wbn

My chanter absolutely adores violins, so I want lots of it.

If there's some kind of "party harmony" or "morale" system, a (unisex ) cooking perk you could be taught would actually be a fun thing to have. Remember how Smiley taught you to skin Geckos out of nowhere, for example? I found that immensely satisfying to get. PC could make sammiches during resting. He'd be the Tim Cain of my party. Honestly I don't know why you guys aren't paying me for this.

Up until now I just saw it as a place to store all the hookers I meet in my travels, but you lot write some pretty considerate things.

If you get a dragon, I want an awesome button!

Frankly, considering P:E: likely will have better pathfinding than games 10+ years ago, I don't care about shortcuts one way or the other. Open the map -> click on the stairway node -> -> pop out of map and click on it... doing that, worst case scenario, 13 times doesn't seem too bad.

Yes, it does indeed sound appalling to me!

I did like New Vegas' hardcore mode a ton, with its food/drink/sleep requirements. Probably because the setting lends itself to that very well - it's basically a world built around the philosophy of resource management. That said, I haven't yet played a game where I went "this experience would be better if I was forced to tinkle once in a while".

Haha, thank you. There is an "old school renaissance" PnP game called Lamentations of the Flame Princess, in which the XP you get is 99.9% related to the "treasure" you find and manage to haul back to civilization. It is pretty crazy, in a way, but it really gets across the point that you're an adventurer. Of course, the game has a chapter on what you do with your money (there is only so much you can expend on yourself, and you can't really be a gold wagon, right?). As you can imagine, it involves buying properties and ships, and hiring retainers so that you can shoot for even more outrageous adventuring expeditions. Not sure how related this is to your idea, but it is an example of in-game mechanics that lead players to really see money as something that gives them options. To be honest, my idea is not that deep. I'd just like for money not only to be something you get *alongside* of your regular rewards, but something that is just as important as XP and reputation and whatnot. So, yeah, I think we're in agreement here.

I don't quite get what you're saying, but just in case, I'll elaborate on that point: If there's a paragon/renegade dialogue option, all "normal" options become irrelevant. In my experience, it's the same with the "I'll give you 10 credits to shut you up"-option.

I disagree with everything but the last paragraph, but you'll get a massive like anyway because I think you've raised some great points.

I wasn't exactly going for an IRS raid on your stronghold, but now that I think about it.. D:

This thread inspired me to create a related one.

Hey, so, surely you guys remember BG2's opening main quest - "raise X amount of money to proceed". I think it was 20k gold. Now, while BG2 is not my favorite RPG and the quest was appropriately blunt, this made my first playthrough SO very immersive. Suddenly, even silly fetch quests had a purpose! Since I have a knack for playing on hella-hard the first time around, I even had to postpone resolving that quest because I wanted to buy one more item (I think it was a helmet at Ribald's). That gave us a third layer beyond XP and wanting to experience the content. And the content experiencing bit fades after the second and third playthrough, obviously. So I propose to make money relevant, even moreso than in BG2. XP and money and in the case of the Fallouts reputation are things you expect to get for deeds well done. The first two, however, usually tend to be rather gamey. I always assume it's because it's the oxygen of RPG staples and designers don't think they have to put any more effort into it - after all, it's already been done and NOT HAVING IT would not be an option because people would explode with confusion. Why can I not bribe my way through more quests? I'm not talking "I'll talk if you give me five coppers" but amounts that matter to me. It's a Mass Effect semi-interactive-space-opera-click-to-win-dialog-option-non-choice if I know that 5 coppers will net me progress. It doesn't hurt me and makes me always pick that option, because why gamble on a Charisma roll if I can just spend money I don't need anyway. Why are the encounters with bandits that want 100gp to let you pass always the easy ones? Imagine Kangaxx level difficulty in one of those encounters, but with a band of Serbian war criminals instead of ~Oliver Twist and his incompetent band of louts~, and money would change hands right quick. Of course the encounter should be surmountable, but it should rarely be a no-brainer to keep your money. Has anyone here ever given money to ruffians like that, short of maybe in the beginning of Arcanum with a stupid, clumsy AND weak character? I guess what I'm complaining about is a certain betrayal of the otherwise beautiful, immersive worlds people create. There's never a shortage of poverty and greed in dialog or character design if it helps paint the setting, but that's only half the equation. As long as the money the player has comes from the same common pool as the money the poorest lack and the richest bathe in, the concept of need and/or greed dictates that Player should feel the value of it.

