Keyrock

You better keep your mouth shut or they'll demote you to jRPG Grinder.

Step 1: Hail Step 2: Apocalypse Step 3: ??? Step 4: Profit

@Soulviulnir - I had to throw in that little barb because the Poles, Russians, and Scandinavians are forever arguing about who invented Vodka. I'm definitely a fan of Beksinski's work also.

I come from a pencil & paper background and I very much like a non-hand holding approach where the game lets me make my own mistakes and figure out the strategy on my own. Even if it means having my party ruthlessly obliterated in the process, potentially multiple times. I am fully prepared, and even eager, to accept the consequences of dialogue decisions, companion death, etc. I didn't always play games this way, I used to reload again and again until I did it "perfect", but now I just roll with the punches. As long as the game is fair and I'm getting my ass whooped because I made tactical mistakes, and not because of broken or unfair mechanics, I'm okay with that. I also recognize that many people do not play the way I do and that they will enjoy a game more with a bit of guidance and more leniency. This is why I'm excited that I will be able to turn those aids off while others can leave them on. My approach to gaming isn't better or worse, it's just my approach. One thing I absolutely HATE is games brute forcing you down a particular path in a fight. This usually happens with lengthy, multi-stage fights. I'll have "outsmarted" the game or used great tactics and should have beaten the enemy right then and there, but the game insists that the fight lasts into another stage so it forces that next stage on me even if it doesn't make sense or breaks the game's own rules. That sort of thing drives me insane.

Everyone knows the best Vodka comes from Poland, the inventors of Vodka.

My rule is that I'd never knowingly eat an animal I've had as a pet. My parents have cats and did when I was growing up (so they were my pets by extension), and I've had pet rats. Both of those are on the list so I had to vote "no". Dogs, reptiles, and birds? Game on.

Started on The Book of Unwritten Tales. I'm only at the very, very beginning (read: small sample size) but so far I'm enjoying the game. It's standard point n click adventure fare, pretty humorous, and bursting at the seams with charm. I like how they took the time and care to put in multiple descriptions for clickables, including non-essential ones. I just had a grand old time clicking repeatedly on a chair for a couple of minutes, with the character arguing with me that it's just an ordinary chair and not worth all this fuss. Good times. If the game keeps up this kind of attention to detail throughout then this should be a fun adventure indeed.

I'm sure they'll be likely to also keep a few people around as easy, inexpensive labor for their meat, catnip and milk farms. I, for one, welcome our new furry overlords.

Being the rodent lover that I am, I suppose there's no hope for me.

I did my best with the poll, but I will admit that it is woefully incomplete. Heck, I didn't even list alien invasion.

We're now less than 2 weeks away from [ominous music] The Mayan Apocalypse![/ominous music] So what do you think will happen?

Just finished Neverwinterwinter Night 2. Now I'm pondering what to play next. I've narrowed it down to keeping going with NWN2 and jumping into Mask of the Betrayer, Knights of the Old Republic 2, or The Book of Unwritten Tales. I'm leaning toward The Book of Unwritten Tales because of all the good things I have heard, and to play something other than a RPG for a bit.

All I have to do is divine from what I know of you, are you the sort of man that would make a mistake? Now, a clever man would not make a mistake, for he would know that only a great fool would vote "mistake". I am not a fool, so clearly I cannot vote "mistake". But you must have known that I am not a fool, you would have counted on it, so I clearly cannot vote "nope". But you are a prestidigitator, who are used to not being trusted, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not vote "mistake". You would have suspected that I would know the reputation of prestidigitators, so I can clearly not choose "nope". You made this thread so you could be relying on your own wit, so I can clearly not choose "mistake", but you've also posted in other threads, so you must have studied, and in studying you would have learned that man is easily manipulated, so you would have put the answer as far away from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not vote "nope". You've given everything away, I know what the answer is... What in the world can that be!? /points behind Malekith

I'm doing the final push in the Mere in NWN2. Man, the Crossroads Keep battles were fun. Easy, but fun. My favorite part was the last part in the courtyard with all the undead pouring through the gate. I just kept pounding the bottleneck at the gate with Sunbeams, Sunbursts, Hammers of the Gods, and turned anything that managed to make it through (it really helps being a cleric in this late push in the game). Serious levels of smiting going on. It was a slaughter, a glorious slaughter.

I meant that turning on Expert Mode will disable the indicators. In other words, what you wrote. Poor phrasing on my part.

I do understand that most people will meta-game the bejesus out of the game to explore all the different dialogue options and find the "best" one, I used to do that all the time. I am glad though that I'll be able to turn off the indicators in Expert Mode, though, as I've gotten more into just choosing an option and living with the consequences. This also ties into perma-death, as I've also gotten into letting fallen characters stay dead and dealing with the consequence rather than replaying the given encounter over and over until everyone survives. It took me years to get myself to the point that I'd allow myslef to do that, but I find it makes for more interesting gaming that way. As an aside, a way to discourage meta-gaming the dialogues is having unforeseen consequences down the line. What may look like the "best" choice at first may come back to haunt you 10 hours of game time later. That way what choice is "best" isn't immediately clear after the conversation. Obviously internet walkthroughs and strategy guides will circumvent that, but there is little that can be done about that.

With playtesting you'll be able to test that belief. I'm not a designer or developer so this at best a mildly educated guess, but it would seem that once implemented the Stamina/Health dual bar system would require a fairly significant overhaul of game mechanics if scrapped altogether, however it would be quite easy to tweak, adjust, and balance.

Being a professional means having to remain calm and respectful in the face of being constantly barraged with cookie cutter questions from uninformed interviewers. It comes with the territory.

Damn your flexibility, practicality, and logical approach, Josh. Rash speculation and overreactions are the bread and butter of internet forums. Now what will I have to rage about?

I like the Witcher approach of potions have side-effects. You can chug a bunch of potions but there is a price to be paid. It's like the warning disclaimers during drug advertisements: "Some side-effects may include chest pain, nausea, light-headedness, bleeding from the pores, explosive diarrhea, spontaneous combustion, and 7 generation family curse..."

The only problem with that is it immediately favors certain types of characters over others. Rogues, monks, and casters would excel in this situation because monks will essentially lose little or no combat effectiveness without their gear, likewise with casters, and rogues can sneak through the place and avoid combat altogether. Warrior types are immediately at a heavy disadvantage since they are so gear dependent. I'm still definitely in favor of this scenario, though.

I'm liking the sound of the Stamina/Health dual bar system more and more. I'm not sure whether the game will have any time sensitive quests or time triggered events, but this mechanic would seem to lend itself to that perfectly. Do you rest and lose precious time that may spell the difference between reaching a place in time or not, or do you press on with wounded party members making them more susceptible to getting maimed or (in Expert Mode) killed?

I'm still waiting for this game to come to PC. Good chance it will never happen.

I'm a realist.

I'm completely fine with having to flee for your life from time to time. In fact, items, skills, and spells can be built around the idea of being able to get the **** out of dodge. What's more is this mechanic could be used for creative use of items and spells. For example, throw a bunch of caltrops behind you as you flee, use a smoke bomb to create cover (useful both against archers and to help disappear), cast a wall of fire between you and our pursuers, cast a grease spell, etc.