Valorian

I was thinking of changes in enemy tactics and group composition. I see. A few posts ago you were thinking about changes in enemy tactics. Anyway, that model, as I said, makes enemies vulnerable to direct counters by the player. It cripples them. So it's something like catch-them-all? They'll watch you fight, run away and then you'll chase them Benny Hill style? What "made up" thing did you feel accused of? @alumin The point was that the spy system isn't needed to switch weapons on the fly. The player being able to literally adjust the composition of an encounter (armor type, weapon type, spells and whatnot) is certainly not desirable. That we don't know everything doesn't prevent you from making examples with what we know so far. How weapons and armor work has been discussed extensively. Many spells and abilities have been described too.

...If we assume that opponents can switch weapons, why can't we also assume that they carry their original weapons with them, too? In the IE games, any reasonably fighty class had 4 weapon sets to switch between, why would the opponents be exempt? Yes, there are a lots of ways to make an adaptive system ****ty. There are also a lot of ways to make a non-adaptive system ****ty. Yet your first assumption upon looking at a game with a standard encounter system is not "this game will surely have ****ty encounters". Why? Enemies could switch weapons on the fly without the whole spy and scry thing so what's the point? I think it would trivialize the player's choice of armor if enemies can simply switch weapons to specifically counter whatever they're currently hitting. They can't switch armor on the fly though. Because you haven't offered anything remotely concrete about what would be countered specifically and how would the AI adapt beyond saying that it'll prepare itself for "your favorite attacks". @PJ I don't think you understand what 'gaming the system' means. It would be lots of work to prepare encounters for anything beyond your banal and simplified crushy, shooty, zappy example (which would only cripple the AI anyway). Spies, the mechanics of intercepting spies and dialogue for them wouldn't fall from the sky either.

Seriously, I want this feature. It would introduce a whole new gameplay element without all that much effort. "without all that much effort" Also, it's literally an invitation to game the system. Oh look, spies. Let's all be in light armor* while they observe us (remember, there are no dump armor categories in PoE, the heavier the armor the bigger the action speed penalty), but light and fast weapons are especially effective against low DT. Show up for the "adapted encounter" with your suits of plate armor donned and look them struggle trying to scratch you with light weapons. *You can substitute 'light armor' with 'chain mail' or 'slashing weapons' etc. This system would actually cripple the AI.

I see. That's a lot of variables and work. I'm not opposed to a few encounters being like that, but I don't find this system particularly appealing. Yes, I think appropriate chokepoints or even ambushes would be better than shuffling forces or pre-buffing to counter your "favorite attacks" (pre-buffing is currently not possible in PoE).

How did you imagine this anyway? These intelligent humanoids spy on you, follow you, take notes about your combat styles and party composition, predict your next destinations and then shuffle their forces accordingly? Can they fail? I mean, would it be possible to discover the spies and execute them on the spot before they had the chance to pass on the info? Naturally, unless they have some scrying soul-powered ability; I can see it would be hard to counter that.* Hmm, perhaps with a mind-block enchanted item or spell! *Long distance teleportation and readily available resurrection are hard to counter too, that's why it's better to use those really carefully, if at all, unless you wish to trivialize a setting. That was totally not your example, and it was not my intention to put it in your mouth, but you did mention a "hive-mind of malicious and intelligent spirits". So I came up with this example with wraiths. I'm sure there are less ridiculous ones, of course.

Making ranged weapons less accurate in general would do the trick IMO.

Yupp, enemies who are proactive and gather information about your fighting style and tactics are totally unrealistic. Got it. I'm sure it's realistic for that 0,1%. Like your example with wraiths.. who will scout you and haunt you while you sleep in the local inn and then, after a night of horrible dreams, on your next crypt adventure they'll totally adapt their tactics to exploit your nightmares. It's a lot of work to imbue this sort of metagaming into enemies, too.

Adapting to the encounters is more fun, particularly if they require variable tactics and whatnot. Why couldn't we have both? Because dynamically changing the composition of combat encounters, specifically to adapt to your party, doesn't make sense for 99,9% of encounters. Among other things.

Should we assume that all humanoid/corporeal undeads are the product of animancy (i.e. created by scientists who are called animancers)? Obsidian described this particular process of creating undeads in PoE's universe, doesn't mean it's the only one. It's dead body + soul. Perhaps there's a natural phenomenon that sometimes prevents the soul from leaving the cadaver. Couldn't a strong wayward soul possess a corpse? Also, according to update 73, skeletons (the final stage) don't need to eat human flesh to function. With all that in mind I don't see why undeads in large numbers would be something 'hard to believe'. The more the merrier!

Ehhh, I'm not sure on the exact specifics of that, actually. But, I didn't mean to say that all individual abilities are powered by soul-power. And I'm aware that that might've been what my words meant. In which case, my apologies. I'm fairly certain all classes are soul-powered. Meaning, no, every sword-swing isn't necessarily a use of soul "magic," but the Fighter is capable of doing things that go beyond mere physical conditioning and training, as opposed to Fighters in traditional fantasy RPG lore, who are basically just in-really-good-shape, well-trained equipment specialists. Via the souls thing, everyone's got some kind of "magical" aspect to them, even if some rely on it a lot more, and others a lot less. There's no need to apologize Lephys. Josh Sawyer mentioned this last year, in June: "A lot of the more "magic-y" flavored things that fighters, rogues, et al. can take will probably wind up being Talents (optional) instead of core class Abilities. If you want to play an effectively non-magical fighter or rogue, you will probably be able to do so, but there will be more fantastic options available for players who want them." I like that these are optional talents. If everyone ends up being a special soul-powered snowflake, then nobody is.

