Vaeliorin

I've played all the IE games, but I've only finished BG1 (once), PS:T (once) and Icewind Dale (several times.) BG2 I could just never get into (I've probably spent less than 30 hours playing it...I don't mind Irenicus' dungeon, but the bit after that just fails to catch my interest despite repeated attempts...the fact that I don't care about Imoen at all is probably part of the problem), and Icewind Dale 2 bugged on me (game-breaking) on my first playthrough, causing me to ragequit. I want to play it through, but it doesn't run right at all on my machine. Even trying all the various fixes found on the web, I can only get it to play windowed, and that's just really uncomfortable to try and play. All that said, I actually hate 2E D&D with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. This is largely because I'm not all that interested in playing a wizard (because I'm not about to rest constantly, and playing a terrible rock-thrower 90% of the time isn't all that interesting), and playing a non-caster in 2E is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Hence my happiness with the fact that they've said they want to give everyone interesting options in combat.

Call me crazy, but isn't the point of this stuff that the challenge itself is the reward? It always confuses me when people ask for extra difficulty, but then want some sort of reward for playing on the extra difficult mode. Personally, I play on the hardest difficulties because I enjoy the challenge, and I wouldn't want any extra reward to make it easier, as that takes away from the challenge.

Well, it's the feel of a different culture. Playwise, sure, they might be just the same. But they can be felt quite differently. The elaborate. No, i am against Ninjas and samurai in PE. But i like having to play nit just zhe "usual" clichéd builds. For example, Dak'kon the Zerth from Planescape Torment always felt more than a samurai than a "fighter". That's because Dak'kon was a fighter/mage, which is essentially what a Wizardry samurai is. Sure, you've got the odd weapon/armor with an oriental name in the Wizardry games but ninjas/samurai/etc. in the Wizardry games were essentially just multi-class characters. Also, the Cane of Corpus is bad, and you should feel bad for exploiting it. Say no to Cane of Corpus in PE!

I would think game balance would be a reason not to do this. Allowing combat and non-combat skills to advance independently would (in broad strokes) allow the player to decide whether he wants to employ combat or non-combat solutions on a case-by-case basis, regardless of his previous advancement choices. It eliminates what could have been an important strategic element from the game, and, frankly, a valuable roleplaying opportunity. When my character gains a level, what skills does he learn? If he needs to weigh the benefits of getting better with his sword against learning how to disarm traps, or negotiate with merchants, or swim, or whatever else, and furthermore, if he really likes his sword and has always dreamed about becoming the greatest swordsman in the world, that level-up becomes a really interesting roleplaying event. But if he doesn't need to make that choice, and instead can choose to learn his sword AND how to negotiate with merchants, that opportunity is lost. Roleplaying is, at least partly, about making choices. But if we can have our cake and eat it too, where's the choice? It really depends on what the non-combat skill choices look like. For example, when I had a character who was obsessed with becoming a great swordsman (this was using 3.X D&D) I put his skill points into Perform(Sword Kata), which I thought was entirely appropriate for a swordsman. Granted, there's a likelihood that such a skill won't exist (since they said that all non-combat skills would have uses) and it is getting better at multiple things, but they're all related to the characters goal. In the system we're likely to have, I'd think said character would probably put his points into blacksmithing (or some specific sword-related avenue of blacksmithing if such a thing exists) to show that he was learning to care for his sword, alter it's balance to suit him appropriately, and otherwise tinker with swords, and then simply not have him do any blacksmithing-related tasks that didn't have to do with swords. The point is, that there will likely be non-combat options that relate to whatever it is your character wants to do, and if the only non-combat skill options are too broad, you can restrict yourself to only using them in a manner which would be appropriate for your character. Granted, your character may be getting better at multiple things, but if your character has a singular focus, it's likely that there are multiple things related to said focus that could be learned.

The diamond was outside Candlekeep. Outside of the Friendly Arm Inn there was a Ring of Wizardry that was in a little one pixel hole at the base of a pine tree. Anyway, I'm all for anything that's able to be interacted with lighting up with the press of tab (though the Spot/Search on tab would be interesting too.) It's incredibly frustrating to get stuck in a part of a game because there's something that you need to interact with, but it doesn't stand out at all so you have to go pixel searching to find it (I'm in particular thinking of Durlag's Tower, where there was one spot on the wall that you had to interact with to activate, iirc, the wine press in order to get past the first level. I spent a long time trying to get the wine press to work before I accidentally brushed the spot with the mouse and saw the pointer change.)

