Osvir

Let's take our torches down this thread. What if in some areas the Fog of War actually is going all Cthulhu on you, maybe even attacking you. An infernal cave that spouts lava around you, and you have to escape NAOW. How nasty are some of the Gods going to be? Impossible encounters, where you have to run, a sense of urgency through an instance in a cave. A God which chambers you reach and he is neutral/"has a city" (City in the Heavens?) and you can talk to him (Think Tyrael in Diablo 2) imagine attacking him (as a roleplayer and not as a buffed out Windforce and the Grandfather, would you stand a chance? A plate falling in the dungeon if I stand on it and I'll loose a character to that, doesn't matter if it is mortality mode or not (otherwise some rare, once or twice one game resurrection). Of course we would have enough time to escape easier modes and more reaction thoughts and movements on difficult modes (space, I got so good with that space, that's all. Loving the shift+click movements in BGEE, but mostly the reaction of it. No stutter when changing direction, more fluid). "Why are they called the Hallelujah Mountains?" Also gamma, of course. Can gamma be directly linked to and with Fog of War? Or is that exactly what it is? (No knowledge) That would solve a lot of issues. EDIT: Could gamma be part of Difficulty scaling? The sense of urgency, the world is closing in on you, why? How? I have no bloody idea. What I'm talking about is that the Fog of War could constantly be coming after you, it could even be a part of the Event or really some Event. You find a device or an enemy that you need to "shut off". You're now in the mid-game and you've stopped the world from closing in on you and that in itself creates more resolutions for a greater purpose. Gamma controlled early game difficulty?

Whereas I am in favor of limiting the voice acting to only very important parts of the plot, if it even needs to be there at all. The trade-off for more voice acting is less dialogue, diminished ability to change dialogue during production, a lack of modability...in short, less choice and less depth. I want more choice and more depth, not less. And if the cost of that is that less voice acting, then I'll pay it happily. Perhaps some simple insignificant grunts could suffice, that you could cycle through. More primitive. A character who's interest you pique could simply just say "Hmm" whilst scratching most modern beard technology. Commoner 1-352 could cycle between 2, "Ooh" or "Aah". I'm laughing so hard right now by the way. Could become one big ball of fail. Still laughable, as it could be seen as a mockup of a voice over (and no dumb memes). That's the trick really, good voice acting requires perfectionism and authenticity. A "Hmm" can be said in thousands of different ways, and that also costs money (are voice actors paid by lines they say or by time in production? ~Depends on contract?). [Coming soon for BGEE (Sound sets)]

I think that's one of the reasons of green involvement, or where some green is needed. It is like the Hammer of Rightfulness, part of the job. It'd be cool with some ninjas though :ninja: (because a ninja is never alone) I'm reflecting on the title, "Dev team sharing process". Turn it arond, "Forum sharing process". I've got some pretty wild ideas that I'm putting out but I have no idea how it actually works entirely in development in a company. I can only phantom a concept of what it requires, the project organizing, job placements, deadlines, communication, material (so much material ). I've played around coding a little bit, managed to say "Hello World" with programming after some hours. Played around with different 3D art tools, played in different editors, done some easy insignificant modding. Most of my knowledge is from what I've read on wikias, forums, tutorials and some programmer and ex-schooled designers (1 is studying ZBrush and is an amazing artist). There are tons of different assets in each and every one of these tools (Editor or Utility). TONS. To the point, forum sharing the process is that we throw ideas at Obsidian, how much help are we, really? How much do we help? 1. "Paladins are awesome!" <- is true from how I view them. 2. But does it say that the Paladin could be of a specific order meant to cleanse and purge, fanatically hunting down innocent men, women and children, believing they are spreading the Justice of [God] as if they were on steroids and hallucinations of grandeur? How much does it help? I like to think: A lot and if we aren't helping I like to think that Obsidian will say something, or if there is some way to help out more effectively and better. Obsidian always has Final Word and I also like to believe that they know that they aren't obliged to use anything written here (regarding the latter, I know that others feel differently, this is just my personal opinion). The Law of the DM rules these forums after all, and we've got a good DM.

