Nakia

Starting back with the old IE games I found romances detracted from the game instead of adding to it. Now games try to cater to everyone of every romantic preference and end up being at best weird. In Skyrim every race and gender can "romance" any race and gender if you care to call it romance. Call me what you wish but I prefer no romance to poorly written ones that have no game play value. If romances are ever added to the game I hope it will be by DLC and thus be completely optional.

One suggestion I would make is no matter what class you choose put three points into Athletics. Do that for each party member. It helps keep endurance up both when traveling and in battle. Remember that food helps with endurance and some foods have other bonuses. I have seen several people recommend keeping cheese in a quick slot or in your inventory. The effects are longer lasting than potions and you can feed your party members before battle and during battle.

Assuming that the tools are available to do this you need voice actors and good recordings. For me nothing wrecks a game faster than poor voice acting and poor recordings. Voice acting can add a lot to a game but it needs to be well done. Matnik, if you have the VAs available and the expertise to do this it would be awesome.

Oh pshaw, Cantousent, I will miss you. Me level headed, no, just stubborn. 58 mods, Rosveen, I will have to check those out. That I think is a lot for a game that is hard to mod. The talent is definitely there. "We will overcome." Watch out Obsidian.

Sorry, no one turn is not quick. I am not sure how long a turn is but it seems to take a long time at least to me. I have tried to figure out how many days but have not so far. I try to keep three hired adventurers at the Stronghold for those quests. Thanks, Procco, for the link. that helps.

Hokay, Cantousent, who do we start PMing? I believe we have a Community Management person should we start there or right for the heart and contact Josh? I would like to say that I think the Oblivion community had problems was for four reasons. 1) The game was part of series that people had played for years, there was I understand a change in ownership and Oblivion was built differently from the prior games. Long time players went into shock and started trying to get the game back on track as much as possible. 2) Oblivion was relatively easy to mod. Thousands of mods sprang up over night practically. 3) People were ignorant of what was legal and what wasn't and some mods were made in all innocence. 4) For those gray areas there was no guidance and modders had to work that out themselves. People will I think continue to discuss mods, make or try to make mods and link to mods. As you say you already have to police those posts and a sub-forum would at make finding them easier, hopefully. The modding community has been and still is a self-policing community. I don't see that changing but a little more formal guidance might help although a lot more has been established than there was eight or so years ago.

Developers have to try and please as many people as possible. Some people with agree with Jorgen_CAB about most of his suggestions, others will agree with some of his suggestions and there will be people who simply disagree with him. What the OE developers tried to do and IMO succeeded in doing was to give people options. There will probably be some changes in a sequel but should the developers basically rewrite the game spending time, resources and money to do? I think the game is great and a lot of fun and the Devs have made changes already since release. I am looking forward to the expansion and being able to play the game without being concerned that I may have to restrain my character and party members. IIRC there is only one place early in the game where you can rest for free.

You have an unlimited stash. Stick your loot in the stash box. I pick up everything including those tattered notes sometimes even those can have some future use/trigger something.

I appreciate what you say. And I will keep being a pest for mod support even if just tacit. I know making mod tools would be an added expense but I will continue to point out that there is a financial return. How significant I have no idea unfortunately. Mods made a bad game good just think what they could do for a good game. Gadzooks what I would give to be able to mod the Stronghold.

No reason not to be civil we all have a common interest, mods. I am not sure what is meant about OE having lawsuits. The copyright owners of a game are not responsible for user made mods even if they provide modding tools. I could be wrong but I have not heard of any actual lawsuits being brought. In the cases where there was a problem of copyright infringement or of mod pirating the mods were removed. Sites that host mods do not want trouble and neither do modders. Games have been modded without any tacit or overt permission from the owners. EULAs normally state that a game can not be modified and published, given to the public. As long as mods are and do not infringe copyright law there does not seem to be any problem. We already have the IE mod in use by many people. It has been discussed, linked to and recommended not only here but on another site that I frequent. A site that is very picky about what is allowed and what is not allowed. Hope that makes sense.

