Osvir

Okay, let's discuss difficulty: Obsidian's Idea: Let's say I get down to 10% Health, I still have 100% Stamina to spend freely whenever I encounter an enemy, even at the end of the day. What I am suggesting, or asking to be inspired from: Let's say I get down to 10% Health by the end of the day, I'd also only have 15% Stamina to spend during the encounter. Do you see the difference? In Obsidian's Stamina model I'd be able to unleash hell's fury at the end of the day, at any time of the day really, but in my model/system/idea, you wouldn't be able to do that, or else you'd be burned of Stamina. You'd have to be more resourceful and both tactical and strategical in how you move about in the world. I.e. more difficult to move around. Not only are the encounters already difficult in Hardcore, I hope, but adding in a Stamina system like this on top of that... suffice to say is that it, again, would be more difficult. Often times: More Difficult = More Complicated Wouldn't you agree? Okay maybe you don't, but hear me out. Take StarCraft II, compare Casual Mode and Brutal Mode. In Casual I can click "Auto-Attack" on the other side of the map and then go make dinner, it's as simple as can be. It's as easy and accessible as can be. But in Brutal I sometimes I have to sit on my toes, I react real-time to the AI onslaughts and it's way more complicated to deal with foes who are tougher and more relentless. I don't want a Demi-God Soulcrusher Character when I'm playing on Hardcore. I don't just want the world to be rougher (encounters stronger and a more hazardous world), I want the PC characters to be weaker on Hardcore. One of the things that Slenderman got most praise about (Apart from being pretty scary the first two or three runs) is that it puts your character in a situation where they can't fight, you only have a flashlight and you can only run for so long, you aren't an RPG Goddess or a King of Nords (Skyrim) in any way. You are weak. PoE can benefit a lot from this... on the hardest difficulty settings. I feel like I'm repeating this over and over again. The bottom line: I just want Hardcore to be more Hardcore than what Obsidian is planning. And when Obsidian comes out with a sigh of relief "It's finally Hardcore enough!" I'm going to say "Not Hardcore enough". I want a near unbeatable beatable Hardcore. This Stamina Regen idea I propose is just one that I am 100% sure would reach that goal a little bit closer.

You're not getting the point! Your face is a bad idea! no ill intended btw, that was a friendly brotherly joke I get what you are saying but it doesn't feel like my points are getting through to you. PE's design for Health/Stamina is comprehensible, but it can be more difficult on a higher tier difficulty (Such as Expert/Hardcore/Hard-Deluxe-Mode) Pick ONE, which would be more difficult? A) Instant 100% Stamina Regen after Every Battle B) Fixated Stamina Regen based on Stamina prior to combat (100% cap before, caps at 95% after) and limited Resting. Do you compreheeeeeeeend!? There is a great difference between saying "If you want it to be more difficult, then just don't rest as much" and saying "You can only rest once a day". One is a self-imposed ruleset that the Player has to force themselves to do, the other is a strict classroom teacher in black latex named Gunther with a beating stick. In the former you always have a "Plan B", but in the latter you'll suffer consequences and could potentially get into situations where you screw up or where you are fragile from the get-go. So which one is harder? There is nothing unnecessarily complicated about it. It's a simple question with a simple answer.

