some of the flaws I perceived about the Health system, it derailed in that "clever" meant, to me, with this system, "ultra specialized" and not "balanced", and therefore the extreme example I gave, which is a specialized DPSer (and from what I've seen so far, that is actually the biggest pure damage sustainable dealing potential). Maybe I should have added more smileys or put disclaimers before and not after and yes, I was wrong about the % based modifier if you remove DT from the equation but once you actually factor it in, the variation is there, and the more there, the more there is, which is what such % based system lead to: it tends to exacerbates everything. Not saying flat modifiers system are perfect or anything, but you gotta admit that they are far easier to control and mitigate overall, especially when designing an entire game system from the ground up. It's very hard to predict the ramifications of multiple (additive and/or multiplicative) % factors on various aspect of very diverse items (and from looking at item description and enchants, there's a lot of that) compared to a +1/-1 system you got in RPGs like D&D and that even when a +1/-1 system is a bit ****ed up, it's usually mild compared to when a % based system is ****ed up. And this all links back to Health and my worry because of it since, as I mentioned, it controls your entire experience of play, is completely disconnected from the resource system used across the entire game and yet is your only game over. A complicated, somewhat unpredictable (let's not kid ourselves, nothing is ever perfectly balanced) and overall obscure system (not gonna play with your spreadsheet open, as good as it looks!) doesn't fit right with that, at least for me.
  6. Sorry what? 100% correct and I did mention that not only I had no clue if this would ever be doable, I mentioned this was extreme, just to make a point. However removing DT from the equation of DPS when DT is a core part of it, doesn't do the system justice I think and if you include it, then, % based damage bonus will favor heavy hitter simply because they have a much easier time breaking DT overall. Could be wrong but this logic seems..logical to me (go figure!) Also, when talking DPS, utility and CC factors can't really be included in the equation. From your spreadsheet, it's clear that fast weapons cannot compete in DPS against heavy weapons under any condition whatsoever, at best equaling DPS, at worst as DT rises, falling behind tremendously. edit: Corrected to prevent useless wall of text because: reasons
  7. Actually I'd be careful with that. I saw a video where the guy's wizard couldn't cast some spells without himself being caught in them because his boost to the AE size of the spell due to his high INT made their radius bigger than the actul max casting range of the spell. One hilarious moment was I think when he tried pulling the spider queen pack with the grease spell and the radius was so big compared to the cast range that the wizard got knock-downed by it right in the middle of it, with all spiders rushing him, forcing the entire team INTO the knockdown areas to save him. Total carnage and hilarious moment. Gotta love them "intelligent" wizards
  8. Since you're KS backer, you actually played the beta right? I mean, not to be rude but you do realize that every single ability the fighters get are focused on one thing, and one thing alone: being a tank that soaks up as much of the enemies attacks and damage as possible. Actually I suspect that it's because combat might very easily end up being a complete cluster-fest, and they realized that without some defensive spells or something, wizards would get annihilated. The massive focus on big AE effects for almost everything and the lack of care to make precision fighting a thing tends to go in favor of that reason as well: "can't understand wtf is going on? Don't worry, just keep pushing buttons, it'll do something!" Hmm, why use a fighter for that exactly? I'm sure you'll get a headless chicken party member just for that True, though there's at least one up and coming cRPG: Pillars of Eternity. But this is not the point really, nor is it a thread about fighters. The post is about Health being removed from the resource system and the effects and consequences of that fact on game-play. I personally used fighter as an example since was the most obvious and common problem I saw in videos and streams, but the issue is true for any given situation where you end up, somehow, with your entire party at 100% resource, while someone is at low Health (for any reason really), and therefore you are somewhat forced to rest, or risk losing that character forever.
