Jarmo

Actually I just chanced my mind. I was indifferent about it, but now I think this game should have, at least on some characters, real big eyecatching codpieces, on plate armor. Because that would a) be historically realistic, b) be a first in a crpg and c) generate a lot of attention. Wrong kind of attention obviously, but attention nonetheless. There's no bad publicity, eh?

OK, I think pretty much everybody agrees you don't actually need to leave huge amounts of room in the armor, neither codpiece or boob plate, you didn't need to make armor muscular with little bronze nipples but those crazy greeks did anyway. The point is almost exactly fan service, showing hey baby look what I got. Only it's not directed to the gamer, but the other people in the game. The wearer wants to shock or look hot. That's not something a normal soldier would do, a mercenary or lord wanting attention might. Depending on the kind of person he/she is. So the important thing in feature enhancing armour, or mage or rogue wear is to consider the personality of the wearer. A shy puritan prudish rogue wouldn't go about wearing nothing but belts. Some other kind who'd like all eyes on me now, might. Not because it's practical, but because it gets attention. Third is a clear favourite. That's a costume for high charisma sorceress who's saying you want me in your party, and I always did. The first leaves all cleavage wide open, that's just asking to be killed. Might be ok ceremonial armour for some princess or priestess, made for show, not practicality. (and if it's that, it might be very well made otherwise and contain magics useful enough for some later day adventurer to ignore the handicaps.) +2 to all saving throws, but -1 to AC (compared to other similar suits)

But what it the story is only 25hrs, but covers a timespan of many years? And it's divided into multiple chapters and there's a training montage between the chapters! Nah, it all depends on the story and how it's made to work. Maybe the hero will swallow the souls of defeated opponents, gaining all their strength?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/space-time-crystal-science-research,17888.html ... oh. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the game, what a misleading article. But it could have!

I fail to see the problem there. .... It's not really that much different from simply starting the game at 10th level, and having a MUCH lower level progression curve. ..... Well.. I think we'll have to disagree on this. But I'll just add anyway, I'd rule Splinter Cell totally out. It's a sneaky game where you're not even supposed to fight but sneak about? JA2.. would be a fine example and I'd really love seeing a fantasy RPG done like that. But you're pretty much expected to have casualties there and then get new recruits and go with them instead. In Eternity you have a very limited pool of companions and having them die left and right would sort of ruin everything. ... and I guess that wouldn't be a problem either, except to me it would be an excercise in constant reloading and not fun.

But is there any way to get the American audience interested in something like Eternity?

Well TrashMan, now you're just upping HP again, but it doesn't really change the equation. If typical brigand has about 100HP, then the high level warrior should have... 200? So he'll be instantly killed when facing 4-6 first level mages each snapping him with 50HP missiles. I'm sure this could be balanced out somehow, but there's been RPG's for some 40 years or so, and I don't know of a single one that'd have this covered in a satisfactory manner. RuneQuest was pretty neat, but it went the way of having almost no damaging attack spells, almost everything was just for fighters to buff themselves. And I'll have to add.. I basically agree. I'm just unsure such a system could be properly balanced. -- Dragonlance novels highlighted the problem. They somewhat made fighters and rogues and everything behave realistically... but still had mages keep all the spells. Meaning nobody could do anything of consequence but mages. (not saying the novels had game mechanics).

Actually the party system I like best (simplistic as it is) is in Mount & Blade (Warband, but I recall the base game had the same system). You can pick every companion in the world, but then they'll argue over stuff, hate each others and start dropping out. You can keep them a bit longer if you get good foods and drinks and do stuff they like, but in the end you can only keep about half of the potentials. (less if you don't follow some guide as to how to get the biggest party) And it's not simply good vs evil, a noble knight will annoy the hell out of some robin hood type and vice versae. A scholarly type will get in arguments with a self made surgeon, who will in turn disapprove the disciplinarian trainer whipping recruits.

The problem with realistic hitpoints, though, is the unrealistic nature of magic. If a beginning character has, say 10 HP and a high level character 20 HP, it pretty much either means a spellcaster can kill anything just like that, or that wizards don't get offensive spells. (and I'd be fine with that) Just think what kind of spells you can give to a high level caster, if all high level characters can be killed the same as low level ones. Makes sense in all kinds of ways, but makes the game a monster to balance.

3 person party made sense sometimes, walk around friendly station, going somewhere in a shuttle with limited space, stuff like that. But "let's assault a stronghold, I think there's about 200 of them there so we'll take... you and you. The rest can stay here and play checkers." No, usually I'm not for party size limits. You're constantly facing overwhelming odds, yet you still refuse to take a willing master swordsman with you because "the party seems a bit crowded already". But hey, that's the way the game plays so that's how it's played.

