Sacred_Path

So basically you want less hand holding? I can relate to that. It's more satisfying if not every person in the world has a sign over their head. Questgivers approach you to deliver a quest, enemies blindly charge you etc. That has been done to death. I liked how in BG, bears would only turn hostile if you stay standing in their territory. Something similar should be true for more enemies. Maybe out of a group of enemies, one (the gung-ho one) should attack you while the others stand back. Now you cut down the loner, but do you also attack the rest immediately to gain an advantage? Or do you sheathe your weapons, hoping that after this display of power/ lone maniac getting killed, the rest of the group will stay peaceful? Also, estates or rich NPCs were kinda nicely done in BG2, more of that. Do you rob them/ burglarize their homes, or attempt to get a quest from them?

Since this only happened at some later point in the game the PC is probably still a good target for all the magic items he is carrying? Quite a stretch though, admittedly. That only sounds like an example of how not to do level scaling though. Those bandits could have been replaced by monsters.

My experience with romance in games is just that they're done in a cringe inducing way. Did Arie's romance lead to a deeper understanding of the character? Not really. She doesn't have wings so she's unhappy, fine. OTOH, Minsc's bonding with Arie that could make him go berserk was a nice twist to have in the game. If you didn't have both in your party you weren't really missing out, but having them together resulted in this neat interaction. For me, the goals that your characters have just overshadows more mundane things like romance. I just imagine that there's all kinds of interaction going on between characters; after all there must be a reason why they travel together in the first place. Like this poll implies, party interaction simply shouldn't focus obsessively on romance, there are so many layers of interaction that could happen that I'm just not impressed when everything results in a love story.

in that case, he needs a noose

In that case (where I'm not missing content) I'd like to toggle romances off like it has been suggested. If all I'm missing out is some dialogue with no real consequence I wouldn't care.

As I've said in my Mature Themes thread, I think romances are probably mandatory today. There's a younger generation of players that probably grew up with romances in RPGs and they expect those to be in there. Also imagine the average gaming journalist's verdict if there was no romance, zomg! I just want it to be either well done or optional but without missing any content (like, the only thing you'd miss out on would be dialogue)

Oh, weren't those your words? So, as I understand, you couldn't prove this position anyhow now, neither you could answer question you asked yourself. Wouldn't you admit that your exaggeration and comparison altogether were a little out of the place? And logics like: "if we have X we definitely should have Y, and if we not - there shouldn't be X" - is ill by its nature? Can't you read? Where in these two posts did I say that romance shouldn't be in the game under any circumstance? I gather you didn't get my point, that is romance and a food mechanic are both not inherently necessary. Yet I like the latter (which isn't fashionable), and that's just as subjective as wanting romance. It has often been brought up by promancers that they feel romance is necessary to their immersion/ character development, that's why I used food mechanics as a way to show that this is not only true for romance.

what interview? In any case, it would be pretty horrible if NPC interaction is such a ressource hog. We have the Adventurer's Hall, so there's no need for overly complex NPCs.

lol u mad Tbh you should just stop assuming things about people if they don't share your opinion. I never said I'm completely against any romance in the game. I'm just jaded about it because it's usually just not well done and ends up being more of a nuisance than it needs to be. I don't need or am particularly fond of romances in games; I'd rather the devs focus on other things. If they're in, they're better done well or they can signifcantly diminish my experience. If they're not done well, then at least they should lead to some optional content (like quests) so I can forget about the romance-y stuff and just powergame my way through.

Yes, especially if you stop it altogether. Also nerd rage It boils down to this: - add food: increases realism and is an enjoyable mechanic to micro-manage for some people this does not at all exclude adding further elements where this is also true. I've already mentioned several ways to implement a food mechanic that I'd like/ wouldn't mind having in the game. Now you can do the same for breathing and heartbeat. Hav fun!

What has been seen...

I'm not voting against romances in general, but against sappy writing. I'm especially not voting against quests that result from romance/ from having a certain character in the party, because that would make me tolerate any bad writing that may come with it.

And what about breathing then? I asked specifically about it. If you find breathing is a chore that takes much effort mebbe stop it? this is degenerating into derp but that's probably because romance is involved

Ah, but you probably won't miss out on much if you toggle food off. No romances OTOH will possibly bereave you of mucho content.

Does it take any effort on your part to satisfy your hunger? OTOH, does it take any effort to keep your heart beating? There are better examples to refute food mechanics (such as, wouldn't all this camping in the wilderness in bad weather cause rheumatism? And with no blankets to boot? Better introduce some housing!)

I'd like it if often, there were lots of enemies (not random encounters), but you can reduce the number you have to face by using stealth and/or diplomacy. I also actually like how monsters are recycled in Wiz8, they are all variations on the same theme but with some significant differences, like using more or fewer ranged attacks, causing different status effects etc.

^ Can't touch this

Did I get it right that Josh is pulling the entire lore out of his ass? Kudos to him then.

I don't want a lot of great quests ruined by a lot of **** quests (which is what happens inevitably). It's like having good and bad writing in a game, you can't just ignore the dumb stuff.

Mebbe it should be treated like romance then. A pop up message that says "You happen to have some bread in your backpack. It looks delicious. Your stomach growls when you look at it, though you do not know why. You feel strangely compelled to sink your teeth into it. Give in to this seduction y/n" Completely optional.

I know, that's basically what it comes down to. Personal preference and interest or lack thereof.

And food a permanent money/skill sink that makes the player better contemplate on how he coordinates his journey and how to spend gold. Extraneous yes, just like romance. By no means is romance required to develop your character or give it depth.

Just load his dialogue with Chuck Norris jokes.

The same thing applies to healing.

I'd like to have the opportunity to tell about my exploits ingame, then having the other person respond "a riveting tale my brethren" [end]