Xienzi
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Posts posted by Xienzi
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A fox would be nice.
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For main story and sidequests, I'll probably use companions. For generic adventuring and crafting, I'll probably use custom created characters.
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I want more natural caves to explore and loot. Also more wilderness areas, yeah. That would be nice. Companions can come later.
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@firstarioach
You're one helluva wide-eyed idealist. Good man. However, I have to say like so many others before me, that while a PS4 port isn't impossible, it most likely just won't happen.
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I wonder if we'll be able to use flying-type companions to transport written messages to and from places.
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Both are awful ideas.
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Being able to catch and switch out animals would be kind of nice, but there are all kinds of problems with that.
For one, how you would access your past friends. If you so choose to have the stronghold and have the animal's affection at a specific number, you could it stay around the keep while you go make more animal friends. If you don't have a stronghold, you could instead release them back into the wild and they'd return to the map you acquired the beast on.
Then there is the problem of soul-bonding. Perhaps it is something that you can create and break at will, but at the same time a feature one would be hesistant to break so easily? I kind of imagine it being similar to wit-bonding in that sense. If this was used, then what kind of penalties would the Ranger suffer for changing companions?
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Those drake bones seem quite devoid of any growth...
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^ Looks like Age of Decadence to me.
I would guess that you are correct.
Hmmm. That looks fun.
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I always make sure I pick up every single book I come across and take it with me. In that regard, I hope we can carry them in bookbags.
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My only concern is if the optional adventures for idle members can also be group activities or if they'll be restricted to solo missions. Giving the option to send them out in small groups would, I imagine, increase the yield for any gathering missions or in the case of npc-related quests, increase the chances of a successful escort/rescue mission.
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I personally would like it if the mechanic would be, say, you're in a town and you have a thief. You could take control of that character and go on heists using nothing but the environment(torches, lanterns, trees) and whatever tools you brought with you in your kit. So potentially you could get through a nobleman's mansion using stunguns, grappling hooks, lockpicks, and other things to get to the real treasure.
...But then you have to consider how many of these you can implement and whether or not it's worth the time and effort.
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I used to hoard gemstones in the IE games for no other reason than I liked to imagine just having a huge vault of gems. And don't even get me started on the contents of my car boot in Fallout 2.
I certainly hope precious stones, rings and the like will make it in, and while some sort of collection or wealth representation system would be nice, I don't mind roleplaying their inclusion by just keeping them in the stronghold.
With a fully modded BG game, I ended up running around with several bookbags, gem bags, and potion bags all filled with their respective items.
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Hiro, it doesn't matter if they *have* to be there or not. What matters is the fact that their mere presence seems to bother you (which is fine). Many people, I think, just really don't care if words or phrases are asterisked, italicized, bolded, etc now and then ... some people may actually find them additive if used judiciously and only find them annoying if used every other word. Other people may find any use of bold, or (parathesis) or colored text as irritating and unneeded as you find asterisks.
You seem to keep harping on the whether not they're needed at all, period, simply because you want them gone. To you they're not needed, because you don't like them/they do nothing and add nothing for you. That may not be true for everyone on the planet, however. It is not a logical thing and trying to reduce it to such seems kind of pointless. So let's just say you have your preferences on what you think is "needed" and annoying ... can we drop this sub-topic now/move on?
Okay. I'll *move* on, *because* writing like *this* with *astericks* and *italics* obviously *doesn't* bother *anyone* here and *they* like this *type* of *format* in *their* games..
It's like you're constantly changing voice pitches between library-quiet-floor level and Elvis concert level.
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I'd like to point out that if it weren't for italics, species nomenclature would be so much more complicated.
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Well, the first thing I noticed is that the enemies are looking straight at the door. Were they performing a ceremony of some sort just before?
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why so much focus on romance i would rather have a feeling of getting somewhere with my companions friendships
Yeah, romance should be one of the very last things to be worked on.
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IV. So it would just be a mesh between Sim City and Warcraft/Starcraft? I'm fine with that. In fact, aside from that, I do think your idea's certainly making good use of the time-gating mechanic. The part about having quests only open up after a certain level of upgrading, I mean. Perhaps your stronghold could be a temporary home for refugees of some village while you go clear the area and make the land safe? Stuff like that would be neat.