According to an in-game dev's comment Endless Paths was intentionally made to get harder as you proceed down.

I would suggest resting if tired or if a party member's health is low. If you put three points into athletics for each party member you will not need to rest as often.

I don't know how the mechanics of the attacks is triggered but I think it is random. I have had them spaced out and had another game where they came like flies to honey. This game so far I have had one attack and that was very early. Maybe they made a change in patch 1.06.

Actually, Gromnir, I pretty much agree with you. Except for me a cook who could supply you with food and some other personnel in the stronghold would at least make the place feel lived in. As for Josh's comment yes a lot of people don't care for strongholds but a lot of people do care for strongholds. As long as it is optional there is no problem. If he is looking at posts here he will see a lot of negative feedback that is true but it is because the stronghold deserves negative feedback. The stronghold feature has been publicized right from the Kickstarter days so it is natural that people would have high expectations. Sometimes hype backfires on the develops or publishers. The stronghold simply does not live up to what we thought we would get. Don't promise me Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream and then give me a no-name brand. I could be wrong but I suspect that Josh doesn't like strongholds. I will say that by choosing only hires that give 2 points of security and hiring our friendly ogre I have the security up to 51 and the stronghold seems able to hold off attacks without my party returning to fight the battles manually. In an earlier game I had upgraded the main keep, the barracks and one of the walls and was attacked. I was busy in Defiance Bay so did an auto battle and everything was wiped out which meant sinking more money into rebuilding. I was not happy. Oh that dungeon my advice is don't build it at least until the patch is out and we can see if there are any real improvements.

I had a hard time with him too. Even now I'm not sure I can really explain how he works. His chants do have effects and he will keep chanting while fighting and casting spells. His spells are based on a certain number of chant phrases. Three phrases for level 1 spells and 4 for level 2. I was told to have one set of chants that are quick. Then the others can be slower. Hope this helps and that you soon get a better explanation.

I don't want to say too much but you may be one of those who will simply find the combat in PoE easy. The patch may change things, maybe.

For reasons I will not go into a future sequel is not a priority for me. Since we are like vultures in the wilderness waiting for news I don't think going off topic matters much. We don't have a topic to discuss so why not the stronghold? As I said a lot of time and effort went into the stronghold. There are possible twelve quests. I have only done a few never completed all of them. Everyone has his or her own opinion as to how the stronghold can be improved. For me more life in the stronghold would be a big improvident. A cook and maid for Brighthollow. A couple of servants for the main keep. They would need to be placed carefully to avoid fighting. A librarian even if they don't give any quests would I think help. If they added quests this would be a plus. Make the place look like somewhere people actually live. For a sequel I would change the crafting and enchanting system and make the lab a real lab for crafting and enchanting. Changing the buildings and other environmental things would mean remaking the stronghold grounds and although I might think it could be a bit different it also might be counter-productive. Someone suggested making possible to choose a deity for the chapel. Question is in a sequel how important will those created gods be especially if we are continuing the adventures of the Watcher. For a sequel since Caed Nua is supposed to be influential in the area I would add farmlands, a settlement and maybe interaction with the Glanfaths. People have also suggested giving a bit of story to the quests available for the excess party members. That might help. Edit: Oh and in a sequel make a road around the Stronghold to get to Defiance Bay. I do not want caravans of traders and potential enemies wandering through my stronghold.

Gromnir, I am well aware that fixing the Stronghold up is optional and I am well aware of the time and resources the developers put into the stronghold. My reactions to the stronghold are simply my own. this is a role playing game and the stronghold jars with me. That is my opinion which is not right or wrong for others. How I feel doesn't affect how others feel and how they feel doesn't affect how I feel. I am merely expressing my opinion. You are free to have your own opinions and to consider my reactions irrational, stupid or just plain dumb. Doesn't change anything.

I don't think you are missing anything. H of the Damn and/or with Expert Mode turned on? Welcome to the Board and the land of Eora.

