[Do you want your character portraits to be like Baldur's Gate or NWN2?]

there are some photo booths that have the option to turn your photo into a color sketch picture. they could implement something similar to make instant BG style portraits out of 3D models

[Level cap or no level cap?]

The TotSC level cap was pretty good, it was quite hard to reach 161,000 XP.

 

Once you did there was almost no content left in the game. The only reason it was like that though was to try and balance out the classes since they used different experience tables.

 

this won't be a problem in P:E

that cap allowed a ranger to reach lv8. if you have the trilogy mod that removes the xp limit, the ranger may get to lv9 but it takes a lot of work to find every little bit of xp in the game. so cap or no cap, you usually could not get past lv8 for lack of xp in the game

[Level cap or no level cap?]

well since you only get xp for completing quests and other objectives, its not really necessary to have a cap. there will be a finite number of xp in the game and the max level is when you get all of it. at least that's how i would do it. of course, if you get to lv 10 and have a companion at lv 2 join your party, it will be hard to get him to a high level if you keep sharing the xp, so in that case a "give up my share of xp" switch or a level cap should be available in order to let the companion grow faster

i voted no cause im generally against the idea of caps, but i dont really mind either way if it is implemented in a way that makes sense

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

"relatively" can mean a lot of things. it could range from a regeneration of 1 point per second to 1 point per minute to instant full recovery at the end of the battle but no regeneration in the combat and so on. also there will probably be painkiller potions in the game and every class will have at least 1 skill that restores some stamina.

the barbarian for example can go berserk and stop losing stamina for a bit.

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

Because all the combat in the game can be avoided. Because all the combat in the game is pointless.

Seriously, people, if encounters which CAN be avoided aren't avoided aren't "punished"... I have no hope. Of course it should be better to avoid combat and conflict WHERE POSSIBLE. That doesn't mean the entire dungeon can be passed through at a leisure with skill speech checks.

So, yes, going into avoidable combat fight is punishment. This however doesn't constiture "all combat". Result; Statement is false.

 

Thats debateable. Maybe someone LIKES to play a character that does not go the diplomatic route - should he be constantly punished? I mean it also depends on how you define punishment. If you only mean he spends more time in combat than anyone else, therefore "losing" playtime, that would be somewhat ok.

 

On the other hand, I get where the people are coming from that direction, that combat will become a waste of time.

If you are constantly jumped by random encounters, or random wild beasts combat can get tedious. But having a small reward (i.e. EXP) offsets this tedious task a little. I guarantee that the combat in the IE games would be less enjoyable if you did not get any XP for it.

if you like to play a character that speaks with his sword, you have to accept that you are going to have to fight every single enemy in the game. and if that is the way you want to play, it means you dont find the battles boring and need an incentive to fight.

if you need an extra reward for fighting when there are other options, and not do it because thats the way you enjoy playing, then you are not looking for an rpg.

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

The part of "hit on the stomach" is the irrecuperable hp loss. The part of "this wound hurts as hell" is the stamina damage.

 

Which in real life would GET WORSE not better in a matter of minutes.

are you trying to troll? they already said that stamina is restored through magic and skills or items. it doesnt auto regenerate during combat. a barbarian can go into rage mode and forget his pain. a fighter can drink a drug that numbs his pain. a priest can use a spell to help with the pain and so on. all that is represented in the game by losing or gaining stamina. and since it is a game and not a medieval combat simulator, after the fight you get back your stamina. however i would like to see stamina or other stats being affected by the missing hp

[Does the player-created character have to act as party spokesperson?]

my idea, that i posted in another topic about a month ago, is that companions should automaticaly give advice to the player during important conversations if they have any insight on the situation just like some did in BG. also you can have the option to ask their opinion at any time during a conversation or if you think one of them knows better the subject of the conversation you will have the option to pass it to him and he proceeds to talk for the group without you choosing his answers, just like at the start of arcanum, you could let Virgil talk to that hooded guy,

