incubus9

I think a Dutch accent would be pretty cool or an Indian accent. Both are pretty underrepresented in most forms of media.

I am in favor of quest timers. However, I am not in favor of a over-all quest timer for the main quest. Quests should be failable because the player spent too long messing around somewhere else instead of rescuing those farmers from the trolls (they got hungry). It does give a sense of urgency to the game while not making people overly stress about how they are going to get everything done before the end of the world.

I believe we can tell by the results of the poll what the priority of work should be. 1. The Modding support should be first. This seems to be the most important thing to most people. Honestly if they don't add additional language support or multiplayer, this is where a dedicated fan group could make it. 2. Additional language support. Honestly, I don't need it as a native English speaker, but that doesn't mean that everyone else should be deprived of an awesome game. 3. Multiplayer or Co-op support. True multiplayer is not needed in this game, but the co-op modes available in some of the earlier IE games would be awesome. I never did get a chance to play any of those with a friend since most of mine played FPS games. This is just my interpretation of the data from the poll and comments so far.

I think a search skill is better for role-play purposes. However, the tab highlight feature is better for preventing monitor punching. I can see the benefit of both and maybe disabling the tab highlight could be an interface toggle.

Newport News, Virginia Formerly, Seattle, WA

I like greetings and certain exclamations. Full voice acting is expensive and a waste of an already limited budget. "I serve the Flaming Fist!"

Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender. By that I mean possibly a younger character with a powerful ancient soul. It could make for an interesting character as an innocent young person is faced with knowledge of dark and terrible deeds in past lives. Since they were talking about those with two souls in the same body, maybe someone whose soul is fighting a constant war to keep some powerful dark soul trapped inside theirs. It could constantly be trying to subvert the NPCs actions in and out of combat, possibly whenever the party commits actions that put it more in line with chaos. And of course, there should be a ninja.

Dude, its not an MMO, we can both name our characters Marty McFly and nothing will happen.

I always loved the way that playing the old IE isometric games felt like I was playing beautifully designed D&D table top. I always felt that it gave the best blend between immersion and tactical combat control. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but since what they promised is a spiritual successor to IWD and PST, then isometric is the only way to go.

Point buy. I've spent hours rerolling my stats in BG1&2 so that every stat equals 15 when you redistribute the points. Its like an OCD level obsession and I won't start a character until it does. I have important things to do with my life, rerolling stats shouldn't be one of them.

I agree, but this should be a much higher stretch goal, maybe close to $3 Mil. Maybe this would be easier if there were sequels to PE after it makes a huge profit (hopefully). I loved all the NWN mods and I have to admit that I liked the Tortured Hearts mod way more than the original story line (before the expansions). I still go back and play a new mod in the NWN toolset just for fun. Anyways, this would be nice but I'm not holding out for now.

Hard counters always have extreme weaknesses. A mage hunter isn't a bad idea as long as its strengths are balanced by weaknesses. Like the Wizardslayer kit in BG2, it was unable to use magic items. Sub-classes that specialize would be awesome, but they shouldn't be game breakers.

I think that kids should be included in the game and that they should be killable. There is no reason to exclude them from a realism point of view and if killing them makes you uncomfortable, then doesn't that achieve the purpose of putting you in a morally uncomfortable situation? It all depends on how you role play it. Kinda off subject, but wouldn't it be cool with the whole mechanic of the soul if there was a kid as a companion or major NPC? They would be the reincarnation or something of a super powerful soul. Kind of like a Dalai Lama or Buddha. It would be interesting to say the least.

Since reading the latest update about "souls" I feel even more that the option of a completely non-violent playthrough should be available. Since many different backgrounds have very different views on the working of the soul, it should be logical that some assume that a non-violent approach is the only solution.

Currently taking a world religion class in college, and the more I hear about the souls, the more it sounds like Hinduism. They believe that souls exist on a cycle of reincarnation or "samsara" that eventually leads becoming one with God. There are so many different cults that hold to a multitude of different beliefs on how one experiences becoming one with God. Thuggees murdered people, Tantrics sleep around and do things to excess, others still renounce all worldly possessions and live like monks. It seems PE is really going for an Eastern style of religious philosophies.

