Stun

http://www.twitch.tv/pax2/b/633843773 Scroll to about 6:18:16 to begin it.

There's that feeling again. That super powerful sales pitch that isn't a sales pitch at all, but a cruel and palpable taunt directed at our souls. I bet they're done with the game. They're just sitting on it for 3 more weeks to troll us. Bastards. Every iteration has been significantly improved from the last. From just a cursory view I spotted quite a few improvements from BB 435. The combat log is much easier on the eyes. Shapeshifting looks terrific. There are character portraits we haven't seen before. etc. You know, this is my first "insider" experience with the polish process of a video game, so maybe this is something that always happens, but they seem to be working really fast with the fine tuning and the bug fixes. It's amazing to watch.

As far as I know, there isn't a 'normal edition' of PoE that you can buy from Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/app/291650/ The cheapest is the 'Hero Edition", and it starts at $45, so, lets redo the math and assume a price point of $45 as the common unit.

Lets also remember that not all copies of PoE will be priced at $40. I was being general. There's a bajillion different versions being sold on Steam & Gog. Prices range from $50 to $90.

And if a game has a moderate level cap, the balance issue doesn't become so severe. Whatever giant massive advantage someone gets from being 6x higher in levels is mitigated by the fact that....He's going into combat alone.

Oh yeah.... Josh Sawyer's Dream RPG.... I can see it now. History Simulator 2k15. -Embark on an epic quest to live what they taught you in highschool and college. -Fantastically balanced gameplay. Choose from 15 classes and 20 races. Do 10 points of damage at level one, with super intuitive, super uniform skills and feats per level up to increase that damage by .6 slashing! or .6 crushing! The harsh decisions are yours! -A new, refreshingly comprehensive magic system. Choose from Yellow beams of light, Blue beams of light or Red beams of light! -Choice and Consequence expanded - Every skill will present you with exactly 1 benefit and 1 detriment. Your swords now do 10.6 points of damage to the enemy AND render you blind, prone and slowed for 5.3 seconds. -Hair style now affects attack speed. - Dynamic Buffing system. Choose from an array of massively powerful, game-changing magical buffs ranging from +1 to hit, to +.0005 to damage over 2 seconds. -Expanded Health system. To kill you, Enemies must now reduce your stamina, then reduce your endurance, then reduce your Endurance backup, then bring your health down to .1, then deplete your emergency health reserves to render you maimed. Then they have to hit you again within 11.8 seconds to render you dead. -Immobile combat. An exclusive feature. Combat now reaches that next level of tactical gameplay by forcing combatants to focus exclusively on arm gestures and strategically spouted vocal attacks to achieve victory. (movement only allowed outside of combat) -The return of Healing magicks! Priests now have access to powerful, high level spells like "bandage minor paper cut" (heals .06 point of health - reflex save for none), "reduce swelling" (heals .01 point of health over 4 seconds) and Minoletta's battlefield miracle (heal all allies and enemies of 1 health point in a 1.2 meter radius!) LoL just kidding.

I'm willing to bet my testicles they'll easily clear that much in the first week At $40 per copy, PoE would only need to sell about 100,000 copies to generate $4 million. Personally, I'm betting PoE will sell about one million copies (which is less than what D:OS did, and Larian is a name hardly anyone has ever heard of.) And at 1 million in sales, that's.... $40 Million...which would mean that they don't need to kickstart PoE2.

Many of the levelups for many of the classes in PoE is pretty much just "Click levelup, save skillpoints for next level, done", though. Indeed. In fact, I'd argue that the only worthwhile difference between the IE games and PoE here is that PoE gives you access to "non class" talents every other level or so. Lets not understate the significance of Level ups in the IE games. As mentioned, Mages got more spells and more spell castings. And thieves get points to put in their thieving skills. But that's hardly everything. Clerics get More spells, and more spell castings, and their fighting skills increase, and their turn undead ability gets more powerful. Druids get more spells and more spell castings, their fighting skills increase, and in the case of the Icewind Dales, they get shapeshift forms. Bards get thieving skills, songs, more spells, and more spell castings. Paladins get more instances of their detect evil ability, their Lay on Hands gets more powerful, they get more spells and more spell castings, and their fighting skills improve. Rangers get more spells, more spell castings, their fighting skills improve, and their stealth increases. Fighters get better fighting skills and their HP improves *drastically* in comparison to other classes. Berserkers get what fighters get plus more instances of their berserker rages. Barbarians get what fighters get, plus more instances of their Barbarian rages. And Monks? Monks are a case study on "1 thousands steps to power". Their fighting skills improves, they do more damage with their fists, their AC decreases, their thieving skills increase, their movement speed increases, their magic resistance increases, they get quivering palm, they get more stunning blows, they get various immunities....etc. And, of course none of this takes Icewind Dale 2 into account. IWD2 uses the 3e rule set, which does the same thing that PoE does with its talents and skills in addition to all of the above.