Wrong. I am adding "complication" for the sake of difficulty. You do know I am pointing my finger at the hardest difficulty of the game right? Not towards the general game or the general mechanic (I think what Obsidian got for the Stamina mechanic is great, that's not what I want to twist and bend, but I do want to twist and bend it for the hardest difficulty). Just out of curiosity, how are the mechanics confusing and/or not understandable? Asking for constructive criticism, because I am running this idea through my head and I don't think it's that difficult to comprehend really. I am the author of it though so that makes sense, which is partially why I don't understand your comment on "it looks complicated" (which I assure you I think it's not). From a clean slate, my first impression, Hardcore difficulty perspective: - Scenario 1a: Engage in a battle with 100% Stamina = After battle you've got 95% Stamina and it won't regenerate more than that. Impression: "Huh, seems my Stamina doesn't regenerate all the way after a battle" - Scenario 1b: Engage in another battle with your now 95% Stamina = After battle your Stamina regenerates to 90% Stamina. Impression: "The hypothesis is confirmed!" - Scenario 2a: Rest (Regain 100% Stamina & 100% Health) = After rest you can't rest again. Impression: "Health+Stamina regenerates fully, and I guess I can't rest in a row" - Scenario 1c: Engage in a battle with 100% Stamina = After battle you've got 95% Stamina. Impression: "Yep, I know this mechanic now" - Scenario 2b: Go to Rest spot = Can't rest again. Impression: "Seems I can't rest too often at all" - Scenario 2c: Play the game/Experiment with the game = Can rest again after a while = Can't rest again after that. Impression: "Seems I can only rest once in a while... daily?" - Scenario 2d: Experiment with daily Rest = can rest once a day. Impression: "Can rest once a day. Okay" - Scenario 3: Stamina goes down over time = Stamina degenerates. Impression: "The character gets more tired as time progresses? Seems like it." For the latest addition, which does add some complexity to it, but in a sensical kind of way (The lower Stamina you have = The "weaker", tired really, you get)*: - Scenario 4a: Engage in battle with 100% Stamina = Enemy misses. Impression: "Hm, is the game on this difficulty supposed to be this easy?" - Scenario 4b: Engage later in battle with 60% Stamina = Enemy hits more often. Impression: "Hm, so the lower Stamina I have the more I get hit huh?" - Scenario 4c: Engage even later in battle with 10% Stamina = Enemy crits more. Impression: "Half-Life 3 Confirmed, better not let my Stamina go too low" * It makes sense because at the end of the day you are tired. What I am proposing is that Stamina is governed like "Fatigue" or "How tired you are" or "How effective you are" and not only a "Combat Only Resource by the name of Stamina to illustrate or illuminate a sense of having Stamina which is non-existant". It is a fantasy game, heck it's a game altogether and you might throw that argument at me, but the Stamina I am proposing is more "real". "Reality" is not why I am proposing this idea though, I am proposing this idea because it would** add more "Difficulty", which is exactly what I am trying to address. Moar difficulty plox! I want to experience Eternity in all its hardcore glory that it can be. ** How do I know that it would? Because I am a genious of course! No but, jokes aside. Compare these two mechanics please: - Stamina Regenerates to 100% After Every Fight and you can Rest as much as you like - Stamina Regenerates to [-X% of Post-Battle Stamina] After Every Fight and you can Rest Only Once a Day Which one would cause the game to be more difficult on the most difficult settings?

Stereotypical List (According to how I usually roll) Holy Human - Paladin - Priest Nimble Orlan - Cipher - Rogue Berserk Aumaua - Barbarian - Fighter Hermit Godlike - Druid Magical & Forest Elf - Wizard - Ranger Drunken Dwarf - Chanter - Monk And here's an attempt at a Hipster List (Rogue, Priest, Ranger & Monk are difficult to place though): Hermit Human - Druid Berserk Orlan - Barbarian - Fighter Magical & Singing & Nimble Aumaua - Wizard - Chanter - Rogue Zen & Forest Godlike - Monk - Ranger Holy Elf - Paladin - Priest Manipulative Dwarf - Cipher

This began as a reply to "The Heros you will roll", I just copied and pasted everything and started this thread. The topic is "Starting Locations", but I threw in some "Speculation" (which is touching close to a "Suggestion") about the Event. The speculation, as I say "almost suggestion", is a way to allow the Player more freedom when they "roll" their characters and even narrate their own characters. I'm putting it into a quote, it starts off as a direct reply to the other thread by the way: The point of the idea is that you'd be able to start off at a location and then go from there. So if you'd start off in Beregost you'd go from there, if you'd go North towards Friendly Arms you'd meet Elminster still at the Crossroads. In the same vein that Multiplayer doesn't intrude on the Single Player campaign, having a different "Starting Location" wouldn't need to intrude on the Plot either. Thoughts? P.S. There might be some old thread covering the same subject but I don't remember quite everything we discussed and it's also an old thread.

Dunno about the costs so here's a bullet-point in order: - More wilderness areas - More classes (1 or 2) - More companions (One of each, including "More classes") - More creatures/enemies/diversity/encounters - Toolset Documentation & Tools EDIT: - Multiplayer (In the same fashion & concept like the IE games)

Challenge. That sounds a bit arrogant, but what I individually mean is that I want a gritty and authentic challenge, something that makes it feel more immersive. Immersive challenge and not just challenge for challenge sake. Dark Souls has an immersive challenge and difficulty, whilst Skyrim has just stronger enemies and more hitpoints (IIRC). The latter is simplistic and tedious difficulty (I can still take out enemies in the exact same way as I took them out on the easiest difficulty, but it'd just take longer), the former is a world built and designed to be challenging and immersive in being so. Dark Souls achieves this already, so why do I feel like I want that for another RPG? Because it's bloody fantastic design for one, but it's also something I would love to see in Pillars of Eternity and it's type of gamestyle. I don't expect to see anything of the sort, but I still want to see it. No, not that the characters goes out in one hit, but the "artificial difficulty" Dark Souls manages to pull off, the concept and the authenticity. The lore speaks of a cruel world, then shouldn't the world be cruel in turn? If the lore says that Vithracks can manipulate souls and possess bodies (dunno about the latter), then they should be able to do just that. Immersive and Authentic Challenge. That's my "one thing I'd like to see".

