rjshae

I disagree. It's like gunpowder smoke on a battlefield; a lot of energetic spell effects are going to make it more difficult to see. But the visibility issue should be reflected in the ranged targeting odds.

Well thank you for that information, Captain Obvious. You're quite welcome. Now do you actually have anything constructive to say on the topic? Thus far it appears not.

It wasn't difficult to control the camera in nwn2, and I don't think it was a distraction. I think that is a better comparison to make than "3D FPS games", since they aren't even the same genre. No it's not "difficult" to control the camera, but it's something you constantly need to be doing. In IE I find myself clicking on the destination then paying attention to the surrounding terrain, whereas in NWN2 and others I have to frequently turn, tilt and change the zoom in order to get the best view. You might not notice yourself doing it, but you are nonetheless.

Okay. Well something the developers could do that provides realism and is relatively cost-effective to implement is a plague. Have something the party does lead (indirectly) to a plague sweeping through the villages and towns, leading to death, misery, distrust, and fear. Villages will close their gates to outsiders, people will stop talking to each other, and the party will witness acts of individual heroism, selfishness, and depredation.

Was it really necessary to state this? It's a given that the game isn't going to live up to all of our expectations, but this is a forum, and until something new is realized their isn't much else to discuss. Umm... likewise?

I'm fine with an isometric view because it involves much less of the type of distracting camera management you need to perform in 3D FPS games. The one thing I might miss is being able to climb up a rise and see what lies beyond. Possibly they could implement a limited FoW system that will simulate this effect, at least with regards to being able to see other creatures.

Unfortunately this game is just a simulation with a limited budget. There's no way they can approach the level of realism that will leave you believing such a place exists. Corners will be cut, some level of simplification will be applied, and there are always going to be actions you'd like to be able to do but can't because it wasn't implemented. At most you can hope for a good level of grittiness, plausibility, and attention to detail.

I always get a hollow feeling when I return to a settlement later in the game, only to find that everything is exactly the same. I think I'd prefer seeing both cities progress over the course of the game, which would require that you return to the first city and find that some things have changed and the conversations have altered. If the designers can't do that, then I'd almost prefer that the party be banished from the first city.

How is that a problem? It's realistic to come back to an unsolved problem when your skills have improved. I'd just call that a good simulation. I think it actually encourages for more abuse/reloading with this system, since there'd likely be ways to alter your skill (equipping items, drinking potions, using abilities, spells...) to trigger another XOR check. You could just keep altering your skill until you succeed with the check, making the system not much different from the original one, in my opinion just adding further annoyance rather than solving the problem. The key difference is that you're attacking the problem using in game mechanisms. This isn't a problem because it fits what happens in reality: finding a better tool to do the job. Let the player drink potions, use better tools, or level up. It's a core element of the cRPG that you can solve problems this way. What the developers would need to do is to allow multiple attempts to solve the problem, so that the player can expend resources to get past that obstacle, if they so choose.

This. This is the essence of good design. Ah, so every game that has ever been made is a bad design? You're espousing nonsense. Making the game especially hard to reload just encourages a different path through the game; one that requires dealing with failure rather than just reloading until you obtain success.

How is that a problem? It's realistic to come back to an unsolved problem when your skills have improved. I'd just call that a good simulation.

Ah, no. This one is just too restrictive. I'm okay with the idea of your character becoming increasingly familiar with a piece of equipment and thereby gaining some benefits as the game progresses. But the idea that the PoS armor you acquired at the start can't be replaced with a new suit made by a master craftsman is completely unrealistic.

I think it's easier than that: at the start of the game a global random key is generated. During the game compile, each randomly branching outcome is also assigned a random value. During play, each branching outcome is determined using an XOR operation between the global key and the outcome random value. Thus the game save only needs to store one key. And yes I've suggested this before.

Character power levels in virtually all cRPG make absolutely no sense at all. They rise from near peasant status up to some of the most powerful figures in all the land within the effective time span of a few short months. I usually just accept it as a core element of the genre.

Agree with all except number 3; that one seems an unnecessary level of detail. Unless the latitude is of specific importance to the story, an average day length should do fine in most circumstances.

Multi-classing and prestige classes are cludgy attempts to make a class-based system work like a point-based system. They can provide character customization through other means.

I think they meant stuff like hatemances, where you try to get some character to hate you, just like making Marburg hate you enough allowed you to kill him in Rome. Mmm, nope. That's not it. LOL But no matter; other means other any way you slice it.

Other-mance? All I know is, cow farmers do it in the dairy air... Geddit?

It depends on the type of combat. Continuous, mundane battles with vanilla tactics can become boring. I prefer pitched battles that form a component of a story, whether it is the main quest or a side mission. But in the case of exploration, random battles are necessary to provide an element of risk.

You poor, deluded gamer. Real men play in codpiece only mode.

In dark conditions with no light source, it is possible for your vision to adjust to night sight over the course of a half hour so that you can see a surprising amount of detail. This is known by astronomy hobbyists who try to maintain dark conditions so they don't have to spend another half hour getting their full night sight back. Another factor in this equation is the type of moon system found around this planet. It may not necessarily be the same as the Earth. There could be multiple moons, a ring system, or the world may be a moon orbiting a giant planet. Any of these factors could cause the night time to be brighter than on Earth.

Regarding undergarments, it would be good if the artists could make those look less like modern attire. There are some historical examples they could use for ideas.

No (That's where Is topped playing FO3 and never finished the game) Yes it's a odd little circumstance, but I'd like to encourage you to keep playing. The fact that several of the kids were taken by slavers indicates that they've survived through luck and being well hidden, but their days are numbered.

I found it interesting that the design slice is much larger. It left me wondering which part of the slice is the biggest contributor to the cost? Is it because this requires development of a whole new game system, or that this is a new setting needs to be fleshed out and integrated? Perhaps both?

I think perhaps you're not looking at this correctly. Terrain effects can be implemented by applying area effects to the maps: regions are designated as a particular terrain type (say, heavy vegetation or light marsh), and anybody inside a region is subject to those programmatic effects. Once a particular terrain area effect has been scripted, it can be used over and over again. I've done the same thing in the NWN2 Toolset using the DnD effects and it works quite transparently. It took just a few hours to script all the different terrain types and thereafter I just apply it where needed. Yep, exactly.