[Update #62: Production 01 - State of the Project]

The stronghold stuff sounds especially delicious. Needs moar Tim updates!

[Ideas for creating items with negative attributes that people will actually use?]

The game where I used the most cursed items by far was Wizardry 8.

 

These were usually melee weapons that you couldn't unequip without casting a high level spell or a bishop using a standard action. So equipping these cursed weapons meant losing your ranged attacks for the time being. OTOH you'd want to use cursed weapons because they were generally more powerful, sometimes vastly so.

 

Not very exciting, but cursed items ended up getting used without being ultimately superior.

[Mechanic Revision - Pickpocketing]

There is only one credible way of implementing pickpocketing, and that is via the stealth mechanic.

 

In reality, most pickpockets operate in pairs; one chats up the victim while the other rifles through parts of the clothing preferrably without body contact to the victim (i.e. jacket pockets, backpacks). In those cases where a pickpocket operates alone they will almost always try to touch you beforehand to divert your attention; but speaking for myself, when a stranger comes up to me and touches me I instinctively move away, and I don't know how people can so gullible as to just stand there.

 

Therefore, since our CRPG pickpocket will almost certainly work alone, and victims don't tend to wear modern ziplocked backpacks, the only way to steal would seem to be for the victim to be oblivious to the fact that you're even there.

 

How the pickpocketing then is handled interface wise - wether you should just get a random item or a "shop" inventory opens up, whether there should be opposing rolls and wether your stealth skill should give a bonus to your roll - I'm neutral about that.

 

Consequence

 

 

 

One thing that I think is completely under-explored is the consequence of theft. In most games if players can get away with it at the time then it essentially didn't happen. This is bogus and definitely rings false. After burgling entire towns in some games, I start to really loath the citizens for being so stupid - how else could I have robbed everyone blind? If the pickpocketing mechanic is made more intentional (as opposed to a dice roll) it offers up the chance for narrative engagement in the act.

 

 

 

The opportunities are endless and I don't really need to get into the specifics as I'm sure you can imagine your own scenarios. Of the things which could be stolen: court documents, heirlooms, genie's lamps, royal seals, family crests, sacred relics, secret passwords, unlabeled tinctures, and on and on. The theft of any one of these things could spiral out into the narrative and offer up something for the player to engage in. The act of stealing it could have more importance than the thing itself (which is the basis for many great crime stories). This, granted, is a ton of work for the designers. But it would offer a certain facet of interest that I think games very much lack - namely the connection of items with the world the player occupies. I think that more acknowledgement of what the player chooses to take would do a lot to make the game feel more real, and help to add facets to the concept of ownership in games.

 

 

 

Furthermore, it would add mystery to items in the game. These days so many items are completely transparent. As soon as you get them you know exactly what they are - "I give thing X to guy Y and get Z in exchange." Remember the thrill of grabbing something and having no clue as to what it was for? How much more exciting would that be if you stole it?

Consequence is the most important thing to get working. What you suggest could easily, in a game with just global reputation like in IE games, be simulated via a drop in reputation. Personally, I don't really see the need for that - it's one more thing that needs to be taken into account during balancing, and as you said consequences of failure are usually rather harsh anyway. Every new attempt to steal can mean disaster. I'm also not of the opinion that save-scumming needs to be prevented - it's one of those things that players can easily regulate themselves (as long as you don't make "no reload" stealing nigh impossible because of very low odds).

[Evil - how far should PE go?]

It's a valid point. I still don't want to see it being done by other chrs. Implying it via a line of dialogue is enough.

I actually have the same attitude towards pixel secks in general.

[Why I hate combat in RPGs.]

Hmm dunno, I know a lot of RPGs where you can avoid combat with stealth or maneuvering just fine. JRPGs much maybe?

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

No. Pausing does enable you to manage your party better and utilize tactics more efficiently in a RT game though.

Pausing just to check what everyone is doing doesn't fall into either category IMO

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

Tough battles in IE games were almost never winnable without pausing.

wait, when did anyone say there should be no pause function

[What would you do if the game begins like this? :D]

okkoko = obyknven's alt?

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

Wait, what? Then what is the use of pause, if you are going down that route? Further, more pausing is the essence of IE games. I'm very confused with your statement there.

I'm very confused that you think the "essence" of IE games was the pause function.

 

Tactics IMO aren't necessarily deeper if you can have 4 modes active in contrast to having only one active at any one time. On the contrary, it would probably enforce player choice better when it comes to i.e. defensive vs. offensive stance, or melee vs. ranged (Power Attack vs. Rapid Shot) etc. Essentially though, it may just come down to the number of possible modes. If you have 4 channels max and a max of 2 modes per channel, it may not be as bad. But it would still take a lot of micro managing to just keep an overview of what everyone is doing.

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

Changing what units are doing based on the circumstances of combat is the essence of tactics.

pausing is the essence of tactics? (IOW you have a real time game, not a turn based one)

[Evil - how far should PE go?]

By the same token, the game should not be full of npcs who engage in savage cruelty for its own amusement, because I would expect those characters to be hunted down rather quickly - as much by other 'evil-doers' as by 'do-gooders' or what authorities there are.