I don't think you understand how stamina\health works... what you suggest will make health redundant. also if you want to make the game more difficult play on the hardest level with all challenge modes on.(Modes) If by the time you finish your first game, you still require more challange, I am sure you'll be able to find some mods that will help you to that fix. I know how Health/Stamina works, what I am suggesting is something that makes the game more difficult inspired by how Health/Stamina already works, but with a bit of a twist and some (in my opinion) enhancements to make it more difficult. Less Stamina = Easier to get hit. Easier to get hit = Less Health. Having 0 Health still kills you (On Expert, which this idea is designed for). If Stamina worked as I suggest/propose (on Expert/Hardcore), then you'd have a higher chance of getting struck (and thus getting closer to 0 Health), which in turn makes the game more difficult. I think that sounds pretty straight-on in my opinion. The only thing, in my head, that sounds like redundancy about Health, is it'd be going down much more Another idea: 96%-100% Stamina = Enemy is "Likely to Miss" 61%-95% Stamina = Enemy is "Likely to Graze" 16%-60% Stamina = Enemy is "Likely to Hit" 1%-15% Stamina = Enemy is "Likely to Crit" Adding this on top of the idea would make it even more difficult as time goes along. At the start of the day you'd be strong, and towards the night you'd be weak. Someone mentioned "Then I need to have more healers!" or something like that, and I have to say that is true for any playthrough, you can have any amount of any class as you'd like (up to 6), but there'd be consequences in combat for it as well. Just cus you have 5 healers doesn't make combat any easier, quite the opposite, it'd probably make combat way more difficult cus you'd only have a single character built to deal damage. Another addition to the idea which'd make the difficulty yet again make more sense, and Stamina as well: - Combat Stamina (Stamina has no cap and you can heal it as high as possible) - Global Stamina (Stamina has a cap and progressively goes down with time+after encounters) So, if my Global Stamina is 70%, it would mean I've been in a couple of fights. Then I get into another fight and now the Combat Stamina is "activated" (it's the same thing really but follows some different rules), the Combat Stamina would start at 70%, but could be boosted to 100% during the fight, granted that I have the spells or items to do so with. After the fight, the Global Stamina would regenerate (or degenerate) to the cap, which would be around 65%. Explanation: If I have 80% Combat Stamina at the end of the fight, it'd degenerate to 65%, instead of regenerate. Well, how do I explain that? Adrenaline. During the fight the character was pumped up and enhanced in some way or some sort, the soul gained more "power" or whatnot for a brief duration of time, and as the character takes a breather and reflects the fight or whatever, he or she actually feels the effects of being more tired than he or she is. Similarly, if the Global Stamina is 10% at the beginning of a fight (this would be towards the end of the night), that'd mean the [Enemy is "Likely to Crit"] you, apart from you having less of a Stamina resource yourself to work with (you wouldn't be able to just throw out lots of attacks or abilities, cus it'd cost you Stamina and potentially make you pass out). Being able to heal up that Stamina a little bit at the start of the fight would be helpful, but you can't deny that it would be more difficult than having to start with 100% Stamina every battle. Question: If you start an encounter with 10% Stamina you'd have more trouble than starting the same encounter with 100% Stamina, right? = Difficulty

Hmm, probably not. But why is Health affected by Difficulty but not Stamina? EDIT: What I am asking of the harder difficulty is to make the character a little bit more fragile too. Weaker than normal play. I think that a Daily Stamina resource and only one Rest per day would make the game more difficult.

