IndiraLightfoot

Heh, in Swedish, there's the saying: "En fågel i handen är bättre än tio i skogen." This translates as: "One bird in hand is better than ten birds out in the forest."

I've gone bananas gaming wise. Right now, I have two objectives. I have a big backlog of games, and noticed a pattern among those I haven't played yet: They all needed a controller. Well, I went out and bought an XBox One controller (which runs nicely on Win10, but on my Win 7-machine, I had to manually find the drivers). And apart from a decade old PS3 in my home, which my kids used to play on (It was kept for watching Netflix and HBO), I haven't used a controller, since, well, joysticks for the Amiga. What I now experience is something of a childhood rekindle. I really love using it. So, I'm taking on the weirdest kind of games now (the ones I've bought for like 1 quid each), and I really enjoy some of them, and I will get back to you about that with screenies and all later. I mean, games like: Rogue Legacy (I'm loving it. It feels like Cauldron I & II - which I really liked back in the 80s), Spelunky, Lego Lord of the Rings (I played this kind of games with my kids on our PS3, and I adored it then, I still do now - so über-chill), etc. And newer platformers/side-scrollers, like: Apotheon, Steam World Dig 2 (Thx for that tip, Keyrock), Hollow Knight, and Everspace. It's like a brave new world out there, and apparently, I owned much of it already. Oh, the joy of a controller. It deserves an ode in and of itself, and you'll get it. P.S. I'm trying to achieve every cheevo for Dishonored 2 as well, since I'm truly mad about that atmospheric game. I'll get back you on that too, whether you want me to or not.

Wow, thank you for all the info, and it does seem that all I dreamt up is indeed possible. Thank you. I asked about Lem specifically, since I really liked that versatile character and was thinking of adding him to my latest party of 4. They are just 3-4 scenarios ahead of him. Heh, and like you said, there sure is room for party twinking here, but I won't dabble with that.

Hi again! I have some questions concerning adventuring parties. IIRC, you can have a party of 6, tops, or just 1, like I did with Lem the other day. But can I change it while I progress through the content? Now knowing that I can have several campaign saves going, it would be swell if I could, say transfer my solo Lem and add him to one of my parties of 4, for instance. So, questions: After a scenario, can I use manage party or something, and then... -Add a new party member? -Remove a party member? If yes, how do I do it? Are each character saved in a roster, a bit like multiplayer Baldur's Gate?

Yay! Today I got my spooky dice. It said "successfully claimed reward". I gave them to Seoni. Insert: *Halloween Banshee scream with joy*

I know how what it's like to be poor, believe me. Sad that you love the game, but can't afford to expand it right now. I have no idea where you live, but the price of the pc version of the game over here was almost exactly the same as a blockbuster ticket, round 20 euros, or a single new paperback. Perhaps, it'll help if you think of it that way. Saving up a tiny bit for some fine Entertainment? I've already played this game 16h, and I haven't got far at all, so there's definitely value for money here, and replayability. To me, it feels a lot like those FF fantasy adventure paperbacks in the 80's, which I stilll read from time to time, just to relax and have a good time. As for Obsidian not being loyal to their fanbase. I've followed this company since it was founded, and I'm hard-pressed to find any other team of devs who I have interacted with more. They have constantly listened to feedback and not seldomly adapted to it. Also, they dont hesitate to include surprise stuff or free extras just for us eager players. Despite their extreme deadlines at times, you can almost always tell that Obsidian has poured a lot of love and creativity into the games they've made.

I'm happy to report that I managed to pick Lem and then I soloed all content up till and including Local Heroes. With like 4h left. Hannibal made me do the thing I didn't dare to do: Click on start again, and then I saw that I can have several campaigns going at the same time, I didn't know if that was the case. I'm amazed that Lem's doing so well being solo and just with a beginner's deck. Well, two more challenges to go, and I might get those haunted dice.

