rjshae

I'd like to run my own den of stinking decency on an asteroid base; attracting all of the recently reformed galactic scum and villainy to build a trading post selling holographic dream vacations and strange alien pets as souvenirs. Plus a transport line to bring the paying customers to my exotically-decorated domecile, and a refurbished star destroyer to deter the psychodrug-riddled bands of ravaging pirate brigands infesting the region. Oh, and a fully automated factory for building a line of sexy geishabots too... and a hipster galactic radio station with a freeky wierd jock spinning the tunes. All in the name of interstellar freedom and democracy.

I think we should all get grognard plushies. Or, you know... pillows with lifetime warranties. They could just be called Pillers of Eternity. 6_u You should get locked in a pillory of eternity for that...

At least it's somewhat useful. A DVD you'd watch once then stow away forever, and you get the exact same benefit with the downloadable vid.

I'd like to humbly suggest that we all get a day of vacation on July 20th each year. We'll call it... Armstrong day.

As I haven't had access to the beta, I'm not really sure what I'm looking at here. Where should I be looking for this 'reticle'? Are you referring to the red arrow points perhaps?

Nope, it's just following the hype cycle.

Am I the only one who thinks the entire Bayonetta thing is just 100% pure stupid. From frakked up proportions to pistol high-heels to pretty much everything. It's the kind of stupid that I'd normally laugh at, except it's too stupid to do even that. Isn't Bayonetta a French product? I think the explanation is that they have different tastes than we do. Jerry Lewis, for example. Although Asterix was pretty good for its time.

Yes, that skill increase method probably works better with a single character game like TES; for a party-based system like PoE or W2 you pretty much need a synergistic approach to skills.

Well, given that we're only getting five skills, that won't be reproduced in PoE either. Unless it is somehow being implemented via talents...

An issue with this is the player will need to be given an early opportunity to purchase equivalent equipment--before their first combat at least. That might not be possible, depending on how the game starts.

Impact Winter "Impact Winter is a post-apocalyptic survival RPG that deals with the themes of leadership, teamwork, isolation and survival. You play the role of Jacob Solomon: leader of a group of survivors holed-up in a remote church. The game is set 8 years after ‘the catastrophe’: an asteroid collision that's decimated Earth’s population and triggered Impact Winter - a form of ice age that's lowered the planet’s temperature and buried it under constant snowfall. The game begins with Ako-Light - your android companion - intercepting a mysterious broadcast claiming that help will arrive in 30 days. Your aim is simple... survive!" "You play Jacob Solomon: team leader, decision maker and the person responsible for providing the group’s supplies and resources. Your team is comprised of 4 other survivors, brought together through circumstance and each with their own skills and personalities. Your NPC colleagues have automated behavior and will remain inside the Church, guarding it from threats and undertaking the tasks you assign to them. Each team member will be an asset to the group through use of their unique skills. If the required stats (and supplies) are high enough, these skills can be utilized to help aid your survival. Keeping the group alive will be crucial to your cause. If a team member dies their skills become unavailable. There's no going back!" Looks like it might be interesting.

If you had a reason to employ an escalating-cost point-buy system, sure. But, if not, the easiest thing to do would be to simply grant +1 attribute points every 6 levels. The result is the same. The only difference would be that, if you had lower stats, you could increase them by 3 points after 6 levels. But, in the end, you'd still be limited to whatever degree by the maximum point-buy allowed by the system, based on how many total points you could get. Every point-based system limits your character builds by the total possible points you can acquire. So what? But an escalating-cost point-buy system provides a means of min-maxing by using linear attribute increases with level up.

A number of them look good, although a few are decidedly more advantageous than others. I like the Beat with an Ugly Stick, Mad Doctor, and Raised in the Pits.

If they use an attribute point buy system where the cost increases as the attribute increases, then they could give you more attribute points by making improvement costs the same as during the initial build. As an example, suppose your Might score is at a level where it would cost 3 points to improve by +1. You, the player, would need to accumulate 3 attribute improvement points to boost your Might by +1. If they give the player a +1 attribute point per two levels, then after six levels of advancement the Might could be increased by +1.

Heh, a potato he says (while I casually hide my slide rule under a stack of paper)... You kids are spoiled rotten!

If negative traits > positive traits, then there is a net imbalance. The positive trait would be there to make it an interesting character. It would be easy to unbalance a character just by having it walk around naked, but not very interesting.

Pre-ordering a game seems like sending off for a mail-order spouse--you may be happy with your choice, or you may be getting a lunatic blood-sucking leech that drives you off the cliff.

Yes, my choice of thread title is not optimal. Most of the complaints were regarding character design and being able to make mistakes while building your PC, as you can fairly readily in other games.

They do need to add some little electromagnetic widgets on the headphones to mess with your inner ear...

That's perhaps not the best example of where I was going. How about a 'Bad Eyesight' background that significantly hinders searches and ranged attacks, but you get a bonus to hearing checks? Or a 'Weak Health' or 'Body Odor' disadvantage?

There's been some discussion of how some players prefer a game where it is possible to make bad character design decisions. Given that the game is being designed to avoid bad builds, would it make sense to add optional background picks that deliberately create an unbalanced character? For example, a background pick that starts with the PC receiving an initially negative reception from some key factions, but the pick is partly rewarded by gaining a specific bonus talent.

I tend to think of rangers as a type of skirmishing/scouting class. They could be adept at breaking away from combat, or striking then rapidly shifting position. In this sense they would be rogue-like, although I don't think they'd get the rogue's spike damage. Their ranged attacks are more adept at firing between obstacles, thereby allowing them to better fire into a mixed melee or strike a foe behind cover. Over long ranges though, the accuracy of a ranger and fighter with a missile weapon are probably somewhat comparable. Thus their talents could include things like a Sprinting Shot (take an accuracy penalty but gain extra movement after each shot), Acrobatic Maneuver (to bypass or disengage an enemy), Ricochet (to hit a concealed target), and Point Blank (for close ranged fire).

The one I have a concern about is the dual-wielding specialist for Ranger. I don't see a plausible reason why a Ranger would choose this path since it relies on having plenty of open space; try flailing a pair of scimitars around in the woods and see how soon it takes you to get entangled. To me a Ranger should be better at maneuvering around obstacles and taking advantage of terrain. They would use thrusting weapons like a spear, or short weapons with smaller arcs. As long as they are using suitable weapons, I'd give them a speed and deflection bonus while fighting in the wilds.

My pick would be: March 21st, 3... 2... 1... boom!

So much anger, so much rage... ah, gotta love college football.