Wormerine

Oh, it is such a tough topic. Since I became fluent with english I have trouble dealing even with good translations. I am sorry to hear that the translations of PoE aren't great. My mother tongue is polish and I tried playing through recent Tides of Numenera in polish but switched back to english quite quickly. It wasn't bad, but it felt wrong somehow. Translation is a tricky thing, especially for such text heavy games. Literal translation is simply a wrong approach, but I feel with PoE it is especially hard. It is very language focused game (flavour of the names) and it is tough to translate it to different language. It is possible. Lord of the Rings has two translatins in Polish. I feel the first one is somewhat more accurate but sounds really stupid. The second one took much more liberty with the source material. Some of the names where completely changed to convey their original meaning better. The same word might draw different connections in different languages. I do hope the translators weren't lazy, but with such amount of text, I imagine the time constrains were an issue.

I just tried working an example. In D&D v3.5, a +2 Con adds a +1 to hp total. For a fighter, a 1d10 hp/level gives an average of 5.5 hp/level. So the +1 hp increases the total for the fighter by about 18% for a +2 Con. In PoE, a +2 Con gives a +10% health and endurance. It's similar for Str and damage: +2 Str increases long sword 1d8 (~4.5) by +1, for a 22% damage bonus. In PoE a +2 Mig gives a +6% damage bonus. To me it looks like PoE has scaled attribute impacts back by roughly half or more. But that may be to balance out lack of level scaling for spell damage, as well as other factors. I think we would need to look at the entire picture. Now that's a discussion well beyond my knowledge of D&D and game design overall, but now I wonder how much impact attributes should have. Sure, in a classless RPG (like fallout1&2) the attributed define your characters and decide on how you will interact with the world. In a class based RPG how much should they really impact your character? The class already more or less defines your role. The PoE system allows to shift towards certain play styles of said class (focus on DPS, AOE, buffs/debuffs, status effects) but not completely redefine the class.

I would love to see a redesign of the system for PoE2 but I do like underlying ideals. I do like that every class benefits from every stat. I feel like there is more choice now, and when creating new character I think about what I want to be, not what this class needs. Sadly, due to the lower impact of the stats it might be a bit smoke and mirrors. I like how the skills work, but I would like to see more tangible impact from each skill.

Twin Elsm certainly felt empty, but gods' quests were a high point of the vanilla game to me. Story wise certainly. The finale did change how I perceived the game as well.

and what exactly do you think that means? It means that they deliberatly marketed the game based on nostalgia for Baldur's Gate. They knew *damn* well what they were doing. It was Bernaysian marketing--make the people *feel* like they'll get their old sense of fun back even if they logically know it's not the same game.It's like a beer commercial where they show a guy drinking this brand of beer and then suddenly surround by sexy women taking off their clothes. They don't *say* that drinking their beer will make you get laid, but you, me, and they all know what they're saying. This isn't secret ****. This is Marketing 101. all of which makes the "spiritual successor" bit meaningless. is not a promise o'... anything. obsidian were guilty o' attempting to use nostalgia for bg to sell poe? *feigned shock* review: obsidian never said "spiritual successor" and 'ccording to you, the bg magic bit is akin to using hot chicks to sell beer? ... in parlance you might be familiar with, you is doing a terrible job o' selling us on the notion o' "spiritual successor" being more than shibboleth. HA! Good Fun! Ehh.... not the most distunguished and trustworthy source but it will do. Googling a term is more than you can be bothered to do apparently. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_successor

I am sure you are not late (afterall, pledging has not ended yet.) I am sure they will contact you with a survey to fill once they need that. It will probably take a while. There is still a game to be made:-).

Exactly. I think there was a disconnect in the development process; clearly the people who did the scripted interactions didn't have a clear understanding of how might is not strength. But might is strength. It's not only physical strength, it also includes spiritual strength and the game does not explain if or why the two are linked, but they come together in the might stat. Yeah, this is the problem many people have I think. A mage has high might, and therefore his spells do more damage&healing. But he also hits like a truck, when you give him a weapon. And he lifts boulders. I think the problem is role-playing. I know that might isn't supposed to mean "strength" but it does that and more.

It is something I am not very interested in (always turn those off) so I don't remember the finer details but one of the stretchgoals was player AI scripting for companions. I don't know how deep it will be, but I would expect something on the level of DA:O.

