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

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

[Please no Real-time conversations. Ever.]

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!

[[Merged] Women, Feminism, etc. in PE]

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.

[If there was only one RPG to be saved in the world I would choose.....]

So what are we saving the RPGs from?

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

It depends on what kind of game you are playing. Most hack and slash games are directed towards.. guess what.. hack and slash.

 

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?

[Anyone else happy there is no 'Raise Dead'-like spell?]

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

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

What it comes down to for me is:

 

Kill based XP = You need to kill everything

Objective based XP = You can play how you want

 

I prefer to avoid combat in RPGs because its mostly boring and I'd rather get on with the story or quests, so Objective based fits my playstyle better.

 

In other words, For.

 

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.

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

I voted for. It'll give me more of a reason to explore the world better.

 

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.

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

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.

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

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.

[tier $80 - 2x digital download of the game (another computer?)]

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.

[Do I see guns and gunpowder ? I hope not :S]

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

[Which game hook brought you to Project Eternity and interests you the most?]

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

[Storyline divergence, significance of choice, and effect on future games.]

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.

[Intelligence-Gathering]

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.

[The Monk Class]

As far as I am concerned I would like to see a monk as a class who is devoted to perfection of mind and body & soul, in this case a selfish pursuit which has associated reputation and inflection on your characters personality. I would want to see the classic wise/teacher rendition of a monk dropped/left out.

 

In terms of magic, the monk would focus their magic inwards to improve core stats and potentially development of psychokinesis and related skills such as barriers of compressed air/ blades of air, manipulation of objects

[A Discussion of Tiers and Backer Rewards]

For me ultimately I want most of my money to go to the devs, and not be tied up in physical items, which I why I kept my pledge digital. That being said you do have the option of donating without asking for a reward, haha I am not enough of a saint for that though

[Drugs]

Drugs is one thing, I would like it if they included something broader such as addiction, which may or may not be inclusive of drugs.

 

If you are going to have drugs, you have to have druggies though, they make some entertaining conversations and interactions!

[Riddles, Puzzles, Tests: No Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blanks Instead]

The problem here is that many riddles dont have a single answer, and there are often more than one word which fits the answer, but because it is not the "right" answer it is rejected.

 

Riddles and puzzles can be fun - somehow I think this should be an option whether or not to tie them to the critical path of the game, as to some they may feel like an exam or get in the way, others certainly relish the challenge.

 

Also if you tell the player immediately whether or not they are right or wrong it leads to save scumming, a less than ideal game experience. If riddles are tied to the stats/skills of the players party then this would lead to word puzzles or riddles being easier to beat and take away the challenge. You could have some riddles which actually get more difficult and obscure the smarter your party is though to mix it up a little.

 

Additional requirement would be creation of riddles specific to the game world which are not well known, common in reality today, or searchable on the net(well until someone makes the answers available)

 

One system which is used is that multiple answers are presented to the player for each question, they are all right, but some are more correct than others, and over a series of questions you get a positive result if you exceed a certain score.

 

There are a lot of complexities I doubt you can get a perfect system in place.

 

That being said - I found the riddles and puzzles enjoyable the first time I encountered them in other IE games.

[Raw experience, or experience that scales with your level?]

I dont think it matters either way - ultimately the devs will balance the game so that you start out on level x and end up around level y (plus or minus depending on amount of optional content you do) by the end. Some people may be in the school of thought that it is more realistic and enhances immersion to have experience scaling, which does make sense from a learning perspective.

 

Keep in mind that the devs have hinted that they may be providing experience rewards based on objective so that fighting enemies or persuading them or sneaking past are equal in terms of experience reward.

 

If exp per enemy defeated is in I would opt to have it hidden from the player, thus this becomes a non-issue.

 

Edit: If xp/kill is in and there are also options for getting xp without killing, doesnt this lead to the inevitable scenario where a player takes a non-combat route, gets the xp, then goes back and kills all the enemies and gets essentially double the amount of xp. The devs have also expressed they want to avoid this scenario, it will be interesting to see how they go about fulfilling these requirements.

[Screen shaking when critical striking please!]

I liked the way they did critical hits in PS:T, an animation/special effect on the enemy being hit + the character who performed the hit saying something appropriate, ie Vhailor - Roaring - YEEEEILD!

[What about hunger ?]

I dont mind food mechanic, but if you ever played utima series you will know feeding 6 or so people every time they get hungry becomes somewhat of a chore. If your party had a regular breaks where they sat down and ate food you had available and engaged in meaningful dialogue, haha or deep brooding in front of a camp fire if you are going solo that may make it more interesting and less of a chore.

 

They could even reference the food, eg expect feedback if there is no food or it has gone off or burnt.

[The community spellbook]

I want to see magic used more out of combat.

• Construction
  
• Conversation/dialogue -
  
• Impersonation
  
• As a distraction, eg distract guards from their post.
  

 

I would also like to see some magic which takes effect over a longer period of time - as most magic these days is instantaneous. They would take a lot of effort and special resources to cast but would provide long lasting benefits such as stat manipulation, or a permanent ability such as night vision. Maybe even to help someone repair a lost limb.

[What types of weapons would you like to see in game?]

From my point of view this is a new world, if they want to incorporate katana's, there is no reason not to have them if in alignment with the games lore and cultures. I have not seen any official information stating that this game will be modeled after middle ages Europe.

[Should gold have weight?]

I would prefer my currency not to have weight, otherwise it becomes another chore and gets in the way of gameplay. Unless your idea of great game play includes all of the rigmaroles of real life.