Ignatius

If the game were balanced around having a ring on each finger, you'd be finding rings every other chest just to validate this gimmick mechanic. Otherwise you'd get to end game and four of your characters still have 23 empty ring slots! And imagine finding a MAGIC ring that increases your armor by... .02

I've been replaying it, and It can kind of be enjoyable to play a broken game. Cheese is good. Sometimes. Of course, a challenging game is always important. But Arcanum has so many things going for it, you can just sort of let it slide. I think it's the side effect of attempting to let you be whatever you want in that game, which is sort of what makes it so fun. And I love this quote:

Encumbrance with grid. No tetris. GG. However: Auto-sort.

I'd rather we just forget about this as soon as possible. Yes, people act in ways and say things that we don't like, and they'll continue to do so, and as it turns out some of them like the same games we do. Not much else you can do about it. If it upsets you, try not to replicate that kind of behavior in your own life. But really, let's just move on.

That's actually really impressive.

It won't. I'm sure developers in the industry are taking notice, but unless this game sells really, really well, it won't change anything, and developers will be at the mercy of the publisher in figuring out how to get the most money out of their product. A game like PE isn't something that will draw large numbers. It never will, it just doesn't have broad enough appeal. Well, this KS might say otherwise, but I just don't see publishers demanding games like this get made, which is where the real change comes in the industry. But in other ways, I think things have already changed, right here, as seen in the PE KS and many others that have found success. It's shown there is still a substantial, though niche, demand for these games, and it's totally possible. I mean, the impossible dream is now a reality! Who cares what the rest of the industry is doing anyway.

Now the real fun begins!!!

lol Make it happen, Obsidian.

These guys have A LOT of work to do. I just don't think we need to waste their time with giving us daily updates. On top of this, things change so often during development. Even a weekly updates might be excessive, but that's still what I voted for. I'd be okay with a month though, I just really like to hear from them! I think they should be reasonably paced, but my feeling is that when they have something they want to show us, they likely will show it, and it will be often enough that we won't feel left in the dark. I think we'll even get some small discussion here and there, nothing on par with massive info dumps, but there'll be some semblance of an on-going conversation through out the development. Not strictly asking our opinion on major decisions, but stuff like, here's what we've been doing, this is what we're thinking... etc. You know, just dropping by the forums every so often... maybe? I'm excited.

Erm, this is Obsidian we're talking about, and they're creating a game with it's roots in IE games. Do you recall there being any gaudy equipment in that game? Plate-mail was plate mail. Swords were swords. The detail was in the descriptions and whatever you could find in the image that went along with it. Yeah, we're working with 3D now, so that offers some room for flair, but even then, based on character art so far, and the team working on this game, I just don't see this being a huge concern. So relax, it'll be fine!

I LOVE YOU TOO.

A tavern keeper tells you to go kill some rats, you begrudgingly accept his stupid quest, but while fighting the rats, you come across a trap door, the trap door leads to a secret thieves hide-out, while clearing out the thieves hide-out, you come to learn that it is actually a front for a daemonic cult which turns people into rats or something. Anyway, you fight a dragon. The end.

The format these games follow and what you've described with Skyrim are actually strikingly similar. For example, in BG2, you could zip straight toward the next plot point in a matter of a few quests, or you could get really obsessive and get lost handling dozens of optional quests. Every time I play BG2, I end up with about 60k gold, even though I only need 20k. Sandbox, essentially. So, in a way, no, the game can't be too big, unless it's a straight 70 hour shot with no deviation from the main plot. Something like Xenogears. Oh my god, what a boring game!

Legendary. It seems there is a high demand for RPGs done right after all... WHO KNEW!?

Fallout: NV which most people would agree was pretty massive, was finished in a year and a half. It also featured a lot of new settings/characters/plot and it was 3D modeled. So I think this will be doable.

Well, that's with the assumption you can sneak by EVERYTHING in the game. At some point some bad ass wizard will use some detect-invisible spell and then wipe the floor with your badly composed party. However, it's interesting you bring this up, because this experience system is obviously working, since you are already thinking about other ways the game might be approached (regardless of how risky) than just the simple tactic of killing whatever is in your way.

Yeah, but that example isn't really typical for their design style. In the IE games, a large majority of the fights have some purpose behind them. Or at least, you aren't going to be wading through piles of enemies to get to your objective. I mean, there will be a few random-non-objective based encounters, but I doubt their will be so many that you'll feel you're getting short-changed by not being awarded experience for massacring your 20th pack of wolves.

My donation is based on trust that they'll do the right thing, not on becoming back-seat producer for their game. I voted for.

Giving players exp for killing monsters sends the message that if you want to level up and become more powerful, you better get to killing stuff. And that obviously isn't the message Obsidian wants to send and I think it's a sentiment a lot of players agree with, if the constant requests for non-combat related quest solutions is any indication. It's not as though Obsidian won't be rewarding you when the battle is tough, yes you won't get your piddly experience, but in the case of Firkraag, you'll likely get a load of quest experience plus his fat hoard of loot -- which is what everyone really cares about anyway. On the flip side of that, people really like to be rewarded in games. It's part of that whole psychology positive feedback loop. Even if it's as small as 50 XP, they feel like their actions were worth it. So, now I don't know what to think...

I love the shift toward goal orientated experience gains. I've never cared much about the experience I've gotten from killing monsters anyway, it's the big accomplishments that really make you feel good anyway. Like saving Tradesmeet. Soooo much EXP!!! This isn't all that big a change. And I don't think people are going to miss generic monster kill EXP all that much. Especially when you need 29000 exp to reach the next level and killing that Gnoll gives you... 100 EXP. For the health system... whatever does away with cheesy camping mechanics I whole-hardheartedly approve of. So this stamina/health system is just great. Yeah, um 2 cents.

Nothing above 100 hours, otherwise replaying it becomes a chore, and I do plan on replaying it, with multiple characters/party set-ups. I think having a long game is fine, but at some point you have to draw the line. The important thing to wonder is, how many quests will we have? Hmmmmm!

Tim Cain is the creator of Fallout. Doesn't that make him more than awesome? Arcanum and ToEE were also rad. Especially ToEE which has the best DnD combat in any DnD game I've ever played, and if you haven't given it a shot, you're really missing out!!! I also really liked the atmosphere and aesthetic of that game.

Ahhh! No! Don't get rid of the lovely inventory slots. I love, love, LOVE organizing my stuff with that system! Getting it all in the right place, in order, was always very satisfying for me. But I'm weird, I guess. FO: NV's inventory was fine, though, and I wouldn't be opposed to something like that. I just never found inventory management in any IE game to be a major problem. More or less indifferent on your other points, as none of that stuff is exactly irksome or game breaking to me. Journal search parameters would be great, however.

Oh, well yeah, that too. Sad state of affairs. Save us Obsidian!

The only reason quest markers have been added is because developers have become to lazy to explicitly tell you through dialogue or even include a damn quest journal that gives you more than 2 lines of information.