Which would mean no (flying) dragons or giant insects or various other fantastical creatures with impossible anatomies, the major cause of death being disease and infection, a hugely complicated sleep/water/food system, and equipment damage. That sounds like a game that would be so tedious that playing it becomes a chore. Only because you see the limitations. It would impose a reduction in your agency. I'm currently working on a different approach to this.Instead of these things become chores to deal with, you could build gameplay around it. These limitations only work if they're related to the gameplay. if it's any-time management of your gear by clicking on a button that consumes an item which then repairs your gear, that's lame. If you need to complete an in-game challenge in order to influence your success, that might be engaging. I'm not yet ready to share too much of what I've been preparing, but I am very eager to see what Obsidian would think of it sometime. I'm going to make chores engaging. I'm also opting out of this thread, I'm sure there is enough in this thread to consider your own ideas and share them in a different one. If you can make chores entertaining, then please, come and fix my life:-P

Yeah, I do like the unique statuses enemies can inflict, but the way Pillars Implimented them is not perfect. Essentially, you don't have protection - yuo die. You have protection, so they don't do anything to you. It's not a fun system. You just have to know what protection spell to cast at the start of the combat. Some redesign would be welcome.

Wait, what? From kickstarter page: "Project Eternity will take the central hero, memorable companions and the epic exploration of Baldur’s Gate, add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale, and tie it all together with the emotional writing and mature thematic exploration of Planescape: Torment" This game was sold as a spiritual successor of IE games. It was made to look like them, play like them. UI looks like IE game. It is modern IE engine with Obsidian D&Dlike system. It is D&D game but without D&D ip. there is homage, and there is "we are just like ... but new."

Why can't we have both focused/ engaging and massive. Who said you can only have one or the other? I'm expecting bg2 level of greatness or better in deadfire. I'm semi - confident they will pull it off. Time and money. Oh, I mean there's a lot that goes into it--team size, amount of development assets, etc. But what it comes down to is time, and money. Obsidian is a small-to-moderate developer, and BG2 was a freaking miracle when it comes to size, complexity, etc--it was the kind of thing where people look back at their time spent working on it and think "I don't know how we ever pulled that off". Using BG2 as your mile marker is a path to endless disappointment. It's a one-in-a-million-fluke. Yeah, witcher 3 is my new Baldurs Gate. BG was a massive game. And it benefited from other infinity engine games. I doubt you can reach the scope of BG on a modest budget. The word traveling should add a lot to the game and open it up quite a bit. I am looking forward to see what Obsidian will come up with. I wonder if the new engine will allow for bigger maps/renders.

Baldurs Gate2 is very Bioware - I absolutely loved it for so many years now, but I wonder how I would react to it now. Black&white morality, and shallow characters didn't bother me that much at the time. Both KOTOR2 and Alpha Protocol, while broken, were very creative, doing something original and surprising.

I take the opposite view where those "empty" areas provide an opportunity for exploration. To me exploration suggest there is something interesting to find (well constructed encounter, quest, unique event, nice location). Many of the wilderness locations were quite dull, with dull combat encounters. Hmm, well exploration means travel into the unknown in order to learn about it. The key work being travel. You don't have to find something deep and interesting every other minute; this isn't a music video. I'm fine with so-called "dull" wilderness locations because they highlight the interesting locales. That's what travelling the wilderness is like, and in that sense they're much like similar areas in Baldur's Gate. My preference would have been to include more such wilderness areas with a few interesting highlights. ok, the thing is I don't disagree. I like exploration, I like discovering thing. But I also don't like padding - just to be clear, I don't think Pillars had this problem. My issue with the "exploration" in PoE was that I rarely found something interesting. The special events were tied to quests, and therefore I knew I will find them there before venturing to said location. I was rarely surprised. Instead, I would just spent time looking for the objective without finding anything else worth finding. There were some cool stuff (Bleakwalkers in Margran Fork... and... a cave, and... Fulvano stuff... yhhhh... nothing else comes to mind) but not nearly enough for my taste. Just a lot of trash mobs, from which you don't get experience from defeating and which aren't too engaging to fight. I make it sound very bad. It wasn't bad.

Like what? I thought most areas had a point to them. If there wasn't much to do in an area, then it was only trying to emulate BG1's exploration. Pearlwood bluff is a good example - you have a short interaction related to companions quest, and a cave enterance. Location sie isn't particularly interesting, not much to find. i did feel like they designed outdoors locations with one side quest in mind, and didn't manage to add more content to fill those areas. White march did things much better. With much varied locals, more things to find, unique encounters, interactions, quests. It's been a while since I played BG1 but I remember them all being quite engaging (might be younger me talking though). Having more word building behind them. I can't put my fingers on it, but BG did feel more to me like an openworld game. PoE wilderness areas felt more disconnected and empty. Not all of them. But pearlwood bluff, searing falls, "road maps" leading to Raedricks keep... not brilliant.

