Marceror

I have added a good amount of information from the AMA. I probably didn't find everything. I'll take another look at that, as my goal with the guide is to alleviate the need for multiple sources to be scanned - though it is important to provide references to those sources, so they can be easily found and checked. The Reddit format is a bit on the cumbersome side, but I'm okay with scouring it so that others don't have to.

I've been a bit slow with updates this week due to being slammed in real life, but I think I'm all caught up now. In addition to content updates, I also made some organizational changes. Namely, I have changed the video section into more of a timeline which now includes all Kickstarter updates since the beginning of the campaign until now. The full list of changes is in the update log: http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58186

I bet the folks over at The Elder Scrolls forums would have had the same reaction, called me a troll if I suggested that there might eventually be an MMO... but look what happened. Dude, I hate to say this but you are so transparent as a troller that it's not even funny. Just look at the dumb arse options you give in your poll: Yes, sounds awesome. I can't wait to throw my money at Obsidian! No, I don't like the sound of that at all, but I'd probably buy it anyway. Obvious troll fails to include an option for players who are against an MMO release and would never buy it, which is the option that is true for the vast majority of PE fans! Obvious troll is obvious. Obvious troll demonstrates severe troll failure. This thread should be closed, post haste!

NO, GOD NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mcmanusaur, your trolling attempts are now crystal clear!!

I actually was pretty cool. I became a nerdy computer geek after high school.

mcmanusaur, if you're such an ally of the larger folk, wouldn't it be fitting to refer to them with more polite terminology. Referring to someone as "fat" is somewhat derogatory. "Fat-ally" souds anything but sympathetic. How about big, heavy set, stout, or even over-weight? There are more polite ways to make your case. Just saying.

still can't tell if serious... Since I can't take him seriously with the forum icon he's using, I'm assuming he's not serious.

Not really.....COD is for a completely different audience than RPGs not made to accommodate them and this one certainly doesn't. The ADD shooter-spaz genre doesn't really mix with the RPG genre.....attempted mixtures result in catastrophe(see ME3 and DA2). I think you may be assuming too much here. First off, CoD does have a pretty good portion of the vote. I'm sure a good number of those votes are meant as jokes, but certainly not all of them. Not EVERYONE who plays a game like Call of Duty can be included in the the "shooter-spaz" genre. Some are folks who love playing war games, but that are "sophisticated" enough to play a more in depth RPG as well. No, they're all jokes. Even if one did love both COD and IE games (I personally love BFBC2), only a fool would actually genuinely think making an IE game like a shooter would be a good thing. Seriously dude, they're all jokes. So apparently you don't believe that there are any fools in the world? You must live in a very different world than I do.

Maybe a cameo by fat cartman would be appropriate, you know, for inspiration. "Follow your dreams. You can attain your goals. I'm living proof."

I'm sure there's a real point in this thread somewhere, but mostly I'm enjoying all the smiling that's happening to my face as I read the clever responses. Yes, this is a thread made of greasy, hi-calorie win!

To the OP: Your comments are all fair. I will say that it is best if you decide who you want your companions to be early, and stick with them. It's usually not a good idea to couple a lawful good paladin like Keldorn with an evil priestess like Viconia. You should try to stick with folks whose alignments are compatible. I do all of my side questing in chapter 2, because yeah, once you return to Athkatla in chapter 6 doing anything other than the main plot just feels wrong.

Since close to 40% of the population are voting for PST in the poll, I don't think you're as much of a minority as you think!

I happen to know some very savvy gamers who, in addition to enjoying old school RPGs, like to get together and do competitions in CoD. It's their let's drink beer and blow off steam gaming, which serves a different need for them than playing IE games or even older RPGs does. So yeah, such folk exist. For the record, I'm not one of them. I've never played CoD personally.

Not really.....COD is for a completely different audience than RPGs not made to accommodate them and this one certainly doesn't. The ADD shooter-spaz genre doesn't really mix with the RPG genre.....attempted mixtures result in catastrophe(see ME3 and DA2). I think you may be assuming too much here. First off, CoD does have a pretty good portion of the vote. I'm sure a good number of those votes are meant as jokes, but certainly not all of them. Not EVERYONE who plays a game like Call of Duty can be included in the the "shooter-spaz" genre. Some are folks who love playing war games, but that are "sophisticated" enough to play a more in depth RPG as well.