  9. When I watch people jump from windows and witness the process, I don't really need to try it first and yet, while I agree that I never had a personal experience with it, I think I can comment on it, with all reserve applied of course, compared to someone who actually did jump out a window. Plus, since the only time I'll be able to "try it first" will be after release, I rather raise something I think is a potential problem now and be wrong, than be right, and realize it's way too late to say anything. Plus I like gameplay and game mechanics discussions, so..there's that
  10. Hmm, because their entire class mechanics is based around that: soaking up damage and tanking? In IE engine with D&D, you could totally make DPS fighters, dual wielding fighters, heavy weapon fighters, dex fighters, str fighters, feat/int fighters, cleavers, tactical fighters and even ranged specialists. I don't quite see that option here, so I'm going with what I've seen so far. Could be wrong of course, but who said that fighters do not deal damage? The game itself... Never said he wasn't, I just said that the "soaking damage" system is the only system that matters (since it's your only game over system) and that while the entire game is based around a resource management system per "adventuring day", this one is instead removed from it and placed on another grid entirely, possibly ending up in situations where all your resources are perfectly fine, and yet your adventuring day if over because of it. That's all I'm saying really. Sure you can mitigate the loss, sure you can "play better", but that doesn't remove the fact that it's there! It is in theory, with this mechanic (and I'm sure it'll happen), possible to have 100% fully rested characters, fresh from the inn and yet you have one guy step into a trap or take a lucky crit, or anything really, instantly lose tons of health (I'm guessing up to 25% instantly, though not sure if there's a cap), and be somewhat forced to rest again because of it. There is nothing else you can do here, no scroll you can use, no potion, no resource or spell or talent...You just rested 8 hours...rest again for 8 hours.
  11. Unrelated to the OP but in this situation, you should actually be able to have enemies recognize it's an ambush or that they are out-gunned, run away to other friendlies, call them up and then have the entire dungeon hunt you down or prepare ambushes of their own. As the follow up/down, I think it's very complicated / impossible with the unity engine map handling system. Could be wrong though! I don't know man. If I'm exploring a cave I just found and suddenly an elder dragon pops his head around a corner, instantly killing 3 of my toughest guys, I think I'd rather be cheese...than be forced to reload because a magical wall prevents my surviving guys to get the hell outta there. Imagine in IE engine if that was the case. You have your dudes with simple weapons exploring an area, suddenly faced with a mob that can only be hit by +2 magic weapons and there is no mechanics in the game that allows you to retreat, prepare and come back...
  12. Hmm, what's the role of a tank is not to be the one to get ****ed up instead of others? I mean you might not agree with the need for a tank (which I have no problem with), but once you allow that path to be taken, then that's pretty much their role? I mean, fighters have nothing but talents dedicated to do just that, soaking up damage and get ****ed up constantly. The more you use resources to "CC" and "prevent damage", the more useless they become at their one and only role in the game... ...so it's not a failure or a fault if your tank gets ****ed up really, according to the game design, at least some of it, it's actually a success if the tank is getting hit constantly, because that's what everything in the class is designed for...except the Health system...
  13. That's because you know the area and know what's ahead. So imagine you do NOT know the area, do NOT know what's ahead (and that the ogre is just around the corner and a total cakewalk anyway), just for a second. You have your main tank at 40% health after two fights against single small spiders. You just entered a cave that is obviously spider infested and couple steps in, you see groups with 2 or 3 spiders, including big crystal ones that you never met before. That's what you can see, who knows if you're not gonna get ambushed or something. You also know that once combat is engaged in any way shape or form, you can NEVER, ESCAPE. You cannot lose them, you cannot hide, you cannot zone out: You WILL need to kill whatever aggroed you, even if it's a frikkin dragon that you KNOW will instantly wipe the floor with you. So, what do you do? Well, first thing, save and make sure you don't over-write it, because if you do, you're massively screwed. Then you start taking a couple steps in and try to pull a group carefully, noticing that a couple spiders are actually patrols that can link multiple groups together. Then you start with your fighter in the melee but I mean, he lost 60% health from 2 spiders, these 4 are just chewing him up on Health despite you very easily healing the stamina loss and even though you still have TONS of stamina healing spells and the dwarf was actually full stamina, just the small accumulation of so many hits/grazes and poison and whatnot kills him. He's gone, forever, because you're a moron and choose to play on a harder setting. From here on, you got 4 ranged, tons of stamina healing spells as