Interesting point PrimeJunta. It wouldn't be pitch black. Even in Baldur's Gate at night your vision is less, and there's no torches in that. Same thing in popular games like Dota. We aren't talking about the screen being black (I think, at least?) but simply having less vision at night. Your ring around you on how far you can see. Also, you will be able to mark your own map on the map screen to put out important characters. Possibly being able to edit your own journal. A torch would extend that vision, it wouldn't make your game less playable to not have a torch, you just won't benefit from how far your character can see. How important is Vision going to be, from a tactical viewpoint? Could a torch heighten my chance to see someone "Hiding in Shadows"? Kind of like an Observer with a torch and completely invisible without. Perhaps vision could allow you to see an enemy before they ambush you? A group with a good vision could see the mob of enemies hiding being crates (Perception) whilst a party with lesser vision only sees the mockup guard. A Cipher could sense (through the fog of war, by some indicator~red-ring pulsating "Alert") even in a party with poor vision with a "Detect Evil" type spell. Want to link some thoughts about having different types of scouts and exploring that I had from another thread. Scout Modes. Different classes having different scout modes. And I also wonder, in blunder, how important are torches going to be when there are several other methods? I'd personally prefer if Torches were a "Low Level" item rather than something consistent, as Vision could grow with level. So after a while a Torch would be pretty much useless.

It is going to be 100% mostly voiced over like Baldur's Gate. As they aren't hiring any voice actors (or are they?) I am wondering who is going to do the voices. Will Josh, Adam, Chris, Tim all take the helm in front of the microphone and do VO for the game? Who would be who? Will we see green shirt girl doing Cadegund perhaps? I'll say like I said before when this topic popped up. If Obsidian would ask for it (which would have to be done well before any recording even starts) fans could/would provide material I am sure (definitely a Wild Card still!!). All you need is a good recording device and some know how (how to record your voice to not make it all bad) and also know your way around an audio editting software. I used Audacity (freeware) for the BG sound sets I made. Garageband is much more fun though I also have a studio in my living room. I made... 2 sound sets for Baldur's Gate that I managed to make sound as if they were part of the core game (volume just right, a well thought out script as well, no fuzzy sound or any sparks. Clean sounding).

Weeeell... might be something to look into at a later stage. And I think we already are a part of the process as well but that's a vague fluff theory I've got. Got my suspicions, though I don't really want to discuss them. @rjshae: But there is so much design material on these forums! It's like copy+paste and then clean it up~tweak it for P:E. It's insane how much material there is. I could write several novels myself by using the material that exists here! And they'd all be real good. I hope that Obsidian uses these forums, and I'm sure they are doing it. Maybe even with a word document on a second screen where they write up lots of junk and stuff that we say which they then flesh out and transform. Adam asked about Gods in the latest update did he not? That thread is filled with juicy God ideas by now

I'm Breathe of Fire 3 damaged, so whenever someone says dolphins I relate to this event xD

So, is this happening?

Reading some on Karkarov's thread on alignment, character creation and other neat stuff (OP) I get the thought that... could Forton be blind?

I have the ultimate solution! Just make Godlike races "Glow in dark", problem solved xD

Go fish http://www.kickstart...roject-eternity EDIT: But for your convience it took me 2-3 minutes, Update #20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_LtpG02bZDw 2nd EDIT: Google is your friend (I searched for "project eternity screenshot") I'm also your friend

Real torches imply 3D shadows; from characters, furniture, objects, and walls. I suspect that isn't going to happen; we'll get a glowing, flickering halo instead. What I would be interested in seeing though are different light sources: various torches, lanterns, hooded lanterns, oil lamps, and candles. As for a poorly lit night scenes, they could potentially use varying color saturation. Areas near light sources can display normal colors, while darkened areas can be displayed using a more monochromatic view. (Like a, say, blue-tinged black-and-white view representing night vision.) That would allow them to provide some illumination even in the darkened areas. I'm not sure how do-able this approach is though. Looking at Update #33. The back wall (the one we can't see from this perspective in the picture) doesn't even need to be modeled or textured. They only need to focus on the perspective we see. Looking at someone from the front you can't see what he looks like from the back. If that makes any sense. It might happen. Buildings already seem to be models, which are objects, I recall Adam and Josh constantly speak something about (not actual quote!) "Our 3D Artists are thinking some pretty cool stuff". In the video with TotalBiscuit (Which deserves its own thread really) they speak about there is only one perspective. Bare with me I'm going to try and explain something which is difficult to explain: Take a 3D Square object, seeing as we are only getting 1 perspective (2D) furniture could be modeled from only one perspective. Kind of like one of those toy kids books that have pictures that are fake "3D" when you open them. They would only need to model half an object, or sink half of the object through the 2D (so it looks like it is 2D still). Hmm kind of like this: Iceberg technology! :'D

