AlphaShard

I played DA and it really didn't do it for me. The main site asked if I missed games like BG and Iwd. I do and a big part of that was being and having paladins and bards in my party.

We were asked if we wanted a classic IE like game in the spirit of BG, IWd and torment. Paladins and Bards were in those games why shouldn't we have that? We are getting psionics and gunpowder both of which I feel are controversial additions and not part of typical classic fantasy game. So I don't think it's too much to ask to have these classes. Some people want new and that's fine but we were asked to back a CLASSIC game from day 1 no one should be this surprised that someone would want the classic classes in.

I remember being Cecil in ff4 and having to climb a mountain and defeat the darkness within to become a Paladin and you know how he does it? By NOT attacking and letting the Dark Knight destroy himself. It seems to me that the Paladin does have unique game mechanic and role-playing aspects to give to this world. After all Paladins are a real world thing and didn't need magic to exist. So I really don't see why they can't be included and managed with the Reputation mechanic.

Please read at least some of the posts already existing here before writing your own.... We don't want paladins solely for gameplay reasons, we want them for roleplaying reasons because of their moral conflicts, their perfect fit for mature topics, their attitude, their style, their way of talking with other people, their way of acting and so on. Why the hell are you people playing story-driven RPGs? There's a lot more than combat in it. In fact, in a perfect RPG you should be able to avoid most combats with other skills and the paladin is a perfect fit for that because of his leadership skills, his reputation in society (good or bad or somewhere between), probably his speaking skills as member of the nobility, his faith in his mission and things like that. The same is true for bards to a great extend. Perhaps they are not the best fighters out there but they are damn good in talking with NPCs and companions, in gathering information, in holding up morals in your group and so on.... So show some respect for these forgotten classes! Thank you! Didn't they say they wanted to include non combat solutions to avoiding fights? Why not use the two classes that can excel at that. There is good reason that Paladins and Bards get high charisma, they use it to TALK there way out of fights. We already have Deities and Priests why wouldn't they have Paladins to crusade for them? You can use the reputation system with the Paladins chosen faction faith. If his rep falls so does he.

Cipher's are PE's version of Jedi, how is that new or original? I'm open to it, I just don't understand why we have to close the door on Paladins who are Crusaders of their cause, they don't have to be boring, or good even. Same with Bards I think they are a under utilized class. I get some people want to play a "grey character" and some want to play an evil one so why should I lose the ability to play a Good character the way I want to? Even it it is boring to someone else, it isn't to me.

Yes, most are very reasonable, but for example things like semi-permanent companion death are just creating unnecessary reloading, or if you don't want to do that then you just walk to nearest priest and after formal fee, your companion is revived anyway. Some might say this is immersion. I would say it's just waste of time. Deaths should be made unwanted in some other way and (I know some won't like this) I think DA:O did great job by making revived characters "wounded" until you could cure them. Also I think the old "spell and ability memorizing" system is outdated. It's just another version of cooldown mechanic. In old RPGs you had to sleep to memorize spells, which again is waste of time because all you need to do is go to nearest tavern or other place where you can rest and *poof*, spells are again usable. Nowdays you just have to wait certain time until you are going to be able to use the spell again. Just more streamlined version of the old system without unnecessary running around. I know in some dungeons you couldn't rest and so you had to think carefully your use of spells and abilities, but they can be made hard in so many other and IMO better ways that it's not really worth it. There is a difference between "clumsy" and what I would say is instead "out of style." Out of date implies inferior to new... and when it comes to most of the requests, they are matters of taste and opinion - not a quantifiable "inferior or superior" in the sense of game design advancement or technology. Wanting CGA graphics instead of at least XGA - that's clearly inferior, out-dated tech. Wanting text instead of voice - that's not "out dated", it's a matter of choice. Characters being unkillable existed in early video games, it's not a new phenomenon. So the difference between companions being invulnerable or able to suffer death is a game design choice, or a player's preference, not inferior or superior. It may be out of style, but it's not out dated. I don't want spell memorization, but it's not inherently inferior or out-dated... it's a matter or opinion or taste if it is good or bad. Just my two cents on this. How is the Baldur's Gate interface Clumsy?

I beat Bg2 as a Bard.

It didn't stop Skyrim characters from talking about "good" and "evil" even though there was no alignment. However if we can custom a priest to wield swords and armor I think I will be fine. Though I will miss the type of quest lines Paladins tend to get.

I want to start a topic to show support for Paladins and Bards to be added to the game. They are major staples of this Genre. I think it would be a shame not to have them in the game so I hope they are added to one of the stretch goals.

I really want and hope that the Paladin and Bard classes are included in one of the stretch goals. I like that we have monks, Barbs and even the Cihper aka Pysonist. I think Pally's and Bards get alot of flack for different reasons but they are still great classes and unique feels for a game. They are big staples of this Genre.

Anything from Fable like those inane gestures.

I think part of the reason mages are in robes is due to balance. If a Mage is in plate mail why would you ever bother being a fighter? That just sounds too over powered.

I really did appreciate the strongholds that we got in BG2 it was great to have a place to store stuff. It would be cool to have stores and a real sense of the house belonging to the player. I'm not asking for a minecraft or aims clone. Something modular would probably work and nikolokolus brought a good point up that 200k has been dedicated to this tier. So I don't think it will be a simple ranger hut. I did like what they did in skyrim allowing for places to display your trophies.

I've always loved having a Base to call my own like in Suikoden and BG2. Now finally we can have a base that we can customize but I wanted to know to what extent we can customize it. Will it be like Minecraft or Sims where you can build something from the ground up or like jigsaw pieces that you can choose where they go? I'd like it to be something we can have a lot of choice on for what the walls look, how it's shaped, etc.