They should well exist as outlaws, as they do/did IRL, but they should also exist in the established power spheres. Guards should abuse you, merchants should give you bad deals, etc. CRPG worlds tend to be much too easy on murder hobos.

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

welp, for 'Power Attack' and 'Rapid Shot', I wouldn't have minded pausing every time I need to activate them. Honestly. As it now seems, I may be pausing a lot more often in the end just to check if everyone's 3 or 4 modal abilities are set up ideally.

[What's wrong with activated abilities?]

Yes.  Modes all have an assigned "channel" and you can only have one mode active in a given channel at a time.  E.g., the paladin's Zealous auras are all on one channel.  In the UI, we would like to visually group all same-channel modal abilities together so it's very clear to the player.

I don't feel that the dilemma (if you want to call it that) is solved this way. It sounds like maintenance-heavy mode swapping. What made you decide against having only one mode active at any one time?

[Evil - how far should PE go?]

That's exactly what I was asking (Thanks!), but now I have the answer I realise it doesn't necessarily answer my question. Fallout 1 and Fallout: New Vegas were both M-rated, but F1 was comically gruesome but fairly fantastical whilst F:NV had an awful lot of moments that were about more human darkness and I, personally, found it desperately unpleasant.

Sawyer said on twitter (not a quote): mature themes doesn't mean only dealing with mature subjects but dealing with any subject in a mature way. So I wouldn't expect the comical tone of Fallout, but also not "everything is better with rape".

[Josh Sawyer reveals some information about Project Eternity's attribute scores]

 

 

 

A chimp will never be as smart as a healthy human, no matter what he does.

 

This limits creative possibilites; you can't have chimps that are nuclear physicists, for example.

 

 

 

Can you guarantee that there will never be chimp that is as smart as healthy human, even if one is breed and geneticaly manipulated to add intelligence?

 

You think RPG system should take into account people of a race not really belonging to said race?

 

The question is how you define races in RPG system? Are character different race if s/he is breeded and geneticaly manipulated to be most superior specimen of his or her race? Because rpg don't usually follow definition specifications and rules for races or species.

 

I think the problem is non-existent, especially because there's often one race for every attribute. So a DnD Orc that has been magically altered to be smarter may simply use the attribute bonuses (none) of a human.

[Josh Sawyer reveals some information about Project Eternity's attribute scores]

 

A chimp will never be as smart as a healthy human, no matter what he does.

 

This limits creative possibilites; you can't have chimps that are nuclear physicists, for example.

 

 

 

Can you guarantee that there will never be chimp that is as smart as healthy human, even if one is breed and geneticaly manipulated to add intelligence?

 

You think RPG system should take into account people of a race not really belonging to said race?

[Josh Sawyer reveals some information about Project Eternity's attribute scores]

A chimp will never be as smart as a healthy human, no matter what he does.

 

This limits creative possibilites; you can't have chimps that are nuclear physicists, for example.

 

 

[Evil - how far should PE go?]

I want realistic choices first of all. In a wartorn land where everyone is armed, that will come down to all kinds of violence and exhortation.

 

 

Also it's possible they'll include just a tiny reference to rape just so Roguey can go ape**** over it again.

[Which games have the best companions. What makes them good?]

I also don't see what is interesting about puppets?

And I don't get what's interesting about a Fighter offering deep insights like "I am Remond of the Nine Hills and I hate Orcs! Hurrrrrrrr. Feed me strawberries to keep me happy."

 

 

The Ultima companions were a compromise between interactivity (they offered some unique dialogue every now and then) and leaving all strategical aspects to the player.

[Which games have the best companions. What makes them good?]

Ultima.

 

They were basically puppets and you had full control over their (very limited) development, inventories and combat behaviour (although in U7 they could run away and drop items! Forsooth!). IOW, they weren't much in the way of companions. That's how I like it (if I don't get to create my own).

[About hate-mail and other online abuse.]

As far as ****-flinging goes, the outcry following the crafting update was still very civil. Just sayin

[More Mega-Dungeon Discussion.]

One of the things Obsidian mentioned during the Kickstarter was the fact that they will probably be tying in the Megadungeon into the main story

Did they now? Could've saved me a lot of nerdrage.

[More Mega-Dungeon Discussion.]

That'd be really cool. 

 

 

I'd also like to see a level where the outside has broken in. Say that a few (non-bearing) walls to the outside collapsed, revealing a enclosed cave system.

exits could be collapsed areas ending in tunnels leading to the surface, maybe one ending in a (small) unique outdoors location you couldn't otherwise access. At least that would be an alternative to the usual suspect 'portal to the surface'.

[More Mega-Dungeon Discussion.]

 

I'm partial to respawns too, especially because with objective XP they can't be farmed. Now dynamic population of the dungeon like you describe would be great too.

 

If there are going to be respawns those dungeons better be circular design. last thing i want to after spending 30 minutes clearing a dungeon, is spending 10 more minutes fighting way out if I am running low on potions, something breaks, or etc

 

exits shouldn't be placed sparingly IMO, for this and other reasons

[More Mega-Dungeon Discussion.]

I'm partial to respawns too, especially because with objective XP they can't be farmed. Now dynamic population of the dungeon like you describe would be great too.