rjshae

I guess I do have some concern that too much of a focus on the details of sailing and maneuvering would distract from what people generally like in an RPG. Then again, the same could probably be said for the stronghold yet I'm looking forward to that, so it all depends on execution and I probably don't need to worry either way. I agree that there's no harm in discussing this stuff now; it's quite an interesting discussion. Just saying that the chances of any of this being implemented in a sequel are uncertain, let alone in the first game. Understood. Later releases will undoubtedly include additional elements not available in the first in order to add interest and perceived value. Personally I'd be okay with most of the sailing details getting abstracted, perhaps using a text dialogue.

Yes it would be easier to implement using this approach, then perhaps add the approach sequence with a subsequent release. Without the latter though it just becomes a conventional battle with some choke points and everybody wearing light or no armor. Hmm, I guess they could add in some attackers who swing over and drop behind the lines. I think everything we're talking about here would have to be for a subsequent release. There is a 0% chance that the first PE will have systematic ship travel and ship combat, and maybe a slight chance that there will be some one-off event taking place on a ship. And even in a sequel, I see nothing wrong with the text + battles approach. WIth your last sentence you seem to be beginning to see the possibilities, but there's more. You can still incorporate cannons, ballistae, and grappling hooks into the action, stormy weather can play a role, there can be sea monsters that act differently from land-based monsters, and of course the layout of two ships side-by-side will be very different from most land-based battle maps. Additionally, there's a lot to be said for just the change in atmosphere and the story implications, even if battles did turn out to be exactly the same as land battles. Yes, many of these have been mentioned already; please reach the prior postings. I was just adding an additional element that would make a simplified approach more interesting. While adding elements like cannon shot and ballistae shot would make it more dramatic, it would likely require more in-depth development than just a simple approach animation. I'm not sure how much added value that would have. But possibly those could be treated as additional random events during the approach. As for the timing of this addition: I see no harm in just discussing this as if it were feasible now. The developers are more than capable of determining the appropriate time (and budgeting) to include it. There's no need to fret on that account.

Yes it would be easier to implement using this approach, then perhaps add the approach sequence with a subsequent release. Without the latter though it just becomes a conventional battle with some choke points and everybody wearing light or no armor. Hmm, I guess they could add in some attackers who swing over and drop behind the lines.

Try telling that to magic users. Even multi-classing into most of the prestige classes crippled your spell allocation. In 2nd Edition, if you multi-classed magic, you could remain competitive, but clearly inferior to your single-classed brethren. In 3rd, if you tried to equally level two spell schools, you'd be miles off the pace and might as well not bother. A level 5 cleric/level 4 mage in the 3rd edition is not worth a fraction of what a level 9 Mage is. Fighter is very much the exception rather than the rule, since every other class had high level class-specific abilities/traits that rewarded you for maintaining your class. I've said it before, but I find the third edition offers a huge selection of worthless choices while the second offers a limited selection of tactically viable choices that encourage experimentation without penalising you (except, you know, bards, but screw those guys). I think this is basically the issue that Prestige classes helped to solve, while providing you with additional ways to fine-tune your character. It's still a hack though. I suspect they just didn't want to jump fully into a point-based system because it was too much of a change.

This one took a second...

Your post reads like a feeble troll, but I'll respond. Yes I've looked at the map. Guess what? There is an oceanic coastline with islands. Coastlines with port cities indicate sea travel between them. Did you bother to read my original post? It's about ship-vs.-ship battle, not major naval engagements. I believe I made clear in the initial post that this would require additional steps, so your assertions aren't insightful. Yes I got the weak joke, and attempted to turn it into something constructive. I'm sure the game will have plenty of bridges as well, so you should feel right at home.

I don't see why aerial combat couldn't be included. Of course you'd lose the three-dimensional aspect of it, but the idea of battles between flying ships, flying carpets, or hippogriff-mounted troops across a sky area seems do-able. Perhaps have a hazy view of the ground below with cloud effects moving across the display.

