Monte Carlo

Yes, well played Justin. The music is a spot-on mix of IE tribute and original stuff that fits the setting. Bravo, sir.

There was a lot of criticism in the beta. And much of it was pretty savage. Then there were guys like Sensuki who basically became a one-man QA juggernaut. Srsly, there were some people who liked the system but there were plenty who didn't. I have my own views, some mixed, but of all the places to point blame the BB ain't one of them.

Is Obsidian public listed in the US? Buy a couple of shares and check out their quarterlies.

Good news is always good news!

They need to be able to sing some US army style cadences while they jog along in perfect step.

^ Again, it's totally rescue-able (new word there) because the armour recovery values need some gentle tweaking. That's all.

So, sure I've been critical of some key aspects of the game. As I learn more I'm hating those less. I don't think I'll ever love those parts, but I'll live with them. But it's important to acknowledge the stuff that's great. And for me, the keep mini-game and the mega-dungeon are awesome. 1. The keep minigame might jar for some people but I think it's a really fun distraction; this is a plot-heavy game with lots going on. Having this stuff going on in the background is like having a break from the critical path and just doing something fun for the sake of it. I like that a lot 2. The keep and dungeon have a classic back-story that segues with the lore and plot 3. Tunnels. Frickin' levels and levels of tunnels. With fighting 4. Because entering the first level is part of a quest I didn't even know I'd entered the old paths at all. I loved that. It felt completely natural and flowed extremely well 5. Owning a castle is awesome 6. I love that your major domo is a talking statue So bravo keep-and-dungeon designers. Am really, really loving this part of PoE.

I don't think you can have a rotating camera with 2D hand-painted backgrounds.

^ Very good idea.

The lack of inventory babies in this game is deeply disappointing.

I wonder how the bigger backers feel about everyone feeling encouraged to slaughter them. Pretty cool I hope. They are helping me make some much-needed coin.

OT but yes, slaying backer NPCs is the best mini-game in PoE. Guns, phat lewt, flashy threads. And they suck at fighting back!

They should have adapted S.P.E.C.I.A.L and gone classless. Said it ages ago. T'would have been all sorts of awesome.

^ Interesting point, SOC, I wonder how this system will scale to high and (even) epic levels? Because of course meta-theory-crafting will explode because you'll start planning from level one.

I wonder where my dad went.

Actually maybe some Jack Sparrow type trinkets and beard-platting might have worked.

I gave my 2H barbarian padded armour and switched him to hatchet and sabre, dual-wielding. He has highish Might and not-bad Dex. As soon as I put him in leather armour I notice impact on performance - the 30% for light armours seems unduly harsh. He now chops things up a lot better. The two-handed sword is just too slow and doesn't do chunky damage.

You aren't a bad-looking chap and getting rid of that creature living on your chin should improve your love-life considerably.

Why in the name of Crom would I do that?

Obsidian have, to be fair, never really been noted for humour. At their best they are dry and sophisticated. At their worst they can totter on the edge of pretentiousness. I like some fourth-wall breaking humour and silly NPCs to lighten the mood. But I know for others that's like nails down a chalk-board. But yeah, the PoE NPCs I've met so far haven't set my world on fire yet.

I don't give 2E AD&D any sort of pass - I think it's a fairly poor system. All game systems have their own internal logic. I'm not being inherently conservative or knee-jerk, I love systems like SPECIAL, I got my head around the cluster-procreation that was Dragon age 1 and I want to like this. It just won't let me. All of the systems grind at the edges of each other. On the one hand we have 'no bad decisions' and on the other we have such clearly defined roles, a la MMORPGs we're shoe-horned into certain builds. I'm struggling in combat in this game not because it's hard, but because the systems (to) me make such little sense.

I'm sure many of us have seen displays where re-enactors have done near-acrobatics in full plate. We know the PoE armour system is 'gamist' nonsense McGuyvered to make the rest of the system work. It's even more galling seeing as it's set in an analagous time period where full plate armour had reached it's apogee of function (Milanese plate etc). As for IE game tanks, PJ is being slightly disingenuous. Even super-armoured -15 AC characters in ToB take constant damage. IE game tanks require a tradeoff of Hit Points / damage output / AC and resistances to survive.

Tanks. They don't need to do any damage, they just need to sit there, hold enemies down, and get pummelled as you use your DPS characters to scrape them off him. How very, very MMORPG. * Sigh *

The armour recovery penalties are ludicrous. I have Eder in his custom armour, sword and board and his attack speed is slovenly to say the least. My two-handed barbarian I tried out (leather armour) is also quite slow. There should be three armour types - slow / med / fast recovery. The speed / protection tradeoff isn't working and for the life of me I can't imagine anyone wearing plate armour. So, yes I definitely agree on the armour point. I never liked the stats mechanics anyway. Damage reduction is confusing for different types of enemies, it's *way* more complicated than the precursor games.

I'm pretty old fashioned - I can wander around the wilderness fighting monsters and collecting increasingly interesting loot with my interesting rag-tag party of NPCs. That's my motivation squared away, everything else is gravy TBH.