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PrimeJunta

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Everything posted by PrimeJunta

  1. PrimeJunta
    @Jarmo true. I was thinking of it in context with PoE which apparently caps at level 10.
  2. PrimeJunta
    If someone cares about animations so much that a video like we saw is enough to turn them off the game, PoE is probably not the game for them to start with. Personally I didn't even notice.
  3. PrimeJunta
    Yep, that's a big part of the appeal of soloing. It can get tricky though. It sort of worked in the AD&D IE games because of the ridiculous geometric XP series in level progression, so 6x the XP might only put you, like, two levels ahead. Otherwise with a hard level cap you're going to plateau way before the endgame, which isn't all that much fun.
  4. PrimeJunta
    I recalle JES saying that the game will be balanced for a full party, but there's nothing to stop you from going solo. Presumably it will be a good deal harder. (It bloody well better be.)
  5. PrimeJunta
    I like the reputation system as it's currently been presented. I also think companion relationship systems should have their numbers hidden; they're so closely bound to the narrative that turning them into something gameable ("Influence gain +6") kind of ruins them. I'm also a bit leery about having mechanical benefits to companion relations like in FO:NV or MotB or DA:O, as it pushes players to game the system. I prefer narrative consequences -- quests opening up or closing off, companions leaving or betraying you, or sticking by you even when things look really grim, and so on. Even better if some of these consequences are mutually exclusive; being able to please everyone is one of the most annoying ego-stroking tropes in cRPG's IMO.
  6. PrimeJunta
    So they're that way on purpose. Well that is rather awesome.
  7. PrimeJunta
    Design by majority vote is a horrible idea. Let's discuss all we want and provide input where requested, but not forget that it's ultimately Josh's job to decide what to do with it. We can hate on him all we like once the game is out if we don't like his decisions.
  8. PrimeJunta
    @Hiro of course it'll be possible to create an effective low-INT wizard. I thought that was clear from the start. Who's arguing the contrary? FWIW that's not so different from a low-INT D&D3 Sorcerer, which is a perfectly viable character concept. Except that the spells will actually reflect the character's attributes in a visible way. Which is cool IMO.
  9. PrimeJunta
    That sounds way better than in the IE games or their successors. I like. If the circles are visible, though, I don't think it ought to be too difficult to have them expand or contract based on light levels. That would be a neat addition. Couldn't quite parse how the circle normalization based on averages thing works in practice, but we'll see when we'll see.
  10. PrimeJunta
    Dunno if anything is set in stone, but the main design idea does seem to be to have stats do the same thing for every class. I can see why, but it does make them a little less "relatable." However personally, given a choice between mechanical robustness and relatability, I'll pick better mechanics. I can understand why someone else would see it differently though.
  11. PrimeJunta
    @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.
  12. PrimeJunta
    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.
  13. PrimeJunta
    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.
  14. PrimeJunta
    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.
  15. PrimeJunta
    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.)
  16. PrimeJunta
    Actually @Ganrich I see that as a strength, not a weakness. A party built around protecting a glass cannon will play differently from a party built around all characters having some measure of durability -- and I'm not at all convinced that it'll be easier.
  17. PrimeJunta
    Amen.
  18. PrimeJunta
    Meh, evil is just shorthand for a bad reputation with your faction. Stalin pissed off a LOT of factions. And fractions. (Also, Trotsky FTW.)
  19. PrimeJunta
    It's not important. If it's done properly, you won't even be able to tell if critters/NPC's have attributes or not (unless the game provides the information, or you look at the data files on the disk).
  20. PrimeJunta
    Hm. Pallegina. Passionate. Penetration. Interrupt. Paging Dr. Freud indeed...
  21. PrimeJunta
    By the way I really like the way Vailian, the language, is turning out. I get a strong Occitan/Catalan vibe from it, even though it isn't obviously Occitan or Catalan. Excellent job.
  22. PrimeJunta
    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.
  23. PrimeJunta
    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.
  24. PrimeJunta
    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).
  25. PrimeJunta
    Why would you want to role-play a gelatinous cube? Since in interaction with a creature, only the derived values (accuracy, DT, damage, etc.) matter, why not just set them directly? Seems simpler that way.
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