Hi! I just realized I may have a shot at getting these sppoky dice, after all, since I missed next week, but here's my situ: I have 1 daily quest of 4 today, like 10 AM CET. It says there are four days left, and the big problem is this: Today I got the quest "defeat a local hero with Lem only", but I don't even have Lem in my party, and I don't want to wipe my Story progress just because of Lem. How do I solve this? Can I swap him in just for one scenario? And if so, how do I swap him out again to get my original party member back? Also: Any tips on how to let Lem defeat a local hero on his own are welcome. Thx in advance!

Hi! I'm slowly advancing through the Sandpoint scenario after the tutorial. I have a party of four, but then Seoni died from no cards left. Well, I finished that subscenario with the three others. While still being dead, Seoni had a few things to say about the turn of events at the end, hehe. Words of wisdom from the crypt. Well, then the three characters that survived each got a card as a reward, and Seoni was marked with a golden skull. A bit later, after fiddling with the stash and selling off excess cards, it now looks like she's onboard again. No golden skull visible. But just to be sure, is she revived for the next subscenario? If not, how do I revive her? I liked having her in my party. Cheers, Indira

Goddard, let's not forget that some of us replying to you have played D&D for years. I'm for instance is a huge fan. I've played the roleplaying game since the very beginning in the 70's, through all editions, up to the current one (5th Ed). As for CRPG-versions of D&D, I'm mad about them. I've played almost every single one ever released. Yes, including Cloudy Mountain for Intellivision or the ghastly Daggerdale game. I regard BG1 and NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer as two of the best CRPGs ever made. Like Lord-Mord said, I actually like playing D&D with alignment and pre-buffing and the works. However... Is it the best system ever made? Probably not. Is the alignment system any good if you were to start a new CRPG from scratch? Nah, it belongs in the history books. If you are arguing for an alignment system, you aren't exactly "removing restrictions". Is pre-buffing a neat idea in a CRPG, which encouraging several playthroughs? I must say, no. The chore of it and the meta knowledge makes it cheesy and often a no-brainer, like that obelisk example from BG1. When you say that pre-buffing is a major part of gameplay, I beg to differ: the RPG part should trump everything. The issue you conveniently avoid is simple: This is another CRPG, a relatively new one: Pillars of Eternity. Why on earth are we even discussing pre-buffing, alignment, Detect Evil, etc., in this context? This thread belongs in the Pen n' Paper section or perhaps the computer games/console games-forum.

A grand, nay epic, space vampire saga! Imagine if Vampire: Bloodlines and Mass Effect had a baby. It's never been done before (or...?). My body needs it.

October 2017: http://www.obsidian.net/jobs/open-positions/art/1013-sr-environment-artist What's up with that? Okay, here's a very convoluted guess (my apologies): Obsidian has released their Pathfinder card game. And this spring, we got a lot of Pathfinder CRPG questions in that survey. Then we saw that Russian Kingmaker Pathfinder CRPG in the making, with MCA and all, based on the Unity engine, early summer. Perhaps Obsidian started off with a bigger undertaking, but is now left with the task of making a Pathfinder CRPG for consoles. I'm not saying it's Kingmaker, but perhaps some other Pathfinder CRPG?

No, that's another discussion altogether. The point made is that pre-buffing is boring, time-consuming, repetitive, and not to mention often based on knowledge garnered from meta-gaming. In fact, I delineated pre-buffing as "such combat tactics", and those taking place before combat are just as liable to routine repetition of actions as those taking place before.

I've been working in the TV industry for a long time, and what I soon learned was that I wasn't really cut out for long-lasting projects, of which the majority was sliced, diced and decimated along the way. It was disheartening and very exhausting, especially so when I became a parent and had much more responsibilities in life. My solution? The brave step of becoming a freelancer. Slowly, but surely (it took years), I made myself attractive enough in certain scientific broadcast niches (remember, though, nobody's indispensable) for companies to come to me, companies that I admire and like to work with. Best thing? Except for deadlines, I can plan my work exactly how I want, and I've done away with almost all commuting. And I can adjust my workload in accordance with the ups and downs of my life (to a reasonable extent, of course). It's a very rewarding feeling to be your own, but obviously less social. EDIT: I forgot to mention how much healthier my noodles became when I didn't have to attend oodles of meaningless meetings.

