Luckmann

In my recent playthrough of BG2, I somehow ended up sleeping 12 days in a single rest. Not even mad. In BG2, it's best to simply ignore the passage of time entirely, because it's never going to make any sense.

If they un-neuter (which is frankly doubtful, unfortunately) the Priest of Skaen Talent that gives you backstabbing (the name escapes me, at the moment) a Priest of Skaen might also be a very good choice for you, although depending on how you interpret your psychopathy, it might not be entirely fitting (Skaenites seemingly being what pretty much amounts to a SJW/Skinhead multiclass).

I don't think it's optimal for you, but a Bleak Walker Paladin is probably as close as you're going to get. Not much of a caster, and Paladins are (currently) lacking a bit in the ability department (nevermind the Attributes being a bit weird in the current build, in relation to character concepts, narratively speaking). A melee Chanter could also work out. On the plus side, they're very versatile, but on the negative side, you might find them lacking in ability, and be too spell-focused. Mileage may vary. But either of those two would likely work the best for you, I think.

Are... uhm.. are you being serious? It's kinda hard to tell, honestly. It's.. It's Ironman Mode.

Beta. Experience. Many of Gairnulf's points would objectively improve the game, and isn't a matter of overall impression or the gestalt being of the game and it's connected mechanics. Some of the points are arguably subjective (per-character encumbrance, pickpocket) but most of them are clear improvements that not even the most myopic of sycophants could disagree with (ammunition, map notes, volume & interface feedback slider(s), splitting the party, un-neutered stealth, separate stealth & trap detection, etc).

@axedice: That's so much better it's not even funny, considering what a mess it is in-game right now.

I'll be honest, even I am really, really starting to dig this, even if it's not L-shaped and even if I still feel space is "wasted" on the menu/formation buttons. Might I suggest a slightly larger combat log, with the two "flaps" extending into the main viewing field? I realize that that would encroach upon the set borders intended for the main game view (for lack of a better word) but I think it would look better (and also, the log can never be big enough; I would also want it to be wider, but I don't think it can be, with this set-up). If there's any chance this UI is actually doable, I'll be completely blown away.

"The romantic NPC should be picky, it's obvious he/she has high standards. In Planescape: Torment, we made it pretty clear that Annah and Fall-From-Grace didn't express interest in just anyone, and the player was the only one out of thousands that ever piqued their interest." http://forums.obsidian.net/blog/1/entry-79-blog-o-romance/ Sorry Stun, I can empathize with you and how you must be feeling. There are very few things worse during a debate we say something like " prove it, I don't believe it " and someone actually finds some obscure link or proof that makes our previous opinion wrong...the only consolation I can give you is that happens to all of us Not me.

Isn't this an exploit ? Depends on who you ask. If you ask me, it's very powerful but a completely reasonable action, packing 3 guns, all loaded, using one and switching to another; same as any other weapon, and historically how weapons like this might've been used at times - and certainly in the adventuring format presented, at least. So if you ask Sawyer, it's probably an exploit.

Stop that! You're trying to trick us! I'm going to.. 12! No, 6! Gaaah.

There is going to be a Nexus site for PoE, announced by the devs at some point which I can't source. It would be idiotic to use the Steam Workshop if you don't absolutely have to, splitting up the modding community.

This. Honestly, I'll probably "solve" this by simply giving myself the appropriate Talent(s), so when I want to play that gunpowder inquisitor of Magran, I'll pick one weapon focus, and then simply cheat in the other weapon foci, so that I can use all of the gunpowder weapons without absolutely crippling myself by spending 3+ out of 6 talents just to realize a pretty reasonable character concept. It's pretty far from ideal, and it doesn't solve the overall issue, but there's plenty of situations in PoE where you feel like you're fighting the game, why would character creation/roleplaying be any exception? It's at least a band-aid on a pressing concern, and one I would advice anyone to use without feeling like a cheater, in order to play what they want.

