Dorateen

The Armor Class attribute should be represented by a number that gets lower as the protection improves, even to the point of negative integers. That'll be so reactionary, it will make the collective heads of next-gen gamers explode. Harumph!

Harumph!

Adventurers Hall all the way, from start to finish! Brought to us by the developers of Icewind Dale, Temple of Elemental Evil, and NWN2: Storm of Zehir. Culminating in a 15 level mega-dungeon. Well done, Obsidian Harumph!

It's encouraging to see the younger Obsidian staff get an education in a truly excellent computer role-playing game. Harumph!

"These go to eleven" ~Nigel Tufnel

I believe we will be able to leave and come back. At ten levels, it will probably require several level ups to complete and reach the ultimate end of the dungeon. Besides, the Endless Paths dungeon is the central focus of this game. Harumph!

Indira, I think the Adventurer Hall is just a fancy way to get the party editor/roster interface into the game. You know, how like in Storm of Zehir they introduced the ship's manifest to create the other party members, or the registries at the inn to swap them out. I've seen the comment before about a limited party (or no party) at the beginning. While I understand where some people might be reading into this, the fact is this is a party-based IE inspired game, yes or no? In Baldur's Gate, full parties were assembled pretty early on. And for those of us who made custom-parties, we had the whole group together right outside Candlekeep or the other party members were found in cages in the Irenicus starter dungeon. The delvelopers have made the point that it is "possible" to solo this game. Now am I to understand, based on what some posters think, the player "must" solo this game, at least for a little while? Not likely. What I see is an opening cut scene where the main PC witnesses this very dramatic event. And from there, it will not take long to gather companions in the starting area. The vague comment that has been made "After a time... you can recruit other party members" might be no longer than a half hour of playing time. As the Irish say, may you be a half hour in Heaven before the devil knows your dead. Anyway, this game is about exploring the Endless Paths with a custom party. And a bunch of other stuff thrown in. Harumph!

Obsidian delivers. Harumph!

One more for the good guys. Thank you, Obsidian. Harumph!

And the floodgates are open! I'm looking forward to exploring the Endless Paths with a full custom party. Harumph!

Are you one of those who voted for Call of duty on the main page? What a bizzare thing to say. Based on his comment, it is more likely he would vote for Icewind Dale (given the topic of this discussion) or even Temple of Elemental Evil on the main page. By the way, Icewind Dale had a sequel, and expansion and a downloadable mod adventure. That's more than some other title in the Infinty Engine era. Harumph!

The fear from the OP and its ilk is delicious in the morning. It's sound of tyrants trembling. Harumph!

Well that didn't take long. Full Party Creation? Oh, hell yeah! I knew Obsidian would get it done. Now we just need to see what final form this all takes, including how party members other than the first PC are involved in conversations. Harumph!

The PC is just one more member of the adventuring group. How would character creation choices be any more irrelevant than other party members? If I made the PC a paladin, there are certian times I would want him to take over the conversation, using his unique set of character skills. Other times, I would want the wizard with his lore skill giving his input. Or the street-wise thief in a city enviornment. Yes, this is being talked about as a protagonist-centric story. But it is still being pitched as a party-based IE style game. Don't discount custom parties too soon, especially at this stage of development. Either officially or backdoor, hamfisted in by some crazy old-school fan.

Imagine rolling a stupid half-ogre with INT less than 8 in Arcanum and then using Virgil to handle every talk in the game. Would that be the same game? Would a unique style of gameplay with people's reactions mixed with choices and cosequences still exist? But in a party-based game, it should be a team effort. I'm not familiar with Arcanum, but if this Virgil is an intelligent well-spoken character, then he should be used to handle conversations, and that is perfectly valid. I would think the half-ogre is only there for muscle. Again, that is the player's choice. It could be funny to let the half-ogre try to talk his way out of a sticky situation.

This, I don't understand. I have never approached a conversation, either in tabletop or CRPGs, as "winnable". What the SoZ party chat design allowed for was individual members of the group to have specific lines of dialogue based on various attributes. It was up to the player which one to select, based on role-playing decisions and the circumstances of the encounter. If there are options available because of the player's party compostion, how is that exploiting? In your example, a party member who is a cleric could be given a dialogue option that would only be available for him, which might allow free services at the church. That is rewarding the player for having a cleric in party, and having the good sense to choose that dialogue option. Harumph!

And to chime in on this post, while I gather that the Main PC will be the one to drive the narrative, what happens when the Player selects another party member and has them click on some random NPC in the world? There is full party control, even outside of combat isn't there? Of course this is something that will have to be addressed at some point. In NWN2, if a companion tried to talk to an NPC, the Main Character would be warped immediately to the spot to carry on the conversation... even if the Knight Captian was halfway on the other side of the city. Even more problematic, and well documented, is that in starting conversations before a battle, the PC was jumped right up front and vulnerable. The game should never take control of the party characters out of the player's hands, and that's what I don't want to see. It sure wasn't like that in the Infinity Engine games. Harumph!

ohhhhhh boy....

Annie Oakley lives! Harumph!

I wish to raise a substantive point. If the developers do include a difficulty mode that is indeed derived in spirit from Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury, then the player ought to be allowed to assemble a squad of crack commando teammates who would be up to the challenge. I don't want to be saddled with "Optional Male Romance Guy" or "Comic Relief Witty Bard" as companions for such encounters. Harumph!

I think a good question would be, how accessible do the developers envision this game? And I think that's a fairly touchy subject at this moment. Afterall, they are in the middle of fundraising. They do not want to frighten off potential backers, or present an air of "this game is not for you". The old school cRPG had a steep learning curve, and this was not isolated to just combat. I hope this project will retain some level of difficulty even for players starting out in the hobby.

The Gold Box games had enemies who would flee and surrender. Of course, those games had a separate battle map, switching from the first-person adventuring window. So the terrain featured defined boundries, allowing enemies (or party members) to find the edge of the map. I would think if there is some kind of distance limitaion, allowing opponents to get away, this could work. Harumph!

Didn't the concept art recently posted label the character as a human fighter? So a warrior class is in. I expect mages and priests to be tweaked based on the setting. And of course you gotta have a thief. There are thieves everywhere. Harumph!

Yes With a Torgo avatar, no less! And yes to friendly fire.

If the monitor screen shakes and the enemy sprite is blown into little chunks, I'll be happy. Harumph!