hopfrog16

The problem I see with this is it assumes only two abilities. Are you positive about this? With DS1 there was 1 melee slot, 1 ranged slot, and 2 spell slots. DS2 had additional spell slots, at least 2 autocast. Both had extensive spellbooks with selectable options, though the drop down menu was slow. While I've no issue with pruning this to only what's relevant it seems to me that Reinhart at least should potentially have more than two attacks to use at the same time, after all he's supposed to be some sort of wizard. I'd suggest right mouse as abilty\attack with ~,1,2,3,...,0,-,= as action selection. Perhaps / for stance switching instead? There's also the issue of companion interactions. Are they a totally independant entity or can you give them orders - move their, attack them, etc? To steal ME2 controls, perhaps Q&E and given there's no need to reload guns R for the final companion. Any other commands required? No potions so H&M aren't required. Oh what about Tab for the map? I don't have any issue with the P&C, it's a rare positive for me, but like you I've hit pessimistic and beyond. I'll keep watching\posting for curiosity sake but ... I thought each stance had 3 abilities, not 2. it seems to me what would make sense would be that you use left clicks for normal attacks/moving, and right clicks for special attacks. You could then press 1-3 (or whatever keys you assign) to switch between the abilities for each stance. Using they keyboard to dodge (which you have to do in defensive stance, at least on console) makes the most sense to me, but I guess you could do it with a button + left click for direction. as for switching stances.. Tilde? I don't know... It all seems pretty damn busy for a keyboard/mouse control scheme. I would rather just plug in the controller, heh.

Hmmm... Never heard of New Game+ before, but as far as I know once your game is done, that's it. The difficulties are there for people who want a challenge from the very start. they are not unlocked for beating the game (like in Diablo 2, or even Dungeon Siege 2).

Kind of off topic a little, but I was contemplating getting Castlevania HD. Does it have really bad multiplayer problems like that, or is that more of a rare occurrence? Seems kind of odd that they wouldn't allow a host to create filters limiting players joining by levels or gear... If it's unbalanced, though, that'd be no fun. Plus I hate time limits (and I've read in the description that this game has one, bleh)... Do you feel rushed when playing this game? I guess what I really want to know is your opinion if it's worth getting or not, heh.

I hope so... Would be nice to learn about your companions more through personal quests. Since any character is available to play as, or to have as a companion, all of the personal quests could be completed (well... the dialogue would be different if you were playing a character or if the character was a companion, but it would definitely be possible).

Because the charachter you progress is used in your own hosted multiplayer game? Maybe you get some scaled items/experience? Maybe said charachter is scaled to the game you join with your customization? To be honest, the last example you gave wouldn't bother me as much. One of the whole points in multiplayer is to feel like you're contributing your strengths to a group through the character you've built (at least for me... probably why I enjoy playing support type characters). Having to use characters I haven't started with and with points already spent into things I don't want would bother me (assuming the host already spent the character's points), but being able to use characters I've built from the ground up (even if the quality of his gear, or the power of his skills are scaled down to fit the level of the host) would be a good thing I think. Meh... This whole discussion really is pointless, though. As you've already pointed out, no one knows exactly how online co-op will work, and with less than 2 months before the release I highly doubt we will be informed until after the fact. If you folks would like, I could tell you all how it is exactly the day of it's release (since I have preordered it).

Oh god... You're joking, right?

Thanks for the link!

Have you seen the UI? You can't have more than two of those things on the same screen! One in each corner? Eh... That would get awful cluttered I think. You would have to shrink everything in the UI, like the first two games did.

Heh... Trust me, I've felt this way long before his post (probably since I first heard the"rumors"). It's just sad for me to see my favorite multiplayer RPG franchise go this route as far as the multiplayer goes (and modding, of course). Plus, I think the lack of new good multiplayer RPGs (not including the ones that have yet to be released) right now is driving me up the wall, heh.

The fact that there is a big fuss about it in the first place should show that persistent multiplayer characters are important to the majority of people who play multiplayer RPGs. =P I will buy this game regardless, but it is kind of sad for me to say that I'm more excited about Torchlight 2's multiplayer than Dungeon Siege 3's at this point...

