rjshae

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?

By way of comparison to the movie industry, this feels a lot more like an indie film than a big budget production. But indie films can make for great theater and big budget movies can be an absolute disaster. I'm looking forward to that niche market feel of a BG release.

That might What if it were 6 of each? Six of each facial feature (with some slight differences between races/gender), that would barely compare to the ridiculously large numbers you were using. No. I only want 1. The face is barely going to be seen. The face is going to be a portrait. Instead of wasting time and money on modeling extremely fine details that would never be seen, I'd rather they focus that energy elsewhere. I mean where would it stop? If we can change the nose and eyebrows, then why not the color of their fingernails? Why not the color of their eyes? It's unneccessary detail. tl;dr - if its never going to matter visually in-game, why waste time/$ on it? That might be something modders can implement, if the developers leave in the hooks. But I agree that a modest selection would be more than sufficient: 3 hair styles/5 hair colors/6 flesh tones/4 facial hair options and a variable background would give you 360+ variants at a cost of 12 graphical overlays and a color palette. They might even be able to use the same production technique as with the area images: render in 3D then have an artist bring the face to life.

Giving rogues perks for fighting the same target as another party member might be a nice touch. Individually a rogue wouldn't be as effective as a trained fighter, but he should be better able to utilize distraction and sneakiness.

A pair of muscular meathead barbarians called Kutchek and Gore.

This love (thread) will never die.

The BG series had several instances where party members were removed as a result of the plot. It may hinder the story not to allow for that possibility.

Yep, definitely. We kind of discussed some thoughts along those lines in another thread.

It looks slick, but what's with the plastic shoulder trim? Is that just to make any falling radioactive dust slide off?

Perhaps a skilled amateur can work on a fan art version of the lower levels?

Ley lines!

I wonder if we will be able to prep a couple of handguns before combat, fire them off in quite succession (two handed?), then switch to a cutlass? I.e. pirate-style close-quarters combat.

Mmm... the KS is over. Why are we asking the artist to work on something that no longer matters? It looks fine just as it is. We can use our imaginations instead...

If it gets that bad, then realistically the town people are likely to flee before every one of them is cut down. This could be followed up by a small army seeking revenge for the loss of income to the local nobility. Then a larger army.

Yeah, sure. Ignore the rest of the post why dont'ya. Just, depending on how I played on that part of his personality, different things happened. Including him reconsidering and finally leaving Halbech. Our conversation is over. Was that a real-time conversation?

> I just know I am going to regret asking this, but would you like to share these elements with the rest of the class? Ah... sure, Mr. Negativity. Here's a few that I recall off the top of my head: I liked the split of defense and armor ratings and the stamina/health split; it's much more plausible than the D&D AC and hit point system. The injury system that applies specific effects is also a nice detail. Separate tabs for the different inventory types are good, and the star ratings made inventory management a lot easier. The paper doll representation of the characters was visually attractive, although I prefer a more detailed armor system (like in Drakensang). The part I disliked the most was the lack of a D&D-style skill system.

I'm still not convinced that DA2 was the disaster that it has become fashionable to describe as such. It was a moderately entertaining romp that had a number of good qualities and some decent characters. There are a number of design elements from the game that I wouldn't mind seeing in PE. But there are others I only ever want to see in a console arcade game.

You can have a really evil character without necessarily causing the peasants to flee in terror at your approach. An excellent example of that is Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) in Deadwood. He was a respected member of the town, but man, that was one of the most evil dudes I've ever seen on TV. Another good one was Sylar (Zachary Quinto) in Heroes. He could pass himself off as a perfectly rational human being, then turn around and peel your head open. Basically an evil, utterly ruthless version of Spock (and his casting for that role was perfect!)

What I'm curious about is whether they will show charred bodies in the aftermath of a fireball spell? If they're going to show blood and severed limbs, then why not burnt, smoking flesh? What? Does the thought make you a little queasy?

Hmm, a 48 HD CR 20 monster versus a party of 12th level characters? Sure, why not?