Heresiarch

There is a small problem here: If you find usefull magical items as loot you have to find enough so that whatever people you have in your party you find stuff for them. If you train your fighter to use halberds it would be frustrating if you didn't occationaly found a good halberd. Finding only gold and no items isn't as fun and makes the end game boring when you have too much gold (i.e. for those players who do *optional* side-quests) The problem can be sold easily enough by not introducing weapon skills. It just doesn't work, since there's always an over-abundant class of weapons (yeah, sword) and most of the other weapon types are exceedingly rare. How many enchanted axes, clubs, halberds, spears, and war hammers there were in BG 2? About three and a half of each. Another thing is overuse of ever-upgrading weapons and armour. First you find a sword+1, then another one +2, then another +2.5, followed by a plus square root of 5 with additional fire damage and so it goes on and on. Or you end up comparing countless pairs of identical pants with +1 Strength, +2 Stamina and those with +2 Strength, +1 Stamina. While this makes sense to some extent in MMOs and Diablo, which never strived for any sort of realism or RP, it looks completely lame in RPGs, even action RPGs. Armour and weapon acquisitions make much more impact and have a great deal more sense if they are rare and somehow justified in the plot. Not "hey, I just found a perfectly nice mithril chain in that old chest in a bandit camp, isn't it sweet? Funny they never put it on themselves, right?" But, say, actually prying an fabled blade from some major enemy's cold dead fingers.

I don't like economy and I don't like collecting vendor trash to sell later. It is tiresome and it breaks immersion. Epic magical weapons should be rare enough that you don't just walk into a discount store, saying, "Hey, could you buy some legendary gear off me, my bags starts to get kinda heavy". Neither should you walk around collecting sabres and gauntlets from the fallen enemies like some lowly looter. Wealth should come in a form of gold (preferably chests of it), precious stones (large ones too) and land (well, anything with a steady income qualifies), not tons of second-hand gear collected from corpses and ancient vaults.

Yeah, I never tell people I've played A Dance with Rogues either. Heck, did I say that out loud? It was pretty good with relationships (or romance, if you wish), notwithstanding the porn part. Even though I only played the first chapter, I was advised by an experienced ADWR player, who told me all about all the developments through the whole story. The characters are really fleshed out and cover pretty much every player's taste, which I've found deeply disturbing, since the game is merely a porn module produced by a single person. Now, God forbid PE being even remotely similar to ADWR in any other aspect, but characters and non-rapey situations, which were by far not as few as I prefer them, would be very welcome. A choice along the lines of cheating or not on your best friend's wife (who might also happen to be the party's pyromaniac mage) would be a nice adition to the common RPG repertoire of figth/fetch/kick-or-pet-the-dog scenarios.

I kinda fail to see the point in a second-wind mechanic outside games with no save feature. Made plenty of sense in first Prototype, but not so much in Broderlands, considering the ever-increasing upkeep. It might be nice for Ironman made though, if party characters will be prone to dying without any means for ressurection. Although I much prefer the first scenario, it reminds me of good old tanking abilities, which would spare you from a lethal hit and grant you some resilience for a while, so that you can recover in an OH SHI~ scenario.

The two scariest games I've played in the last I don't know how many years ere Dead Space and Spec Ops: The Line. Not because of the body horror, since space zombies and people burnt alive don't exactly horrify me. But because of the psychological element of being locked in a never-ending nightmare with no hope of escape, while trying to justify your own actions to yourself. DA2 had a nice horror element, when the protagonist resques his mother from her suitor. And by nice I mean that it was pretty ****ed up even for a horror game, not only an action RPG.

Well, if it's an attempt at trolling, it's kinda weak. If I don't like how PE turns out, somebody else will. No big deal.

I think I know what Arcanum's crafting mechanic missed. The whole idea of tying crafting to character skills limited the application of crafting. As you said before Arcanum treated crafting as an alternative to magic, which it shouldn't have, even though it made sense in the context of the game's magic vs. tech dichotomy. In effect crafting became too specific with certain trees being much less useful than others. Then again I believe that the main flaw was restricting crafting to tech characters, which shouldn't be the case in PE, I suppose.

