PrimeJunta
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Everything posted by PrimeJunta
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@Valorian that's actually a pretty good idea. I'd transfer the damage bonus to Resolve though, as it's currently otherwise a purely passive attribute; it would also fit there naturally since there is a certain logic to willpower affecting magical damage. The only downside is a small amount of added complexity to code and to understand. But it would definitely make the attributes more relatable. -
I don't care for cooldowns. They're a lazy way to balance abilities or impose constraints. They're especially bad if there's no obvious and visible reason for them, such as an associated animation. The wizard grimoire swap cooldown just might work if it's obvious to the player what's happening, e.g. an animation that has the wizard sucking his thumb for a while when wrapping his head around the different set of spells.
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I don't think it makes much difference. If you're able to hammer a spellcaster hard and fast enough to interrupt all his spells, it's highly unlikely he would be standing at that point anyway. I don't recall ever having actually had your "sitting duck" situation. I do hope counterspells in some form are in though. That would be different.
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They did say in an interview that they want to make it as mod-friendly as they can, without screwing up higher priorities. It's certainly going to be much harder to mod than NWN though. NWN was tileset-based and 3D, so you could create a map just by laying tiles and placing objects. PoE will require a 3D terrain model and multiple rendering passes for the various maps used to create the 2D background, and I don't even know how they make those cool animated trees. That said, it is Unity-based and there are 3D modeling and rendering tools around, so I've no doubt skilled and determined modders will be able to make maps. Just not right away, and not all that quickly.
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The game will take place on a fairly small part of that map though. In the Free Palatinate of Dyrwood plus surrounding areas. We know Twin Elms is in so it does go a fair bit southwards from it. (I really, really hope Durgan's Battery is in too. The lore snippets about it sound way cool.)
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Amen.
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Will it? Not sure about this, but I seem to remember it being mentioned that critters don't have stamina, only health. That would indicate asymmetrical mechanics. Do you have a source? Not at all. The spells/abilities would simply affect the derived stats directly. So a "Ray of Enfeeblement" spell where the description says "lowers Might by 5 points" would actually lower Damage and Healing by the appropriate amount. You'd just be doing the arithmetic in the spell. That's not my experience from GM'ing various PnP systems. I find asymmetrical mechanics way easier to balance since I'm only adjusting one side of the equation at a time. Must've been a BG2 addition. I just checked the AD&D Monster Manuals. They only list intelligence, with first edition having a verbal description (Low, Animal, Average, High, Very High etc.), and second edition having a numeric range in parentheses after it. No other attributes are listed.
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You still don't need the attributes for critters/NPC's to interact with them. You only need target numbers which can be assigned directly. Non-combat interaction is mostly dialog anyway, and dialog nodes with stat checks would certainly have the stat check assigned directly to the node rather than derived from the NPC you're talking to. There are major downsides to giving critters/NPC's attributes. It introduces unnecessary complexity. You're never interacting with the attributes directly anyway, only with the stats derived from them. There's no way you'd ever know what the attributes are even if they were defined, unless the game explicitly told you what they are. For example, critter stats would make it more difficult to balance the game overall, because any changes to them will affect both sides. To illustrate: suppose you decide that combat is too easy, because your characters finish off the opposition too quickly, so you decide to shift the Damage effect of Might from 3% per point to 2% per point. However, if the critters and NPC's also have Might, you've adjusted their damage down symmetrically. To offset this, you'd have to adjust their Might or base damage up individually. Fiddly. Many RPG systems are asymmetrical this way. D&D only introduced stats for monsters in 3d edition. Numenera is completely asymmetrical (NPC's/critters only have level and health). I would be very surprised if PoE does have attributes for NPC's or critters. They add complexity but don't let you do anything that you couldn't do by assigning target numbers directly.
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Yes, yes I do. It's mechanically sound while being more relatable than the previous version. Dex, Per, and Int are a bit fuzzy, but I've no doubt they can be reinforced through non-combat activities and checks. Bit of a "paging Dr. Freud" there at Perception though, but hey, we're all adults here (I think).
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At first glance I prefer these stats to the prototype Josh presented earlier. They seem more intuitive, assuming that Concentration is something you really want to have, no matter which class you are. (Looking good otherwise too.) Edit: not sure about Pallegina. Sounds like somebody's Sardinian grand-aunt. Edit edit: artwork is full of win.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Not games in general. Just certain recurring features in many games. Also don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed most of the games being discussed here tremendously, but I've enjoyed them despite these features, not because of them. Here's one that doesn't do this: Total War. That series is mechanically relatively complex, and it's often taken me several tries to get a proper campaign started (I usually play on Hard). I have quite enjoyed that process, because I've felt that I'm learning the rules, not memorizing counters to "canned" challenges.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Occasional reloading certainly is. You do slip up sometimes and there should be consequences for that. However, there are CERTAINLY encounters designed for repeated reloading. That's what the tired and threadbare "boss fight" trope is traditionally all about.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Not the same thing. Metagaming is "I know there's a spellcaster around the next corner with buffs A, B, and C, who's going to open up with attacks X, Y, and Z, so I need to prepare counters a, b, c, x, y, and z." Or "I know the best magic weapon in the game is a two-handed sword, so I'll specialize in that." Or "I know that the following scene will get interrupted by a sudden attack of powerful undead, so I'll prepare my anti-undead spells." And so on.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Uh... ok, I guess? I agree, most of the classic cRPG's are mechanically awful and way too reliant on "save frequently and in different slots."
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)"Feeble." "Dishonest." You're a real charmer, Stun. <plonk>
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)I don't enjoy challenges built for reloading in any games. A challenge that's designed to kill you until you memorize the right moves is just lazy design masquerading as difficulty. It doesn't reward skill, insight, or creativity, only persistence. I think so many games are like this purely for historical reasons. Arcade games had to have an exponentially ramping-up difficulty curve to keep people pushing in the quarters, and this carried over to computer games where it no longer made sense. Now we're just used to it and expect it, and some of us even think they're somehow superior gamers for having a higher-than-average tolerance for frustration.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)@Stun, thank you for the clarification. We clearly value very different things in games. It says something about the IE games that both of us found much to enjoy in them nevertheless.
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PrimeJunta replied to IndiraLightfoot's topic in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)Success or failure in BG2 was heavily, heavily based on metagaming, though. Most of the tougher encounters could not be beaten unless you knew what was coming. The same applied to character generation and development to a significant extent. Do you think that was a good thing?
