rjshae

Also ignoring that wizards can't channel positive energy for no reason, it's about a big a leap as to any other caster class. In Project Eternity, literally the only thing seperating a wizard and priest in function is how they use their souls, this is a similar case for D&D as well. Druids derive their power from nature, Clerics derive their power from deities (or their philosophy and beliefs, unless you know, you break the rules to not allow clerics to do that), Sorcerers just have innate magical power, Bards are similar to sorcerers (but they perform instead for some reason), Wizards derive their power from logic. So according to you, wizards, sorcerers, bards, druids, and whatever else I missed that doesn't have a deity are basically the same things. So yes, it is a big a leap as I think. One's source of power in D&D dictates one's magical abilities, so logic =/= belief. It makes a huge difference. Ah, another reducio ad absurdum argument. I made no statement about how magic works; merely implying that tying magic to logic is unnecessary and possibly absurd. You are wrapping yourself around the axle with your own assumptions.

You don't want a flashy interface for a game representing a late middle ages epoch. In this case the 1960s mini would be just fine for a representing the 1960s epoch. To me the tone and texture of the interface seems fine.

Sure, as long as you completely ignore the fact that wizards derive their power from logic. That's really not as big a leap as you seem to think.

When the party is in exploration mode, the designers could add an option to have the control panel auto-hide at the bottom of the screen (much like what you can do with the Windows 7 taskbar). That would free up more real estate. Once you're in combat or interacting, the panel can then scroll back into view (perhaps accompanied by a suitable sound).

Err... Americans are not rude, smug, self-entitled, annoying buttheads? Wow, who'd have thought?

This point makes a ton of sense to me. Just sayin'...

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.