agewisdom

I'm not asking for specific work to be done i.e. large 3D renderings. What I'm asking is just to make what's available in-game and let us see a close up of the sprites in the inventory/biography section. Why would there be a waste of resources and effort?

I know that we're going to have a fixed perspective in PE. However, in the biography or inventory section, could we have a close up view of our PC and companion with a rotating view (if possible)? It would be great to get a closeup of the models especially seeing them decked out with the cool equipment and weapons. Just wondering whether you guys would like to see this, since the actual sprites in game would likely be quite small.

Ok, Tale. You have your own perspective of what a multi-class entails and I don't think anything is going to change your mind. My opinion differs greatly, and I'll just leave it at that.

A rogue/ranger might not require something special, since there's some synergy and overlap between them. When I talk about establishing some background or lore on certain multi-class, it's about those classes that appears to clash heavily with one another. The most typical one that comes to mind is a Battlemage multi-class, a combination of warrior and wizard. How do you explain a warrior suddenly casting magical spells? If we're considering a typical AD&D fantasy, casting spells will requires at minimum, a few years of studies and training under a master before achieving an intermediate skill. Wouldn't that require joining an Order or learning the techniques from a forgotten past? Conversely, is it really believable that an apprentice spending all his time locked up in a tower learning spells can suddenly start learning about fighting just by practicing his sword skills whilst adventuring? More likely, he might have found some way to channel his mana to augment his battle skills in a way that's not available to a typical normal wizard. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the Arcane Warrior in Dragon Age: Origins.

I prefer to make my own choices, so it's strongly customizable for me. Otherwise, what's the point? RPGs are all about choices, more specifically, MY choices...

I see. But will there be multi-classing?

^This x 9999 I hope we aren't putting too high an expectation on Obsidian. Two Athkala sized cities... I haven't since these big sized included in an cRPG for a very long, long time.... (maybe never...) with all the associated quests, exploration and NPCs.

I hope Obsidian implement big cities properly. Two things particularly strike my mind: 1. A proper city that can be explored. I hated the way the capital city of Denerim in Dragon Age: Origins was implemented. You couldn't actually travel around the city. Everytime you moved from one area, you were directed to a map which forced you to travel to certain places such as an Inn. You could never go outside the Inn, mind you because it would take you back to the map. What a bummer! 2. I hope we have proper cities where a thief can actually enter into all the houses in the city and discover all sorts of interesting stuff. One area in BG2 where I had great fun was finding the different clues and leading to discovering the demi-lich Kangaxx. For me, that's one of the pleasures of questing in a big city.

I think the lack of printing press is to allow the use of oral histories. In this manner, trying to find out what happened in the past or who is the bad guy(s) would be fraught with difficulty. It would be a mini-quest of its' own trying to gather all the different accounts of a certain events and try to make a coherent sense of it. Even then the PC can never be sure as to whether he or she is doing the right thing, but has to make a decision based on the facts available...

I'm going to have to disagree. As a videogame, we've decades of conditioning that nothing is impossible. Implementing such a thing would have people spending hours trying to win, and then getting really mad and putting up a huge stink. In a PnP game, you know the score, the DM can and probably will kill you (Sometimes repeatedly depending on the DM), in a video game there's no way to communicate to the Player that this is a bad idea. And it'll become exponentially worse once someone finds an exploit and actually does kill it and there's no real reward for it. I'm afraid I have to disagree with your opinion and stick to my guns. You do have some good reasons but I hope you can consider this: 1. Firstly, even in a video game - there are plenty of avenues of discouraging the PC from attempting something as unintelligent as attacking a deity like creature. This could be via: (a) advice or warning from other NPCs nearby; (b) caution or dissent from party members © a show of power or warning from the Powerful NPC if the PC tries to attack. If the PC insists on continuing, then too bad 2. Besides, if the PC dies after numerous attempts and can't even put up a good challenge, don't you think he or she will get it, that it's not a good idea? Granted, if you're talking about the PC not being aware UPFRONT that it's a bad idea, you've got a point. That's why we'll need something along the lines of point 1. 3. Finding exploit and killing a high-powered NPC is a legitimate accomplishment isn't it? Of course, if Obsidian implements these type of "practicably" unwinnable quest, they should prepare for a contigency and reward if the PC succeeds. If the PC wins, to prevent the lore being out of whack, it could turn out the NPC is just a low-level Avatar of the deity or the NPC is just testing the PC. In that case, the PC should be rewarded for their persistence. If you played Dark Souls, there's actually some players that defeated the first Boss the very FIRST TIME with their fists alone taking over 1/2 hour. The reward was the big ass club the Boss was holding. If you didn't defeat the Boss the first time, you wouldn't get the reward. That's the sort of unwinnable quest I envision Obsidian implementing. Dark Souls Encounter below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5L7nXe8ytY