Conceptual idea, Viki from Suikoden some random chick popping up when you travel the world, Wild Teleporting Magic (She travels through time too). Though perhaps not as someone as you can recruit, but perhaps someone appearing out of a portal falling flat to the ground in front of you, confused and generally distressed individual who leaves suddenly after some short odd conversation~ random fun events! Can't remember the names but the Demon Child & the Dog in Baldur's Gate Moo I say!

Since when did the perspective determine if it is scary or not? I've read books that have put me on my toes, one book I was putting down because I got too scared. The isometric view isn't scary, first person view isn't scary either (otherwise I'd be afraid all the time IRL!!). Fear/Horror is all in the writing, the music and the atmosphere and the environment. To your first question. Yes. For immersion. To your paragraph, Infravision, Torches, Utevo Lux (if you know Tibia, it is a maintainable spell that costs some Mana then it is on for a period of time, hardly any cost to mana. You could do it once or twice and have light through a dungeon). Crystals could have a glow, kind of glowsticks (that never burn out) that can be easily enchanted or put onto the belt or on the shield. Flame Swords, flame shields, flame spells. I think because it is Isometric that torches instantly become much more interesting than LoG or TES. Look at Eschalon, great game, isometric, torches. Single character SP RPG game. Excellent example where it is working, but I've got to admit that it is LoG that inspires me. Would your Fighter have to drop his shield? No, your Wizard lights the area up, why would he even need to hold a torch? Maybe your Rogue holds the torch. Maybe your Cipher has an ability so he can see where enemies are close by (Like in League of Legends, where some champions have abilities that makes you "Visible" on the minimap). A Chanter could have a Sonic Vision ability. How can you be innovative with torches and limited visibility? The 3 most important tools when I was hitchhiking America was told to me by my hitchhiking friends (we had barely any money at all): 1. Flashlight (I went through 5~6 of them during a 3 month travel) 2. Spoon/Fork & Cup/Porcelain (Something to put food on and something to eat it with) 3. Knife/Weapon (I didn't have one, I had a walking stick) Light = Super important Finally, yes it isn't priority 1 to get it into the game. But I'm sure there are ways to be innovative with it, and ways to implement it cost effectively. Oooh great site. It doesn't talk for torches entirely, but it talks about the immersion aspects. With a magical fantasy setting like P:E torches doesn't need to be the entire light source (of course), if you missed it in the post I'll summarize it: * Torch * Flame Items * Crystals that pulsate light (which you could put on items, making your shield provide light) * Vision Spells (See enemies visible in Fog of War) * Light Spells * Sonic Spells * Lanterns * Floating Orbs that provide light for the party. * Druid could have an animal that sees well in darkness Etc. etc. Something I thought of by PrimeJunta's comment. Fending off wolves in the wilderness with torches and fire. Throwing torches, setting your enemy aflame. Can't find the clip I'm looking for but the Scarabs don't attack because of the torch. How will my Ranger lit his Fire Arrows? Could the Ranger have a Bow and still have a Torch in his off-hand? Something he can stick into the ground or use to light his Fire Arrows? A torch doesn't even have to be wooden either. What about a metal torch? Or that helmet that lets me see in darkness.

Torches! Do I need to say more? I guess I do. Will there be expendable torches resources for deep dungeoneering and will it be an equipped slot (taking up the Sword slot). Seeing as it is a party game, one character who doesn't do much in battle could handle the light sourcing. Perhaps be able to place flares, or markers in the dungeon (and not only on the mini-map). It'd be easier to make something scary~horror if torches are included. Of course, Wizards should have abilities to light up (Gandalf style) as well as Flame Swords and the like. Thoughts?

