agewisdom

BronzePoem, Like you, I really can't wait for PE to be out... It's a dream come true!

Exactly my thoughts. Use this in limited situational circumstances so that there it mixes up things a little. Too much and it gets frustrating due to all the aforementioned problems. But used in small doses, I think it does add up to the gameplay.

Obsidian really should reveal all their big-ass goals up to USD4million ASAP! The momentum of the Kickstarter has been puttering out, it's time to kindle the embers NOW!

Haha... the gargoyle was fun... so was Baba Yaga's skeleton. In QFG1, you had to suffer at the hands of Baba Yaga but could exact appropriate revenge in QFG4. Great times! I really loved the QFG series... It was my alltime favourite together with the Ultima series in the 90's.

No! So long as the game makes it clear to the PC that once you start on the final quest, it's the point of no return and makes an appropriate auto-save. A great ending should change impact the PE universe significantly by the choices the PC has chosen and reflected accordingly. Usually this is impossible to implement in-game, so it's done via an epilogue and slides. If the game allows you to continue and you find out that NPC's are still talking as if nothing has happened, it would be unrealistic and unsatisfying. If this were an action RPG, I would agree to allow the game to be continued since players usually play for the loot. For games like PE, it's more for the story, so continue the game after the end doesn't really make sense, to me.

god, I loved that series!...played it all the way through part 5 with the same character and everything. jeez, they even had romances by part 5...aahh nostalgia. Hi NerdBoner, an avid fan - I see! Hope you played the remake by AGDI on QFG2. It's pretty fantastic. As for QFG1, another thing I was very fond of was the wizard's game where you could play a mini-game with Erasmus by using all the spells in your arsenal. Quite a cool game.

I understand some of the concerns. I was just hoping that it could be implemented in a limited manner. I don't know how many played Quest For Glory 1, but to enter Erasmus's house, you had to answer some pretty cool riddles - none of which was too challenging. It was largely based on the lore in the game.

If I were to hazard a mighty good guess, it's UPGRADING the player house into a class specific stronghold ala Crossroad Keep in NWN2.

I was thinking of in terms of very limited situations where this would be used. A lot of problems mentioned can be partially remedied by: 1. Limiting these to specifically one word - so if you're typing, you can't type more than one word. 2. Tying this to specifically certain clues or descriptions that's used in-game. For instance, in Ultima IV - the answers to the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom was tied into the 8 virtues of the Avatar, which permeated throughout the game. 3. In cases where there are alternate solutions, I can see where this may be a problem. But in this day and age, I do think having several solutions could be implemented. But, guess that really depends on how specific or vague the riddle or puzzle is. The main problem like Amentep's character is that how would a low int/wis character come up with A, B & C in the first place? Unless he's blessed with some divine inspiration.

Just a simple idea and request. If PE does incorporate riddles, specific verbal tests or major side quests requiring investigation and deduction, can we please avoid having the answers handed on a platter via multiple choice answers? I believe there were some great riddles in Planescape Torment (Undead Nation) if I remember correctly and in Baldur Gate series. I would prefer if it was a subjective test (i.e. fill in the blanks style). One fine example was the final test in Ultima IV when you came to face the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. The reason for this is that I really hate when a good riddle goes to waste. When you have an ingeniously crafted riddle, it just goes to waste when you are given the answers in a silver platter of A, B, C, D, E. It would be better if you were required to TYPE in your answer. For a really good investigation and detective side quests, it would be great if the PC can sidestep some preliminary investigation if he's good enough to deduce certain major points and can query the NPCs directly on a certain point. Granted, this should only be used sparingly.

Ink-Blot, didn't want to clutter your post, but just wanted to say that I really appreciate this. However, is it possible for the moderators to reserve the first 10 posts for you, so that you can have a series of continuos posts on the Q&A instead of being broken by comments from other posters. Granted, I'm guilty for being one of them.

"Running around for weeks casting spells, and saying that the experience (XP) of doing such suddenly means you know how to wear heavy armor and swing a halberd is très stupide." Exactly my thoughts. If there's to be a multi-class, could we have a series of side quests given by the trainers? For instance, a fighter that wants to multi-class must either: (a) find an apprenticeship with a powerful wizard. The wizard will require him to perform an escalating series of difficult tasks which will help him level up to an basic to intermediate level. After learning the basics of magic, then the PC is free to choose his own development path thereafter. (b) find a powerful NPC battlemage and learn directly from him. Again, it could be via a series of learning quests or paying him substantial amounts of gold and XP to gain his skillsets. Any restrictions or difficulties in multi-classing will be explained by the trainer. If your fighter is too stOOpid to learn magic, the NPC will tell him. If there are certain difficulties in multi-classing, example spells will not be as powerful as a pure wizard - he can learn this the hard way via a side quest when battling a pure wizard. Something alongst these lines in-game. Something that makes sense, without needing to refer to a AD&D manual (or its' equivalent in PE). Not something where, here you reach level 10, now you can dual class. How? Oh refer to the game manual on blah.. blah... blah... and there are penalties... blah blah blah... and you need certain stats... blah blah blah... making it confusing and maybe necessary to refer to some character builds walkthrough.

