Crusader_bin

I voted #1, because what I REALLY wanted were the goodies. I probably wouldn't even put the DVD in my drive. I could even go without the disc really It's additional cost for Obsidian, while to me it has only sentimental value. Of course people did pay for that, so it can't be considered an option #3 at all, those are just my feelings about this. I must say, I am pretty excited about the release

Crusader_bin, Since you do not have any of the badges, I suspect you have not completed the Pledge process. Once you have done so - the badges will be visible. Does this make sense? I thought I already did this, as I was getting an "ok" in my status, and was previously asked what is my extra 20$ for (payed 160 for collectors edition with added shipping). Now I completed the steps again. For some reason payment is red in "none" but maybe it needs some time to update? Dunno. Will see if the badges will be applied though EDIT: Yep! Works!

Missing my badge as well

I wonder, how the priests will turn out? Some kind of twist would be welcome The only memorable priest in all of video games to me is Viconia from BG.

As others have said, the pool mixed two different things. I want full (or almost full) controll of anyone in the group, witch could be enchanced with ready or custom made scripts for AI (if you want this at all) BUT at the same time I want them to be VERY idependant story-wise. Best characters in BG for me were Viconia, Edwin, Minsk, Xzar. They are all excentric, very different from most characters and not at all "copied-pasted" like in other bland games. Hell, three out of those 4 are not even completely sane, with the fourth one - if applied the mental state to human - would be most insane of them all. Not only they tell you what they don't like. It so happens all of those can actually get mad and try to kill you. That's called perfection and the lack of that is what I hated in NWN the most, along with un-killable NPCs (few aspects loved, few hated there ). To be honest - no The AI still works pretty much the same. IF <ENEMY IN SIGHT> THAN <CHANGE TO RANGED> <ATTACK> IF <ENEMY NERBY> THAN <CHANGE TO MELEE> <ATTACK> IF <HP 20%> THAN <DRINK POTION> Is that bad? Not sure... Many think that the best AI is the least complicated one that does the job best... Best actual AI in game I saw so far was in Unreal (first one with singleplayer, 1999 as it seems) and I still have to wait for something better yet

Comparing number of locations to sandbox 3D environment games like Fallout 3 or Skyrim is a little pointless. I think the more locations, the better. After all we expect some kind of quality too. Obviously the real ammount depends on Obsidian, and the most obvious choice is: the most they think they can make. I voted 80 - 100, but would gladly see more If possible. Also number of locations counted only shows places on maps and those don't reflect real locations. BG2 had more locations, especially those interresting ones. BG1 had many empty or almost empty pieces of wilderness that hardly count as full locations though, but I think the total for both games (as in "loadings") would go well over 200? Some points on maps are one loading area/dungeon, while others could have 10 or more. Still, for us gamers, the bigged the game, the better.

What you described is essentially a bug. 15 people on the pool likes bugs, huh... I don't even like the looped quests, ie. for every bandit scalp you get gold, or things like that. I am a completionist and I like to do every quests I can with current build, hanging quests are an eyesore for me. That is I might accept one of those quests, as long as they are intentional and - let's say - are not a fetch quests. I just find it hard to imagine what it could be... Even the quest like the above with the mug should have SOME sort of a way to complete it. Like roasting the barkeeper with a fireball or just bad mouthing him if you play evil characters or doing a wisdom check and proving all his mugs are - in fact - only left handed (for good characters). Just what I think.

Soloing is one thing, temporary party member as a part of a quest is other. I think whatever makes the quests more interesting is always a good thing. I don't see how it should make anyone upset, unless the forced party member ate your companions brains at the campsite that is...

It's not like they need to make animations for the horse. They could do it similar to Fallout's 2 car travel: you simply move faster on the overworld. It doesn't have to show the actual horses moving. That's the best idea. Introducing stables, and shortening travel times at world map via horses. Stable is place that shows up at least twice in any good fantasy book after all lol Plus the possibility to store items in the saddles.

I think that if we talk about mules or other storage animals I wouldn't like to see them walking around the map or worse yet manage it on top of my characters. It would be better if they were stationary I think, on map entry. Than again, a caravan of merchants or some crazy hermit offering you a trade would not be such a happy occurance if you normally had a mule everywhere anyway. I know I didn't like mule in Dungeon Siege. But speaking of animals, I'd rather see horses, stables, etc. Not active riding mind you, but seeing them in stables and allowing long travel and affecting the speed on world map maybe? How many fantasy books you read didn't had horses And a thing like saddle would allow some storage maybe? If horses would be present in all areas at start location that is, and not just main towns.

I hope for quite the opposite regarding the cities. I really do hope that a lot of quests will focus on several connections between the two cities. Whether it would be war or alliance, trade or criminal activity (my favorite). Nothing would make me as happy as having the same kind of thieves guild as in BG2 I also think that two big cities operating in some proximity should influence each other a lot and should not be a seperate expirience. Than again, it is easily imaginable that during the second half of the game you are kidnapped or just need to travel very far to a faraway land. That would allow for completely different architectural designs and would keep things more simple. And would lock out the first part of the game sadly...

What it has to do with the pack animals? But back to topic, I think that the idea of composite armor is a good one. But should it come in "sets" or just be joined any time at inventory screen. If it came in premade sets (or upgrade screen) it could reflect the quality of the item. Not just the materials of the plate mail, but also what comes under it, the whole package. That could really be both simple and elegant solution, as opposed to "Adamentium full plate shield studded with diamond +10". Although I still want talking sword +20 :D Doing everything in inventory screen would add a lot too, but for some players might be too time consuming or over complex.

