JFSOCC

I would like to know more about factions.

Marry me.

I disagree. If someone invests in crafting, they should be rewarded for their effort. Why shouldn't you be able to get something cool from crafting? And it's not supplanting loot, it's supplementing it. You could say, I want to eat the cake and have it too ;-). I want to craft and get something cool out of crafting and still have fun finding loot. What I am against is that crafting can do nearly everything you can find in the wild (as it was done in NWN2 for example). Since you could craft bastard sword+4 flaming as well as long sword+4 flaming it wasn't necessary for the designers to make sure that both weapons were found as loot. yeah, I disagree. I think crafting shouldn't be nerfed just because some believe that the coolest loot has to come from enemies. I want to go through the effort of making a weapon which is an extension of myself. One which defines my playstyle and isn't inferior to that piece of junk you pulled from a corpse. Again I disagree. I don't think progression should be gear based any way, it should be character based. But regardless, it could be just as difficult crafting something as it could be finding something.

yeah, when I read that a character might only specialise in about two skills, alarm bells were going off. But since I have little information to go on, we'll see.

Someone has been watching Justice. Excellent series btw, wholly recommend it. Michael Sandel is fantastic.

Thanks Bruce, I try. I noticed I haven't actually given my answer. So, it used to be that I had no faith in my own skills and I'd play on easy, but I've moved beyond that in recent years. I'll play on Normal, I will not play expert mode because while some helper information may influence your decision making, some helper information will actually help you understand what you're doing. I also didn't want to pick trial of Iron, though, I've seen some good arguments for it in this thread. And I may give it a try, as long as it doesn;t mean I have to rebuild the character if I want to try again (from the start) So a character export/import function would be appreciated. I will look at the optional settings before I play, for one I'll see if I can turn friendly fire off. Not because it makes the game easier (though it does) but because otherwise some spells and abilities maybe completely uninteresting to me. As for my "bonus question" I would think it really cool if someone made a video playthrough playing at the hardest possible difficulties, and adding handicaps if they feel it's not hard enough. (arbitrary stuff like, don't use merchants, only pick up what you get from loot) And for the last Bonus question. I do want to be able to adjust difficulty settings mid game. I may find I'm not as good as I think I am, or better. It may be that a setting I've chosen irks me, and I think I should be able to decide what kind of experience I'm getting throughout the game. So I do hope I can alter difficulty settings even after game start. (and tbh, I expect I can)

You asked your expert friend about the early 16th century? I did. His specialisation is ancient greek military history, for which he's working on his PHD, but he's quite knowledgeable about the early renaissance period too.

We simulate internet forums in-game. I guarantee you it is quite challenging to win an argument on an internet forum. But fun if you manage.

Agreed! There could be many reasons for something to be contraband, including economical reasons. (No sugar from South America in the Netherlands, it would crash the internal sugar market; or... All ships carrying pepper will lose it, by order of some merchant king) Something might be fine in one place and illegal elsewhere.

Except for longbowmen. And crossbowmen - especially arbalesters - including mounted crossbowmen. And horse archers of the Steppe people - especially Mongolians. And Seljuk noble cavalry. Come on, this is a pretty broad generalization - especially considering the period P:E is emulating is the early 16th century. This is the era of arquebus and arbalest, which are both pretty good at killing people dead. I asked my expert friend because I wasn't buying it either, but it turns out he's totally right.

I believe I read a while back that there might be multiple currencies in Eternity, I'd like the idea of different prices for the same goods in different currencies, as some goods may be valued differently in different places. It would not immediately be obvious which place offers the best deal. One place may offer you quite a healthy sum for something, but have comparatively high prices. Finding ways to exchange currencies for decent rates could be a challenge. Players who don't want to go through the motions will get decent prices, and players who want to gain every advantage can work out lists and move from place to place. Add some exclusivity to certain items (trade embargoes, contraband status of certain items, lack of a market for some items) and you've got the makings of some challenge gameplay. (Smuggling items) The rewards should be small enough that it doesn't break the game, and large enough that it's fun for those who don't mind the effort. A city under siege may for instance seize any weapons you have "for defence" but if you can bypass them you could sell them for inflated prices in a wartime economy. Of course, the currency itself may suffer from hyperinflation because of the siege. A frontier town may be interested in more practical goods and have no interest in heavy plate. I think this is probably one of the hardest things to make a fun and challenging part of the game, rather than a strictly utilitarian mechanic.

This is one of those topics I usually refuse to get drawn into. When I joined these forums the topic was already worn and I decided not to get involved. But I do have some wub for Visas Marr

I usually play rogue. She tries to maintain a friendly and dependable outward appearance while calculating what will get her the greatest advantage. Her philanthropy garners her allies and friends, favours. But if she really want something, she'll fluff you up. Longtime friendships are more valuable than gold, and she'll invest in them, it's the only thing bypassing the selfish nature of my rogue character.