well as DPS spells but I mean, these spiders are loose now and you CANNOT run, you have to finish it. You can't use any damage spell either because 90% of them are area effects and you were stupid enough to boost INT on your wizard, so now, every single damage spell he can cast fills out 1/2 your screen at the minimum, hitting your party all the time, so much for being "clever". You try to run a bit, but them spiders engaged you down in melee and every time you take a step, you're hobbled or something, so forget about that. Despite all this, you do your best and you still have plenty of stamina healing spells so it's not a problem...right? Wtf, your rogue, full on stamina with DEF boost and status removal buffs, just died too because of accumulated Health loss. You still got 25% of your stamina healing spells, and lost 2 characters...great. Finally, you go "screw this" and start unleashing Fireball after fireball on your Priest, ranger and the enemies and realize that you NEED to STOP healing stamina because if you keep at it, you'll actually kill them from Health loss while if they go down from Stamina loss now, you can clean up without killing them and they'll be back fresh once it's over. So you stop healing, let the priest and ranger die from your fireballs, easily clean up the roomand contemplate what you just learned: - Tanks suck balls because they rely on taking focus damage, and nothing can heal focus damage... - Priest suck balls because they rely on healing stamina across wide areas and your only problem is losing Health on specific characters... - Stamina healing is CRAZY talk, better to let people die from stamina loss as fast as possible every battle, than try to keep them healed them because in the end, they'll die permanently from health loss! - AE bombardment and AE CC, whether you hit friend or foes, is the way to go! Your friends go down and then take no further health damage (unlike actually healing them!) so it's not a problem, health damage is spread across the board instead of focused on a single character, and mobs die faster because they're too stupid to do anything else, spread out and whatnot! Pure win! Or, you rest every couple battles, your dwarf never goes below 50% health, and it's never an issue Of course this is exaggerated, but it's just to expose potential flaws in the system that I think are present.
  14. That's true for low damage thresholds, big hitters will hurt on graze of course. And big hits from critical damage will **** you up (ie: Elder Lions) no matter your DT. I'm sorry but I'm not even a beta backer and I KNOW that as long as you graze, you will ALWAYS deal damage, even if it's just 0.1 or something. I've seen it demonstrated many times on streams. That means it'll eat away at your Health no matter what as long as it's a graze hit AND that "on hit" effects will be applied (poison, petrification, etc). Now, I don't know how precise their float calculations are regarding lost Stamina and Health, so that could be a factor, but to be clear: DT will NEVER absorb all damage once you get hit, grazed or critically hit, even if it's 1000000 times higher than the base damage taken. Well this just validate the idea that attributes means very little then? I mean, if a cheap rest boost ranging from 10% (if you have ultra maxed out 20 in attribute) to 90% (if you have 3 in said attribute) in 3 or 4 given stats means so little, what's the point then? Diverse tactics? You mean mass clusterfrak melee so damage is randomly split across the board or you mean range kitting mobs all over the place while CC-locking them? I mean, we're not dealing with ultra hardcore smart AI here so far. What's been presented is very basic tank'n spank stuff that you'd expect to be able to deal with using said tank'n spank method. Actually, you can, most fights are actually complete cake-walks by themselves and when they'll balance things out, will probably be even easier. The ONLY mechanic making them challenging currently from what I've seen (not talking about bugged out poison, etc) is the ONE mechanic that is outside the core resource based system of the entire game, and yet is only the game-over factor: Health management. Sure anyone can abuse the system, that's pretty easy, but that doesn't make anyone smarter or anything nor is it called tactics or strategies, it's called abusing the system. And I'm sorry but most casual people (not talking hardcores, not talking backers but you know, the MILLIONS of casuals that will buy this game hopefully) will behave "normally" in a given fantasy RPG setting: Big guy in big armor goes first and tanks, little dudes in the back doing damage. In doing so, they'll find themselves completely screwed over by the Health system as it is currently. And that doesn't strike you as a bit problematic? It does me but if it's based on specific abilities, that can be easily balanced out I think, which is what they're still doing, so I'm not worried for the long run yet. On the contrary, what I've explained is the logic of the core system as it is. Not saying it's godlike or cheesy, it's just what it implies. Also, as it is now, I can already foresee people having 3/4 of their team COMPLETELY NAKED, wielding just one ultra slow MASSIVE 2hd hitter and running with it. The attack speed in such condition is INSANE and you chew through health/stamina at incredible rates, being, it seems, overall much better off having an entire team of DPSers being naked and ending fights in nanoseconds, than any other way.
