rjshae

I agree with this, I wouldn't like the target area to be an absolute, but rather an approximation of where the AOE will spread to. Maybe one circle shows where the spell will definitely hit, and a less opaque, larger circle to show where the spell might hit. A nice touch would be to create monochrome targeting circles with borders that ripple and shift based upon the type of spell. For example, a fireball spell might have edges that resemble shifting flames, while a fog cloud could show tendrils of mist flowing out from the core. A constantly shifting edge would make targeting more problematic and interesting.

It does appear that the character models are being illuminated by directional lighting. If you look at the elves standing around the device, the ones to the lower right have shadowed backs, whereas the ones in the upper right are illuminated by the violet glow. If this was generated by processing of the 3D geometric data, then perhaps some hooks could be left in the code in case an adventurous modder wants to add in some shadow-computing calls? Once that is available, people with sufficient processing power can render the shadows more accurately by adding in the mod.

It's about time! The sexually ambiguous sofa demographic is sadly under-represented in modern gaming, and this is a brave step forward.[/selfdeprecating] I really don't want to know what's down the cracks of that sofa...

The ToEE PC game showed the impact area via an overlay that moved around with the cursor. It was fairly effective and allowed precise placement. However, the game engine was implemented so as to still allow some friendly fire to characters adjacent to the selected area, which I thought was a pretty nice touch. It might be interesting if they gave us a locatable target areas with fuzzy borders, thereby indicating some likelihood of friendly fire.

The reason for the comments is that the OP specifically asked for feedback. For some people that detail stands out more than for others. But I think it's the type of feature that most players will quickly grow used to... as long as the diffuse lighting of the character matches the local lighting level.

^^^^ Err... no. Your SEGA edit looks like a completely separate comment; hence I did not include it. But it's not important.

The level of the detail in the scene is very nice, especially for the creatures. There's a good mix of toned-down hues and it looks like an actual place rather than feeling contrived. Bravo! The shadows... well they're not perfect. But it's enough to provide depth to the scene, so I can live with it. Also four of the creatures around the glowing light look a little cookie-cutter; they're nice, but appear cloned (apart from the weapons). A little size variation would help, as would slightly different garb. Thanks for the update!

Obsidian underestimated how long it would take to make a video game? Say it isn't so. Now we get to know how Sega felt. Apart from this being really dumb.... They underestimated nothing, as the old date was still with the original goal in mind + them saying they will release it as bugfree as possible even if it takes a bit more time. It's not "really dumb" because they (Obsidian) gave an estimated schedule of 18 months after the Kickstarter was closed. I think we all pretty much expected it would take longer, but it's the management prerogative to push the schedule to the left in order to encourage efficiency. Where it would become a concern is if they have budgeted for 18 months and it ends up taking two years, leading to a cost overrun.

I'd say that Fallout 3 is not the best example of how to develop interaction with a companion. The DA and ME series did a better job, and I'm sure the developers of P:E have some comparable character interaction plotlines in mind.

That's easy to implement by pre-generating a key for each possible action and Xor-ing that with a key generated for the game; the modified key is used to generate the random result, so that you always get the same outcome.

The OP makes some good points. Rather than a success/fail, I'd like to see something more akin to a recursive partial success: You receive a pop-up showing a set of items you can nab. It only shows those items that you can access based upon your skill rank versus the opponent's save rank, with modifiers for the item placement. I.e. body armor should get a massive save bonus; items hanging from the belt get no modifier. You only get a general impression about what's available to pinch, so you only see things like armor, weapon, garb, trinket, &c. Items can be better identified once you exit the dialogue. You can get synergy bonuses when another member of the party has a comparable pick-pocket skill. Each time you take an item from the pop-up, the list is regenerated with the opponent gaining a cumulative bonus to their save. This repeatedly shortens the list of remaining items, and at some point there is nothing left to take.

It's five weeks sway from the one year anniversary. I guess it must be proceeding more slowly than they thought.

