Wormerine

Then why in nine hells are you a backer, if devs opinions don't carry any weight with you? Don't take me wrong, I disliked every realtime RPG with less party members than 5ve and I am nostalgically attatched to no. 6. But if devs says it plays better with 5ve its good enough for me until I am able to judge it by myself.

Inactive quests don't dissapear, but move to the bottom and are greyed out. It might be more handy to create seperate "completed" tab but I didn't find it to be an issue. I found journal to be just fine, giving me information I need when I need them. Keep in mind some quests don't give you detailed information because they are not supposed to. I think the biggest problem is that you didn't complete quests - I don't remember ever having that many active quests at any given time. The only issue I had that sometimes division between "sidequests" and "tasks" wasn't that big and I would look for a quest in a wrong tab for half a minute. Companions could get their own tab, though they might not be significat enough to need that (seperate tab for 7 quests?.)

It depends what season pass contains. Usually you simply preorder all the DLC for the game. I rarely get them as they are a bad deal - after all you pay for a content you dont know if you will like for a game you didn't play yet. Usually it gives you all post release content, unless game has a very lengthy support or releases a big meaty expansion (like War of the Chosen for XCOM2).

While we are on the topic of Awakening and madness is there an error in Maerwald's madness?

Allowing something doesn't mean it is required. You are allowed to kill anyone(almost) in the game. That doesn't mean you do it always. Freedom adds to playing styles for a role playing game. The ability to do things in the game that make sense makes things unpredictable and more fun. If people decide to play more hardcore, or for example a checkbox to allow or disallow pre-buffing adds to the level of difficulty in the game. Playing effectively is not part of roleplaying. What is roleplaying difference between your character entering battle with all the protection spells already cast and him casting the very same spells after the combat starts? People have a natural drive to win, and they will abuse mechanics if they have a chance even if that makes the game more engaging. Hell, in Baldur's Gate 2 I killed Dragons many times by casting area of effect outside of their range and waiting for them to die. I didn't find it fun. But why would you challange yourself more than once, if you can cheese your way through. I will say the same thing I said regarding request to unrestrict how many party members you can take with you: it's up to the game designers to set rules which give player flexibility but also force him to make interesting choices. Rules come with limitations. I really don't see a reason to add prebuffing. Why do you want to prebuff? To make combat easier? There is difficulty slider for it.

Yes, and they are designed to be fought with un prebuffed party. If you want to prebuff you have food. If prebuffing would be allowed than either you could cheese those fights by prebuffing or their starting buffs would need to be harder for a fair challange. Yes, and that is why spellcasting has been changed to per encounter, instead of per rest. It should make for a more interesting combat. I didn't find dispel magic all that fun - as win spell to make enemies beatable. Obsidian tried to fix the problem with no ability to dispell already cast buffs and shortening their duration. It certainly could use some more work. They are making changes for Deadfire. We will have to wait until beta to see how it plays.

Well, "unsuitable for PnP rules" mostly comes from using computer to calculate outcome rather than having players do it. It comes to rolls being determined by 100 rolls, different spells adjusting defences rather than adding bonuses/minuses to rolls. It is easier to understand 76% to hit rather than AC -5 & THAC0 and dealing with abstract dice rolls. Not a great analogy; negative AC values and THACO are generally derided as obtuse crap by today's PNP crowd and there's a reason they were done away with in the 90's. I know its not. But that is the last D&D I am vaguely familiar with.

Well, "unsuitable for PnP rules" mostly comes from using computer to calculate outcome rather than having players do it. It comes to rolls being determined by 100 rolls, different spells adjusting defences rather than adding bonuses/minuses to rolls. It is easier to understand 76% to hit rather than AC -5 & THAC0 and dealing with abstract dice rolls.

Seeing that Deadfire, many of the assets are 3D do you think PoE3 (if it's ever get made?) will go fully to 3D environments? Earlier days everyone used to argue that they love hand drawn environments as they were more beautiful. This is true when 15 years ago where the graphics and visual technology weren't good enough. I still prefer 2d backgrounds. I would certainly prefer PoE to stay isometric instead of top down full 3D. As far as 3D is concerned i have only seen really big budget games reach variety of locals and art design of 2d backgrounds. Also prerendered 2d background are much less demanding without sacrificing quality. Unless the 2d limits Onsidian in some significant way (not as interactive as 3D could be) I don’t see a reason to switch tech.

