Thangorodrim

As long as they have a girdle of Storm Giant Strength I am all for this one

Yes ... I remember that game ... I still have the manual stuffed in a box somewhere ... actually if we went with a game where the main character isn't Destiny's Child (hmmmm ... why does that sound familiar ) as some people want ... then this approach would actually work quite well ... although it would have to be managed for balance

Age in most of these games is window dressing at best ... it would be interesting for a game to have different age characters that actually affect game play (different sets of skills and reactions from NPCs) ... too much programming work to pull off though ... since most RPGs are a year or so of game time at most the age wouldn't really make too much difference unless there are some special quests where the "endurance" of the youngsters outweighs the "experience" of their elders

A couple of interesting types of encounters I liked in Oblivion was the athletics trainer who was always out running on the roads ... kinda funny to watch her run on by ... although it wasn't as much fun when you actually needed her and were trying to find her ... I also liked the guards wandering around in the wilderness ... it was interesting to watch them fighting with bears or monsters (a good safe way to loot a dead guard or dead monster or both if the monster killed the guard first ) ... the random encounters I didn't like so much were when characters needed for quests were wandering around and got themselves killed (before you got their quests) ... I am not a big fan of the SNAFU (unless I caused it myself, in which case I can take my medicine ) One other interesting Oblivion random encounter was if you left your mage castle unlocked up on the mountain and went out adventuring you'd come back to find it full of bandits ... and I mean FULL ... there were about 6-8 of them throughout the building and you had to go hunt them all down ... an interesting encounter and penalty for forgetting to lock your door

I like the idea of YOUR NPCs having quest preferences and possibly forcing you to accept or deny quests that align or violate those preferences or they leave or betray you ... I am okay with timed quests (if they are identified as such) and the timing is realistic and accurate ... if they say I have 5 days and I come 4 days later and find it is over I would be perturbed ... however, I think if you were constantly competing with forces unknown for every quest that would become annoying for most players (it certainly would for me) and they/I would not enjoy the game That said, it might be interesting to have a competing group for a small subset of quests and that you can ignore them, race them for the quests, or remove them from the competition (aka KILL THEM bahahaha )

Although I would love to have the fortress have some small city-like features ... I really want the two big cities and all the quests that could go with that ... depending on their proximity and composition we could end up with competing guilds ... warring city states ... all kinds of good things that aren't possible with only one big city ... I would love to see our fortress turn into a smaller city though (if we invested the time and money to develop it )

No, just no. China did not have "the printing press 400 years before Gutenberg". By that argument you could say that 4th century Egypt had the printing press. The printing press of Gutenberg was not the printing press of Bi Sheng (a movable type press). Gutenberg's invention was high quality, durable, and created uniform printing. It allowed faster printing and creation of books than any previous invention. To put it another way, there were cars before Henry Ford, but it took Henry Ford to make them quickly and cheaply. Foul Knave ... ye would use my own words against me ... taste the steel of my iron quill ... hmmmm, that doesn't quite have the right ring to it My point was that project eternity is NOT set in our pre-renaissance it is in a parallel universe of sorts ... or a mythical Hyborian Age (if you prefer the Robert E Howard approach) ... Western history was colored by two very unique events ... the destruction of the Minoan civilization (that gave rise to many of our myths concerning Atlantis) and the dark ages that resulted after the destruction of the Roman Empire ... in a world without those events it might be possible to land a spaceship on Alpha Centauri in the 1500's (at least of my Civ games are an indicator ) Books provide an easy and inexpensive way to add depth to a game ... some of the alternate ideas presented are also interesting but books are easy ... and there is a lengthy fantasy tradition of books in "primitive" cultures ... Hyboria (Conan) ... Middle Earth (those Hobbits would have worn my iron quill to a nub ) ... and many others ... SO THERE

I was planning to get my characters healed at the Temple of the Mysterious Dr Pepper ... I understand your characters leave there refreshed and satisfied Of course, if we all do our jobs and troll the net extolling the virtues of Project Eternity then the site reviews might not matter as much or all those gaming hipsters will want to jump on OUR bandwagon

People are also judging the availability of books based on a European perspective ... If we consider that china had the printing press 400 years before Gutenberg, then lots of books are not impossible ... The Mideast also had superior art and sciences to Europeans of that time ... If you don't constrain yourself with some of our history (destruction of Minoan civilization and dark ages) then you have a lot more flexibility

I like the idea of encounters as you described that give the world depth and a feeling of being fleshed out, but I don't know if they need to be "random" .... the situations you describe actually match the landscape of the game and I would prefer they be fixed in location ... the firewood example especially would be especially moving and powerful if it was only in one village in a remote part of the map, rather than cropping up in every village on the map based on random chance I would also love to see time based events (depending on how time is managed in the game) ... things that only appear at the full moon or new moon or such ... they give a little challenge to discover them, even if they are only filler to give the game depth If there were truly random events that could appear anywhere then I would prefer them to either only appear once (and then be removed from the random list) or fit into some sort of urban mythology that you could later discover the "true" event that all the other items are based on or flow from ... in general, an interesting idea and I definitely approve of it

Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater with the whole realism thing ... your character is literate, if for no other reason that you the player are and you will get a journal in the game that allows you to manage your quests and gameplay ... since we will have magic and two major cities in close proximity to each other we are already greatly different than the constraints of medieval Europe ... you could also use China as an example (with no dark ages like Europe experienced they were centuries ahead of the west in many areas and had printing long before Gutenberg. Books and book stores add to the mythology of the game ... and are far cheaper for the developer than having us track down every wandering minstrel on the continent to try and get our history and backstory ... with specialty classes like mages that rely on significant arcane knowledge they would have taken the place of many of the monks in our history and written down lots of reference material ... over a few centuries you could amass quite a collection of books ... if you want to go for the more realistic approach you could make for fewer duplication of the books (there were dozens of some of the common books in Elder Scrolls) and only provide 1-2 copies of every book in the game ... this would also make the achievement of collecting books (some people like that you know) far more challenging and interesting Skill and Ability books would be useful if we are to use fixed abilities (my preference) since they allow you the benefit of in game development and customization of your party without having to deal with the play balance elements of continuously increasing abilities ... skills can increase over time (like fallout or icewind dale 2) since they don't have as much impact on game balance as does core characteristics So, for the TL:DR crowd, if you made it this far ... Books and Scrolls and Bookstores/Scrollstores ... Bring em on

I reject your Reality and substitute my own ... The game world should follow certain rules and be predicable (unless total Chaos is the reality in which we are to operate) ... if the game follows its own rules I don't care how closely those rules correspond to those of "our" reality ... we don't have "real" magic in our world (at least as far as I can tell ) but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of games with magic ... however, if the rules of the game are indecipherable and you can't plan or predict how your actions will affect the game world and vice versa, that makes for a very frustrating and unenjoyable gaming experience ... that's my perspective on this

I am not opposed to an engineer or tinker class ... it just needs to be thought out so it fits in the game world and provides a balanced addition to the game ... since we are unlikely to encounter sieges in this game we wouldn't need to worry about that aspect of the character (catapults and Trebuchets and the like) so that leaves them with some sort of exotic ranged attack (crossbow like or grenade like) or some sort of observational or repair function (alternate to the rogue/thief) ... if it were properly designed and balanced it could work and add a little extra dimension to the game ... if it is not ... The Horror ... The Horror

I'm afraid maybe you're getting ahead of yourself with the wrong ideas.. Or maybe I'm ill-informed. The fact that the stronghold is actually going to be a stronghold in the traditional sense, a keep of sorts, has not been confirmed at all. It is also being speculated that the stronghold will be done as was done in Baldur's Gate II, where a paladin got into an order, a thief got a guild, a druid a grove and only the fighter got a true keep -- de'Arnise Hold. That being said, it is also possible certain classes will share a type of stronghold to reduce the amount of resources required to create one for every class, which would mean that a personalized style is not really necessary. Also, sometimes I feel people tend to forget this game will be isometric. This means that many items, such as paintings, for instance, will hardly be visible because of the angle of the camera. And, depending on the distance of the camera to the character, details may be very limited. I, however, do not require much customization. At least not like The Sims, where I would have to arrange furniture, and definitely not like The Elders Scrolls, where I just buy an extra room full of decoration, every time, with no use at all. If customization would be implemented, I would like it to be somewhat quest-related and seeing the end result being useful for future quests, so that customization or expansion is not experienced as some stupid achievement (in the sense of nowaday gaming). My ideas are just that ... Ideas ... I figure since they haven't programmed anything and they are doing game design still it never hurts to ask ... I enjoyed the stronghold mechanism in BG but I also enjoyed the guilds/strongholds in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ... the Guilds were useful where you could get money or weapons (fighter), reagents (magic), etc ... I also enjoyed the Vampire lair, Thieve's hideout, and Wizard's castle they added later in their DLC (the Wizard abode was particularly useful with its herb garden and enchanting alter; the Thieve's hideout also had a useful lock picking practice item) ... I agree a generic stronghold with limited features beyond the hiring and creation of the other characters is easiest and meets their KS stretch goal intent ... but, HEY, if you no askee you no getee ... so I figure I will throw my suggestion out ... if it happens, GREAT, if it doesn't then C'est la Vie ... at least I tried ... I'm not a flying pig for nothing you know

You got your wish ... http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62059-project-eternity-update-29-fulfillment-and-the-pros-and-cons-of-nostalgia-and-realism/ ... was it all you hoped it would be