If there is multi-classing, I am just stating that it should make sense, in a logical way, without overly complicated mechanics and min-maxing. Multi-classing should be a difficult process achieved via a series of side quests and established firmly in the game universe. In the old Infinity games, I never quite understood the mechanics of multi-classing. IMHO, most of the rules are quite difficult to undersand and I needed a walkthrough to min-max or game the system. That's exactly what I'm opposed to...

One grouse that I have with multi-classes and specializations is that there's very little lore to back it up. I always envison a multi-class as a truimphant achievement where the PC is able to take two very different disciplines and synergize them to achieve something unique. Since PE is a new setting, for each multi-class, I hope there's at least some lore, device and/or NPC attached to it. It doesn't really make sense that the PC can multi-class without learning this somewhere via some means. Originally, someone must have founded an order by learning two separate disciplines before fusing them together. For an established multi-class, learning to multi-class could be easily achieved via learning from books or lore. An established guild or small chapter devoted to the multi-class would be nice. For more exotic multi-class, it should only be allowed if the PC manages to achieve the objectives in a side-quest. A good example of this would be the Arcane Warrior for the mage in Dragon Age: Origins, where you learn the ancient secrets from the Elven Warriors/Mage via a memory gem. Other esoteric multi-class could be introduced by NPCs or companions or via some other means. This is largely what was done is specializations in Dragon Age Origins. Any thoughts?

I'd prefer the old logo. Anyway, I always thought the old logo was showing a serpent swallowing its' own tail. Nothing to do with dragons...

See, that's what I HATED about Durlag's. I never got any further than the 2nd dungeon level because all the "walk into each room one step at a time and wait for the red outline to appear" makes those maps so incredibly tedious. Making the player nervous is fine. Making the player bored is unforgiveable. The traps in Durlag's did the latter. I agree partly with this. It would be preferable if the mega-dungeon was treated as an eco-system of its' own, rather than purely a monster lair. It doesn't quite make sense for every area to be littered with booby traps and monsters. After all, why would the inhabitants of these places put these traps all over the place? Any careless moves by the inhabitants of the dungeon would cause them to hurt themselves or their allies. It would be better if these so called dangerous areas were placed in strategic areas. For instance, at the entrance of each main areas or narrow chokepoints guarded by sentries. This would minimize the annoyance factor. But Durlag's Tower had excellent lore reasons to have so many traps. Durlag's story of paranoia, loss and suffering would not have any resonance if his tower was just a series of monsters to kill, or series of expositions to read. It's not the stupid cutscene with the Death Knight killing the annoying tourists that sets the scene. It's when you go into level 2 for the first time, walk down the corridors as normal, and then have half the party zapped and blasted to death. The dangerous, nervous navigation around the labyrinthine dungeons, even as all the traps expend your potions and consumables, corresponds to the nervous wreck Durlag himself was reduced to as he resorted to ever more paranoid means to try and 'protect' his clan. The traps, of course, are only ever a big deal in levels 2 and 3, as for variety's sake you get the elemental rooms, the chess battle and other novelties in 4 & 5. That's what sets it apart from the Watcher's Keep, which was a good dungeon in its own right, but the middle levels were mostly just puzzles - I didn't feel like I was delving deeper into a dangerous dungeon like I did with Durlag's Tower, I felt like I was just on an adventuring romp solving fun puzzle games. Now, could you find better ways of doing what Durlag's Tower did than loading 2 floors full of traps? Perhaps - and that's fine with me. Well, thanks for correcting me I must confess that I never got to complete all of BG1 and reach Durlag's Tower. I started with BG2 and TOB and tried to go back to BG1. As long as the traps in the mega-dungeon makes sense, I'm allright with it. Still, so long as its' two floors and not used extensively, I'm ok with it. It would be good if the game gives adequate warning on this by either the quest giver, rumors or seeing large piles of bones of dead adventurers littered liberally in these floors.

One of my pet peeves about levelling up and character development is how the skill trees or magic spells are all laid out neat and tidy up-front. I can understand that for certain established classes, that almost all skills or techniques may be well known, so it can be laid in advance. However, for less known classes such as ciphers or wizards, is it really necessary to lay out all available magic spells or skills is such a perfunctory manner. Wouldn't it be better: (a) to allow the PC to have knowledge of spells and skill trees up to a basic level (say levels 1-3); (b) the higher level techniques or spells can only be discovered when; (i) accessing higher level trainers or through exploration of lores; or (ii) promotion to higher ranks in their respective guilds; or (iii) stealing techniques by observing higher level NPCs during battles etc. © allow access to some unique skills or magic spells in difficult and rewarding side quests such as meeting powerful NPCs in the proposed mega-dungeon. *** I know some might complain that they would like to know everything up-front so they can plan their build accordingly. Or that it will force players to rely on the strategy guide. If that's the case, how about a compromise. Just have some organic skills/magic spells that will be not revealed unless you have performed the relevant side quest and are rewarded for it. It just makes levelling up more rewarding as well as allowing for some unique builds. I just don't get the situation where, ok I level up and suddenly I have divine inspiration and universal knowledge as to the techniques/magic spells in this world.