Hmm, because players would start prebuffing before every 2nd fight. Which could lead to two possible outcomes:- the game becomes too easy. Obsidian buffs enemies. Prebuffing becomes almost a must, and basically a chore. - the buffs are nerfed, because you no longer have to choose between casting a damaging spell or a buff instead of it during combat, i.e. the cost of casting a buff becomes lower, and thus it's effect is being reduced to match it. And I can't resist my urge to add: Because pre-buffing was tedious, like watching paint dry while you're mechanically clicking more or less the same spell buttons. I'd rather do any such combat tactics while the fighting is taking place. EDIT: I just realized that you've already made that point: chore indeed.

It means reload. I still have pretty sad memories of the first Dragon Age, and those injuries, which soon led to me reloading as soon as a party member got badly injured.

The pewter figurine of Pallegina is awesome, that would be my clear favourite!

Yeah, I have to agree. That was a makeshift catalyst, if I ever saw one. It was apparent as soon as you were approached by her gang, and their surmise was like watching cire perdue-wax melt away.

I should have written "in the context of sports", heh. As for those terms being racist, I thought these had been dubious and debated for decades. Just checked Ye Olde Wiki: "Yankee" a pejorative term for Northerners in the US (from the Civil War, the Union side, with more liberal ideas), and earlier used insultingly about Dutch Americans "Indian", the term "Indian" is generally considered offensive when used by non-Natives (the Native American Controversy). This point was made tongue-in-cheek, hence the winky smilie. In fact, I think such walking on broken glass when it comes to any such traditional labels easily turns into unwarranted absurdity. Rather, my major point was about the hypocrisy of it all, when freedom in the US should trump compliance to specific conventions any day, you'd think.

A deep irony gets lost here. NFL protests over racism, the VP leaves indignantly because the flag and the anthem gets dragged in the mud, all in the context of a game where the teams are literally called "Indians" and Yankees", two racist terms, if I ever saw any. How can these teams even be allowed to have such names when confederate generals get torn down and liberals are labelled "racists"? Yeah, I get it, those names is tradition by now and so forth, but that should go for freedom of speech and expressing different opinions, democratic rights, etc? What happened to the land of the free and Freedom with a capital F? Is the US now a country where a kneeling football player appals a vice president so much that he turns the back on you abhorrently? Is USA a nation so uncertain of its identity and history that it needs to tear down statues of old frigging generals? Over here in Europe, the very beauty of most of all the old and ancient architecture stems from dictators, tyrants and generals. Most of the art and buildings isn't demolished (except statues in former Communist countries, and obviously Third Reich paraphernalia after WWII).

This change I do like a lot. Another thing that irked me a bit in PoE1 was the fact that the factions were literally just a few steps away from each other. Practical? Yeah. Too apprently hub-like? Yup. Also, they being resolved within such a confined segment in the game, and except for some quick outlier errands, being confined to the city itself, and then not having much of an impact in later acts was certainly a missed opportunity (probably due to time constraints and lack of dev resources back then). Hopefully, factions will be saturating the game throughout, without overpowering it or diminishing any non-faction playthrough.

Heh, that pretty much says it all. Thank you, blotter! I actually prefer to be able to dip my toes into factions, even dabble a bit in them, like some greenhorn, and then dump those I don't fancy. Also, the factionless routes also appeal to me. Hopefully, you still get to run factionless in a number of ways, if that makes sense, based on all the meaningful non-faction choices you make in the game.

I'm just wondering: Will our party joining a faction be an exclusive choice pretty much from the get-go, or more of a "decide a bit later", like in PoE1, or the absurd power-dream in Skyrim, where you not only can join all factions, but you even get to become the leader of each faction?

Stop the presses! Shapeshifting not only looks weird; It truly is weird, per se, in itself, essentially.