If they are truly going to go this approach in the way described then they would have to really ratchet back on the combat ... one reason that healing was so prevalent in the D&D style games like Baldur's Gate and Ice Wind Dale is that you were constantly fighting and constantly taking damage ... if you get knocked around and horrifically injured in the first couple of encounters you will not be able to do much combat for the remaining game ... unless they are planning for a stealth/diplomacy based game (which I would not be opposed to) they are going to have to provide one of two things to facilitate combat ... they will need cannon fodder (lots of disposable units who can take the damage) or healing (some way to restore your ability to fight) ... right now they are early enough in the design stages so they are not locked into anything ... so they need first to decide what type of game they want to make ... if they want a game where ranged combat and magic are dominant and the tank companions are totally disposable then they can limit healing all they want ... if they want to enable functional combat they either need to find ways to minimize damage to the fighter classes or provide some form of functional healing ... that's my take on it

Ultimately the method they choose needs to match the type of game they are making: Fixed favors the D&D style of BG/IWD - you roll or reroll stats based on the class you wish to play ... you optimize your stats to your class and for HP (survival) and strength (pack mule) and possibly charisma (if your main character will do most of the interactions) ... the fixed approach requires a balanced CRPG design (combat, puzzles/traps, and diplomacy) and decent NPCs who will join and supplement the party ... it also requires stat improving items be available in a variety of form factors for different classes (rings, armor, belts, amulets, etc) Constantly increasing favors combat style (like the ARPGs Diablo, Titan Quest, etc) - you optimize your stats to match your class or build (combat abilities for fighters, magic abilities for mages, dexterity for ranged attackers/rogues, etc) ... your carrying capacity is not tied to your strength with this type build usually so focus on hit points and stats that enable the use of class specific items (Armor, wands, bows, etc) ... in this model you have to provide LOTS of leveling opportunities (usually combat) Gain what you use favors skill based games (Elder Scrolls, etc) - you optimize your skills to match your starting skill areas ... you need to have lots of primary and secondary skills for this to work ... this approach also requires lots of leveling opportunities and lots of variety of skill using opportunities ... depending on how flexible it is, it can turn everyone into a jack of all trades eventually The fixed approach works best if they want to limit the final level to a fairly low level (Baldur's Gate was only 7/8, I think IWD got into the teens) ... constantly increasing works best if you get lots of levels (diablo and titan quest worked best if you were in the 20's/30's at the end of the game) ... skill based is usually somewhere in between although it can get very similar to the constantly increasing as well Since I prefer a game in the BG/IWD vein I would still like fixed ... but I have successfully played the franchises using the other methods as well ... although they would not be my preferred method for this game

That was the approach used in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion also ... it has its pros and its cons as do all the approaches

I don't know ... my primary interest in the Stronghold is that it allow functional expansions (library, herb garden, healing spring or garden, martial training area, stealth training area, better walls, better/more farmland, wider range of settlers/villagers, blacksmith, merchant, apothecary, etc) ... although it would be interesting to have some themes to these I much prefer the functionality over the theme It would be interesting though if some themes affected how often bandits attack ... with a softer theme they might think you are a pushover and attack your stronghold regularly ... if you have one of the martial themes maybe they attack less frequently but in greater force ... that sort of thing ... that could make the themes more interesting

If they are fixed then people spend more time rolling their initial character until they get the perfect rolls ... If they go up then people play with build recipes ... I have done both and support either approach ... I usually like the fixed with attribute books, fountains, and items for this style game though

Balancing those things out is still going to be tricky though ... a lot of the combat in IWD or BG could run 4-5 turns (especially at the start) ... if my fighters all drop to the floor with fatigue after 2 rounds it is going to force consistent tactics like missile attacks or other things ... as long as they can balance it so my fighters can last more than 5 turns of combat without passing out I will be okay with whatever they call the two statistics

I am okay with this but some people don't like situations that are forced on them ... I think there are in reality times when only fighting will solve certain problems and only talking will solve others ... I am okay with encounters structured with the "choose wrong and die" approach ... others might not share my acceptance of those situations though ... some people are very nitpicky about the save and restore feature in CRPGs that those situations tend to foster

I don't have a problem with combat being prevalent or if someone wants to use it for every situation ... however, I would like there to be some situations where, although you can certainly resolve it with combat, the diplomatic solution provides greater reward (more experience, special reward, etc) ... that would be enough to break the paradigm of killing everything that moved ... you could still do it, but you will miss out on some rewards or experience if you don't take a more multifaceted approach

I would like healing to be a feature of the stronghold ... maybe you can add an herb garden or restorative spring to your stronghold ... you could still gain some level of restoration in the field or an Inn but the effects in your stronghold would be magnified ... this gives the user choice as to whether to add this feature and whether and how often to use it ... I think they have to work out some level of healing magics or the Mega dungeon won't work very effectively ... there have to be limits on magic and healing for balance but going through a 15 level dungeon without resting would be near impossible and resting every level or two (or exiting) would be somewhat annoying I would think ... that's my take on it