He's referring to the successful Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter from inXile. If you'd like to keep up on the news about CRPGs like this, a good site is RPGWatch.

Still waiting on a space opera based on the Lensman series... ...

An idea that still intrigues me is the possibility of having ship-to-ship combat in an IE-style game. I could see that happening in two stages: 1) the enemy ship moves across the area toward the party's ship, allowing ranged combat to take place, including spells and firearms; 2) following some animations showing grappling hooks being tossed across, the two ships become joined together in a stationary position, allowing boarding across ramps. A pitched battle ensues. The first part would require some special coding to factor in the moving ship during combat. That's probably the part that makes this concept more difficult to implement. But it would add a lot of realism to the scene. I'm not sure how do-able that is, mechanics-wise. Perhaps the enemy are repeatedly translated across the map by applying offsets to their positions many times a second? The issue of fire during the battle would be a concern. Tossing fireballs across could cause both ships to catch fire, so perhaps the game would need to impose a restriction on fire spells? This wouldn't necessarily need to be a mechanical restriction, but could perhaps be handled via a faction change with the group transporting the party. However, that would also require that the game simulate the spread of fire across the ships, and possibly sailors spending time fighting those fires. Any thoughts?

I kind of like this idea but for the fact that it sounds like a lot of railroading. What if my character doesn't want to have kids? What if my character has no love interest, or my character is gay, or my character is a psychopath who would sooner butcher and devour a potential mate rather than produce offspring with him/her? What if my character just prefers the life of the wanderer over the ol' ball and chain, finding the idea of settling down with husband/wife and a gaggle of brats absolutely nauseating? Basically, the sequel would all hinge on your character being the family type. Not that games like BG2 didn't railroad you to the point of absurdity, but in general I think that's something to avoid if you can. As a player you wouldn't need to be concerned about having a family. All you need to do is make it to the end of the first game, whereupon the writers can author an epilogue based upon the character you played. Granted, the corner cases you presented would make it a challenge.

So, you had Garrick in your party in BG1? Did anyone keep a Bard in their party at all? IMO, that was easily the worst class in all of 2E. Hopefully Chanters will be useful. I tried to force myself to try one for a while, but it basically played like a party of 5.1. That experience wasn't unique to BG1 though.

Watched The Tomorrow People on the CW last night; it had pretty decent effects and a young hottie cast. The background story seemed like a variant of Jumper, with a plot twist or two.

I recommend talking to yourself. Tried that, but we had irreconcilable differences...

I love the sensation of having my mind expanded through creative and meaningful discourse. Where can I find that?

The golden ratio is 1.62:1, so under that ideal a portrait 330 pix high would have a width of 204 px. Also, most portrait frames have a weighted bottom, which might help with the presentation. Just saying...

Yep. Although in games such as IWD and ToEE you didn't have that sort of banter so they devolved into tactical combat systems. In P:E I'll focus on the characters the first couple of times, then fine tune the party's tactical makeup for a hardcore run through.

^^^^ Part of the problem comes from restricting class names to single words. You can get a lot more colorful with 2-3 words.

Tactile Rendering of 3D Features on Touch Surfaces, from Disney Research I can think of any number of uses for this...

Now there's a feature that never really gets much use in the IE series: choosing primary/secondary colors for your character. Once you start wearing armor then your color selections become fairly useless.

Only with the right makeup...

A better approach to designing a multi-classing system might be to build it that way from the ground up. That is, start with the assumption that a character will always be built with two demi-classes, then manage the special case where the demi-classes are the same class. (I.e. add in additional options and benefits for specializing in a single class that compensate for the fact that your character is less flexible.) A variant of this approach would be to have a major (67%) and a minor (33%) class, then allow a character to take three minor (3x33%) classes... with some limitations.

I'm not sure that a game about a virtually empty desert world would be worth playing, or even be considered "space opera".

Hopefully you folks are planning ahead for an HD release several years down the road by saving the assets in a higher definition form.

Nothing to do with P:E. Flush, wipe, move along...