IndiraLightfoot

First of all, the very term "cookie cutter build" may be to much ARPG lingo and munchkin for some peeps here to stomach, but I happen to like ARPGs as well, so just look the other way or hear me out (and yes, first and foremost, I appreciate PE for it being a role-playing game with a good story, adventures and great dialogue): Far too many CRPGs, including the more click-feisty ARPGs, soon end up having a few viable cookie cutter builds, that is, certain choices of characters, including skills and stats, which delivers much more munchkin per inch than any other build. This leads to loads of players looking them up on the internet, and then we have clones of killer machines running around in the game, which also reduces the variety the game is experienced. Let's say this fate would drape itself upon PE. Then all the hard work the devs have invested in the game, all the variety depending on class and race and certain skill and attribute choices will fall upon deaf ears, or rather no ears at all, because so few people will be playing those suboptimal builds. I love theorycrafting and can spend hours even on my first character to get it to be viable with a high survivability. This of course applies to game where I get to make entire parties as well. Do I seek a munchkin build from the get-go? No. I usually start off with a ranger build if it's one-character game. However, that ranger will be a pretty mean ranger when I'm done. So, my dream for PE is this: If I pick a race and a class, there should be enough options even in the first eight levels of that character to make several strong builds, if not all munchkin-like. Even better, whatever class or race I pick, there should be a few possible routes to absolute power and greatness for the character I pick, including of course several good combos of items, whether weapons, armour or magic trinkets. What I fear is that there is like only one class and one way to build it that will rule all other builds and hit the ball out of the park. I reckon it would be such great fun if there were loads and loads of strong builds, one step short of munchkinhood, as it were. If Obsidian has done it all right, we get to a huge build diversity. NWN2 actually had a lot of possible über-builds, but then again it was based upon 3.5 ed D&D. Josh and the other Obsids have quite a challenge to make a pretty big system that deliver plenty of possibilities for strong and quite varied builds. And like I said, I know that there are many of you who don't even care about all this, and sometimes I envy you, but only sometimes.

If you see no difrences then why put them at all ? Let's make everybody genderless and problem solved. but seriously.. what are the differences between women and men ? Ask your self ... and im not talking about physical difrences but social. Firstly men beating a women is seen as bad, woman seducing a large number of men are seen by some as a **** etc etc etc. Secondly, man reacts to a woman difrently (especially a beautiful one) than for a man. Women can say something to a women that seems normal, but if men says the same thing he coud be slapped in the face .. I meen social and cultural diffrences. Fish on!

For those of you interested, a fairly hefty update just landed, with all the reward tiers made much more meaty: Update #9 Nov 17, 2013 More rewards for you 11 comments Like 6 likes Today, we have an exciting update for you, not so much because we will talk more about the technology or features of “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore,” but because we are announcing a whole lot of changes to our reward structure, with the result that every single backer of our campaign will get more swag! How do you like that? So let’s not waste any more time with preliminaries, let me outline for you, what is happening and what you can expect. Rewards Galore!First and foremost, all of our reward tiers will receive eBook versions of the entire “Jason Dark: Ghost Hunter” Collection, a series of pulp-fiction style novels, written by Guido Henkel. The collection features all eleven adventures, a $30 retail value, that we’re giving away to every single backer, even those coming in at the $5 level. We are also creating a Monster Naming Pool. Throughout the game you will encounter various monsters and we will create a pool of names — that you will provide — and randomly pick unique names for many of these creatures. You can throw your own name, or a name you made up, into the pool if you’re backing this project at the $50 level or higher, adding to the variety this game will offer its players. In addition, we have decided to create a Cloth Map for the game, displaying the various areas the game plays in. It will be beautifully crafted and best of all, it will be added to all existing physical reward tiers! Once again, we feel by adding this kind of value to all physical tiers, we can express our gratitude for your support! Naturally, the map itself will also be made available to all digital tiers in a digital image format. One of the key levels in “Deathfire: Ruins of Nethermore” is a Graveyard area that surrounds the Apocryphic Temple at the top of Mount Nethermore. Instead of filling it with entirely made-up names, we have decided to hand the space over to you. We are giving you the chance to name the graves. At the $60 level and above, you will be able to name a tombstone. Once you commit to the $100 MOUSER EDITION and upwards, you will even be able to name an interment site in a catacomb, select the look of it from a number of designs, and place a personalized banner over it, which you can provide as a bitmap image. If you are a backer at the $300 level or higher, you will receive a fully personalized crypt instead. It will contain all of the above features and will also allow you to add a personal epitaph. With these rewards, which span a wide range of reward tiers, you can now immortalize yourself in the game! As we pointed out before, the game features a recipe-based crafting system, which allows you to create brand new items, or enhance existing ones, such as weapons. Starting at the $100 MOUSER EDITION tier, backers now also have the ability to name a specific crafting recipe, adding their own name to the ancient lore of the game world this way. For those of you more interested in all things combat, starting at the $120 CLASSIC BARD EDITION tier, we will also give you the opportunity to name a rare weapon. These highly individual weapons will be available to all players, but they will carry the name you provided. Imagine the fame your weapon could achieve among players! Needless to say, all naming options will have to adhere to certain naming rules that we will make available, in order to avoid abuse and copyright infringements. We are really happy to provide all these new rewards to you, and as the creators of the game, we are really looking forward to some of the cool names and ideas you will undoubtedly throw at us as part of the process. Most importantly, however, these new rewards will allow you to become a part of the game itself, and judging by our own pride we take in our work, it is a prospect that is truly exciting. Matt Chat Video InterviewBefore I sign off, I also wanted to point your attention to a video interview I did recently with Matt Barton as part of his “Matt Chat” YouTube channel. The first part of the interview is now live, giving you about 30 minutes of talk about “Deathfire” and its features. Other segments, covering other aspects will follow. Matt is a smart guy who really knows games and the conversation truly reflects that so make sure to check it out. Stay tuned, and don’t forget to spread the word about the game and these new rewards!