Diablo3 had no sense of creepy atmosphere. I'm not going to claim it was only because of a lack of darkness (even the caves weren't dark), but .... it was pretty dull. I don't remember having to crank up brightness in Diablo2 to see anything. I thought they did a good job of having it be dim/moody without being blind. Maybe you needed a new monitor. Diablo 2 didn't have any creepy atmosphere nor do Diablo games need it. It isn't Dead Space after all. And the game was too dark on normal brightness levels, so my eyes got tired after playing a while. I don't care to repeat the experience, especially in an isometric RPG. Darkness is good when you expect danger popping out of there at any moment. That kind of thing keeps you on edge. If darkness is simply there to obscur your vision, there is little point. Same thing if you can hit pause to grab a cup of tea and a muffin at any given moment.

Nah, I just skipped to last page and started writing random stuff like I always do. Just for the record, that's UFO not X-Com. X-Com is a 2012 game. Which I assumed you were talking about, because I hope to God that PE looks nothing like a game from year 1994. No, but I like Diablo 3 much more than Diablo 2, since it does not make me crank up brightness in dungeons to actually see things.

Counterpoint: Then counter-counterpoint, I suppose: Anyone cares to finish the combo? How about a visual proof? Can't remember a single dark area in game besides the parts, covered by fog of war.

I absolutely hate weapon-specific skills and experience. In effect it means that you walk with a single weapon type through the whole game and all other weapons, however good they are, become vendor trash. Why? Because their bonuses do not compensate for a buttload of skills and perks that come along with the weapon you specialised in. If you use multiple weapons throughout the game just to spite the system you typically become a suboptimal fighter without the access to high-end weapon abilities and bonuses, which also sucks. Giving the player an option to change weapons (not just sword for a bow, but sword for a mace or an axe, depending on a situation) greatly improves the experience and tactical value of the game.

As much as I like torches in first-person (TES) and third-person (Witcher, mostly) RPGs, I must say that they would be absolutely dreadful in an isometric one. Things are small enough as they are, no need to kill the player's eyes with darkness too.

I voted for IWD 2, because it's pretty much is the only game with memorable VOs. In BG they were pretty bland (except for a couple of female sets and the astonishingly good "let's do this quick and painful" male one from BG2) and NWN doesn't even merit recollection. I hated every single one of those, since they almost screamed archetypical and boring in my face.

I'd much happier with hideous undead abominations. Kinda starting to miss them ugly bloodsucking bastards. I don't mind vampires being sexy if it's their predator tactics to lure food. But they still should end up like Witcher bruxas: when you see them up close, you get an irresistible urge to kill them with fire and not plough them. Well, except with an aspen stake.

The whole director thing made a lot of sense for a survival shooter, but I don't think it will work too well for an RPG. For the very reason TMTV mentioned. I remember quite a few fights made easy because of lucky rolls in BG and IWD. Or just one well-placed devastating spell. Being obliterated in the next fight because of this will not make anyone too happy. What I would love though is difficulty settings independent of enemy damage or hit points. Better tactics, better enemy group composition, more abilities even simply adding more enemies makes the game a lot more entertaining than simply making player's party hit like they're armed with wet noodles and go down in a blink if an enemy so much as slaps them.

I'm not really sure if OP is trolling or genuinely believes that PE is going to be a jRPG. But either way this proposal fills me with dread and repugnance.

