IndiraLightfoot

I actually love seeing that rifle. It feels fresh and exciting. I played "Expeditions: Conquistador" a while ago, and there it felt historically accurate. However, this time we get a fantasy RPG with flintlocks - slow-to-use weapons - so no risk of gunslinging a la Torchlight, I reckon. I'm hoping for a fantasy RPG setting somewhere in between "Dishonored" and "Baldur's Gate", shifting weight on those two pillars of fantasy time as it goes along through its various contexts. I wouldn't mind seeing some technological/cultural standard a la Ravenloft thrown into the mix as well.

Curryinahurry: Indeed, this is enough door talk for a day. We have a reached a threshold, and hopefully that gap is just 3 cm. Getting all gnarly thinking about those boards and lintels and sills. I refuse to be hinged up on something so trivial and square, so let's keep this door shut.

Curryinahurry: Yea, those are no doubt steps, and I saw them, but the door is still a few inches off the floor (a foot was an exaggeration). You can see the light getting through on the floor underneath the door, and you see the height of the gap at the left corner of the top step.

A fantastic piece of work, Obsids! Like many other posters, I'm amazed at your arriving at in-game environments that surpass Polina's stunning concept art. Just wow! I've been staring at the last image for a while now, and zoomed in on it as well. And I actually like how the player character models pop just slightly. In my opinion, the overall impression is that they still fit the environment amazingly well, like in IWD. I'm also happy that you have toned down the Star Wars sabre light strength of Polina's apparatus. Otherwise, all the colours fit this scene snugly. The only thing I could say something negative about is the door. It seems to be a good foot off the floor, leaving a peek-a-boo draught hole that seems odd given the sect-like activities by that apparatus and the candles and cult props flanking it. Surely, they'd make a more sealed door. Also, it's sturdy enough, but it seems weirdly wide, like a stall door for one big horsey.

A powerful badger in whatever shape or form - this is an Obsidian RPG, after all!

lolaldanee: Companions as great as in MotB is a dream I'm crossing my fingers for till they bleed! Sacred_Path: Your dream is perhaps the most important one: longevity and replayability. Fortunately, Obsidian made NWN2 with two great expansions, and that right there is almost your dream come true to me. So, knowing the team behind PE, I have high hopes for them repeating and surpassing that success, while reviving the IE game spirit.

The horror, the horror! Your dreads are true nightmares, indeed.

I just like this idea a lot, that's all. It would be great to get the direction: "Unlucky sod! Go to 13 Schicksaal Street and have your fortune read."

But what a wolf, it was. A spectral Soulwarper Wolf that had turned that NPC into the raving lunatic you just encountered, and that troll, well, let's just say that was an Orlan cipher detective not long ago. The three goblins have just formed a cult around the horrific wolf. Lastly, the swaying grass is Razor Grass - brushing against it is like walking through a level 25 Blade Barrier. It's abattoir and bloody carnage rolled into one. And I like the daring comparison to Don't Starve. That's a pretty neat game!

Dream: -Wonderful city ambience, complete with NPC barkstrings to cherish for eternity (some IE barkstrings were so good that they were recycled in NWN1) Dread: -Potemkin villages, small towns that seem entirely fake, lifeless and empty, almost cardboard-like.

Nonek: I have to agree. It's probably recent games like Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur that have made players shun those fetch quests, because there they were just stacks in the script's memory. Almost no story, and certainly no RPG or love at all.

mstark: You hit the nail on the head there! Here, I hope that Obsidian will make a different system that potentially can be more fun and rewarding than the very legendary IE games themselves.

Lephys, nice post! Indeed, some fetch quests could work as long as they make sense. However, JFSOCC has captured the crux of the matter - they are often lazy design and boring, so anything that makes them varied and woven into several quest fabrics is to be preferred.

I do too! And I wouldn't mind being able to take it all, fixtures and everything, but under one condition: It should not be like in Skyrim, where it's all useless junk, but rather like the upcoming Divinity: Original Sin, where a lot of that stuff is movable and usable in all sorts of ways. And absurd gear dependency would be Diablo 3. What I mean is that stats and your skills and strategies should be at the forefront. As for the IE games and buffing that is only partly true. Often enough, you were better off safe than sorry as you crept up in level.

That especially is something sorely missing in most RPGs. In Titan Quest we got to kill them, but for once we would get to play one of them and tell its gnarly story.

