Malekith

You don't get any xp for combat. Not after you kill every enemy, not after you finish a quest, never ever ever. NEVER. No xp for killing anything. NOTHING. No kill xp. No combat xp. Zilch. Nada. Noooooothing. You get a fix amount of xp for finishing a quest by either 1) sneaking and avoiding combat, 2) fighting and killing or everything or 3)something in between. And that's it. Nope wrong. You do not need to kill for loot, Sawyer does not want to punish a player for his prefered playstyle as he said many times. That is what he considers to be "degenerate gameplay". The best loot is found in chests, as quests rewards or on the occasional elite mob. So, It doesn't matter if you avoid or engage in combat, you will always have enough cash and good loot. Yes, combat will be pointless in PE. Let's take BG2, everyones favorite game examble here. The best loot was in chests and elite mobs. The 20 random goblins or bandits or slavers or whateverthat****encounterwas had nothing special anyway. You get the same XP no matter which way you play the game!!!!! And how exactly this is a problem? Why someone who gets the job done diplomatically should get a lesser reward than someone who gets the same job done with combat? Most backers asked for alternate ways to solve quests besides combat. Whats the point in that if combat pays better in the end? Or to look at it from the other end, why in Planescape should dialoge give XP in the millions and combat only scraps? BG rewards better if you fight, Torment rewards better if you don't fight. Why shouldnt we have a game that rewards all playstyles equally?

I think the biggest flaw in the design was that it assumed that a player didn't hate imoen's guts, first thing I did in Baldur's Gate was have imoen be torn apart by the Ogrens on your way to Naskhel, or better yet, the gibberlings on your way to Friendly arms inn. I did however like the part where Irenicus stole "something" from you in spellhold, that I think was a good motivator for going after him after having freed imoen. I also agree that quest density was one of the better parts of BG2, aside from obvious journal issues it brought forth. the solution is to make a more clear journal and not to cut from content density

Ah, but 'Tis not only I junior disciple. I am only the harbinger of the upcoming vexation. The time of vexation will soon be upon us. Heed my warnings! Forsake ye dastardly god and repent for your sins! Seriously? I believe BG2 is the best RPG ever created.(with P:T as a close second). With that said lets take Sawyer's quote:I really disliked most of the CNPCs, I really disliked being forced to go find Imoen, I really disliked the style of dialogue, and I really disliked being flooded with a million quests by every shmoe on the streets of Athkatla. Basically, there wasn't a whole lot I did like about it. CNPCs/Dialogue: Baldur's Gate series had less serious tone, with humorous and sometimes silly writting. To not like that tone is strictly matter of preference. All of Black Isle's games were more serious in tone.(IWD,P:T) Chances are BG3:The Black Hound would be more serious that BG1+2, the same as Van Buren or New Vegas were more serious than Fallout 2 as long as Sawyer was lead designer. Unless you liked BG2 only for the silliness that won't be a problem. Being forced to go find Imoen: That was a weak hook for the player. I remember the first time i played the game that bothered me too. It was not good design. I really disliked being flooded with a million quests by every shmoe on the streets of Athkatla: here i (and i believe most people out there) disagree with Sawyer.The quest system was the strongest part of the game, and the amount of content that game had was sited as one of the better points as well.

"Miss classic cRPGs like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment? So do we!" Josh Sawyer does not miss Baldur's Gate, he hates it. I guess they should change it to avoid all of the confusion. Then nobody here will expect an IE style game anymore. Sawyer was on Black Isle's BG3. If he hates BG2 so what? Black Isle's BG3 would be ****? Sawyer is a professional. It doesn't matter what he prefers, he has said that P:E is not his dream project, but it belongs to Obsidian and not him.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=585180208164174&set=a.585180204830841.144749.552507144764814&type=1 Mark Morgan has agreed to compose the soundtrack

The deleted parts are out. No cooldowns, you can miss, and level scaling will be exactly the same as BG. You know that BG had level scaling,right? The scaling you are afraid of is Bethsedas and it won't be in this game. As for no combat XP, tough luck, is in, and frankly, is a good thing. I thought that you would get XP if you defeated a random pack of bandits, but that it would be determined by the encounter, not the number of bodies. Anybody know for sure? Not 100% sure but i think will be objective only. Which means that you will get XP only if you have a quest to kill the said bandits. Or maybe an objective will appear after you kill them "1000XP for dealing with the bandit group" or something similar

