IndiraLightfoot

Trashman just came up with this neat idea (the link: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63120-money-in-project-eternity-get-rid-of-adventurer-based-economy/page-5): A system which keeps track of how long you use a particular weapon. In the beginning it's just an ordinary weapon, but over time you get rewarded with familiarity bonuses, and even later quests and other deeds can make it magical. The longer you have it and use it (and perhaps repair it), the more interesting weapon familiarity rewards await. -Magical items are very rare, gold is for consumables link: llll -Loot is "branded/tagged", origin of items affects NPCs differently link: lll -Crafted magical items are few, unique and true achievements link: lllll -Temporary abstract armour degradation in combat, repairs are "automagical" link: lll -Armour and weaponry can get "enfeebled"/"fatigued" over time, easy repair link: ll -Individual party-member quests in cities to challenge their personal strengths & weaknesses link: lllll -Beast-of-burden teams embodying the deep stash; they are useful and sometimes shady link: ll -Give magical non-weapon items much more love link: llll -Magical artefacts for our houses and strongholds link: lll -Maps, weather and environment affecting spells and the party link: lll -Nice UI for weather and temperature, including an adaptive fog of war link: lll -Guns can be used on certain doors and chests to open them link: llll -Innovative ideas for strategic cipher abilities before and during encounters link: ll -Quests, or rather objectives, centered on discovery, intrigue, info and non-fetch, non-kill X critters-goals link: llll -Icons marking the tone and skill implemented when picking dialogue options link: llll -Flexible and intuitive spell effects that can be adjusted to fit encounters and environment link: l -Sticking to a weapon will set off familiarity rewards and even quests over time link: l

What a great and novel idea, Trashman! A system that tracks how loyal you are to a particular weapon. In the beginning, it's just an ordinary weapon, but over time it can be something more than that (still not magical) - and then via a few cool quests or other deeds - it can even become magical. I love it! This idea goes to the thread "Ideas not to be forgotten" in General Discussion.

Great ideas, TRX850 and Lephys! Being an avid D&D fan back in the days, I remember thinking warlocks was a weird and strange novelty at first in NWN2. It took me many playthrus till I rolled one up, and it was quite different, intuitive and fun! Your basically advocating for flexible spells that can be adjusted in combat situations and also, by the earlier discussion, can be made into useful combinations depending on the encounter and the environment (woods, a cave or a city street are all quite different arenas to do spell casting in). I recall seing the game Legends of Dawn having a spell system where you easily can mix the spells and speel effects you want. I'm gonna add this to the "Great Ideas not to be Forgotten"-thread.

I'm adding the great idea of a spell-casting system that is just as flexible as the use of various weapons and fighting combos. Any magic use should be able to weave spells in acoordance to environment and the encounter itself. Tweaking fire into points or raining fire balls or just a burning wall of fire, or combining spell effects into appropriate mixes for the encounter. Here's the link: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63143-spellcasting/page-2 -Magical items are very rare, gold is for consumables link: llll -Loot is "branded/tagged", origin of items affects NPCs differently link: lll -Crafted magical items are few, unique and true achievements link: lllll -Temporary abstract armour degradation in combat, repairs are "automagical" link: lll -Armour and weaponry can get "enfeebled"/"fatigued" over time, easy repair link: ll -Individual party-member quests in cities to challenge their personal strengths & weaknesses link: lllll -Beast-of-burden teams embodying the deep stash; they are useful and sometimes shady link: ll -Give magical non-weapon items much more love link: llll -Magical artefacts for our houses and strongholds link: lll -Maps, weather and environment affecting spells and the party link: lll -Nice UI for weather and temperature, including an adaptive fog of war link: lll -Guns can be used on certain doors and chests to open them link: llll -Innovative ideas for strategic cipher abilities before and during encounters link: ll -Quests, or rather objectives, centered on discovery, intrigue, info and non-fetch, non-kill X critters-goals link: llll -Icons marking the tone and skill implemented when picking dialogue options link: llll -Flexible and intuitive spell effects that can be adjusted to fit encounters and environment link: l

It was never alive to begin with. It was an undead entity with a will of its own... *Twilight music* Jokes aside, I reckon some of the core points are worthy of discussion and a place to pick them apart. Let's just hope it won't derail again or take any of the old derailing any further.

I know, my brain tree is defoliated as by the horrid Agent Orange. I have read quite a bit of posts in the thread, and the contention seems to be precisely that: Party encounters a group of leprechauns, but after having killed a third of them for spite, they move on, as they are lured away by a will-o-wisp into a mere nearby. With objective xp, would the party get no xp in such a case? Yes or no. I could ive with no, but it's very rare and brave for a CRPG to do so. Factoring in a bit of Fallout NV and Raz' and others ideas, that third of the leprechauns would be made into objective xp anyhow, no? Case solved?

Indeed, that's what I loved about BG1. You could play it all with barely a magical item for at least a third, or a half of the game (before Sword Coast xp). And how much sweeter when you find something magical: I remember I giot a+1 weapon and was over the moon for it.

