Karranthain

He does. But wait, there's more: By the way, that's a very cool design, Living One! Somehow reminds me of the Ironborn from the Game of Thrones.

Josh mentioned that the 90s fantasy aesthetic was a strong influence on the PE weapon & armour designs. I'm getting a very similar vibe from Michael Komarck's works: Can't say I like to sword design, but the armour looks fantastic.

They weren't very successful in truth. You can't simply copy the equipment (see legionnaires and hoplites) and expect the same results! Here's another cool piece, maybe a unique armour design?

That'd work well, yes.

Speaking of hussars, here's a Muscovite copy: Would also be a great fit for unique armours, I reckon!

As for the way the combat will turn out - we'll just have to see. The beta is coming, so we'll get that chance soon enough! Just one more thing: One does not preclude the other.

Yep. What the **** is wrong with having to do repetitive actions? You have to do them in other games, particularly in FPS, RTS and MOBAs. I probably do somewhere around 100-160 APM in DotA 2 (which is average to slow apm), quickly spamming tab and W a few times is absolutely not out of place for me. For such a limited use case, it's not worth dedicating a UI button for. The UI's already been mostly finalized as well. There won't be a button for it, or a large demand. Nothing wrong with it. I just don't think it makes any sense in a game which features active pause. You're not competing against time (which is a staple in the genres you've listed). I'd argue that it isn't as limited as you suggest - but to be fair, neither of us can know this beforehand.

There were, but you couldn't swap the currently used weapon set for several character at once - at least that's what I remember (haven't played it in a while).

How does a weapon swap toggle affect the circumstances of combat exactly? It's strictly an UI convenience, an additional option you're not obligated to use and which obviously may not be optimal in all situations. Not to mention the fact that you could, for an instance, select three characters and swap only their equipment etc. Also, do tell where exactly I imply that the combat will not be differentiated enough. I don't think that busywork (to quote you: "Let's say the weapon swap key is W, you could just tab W, tab W, tab W, tab, W". Do you seriously consider this good gameplay? It would only make sense in a game without a on-demand pause anyway. This is not an RTS or MOBA.) constitutes fun individual micro management either. Even if you disagree, it's still just an option, which you can choose to ignore completely. And how does that make sense anyway? Your player isn't somehow able to bellow commands to his companions?

What exactly is terrible about it? To clarify - you'd obviously still be able to do it manually for each character if you chose to. Judging from the screens, both sets of equipped weapons are visible, but I'm not sure if you can actually "holster" the currently used weapon.

Group weapon swap is just one of these things I wish I had when playing Infinity Engine games. Weapon switching was rather unwieldy, as you had to do it manually for every character in your party. In the end I chose not to bother with it altogether. The proposed solution is very simple - when the player selects several (or all) characters in the party, the UI would have an option for a group weapon swap. That way we could easily and painlessly switch between, for an instance, melee and ranged weapons on the fly. Give the approaching enemies an opening volley and then switch to melee to meet them head-on.

Nice post, quest1on, thanks! I've been away for a while, time do some catching up! To start off: http://youtu.be/gd5KE77WbTI?t=1m53s We love you too Josh! I'm really happy about the resurgence of the, as Josh has put it, "more dressed down and practical" designs. It really does make PE look very distinctive, with most recent fantasy cRPGs adopting a fairly similar, exaggerated, art style. And here's an interesting quote from an older update: Glad to hear that there has been good progress on the armour & weapon designs front. The unique items are still under development (the leather armour's pretty good too!) - I think those two examples below would lend themselves pretty well to creating those:

One more thing about plate armour: it really should be a pinnacle of personal protection and something we have to actively work towards. Acquiring a suit should be marked as a really significant event, almost akin to finding an artefact. Per Nonek's excellent video and Merlkir's remark - donning it does render you almost invulnerable. Well, unless this happens, that is: Or you find yourself on the wrong end of a pollaxe, etc. But I digress. On top of that, plate armour can look really, really nice (which could be considered a reward in itself). The designs can be strikingly diverse too, case in point: I'd absolutely love to see the third one in PE!

Nice update overall, thanks. That seaweed really does add quite a bit to the scene, by the way - us usual, it's the seemingly insignificant details that make the world seem a lot more vibrant.

I was alluding to this scene:

So much this. Culture should also play a role. It's an often overlooked detail, but one that does wonders for verisimilitude. By the way, I'm rather surprised this topic hasn't been flooded by spear related pictures and artworks yet

The classic - targe and a broadsword, a great fit for a lightly armoured skirmisher (from what we've read about PE, it would seem it'll be a viable approach, fingers crossed!).

Some examples of nice ornamentations: Plumes: Mounts are out, but I reckon this picture, featuring a very nice caparison, is definitely worth sharing anyway:

King of the Dragon Pass! I love this game

Looks like we've got a sneak peek at a new armour design: Looks pretty nice! It reminds me of these guys:

Thanks for the heads up, Sensuki. Here's a shot from the trailer, with a similar zoom level: I assume this is the default level then?

I loathe them as well - luckily one can frequently find mods disabling these effects. Hopefully they won't be needed for PE!

Would definitely fit the paladin orders we've learned about in the latest update, here's another example: Indeed!

I didn't consider making a paladin character before, but Bleak Walkers convinced me otherwise. Enjoyed this update a lot. Though I must say that I didn't like the portrait - I prefer Kaz's works. And I still hate the name Pallegina.

I'd like to see an option to disable combat music. It frequently gets tiresome real quick, unless each major area has its own combat themes (i.e. MotB).