Osvir

Yes. It's from a manga/anime called Berserk (so if you misinterpreted it as realism I didn't properly explain, sorry), it is completely fictive. Unrelated to the topic but this is Berserk. Berserk (It is a little bit bloody if you are frail of such)

Interesting thoughts and questions also, point taken ^^ I would personally want to do away with Kits and let you explore options by playing. A Fighter becoming a Wizard Slayer mid-game rather than choosing it at start.

My point starts at around 1:00 xD Swedish awesome film by the way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdYETf1SP2c&feature=related More . Guns guns guns.. hmm... I believe it'll be fine. Don't really have any input. This is an arm cannon (Fantasy/Medieval Megaman? ^^): Slightly unrelated but god damn cool (Vampire Hunter D <3):

What makes a game great? Hm.. Telling more than it shows letting me tell, a fictive narrative of the imagination (when playing Baldur's Gate with my friend we added narrative on the actions of our group, painting the situations with words, creating dialogue between our characters and made our own personal quests with the material provided to us in-game).

To me this would make the skill useage mirror how it tends to work in P&P (ie you declare you're going to use a skill). I think the issue would be what happens if the need to use the speech skill comes up in the middle of speech (this could be dealt with mechanically by having the ability to toggle on/off speech skill usage, but I'm not sure that would be a prudent course). Yes. But what if there is a system where it works, without getting a "Dialogue Interface"? In Baldur's Gate the Dialogue Interface is more or less the combat log expanding and you get a chunk of text. In the Fallout games you generally get a Facial Dialogue Interface. In Baldur's Gate with mods, lots of NPC's you can talk with have a small face icon, indicating what they look like/who they are (which I enjoy a lot too). But what if Dialogue could be more dynamic? Suggestion/Thought/Idea: You walk up to someone and talk to him/click on him, but it doesn't pause the game (like it so often does). Instead the game pacing continues (Allowing you to be able to cast a "declare" mid-speech), and you get the Dialogue in the Log which you can interact with. Issues with this, though, is that enemies in the area would have to be taken into consideration (if they attack you while you are in dialogue, if they are in "vision" or you are in "Battle Mode". NPC reacting to monsters midst in his/her dialogue, your choices gets effected, you walk up and talk to someone, and someone else who has been following you to initiate a conversation with you mid-dialogue etc. etc). Pausing the game would pause the dialogue too.

How about editing books, descriptions yourself? What if a magical scroll is "lacking" in information or a magical ability (which you can flesh out yourself by trial and error to figure out what it really does), or a book that tells a story is heavily angled, or some parts of the book lacks in information that we can flesh out as well (a book talks about an area that you can go to and explore, but it doesn't tell about the beasts that inhabit those lands. Or about the Witch. Most specifically, the book wouldn't speak about your passing through). With this, you could have the option to be a "wannabe Historian" in-game.

Copy-pasted from this thread: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62093-walking-n-talking/ Indeed the whole "I win" has to do with what the devs choose to use as responses not due to the use of tags to let gamers know what dialoge options have skills or other things involved in their use and I suspect we will find a large number of tag-able options in PE - or at least I hope so. Could, examples, "Bluff" and "Intimidate" ("Speech Skill" could suffice) be Active Abiltiies used in the game interface (and not in a Dialogue interface)? E.g., Right-Click on target, choose Bluff/Speech Skill when you can respond (could give you 1 to 2 more options/choices in the dialogue log, depending on what your prime speech skill is: Humble? Intimidating? Persuasive? Bluffer?)

