rjshae

Discounting the stylistic issues, there is the problem of the screen dimensions. What you have is a wide screen with good visibility to the left and right, but the vertical visibility is not so great, and it's been reduced quite a bit further now. This is more of a problem with fixed perspective games because it forces a left-right exploration pattern in order to see a decent distance ahead. Modern CRPGs tend to have only a small presence at the bottom of the screen and put more of the player information along the sides, thereby taking full advantage of the display space. I think this is what is meant by "2013 not 1998". I suppose the issue could be partially solved by tending to orient the display so that the party is at the top or the bottom of the mid-section when they move down or up, respectively.

The issue with save or die events is that they tend to dominate the play of D&D at higher levels. For a CRPG, the net result of that is a reload and do over after applying more scrolls and potions; not really much fun overall. So no, I'm not in favor of this.

At first I was taken back a little by the UI because it takes up so much of the vertical real estate. But I can see you went that way because of the need for a message box. Style-wise the UI bar looks very nice and solid. It kind of grows on you. Giving modders a means to apply different skins would be beneficial though. I really enjoyed the concept art and the line drawing, plus the work descriptions were interesting. Good work!

Okay, but let's call them Wizards instead.

The best element of NWN2 was the toolset and the ability to make your own D&D adventures. I wasn't all that excited by the campaigns.

Red Dead Redemption? Not sure that was released on both consoles though, but definitely not on PC. Yes, that was one of those very rare titles that gave me console envy. But I got over it.

I'm wondering if they could use the same technique for the portraits that they employ on the game scenes? That is, initially render the character busts as 3D models, then convert them to 2D portraits and allow the artists to apply their skills to make the faces look appealing and non-creepy. The portraits could thereafter be modified by a variety of different backgrounds, clothing, jewelry, helms, and hats.

Unless I missed something, the Stash is always available to put things into. It's just that things can only be taken out of it at campsites/towns, etc. The Shared Pack is the area where not-immediately-equipped items reside that can be equipped and/or used and/or shuffled about/dropped/etc. without having to travel back out of a dungeon/"dangerous" region to do so. This is what has confused me regarding your post. You can travel into a dungeon with a FULL shared Pack and still escape with plenty of loot at the end of the foray. It's just that, if you find a Sword of Awesome halfway through the dungeon, the only options are "put it in the Stash where I can't access it" or "leave it lying about upon the ground." Whereas, if you had Pack space, you could actually equip the Sword of Awesome now (AND keep your current weapon). Well, actually, I suppose you could always toss your immediately-equipped weapon into the Stash, then pick up and directly equip the Sword of Awesome. *shrug* Not sure if that's true or not. Yes, sorry, I forgot about the stash always being available as a deposit box. In terms of tuning the Shared pack size though, I think it could still be made somewhat flexible. Some players will want to play pack rats that carry every possible tool they need, so they could do so if they accept the weight penalties or bulk up the party with high Strength scores. Others can choose to travel light and mobile, but less prepared for every contingency.

A brief update on Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced edition on ShackNews. They report 350,000 words of new content and mention some potential future DLC for BGEE.

Oh sure, but do you make it small and make the party do frequent trips to camp for a loot unload? Or do you make it huge? Some type of weight-based penalties would allow the player to choose how much loot they want to carry around while still making the stash relevant. With weight incentives, I could see the party entering a dungeon with a nearly empty shared Pack so that they can escape with plenty of loot at the end of the foray.

Historical India is a prime target for a CRPG; there's plenty of mythology to explore there. But I can see why they want to enhance the graphics. It's a bit vanilla right now and the perspective needs a little work.

Neither was Mithril. 8P I suppose one could assume that the Dwarves made platinum available at an earlier date. But it might be more interesting and unique to use different metals, such as iron and bronze in the Chinese style so they can be strung on a string.

Install a chip in everybody's head to make them behave like an ant: *poof*, true communism. ...and lots of fun was had by all.

There was a nice PE round-up article on GameBanshee: http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/111526-project-eternity-social-round-up.html In particular, one section caught my eye: I do like the idea of a shared inventory. However, I wonder about the limit on the shared Pack. What would happen if there were no hard limit on this? Instead, it could be unlimited in capacity but impose penalties as the total bulk increases. Imagine the party trying to tow a bunch of heavy packs down through a dungeon: they would be spending more of their attention on carrying the heavy load and less on carefully watching their surroundings. Hence, the heavier the shared Pack, the greater the penalties to skills like Spot and Search. Plus they would be slower to react to a dangerous situation, so they take Reflex-like penalties when avoiding traps or explosions and an initiative penalty at the start of combat. An implementation such as this provides an incentive for the player to put extra points into character Strength scores and to keep the Pack light and tight. What do you think?

Platinum wasn't available in the medieval era.

Yeah, the end game in the NWN OC just got crazy with the flashy, glowing, swirling effects. It was so bad I could barely make out my character. But that was more of a problem for higher level spells; lower level magic is usually not too bad. I'm okay with the minor effect indicators around the characters though.

Sigh. Okay, why?

I think it's one thing that DA:O got wrong, having weapons magically float on your back My statement was with regard to the action; not the graphical implementation. That was clearly the focus of the discussion. But I suppose you have some appendages to scratch, so have at it.

I think they'll have to balance out the need for nice special effects against the limitations of all the systems that can run a 2D game like this. But yeah, well-done magical effects and sounds can add a lot to the atmosphere. I wasn't all that impressed with the effects in the DA series; many of the NWN2 effects were more striking, I think.

^^^^ Tastes vary. Which one of Gaiman's books do you mean? The Hugo and Nebula award-winning American Gods? Perhaps it's not for everyone. My favorite was Neverwhere. It felt... spooky and atmospheric, and seemed like an interesting concept for a RPG.

Not a computer game, but kickstarter-related: Neil Gaiman is teaming up with Michael Reeves for a vampire movie Kickstarter called Blood Kiss. Neil, of course, is one of the all time best fantasy authors ever.

So play a rogue. If you don't like the background story for the class, don't read it.

A thought occurs: for chanters, perhaps acoustics is all important in their ability to wield their power and to project energy where they will it. For this reason, they practice various means of gauging how sound carries in their surroundings. Music and oratory are useful tools for acquiring intuition about the acoustical properties of shapes and materials, so many chanters are naturally drawn to the entertainment professions. Once in battle, a chanter needs to 'attune' themselves to their surroundings in order to gauge their powers to best effect. They may even need to move to different locations in order to apply their abilities in a potent manner.

Factoring in age probably works better in point-based systems. In a class/level system, age could be modeled by giving the characters some initial number of levels in a non-adventuring class. Thereafter the older characters would advance more slowly, but would have better starter skills. However, this may result in balancing issues and I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort.

I kind of like "Bane of Squishies".