descalabro

When I was at lower Dorn's Deep in IWD I really wished the lava streams would move, even though It already looked beautiful as it was.

Hmm, I believe that's more a question of the style used. I like the visual style of IWD and ToEE, because the painting-like environments relate more closely to phantasy books without looking cartoonish as you said.

(When I was playing Fallout 2 I remember thinking: "cool, I'm going to get a car sometime. Will I see it move?" I knew the answer would be negative, but I enjoyed wondering. In BG1 I was very glad whenever I saw any animation, as small as it was, but watching a video of a flying Wyvern only to find out it had go around the lake to attack my party. PS:T had some few but awesome animations. IWD had a few animations at the ending, and the fact nothing in Nature moved because all was frozen served as an acceptable excuse. In BG2 there were some improvements, but most of it was static too. Then IWD2 showed a lot more things moving and more big size puzzles, and I wondered if the Infinite Engined could be tweaked so we could get more from it. But then there was Lionheart and nothing more.) I'm very glad this game will be isometric and use pre-rendered art, and I am aware it's not easy to blend 3D animated elements and physics into static "paintings", but come on, almost 10 years have passed... I believe the stillness of pre-rendered graphics was a technical limitation and not an aesthetic option. Pre-rendered isometric games are great because they have a closer relationship with old book and board games but, other than that, I think designers and programmers should be completely free to develop a more interactive experience. I find this very important for the immersion factor. Black Isle games have always had a great atmosphere, the lighting and weather was fantastic and I hope Obsidian's attitude won't be "going back to the RPGs we loved" but "pushing the RPGs we loved to the possibilities of 2012 technology". There's a lot to learn about this on games like Commandos 1, 2 & 3, Robin Hood: the Legend of Sherwood (impressive physical engine!) and Desperados.

wouldn't this depend on the game story?

It's a good thing Obsidian is hearing out suggestions, and although there are awful ideas most people reply accordingly and the idea goes down the sewer, so what's the problem?

They were nice, and I voted "YES", but I think we also need a lot more scenario-involving puzzles. IWD2 was the best in that aspect.

I agree, let's have some rivers running, some windmills working, some vehicles moving, some sea-waves, and some really big creatures. And make dragons fly this time. It really felt awkward when a Wyvern had to go around the lake to attack me instead of flying over the water. It's 10 years later, so no excuses.

If we're going to have dragons, make them goddamn FLY! I'm tired of dragons who can only sit in a cave. Besides it would make combat more interesting and it would be something completely new for this kind of RPG. The Infinity Engine couldn't do that, but now it's 10 years later so no excuses.

The thing with the fixed isometric perspective is that it has become a style in itself, it's good for combat and it's reminiscent of old board games; that's one of the purposes of this game and I'm glad with it.

I agree: for a game like this real-time is the way to go. But I don't find that automatic pause option to be that close to a turn based system for people who prefer turn based.

I think death rules should be kept as they were on Baldur's Gate 2, but the cost of resurrection should be raised.

I think above all that symbol looks kind of cheap. Besides representing cycles, it represents a daemon eating its own tale, which means evil consumes itself. If this has anything to do with the game story, please redesign that symbol. If it doesn't, then think of something else.

The Linux version does seem expensive to make true. I agree with this topic, the money should be used for other development purposes.

It won't be the IE, and I'm sort of glad. I really loved the games that used the IE (except for Lionheart), and I do want a pre-rendered isometric game, but everything was too still with the IE.

Some PS:T will probably be present but, judging from what can be seen at the Kickstarter's page, this game's attitude is very far from the PS:T ideal. In fact, I fear this will be a bit of a cliché game (specially that map...). However, the replies to polls on this forum are giving me hopes for a very good game.

I agree with this topic.

I always felt it was stupid to carry 100.000 gold coins and still have to make decisions on gear because you couldn't carry everything. However, this gold matter shouldn't become tiresome for players. Anyway, I don't think the weight of gold was a matter on original book/board games, so I suppose that's part of the game style.

Yes, it's very important, specially when it's related to weapons and armour.

If the story is going to focus on one very special character I think it's best to invest on making that story and choices as rich as possible. Sacred had the characters start on different locations and it didn't matter enough. Of course on this case it would work better, but not enough I think.

I completely agree with you. And Black Isle/Forgotten Realms games already had a good level of customization. Anyway, shield, weapon, armour and helmet were changeable and it was a good thing we didn't have a choice on the colours and shape of our equipment because that made things a lot more awesome whenever we found that piece of gear that looked really cool. Remember Bathed-In-Blood on the first IWD game?

That's not to say that it need be exactly like that, but money towards the music/soundscapes/voiceovers/recording quality etc This is also not a post about the composer, as it seems likely that Justin Bell will get his shot for Project Eternity (which might be a good thing, as it was the earliest works of other composers for video game soundtracks that are usually their best). Well, with the virtual studio technology available this is a lot of money I would like to see invested elsewhere. Besides, if the music isn't that great the orchestra won't make it better.

I voted "YES" because undead creatures have plenty of combat-related elements, and they give good use to the abilities of the Clerk/Priest. More monster varieties is better anyway.

Well, you could already drink ale on previous Black Isle games, it just wasn't animated for the players to see, it was text. Doing the animations you refer is expensive and time consuming, and these are the type of small things which relate the most to old book and board games because of their textual character. I think it would be best to use that money and time to animate gigantic monsters and vehicles, to animate objects and Nature in the gameworld, to animate rivers and seas, and to develop gameplay physics. But if you meant textual little things, then I totally agree.

For a classic style cRPG I think Jeremy Soule writes the darkest yet most beautiful music, and I too consider the Kickstarter's video music a bit unremarkable. In the first IWD the music did 30% of the enjoyment and immersion for me, and that was a lot, but I agree with most of you here who consider it's better to give the in-house composer a chance.

I agree with all points on this topic. Especially what concerns physics in the gameplay. PLEASE do remember this is 2012 and there is technology to provide a beautiful isometric game a lot more physical interaction with the scenario than before.