Nakia

I pretty much agree with Gromnir about the Backer Beta. Fighting beetles and spiders on normal was pure death for my party. Even on easy I found them difficult. So some re-balancing was done. Now the wilderness monsters and animals are a bit easier but when involved in a quest at least a fairly major quest the difficulty increases. There is I think a steep learning curve for PoE and this may be difficult for experienced gamers to accept. i.e. if you are a graduate of the TES games, Oblivion and Skyrim you will be in for quite a surprise. PoE does not level enemies so you may meet a fairly easy one and the next combat may be more difficult.

In the E3 interview Josh Sawyer mentions level 14 in connection with the Part 1 Expansion. This makes sense to me since talents and spells skip levels so you would need two levels to round out your characters. That does not mean you will be level 14 at the end of the expansion play but I think you will be able to get two levels if you do everything possible. Example: if you enter White March at level 7 you could be level 9 when you finish.

A story doesn't end just because a game ends. If the game has brought the characters in it to life for me it goes on. The Stronghold exists and will continue its influence unless it is destroyed in some future expansion or sequel. The descendants of my character will play their part in its future. Life continues on not only for my character but for every surviving NPC in the game. Gods or no gods the cycle of continues. The world of Eora does not end because the game has ended. Nature has given to me the ability to dream, imagine, fantasize. To me how many times I can rest in the Stronghold is unimportant. It is the fantasy, the dream that is important. Whether the Stronghold is a well or a sink hole depends on the stewardship of my character and his or her descendants.

As a completionist I have to admit that I do not feel sorry for the critical path player. We each have our own style of play and that is our choice. No one forces me to complete every quest possible or explore every inch of a map that is my choice. The developers of a game can force you to do certain things by the way they create the game i.e. repair the Eastern Bastion. There is no way developers can make 100% of the players happy 100% of the time.

I think that's somewhat Gromnir's point about the gold sink thing : the Stronghold should be attractive to some players not because of the gameplay advantages it brings but because of the "bragging factor", so that players want to continue developping it despite its gold sink status and the poor return on investment it provides. To clarify a little further. I do not think it should be either a sink hole for money or a gold mine but should break even. It should support itself at least after completion. Hypothetically (couldn't resist) it is the place to which the player's character will retire. It is a fortified place and so a refuge to the surrounding kith in time of danger, a residence in times of peace and should be able to support itself. It should be a bragging spot but should also serve a utilitarian purpose as a center of influence. I can imagine all kinds of things. My character has settled down, married, had children grown old and no longer goes adventuring there fore a sink hole for money would be an albatross. The Stronghold is an investment in the future not to bring in loads of money but in its own way to provide peace and prosperity to the area. That is how I imagine it.

In regard to the accumulating of money and having nothing to spend it on I have this to say. Someone playig on Normal will face more enemies than someone playing on easy therefore they will get more loot to sell. Playing on Hard you have more more enemies than on Normal therefore more loot. So how much money you can accumulate depends at least partially o the difficulty level you use. Someone like me will buy items already enchanted and then want to enchant them further and I also like to make potions and even scrolls. Having your wizard learn new spells also takes money and I tend to have him or her learn all new spelss. Who knows those may come in handy. As for the Stronghold I want it to be something I can be proud of not a sink hole for money nor a gold mind but a true Lord's dwelling. A place that will attract people both good and bad. A place for settlers to come and want to live in its area of influence, raise their families, crops and livestock. At least in my imagination.

Thank you, Fardragon and as you say it really is a topic for the Off Off Topic forum.

@Gromnir, why should the Stronghold be a sink hole for money? Early on yes and it is but as the security and prestige rise I think the income should rise and it does.

As Fardragon says the "Stronghold" concept has an ancient history. BG II had strongholds way before Facebook. Facebook games are the copiers not the other way around. Backers requested a Player Home during the Kickstarter and it became a stretch goal. I like having it early as a place where extra party members can hang out and be easily found. Sure you can go to an inn and pick them up and I like to pretend that I sent a message to the Lady in the Throne and she got them to the inn so I could pick them up. The garden is great for getting those hard to find ingredients is crafting is of interest to you, the curio shop also.

