Monte Carlo

You have even more reasons to click on my awesome, wisdom-coated posts than usual now I have this neat graphic-signature-tracking thingamajig.

I agree entirely on the character creation side of things, but we will disagree violently on phat lewt, what with me being a shameless Monty-Haul munchkin type an' all. Magic marts? Yes please.

Getting key characters gibbed, then pressing on regardless after a really tough boss battle is, for me, the quintessence of hard-core, old-skool BG-style games. I remember once losing Minsc, level 20+, in the Underdark on hardcore. I had to press on. It was tough, but I worked around it. I think difficulty sliders will enable everybody to play various levels of difficulty to match their personal tastes. If people want a Content Tourism mode that's fine by me.

Hmmm. A bit of a self-licking lollipop, this point. Bows were properly nerfed in BG2. And Obz are balance-obsessed. Can't see it being a problem.

I am going to compile a list of things that absolutely, utterly, unambiguously are gaming poison for a project like this. And achievements are right up there with having poorly pixellated orgasms with an elf wearing a Diaper (TM Bioware).

Apart from romances I'm pretty much in agreement with all of this.

Greg is retiring to spend more time with his beer. Good man.

Cheers Muzrub, his page is bookmarked. I love his style.

Dammit, wrong forum can you move it please, sweetie?

Dear Developers I know the success of this project has caught you with your pants down taken you, delightedly, by surprise. I'm sure everything over there in sunny California is smoother than George Hamilton's forehead. However, inspiration sometimes abandons us all. I know, it's difficult to believe, but it's there. But I have solved this for you. In, literally, half a dozen clicks of the mouse (and, by serendipity, whilst searching for pictures of Olivia Munn not-wearing-much) I have found this! Get your D200 out guys. Project Eternity's critical path and side-quests are all done. Just change the word 'Orc' for something else and none of these schmucks will ever guess. http://geekcentricity.com/2010/10/200-hooks-of-plotting.html

^ This is a good point and one where older CRPGs could be a bit too brutal for some. By the time we hit NWN2 we saw fast-levelling up to 3/4. That was fine. I know some people adore the level one 'Kobold-Peril' thing, but maybe starting levels could be dynamic or tied to difficulty. Alternatively, a 'Here Be Dragons' type hint about wandering off the critical path might allow the warier player to level up in a less perilous manner.

* shrugs * I'm very tolerant person. I don't like some of the language in this thread either. It doesn't mean that I agree with the OP, I'm anti-all romances. And it certainly doesn't mean I'm a bigot, that's a bit of a cheap straw-man rearing it's head if it's aimed at me. I'm certainly not against references to any number of different lifestyles. Including sexual ones. A fantasy culture where, for example, same-sex relationships were venerated and mandatory for the elite (Troy, anyone?) might be interesting. Another where rampant and murderous homophobia is the order of the day mightmake a powerful story too. In context this is fine. What bugs me is the clamour for sexualised content, as if this automatically constitutes mature or old-skool gaming styles and values (because it doesn't).

Let's join in the spirit of the OP's thread! I want modern CRPG innovations like dudes with exclamation marks flashing over their heads (selling DLC), cinematic (and tedious) deux ex machina cut-scenes, radial wheels with cretinous dialogue options, a American college movie-like camping site for all my imaginary friends, hours of tedious fakespeare voiceovers and poorly pixellated orgasms with an elf wearing a diaper. Anything old-school, like thinking about tactics, a bit of resource management and character development that doesn't rely on MOAR POWAZ skill trees (with pretty pictures for the OCD-afflicted) should be vilified. My suggestion is that folks need to read the original Kickstarter description for this project. It is pithy, accurate and to the point. They are not making Dragon Age 7 ("When Hormones Attack") for cosplay-obssessed lunatics. They are making an honest-to-god, old-skool CRPG. That is all. Edit: grammar

I'm not entirely convinced that the majority of people don't want any romances or sexual references. At least not on this board anyway, I believe the poll in the romance thread has quite a bit more people for it than against it. The squeakiest wheel gets the most oil.

Let's go back to the original design goals, i.e. to capture old-school isometric tactical fantasy CRPGs. These were before Bioware turned into an emo joke with legions of Joss Wheedon fans. These games were not predicated on romances of any sort with the exception of BG2 which has four (count them) minor, text-only, relationships which were completely avoidable. From that minor feature in 2001 we now have too many threads on this subject (couldn't the OP have added to one of the others?). And this is because people clearly want this game to be like Dragon Age or Dragon Age 2 of Meh Effect or whatever other piece of Bioware dating-sim-nonsense they were playing before. Please try to understand that the majority of people don't want (a) ANY romances (b) ANY references to sex or sexuality and © view it as a waste of developer's time. Thanks.

I don't know, you could be onto something there. I find divine races a bit meh personally, but the Planescape fans should be pretty cool with it. I want to see a Lizardman / Saurian playable race personally. With druidic powaz.

Lot's of 'special abilities' are equally unlikely... charging attacks that defy physics, stun attacks, battle roars... Threat gives you an interesting tactical option. It isn't game-breaking. It is as illogical as other abilities. It is also optional.

Because the rate of fire of a trained longbowman versus musket is at least 120 arrows to 1 ball

I like your idea, because they are cross-class skills. But I also like the idea of learning stuff from people: either for money or as a reward etc.

@ SqueakyCat Rest assured that 95% of the jibber-jabber on here will be quite rightly ignored and a few gems will be panned for, found and suitably polished. I suspect the Devs want to feel the vibe of what we want more than specifics.

Seriously? Old-skool would involve some adventurers sitting in an inn. It would be that simple. They did it in Icewind Dale, no fuss, just a classic start to a game. I'm a less-is-more kind of person when it comes to this, I like finding stuff out with fairly minimal info as to who my character is. I also loved the IWD-style story board intros that were narrated. If they were to spend some money on VO, that would be where I'd spend it.

Yes I want to fight in tunnels. Lots of tunnels.

This ain't an AAA title though, is it? Not in the overblown, over-hyped, uber-marketed CoD way I consider 'AAA.' I paid $35.00 for a game up front. I don't suddenly feel like a shareholder, just a person who put his money where his mouth is. Over-entitlement is one of the most prevalent yet pointless features of these types of forums. I'm not saying *you* are, far from it, but we're heading slowly in that direction IMO.

Here is a really important, practical issue: these were the main reason I gave up on Torment. Video games aren't books. My eyes were literally bleeding from all that text. So dialogue puzzles: definitely. Outrageously long, wordy, dialogue puzzles? Maybe one or two, but for the love of god not too many.

[Heavy breathing] I find your lack of faith... disturbing [/heavy breathing]