Osvir

I think this fits into some of the ideas talked about in this thread: Emotional Impact We could still get so much depth with facial expression, as a supplement to the voice-overs, perhaps even a kissing scene, holding hands, shouting at each other, panicing, laughing etc. etc. 1 still picture says more than 1000 words...?: Picture One and Picture Two

Another example... I only used a little bit of smudge, some pixel work and sharpening (burn tool and dodge tool as well), took maybe.. 5-10 minutes, I think someone who is really good at painting could do it in world record speed that I can only dream of. Compare this picture with the other ones in the previous page. Haha open these in two different Tabs in your internet browser and click between them: Picture One and Picture Two Subtle art. Just like we might take note to that green gem in the sword otherwise "black/white" hilt (i.e. it's a normal hilt). Specially if we placed it there, even if it is only 1 or 2 pixels I believe we might see it briefly.

Could one mega city be two mega cities in one? Now, what I'm suggesting is that a catastrophic event could happen in the middle of the game, again after the first one in the beginning. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is an awesome example, when a Storm hits you got to find shelter, what if this morphs the Mega City into something different into a parallel universe type of thing? Enough of that though, to be honest I'd simply want 2 different cities (just playing with the thought/brainstorming above).

Most likely... unless a fan would write it up in a really good way and it's all done and good and functional. Sounds like dialogue modding (post-release), but to make it really possible to do there needs to be some parameters that you can switch making every Orlan actually mechanically be of a certain Culture that has modifiable values a la "Won't understand much if I got 12 Intelligence"- I'm wondering if an entire group synergy should decide together what kind of skills you have. Do I initiate conversations as a single character or as an entire group? Can I use a Speech skill from Aloth even if my main character is the fronts person? Can it pop up in the conversation as a choice? "Use Aloth's persuasion skill" type of thing or "Ask Aloth to answer" etc. etc. EDIT: Use your Aumaua to translate for you (Dak'kon can do this for you in PS:T for his race, right?)

Mature themes to me: - Someone is starving on the streets, not just one but many of the poor folks, they reach for me and I can kick them in the face, or they overwhelm me in their desperation, I can't help just one because then all of them will be over me like hungry wolf's. - A large ocean cruiser/boat (Titanic) crashes into an iceberg and I have to choose to bring as many as I possible can into the rescue boat I am in or start hitting them with a paddle or else the boat will sink. Panic. Like I skimmed in the thread someone mentioning moral and immoral decisions. - Blood and stretching so far to the gore. Gluttonous fat Lords dripping their fingers in sauce and mocking, smacking lips at, my main character as he/she is in front of this Lord on his/her knees, pinned down to chains and haven't eaten in several days and in this grand hall the Lord mocks the hunger in of the character in a most torturous way. - Not any Horror Hollywood flicks, not "Splatter"-gore in any way or any too detailed features in terms of "cutting a man down stomping on his face and gauging his eyes out to feast on", visually no, but maybe in [text]. - Sex is Mature too, but I feel that Mature is more "Wise", "Serious", it can be very "Light" too, but for some reason the word itself feels "Dark" in a "Noir"-ish way. Mature has the reign to be more emotionally powerful, though I did cry at the end of Toy Story 3 (childhood memories, I grew up with this movie series), I value Toy Story as having Mature themes too that a child would just laugh at, but an adult would understand philosophize about it.

Fighter = Sense Cipher = Telepathically Hear Wizard = Wizard's Eye (a small eye-like orb) Ranger = Animal whistle for a bird to give you vision for a little while, though this comes at the cost of enemies hearing. Druid = Must stand still for a little bit to be able to channel, places his hand on the Earth and a pulse like sphere pulsates out and indicates where there are enemies with a "red" light depending on how close/how far. Barbarian = Smell Paladin = Detect Evil Priest = Idunno Rogue = Scout Chanter = Super-Sonic Song? Monk = Meditate, scry's the path of least resistance. If these passive~ buffs where a levelable skill, each your game could be different. One game your Rogue is a devil in combat slicing and dicing, but can't scout for ****, open locks or whatever he usually does, he's a ninja/assassin this game and your Wizard is your scout this game, opening locks, casting shields, scouting and dispelling traps with magic. The next game you can have a trusty Rogue scout, and have a powerful DPS Wizard. For balancing sake, in this way every class could serve any function (Attack/Defense/Utility). Popular concept in League of Legends.

