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ownagefool

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Posts posted by ownagefool

  1. With old school rpg's seems to come old school temper tantrums.

     

    Old school RPGs do not contain level-scaling* and cooldown-mechanics.

     

    It is the worst kind of straw man to answer legitimate arguments raised against this by calling it temper tantrums.

     

    Remember that cool Kickstarter video that begins with citing all the IE games as inspiration? For each step this project takes with its combat system, it's looking less and less like the IE games. That is a problem - a problem with marketing and a problem with substance. I am sure as hell going to voice my opinion on it - not because I'm throwing a ****ing temper tantrum, but because I hope to save a game that could have revitalized a genre, instead of doing just another Dragon Age.

     

    And, FYI, I actually liked Dragon Age, but it's no where near as good as the IE games. Level scaling and cooldown mechanics were a big part of the reason for that.

     

    * Well, a very few of them do, and it sucks there, too

     

    Fairly sure the likes of IE games had level scaling and I honestly never saw a problem with it. I also don't really see a problem of leveling up not actually making you more combat effective either, I just think the whole idea has a terrible reputation because of how poorly implemented it has been in the past.

     

    You shouldn't fight a guard with your rare artifact sword and have him be just as effective before. Every bandit in the wilderness shouldn't have a +10 sword, just because you do. You shouldn't encounter high level creatures in a forest on a regular occurance where it makes no sense for them to be there, just because you're high level. These things don't make sense and break immersion. However, a going to a non essential dungeon (which doesn't have the sword of uber, or anything in particular), then I don't have a big problem with running into mostly skeletons vs mostly ghouls dependant on my level. This sorta think happened in IE games (and I could take it or leave it, but it doesn't throw me into fits of rage) the former would happen in something like Elder Scrolls (and in particular largely killed oblivion for me).

     

    I shouldn't be running into rare things every 10 seconds (unless we're in a setting that it makes sense) and thats what I believe really irks people about the Elder Scrolls type level scaling (that and the entire world keeping up with you when that doesn't make sense either).

  2. I agree with Piccolo, personally. The notion of giving yourself increased magical skills by running about hitting things with a stick is somewhat misguided, whilst the idea that you should level what you use seems inherently superior. Of course, the devil is in the details but there are many ways to balance this off in a way you like by having classes, or defining your own specialized skills such as in morrowind.

     

    I'm not going to turn this into a debate on which games are superior, I think morrowind and sykrim are fantastic games, but I do have a personal place in my heart for the old IE games that theywill never replace. However, I don't think the difference between the games has anything to do with the leveling system, at least not with me specifically. Nor do I feel either leveling system needs to be limited to the implementations of their games.

     

    If anything sykrim/oblivion/morrowind is a different type of game based on the view point, both the fact its 3D, and the fact it mainly focuses from an ineyes perspective of the single protagonist. Further everything you do struggles to make an impact due to the weaknesses in story writing, character development, and mostly crappy acting. Theres epic quests, as you'd say, just don't feel very epic.

     

    They're still good games, in my opinion, but honestly the IE games are mostly about the writing in my opinion. Give me the same writing / atmosphere, and I don't imagine the majority of games will care deeply about game mechanics, as long as they're somewhat thought provoking. :)

  3. I'm asking for something that'd be hard to implement, but it'd be better if the game had a bit of common sense. Lets say I steal something big from a merchant, seeing me walk into his store, stealth up, open a chest, take the goods, unstealth, close chest, is just a stupid way to handle it. First of all, no merchant would miss the chest being opened, thus this should be reflected in the chance of getting away with it. You could, of course, have another party member distract him, but I'm fairly sure he'd figure it out after the fact. Killing him, taking the key, and taking the stuff, might be easier, but if anyone knows you entered the shop, you should definitely make a short list of suspects. Hell, even being in town at the time without an alibi could have negative conseqences.

