rjshae

I enjoyed playing the Drakensang series of games and there are many elements of that system that worked well for me (with room for improvement, of course).

Yes, that could be interesting. It would also be an opportunity to break out of the mold of wandering around with a full party of six characters. The investigation could be restricted to just the PC and the cipher detective, at the request of the client.

That works well, but it would be nice to have a rationale for why the monsters are getting more difficult the deeper you go. Something akin to an ecosystem perhaps, with the richer, more rewarding aspects toward the bottom. If it is an undead dungeon that wants to prey on life forms, then the most desirable real estate would be nearer the top. So why aren't the toughest undead up there waiting for tasty adventurer morsels to wander in? One thing I'd like to see some type of consistent motif appearing in places throughout the dungeon. (Regardless of the variations in themes.) After all, this dungeon complex was built at the behest of a single owner. This pattern would serve to link the parts together in the player's mind, much as music does in a movie. I'm not sure what the motif would be though; perhaps distorted human heads or stretches of Inca-like masonry?

Well... even the most benevolent princes had torture chambers and had their foes drawn and quartered in the Europe pre modern times. Hell The most benevolent nations today still employ torture chambers. We just outsource the torrure to third world nations or freelance specialists... if we dont have black ops or prison camps where torture is an official secret . Call it a lust for "realism" in a fantasy game. Yes it's realistic, but I'm not sure it's beneficial or really necessary for most types of stories. Even if it's added then it's still not essential to actually go through the motions. Sure, you could build a torture chamber and hire a torture master. When you decide to send a prisoner there for torment, do a fade out/fade in and read the results of the interrogation. Anything else would be tasteless.

Yes, most the core elements would be there. But the writing, the area art, new creatures, new effects, music, and other add-on components would still need to be developed separately. Plus the law of rising expectations would kick in and they would need to improve upon the original in order for it to be perceived as providing a worthy successor. Hence, I'm not sure that the price difference would be that significant. Still, at least they would then have some capital to use from the sales of the original and the expansion.

^^^^ I wouldn't, but to each their own I guess.

I mainly want the settlements to feel less like an empty shell than they were in the Neverwinter Nights 2 game modules. That just sucked all of the life out of the setting for me. So yes, I'd absolutely love to see, say, a busy market square just bustling with people standing around or going to or fro, even if that makes writing the pathfinding algorithm a nightmare.

Nope. I want to read the creative story they have to tell. That's why I put down my money.

What I'd hoping for with firearms is that they come with realistic effects; both visual and audio. Having the crack of a smooth-bore weapon discharging, accompanied by the rising blue-grey smoke from the blackpowder, would be very dramatic. Otherwise the weapon may just as well be a fancy crossbow.

Assuming that this type of poll even matters to the developers, I'm of the opinion that the fewer constraints we try to put on their story for the main protagonist, the better. That includes starting equipment. But even with that, I'm sure they will give us enough equipment to be able to make progress through the start of the game. Even if we have to improvise a little.

Giant spiders aren't scientifically plausible creatures anyway. They can't get enough blood to their outer limbs. But what about a spider-shaped reptile with a chitinous body shell? Would that still scare an arachnophobe?

In the Christian mythos we have the example of Satan, who would likely be perceived of as a Bane-like epitome of evil deity in a pantheon. Yet some people somehow find the idea of Satan-worship appealing. I can only imagine the reason is personal power and aggrandizement at the expense of others. Even if the goal of a Satan-like deity is the destruction of civilization, some people will still worship him (or her) because they gain some short-term benefit from doing so. This idea doesn't seem at all implausible to me because there are always some people who are willing to do anything, no matter how utterly vile and despicable.

I suspect they'll need to lock down the legal rights to it before the name gets published. Does that mean it will be different than any name we suggest?

Yes, I pretty much used the 2x3 for corridors, the T-formation for outdoors, and the pentagon (with the Wizard in the middle) for resting. The remainder just seemed tactically impractical.

Isn't Atari the publisher for the Witcher series? That relationship seems to be doing all right, despite the muck-up Atari made of ToEE. Perhaps I am misinformed?

Well I hope the landing didn't hurt then. Shrug. Give it a try: what fresh and unique ideas have you got?

The NWN2 original campaign allowed you to build up a couple of stores in the stronghold. I can't say it was all that thrilling.

Interesting opinion rjshae.... What do you imagine an artifact that you stored/displayed in stronghold do for you while questing? or do you think there could be other uses to it? Oh, perhaps something the slowly recharges items or maybe a magical communication device for people to send you messages. It could be an arcane forge that allows special items to be crafted, a guardian to drive out evil spirits and swat thieves, or a big war engine to defend against sieges and dragons. For something really weird, it could be an artifact for building a remotely controlled doppelganger, allowing you to adventure elsewhere while staying safely in your abode. Shrug. There are many other possibilities, I'm sure.

I'm just expecting that they will do updates at about the same rate as some of the other Kickstarter cRPG projects. Perhaps once or twice a month as with Shadowrun Returns and Wasteland 2. Don't really see a benefit to doing video clips, but maybe that's their preferred style?

I'd just like them to keep it simple and allow annotations. But that's been discussed before.

Some type of artifact that can be inserted into your house or stronghold would be good.

Yes, good ideas. Some combination of these would make a nice addition.

Yes, save the world scenarios don't leave you anywhere to take the story. Saving just a little corner of it can be enjoyable though.

Well... Altered States was romantic too...

...and now, not so much.