Saber-Scorpion

There is only one form you guys simply must include for the druid, and that's a Wolf form. If someone could confirm that's in, it would certainly make my werewolf-obsessed sister happy. She always tried to play the shapeshifter druid subclass in BG2, but it was poorly balanced, and she'd love to see a better one in PoE. The godlike races are looking more and more interesting. They remind me heavily of the Genasi races in NWN2, which I always liked stylistically.

This looks so good. I can't stop looking at that area and stats sheet. Question: I assume all of these attributes will affect certain conversations, but do any of them equate to Charisma in terms of the general persuasiveness and charm of the PC? Res perhaps? Apologies if this has already been addressed.

I just wanted to jump in here and join the voices crying out against level scaling and cooldowns. I find it amazing that people are saying things like "You backed this project because you trust Obsidian, so just trust them!" and "This is Obsidian's game, not ours!" - Was this not a Kickstarter project? Doesn't that make it at least partially "ours" in some way, even if not literally? Hasn't Obsidian said that they want to please their old school fans like us who backed the project? I think we're entitled to at least complain a bit when what we are hearing does not meet our expectations when we helped fund the project. Can level scaling and cooldowns be used sparingly with decent results? Yes, a little bit of level scaling here and there to streamline difficulty perhaps, and cooldowns in conjunction with other limitations on power use. Those things are fairly reasonable. But what does history show us? That many great games did fine without them, and many other games were terrible because of them. I actually was never a big fan of the Vancian magic system in BG and IWD, because it can be a real pain in the ass. But it's still a hell of a lot better than guzzling mana potions and rapidly clicking on powers as you wait for them to cool down, making magic seem less like cryptic arcane rituals and more like an overheating plasma gun in Halo. I hope Obsidian can come up with something better than either of these systems, but I would prefer the former to the latter. In the end, I'm just glad these decisions are causing some "overreaction" backlash, because hopefully that means Obsidian will at least pause and consider revising their final system as minutely as possible.

Yes, this. It's a shame the poll is poorly worded. That's the reason I created my own topic like this (though I should have included a "don't care" option, come to think of it). Yet this thread remains more active, so I suppose I will re-post my opinion here as well: I would like to see optional full party creation, like in Baldur's Gate. Yes, like in Baldur's Gate. It was not technically a supported feature, but it was easy enough to accomplish: just start a multiplayer game by yourself, and you can create your entire party from scratch, Icewind Dale style. Then you can play through the game with them instead of NPC companions, which provided some nice variety after you've played the game a dozen times with the story companions. I love how the Infinity Engine allowed for options like this. I understand that the focus of this game is going to be NPC companions with their own personalities and stories, probably tied into the plot in many cases. And that's great. I prefer games like that. I'm almost ashamed of all the times I played through Baldur's Gate II with different companions just to see what they would say in the party banter. And I spent hours delving into the conversations with all of the companions in Planescape Torment, and loved every bit of it. But after playing a game like Baldur's Gate II half a dozen times with story companions, it's fun to mix things up a bit by creating your own "perfect party" with your own characters. It's even more fun if the game has a super-challenging mode like Icewind Dale's "Heart of Fury," forcing you to really build the best possible party in order to beat the dungeons and encounters. Obsidian and Troika (RIP) have made a lot of games with full party customization, like Temple of Elemental Evil and NWN2: Storm of Zehir (both of which I enjoyed, though I had to mod them to allow me to make all 6 characters instead of just 5), so I hope they will include this option in true Infinity Engine style.

Yes, thank you, that has been pointed out. Unless I'm mistaken, Fallout Tactics did not give you the option to create all six characters yourself. The player only created the main character. Everyone else was hired from a computer, to be replaced by hiring someone else if they died. I remember this because I had to mod the game fairly extensively in order to add my own custom squadmates. Fallout Tactics had its issues, but I don't think the complexity of character creation was what caused the squad-based tactics to go awry. I'm hoping Wasteland 2 (which has the player create 4 squad members from scratch) will have equally complex character creation but much better gameplay. I think Project Eternity could as well. If this option can only be accessed through mod tools or some kind of multiplayer, so be it, but I would still like to see it in the game somehow.

Personally I have come to dislike the "party home" idea used by BioWare since the release of KotOR. It's probably the best option for games like KotOR in which you can only take a small number of companions with you at once, but it feels unnecessary in a game like this, with parties of up to 6. I prefer the Infinity Engine style, with the feeling of adventure one gets in games like Icewind Dale, as their party ventures further and further into dangerous uncharted territory, with no way back, forced to camp in the wilderness and possibly be ambushed by monsters. The only way to "select" new party members should be to travel all the way back to town and pick them up again from their place of residence, IMO.

The problem with that thread is that the poll makes it sound almost as if having player-generated companions would preclude the possibility of having an all-NPC party... which is why the results are so skewed in favor of option 1, I think.