I don't remember what game it is... Star Wars: The Old Republic or Final Fantasy XI... might've been a different game too. Anyways, great log customization, I could have all of the combat log in one tab and all of the dialogue in another tab. Sometimes I dislike being interrupted in the midst of my adventuring with the banter pauses in Baldur's Gate. Is it possible to have a separate Log which handles Dialogue? Either by its separate window or a tab. I would like that a lot. Lots of Feedback! :D But to the point, being able to initiate dialogues whilst you are walking without an entire dialogue interface. Your companion says something and you can choose to engage in the conversation or not. There could be a timer in the Dialogue Log, so you only have a certain amount of time to answer these banters. Leaving the area you are in with a banter started would also negate it. Could this effect friendship sometimes? If you ignore your companions too much they will take less like to you. The only issue I can think of: - Your companion starting a discussion in the midst of combat, avoid this. An example: "Gorion would be proud of your actions! :D" - Khalid Showing up as text, with choices underneath it ("Yes Khalid, he would" or "Maybe" or even "Can you please stop?"). Not answering wouldn't make Khalid less friendly though, but there could be other "outbursts", "icebreakers" and similar between the companions and you, or companions vs companion banter that you can interact with and butt into which would effect "friendship". I think that Jaheira blurts out something like "Don't come close to me" when Xzar (mechanically, in-game) is too close to her (a generic voiced "Jaheira doesn't like the evil alignment", again, this doesn't even have to be voiced). http://forums.obsidi...e/page__st__220 Indeed the whole "I win" has to do with what the devs choose to use as responses not due to the use of tags to let gamers know what dialoge options have skills or other things involved in their use and I suspect we will find a large number of tag-able options in PE - or at least I hope so. Could, examples, "Bluff" and "Intimidate" ("Speech Skill" could suffice) be Active Abiltiies used in the game interface (and not in a Dialogue interface)? E.g., Right-Click on target, choose Bluff/Speech Skill when you can respond (could give you 1 to 2 more options/choices in the dialogue log, depending on what your prime speech skill is: Humble? Intimidating? Persuasive? Bluffer?) Thoughts?

Experience/Level costs are only meaningful if there is a limited amount of experience you can get in the game. Otherwise, people are actually encouraged to respec because they will have hit the cap. I'd say it's possible for Respecs to be done and done well, but we'd really need more information about the game to really get anywhere. In the current stage, it's just one side wanting it because of X reasons that aren't related to the actual game and the other side not wanting it because of Y reasons not related to the game. I disagree with that underlined, I am discussing speculations, thoughts, ideas and suggestions even and we could probably reach the moon and beyond with our thoughts and imagination of a valid functional satisfactory Respec system (e.g., "What would I want my Respec to be like in a game like P:E if I got to choose?", "How do I prefer my dish served?", slightly unrelated but personally I prefer lots of spice ). The game is still in a very early phase, and perhaps Obsidian has a completely fleshed out idea on their tables, or maybe they only have 10% briefly outlined (about respec). I think that us discussing actually helps Obsidian in their internal discussion, I might be wrong of course, some statements by Obsidian says otherwise though. Josh asked for input on the Armor Design he presented in Update 29. Chris Avellone also mentioned (not literally, but the jist of it) "people talking on the forums helps us with our discussions" in a recent interview (the Awesome interview with Avellone thread).

It was meant as inspirational mostly, when I see them move it looks to me that there is some effort, some hindrance to their speed. The instruction videos (Gladitoria, part 2 or 3) the instructor says "You are restricted in armor". EDIT: The combat animations in P:E are going to be staged, choreographed, if you will.

Some links/videos. Duel Duels Great instruction (1-6) Dude falling off horse Katana vs Longsword (versus different armor etc.)

This makes me think about "blank pages" (finding, buying), for your own journal, which in turn turns to thoughts on Quest mechanics. If you run out of blank pages in-game you'll no longer update your journal automatically and instead will have to rely on your own memory and documentation as the player with either PnP or you have to start to manually update your journal (Hardcore difficulty?). Legends of Grimrock on Hard removes the map and you got to get your PnP out, which is a great feature and great design in my opinion, I would however have loved it if it had been possible to draw the map in-game instead of diverting my attention from the game interface (as far as I understand it, after suggesting it on the LoG forums on Steam, this is a very difficult programming thing... painting in-game that is). I would like to see books, perhaps not abundantly with x500 amounts of "History of the North" or other variants of it but maybe 15-30 book related items scattered across the world. EDIT: Regardless of the "blank page" journal updating I would love to see an "Manual Journal" option (where your journal is pretty much blank and doesn't update automatically when you get a quest).