Final thoughts... in Lands of Lore you press the Lockpicks and then press the chest. For me a Lockpicking "Mini-Game" could be as simple as that. Perhaps slightly updated that you have to do something as well (Right-Click+Hold Down+Drag back and forth somehow). Some locks you need to drag Up, Down, some games from Right to Left etc. etc. Depending on your skill, lockpicks will break easier on Low Skill and hardly at all on High Skill. Regardless we will encounter locked doors and chests, should lockpicks be an item or no?

I base it off that the Cipher, to me, seems like a mind stabbing S.O.B. Someone who moves in the shadows well, casts illusions on great Kings (Lotr). With some martial training they could get past physical adversaries as well, they should read the opponents movements well, get to places others can't by inserting thoughts (Jedi Mind Trick). Get information others can't. Someone with soul eating abilities, sounds more applicable that someone who has abilities meant to do harm in some way or the other would fill the Assassin slot better than the Rogue. The Rogue feels much more like an "Adventurer" type, or "The Scum of the Slum". Not necessarily a trained killer. Likewise, if the Cipher gets the Assassin kit~ then the Rogue can focus more on the Thief kit. It is a Party game after all. I would love an instance with a Cipher similarly to this: * Talking to Guard Me: "I need to get into the palace" Guard: "It is off limits Citizen! Get away!" * Choices 1. [speech] (which in this case is "Thought" because you are a Cipher) 2. "Okay" 3. "Perhaps some coin could change your mind?" 1/Guard: 'There is a secret backdoor' * Choices 1. "Okay, I'll just go to the back" 2. Filler 3. Filler Guard: "Huh? Okay, be off with you!!" Kind of like answering the [Target] Dialogue Character's mind. Could cause some funny instances. A Wizard could react (to the [speech]) in some manner like "Get out of my head or I blast you to pieces!!". A Monk would just be "blank". Another Cipher could have a discussion with your Cipher in silence, making everyone around just edgy and agitated, wondering what's going on and/or just oblivious. Entering a banquet with lots of people or an area with lots of people, your characters could suddenly enter Dialogue mode and be engaged by a mysterious stranger which only talks to you through "Mind" abilities. EDIT: Links lead to the wikia.

First of all, this isn't something Obsidian has any control over. If P:E is going to be anything like Baldur's Gate wherein your character is pretty much the "Unknown" with little backstory and personality, so then there is a question of how awesome you manage to make your character. By the way! I have yet to come up with a character concept that overshadows Jaheira or Minsc. Though Jaheira to me is awesome because she is a Fighter/Druid which I had never realized, making her (in my imagination) during combat a fierce warrior. Minsc... nuff said. Again, like I first said, this is all dependent on how awesome you make them. Obsidian has no control over this. Whilst I agree, I am curious to which difficulty level you played at. I got pretty far on Nightmare but I would've never been able to do it without Pause and a good team. I thought that DA2 was super fun and I was very very engaged, I don't really know why I stopped in the middle of it, something about the skill trees not accommodating to how I wanted to build my party (It felt cluttered and messy somehow). I couldn't make my party feel like how I wanted them to feel (like one unit, they were more like 1 unit each). I usually do this in anything but the IE games, in the IE games I try out the first Full Plate I find on my main character, if that doesn't work out too well I put it on someone else. If I find a whooping master sword and my character only has a regular long sword, I see if someone else can benefit from it first (because I want a party composition, rather than 1 strong character and 5 fodder characters). I never use scripts. Finally I had a point but I lose it in the paragraphs... right! I can only speak for myself, but I don't want anyone feel like an individual power by themselves, I want a full party that functions like a full party. The composition of my character and the companions become awesome, and not one character is awesome by himself. Except for the Solo Play with 1 character, and something should make up for that (1 solo character can get enough experience by him-/herself to be able to fill out several roles... becomes a slight Jack-of-All-Trades type character that can be a Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Ranger/Cipher "Multi-Class").

