Osvir

I would like to meet squadrons on their way to battle, getting caught into it or waiting a bit (hiding) until they have passed. Or talking your way out of it. Maybe even getting caught up in the middle of a "bandit camp area", bandits have been triggered because you were close by, and now gather in ambush (positioning etc. etc.). Perhaps even there is two factions battling it out, and you can stay and wait it out, or take a route around it. Can you mess with two factions into fighting each other? Can you become your own Faction (Suikoden-styled)? Could it be possible to "place objects" in P:E? Kind of how Warcraft 3 begun to do (see the mesh before placing etc. etc.). Would you then order craftsmen to build your fortress in your own way at whatever location marked by a "Flag" item that you placed. Sorry, de-railing topic. Making a new topic.

Additionally: Masteries, Rune Pages, Build Order (Which skill should you invest in first? Which Gear should you focus on buying etc. etc in what order?). All of this different for which champion you like. You've barely scratched the surface Hormalakh if you just started playing. Takes time to get to level 30. DotA is pretty much only Build Order. DotA 2 offers some "level up" awards that are slightly beneficial but that is gear as well. Yes, that is a consequence of normalizing ranges, so again this comes back to asking players the question, "How much chaos do you like?" In many cases, this is a personal preference. I have, for instance, seen people request elements like the fabled Ars Magica/Rolemaster botches and crits of old, which were wild and crazy. Could a chaotic character pathway/roleplay lead to more chaotic mechanics?

Because there was something genuinely impressive and beautiful in what you are trying to run away from (In yourself). I remember the feeling I had, when I was most in love or summer crush like "Grease". Just feeling of freedom, independence, love for everything. Then you get torn, Atlantic sized, work, life catches up, stress. All you want is that feeling of love, but the only place you get it is on a computer screen talking with someone on a continent away. Ridiculous! When you stop chasing for something externally to achieve this state I think you'll understand you already had it internally ups and downs, some are mountains, and some are larger than others, and then you fall down. The point is to find a mountain you can climb with someone, and not a mountain you climb for a reward

How is Reputation handled, relative to Cultural Background?

No no no. My suggestion is only to retain the old, but instead of playing Baldur's Gate on Hardcore Ironman normally, I could turn off the pause button (this doesn't exist in Baldur's Gate). Mechanically, not "Off" by default. ~Sigh. I just forgot that you could just choose not to use it.

Good/Active drawing at least Likewise, the artist would be inspired by the writer's writing and/or feeling of expression, so I don't see where it'd be bad/lazy at all.

Oh I'm just highlighting it because I thought it could be a cool idea You adventure down the path, the sword you hold is struggling against you, in some ways trying to devour you and it's been doing it for a while now. As you enter the depths of the caves, the abomination from hell now welcomes you, smiling at you as you fight them and dies almost willingly by your hand, the other group you faced also did the same thing but now it's almost an extreme. That was the last of his thoughts before the sword in his hand stabbed through his own chest~ or something less ridiculed. Would a strong soul be able to manipulate the soul(s) in the weapon, though? Could magic amplify it? Enchantments? Can enchantments come chaotically/naturally+proficiency? Or should it be more a controlled craft? Both? Does weapons have souls? What is "soul"? (as in "What is mana?")

The first or two Ogres were epic, the 10th or so was filler. Something that was more designated for bosses became "Crap, this crap again" and when I faced Flemeth it was a little bit "Meh" on top of the "Cool". Abundance I guess. Specifically in the "Large Creature" take downs.

That is such a great idea AGX weapons becoming weaker the more you slay. Could a dying Wizard curse the player weapon? Can the player curse enemy weapons? (Making them not such a good idea to pick up but it helped in the fight, a group of some bandits with longswords, you wouldn't worry about picking up those long swords anyways, and probably not curse the opponent bosses). But would such a function/mechanic make the Player decide whether to equip that badass sword you've got right now or wait a while because you don't want the sword to become weak? Additionally of "durability" could there be some sort of "soul damage" to a weapon? No orcs in P:E eh? Sounds all good I didn't know.

