In traditional folklore I've seen elves described as "supernatural" creatures. I've also read interpretations that they have "spirits" rather than "souls", whatever that means. Hence I wonder if they will somehow be differentiated in terms of "souls" within the game? Perhaps the nature of their supernatural selves is the reason they are a more magical race?

 

One notion I had is that, rather than having separate souls, the elves share a "common soul" with nature. Hence it is never shattered at the individual level, although it may become so at a higher level. This shared soul is the reason why elves have a very different view of the world, and are seen to behave strangely. Indeed, they may have more in common with nature spirits than with mankind.

That's a funny thing about fantasy games. People are okay with true-to-life historical fiction games, but give them a fantasy game and it's got to be "different".

 

I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with using stock fantasy tropes; it's what you do with them that matters.

Aye that

There's zero chance of them actually using IE again - as Enoch says, the 2D hires are still for Onyx games.

 

The question is whether Onyx 2D could deliver something similar to IE, and I think it could, though obviously with design differences.

 

Interesting. The mystery remains, however. What do the guys at Obsidian want with 2D artists? If Project X is not an IE game, could it be a sequel to one of the IE games running on the Onyx Engine and so, therefore, more 2D artists will be needed? Also, the words on the main page lead me to believe that this is going to be a fantasy title rather than Fallout or Alpha Protocol.

 

It's not a mystery. They've already stated they will be using 2D images, presumably mapped onto the 3D representation in the isometric perspective.

to be fair, I don't think that was the case on september 12th when this thread was made

 

Aye that's true. My bad.

I'm actually hoping they don't do this for the initial release because it would bleed off already scarce resources. It may be better to wait and see if this is a commercial success, then look at the modding option as a way to maintain long-term fan interest. I'd rather them build a game engine that is readily extensible so they can back-port any added features to the first release.

I thought Dragon Age's method of dealing with this was perfectly reasonable: when combat's over, everyone auto-heals. If you want to make it manual, rather than automated, I'm fine with non-combat healing potions, as long as they are *trvially easy* to find and use. I don't really see why that's any better than auto-heal, though.

 

That system works fine as long as you don't think of hit points as the ability to withstand purely physical damage (which they aren't). Maybe they should call it "Combat effectiveness" instead? I would like to see a separate wounds system.

If they do ability scores, I really hope they avoid the type of system that encourages extreme disparities in the scales (by providing increases at every level). It's okay for systems like Dungeon Siege 2 or Divine Divinity, but for a more detailed CRPG like DA2 or Ego Draconis I think that approach is hard to take seriously. (Although it did work okay in Oblivion because that system strongly encourages the development of multiple ability scores.)

One thing that's pretty much always ignored in games is the fact that different kinds of bows were used in different parts of the world, by different people and for a different purpose. A Mongol horseman wouldn't have been able to use an English longbow, and a Mongol composite recurve bow would have been completely useless to an English archer. Yet they were both fantastic weapons on their own - when used for their intended purpose, in their intended environment.

 

Yes, but for that to matter they would need to implement mounts (for NPCs). I'm not sure that will happen given the resource constraints.

If a withdraw-rest-return system is implemented, then you should still run a not insignificant risk of a random encounter at some point during the cycle. Otherwise it means that time doesn't matter.

 

Ugh. Why do we need to rest again? I spent the 80's hitting the heal up button playing Champions of Krynn. Can't we get away from D&D now?

Even if you don't need sleep for spell recovery, fatigue is still a factor in any game that takes the art of role-playing seriously.

Yes, those are decent. You might do a little work on the jaw-line though; some of the males are perhaps a tad too feminine with their small jaws.

Perhaps others have a different view of lore books, but I've never seen a lot of value in having detailed, in-game book entries. I'd almost prefer to see a book review style description with specific entries pointed out. It would be nice to see a few illustrated books though, including maps, sketches of once fine glories, images of historical figures, and so forth. But I know those would take up more disk space.

Perhaps they could implement a simple phonetic system that gets re-arranged based on the spell? But even a murmored buildup to the spell release would be good.

50 minutes seems to be a bit short for a game of this scope. Would it be feasible do you think for an expanded soundtrack to be set as a stretch goal? (subject to Mr Bell's concurrence, of course).

 

50 minutes does seem very short. A stretch goal of the sort you mentioned would be fantastic.

 

Does it? I'm not sure really. Hopefully there will be long pauses between replays where we can experience the ambient and localized sounds of the environment in their entirety.

There's zero chance of them actually using IE again - as Enoch says, the 2D hires are still for Onyx games.

 

The question is whether Onyx 2D could deliver something similar to IE, and I think it could, though obviously with design differences.

