Karkarov

They could also just make some graphical touches to make it easier to see through objects like trees. But yes, while the idea isn't bad it is something that works in turn based games and I am not sure we need a turn based solution for a non turn based game.

Really? Funny in reading all these threads I never saw it. PS: I put emphasis on the part both of you didn't quote. That being "Until someone has some GOOD answers for..." Also Razsius you realize that Baldur's Gate only "wowed" you because it was new right? Even if they copied everything perfectly, fixed only the things you think are issues, and put it in a new world with new story.... it would still have been unlikely to impress you as much as BG because no matter how you slice it the game wouldn't be a new experience. Just the story. If the story alone is enough to wow you the mechanics around it being different shouldn't be that soul crushing.

Impressed by the size already. They clearly changed quite a bit for this version update. It is also ahead of even what they were playing at gamescom.

I will be nicer than other posters.... Some of those are pretty solid, but it is off putting seeing a portrait based clearly on a famous actor that is just a touched up photo of them. Also while some of them are actually really good, an equal number are actually pretty bad. Still there are some solid ones to make use of there for sure.

Couple things. First no one knew detailed mechanics like "How exactly does DT work???" prior to the beta. I think not including some sort of digital manual for the beta was a failure on Obsidian's part. As you quite correctly stated.... people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around it. Had their been a digital manual of some sort it would have helped tremendously because then people would have had a better understanding of the basic rules and what each specific mechanic actually does. That would have cut down on some of the frustration for sure. But overall big things like... No combat EXP? There had already been more than one thread about this. Some of them were quite huge, 20+ pages. That was not new news, and anyone closely following the game should have known. Same goes for the stat system, though we didn't know the hard details, the way abilities worked, how resting was changed, the stash, etc etc. Obsidian did everything they could to get most of the "controversial" stuff out there. There are updates about it, threads, dev responses in the threads, posts on something awful forums, a regularly updated wiki, interviews, probably some tweets too. What else would you have suggested they do? They are not to blame for backers getting the wrong impression and then just never coming back to do any research until near two years later. They did everything that could be reasonably asked of them to get the "big" stuff out there, so please stop trying to word things like it is their fault for not telling you or misleading you. They never mislead anyone, and they did tell the backers. Second thing.... negative feedback is useless feedback. Example, please understand I am not saying this is you Razsius, "This game needs combat EXP to make combat fun, quest EXP only is crap!" This is very much so what many of the posts I see in this thread boiling down to. This is what happens to those type of comments though, Sawyer looks at them, scratches his chin, then dismisses them out of hand. Why? 1: Where is the explanation? What is it you don't like about objective only EXP? Why doesn't it work for you? 2: Combat Exp makes combat fun??? So you are saying combat isn't fun? Okay well making you do the same combat then just giving you +50 exp at the end does nothing to change the actual content of the combat so that makes no sense. Combat Exp is not the problem, we need to work on encounter design to make combat more fun. 3: Lets assume we go with your idea? How do you suggest we balance it? Obviously objective exp needs to go down but now we have an issue that some people will still stealth some encounters. What do you propose we do to compensate for the exp loss people who are avoiding combat through whatever means face? Until someone comes up with some really good answers to #1 and #3 don't expect Sawyer to budge.

Cadegund is not a companion. The Cipher is not a male Orlan. That's all I is saying.

Honestly I would have preferred fewer classes as well. The more classes you add the more likely you are to fall victim to class homogenization and one trick pony classes. With a smaller number of classes you can make them very different from each other and still leave plenty of room for customization within the class.

I will put this in a different way. Even if Obsidian had come to certain backers doors, said hi, handed them a two thousand page design document, a business card with an email address on it, and said "Just email that address and say full refund if you don't like what is in this document!"... Most of the whiners would still be on this forum whining about combat exp. Whether or not people came to this site is a meaningless point. Obsidian made the information available, it wasn't hidden, it wasn't disguised, they didn't lie. They can not force you to come to this site, force you to read the updates, or force you to do anything else. People can whine and moan all they want, it is still their fault for not keeping up with the updates and the forums. Obsidian was always going to get backlash from those people over "something" no matter what, so your point is moot.

