teknoman2

im pretty sure, that in the combat messages about rolls, the game takes all variables into account, calculates the attack bonus and then adds it to the dice roll. after that it compares it to the AC and decides if it is a hit or miss. at least that's what i saw when i was fighting normal enemies: roll 13+3 vs ac-7=miss, roll 16+1 vs ac-5=hit, roll 4+2 vs ac0=miss

Can you give an example of punishing combat? I have watched the whole video and it clearly says if the rules are consistent, then the game is not punishing. The IE games had consistent rules, and they always gave you the tools to beat any challenge. wait what? consistent? when? where? it was all based on dumb luck most of the time, and often the battles were rigged to make them harder. want some examples? Sarevok rolled a 5, and had a +4 to his attack = 9 vs AC-9 = hit. now if i remember the rules corectly, to hit an AC-9 you need roll+attack bonus>=19. and i could accept that Sarevok, having the super magic sword, could ignore the dice and hit anyway... why did the same thing occur often with enemies that didnt even had magic weapons? My character had a +12 to his attack roll, meaning that he could hit anyone with ac up to -4, with a roll of 2. in fights against certain enemies, the dice rolled up to 5 consecutive 1 (critical miss) after every hit. after a certain level, ALL hp rolls at level up were automaticaly 1 i can keep giving you examples of how the AI cheated on core rules all day if you want

i didnt have any luck with the release date, but i saw spiders... lots of spiders

i had a thought about the in game time. it should be something like the first fallout, where the ratio of in game to real life time was 1:1 (or make it at most 2:1). it's anoying at times to see a full 24h cycle in game be completed in 1h real time. it's fine for games that have the cycle as an added effect that does not affect the game (assassin's creed 2 for example) or games like terraria, but if waking up in the morning in the inn near the gate and going to the shop at the harbor, takes 15-20 minutes of walking, why should the in game time show that it took 5-7 hours?

i will try to have a prophetic dream about the release date tonight and post the results tomorrow

this is what i call a non linear level. you start at the green room and you have to reach the red exit. to get there, you have to find keys that open the matching color doors. black dots indicate a hidden path that can get you to the destination faster, by passing the deadliest hidden room (i just noticed that i forgot to add dots from the scull room to the last blue room), or will allow you to find a clue that will let you use an alternative exit that will lead to a different place than the normal exit

disclaimer TL:DR what was said in these 6 pages so im going with my suggestion on the matter even if someone has said it before in the first neverwinter game, there was a limitation to the resting: you had to be in a room with only one entrance. i liked that idea of having only certain areas safe and the rest unfit for rest, however this should apply only to sleeping in a dangerous place now, when it comes to actual resting, i think there should be certain factors that dictate the type of rest, because as someone suggested, rest includes all sorts of micromanagement like eating, sleeping, patching up wounds, using the wc and so on. also there needs to be a distinction between sleeping and resting, because no matter how tough the 30 minute long battle against the dragon and his horde of orcs was, it cant make you need sleep. however it makes for a sore arm or two, some wounds that bleed, the need to puke in a corner because of the stench of spilled entrails, the need to let the adrenaline rush pass and so on. so there should be a sleep meter like the fatigue in BG that indicates when a character needs sleep, and if the characters dont need to sleep, rest should be short breaks like 30min or 1 hour for the stamina to recharge and to remove status ailments (can be done anywhere); also this kind of resting does not count for the sleep meter, so no matter how many times you take a break, after 15-16 hours awake you will need sleep (shorter if you lose too mush stamina too often during the day). also, if i remember correctly, they said something about a morale system for battles... if you stay at the same spot and rest continuously for too long in a dungeon (unless you need sleep), the constant stress of doing nothing while monsters could be bashing on the door at any time, should make for a serious demoralization, reducing effectiveness in the next battle, even if you have regained more hp

it's 5 pages so tldr and i dont know if someone sugested it already, but you could put some pronounciation hints in the manual. taking german as an example: sch is heavy s. but even if you dont explain how it is and let us think what we want, so long as it doesnt look like gibberish and we can make heads and tails of the words its all good. is it pronounced gif or jif? and does it really matter? after all both indicate the same thing and everyone knows it. it's that kind of thing in the end