This is not Arcanum. Last i heard P:E will not be steampunk. Gunpowder !=Technology. Ancient Chinese had gunpowder pretty early. That doesn't meant that they had submarines and telephones. Most likely the technological level will be wheelock pistols, canons is few parts of the world, and maybe explosive munitions and thats it. No reason for more in a fantasy setting. Also there is no reason for magic vs technology. It will be a high magic fantasy setting where the "technology" won't be techology at all. At least not as you meant it. Not much of a competition if you ask me.

The deleted parts are out. No cooldowns, you can miss, and level scaling will be exactly the same as BG. You know that BG had level scaling,right? The scaling you are afraid of is Bethsedas and it won't be in this game. As for no combat XP, tough luck, is in, and frankly, is a good thing.

They were not. There are two major aumaua-dominated cultures in the world, one that is closer to the Dyrwood (but still not that close). Their clothing looks very different. When Polina made her first full-scale aumaua illustration, he looked so out-of-the-ordinary that the physiology combined with the outfit and equipment made him seem like he wasn't part of a fantasy setting anymore. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool, but we did additional illustrations of aumaua who had culturally integrated into Aedyr/Dyrwood/Readceras/The Vailian Republics. Ultimately, aumaua characters in the game can be geared in the same outfits that other characters can use, so we wanted to make sure that they were physiologically distinctive even in "normal" gear. Orlans are fairly isolated (more by choice than by anything else), but many have integrated into the colonial settlements of the Dyrwood. Aumaua actually have a lot of contact with other races and were some of the earliest long-range coastal explorers in the world. "Nearby" aumaua have stylistic visual elements taken from Japanese and various Polynesian cultures, but their cultures themselves are not based on Japan, Samoa, Maori, etc. It IS cool.The beauty of fantasy settings is that they allow outlandish and alien races,places whatever. If a fantasy setting is completelly familiar and similar with others we have already seen before, where is the fantasy in that? In that aspect, planescape was the best fantasy setting in a game,ever. I understand that many people like familiar elements in their fantasy, so i believe a mixed approach works better. But don't be afraid to have some completelly outlandish and bizzare elements in P:E as long as they make sense in the setting

Tim and I, who are both color blind, would prefer to not use green/red for allied/enemy colors. Maybe you could give us the option to choose the colors. I understand why you want to avoid these colors, but red is natural for enemies.Using a color combination that is awkward for those who can see the whole color spectrum could be avoided if the game offers the choice, green/red for those who want it, ?/? for the others. Anyway, is not a serious matter but it would be nice you could do it

Go to the game options-graphics. In the quality options disable all of them except normal map terain. The lag will lessen or even disapear completely

You are a bit late Star Citizen already become funded as a Wing Commander(or any good'ol space sim) spirutal successor via crowdfunding. Haha, no I did know about that one He's not just saying "here's a new Wing Commander" though. I think that that messaging is important. It gives him more freedom to try something new (which could be even more mind blowingly amazing). It's what I want to see. Chris Roberts clearly has a legacy and passion for making those types of games, and Kickstarter is letting him do that again. That is AWESOME and great for the industry as a whole IMO. I'm sure that Fargo is passionate about the PST game too, but he's creating explicit links to the other game. That brings with it a lot of extra baggage, but without the additional u understanding that Wasteland 2 has as being a pet project that he has wanted to work on for decades. I get your overall view,but i have a question. How much do you think Fargo's team is restricted in this game? New setting,new characters,new story. The only "restriction" i can see is to have a text heavy, interesting narrative direction and philosophical themes. Thats not restrictive. Yourself said that the things Fargo promised you, you wanted anyway and were vargue enough to not need a "Torment" in the title. I agree that the word Torment is a marketing ploy. But its not so serious from where i'm standing. Also i'm positive about the Torment "fransise", because it will lead to a list of games that will prioritize things that we don't get from todays market.Will all of them be great? Of course not. Or maybe yes. The point is that the intent to make them "Torments spiritual successors" will be there