My apologies if there has already been a topic about this, but my search turned up no results exactly like what I'm trying to say. I would like to see optional full party creation, like in Baldur's Gate. Yes, like in Baldur's Gate. It was not technically a supported feature, but it was easy enough to accomplish: just start a multiplayer game by yourself, and you can create your entire party from scratch, Icewind Dale style. Then you can play through the game with them instead of NPC companions, which provided some nice variety after you've played the game a dozen times with the story companions. I love how the Infinity Engine allowed for options like this. I understand that the focus of this game is going to be NPC companions with their own personalities and stories, probably tied into the plot in many cases. And that's great. I prefer games like that. I'm almost ashamed of all the times I played through Baldur's Gate II with different companions just to see what they would say in the party banter. And I spent hours delving into the conversations with all of the companions in Planescape Torment, and loved every bit of it. But after playing a game like Baldur's Gate II half a dozen times with story companions, it's fun to mix things up a bit by creating your own "perfect party" with your own characters. It's even more fun if the game has a super-challenging mode like Icewind Dale's "Heart of Fury," forcing you to really build the best possible party in order to beat the dungeons and encounters. Obsidian and Troika (RIP) have made a lot of games with full party customization, like Temple of Elemental Evil and NWN2: Storm of Zehir (both of which I enjoyed, though I had to mod them to allow me to make all 6 characters instead of just 5), so I hope they will include this option in true Infinity Engine style.

I find this news indescribably disappointing. I was holding out big hopes for DS3 with Obsidian at the helm, but this might be the first Obsidian game I don't buy. To me, Dungeon Siege was about creating a customized character and romping through the single-player campaign with a horde of followers and pets (including the iconic Pack Mules!) before taking him into multiplayer with a few friends and having fun with our various characters. Remember how you could play as skeletons in Dungeon Siege 1 multiplayer? Good times. And I was thrilled when they added Dwarves to DS2, by fan demand. I was one of the fans who asked for them! Made me feel good. And now Dungeon Siege III will have none of this at all. No character customization and no big party in single-player = Not Dungeon Siege Heck, it doesn't even have a red-haired girl on the cover (a minor quibble, but there it is). I don't mind change, but not when all the best, most basic elements of a series are thrown out the window. This is Dungeon Siege in name only. Kind of like the Uwe Boll movie.

Although I think you were a bit hard on Mass Effect 2, I wholeheartedly agree concerning Alpha Protocol. I waited months and months after the release of this game to buy it, because I had heard so many bad things about it from reviewers and fellow RPG players. I waited until some retailers dropped the price, then I scooped up a copy, expecting the worst... And instead I loved every second of it! I feel that this game was not given much of a chance by anyone... reviewers, SEGA, RPG veterans... I'm still baffled by their response to the game, as I simply can't see what they're complaining about. I've been playing it for a while now, and I've yet to find anything that major to complain about... besides the fact that I won't more and probably will never get it. I realize I'm jumping into the middle of a discussion here just to comment on the OP, but I just wanted to throw in my tiny bit of support. Because... Long live Alpha Protocol.

Hi from a massive Western RPG fanboy (I own every Dungeon Siege game and every Obsidian title, and that's just the tip of the iceberg)... I was overjoyed to hear Obsidian would be developing Dungeon Siege III! I've never registered for the forum here, but I thought I'd drop by to get two things off my chest concerning this latest sequel to a franchise I can't help but love for some reason: 1: LIGHT ATMOSPHERE Looking at the early screenshots, I'm worried about the game's atmosphere. The original Dungeon Siege (still the best) had a mostly light-hearted, brightly-colored atmosphere that (especially combined with the lovely soundtrack) really endeared me to the game. It also helped make it different from Diablo and its copycats. I realize dungeons must be dark and scary, since they're dungeons, but some games like to make even the quaintest of villages and farms look almost post-apocalyptic, thus making the dungeons of the game actually look less evil due to lack of contrast. I really hope that Dungeon Siege III steers FAR clear of the current trend toward a bleached, grayed-out color palette and tons of blood-splatters (examples include Dragon Age and Hunted: The Demon's Forge). Dungeon Siege II steered the series away from its pleasant medieval village atmosphere and more toward the spiky, bloody, grim-dark sort of thing (see: rainy, destroyed second hub village), which was a shame. I hope DS3 turns back the clock a bit and gives us a pleasant world worth saving. 2: PARTY-BASED GAMPLAY I recall back when Chris Taylor said that Dungeon Siege III, were he to design it, would emphasize controlling a single character instead of a party. I was immediately depressed. It's a shame the RPG genre has moved so strongly away from anything party-based. I am happy with the way the parties in the first two DS games worked (especially the first game with its HUGE party capacity and pack animals), so I hope to see more of that. Steering the game toward control of a single character in single-player would be terrible, and would also make the game (again) too much like Diablo. And you know what would be awesome beyond my wildest dreams? If someone were to bring back the ability to create your entire party from scratch if you prefer. This was my main draw toward NWN2: Storm of Zehir, since it hearkened back to the days of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale when this sort of thing was not only possible, but a pretty standard feature. I've scoured the Internet endlessly for some kind of mod that would enable me to create all of my party members in the first two DS games myself, but no luck. If Dungeon Siege III is party-based, I'll be happy. But if it includes an option to create every character in your party from scratch, I'll be ecstatic. Anyway, I just had to get all that stuff off my chest. I'm sure I'll probably purchase this game no matter what Obsidian decides to do with it. Here's hoping it turns out great! P.S.: please don't make the mistake of pre-expansion DS2 and leave out dwarves! I love playing as a dwarf, and I hate it when they get the short end of the stick! (excuse the pun)

Definitely want to see the original Jeremy Soule theme in there someplace. Because that thing brings back MEMORIES. I would like to see Soule return, personally. Haven't played a game scored by him for a while now. Barring that, preferably Inon Zur.