I never knew that BG2 or Morrowind had much of a modding community (since I never did play those games until after the fact), but I did play quite a bit of NWN1 multiplayer, and was into that modding community... That was some of the best non-MMO (although some of the servers did get pretty massive... one I played on had I think a max of 255 people who could play at once) multiplayer I had ever played, so I at least know where you're coming from in that game, heh. =) It sounds to me like you didn't play this game during the time people were modding it actively. There were a ton of websites you could go to when you wanted to find new mods. They are almost all pretty much gone now, which is sad, but Siege Network is still around if you want to see what one of them looked like. The mods on this one are all still there, too. http://www.siegenetwork.com/ (interestingly, it seems some people still use the forum for this long dormant website, heh) There were several websites like this one, each with different mods (although some of the more popular ones were redundant on every website). A website like the one above would be releasing at one point 1-3 mods, maps, mini conversions, editing tools, and siegelets every week. With all the websites there were you would be getting a new mod every other day. Many of them were just player created maps. Nothing too special, but you could use your multiplayer characters in them, so you could always have a new place to adventure with friends using your characters. Then, there were the seiegelets... These were new worlds that could be totally converted into a different game. Some of these were so different, that some people that didn't even like DS would love playing one of their siegelets. NWN1 did this too, but where DS1 differed is that the rule set could be changed. NWN1 could only use the D&D rule set, and even though many of the player created worlds would be drastically different, it never felt like you were playing a different game or were having a very different experience (at least that was the way I felt when comparing the user created worlds of both games). That being said, I liked some of the things that the mod community for NWN did better than DS too (like the community created expansions.... such a great idea). =) As far as modding communities go, I think they were both equal. After the multiplayer died, the modding died too... No real reason to play the game if you can't play it with friends. I feel that if the multiplayer was still around, people would still be modding this game today (even now people try to set up hamachi communities for DS... I've tried joining one... it isn't the same). =P I'm sure that it seems that the game didn't really make waves when you weren't there when it was active, but seeing as I didn't really play BG2 untill just recently, I don't understand the modding community it may or may not have had either. =P

Original DS a jewel? I must have passed into a alternate reality of some sorts... Did you ever play the game when it had an active multiplayer and modding community?... There wasn't really anything like it at the time, and even now there really aren't many RPGs that have the constantly changing modding community that it had. =P

Interesting in gameplay or story? They seem interesting enough to play as, but I was never expecting a super deep story with deep characters for this game. This is more about killing everything that moves, grab loot and kill some more to get even better loot. So were DS1 & DS2 at the core of it, but they were more tactical. This seems more like oh Streets of Rage (Yes very old!!!) or something. The focus isn't so much on the killing as button mashing to smash whatever's around your character and all the action's at point blank\near point blank range. I was hoping Reinhart would be the traditional mage - nature because combat magic skills have already been hybridised. Looks like an epic fail though. Judging by the video I just saw he's a hybrid monk\rogue with nature mage skills. So the only class that's been carried from DS1\DS2 is in fact melee aka Luke the babyfaced killer. I'll keep watching\reading but I have to say I'm intensely disappointed in what I've seen of the game. The graphics are great, but that's to be expected of any modern game. Everything else is pretty disappointing. Maybe it'll prove a hit with other sections of the gaming community\the console gamers. Really? I didn't take that away from the video at all. You have a combat magic stance (entropic, ranged, aoe), and a nature magic stance (lightning, melee, single target). The melee is a bit odd, but it reminds me of a cesti from DS2 (and to be honest, I'm kind of glad this isn't another generic mage with a dress and a staff... again). The doppelganger spell was one I missed from the first DS, and I'm glad to see they brought it back in this game. This character may not be completely true to a basic caster from the first two games, but it reminds me of the kind of character I would make from the second game (unconventional and challenging, yet still very effective... kind of like a magic based fist of stone).

Awesome... Both this character and Anjali look great... I'm going to have to try Reinhardt first for sure, though. =)

Save game may be correct but not the rest as I understand it. Using your example. If I host I get first choice, and choose Reinhart, which leaves 3 from MY pool for you. You choose Cat which leaves two others available from my pool if anyone else wants to play. When I save and quit, our inventory, including whatever your Cat has, gets saved to my system. If, when I continue, you don't come back you just wasted 8 hours of monster killing time, albeit hopefully had fun wasting it. If you decide to play Cat in someone else's game you have to make sure she's available in their pool. Once in you're established as per the point in the game they are. If they've half completed it with Lucas, Cat will be half levelled up, though her equipment may still be level 0 unless the host of that game has given her equipment. In short the only player to own a pool of inventory, gold, etc is the player hosting. As host I'm graciously allowing you to play in my sandbox. When it's time to leave you have to leave your toys behind! Unfortunately the information on online multiplayer seems to be hard to find (at least for me, heh)... I've only seen one useful article on it, and that was one C2B posted. You can see the interview with associate producer Nathan Davis here... http://www.destructoid.com/obsidian-explai...ns-195120.phtml What the interview says about our online multiplayer characters is that they will be different than our single player ones, and that they will persistently grow as we play them... much like Two Worlds 2 (as the interviewer explains it), or even the first two Dungeon Siege games (which aren't too different than the way the multiplayer in Two Worlds 2 works... as far as multiplayer only characters go). What isn't mentioned, however, is whether or not you will be able to export your single player characters into multiplayer ones, like you could do in the older Dungeon Siege games. As for the loot aspect, Mr. Davis himself says "Co-op players can absolutely expect to have the loot and experience they gain in multiplayer games to be saved to their multiplayer characters". So, there you have it. As lasthearth says. =)