I think that because the 2.x patch and expansion where announced but no further information has been given we are feeling a bit agitated. As far as critiquing PoE goes as don't care who is responsible for what. I play a lot of games and have no idea of the name of the Leads" names. Sure I can check the credits but it isn't important to me when it comes to critiquing the game. I am critiquing the game not the individual. Now back to the Stronghold, some of us like playing house and some of us don't. That is fine. A lot of work went into the Stronghold but it is my feeling that OE bit off more than it could chew. I do think they did a good job with what they were able to do. My quarrel is currently that the Stronghold is NOT optional and we were told that it is. I don't mind being told to go there to find some guy named Maerwald who might be able to help me. I go there and after being forced to kill the guy I suddenly find through no choice of my own I own the bloody thing. Right there for me the role playing aspect breaks down. It seems that anyone wanting to travel from the north west part of the map to the south has to go through the Stronghold. The road to Defiance Bay is blocked unless you repair the Eastern Bastion. Hold on there if this is my stronghold I don't want a bunch of strangers traipsing through the place. My imagination goes into overdrive. Then I find that my excess party members get stuck in a an insect, rodent infested ruing. Living conditions are atrocious if I don't fix the place up. Even if I just fix the main keep, the barracks and Brighthold I get attacked by things. Od Nua is also supposed to be optional but if you want to do it you have to repair the blasted Eastern Bastion. Sure the Bastion is a freebie but my character still has to tell that poor entombed steward to do it. I am now in possession of a albatross. The Stronghold is not optional! That is my opinion, my feeling, my thoughts.

I think "people like" is a sweeping generalisation. I've played a number of games with "player housing" and I've never found any enjoyment in any of them. If I'm playing a computer game, I want to be out adventuring. If I want to play house, my real world house needs plenty doing to it. My statement was a generalization and did not mean all people like player houses. They probably have more value in games such as the TES ones where you can display things you have collected, have an alchemists table and/or a enchantment table. They can be a farm or mage's tower. They are popular mods. Sometimes very simple and sometimes very palatial. In the Oblivion game I had a mod that had a castle in Kvatch and another mod where I could have numerous companions. It was a home for the companions not traveling with me. We could even have dinner parties and we had a dancing boy or girl. Lots of fun.

How a game feels is very important. It can be technically perfect but feel cold, uninspiring, just an exercise in mechanics. Anothr game may not be as technically perfect but excite the feelings of the player, make the player want to achieve things, do things, feel important, feel angry, feel sad, feel caring or feel evil. That is the final test of a game. Our feelings do differ which is why we have disagreements and different outlooks. Both the mechanics of game and the feelings of a game are important.

People do like player houses. Oblivion has five houses that can be purchased in-game and added a DLC with a stronghold. IModders have made hundreds maybe thousands of player homes. Oh and Oblivion has a Mage's tower. Let us not confuse "hate" of strongholds with dissatisfaction with what OE did with the one included in PoE. It is my opinion that they either did too much or did too little.

The upside of user mods is that it prolongs the life and interest of the game. IE games and TES games have been prolonged far beyond their normal life time. People still buy them although at a discounted price. This also means that if PoE becomes a series it will have a potential broader fan base. User mods act as free advertising for the game. The downside I think is pretty clearly stated in various posts . However I would like to mention that NEXUS does IMO a good job of policing the mods uploaded there not perfect but very good. NEXUS has strict rules about content and copyright infringement.

@ Gromnir, as far as I know there is no connection between NEXUS and Bethesda. NEXUS was started by one man who saw a good potential for the service and he was right. I am only familiar with the Bethesda modding community. Qualifier: At one time I knew a very little about the IE modders only because I installed some of the mods. Sites that provides for downloading of mods do not need to be connected with the Game owners and as far as I know usually are not. As for what Valve did IIRC they required a minimum sales figure of 300 USD before the modder would get any money. The modders who participated should not have been attacked but unfortunately not all mod users are rational.