Yes Mr Co0n (which reminds me of Koon from Tower of God for some reason, korean Manwha~Korean equivalent of Manga I guess). The difference is that we live in a modern enough society today that digital (in my opinion) is the way to go, as it'd just add more immersion. You don't need pen & paper when you can write and do the exact same thing in-game. Which would be pretty cool. Furthermore, I think it is an "Easily Implemented Idea" that wouldn't take too much time of Obsidian. It's pretty much an On-Off [switch] (coding~) on an "Auto-Update Journal?"-Option. Or maybe even simpler than that, a "Show Auto-Updates?"-Option. Three different variants, depending on what's easiest for Obsidian and what takes least amount of time: 1 - "Turn off Auto-Updates" 2 - "Show Auto-Updates" 3 - "Auto-Updates Visible/Invisible" What's the difference? Not much really. 1 would turn them off entirely. Pre-Game Setup~Options Menu. Can't "Switch" it during gameplay (this is what I am suggesting). The two below are just, I dunno, brainstorming in a way but also "Are they easier methods to implement and thus take less time off of Obsidians chest?". 2 would turn them off until turned on again (and pick up from there), have them turned off in the entire Act 1, and then turn it on in Act 2, and it would pick up from there. 3 would always have them "active" and you could flick them on and off as you see fit, they'd be like a background process that you can "minimize" and "maximize" in a sense. If you'd turn them off in Act 1, then turn it on in Act 2 you'd get the entire Act 1 "log". Again, like I said, this is a very minor thing and if you are able to Edit the Journal (like in the IE games), then I think it's something that could take like... 5 minutes to implement if you know your way around the code. Let's not forget what a great great bug-reporting tool it could be as well during Early Access! "Encountered a bug!? Jot it down instantly and continue playing the game!". It's also, I believe, a great community tool "Share your stories!" and stuff like that.

I got two notifications, I think it's timed. So if you do like, unlike, in quick succession, it'll just pop up once, but if you do a like, then unlike after 3 minutes (maybe) then you get a second notification I guess. Glad you liked it ^^

Happy holidays

I still think that Stamina should only regenerate to a certain point after combat. If I run 5 miles and exhaust 50% of my daily energy, then I take a breather and regain a lot of it. But I won't go up to "110%" afterwards or even 100%. I'll be somewhere around 95% maybe. Then if I'd choose to run another 5 miles that might even take more energy from me because I just ran 5 miles earlier, so that takes me down to 40%, then I take a breather and now I might be up at 90% total energy for the day. But then again, it took a total of 3 hours to run 5 miles twice as I did, and I can only stay up for about 16 hours a day, then I begin to get drowsy as the human being I am and I begin to require sleep. So 3 hours of the day passed and thus took from my "Daily Energy" as well, or "Waking Time" if you will. 5% each hour. So my Stamina only regenerates up to 75% in the last instance (after the second run). If I would choose to run a 3rd time, maybe I'd be down to 30% after, another hour passes (that's how long it took to run) which takes away another 5%, so I'm down at 25%. After the breather my Stamina regenerates quickly up to 70%. 4 hours of the day has passed, and I got 12 more hours to go before getting really tired. Now replace "run 5 miles" with "combat encounter" instead. Furthermore, a character who chooses to engage in situations in a non-lethal way would have more energy and could potentially deal with situations more dextrously because of it. I think this would be an interesting method and something that'd make the days progressively harder, as you have a resource that gets lower and lower the more hours pass. So it might be wise to use little "strength" over time, partially and not burn everything on 1 fight.

I only have one input into this thread: I want to document Quests myself in a blank non-auto-updating journal. I want to immerse myself into the role of the "journalist" (figure of speech), or perhaps the "scholar". Though, to be honest, this is not a way I will always play when I play Eternity, but it'd be a way I'd definitely play at least once or twice if the "feature" (if it can be called as such) is made for Eternity. The idea: No auto-updates in the Journal. When you talk to someone who has a Quest you don't get a message or a blinking icon signifying "You have a new entry!" but instead the Player gets to write all of this him or herself. So if I'd talk to a guardsman and he talks about "Ye, tharr be some piratess about yarr, said to be in' disguise them be" or whatever, I'd have to analyze the situation myself and then jot down my own thoughts into the Journal instead of having the game give me a pre-written text which will always give me more information and intelligence and thus make it easier for me. Additionally, some Quest givers could even tell you the first time you talk to them "Ye just go that-a way" and if I forget to write it down and talk to him again "So where was it now again?" he might answer "Fool! I told you already, now be on your way". So I pay the consequence for not paying attention as well (And might miss some quests due to it if I'm not paying attention). For a bit more ease, however, the Journal could be something that you could open during talking with someone or when you're in a dialogue screen~ making it easier to write stuff down. This is an idea which tributes towards the old ways of gaming, where there were no walkthroughs and you had to bring out your pen and paper to figure a lot of things out. Many adventure games, and some in particular (such as Myst and Riven) require this more of this focus. It's also a great way to get engaged further into the game and to further touch that "roleplay" element and even allow some Player narration.