V. I dislike the idea of having a skill that summons a band of NPCs to fight with you, even more if they are generics. If you had the opportunity to create that personal squad of bodyguards with the Hall, though, that idea doesn't sound quite so bad. Also, I don't really like the idea of having them pop out of nowhere. Maybe the research into a portal stones could be a stronghold option that then unlocks the skill to call upon them? Other than those two issues, I like the idea.
VI. I actually like the idea of training villagers and party members. If in addition to that and after returning from training that party member could act as your personal crafter that you can request jobs from, that would be super. Expanding on the idea of researching portal stones in V, jobs like researching those kinds of magical devices or weapons that can cleave the earth could act as EXP troves for the lower-leveled characters. Furthermore, that would actually give reason to make a character or use an existing npc for the sole purpose of crafting and would give added permanent gameplay bonuses to investing in leveling up a different character.
For V, I meant for the stronghold's army / security force to be a completely separate mechanic from the personal security.
The stornghold forces would be upgraded in mass. Say you have archers, infantry and cavalry. You could equip each one through a simple, generic interface. Maybe like a tiered progression. For example, infantry start out with normal weapons and armour - say chainmail and a longsword. You could upgrade to +1, then +2, however bonuses work. And perhaps even take them from chainmail to splint mail, plate mail, full plate, etc. The only change you would see is maybe their color, and you would have a card that you could view which showed each type of troop's stats. As far as actual fighting goes, it would be like a RTS where the outcome is calculated and you see the results after. Bigger bonuses insure less casualties, and allow you to have more battles without much recovery time to rebuild the army. I pictured it being a fairly simplistic system so it doesn't require an impossible amount of resources to include in a game. It is essentially a meta game gold sink after all.
The personal security force I envisioned being more customizable. Like a small group of npcs you could give left over items to, and which would use them in battle as the AI permits. How they get into and out of battle could be upgradable I suppose, where initially you have restricted access to them and later gain the ability for them to join instantly.
I don't know specifics on either of these, either mechanic could work in a total different manner, all that matters is they function as a gold sink. I'm sure Obsidian will cook up something that satisfies, and I would wager it will be drastically different than anything I suggested. I'm looking forward to seeing what they came up with!
Aha! Now I see what you mean. Yeah, that'd be neat.
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But, like we could in Neverwinter, will be be able to run around with a mini-army if we wanted to through non-standard means? Well, that's an idea for when everything else is complete.
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IV. Stronghold
I think this is probably the best, but I understand how the opt in nature of it is problematic. But strongholds hold so many promising opportunities...
From improving your keep itself, to making the surrounding land more livable should it be on an estate, strongholds give an excellent opportunity to investing vast amounts of money. I liked the estate in Assassin's Creed III, and it would be interesting to see RPG's implement a variation of this. It would be cool to build up a town with an inn, tavern, smithy, windmill, apothecary, butcher, map maker / book binder, stable, tailor, bakery, and merchant post; and spend your money helping train your townsfolk and make them more productive / happy. Something like that would be a treasure trove of quests and can't wait to see it in a game one day.
This could be done in the most elaborate way, where you can interact with a beautiful city and really appreciate your work, or a more simplistic approach can be made, where you have a storekeeper in your keep that gives you access to more and more items, based on the proficiency of the townsfolk in a small village next to your fortress.
V. Army / Personal Security
Building up a small army for defending your stronghold would be great fun. I remember to this day when playing BG2: ToB, where you go after the drow and can go through the slave cave, you fight a huge army of duergar and orogs, and after killing them all, searching their bodies I think I got like 40 suits of +2 plate mail, +2 swords, and +2 crossbows... I remember thinking it would be cool to be able to use all of that gear for my soldiers at De'Arnise Keep.
I'm not suggesting outfitting individually of course, but being able to spend gold to equip your security with better and better weapons would be amazingly expensive and if there was just a simple card for each branch of your forces, showing what your archers, infantry and cavalry were equipped with, that would be satisfying. And should any conflicts ever happen, they would get the appropriate bonuses and even be capable of taking on more advanced enemies. Maybe the top tier would allow you to conquer a neighboring keep and expand your lands.