As i stated, "randomly generated according to region on map" (geography and lore). Then no. Exploring purely random maps is not interesting. I agree, but if they had meaning to the world (lore) I wouldn't mind exploring it and perhaps finding treasure or a book, an NPC, a lake, a rock that I can mine and get cash from. I wouldn't want random generated maps per say a la Diablo/Torchlight (which would be a pain for Obsidian I'm sure), what if I want to return to it if there is going to be lore? Will I have to go back and forth between two areas until I find it again? I'd like to go East if I'm going East if you catch my drift. I feel that Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout 1/2 did very well with the random areas/encounters. The random encounters in Baldur's Gate were... let's just say it could have been improved upon in terms of what you encountered and how often you encountered it. I would love for some moderate amount of random encounters that have meaning in some way, for random hilarity ("Moo I say, moo moo, moo I say!" - Random f-king Brahmin man) and some more serious bandit ambush in a forest when I'm on my way to the city. Encountering fanatics, groupies, necromancers, a UFO. The battle with Zevran could have been a great random "once a game" encounter too (which it already is, I'm just stating that it could've had no relation with the main story and could've been a random bandit ambush). Perhaps there could be different random pre-made events that are cycled til you've experienced them all (then no more)? There could be enough of these cycled events that could last over one entire playthrough, maybe even across several playthroughs (for replayability).

More spells or more armor slots? An... oh dear... xD ... improved license system? Unrelated: Could a Wizard, Magneto style, stop bullets mid-air and shoot them right back? :D

12 pages TL;DR I could see colors, italics, bold, different fonts, appearing in the game if used as a tool to enhance the story even further (moderately). Same thing with "[Wisdom]" options, moderately. Baldur's Gate with Banter Mods gives you the option to immerse yourself even further by the way of "*you decide to roll out your world map on your knees*" and other options where the "dialogue" choices are a chunk of text explaining what you can do to interact with your companions, apart from the standard... you know.. talking (and even if he stands there still in position, I experience much vivid imagination by the powerful use of words).

In another thread there were some talk about crafting a legendary item. What if you always have the same armor, but you upgrade it (with gold, bartering/merchants, crafting, artifacts, loot, magic, skill points and what else effects it). Each part still separated in the inventory screen, and you can craft and enchant that which you are wearing progressively upgrading your armor. How many parts are there going to be and how much "needs" to be visual in your inventory screen versus exploring screen? I would preferably see all of these but fine with only the essentials. Exploring/Both: * Essentials + yes please :D - maybe? * Helmet * Armor * Weapons * Shield/Off-hand + Legs Inventory Only: * Boots * Gloves + Belt + Cloak - 2xRings (more? :D this would have to make rings significantly weaker though) - 1 Amulet - 2 Earrings - Tattoos