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

I think that stamina damage is not when you get hit. The *hit* part is the damage on health while stamina is what you dodge\absorb(moving so the sword don't hit the lungs)\deflect. A gun-shot or an arrow will probably be mostly health damage.

health and stamina loss are indipendent of one another. however you always lose more stamina than health when you are hit.

to make an example: if in real life you get shot at a non vital spot, you will not die imediatelly (in game terms you will lose 40-50% of your hp) but you will lose most of your strength due to the pain and the shock of the impact and will fall to the ground semi conscious (you will lose 90% or more of your stamina), unless you have a high pain tolerance, exelent physical conditioning and an iron will (or are on drugs), in which case you will be able to keep focus and control of your body (meaning you will have 30-40% stamina left)

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

its more or less what soranor said

in a fight, you take a blow from a mace to the forearm. the actual damage that hit causes are some minor bruises and scratches on the arm (4hp lost), but the force of the impact made the bone reach its breaking point without snapping however, which was extremelly painful (12sp lost)

the enemy priest uses a sling and throws a metal bullet that hits your helmet with great force. you take no actual damage from the hit (no hp lost), but you get disoriented and dizzy and your head hurts (7sp lost)

the enemy archer makes a shot that pierces your armor, skin and muscles and stops as it comes in contact with a bone. considering also the loss of blood you lose 8hp and the pain is unbearable making you scream. you lose 15sp

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

"ope, I just say Objective-based XP is better for a story-oriented RPG instead of an action-RPG. And hey, look what PE is! "

 

It's an RPG that's going to have a lot of combat with a focus on story and characters - just like BG2. Also, PST was story fcoused yet also had LOTS of combat, and rewarded xp for it yet it didn't hurt the game at all.

 

In fact, out of all the complaints of the three IE series they mentioned - IWD, BG, and PST - none of them have been OMG You get xp for combat that's horrible!

 

As long as you get xp from various sources there is absolutely nothingw rong with getting xp for combat.

 

I think people who are opposed it are anti old skool rpging which PE is supposed to be about. They also bel;ieve others should play exactly liek them. That's bogus.

 

You should get an xp for every battle. It's perfectly logical. And, it's illogical to think you shouldn't.

well except for torment, the other IE games were 90% combat based. except for very few cases in both BG games, no matter the dialog option you chose, the end result was a fight. in IWD it was always a fight since it was a dungeon crawler with barely any interaction with npcs

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

We've had tons of discussions about this, I think the "no regeneration at all" is the verdict (speculation) at this point. You only heal by spells (cure light wounds and friends), (health) potions and resting. I think that's that at least? Please correct me if the Obs devs are still considering another system of regeneration.

 

Apart from the "hardcore players" (I put it in quotation marks, because even if I am an old school gamer (playing games since 1988), I find extreme amount of conservatism very annoying) think,

I really like the different HP regeneration styles of current MMORPGs.

What I mean is:

- No regeneration during combat. -This will make heal spells and regeneration rings still useful.

- Little regeneration other times. -You are fully healed during resting, why shouldn't you during normal times also?

 

Out of combat regeneration seems a fun and still challenging system.

However if you use memory slot system for magic and not MP system, it could be unfair for spellcasters.

you cant heal while not resting for the same reason you are forced to stay in bed while in a hospital. moving around does not allow your wounds to close properly if at all

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

Think of it as you character never gets hit, and the stamina lost "when hurt by a sword" is the stamina used dodging the blow

 

Sorry this greatly breaks any kind of immersion and is just plain silly. Stamina lost during dodging the blow? So to dodge a blow from Hill Giant I spend 50 Stamina, and to dodge of of 5persecond attacks by mega-super-duelist (but he wields only rapier) I use 15 Stamina?