It isn't like this thread is even indicative of any significant portion of backers or that it's responses mean anything. This is a shades of grey issue but the poll only allows for black and white. Even then it isn't like "combat XP" is even pulling a convincing win. Out of 320 votes at the time of this posting combat xp is only winning by 20 votes. That's a huge 3 whole percent, what a massive margin.

Well two things a Druid can't do from my knowledge. 1: I have never seen a Druid make a perfectly poached egg, not impressive at all. 2: Apparently Druid's cant be official companion characters :D

Right, but how is that different from the older model of pitching an idea to an investor or publisher and getting them to fund your game? The type of pitch you make will be different, but the end result is basically the same, it isn't like you have a fully playable beta for the Publisher to try out. I imagine many of the loudest voices on this forum backed Eternity for basically what the MSRP of the game would be, maybe even less. That doesn't mean their opinion is invalid, but it does make my "two year early preorder" comment very valid. And what were those 80+ backer updates all about? Anyone who wanted to could have had their pledge cancelled and refunded once the backer site went live.

I wonder how much that is going to help Obsidian when the angry pledgers start knocking. I'm sure those people will be understanding and even pledge in their next KS. No but you guys are funny. Kickstarter is nothing but pre ordering the game two years in advance. You guys are the ones with the misconceptions. They will get bit in the ass no more than if they had just released it the old fashioned way with investor funding and then you bought it and didn't like it. Some of you maybe would have spent less that way, some maybe more, but in the end it is no different. All kickstarter changes to the gamer is when you buy and how much monetary risk you are taking. All that changes for the developer is the amount of funding they get, and who the screaming voices are making unreasonable demands to change their vision of the game they wanted to make.

Nope. Wrong. I was in the thread where Josh hedged his bets over it - in fact he responded directly to me on the issue. Hardly Monte. All I want is a good game that pays homage and is a spiritual successor to the IE games. I simply know what that means, it means that I am not getting an IE game. I am getting a game inspired by the IE games. That's a world of difference. D&D was never on the table, the game was never going to use the same mechanics as the IE games. I am willing to give them a chance to let them make the game they want to make, because what is the point of Kickstarter if all you want is to swap financial Investors for Kickstarter backers. I will continue to play the game and give my feedback. I haven't said anything particularly "great" about it. I am just willing to reserve judgement for the final product and know how to judge a product for what it is, not judge it based on what my rose colored glasses say about some other game I just wanted it to be a carbon copy of.

Guys seriously take your kill xp crap and keep it off the forums. You are worse than the promancers, it isn't even close at this point. You guys are like a bad running joke, the kind that never stops but no one actually thinks is funny. BruceVC would at least do something witty that engendered a laugh here and there. As for obsidian's kickstarter. They promised a spiritual successor to the IE games. They did not promise BG3, IWD3, Planescape 2, NWN3, any form of D&D rules, combat XP, Gnomes, Halflings, Forgotten Realms, or whatever else any pro xpers think is required to be a "spiritual successor" of the IE games. All they promised in the Kickstarter was an isometric view, real time with pause, a party of adventurers, 2D backgrounds, and the Fighter/Rogue/Priest/Mage. (EDIT: Oh and all the stretch goals.) They have delivered on every one of those promises. It is not Obsidian's fault you guys didn't pay attention and only saw what you wanted to see. It isn't Obsidian's fault that in two years of updating most of you couldn't be bothered to drag yourselves to these forums to comment on anything. Cause I hate to tell you but no combat XP was confirmed over a year ago, the health system was discussed within months of the Kickstarter ending, the resting system has been known for over a year, in fact... there have been actual updates by Obsidian mailed to all kickstarter backers telling you all this stuff long before the Beta happened. It is YOUR fault you didn't read it.

I like your post.... however are you kidding me? The Katana very much was used in war and combat and while it was a very ceremonial weapon (the Japanese are a very ceremonial people to begin with) it most certainly saw plenty of real use. Hell they were even common dress until shortly after the Meiji Revolution and a ban went in on them.