Yes, that is one way to go at it, but that's sad a bit for me. I'm a fan of old-style garbage collection. I kept pouches of gems in Baldurs Gate just for the sake of having pouches of gems in my inventory (doh) I don't like finding chest with 500 gold as much as I enjoy selling Crappy Leather Armors of Uslessness -10 for 1 gb at a time... There is nothing elegant about hoarding. It's a disease, ask any dragon. But I just like managing equipment. New games neglect that, like Dragon Age 2, but there are new games like Skyrim where you could just carry 100 apples and a bucket if you want.

I agree with many here, there are people who are afraid of technology, yet computers are still not banned. And although unrealistic, I really like the idea of spiders. Every hack and slash or good rpg in history had Spider Forest in them after all Call it lack of imagination. I'd say the same can be said about your car. It either runs on benzine or oil. Sooo mainstream Sure there are electric cars, but they are not too succesfull, you know Just look how awesome is bug crushing here (Revenant game) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo6Snanp0Ik

I would say trapping player inside is the most logical choice. Although, for the sake of mental safety, perchaps every 3 - 5 levels there could be secret door out to unlock. You could always re-enter the tower, but you'd know that each time you would be locked for next 3 or 5 levels. Maybe it would be great to dedicate different floors to different quests, ones that might be tied to one large quest at the bottom. Something that would allow the change of scennery, settings, characters trapped there (if any). The simple basics of what I am talking about would be for example: 1 - 3: Thieves Den/Grave robbers 4 - 6: Forgotten Tomb (undead party 24h) 7 - 8: Arcane Laboratory 9 - 12: Temple of <your God here, mine's Cyric> 13 - 15: ??? PROFIT! So we would have 5 seperate stories in this case, and at the end they could all be tied together to reveal... ??? and PROFIT. Also, when I heard about mega dungeon/tower I first thought: "Durlags Tower again?"

This is pretty interresting. But games should not have systems that annoy players, just because they are logicall. The hardest thing to do is make it both logical (more or less) and fully satisfying. And yeah, I used the mod to carry 99 short swords in a stack. It didn't make much sense, but Big World mod introduced a lot of stuff that made the game interresting for one more playthrough (and with BGT mod, one is really enough for at least a year). But back to the point, the stacking mods removed a lot of pointless trips from same location to the shop all over but it also reflects that people actually LIKE to hoard items like crazy. Given the possibility they would not only carry full golden plate armors but at least one billion pebbles stacked together. Or two stacks, if they had different colours. Look at Mass effect 1 - random loot all over. Mass Effect 2 - no loot at all, just fixed with certain weapons. For me, it was as If they just chopped big part of the game and threw it out the window (or the thrash, if you like to keep things clean). Finding a golden solution between crazy ammounts of garbage (yay!) and realistic inventory managemant doesn't seem too easy. Only things that come to my mind is a pocket dimension like the one from BG2:ToB or bags of holding. Or the familliars (remember the Djin in a bottle that was a shopkeeper in BG2 - I think?). The concept of a camp that would have characters like those in Dragon Age is also viable. Few shopkeepers going after you have been used in many games. Not just DA2, anyone played Shadow Hearts 1 and 2? That's the kind of idea anyway, which can add a bit to the lore of the game at the same time.

I think it has been stated that as opposed to DnD, it will be more of a hassle to regain health/injuries, not to mention that death is supposed to be final. Although I really do enjoy the idea of Fallout - like critical hits. Who wouldn't want to hit all those pesky paladins in the groin and see a witty comment about it? Conditions like twisted anckle or broken leg would enchance the game for me, although I don't think Obsidian will put much thought into it. Other idea would be to put in place armor degradation. Critical hit in the head would mean your helmet is going to loose some durability for example. No armor would mean direct and severe health damage. But to be honest, If it would be kept simple (x2, x4 dmg etc) I would still be satisfied. As long as I can backstab someone so hard he'll be turned into pieces like in Infinity games xD

I selected "NO", "A little" and "Other". I selected "NO" because the few games that had those were not my favorites, it feels a little bit "un-adventorus" to make a caravan (If I want an adventure I take nothing but my pants and my trusty stick, and sometimes I can do without pants). I selected "A little" because you have to answer each question in a pool, and it's the closest to a "NO" And finally I selected "Other" because If the feature was added, I would prefer it to be not a companion but a familliar/spell that you could summon or call that would quickly grab any item from the storage at your home/castle (or store it there) and after that quickly disapear. It could be either an imp, devil, cow or a woman, depending how much you can afford. And I think storing/retriving items should cost money.

Hello, I've seen very little topics here about resting system and what I did saw, showed very different opinions on it. I find systems like Neverwinter Nights where you just crouch (!?) and get up to be fully rested and ready to fight. Dark Souls method to rest only in fixed places make me remember all the old console games where you could only refresh yourself and save at specific points, which I find terrible at best But for some reason a lot of people actually like it. The system in Baldurs Gate gave us the option to rest when characters were tired, but often it was impossible (without mods) to rest anywhere. Sometimes it was technically possible, but no the smartest of ideas. Quite often at 10 attempts to rest I was ambushed 8 times. Sleeping on the streets in cities was usually interrupted by city guards. And inns, with their many options were a nice touch, because I often preffered the more expensive room type even If I didn't need it, just because I liked my characters (same with wine and other drinks ). I tried to collect different viewpoints on this matter in the pool. I'd really like to know what people like the most.