Darkpriest

TBH... I'd rather see the system where you have mixed difficulty levels based on localizations.. I do not see a reason why one hub would suddenly have thieves with better weapons and HP than others... I'd rather have a system where hubs are fairly similar, but different quest areas have different monster types, traps, etc. I would rather avoid a situation where you travel to a one of 3-4 main hubs, do all the quests there and you are never interested in going back there. This was what KotOR had. I'd rather see it more Fallout and BG style. No scaling whatsoever, but a smart placing of NPCs and quest distribution. If you suddenly hit a wall, because quests or some areas become too tough... well then go visit another hub and check for some quests there. The idea of 3 places which you chose to go and scaling of NPCs appears, suggests that we could see another clone of (gather 3 pieces/allies/whatever in order to win) I'd rather see that a plot would force you to travel multiple times between different localizations and would always be progressive. (Perhaps someone lied to you somewhere, perhaps what you picked up was only a part of a puzzle and the place in which you've found it, has some more information hidden from the most - like via some special device, spell /whatever - - unlocking more dangerous areas)

It is not put down to the 25$ tier.. you can upgrade your pledge on any tier by 25$ to get the beta key

NWN (1 I mean) was very, very different in regards to how companions worked. but the combat mechanics is the same - RTWP on isometric view. We already know that we will have controllable companions (in NWN2 you had full control of companions)... they all used DnD rules... and they all had same spell mechanics and feat usage mechanics... I do not see any difference here in terms of combat mechanics. BTW fallout combat mechanics is missing here.

I'd be inclined not to see level scaling. Scaling via some mob replacement and adding a more tougher monster type or two... but not artificial increase of power of the same goons...

I'm not sure why you would separate BG, IWD and NWN... they are all basically the same combat system... unless you refer to some auto-pause options... As much as I like Arcanum's setting I hated the combat system even more than the Elderscrolls and DA... I loved ToEE, but it's probably due to the fact that I prefer TBC if the combat needs to be tactical... All the fancy stuff implemented like grappling etc. Many of the abilities cannot be done well with RTWP system

Ok... so who goes on with me on some slave catching so we could get the dungeon bigger? You know that we will need a lot of hands (do not have to go as pairs) to dig deep into the ground

I work and am full time student. Time isn't an issue, well for me anyway. We mericans have different tastes in gaming. Horrible taste, but different tastes nonetheless. Now we know who to blame for deterioration and dumbing down of the games

Well at this rate we will link half of the internet music to this thread To me it gives some look at some music styles I have not been exposed to before (like that last Karratshian's link). The top thread on my list

@Justin Thx for the link BTW. How would you rate the scale of this thread in 1 to 10? Do you find some music themes new to you and helpful/inspiring or are you familiar with everything due to your education?

Ask yourself. What's the value of such a solution to the gaming experience? This system just adds nothing and only would encourage weapon swapping in mid fight... no thx.

BG series had it right...

A Real Life example of late medieval music. The one that was dominating during 14th century (so around the same time when first muskets started to appear) - so around the time of the In Game setting as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72382CEwDoM You might get some idea of the music themes dominating in music back then to get some of that imported to for example tavern music or court music.

I think that this is one of these areas where things start to get too complex just for the sake of complexity... More complexity does not equal a better game... If you will put too much complexity it will start to take away from the "game" aspect... We are talking about an RPG game, not a simulator of a medieval influenced fantasy world... The best example of a great franchise that was killed by too much complexity is Master of Orion... 1st game was great, 2nd was awesome, but 3rd decided to go a few steps too far and by this date is evaluated as the worst of the MoO series...

I am not sure if any of you knows this TV series, but I loved music theme from this UK series of "Robin of Sherwood". They do not make TV series of this greatness anymore http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB-40e_So7c&feature=related

Note: I do not have much experience in software design but in other fields, so if some of my reasoning is faulty, please do point that out, BUT in a CONSTRUCTIVE way (i.e. don’t just criticize, but provide a solution as well) As we know, the development of this product is scheduled for approx. 18 months. 1) The current development phase is dedicated to measure a scope of work that will define team composition and workload for the whole 18 months. In this phase the dev team is probably making an assessment for their budged for the “big picture”. That’s why we see stretch goals containing elements that are most time consuming and which will define the spine and main goals of the product. I feel that this is a time to discuss things like (examples): SP only or SP & a form of MP Number of companions Number of playable races Number of classes Art style Housing Gameplay options Engine and platform support Scope of the world and number of different playable regions with unique themes. Main story focus or more of an open world experience (i.e. big story, but also big number of high quality side quests) Number of factions with which player could interact. Any other feature that will affect the full development cycle and will require attention of the team in no matter what stage of the game you will be as a player. This is a good moment to help the Obsidian on the defining the big picture, so they will be able to assess the financial requirements for each “big picture” feature and prepare stretch goals in accordance to that. 2) The second phase will be starting near the end of Kickstarter fund raising period Here there will be a time for defining combat mechanics, scope of magic and spell casting mechanics, general lore and history, races lore, monsters, weapon types etc. This is also the time when we should start seeing first in game screen shots of general art concepts of different area types to give a feedback on the color palette and other art related matters. Once these main things will be established it will make a framework within creative minds at Obsidian will be able to create plots, quests, factions and their lore, more details, NPCs, dialogs etc. – this should be untouched and best just trust the Obsidian on that… “Too many story writers usually leads to bad results “ 3) Here we could discuss the features, which are usually not that much time consuming (i.e. customization options, once we will see the first screenshots and in game art, etc.). The team will be able to respond to those requests better, as they probably also will build up reserve for unexpected difficulties, so the further into the process, without difficulties eating up these reserves, there will be more chances for addition of some minor features. 4) Once we will hit the beta phase, then it will be also on the beta-testers to help find as many bugs as possible. It is highly unlikely that at this stage the dev team will be able to add additional game affecting features. At best they will be able to tweak some (like GUI etc.) I wrote the above having in mind the good of the game and hoping for the reasonableness of the community. It seems to me that many threads that I read are going down to too low detail level and too many variations of similar concepts that I feel they are not very helpful to the dev team and might create confusion or are simply ignored. If possible I’d love to hear from the Dev team here, what approach from the community would be most helpful to them in designing the best game possible within the expected budget limits. What topics the dev team deems most valuable for the moment (maybe an example of one of such topics) at the current stage of the development cycle. Thanks for the read.

