Kane_Severance

I was thinking about how journals can be extremely useful and how much I love comprehensive codexes in games, but sometimes you have trouble remembering what a location or character looked like. In the process of creating maps and designing npcs, I imagine dozens of sketches are done before the final product is made. If so, instead of losing all of these, maybe put those sketches in the journal linked to their pertinent entry. An npc's entry could have a sketch of their portrait, or a location could have a sketch of whatever prominent features it has. Is this something that's feasible? Would it require a lot of memory to do? If it's just line art overlaid over whatever texture is used for the journal pages, then I can't imagine it would use a ton of resources. If the sketches already exist, why not use them?

I may be alone in this, but I have to admit that I haven't been thoroughly impressed with the current portraits for the companions. They are okay, but rather bland. I'm not talking about wanting over the top fantasy. The art can look gritty and realistic without looking bland as many of the pictures in this thread can attest to. I hope the current companion portraits are just early development concepts.

Actually, I like the idea that if you find a particularly skilled weaponsmith or something, you could try to convince them to take up shop at your stronghold. Maybe have an ordinary blacksmith from the start, but through quests or dialog or exploration you might find a true master craftman to employ.

Good idea. We'll call them the 108 Lights of Fate.

Right, but even the IE games didn't do a great job of this. There just weren't very many NPCs that had much to say after the first time you exhaust all their dialog options. I want a reason to go back to towns I've previously visited. I want a reason to talk to an NPC whose quest I've already completed. I don't want to feel like once I've left a "quest hub" there's no reason to ever check back in and see what's new.

Yeah, I thought it was neat to have that option, but I would never use it on a first playthrough.

My preference is: Choosing a backgorund > No background > Single background forced on you.

I like when there are one or two "secret" characters that are very difficult to get, because they are potential adversaries or martyrs that require great charisma or skill to recruit.

I wouldn't mind being able to purchase starting adventuring gear with a set amount of starting cash similar to rolling a character in D&D. I always enjoyed deciding whether to bring along caltrops or buy a bull's-eye lantern. If there isn't much in the way of equipment outside of weapons and armor, however, there wouldn't be much point. Just start me out in basic stuff and let me find better.

Yeah, it is annoying how the hostility mechanics sometimes work. This problem exists in modern games too. At least in New Vegas the random NPCs sometimes just ran away frightened instead of going all commando on you. Still, if they ignore you killing someone right in front of them, it'd be a bit odd.

Now I want to have a storyline where you come back to your stronghold only to find that your S.O. has turned it into a bed and breakfast. Lol! "Where are all my guards?!" "Oh, they're taking breakfast orders. Do you like their new uniforms? Pink silk was on sale." "AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!"

Not sure where you're getting that I'm asking for erotic fanfiction. I have had conversationswith and listened to interview with developers about writing dialog and it is one of the least resource intensive things involved in making games. Whether the writing is good depends on the writer. Tone down the hostility. You're not coming across very intelligently.

If they do gain experience then they should not always be available but out doing their own thing. Give me the option to send them out for a week and improve their skills. If you're level 5 and your mage is level 2 they might go research at a nearby academy for a while then come back level 4, or a fighter might go guard a few caravans. I don't like the idea of them just gaining experience by sitting around your stronghold.

On second thought, let's not go to DA3. It is a silly place.

If I decide to have a child in game, I fully expect that in the sequel or expansion my child will be used against me. Possibly even corrupted by demons and set out to destroy everything I created. Would be good times.

Not sure what you're responding to. If you're talking about me asserting that adding written dialog is not a huge time sink, that's relatively true. Written dialog is some of the easiest stuff to add. Of course it takes some time, but not as much as say designing a town or adding art assets.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I don't care for typical Bioware romances, but I love when I can establish my character in a game. I always do the shotgun wedding, lol. Agreed. You can say, "I don't want them to waste resources" about a lot of things. Some things like voice-overs or animated cutscenes, actually do require a large amount of resources. This would only take a few more NPC models and some written dialog. Not a huge addition.