I'm not really sure what any of this has to do with what I said, but I'll take a stab. If they pay taxes and are upright, moral citizens, why do they fail to pay people for their hardwork when it comes to media? The girl (a lame attempt at empathy on your part) next door probably watches them on Hulu with ads. Hulu pays royalties to the companies who made Lost and thus are allowed to publish that. But still, this has nothing to do with games or Obsidian, specifically. Nah, she is a lousy wench and downloads Lost from The Pirate Bay, generating no revenue for the company who made Lost whatsoever. The only reason I mentioned a girl is that if it were a guy he would most likely be pirating porn. And I am uncomfortable discussing porn with strangers. As for paying for hardwork, whom does piracy hurt once again? CEOs' fat bonus checks? Do you really think that increasing corporation's revenue is going to do something to your pay check or to the paycheck of the company's employees? If you do, you should think again, because that's not how it works. The good old "oh, but they take away our jobs" argument doesn't work either, because last time I checked high unemployment in the US was cause by he financial crisis of 2008, for which you have corporations to blame, not pirates. So let me get this straight. They can afford the $ to buy a PC rig that allows them to play games. But they don't have the $20 to support the kickstarter? They still have time. If they can't afford the game, they should talk to the developers (email). Maybe they'll get a discounted price. This whole money argument doesn't hold much water. Entertainment is entertainment. In third-world countries, there is no concept of IP and rights for the creator of IP as entertainment because ultimately their governments have not allowed their people to reach a certain wealth to be able to create such entertainment. When these countries and their citizens start becoming producers of cultural entertainment for business, you'll start noticing that these same people will ask to be paid for their work. Source: I have seen this exact thing happen in countries. See Iran and its current IP issues with its citizenry. Yeah, let's get back to games then. I bet most of the games are pirated by people who can't afford them. Yeah, that's right, they can afford a "gaming rig", because virtually no one in the world lives without a PC. People use computers for all sorts of things. But a "gaming rig" does not necessarily cost 3,000 US dollars, I bought mine for around $800 taxes included and it has lasted me about five years now. That boils down to about $160 per year for the PC. Video games are $60 per title, if you buy one per month (too often for a person who doesn't play them a lot and too rarely for someone who does) you have to spend $720 per year on video games only. If you a kid chances are your parents aren't going to be that generous. If you live, say, in Russia and earn about $600 per month, you're also out of luck. Of course, people would like to be paid for their work. Moreover they do get paid. Have you ever heard of 100% pirated movie/game/music album? Me neither. So it's not a matter of getting paid, it's a matter of them wanting to get larger profits. Well, they are out of luck, obviously, since not that long ago they pirates stuff themselves, because they could not afford it. It is only fair. As it is the case with all non-monetary compensations, you loose out on money a bit. And, seriously, sending a letter to the developers? Maybe they should pray to gods for money showers, that would have about the same chance of success.

This is the reason why I don't debate numbers of anything like that. Look any example that I give is debatable until the end of time. Either you accept that any amount of piracy hurts (to any extent - even a single firing or a cent worth of lower wages) or not. No example that I or anyone else gives you will change your mind. Saying that piracy is the only factor in the ending of a company is fairly simple-minded. There are many factors involved, such as management, the economy, etc. But the fact of the matter remains, many company spokespersons have come out and said that piracy affects their business. Both legitimate companies that are well-liked and companies who probably wanted to blame anything but themselves. And when it comes to businesses and the economy, the perception of an idea matters. If game development companies think that piracy hurts their businesses (and many do), that affects us the gamers. That's all that's required to show that piracy does hurt. It's the last line of your quote that hurts me the most though. Pirates are not Robin Hoods, that's a lie. They are only redistributing the so-called "wealth" to themselves. You would have been totally right, if all pirates lived in some magical country Piratonia and kept stealing our intellectual property and selfishly using it for themselves without paying. But the pirates live in the same place with all the other people, they have jobs and they pay taxes, they are not some shadowy characters, like burglars, smugglers, murderers, and drug dealers. They are more like a girl next door who watches missed episodes of Lost on the web. Speaking of wealth redistribution, I suppose it's easier to think of pirates as some smuggler ring, leaching on profits and society wealth. Actually, they are not. The five top pirating countries are China, Russia, Columbia, India, and Malaysia. You might think it's because people don't earn as much money there, as they do in Western European countries and North America, not because they are immoral and full of mischief. They simply don't have the same amount of money for their entertainment and they want it as much as you and I do. Moreover, they can actually get it, thanks to the internet and those scurvy pirates who rip off corporations by uploading stuff for others to use. Would you say they don't have a right to it, simply because they were not born in Europe or US? If you could, would you actually prevent them by getting all this stuff from the web, so that your well-being is somewhat improved?

Couldn't get more generic than this xD Thanks I guess, Heaven forbid someone doesn't have as great and all knowing taste in writing as you do. I thought this was a discussion of writers we'd like to see contribute not a "lets bash those that don't read what we read". The writers I recommended have written many great adventures and have told some wonderful stories, obscure does not always mean better. These writers became well known because they have a knack for painting a picture with words, there was a time when only a few people had heard of them, I guess then they would have met your criteria for being acceptable. I don't think it was meant as an insult. Salvatore along with Weis & Hickman, like it or not, has long become associated with "generic fantasy". I suppose that's where all authors end up, when they write setting-related prose whether it is DnD or Star Wars or Warhammer or anything else. The fame is well-deserved for the most part, since this kind of stories aren't exactly a high-quality read just like detective pulp fiction and women's novels. It is not really a question of elitism, but people want a lot more depth to the game narrative than there ever was in a Salvatore book.

