IndiraLightfoot

Keyrock: Insightful post. It all comes down to what's in those areas, regardless of size, and yeah, the bigger they are, the harder they are to fill. I'll keep my fingers crossed. However, overall, it looks promising. I hope that DA:I will place itself cleverly in that Goldilock zone in-between Skyrim, BG2 and MotB. For once, I will seek out the romances in this game. I haven't before, and they felt forced upon me. This time, I will go all in. I'm already checking out all the companions to see who it'll be.

Nice write-up, PJ! I agree with most of the stuff on it. A lot of things have indeed improved, and I really like the changed attribute system too - but then again, like you, I reckon, I would prefer the SenMatt system. I must add that art-wise the game looks extremely nice and is overall very promising, including music and sound effects, down to the footsteps. What is needed from here on in, the priorities in my book: -Make the talents more interesting, let our characters get them more often, and perhaps add some weapon focus/spec-"spell school" focus/spell specialization to it all. Each class needs a few more level 1 and onwards talent/focus/spec-branches to pick just for the sake of diversity and playability -Clean up the combat even more. I want to be on my toes when playing the game. In WL2 (and actually in BG1, btw), each and every encounter has a sense of danger and risk to it. I want less attrition and harder hits - that deal more damage, it's more fitting in a low-level campaign. I personally don't mind the so-called save-scumming/RNG problem, at least not to a degree, I must add. Perhaps a slightly bigger health pool on all - but I want low-level fights to be resolved faster than it is now - more pain and urgency, please! -Have the attributes effect your character's uniqueness more, including the weight of the attributes -Fix the character/NPC models so that they are less gloomy and semi-transparent. Obviously, I don't mean some D3/D:OS colour intensity level. Also, while the models have been touched up and look better. Some are still not good enough.

I just read this over at GiantBomb: "Similar in concept to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, BioWare has adopted an open world approach for Inquisition, encouraging exploration and undertaking side quests on behalf of local NPCs. Inquisition however is not one giant landscape but rather ten large, spacious locations, each one larger than all of the areas in Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age II." I really hope I read this correctly: We'll get ten areas, each of which are larger than all of those in DAO and DAII combined! Holy Moses!

Knock yourself out, MCA! I expect no less from a workaholic bricoleur.

Matt516: In all fairness, you missed the point of it being superfluous and redundant.

Heh! I picked a two-handed sword at that, and used that ability to have it burn! And well, if that gang got lucky while I was zig-zagging in between them like The Flash and The Human Torch rolled into one, and actually hit me, I had some weird burn damage retribution thing going. And yes, I admit. I often tend to tinker with the system to see what output I can improve - that's half the fun of it.

MC & Quadrone: I played a Bleakwalker paladin as a fire-godlike, and I pumped dexterity, followed by lots of strength, constitution and perception - then I dropped the rest to bad levels. I picked damage enhancing skills on top of that, and got a beast in combat. My party, without any adv hall hireling, killed the Medreth boar gang easily on normal, first try. I made it a priority to hit as often as possible and hit hard. I even had two guys in my party doing nothing: the priest and the wizard.

What have you done? Did you really have to spoil the entire plot of PoE? Happy now?

No worries, mate. And yes, I agree about the ammo, 20 hours (or 25 h for a completionist playthrough like my first) seems to be the sweet spot. As son as you have that Citadel, things get a bit more manageable - and you do realize that you literally can turn trash into treasure, and dung into dough, hehe. I'm really fond of slow turn-based combat. Heck, I really liked M&M X, so as long as I like the basic recipe, I can keep going for 100+ hours. Also, true about that false "open world" - that is generally the case in CRPGs like this. I really hope that PoE will have some illusionary freedom in regards to exploring and the critical plot paths.

I applaud Josh & Co for trying to avid those swing and swoosh fests that especially characterize higher-level D&D CRPGs. BG2, obviously, but also NWN2. I once made a cleric with too a weak to hit capabilities that met some undead fella in NWN2 MotB - and she had to swing at it for over ten minutes before it died a second death out of sheer boredom!

Misses are sometimes frustrating. Attrition is always boring. Take your pick. Yes. This is the crux of it. I'd prefer the former any day.

You and me both! Btw, that's why I like WL2, where it is indeed in.