  15. Play bad? She did nothing wrong! She did what most people would do and what most players WILL do. Are you implying that if you don't range kit mobs all the time, ultra focus fire, while using CC to stun-lock enemies and whatnot you "play bad"?These were just a couple of completely random and inconsequential beetles and spiders! Also, CC on what? She fights 1 or 2 random beetles then single random spiders! Also, she did use resources, mostly damaging spells and a lot of them. I'm saying she didn't have too, but she actually did, plenty of them and yet had to rest anyway. Anyone abusing a system can do just that and abuse the system. But she played like most people would play, nothing stupid, nothing meta-gamey, just normal stuff.
  16. The bugginess looks fixed, but Rose played her party as Fighter tanks while every other party member spams from range, which tends to be the most effective way to play atm (which is pretty banal) - something needs to be done about that. The stream really demonstrates exactly the issue with the Health system for me (I know I focus way too much on that!). At no point she had to use any resource really, the fights were cakewalks. She did, but really, no point and not needed, just wanted to show some of the effects and colors, which is fine in streams like this. The fights were normally executed: Fighter grabs aggro, others stay at range and kill everything (good trick to avoid showing path-finding issues and cluster fest of combat, but that's to be expected in a marketting stream so no biggy really). No real "mistake" were made, just random fights against random creatures. Select all > auto attack, move on. She fights 2 groups on easy difficulty and while EVERYONE is still maxed out, the dwarf is at 40% Health, forcing her to rest. Then she moves in, fighting TWO easy random spiders. EVERYONE is maxed out and yet the dwarf, again, is at 50% health, forcing her to rest, AGAIN. She fights another group, everyone is still maxed out and yet rests AGAIN because the dwarf took a beating! 4 total cakewalk fights, forcing her to rest 3 times because of one factor you can do nothing about...but spam rest... As for stability, nothing shown had any issue in the beta version you guys have from what I've seen and nothing that has issues currently was shown to be fixed (again, from what I've seen).
  17. A d20 (or indeed d100) system tend to exacerbate everything, especially extremes. That's just what a linear system does compared to a curve system: You always have as much chance to completely **** up something, as you are to heroically succeed. Some think it's more heroic, others that it's just unrealistic and puts control in the hands of fate instead of careful thinking and preparation (ie: the player) but that could be down to personal opinion. What's not however is that it tends to make player decisions less meaningful because of how unpredictable things are and in video games, this means one of two things: - Ultra meta-gaming and save scumming because values are important. - Nobody cares because values are trivial. Sure, in theory, the difference between a d20 and d100 systems is marginal because everything's scaled to match anyway, but, a d20 system ala D&D uses integers and flat values for most things (modifiers from stats, to hit chance, fixed critical hit target values, etc). This is not what we have here, we have a mixed of flat and % based values. 1) The ratio of DEF vs ACC needed to avoid being hit (grazed and others) is extremely high (thanks to Matt515 for his analysis on that btw) and this means you will be hit all the freaking time, be it on your naked mage or your ultra decked out fighter. Sure, some will be grazes and the higher your DEF compared to the ACC of the enemy, the less you will get critically hit, but no matter what, you will get hit, by everything, even very low level mobs compared to you. 2) The critical hit chance is NOT a flat value (as in D&D, natural 20, natural 19-20, etc) but instead a dynamic one based on the ratio of DEF vs ACC and the actual roll of the d100. What that means is that you don't just have a 5% chance to critical hit someone, but instead, if somehow your DEF is lowered or your enemy ACC raised, up to 100% chance to actually land critical hits. On top of that, it seems (I could be wrong) that the DT is integrated in the calculation of damage AFTER the damage multipliers are applied, not before. This means a high DT character is just as screwed up by a critical hit from a big hitter, than someone completely naked (I mean, when you take 100 damage, the difference of 15DT between a heavy plate and 0DT from being naked doesn't really matter right?). It "could" be great for grazes, but since there is a minimum value to damage as long as you score at least a graze so no matter your DT, it seems that you will always suffer "some" damage, even if it's just a butterfly trying to chew on your plate armor, as long as it doesn't completely miss. In a system where the only factor that really matters is Health (since that's your only game over) that is heavily resource based and yet that same crucial factor (I mean, this is the ONLY game over factor, everything is basically meaningless compared to it) is removed from said resource system, this is a massive issue for me, even more in a system where extremes and randomness is exacerbated like that. 3) ACC scales via flat values as far as I could see so far. Damage