I remember reading official statement and there being considerations on being able to start with a different culture (Arcanum style, so not necessarily different start locations, which I don't is excluded either) The Al Bhed in Final Fantasy X is awesome, you just learn/collect it so slow. A quicker rate and easier rate would be cool. Perhaps finding and reading specific books will improve your characters Culture as well? (you should be able to inspect items in the loot interface, you can't in Baldur's Gate).. Could/Should the Lore Book/Codex or Culture be a mechanic? I'm split. I really like the idea of it relying on Intelligence, kind of like the "Understanding" of the "Culture". But then comes the question of Ciphers, can they communicate beyond Culture or beyond Intelligence? Could they communicate with "higher" beings in a way that no one else can? (A deity, as an example)

Pretty much this^

What if a simple face could show us the emotion without any voice acting at all? Would Character Lead and Portrait Lead have to work side by side with Dialogue and Portrait emotions and it would take resources from somewhere else? Maybe a simple ominous sound in background as someone specific is talking to cause an atmosphere of their emotion. The Sun is shining, you're strolling on a road right by the forest edge. Sagani stops you and says "Something is lurking here, I can sense it" or something and there is an alertful sound. But I'm sure Obsidian knows about all this already. In the Attachment: Jpg files that is a little thing I did in Photoshop, trying to showcase a Baldur's Gate dialogue with the faces/portraits of our companions in P:E. EDIT: Attached another picture EDIT2: I've got an idea how to make it into a Fan-based "Dialogue Creator" but my Flash trial just went out... anyone interested? I've got a .PDS from Photoshop with everything in parts and thinking it could be possible to make some interactive "program" wherein you can switch around pictures, perhaps add pictures~emotions, Cadegund raises her eyebrow ever so slightly to make it feel like she is really confounded, or give her a "I-don't-give-a-****"-face. Write text of course. Lastly with a function to save picture/frame or import/export.

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62190-martyr-like-paladinsaint/ Now, this sparked a thought.. how does Aumaua talk? Are there chances for Race specific Speech techniques? Could it be a racial benefit if your Orlan knows a language you do not (for diplomatic purposes, or maybe even for that ancient deciphering of that ancient book)? Would it or could it solve some balancing issues we've discussed in other "Speech Skill" related topics? Could Persuasion be specific to the Orlan's because they are born with the language of "Telepathy" or whatever?

Awesome! Thought of some more: Wizard's eye for Wizards. "Smell" for Barbarian. "Sense" for Fighter. A constant "Detect Evil"-perk/skill that you can upgrade on Priests and Paladins.

Well, looking at Cadegund, Aloth, Forton, Edair and Sagani brings up many questions of "What are their relationships with another?" as well as how do we feel about them? Many seem to want to romance Sagani as an example, could the romantic options be specified onto her as a character, and the rest are simply not interested or interesting option for it. I'm 24 years old soo... I can totally see Edair (30~?) being a bro and mentor, and Forton (40~?) being a bro and spiritual fluff. Cadegund (25+) seems like a strong independent confident straight-backed woman with lots of heart and smiles as an eample, a great mentor and a great sister, a Guardian Mother. Aloth seems genuinely mysterious, but he also looks like he could be a brat (18-20 years old). Sagani feels like she is mysterious but in a rogue-like way, elusive, sneaky and cold because of past life experiences. From my perspective all of them are good characters, save Aloth who is just mysterious. We're talking about how Romances are bad and good that it has to be done good, in P:E's case we have to bring out some actors and examples on what is good Romance/Friendship/Relationship? How do you see or imagine the Companions released being? E.g., how do you feel the Companions are represented? Can you speculate or guess what kind of emotion they have right now in the picture and deduce what kind of personality they could have? Some beautiful art: Didn't find one with Sagani included so: Who is this chick? EDIT: Who are these people?