Very much “Fractured” then.

That’s a very neat idea!

I am all for giving player a choice - if you don’t want to deal with combat you turn difficulty down. If you want to try going solo, you go solo. However, these are all self imposed limitations to make the game harder/easier consciously breaking the rules. Job of game designer is to give you a game with an entertaining set of rules. What is entertaining is subjective so it is beneficial if the game is flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of players. But it is not up to player to make up rules or not use existing features to make the game fun. Most gamers have a natural drive to play optimally. If one option is strictly better than the other why would you use the weaker one? It’s like putting an overpowered unit in chess but expecting you to figure out to not use it. Giving you ability to run with all companions at once is bad. Sure, they could balance it around 5 characters and than expect people to figure out that most fun they have is by playing with 5, while giving a wider option to people who just want to run around with everyone. But how do you communicate this? How do you stop people who want to have balance combat by not taking with them too many units? Why do you even waste time creating UI for an amount of companions which actively hurt the experience. It’s like giving a sos to a meal which doesn’t fit just in case someone one day might want it. You Are a Chef, and it is your job to compose a good meal. Whenever someone likes it or not it’s up to them and they can decide whenever they want to eat your stuff or not. Or they give feedback and you adjust or stick to your guts. Coupled companions in BG1 are a good example. They were limiting and people were abusing game systems to bypass them. That’s why they are not present in BG2. Obsidian did 6 man party and decided it was too much. If the change to 5 won’t be a good decision thy will probably adjust for the next installement.

Agreed, If I wanted to indulge in Andrzej Sapkowski's masturbatory fantasies, I would read one of his hacky novels. huh? I think the Witcher games are terrible, and the books are even worse. Yeah, I got that impression. Just surprised by what seems to be a personal grudge against the author. Hey, he dislikes the game series as well.

Agreed, If I wanted to indulge in Andrzej Sapkowski's masturbatory fantasies, I would read one of his hacky novels. huh?

Did you ask? He hasn't answered... I did...

I didn't mean to attack you by any means. As far as I know no one has attempted to compile all those information just yet. What I wanted to point out that what you will hear from us might not be accurate as we interpret a lot of what we hear. I will try to mention couple things I think are interesting. I will post links to relevant videos. They are not long and they will really better explain (and in less time). It is by no means a complete list: Before I start. Here is a gameplay demo from E3. It is te biggest chunk of the game which we have seen so far. It shows many of the features I will be writing about: party limit is downsized to 5 - Obsidian stated they felt encounters in PoE got crowded and game would benefit from a smaller encounters. Response from community has been mixed. It seems less like a gameplay issue and more "I want more companions in my party all the time" issue. No more health/stamina - health system will be similar to Tyranny. You have one health pool this time around, if you fell in battle you gain injury, which gain penelty. Too many injuries and character dies. You can heal injuries by resting. No per rest abilities - it seems Deadfire will move away from per rest abilities and spells. They don't want you to avoid using abilities. In case of casters now they will be able to cast 2 spells per spell level per encounter. To balance that it seems caster will be more limited with how much spells they can have at any given time. You will no longer learn spells and write them in Grimoires. Instead when leveling up you choose a spell you want to learn. Grimoires cannot be edited and expand the list of spells you can cast. There is per rest resource though. Those "power point" can be spent to empower an ability (raise it to a higher level - more damage, longer effect etc.) or spend the same recource to use already depleted abilities. Multiclassing and subclasses! - you don't have to choose only one class anymore. At the character creation you can choose whenever your character will be single class, or multiclass. Multiclass characters should be more flexible but individual skills won't be as effective as pure class characters. On top of that each class has subclasses allowing you to further customize your class. The most recent update no. 40 has the most fresh info about all this stuff: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire?update=480#updates Ships! Yes, you get your own ship this time around. Ship will be your stronghold. You will be able to get access to various types of ships. There will be crew management mechanic. It ties to a more open world design of Deadfire. While the game still consist of closed maps Infinity Engine style, the whole thing is connected via Fallout1&2 like overworld. There you can travel freely, discover new areas, have some random encounters. Here is the ship reveal video: Relationship system! Deadfire attempts to deepen interactions with your companions. Each of them will have likes and dislikes and will observe you and react to your decisions/actions. They will also react to each other - they might like each other very much or some conflicts may appear. It is not entirely system driven content but rather preplanned, pre-written scenarios which will happen or not depending on game systems and your input. It might be possible to romance some of the companions if they like you very very much. While we are at it - we have 7 companions with full story arch and relationship system implimented. three of them are returning companions: Eder, Aloth and Pallegina. In addition to that we get 4 sidekicks. Less reactive version of companions. They will have their own backstory, quips etc. but they won't have story arch (including personal quest) nor relationship system. More people to take with you but not as much work for writers. Neketaka - Deadfire will feature one big city, Neketaka. It will house main factions of the game. Your interactions with them will be more complex than in PoE and it will take time before they "lock you" with one. It will also be made clear for the player when they get to the point with no return with the faction: That's the main stuff off the top of my head. There are many more bits and pieces of information but it should give you the overall idea.