however is percentage based. What this means is that you can lower or raise ACC and DEF via flat modifiers (therefore effectively reducing to 0 or booting to 100s) while you can also boost your damage exponentially via percentage based modifiers. This system means ultra extremes in damage both taken and dealt and a huge bias toward ultra hard hitting base weapons (or spells). After-all, 20% damage boost on a weapon with a base damage or 10-20 is nothing, but a 20% boost on something with a base damage of 70-90 is insane. Then comes the stacking factors and how they are calculated. What happens when you have say a 50 base damage weapon, boosted 20% via talent, boosted 40% via Might, boosted 100% via spell, boosted by, boosted by....? If you don't see the potential for INSANE meta gaming here (way, way more than in any D&D version ever), I'm not sure what else to say. That's my point, you say hate, I say boring, same thing. And yes, I'd rather have a system where a character focusing on defense is almost never hit unless something extremes happen, than being constantly hit. Why? Because that means I can effectively prepare and plan tactically for 95% of the situations, knowing that my choices matter, and just suck it up when very rare extremes happen. You could also remove the concept of critical hits entirely, or make it very, very rare and instead of crazy damage, have specific effects that matters and yet don't mean instant death. And at the core of it, it's because people are not "flattered" by misses and feel frustrated by them. This goes hand in hand with the "no bad build" concept and, sadly, with the dreadful new Bioware philosophy of: "push a button, something awesome happens". A clever man stays the hell away from system that put more emphasis on complete luck of the draw than on actual thinking and preparation, that's what a clever does. A clever man also stays the hell away from any linear system where you have as much chance to crash into a wall or that your car instantly explodes for no reason, than to make it to work on any given day. In video games however? A clever man saves ALL the time and meta-game the hell of the system by designing his team around one simple task: 100% chance, maxed out critical damage via slow hard hitting weapon, like this: Have one character with maxed out lore to learn enemies flat DEF values Have a naked big hitter with maxed out Might and Accuracy (rest doesn't matter whatsoever) and with slowest and most damaging weapon you can find, then, since animation speed modifiers are % based (which means slower weapons are more affected than fast weapons), stack that on him too. Use buffs/debuffs to ACC/DEF values so that your big hitter will have exactly 100 difference between his ACC and their DEF, effectively cancelling any possible roll, therefore removing any randomness (since +100 modifier is always a critical hit and ACC/DEF modifiers are flat values) Stack % based modifiers (debuffs are useless since DT on crit is useless the bigger the damage you do, so just buffs really) to buff big hitter damage. Rinse & repeat. Note: is that happens to your character, you're screwed and you NEED to rest (or reload, or really, restart the entire game if on ironman) because there is nothing else you can do, even if your ENTIRE team is 100% ready to go. Note 2: resting anywhere but where you get buffs to things like Might and Dex is suicide on any hard difficulty setting/ironman. +2 to Might gives % based boost to your damage, which, on big hitters, is crazy. +2 DEX means it's easier to land critical hits all the time. Have fun trekking back and forth across every single map every time someone's a bit low on Health while the rest of the team is 100% ready to go. If you don't, one bad roll might mean that character is gone, forever. Can it be done? We don't know since we have very little content. That said, this is what the current system means, that's the core of it and it's why I voice my concern really. And yes, I'm not a backer, I don't have access to the beta so of course all my comments are just from analysis and questions on streams and videos, or here on forums. That doesn't really make them invalid though I think, unless of course I'm wrong on how a mechanic actually works and the like. PS: Oh, and a final note. Remember that actually getting into a fight is a failure in doing, not a success, even if you win easily or lose. There is nothing to be gained from fighting unless it's a story progression fight. Loot seems useless (and not full loot anyway, seems that concept was removed) overall, there is no item degradation either. No XP to be gained either so no character progression feeling either. So not only you don't really get rewarded, but you risk getting frustrated (by randomness), penalized (by resource used) and simply aggravated (by being forced to go back to rest). So you have an entire system (and entire game really) designed around combat (classes have nothing but combat related things, attributes mean very little outside of combat as long as you have the necessary flat value required for something, items are meaningless outside of combat, etc) that is your only game over factor and yet almost nothing to be gained from it. I cannot say if the story elements will be interesting or not since we've seen nothing about that, but we can be sure that combat will be most of what you'll be doing. That strikes me as odd really.