^ Plus the level itself (12th) hits that ideal sweet spot. Speaking from the perspective of the IE games, it's the Icewind Dale middle ground, which I particularly loved. BG1 capped your party at around 8-9 (10 for rogues) - Which was ok, I guess, but it often times felt so boxed in and limited. Then came Bg2, which went crazy with the high teens early 20s for the base game (and up to 40th level(!) with throne of Bhaal.) So the experience went from "boxed in" to "totally out of control munchkin-fest". Icewind Dale did it right. With a party of 6, you ended the vanilla game at around 12-13th level. It felt perfect. If you built your party right you entered the last chapter of the game feeling authentically powerful, but without that "We are GODS!" feeling that comes from having more skills than you would ever need or bother to use.

Well, as it currently is, having Dex be a totally inert skill is a great benefit. Dump it to 3 and you've got yourself +7 points to spend on something else. I'll take it!

So.... what is the latest they've told us about the Dex bug? Is it going to be fixed by release? Or is it just one of the dozens of things on the list of "known issues", which means no one knows whether or not it will be fixed any time soon?

^I'll accept that as a statement of fact.

Only insofar as any fact can be an opinion.

I'm not ridiculing romance (although there's plenty of valid reasons to ridicule ANY video game romance), I AM ridiculing the absurd definitions of video game romances we've seen on this thread. Planescape Torment itself mocked the very notion of romance at every turn (how else do you explain the fact that the two female companions are both Demons.... and Ravel herself is a fiend from the gray wastes....and the entire prologue, which sees you and Morte talking to zombies and asking them: 'so.....doing anything later'?)

Silly Rabbit. Pong isn't an RPG, so why would I cite it as the first cRPG to have romances?? Edit: (oh wait, I forgot who I'm talking to. :::::waits for the obligatory insult-filled-rant about why Pong is an RPG and how obtuse and unintelligent I must be to claim otherwise:::: )

Hey, We missed a romance in PS:T: The Lim Lim. The game lets you pet it, and it coos at your caressing touch. (just like Ravel!) So tell us, Gromnir, did you enjoy the Lim Lim Romance? Don't be shy. We're all comrades here! We're all nerdy gamers. We'll understand. You can trust us.

The First cRPG Romance (using Gromnir's warped definition of romance) appeared in the original Zork (1977). That's right. Zork. You see, the game recognized "love", "f*ck" and "romance" as verbs. Thus, if you've got a Torch in your hand you could type the command phrase "Love Torch", or "F*ck Torch"...and the game would respond with "Torch does not Love you" <-----look at that! an unrequited Romance! And of course this is Precisely what everyone means when they ask "will this game have romances?"...Right?

If Ravel is a romance, then Icewind Dale has romances. But only a palpable idiot would claim that Icewind Dale has romances. Also, Whether or not Bruce is smarter than Stun doesn't really matter at the moment, since Gromnir isn't half as smart as either one of them.

If it counts, Valmy, then every RPG ever created has a romance in it. And incidentally, it also means that it's not a matter of PoE maybe having a Romance in it. PoE DOES have a romance in it. There's one in the Beta.

You're stating an opinion as fact.

There were No romances in PS:T, Biowaresque or otherwise. Get that through your thick, stubborn skull already. Edit: Well, unless of course, your definition of Romances in pre-2000 video games is: "omg omg omg. Ravel Loves my toon, therefore, PS:T has romances." Well? Is it?

No, Lephys I think I'll just adhere to the forum rules instead.

True. Instead, in an attempt to 'prove' that Romances are what make all games great, he'll see "romances" in every great RPG that came out before 2000. He'll be just like Gromnir --- stretching, pulling, widening, and morphing the definition of romance until even a blood filled battle with the Final Boss in Diablo = "Hints of romantic residue!" or "Romance according to what [____ insert random Book writer here_____] would say" or "well, infatuation = Love, and Love = Romance, therefore It's a romance, so don't be so Ridiculous, Stoopid, Obtuse, a hoot. etc.!"

Oh, I vehemently disagree with that. Promancers have demonstrated, via their sheer numbers, to be an incredibly harmful force to the entire industry When gaming companies, who used to develop great RPGs with remarkably deep gameplay, complex, dynamic combat mechanics, and unmatched focus on game world details and richness, decide instead, because romances are so popular, to divert massive amounts of both their budget and time away from all this, and put it towards developing the deepest, most all-encompassing Romances that they can make, the result is.... Dragon Age. And Mass Effect, and Witcher 2 And other mundane modern Titles with super deep companion drama and pitifully shallow everything else, then YES, Harm has been done. To the game, to the RPG fan, and to the industry as a whole. Thank GOD Obsidian decided not to fall into that trap. PoE will have no romances, because 100% of the developer time and budget has gone into where it SHOULD go: To making the game a true RPG, instead of an interactive soap opera/dating simulator. The anti-mancers. When was the last time you decided to Grill BruceVC on his rabid stance with your pointless guess-questions?

:::Looks at your username and avatar.:::: Oh! You're not a moderator! Ok...no. How about I not. The thread rules are outlined in the OP. I'm not breaking any of them. So no.