Cipher. Seethe. Siphon. Soul Vampires. I think that the Cipher fills up the Assassin slot much better than the Rogue. Assassin: A killer, a hired gun. A person with extraordinary abilities. A ninja. Can't find the clip but in the movie (based off an anime/manga called Basilisk) "Shinobi: Heart Under Blade" where this chick has this ability that when she looks someone in the eyes she can make them explode internally (all of their blood vessels go pop). An Infiltrator. A Cipher could do all of these jobs. Thoughts?

You misunderstand AGX-17, kind of asked for it though This thread is about us being material for P:E NPC's. Not about the character creation/mechanical process (in essence: not about how the game is played), but about the writing/creative process. P:E will be a world with tons of NPC's. There will be barmaids, blacksmiths, scholars, teachers, students, beggars, shopkeepers, warehouse personnel, Paladins, preachers, doomsayers, town criers, a random couple. A random enemy in the wilds. Druids, Mayors, Wizards, Ciphers, Barbarians, Cultures, Factions, Gods. Several different races with more NPC's. There is going to be TONS of characters and not just the "Commoner 1-352". Sure all of them won't have fully fleshed out backgrounds but Obsidian has to draw some inspiration from somewhere. Some will be quest givers, some will be randoms. One of the things that made Baldur's Gate epic, in my opinion, was the NPC's. Most of these NPC's were just names, some were more important and some were less important, some were friendly and some were enemies, but as a whole they were all important. Excerpt from OP:

I think that companions should "live their lives"/follow their quest tree. I've played this scenario before: You get to Nashkel, you meet Minsc, but instead of getting him you just ignore him. Later on you meet Minsc and Dynaheir in Baldur's Gate, and they've progressed. Heck, maybe Minsc didn't succeed in saving Dynaheir (based on a global dice roll) and you only meet a worn and torn down Minsc at the bar. Maybe Minsc did succeed but he had to sacrifice himself for Dynaheir's survival (global dice roll). In P:E, perhaps that Chanter you didn't take into your group dies because you didn't grab him. Or that Wizard, Aloth perhaps, becomes evil and a villain if you don't take him into your group. Forton could become a beggar or merely a man meditating in the streets. Perhaps they could be an entirely different class. Maybe Edair is on his way to become a Paladin, but if you grab him he'll stay a Fighter, and if you don't you'll meet a zealous Edair who is now a Paladin. Maybe Cadegund becomes enslaved, and gets to "work it off" at a Jabba the Hutt-representative. Global dice rolls! :D

For a Holy Order, I really enjoyed the Sanctuary in "The Left Hand of God" by Paul Hoffman. It seems to be in the right Era as well. Gunpowder has just been discovered (in Book 2, it's a Trilogy) and is considered to be "Magic". It is not "Fantasy", but definitely fictional. Not the best of the best stories altogether, a little bit teeny but I enjoyed it. I wouldn't want the general consensus of the book be an inspiration, but the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is the Redeemer's Stronghold. A Prison and a Military Establishment. The Religious folk kidnap children, or buy children and train them. If the children do not follow regulations or act suspiciously = Death. It is a cruel place and the children are pitted against each other to fight to the death as well as grow stronger. They barely have any armor at all but follow the more "mobile" and "strategical" ways. There is one battle where an army of Full Plate guys against the Monkish guys, the Full Plate army looses because of mud and rain, they all fall at the front lines to their deaths. With a constant push from the back, the guys in Full Plate are being pushed into the deadly Redeemers. It was rather stupid to read to be honest but it was still a cool battle. The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield has a really nice story pacing and traveling roots. It is more of a "Self-Fulfilling" book a la "Peace. Love. Respect and Understanding" but the traveling is great. It tells a story of how important coincidences are. Very spiritual and soul-y.

Isn't the mask suppressing the ID and reaching for the darkest desires more accessible? Who is Jason without the mask? Would V be anybody remotely attractive without the mask? Then there is the question of the super hero, "putting on the mask". But maybe we are super heroes already, with or without the mask. That is what I like to think at least That was a great post, regardless, Felithvian

^What if we are "playing" the game right now? Metaphorically speaking of course.

^In Sweden we have a saying that goes something like: "The one who said it he is it" Don't want to open this -> ( [Can of Worms]((. ) ... so I won't bother.