I take the opposite view where those "empty" areas provide an opportunity for exploration. To me exploration suggest there is something interesting to find (well constructed encounter, quest, unique event, nice location). Many of the wilderness locations were quite dull, with dull combat encounters.

I imagine he meant without expansions. I remember him saying that they were happy with the size of PoE but they want deadfire to have more depth, be more reactive. As far as playtime/amount of maps: I doubt Obsidian themselves know. Seems like a right approach to me. Many of the locations in PoE felt unnecessary, empty. i will take engaging content over arbitrary "size".

On the other hand CDPR ignored/streamlined choices with W3, which caused W2 to lose its charm for the sake of W3 being standalone, W2 as a game became meaningless to me which I loved before. oh, you just reminded me. As wonderful as W3 was, I never got over that they just ignored the fact that I spared and released Saskia from Filippa's influence. That was a bummer. Yeah I didn't like how Roche, who was never a big deal in my playthrough of W2, gets foisted on me like some old friend whereas Iorveth ma bro never appears. I mean, do they ever even mention what happened with the Pontar Valley in W3 if you freed it in W2? Are they conquered and destroyed by Nilfgard or Redania? Do they become a puppet state like Temeria can become? Do they just get ignored by all sides? A mention would have been nice... I rolled with Iorveth as well, but I didn't find Roche to be too welcoming. I remembered they referenced Saskia's Free State in W3. I think it was conquered by one of the main superpowers. Nilfgaard I think, but I might be wrong. It did suck though, as that meant that your actions in 2nd game had no meaning at all.

Someone should make a song about that one! :D Exactly, getting married to your character's equipment isn't something I'd consider overly healthy ^^ Just about everything; getting those extra starting levels always felt nice since I could start throwing off cool abilities earlier, and ME2 is the type of game you want to experiment with in terms of story, so you'll want to get that renegade save from ME1 to store your renegade decisions for your renegade ME2 Shepard. Not to mention the importance I personally place on continuity in such a game, which effectively renders me unable to just reroll my Shepard's class and appearance and still fully enjoy the game. Editing the save-game files on the other hand makes me feel dirty and would nag on me every time I look at the character, again rendering me incapable of getting immersed into the experience. I see. In ME I was always a strong paragon guy and had no interest of doing renegade playthrough. I always make a backup of my saves, so I have never run into an issue of not having a valid save for ME2. The good news for PoE2 is that it shouldn't be an issue. In one of the streams Josh mentioned that you will be able to either import your save, or start new character and decide what choices were made in previous game. If I understood it correctly that means you can do second playthrough and see different outcomes without having to replay PoE1.

On the other hand CDPR ignored/streamlined choices with W3, which caused W2 to lose its charm for the sake of W3 being standalone, W2 as a game became meaningless to me which I loved before. oh, you just reminded me. As wonderful as W3 was, I never got over that they just ignored the fact that I spared and released Saskia from Filippa's influence. That was a bummer.

I am pretty sure the answer is no, they won't be transferred. Whenever they will be destroyed, or stolen and reappear later in the game, or if they will have their essence sucked out of them I think we can safely assume that you will be lvl 1, and you will be stripped of any equipment you had. It is just a nature of RPGs. And it is a good thing. Once I used the exploit at the beginning of Baldur's Gate 2, to save my favourite gear from Baldur's Gate 1. Yeah, it was nice to see those items back, but they completely broke half of the game. It is no fun when you are overpowered.

Just from curiosity, what interaction between ME1&ME2 are you talking about? It has been a while since I played it so it might have slipped my mind. I remember there were some small story related transfers (did you sacrifice humans or council, some small emails/references to previous games). As far as the story in concerned I am a big believer in having choices in previous game being reflected in later installments. If it is not a continues story, then make a different game. Or at least new character. As it is a direct sequel to the Watcher's story, I do want the first game to have some effect on the sequel.

True, it is always disappointing when sequels invalidate previous decisions. Sadly to some extand it is impossible to avoid as in some world changing scenarios you would have to develop multiple seperate games. Luckily I think PoE2 will be fine. The changes you made were local only, and we are moving to a different region. I hope that the state of Dyrwood will be referenced, and you will see results of your actions but being set in a different part of the world it doesn't need to be more expansive.

One of the stretchgoals included Italian localization, right? (2.2M$) It is funded so you will get it. Unless you are asking for full VO... I wouldn't count on that.

I just want a good world to explore in fallout2 style. And I want Firaxis to finally make Pirates!2 to fullfil my pirating need.