Monte Carlo

I will definitely be buying Nintendo products as a result of this frankly ****ing terrific business philosophy.

I also hope that in P:E we get to complete tax forms, pitch business cases to be accepted on quests and have a 'create powerpoint' spell. Not to mention managing our bladders, ingrowing toenails and basic grooming.

But...

Here's a suggestion: Although durability as it applies to the party has been removed, it could still be applied to enemy gear. When collecting loot, it would add flavor and realism to have some portion of it be badly worn and damaged. If the party finds a particularly nice item that is in poor shape, then a visit to a smithy would get it fixed. Bingo, you get the same result of encouraging interaction with an artisan. Those who don't want to deal with such maintenance can just sell the damaged gear at a lower price. This is a really good idea.

I like Lord Crash and when he is upset it makes me sad. Cheer up Crash, it's only durability!

For me it read like this = people complain that they have too much money. Durability is a money sink. So they put in a rather annoying mechanic just to drain the amount of money you have. It's a self-licking lollipop. So Sawyer asks us "do you care about being rich?" Loads of us say, "not really, but a few different ways of spending it would be nice." He replies, "OK, that's cool" and removes something he thought might make us happy but wouldn't. Hopefully this will give the team more time to make other Cool Stuff in Project Eternity. Why is this such a big deal when it looks very much like common sense to me?

* shrugs * Sawyer can't win. If he doesn't change stuff he's arrogant and if he does he's pandering. I read what he said and it sounds reasonable to me. He's stuck to his guns on a load of other controversial stuff (and we have to trust his judgement) and listened to us on some others (the hyperbole in this thread is awesome... suggesting design-by-committee for removing something as small yet potentially annoying as item durability? LOLOLOLOLOL) So kudos to Sawyer as far as I'm concerned.

Ha ha ha in 1989 I was on the Weser, dug in with a Milan battalion waiting for notional 'Orange' forces. Thank phuck it wasn't real.

In case anybody is interested in CoH2's development, here is an interview with Quinn Duffy, courtesy of community fansite Coh2.org... http://www.coh2.org/news/4977/quinn-duffy-post-launch-interview

My albeit limited knowledge of the esports / RTS scene is that its getting big enough for different games to break through. CoH2 is still small fry by comparison, but within a week of release there was a $1000 tourney for world champion. The community is small but its absolutely fanatical and very committed. The criticals / variable damage mechanics means that 'pro' players need to be more adaptive in their approach as there are no absolute givens. Its the difference between American football (pre-planned plays, rigid tactics) and European soccer (more free-form).

Quinn Duffy, the game director, always said that this was his vision. Almost exactly how you expressed it. He's a nice guy a posts a lot on the forums, he'd be as pleased as punch to read your comment I suspect.

^ Yes this is very true. A lot of 'pro' esports types say that CoH isn't 'pure' enough because it has critical hits. OTOH it's one of the things that makes CoH so awesome and makes it feel like a war movie. Your low health tank, billowing smoke, criticals the enemy Panther and all of a sudden the tables are turned. One grenade might wound a unit, the other take out half the squad. I love that. Edit: Alan, the terrain now is a bit different, and elevation in buildings improves LoS.

I'm glad Indira is enjoying it so much, and yeah me and Calax took on Hard AI and got our arses handed to us. It's unusual for a non-RTs fan to dig a game like CoH so much out of the box but it's cool that you do, I think that old-skool RTS that demand some time and love are just like old-skool RPGs (that demand some time and love). I think the game will get bigger and better with more features as time goes on. Indira PM me and add me to your steam list if you want to play with Calax and I. If any other Obsidianites like CoH PM me mebbe we can get a stealth-clan going.

I approve of this organ-harvesting malarkey. A lot.