That maybe the problem here. As for Hellboy. Do you mean Liz Sherman? Never had the oppertunity to see the movies. I believe that was her name. =) I really liked the first movie... The second one was odd, but it was interesting in a Pan's Labrynth kind of way (I believe they had the same directors?). As much as I love lore in books and games you'd think that I'd love comic books. =P Maybe the Dungeon Siege comic books Dark Horse is coming out with would be a good way to introduce me to em, heh. @Starwars - Oh god... All I have to say is...

This please. ^ =)

I.... didn't say anything about originality.... I was talking about "just" the archetype. Its also just the two charachters I can relate them the most to. Just in general. Especially Anjali. Beeing that goes in the air with badass when going full out? Check. Also general attitude of both is simliar / releatable to said charachters from what I've seen so far. And a stretch... Well, Nathaniel helped as a tester on X-Men Legends. I thought it possible that he took some hints from there. Hmmm... That's quite a stretch man. I'm not seein it with those characters. =P I'm sure if you asked a comic book fan, they would have better super heros/heroines that they'd be more similar to. It does seem to me that these heros/heroines do have a sort of over exaggerated "comic-book-esque" feel to them minus the crazy origin stories, though. =) I consider myself somewhat of a comic book fan. More DC than Marvel though and have read up on most of the lore and every comic I could get my hands on. Though you are not wrong. Already seen a few human torch comparisons too. There however the charachter type is completly different. @DLRK Thank you. I value your opinion immensly. Hmmm... As far as I understand, however, Anjali can switch between her human and elemental form at an instant whim, and both her human and her elemental form are effective in their own situations (she's a very capable warrior, even without her powers). I thought Storm had to wait for her powers to fully realize (at least that's what I gathered from the old X-men cartoon and the X-men movies), and her combat prowess minus her powers isn't really existent... Maybe her personality is similar? I don't really remember Storm's demeanor to be honest. Hmm... I don't really know anything about Dark Horse comics, but I seem to recall a woman in the Hellboy movies that could turn into a fire form, but was also pretty capable and shooting a gun... Maybe someone who reads Dark Horse comics could tell me if she would fit the role better?

I.... didn't say anything about originality.... I was talking about "just" the archetype. Its also just the two charachters I can relate them the most to. Just in general. Especially Anjali. Beeing that goes in the air with badass when going full out? Check. Also general attitude of both is simliar / releatable to said charachters from what I've seen so far. And a stretch... Well, Nathaniel helped as a tester on X-Men Legends. I thought it possible that he took some hints from there. Hmmm... That's quite a stretch man. I'm not seein it with those characters. =P I'm sure if you asked a comic book fan, they would have better super heros/heroines that they'd be more similar to. It does seem to me that these heros/heroines do have a sort of over exaggerated "comic-book-esque" feel to them minus the crazy origin stories, though. =)

Wow. That's really.. something. Eh, figures... If they had allowed the games to be played multiplayer on their own servers (like various other games they sell), I might have bought them... It would have been nice to have Steam breath new life back into a long dead online community. Oh well, that ship has long since sailed, heh. =P

Sure, but it definitely doesn't make it any more likely. THe destructoid article has nothing to do about the delay unless other information suggests so. Anyway, I'm fine with delay, anything to make the game better. I am 100% on it. I actually pleaded in a forum a couple months ago for them to delay it and fix the co-op. Maybe they actually read this boards ) Please don't feel so entitled. If the reason for the delay IS the co-op we'll see. But even then. Don't act like it was because of you. ...But what if it was? =O

No, actually. If Borderlands taught anything is that 4 times the same charachter isn't always that good an idea. Eh... I disagree. I didn't have that experience playing borderlands you did, but if I did that would speak more of the balancing of the game than the option to pick a character you wanted from a limited list. As an example, look at Diablo 2. In the beginning, before it was balanced (more or less) everyone played only 2 classes. Now in a full game it's rare to see less than 4 different classes. Choice is never a bad thing... Poor design is. =P

This... is really good news. =) Hell, they can take all the time they want on the game as far as I'm concerned. Just the fact that multiplayer progress will be saved is awesome news to hear, even if it is limited to a multiplayer character (after all, the first two games had multiplayer only characters too).

Hmmm... That would be pretty damn awesome. =O But then again, where there's an Azunai, there has to be a Zaramoth...

Eh... I would almost think that kind of thing is a necessity for gamers nowadays. Seems like ever since WoW came out, a whole wave of people starting playing RPGs online that didn't know how to share. Ninja looting FTW I suppose. =P