i prefer logical restrictions. a gnome can not use a greatsword. it's impossible considering the blade is 3 times his size, unless it is a gnome from crypton an ogre can't use a dagger, cause it's like a toothpick compared to the size of his hand. but i dont see why a priest should not be able to use a sword or an axe

thinking of it, the rareness or even absence of instadeath spells, should be proportional to the weight death has in the game. in a final fantasy game for instance, death is cheap. if a character goes down, all you need is to use an item or a fairly common spell and get him back on his feet, so it's not really that much of a problem if random enemies have instadeath. in BG instadeath was rare because it took more effort to get an ally back if at all. of course there was a remedy for every form of death except dismemberment, but it was expensive in a game like eternity, where death is permanent and irreversible, instadeath should be out, or at least available to very few boss-like individuals, with a form of early warning about them having that ability

of course certain types of equipment on certain classes will have some advantages. a mage wearing light or no armor, will cast faster while having less protection (just an example)... the mage with plate mail will need more time for each spell but will be able to keep casting while under attack. or the monk as they explained, can take a greatsword and go chop heads conan style, but wont be able to use the special skills meant for unarmed attacks. of course these special skills wont always be the best solution. a skill that requires you to hit someone in the head to stun them, wont work if you fight a giant, so it is quite obvious that you should use a weapon for that

when if comes to conversations, there are some things that can be passively used by the party, but others should need the proper person to take action if the tiny halfling thief, stands in front of a half-orc barbarian party member, that constantly touches lovingly his 6 ft long sword and mutters "are you thirsty for blood my precious?", and uses intimidate on the human merchant, the presence of the barbarian should be enough to convince him however if the half-orc tries to bluff, the presence of the halfling wont make it convincing. in that case you should have the option to nod for help at the thief, who will come up with a convincing bluff, however you will have no way to know what he's gonna say and may get saved or end up in more trouble than you would if you had given a straight answer

a paladin is the kind of guy who will kill an innocent and peaceful orc just for being an orc (in his 1 dimentional point of view, orc=evil... no ifs no buts). a game in which everything is black and white, would mean you can either be a paladin or a vilain... a good example of that kind of setting is pokemon

i dont mind having a new game + function, but it should be trial of iron only. you keep your levels and items at the start, the companion's levels are the same as your's but they have the same gear as the first time. the enemies you faced the first time will be there but scaled to your level (if you finished the first run at lv12, enemies that were lv1 will now be lv12, those who were lv5 will now be 17 etc) and maybe a few more powerful that you had no chance to defeat would pop up, along with some harder areas (enemies and areas could be in the first run, but would be impossible to beat) and better gear than what you could find in the first run. however it should definitly not lock quests, events, areas etc, absolutely NO new (dedicated) endings, reputation should be back to 0, and as for abilities, they could have some that you may or may not get in the first run (depending on what level you reached) and you can just take them on the second run. in short, a really hardcore mode for the toughest of players as for ++ or +++ etc, it's a definite NO but if it's not implemented i couldn't care less about it. after all its more of an artificial way to boost replayability than actualy give players a reason to play the game again

insta death spells are a bit of a double edged sword. in certain cases, they can make for a good chalenge, while if they become of common use they become a bother. especially considering that they have a good chance to deliver their effect on your party members, while its hard at low levels and becomes impossible later on for them to affect enemies if used by you in both BG, but especially in 2, i almost never used debuffs like sleep, confusion, fear, disintegration, death etc, simply because they had a very slim chance to work if they had any chance at all. while in arcanum, disintegration was a cheat, since it could 1 shot anything, even the final boss and it never missed

in the end, most quests in every rpg, are pretty typical in their structure, and mostly of the "fetch" type. what sets appart the well made ones from the "another fetch", is how they are structured within the game world (background story, interaction with other quests, multiple phases within the quests, multiple solutions etc) and how their completion affects your character and the world.