My one pet peeve about the random maps from BGT were that they were all basically the same. You encounter everything in the same canyon or clearing. In the city it was even worse. I always fought the same group of slavers in the same alleyway every time I moved between areas. I at the very least want some variety as to random map usage if they do that.

I think so. Traps, and trap placement, are ultimately a part of level design. If they aren't placed well, then its a reflection of either poor level design or that traps were an afterthought. I thought some of the traps in BGT were well place and forced me to really use my rogue to scout ahead for traps constantly. My only problem with traps is that due to their static nature, they tend to be the most repetitive part of replays.

I think Obsidian should make normal looking variety of females that really reflect what an adventuring lifestyle would do to their body. Fighter types would be muscular and larger in general. Stealthy types would be smaller and wiry in general. Mages can be whatever they want really, just strong enough to carry their backpack. Lets leave the DD's and chainmail bikinis to the modders. You KNOW they will fix all that anyways.

I love a good narrator. Lets see if we can get a new reward tier. At 2.2 Million Morgan Freeman narrates!

I'm hoping for heavy and intense dialogue. If this is a mature game with a heavy emphasis on the "soul" then I would like to see them explore the metaphysical aspects of the game as well. There should be a good balance between combat and narrative though, this is not a visual novel.

Totally agree. The best puzzles are the ones you can set aside and come back to later. If you are stuck on the main plot, it can frustrate people to not want to play the game or even worse, use a walkthrough *shudders*.

This is the last time I post in a romance thread until I hear for sure one way or another from the devs whether we are getting romances or not. I have a few reasons why romance "COULD" be put into PE while still adding to the story. 1. If done with maturity and class, a romantic element to the story is a great addition to any story. 2. Writing a romance is only slightly more resource draining then writing any other complex human relationship, i.e. mother - son, antagonist - protagonist, brother - sister. 3. If added to the game, it can only serve to enrich the companions. However, I would want the same level of complexity between all the companions. I don't really care much one way or another if its in there. I do enjoy the complex interactions between companions and romance is just one of those. I recently went back and played the Baldur's Gate trilogy again with all sorts of mods included. I especially enjoyed the NPC banter pack and the romance pack. It didn't change anything, just added more depth to all the companions. I hope we eventually get a definitive answer eventually and if it is included I hope its as meaningful as possible. Just my two cents.

Another point to bring up is that the first game in any series will be the most expensive to develop. If they are going to use a new in-house engine for the game then it will take a lot of development time and money to make. Once they have released the first game, depending on commercial success, they can release further content as expansions or DLC. If I don't immediately get a 100+ hour epic game, I'm fine with that. I think focusing on making an interesting game with an engine that runs bug free will be the most important part at first. Further content will come down the road at a much lower production cost.

How about a novel concept. I've been playing DOTA 2 recently and one of my favorite heroes is Invoker. His magic system is different in that you level elemental affinities. Ice, Wind, Fire. You can combine the three elements in different orders and invoke spells. So Ice, Ice, Fire gives you a certain spell and Fire, Ice, Ice gives you something else. The strength, range and effectiveness of the spell depends on the level of your elemental efficiency. He relies on a mana pool rather than a Vancian magic system. You could make it so that mages who focus entirely on fire can cast extremely high damage yet incredible close range spells. If you want to launch a fireball from 100 yards away a strong talent in wind affinity might be needed. Something like this would need a lot of time spent balancing to get right and I'm not 100% sure how it could get implemented in game, but if it did, it would be an interesting new direction in RPGs.

The way the devs choose to treat the subject of the soul will be interesting. A world in which the power of your soul gives you magical powers gives all sorts of intersting implications. What gives individuals stronger souls? Is it training? Luck? Are they farther along in their cycle of reincarnation? Where does the power of the soul come from? Is it generated internally or is it perhaps tapped from a larger source like a god? In subjective idealism, physical reality is merely a reflection of our minds, a mass illusion as disembodied minds interact. A more materialistic approach would say that our minds are merely the illusion of the physical. I can't wait to see how they tackle all the deep implications of the soul.