Sky_walker: Thanks for taking the time to write that post. In general, your points on WL2 and the potential pirtfalls for PoE make sense. In defence of WL2, which I really like playing, I'd like to say that if you happened to make a worthwhile and versatile party and reach 25h or more into the game, it becomes much more fun. At least it did for me, even the combat and the placement of your party, and its use of tactics. However, yeah, the start, perhaps five hours is surprisingly weak. The graphics look stale and repetitive at times, and some of it has been done in a rush. Take a look at Highpool and the mountainous area there, for instance. And skills - one point in barter on one character is enough, and Animal Whisperer was bugged, but most other skills I've had some use of, even the Toaster Repair. Other lessons for PoE to learn from WL2: -The character models are actually clearer and more visible WL2 -The isometric plain vs models is more correct in WL2 -Non-combat skills, while pretty boring implementation, really matters in WL2 -The inventory system far exceeds the one in PoE -The small-increment xp system is better IMHO than quest-xp-only -Although pulp fiction, there are tonnes and tonnes of great descriptions and dialogues, and lots of great humour too. -The music in WL2 has been surprisingly repetitive. The mood is good, but it's not really taking off. I reckon Justin will beat that -WL2 is a reasonably open world. Hopefully, PoE will be at least as open as that -The log book feels generic and uninspired, I have a feeling that PoE will come up with something better -Both critical hits and critical misses are in. I hope PoE will have that as well, and skip the graze attrition agony

It can be atrocious at times, but let me ask you this: Does Josh come across as a guy that just folds over when the pressure is on? Personally, I reckon he's dealing with it perfectly. He takes his time, and he listens to those who have thoughtful points and opinions (which hopefully are based on plenty of experience and BB testing).

We have some answers so far: -We get a less likable system /C2B) -Possibly the loss of "a sound mechanic" (Nahnja) -A middle ground between hit and miss disappears, and a lost opportunity to fine tune deflection/defence values (aeonsim) -The game gets less heterogenic and realistic (Rostere)

I honestly think you are onto something great here. In a game with real time combat, a phase in-phase out solution such as this could most likely work well.

Rostere: Sure, heterogenous and realistic can do well in computer games - heck, even stuff bordering on the esoteric (think EU or Crusader Kings). But most games actually do tend to simplify feedback when there are much stuff going on in real time. It's party-based combat vs several opponents we're talking about here, folks. Btw, I have never played WoW - so you just have to explain what makes a call for simplicity worthy of the tag "WoW".

Wanderon: That is unfair. Personally, I'm happy about many changes that are made in PoE. While I do like the IE-games, I'm no grognard in that sense. This is solely based on my assessment as someone that has played loads and loads of CRPGs, heck even made a few mods for them, and in my opinion the graze mechanic really doesn't contribute in any way to make the combat better or the gameplay flow smoother. Also, I do appreciate aeonsim for giving a valid reason for why he likes the mechanic, though. However, I don't see the need for that middle-ground. Once again - fun, system clarity, gameplay, and replayabilty are to me the real pillars of any good CRPG - and in this case, the graze mechanic puts a halt to that.

Agreed. Once again, the easiest solution to something is often the best, and in PoE we need as clear-cut combat info as possible with an entire party to manage.

The easiest thing would be to replace "grazes" with a good old "misses", but you could also replace with an implied zero damage combat log message like this: "Cowled dwarf blocked BB Wizard."

^This times a thousand! I really dislike it now that I've been playing three different beta builds with it. It's just one big annoyance and it bereaves the game of all combat clarity and joy over a real hit or even a crit. I'd much rather have OE take a leaf or two from how turn-based WL2 does these things than some MMO-ish friction fest of procs and tics (sounds like illnesses and insects). Not only does graze serve no real purpose. It's unrewarding and annoying too. Finally, the darn thing spams our beloved combat log. Just look at this: I don't think PoE has anything to win to keep it in. I've given it a go, and it actually worsens my experience with the game by quite a bit, so I say: Graze gotta go! Bye, Graze. Hehe. It sounds like a name. "Don't be sad now, Graze. But you really have to leave." EDIT: I added a poll just for the heck of it.

^This times a thousand! I really dislike it now that I've been playing three different beta builds with it. It's just one big annoyance and it bereaves the game of all combat clarity and joy over a real hit or even a crit. I'd much rather have OE take a leaf or two from how turn-based WL2 does these things than some MMO-ish friction fest of procs and tics (sounds like illnesses and insects).

That's my main gripe - no need for a new concept, then. Your ideas here still rock - I'm just simplifying them.

I agree with your points 1-3 100%! That's the sad truth as things stand now. I love your idea of talents, as this would diversify the class builds by quite a margin. However, will feats added to this save the day? Not sure. I'd argue, make lots of new and useful talents, and then remove your feats and simply add in talents there too at level up - so, basically, new talents, almost every level.

Sarky: The same bug, at the first level-up, existed in BB 278 too, but apparently it remains. A similarly garbled up text line then lingers in the upper right corner too. It does so in this build as well.