No. No what makes you come to that conclusion Ieo? I just said that I think that BG is inheritable difficult as is if you enforce yourself not to "Pause". What does MMO have anything to do with it? P:E would be played like the IE games and Josh has already said that he feels that nostalgic feeling about it? Sure, there could be a feature or two that you could use if you took it apart in an MMO game, that's the entire thing, you'd have to pick it apart first. <- underline is de-railing topic. *shakes head* Try playing Baldur's Gate without "Pause" on the hardest difficulty and tell me how difficult it is. More or less than MMO-kindergarten? You got BG:EE, right Ieo? So which is harder? MMO or BG? (without pause) EDIT: "Parried"

I just figured if you've got a character in the dark/shadows, an orc stands a couple of feet away looking the character's way and there's a blue glow, the Orc should see it. Hence why I thought they could react to it. This depends on if P:E will utilize some light/vision mechanics where enemies can see you better from Fog of War if you've got a light source of some kind. Gandalf picks up a sword after the Trolls (The Hobbit) which the Orcs react strongly to with hate and disgust (before Bilbo meets Gollum). A legendary sword which had slain many Orcs. Could a weapon I use become a tool for "Morale"? If I've slain 100 Orcs in total, would their souls somehow linger within the blade and could make more Orcs drop in "Morale" or go "Berserk" when they see feel it?

Sacred_Path pretty much said it. Baldur's Gate can be played entirely real time, except it is very very difficult (on higher difficulties too). P:E should be difficult on "real time", challenging, that's all I'm advocating for (we all agree). Like Sacred_Path said, you could simply enforce yourself to not press "Pause". Likewise, like in another thread (About Economy & Difficulty, Adventurer's Hall "Off" option?), enforcing yourself is not quite the same as being enforced "You can't climb that 'mountain' because the game doesn't allow you" versus "Oh you can, but you don't have to climb that 'mountain'". If there are optional rules, that makes the game more difficult for the Challenger/Player, turning off "Pause" in some script sounds not too difficult to implement, unless the pause is woven into abilities and events and the fabric of the world somehow in the code, then it might be a little bit more difficult to just turn "Off". I'm just saying plain n' simple that it'd be physically difficult to be able to turn pause "Off" or on a "Timer" or just "Unlimited". Just as if the Adventurer's Hall would make the game more difficult by being able to turn it "Off". Likewise, I can just enforce myself (but in that case there's always a plan B). What I'm thinking is something Heroes of Might & Magic use, where you can choose "Indefinite" or choose a specific time for how much time everyone can take on their turn and I wonder if a mechanic like that would be functional in P:E. Playing with the idea/Brainstorming: Could a "Pause" physically affect your party members somehow on a harder difficulty? Stamina drain? Penalties? Morale? That might make little sense, I'm fishing for difficulty ideas~