I'm definitely rooting for it. It's not just nostalgia, but the emphasis on puzzles, problem solving, party characters that have phobias and flaws, and nor will they stop talking either, and there are political intrigues, factions, and outdoor areas. I think Guido would make a nice game of this, despite the slightly corny name.

In the tavern in Neverwinter, you had Sand and Bishop staring something that would go on well into Act 2 and the trial efforts going on there. I guess, it depends on which characters you pick. Neeshka was a good Have Grobnar in your party, and quite a few funny remarks will be dropped at inconvenient times. Shandra, the relatively short time she's in, has nice "normal" conversations for a change. Zhjaeve has a lot to say, but it's always words of wisdom starting "Know that", and they are always delivered with an undertone of urgency. Regardless, Iagree with you totally "useless doesn't mean they are forgettable" is a very nice line indeed. Thank you, sir!

Inb4 this turns out to be an ugly debate between naïve gender role essentialists and those pointing out that as a roleplaying game we can expect nearly the entire plethora of possible identities, where each character will be a unique interpretation of gender, the variation of which is up to the player.

NWN2, the first two acts, had plenty of this. I think Obsidian excelled there, but of course we always want more of that kind of thing. However, it's expensive vis-à-vis the game dev budget, so we have to keep our fingers crossed for at least a few such moments. They are a great way to breaking up the pace too. And Seinfeldian would be absolutely brilliant, if done sparingly! I'm pretty sure there will plenty of bickering, at least.

the Three Stooges and Chico, Harpo, and Groucho. They'll bad-mouth the enemies to death, ears bleeding with puns so blunt that a five ton mace feels like a feather.

aluminumtrioxid: Off topic, but before I forget - I must congratulate you on the most awesome avatar name and pic you could get, basically. That series is a highlight in my life of film- and TV-consumption. Bryan Cranston alone is eerily brilliant in that role.

Playing PE, I'd love to find: -A character creation smorgasbord that blows my sock off -A game world catering to exploration and multitudes of ways of solving and dealing with encounters and mysteries -Great story, wonderful dialogue, and most of all, that rife/right RPG atmosphere that sorely have been missing for so long -Replayability just because the game is so darn good -Character choices at level up that no only means technical development of the character, but actually gets to be woven into the story as well And this is just for starters!

Couldn't agree more, including the last sentence! DAO is far too often described as if it were a god-awful game, when it is actually pretty decent, albeit a let-down, for many reasons: It was far from the quality of BG2, it had no online persistent worlds capabilities a la NWN, and the toolset failed on many levels. It gets far too much hate, I reckon - and yes, I have been guilty too of hopping on the bandwagon sometimes. Well, it was bad enough for me not to buy DA2 - and I don't seem to have missed out, really. IWD and ToEE, I think, must be taken for what they are: hack-n-slash, build interesting D&D parties games, and they are very good from that perspective.

I have already planned at least one party with all monks. And to me it's important that some monks are super-agile, doing splits and what not. One of my monks shall be old, short and serene, taming tanks using gymnastics, with a broad Belgian accent, like van Damme does in this video. Enjoy!

Kaz, those portraits are so beautiful! I'm very glad that you are working on this project.

Having been on this forum for awhile, it's clear that there will be converging points of interest and argumentation even among those that seem to disagree the most, and I love that. The obvious common denominators: We all love complex party-based CRPGs with great stories and adventures.

I wouldn't mind such a system, despite its absolute traits in a game. However, hopefully it's just a matter of general categories jogging along some RPG reactivity in the game, and not so much ethics-laden absolutes.

Indeed. And let the faction reputations and private dispositions be not just skin deep, like in New Vegas. It often led to absurd situations and consequences, even bugs, and all because you donned a new set of clothes.

Apropos... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrgxHvNNUc

I really like this. It will make the game more complicated and fun. I mean, having a full party going is borderline split personality already, and now we get to go all in. It will be madness and mayhem, I tell you, and I like it.

BruceVC: Bogged down with work and other RL stuff, I'm afraid, nothing exciting.

Adam: Seeing Brandon's feature list, I get a severe itch for wanting to mod PE eventually. Will a toolkit or something similar be a possibility after the expansion? I mean, is something like that at all on the horizon?

Sobering and stern about the toil of great game devs. Thanks for the update. Now, I know something more of what's in a game like PE. However, what's in game? That question I can answer. Entrails, bones, and blood... I think you all get the picture.

*Icy winds howl eerily through the dale.*

I'd love to see this fun discussion having its own thread, but I'm not anal about topics and indexation, and the spirit of these forums is indeed lax in this matter.

Thanks, Mieu! Hadn't it been for you, I would have missed that KS. It looks exciting enough for me to back it.

Oh, there's them movies too - the silent ones.