It's because it somewhat is but people don't seem to understand that I'm talking about a customizable armor (just like in Baldur's Gate) but you progress it as you go along bit by bit. Piece by piece, and you also get to choose which direction you want to take. Fire protection? Ice protection? Choose one. Protection from Psionics on your helmet? Might be a good idea, but you're going to loose out on all of those other bonuses that you could upgrade it towards. In other words, Armor could be a Skill Tree and each "Piece" would have it's own path (I'm thinking of Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty the research panel in a sense, just developed per piece; boots, torso, legs, gloves etc. etc.)

To be honest, I just scratched the surface and brainstormed my thought out without much thought to it. Writing blind~ I more or less wanted a thread on "How does our character advance in the world/levels/class etc. etc?" and what people feel about it, how do you want your advancement to work? What would be the wildest way you can think of versus the most stable advancement? Also, Ieo, great post, thoughts and ideas as usual.

Ah, no. This one is just too restrictive. I'm okay with the idea of your character becoming increasingly familiar with a piece of equipment and thereby gaining some benefits as the game progresses. But the idea that the PoS armor you acquired at the start can't be replaced with a new suit made by a master craftsman is completely unrealistic. Misunderstandings. I'm playing with the idea that I could get the new master crafted suit added to my current suit (on top of it, like an advancement/upgrade, which, of course would be different depending on how I choose to upgrade it). I'm talking about a piecemeal armor that you can build in different ways: Torso: - More Plating (Paladin~) or - Tougher Skin (Barbarian~) or even More Plating as a Barbarian which make you into a different type of Barbarian

This is all fictive ideas. * Character Creation You start out without any class but you get to put out stat points and get to choose some basic gear. Statistics effects Dialogue, Physique, Intelligence and so on and so forth. * Classes/Advancing A Class is something you find in the game, through a Trainer or through Learning by a book. You are the naked Adventurer without much skill and have to learn everything from scratch. Saga Frontierhas this random effect where there is a chance you might learn a technique in battle. Companions would/could teach you, and help you progress. In another thread we slightly discussed Breathe of Fire III and the protagonists development throughout the game: 1- Starts out like a fart (not really but I don't want to spoil) and he wails his sword closing his eyes in battle. He has no skill and is somewhat of a coward 2- Is more confident after a series of events and begins to learn how to handle the sword and look at his enemy when he attacks them. He has now started to learn how to protect someone else and is very confident. The game presents the Player with a purpose. 3- Time passes, our hero is older, is now a confident Master Swordsman. * Enemies Defines your Weapon Level, in a sense. Basically, the more you take out of one Monster or enemy, the easier they become to take down. When you reach a certain amount (let's say you killed 50 Gibberlings) you won't be stronger against them anymore because you can pretty much glare them to death at this point. Enemies that you have slaughtered a lot could even flee at the sight of you because you've traumatized their Race and you are now an Apex Predator in their eyes. This will also let the Player get to play the game through the real challenges. Bosses would always be unique and thus always difficult, or if you have taken down 100 Humanoid Bandits you might get a petty little +1 Bonus to Damage/Attack/Hit when facing the Bandit Lord (which is rather insignificant on anything but Hardcore-Expert-Deluxe). Fighting enemies would unlock techniques after a while, that works on anyone. Take the Fighter for instance, he might learn a Magic Cleave Attack that sends energy out in a wide arc when you've defeated 34 Gibberlings, which you can use on Tasloi's. * Armor/Advancement The gear you start with is your "core" gear, throughout the game you find upgrades. A leather strap to put over the torso, perhaps an enchantment which makes your skin tougher (if you go the Barbarian route). Shin guards that you can repair and upgrade with new features and new plating and so on and so forth. A more of a Terraria/Minecraft approach (Except without looting and having 10000 components in your backpack). You advance on the fly, you defeat the Bandit then you use his gear instantly to boost your equipment, then moving on (Interactive Experience Points ftw). For Bosses you could get specific loot, Legendary Weapons and such. Armor/Defensive would be it's own "Character" within your "Character". Something that Levels up on its own kind of, or like a "Pet" that you control. I don't know how to explain it but I think you might get what I'm going for. Piece-meal armor that progressively upgrades as you play the game. * Magic/The Grimoire As your "Naked" Adventurer (Much like Planescape: Torment) you find the tools to craft your own Grimoire and go the route of a more Magical character. Using spells makes them better, but you have to use them a lot. A Magic Missile used 10 times might get you the 2 Magic Missile content. Using that 20 times gets you to 3 Magic Missiles etc. etc. If Enemies are fixed (Like in Baldur's Gate, little respawn except during Fast Travel) Grinding spells is going to be like Rest Spamming but worse and totally not worth it for the average/casual player. You would have to dedicate a lot of energy and time just to abuse this (if P:E will be anything like Baldur's Gate). * Dedication and issues I think a system like this would put you on your toes a little bit, it could cause problems if too complex and requires lots of dedication. If I get the Grimoire, if I want to be any good with Magic it would require me to use Spells a lot but I'd be missing out on the Weapon skills or the defensive skills. There are no "Levels", but fixed enemies of fixed strength. * Because I like Trees Having 3 Combat Skill Trees that can be upgraded on to of all of the above: Defensive/Armor, Offensive/Weapon and Magical/Grimoire. * Not addressing any "out of combat" thoughts.

