general_azure

This has been one of the first topics popping up in here. There you go.

Short answer: German debit cards don't work well with online purchases, you need to scan a physical copy of the card Long answer: wikipedia

The only useful thing said in this topic so far was probably that almost noone in germany uses credit cards, meaning they can't use kickstarter either. If I hadn't gone on vacation in the states last year, I couldn't have pledged. And the OP gave me a headache -.-

And for chuckles: Bovine Intervention (from Sacrifice): A cow is flung down from the heavens to smite your foes. This will usually leave them crushed and everyone in the vicinity covered in gore and quite possibly fleeing in terror. Works only outdoors for obvious reasons. Might require the caster to be slightly unbalanced =P

I'm gone for a day and already we're on page 5... time to bump this with a spell or two. So far "Speak with the dead" seems to be the favorite. Vengeance: This is what those boring instructors always warned you never to do. As a last resort, the caster releases significantly more magical energy than his mind can safely handle. The energy radiates from the caster, destroying pretty much everything caught in the blast but losing intensity as it travels outwards (massive damage near the center, medium damage at the edges). Usually all that is left of the caster and his immediate surroundings is a smoking crater. This is the most destructive spell available to a mortal mage without an extensive ritual and/or an external power source like a pact or artifact, but for obvious reasons it is seen very rarely. In gameplay terms this means you take your caster out of the fight in exchange for one big blast (that might end up crushing the rest of your group as well). When using gameplay mechanics where death in combat is very cheap, like everyone getting up by themselves after the fight or resurrection as a starter ability for clerics, this spell probably needs an additional heavy debuff on the caster to keep things balanced (his magics are literally burned out). Can also be used as a story device when an NPC (*cough*Amie*cough*) has to make some heroic sacrifice. It'll probably still be a stupid idea, but at least he'll actually accomplish something that way.

Got some spells you really want to see again, or maybe something completely novel? Then this might be the right place to drop them. After all, having more neat ideas to choose from can barely hurt.... Since I don't want this to blow up within a few hours, here's some simple rules: - See an idea you like? Press that little green button that says so! I'll later be able to compile something like a Top10 with this information. Afaik this board has an unliking function, in case you change your mind. - Obviously this means more than one spell idea per post is bad. Feel free to double-post though. - It does not matter whether your idea is from some other game, book, movie or completely new... but if you know something like this has been featured before, it might help to say where. Can help people with getting a clearer idea of what your thinking about. - This ain't a discussion thread, keep it tidy or we won't be able to find the actual spell ideas between all the blathering. And then this topic will die horribly. If you think something sucks, just don't like it. Or create a new topic for further discussion on the idea. - Since we don't know about the general magic system at this time, spells that rely on one particular implementation (like "restore 3 level 1 spells without having to rest") are not useful quite yet. - Whoever asks for a spell that lets you romance someone will recieve an arrow to the knee. So, put on your robe and wizard hat and get this spellbook going =P

This. Also: - Cutscenes of doom, where all your guys leave stealth/cancel wereforms/whatever to cluster right in front of the big bad guy - Blatantly cheating enemies - Static, invulnerable "scenery" type NPCs in towns and taverns

This is what you get for mentioning a specific discussion on these boards in the kickstarter updates, I guess... instantly brings it back from the dead and every argument is posted all over again =P

Heh, that reference to the weighted gold discussion got me laughing. And being able to set options individually instead of just having one almighty slider is always a good idea as far as I'm concerned.

The distinction between a character import feature (BG) and an actual NG+ (D2, ME) is sadly lacking in this thread. The later takes a lot more work to implement since it has to balance enemies and equipment to the increased player level.

You aren't truly chaotic until you've cast stinking cloud inside a crowded tavern, just for chuckles. Or the other way around: make those fancy heroic types think twice about using fireballs when being attacked in a public place. To be honest, I'd be very suprised if this game didn't have friendly fire for both the party as well as neutral NPCs (on default settings, that is).

This ain't the first thread on the subject, so I'll just go ahead and link the other one. It's barely 4 days old anyways, the rate at which stuff gets passed to page 5+ on this board is insane atm.

I like this poll for actually having options besides yes and no... count me as undecided until I know more about the game.

True, it all depends on how the information is packed into the conversation. In your example, the answer would also shift from well known fact to personal opinion, which could be biased or useless and probably conflicting with what other people told you... changing the entire feel of the conversation. And might actually force the player to use his brain. When I read "straight exposition" in the original post, I instantly had to think of some NPC shoving the backstory down my throat, which lead to my "hell no" reaction. That said, I don't really think they'll abandon small talk or pestering random people in this game. Now someone get that man over here so you guys can stop worrying =P

This worked well in Torment, since you had no memory and asking stuff everyone would already know made sense. Also, there's always clueless people around in Sigil. Not so much with the infamous "What's a paladin?" line from Ultima IX, if you need an example of this gone horribly wrong. Of course asking some NPC about his opinion is always fine, but a lot of the dialogue in rpgs these days can make the player character look utterly retarded and might be better off in books . In Dragon Age this would be stuff like "What's the chantry?" or "Tell me about the fade", think you can actually ask both of those in the mage intro without anyone wondering what happened to your head.

A lot of the polls currently running are kinda pointless anyways... choices too restricted, heavily biased towards the preferences of the poster, etc. Guess the devs will create their own poll when they need public opinion on something (and sticky it).

Whatever fits the setting, I suppose.

Kill it with fire, imho. Have never seen this done outside of Mount&Blade in any half decent way, the mounted combat back in Sacred is still some sort of running gag over here. I wouldn't mind having access to some sort of mule or oxcart when travelling though, just park it somewhere on the map when you arrive. And yeah, the suggested poll options on the other thread would have been way better =P

The sprites in Icewind Dale switched weapon hand depending on what direction you were facing (someone lazy mirrored the "running to the right" animation to get "running to the left" with inverted hands), so this has already been done by mistake =P

1) Place recieving end of portal spell in front of cannon 2) Put the other side before whatever fool got in your way 3) Profit Ah, how I've missed that spell...

The old world... it's technically not older than the rest, but whatever.

The zerth blade from torment... not for the insane stats, but for the sword reacting to the mood of the wearer during conversations.

What exactly do you guys consider "spell improvement"? D&D style empowered magic missile? Elder scrolls style spellmaking? Some sort of spell combo? On crafting: I like the BG2 style, building stuff around artifact pieces you find here and there. Maybe with with an option to have different ways to combine those pieces, like putting the mythical halberd blade on the shaft of an axe if halberds are not your kind of thing. Of course the assembly will have to be done by a professional with decades of experience...

Consider this thread bumped. Could we have some subforum for gameplay mechanics discussion? Having to sort the useful stuff out from all the "Hire this guy", "I don't like that design decision" or romance threads is rather annoying.

Not much of a pickpocket myself, but I'd guess restricting it to small items would make sense. No stealing someones pants while he's wearing them (see The Gamers for that). I did like the sheer amount of houses you could break and rob back in BG though. Sure, there wasn't anything really valuable in almost all of those (as it should be, for some random peasants house)... but if I want to plunder Beregost just for the chuckles, why not? Maybe add some more cash/silverware (and houseguards) in upper class mansions though. Also liked how the townsfolk NPCs reacted when they caught you, that is running for the nearest exit to get the flaming fist instead of going into a suicide charge. Noone in his right mind should attack an armed and armored group with his bare hands/butterknife to defend some cheap bauble. Let the guards handle it.