I haven't played the beta, correct. I have linked to a video, and I encourage you to check it out at the time I mentioned. The enemy falls and there are still several seconds where the spell was active while the player was trying to get to the next enemy. He didn't get to them in time and all his effects wore off with no warning. This would be frustrating to me, as I would expect effects to either last the full duration or have some better indication of ending. Not really obvious to me. Voss, I believe some of the issues with the save games and combat states are due to the team being new to working with Unity. There's also some issues with not allowing a single person to enter buildings alone, like you are encouraged to do in some thieving quests in BG1. Again, minor things but I'm not sure how the budgets for the respective games allow for what features to get in. Back to the topic at hand, yes I would like an animation for the skeletons disappearing, it would be a better notification and less immersion breaking. Also, I would like the summons and effects to last for the full time of the spell if possible, instead of disappearing sooner if enemies are killed more quickly. Oh, it'll be plenty frustrating, I'm just saying that it'll be obvious to you once you play. You'll notice when combat starts and ends. That doesn't mean that that mechanic, the fact that there's even a difference between "combat" and "not combat" won't be frustrating as all hell. It will, precisely because of the issues you describe. I already see myself sending a "runner" to the next group of enemies just to keep combat going so specific effects stay up between the two "encounters".

Graphical mods? I.. has anyone actually done any graphical mods? I think the "hating" part was only meant with regards to the engagement system. I don't recall anything else to have provoked so resilient and strong resistance, and why would modding the UI mean that someone hates the original one? Well there's the ridiculous "Combat Only" mechanic, which results in a range of silly issues, the fact that you can't retreat from combat, and the terrible stealth mechanics, but apart from that, there's really not that much hate going around. The UI is pretty bad, yeah, but I wouldn't call the dislike of it "hate".

Anyone know what the Codex's inn is called? Honestly "The Codex" with a book hanging outside wouldn't be half bad of a name on it's own.

This is what really gets me with the game UI (and also some of the fan-made mockups); why are the centre menu buttons given such prominence? They're just about useless, yet they take up prime real estate in the UI. If they should feature at all, they should be small and out of the way.

6. I'm going to say 6. Sensuki said 6. I'm saying 6.

TotSC didn't need new companions, though; BG1 had a plethora of companions, and while it would've been interesting and nice for TotSC to add new CNPC:s, BG1 didn't really need it. By comparison, PoE could really do with at least a tripling of the available CNPC:s and there'd still be ample room for improvement. I second that the major TotSC questline was too short, and I hope that any PoE expansion opts to make a few major questlines (not just one really major questline that sticks off the main game like a weird thumb) scattered throughout the game. And add, like, 32 CNPC:s.

To me, this is exactly how expansions should be: expanding upon the mechanics, content, storyline(s) and characters of the main game. This is excellent, excellent news to me. Entirely new areas of the world, a new main story, etc, are things that almost defines a sequel. In many ways, Throne of Bhaal wasn't an expansion, it was a sequel, and as far as I know, it was originally intended to be one. I lever liked the "glue something on at the end" format, so I can only go awww yiiis.

I always thought the whole "TotalBiscuit doesn't do reviews"-thing was bollocks. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's usually a duck. Just because it's not called a review doesn't mean that a lot of what he does are de facto reviews, and they fulfil that function far better than most actual "reviews", much because his intent is to actually give you an idea of the game, how it works and what the good and bad sides are, not assign it an arbitrary score.

I'm now imagining the bears getting stuck in their sitting-animation and just sorta dragging themselves around on their ass.

It's obvious you haven't played the beta or checked out any of the preview videos, but it's fairly obvious when combat starts and ends. As long as you are engaged in combat, it counts as one encounter. If you are still engaging one group of enemies and run into another group of enemies, that's still just one encounter. Encounters end as soon as the last enemy is dead. Could you be any more strawman? BG2 also did not have any per-encounter abilities. In BG2, everything is per-rest or per-day.

Honestly, I never use Bless any more, and in my last playthroughs, I never end up using Defensive Harmony because the duration is too short and the benefit is meh. In BG2, you buff for specific encounters, like Chaotic Commands before meeting Illithids (which lasts forever on higher levels, to boot). Other than that, Stoneskin for wizards that can get it (12 hour duration, after all) and Protection from Evil 10' is all the relevant pre-buffing that should always be on. People are vastly overstating the "issue" of pre-buffing in the IE games, and in PoE it shouldn't even be treated as a relevant argument.

Are there otters?

http://youtu.be/DMaN_bHmMBc?t=31s