The term "role playing" is a broad term and has been debated quite a bit. PoE gives you a great many ways to play a role. Starting with race, country, class, background. Once these ae decided on you build your character using attributes, abilities, talent, weapons, armour, other gear. Then in the prologue you have a chance to add to the role of your character. Why are you in Dyrwood? Is your character benevolent, rational, stoic, aggressive, cruel, etc.? Would you put a bowman i plate armour with gauntlets? Would you want your front line melee fighter wearing leather armour? What would a rogue assassin wear? These are all questions that need to be answered as you develop your character. The more choices you have the more roles you can play and PoE gives you a lot of choices. Traditional role playing? What is that? My first cRPG was Betrayal at Krondor where you played owen a novice wizard and some of the characters from the Rift War Stories. The D&D PnP games gave you more role playing choices and the Baldurs Gate games were based on that. The TES games are called RPGs. The role we play in a game depends on the rules of a game and the choices that the game gives us.

Speaking as an outsider I think leaving the EU would be a mistake. We have entered the age of inter dependency. Politicians should take a look at what scientists can do when they work together. They are highly competitive people but they can share and build on the research of what has gone before them and of their colleges. They can disagree in order to find the truth and then work to prove that truth.

Since I did the quest during the Backer Beta I have done just about every ending possibly. Killed the girl, killed the Skaens, killed the Lord. Freed the girl, killed the Skaens, killed the Lord. Sent the girl back to the Lord. From the start of the game Dyrwood is shown as a place that does not like authoritarian, lordly figures. Dyrford Village People are shown as not liking the Lord and not caring what happens to him or his. The quest strikes me as one of betrayal. The girl turns to the one person who seems to be willing to help her only to be betrayed by him. To me it in a way it is the theme of the game, a world of betrayal, maybe a world that does need a god to guide them but they kill the one god who would give them a Second Chance. Do they as a society deserve a second chance?

As for the Stronghold I can understand the problem and maybe the impossibility of adding new buildings and personally I do not think we need more buildings. I think we need more people to give a feeling of life to the to the Stronghold.

I haven't checked this site against other experts but it might be of interest to some.

It could be my nephew calling to check up on me and he gets upset if I don't answer. Truth be told I use headphones and half the time don't hear the phone.

With Steam if you click Play and then go to get a snack or walk the dog, whatever, without actually starting to play Steam counts that time. This I have verified. Even using the Game Save figure is not completely accurate because if you pause the game real time keeps running while you answer the phone, door or stop the kids from killing each other. Thus going by Steam playtime may be longer and going by Save game time it may be shorter. I would go by save game time rather than Steam time. For me I will rate the game play time for each expansion as follows. Less than ten hours for one playthrough = unacceptable Ten or twelve hours = acceptable More than twelve hours = Awesome This is based on my play style which is slow, a lot of careful reading and some thinking time, maybe even "I'll try it this way, no I didn't like that." reload prior save and try a different way.

The BG I companions never impressed me and my preference in BG II were the evil or neutral alligned companions. I think the companions in PoE are well done and with the respec option are quite playable as is. I would like more companion interaction but this is the first game in the series and they are in my opinion already better than the BG I companions. I also like the ability to create my own party members as in IWD games.

Yes, I am being optimistic but I base my value of a game on a one to one basis; one hour of play for every one USD I pay for the game or expansion. I haven't seen any reports of what the expansions will cost. Based on what expansions for other games have cost I doubt strongly that the cost will be five USD for each expansion, a total of ten USD for both. Game Play style also varies, some move quickly through a game others more slowly.

My guess is roughly twenty hours each.

I am one with Fardragon on this. Plus use of party AI is optional. You can set your tank to a AI and maybe a ranged member to one. Micromanage your wizard and other party members. I think it a much better option than using auto-attack for those boring bugs. And as said

This is strictly a guess on my part but since this is not part of the main quest I doubt that it will be numbered.

You should be able to play the game with old saves after the update but it may change your character builds a little bit.

If we study real life combat to any degree we quickly learn that certain things are important. Physical strength and endurance are important. What I found interesting is that in melee combat speed is more important than either physical strength or even endurance. Assuming the combatants are relatively equal in experience and armour and weapons the faster combatant will have the advantage.

Looks like it’s common practice nowadays…*cough*StarCraft 2*cough* When is a game finished? The IE games had expansions added to them. Many games since then have had DLCs and expansions added. Sequels continue the previous games or are at least theoretically built on the previous game.

The patch is available for the original game.