Gods, let this never never never happen in this game. Please send a direct message to Obsidian's heads to not use this kind of system.

its better to think stamina as the pain threshold of the character. hits taken will cause damage and pain. you cant repair the damage but with aspirins and magic you can increase your pain tolerance so you wont pass out

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

now that i read a comment from Tim i get the idea that we approach this from the wrong angle. according to his comment, there will be NO automatic regeneration of stamina, except out of combat and then slowly. however there will be items and skills-spells that will restore stamina fairly quickly, allowing the character to stand his ground if he has enough hp

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

snip

 

 

Except that ME3/DA2/SKYRIM/PE have CONTINEOUS IN COMBAT Stamina Regen.

 

 

Secondly, I have tried to make this point several times. Just because a game was old does not make its mechanics great. Darklands did not necessarily have great combat implementation but what was good about it was its low magic setting and the skills. Compare its good parts with PE and that would be a fair comparison. The aim of PE is create IE clones; not darklands clones. Otherwise in the same vein one would say that PE is not like darklands because.... *1000 irrelevant points* .

they never said IE clones. they said they want to bring the feeling of the IE games back not copy them. that means bigger parties, isometric graphics, more than 3 classes, complex combat and role play mechanics, etc. not the DnD gameplay that IE games had

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

nobody prevents you from role playing the munchkin. you just dont get double xp for it

 

So basically you prevent people being munchkins. Getting double XP, extra loot, using bugs and glitches to win combat - it's all part of the fun for these people.

you can still exploit glitches, you get all the loot you can carry but you dont get extra xp. besides if you wanna be a munchkin you dont play an old school rpg... there are many modern rpg that cater to your needs

Actually as much as I hate to say it Old School RPG's are actually what created the "munchkin" ideal in the first place. So no, you should definitely go to Old School RPG's to get your munchkin on.

 

That out of the way, this is a game design decision. Many posters here don't seem to .... get it. If your game is "objective" based EXP rewards then odds are... there are no mobs to grind. A well made game (particularly an "old school" RPG) should only have enough exp available in it to prepare you for what you are going to face in the next encounter and or maybe make you a little stronger than you "need" to be to win. In other words if you wander through a forest and find 10 bandits OOOOHHH, they are there for a reason. If you kill them and come back those 10 bandits are gone, done, finito. There may be a random encounter here and there, maybe, but for the most part their rewards should be minimal.

 

The real challenge of an objective based exp system has little or nothing to with actual exp. Experienced dudes like Obsidian should be more than capable of making that work. The issue is how you handle things like say loot. It is simple fact but the guy who kills every enemy he meets, for the most part, is likely going to get more loot. Loot can have just as much to do with your parties power as level does, sometimes it is even more important.

as you said, proper design is the key. the guy who can do things without killing and looting, should be able to get all the way to the end of the game that way, so he wont need more than some basic buyable stuff to get past the parts were you cant talk your way out (like encounters with wild animals). the looter gets better gear cause when the time for important meetings come, his play style will allow him only the solution of fighting his way through boos like enemies

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

We already have the non-regenerating Health as a way to force us to pace ourselves, why complain that your Stamina comes back when it's eliminating stupid gameplay?

 

 

Yes. IE gameplay was certainly stupid.

well having to rest 2 times a day because you could not have the means to proceed otherwise was pretty coherent with your situation of being surrounded by enemies

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

nobody prevents you from role playing the munchkin. you just dont get double xp for it

 

So basically you prevent people being munchkins. Getting double XP, extra loot, using bugs and glitches to win combat - it's all part of the fun for these people.

you can still exploit glitches, you get all the loot you can carry but you dont get extra xp. besides if you wanna be a munchkin you dont play an old school rpg... there are many modern rpg that cater to your needs

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

I just don't understand when game creators try to force some kind of play style. Look. If player want to be munchkin - he will be. If he wants to roleplay - he will roleplay.