Good point. I agree with bold underlined and italic entirely. But, ideologically speaking, how could a game like P:E actually benefit if it were in the game? However, When I talk about re-specialization I do not think "I pay this guy 5k gold to get all my X amount of skill points back and re-arrange them to my command! Have at thee game mechanic! My character forgot how to use a sword and shield and is now a master with the halberd harr harr!!". I am talking about a respec that is hard work, in a way where you have to earn the right to become a master with the halberd, at the cost of abandoning your knowledge, memory and skills with the sword. Maybe a single Wizard Rare NPC could erase the characters actual combat knowledge and wisdom in the soul (specifically combat skills and magic skills, not thieving or any lore skills or any personality memory loss, however an attempt gone terribly wrong setting your character to a very low level and with a dimwitted personality would be hilarious too), costing you between 1-3 levels (decided by a dice roll) once(?) a game. Perhaps even a multitude of respecs would naturally make your character dumb (which Tim Cain said they wanted to include). You can only choose one of them (combat skills or magic skills). Perhaps an Intelligence point *wink wink* is removed every time you get a respec, apart from the hefty gold you have to spend (and perhaps even have to fetch pesky tedious ingredients each time?). Maybe the Wizard could even relocate at certain points in the game, aah I don't know :D probably not, but it would be cool <3 If you are going to play on super hardcore mode, maybe it would even be wise (tactically) to respec once or twice because enemies are immune to a certain type of damage. Getting to and soloing Diablo II on Hell is most difficult. EDIT: Diablo II on Hell with a Paladin who got Lightning Strike attack and Zeal because I thought that attacking as fast as possible would be fun and effective... how many times did I attempt to take down Diablo in Act 4 because he one shotted me). At that time there was no respecialization included in the game (or I completely and obliviously missed it, it is a possibility). It took me some hours to take Diablo down, where I still had to die and loot and die and loot for a while longer because my build was completely off. Had to pick up everything I found to get cash for the gambler because he had all the weapons. Hoarders are hoarders though but then we are getting into Inventory management, that's for another thread. Unless the game limits you to how much you can carry (much more than Baldur's Gate), so you mechanically can't grab those 15 extra Leather Armors for some early starting gold+extra potions~ I see respec as an option because I reckon that many mobs of enemies in P:E might be more aggressive (monsters) and have no moral dilemma or care about your actual skills, it only sees flesh and primal glorious rage that it so much enjoys. Remember Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid? Perhaps one enemy is story woven into the story of respeccing. Baldur's Gate and all of the IE games, in my opinion, holds the most in its exploration. It wouldn't be the same if you could only follow one path (linearly through the story). Firewine Bridge, optional, Durlag's Tower, optional, south western area of the map, optional, heck most of the game is pretty much optional if you play objectively main quest. Several more areas completely optional. In my opinion it is the entirety of it that is great. Its not like the respec guy would stand holding a sign and have God's embracive~ light shining down upon from the very heavens. There could be a chance you don't even see him or find him in one playthrough (unless you aspire a more Detective Sherlock Holmes approach to the game on your first run or if you, say as you do, roleplay you would presumably explore the world with more than one character). Good point. I agree. What about a re-specialization that downgrades your character's experience level entirely? I reckon this could easily be resolved if only your main character is the one able to "re-specialize" in this way.

I really hate that argument. 1, it's a game. 2, it's set in a fantasy world and 3, it's not real life! Saying that however. I didn't say live with it I was just making a suggestion, one of many suggestions on how to possibly handle it to suit everyone. Some people don't want it - Others do, so try and find a solution in the middle that won't break the game? As for if someone were to receive a skill point through a skill book or something. Then that wouldn't apply because the player didn't choose it. 1) Point ? 2) Yes? 3) No but a modicum of realism helps "Suspension of disbelief" and helps me immerse into the toon. I dont know any place I can go to IRL and get "respecced" and get m "Talent points and feats" refunded. If I get a respec Im not the guy ingame trying to figure out how to mange with what I have. Im a guy sitting behidn a screen yelling "thats ****ing inept!" Respeccing breaks suspension of disbelief, essential in all storytelling. So why bother? Let's play with the idea that re-specialization is in the game, speculation and "IF". How would you want it to be present in the game? (again, if it is in the fantasy game) What if there is a middle road where you get the immersion, the roleplaying aspects (in the form of a side-quest with story and "explanation", e.g., the storytelling), and those that simply want the feature gets the feature?

Read page 1, skimmed page 2-3. Many people seem to oppose respec, and I am with the crowd (in the sense that "Pay 5000 gold, respec" or "Pay 1000 gold first time, then 2000 gold next time, 3000 gold etc. etc." is the method used for respec). Pulling out the Quest and World card/suggestion: What I can see is a once only per game Quest respec, a story element which puts your character in a situation where his powers are literally drained from him (in a mechanically/statistically view: brought back to level 1). Maybe you could even benefit something (you gain a perk which you bring with you, dialogue options, depth of story later, an extra spell, an extra item/weapon/armor) by doing so and you would have to go through some "introvert personal parallel universe dimension"-simplistic mini dungeon (1-2 levels?) filled with riddles and mysteries where you start off as level 1 (without any gear at all) and gradually gain levels by doing objectives that gets you to a certain level. Otherwise, for a more simplistic method, you could simply be brought back to level 1 and gain X times more experience until you reach the level you were (which would be a difficulty in itself, starting off as a level 1 when all the enemies are level 5-6 at this point in the game). Some sort of soul draining Necromancy springs to mind EDIT: Baldur's Gate 2 does this to your character if you decide to create the same character again in spirit, from scratch, but you decide to make him/her a Mage this time E.g, not exporting and importing from the earlier installment. Though, something similar to this seems to be what Sawyer is hinting at. Regardless (if implemented), it should be located somewhere late early-game all the way up to, preferably, late mid-game when you've grown accustomed to the game and accustomed to the choices you've made (what went wrong, what went right etc. etc.) EDIT: There could (even should) be disadvantages to re-specializing in a game like this in my opinion. Like a curse, you gain something (apart from the respec) but you also lose something.