Than at least check obsidians YouTube channel. All major updates are there and Q&A provide plenty of info. Those are main sources of our knowledge. We know the broad strokes, but none of us have details of how each system will work.

Seems like Josh absorbed quite a bit of Polish culture in the last few days: https://mobile.twitter.com/jesawyer/status/918569195633176576

@Lephys You might like AP then. There are quite a few ways the story can playout and game responds even to an order in which you decide to take on the missions. Conversation system is an intruiging one - it has time limit so you have to choose your responses under pressure and they describe your attitude - suave, aggressive etc. Not a perfect system but worked pretty well and easily my fav part of AP. Give it a shot, especially if you can catch it one on of the sales. It could have been a true an RPG gem if it was less broken.

... this is how the game defines it. Might determines how hard you hit (with physical weapons), it is a check for all physique connected rolls (intimidate someone with your posture, lift an object, push the wall etc), while also reflecting spellcaster’s spell power. It IS strength and more.

Here is the issue: “Might represents a character's physical and spiritual strength, brute force as well as their ability to channel powerful magic. During interactions, it can be useful for intimidating displays and acts of brute force. In combat, it contributes to both Damage and Healing as well as the Fortitude defence.” Might represent both physical strength of your character and magic/spiritual strength. While Constitution: “Constitution is a combination of the character's overall health and endurance. Although it is not used much in interactions, it is sometimes checked to withstand pain or endure a physically taxing ordeal.” So while a character with low might but high constitution could do Captain America’s “I can do this all day!” routine, or sustain environmental dangers (like escaping from burning house in white march) he is unlikely to threaten someone or lift heavy stuff. For me It would be enough if they would explain lorewise how physical strength correlates with powerful spell casting.

Absolutely. As much as we perceive small DLC as predatory they do seem to keep the game in people’s mind. Dedicated fans have a reason to return to the game and new people can be brought in as new DLCs a release and the game is mentioned by an outlet. This way by the time you release the big DLC or expansion you still have an audience for it. If your DLC is gonna be very small though and if you want it just to keep players attention... why not be like a CD Project Red and release small DLC for free? XCOM2 is a fun example and shows why I dislike smaller DLC. Their content was solid, but I didn’t feel like it implemented well with the base game. However, I love it now when the big expansion was released, game is rebalanced and smaller DLC integrated into the core experience. The issue is that either you tack something to a complete title or you leave some aspect of the base game lacking (like weird in the air Liara story quest in Mass Effect 2) so you can patch it in later for a price. With bigger DLC they have more space and money to tie it with the core experience.

That is an interesting question. I assumed it work “in proximity” rather than through genealogy.

There are A LOT of subclasses already especially for spellcasters. Deadfire’s philosophy seems to be: similar amount of content but more depth. I prefer that they focus on expanding on existing mechanics rather then “sequelizing” PoE2 by adding shallow additions for numbers sake (more maps, more classes, more races MORE MORE MORE) without fixing any issues the game had. Especially in case of the Five-Suns order it makes little sense to make it available to the player. It is for males (and godlikes if you have a good lawyer) only and it ties your character to Valian Republic. It makes no sense with the story, would force you to ally with one faction only in Deadfire etc.

Hey, I doubt they produce new condoms and children are difficult to raise after WW3. You use what you find.