The combined list of ways in which they could've tripled the amount pledged so far: Have Romero say "Hi, I'm the guy that ****ed up Daikatana, but this time I'll make you my bitch for sure! Have Tom Hall mention that he voiced Walton Simons (Deus Ex!), and that Doom 3 might've been a more interesting game if John Carmack had listened to him instead of firing him (I know, it's blasphemous to say that). Not saying "Old-School RPG" as often. It makes them sound like they're trying too hard to throw around trigger words. Instead, they could've gone into detail about what kind of game we'd even be pledging for - Myst/Legend of Grimrock/Might and Magic? Isometric turn-based RPG with sprites? I would love to see this game - Brenda and Tom knew what they were doing ~back then~, but at the same time I kind of hope this fails and that they're forced to present themselves better. This is just diluting well thought out KS prospects like Planetary Annihilation or Project Eternity.

"A time mage". Yeah, don't do that, please. There is no way to make time travel not either feel lazy (as a story device) or weird (as a plausible concept).

HAHAHAHAHHA.......nope Good point!

I guess I don't get it because faster leveling makes the game (eventually) easier, thus muting some of the difficulty of the game. Maybe the answer is some way of tracking a variable during the hardcore playthrough and then being able to export/upload your last save at the conclusion of the game to the Obisidian website and getting a little forum badge for being an iron-man... but I usually hate that kind of crap. I'm basically just pushing for some kind of positive reinforcement to widen the crowd that would be interested in trying out the 2.3mil stretch goal hardcore options by offering a cupcake on top of the privilege of being utterly obliterated by the game. I like the Iron Man badge idea in theory, but hex editing a save game variable such as this before uploading the file has been proven trivial.

The added experience should in no way negate the higher difficulty - it should merely afford a wider spectrum of options, while still being way balls to the wall harder than vanilla mode. I can tell that my sensibility doesn't hit home with y'all - is that just because of the +xp notion, or would you generally refuse any added incentive? And, yes, I am one of the people that will play under those conditions either way, but I figure that ever so slightly encouraging people to challenge themselves is a potentially positive thing.

"Intact" physically - yes, I'd assume so, but PC could also be banished to another dimension, imprisoned, on a ship, having a vacation, catching up with mum or generally busy somewhere that isn't part of the PE Pt. 1 areas. Either way, I can't imagine Obsidian telling us to go **** ourselves when it comes to free roaming within reason. Edit: nikolokolus put it more eloquently than me. I concur at approximately 9626%.

As long as it makes sense - storywise - after the "end", that'd be great. But if it doesn't, the game shouldn't offer it just to appease the open world enthusiasts. (By now, I feel like most arguments on the forum can be resolved by "sure, if it fits.". Take that, romancers!)

I'm fine with that, as long as the player isn't restricted in any way from wandering off into some of the more dangerous areas early on in the game. The player shouldn't be restricted to wander off. The player also shouldn't complain if he gets smashed into the ground in one hit once he enters Savage Troglodyte Rapist territory.

The 2.3mil stretch goal is my favorite so far, because I'm an Infinity Engine junkie and mastered all of the hardest BG/IWD challenges (mods included) on the highest difficulty. I *really* enjoy RTWP combat of yore and am very okay with fiddling around the same combat situation dozens of times until I get it right. Now... I will probably cry many tears because I won't be able to resist ticking all of the +difficulty checkmarks right off the bat. I'm the "challenge for the sake of challenge" person those options likely are intended for, BUT... How about attaching a 5% experience bonus to each of the game modes? It's not a straight up "You're missing out if you're not doing this" kind of thing, but it's an added incentive to face challenges one might otherwise not and surely preferable to the notion of giving people better equipment for playing a certain way. This is highly egotistical, since, as I said, I'll check Expert/Path of the Damned/Iron Man anyway, but 15% more EXP would make it SO much more rewarding.

Why are romances special enough an idea that we argue about it being in the game before we even know if it fits? This is pretty much how I imagine publishers forcing QTE's or man-the-stationary-gun-while-your-homie-drives-the-vehicle scenes into games - completely ignoring whether it'd even harmonize with the vision, just going by the memory of how it once worked in some game.

Thanks for your work, Ausir. I'm about to have a lot of time and enriching your Wikis will be a pleasure as always.

I love how Vol can still get replies after creating precisely 14662 worthless posts.