To limit something is bad game design. Provide more choices - good one. Period.

nobody prevents you from role playing the munchkin. you just dont get double xp for it

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

you do realise of course, that all this is speculation, based on cryptic (at best) bits and pieces of not definitive information?

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

the point is that no system is better than the other if seen in perspective. its how you implement the system that defines if you did a good job of masking the negative aspects of it

1 you can kill the dragon and get 50k xp for the kill,

2 you can convince the dragon to let you pass and get 50k xp for it,

3 you can sneak past the dragon and get 50k xp for getting through unharmed

the diference in "combat xp on" system, is that unless in options 2 and 3 they make the dragon's room inaccessible when you get through the exit or remove the dragon the moment you get the xp reward, you will simply choose one of the 2 and after you get the 50k for passing without a fight, you will also kill the dragon for another 50k... who can resit the call of xp after all.

so, since you get 50k xp anyway, why make it specifically combat xp for killing the dragon and not make it objective xp for passing through the door the dragon guards? obviously you cant just make a run for the door since it's locked. you have to kill the dragon to get the key, make him open it for you or steal the key unnoticed. and if you choose options 2 or 3 and come back to kill the dragon anyway, you get no xp for the kill, or just as you said before

if( completedGuardQuest && guard.isKilled )

dragon.xp = 0;

and just as oerwinde said, objective is not a quest or steam achievement or anything like that.

you travel from town a to town b and meet 10 bandits on the way.

objective: survive the encounter! reward 1000xp

you can kill the bandits, pay them or just run for it. the moment you leave the area alive you get 1000xp

that's what objective xp is about. instead of giving you 100xp for each bandit you kill, you get 1000xp when they are all dead. and if you choose not to fight you still get 1000xp.

[Are you for or against gaining experience points only for completing objectives?]

i have an idea that will satisfy everyone... you get no xp for anything you do. you get 1xp for every second you play regardless of what you do. so you can just let your character sitting on a bench for a whole day (real time) and he gets 86400xp. then, when you are lv10 after 3 or 4 days, you can start playing the game

[Thoughts about the Endless Paths]

diablo had 16 levels... so its almost like we have a game within a game

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

I... what?

 

That's not the system they've described at all. Your present HP does not determine your stamina cap.

 

As far as I know.

 

****, I'm not the one who can't read now, right? Right?

where did they say that it didnt? i make the logical assumption based on what i read so far

but even if your sp is not limited by the loss of hp, still you DON'T get back the lost hp in any way other than resting, and since you lose hp every time you get hit, even if you have endless sp in the end your character will die. more sp and its regeneration could allow you to keep fighting until your last hp without getting knocked out but it wont prevent your death

much like the armor in counter strike. it absorbs a part of the damage, but not all of it. you can have 80 armor left and be at 1hp

[Automatic regeneration of hit points during combat]

you guys dont get it or you pretend not to?

lets make it a bit more clear

you have 100 hp and 100sp

geting hit by a sword takes away 10sp and 5hp, unless you have some gear magic etc that divert the hp damage to sp

using your power attack skill takes away 5sp

the enemy dies and you are with 95hp and 85sp

in the 3 seconds between killing that enemy and engaging the next you regenerate 3 sp

you get 3 hits from the next and use power attack once

you now have 80hp and 53sp and the battle is over.

now you are left with 85hp, and that means you max sp is 85

in the next battle you drop to -4sp and fall unconscious for 5 seconds until you are back to +1sp (if the enemy does not keep hitting you or finishes you off while you are down) and your hp drops to 40 by the end of it. that means that the next time you fight, your max sp will be 40.

and since there are no potions or magics that fix hp, but only red bull with aspirin to help with the pain and fatigue of lost sp, if you drink a postion that restores 20sp when your sp is 30 and your hp 40, you only get 10sp. to heal hp you will have to rest, and even then the amount you get back is small just as it was in IE games... something like 8hp for 8 hours of sleep

[13 levels is auspicious for the mega dungeon...]

3 levels short of diablo