I don't mind having guards in an area being permanently hostile to you until you do something to make amends such as pay a fine or serve a sentence. If your crime is henious like murder, I don't have a problem with your sentence being death. I do mind endless respawning omniscient omnipresent guardsmen. If there are 20 guardsmen in a town with 10 awake and patrolling at any given time, attacks should taper off after I kill 7 or 8 then stop completely once I kill the rest. Maybe after some time they respawn, or after a few days the local lord sends some of his army into town to keep the peace, but there should not be an endless supply of faceless watchmen.

This is such a non-issue. They've already shown that their armor design will be practical. Is it a problem if some females in the game wear revealing clothing? Do women in real life ever wear revealing clothing? Let's look at sports. A female fencer would not wear revealing clothing. A female gymnast? A volleyball player? Sometimes less clothing is worn for mobility's sake. A fighter wouldn't wear shorts and a tank top. A sorceress might wear heavy robes if it's cold. She's just as likely to wear something light or form fitting depending on her personality. I think as long as there's variety and practicality I'll be fine with what Obsidian goes with. I don't want to see fighters in bikini's, but I don't want everyone wearing turtlenecks either.

Ouch. I'm sorry, I know English is not your first language, but this is more difficult to parse than most Google translate results. I think what you're asking is if there's anything similar to the Empathy perk in Fallout where you get a sense of the NPCs reaction to certain dialog choices. I want to say I've seen something about this in one of the dev interviews, but I can't recall. I wouldn't be surprised if something likt that makes it into the game. I think it highly likely that the Cipher in particular might have something along those lines.

Nah, don't need anything that involved. Just thought it'd be a nice touch to make the player feel more grounded in the world. You're not just a faceless hero. I get that some people knee jerk about this kind of stuff, but I'm not talking about fully fleshed-out life simutation, just that your character in the course of their adventures might find someone to share their non-adventuring time with. Edit: Man I get that people hate the Bio-romances. What about Fallout 2's shotgun wedding, or cheating with Mrs. Bishop. It doesn't have to be a full blown melodrama.

The addition of a house and stronghold raises a question. Can the player start a family? In games like Fallout it was possible to marry an NPC and they often became a worthless follower. In PE if you find someone to become your bride, they don't have to follow you around because there is a stronghold to manage. I like the idea of having certain NPCs be romance options, rather than just be limited to your companions. You could marry and potentially have an heir. This also opens up quest options like having a family member kidnapped, or attempted assassinations. If done I'd prefer it not to be like Skyrim or Fable where you can just walk up to someone random with a ring (or amulet) and have them marry you. They should be a few unique NPCs to choose from with different personalities and potentially different benifits. One might be an excellent financial manager who offers a bonus to stronghold income. One might be more martially inclined and add a boost to your personal guard. Just a few thoughts, I'd like to hear from other people with suggestions, and of course from those that think it's a horrible idea and why.

I'd rather the new game + be the expansion. This is the kind of game that if I'm playing a new game it will be with a new character. I wouldn't mind having game completion unlock certain things on future playthroughs.

I hope we have a few NPCs in the world that you can actually develop a relationship with. Too many times you just feel like NPCs are walking quest/lore vendors. I'd really like to see a few that grow to know you better throughout the story and are interested in the player and his/her adventures. This would be especially good in the player home or stronghold. A butler or trusted subordinate who has their own personality and opinions about your exploits would add a lot to the atmosphere of your abode. If done right, it'd be someone you'd want to go and talk to to hear what they have to say as opposed to just looking for the next step in a quest chain.

It depends on how much I like the pre-made companions. So far, going by nothing more than the concept art, I'm not thrilled with Cadegund or Forton. They may end up being great characters, but if they are just bland or unlikeable then I'd prefer a character of my own creation.