That's what happens when you put thoughts together and mash it up in a mosh pit of hungry nerds. EDIT: @SunBro, wow. Like 5 posts at the same time EDIT EDIT: SunBro (loving the sn btw) quoted Something Awful. The really brief version is to imagine a normal attack in AD&D, but if you miss, you inflict half minimum damage. Math and values can get shoved all over the place, but that's the fundamental mechanic. Whether you like the concept is separate from how well it works in practice (which really comes down to math/value specifics). Well, something like this is what I would like to see in PE (with armor, shield and stat bonuses/maluses and what not of course): Attack roll: you critically hit enemy = [x*2 full damage (always health damage) Does the player pay stamina? you hit enemy = full damage ("health or stamina" or "stamina+health"? Depends on the hit?) Does the player pay stamina? you strafe enemy = half damage (health or stamina? Depends on the graze?) Does the player pay stamina? you miss = no health damage is inflicted (X stamina damage) Does the player pay stamina? you critically miss = stamina damage to yourself or penalties to defense rolls for next incoming hostile attacks. Defense roll: character does not block or parry = damage (from attack roll) is inflicted (health/stamina? Depends on the attack?) Does the player pay stamina? character blocks = less damage (from attack roll) is inflicted (stamina damage to both parties involved) Does the player pay stamina? character parries = no damage (from attack roll) is inflicted (stamina damage to both parties involved) Does the player pay stamina? character dodges = I like it. I added my own thoughts to it. Just conceptual numbers. Does the player pay stamina for attacking/defending/casting? is an important question in my opinion. Guns shooting shouldn't cost stamina, reloading should. apart from taking a lot of time to reload (shooting maybe once or twice in combat?). How do you balance that? With 6 party members, one guy could sit outside of battle and just keep on reloading/shooting. How much time does it take to reload and are you easier "To Hit" when you are reloading? (Easier to score a "Critical Hit" on someone reloading? Would that be beneficial in creating an "AI Hook"?). Does a Wizard block with a Grimoire? Can the Grimoire take damage for this? Or is it better to just bring up a magical veil/barrier? How powerful should "blocking" be? Do I use a Fly Squatter against Bugs (Half-Minute Hero <3) or can the enemy have similar benefits? Equal ground somewhat. Ofc, that's more "harder difficulty" talk.

Don't misunderstand. I agree with you. What are your thoughts on "How difficult can difficult be"? EDIT: Come out, come out, all of you "Hardcore" children who want a challenge and not some petty attempt at a psuedo-challenge pretending to be a challenge!

True bro. I made this thread inspired by some of the comments and rebuttals on the "Resting" mechanic, if that wasn't obvious enough (what with the sandwich). That was really only the reason~ but I do enjoy the lightning strike in Baldur's Gate (even though it can be a bit frustrating, it's a fun environmental thing in my opinion) as well as the funny "chuckle" bored banters. Harmless. In my opinion, sure, the title is silly and the sandwich is silly childish (by me), but the idea that Baldur's Gate and other IE games utilize isn't silly. I'm discussing ideas that are already in the spiritual prequels to P:E. Are there going to be new ones in P:E? Environmental Effects+Party Banters~ Can a party member give a clue to you if you're just walking around in circles and can't find an entrance that you're looking for? Can a swarm of bees attack you as you walk through a forest? Lightning strikes when it rains and storms? Earthquakes? Flood/Tsunami? Or is that too much? Can you take it down a notch? Can you change it? Magical environmental effects? DM powers? Can the DM punish the player in a D&D session and do they do it often? "DM Punishment" could also have been a better title~

Some difficulty thoughts, specifically on "Pausing". Could it be time-limited with a cooldown? "You've got 30 seconds to make your decisions" in "Pause-Mode" on Hardcore, or maybe as an "Option"? Personally I think it could be fun, a slider that you can decide for yourself how long of a pause you want. Perhaps you can turn "Pause" off entirely and go "Real Time" entirely. Don't get me wrong, I love the "Pause" function. Just discussing various ways to make a "Sh-- that's difficult!" difficulty Thoughts?

We did have a lot of discussion on "preparation" in the early stages of the Kickstarter, this could be something? How well can you prepare yourself? Can you prepare yourself wrong or can you always prepare yourself right? In Hardcore Ironman (Where I recall enemy encounters and mobs being somewhat random generated relative to spawn points in the world) will I always be prepared? Can I simply just "dish out" an enchantment on the fly to make myself easier prepared? What's the disadvantages? What if you walk through the dungeon and you see the staff starts to glow yellow, "Damn, Hell Hounds!" but it's already too late, they spotted you through the Fog of War due to the glow. You are unaware that they've spotted you, all you know is that they are close and in "Pause" mode. Maybe preparing a spell or two but still... hmm.

Thanks but no thanks. If you want to discuss beautiful me maybe you could take it to private message? It'll teach you to press "Pause" and not sit around waiting for Health/Stamina or whatever to regain itself?

