imatechguy

No good answer for this one as no matter what choice is made there will be backers upset. I do appreciate you folks at Obsidian for bring this up and asking for input from the backers, so thank you. For myself I would prefer to have all the physical items arrive together, I chose the Collectors box tier for a reason. I've got a digital version I will use to play anyway. Besides, as others have said I'd rather not see the extra money spent on costs for multiple shipments.

Much like PoetAndMadman's post on the first page I'd like to see something in a Firefly or Farscape like setting in a modernized version of Freelancer on steroids.

I seem to be missing the Kickstarter badge as well. I would appreciate getting that sorted out when one of the mods, or whomever is taking care of it gets an opportunity. Thanks.

That would be nice and something very close was almost a reality in The Broken Hourglass thanks to jcompton. Unfortunately the game was never finished.

Very difficult to answer with just one thing because I have a pretty good sized list, but presumption driven reputation/influence changes are probably one of my major pain points in a game. The thing I'd like to see is the removal of presumptive influence/reputation changes from both the general game and from my companions. Why must the companions I've surrounded myself with and chosen to travel with constantly have to make motive checks on the things we do? Worse why do they insist on doing so in front of the mook I'm trying to scam? While I realize there will at times be perceptions of intent made by an NPC that I cannot and at times should not be able to influence, however for the most part the game and especially my companions should not presume my motivations. I'd be okay with a dialogue where large shifts could occur depending on intent but that dialogue shouldn't limit me to the typical Lawful Dumb/Stupid Evil type of replies. Saving a town from a small horde of undead doesn't mean I'm a "good", not assisting them doesn't mean I'm "evil".

I don't think there's even any need to make enemy composition high-level responsive to your decisions. Just have a lot of variation in enemies and enemy combinations as a usual part of the game. True, if there is a good variety of tactics, enemies and enemy combinations then there is not really a need for any high-level decision making. However after multiple playthroughs, think 10+, it will be difficult to ignore the fact that I know bad guy #5 in Boss #3's lair is just around the third corner to the left and a fireball lobbed just so will probably take him out. Of course I reason this out with the logic that if this was my 1st playthrough I'd still know because I would have scouted it out before moving in. But this just saved me the time/tediousness of moving slow while scouting on yet another playthrough. It's human nature and technically it's a valid point. However even if I have and use a scout, just like I did on the 1st playthrough, I never can recapture that sense of wonder, danger and thrill of discovery found in the first time playing the game if the enemies are always the same and in the same places. So if Obsidian goes to the trouble of really diversifying the enemies why not take it a small step further and have those enemies be a little bit more reactive. Use relatively simple things that a towns person would notice and relate in stories like comments about our gear, our companions and their gear, survivors of battles telling stories about what happened, tales of those battles seen by the townspeople we've saved from the town pillaging bad guy hoard #4. The more we play the better intel the enemies can acquire so the first couple bosses might think a PC a fighter type because they wear heavy armor. Half way or so into the game they start figuring out the PC is really a mage and change underling composition accordingly. I think it would help greatly with immersion and replayability at hopefully small cost. Counters for armor and weapons most often equiped or used to kill enemies, what class abilities have you used in view of npc's, etc. EDIT: cleared up the thoughts in a few sentences.

I think this is a good conversation to have but I think everyone is focusing on the result of the "breakage" not the root cause. I think Lephys started to get there in his posts on the first page. When it comes to combat there will always be builds that are better than others; some at specific tasks others in a more general sense. But when you have a handful of builds, and especially a single one, that is orders of magnitude better than all others and devastates all enemies then I propose the flaw is not in the class or build but is actually in the enemies. While the class or build in question may be more powerful than others to me it points instead to a lack in variety and/or tactics of the enemies. If I play a mage with a penchant for fireballs and I'm going after Boss #2 he shouldn't have a bunch of regular swordsman standing around in large groups with no fire resistance gear as he patiently waits me to arrive at his place for the big confrontation. He should have some mage-killer types sprinkled around the place and the whole crew shouldn't rush me in a big gaggle just begging to be set on fire all at once. By the same token if I'm a swordsman that approaches combat like a blender set on puree then Boss #2 should have a completely different set of underlings with different tactics to come at me. If I don't normally run with a rogue type then there should be a lot of traps hastily thrown about maybe many aren't even hiden since I'm probably not going to be able to disable them. If I typically have a rogue type, or am one myself, then the traps could be more strategically placed and better disguised. I am not saying the game should meta-game our characters stat/skills and I realize there is no way to code in different tactics and enemy compositions for all build/party possibilities but some high level decisions can be made based on how I/my party typically approaches combat and at least the boss type characters should adjust to that. If Obsidian can do that then there shouldn't be a need to meticulously balance the builds so none are overly good because the variety in enemy classes and tactics will do that for them.