Alright, I continue PrimeJuntas long thread here. The link: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63171-balancing-stealth-vs-combat/ Let's hope it will be a less of a cess pool of negativity as someone so cleverly put it. IndiraLightfoot, on 13 Feb 2013 - 20:24, said: Raz: "No, no, no per swing of sword etc. would get a bit ridiculous and be problematic like Arcanum. The sub objectives would simply be things that you do on the way towards whatever larger objective/quests you are going for (lockpicking doors/chests to rob the house, killing barbarians to wipe out the barbarian clan, etc.). The perks would only be gained for the higher tier things like killing 100 bandits or w/e or robbing Bill the Uber Noble's house blind. All the sub objectives would give normal xp and you'd level normally like the IE games." For what I am understand this sounds like a mix between Fallout New Vegas and the IE games, and I think I like it very much. Good thinking, Raz!

Alright, now compare that to Fallout New Vegas which I am playing nw actually: Would each interval-1 objective accomplished ever reach some perk-reward? Or is it just a few select objectives that are difficult which do get perks as a possible reward? If you would remove kill xp from FNV, then you would have no xp but quest xp with your system, since it rewards skill challenges, those repetitive things - like shooting a gun or picking a lock, with a perk after 100 times or something. Are you perhaps proposing Skyrim's learning by doing-system with those interval 1-objectives, but levels will replace perks? After several of those interval 1s stacked, suddenly the level meter goes "ding"?

I also got the creeps when I saw that list. It gave me Diablo 3-vibes. I do agree that normal weaponry should be useful throughout and also that magic items shouldn't be flooding the game, and definitely not the shops. Scarce magical items, please, and they don't have to be so heavy-handed, they can have sublte effects and unique things that don't make the entire game hinge upon gear (again Diablo), rather it makes the game more unique and spiced-up.

Alright... But if they are set to 1 and they are repeatable, wouldn't that be a redundant system to the classic dishing out of kill xp etc? Ex: An objective with interval 1 and that is repeatable is: Kill a revenant! "Alrightie then", party says, and they go and do that. Objective xp is rewarded. Then the counter is reset: Kill a revenant. Party oblige. Objective xp is rewarded. And just to reveal how confused I am: How come objectives can have intervals like 25 too, like offing those basilisks? And in those elongated objectives, there would be perks rewarded? Please, give me two examples: One easy interval 1-case and then that 25 basilisk-case.

Razsius, the more productive side to the debate of this thread is really enjoyable, but here I'm afraid you lost me. Aren't you basically saying here (by interval 1) that each single kill, each single trap, each picked pocket, should be seen as a tiny micro-objective? And if that's true, that would be exactly the same system as the great majority of CRPGs adhere to: Kill xp, trap xp, pick-pocket xp, etc. Or perhaps I've just misunderstood it all, I am a bit bushed.

BruceVC: What a fantastic story! And lucky you! Thanks for sharing.

Guys, what a trip down Memorylane! I've read dozens of those FF-books. My own copy of "Deathtrap Dungeon" is so worn out. Also my NWN 2 module "Trial and Terror" was loosely inspired by that fantastic book. Here are two of my other favorites in me bookshelf, especially the first one - so deadly: They were often extremely well written , the suspense was real, and your choices sure did matter.

Bitula: Good examples for party-based RPGs are few, but the excitement lies in the risk of getting detected and the chaos that would ensue. I mean Josh wrote in the Dishonored mechanics-thread in this subforum that it wouldn't be as sophisticated a system as in Dishonored, but I think if it's done right, it would certainly get my juices going. Then again, I am easily led astray by sneaking in computer games. Also, many of us coming from a PnP-background sorta roleplay our characters more. We aren't just threshing through like in an arcade game. And in PnP, sneak attempts are classic and extremely fun! However, I think having an entire party attempting to sneak past enemies that success will be really hard and detections be a dime a dozen.

Hi, and thanks for bringing some new l's to this list of great ideas! I've added links to the list itself, perhaps it will get more readable as it gets longer and the l's pile up. -Magical items are very rare, gold is for consumables link: llll -Loot is "branded/tagged", origin of items affects NPCs differently link: lll -Crafted magical items are few, unique and true achievements link: lllll -Temporary abstract armour degradation in combat, repairs are "automagical" link: lll -Armour and weaponry can get "enfeebled"/"fatigued" over time, easy repair link: ll -Individual party-member quests in cities to challenge their personal strengths & weaknesses link: lllll -Beast-of-burden teams embodying the deep stash; they are useful and sometimes shady link: ll -Give magical non-weapon items much more love link: llll -Magical artefacts for our houses and strongholds link: lll -Maps, weather and environment affecting spells and the party link: lll -Nice UI for weather and temperature, including an adaptive fog of war link: lll -Guns can be used on certain doors and chests to open them link: llll -Innovative ideas for strategic cipher abilities before and during encounters link: ll -Quests, or rather objectives, centered on discovery, intrigue, info and non-fetch, non-kill X critters-goals link: llll -Icons marking the tone and skill implemented when picking dialogue options link: llll

I din't get in the mail either! Hmm... And yea, the resolution makes text in need of a Rosetta stone to interpret, but he's goofing a bit certainly comes from the pressure of an audience too, no? Anyways, this was an anticipated news, so thanks OEI!

