Hormalakh

Soo.....does this mean that in P:E there will be more than just armor to adjust these ratios (i.e. there will be spells/abilities that do something similar)?

Can't use the name Torment. inXile's already gotten the rights to that name

It could be more tactical in the sense that you actually try to limit your health damages as much as possible so as to limit resting. As infinitron stated it seems most logical to limit resting in some way, so that those who play "better" are rewarded for that by whatever means. It becomes a marker of how well you are fighting tactically over a range of several battles. It hasn't been much talked about, but perhaps there are ways that you can "weigh" more heavily on one of the two bars. There will be times where losing health wouldn't be of much concern (last battle before you trek it back) or where health would be more of a concern (low health on all party members, battle that is unavoidable, want to maximize your stealth losses, limit health losses). These become tactical decisions that you make before,during, and after battles. I think that's more tactical, isn't it?

I think that unless its relevant to the main story in some way, a lot of times these things are just abstracted away. There are obviously these things that exist in the "universe" but the story doesn't relate to them, the players don't much care, and your adventurers don't really care either to go there. We can't have everything just for the sake of realism - it would be too convoluted and can dilute away the main story. It has to be fairly "focused." Now if the story deals with these issues, then obviously the points you make would be in the game. Or are you arguing for these to be main/side themes involved in the game? I'm not sure...

I think I remembered the other location in Arcanum that does this well. It was the part with St. Mannox. A lot of the quests and ways in which you could complete that whole Pana'ari deal had to do with what you knew/know from dialog and the places you had been throughout your adventures. You would get different dialog choices based on that. Which brings me to another point: I would like it if the dialogue options that you have are also triggered more based on the locations you've been the and the things you've done up until the point of that conversation. So for example, of all the 10 or so "optional" locations/quests you've been, many of these locations have dialogue choices that get unlocked for certain dialogues. You can't ever have all the dialogue choices unlocked because the places you've been (and the order in which you go to these places) will change. It's sort of like a Jaquayian dialogue. There are many paths to the destinations, and these paths are non-linear and can be highly convoluted. This allows for less meta-gaming, because the dialogue trees are too complex and convoluted to follow a single linear path for the most "optimal choice." At the same time, this also requires a less "linear" story-line, sort of like in BG2 where you could go to several different locations to gather up the 20K gold. If you are going from dungeon to dungeon without being able to change up the orders, then this sort of dialogue path wouldn't work.

There's no reason to call the interviewer a whore... There are other more legitimate concerns to have about the interview than this. She's not knowledgeable about the game, her interview has no new content, she's wasting time with MCA when he could be making the game, etc. However, using that term makes you seem like a misogynist (not saying that you are) that doesn't want women interviewing gamer developers anymore.

No. It seems from what Josh is saying and, obviously this can all change, (see my signature) but the goal is to have renewable stamina during fights, but your health stays fairly static (except for when you get hit). Stamina would be "healable" from other party members (e.g. paladin yelling "Suck it up and deal with it!") and from your own character (barbarian's rage increases stamina for example). But getting hit takes away both stamina and health. I actually really like this new game mechanic because it's so much more dynamic and tactically deep. There is much more you have control over and the decisions to be made are at least one level deeper than with a single "health bar." In terms of it being fair and balanced, that can be tweaked with player input (see my signature...).

It's sad how little I know about armor. At least this game will teach me something about armor I hope?

Blargh, I didn't mean it like that! I know that Obsidian can do amazing characters, and pretty much every party member in all their games (Except arcanum, which was kinda lackluster in that regard) was awesome in their own ways. Hell, Mask of the Betrayer didn't have a single comic character, and it was still amazing. Its just that, I love the comic characters. And I love, as someone else so helpfully phrased it, "bro's", and I want to see an other character like Morte and Minsc who are able to fill both catagories, and maybe more. Capiche? Edit: Oh, and SIE and Steven Heck from Alpha Protocol. Two other types of characters I was talking about. Both, stupidly fun. Yeah but if I don't give you a hard time about it, who will?

Becase he keeps being called a fish when clearly he is not a fish.

^I thought LordShifu was trolling...

Just hurry up and come out with beta already...

Yeah I used to play the games -that allowed me to do so- that way too. A lot of my ideas come down to me thinking "what would I have liked to be an option to stop me from playing degeneratively in the first place?" Obviously, everyone has different ways to gaming the system

Interesting...obviously didn't think about it this way. Forced random encounters for all! You get a random encounter! You get a random encounter! YOU get a random encounter! Everyone gets a random encounter! YAY. Seriously, though, good point.

Ignore the trolls Rob... We still love you.

Yeah I don't know armor very well - but it didn't look like "leather armor" that we're used to, anyway.

What's that supposed to mean?!?!

You're saying....you're saying I'm not a developer of games?!?! How DARE YOU SIR. I don't think it's railroading, but eh... I thought this might be an interesting idea. I also never understood what the point of taverns were in BG2. I could rest anywhere I liked and never really saw much point in paying for a tavern. It seemed like it was broken somehow. The not being able to rest anywhere in the city, and it being a little more dangerous to rest outside of the city, makes an inn a prime spot for resting and paying to rest there. Otherwise, just don't implement inns. Nobody will use them. I just think that some of these things were broken in BG2 and could be tweaked. I actually liked that BG1 had lots of random encounters ifyou rest outside.

I just hope the devs have seen this thread.... http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61425-let-us-see-the-whole-area-please/

We actually had a meeting about this yesterday. PE's weapons will be close to historical weapons in proportions with slight exaggeration to help distinguish them. E.g. a "proper" cut and thrust sword blade will be toward the thicker side to distinguish it from a rapier. War hammers will be similar to historical war hammers though their heads might be enlarged just a bit to help you see what the heck they are. We will not have melon-sized mace heads. YAY FOR HISTORICAL FICTION WOOOOOOO :aiee: Seriously, I keep loving the thoughts that come out of your mind. It's freaking crazy.

OHH THATS NICE. MAKE THE AUMAUA NOSE LIKE THAT. I just peed myself from excitement. :aiee:

^With all that was said, I don't think that Sawyer has said specifically anywhere that he would move away from this. These things should give flavor, not be a win/lose scenario. When you have the extra information, it gave you advantages, it shouldn't "win" the scenario for you. I think we can agree that with or without a skill check this would be better.

I don't think it's strictly 6. I think there will be times where you're 6+1 or something when you pick up certain NPCs for a short time... I'm not sure though. I tought I read that somewhere.

I like the XCOM idea. Running just makes things better. Arcanum had run toggles but if it's a menu toggle, it'll always be on anyway. Besides, I'm going to find the boots of haste before anything else just so I don't have to wait for 15 mins everytime my party wants to cross the map. What do you mean there aren't any boots of haste in P:E?!?!

Neck romance? I can dig it. But why stick only with the neck? Just posting in the fourth of many threads about this "glorious" topic. Can't believe people are still talking about this :)