Yes! Like that! I would add in a "just go and complete the 'quest' without actually telling anyone you're going to do it" option. I mean, if you show up with the Mayor's daughter, and they know YOU didn't kidnap her, I think he wouldn't say "Wait a minute... you never asked me about this, and officially did all the paperwork, so, I'm afraid I'm actually NOT grateful to see my daughter alive again, and I shall provide you with absolutely NOTHING in return. You know what? You can't even talk to me about it! Nor do you even gain experience, u_u..." or you work for a political enemy of the mayor, you steal the ransom money, and the guy who wants to ruin him, appears as a good samaritan and pays (using the mayor's money but no one knows it) the ransom, effectivelly becoming the favorite of the town and becoming mayor himself at the next elections. practicaly, with enough time and will, you can turn any situation into an infinitly complex quest

well more or less the same thing i said. the wizard can cast spells, the warrior cannot. the wizard can learn warrior skills so he can be tougher at the expence of magical power, the warrior can learn magic related skills (not spells) that could help him at the expence of combat skills and the same goes for all classes ie a wizard can learn to use plate armor and shields to reduce the damage taken from attacks, so he can stay and cast spells, without having to move around trying to break aggro. that will keep him from becoming a master of pyromancy due to lack of skill points. he trades not being able to dish out the max possible dps, for consistency at casting

from what i understand, there will be a number of skill trees available to all character classes. fireballs and such will be exclusive to the wizard, however their effectiveness (and maybe the spell levels available to the wizard) will go up by puting points on the magic skill tree. if the wizard puts too many points on the melee skill tree so he can be effective with a sword, he wont be able to cast strong spells. same goes for the warrior: if he puts points on magic skill tree he will get some bonuses to some skills (or will unlock the ability to add elemental damage to his weapon at will), however his standard attacks, his defence and other skills will suffer from lack of points on the respective skill trees

good idea. however i would not want it to take away time from more important features, so if they have time and can implement it im all for it, if not i can live without it

im not a fan of floating numbers and such, so i agree that these should not be in the game, but no UI at all would make it really hard to play. if i want to use a spell or skill, i would have to remember in what slot of an invisible hotkey bar i put it and do that for 6 characters.

to put it in a more organic way, it can be done in arcanum style, where you had the quests you had accepted and those just mentioned, that you knew about but had not spoken to those directly interested. so: you arrive at a city. you dont go to speak with the mayor to get the "save the kidnapped daughter" quest, but as you speak with the inn keeper, he tells you that the mayor's daughter has been kidnapped 2 days ago and the deadline for the ransom is a week (meaning they will kill her in 5 days). you dont get the quest as accepted (just mentioned), but the clock starts ticking. you can officialy accept the quest, along with any consequences for failing, by talking with the mayor, or you can leave it at mentioned and if you dont go save her, the mayor will pay the ransom (you can kill the bandits and colect the ransom yourself or be even sneakier and wait for the mayor to pay the bandits, then kill the bandits and steal the money)

did anyone notice what the pet portrait is? if not, look closer

help, bandits kidnaped my wife and are asking for ransom. they said they will kill her if i dont get them the gold fast. said the merchant to the paladin. worry not good sir! i will be sure to save her. replied the paladin with confidence... just tell me where they keep her. in a warehouse at the docks. it's a big red building with lots of shady guys around. you cant miss it. said the grateful merchant then off we go my friends! said the paladin to his companions as they marched to the resque. 2 months later we came to save the merchant's wife you vile scum. release her and surrender! as if not a day has passed, the bandits still had the hostage and were waiting for the ransom. the paladin's group killed them all, and took the woman back to her husband, who didnt seem to notice how long it took them to go save her pretty coherent way to make a quest no? the quests should be made with or without a factor of urgency. if the quest is to change a status quo (like the quest given to you by the 2 founding families of trademeet in BG2) then it has no urgency factor. nothing can happen as long as you dont do anything yourself. however, if its a quest like the poisoned man (still BG2), you should not be able to go around for days or weeks without him dying, before you get him to the harpers. so if the quest is made in a way that indicates urgency, it should have a time limit.

well even in adventure games, that are practically made of puzzles, it is important that the puzzles are seamlessly integrated in the world and dont seem out of place. most people, as i understand it, with the word puzzle mean situations and locations that require the player to use his brain to proceed, something that is definitely missing in most games of the last 10years