Although we haven't heard from any of the devs if smashing doors and chests and shooting locks are in, my hopes have certainly risen seiing the recent video showing off Wasteland 2-gameplay. Like 8.30 into the video, a character uses Brute force on a wooden gate. I loved it! So, here's too hoping OEI also will use a similar mechanic, because W2 obviously has a picklock skill too.

Off-topic: That Wasteland 2-video was great! Thanks for sharing, Valorian! Given the links between OEI and InXile, it is fair to assume that W2 will be hinting a bit at what we can expect for PE, and what I'm seeing makes me very happy indeed. I'm so happy I got a kickstarter reward tier where this game will be on my harddrive in not even a year, hopefully.

Oh, but there is, my dear fellow! Just go to the thread "Ideas not to be forgotten", explain why you think the thread is great, add a link and add it to great list of ideas there and copy it at the bottom of your post, and hey presto! And that is what I'm gonna do now. What a great day! Two entire threads worthy of that high-esteemed list within hours. Yay!

Another great thread, started by Hormalakh: It's about dialogue options, and one solution proposed there is to mark the tone of options, so that the same senctence can be reused (saves time for OEI) in cases which is not only tone of voice but linked to skills such as diplomacy, intimidate, lying, etc. Here's the link: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63314-an-idea-for-a-future-game-mechanic-pe2/ -Magical items are very rare, gold is for consumables: lll -Loot is "branded/tagged", origin of items affects NPCs differently: l -Crafted magical items are few, unique and true achievements: lll -Temporary abstract armour degradation in combat, repairs are "automagical": ll -Armour and weaponry can get "enfeebled"/"fatigued" over time, easy repair: ll -Individual party-member quests in cities to challenge their personal strengths & weaknesses: lll -Beast-of-burden teams embodying the deep stash; they are useful and sometimes shady: ll -Give magical non-weapon items much more love: ll -Magical artefacts for our houses and strongholds: ll -Maps, weather and environment affecting spells and the party: l -Nice UI for weather and temperature, including an adaptive fog of war: l -Guns can be used on certain doors and chests to open them: l -Innovative ideas for strategic cipher abilities before and during encounters: l -Quests, or rather objectives, centered on discovery, intrigue, info and non-fetch, non-kill X critters-goals: l -Icons marking the tone and skill implemented when picking dialogue options: l

In the same vein as my last post, there is a very nice thread brewing with nice pointers and ideas on which quests PE would benefit from, so I'll add a link to the entire thread here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63348-favorite-type-of-quest/ Then, I'll try to summarize it a bit and add it to the great list of ideas: -Magical items are very rare, gold is for consumables: lll -Loot is "branded/tagged", origin of items affects NPCs differently: l -Crafted magical items are few, unique and true achievements: lll -Temporary abstract armour degradation in combat, repairs are "automagical": ll -Armour and weaponry can get "enfeebled"/"fatigued" over time, easy repair: ll -Individual party-member quests in cities to challenge their personal strengths & weaknesses: lll -Beast-of-burden teams embodying the deep stash; they are useful and sometimes shady: ll -Give magical non-weapon items much more love: ll -Magical artefacts for our houses and strongholds: ll -Maps, weather and environment affecting spells and the party: l -Nice UI for weather and temperature, including an adaptive fog of war: l -Guns can be used on certain doors and chests to open them: l -Innovative ideas for strategic cipher abilities before and during encounters: l -Quests, or rather objectives, centered on discovery, intrigue, info and non-fetch, non-kill X critters-goals: l

Lovely discussion here, thanks folks! And Rostere sums it up as a general pointer of what PE quests could be much more about than your standard post-year 2000 CRPG. A few fetch, rescue or weed quests I can take, but I'd prefer if the majority of quests were multi-layered, investigative, dialogue-and-culture-rich, socially and morally meaningful, fun and exciting, and with multiple outcomes (not just green tick or a big fat red X - one of New Vegas bad sides - I don't even want to know if I've "failed" a quest. Have I reached any intresting objectives and effects? Great! But please don't make everything like single flag-quests (on or off). Some major points of this thread I'll add to the thread "Ideas not to be forgotten", including a link. Thanks, once again!

SpaceHamsterBoo: Thanks for keeping track of the exact number of possible NPC cominations! Even after your calculations, there are still quite many options available, and that is what I liked about Rjshae's post, unforunately, there are no longer thousands of them.

Heck, I just realized: If OEI plays their cards right and let those creative juices flow like in a high tide, getting PE next year would be like getting a new PnP-version of D&D in your hands! I think I'm gonna swoon!