  18. Very risky way to do things I'd say, especially on higher difficulty settings. I mean, if your PC dies, it's game over. If any other dies, depending on setting, he's 100% gone, or so weak you need to rest anyway. On iron-man mode, that's a sure way to restart constantly. On other settings, it's just save scumming extravaganza... I've seen streams on hard difficulty and expert mode...The better the guy was doing at controlling the battle tactically, the more he had to rest after every battle, because the damage was not randomly spread among character, but instead focused on a single one (the tank). Sure, the total amount of damage taken was lower, but since it was focused, it didn't matter and the better he played, the more he needed to rest basically. And you will get hit by the way, by anything and everything, based almost entirely on d100 roll. It seems that they went for "lots of hits, less overall damage" path, instead of the "lots of misses, but when you hit it's really hurting". That's common in games nowadays because designers believe that missing is "boring" or "unflattering" for some reason. Add to that huge variations on DT based on armor vs damage type (seems to range from 25% to 100% so far) means that even a character focuses VERY heavily on physical defenses and heavy armor will get hurt all the time, even by very basic mobs (as in, level 1 or 2 even if you're level 5 or 10). Also, since priest defensive spells are more diffuse AE effects than focused tactical single target ones, they help when the fight is a cluster****, but barely help when you actually try to control them and usually, 50 to 90% of the spells effects will be completely wasted, since most of the affected targets don't need that spell on them when it's actually cast. The way priest (and to be honest, wizard too) spells are actually designed so far seems to indicate that they want complete clusterfest in battle when you just need to take vague and indirect actions (hence AEs), not tactical battles where you carefully plan each action. The fact that INT for example increases the size and duration of spells and effects and yet there are no ways to alter size of said effects (for example a variation between base size up to max size, based on your INT) nor cancel any of these effects means one thing: cluster click-fest battles. On top of that, since you cannot leave combat mode nor "zone out" once it's engaged, it means you cannot retreat at all and therefore any fight that is started, will need to be finished before you can do anything else so you wandering around without maxed out health is VERY risky. It's also not really about a hurting you can control or not via spells and playing carefully or something, just about naturally accumulated damage on "tank" characters or the random massive critical hits on weaker characters. And finally, since combat doesn't reward any XP, nor really any sort of reward most of the time but trash loot (since apparently full item loot is no longer an option), you end up with a combat that is : highly random (d100 system exacerbates this), making your choices and preparation irrelevant focused on getting hit constantly for low amounts, rather than getting hit rarely for high amounts based heavily around a gimmicky damage type system with wide variations focusing on vague wide AE spells and effects (potentially really wide) that will have most of their actual effects completely wasted. based around a strict resource system while at the same time not allowing for any resources to affect what really matters: Health impossible to escape yields no reward whatsoever most of the time So...unless you play on easy with all helpers activated, the "don't worry about it until you're about to keel over" thing is a sure way to either restart the game all the time, or reload constantly. From everything I've seen, you instead will want to go back to that inn and rest ALL the time to make sure you get the attribute boosts.
  19. I am pondering if I should wait for the first patch to come out before I give it a go. First impressions and all that. Haven't tried the beta either but that's probably a good idea, though, to be honest, in your shoes with a new key, at least having a quick peek would hard to resist. I mean, videos and streams can only do so much. At some point, you gotta get your hands dirty.
