rjshae

I take the opposite view where those "empty" areas provide an opportunity for exploration. To me exploration suggest there is something interesting to find (well constructed encounter, quest, unique event, nice location). Many of the wilderness locations were quite dull, with dull combat encounters. Hmm, well exploration means travel into the unknown in order to learn about it. The key work being travel. You don't have to find something deep and interesting every other minute; this isn't a music video. I'm fine with so-called "dull" wilderness locations because they highlight the interesting locales. That's what travelling the wilderness is like, and in that sense they're much like similar areas in Baldur's Gate. My preference would have been to include more such wilderness areas with a few interesting highlights.

No, it's the TwitterZone. The Twilight Zone was more like the real world.

Unlikely. That's a common motif among fantasy cRPG games.

The exterior area maps in PoE felt like they were channeling movement too much. I'd prefer something closer to square, or at least more roomy vertically as in the Baldur's Gate series. Yes I understand the isometric perspective plays a role, but they could compensate for that by making them taller.

Sounds like this isn't the game for you then, and I'm fine with that. Good luck finding a game you'll enjoy.

I take the opposite view where those "empty" areas provide an opportunity for exploration.

My thinking is: so what? You talk as if our "concrete reality" has to hold in a world replete with magic. It doesn't. This is not a design flaw; it's the reality of a fantasy setting. The game developers have hard coded a direct relationship between physical and spiritual strength. That's the physics of Eora. It doesn't have to look like our "concrete" reality. If you were somehow tossed into that world, you'd have to deal with it on its own terms. All it really needs to be is consistent.

Well, over the years a lot of fallacies have been ascribed to NWN2, and this is one of them. For example, pretty much any model in NWN can be ported over to NWN2, then further improved. Both games use many of the same scripts plus 2da files for data storage. The main headaches with NWN2 is the extensive use of placeable models and the flexible exterior area building tool. Both are powerful methods, but much more labor intensive than in NWN. Beyond that, the two games are not that different from a toolset perspective. Once you're over the learning curve (and both NWN and NWN2 have one), it's just not that difficult to create models for NWN2. I've built and ported many myself. Meanwhile, NWN can't support the textures sizes and poly counts that NWN2 can, and with NWN2 you get normal mapping, LoD, and tinting capabilities. This (and many other reasons like full party control) is a big reason why it made sense to port games like Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2, and Icewind Dale to NWN2.

It's not a problem. To me it functions like Chi in the martial arts, where it's a representation of life force. You buff up your body, and your muscles become a magical capacitor able to project more soul-based power.

Yes, rather than a linear function, something like a logistic function might be more realistic, where you get to the point of diminishing returns at the two extremes. But that would be much harder to communicate to the audience.

Pure click-bait.

Combat is dangerous.

Can't believe I missed this one. It's not only fair to point that out, it is also extremely important, as that leads directly to the consequences of this particular design choice. Strength as an attribute is very concrete and people have a strong instinctual understanding of what it is. This helps in creating stronger immerison, as everyone already has an instinctive understanding of what the stat does and thus it helps establish the connection between player and player character. Replacing such a stat with an abstract concept of might only serves to create confusion, and it is incredibly detrimental to player immersion. There's no perfect approach to attributes because in the end they are all just crude abstraction of reality. None of the approaches I've seen are ideal -- D&D attributes encourage excessive min-maxing; Champions is more complex; GURPS has too few attributes; PoE is more abstract. In my case I modified my viewpoint and enjoyed myself while playing PoE. Clearly this approach bothers you a lot though, so this probably isn't the game for you.

Have a few sea battles that take place during epic storms, complete with surging waves, driving wind, heavy rain, miserable lightning, and lightning flashes. They can make it near impossible to use bow attacks, participants stagger from the wave impacts, and fire spells can peter out in the wet conditions. Wave crests can roll across the deck, propelling sea creatures onto the ship. Flotsam and jetsam swirl and wash around the battle area. Crewmen are below decks manning the bilge pumps, leaving only a few hands on top to fight.

I'd like to see a mission to help out an outcast godlike child who is living off scraps and occasional handouts. Find out the story behind the child's bleak condition and try to discern some type of religious connotation to its birth.

Consider, an Mig 18 Wizard inflicts +18% more damage than a Mig 12 Wizard. However, an Int 18 Wizard inflicts damage over +36% greater "area" than an Int 12 damage. If you are targeting groups concentrated over a particular region of the battlefield, then the high Int Wizard will tend to inflict a greater net damage than the high Mig Wizard. And in fact it gets even better, because that +36% area is actually an increase in the radius. Hence, for a given density of enemies, the average number of targeted enemies increases by 1.36 x 1.36 = 1.85; a +85% increase. If you're using Wizards for artillery, then high Int is better. For a Battle Mage targeting specific enemies though, a high Mig is better.

This was a bigger problem in BG2, where players would select companions based on their stats rather than their interactions. With PoE, that is less of an issue. Most discussions seem to focus on the persona of the companion. I'd say that's a win for the PoE approach.

Can I get a rabid super chipmunk companion named Anklebite?

Why can't Might be the same Physical Strength? Why can't the power of the magic in this world be based on your physique? It's a different world with different rules. Adapt to it. Deal with it as it is.

One possibility would be to create a highly detailed 3D map in NWN2, then use some type of software interface to scan it into a 2D image for an isometric game like ToEE or BG2. Perhaps this will become possible with Xoreos?

^^ Alas that's all too close to the truth, and so not really that funny.

Yeah, you can fight on two fronts at once.