I wouldn't reall ysay that. i always found them unbearably ugly even when they were brand new, let alone now that obsolescence comes into play. Actually Wasteland 2 is going for full 3D. Not a particularly pretty one, either, from what they've shown so far. But, oh, well, I can live with that, Full 3D... hmm not sure if it is best design, because you can't have large world which will not feel uniform in 3D in a low budget game... Although The Witcher 2 had amazing 3D for around 10mln USD, but we are not talking about a CEE country here that is housing the developer and the staff... We are talking about NA devs and that alone costs a lot more on salaries.

it just felt different and IMO spells and combat looked better The environment not so much, but it still wasn't that bad :D

TBH, I would be pleased with more 3d environment, but isometric view. The graphic style of NWN (not NWN 2) was really good and it could be something to be used, but... there is the matter of funds here... The 2D environments can also be great, but I'd be more inclined to 2,5D sort of like Wasteland 2 seems to have in design (which is also the Unity engine and is also a kickstarter project).

That's not how game engines work. Do you really think that with a 2d environment, you will have a lot of zoom options... not to mention that the camera will be fixed? Seriously.. there are more important things to discuss than a shape of someones underwear... Certainly at the moment when stretch goals and the "global" design is still not set in stone. That's what will drive resource (i.e.) cash and time consumption throughout the whole development cycle... I'm done with this topic...

I see more and more topics going about looks, etc... that's not what made old games great, in fact you had no choice on the look of those items at all... and they are still best games made up to this date. Such things just would eat up _VERY LIMITED_ resources on something useless from the game play and narrative perspective... Leave such things in modders' hands or for after the release DLC packs. It's not a game budget of 10-15 mln, but around 3 to 5, depending how much reserve Obs is willing to put into it if they will meet some development/technical difficulties. This game is scheduled to be in production for 1,5 year, that's 18 months of salary and other overhead expenses... I think that people do not realize within what budget the game is to be made... 3 mln is a peanut... Concentrate on game mechanics first, then go through some general lore and design of magic and combat system, then discuss region specific lore and some major kingdoms and factions. Then leave the team to work on NPCs and story within the world design... Things like "lets have modable skirts" is just not a discussion for this time, when so much more important things need to be settled first, which will drive the main resource consumption...

I am not sure how to treat this idea, so... So let me phrase it this way... You want to have developers use their time, to give us hand crafted items, custom portraits for them along with some lore background on how they were forged, and then you want to throw it into some dump, and get your generic look? What's the point of custom hand crafted items if everyone will just customize their looks? Geez... Well I will say it clearly... NO! Live with the choices. If the look of the item does not fit you, then don't use it... It's a waste of resources... either for the dev team to create the hand crafted items, or to put the randomization... actually I would laugh my ass off, if the reforging was available, but the item would lose all the powerful magical properties, leaving the item with only some basic enchantment... One does not simply reforge powerful magical items at whim...

Will there be later a summary of the Q&A on the forum?

Cinematic and story driven can go in pair, but one does not equal the other ME3 was cinematic, but not story driven. It was a shooter with some choices. It is a bit other form of Deus Ex. While those games have stories, they are not story driven, because all the choices are illusion and at the end you get 3 choices for ending, which were never even hinted at... I can admit that from cinematic perspective ME3 is a nicely made interactive movie.

As long as he is strong enough to wear it If made right it wouldn't be too heavy to wear at all. Contrary to popular belief, plate is quite light and has better weight distribution than most other armours (for instance that cuirass' weight would be held by the hips more than the shoulders), and so I can see a mage quite happily wearing light breastplates. if the dude would have muscle mass of a mosquito (I've seen some "men" barely able to make a few arm curls with 10kg in one hand....) then I can tell you that he would have problems taking a breath in such an outfit

As long as he is strong enough to wear it