     

    This is handled a lot better in the gothic / risen series. Walk into someones house a night, they're gonna tell you to **** off. If you don't, they're gonna attack you. Go stealth in front of them, same sorta reaction. Get caught in stealth during the act, "GUARDS!!" or smash your face in. Manage to sneak in (not be seen), not make sound, not wake anyone, steal what you want. Great, good job. Sneaking should become harder the more you're carrying though.

     

    Another thing on this note is "alive worlds". This is another thing games like Risen (or even skyrim) did a lot better than something like old IE games. People should leave their homes. Sure in BG, if you visited a home at the right time, it may be empty, but thats sorta a guessing game. You should be able to see people come and go, and preferably lead their lives. Being a theif would be much better if you can actually stake out the place, or give people a reason not to be in their home when you decide to get in there and rob them.

     

    Despite me quoting 3D games, I don't think this sorta stuff would be out of place in this game. Obviously such mechanics and AI would be time consuming and expensive to implement, which means it probably won't make the cut, but its how it should preferably work imo. :)

    • Like 2
  4. I guess the idea of the gun is some what more an interrupt method, since its sorta a one shot ordeal. I mean, sure it should hurt, but we shouldn't be killing squishes within a couple of turns when we let them armour up, just because we have a gun.

     

    Moreso though, I'm not sure I like the idea of well defined classes. If I pick warrior, I think it makes more sense that I get benefits learning/using warrior abilities, not that I can't ever learn magic, ever. I'd also think those benifits/negatives assosiated with the classes could be race based. Lets add some weird bard type race that doesn't get any, while humans are better off being pure classes (as an example).

     

    I mean, personally, I think BG was a great game in spite of its limitations around this, not because of. Just my personal opinion though. :)

  5. I'd prefer they were chunkable. You should really think twice when you AOE spell near civilans, especially children. I doubt anyone really gets off on that, but accidently damaging a kid to see it lie down and get back up doesn't exactly add to the atmosphere of the game. I like the fallout1/2 idea that being caught doing it pretty much damages you in a way you shant recover from, though it probably should be even harsher.

     

    With regards to being caught doing bad things, I'd prefer there wasn't magic reputation punishments anytime I do something bad. Not a big fan of the recent karma systems either. If you get caught being bad, it should be pretty damming to your reputation, but being a good at being bad shouldn't have you constantly fighting against the tide imo.

  6. I'm a Linux user, I kickstarted the game and I'd like to post a few reasons why I think a Linux port is a good idea.

     

    #1 - It's fairly selfish to ask for a retraction of the goal since its likely lead to additional people funding the project in the first place.

    #2 - I can't really tell you how much those Linux users have spent, but I can't tell you it doesn't require $1m to port a Windows games to Linux. Its probably less than a 10th of that.

    #3 - Building a multiplatform game is less about direct funding and more about making good decisions. For example, abtracting code where you need to and using libraries that are portable (such as SDL + OpenGL vs DirectX)

    #4 - The majority of this work will need to be done any way to support the Mac platform and any other platforms for that matter.

    #5 - The more platforms your code compiles and works on, the more robust the shared code will be. Since, historically, Obsidian is knonw for releasing buggy games (I know, publishers fault, etc) being portable should help largely combat that issue.

    #6 - Valve has began pushing Linux to be a competitive platform to Windows. This might fail, but if it doesn't, it seems silly not to have your game ready. By the time they're spending real money fixing up the Linix version, we'll know the impact of the platform.

    #7 - If they give you the game for Win7/8, theres no guarantee it will work on Win9. On the other hand, it'll probably work on Linux for a very long time given the Linuxs kernel policy of not breaking stuff that works.

    #8 - The same people who code the engine won't be the same people making the content (probably?), thus its unlikely it'd really affect the outcome beyond making a couple of smart choices and then paying someones salary for a few weeks / months.

     

    I'm not going to get into a holy way on why either OS is better than the other, it doesn't really matter. Honestly though, I'm a huge Black Isle/Obsidian fan, and if I though it'd somehow make it a lesser game, I'd be on your side. I just don't think thats a reality though.

    • Like 1
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