Monte Carlo

Are you on a retainer for the man?

I take Infinitron's point, but nonetheless these type of decisions (McGuyvering encounters to fit your system, not designing a system that facilitates your encounter implementation) is normally the sort of thing you'd see Sawyer eviscerate in full-on Doctor Spock logic-assault mode. His facility for oratory is legendary, but in the end you run out of corners to paint yourself into. The irony isn't lost on me. As someone else might say, Ha! Good fun!

Want to know the secret to have the most enjoyable experience with BB v278? Sure. 1. Hit 'quit game.' 2. Boot up your old, much-modded copy of BG2. 3. Enjoy.

Wouldn't it be refreshing for Sawyer to say, just once, "well, it seems a lot of people aren't enjoying this and maybe I'm wrong." And then hell froze over.

I like Indira's list on the whole but find myself indifferent about ammo. As for 'conservatism' well conservatism is good. At it's best, conservatism stands for stewardship and cautious progress, scepticism of change for the sake of it and evidence-based arguments for overturning what is tried-and-tested. I think more conservatism in the design ethos of this project would have been a Good Thing

Agreed. Thanks to all of you.

Dammit, I'm not one to usually grovel like this but I'd like to put my appreciation for Sensuki's ongoing commitment and hard work testing this game, and coming up with consistently cogent and interesting solutions. FWIW, cheers mate. I appreciate it enormously and hope you get the recognition you deserve. I wish I had the ability to identify the guts of the problem like you can, but I can't and am thus very grateful. Please, fellow community members, despite our differences pile in and cyber-stroke the man's ego. 'Tis richly deserved.

One thing I will lavish praise on is how it looks - I am very happy with the visuals and can't wait to see an optimized end-product. The little avatars look groovy.

They must be playing a slightly different game to me. Game 'journalists.' Lulz.

You don't often see green names on this forum.

Here and the Codex are where the most hardcore fans dwell. Dare I say it, they need to keep us happy.

Like a lot of the background stuff in PoE, the reputation system is actually pretty cool. You need to be consistent in how your character reacts to stuff to build up a reputation one way or the other, which makes complete sense.

I think your view might be overly-skewed by your background in the industry. As a non-industry person I'll be delighted if they fix everything and want to be a fan of the game. Whether Obz will let me do that is another matter.

Moar Redheads, courtesy of the lovely Leanna Decker...

^ Sensuki is all that stuff fixable?

I respect the fact that you live there, an' all Ros, but I've seen lots of high-definition movies of said activities, to the point where I think they are utterly representative of life in NorSwedeMark.

Look, you're in Scandinavia right? When are you going to start swinging in saunas with impossibly hot blondes?

Yeah, if alignment is part of the core setting then it can work like any other gaming mechanic. In P&P D&D you were expected to choose an alignment and stick with it. Changing it merited a stern chapter from EGG who warned of dire consequences for even considering alignment change (i.e. you might lose character levels). It was bunk. What about the redemptive hero, a mainstay of heroic fantasy. I liked that in BG2 the Hell Trials could change your alignment. That did something interesting with the mechanic. Apart from that it was extraneous. A Paladin could do Bodhi's quests and romance a Neutral Evil drow priestess.

OK, let's run with this. I'm not sure I agree, but let's go with it. The problem atm is that combat is too roughly-implemented (mechanically and technically with bugs / implementation) to properly achieve what you describe. Armour, lack of feedback, dog-piling, enemy movement speed and general lack of responsiveness means that the level of micro required to do what you suggest just isn't fun. I like micro-management and tactics. Give me a game where I have proper control and the ability to understand combat feedback and what you say makes complete sense. However, for many people, the game doesn't offer this. Combat is still slightly confusing, a mush. There are too many powers and I don't know when they kick in (or if they kicked in at all). Furthermore, all the enemies seem to have OD'd on energy drinks. So while I think your point has merit, it isn't borne out by the technical realities behind PoE's implementation.

As a hardcore D&D fan of over thirty-years standing I can honestly say... ...Alignment is bunk.

This is a very good idea.

I know exactly what Vancian casting means.

Vancian casting - you can cast a spell 'x' amount of times day/level PoE - you can cast a spell 'x' amount of times day/level As Volourn says.... r00fles! Old wine, new bottles.

'tron it's not an Infinity Engine game.

I thought slightly better of you. You obviously want some sort of circle-jerk or knitting club where people can all agree nicely, or if they do disagree they do it within the constrained limits you impose. Sorry, I'm not going anywhere. My posting style might annoy you (actually, I'm sorry about that, genuinely) but it isn't going to make me suddenly change my style. I find the sycophants on this forum equally annoying but I don't shoot at them whatsoever. My style is full of hyperbole. It's gonzo and probably annoying. But until a moderator tells me to stop I'm going to have my say. I paid for it, after all. Edit - I've lots of ideas how to fix it. But uttering them gets you shot down by the shills who think everything's groovy with this project.