rjshae

It'd be nice if there was an easy mechanism, perhaps even an AI rule, that causes an archer to switch from regular ammo to scarcer but more effective ammo. In BG it was kind of a pain to do so, given the number of potential targets and the task of opening the inventory and swapping ammo in and out.

Awww....

Was it BG where they had the PC head-scratching animation while wielding a wacking-great weapon in the sword hand? Amusing, that was.

I like the little bits of background clutter that add atmosphere to a setting. The mysterious stains on the wall, a hole in a thatched roof, broken windows, a leaning chimney, cow piles in the pasture, leaves floating down the stream (Drakensang!), old hand-built stone walls, a dilapidated door hanging on one hinge, rocks from a partly collapsed tunnel ceiling, a scruffy kid chasing a dog down the street, the woman leaning out of a window to dump slop from a pitcher, a field left fallow, a war veteran walking with a limp, the charred remains of an old burnt building, a stuffy wizard smoking a pipe by the fire, the unfilled hole in a cobble road, a cat licking up the slop from the floor, an old woman carrying a large bundle of sticks on her back, a barrel maker, ...

How does this argument make any kind of sense? You use up arrows; you don't use up a melee weapon. I don't really care that it doesn't seem "fair" for archery not to have the same advantages as melee. Tough sh*t; war is brutal. The benefit of the bow is that you stay out of harms way while killing off some of your opponents. The rest you'll just have to deal with by other means.

Having a limited stock of arrows shouldn't be discouraging, since spellcasters suffer from the same limitation. It's a matter of the developers properly balancing the game and players being more flexible in their tactics. If each archer has, say, 24-36 conventional arrows available at a time, those should readily last through most battles. They can then use their gear inventory to hold special purpose arrows for those situations where the opponent would be too tough to finish off rapidly. (Note that most medieval quivers only held up to about a dozen arrows; many archers just carried the arrows stuck through their belts.)

But, more importantly, will we have a "shake your groove thing" victory dance animation?

I disagree with your assertion that "most people" dislike archery in games; that's just an unsubstantiated opinion on your part. I've used archery in virtually every FRPG I've ever played, and I don't see matchlock weapons replacing that (if only because of the painfully slow reload). What I wouldn't mind seeing is a mechanism to restock arrows in between fights. I.e. limit the available arrows during combat, but allow an automatic draw upon stored stocks when the combat ends. In this sense it would work somewhat like spells.

This scares me. It will either be very good, or it will suck horribly. And we have had too much horrible already. meh. Oh come on, you can whine better than that.

Hello Mr. Bremerkamp, and thank you for your comments. I look forward to seeing your work.

They had something comparable with the camp companions in DA. I could imagine hiring a few henchmen guards to protect the loot, a cook, animal handlers, and so forth.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -- Albert Einstein. Otherwise known as degenerate gameplay.

The ability to provoke a mass pillow fight in the brothel and sneak off with the elixir of maddening lust during the ensuing mayhem.

I remember combat in GURPS: after fifteen seconds of simulated battle I'd look up and find two hours had passed. Good times...

Soulstone... does it come on a rope? If my soul is weighed down, I probably don't want to go swimming with it, do I?

My understanding was that on a miss it would do half minimum damage, which is considerably less than half damage. I though a miss was a miss but a glancing blow would do half minimum. Are we back to being unable to miss again? I was just responding based upon the original Josh Sawyer on Hit and Miss posting, but yes I think somewhere along the way it was indicated they were considering adding in the possibility of a true miss. Shrug.

My understanding was that on a miss it would do half minimum damage, which is considerably less than half damage.

It would be nice if the familiar itself has talents that you, the player, can select as the character increases in level. That way you can shape the familiar into the type of companion that you want.

Some of these ideas wouldn't be that easy to implement. Ranger battle yells related to his/her favored enemies. Ex.: "The only good orc is a headless orc!"

Rather than just using vanilla ability score adjustments, I'd rather see modified point-cost schedules; the first one favorable, the second normal, and the third unfavorable. That's essentially what's happening with the ability score bonuses and penalties, so why not smooth out the point cost adjustments with a table?

Animated skeletons are somewhat overused in CRPGs. I remember when I first saw them (in the form of stop-motion animation) in the original "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963); at the time it was a very cool and striking moment because they were created by tossing dragon's teeth onto the ground. I suppose they supply a need for a low-level undead monster in CRPGs, but they have long since lost any appeal as a terrifying foe. It may be more visually interesting (and creepy) if their structures contained a wispy green or scarlet glow that twisted and moved about, suggesting a source for their animation. Perhaps they could be given a special attack that takes effect on a critical hit, briefly sapping the life force (stamina) of the defender and causing disruptive pain?

I'm not sure the emotional aspects of the berserker warrior should just be eliminated in that manner. But rather than "rage", they could rename it to "frenzied attack". I.e. they're not simply losing their temper, but are choosing to accept greater risk in an attempt to rapidly overwhelm their enemy. They're essentially thinking the best defense is a good offense, so why not go all-out on the attack and try to make the defender spend all of their energy trying to ward off blows. Ideally then, a frenzied attack by the barbarian would have a chance to put the overwhelmed defender at a penalty to attack.

Yes I think the term 'guild' used in association with a class is completely lacking in cultural depth. It doesn't bespeak any history and lacks character. For example, why not call one city's thieves' guild the "Freeborn Society", name a fighter's guild the "Solemn Blades", and give the mage guild the label "Chantric Arcanum"?

They could possibly implement a spell-writing mechanic for a sequel. I'm not sure it's needed for this release.

Yeah. How about sleeping in the gutter, only to wake up as a pack of street urchins scatter to the four winds with all of your loot?