Glancing+Hitting could just be general brawling visually. Critical hit+Critical miss being something excluded and/or "Specialized". A Rogue could cause the enemy to Critically Miss a lot, so sending your Fighter or Paladin against that Rogue could equal a lot of missing? Class Balance, basically. How do you deal with it? Which Class is good against what Class? What's the general set up? Support-Class, Tank-Class, Magic-Class, Rogue/Scout-Class, Ranged/Bow-Class? Melee General brawling, glancing+hitting Stamina. Will it overlap? Will you eventually grow in strength enough to damage more Health than Stamina? Or will it be a consistent flow? If "General Brawling", animations could be stunning. Animations frames could be piled up on several invisible "turns". Basically you chop at the enemy, they react, then they attack you. There could be forced "animation frame" end, so if you use an ability in the midst of combat, the enemy would attack before the ability is utilized (If the enemy's animation frames were "activated" before you activated your ability). Ranged Odd thought, but could you pause the game and do a skill shot with a bow? Get a "Rainbow" thing (like a grenade in most modern games) that you can adjust in "Pause" mode to launch an arrow at someone. Why? Because then you could shoot over your own character. The Ranger class is very strong in the IE games. What would this "Skill Shot" arrow do? A, It could negate some kiting. B, More importantly, you'd be able to physically block arrows with your Fighter in Defender mode. He could stand and block arrows incoming from a Ranger, so that the Wizard doesn't take any damage. Friendly fire? -> Morale? -> Party banter? Not all shots should perhaps be skill shots (with an arrow) but targeting an enemy directly shots an arrow in a straight fast path (Fast Shot?) which can be blocked. Perhaps you could choose a "fixed" curve, though that'd make enemies react after 2-3 shots (AI) seeing how you play~ Magic Magic is magic, in many games you can still hit with magic even if you are blinded. This baffles me, like "Silence", "Blindness" should make "Single Target" spells be unusable. Why? You don't see the enemy, but AoE spells should still be able to be thrown. Blindness How will "Blindness" work? This is how I see how it could work: Your Wizard gets blind, selecting the Wizard (as a single selection) makes the entire game screen/board (not UI) go all Fog of War up close and personal on the Wizard. Selecting 2 characters (Maybe your Fighter who isn't blinded, and the Wizard) could perhaps allow the Wizard to throw some of his AoE spells, it could be seen as "Fighter is helping the Wizard". Like those "funny" comedy scenes from movies where one guy yells "Aim left! No no no! Right, more to the right!!!!" etc. etc. Animation+Combat Could it follow psuedo-turns? Magic: The Gathering styled~ for counters? Turn 1: I attack the enemy Turn 2: Enemy attacks me (in the midst of it I choose an ability) Turn 3: The ability is piled up after the enemy attack and is utilized now. Should there be counter-abilities vs attack-abilities? Specifically for different uses?

Who says it couldn't? What if it could be represented in the combat log as mere text? Glancing hits equal "Block, Parry, General Fighting/Brawling" whilst "Miss" could rely on "Dodge" in both parties (PvE). Is this glancing and hitting business some sort of "General Brawling" in pacing of combat? What is the vision for the combat animations and can the Player interfere in the midst of it? If the enemy swings his blade, but I do "Escape" in it, does that pile up on a big pile of invisible "turns" where the enemy finishes his attack first, and then "Escape" is utilized, or could I escape in the midst of an attack and still take a hit from what visually would be a distance? I think this plays its part too in missing and hitting. Maybe a lingering question that no one dares ask hangs in the air "What does it look like?". EDIT: Also got to read up on the pages~