With as popular as COD is, I'm betting there's a ton of fans of that game who are also excited about PE, and even backers. The idea that PE should be "like" CoD is a pretty dramatic stretch (to put in very mildly), but I see no reason why fans of that game necessarily wouldn't be interested in this game.

then why is COD3 in there? That would be Obsidian's sense of humor.

I imagine that Arcanum isn't in the poll because Obsidian does not intend to make a game like Arcanum this time around. So there's no point in asking fans if we want a game like it, because they're not planning to make that game anyway. Just a hunch.

I remember Feargus stating on the KS comments page that they'd be doing some fancy accounting stuff to avoid getting taxed for all of this money this year. The will likely defer receipt of much of it until they need to spend it.

And yet it was so much better than ToEE. How anyone thinks that piece of drek compares to the other games listed is beyond me. ToEE had only one thing going for it: it had the most faithful rendition of D&D combat mechanics. Other than that it was just a buggy boring PoS. A lot of the continued longevity and love for ToEE stems from the Circle of Eight mods. Co8 has addressed so many bugs, added gameplay, and just generally allowed the game to reach much closer to its potential. It's definitely worth a look, if you like the game's design, but want to see improved stability.

I enjoy IWD2, and have played it through to completion several times. I particularly enjoy creating full back stories for my party and each character, so I can create the motivations that my team has when the game doesn't give them to me to the level that I would like to see. {Slight Spoiler Alert} That said, I have to acknowledge that the story does lose much of it's credibility as you progress through the game. I still find it infuriating that at the end of act II, Oswald and Nathaniel just ditch the party like so much garbage in their airship. This results in the party having to face some of the worst dangers of the game (angry barbarians, dragons, haunted forests, and the Underdark (among others)! And then, when we finally do make it to Kuldahar, Nathaniel has the nerve to question how long it took us to get there!!!!! Screw you buddy! Next time wait an extra 5 minutes and let us ride in the airship with you!! {/Slight Spoiler Alert} That said, I read that Josh wrote the entire story in a single weekend, so it's not surprising that it wasn't a complete, end to end, masterpiece. It still makes for a helluva fun dungeon crawl though!

In reality, the poll is pretty simplistic, as polls often are. Each game has particular elements, only some of which I'd necessarily want to see used as a strong inspiration for PE. That's why I posted earlier to explain some of the specific elements I'd like to see from IWD and ToEE. As for Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, they can take inspiration from just about anything in those games as far as I'm concerned (except for the pathfinding). I feel similarly about Torment, but as much as I love that game, Baldur's Gate has always been the clear favorite for me. For PE, I'd like to see more conventional stuff done (a la BG) vs. the utterly rare and bizarre (a la PST). It's been such a long time since we've had a new "IE-like" game that I feel it's best to start with something that most folks will "get". Once PE becomes wildly popular, and Obsidian decides to devote the next decade to creating only this type of RPG (or at least, makes this type their core focus), then they can let Avellone loose to do another "I hate RPG conventions" type game, which will be the spiritual successor to PST! You hear that Obsidian! I've got big plans for you for the next 10 years or so!!

Voted for the BGs, because those are my all time favorites. But I'd like to see plenty of PST influence also. I'd also like to see the character options and control of IWD2 and ToEE, and combat mechanics on par with ToEE. If the art direction is largely inspired by IWD2, that's certainly okay too. CoD, sure, how about some CoD toilet paper that I can use to clean up with after taking a bio break... following a good long play session of PE! Just send that with my Collector's Edition game. See, I included it all!

I forgive you, but only because you are a vorpal panzerfaust.

ToEE had this as well. When you selected a character to add them to your party, you could see how many rerolls were required to get those 4 18s!

You're making quite an assumption with the comment I put in bold. Have you ever played Baldur's Gate? Or Temple of Elemental Evil, for that matter? In Baldur's Gate you rolled your stats, but you could reallocate your attribute points however you wanted. You got a 6 STR for your fighter and an 18 INT? No problem, lower your fighter's INT to 6, and raise the Strength to 18. Or, just reroll a few times and wait for an overall better set of values. In ToEE you could roll your stats as an option. The game allowed you to assign your rolls to whatever attribute you wished. Your thief ended up with 10 INT and 18 WIS? No problem, just swap the values. If the option to roll stats is given, I'd say it's highly doubtful that you'll be unable to adjust your rolls in a manner similar to those I describe above.