BG2 is a mixed bag. Some of the portraits are really quite good. Keldorn, Viconia, Sarevok.... all great. Then you have your imoen, Aerie, and Valygar.... yeah. BG1 was consistent but the character did look like photo's not like portraits. That said if you asked me which I prefered of the two I would say BG1. I am glad Eternity is going for it's own style though and I look forward to seeing the last portrait release.

I really like how the combat music ushered you into the fray in the IE games, and it was reliable. Right now, combat music starts, but it will take time and closer engagement with the enemy before you get to use your combat abilities. This needs fixing. I am pretty sure combat "starts" when someone lands an actual hit. Also to "engage" a enemy your tank has to actually get into melee with them and either hit them or be hit by them. If they just run past each other no engagement will take place.

That accuracy bonus best be balls hard and have me critting every 3-5 attacks. I guess I could still see it being viable for a Rogue or maybe a Cipher.... but for Fighter, Barbarian, and Paladin? Not seeing it.

What Sensuki said. Also looking at this from a "design" perspective... you want to quash bugs first. There is no point in trying to change the basic gameplay/class functions right now when there are major bugs at play. Look at it this way. You can fine tune a car engine to extreme levels... but if you don't bother replacing the old gunky oil that has been in it for 10 years and resembles a black ooze it still wont run for crap. In other words... until the big bugs that seriously hurt gameplay are resolved there is no point in trying to adjust the gameplay itself.

I imagine for the same reason a asian style martial artist would. Oh sorry I mean... "monk".

Perhaps but from what I have seen in game the enchantments on two handers are at default clearly more powerful than one hander enchants. As long as they scale reasonably Two Handers will be very competitive. In fact I have nothing wrong with two handers being the best DPS as this is not WoW dps is not everything, as long as there are things the other weapon set ups do better than 2 Handing. Right. Basically you look at the 1 hand + shield lines and just drop the off third block that is in dark red. That is the one that represents your speed loss due to having a shield. So for example a 1 hand weapon in light armor with no off hand item would have a speed of 2.4s. At least that appears to be the implication.

Yeah they are pretty beastly. What I find curious is he never includes an example of just a "One hand Weapon / Nothing in off hand" set up. I can only assume this means there is no reason in game you would not use something in both hands and there is no meta game/mechanical reason to use only a single one handed weapon. Woops! I see on page 3 he addresses this! Serves me right for not reading that last page. That said... I hope it is a noticeable accuracy bonus because the damage and deflection loss are noticeable.

Well two things. 1: The story of Diablo 3 is bad. I literally predicted the whole plot within 10 minutes of meeting uh... whats her name again? She is so forgettable and cliche I forgot. You know.... Leah... yeah her. I am not even joking, my first sessions were multiplayer and I called the whole plot basically with 100% accuracy by the time we found the "stranger" in the church. The plot is a giant joke. Also please, Diablo 1's story is totally forgettable and extremely basic. 2: I didn't say items. I said "Itemization". That is something Blizzard consistently botches over and over in all their item based games. They finally nailed it in WoW.... of course they only got it down after removing 90% of the stats from the game but hey, thems the breaks. Seriously though, you have no idea how little respect I have for the story of Diablo 3. When playing it online with friends when we voice chat I insist on speaking in a Deckard Cain accent, start almost every line with "Sit and stay awhile" or "It is I! Deckard Cain!" and talk over the cut scenes implying that our quest is actually to find the petrified gonads of Diablo and use them to prevent Belial from letting his uncontrollable IBS fart all over the world. You may think I am joking, but no, I am really not. Well I am... because doing that while playing the game is a joke.... but I actually do that.... uh you get the point.

I noticed this as well. I think it is a Unity issue, basically, once an animation has started it can not be "interrupted" and since you had to move a step to get to melee it had to play the entire "step" animation and could not simply play it as long as needed then just stop. I don't think it has any effect on actual combat time or speed of performing actions but it is sort of odd looking.

yes you can. They have simply decided to go that route every time.