What pretty much others have said, but "Multi-Classing" or "Dual-Classing" in Eternity is a somewhat... can't find the words right now but... It'd call it "Multi-Role", a Fighter can act as a Ranger (but isn't at all as good as a Ranger). A Wizard can act as a Fighter, but isn't as good at it either etc. etc. So basically what Eternity allows is the Player to mix-and-match different roles, but not in a standard "Multi-Class" or "Dual-Class" kind of way. I suppose you could possibly build a character to be 50/50 in two different roles, and thus it'd be a "Dual-Class", in an abstract kind of way.

This isn't entirely directed at you Monte Carlo. I'm wondering "Why?", what's up with the negative attitude regarding this? Is it envy? Is it insecurity? Is it because others can and you can not? Because I am getting this feeling it's rooted somewhere around there (and not at all in the perceived "amateurs!"-comments), that this is something that only some could do and not everyone. "It's unfair, I also want to have a finger in this" but can't, won't or is too insecure for it. Am I wrong? Ask this question instead: Why wouldn't Obsidian benefit from this? A) Script, send out to community, give the community a deadline to decide "If you haven't found anyone by 2 weeks, then we'll carry on with the original plan" (And they could time it well enough that it wouldn't interrupt any schedules) B) Let the community decide (and Obsidian holding their original plan on the side in case the community would fail miserably) C) Community decides "This sounds really good!" -> Give to Obsidian (And I mean, if this community would like it, then I bet it'd be up to par) D) It could be a fun community event altogether too. It doesn't have to be "American Idol" hah, but maybe more like a Kareoke party amongst friends. How much time would Obsidian have to spend on it? Not much, sending out the "Audition Script" pretty much, which could be an actual text in the game. As for money, how much would they have to spend on it? 0. 0 moneys, volunteer 100%. No one should expect to get paid anything (except a name in the credits, and I believe that's where this all boils down too, again, the whole "That is unfair!"-dealio). Did I hit the mark? EDIT: Did I mention the marketing exposure? Did I also mention that Obsidian could, theoretically, ask gaming channels on YouTube to, for fun, audition themselves and in turn promote Eternity in doing so? If Obsidian would do some sort of "Community Audition" like this, it's possible that it could get more exposure in gaming media as well, not that it is exactly "starving" in getting exposed right now but if you see a gaming news story with some sort of headline saying: "Contribute with your voice! Get a chance to be in the credits!" doesn't that news headline tingle an interest (in the general populace) more than "Here's the Eternity Voice Cast"? you know you better run run run run ruuun on sentence revolution

But alas me lad, someone had to write the walkthrough first And for a community like the Kickstarter community, we're probably going to be the first to discover these things. I mentioned this before with the Pendant from Dark Souls. There's excitement and stories to be shared of findings and whatnot, the first who enters the world of Eternity will be Explorers and Discoverers, Colonizers (Modders) and Adventurers of various forms. Cartographs etc. etc. etc. In Suikoden for instance, there were many characters I used a walkthrough for (Cus I wanted all of the 108 of them, gotta catch em all ya know), but there were also characters that I stumbled across that were really hard to get according to walkthroughs, but I found some of them without using it. There's a random element in it, you might think you're playing the game just as you want to, but really, you're doing something secret-y designed for the game. Then, when someone shouts "THIS CHARACTER IS REALLY HARD TO GET!!" you'll answer casually "Oh, you mean this one? I thought it was canon!! Wooo! Propropro!" or whatnot TL;DR: I kinda went out of my way here with the post, the point is written in one sentence right underneath the quote. EDIT: See, this thread posted here on the Obsidian Forums, Pillars of Eternity General Discussion, is exactly the whole thing I'm talking about with (which I now shall call) "The Pendant Complex". "Someone finds it first". So this whole "metagaming" dealio~ whatever, there's some excitement in the hunt too

This... this is actually really good. But we'd still need some sample script or whatnot to follow, like a template or audition script. A Community Audition Script that everyone can play around with, then the Community decides who sounds good and who doesn't. And anyone going into it will have to take the risk themselves of getting bashed hard in the face by the cruelty of "Internet". Good idea Bartimaeus.

