BaronVonChateau

But doing what? Moving everywhere at walking speed? I'm playing on an old rig, and a good amount of my playtime is spent on loading screens and quicksaving. (Almost at 80 hours of play, and currently in Twin Elms, almost finished Caed Nua.)

Got a solution, better than nothing but still a little messy. The price to pay is the deactivation of further Steam Achievements for your savegame : activating the cheat modes does that. To get the quest working somehow, get back inside Lle a Rheman, activate your console (usually ~ , otherwise you can set up the console key in your game control configuration screen) and type iroll20s : this will activate the cheat commands. Then, type in : additem quest_item_bronze_weapons 1 This will add the items to your stash. When you get out, a delegation of Crucible Knight should greet you. It'll mean the quest is back on tracks. The actual journal will only get updated once you get back to The Dozens, though.

Got the same problem as everyone up there. Got locked out from Doemenel's and the Knights' path. Basically stuck. Have a workaround been found?

I'm quite overwhelmed, thus far. The game is a real joy to play. -Keeping in mind that this comes from a guy who didn't like D&D system that much, the combat and character customization are very satisfying. Allow to experiment without committing your characters to a single playstyle, in part thanks to the fact that Weapon Specialization include a wide range of weapons, instead of one type. As well as modal fighting style. -The non-binary "alignment system" goes well with the game mature treatment of a non-manichean storytelling. -Despite my initial reservations on what I heard during the Beta, Justin Bell's work on the soundtrack is outstanding. -As for the writing, in the sense of presentation, rythm, characterization and setting : Obsidian guys know their trade. Strong moments and underlying themes, convincing and intriguing characters. A bit overwhelmed by the exposition, though, since I didn't do my homework and have some troubles keeping up with the lore. The Game manual could've been a little more fleshed out, in that regard. -Haven't seen much yet in the multiple quest resolutions departement, by didn't bother to explore it. Still early in the game, also. -Where the fruck is the accuracy bonus for Dexterity ? -Scouting and finding hidden loot. <3 In short, what I've seen thus far makes me wish Obsidian would only work on in-house projects. This thing feels like it was made with inspiration and dedication. 5/5 would back again.

Just as I hoped, with its implications of collective un/consciousness, the chanter concept is Jungian as heck. I am joy.

Anything that pops during play because you've awesomely slain whatthousandth enemy, or because you have simply reached a milestone during your play is absolutely horrible. I'm not that much an immersion fan, but this kind of pop-up makes me feel insulted. It's just as if I was reading a book in the subway, reading a particularly well-done characterization or development, only to get interrupted by a random stranger giving me a lollipop because I just finished the 100th page. Even a non-invasive page at the end of the book which'd describe all my achievements while reading (REACHED 50th PAGE ! READ 30 PAGES IN A SINGLE SITTING !) makes me feel infantilized. No thanks, playing a good game is its own rewards. This said, there are games who does this Achievement thing very well (like Amorphous+ : a free flash game where achievements are used as a kind of currency to buy upgrades). Achievements doesn't just not work well games with a story, or ambiance. If they aren't a piece of the gameplay, they are useless.

Sounds like a canine variant of a leucrotta from AD&D. As a DM, that was always a fun one to use on the players. Shiii... It *is* close to a Leucrotta. I started with the idea of a hyena which - instead of laughing disturbingly - would cry and whine to lure preys into thinking there's a human suffering out there. I crossed it with a mynah and worked from there. Shiii...² : it is actually an even older myth : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucrotta So much for the collective unconscious.

Myhenah : Solitary lupine predator of considerable weight, the Myhenah often hunts near small human settlements where it waits for solitary preys. It has the unique ability to mimicry human speech up to the tone, words and voice. Because it learned to use this unique ability to lure out humans, it usually prefers children or teenagers as its first victim. Once it finds a reckless prey straying too far from the settlement, it usually disables him before torturing him long enough to enrich its vocabulary and vocal knowledge. After this, it usually prowls around the village for two or three days more, luring other people out - usually family and relatives looking for the lost individual - by crying for help with the child's voice. Whether it leaves because it has eaten enough or because it perceives the village's agitation is up to interpretation. Since those hunts often precedes winters, some thinks the Myhenah is preparing itself for hibernation. Once identified, the creature has been naturally subject to the most vehement abhorrence. Entire campaigns have been conducted to exterminate it. It has now become very uncommon and mostly forgotten, to the point that the most distant communities are now - again - very vulnerable to this scourge. Some observers have reported that their mating process includes reciting their entire litany of moans. Some have theorized that a long litany is the indication of a skilled hunter, hence, a suitable mate. The whole process have been described as extremely nerve-wrecking and said observers have been notoriously known for dramatically increasing their daily alcohol consumption.

