Hiro Protagonist II

I haven't been following this game or any updates and haven't bought it. So it's action points like Fallout? I'd be interested to know how the combat works.

Turn based?

You also have to take into account ongoing costs after the game is released. It's not all profit. There are still wages and running costs to pay out. While the game sells for the next 6 months after release, you also have 6 months of costs to take out as well. It keeps Obsidian in business.

I think KS is a great way for Obsidian to create new IPs. Obsidian creates new IP and presents on KS and the backers help fund that IP. Obsidian now has a fully realised IP that they own and can do anything with. I would've thought Obsidian would have a string of new IPs that they'd like to see come to fruition that never got picked up from Publishers. I really like that Sci-Fi IP they had. It sounded pretty cool. Just as long as they don't sell the movie rights to Uwe Boll, then I'm all good.

As I said with the Rogue. You have up to 20 possible builds in 4th ed and only one of them is great. So I'll take that great build. Everything else I wouldn't touch. It's now become the default as I take out that build all the time. It's really only one choice for me unless I want a lower character. Given the choice of the two, I'll end up picking the better character. And I don't see many paths for some people to take when someone posts a min-maxed character on the forums. I'll probably just take note of their build when it comes time to take out a particular class. The Fighter class will be one of the last classes I'll take out. Checks fighter builds on forums, sees a min-maxed OP build. cool, looks great. Will take out and see how good this build is. Easy peasy, too easy. And it will probably be the same with new players to the game. What's the best Fighter build? Points to thread. They're now playing the min-maxed OP build. It's now become the default for new players who don't want to do all the hard work of figuring it out themselves.

Well PoE does take a lot from 4th ed. So while it might be free of the D&D ruleset, it does lend heavily from it. If someone showed me this game for the first time today, I would think at first it was a 4th ed D&D game or at the very least heavily based on it. I found with 4th ed, that to 'balance' things like the Mage being weak at the beginning and then a God later on was to bump up every other class with abilities (powers and feats) while nerfing the Mage (compared to previous 2nd ed) to a degree during level up. While it did help to make some classes more useful while stopping other classes getting too overpowered, it didn't stop the min-maxing and optimisation. In fact, it did the opposite and help create optimised overpowered builds. For example, you can have various Rogue builds (Aerialist, Brawny, Cutthroat, Shadowy, Trickster) employing different Tactics (Artful Dodger, Brutal Scoundrel, Cunning Sneak, Ruthless Ruffian). Out of all the possible combinations you can have, there is only one I would play and I wouldn't touch all the other possible builds with a 10 foot pole. And then that becomes the default. Only one choice if you want the best out of your character. I think PoE will be a min-maxers wet dream and you'll see threads with these builds and then a lot of people will be playing those builds. I expect it will become the default builds for each class. Why play this build when this other build is better, deals more damage, has more x, y, z.

I always like our Shaman's Thunder Bears (Warding) power in our pnp game. We pictured these cute little thunder bears attacking an enemy when our Shaman used it. I guess having a girl in our pnp group helped with it. Bringing out the Thunder Bears, tralalalala.

This post may come across as pessimistic but it's not meant to be. Brandon did say to see some gameplay sometime in the next couple of months. It's now July and I don't expect to see footage in the next two updates. So that leaves August imo. And then maybe a few weeks after that for the beta. Then the question of will the beta be available on all platforms? Windows, Mac and Linux? One would think so. They're not making one beta, but three. If they don't have it ready for each platform, then they may hold back two of those platforms for a week or two while they finish the third platform. I'm thinking September the earliest, possibility early October if there is a delay. Then they have a few weeks to release the game. A few weeks doesn't seem like a lot of time and expect the new PoE technical support forum to be flooded with 'This game doesn't work' posts. So Obsidian will be fielding queries on the forum while trying to squash bugs. Maybe gamers have gotten used to playing a beta for months from different companies. Obsidian doesn't seem to have the luxury of time giving backers months to play the beta. It seems more like a few weeks. I'm also thinking Obsidian's QA are frantically trying to squash bugs as I write this to avoid any delays any everything will be okay.

I don't even...

Since you compared it to RPG Codex, I decided to do a search on the F word in my browser to see if he used it. Lo and behold he did. Again, I'm not offended by it but maybe someone from RPG Codex did write this? This sort of ranting just makes me go, 'ugh, can't be bothered'.

ashtonw. I didn't notice before but your avatar is a cat of Minsc from the BG series. And I see Boo peeking over the cats head.

You miss the point Bruce. The swear words he uses don't faze me. So no, I'm not so sensitive that if someone uses **** online that it offends me. It doesn't. However, as I said it may offend others. If other people are offended and can't get past the first paragraph, then he's lost readers. And the author using such words are not doing themselves any favours by using them when more effective words can be used. It comes across as a childish rant and lazy writing. And it's not about having a thick skin. I have a pretty think skin myself. It's about presentation. The article could have been written better without all the shouting and have had a more dramatic impact with the readers. And being online, do you think it appropriate that someone who makes any type of presentation, written or even video, that shouting at the audience is an effective way of communication? For instance, would people who follow Anita Sarkeesian like it if she ranted and shouted at her audience? I mean in your words, "What happened to the importance of free speech and having a thick skin?" When I see such articles, full of vitriol, swearing and shouting, I just zone out and move on. I'm not offended by it, I just can't be bothered reading it. If it was presented better, I would have read it all. Oh and you don't mind people shouting at you? If someone was shouting at you, you would just stand there and be okay with it? I mean, in your words, What happened to the importance of free speech and having a thick skin? I do find it funny you would compare this article to RPG Codex.