Originally I was hoping for souls to be a unique concept, to be tied into past lives and maybe a karmic system that's invisibly measured (to avoid gaming the system). Unfortunately, it appears the souls concept appears to be more like a mana mechanic (correct me if I'm wrong). Just a bit sad about this.

See, that's what I HATED about Durlag's. I never got any further than the 2nd dungeon level because all the "walk into each room one step at a time and wait for the red outline to appear" makes those maps so incredibly tedious. Making the player nervous is fine. Making the player bored is unforgiveable. The traps in Durlag's did the latter. I agree partly with this. It would be preferable if the mega-dungeon was treated as an eco-system of its' own, rather than purely a monster lair. It doesn't quite make sense for every area to be littered with booby traps and monsters. After all, why would the inhabitants of these places put these traps all over the place? Any careless moves by the inhabitants of the dungeon would cause them to hurt themselves or their allies. It would be better if these so called dangerous areas were placed in strategic areas. For instance, at the entrance of each main areas or narrow chokepoints guarded by sentries. This would minimize the annoyance factor.

I think the money could be better used to expand on the gameplay and/or quest areas.

I really like outside world quests leading to a dungeon--still optional, but feels more natural. There were at least three ways to get into Durlag's Tower, I think, not including just waltzing in the front door. Watcher's Keep was rather isolated and felt tacked on, but that may not matter to some people anyway. I'd like some depth to the enemies in relation to backstory, although this depends heavily on what's intended for the narrative, of course (e.g. the despairing monster in DT from whom you learned stuff). I'm hesitant on this only from the balancing perspective; these "special powers" would have to be pretty special to traverse a mega dungeon for acquisition, but at the same time they can't make such a big difference as to out-power regular skills you acquire out in the world. I'd rather stick with the traditional loot in that case, but I suppose if these powers only make a difference at the optional difficulty levels for boss fights... 1. Yes, having an outside world quest makes more sense. This would allow for Obsidian to forewarn the PC about the dangers in the mega dungeon and give hints as to whether they are ready or not. The quest giver could tell them that he thinks they're not powerful enough or need to be better equipped. If they're at Level 2 or less, he might even scoff at them... 2. Maybe some special abilites or item that will scale accordingly with the PC as he levels up? From the Kickstarter description, it appears that pretty powerful souls inhabit the mega-dungeon, so there should be some special reward for all the hard work in progressing through the dungeons.

I would love it if something alongst the following happens: 1. As the PC consistently takes actions that antagonizes some of his companions, the next most influential companion, say Thorne will voice out his objections. 2. Other companions with the same views/alignment as Thorne will start voicing the same opinions. If you are adamant in your course, they'll get mighty pissed off. 3. Depending on the type of class Thorne is: (a) A rogue will steal your group's most powerful items and sneak off with your other dissatisfied companions and form a rivalling party; (b) A fighter will challenge you on a one-on-one duel for leadership; © A cipher will mess with your mind and make you change your opinions to match his (d) A wizard may ask for the right of a wizard's duel, battling using spells alone. For the rouge Thorne, you should be given a chance to track him down and his companions. For other classes, if you win, you can either kick out Thorne (or kill him) and intimidate/charm your other companions into accepting your leadership. If you spare Thorne, don't be surprised if you see him heading his own adventuring party, later in the game.

I would prefer if there's an interesting lore and sidequests to back up the exploration. This could include: 1. An archaelogical expedition sidequest where the PC finds information about the lost remnants of an ancient civilization. The deeper he goes down the levels, the more knowledge he obtains. This may lead to shedding some lights on some ancient mysteries that have plagued many scholars in the PE setting. 2. A mixture of sentient monsters banding together to form a cohesive faction in the deeper levels. They may not be necessarily antagonistic to the PC. As the PC go deepers in the levels and they find the PC worthy of respect, they may approach him to discuss about trading/safe passage etc. Perhaps these could lead to a profitable trading relationship where items in the mega dungeon such as gems could be traded for goods available on the surface. 3. For different classes such as ciphers or wizards, they may meet extremely powerful NPCs that may give them access to powers which they may not acquire elsewhere.

Definitely support this. Even better would be a lich being a high ranking member of the aristocratic order that's been fooling everybody all this time. You might even be working for him, and start suspecting something's wrong as more and more quests you've been performing for him appears to be less heroic and take on a more sinister flavor.

A Vampire Bloodlines fan eh? Yep, something alongst these lines. Maybe VTMB is a bit too *in your face* though. The differentiation between the options could be slightly more subtle to match the fantasy feel and UI of PE, though.