I would have probably said George Martin, if he stopped at A Storm of Swords. Now his saga reminds me of KOTOR2, endings and all, which on the whole was an utter disappointment. Now I would say David Gemmell, more specifically at his Rigante series. It has all the best stuff heroic fantasy can offer, including motivated villains, unspeakable evils, plenty of interpersonal conflict, and in-depth look at morality to boot. P.S. I forgot about epic battles, bloody skirmishes, and horrible murders. But all that comes with the genre naturally, I suppose.

The argument is fine, if anyone could have pointed at a company destroyed by piracy. A single one will do. Simply a convincing approximation of those supposedly huge profit losses incurred by the video game industry would do, actually. but I've yet to see any of that. So until I see it, I find this argument a purely emotional and misleading one, along the lines of "smoking killed my father and raped my mother". Now, don't get me wrong, piracy is bad. When a bunch of Somalian dudes point guns at your face and commandeer your fishing trawler, it sure as hell sucks. But if you're talking about copyright infringement, it's more of a wealth redistribution system.

And there was you accusing me of talking out of my arse. I've read interviews where senior industry people have cited it as a major reason for concentrating development on other platforms and concentrate on ever more intrusive DRM. Right. Because "senior industry people" are honourable and trustworthy and never ever lie. Nor do they want to produce more hate against people, who engage in copyright infringement. Otherwise they wouldn't be calling them pirates and thieves. Right? Seriously, you have to filter some the stuff that other people try to put into your head. I assure you they only have the most selfish reasons to have you on their side. Concern about your well-being isn't even in their vocabulary, not to mention their agenda. Well, I am all for supporting Obsidian. Also I am aware that many of people pirating games just do it because they can get away with it. But that actually means that being greedy is bad, not that piracy is bad. I meet greedy people in everyday life, who engage in all sorts of activities, and they are disgusting even if they don't break any laws. Now, there is a difference between law and morality. Copyright infringement is an offense, but the fact doesn't actually make it bad or immoral in all cases. Say, you're a kid and you have to buy your games with pocket money. You don't have a lot of them to start with and also releases are far from cheap. So you either have to settle for free games and an occasional AAA title or go out and pirate. Is it against the law? Yes. Do you think kids should be punished for it? I don't. Actually, most of the pirating happens outside of North America in the countries where the population is far from being wealthy. Which is why people there are occupied with paying for basic necessities and not for their entertainment. Does it mean that they deserve less or worse entertainment than people living in Europe and North America? I don't think so. So yeah, you are free to choose whichever side you want, but choose carefully.

First of all, no amount of hate is going to eradicate piracy. If it worked EA headquarters would have already become a smouldering hole in the ground. Then again loss of profits from piracy is not all that huge and I would be more then happy to help kickstart an expansion pack for PE if I like the game. I bet a lot of other people would too. Probably a lot more than those who backed PE itself. Also I don't believe in the argument that piracy kill the PC video game industry. Sure games on PC get pirated a lot, but there are a lot more PC owners than the owners of any single type of console out there. If releasing games on PC was unprofitable, they would have been gone by now.

Well, the let me reiterate my statement. While people, who pirate PE, certainly aren't getting any love from me, I don't support any zero tolerance policy against them based on the fact that they chose to pirate the game that I backed and they didn't. I think the whole point of crowd-sourcing game budget is to make the game and not to make huge profits from sales. So why bother with all the hate?

Thought I'd try a bit of comparison. Insurance fraud in the auto accident arena increases premiums from honest motorists. We all still drive, but we have to pay a little more so thieves can enjoy a little extra money. That's OK then. Wow. It's like comparing apples to nazi oranges. You know how the insurance premiums are calculated? Do you know how video game price is calculated? I know you don't or you wouldn't have been equating them. So knock yourself out, research the topic and then we can argue some more.