rjshae

Mmm... I thought a strong point of the PoE Wizard was going to be their flexibility? At least that's what I seem to recall from an earlier update. It'd be a shame for them not to have IE spells like Confusion or Fear.

It's predictable that there will be some diehard grumblers trying to stir the pot of discontent at this stage of the PoE release cycle. There's very few (if any) games released that don't displease somebody or other.

Mathematically, it looks like a problem with trying to add bonuses when really the probabilities need to be multiplied. Possibly they could simulate it a little better by computing a weighted sum, with the higher weights being applied to the larger bonuses. For example: 100% * D1 + 85% * D2 + 60% * D3 + 50% * D4 + ... .

Night Witches by Bully Pulpet Games. "Night Witches is a tabletop RPG about Soviet airwomen during World War Two, flying daring night time bombing missions in biplanes." Succeeding with $37K. The Underground: A Sam & Fuzzy RPG by Damocles Thread Development. "The Underground: A Sam & Fuzzy Role-Playing Game is a tabletop RPG created by Damocles Thread Development and cartoonist Sam Logan, using mechanics built from the ground up and tailored to the unique universe of the Sam & Fuzzy comic book." Currently at $14,483 with 28 days to go. Vow of Honor RPG by Sigil Stone Publishing. "Vow of Honor is a tabletop roleplaying game focusing on the Arbiters of Fasann: icons of justice sworn to the Tenets of Honor. It's a game designed specifically for one reason: to play skilled warrior judges sworn to a strict honor code in a world full of dishonor. The system and the setting are unique and designed to fully support one another, and playing as an Arbiter is often a resonating experience. You get to be a hero (fallen or not), and the game supports and encourages that." Presently at $1,866 with 23 days to go.

I wouldn't mind seeing some cRPGs develop an interesting and platonic interpersonal relationship with a side kick, somewhat comparable to those in the old Legend of Hercules or Xena: Warrior Princess TV series.

Working on a snow cap mod that will provide some deep snow tops for buildings and other placeables in a game. It gives a nice Christmas-y look.

I don't agree with this on the principle that I backed the game in order to see it published; not to create a market for collectibles. A contribution made now should have the same value as contributions made during the Kickstarter.

Fair enough, you do realize that Bioware has tried very hard to improve DA:I on almost all levels ( and I assume that will include Romance ) and it has been receiving mostly favourable reviews? DA2 has a score of 82 on metacritic from the critics; a high score doesn't mean it will be well received by most players. (Note that I'm part of the 27% who actually enjoyed DA2.) I didn't find the 'romance' options in DA2 the least bit compelling. I think they would have done better to skip those and focus on improving the rest of the game.

Of course they can, but at a cost. It's a matter of weighing the required development and testing time against the potential pay-off for a lower priority addition.

YESSssssss! I think whip weapons are harder to implement because of the unique animations required. Plus perhaps their most effective ability is entanglement, which also requires animations, additional graphics, and special coding.

It's perhaps best not to think of 'Spiritual Strength' in terms of sentience. I find the concept to be similar to the Chinese Qi, or life energy, so it may not be as familiar as Western philosophies used in most fantasy games.

There's this, and there's also the fact that our tastes change as we age. At this point I like to see a deeper development of character interactions, more compelling reasons for engaging in combat, and well crafted challenges. A pretty view is enjoyable for a few hours, but it doesn't carry the story for me.

Perhaps a modder will add in some camp followers that the promancers can ply with sweet words and various gifts acquired from exotic ruins? Like a saucy young barmaid bravely rescued from a burning pub.

They are still listed on the original Kickstarter page.

We clearly have different perspectives here so I'm not sure how beneficial this will be to continue. I'll just say that because I enjoy (abstracted) elements A and B of a game, I would not find it as enjoyable if they drop element B and just have A. To me, A plus B provide more satisfaction than just A or B alone. Does that make sense? OTOH, providing an enjoyable element C instead of B could be an acceptable alternative.

But I'll bet your taste in books has changed since you were a teenager. When I go back and try to play a retro game that I once enjoyed, now I often find it to be just tedious and uninteresting. Even replaying BG/BG2 wasn't nearly as much fun. Games have evolved and so have our expectations of them.

It's the OK-K-K branch....

Congratulations, this discussion is 100% guaranteed to absolutely suck all the life out of a romance.... Bravo. Well done.

You weren't misunderstood, and I agree that a well-designed, creative, and novel encounter can be enjoyable in and of itself. But that's, what, maybe 10-20% of the total for a typical game? Most of the innovation comes with Boss monster fights. Would you miss the filler combat if it was gone from the game? Actually, it doesn't even feel like filler combat, at least to me, with the current level of difficulty in the backer beta, although they've achieved that unintentionally. I don't consider it 'filler'. It's a core element of most cRPGs.

You weren't misunderstood, and I agree that a well-designed, creative, and novel encounter can be enjoyable in and of itself. But that's, what, maybe 10-20% of the total for a typical game? Most of the innovation comes with Boss monster fights.

As an alternative, the designers could provide bestiary XP in the form of rare tomes that are primarily accessible via non-combat paths through the game. Suppose you had, say, a pacifist faction rating because of your aversion to combat, then perhaps certain like-minded loremasters will be willing to part with these unique wares for a small fee.

The problem you are asserting isn't the fault of the XP reward; it's a problem with poor encounter design. My assertion would be that, all else being equal, combat without the expectation of a reward will be less fun than combat with an XP reward at the end.