Minttunator

I have to admit I'm not a fan of constant nerfs in a single-player game (this isn't an MMO and I don't think it should be treated as such), but whatever - good thing I managed to finish my PotD playthrough before the 1.05 nerfbat hit.

I have to agree - it's definitely pretty difficult to tell at a glance what's going on in spell-heavy battles. Making selection circles more prominent would go a long way towards improving things, as would an option to tone down the flashiness of spell effects.

Personally I think Obsidian's resources might be better spent on making more content, but a voice pack isn't a completely new/untested concept. Don't know how profitable that was, though - probably not really.

Yes!

Race and culture bonuses are added to the number you enter.

If you're looking to invent swear words, the grunt work has already been done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5q3TG5yCG0

It's not all bad - some of these NPCs drop pretty decent loot!

Okay, I got all the companions and here's their skill spending at the level I got them. I'm listing how many points they've spent, so for instance 6 points spent = the companions' skill is at level 3 + bonuses. Eder has spent 6 points on Athletics at level 2. Aloth has spent 6 points on Lore at level 2. Durance has spent 6 points on Mechanics at level 2. Kana has spent 3 on stealth, 6 on lore, 3 unused points at level 3. Sagani has spent 3 on stealth, 6 on survival, 3 unused points at level 3. Hiravias has spent 3 on lore, 15 on survival at level 4. Pallegina has spent 15 on Athletics, 3 on Lore at level 4. GM has spent 6 on Stealth, 10 on Athletics, 2 unused points at level 4. Grieving Mother's skills seem bugged, I had to click increase/decrease a couple of times to get it to show the proper numbers (the skills showed up lower than expected immediately upon level-up).

Yeah, I don't know whether this is intended, but it would definitely be more useful if the statistics didn't reset when leaving/rejoining.

Cheers, bro! I'll try to remember to post the skills here for future reference when I get access to all the companions.

Good stuff, thanks for compiling this information! There's probably a typo in the quoted part - Durance has the Bear's Endurance talent (at least mine has it, I got him at level 2). Any chance you could post their starting skills as well - in particular, how much they'd spent on their skills by the time you got them, in addition to the bonuses? I just started the game and this is what I've got thus far: Eder has spent 6 points on Athletics at level 2. Aloth has spent 6 points on Lore at level 2. Durance has spent 6 points on Mechanics at level 2.

Thanks for the clarification, Matt!

Curious about this as well (I also backed the KS at the physical box level). Granted, the $15 difference isn't a huge problem, but it's still pretty lame if new backers are getting a better deal than those who have supported the project since the start of the Kickstarter.

I don't actually know how much good reviews cost - however I guess it's not cheap and this recent one, for example, set Microsoft back at least 6 figures: So unless bribing reviewers is much cheaper than I think, I don't believe Obsidian can really afford it. On the other hand I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary, either - sure, a good Metacritic score helps, but it's perfectly viable to sell a lot of games without mainstream media coverage as well. One just needs to make a genuinely good game and have the players advertise it through word of mouth - this approach has worked well for many indie games. The most important part is obviously the "good game" bit, so I'd rather they spent all their energy and money on that instead of trying to compete for the reviewers' attention with the likes of EA and Activision who inevitably have more resources at their disposal.

There's been a very good interview with MCA posted recently: http://www.gameranx....oject-eternity/ One quote in particular is relevant to the topic of this thread: Picture not by me:

I'm absolutely a fan of Justin Sweet, but I don't think you people (i.e. the Women's Group for Non-Sexualized Females in Video Games - no offence meant, I actually agree with the general gist of your movement) really want him as your example of politically correct armour. I'm just saying. This is from IWD, looks pretty sexy to me: Another example, sexy and impractical: Boob plates galore:

Good topic! I agree with some of what you're saying, Pshaw - namely that older doesn't necessarily mean better and "old-school" by itself doesn't really mean much. I'm sure Tom and Brenda learned that recently with their Kickstarter, for instance. I have to admit I disagree with most of your examples, though. I won't do a line by line, but I will say that the dungeon finder killed what little sense of community WoW had (because everyone can now act like a prick due to no accountability due to not meeting the people they're running with ever again) and D2 having no respec was, in my opinion, a good feature because it forced players to actually think about their choices. Choices in games are only meaningful if they have consequences. A lot of modern games seem to be afraid to punish the player for his mistakes, which also lessens the sense of achievement for the player when he succeeds.

Just one example from the VERY POST YOU QUOTED: Fairly accurate representation? Because if you sincerely believe that then there's nothing further to debate here.

You of all people accusing others of passive aggressive behaviour and ad hominem attacks is frankly hilarious. HereticSaint, meet Strawman: Because rape is cool: Passive aggressive bullcrap: Ad hominem: Well, at least you've edited this one by now: Yeah, real intelligent posts that don't reek of self importance there, chief. Keep it up.

I agree with this 100%, I have absolutely no problem with mods, however horrible they might be. Hell, Nexus has a non-adult section so I won't even SEE that they exist if I don't want to. If the Biodrones want to port Saerileth to PE - I say let them. If some of the Skyrim modders want nude NPCs in PE - I say let them run with it. If someone wants their self-insert to be able to romance a gay transsexual furry NPC, it's no skin off my back - as long as she writes the mod for it herself. Just don't waste the developers' time with it.

Farudan, feel free to use the following list. I made some minor edits, such as adding 'of the Obsidian Order' where it was missing. NEW MEMBERS THAT HAVE POSTED IN THIS THREAD: NO LONGER MEMBERS: TITLE CHANGE REQUESTS: THESE TITLES ARE ALREADY TAKEN, PLEASE CHOOSE NEW ONES: Silver Night, Bartender of the Obsidian Order Féannon, Wandering Minstrel of the Obsidian Order CChase, Lone Wolf of the Obsidian Order

I have to go with "no". There are already enough dating sims out there - Bioware keeps putting them out every year, we really don't need another one.

I absolutely support this - it's a great idea because a well-done objective-based XP system would make playstyles other than "kill everything" viable. Although I must say I'm surprised they're seriously considering something like that in this day and age - hope they go through with it.

I guess I'm not old school in thinking thus, but I believe people should be allowed to save and load when they want to. Don't like save-scumming? Don't do it. Besides, an Ironman mode has already been announced, that should be pretty sufficient for those of us that like that sort of challenge.

I feel you, bro. In BG2 I always postponed going to Spellhold for as long as I could since I really wasn't motivated to save that whiny brat. To be fair, though, most female NPCs in BG2 were incredibly annoying.