  20. Err, that's not a choice I really care about. That's like a choice between wielding a mace or a hammer. And yes, I saw a Priest of Skaen video with the Skaen quest line, that's pretty cool but also the very foundation of what you'd expect in such a game right? My point was, in a story-line, how the hell do you rationalize situations where a "Bleak Walker human Aristocrat Paladin" (considered as crazy hard liners nobody even wants to talk to), "a Priest of Skaen godlike slave" (regarded with fear and disgust and who considers torture a good pass time), "a Barbarian Orlan drifter" (not even considered civilized, doubly because of Orlan race) and a "dissident elf chanter" (known for their isolationist nature) automatically, by the end of the 1st act, gain access to the exact same stronghold, all with shared mechanics, basing the strength of such mechanic (hence success) on a Prestige system (ignoring apparently Notoriety completely). I know they're supposed to be good with stories but wow, just wow, that one must be hard to pull off for any good writer.Even BG2 didn't try THAT one and had different strongholds IF you wanted one and you were, by then, already quite powerful and renowned and it involved pretty specific side quests. That's all I'm saying. Maybe they can pull it off, who knows! But from what I'm reading, it's forced, single minded, gimmicky and ignores your character concept completely. Hopefully I'm 100% wrong
  21. And this last bit actually means one ominous thing more: The depletion of any real incitements for replaying the game, which to me borders on sacrilege - since that is the number one thing I want from a game like PoE (at least what I thought it would be). This was already evident that it was the intent from the class system. A class is a game mechanic, period. Unlike IE engine games (because of D&D really), once you've tried it once, it'll pretty much always be the same after that. That said, I'm sure there will be some reason to replay the game because of the small background/class variations in the story but one thing's for sure, you'll never replay it because you want to try a different fighter style or wizard style or ranger style. There are no styles from what I could see so far: A fighter is a fighter is a fighter is a fighter. And since everyone can use any weapon and armor anytime for any reason with the same exact effects, you probably will want to avoid having two characters of the same class in your party, even though they're pretty cool, since they'll be EXACTLY the same (with just small variations based on attributes or talents, which doesn't matter much anyway in a d100 system)
  22. Sadly, from what I've seen so far, it'll be the defining factor for everything you do throughout the game and will dictate your ENTIRE pace from A to B all the way to Z. To me this is really huge, especially when the rest of the combat mechanics are based on a resource management system (with per day, per encounter, etc). Combined with the "rolls are what matter, not your character" system, this literally mean that you could potentially go to an inn, rest for 8 hours, then leave the inn, travel back to where you wanted to go, get ambushed by random low level mobs, have a couple of them roll critical hits and completely ****ing up your entire 'adventuring day" right there, before you even did anything! Then you'd need to go BACK to the inn, rest again for 8 HOURS (since there is no options there, it's 8 hours, period), just because your fighter with 90 DEF kept getting hit by 10ACC mobs or your rogue got aggro from some punk heavy crossbow user and got one shotted due to a lucky crit, and there is nothing you can do about it even though EVERYONE else is full on resources and ready to go. That anyone, at this supposed level of game design and "understanding of what these RPGs are all about", allows such a crazy game mechanic to go unchecked for so long, is just really, really...hmm..worrying (to stay polite).
  23. I'm really not that concerned about the bugs and UI for now, even though I really have a hard time understanding why on earth they would release a beta with so many obvious critical issues instead of delaying it just a week or two, have something somewhat stable, then start their backers beta on more solid ground (with a bloody bug tracker system in place!) What really worries me are the core issues, namely: Health / Stamina mechanic just does not work in a resource based system if Health is removed from said resource system. It's already clear that with the mechanic as it is now, we'll have to spend insane amount of time "resting" because of one character being low on health, while everyone else is 100% fresh and ready. To add insult to injury, the insane bonus to attributes for good rests in inns (which, on top of it, cost so little that it makes you wonder why the hell anyone in this world would sleep anywhere else but in the king's bedroom all the time!) means that you'll be somewhat required to hike all the way back every single time or, if you don't feel the need, that attributes are really completely useless (I mean, these bonus, depending on your base attributes, range from +15% to +90% compared to your base value!) Maps feel way too small, or, as the OP mentioned, the scale is way off somehow. This could be because it's backers beta and these are not finale maps, but something feels just wrong there, especially for outdoor maps. They are also way too packed up, which I think removes any sense of exploration and anticipation. Large areas with empty space create a sense of exploration, gives scouting a sense of purpose and offers the players choices in how to approach situations. From everything I've seen in streams and videos, you don't have any of that in any of the maps offered in the beta backers so far. It's just walk 5 steps: monsters everywhere blocking your path, walk 5 steps, monsters everywhere blocking your path, etc. Ruleset makes any player decision in character pointless