A personal security force? Seems kind of out there considering what a machine of destruction your party is, but say you are in a certain province or something, maybe you get a special ability button that allows you to call forth a small force of 4-10 NPCs that will teleport into the fight and hang around for a short period of time. They would require a lot of upkeep to feed and equip them, but maybe they can turn the tide or make some extremely tough fights just a little easier.
Maybe that personal security force would be a team you could send on missions to retrieve powerful items, recon areas, or even assassinate second tier and below NPC's that cross you or step on your shoes, whatever your character's threshold is.
VI. Training
This has two implications I'll list here... If #5 were in a game, you could spend money to train troops to learn skills or improve stats, and if #4 is implemented, perhaps you could sign your villagers up to apprentice under a master in their field in some far off land.
The second implication is for yourself. Say you don't like that your constitution is so low, or your level progression is so slow... Allow players to spend totally ridiculous sums of money to improve their character. You can high a gypsy sword master from some ancient, reclusive sect. Just getting an audience with them (say they travel to your keep) would be an unbelievable sum of money, and on top of that, you have to pay them for specific services once you have access to them. Want to gain a level? 5,000,000 gold please. Something that you wouldn't be able to afford using (without cheats) but a few times. And maybe even have them offer less expensive services that only offer temporary rewards.
IV. So it would just be a mesh between Sim City and Warcraft/Starcraft? I'm fine with that. In fact, aside from that, I do think your idea's certainly making good use of the time-gating mechanic. The part about having quests only open up after a certain level of upgrading, I mean. Perhaps your stronghold could be a temporary home for refugees of some village while you go clear the area and make the land safe? Stuff like that would be neat.
V. I dislike the idea of having a skill that summons a band of NPCs to fight with you, even more if they are generics. If you had the opportunity to create that personal squad of bodyguards with the Hall, though, that idea doesn't sound quite so bad. Also, I don't really like the idea of having them pop out of nowhere. Maybe the research into a portal stones could be a stronghold option that then unlocks the skill to call upon them? Other than those two issues, I like the idea.
VI. I actually like the idea of training villagers and party members. If in addition to that and after returning from training that party member could act as your personal crafter that you can request jobs from, that would be super. Expanding on the idea of researching portal stones in V, jobs like researching those kinds of magical devices or weapons that can cleave the earth could act as EXP troves for the lower-leveled characters. Furthermore, that would actually give reason to make a character or use an existing npc for the sole purpose of crafting and would give added permanent gameplay bonuses to investing in leveling up a different character.
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If, for example, I wanted to break the game by running around with a little army similar to NWN and NWN2, would the extra characters be put in the companion slot or just not have an icon in the UI? I'm left wondering. On that note, I really do think that should be one of the cheats available. In before people yell at me for wanting to have fun.
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I'm curious. I know going bare-fisted will be more advantageous than the sword, but will the same principle apply to other weapons associated with monks? The Bo comes to mind. Speaking of which, I wonder if we'll be getting fist-type weapons.
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That campfire makes me wonder if it'll be a bonus mechanic wherein you'll be less likely to be ambushed by mobs while resting near a source of light, like the aforementioned campfire or a street lamp.
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I'd like if some of it (obviously not things like "highest damage dealt") was kinda worked into the game world, rather than just plastered on a stats screen. Like "toughest enemy killed." Maybe you can bring heads back or something, and you can check with bards/gleemen in taverns, or just listen to gossip in the market to hear what people have to say about the knowledge of what all you've killed (sort of ties into reputation).I like having that, especially the most powerful enemy killed and how long they've been with the party and such things. Favoured weapon and spell are usually pretty obvious anyhow. To me, it's interesting to look back on every now and then, and it's an interesting record of what a character had done in the group when they die.
The other kind of record keeping could also come in handy. I don't usually take notes myself, but I know that some people do, and there have been one or two times that I might have done so had it been readily available.
That sounds too troublesome.
Tomes are lame
in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted · Edited by Xienzi
The only way I could see a Sorcerer in Pillars is if their spells used a different kind of Soul Arts that destroyed fragments of their own soul instead of just drawing from it or the environment. I don't think that would work very well, though.