Have they ever said that all class powers stem from souls? I interpret the whole soul power thing as some things and abilities being influenced by your soul, especially those that one could describe as supernatural. I'd find it rather silly to discover that soul, not his physical and mental capabilities, propels the warrior's ability to swing his sword, get better with it and use a variety of mundane maneuvers.

Most threads are about a specific subject, I'd say. Although, there's certainly nothing wrong with wishlist topics like this one. Indeed, I have nothing against being required to save and reload. It's a consequence of challenging combat. I don't limit saves however, because I don't see any point in doing that and I'll pretty much always use the last one. The possibility of 'failing' is exciting, that's why I limit the number of times I can reload (after a party member dies etc.). It's a reasonable version of Trial of Iron. Oh, I got that. I just find it odd that a game in which scaled encounters constitute less than 1% of combat encounters changed your opinion about level scaling. Maybe not odd, just... indicative.

Re: Sneak attacks, rogues, etc. I think it's important to keep in mind the inherent advantage of ranged weapons, especially when the attacker is boosted with a +damage passive ability. You're less likely to be engaged in melee and get smacked in the face (though you need to be somewhat close to your target to sneak attack in PoE, AFAIK) and you're more likely to benefit from the 2 seconds window to sneak attack.

Oh, another 'general suggestions' thread. When playing a superb RPG with good challenging combat, I enjoy limiting the number of times I'm allowed to use the reload and replenish-all buttons. Self-assigned strategical resource. PS. I find your 4) particularly amusing. A game in which about 1% of encounters are scaled (chosen from ~3 different encounters) completely turned around your opinion of level scaling... k.

There are 11 classes in PoE. I like that some classes are (much) better in melee combat than others. Same for ranged combat. If a game has only 3 classes and differentiates them by not allowing class 1 to ever dual wield weapons or use ranged weapons and by forcing class 2 to forfeit shields and never use anything heavier than daggers... then we're talking about the realm of beyond ridiculous.

Yes. I'd solve this by progressively diminishing the movement speed of the run-in-circles character who's being chased. Kiting is fine for action games where the whole point is to actively dodge and do other stuff in real time, but in a party based game with pause-and-issue-commands tactical combat.. not really. Link? Grimoire slam. http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Grimoire_Slam Using spells and abilities to impair enemies' movement and delay melee engagement is completely fine, as well.

The spell effects are nice. What I'd like to see is smoother transitions between different stances and actions. Casting/attacking --> (turning around) --> default combat stance. In NWN2 there was a particular stance/animation between combat actions for male humanoids. While it looked ok on them, it looked odd on undead creatures such as skeletons (shifting weight from one leg to the other, in a dance-y way), which is a thing to consider when animating different creatures. Also, I like the spell chants/incantations. Especially if it's a deep voice enhanced with audio effects, and coupled with an unknown language, to make it sound otherwordly.

I'd like the endgame crit path content to be tuned for level 12 parties. If a person wants to dash through the critical path and finds certain challenges too hard, there's always the option to turn the difficulty level down. However, games that do have level scaling don't provide the option to turn it down or off, unfortunately.

There is a Suppressed notice on the first effect line. That is because effects that raise the same stat do not stack (asked, confirmed). Since there are two effects on the character which raise Resolve, only the higher one works, the other one is suppressed. If the buff that provides the higher one ends before the other, the suppression ends as well, and the character gets that lower bonus. I too am curious about the rules of stacking, but can't find the post. Pallegina's character sheet shows that attribute bonuses (both are from items) don't stack with each other. What about defenses, DT and stamina regeneration? Spells, items and abilities/talents can provide bonuses to various stats. Would a modal ability that increases reflexes by 10 stack with an item or spell that improves reflexes by 5 points?

Holy Radiance is a limited-use active ability. Ok, thanks.

Kana Rua seems agreeable enough. Maybe I'll have a chanter in my party after all. Is Holy Radiance a passive or active ability? I can imagine 6 priests carbonizing and frightening undeads while simultaneously healing each other. Not fair. Unless it doesn't stack, of course.

You're right, sarcasm or not, this topic is not about D.G., elite Codexians and riding unicorns. It's time to move on, so sayeth the like button populus. So... solo vs party. Or 3 wizards vs 6 wizards. They all cast wail of banshee at the same time.

Who is an elite Codexian? Sensuki? I've heard that's a fabulous and inspiring place. I believe I've read somewhere that they're mad at David Gaider and David Gaider is very mad at them in return. Yes, it seems that D.G. has become a video game celebrity for romance content, sort of.

Awww. This has become too personal. Every scuffle can be resolved with a bit of hugging and cuddling. PrimeJunta needs a hug too, for I believe he'd rather hug and cuddle than struggle with his other, forum related, urges. Let's all hug!

I read what you wrote. The thing is, why would they mention "not moving" as a requirement if combatants can: move, not move, run, chase and stab, dance and roll around the battlefield and engage each other anyway?