"It doesn't make sense" a general reply to that (seen that pop up over here and there). No Armor! Only Sword+Shield vs Sword+Shield in examples. It makes perfect sense! I use energy to strike, the enemy uses their energy to block = Player looses some Stamina for striking, Enemy looses some Stamina (no health loss). The enemy might dodge most of the attack, and takes the Player sword to the shoulder (which glances, maybe chops off some skin), which would do some slight Health damage as well. If I instead get a full hit, the enemy looses both energy and their vitality = Player looses some Stamina for striking, Enemy looses Stamina+Health If the enemy dodges the attack entirely, they should lose Stamina, but as the energy the Player directed entirely missed, the Player should also lose some Stamina (A Critical Miss). I hope that Critical Misses are still in the game, for enjoyment and for that extra layer of tension. I think "Stamina" and "Health" needs to be defined, because if you're chopping at the enemies Stamina mechanically and primarily, you are kind of always missing. It's not abstract or vague or dumb or surreal or whatever, it makes sense: 1. I attack 2. The enemy "dodges" 3. Stamina damage You missed the attack (physically) but you still did some damage. Stamina, Energy, Fatigue call it whatever you will. Mortality is something else. @Nonek: Stamina!

I'd like to get a reputation (based on actions) as the Lucky or Unlucky one. Getting a ton of cash, or stumbling through a quest poorly but with lots of luck. Or being the "Unlucky" one, people kind of marking you as "Cursed" because you've got such a bad luck. Additionally what ogrezilla says: Trying to do good but failing at it horribly, but really really trying, branding the party as an unlucky party and some people might even scurry away in some fear. "It is a marked one! Poor sod.." Could a reputation be noticed by Gods? With a Low Profile, a God who enjoys darkness and subtle approach might even "contact" the Player. Likewise, a high-born noble and kind soul with a High Profile might draw the attention of other Gods.

Personally feel like something like this should be considered: Critical Hit Chance Hit Chance Miss Glance Chance (Ti-hi!) Critical Miss Chance Now to go advocate Lance weapons!

Additionally, something like this? (updated) If you own Dishonored you can start up a game and when you encounter the Empress you'll notice her placement and also notice that she is shrouded by an invisible wall, this is because (I think) she has her own "assets" and her own "Animation Box" which renders it impossible to enter her "Bubble" basically, because she an animation sequence within it. "Can combat be handled somewhat similarly?", is what I am flirting with, and you share those "Bubbles" with enemies and encounters. The second picture (with the 3 monsters) could also be a single monster, you could stretch the "Bubble" depending on distance, and at a certain distance the "Animation" that Player+Enemy share together "activates". Additionally in the third example (overhead) there is a box surrounding the 3 monsters+Player. Could there be a difference in combat animations between Party vs 1 enemy and Party vs 3 enemies? Do the 3 enemies use a certain tactic that 3 enemies together can use? Does 1 single enemy use another tactic? What I'm trying to say is, could those 3 monsters+Player be specifically animated together as one "Bubble" as well, and still retain the "1v1" experience? Could you get the 1v3 experience even? In some ways I'm thinking "Skeleton Guard" from Legends of Grimrock, in one "unit" they are just 1 Skeleton, but in others they are 4 Skeletons walking together as one unit (even if they are copy+paste, that's kind of the thing I'm going at). Are there hitboxes? Does there need to be hitboxes if the animation is fluid enough in design/development at a get-go?

^Great insight and something I think should be accountable for. Enemy Rangers giving cover fire and using guerrilla tactics on you if their morale goes down. Perhaps even employ some specific "Low Morale" tactics (on the AI that is). Rogue's throwing traps at you.. But it could also make the climatic battle draw out to an annoyingly "too long" chase where the enemy (that you can take down in 1 hit) throws traps at you. Shoots arrows to cover their Fighters and generally pokes at you with great frustration. One scenario that I can see though which could be pretty epic is if you've taken down most of the enemy but there still some left who actually manage to turn the tide to their favor (Rangers shooting arrows on your party, the Fighters re-routes and re-positions themselves, flanking the group and manages to deal some damage before my party takes them down in an epic and intense showdown). EDIT P.S: Chasing some of the paniced enemies in Baldur's Gate was a bore by itself somehow, I'd rather the enemies not run away (unless fast enough that you can't catch up to them unless you throw an arrow to their face at the edge of the Fog of War as they are about to get away). An enemy getting away should also yield more reputation from the faction the enemy was apart of.