timobkg

Agreed. I'm fine with exponential XP curves (don't all RPGs kinda do this already? I mean, in every RPG that I've played it always takes longer to get to level 12 than it does to get to level 2), but big numbers just make it unfriendly and unwieldy. I don't want to count the number of 00s to be able to compare numbers at a glance. I don't want to have big numbers just for the sake of having big numbers. Also, for me, going from 5 HP to 10 HP, or 10 HP to 20 HP feels like a bigger, more meaningful difference than going from 1000 HP to 2000 HP. The same for experience. Once you have more than four 0s behind a number, my brain just starts to tune out.

It doesn't eliminate the need at all. The problem with adding a level 1 companion when you're level 8 is that they die as soon as a level 8 enemy sneezes in their general direction. If they don't die instantly, they certainly don't contribute meaningfully, which means that you're effectively down a party member before the combat even starts. If the combat is balanced to be challenging, then you can only level up under-leveled companions by doing trivial content (aka grinding). Grinding trivial content is not fun, and a complete waste of my limited gaming time. I understand that some find auto-leveled companions to be un-realistic. I'm not sure why, as surely it is more realistic to assume that they have an existance seperate from your own - and thus continue training, practicing, and generally getting experience in their class while you're gone - as opposed to assuming that they have no life without you and thus spend your time apart just twiddling their thumbs. But in any case, given the choice between adding a feature that occasionally slightly breaks immersion for some people, and requiring all those that chose to switch companions - or chose to explore the game's freedom and thus only come across a companion late in the game - to be saddled with wasting their time by leveling up companions against trivial content, or negatively affecting all players by balancing the combat around having a lvl 1 companion in the group, the optimum choice is obvious. It may be a Hobson's Choice, but occasional minor immersion breaking of some is better than wasting the time of many or negatively affecting all.

I'm one of the ones that wants co-op multiplayer. I'm not willing to sacrifice the singleplayer experience for the coop. From what the Dev's have said, you can have great singleplayer with no coop, great singleplayer with mediocre coop (the old IE games), or great coop with mediocre singleplayer. You can't have great singleplayer and great multiplayer in a text-heavy, dialog driven game. If we're not willing to sacrifice the singleplayer experience, that leaves the choice of no multiplayer or mediocre multiplayer, and at that point, it's kind of hard to argue for multiplayer.

Wow, this poll isn't skewed at all. A barter system sounds good in theory. In practice, it's a nightmare to design, code, and play. A gold system is actually managable, and makes playing the game much easier, which is why every game uses it. I don't want realism for the sake of realism when it detracts from actually playing and enjoying the game.

I don't want things that just add needless busywork, like identify scrolls / spells or not being able to use un-indentified items.

I wouldn't. The first 10 minutes are usually the hook, the thing that grabs you and gets your attention. Think of Torment, and how the wonder and confusion over the beginning would be lost if you knew all about it ahead of time. I want it all to be a surprise.

I like tooltips. The tell you the basics so you can jump into the game without having to read the manual. You can dismiss them if you've already read the manual, or are replaying the game. And you can always go to the manual for specifics. It seems like they are the best compromise for covering all the preferences, and without requiring a separate tutorial.

And that makes for a horribly boring game, which is why no one makes NBA Simulator. I don't want to practice in my games. Realism does not equal fun. Learn-by-doing systems breakdown because they're 1) open for exploitation, 2) limiting. 1) Explotation - I get XP for sneaking, so I sneak all the time and get XP all the time. Ok, so now you only get XP for sneaking past someone. So I sneak past townspeople. Ok, so now you get XP for sneaking past something hostile. So I sneak past the same thing back and forth. Ok, so now you get XP only the first time you sneak past something hostile. So now we have our realistic system where you learn by doing, except you can only learn if you're in danger, and you can't learn from sneaking past the same troll twice, you have to find a different troll. And since I learn every time I stab, I learn more by using a dull practice dagger than a sharp dagger. If I switch to stabbing with a wooden spoon, I learn even faster. 2) Limiting - If I sneak past the enemy, then I don't get a chance to talk and level up my speech, or practice my stabbing. So I limit my options based on what I want to level up. I know, I sneak past everything, then go back and talk to everything, then go back and slaughter everything, and get three times as much XP as just doing the one. Hurrah!

Why specifically? Does that matter? I don't think he's trying to argue with you, I think he's just trying to learn what it is you didn't like about it, and thus get ideas for something better. For example, saying that I don't like D&D style stat systems for CRPGs because it ties conversation stats (Int) to specific classes (Wizard), and thus limits your conversation options (if you chose to play a non-caster) or your class options (if you want to have all the dialog options), is a lot more useful than just saying that I don't like the system. I certainly like the sound of the proposed system that separates combat skills from non-combat skills, so that one doesn't come at the expense of the other.

That's the approach I like. If your goal is to stop the bandit raiders, your XP should be based on stopping the bandit raiders. It shouldn't matter if you slaughtered all of them, or disbanded them by killing their leader in the night, or just convinced them that a different town is a much better target. Luckmann's post right before mine goes into even more detail. Reward exploration, surviving encounters / traps, reaching the next level or the end of a dungeon, resolving conflicts, etc. Don't rewarding being a mass murderer.