Makes perfect sense but since Ziets is just coming aboard, I guess he can only talk more about his personal approach in developing games and such. Perhaps it would be better to have Ziets and someone from Obsidian discussing about PE to avoid any misunderstanding.

I guess the best way around this might be to have a companion biography in the codex section which might summarize the more important bits of the conversation that you gleaned from your companions. One big problem I foresee in eliminating past conversations is that you might find your companion simply doesn't want to talk to you anymore ala Dragon Age 2. This most possibly would be they've run out of things to say to you. Totally breaks the immersion when you have the companion hanging out with you for weeks on end and when you try to talk to them, they just ignore you.

I agree with the OP but to a certain extent. There should be powerful enemies with upper scale statistics appropriate to their levels. However, it should not be scripted nor should they be unkillable. However, it may be their resistances and HP is so high that it's impossible for the PC even at their maximum level cap to defeat these enemies. However, if future events empower the PC and his companions - e.g. finding a powerful artifact or absorbing the essence of a fallen god (in future expansions), I see no reason why the PC cannot return and whoop the little green dragon's ass

All sound fantastic in theory, the execution will be telling however, I remember playing Gothic 3 and getting really annoyed with some of the aspects of that game and in truth I never completed it (bit like Oblivion/Skyrim for me, beautiful world but no gripping central plot device to hook you in). You did quote Gothic 1 & 2 however so maybe G3 was not as good as those two? Gothic 1 and 2 were definitely superior in story telling and pacing. You're really missing out on something if you didn't play Gothic 2 with the Night of the Raven expansion. Try it, I assure you that you won't be disappointed. It'll tide you over until PE is complete. Gothic 3 tried to do too many things at once especially with too large a world without a gripping story. The difference was immediately clear when I started to play Gothic 3, there was very little exposition in the very beginning unlike Gothic 2. Perhaps it was trying too much to emulate the Elder Scrolls series instead of remaining true to its' roots. It also didn't help that Piranha Bytes was forced to push the game out early leading to some bugs here and there.

Whilst I understand the PAIN of being given a quest, then forced to do 101 side quests to progress further, and then find I need to do 202 side quests to progress further... ad infinitum, I don't see there being much alternatives. All RPGs must have a main quest to drive the narrative forward. The main quest cannot be too short nor too easy, otherwise, the game would just end quickly. For instance, if the main quest is to stop an Archvillain, who happens to be just 2 blocks down the road - it would be all to easy to just waltz in there and off him... Granted, maybe there would be a need to level up a bit, but is it really what we want? To have an interesting gameplay narrative, some of the side quest needs to be intertwined with the main quest. Unfortunately, this leads to... being required to do 101 side quests... If we want to avoid this main quest syndrome to drive the narrative, then what you will have is a PC that doesn't really have anything to do. So, what does a player do? Is his quest to make as much money as possible? Is it to level up? What is the PC to do? This is very likely to turn the RPG into a hiking simulator or sight seeing tour in the PE universe... I just don't see a good way around this. Baldur's Gate 1 seems to be a good compromise. A slow emerging main quest which still allows you some flexibility in approaching side-quests and doing some exploration.

For me, there's ONE thing I absolutely demand from Obsidian Entertainment: A gripping, intense personal story where the character grows in maturity and power and is forever marked and defined by the hard choices he/she has had to make. I can only think of a few games like these, namely Planescape Torment & MOTB. The battle system may not be gripping, the graphics may not be enthralling, it may not be fully voiced, but who cares? It's the STORY, that I'm interested in, especially if I had a hand in making it through the choices that I make.

