JFSOCC

Great topic. In KOTOR2 Kreia had some great dialogue, one when you ask her if she is a Sith, and she dismisses it as nothing but a title which does not encompass how she views the world. and when you can get a prestige class, and you can tell her what you want to be, and her response is something along the lines of "OK, then be that, all it is is a change in mindset" Classes exist as a way to frame different ways of playing the game, but also to balance that no one person can do everything in every way. That munchkin playing style which so often detracts from the experience you get by roleplaying. If you can limit the player's character options enough that no-one can do everything, then I suppose you could do away with classes from a gameplay perspective. But often the classes also define the world. From a narrative perspective having different classes can make sense.(but so can not having different classes) People in that world might be limited in options by what type of soul they have. letting the player play his character the way he or she wants to play on one side, a balanced game on the other. (and yes there might be other ways to balance the game) Having a party means you can compensate for shortfalls in your character, makes having a party more meaningful too. So yes, classes limit a player, but these limitations can make sense from a gameplay perspective and a narrative perspective. You simply can't have everything.

The problem with how KotOR2 handled alignment shifts is that, while it may have affected their appearances, what items they could use and how much Dark and Light Side force powers cost, it didn't change their personalities in the slightest. At least in BG2: Throne of Bhaal and DA:O when you converted someone to your way of thinking, it changed some of their dialogue. In DA:O, if you "hardened" Alistair, it could even have an impact on the ending. But it was bad that hardening was better, rather than different.

There's a couple of things that annoy me to no end in this. The first is the gaming company that sees players having fun and learning to do new things (drain health 1s vs damage health) and the company immediately decides the players must be stopped from having fun. Play it the way we intended and not the way you'd like! Much the same with acrobatics, Skyrim was filled with these platforms you can't jump to but have to go around, if you could jump like in oblivion or morrowind, you could bypass much of the caves (and miss out another 40 meters of corridor and 4 draugurs). But that'd have been fun! The second is the players, who remind me of little children with dolls. They go around twisting the head of the doll until it breaks, then they'll go crying their doll is broken. Yeah, you can probably break a freeform game in some way. But who the hell told you to smith 4000 iron daggers in the first place? Your exploiting the game and then complain when the balance breaks! Don't break the balance unless you want it broken! ---- Not meant as a personal attack, but as a general rant. No idea how Pipyui plays ES games. I know I liked my "damage self 1pt" fire spell practice, followed by !heal self 1pt" restoration practice. But I didn't damn well complain afterwards it was too easy to level up. I agree with the first, not the second.

That's about the absolute basics though, the interface. That would still tell you nothing about the game. (except that it has traps)

peragus WAS a tutorial, but it was so good and subtle that you didn't notice. It introduced you to the item system, made you earn a level to show you how you level up (and tied it into the story) and introduced you to the party. There were sections with other party members to explain you could control them too, and that they had different skillsets. It had obstacles you could overcome in different ways, which demonstrated that you could play in various ways. Peragus was a good tutorial

All the swamps I've ever been in or near in RL are neither spooky nor oppressive. They're just soggy and filled with bugs the size of your head. Not to mention a ****load of other things that bite you, including but not limited to snakes, alligators, turtles, and leeches. Swamps shouldn't be eerie and dark and ****. They should be DISGUSTING. I did enjoy the swamps they had in kourna in guild wars (nightfall) they weren't eerie, nor disgusting, they felt alive.

So the word-choice isn't ideal. This is a discussion forum and so far discussion has been pretty good. Obviously this forum functions as a type of barometer for the developers to take inspiration from, not copy directly. If you disagree with OP, argue the point.

sequelitis is awesome, it's a shame he hasn't posted for a while

What's it matter what other people do; it's a single player game. And I want it to be a good single player game. How are you gonna talk about the psychology of people and then say that's a good idea; all it will do is cause people to "rest" in a spot for 10 months. No it won't, because it is fairly superfluous, and most people won't know about it until they are confronted by it. Also it'll come whether they wait for it or not.

I watched "Fist of legend" today with some friends. Atrocious atrocious movie. With mediocre kung-fu to boot. Had a great time.

I love my pig friend and the world he came from, a small mining planet in system 4

"Self regulation" is the biggest joke of the last few decades. It doesn't work and it never will. You've got to understand the psychology of people. WHY do people do what they do. after you know that you can build around that. I *really* like the idea of having festivals on certain calendar days. places in town would be dressed up and the streets would be filled with revelers. some non-essential quests could be partnered with it, but for me just the idea that the world is alive and goes on and does things without me is already cool. having people's banter change in the days before a festival, having an altered map in the city during a festival and then some different banter after the festival before turning to normalcy would be really really nice. Especially if all of this is non-coercive and doesn't care whether you participate or not. that would be really immersive.

I think investigation quests are popular here because they give the player the feeling that they are not on a pre-set path, but are finding things out themselves. this is of course very immersive.

Would be cool if I could share knowledge, and that something I made would be used around me and known as "JFSOCC's nasty trick" or some such.

I've discussions with my friends. Sometimes I even convince them Should their behaviour change as a result? yes. I love folk music.

that was an interesting read. And I agree. I'd enjoy it if the the nature of the dungeon changes per level. With a labyrinth in there, a cult of survivors who lost access to the surface trying to make a living. I also like the idea that "once upon a time this place had a function other than what it is currently used for" As you progress you learn more and more about the nature of the dungeon. I'd enjoy it if this was done visually, and not (just) through text. As for what the nature of the dungeon is, well, that could be anything. Ancient passageways that connect places on the surface, the prison of a dead god, and ancient fortress submerged by cataclysm, a prison, a place to conduct dangerous experiments where the fallout could be contained (psychotic hallucinations in the place where containment failed!) a mine for an ever so valuable mineral (but they dug too deeply and too greedily) a temple, or all of the above. and that's just the unoriginal ones.

I enjoyed the non-urgent way morrowind went about introducing you to the world. You got told "There's this guy here, he'll help you out and set you on your way" but you could just ignore him if you wanted to, and find your own way through the game. I don't actually want the sense of urgency. I want to explore my story as much as I want to explore the game's story. There are different ways to motivate a player to move on, but standing behind a player and poking him with a stick saying "you really got to get a move on" isn't going to earn my love.

I'm shamelessly bumping this because I put a lot of effort into this idea and I hope it gets at least some discussion.

I see easter eggs as evidence of polish. If you have enough time to put them in, clearly you've been polising the game.

Warm and vibrant in colour. So I like deserts, jungles, fetid swamps, mediteranean forests. I don't mind a fair amount of fantasy props like fireflies on crack to make things more colourful. Obviously there is MUCH MUCH more that I like... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3939576566016.2166994.1177976320&type=3&l=3a3c19016c I absolutely despair of cold in games despite how pretty it can be. it's tiem for something else, if I had my way. it's the reason I didn't play icewind dale when it came out, why neverwinter(1) didn't get my love and why I stayed away from skyrim.

So, I'm usually against timed quests. the reason why I am not dismissing it out of hand is because I've seen it done right, in Beyond Good and Evil there's an occasional timed objective, it's rare and makes sense in the setting.

I guess I'm a tree hugging hippie, but don't you think the world will be so much more beautiful visually if nature is vibrant and colourful around us in this game?

please leave dead threads lie.

I think this is the right time to lock the thread.