Depends on the kind of story it is and the kind of world it's set in. But basically, assuming D&D kind of setting, yeah you should be able to become something of a demi-god. Especially if the story involves the good ol' sent to hell and fought all the way back here. Then yea, those brigands you met way back when, before you faced the shadowmaster, before you crushed the fire giants stronghold and before you met the adamantine golems? No they shouldn't have any chance whatsoever, you should be able to beat them blindfolded, both hands and a foot tied behind your back. If it's a more down to earth setting, you still should be able to beat the whole bunch of them brigands with your sword skills taught by the elven master in a sweet montage. But if they surprised you with a crossbow bolt between the shoulderblades, you should maybe die. Fallout kind of games the same, you should possibly became just about the best shot in the land, able to dodge bullets pretty well, but you shouldn't be able to survive a shotgun blast in the face. (Except if you have power armor, in which case you should survive that and more) The problem is, D&D ruleset didn't really make it possible to deflect and block and dodge hits effectively, or for armor to absorb damage. It was all simplified so much it's too much.

If this means backdrops of lesser resolution, that wouldn't really help at all. If it means adding the 3d elements to a 2d backdrop, those can no doubt be recycled to some extent. Probably would speed up things a little to just do without them, but no, wouldn't like that. OP probably didn't mean Obsidian should have a bunch of amateurs quickly doodle up the required scenes, but that's the one option that might actually help to speed things along. And even then only if the 2d backdrops end up being a bottleneck, which I don't believe they will. If this means the 3d characters, then no. I'd rather see fewer well made actors, than more made in a hurry.

I've always found summoning animals a bit strange. Is there a stock of summonable ponies somewhere for me to pluck, does someones pony herd get a dead pony back after I've borrowed one for 30 seconds for help against a dragon? I could understand a druid or a high ranger calling a few (or many) animals from local woods, but they'd walk to you and stay only while you're near their natural area. You wouldn't be able to call a bear from town sewers. Elementals are a bit easier to understand. Yes, there's a whole plane of them and they just love being called upon. Undead are fine and should follow you for a good long while. But townspeople should not like one bit you towing in a fleet of them. Devils, demons and such, I'd like to see having to pre-summon them at some point, either defeat them or make a deal. Only then you'd be able to summon them into combat, maybe for a limited number of times or for limited total duration. Maybe you could summon all kinds of creatures you've defeated, or who've agreed to it for other reasons. (and maybe you shouldn't be able to call on them once they're dead, or maybe you'd get a zombie version)

I'd prefer if the epic weapons were a) rare and b) leaps and bounds above normal stuff, and talking of that, c) normal stuff not pretending to be epic by having a mile long backstory. When I find The One Holy Excalibur from an undermountain tomb where the once and future king eternally rests, it's pretty awful if it's actually just another +3 sword with different graphics and I end up pawning it because my only heavy warrior actually prefers axes (and has a +2 one already with which he's more effective). And I particularly dislike things like The Bloody Ornament: The ring was forged a millenia ago in the land of blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.... and gives +1 deflection bonus. Don't bother making a backstory for something that has a totally trivial glamour tossed in one morning by a hungover apprentice. And if the other weapons are, say max +5 (if we go by the +something, which I hope won't be the case), I'd like the said Excalibur to be something like +10, so you'd be a total fool to get rid of it. Except, the king of the country would like to purchase it for 500K, and be absolutely furious if you decide to keep his ancestral blade, and some other dude would like to have it too and try to assassinate you for it. -- And yeah, I said weapons, sorta giving away my preference.

I'd be all for different kinds of damages and different speeds. But I do dislike things like "rapiers cause bleeding damage on critical strikes", because that just draws attention to how every edged weapon should cause bleeding on all damaging hits. It could be useful to be able to toggle "bludgeoning damage on/off" with weapons like longswords, if there'd be a reason to subdue someone without killing. Maybe even between slashing/piercing damage, to better cope with armored targets, but I wouldn't like to micromanage things too far. (and slashing/piercing just might be too far already)

Yeah, I actually forgot the *during normal combat* special death animations in DA:O, that's actually pretty much what I'd like to see here. Don't interrupt the gameplay, just provide some occasional eye candy. And yeah, the kill animations in FO weren't random as such (even if the criticals causing them were), memory lapse there as well, my bad.

The only reason to replay IWD, IWD2 or ToEE is to try them with some different kind of party. I like themed parties, like a Cleric and 3 Paladins, or an elven party, or party of barbarians and druids, or something. It isn't for everybody, but doesn't need to be.