I would prefer quality over quantity, so let's have more choices and consequences. This is after all, an RPG. Sometimes, a big world without reactivity is not really that satisfying, like Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Yes, it's pretty humungous but after a while, the quests seem uninteresting and it's seems like busywork.

Dragon Age Awakenings tried to implement something like that. Sadly, with the limited time they had to push out the expansion out the door, it wasn't all that well fleshed out. Maybe PE can have something like that in the sequel.

I understand PE is based largely on the old IE games, but I was thinking it would be a good idea for Obsidian to consider some ideas/concepts based on the old Gothic 1/2 series. Some of the great things in Gothic included (granted, it's also applicable in some other games): 1. NPC scheduling - they actually have a real life cycle 2. Factions quest - quite similar to Fallout New Vegas 3. Interesting non-combat skills such as skinning animals for fur etc. 4. An interesting world to explore, with a sense of mystery. 5. No hand-holding, you can go anywhere you like - just don't expect to survive it if you're not well equipped.

It pretty much points down to a choice of class-related strongholds with little customization, or a single-class stronghold with many customizations. Since we are already getting a house, I'm not sure that adding a customizable stronghold would add that much value. Shrug. They'll never be able to please everybody, but maybe the modders can put something in later? If they do a stretch goal, I'm pretty sure they'll change the house into a stronghold. Otherwise, it would overlap and just doesn't make sense.

Stronghold depending on class would be hard to do... with 11 classes, we're looking at potentially 11 types of different strongholds. What would be more workable would be a more customizable stronghold which would largely depend on the PC class. This would make more sense. A wizard could customize the stronghold by diverting resources into a research tower whereas a fighter may establish a training centre for fighting techniques. At least it would be a good compromise.

A revolution ala Spartacus? Hmmm... could be an interesting quest. I don't want a simple arena where you just fight for cool loot like Kingdom of Amalur. It would be great if there's some political intrigue and battle for influence involved. For instance, as you progress through the levels in the Arena, you could be invited to work under the patronage of competing rival lords. Then it opens up for quests outside of the Arena. Something other than the straightforward fight and get loot style in most Arenas.

Yes, that's a dream.I still remember the shocking experience when I first played PS:T 13 years ago. That summer vacation I spent my 2 month pocket money, 98 RMB, to buy the big black box of PS:T. It just equaled to 15 dollar, but it's a big amount of money at that decade for a kid. The box still is one of my favorite treasure, although the translation was really terribleT_T. After that I spent 13 years waiting for a greater RPG. Now Obsidian give me the hope, you guys must succeed And a small wish, if it possible, give us a offcial Chinese translation. I know there are many organizations in China composed by crazy Blackisle believers can support free translation work~ Your English must be pretty good. I only played PST when a bit grown up and some it was quite wordy. Hadn't even heard of some of the words like berk, cant... It would be great if they had an official Chinese Translation but I wonder whether there's a large enough market for these type of games in China. By the way, are there any great Chinese RPGs nowadays? I think it's quite limited, but there's a lot of MMO's I believe. I wonder why no Chinese company is picking up the Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy game nowadays, since Koei seems to have stopped developing it. Yeah, RTK12 is out but it's pretty dumbed down.

Yes, I would love an Arena. Could we have a major side quest associated with this? I believe Quest for Glory 5 and Jade Empire did a reasonably good job for Arena style quest where you could see your rankings and those of your opponents. It would be great if our rival adventurers were also our opponents in the Arena. Could give us a preview of how powerful they are vis-à-vis our PC's party.

I loved Crossroads Keep. The mini-game in upgrading and adding additional wings in the keep was great fun. And in the end, you were rewarded for all your efforts with the invasion on the keep. Dragon Age: Awakenings tried to do something similar but it was less fleshed out than Crossroads Keep. Felt a bit let down. One good area of Awakenings was trying for find resources (wood, stone) i.e. mines to upgrade the Keep. I'm really hoping for a Crossroad Keep style stronghold with even more side quests associated to it.