 

Interesting. The mystery remains, however. What do the guys at Obsidian want with 2D artists? If Project X is not an IE game, could it be a sequel to one of the IE games running on the Onyx Engine and so, therefore, more 2D artists will be needed? Also, the words on the main page lead me to believe that this is going to be a fantasy title rather than Fallout or Alpha Protocol.

 

It's not a mystery. They've already stated they will be using 2D images, presumably mapped onto the 3D representation in the isometric perspective.

I like more detail in the armor system than is typical for D&D. The inventory system for Drakensang would be ideal, although I'd like more categories.

 

Another borked up poll.

One thing I would like to see is that the situation changes whenever the party retreats to a campsite. Enemies should become aware of the threat and react accordingly. Reinforcements should arrive, traps should be deployed, and ambushes sprung. The enemy may even trail the party back to camp and perform a counterattack when everybody is asleep.

 

Walking back to the campsite is okay early in the game, but at higher levels it would be nice to have the resources needed to rest in place. I mean, why can't we have the equivalent of rope trick, Leomund's secure shelter, Daern's instant fortress, or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion?

I like those feel good moments when something positive gets accomplished despite all the odds. It could be solving a challenging puzzle, finally being victorious in an interesting tactical situation, winning the friendship of a likeable NPC, or rescuing the princess from an evil fortress.

Recycled, non-radioactive material.

 

Seriously, if it's not going to have a printed manual, I just want something that will protect the disk and won't take up much space in the drawer.

I don't find the stretch goals all that unreasonable. There's just an excess of cynicism among some of the posters in this forum. Cynics, jaded players, gamers with an axe to grind, overly inflated expectations, the list goes on. Personally I wouldn't sweat it.

I guess it partly depends on how archery/ranged is balanced in the game, but in general I like arrows and bolts to be finite and I think they should have weight (or at least they should have weight in the expert mode of the game).

 

Arrows in the games probably have reasonable weight, but unreasonable storage characteristics. Characters can carry around hundreds of arrows with very little impact. In reality that's a lot of bulk. You never see hunters carry around more than 10-20. Not sure what can be done about that though.

I've always found the character rising from a firstie to a high level character within a few game weeks to be completely implausible. Including some significant jumps in time would allow the player to better see the consequences of their actions. I think the Conan RPG did something like this, where stretches of time and changes in locale would occur in between each adventure.

Speaking of spells, I wouldn't mind seeing a more sophisticated system of spell learning.

 

Hmm... how about if you always learn a spell at lower level of casting? Each time you cast it, or each time you rise a level, there's a chance your spell level increases. (Achievement!)

 

You can bypass all of this by going to an instructor, or carrying around a weighty tome of your known spells.

 

Yes I know the munchkin gamers won't like this.

 

This. I suppose you are talking about individual spell experience? So the Magic Missile spell would level up the more you use it, correct/wrong?

 

I support this.

 

Kind of. If you try to learn it yourself and use it without a spellbook, at 5th level you'd cast Fireball at the first level or proficiency so it only causes a wimpy 1d6 damage. But by repeatedly using it, or by advancing to 6th level, your caster level would increase to 2nd, 3rd, and so forth.

 

Might be too much detail though. Shrug.

Imagine a female character. Let's say she's a warrior class, swinging sword is what she does for a living. And maybe she's quite good at it, but why would anyone newly met take her prowess and experience as granted? I can't imagine male soldiers, noblemen and such acknowledging her easily. At least at first. At least until they get to know the character better. And even then you can't expect everyone to like her. She wouldn't be trusted to go on the most important assignments, and know the most important aspects of the state of things. Maybe she wouldn't be permitted to enter a tournament or something. I even bet some self-important bastard would even take on a grudge on a woman taking up a sword. That could lead to a conflict, either open, or concealed where she is ambused in her sleep etc.

 

One factor that needs to be taken into account in a fantasy setting is the impact of magic. It's the great equalizer, and it prevents you from taking people for granted based on just their physical attributes. Another is the effect of meddlesome deities, who can cause cultures and beliefs to change. A warrior goddess who champions female fighters, even if they rely more on guile than muscle mass, can enter into people's thinking and change perspectives. Hence I'm not sure the answer is all that straight forward.

Yes, it's very good; setting a proper mood for a serious drama. I enjoy celtic music so the Dirge of Eir Glanfath works for me, while The Road to Eternity had a nice dreamy quality to it. The prelude had a less than smooth transition at the 0:50s mark, but that might be from the little speakers on my HP laptop. It was otherwise nicely operatic.

Speaking of spells, I wouldn't mind seeing a more sophisticated system of spell learning.

 

Hmm... how about if you always learn a spell at lower level of casting? Each time you cast it, or each time you rise a level, there's a chance your spell level increases. (Achievement!)

 

You can bypass all of this by going to an instructor, or carrying around a weighty tome of your known spells.

 

Yes I know the munchkin gamers won't like this.