sollus

How about 3d + touched up by an artist, similar to the scenery/map creation.

That would make sense if your computer could read your thoughts and transmit them into game, and your response could be anything that comes out of your mouth, instead of having to read and digest a list of possible dialogue choices... all choices are possible! I am all for computer-neural integration, however something to this effect is a fair way off Instead of real time conversations how about conversations free of the burdensome constraints of time! Lets have future conversations now!

How about defining physical beauty in context with definition of the games races, physiology and technological advancement? I would prefer it fits with the game rather than something decided independently.

So what are we saving the RPGs from?

Indeed, and PE is no hack and slash. So how am I completely wrong? Because you don't know if it is hack and slash or not. Especially with regenerating spammable (low level?) spells and regenerating stamina and no rest - "spamming" to boot, it has all the features of a hack and slash like DA2. Lets be realistic here. What is more likely , obsidian focusing on its goal to deliver a spiritual successor of the IE games. -Strategic challenging combat from IWD2, depth of story and characterization from PS:T + other elements from BG2. Or them creating a hack and slash and failing to deliver what they have promised on kickstarter to try and obtain some sort of mass market appeal, which would likely result in poor sales, a serious hit to their reputation and compromise the spirit of kick starter?

If it hasnt already been said, the update says " there is no known raise dead spell" an important distinction.

You've made the false assumption that you have to kill everything if you receive xp/kill, this is not true, xp/kill doesn't mean there isn't other ways to get xp in a well designed system. I'm really not sure why people keep jumping to this conclusion. Something we also need to recognize is that a lot of players will only play the game once, typically (well I am willing to bet) that the majority play with the objective in mind in order to beat the game, they need to have the best most skilled and most powerful team/character that is possible. Towards that end, if enemies are XP to kill, it is not a choice to not kill them, unless you are roleplaying or limiting your characters actions according to some set of ethics or play style in order to achieve a good or evil outcome.

I agree bro, there's no better incentive to explore areas full of monsters that want to kill you than awarding no xp for killing them. On the contrary, since monsters are monsters are monsters, what is your incentive to explore any particular area if you can get the same amount of XP from grinding monsters in an area you've already explored? Objective-based XP incentivizes you to go to new places and do new things. I know you are likely talking about grinding monsters in same area (implication of respawning monsters mmo style) as an example, but please... Just NO. Unless it is related to some change or event in the game world.

I think what a lot of people here are missing or pointedly ignoring, is that the objective of implementing the system as described by Josh is to prevent players who choose non-combat based solutions from feeling like they are at a disadvantage for not going back and killing enemies for More XP. Giving multiple options for players to meet an objective is in my opinion critical to RPG experience, both in terms of how the decision is representative of your character and also how it affects the game world and its story. If you allow a player to meet an objective and get twice as much experience by going back and killing all the enemies or performing another alternate solution you are undermining the quality of that decision, and you are also ending up offering an inferior experience to those who get double xp as they end up out-leveling the content and it potentially breaks immersion. If you are against the system as it has been proposed, please keep in mind what they are trying to achieve and propose a better solution if you can think of it. There are other ways , I saw mentioned earlier such as if you complete a question via alternate method then go back and kill the enemies then your previously awarded experience becomes invalidated or the enemies do not give experience. This is pretty much the same as granting experience based off objectives, how you get the experience has just been re-ordered. Also important to keep in mind, it has not been confirmed that everything will be achievable outside of combat yet. Also that they want to product a spiritual successor to all the IE games. In my opinion the end result will be that the games critical path will likely have more alternative options or objective based experience reward scenarios. There likely will also be objectives which would be combat oriented. Also there is likely to be non-objective related NPCS / enemies in the game, it would make sense that fighting them would render xp rewards. One of the focus points OE has repeated is that they want to create challenging and fulfilling combat. Based on their experience and track record I am confident they will deliver, the spiritual successor to BG1/2,IWD1/2,PS:T, If you are backing this project that is what I would hope appeals to you the most and that the details do not undermine your enthusiasm for this game. Thats my 2cents.

If you are playing on a higher difficulty, I don't think you should be given rewards which in turn make that difficulty easier, it seems somewhat counter intuitive. I would be all for some additional difficulty specific content myself. Achievements are not enough motivation for multiple replays. Although when I play through a 2nd time to see different choices or play different classes I will typically try higher difficulty then.

Typically you will find that the EULA for most games is for one installation on one system, this was the case before DRM was around as well. DRM free games available on GOG is pretty much on a good faith arrangement, it has been a while since I checked so they may have something similar. The game will be avail DRM free via GOG, sure if you have a laptop, and office and home pc it is reasonable to install on them. But if you want to share it with your friends that's a moral question to answer yourself.

Last I saw they are targeting for something around 14th Century. However various cultures/civilizations are all at different levels of development.

Just replaying Kotor 2 since I found out about the restored content patch and remembered how much I enjoyed the droid conversation dialogue.

In terms of reputation it would be great if every faction / group didnt behave as if you had a live camera feed with you broadcasting onto the internet giving everyone complete awareness of your actions. If you do some good dead people will not always talk about it, likewise sometimes you do something insignificant and it gets blown out of proportion, I would like to see some of these complexities represented if possible. Also chances are that people in a major city arent that interested in how many hillbillies/farmers you helped out on the way into their city. Likewise if you do something good or wrong and no one is around to see you, it shouldnt affect your reputation, unless you go off and brag about it. It would be cool if going incognito could be a choice.

I think what is important is how relevant your information source is to what you are trying to find out. E.g. Beggars good for recon in poor districts, perhaps patrol officers in the more well established areas through garnering reputation or bribes. Go to a historian, scholar, library, local ranger to find out information about resident dungeon etc.