Atheosis

Really? I'd say the opposite is true. I found Skyrim's aesthetics horribly bland and boring, while I find PoE aesthetics enthralling.

I don't think they're all that much cheaper to develop. The big difference is in the distribution costs. Back when you had to manufacture physical copies of a game and it added huge overhead to every game no matter the development costs.

It really depends on a lot of factors. How many expansion packs is PoE going to get? How much money is PoE making? Will they do another kickstarter to fund the sequel? Will they improve the tech and possibly improve/replace the engine? Do they have other projects in the works that take precedence? Since most of those questions are presently unanswered I'd say there's no way to know. As far as the first expansion goes I expect it in roughly six to nine months.

They ended for many reasons. 1) The emergence of 3D as the dominant medium in virtually all genres of gaming. 2) The general view of publishers that said emergence was the only way to make money. 3) They were considered niche games that were slow-paced and required too much thought for mainstream gamers, and publishers were not interested in niche products as the 2000s progressed. 4) Interplay, the publisher that was the most invested in 2D CRPGs all but went under in the early 2000s and closed Black Isle as a result. 5) Bioware moved on from their origins into more accessible 3D formats. 6) There was no indie scene at the time really, since all games had very expensive physical distribution costs necessitating large publishers.

They are essentially fantastical Shaolin monks and they are really jarring in most western fantasy settings.

And it's not like you can do it everywhere.

*gag*

I found the source of your problem. With my touchstones being things like Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice and Fire, and Elric, I just have never gotten how they fit. They fit really well in Asian themed fantasy games though. That's where they belong and that's where they should stay as far as I'm concerned.

Because beating the hell out of mythical creatures with nothing but your own hands and feet is awesome. What you call awesome I call dumb.

I don't see the problem. I feel like people just want to make problems with this game where there aren't any.

Unity patches are notoriously big even for small changes.

So in other words you are agreeing with me that it is a small minority?

The checkbox could simply be reduced or no side quest xp.

Do you have any support for this statement? You've polled most of the players, or at least a random sample we can consider representative, to get their views? Considering the reviews it's getting, professional and amateur, and the lack of complaints about the game being too easy in said reviews (many claiming it to be quite challenging in fact), it's not hard to figure out that it's just a tiny minority of people finding the harder difficulties too easy. Those people loving the heart of the game but being dissatisfied with the challenge level naturally find their way here. Those who have no issues with the difficulty of the game don't generally come to the forums to talk about it. I mean if you go off this forum you would think this game is actually bad, because that's what predominates on game forums: complaints from the dissatisfied. So in other words, no. You have your personal speculation, not actual evidence. It's called circumstantial evidence. You have what evidence that it is a significant portion of the playerbase? A handful of forum posters?

I've always hated monks in D&D and it's no different in Pillars. I just don't get why this crap has lingered so long in fantasy roleplaying...

You don't see it because you aren't trying to see it. If someone thinks the various difficulties are perfect as they are why should they be forced to change the difficulty they are playing at just to satisfy you? And if they are playing PotD they just have to what? Restart? The point is that many people love the game as it currently is.

No one's trying to force a change on you that you don't want. But those of us who enjoy retrying hard fights are feeling under-served with the current arrangement. Talking about it on the boards is our right. I'm not really expecting Obsidian to do anything about it, but our discussions about how exactly to ramp difficulty could be useful to any modders in our midst. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other threads where you can exclaim about how perfect you think everything is. Honestly, I doubt it's that small a minority. Anyone doing a large amount of side content is going to completely marginalize the difficulty in most of the fights. I literally used one character to clear out several areas without doing any weird cheese stuff (other than using a well-built rogue) . Is that how it's meant to be played? One character + 5 cheerleaders? Anyway, I'm getting tangential here so /rant. No, many here are hoping that Obsidian makes sweeping changes to the game to suit their tastes. I'm speaking up on the off chance Obsidian is actually listening to these complaints, because the echo chamber in this thread does not represent the playerbase as whole. There are a few optional things that I think would be a good idea if they want to implement them, like a reduced xp option for instance, but fundamentally changing the game to suit those in this thread will result in many more unhappy players than we have now. I hope someone makes a mod for you guys, but that's the extent of my support. Also it most certainly is a small minority. This happens on every gaming forum. The malcontents post more because they aren't playing the game as much, and reaffirm their view as a majority view when in fact it is marginal.

I'm assuming that it will use the last save under any particular character's profile.

What's also unrealistic is thinking the hardcore try-hards on here saying the game is too easy, even on the higher difficulties, represent anything other than a small minority. The bottom line is that if PotD is not hard enough for people they are probably just going to have to wait for a mod that makes the game even harder.

Amen... the most optimal edition IMO I think they loosely based PoE's system off AD&D 4.... which I never grew fond of. It has absolutely nothing in common with 4E D&D. Nothing.

Do you have any support for this statement? You've polled most of the players, or at least a random sample we can consider representative, to get their views? Considering the reviews it's getting, professional and amateur, and the lack of complaints about the game being too easy in said reviews (many claiming it to be quite challenging in fact), it's not hard to figure out that it's just a tiny minority of people finding the harder difficulties too easy. Those people loving the heart of the game but being dissatisfied with the challenge level naturally find their way here. Those who have no issues with the difficulty of the game don't generally come to the forums to talk about it. I mean if you go off this forum you would think this game is actually bad, because that's what predominates on game forums: complaints from the dissatisfied.

With the exception of Dragon Age? That game was nothing like IE games.

There is no problem, well documented or otherwise. Some people want the game to be harder, or want leveling slowed to a glacial pace, while most people are happy with the current difficulty options and leveling rate. The percentage of people who can play hard or PotD and feel it is not challenging at all is so tiny it's not even worth discussing in terms of Obsidian changing things. Certainly some balance issues need to be dealt with (some enemies do not fulfill their level in terms of challenge), but for some of you it just boils down to having to wait for mods to make the game even harder than it currently is or xp much slower. Changing the difficulty/xp rate across the board when most people are happy with it just so that a tiny percentage who find it easy can feel challenged? I certainly hope Obsidian isn't considering such a notion.

There would be literally no way to reach the cap if they did that. I really, really hope Obsidian ignores you crazies... You really need to up your reading comp level. It most certainly would be possible to reach 12th level with what I'm suggesting. I don't think so. You are talking about three times the current amount of xp to get to 12th level and that simply doesn't exist in the game as far as I'm aware. And again, you people need to stop expecting the game to suit your rather silly completionist expectations and just wait for an xp mod. 80-90% of the people playing this game are happy with the way it is.

Those are good numbers if you ask me. It might hit a million in a year's time at this rate.