and any action taken in combat not a result of character design or tactic, but a result of chance. This is true of course for a d20 system but to a much lesser degree and instead of choosing to flatten the curve (as in, use a 3d6 system and the like, making standard actions more predictable, and extremes very rare), they instead decided to go balls to the wall and use a d100 system. This means nothing you do for characters (items you choose, stats distribution, etc) will have any tangible effect on anything and that in the end, what matters is: Are you lucky on them d100 rolls, or not. This is painful obvious when you read logs of creatures with deadly effects. With the exact same characters, one go through and it'll be complete butter and be over in seconds and another you'll get completely destroyed in seconds simply because they had good rolls. This is common (and less of a problem) with non resource based attacks (melee/ranged stuff) but it's completely CRAZY to leave so much to chance on resource based abilities like spells. And in total contradiction with the above, the skill check mechanics makes no sense whatsoever and is in total conflict with the intent they advertised. Requiring specific level in a given skill (or attribute) for a given task will force people to heavily specialized, beyond reason, into skills AND attributes, or risk getting penalized and missing content. The fact that there are no actual checks whatsoever (which means it's a purely binary system, in TOTAL conflict with the roll heavy combat system where everything is left to chance) is the exact opposite of what you'd want to do if you wanted to avoid single spec builds. I mean, who in their right mind would split up skill points when you KNOW there will be "this requires level 7 in mechanics or you just never can even try it" or "this action requires 16 constitution or you flat out fail it" and "this requires 14 perception or you will never be able to say it" all over the place. It's implied at it's core that you will NEED a team of with one maxed out Stealth guy, one maxed out Athletic guy, one maxed out Mechanics guy (etc) and that any other choice will mean you fail automatically all the frikkin time on anything challenging. This is completely mind-boggling in a normal situation, but when you spend your days blurting about "no bad builds", this is downright crazy. There are more sadly, like "group only stealth", the entire "stash inventory" concept, "combat mode" lockouts, no actual bug tracker system (which is just completely crazy) and others. These are NOT things to be fixed in a somewhat open beta, 4 months from release. It's less than that actually since games usually go in lock down mode, 100% bug squashing/optimization, about a month before actual release. These are not things you "ask feedback" about, these are things you're supposed to have ironed out two years ago if not more. So yea, that has me more worried than the little things.
  24. Makes total sense. The ridiculously small per character inventory serves no purpose whatsoever nor represents anything RP wise (since items don't have neither size nor weight) and the stash concept is completely bonkers: You can put items in anytime but you can't get them out of it? What kind of mind can produce something this silly? Sensuki, you missed a crucial aspect however I think and this applies to weapon sets. In IE games, monsters very rarely had specific resistances to weapon types such as slashing, crush or pierce. The weapon sets was slightly annoying when that happened, but overall not an issue. In PoE, from what I've seen in most detailed videos, specific DT resistances depending on what type of damage is used and is a crucial aspect of the game and will most likely become a "do or die" factor if you play on the higher difficulty settings. And yet, here's what you seem to have so far: You cannot change weapons from the Stash/Inventory to wielded during combat which means if you have a crush weapon set and a slash weapon set and yet suddenly face a mob with insane DT against both of these, you CANNOT change weapons. Also from what I've seen, you cannot run away to end combat. If you engage or get engaged, you'll stay locked in combat mode (again, stupid concept) forever unless you kill the mobs involved (who most likely will either chase you anyway, or get stuck via pathfinding somewhere). Heck, I think you cannot even "zone out" from what I've seen in a stream, not sure. Each set is both right and left hand combined! This is nonsense for such system since that means if you're wielding your best magic sword and shield, and suddenly face something very resistance to slash/pierce, switching to your hammer set means you cannot use your magic shield (since it's locked in your 1st set). Again, who designs this stuff? How can you make an entire combat system based around a concept and yet go the complete opposite for your UI implementation? Solution? Get rid of "Combat Mode" and allow full access to the inventory at any time BUT make it use a specific animation that takes time if in combat. Doing so will add tactical aspects (crap, I need that guy to pull out the hammer but he risks getting interrupted, so I'll need someone to cover him, etc) and remove immersion breakers such as combat mode, combat only spells, cannot loot in combat, cannot zone in combat and all that nonsense. Allow for 2 1hd weapon, 1 2hd, 1 ranged and 1 shield slots on the paperdoll and then use a right hand/left hand tagging system so that the player can dynamically assign each slot to a hand as he wishes, switching taking some time if in combat, but much less than getting something from inventory. This allows for freeform 1hd, 2hd, 1hd shield, dual wield set up very easily (just assign hands to slots) AND will allow, finally, people to wield their frikkin shields in the right hand if they want their PCs to be LEFT HANDED (a minority that's been severely ignored and even repressed for a long time!)
×
×
  • Create New...