PS:T, Shin Megami Tensei III : Nocturne, Shadow of the Colossus, Star Control 2, amongst others. There are other games I'm hesitating to put there, like Alpha Centauri, Dragon Quarter, FFVII, Dark Souls, Battle Isle 2, Kotor 2, 9 hours, 9 doors, 9 persons. When I look this list, the only line I can draw between them is how memorable they are for me (memory being heavily influenced by emotions.) All those game are doing something special, and they aren't doing it in a superficial way. Whether it's gameplay, story, presentation, there is something the designers did and didn't stop at the first layer : they dug deeper, and they make sure all the games components were working with each other. It's that special fusion that makes games special, at least for me. Drawing as many lines between as many aspects of the game.

People joining the PC must have a pretty solid reason for doing so. The reason should rarely be dependent on the PC's personality or identity, because it would cheapen both the NPC's motivation and ability to make choice for him/herself. On some touchy and critical matters, it's important that they voice their disapproval, but it would be even more relevant if instead from speaking, they acted. There's this "Pulp Fantasy" RPG trope that the player is some kind of God descending on earth, and that every companion is a good or bad-willing witness of everything the player does, seldom doing anything against the PC. "I must judge of your behaviour by myself, so I'll join and see if you are worthy" ; "I kinda like you, so I tag along" ; "You're a natural leader, I'm putting my life in your hands" ; "I owe you my life, I'll do everything you say" ; "You're BROFIST THUNDERFAP's cousin ? I guess I'm going to help you then, since we're related" ; "You're going to NEVERDAFFODIL CITY ? I'll tag along !" All of those are pretty weak characterizations, because it means that the reason the NPC joined you is something contrived, and often vulnerable to every bit of emotional reaction. Of course, for someone who joined with such an unsteady motivation, if the PC is not exactly their wet dream of a leader, they're prompt to leave in disgust. Those are not even motivations, they are pretext. So, what's the deal with it ? DRAMA is the deal. You have to manage the companions precious feelings, have all kinds of philosophical agreements with some of them so they don't squeal every time you violently finish off one of McVILEVILLAIN's begging-for-his-life-minion by popping his head with your special WHACKAMOLE HAMMER. Enmity can be a perfectly viable relation in a group, and if the NPcharacters have a sound logic, motivation, philosophy and reason for joining, they can stomach most of what happens and deal with it how they choose to. For example, a lawful character could step in and impose a duel with the player to decide the outcome of a choice sensible to them, in the same manner a more chaotic character could propose a head-or-tails, just as another would ambush the PC to have a "little chat" with him after the deed. Thing is, the player has been the one making all matter of life-or-death decisions in RPG for a good amount of time now, for the sake of dear "GRAY MORAL AREA AWESOME CHOICE". Let him sometimes be the one who have to accommodate or back down sometimes, accept the fact that being the leader in a group is not being some kind of (benevolent or not) tyrant who have to arbitrate every goddamn event that happens in his farting perimeter. Last thing : when the group you're in have to face regular dangers along the road, I suspect its members would value each other's skills far more than their philosophical views.

My voice also goes for a limited number of slot for maintaining buff spells. As for the Stamina cost, I'd favor a temporary penalty to Max Stamina, depending on the quality of the buff spell. Since the goal is to stop bothering casting buff spells again and again, let the mage cast it once and decide when to scrap it in favor of something else, or generally improve its durability by limiting the amount of spells he's maintaining.

The patrol and migration ideas are very good. Overall, the possibility that some patrols or reinforcements can sneak up on you while you're already fighting another enemy group is interesting and gives more weight to scouting, sneaking and preventive trap laying.

Finishing moves are pure fluff and doesn't add anything to the game except for some "WOWTHAT'SOBEAUTIFULLYBRUTALI'MCRYING" effect. Even if I liked very much the special death animations of Fallout 1&2, I could go without. From my point of view, good sound design can easily provide the satisfying feeling of brutality that goes with a critical hit/kill.

Jasede mentioned Krondor's riddle chests where you have to scrolls a limited amount of letters to answer of the riddle. If I'm correct, the amount of possible letter for each slot was limited to 4, which solves or at least reduce the mistakes one could do by typing the answer. On top of that, they were purely optional but provided a nice distraction to the game itself, while still being consistent with the setting and gameplay. Also, I think that language is a non-issue. Even when I was a young Internetless unhappy non-english speaker, I would pick up a dictionary and translate the words while playing TES : ARENA and World of Xeen.