Dreaming about: -Mature themes, reeking of undeath and lots of necromancy (I've got a feeling OEI will nail that) -Resting as a necessary respite and a period of vulnerability -Lots of lofts and attics to explore, not just endless dungeons and cellars Dreading: -Absurd gear dependency -Boring and lengthy pre-combat buffing -Potions and scrolls taking over spells and survival skills

And what an excellent reply! :D I agree, agree, and agree! Especially that about factions, a marathon game, and those lovely save-game exports.

Or Curt Schilling!

I agree. Your argument is rock solid on that! In fact, I agree so much that I'll remove that point on the list.

For every update, my appetite for PE is whetted even more. I start dreaming of endless adventures, joyful character creation and fun and varied gameplay. But sometimes nightmares darken my dreams. Then I fear that PE will have pitfalls that will get me bored or disappointed. Thus, this thread! Here I will vent some of my hopes and fears for PE, and so can you. And regardless of the things I dread here, I am pretty confident that OEI will avoid most of them, or at least ameliorate such shortcomings cleverly. Dreaming about: -Character creation with lots of choices right off the bat -Character development that widens the scope of choices even more -Great stories and lore, difficult social and moral choices and dilemmas -Moody music, as well as fantastic art and area design -Memorable NPCs -Rewarding exploration - lots of twists and turns and fantastic surprises -Challenging combat and/or sneaking, with a nice pace and strategy to it -Unexpected traps, and not just basic tripwires and such -A great variety of monsters and adversaries that still follow ecologies and socio-economic contexts -Encounters on maps that are just as varied and context-bound -A reasonably generous freedom to explore maps and dungeons in a number of different orders -No hand-holding and obvious pointers to be seen -Slow levelling, shortage of money and magic items -Interesting loot, and perhaps some of it will be different on each playthrough Dreading: -Bare-bone character creation with far too few choices, stats that don't really matter (D3) -Classes that narrow into pipelines as you level up -A few great choices, the rest is just whimsical story fluff (Kingdoms of Amalur) -A few apparent main quests (DAO - shiver!) -A game where railroading is the norm (DS3) -Music as mere variation on almost the same theme (lots of games) -Too much tunes and too little atmosphere. Sound effects should shine too -Having a few NPCs forced into the party (NWN2) -Too repetitive dungeons and quests -Combat feels like a chore, an annoying hurdle to jump before next quest event -Map A, monster 1, 2 and 3 - Map B, monster 4, 5 and 6 - Map C, monster 7, 8 and 9... -Hordes of mindless critters -Levels fly by and you are swimming in money, Uncle Scrooge-style -Too much loot, and a lot of it is meaningless and takes up to much invo space

I voted all, ALL! "I want it all!" (Add Queen choir). The last poll I picked NWN-style, because I really like 3rd ed D&D.

Life's full of hard work as it is, so I voted no straight through. I'm not even a fan of the stronghold. I next to never play occupations in games in this way. I don't play financial game simulations either. Having said that, I have a great respect for people enjoying these kinds of system, and I hope that some of them may be present in PE.

That makes sense. I mean few magical things should be unbreakable, but still it should be harder to do it, and thus damaged magical items are much rarer. In a sense, this would be in part like how it works in FNV, but without the hassle of keeping your own gear in working condition all the time. There, you find that the enemies you kill have damaged/worn items, and you can go and have them repaired at a few locations. However, with the repair skill gone, your party can't fix damaged items they find. So, potentially, your inventory will be full of things that you see are damaged, but only a few smiths can repair them. Another weird side effect is that you presumably get to wear damaged items that you've found, but all items you buy are pristine. As item degradation is gone, your characters can have damaged items equipped that never degrade further - they will not go into disrepair - that will mess up the realism a bit. I suppose this leads to a simple dichotomy: whole or broken, and broken can't be equipped, but in can be repaired at some highly skilled smith's forge.

And they didn't go public. They did what they have done all along. They honour us, their backers, to show us updates that we are supposed to discuss and react on, obviously. And they know we will have different opinions, just as those helping out academics in my example above always have. It make look like a done deal, and sometimes the presentation appears to be more publication-like and definitive than it is, but that's the new digital technologies for you.

It's an interesting idea. One flaw is that I'm not very fond of good magic items being flawed and in need of repair. And if they are out of this mechanic, wouldn't that leave us players heaps of literal trash that only the greedy would repair in order to sell it at a higher price?