Well, not repairing stuff for starters. I'm cool with crafting as long as (a) it's easy to do, (b) I'm not penalised for doing it and © it doesn't end up with inventory clutter that looks like the contents of Boo Radley's garage. So I'm only answering fifty per cent of your question, as I personally crafting is such a big thing for so many folks that it's one of those things you try and see the bright side of. FWIW I like the find bit's one, two and three, add some gems or whatnot and give it to the Caledonian dwarf to McGuyver into something awesome *shrugs* So that leaves the rest of my dough. Stuff that would amuse me to do with my money: 1. Bribe people and make awesome stuff happen in the story 2. Pay NPCs to do stuff they otherwise wouldn't do 3. Buy craftsmen to move into my lair / tower / castle and do cool stuff for me 4. Be able to re-skin my character in a unique way by paying for more awesome stuff 5. Be able to be ludicrously altruistic and have people lurve me and want my babies 6. Be able to undermine economies with my generosity 7. Buy a small army to cause havoc 8. Buy and sell slaves 9. Set up a merchant caravan like that cool NWN SoZ minigame 10. Go to an exclusive tavern where you can only get in for silly amounts of money. Then blow it up. 11. Be able to pay a mysterious man on top of a mountain oodles of gold to unlock a whole easter-egg of different potions 12. Be able to pay a beguiling witch to put curses on folks I don't like AND SHE DOESN'T TAKE MASTERCARD 13. I want to be able to Always Pay My Debts 14. Like at the end of BG2, there's a secret phat lewt shoppe only for the mega-rich uber-adventurer 15. I'd like a ship. My own ship. This would cost me a shed-load of money to buy, maintain and keep looking nice 16. I want cannons on my ship, and golden filigree in my wardroom 17. I want to pay crappy low-level adventurers to do s**t for me 18. Enjoy silly drinking games like BG1/2 where impossibly expensive and exotic drinks earn you rumours and maybe reputation or titles (the boozy version of that sitting-in-the-ice-cold-bath game from NWN2 MotB 19. Etc. I know a lot of this looks quest related, but by injecting some honest-to-god capitalism into Project Eternity I'm sure there's loads of stuff we can do with our extra loot.

Why does Sawyer answer important questions on SA and not here?

Easy. Options > Gameplay > Item Durability > On / Off And I hate the term 'degenerate gameplay.' I will never be able to agree with Sawyer about it. The term suggests arrogance and hauteur towards the player. You know, the schmuck who paid real money for the game?

^ This. I want to play a CRPG not a constant survival / resources minigame.

On one hand I'm glad the crafting looks 'clean' and easy to use, on the other I hate item degradation Hate it.

Not me. Don't own a single one of their games.

I am kidding with you because your over-inflated sense of drama and acute paranoia amuses me.

Anyhoo, everyone's favourite gaming executive, Don 'Deal With It' Mattrick is leaving M$ and going to Zynga. Don used to work at EA. If I worked at Zynga and was told that the new CEO was ex-EA and M$ I'd feel like a Turkic nomad who'd just heard the news that Ghenghis Khan was hiding over the next hill. http://www.joystiq.com/2013/07/01/don-mattrick-named-zynga-s-new-ceo/ Edit: I don't know if his masterful handling of the XBoxOne debacle had something to do with this. But it should have.

It can't be a coincidence that this happened at roughly the same time the PRISM program got busted. I think the NSA are using a third party expansion pack for a dead video game to ascertain the everyday movements of Kyonhism.

OK, I've actually pre-ordered Rome TW2 (special offer on Steam) and am suitably impressed by this: http://wiki.totalwar.com/w/Teutoburg_Panoramic But apparently, according to RPS, it will take up 35GB on your hard drive. Obviously, my supercomputer will easily swallow it up on my 'D' drive but I fear for lesser mortals.

Modern warfare in games only really works IMO at the tactical level. I know it's not an RTS, but the Arma series captures the vibe very well. My dream RTS would be a near-future squad-level game. You could set it in a former Soviet republic / failed state and have a NATO faction, a government faction a rebel faction and a sort of crime syndicate faction, all with different playstyles. Think Mad Max meets Squad Leader meets CoH. Zip around in up-gunned technicals, call in light armour or your old 80's Warsaw Pact tech, Hellfire enemy emplacements, rappel SF dudes into battle and all that jazz.