Only going to address the story/V.I.P companions for now: Let's play with the idea that they gain experience because they do their thing (backed up with a Flashback or a text dialogue of what they did when they weren't in the party), what about gear? Would they get new gear if you sent them to explore a dungeon? What if you kick them out of your party and you find them later somewhere, would they upgrade their gear? Could some of this be only attainable by "employing" one of these companions later instead of at first chance?

For some reason I'm thinking (due to the mention of "siege") that a heavy armored Wizard might use spells akin to siege magic somehow There's a pretty cool AP dude in LoL that has crazy range (for being League of Legends)

Interesting philosophical thoughts spring to mind... Did you perchance watch Lost?

Could the "world map" (certain/specific areas) change appearance in the case of an event? Example 1 1, you go to this field where a powerful mage is 2, you defeat him, but first he manages to cast a self-destruct spell that changes the geography around the area (you manage to escape first of course) 3, back on the world map you'll now see a crater instead of a lush flowery field or w/e was there before Example 2 1, you go to this ruined village 2, spend a s- ton of money to get it back in shape 3, back on the world map you'll now see a village/town instead

A cursed item is an item that your character craves, without it he/she/it can't "breathe", function and the rehabilitation should be severe and very difficult (much more so than getting addicted to drugs). A great example is Harry Potter, Ginny and the book, she doesn't understand herself because she is possessed. That's what a curse is, it possesses and clings to the person and even when she is away from the item in question it finds her. I'd like the curse to have more effect than the item in question, if you equip a cursed item, the very curse could/would latch onto your character, even if you sell the item or throw it away (because really, the curse has been lifted from the item and is now possessing your character). Corruption, the One Ring is a great example as well. Your character might find him or her thinking they've let go of the cursed item and moved on with their life (but really they haven't, they still keep the item in their backpacks), and when the enemies have been slain in your fit of rage you find yourself holding the cursed sword tightly in your grip and the chaos around you, you realize that you just had a blackout (edit: and you'd be able to skip lower level fodder battles ) Suggestion: Cursed item quest or cursed item corruption can cause your screen to fade to black (during weaker mobs or specific for a quest) and you find yourself standing in the midst of your fit of rage. For atmosphere mostly, would give the player a "cursed blackout" effect due to the cursed item in question. I gave the Berserking Sword to Khalid btw, it seemed to fit with his personality (or rather, the only way to make him fight "courageously"). In that sense, if I would have played evil (which I almost never do, see below paragraph) I would have liked it if that would have made Khalid evil. A cursed item should change the "alignment" if wielded for too long of your companions. I dislike being forced to play as a good character or a bad character in this sense, locking out potential companions or maybe even making some companions leave if I play too evil. Take Jaheira as an example, what if I could make her evil and she would "appreciate" Faldorn into the party instead of rejecting her? (Not even interested in having Faldorn but... yeah) Is this possible and/or an attractive method?

Another idea which I think belongs in this thread as well: Lifting curses from weapons, basically if a cursed weapon has 1 pro and 1 con given by the curse, as well as 1 pro regardless of that, you could remove the 1 pro 1 con and be left with 1 pro only on the weapon. It'd be remarkably weaker but you'd get a more flexible (and less dangerous) weapon. Could you curse your own items?