Marceror

They totally owe your hyperbole ridden thread a detailed response. I'm sure they've got a team of people working on that right now!

See title

Regarding treads:

The penalization is really just cosmetic. All they did was shift were zero was over the previous system. It's still truly just an increasing bonus level from attribute value 3 on up.

Really, you can still pledge and back the game? I thought it was preorders only at this point.

Hey Justin, I'm not sure if you're still watching this thread. But I want to say that I just launched the backer beta and listened to the main theme again. In spite of my previous statement that I didn't think the song was worthy of being the main theme, today, for the first time, I'm starting to "get it". It took a while, and I'm not sure if that's such a good thing, but the tune is growing on me as the main theme for the game. Just thought I'd share.

Right, but I thought this thread was about the new talents specifically.

You're wrong. E.g. Cipher has a talent that increases the points gained from attacking. That's not a new talent.

I don't think that's overly likely. Some of the most creative minds in the gaming biz are working on this game, and they've had many years of ideas since PST. I'm expecting plenty of new ideas. Take The Bloom for example. It sounds very different from anything in PST. Same goes for the crises system and tides. The castoff idea I suppose has some similarities, but it's also appears to be quite different. I think we want at least some similarities, but a copy and paste? Doubtful.

They weren't actually. No unique ones anyway. The increased attack speed on Dex was direct from your paper -- even though Josh claimed to have the same revelation on the same day you shared it. Adding deflection as a stat that can be increased by attributes, even if it ended up with attached to a different attribute (Int rather than Resolve) is something that I think you guys should get credit for.

Except that it's terrible for Barbarians, Fighters and Monks. Which is failing the stated design goals. Deflection seems like a pretty important stat for frontliners. The higher their deflection the less likely they'll get hit, and the more staying power they'll have, in theory at least. Particularly for barbarians, the AoE size seems pretty important, since most of their attacks are AoEs. Might not be a stat that I max out, but don't think I'd dump it to 3 by any stretch.

Deflection is pretty good. Not necessary if you're going to be a back line caster, but you still might want the increased time to your abilities. I still probably wouldn't want to drop it down 3.

Want to increase the size of your... JES post viewing?

OMG, I must be tired. That was supposed to be "tank" not take.

I don't see a single stat that I'd want to take, for any type of character really. Well done. I particularly like the idea of increasing attack range from perception.

One thing I don't see is any indication that the stability of the game after loading from a save has been improved. Improvements here are sorely needed. Should we still expect weirdness after loading a save, such as characters having equipment glued to the bottom of their feet?

So glad he made the comment about saved games. My heart was otherwise about to drop. But its okay if saved games get wiped because then it gives you a chance to play the game again and learn all new things? Isn't that part of the fun of gaming I've played the Arizona stuff 4 times already during the beta. I'm enjoying my fifth run through, but I'm living to get to LA. I play slowly and completely. If I had to start over at the beginning again, that would seriously suck! I scheduled a 4 day weekend for myself last weekend, and played for a good portion of that, and only got hallway through Arizona. I still have a ways to get to L.A. I will probably take Steam offline just to be safe.

Surprised that the priest has only x3 multiplier for its health. I've always seen them as being a bit more tanky. What was the reasoning for putting them down at the same level as the wizard? Is this to promote the stand back and fire a gun idea that was promote during the KS campaign?

I love the changes made to attributes. Best idea I've seen yet. Happy to see some of Matt and Sensuki's ideas were adopted!

I may not get to play this anytime soon, but did want to say thanks for the efforts just the same.

Obsidian seems to put a plan in place, and stays the course, which is respectable. inXile, on the other hand, seems to be a lot more fluid about adding content, extending release dates and finding creative ways to procure additional funding. I like the inXile approach. Jury's still out on the Obsidian approach.

So glad he made the comment about saved games. My heart was otherwise about to drop.

Crushed. I wouldn't have said anything if it was just a single post like that. But TWO posts on the same page with only some form of "LOL" as text, and only those two posts, deserved a comment.

I agree that Shogun 2 was excellent, and surprisingly stable. I also loved RotS, and feel that FotS was the best campaign of the 3. Really, Fall of the Samurai just hit all the right notes with me. I think a primary reason for that title being so solid is the limited scope of that game... it's also one of the things that draws a lot of criticism. But I feel that CA often tries to take on too much with their games, and the games suffer because of it. Well, after a year of patching they may get *close* to the expected level of quality - and then you've got something pretty great - but the process of getting there can be very painful for the fans.

Well, yes, they continue to reuse a particular formula, but it's a formula that is rather awesome and worth repeating. I know their games are less than perfect, particularly at release. But how long has Rome II been out, and it is still regularly being patched and improved. The other day I just got something called Rome 2 emperor edition downloaded for free. I've had my frustrations with CA as well, but unless or until someone can do it as well or better than them, they are going to continue to get my money. I've played every Total War title since the original Rome, and I cherish each and every one of them. Exactly, it's an awesome formula that no other game is able to compete with. So all they have to do is keep making the same game with minor improvements. Instead, you had entirely braindead AI which is willing to sit outside your gates and get bombarded, randomly break their own line, walk into concentrated fire, etc. (MTW2, Empire, Rome 2); a diplomacy screen which might as well not exist since MTW2 and arguably before; increasingly mod-unfriendly game code sucking the life out of a vibrant mod sector which was willing to go to unimaginable lengths to fix their mistakes; and more. I complained but still bought each time, too, until I realised that I had magnitudes more fun with older iterations, which I could still play at any time, and half the time spent playing the new ones was time spent pretending it is a better and not worse game. I don't disagree. But I know that the situation is more complicated than it appears on the surface. A lot of it boils down to the environments becoming a lot more complex. If you look at settlements in Medieval 2, they are all flat. In Rome 2 they are anything but. So the path finding that required for the AI to get siege towers and ladders to the wall properly is miles more complicated than it was in M2. And this problem caused other game mechanics, like AI to break. This was buggy as he'll at release, but on the one hand I'm happy to see them continuing to push the bar. And happy to see that CA continues to support and improve their games over time. Maybe waiting 6 months to a year after release is the smartest move. And yes, these far more complicated maps make modding a lot more complicated. It's unfortunate, but understandable in certain respects.