While my knee-jerk reaction is to agree with Sensuki, I can actually see some merit to this if used properly. Perhaps a quest, plot twist or character that is supposed to be hidden to all but the most intrepid explorers has an unintended "tell" in the way the quest line originates that stands out to the experienced player this game is geared towards. Now instead of a cool reward of sorts for the few it's a quest line everyone seems to be doing. Conversely what if a support quest line for the main story is ignored by all but a few? A tool like the one mentioned would allow Obsidian to review such scenarios and decide if they should make some type of change. A tool of this sort and the two example situations would probably be best handled during the alpha/beta testing phases but could have a use post launch. Post launch such a system could be used to track frequency of use for each companion and quest completion rates. Not that this should be used to limit creativity or development of a wide ranges of companions/quests/options it would give Obsidian the chance to ask specific questions to the community about why the things that are unexpectedly popular/unpopular ended up so. My hope would be that rather than being used to limit the range of options and streamline a game a tool like that could be used to gain greater insight into players and make those niche quests/characters more prevalent. Options and choice are good, especially if they add replay value. If that can come about from a tool that allows the devs better insight into what drew/repelled gamers and why, especially when they were trying to do the opposite I would generally be in favor of it, at least in principle.

A bit late but for me I'd prefer the tarball option. For those that want them Steam, Desura, et al can be options; but they're nothing I want involved in the process. A tarball may not do all the install work for you but I feel that's probably the closet Linux equivalent to a disk/dl with the game files and a setup.exe file like the windows folks will have available.

When I first started reading this I thought "oh ye gods please no". However now that I've read all the posts I could go for a less clunky interface; but I do like the visual heft/substance to interfaces in the old IE games. Something book-like maybe even with short opening/closing animations and pages flipping when you choose which section to go to from a table of contents. Just throw something out there, but whatever interface they develop it should be a clear successor to the old IE interfaces. Map-able hotkeys are a must as well.

Top of my list would be ME. I want to be the big bad/Evil boss/scourge of the planet. Whether I start that way or change over time I want the chance to finally tell the major boss characters in the game that as bad as they think they are I'm worse and I'm taking over right after I kill them. If I had to pick a existing characters I think would make good antagonists then I'd like to have characters like Vic Mackey from The Shield, Walter White from Breaking Bad, John Cavil from BSG or even a set of characters like Randall Flagg and Trashcan Man from The Stand (mini-series). Of course being able to go up against all of then in a struggle to control the world would be pretty cool too.

I like the concept here. I have an old game, Flatout, that records every race and gives you the option to watch the full replay at the end or skip and that games pretty old so the functionality ought to be fairly easy to implement. Rather than going to the effort of doing this for every fight it might be easier to add the right triggers in for just major quest and boss fights and of course pausing would pause the record feature. Schedule the recording so it doesn't stop until the scene is over (any cut-scene included) and throw in an option to save the recording as a file on the HDD. For that matter allow users to configure it in the options. A simple Enable/Disable toggle with another for auto-saving it to the HDD. Now users can watch them outside of the game and go back to watch videos from previous runs. I think the feature might see more actual use that way than if it was generally available for any just given fight.

Well said! Using this logic we can basically assume that 1 stronghold can work for all classes. You could, but not all strongholds work for all classes or types. A military keep would be of no interest to a wizard. Having different strongholds for different focuses covers more types and allows for more replay while keeping the numbers down allows for more specialisation, its getting the balance right that is the question. Personally I think giving the player an area of land that he can manage would be best. There could be a settlement that is fixed for all playthroughs (but can be built up), the player can order a home to be built (such as a tower for wizards, churches for priests etc) that utilises the surrounding resources to produce stuff and that determines the type of guards you have and how they are produced (normal guards from keeps, holy warriors from churches and golems and automatons for mages). The base stronghold stays the same but the home building and inhabitants vary. While I agree with some of your second paragraph I wholeheartedly disagree with the first. Scholarly Warriors, militaristic Priest or magic user types, Rogues interested in the "arcane" might not fit into the boxes you allude to in that first paragraph. That's why I suggested a modular approach here. With that approach they'd have to design just a few base theme structures and let the player decide the theme that's right for their character. Want a militaristic stronghold with the arcane "Library" and the Rogue Tavern? No worries, you can do that with a modular approach. They could even spice it up a bit more and have a couple different mood themes for each like a Beacon of Light and Hope, a dark and gritty, a well worn and even maybe a spooky mood. With just a few above ground themes for example: Fortress, Temple, Arcane compound and a below ground option or two I'd think they'd have most everyone covered in some fashion. With some mixing and matching of the modules in each theme combined with the mood settings there is a lot of potential for giving players freedom and variety with less effort than trying to do a stronghold or two for each class.

It should definitely be something that remains relevant throughout the game and is truly an accomplishment to achieve. I like the idea of it being something to take over but I'd be fine if it was something I had to build too. I don't care about drape colors or stone patterns but I would like to feel like I'm actually responsible for creating it, running it, defending it, for projecting power from it; and for loosing it if I make dumb decisions. If I get to build it then I'd like it to be modular and I'd want to have a few different choices in design element prefabs that fit within the world and location aesthetic for each "section". I'd like to see some choice in location as well as costs that vary depending on those location and structure complexity if we get to build it. I should also have to defend it: I can't imagine some local road bandit gang, rebel warlord type are going to stand idly by while I create this thing too close to their area of operations. For those looking for something a little closer to civilization I can imagine a King, a Parliament or Counsel is going to be too please with a structure like this going up without some loyalty assurances, taxes being levied and whatnot. Of course then you have potential conflict with any existing guild or temples you might be competing with or be in opposition to. Whether now, in future expansions, or hopefully in both there is a world of possibilities opened with the implementation of strongholds.

While I understand the principle behind the issue; when and where to save needs to be left to the player. I have a wife and child, I need to be able to pause/save at a moments notice no matter where I am in gaemand come back 2 minutes, 2 hours or 2 days later and pick up where I left off.