Tale

I think it's been a while since I agreed with you. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

You and I have a different idea of what it means to be an old IE games. It's real-time with pause, focusing on tactical party combat, questing, and exploration. That's what I expected, that's what I seem to be getting. I know some people are upset that it's not a 1:1, that wizards don't look to be quadratic, that it's not D&D 2E with the serial numbers filed off. But I never got the impression that's what they were aiming at. Respecting that subjectivity, and since we're in the right forum for that, I should ask; what does the spirit of the infinity engine games mean to you?

6.28 meters

Very rarely midnight. Probably around 10 am pacific. I'm getting an unhealthy level of excited about playing around with the level editor. It'll be hilarious if it doesn't even run on my computer.

I think the intent is to make it without traps, not make it foolproof. So there may indeed be corner cases such that you build a character with stats that completely contradict equipment, or you maximize penalties that the game explicitly warns you not to do. Like a fighter that equips the mage tome and robes, then stocks up on heavy armor mobility feats or something.

I'm now envisioning a game where character creation is intentionally designed to be a puzzle. And then the encounters are puzzles where the enemies are 10 levels too high and the only way to beat them is through rules abuse. I'd call it Min-Max Hero.

I would be hesitant to say that. I'm sure if I try to optimize for least value, I can make something bad.

I think the Forumspring post by Sawyer goes towards that way. Previously posted by Infinitron. Now, it may still be possible to make very bad builds. But the intent seems to be for those being the exception. With valid concepts that are typically crappy characters, such as the intelligent weak fighter being viable.

That is the most beautiful snake I've ever seen.

I'm playing Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Fun game, but I have a complaint. There's no carrot. The story isn't even trying to be compelling. You start off with all the guns accessible. You start off with the full map. The only unlocks are weapon mods and a few abilities. Is that a complaint, though? The game essentially has minimal mechanisms that artificially lengthen it. Maybe I should be praising that. It only has any reason to last as long as I'm having fun.

The problem is that each distribution of Direct X is ever so slightly different. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/03/why-steam-makes-you-install-directx-repeatedly/

My first thought was "of course not," but then I thought about what 2/3rd of my age was and it creeped me out.

Morrowind and Skyrim don't have the same scaling problem Oblivion does. Oblivion becomes nearly unplayable for me around level 15 or 20. Then it becomes playable around 30. Then it becomes a complete snooze after 40. All level ranges are vague guesses based on memory. The HP scales ridiculously. This is all playing as a stealth guy. 1-15: Your stealth isn't strong enough to sneak up on anyone, but your stats are rounded enough that you can fight toe to toe. 15-30: Your stealth is strong enough to sneak up on people, which also means your stealth starts skyrocketing. Your other stats fall behind. You get a good first hit in, but then you're dead. Hope you never have to deal with Clannfear without a ranged weapon, you'll kill yourself. 30-40: You changed your entire playstyle so that you had some defense and regular damage, now back to sneaking. 40: Your sneak is so strong, nobody detects you even while you sneak attack them. But they have so much health that it still takes 8 swings at full sneak damage. Fallout 3 is the same way. You end up constantly running into Albino Radscorps and Deathclaws with a million HP at higher levels.

The Night of the Rabbit Final Fantasy VII Gunpoint Evoland Mark of the Ninja System Shock 2 Kerbal Space Program Metro: Last Light Hitman Collection Tomb Raider ROW Mars: War Logs FarCry 2 Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon The Walking Dead: 400 Days Scribblenauts Unlimited Sid Meier's Civilization V: Brave New World I need an intervention.

Mark of the Ninja is fantastic.

Are we there yet?

"Tank" may not be what he's referring to by "character concepts." He may be thinking about "intelligent fighter" as a character concept. Then you get to distribute your stats, while still making the character feel like he's smart. Though we still have much to learn.

I've said for a while that I would love to see a game where he was lead designer instead of lead writer.

http://www.gamefront.com/dragon-age-3s-open-world-informed-dialogue-choices-discussed/ Some stuff from PAX Aus. Nothing big. I think the important bit is that they recognize people didn't like the autodialogue of ME3 or DA2's paraphrasing. Also But they always say that and fail. With Gaider going so far as to pretty much reject that idea publicly.

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created. It lacks the latter. If the design achieves the intent, I'll value it.

Thanks for the link. I wonder what he means by unconventional. Even this bit doesn't sound too different from some systems I've seen. I appreciate the intent well enough.

I agree that is kind of what they seem like at the moment, although we need more information. Months ago I asked Josh whether the game would even have attributes, because it seemed like it would work perfectly fine without them. Stats seem like something you are required to have for the genre, even if you don't need them, at this point. Just because the audience takes it as sacred. Anyway, I can't wait until we find out more.

That's what I suspect they'll be doing. Though I said it in the other thread, might as well say it here, I still like the idea of different stats doing different things for different people. It just helps distinguish the classes a little more with flavor. I'll just have to sigh whimsically over the fact that I won't get any charisma based casters who channel magic by charming the pants off creation. To be fair, that's not something I really expected anyway. Cipher and Wizard sound like they were always to use the same stat. Though I would have hoped they'd have a different secondary focus.

I'm disappointed, but I'll get over it. I really like stats to mean different things to different characters and classes. Your charismatic Sorcerer, your intelligent Mage. And then 4e gave me a constitution based Warlock! It feeds my imagination and character ideas. Not just because you have your character who also happens to have this stat, but because of the implications of using power through that stat presents. But enough RPGs stick all casters to the same stat that I'm used to it. It probably makes more sense for their setting, with "souls" being the source of power. A constitution caster doesn't make sense when all magic comes from the soul.

I like concept art for its own sake but I don't get hyped about it. However, I do like the continuing suggestions that the PC will get their own castle or base. That seems like it was one of the first things confirmed. Or maybe it was just so widely suggested I got that impression.