From a gameplay perspective, having to level up under-leveled characters is not fun. If they're under leveled, then you can't take them into the current content, which means you have to go grind old, worthless, un-challenging content. Grinding isn't fun, and I don't want to spend my limited playtime grinding or have to give up ever using the other characters again. From a realism perspective (in our magical fantasy game), do you expect that they have no life without you? That they just sit around twiddling their thumbs while you're gone? That they can't spend their time practicing, training, studying, etc? Sure, they don't die, but you can gain experience from non-threatening activities, and as you're still alive to come back to them it seems just as likely that they'd be still alive. As to why the PC doesn't do the same, well, you do sometimes (quest reward XP, non-combat quests), and fighting a combat dummy doesn't lead to the most exciting gameplay.

Agreed. Eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating, repairing are all realistic, but boring and detract from fun, and we're in a magical fantasy world anyway. Repairing is not fun or enjoyable. I have never heard anyone exclaim, "Hey, so I was playing X, and I got to drop what I was doing and go back to town to repair my gear! It was awesome! I can't wait to repair something again!" Unless it's to repair an item for a quest, it's just a hassle. I have enough boring, annoying, tedious chores in real life.

I feel this poll is very flawed. Our only options are an 11 year old UI that wastes lots of space, or a 10 year old UI that's rather ugly? How about a modern UI that is minimal, functional, and attractive? How about we let Obsidian come up with a UI idea or two, and then we can talk about what we like or don't like about it? D3 did this well, where you can toggle to have just the description text or the specific numbers behind the text.

Voiced acting is a double-edged sword. Good voice acting can add to a game, but bad or mediocre voice acting will certainly detract from it. If in doubt, not having voice acting is the safer choice. Given the choice between voice acting or more dialog, I'll take more dialog every time.

I think the OP lost the point when he introduced Steam and GoG. It's understandable that they're unrelated, and thus ownership on one does not dictate ownership on the other. What is reasonable, however, is having a DRM-free, platform agnostic copy. I believe paying consumers should be able to play their computer games on any and all of their computers. We already have games that you bought once and could install on both Windows and Mac - World of Goo, all the Blizzard games, SteamPlay. Humble Indie Bundle adds Linux and Android support to that. I'm not asking for multiple copies of the game. I'm asking for one copy that I can install on my Windows desktop, on my Mac desktop, and on my Linux laptop. After all, this is digital media. When I buy an MP3 from Amazon, I'm not limited to enjoying that song on one computer / platform. I can put that song on my computer, on my iPod, on my Android phone. I can enjoy it from any of my devices. Humble Indie Bundle brought that same freedom to games, and I'd like to see others follow suit.

That's the issue right there. In a P&P setting, you're free to use your imagination and figure out clever ways to bypass and disarm traps. In a CRPG, you're limited by the game system which consists of: 1) Select Rogue 2) Click Disarm Trap Trap rooms, where you have to solve a puzzle to proceed, are good. Traps you can place in combat to add a tactical option are good. Traps randomly littered around dungeons are just tedious busywork that tries to justify having a rogue in your party (or horribly punishes you for not having one). All it does is needlessly slow down the game.

Tell that to the NWN community? That's funny because I remember back in the day there was a Bioware forum post that basically stated that only like ~20% of all players of NWN1 even started one mp game. Most bought the game to play the sp campaign and never touched mp. I actually bought NWN to play with my friends. Solo, NWN was a soulless experience. In co-op, with different characters combining their unique skills and actually being able to use tactics, it was great. At some point you reach diminishing returns with what you can add to the campaign with more money - Chris Avellone won't be able to write better or faster with more money - which is why co-op multiplayer would make for a good stretch goal.

The tattoos in PS:T worked because they were unique and interesting to that game. You didn't have armor, so instead you used tattoos. Here, we have armor, so tattoos seem like trying to shoe-horn in something that doesn't fit. I'd rather the devs stick to their vision and make character equipment and customization that fits with the game.

In theory, I like crafting. In practice, it just turns into busywork. I don't want games with busywork. I'd rather the development resources be spent elsewhere.

I'd like for your character to be able to be so persuasive, that if you were found standing over the body of a dead man with the bloody knife still clutched in your hand, you'd be able to not only talk your way out of being imprissoned, but would even convince the victim's family to wash the blood out of your clothing.

PS:T had enough text to fill 9 or 10 novels. And it was awesome! I'd love to have that much text here, but as always, quality trumps quantity.

I don't want rape, incest, child killings, etc for the sake of having them. I do want the devs to be free to put them in if they serve the story. A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones) is a good example.

Agreed, I could care less about having a house just for the sake of having a house.

Yes, exactly this. I'm happy to wait until it's ready, but no one wants to see a repeat of Duke Nukem Forever.

Planescape: Torment or Fallout style quest design is what I'm after. Particularly Planescape.