Ink Blot

But is it? I have a feeling this game is going to shake out like Wasteland 2 in that it's going to be all or nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving Wasteland 2 (hell, I can't seem to stop playing it, even when I should be doing other things), but it suffers from the same thing that most other games with skill checks suffer from: as you get to higher levels, the skill checks get more and more difficult, so if you don't keep maxing the skill, it becomes useless as the game progresses. I can't really see PoE being any different. So that again begs the question: is it really going to be feasible or effective to evenly distribute the skills as opposed to maxing them?

LOL - I just did that last night! My Demolitions expert grabbed about 500 XP in one area just on disarming mines. I can certainly see why many people are against this. But honestly, there have been so many arguments about the way XP are/could be/should be given out in PoE that I'm beginning to not care anymore. In the end, it comes down to: are you the type of player that's going to farm every last XP no matter what, or are you just going to play the game and enjoy it as you go without worrying that you may have missed 5 or 6 XP in the last area?

I can see the similarities, but I think most of that is just a surface impression. I certainly have no worries that Obsidian will turn out another DA2 though. *shudders*

Age of Decadence looks great, and I'm really anticipating it. I've been following it for years now, and that's the key. AoD has been in development for years. I think I first heard of - and started following - it over 5 years ago. And it had been in development for a number of years before that. So yeah, you can make a 'sensible' RPG if you have a decade. But I think Obsidian is going to do a pretty damned good job on this one as well. Don't let the Beta make you think the game's going to be driven by mindless killing and no story reason to be doing what you're doing. This is a small piece of a larger cloth and does not represent the entire garment at all.

Okay, before I just thought you were one of those misguided 'MOAH GRAFIXX' types, but now I see you're just blatantly trolling.

Brandon, I assume there are still going to be regular Beta updates, yes?

This has been pointed out to him time and time again and he just doesn't get it. We're all just a bunch of "nostalgia idiots who worship at the altar of false dichotomy" and we're going to be responsible for there being no future CRPGs. So yeah, don't bother.

If they treat it as a real project and start to completely ignore the nostalgia fetish people, they could make at least 5 times as much as they got from the kickstarter. But I don't know how long would it take to create all the animations and effects from scratch so it can approach a level of quality most people expect now. Ignoring your target audience is a sure way to ensure failure. Hitman: Absolution- Revamped graphics at the expense of features the core audience likes. Dragon Age 2- Revamped the graphics and animations at the expense of features the core audience wants. Splinter Cell: Conviction- Revamped visuals at the expense of more important features. These games attempted to capture an audience more interested style than substance. As a result they sold as well as the leading brand of bottled farts. Obsidian should not choose neat visuals at the expense of it's actual appeal; nostalgia. Your idea would lead to complete failure. By all means though; keep insisting that Obsidian try to reach an audience never in danger of being interested. Why you think Obsidian can compete with Bioware/Bethesda is beyond me, but who am I to judge? It's all about the graphics, animations, and the ragdoll physics, man! Haven't you seen the light yet? The world has moved on. Gameplay, story, and characters don't matter. All you need is flash and no substance to make a game that everyone wants to play. That's progress, man! Progress!

Probably already something you guys are well aware of, but thought I should mention it. All the KS Backer characters have missing strings in their description boxes. They also don't interact in any way with the party. I killed the ones in the upper floor of the inn (sorry, Ray!) and none of them even went hostile while I was killing their buddies. As well the one behind Lord Harond was suffering the same transparency issue that the character in the inn's kitchen did in the previous build. Haven't had time to play much tonight. Will try to get more time in over the weekend.

Nice! This looks great. Thanks for all the hard work you guys are putting in to get these fixes done. Looking forward to updating and playing.

That's only part of what he said, but yes I concede that point. Although I'm not sure it's a 'good point' on the OP's part. For one thing, he's comparing a completed and released product to a - once again - beta. For another thing, the design goals, development focus, and style of this game are different than DS3. As for the disappointment, that's going to happen anyway once the game is released. This isn't, as the saying goes, my first rodeo. I've been around for plenty of game releases from various devs and there are always a contingent of very vocal detractors when a game is finally released. From the "This isn't what I expected at all - you've let me down" crowd, to the bat**** crazy "You're dead to me now and I'll never buy another one of your games again because this game sucks so hard" bunch.

Hardly tangential when you state in your first post that it's one of the reasons combat feels flat, then go on in a subsequent post to state it's a 'desired standard'. This 'discussion' however, is going nowhere. So I'll just be content to be a 'fanboy' and continue playing the beta so I can offer suggestions to Obisidian on what i feel could be improved and report what bugs I find. If you think the game is so terrible, feel free to not buy or play it. The rest of us will probably enjoy the hell out of it.

As Althernai says, there's not much to 'defend' against. Almost everything the OP is complaining about is beta-specific (which I believe has been pointed out several times in this thread). As I already stated, until more beta updates occur, there's really no point in basing your criticism on things that will likely be changed in future updates.

Border-line stalking? Get over yourself. The mods are probably not deleting posts for the same reason they're not deleting a not-so-subtle troll thread.

Ah, I thought the rag doll physics complaint seemed familiar.

Nice! Thanks for the update.

Really? It's just a freakin' beta. I'm not sure how you're seeing so much doom and gloom for the game based on the beta at present. There are actually a lot of positive things in it. Sure, there are plenty of things that need addressing, but very few (if any) that I'd put into a major overhaul category. Fanboy or not, I just don't see the 'shot in the knee' here.

Aw, I was expecting some kind of Beatles Rockband showdown on Expert mode...

'Ragdoll physics" Really? This game is a nod to the old IE games. Thus, you're not going to get full voice acting (which is spendy anyway) or ragdoll physics. There will be some introductory spoken lines though, from what i understand (much like in Baldur's Gate or IWD) As noted though, this is a beta and only a small piece of the actual game. We're not seeing all the game has to offer yet, there are many things they're going to tweak and adjust, and there has only been one update to the beta so far. Pretty hard to judge yet what the final product is going to be like. But IMO, it looks pretty damned promising to deliver very close to what I as hoping to get in the game. Not sure what you were looking for.

KEYS ARE UP! Thank you, Obsidian, for getting these up and running. DLing Wasteland 2 now.

YAY!!! It works! Thank you so much, guys! Very much appreciated.

Let's hope they respond.

Exactly the same here. Which works out fine for me, as usually the complete/ultimate edition is much cheaper, since it generally appears many months down the road. But doesn't work out so great for the devs, as they get less money for the product.

Ex[ansion packs. Pretty much agree with what Quantics said.

So um... yeah. Bump.