Monte Carlo

Ah, game fascism. You-must-play-it-the-way-I-like-it. Apart from camping supplies (which could easily be on an on / off toggle) I disagree with every single point. You don't *have* to take custom NPCs. The crafting mechanic is very easy to use and it isn't as if there isn't a surfeit of decent magic items. Don't like the stronghold? Ignore it. And so on, and so forth. Edit - has it occurred to the OP that the story-tyme elements are secondary for many of us? I see it as the glue that leads me from adventure 'a' to 'b.' I know, heretical, eh? The loredump aspect of PoE is something I could live without, but I don't for a moment think it 'should be removed.'

The gameplay looks fun. It's the concept art that is an offence to D&D, which traditionally has had art with some soul to it. Not this.... stuff.

Who is this royal 'We' for whom you purport to speak? Like many mechanics in this game, it's caused a fairly large rift between pro and anti camps. I am not opposed to the idea, but am mightily concerned about the implementation.

And I would have to disagree with you. You can have your maxed INT/MIG wizard, another can have Aloth, another can have a DEX/RES wizard, interrupting blows talent and get more interrupts. Why not ? All of them work as intended. You are JE Sawyer's .alt and I claim my 6000000000000 cp.

I will ponder Indira's post and reply in full anon, but for the record it's refreshing to see such intelligent and constructive criticism for a change.

Bullsh1t. Fresh from a bovine arse. This forum is full of people more than happy to call Obsidian out without behaving like a spoilt troll in the middle of an ADHD tantrum.

Used to love Warhammer, then they decided to retcon everything and ruin all of it forever, and now I can't even get excited for Total War: Warhammer, because I just know that they'll shoehorn in all the dumb. A fair concern, I'm just hyped at the idea of a fantasy TW game. And dumb orcs might finally make sense in the context of dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers TW AI :D

After thirty-odd pages I think Galt hits the nail on the head. This is precisely the point.

Warhammer has guns. QED.

That art is ****ing horrible and everyone involved should be sent to a gulag immediately. It makes Torchlight look grimdark.

^ +1

I gave my rogue a magic blunderbuss and stealthed her, which creates some quivering palm-level OTT killshots. There is one enchanted BB, I think the pig farmer gives it you.

@ Grom. Very possibly. I still maintain one of his gifts as a designer is hammering existing systems into shape, making them fit for purpose with games*. His home-brew is too bitter for my lazy palate. * IWD2 / FO:NV both being outstanding examples of his talent in this respect.

Yes, the firearms feats are underwhelming I agree. There should also be a musketeer class that specialises in guns.

...maybe not mechanics-wise, as they are very powerful. But for the people who thought guns in a high-fantasy setting would make the sky fall in, did it? I think not. The guns utterly fit in with the setting, look cool, sound great and I dig the reload animations. And you can enchant them. So, let's see more guns in PoE. Cannons, even. Who remembers, btw, the cannon in the first store in Athkatla? It was sitting in a corner, gathering dust, a little wheeled three-pounder or similar.

Some astute observations from Sven. There were, broadly speaking, three groups. 1. IE grogs who wanted a BG-esque experience mechanically, while happily eschewing D&D 2. Planescapers / Story-tymers who loved the idea of text, quest-XP and wacky mechanics 3. Peaceful herbivores who were happy to see where it went. They met us in the middle, if I'm honest. Of course, falling into the first camp as I do, I think they went too far keeping the story-tymers happy. They will think the opposite. But it would be interesting to wargame how this game would look with a bigger nudge to either the first or second camp. Given the heritage of the BGs and IWDs (4.5 games) versus Planescape (1 game) the answer should be obvious. Ha ha ha.

Does the OP realise he sounds like some sort of crazy Scientologist-type dude? What do they do over at t'Codex? Wire you to a turn-based auditing machine?

he not need our pov, but we will observe that insofar as boardie feedback/interplay, josh has matured considerably over the years. in the past it were extreme easy to goad josh into emotional responses. those outbursts were illuminating. when josh got steamed, he were no longer speaking as a black isle employee, but rather as josh sawyer. we kinda miss those days. one too may iwd2 ranger moments has given josh experience and maturity to weather the worst the boards have to offer. regardless, josh handles criticism with far more maturity and reserve than he did in the past, but am kinda missing the past. HA! Good Fun! Indeed and I remember those days too. Rather, now, he simply ignores criticism. It must be a frustrating babel for him, but I do wonder if he's perhaps too tin-eared nowadays?

I don't think taking criticism from Peons like us is one of Sawyer's strong points.

I'll let Sensuki speak for himself but he's not a theorycrafter.

Like scrotiemcb says, the game *looks* great - I love the avatars and how they get progressively more elaborate. No problems there.

I keep picking the bastard things up like fleas. Not pet fleas. I've got several dogs, a pig, three cats (one undead) and two flying reptiles. I think there are others I gave up counting.

^ Have you seen someone, and by this I mean a professional, about this fixation?

This. Bravo. It's always refreshing to see someone write precisely what you were thinking.