She's not going to be a soldier, standing in line and taking opposing fire in the booblessplate. An adventurer, she probably needs the armor mostly to stop arrows and later in melee, so a full suit makes sense. The gloves would often be of the type with cover on the outside only. In this case, can't tell. Maybe she's just real nimble and skilled at handling everything with gloves on? Later full plate armors would indeed stop a musket ball, at least from distance. But those were hella expensive, makes more sense to make a cuirass for 5 guys than 1 full suit. Rich lords and other guys buying their own stuff would still opt for full plate, for a while at least. I suppose you're right. Could be, or the trumpet could be just for show. It never had any effect on the spread anyway, which was well known by proper gunsmiths. But the business end of the weapon looked more intimidating when it was twice as wide. Which is why those were well liked. A good page explaining the various firing mechanisms.

I'd support the option. Because why not. If there's a story reason why no companions in the start makes sense, then maybe make the option available on second playthrough? I might use the option after playing through the game once or twice, but don't see it as something that'd take an amazing amount of developing time. Some would use this from the start and miss out on companion interaction, some will play solo and miss the same stuff. Can't see a reason to not include the possibility.

I'll get a deluxe box if there's a note the DVD will be DRM free (no activation or anything). Put in a "redeem in steam code for good measure". I will not fork up the money 2 years ahead, if the developers don't trust me in turn.

How very unfair bringing the real world into play. But yeah, that's military where women generally speaking don't feel the need to emphasize their femininity, but rather their businesslike effectiveness. Certainly the military paying for the stuff would like practicality first. The real world counterpart for medieval warrior women who are an accepted part of society - just plain doesnt' exist. So I'd rather point towards the codpiece in medieval armor, now some of those are functional parts of the costume, but the enormous ones are just for show. To my knowledge, particularly the mercenaries already living on the edges of society, would have these just for shock value (some had their coin purse stashed there). Now I'm not particularly fond of seeing codpiece in Eternity, nor boob plates. But if they are in the game, they should be on the kind of characters who'd like to flaunt, or who's employer or armourer is of certain kind. Oh yea, I like the edited picture better..

Not having a publisher will not necessarily be a good thing, but it's better than a publisher that'd rush the deadline. Depends on things. There needs to be someone who says "ok, we'll need to wrap it up now so we'll have money left to do the QA". Cut content if necessary. And it's a hard choice deciding you can't make the Player House afterall, despite publicly saying you would. But there's a risk of having everything in the game that was promised, and lots of more cool stuff that came along the way. But not having resources left to patch the thing up to a playable degree. Then you're left trying to get more funds through sales, to be able to make the patches, but that's not going to be all easy with all the reviews calling the game unfinished.

I'd like "Hard" mode to have a description somewhat like this: "This mode is for those with no life, the gamers who either don't understand stories, or can't relate to them. If you like endless grinding and feeling real big and smart after winning a computer opponent designed to be won, this difficulty level is for you." No. Seriously speaking, I don't mind if someone plays the game just for the combat, if that's what he wants to do. I do roll my eyes a little when someone goes "a wall of text blah blah blah somethin something next next click click already, just show me where to go and I'll go there and kill everybody." But it's not me playing and it's nothing from me if that's the way they roll. Someone else enjoys the story, but also the extra challenge of higher difficulty, hey that's cool. Someone like me enjoys the story and likes to immerse in it, combat is fun, but dying breaks immersion so I seek a difficulty level where I don't die. And someone just likes the story and doing all kinds of things that are possible in the game world, but doesn't enjoy combat one bit. For it's many faults, Mass Effect 3 did one thing right. It gave those just wanting combat the chance of totally ignoring all roleplaying choices in the game, while giving "story mode" for those who wanted everything but combat. Didn't try either myself, so can't say what kind of experience they offered. Easy - everyone can breeze through the hardest fights without even paying attention. Impossible - where the harder fights are not even possible with a badly made character and a single mistake will cost you the whole game And then a bunch of options in between.

I'm pretty sure significant amount of women would take an armor with boobplate over a standard one. Because, you know, it enhances. Not all clothing is chosen for practicality, and a lady wearing full plate might be concerned the hunky fighter boys don't consider her feminine enough. Especially if she has the "biggest gun" in the whole party.

Modules would be awesome. I've probably spent as much time with NWN as with all other rpg's put together (and there's still a loads of great NWN stuff I haven't touched). Even if the full toolkit is impossible, like it probably is, it would be neat if devs could pave the way as much as possible anyway. If there's a slightest crack in the armor, some modders will do something, there's now content for even ToEE afterall. But the easier it is, the more there will be.