rjshae

I'm selfish and lazy, I demand there be some sort of rule where it's mandatory to have a cat in your avatar. Mmm, perhaps only when you're trying to get something useful done....

Why don't we ask them? (Scroll down to the comments.) Nice, thoughtful comments. I remain puzzled though how a team of four can be funded for anything like $29,000. Perhaps there was a profit-sharing scheme? ...Oops, I guess this had already been discussed. Sorry.

If they do go with painted portraits, another graphical option they could consider is using normal mapping combined with minor changes in the (simulated) directional lighting (depending on the local lighting conditions in the game area). That would give the images more of a 3D look while retaining the 2D artistry.

This is probably the singular element of your list that is the biggest challenge to implement. Good AI covering all of the potential events and contingencies across a multitude of characters can be a lot of work. The remainder just require some careful game design and clear thinking.

Yeah, I guess. Sheesh. Now is not the time for abject pessimism.

It depends on whether one or more of the current, better-funded Kickstarters are financially successful. A significant victory or two would likely go a long way toward cushioning the psychological impact of a failure.

Meh. Does it matter? It's just a balance issue.

Since when getting additional funding = betrayal of fans? Fans want great game, and for me doesn't matter how Obsidian will get funding for this game if needed. Yep. We've already paid for a game, so it's unclear how this is a "betrayal". If the goal is to turn this into a series, then Obsidian will be invested in the game.

If people really want rare magic, then it might help play a little for the developers to provide more grades of craftmanship and metallurgy for the non-magical items. Start with ordinary iron for a sword, then improve it to steel, followed by damascus steel, and on to dwarven alloyed steel. At the pinnacle of conventional development, dweomer-forged steel is made using magical techniques but is otherwise an ordinary weapon. Masterwork weapons can then be further improved by endowing them with magical powers that draw upon the soul of the wielder. To make this work though, it would seem like weapon improvements would need smaller bonus increments. That would entail using percentiles rather than d20 bonuses for attack and damage calculation. Similar logic with armor; better materials and improved crafting techniques yield more effective defense and armor ratings.

Note that other KS cRPGs have been making progress with less than what PE received: * Shadowrun Returns is looking nice at $1.9 million. * Wasteland 2 developers have their basic look down and are working on building scenarios with $2.9 million. Both seem to be taking similar graphical approaches as PE.

I'd like to see an intelligent humanoid race that changes to the opposite gender as it gets older; a sequential hermaphrodite. It'd be interesting to see what we humans make of it in terms of our various gender biases.

A large, bulbous nose. Got to have that. Greasy eyes protruding from the skull like a goldfish. A cluster of quivering tentacles dangling pendulously from an extraordinarily long, pointed chin. Loose flaccid flesh hanging from the skeletal frame, with multiple clusters of pale, pulsating buboes that explode into a white burst of pus at the slightest touch. Oh and webbed feet too. They inhabit braccish coastal swamps and trade in artfully decorated driftwood sculptings.

Phew, that was close. I thought for certain they were going to mess up the audio. Glad you warned them in time.

I thought that was, like, every day?

Me I'd like it if they throw just enough changes into the mix that they defeat our expectations. I.e. stock D&D monsters are okay, but it'd be better if we didn't quite know how they will behave or what their combat capabilities are.

Yes, the unique magic items with a custom lore in the IE games added a lot of color to the experience. However, I would really like it if the items varied a little bit with each playthrough. Not enough to be completely random, but enough to change the replay gaming experience. (I.e. sufficiently to make writing walkthrough guides more difficult.)

Better editing than the CNN news stream would be a good starting point.

I'd just want them to be rare as hen's teeth; and prized when aquired ~and saved for last resort. I did like the toxin mechanic for potions in the original Witcher. Well dang, if we keep following suggestions like this, the game might as well just be a medieval Europe sim. My impression was that most people signed up to get a game experience like the IE series. Neither magic nor potions were that rare in the IE games; just expensive, as should be. The economics can take care of the scarcity.

My guess is that food won't be included because it can be handled as a game mechanic. I.e. some percentage of the loot you find goes to food; you just never see it so you never have to deal with it. It's like a hidden tax.

About the same as in the BG series will be fine. Magic should be about as common in this magic-oriented fantasy setting as technology was during our medieval era.

What kind of mechanics would that be? We know there will already be positioning bonuses... Although I'm hoping enemy AI will be good enough to try to compensate for backstab attacks after the first jab. Rogues also have a ton of utility outside combat, besides which the flexible classes probably means we can create a fighting build somehow. It would depend a lot on what type of combat mechanics the developers are going to implement. I'm looking at it as rogues getting an attack bonus that makes them almost as good as a fighter, but only when attacking a target as a member of a team.

Yup. Possibly this may be the most cost-effective approach, depending on how hard it is for an artist to fix the 'uncanny valley' problem.

One thing is for certain, it doesn't matter how much they brought in, somebody will always fret about whether it is enough.

While I don't expect they will support 3D console interfaces with the first release, I very much hope they will retain the files and information needed to implement this in the future.

Is this connected to PE somehow?