Tamerlane

Eh. "+X to harm enemies" is a pretty silly concept with a shaky mythological basis (that is to say, creatures that can only be killed by a magic weapon are very common in mythology, but it's usually a specific weapon rather than any old Sword of Slightly Improved Swordiness) and I won't be sad to see that concept and boring old +x weapons in general go away, for reasons entirely unrelated to "sucker punches" for unfamiliar players.

"My weapon... it doesn't work!?"

I actually close my eyes when I play Icewind Dale now. I find that the graphics are really just hand-holding bull**** that only casual players need to win fights. It'd be really nice if Obsidian made Expert Mode just a complete black screen. You babies could have your mode for people who aren't willing to learn and play properly and rely on in-game hand-holding and people like me can have our mode with challenge and complexity.

I think it primarily works for someone who enjoyed the IE games (particularly the Baldur's Gates and Planescape Torment) for character interaction and roleplaying. From this perspective, finding in-game, in-universe "advice" for encounters makes a lot more sense than having every fresh-out-the-door level 1 character getting by off the back of "metaknowledge" gained from his own recent deaths and/or past playthroughs. It'll still exist, of course, but it's about preserving illusions. That's not to say that removing the advantage gained through player knowledge is advisable or even possible, naturally. But it is a reminder that ten people in a room who all like the same games often like them for different, sometimes slightly conflicting reasons.

I want my magic users to be literally reskinned artillery. Everything else is newbie WOW 2e bull****.

And, y'know, talents...

I will fight you to the death on this.

"Kill all nerds." - Josh "Kill All Dorks, Too" Sawyer

The former. Of course he's right. Take Randomness, for example. In some games, if degrees of success and failure are based on a dice roll (ie. luck), then some gamers will simply re-load until they get an optimal result. That is degenerate game play. Josh is *right* when he says that this should never have to happen -that all success and failure should be based 100% on the player's skill, and not luck. His argument is 100% logical. But Logic and fun are not related. People ENJOY randomness. People LOVE the luck game. Go to Las Vegas and look around if you don't believe me. Personally, I'd like a little of both in my games. But really, this all kinda misses the point. I'm more concerned about what we're losing in order to achieve this perfectly logical, perfectly degenerate-free game. Death spells is one thing we're losing. Spell pre-buffing is another. Those things were FUN for me, but I guess my definition of fun isn't in line with Josh's gaming philosophies. What even is this?

That's, um... that's in the first quote, man.

Bravo, sir. You win the Degenerate of the Year award! Anyway, There is one type of spell I'm not seeing on the Wizard and Druid lists we've been given: Summons. Are there none in this game? Were they too "exploitable" in the IE games and therefore the concept had to be scrapped in the same way pre-buffing has? From the thread on the topic:

Kickstarted CRPG in the style of Baldur's Gate, part-way through development. Basic information here, with much more in the updates.

They've confirmed that druids can cast while shifted.

Warlords?

Hey neither of these games are Pillars of Eternity. And I mean I guess both have some degree of influence on the game (in that PoE is based on games that were based on 2e and is also taking some inspiration from 4e) but still... I'm... I'm just kinda confused as to what this thread is supposed to be about besides thinly veiled edition warring. Also, give me either a 2e fighter or a 4e fighter. Just not a damn 3.X fighter.

As said before, pretty sure you can make one in the Adventurer's Hall. Oh, and nice restraint not calling everyone on the forums stupider than dirt this time. I'll make one if i must, just hoping they do one for us. Having never existed until this game, i can't believe there won't be an Aumaua available, that'd be just weird. If she's a chick (or female/whatever term i'm supposed to be using nowadays), i'll take her anyway, but i still feel we are missing a seriously badass fighter. You know secretly you want one too ). I'm just hoping they don't throw a curve ball and have an Aumaua Chanter or something. You surely must have at least one big bar steward in a party, it's a prerequisite in my eyes. And i was absolutely furious at that time after finding out we've lost out on more wilderness because some people on here don't want more levels. I still can't get my head around that and i never will. Vote for a bigger game or smaller game, and some people voted for a smaller! I wasn't myself that morning and i was throwing a tantrum. I'm not proud of it but i'm claiming severe provocation. Anyway, i still don't think there is anything wrong with a male preferring to use predominantly male characters just like i wouldn't be offended by a girl wanting to play with mostly female characters. I think that is perfectly normal human behaviour, whatever the Californian media like to say about it. It doesn't mean i hate women because i want a big tough male fighter to lead my line. I have a beautiful daughter; i'd be happy for her to be in my party as a druid or a mage, but i'm sorry, i just don't see her as a barbarian with a two handed axe. Mind you, my friend's wife could do a convincing job with a battleaxe... Damn, dude. ... Damn.

Hey I'm pretty sure this isn't a thing they said. They said that rogues and rangers are the best damage dealers, that's all.

All I have to say about this momentous news is okay.

Paladins are being designed as front-line leader-type dudes. They can certainly fight, but they don't deal or absorb damage like fighters, rogues, rangers, etc. Stat increases will be minimal but I have no damn idea where I read that. EDIT: Also, burn all rolling stats forever.

Unless you play one of the many, many turn-based games that allows you to undo move actions.

Put me down in the camp that enjoyed IE combat more in theory than in practice. I like my RTSes and I can get a lot of enjoyment out micromanaging groups of dudes with varying abilities and restrictions, but hot damn do I ever get tired of casting Bigby's Lesser Don't Die To Stuff and Mordenkainen's Greater Make That Guy Die To Stuff Again every other fight. All said, I'm not too worried about the combat in PoE. I figure it'll be BG2 quality at the very least, which I generally tolerated and sometimes enjoyed, and I certainly expect it'll end up substantially better.

Spells are for dorks. Shapeshift into a stag and gore nerds all day every day.

I don't know about the specifics, but... If nothing else, it's looking like Pillars of Eternity will have a ****load of toggles for all sorts of things - UI elements, difficulty settings, and yeah, there are probably be a ton of different pause conditions. That said, there are no actual rounds in PoE, so that might be hard.

I was going to say arm-wrestling-contests but actually that sounds hella rad now that I think about it.

But you can dump strength and use spells effectively?