I don't really see the problem with volunteer voice acting, I mean, if it's up to snuff and the volunteer actually has good gear and all... why not? It doesn't cost Obsidian anything... volunteer, after all. Well, the only thing they would have to do would be to send out scripts to these selected few. Otherwise, probably lots of opportunity for volunteers to add their voice post-release as well. Perhaps even allow in the files for modders or Voice Actor Wannabes to, potentially, make the game entirely VO'd. And some selfish promotion while I'm at it: A) "I've" got a Studio (It's my dad's studio, so that might be a lil bit of an arrangement in itself to borrow it). Otherwise, renting a Studio is fairly cheap in Sweden (I think it ranges from about $200 to $500, depending on how big is it etc. etc. not hourly costs but total costs for 1 session). I'd pay for this myself of course. B) My voice got a wide range of "sounds", this is something I've practiced. I don't have any of it recorded, but I hope I am believable enough: - I can do a pretty good Smeagol/Gollum imitation - Pingu the Finnish Penguin () - Pingu is pretty high pitch, and to balance that is that I can go pretty low pitch too So if Obsidian would be interested in this, a creature, some character with a weird high-pitched voice or a low-pitched barbarian voice (I did an Orc Cleric Voice and I managed, with Audacity, to make it sound like a Grunt from WarCraft 3, almost identical ^^). Even if it's only a sound set, or a short dialogue line or whatever and they don't want to spend too much money on it. Just... feel free to use me. I also went to school for theater, if that's a merit *shrug* I sing a lot and have been doing so for quite a long time, so I'm pretty confident and sure of what my voice can do and what it can't do. All I'm saying is that there are free assets to use here. Maybe not me if I'm not trustworthy, or credible, or whatever Obsidian feels about it (I don't honestly care much what the fans think, because this is entirely up to Obsidian whether they want to use this or not), but I can't help but feel that there's an untapped "mineral vein" here that could be used. A voice is expensive, I've both heard and read, and if it's outsourced it's expensive as ****. So why not?

Weeeeell, the sad part about Loghain (which I never recruited on my two complete playthroughs), is that he's one of those "Last moment"-companions. I can't say much more than that as I've never experienced playing with him but that's one of the reasons why I never got him... you get him "too late", but it's also depending on how the Player wants to experience their story. I dunno if this is canon or mod but there's a similar thing with Sarevok in Baldur's Gate... people talking about how they recruited him. Is this a mod or canon? Regardless, "Last moment"-companions is something I hope Obsidian avoids.

corrected

Bump! 2 days, now 195'000 views.

I came here with a different purpose but when I saw Merlkir's post I had to react to it somehow... BERRRRSEEEEEEEEERRRRK!!!!!!!!! <3 Back to topic, some Wizard stuff and magical wear/armour and whatnot... COATS!:

So why aren't we discussing the glorious gloriousness of RTwP that can (with the right options) act as both Real Time and Turn-Based? Furthermore... in the PCWorld Interview (scroll down to the bottom) with Obsidian (Adam Brennecke, Josh Sawyer), Adam, mentions that it would be easier to mod rules (just for comparison and relevancy thereof: Environments are difficult to mod in)... so with that said... Eternity would allow someone to, potentially and with a lot of work done to it, mod in Turn-Based conceptual rules So what is superior? The one stuck in Turn-Based or the one with Real Time with Pause and a future (potentially) Turn-Based Mod? EDIT: Was that a cosmic table flip I heard?

The tabletop game is just Numenera, the cRPG is Torment: Tides of Numenera (TToN). @Topic, again: First of all *slowclap* @Helm, very good post and right on spot. I've talked about this before in another thread. I hope TToN gets great reception and is a great experience, but I am concerned that we'll get a "This is nothing like Planescape!!" because of Turn-Based and it's a "Spiritual Successor" to the same game. Why? Because whether the game is Turn-Based, Real-Time, Top-Down, First Person, 3rd Person, Driving Game or whatever... it determines how you, the Player, experiences the game world. It is how you move in the world, how you interract, how you prepare and how you deal with combat. It determines your mindset and mentality when you tackle the game in overall. Suffice to say it affects a lot. "Shadowrun" and "Shadowrun: Returns" is an excellent example of this in my opinion. Albeit Shadowrun is a primitive game nowadays, it still had the freedom of movement, Shadowrun: Returns does not. Don't get me wrong, I love Turn-Based games but they do restrict in a way that Real-Time does not. You are always "locked" on a "square" or a "hex" or whatever you walk on in Turn-Based games. I believe it'll be a great game, but I have this 50/50 BioWare feeling going on... ya know... "Dragon Age is a Baldur's Gate spiritual successor" deal.