[Different rules - different story.]

This is a horrible idea. If someone is inexperienced, disabled, bad at games, has terrible luck, or for some other reason just wants to play the game on the easiest setting to see the story, he or she should not be penalized by not seeing the entire story.

[One backer's thoughts]

Of course we were getting to this point. That was the point. I'm not sure you read my original post, honestly, because it seems like you just want to argue. It's not dumbing down, it's removing an irritating limitation and replacing it with something like carry weight, which is A: more believable, B: More fun than an arbitrary limit regardless of whether it's physically possible because it involves less work. I don't want a game to be work

How about they do both: impliment carry weight and carry space? This is a party based game after all. Not implementing carry space means the inventory ends up being list based. I can think of nothing worse.

 

But Lets get real here. You're on record defining "work" as having to hover your cursor over the clock to see the time. You might as well just come out and say what you really mean: You want the game to play itself while you cross your arms and watch

 

This could work if the carry space is variable, dependent on each character's strength carry capacity. And each item is sized depending on it's weight/bult. I don't want to shuffle plate mail around to get space for keys or scrolls as I said before.

 

I'll just ignore your ad hominem there.

[One backer's thoughts]

I agree with most if not all of the OP's suggestions, but especially wanting to get rid of inventory tetris, at least if it's not done right.

The BG/IWD/PS:T system for example, I actively hate, and it feels like busywork having to shuffle items around from character to character all the time. It's not immersive either: A suit of full platemail takes up the exact amount of space that a ring or a rat's tail does.

I much prefer the system of Fallout 1 & 2 where you don't have inventory slots at all, but simply weight allowance, also giving you a reason to have a strong character even if it's not a melee combatant.

[In-game rewards for immersion/difficulty settings?]

Perhaps instead of rewarding people playing on higher difficulties with better loot, they could be rewarded with (as an option mind you) less xp and gold, perhaps worse gear, actually making the difficulty harder. Unique stuff that only the higher difficulties see is something I hate. If a less skilled player or someone with a disability wants to play a game, they shouldn't be punished with not seeing content/not getting to the proper ending/not getting the new game +/etc.

[Secondary Weapon Functions]

Some weapons having a special ability/mode that you can use sounds like a neat idea if the possible animation is doable.

Something like tripping or disarming an opponent should probably be within the game options already as falling prone and dropping your weapon.

I like the idea that the best weapon won't always be the one with the highest damage stat, and to give more options to the non-spellslingers, though it does add some complexity to weapon balancing.

[What was your singular favorite spell among the IE games?]

My favorite was the good old Magic Missile. It had near instant cast time and was very effective at interrupting spell casting so my warrior types could get close enough to lay on the hurt.

[Minimizing Save scumming. Or is it too much of a hassle?]

Limited saves have killed my interest in more games than bad gameplay, bad story and bad graphics combined. I don't want to replay the same content again and again because there's some cheap encounter or mechanic, or because the RNG hates me (which it always does).

Not being able to save where you want is unnecessary and pointless unless you have to deal wth severe hardware limitations (eg. on consoles) and that goes double in a CRPG.

 

Let us save wherever we want to. An option to turn off saving where we want to for the people with no self control is fine, but leave the ability in the game for the rest of us.

[Bows: Limited ammo?]

I voted for unlimited regular ammo (like in Lionheart) but it really depends:

- A system that doesn't require you to constantly micromanage your ammunition is fine (eg. Fallout simply has a stack of ammo and you can reload without touching your inventory).

- A system with small stacks that have to be manually used in your inventory (as in Baldur's Gate) would be crap.

[Have you played an Infinity Engine game before?]

I own and have played BG (with expansion), BGII, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale.

 

While the writing in them was superb, the engine and game system (AD&D 2nd Ed.) was always the weak point that meant I never finished most of them. Even Planescape: Torment which is probably in my top 3 games of all time (together with the first Gabriel Knight and Fallout btw) would actually have been a much better game if I could have skipped the combat altogether.

[How old is everyone?]

33. Favorite game of all time is the first Fallout.

[How about some luv for the iPad and tablets?]

I'd rather see the game ported to iPad and other tablets than to consoles, as mouse control translates fairly well to a touch screen.

If it were up to me, ports to other platforms (including Mac and Linux) could wait until the game was otherwise done, but at least those won't have to compromise when it comes to resolution, space, controls, etc.

[How realistic is your cup of tea?]

I thought this poll would be around realism vs. fun (as in using hit points versus having to spend weeks or months in a hospital after getting shot or stabbed).

 

In the scope of "how many and which mature themes to put in the game" I vote all or most of them. Horrible things do happen, but in most cases, something like mass graves, child slavery, rape, etc. should be used sparingly, as a wake up call to show just how evil an otherwise ambigious faction or person is, rather than being flaunted in every scene and sentance to show just how "realistic" the game is.

In other words, put the narrative of the game over trying to be edgy or "realistic".

[Achievements]

Would have been nice with a neutrally worded poll instead of this, since options are basically 1. No, 2. Maybe, 3. Maybe, 4. No.

 

That said, I think achievements can work. I understand the people that hate them, and especially hate the popups and so on, but well thought out achievement (or trophies or feats or whatnot) can add value to a game as they lead you to play in ways you wouldn't otherwise have done. A good example of this is Alpha Protocol.

 

Personally I vote to put them in the game. I know Obsidian are capable of using achievements to add interesting stuff to a game, and Steam comes with a system built in for them so I doubt they will need to spend a large chunk of development time on them.

[Dialogue Poll]

Loved the descriptions along with dialogue in Planescape: Torment. As for how skills/stats are handled, I'm less sure to be honest.

The hidden skill rolls in Fallout and Fallout 2 worked quite well, but the shown percentile chance in Fallout 3 just meant saving before every dialogue and reloading several times.

The "options shown based on your skills" from Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and Fallout: New Vegas worked quite well, since your stats mattered, but you weren't forced to reload due to the RNG all the time, and also, if you wanted to boost some skill (with drugs or spells or whatnot) you could, but not if the dialogue choice was the difference between a hostile reaction or not.

[Urgency: Please Have It]

While I get why urgency can work sometimes, as a general rule I say no to timed quests, and especially hidden timed stuff that leads to a premature end of the game.

 

For example, Fallout, while being my favorite game of all time, and having played through it enough times to have seen almost everything in the game and able to do speed runs, I still dislike the time limit, and especially the hidden time limit once you've delivered the water chip.

 

So, consider this a big "No thank you" to urgency and timed quests and the like. A few timed side quests or events (clearly marked like that) are fine, but no forcing me to hurry and skip content just to add "urgency".