Nu-hu, scroll back up and read it bitch. It's a great post^

Your companions should definitely have their own romances/ steal yours. Then they could be all "lol u mad?" Eh not entirely what I meant, I meant a character that ruins your every attempt at Romance. You could name him "Monte Carlo" for reference to the Forums. Someone who is a "Reality"-check a la: In-Game Scenario 1, talking to Companion about chick: Hero: "I think I like this chick kawaaiii~" MC: "What did the five fingers say to the face?" Hero: "Eh?" *SLAP* MC: "Reality check" Hero: "But...!" *SLAP* MC: "No, let's move on. There's a dragon to slay" Hero: "She.." MC: "No more!" Scenario 2, talking with chick: Hero: "Oh Cadegund I..." Cadegund: "Yes dear Hero~?" *SLAP* MC: "Not if I can help it!" EDIT: P:E will have Gods right? Just make a "No Romance God" Option that you can turn "On/Off", an "Actor" (mechanically) that appears and overrides the rest of the romantic dialogue with another dialogue. It's a Multi-Choice poll I worded my post poorly I admit. My point is the options are the wrong options. It should just be three straight choices. 1: full on relationships in game, you can be best friends with a character, fall in love, have sex, whatever. 2: Leave the romance and sex out of it and just go with personal relationships/friendship. 3: Just leave it out period. Anything else is just silly because that is what it really comes down to. Something to think about for the next poll (if there is going to be a number 5).

^This. I'm surprised I haven't got any warnings, sometimes I'm wondering if it is lying to me or no one knows where the warning or report button is, or no one just cares about warning each other (talking about this thread), which I think is good. But like Monte Carlo says in the Romance thread, brace for impact

Although I'm not 100% with you, I'm pretty much with you. Not on all Polls but this one and some others I've thought chuckling "Someone is totally making alts for this". As long as Avellone has last word I'm fine. As long as he isn't forced to do anything with Romances I'm fine. Heh! Obsidian should totally release the game without Romances but with mod tools and a tutorial on how to do it, the slogan could be: "Create your own wet dreams"

Is it Aumaua nature too? Orlan? Do they do it in the same way? Personally, like I said time and time again, I'd prefer if the romances were limited and "situational" to one or two (at most 3) companions in whatever way Avellone wants to present it (gay/straight/bi/psionic/cross-breed/tragedy/obnoxious/scary/destructive etc. etc.). Situational Example: If I make an Orlan main character I won't be able to romance that Human chick, but if I would make a Human main character I could romance her.

^This. I like a lot.

Oh gosh... I had no idea... now I understand... I shall go meditate... ~Namaste xD

Hmm an interesting thought popped up... could a character be bound to some keys making it impossible to reach the "Romance/Love" dialogue section and could this be an option? Basically "Turn it Off". Likewise, could there be a character/companion that just ruins any attempt at Romance? Lol... "Project: Eternity features: * ****block Companion" xD http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/611

No, I'm describing what I think about when I think about love, what makes me feel more love. I think you can love someone without any ties to anything just as it can be tied to everything and everyone. I am not speaking about media implementions. I can make the list so much longer, love is mysteriously unexplainable and very individual.. what makes you fall in love?