rjshae

Well it's one balancing mechanism or another; choose your poison. The summoner is presumably staying out of combat, so the stamina is going to other purposes. In the example I gave, the summoner gets a 2 for 1 deal with the Stamina, effectively reducing their rate of loss. The summoner is also not taking Health damage--that is being absorbed by the summoned creature.

The same as with professions in real life: by providing a variety of different situations in each of which the strengths and skills of just a subset of the classes is favored.

Summoned creatures could be turned into Stamina drains for their owners by giving them a lower Stamina cap and allowing the caster to transfer her own Stamina when the creature gets low (at, say a 1-for-2 rate). This could be done by setting up a Stamina link at the instant of summoning, which automatically draws down the caster's Stamina as needed. If the caster doesn't sustain the summoned creature, then it gets eliminated relatively quickly. Requiring Stamina maintenance would remove the need to limit the number of summons and make it a resource management issue.

A suggestion would be to expand on the current system by adding in spell components that function like weapon ammo. Having them available temporarily expands the number of uses per combat, at the price of using up the components. The components could then be added to the random loot tables.

Haven't we discussed this before? Not that it matters, I suppose. Let's say 40-80 hours of play time and twelve levels; that's one level up per ~3-6 hours of play. Seems fine.

Wasteland 2 is coming soonish. It is still in beta and probably has a ways to go, but I think its the most recent thing coming out next. Maybe a few more months? Yup, plus Shadowrun: Dragonfall, Divinity: Original Sin, The Witcher 3: WIld Hunt, Blackguards, and many more. This may turn out to be the new golden age.

Brianne of Tarth.

Early on I was hoping they would add a small panel showing an overhead view (even if it was just iconized). Nothing appears to have come of it though.

It's been mentioned that they are aiming to reach level 12. The fact that they are about half way there is news to me; that may mean it's another year away. Fortunately there are plenty of other good CRPGs coming out this year to fill the void. It is encouraging to read that he speaks positively of future games if this does well. I'm also glad that there will be a large variety of monsters.

Settlements that feel devoid of life. I don't enjoy the experience of walking into a city that is inhabited by a handful of cardboard cutout characters and has only a few working doors. I'd rather find a ruined, empty city inhabited only by beasts.

I don't think that claim is broadly accepted at all. Certainly not in this community. I'm very forgiving towards claims of spiritual succession, and even I don't buy that one. I suspect also that all but the most committed skeptics would agree that the PoE apple is not going to fall nearly as far from the tree as the DA:O one did. If anything, DA:O was the spiritual successor to NWN2.

There could be some class differentiation made by the types of stores you can access. For example, a Rogue gets access to a black market shoppe by demonstrating his skills; priests and paladins allows access beneficial potions at a temple; wizards are permitted to trade with the magic guild; rangers can trade with the elven clan, etc.

This is not an option that seems worth pursuing.

It's got to be my favorite ad from the SB...

Thus the story began with a solemn, baritone voice that exclaimed, "You must gather your party before venturing forth...."

Charged power: bonus to Thrusting attacks, but you're fatigued afterwards and need to cuddle.

If Rangers are going to be given the option to melee focus, I think Fighters should be provided a decent ranged capability.

NPC-specific quests can be decently useful for establishing class distinctiveness. At least in terms of providing some atmosphere. IIRC, there's not going be much in the way of magical equipment differences. But that was another approach that worked, I believe.

I like to think that science is a procedural construct to help correct for the evolved biases of the human mind. It's not a truth unto itself, but provides a road-map to avoid useless rationalizations.

Sure you do, magic. Just like a Ring of Protection (+whatever) magically confers protection to your entire body, not just that particular finger. People only use that excuse because they don't like boobplate. Yes. Having armor that is extremely unencumbering while still providing at least some (magical) deflection should be highly beneficial for somebody using fast-attack tactics. Not to mention being very distracting to some opponents. For verisimilitude, though, bikini armor should really have some definite weaknesses compared to full-body armor. Such as not providing much protection against elemental powers.

But... but... what about the steam-powered femgolems with the muskets hidden in their jubblies?

Us dweebs are wired to be precise in that way. Don't be so ignorant.

The DA2 series presented a choice between equally two bad options: I'm not sure that approach was any better. It'll be interesting to see how well the T:ToN method works.

Mmm, bacon...

Hooray, good for the Hawks!