I couldn't finish it either. It came across as a bit of a mindless rant with a lot of shouting. Note to the author: If you want to get your point across, SHOUTING at your audience doesn't help. And while **** may not seem like a swear word to some people, others may find it offensive. Other words can be used instead with dramatic effect and may have more of an impact to readers without offending anyone.

You're okay with the guy playing hero and rescuing babes in bikinis? I'll direct you to this site: Tropes vs Women in Video Games

What points don't you agree with?

I'm with you in that if you don't like it don't use it. Even my IWD2 party I booted up doesn't have a Paladin and can't use the Holy Avenger. Same with BG2 and having various parties without a Paladin. I don't see Carsomyr as the be all and end all and many times I never used it. I don't necessarily agree that you will always have a Paladin in your party due to one OP weapon in the game for a specific class. However, at least one dev has stated weapons that have overpowered abilities are quote 'game breaking' and would need to be rebalanced. And that's a quote, not my opinion. So if Obsidian don't want an overpowered weapon for every class because they see it as game breaking, they won't entertain the possibility of a single class specific weapon like the Holy Avenger. As much as it disappoints a lot of people, we won't see it.

I found the loot to be terrible in IWD2. Boots up IWD2. Looking at my characters in IWD 2 just before the final fight. Wow, Some of my characters are still using +3 weapons. Looking further, the Axe +4 was just an axe that gave +4 to hit and damage. That's it. The Great Axe of Might +5 was just an axe that gave +5 to hit and damage. That's it. Whereas you look at BG2 and their +4 and +5 weapons and they have additional things on their weapons. eg. BG2's +5 Axe of the Unyielding with AC+1, Con +1, regen 3HP per round, 10% chance to decapitate. Comparing both, Josh is against OP weapons. Also, the Obsidian dev's do consider additional abilities on weapons like in BG2 to be 'game breaking' in their words. They're not going to allow game breaking items, especially an overpowered item for a specific class when the others classes don't get that weapon. It just won't happen and it won't happen in a sequel. Prepare yourself for disappointment if you want BG2 type stuff in a sequel. No Holy Avenger.

I wouldn't mind seeing a Holy Avenger type sword in a sequel, but we won't see it in this game as the characters are low level. It's way too OP as it's usually a +5 sword and this game only goes up to the equivalent of +3. And I very much doubt we would see it in a sequel due to Josh likes to have a degree of balance between the classes and items. Having one OP weapon for a specific class goes against his views.

My prediction. Gameplay Footage late Aug / early Sep. Beta early October.

ah okay. I did like the subtle differences in BG1 with the different classes. They were all basically the same which might come across as a little boring but did have a subtle difference depending on your class or multi-class. BG1 probably isn't a good example as you're raised in Candlekeep all your life. But Karkarov is right. It seems your bio is prepared for you at the start and can have an effect during the game which is pretty cool. I guess you'll also want to add to your Bio? Maybe an attachment would be good where the game isn't affected by it? It looks like anything in your Bio proper affects the game.

I do like games tackling controversial topics with grey areas in between and Obsidian seems to be doing this with PoE. Even Bioware had quests like in BG2 with giving a choice of freeing the slaves in the Copper Coronet. You could free them or leave them as slaves and be rewarded for either choice. But they never mentioned male or female. They were just slaves. And slaves existed in medieval times, both male and female and not just a particular colour either. While it might be good to cover topics like slaves, I don't really see a benefit to single out one gender and ignore the other. I have confidence that Obsidian will cover these topics, whether it's based on history with maturity and in good taste.

I only have 9 games (I only bought 5) in my Steam library and these were all games I bought the physical copy. I think I only have about 20 with GOG and quite a few of those were free, like Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics. The five in my Steam library are: F.E.A.R. 2 Fallout: NV Ultimate Edition Half Life 2 Orange Box (five various games) Lost Planet Rage I'm not one for buying games just to buy games and end up never playing them. I have quite a lot of physical copies of games that I bought years ago that I haven't played, which I'll end up going back to. When you realise how many games you have and work out an average price of how much you've spent... Yeah, I stopped buying lots of games about 8-9 years ago unless I intend to sit down and play them.

Nice trolling Bruce. What is 'true' trolling? You agreed trolling can be both good or bad. Stop lying. Now you're a troll and a liar? tsk tsk. And your intent was to bring in a controversial topic by having fun at my expense. You even admitted that was your intent. Not for me to have a laugh. Your intention was for you to have fun at my expense.

You agreed trolling is not always malicious in the trolling tread in WoT. So please don't make stuff up. However, your intent was to have fun at my expense by bringing in a contentious topic that has no relevance to this thread. Yes, you're trolling and it's not appreciated by myself and by a lot of people on this board.

Trolling about Romance again Bruce. Time to bail from this thread.