Although at first your faithful pet seems like an ordinary animal, in time you discover that it is actually a natal soul. That is, it is a newly formed soul that has never before seen the mortal realm. Instinctively, natal souls seek out a patron with an unbroken soul in order to find its balance and true purpose. The natal soul begins to acquire characteristics of the patron, and in time becomes more than an ordinary creature: they may gain special, unique powers that depend on the nature of the bond. When reborn, such a natal soul may have acquire sufficient identity to achieve a higher form, such as a human. Natal souls that fail to bond with an unbroken soul become cast adrift, turning into animal spirits that linger in the wilderness, acquiring unusual traits and powers. Some natal souls are wracked by forbidden magic to become twisted, malign spirits. At some point in the game, the player may be offered a sizable sum for their pet by a secret practitioner of dark magic; if he accepts, the pet is later encountered having been turned into such a warped creature. Refusing to sell the pet would instead reveal the true nature of the creature's soul.

If you're going to pool the loot, then some type of gathering animation would be nice. For example, upon clicking the loot button, streaky blurs move from the source creatures to a single pile. A drawback to pooling the loot in this manner is that notable finds may get lost in the mix. Stuff that is interesting should move to the top of the pile.

Perfect and after that we can go on a pseudo-adventure in which upon entering the area we pick a faction we helped and check boxes for what tasks we accomplished. If you like. Unless there is some specific type of event going on, like the movement of an army, cross-country encounters in dangerous regions are going to be random affairs anyway. There's just no way to make them predictable without perfect intelligence. If you don't want to include random encounters, then travel becomes a pretty boring affair unless you mini-game it.

The primary benefits (to the game) of random encounters seems to be building character experience and using up party expendable assets. You could accomplish the same thing by providing pseudo-XP for travel across perilous regions of the world map, which can then be purchased in exchange for expendables. There could be a box on the map where you can put travel expendables; as you travel across dangerous regions, those are randomly used up and you gain XP in exchange.

You'd think that a horse would be the preferred mode of transport in a post-apocalyptic environment. But the only mounts I recall were the trader's pack animals. Maybe bicycles then...

it's all about this magical stuff called unobtanium, found deep in the earth's crust, or occasionally under oversized trees. Yes, that could be another motivator. It was called Lyrium in the Dragon Age series, which had some interesting properties and effects.

A world with cannon that can knock down castle walls and magic that can excavate earth and rock provides a reasonable motive for building underground structures. Perhaps earthen excavation is one of the primary economies of wizardly magic? Those who can shape and harden rock, or can summon earth moving brutes, may be much sought after by the wealthy and powerful.

Looting in ToEE was atrocious for that; after finishing off a room full of 20-30 baddies it would take forever to click through each of the corpses and weed out the useful gear. It was especially bad when multiple bodies got stacked up. Plus after a while you'd be guessing which ones you'd looked at and which you hadn't. Either grouping the loot or giving us a looting dialog window would be an improvement.

Horror usually works better when you start off with a sense of normalcy. That sets the baseline and makes it clear that horror is not the usual condition.

...and they used duct tape.

Yes, to me player choice is a key essence of what turns a game into a RPG. The fewer choices there are, the less like a RPG it becomes. A good design provides a range of choices in an integrated package that doesn't overwhelm the player and detract from the fun. The nice thing about a computer interface is that it can deliver a complexity of detail in a user friendly interface. Translating that back into a PnP form may... require some compromises, including simplification. But I blather on...

I never actually hated DA 2 and found that some of the concerns people were howling about seemed fairly minor to me. Having a family structure for the main character really helped with the assimilation into the setting and the story. But the combat seemed a little too twitchy and uninteresting, while the city mostly felt like an empty shell. I played it through a second time as a mage and it was more enjoyable. I'd rate it as slightly above average.

^^^ It might be of benefit when battling the Goblin boss or any of his champions.