BG2 might be a great spellcaster game, but if you don't like magic or wish low-key magic, you're going to have a bad time. I didn't enjoy the overpowered nature of magic users. (especially on higher levels) P:E will be a high-key magic setting, but the first game will finish at relativelly low levels, so it will be more like BG1. Also you could beat the game without magic users in your party

BG:EE zoom was a mess, and with 2D IE backrounds zoom is not looking good. I think BG:EE backrounds were diffirent than classic IE ones, but i'm not sure

Arcane Spells Level 1 Arcane Spells Level 2 Arcane Spells Level 3 Arcane Spells Level 4 Arcane Spells Level 5 Arcane Spells Level 6 Arcane Spells Level 7 Arcane Spells Level 8 Arcane Spells Level 9 Arcane Spells Level 10

I don't think there will be zoom in. Do you have a source?

Yes but the most usefull one varied from person to person. You could make a purely offensive mage, pure defence, crowd control, a summoner, a mixed one. All valable choices, and the system gave you many options. Sure you can...if you have a second mage who has all the REQUIRED spells (dispel, breach etc.) because without them you cannot win a battle with any Mage. Which brings me to my opinion, it would be cool if a Mage could sustain only one passive defensive spell. Like in Mage:Ascension. That way Mage defense would be a tactical option rather than a required combination of 15 spells activated by spell sequencer. For example: expecting a raid on goblins with a lot of archers -> protection against arrows. Mage fight -> spell ward or energy shield. It's lame when you face an enemy Mage who is protected from everything and who can recast all his protections 3 times. I disagree with this. I would prefer layers of multiple defences

When the game is ready the characters will be BG-IWD size. This screenshot was for testing how combat plays. At least this is how i understood it

I don't understand why they abandoned the old DT system.Who needs to look at a spreadsheet? If you see that your slashing weapon isn't very effective against, say, skeletons because suddenly you do a quarter of your normal damage, you pull out a hammer and see if it works any better. Basically, if the difference is so minor that you need a spreadsheet to catch it, you don't need to switch weapons to increase your DPS by 3.8%. If the difference is noticeable, then you don't need a spreadsheet. If the old system worked well, and it felt natural, was the change really nessesary? Almost all the players won't be interested in the number crunching for the extra 1% damage. You could play the IE games without the attack rolls visible it it worked just fine. I don't know exactly how the old system played and it may have been unplayable.But from Josh comment it doesn't seems so bad.

Yes but the most usefull one varied from person to person. You could make a purely offensive mage, pure defence, crowd control, a summoner, a mixed one. All valable choices, and the system gave you many options.

BG2 and IE games in general had an amazingly large and varied spell list, BG2 is easily the best spellcaster game ever made, with the "mage duels" one of the most memorable and fun parts of the game. I think that a true spiritual successor game should give extra attention to the spell system with a variety of diffirent effects, damage types and protections. I don't believe that they will manage to rival BG2 in this area, but it would be good if they could do it. Josh worked on IWD2 and Tim made Arcanum. If anyone can make a spell system to rival D&D are those two

They never disputed the interviewer when he called it a sequel multiple times. Also they did refer to Torment as a franchise (apparently one standalone game last century makes a franchise). As for naming it the same: yea, they did. They've said multiple times they're going to name it Torment. So basically the only thing stopping them from making a game with a "deep narrative story" for over a decade was the fact they couldn't piggyback on the Torment name, but now that the rights have expired it's full steam ahead. My bad for feeling skeptical. No, it was the fact that there was no Kickstarter back then

In no particular order: Morte Kreia Dakkon Korgan Many as One Honorable mention: Anyone from Torment Sarevok Dogmeat Goris Viconia Jan Jansen Ammon Jero Looking this list i realize i could put many others from Obsisian in the honorable mention. I love their characters

We do not negotiate with fanatics. But... but imagine the butthurt

*popcorn bag ends* In the devs place i would go the Torment way. Have quests give XP in the thousands and kills give 36XP for grinding fanatics. All problems solved.