I disagree. If someone invests in crafting, they should be rewarded for their effort. Why shouldn't you be able to get something cool from crafting? And it's not supplanting loot, it's supplementing it.

I did feel the same way about that. There were alternatives to be considered, rather than just "abort"

Hmm, Im not so sure about that. If weve learned anything from prior "degenerative gameplay" discussions its that apparently most players are utterly incapable of controlling their actions and will always take the path of least resistance or whatever rewards the best loot, even if it destroys their own enjoyment of the game. If the only way to get those boss gauntlets is to pry them off his cold dead fingers then that's what everyone will do. the solution is to offer mutually exclusive loot for the different solutions. The combat solution gets loot which helps out in combat, a stealth solution gives you an item which will be helpful in stealth. Not all solutions have to be equally rewarding, but there should never be an obvious "right" answer.

From the IGN wiki for P:E If I could have polled more questions, I'd have asked if there are those with a personally imposed handicap for difficulty. And whether you'd use the ability to change difficulty settings during the game.

This is what crafting could be useful for.

Here's how I see it. A mechanic got announced. Many saw issues with its implementation, they proceeded to point it out. the feedback was read and considered after consideration, the mechanic got altered. Now a few of those who had not spoken against the original implementation start whining "Ooh, you pander to the majority, the game will start being made for the lowest common denominator Except that Obsidian has held its own vision against a majority opinion before, and it's a slippery slope fallacy "Oh you pander to the vocal minority, their voice is not representative of the majority opinion" Ignoring the arguments made by the 'vocal minority', ignoring that it's not a democracy, ignoring the STATEMENT made my Josh Sawyer that after listening to the feedback and arguing it over with the other devs that the development team came to the conclusion themselves. Ignoring the fact that you have NO ****ING IDEA how representative the 'vocal minority' is or isn't. Although, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's going to be about the same percentages of forumgoers as it is the percentages of backers. There are a few here who seem to feel that their opinion must be the majority opinion, that their opinion must be the design, and who have trouble accepting that not everyone can be pleased all the time. Instead of praising obsidian for listening and responding to feedback, you give them grief because they don't do what you want. Which is pretty much the definition of whining. If you truly believe durability should stay in, you have had ample space to argue what makes it such a good mechanic. But I don't see those arguments, the arguments I say are against the decision making process, rather than about the mechanic. It sounds like a bunch of people are upset that they didn't get what they want, even though they didn't know they wanted it until update 58 was released. You can't please everyone all the time. TBH I would have preferred a different crafting system altogether. But I'm ok with this.

that would be a nice feature for crafting: breaking down magic items into magical components. So fictional example: "Fists of Fury" (spiked knuckles which give increased attack speed and a little fire damage) could be broken down into the components "brass" "Speed component" "fire component" And then the recipes for crafting would allow you to say combine 4 fire components to make a more powerful fire component called "flame component" These components could be added to weapons or other items, giving a similar effect but differing by type of item. The higher your crafting skill, the more components you can salvage by breaking down items, the less you need for a recipe, the more recipes you have, the less expensive it becomes to add components to a weapon or item. (IE, say at crafting 1 it costs 1 component for 1 upgrade, 8 for 2 upgrades, and 32 for 3 upgrades added to your weapon. at crafting level 5 it costs 1 component for 1 upgrade, 3 for 2 upgrades, 14 for 3 upgrades.) With crafting no magic item would ever be trash, because you could always break it down for useful components. That's how I would have implemented crafting, or something along those lines.

maybe they can give new meaning to soul food.

There have been large numbers protesting other features which didn't get changed because of it. How do you explain that?

I loved how it could customise weaponry to your preference. For instance, My lightsabers were heavily focused on reflection. I could easily have gone for more damage instead, or focus on more armour penetration. Yes, the only thing I didn't like about the KOTOR2 Crafting system was the interface. lists are... not always easy to oversee.

What I'm concerned about is that there is a very loud minority of backers who I think originate mostly from a few hubs on the net and who will continue to try and take influence on the design. While my own preferences and theirs may align in some points, this is certainly not true for everything. <snip> You have a forum account and typing skills. I'm going to assume you know how to state your arguments. So, you have a voice. I'm sure that if you disagree with others, you are perfectly capable of arguing against their points. -- We should have more controversy sometimes, it brings some activity and inspiration to the forums

I guess that's because the decision was based on arguments, not popularity. Edit: oh, and I believe that if you don't speak up, you don't get listened to. If you were passionate enough to care, argue your position and post it.