Hey! I like bards. No being mean to them (I particularly loved bards in IWD...that regen song was one of my favorite abilities ever.) And I love the Bard's Tale series, so... yeah, I'm just playing with how there's a sizable sub-set of D&D'ers out there who love to mock bards. I know...I was teasing and just forgot to add a smilie.

This is what I'd like. I find zero value in encounters that have no chance of wiping out my party, so I'd rather not have them. I know people like to feel "powerful", but to me a combat that isn't a challenge is just a waste of my time. It's not fun, and all it does is serve to artificially bloat the game's length/content bullet points.

If there are clerics, and if there are definitely gods (both things I'd rather not have, though I would like heavily armored melee characters with healing/buffs) I agree entirely. Perhaps the one thing I really liked about 2E D&D (which never, in my experience made it into any cRPGs) was the spheres of divine magic, and minor/major access to them depending on god. I'd like to see something similar in PE if there are gods and clerics, and weapon seleciton should reflect the god as well (though that's a different topic.) Hey! I like bards. No being mean to them (I particularly loved bards in IWD...that regen song was one of my favorite abilities ever.)

That depends entirely on the setting. If the setting has definite, no doubt about it gods, then there's an argument to be made for a separation between divine and arcane magic. In a setting where the existence of the divine is unknowable, such a distinction makes no sense. That said, Vancian magic would probably be about the closest you could come to a dealbreaker for me. I loathe Vancian casting. The only thing close to a Vancian system I liked was a system in Sovereign Stone (an obscure 3.X D&D setting.) Essentially, the mage had the ability to know (and cast) an unlimited number of spells, but the spells the mage knew fell into 3 categories, which were limited depending on level: Intimate Knowledge (which where cast normally), Quick Reference (which required one round of study before they could be cast), and Full Reference (which needed to be studied for a number of rounds before they could be cast depending on the difficulty of the spell.) Then, when casting spells, each round the mage rolled a d20, added their casting modifier for that particular type of spell and when the cumulative result equaled or exceeded the casting threshold (a number determined by the dificulty of the spell, ranging from 6 to 292 among the published spells) the spell would be cast. Each round casting a particular spell required a progressively harder fatigue check, which if failed caused subdual damage that could eventually render the mage unconscious. This, admittedly, was pretty cumbersome in a table top game, but I think could work well in a cRPG. Such a system allows for flexibility, but still retains elements of strategic planning, balances powerful magic so it can't be spammed, and allows a mage to actually spend their time using magic instead of spending 90% of their time throwing rocks at enemies.

Ah, you are right. I missed the March bit under the fancy edging.

I'm curious if the "White" is supposed to be part of "Ruins of Eir Glanfath", part of something cut off, or just an area called "White", which would honestly seem a little strange to me. But I do agree that the names sound pretty typical fantasy (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

I know this game is inspired by the like of BG, PS:T, IWD, etc., but I hope we'll avoid the major failing of a lot of older games (and even a number of modern ones) where casters have interesting choices to make in combat, but the only choice non-casters have is who to attack (and maybe which weapon to hit them with, but that's usually not something that you have to worry about that often.) Regardless of what the system used is like, non-casters need to have active combat abilities that can help to turn the tide of a combat just as much as those of a caster can. Obviously I don't mean the exact same situations (casters would presumably have massive area of effects, healing, etc.) but when used appropriately, non-caster's abilities should be just as important/helpful in allowing the team to be successful. Honestly, I just don't want to get to the point where my fighter feels like he's only there to get hit and carry all the heavy stuff the casters can't.

Are you kidding? Nope, it works. But it only lets you move the camera a little bit, and only up, which doesn't help much, as the camera needs to come down, as far as I'm concerned. Honestly, the camera and controls are bad enough that I'll probably never pick up this game unless it's on sale for < $10

You shouldn't have to go into the help menu to get that information however. The game is badly in need of tooltips.

I was also about robes up to Qel-Droma. I used the Star Forge robes at the end, but thought they looked terrible. Revan's robe looked pretty cool, though I only wore it to see what it looked like.

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