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Sacred_Path

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Everything posted by Sacred_Path

  1. Sacred_Path
    Giving the player reasons to finish the dungeon ASAP and move about as efficiently as possible. There are usually incentives to clear every room (lewt) and that must be tempered with something that livens things up. Respawning enemies, or being hunted by stronger enemies, or an increased chance to become sick or cursed etc. Objective XP doesn't make things more exciting, but it may be an incentive to stick to a route.
  2. Sacred_Path
    thanks Chris. Excellent! Not because I care about companions so much, but because I'll want that 6 person party ASAP. I hope that those options (that make characters universally useful) are also in some form available to the hired goons, i.e. via talents.
  3. Sacred_Path
    That has been settled as far as I'm concerned. Sawyer gave contradictory statements, and I'm willing to believe this was simply a poor choice of words. That happens when you release information in a piecemeal fashion - people will dissect your words.
  4. Sacred_Path
    Eh, in BG1, a high dexterity basically won you the game. All mechanics become more important as you play around with different options/ difficulties or on subsequent playthroughs. I don't want an unsatisfactory attribute system to ruin my longterm enjoyment of the game.
  5. Sacred_Path
    So you mean a non-traditional min maxed character. Yes your quote would support that, while mine would imply that your attributes are simply mostly meaningless. As I said, I hope that he simply worded his statement awkwardly.
  6. Sacred_Path
    Not sure what you mean by 'rpg character concept', but in my quote he basically said your attributes won't affect your concept at all.
  7. Sacred_Path
    These two quotes (yours and mine) contradict each other, but I am inclined to believe in yours more because mine just makes the system seem blatantly moronic. But yeah misunderstandins can happen when you deconstruct the words of a game dev.
  8. Sacred_Path
    Are you a wizard?
  9. Sacred_Path
    Again, you're talking about a mythical place where differences are clearly pronounced so they are apparent to the player but so subtle as to make all classes equally viable as certain builds. Such a balance does not, however, exist. no, that would be the 'old school' of attribute differentiation, but that's not how it's going to work. Again: So, you CANNOT distribute your attributes on your fighter in a way that he wouldn't be the best of tanks anymore. What's better, you can't do the same on a mage either; put all your points into STR and INT and you'll still come out a tank. I'm specifically talking about attributes. That a wizard can cast one less fireball if he casts one more shield spell is herp derp obvious. That was even going in favor of Sawyer's proposition. Because the other alternative is, attributes won't matter and talents won't matter either.
  10. Sacred_Path
    Because (again): So if I want a tank my attributes won't matter at all. This means either: - some classes are naturally great tanks while others naturally suck or - all classes are equally good natural tanks both of which don't offer the flexibility in character building that I hoped for. Yes there are talents, and it is possible that there will be talents à la "Advanced Tankery! This tanky ability makes you a tank" and it's just herp derp and failproof and needs to die in a fire.
  11. Sacred_Path
    Ok gize I just want to know why Sawyer uses the word 'build' when talking about characters, as obviously there will be no builds in P:E (your attributes don't match your talents)
  12. Sacred_Path
    Eh... not sure if serious. Also, no questions about rape? You disappoint, Codex.
  13. Sacred_Path
    case in point: Darklands' manual
  14. Sacred_Path
    Actually, for me, the most iconic buggy OE game is NWN2, mostly because even now, it has the kinds of bugs and glitches I hate the most in an RPG, that is character abilities/ spells not working or not working as intended. It kind of takes the point out of building characters and employing tactics at all. But one good reason why this may not be the case with P:E is that this time, they're implementing their own original (and created for computers) ruleset, rather than trying to stuff an entire edition of DnD into the game.
  15. Sacred_Path
    Just tell me how many pages my next post about your hypothetical examples should fill, and I shall try to oblige. Good, concrete examples. How then, in your example, do you want the player to make an informed choice? It's possible you'll be ambushed on the way, possibly not. It becomes, again, very hard to balance. Obviously, some people pulled down their loot to the Severed Hand merchant; but what if the Severed Hand was randomly repopulated with orcs? It becomes a real hassle, a real gamble, and will mostly not be worth your very real lifetime. Again, it would become a no-brainer for me to frequent only the nearest merchants as long as they pay anything, and if I get low on funds, I'd simply curse the developers for their hair-raising design. Eh, I already had that issue with jethro (I think). "But it's just about managing things!" Yes certainly, but allow me to differ. Managing my party's health usually doesn't involve backtracking (unless I have to get me some resurrection lovin', of which there will be none in P:E), and even if it does, why exactly is that reason enough to introduce ever more backtracking into the game, until that's basically all you're doing?!
  16. Sacred_Path
    I honestly suspect that bugs will mostly be an issue if you choose to play Trial of Iron; IOW, that mode is actually right out. Apart from that I'm willing to believe they will nail down most issues with the beta(s) and subsequent patching.
  17. Sacred_Path
    Deciding whether to go back to town because of your limited inventory is just such a decision. And you have to do that decision in every RPG game I can remember at the moment. I also played RPGs where you could collect respawning ingredients for potions (DSA for example). By selling the ingredients or potions you can make as much money as you like. Again it is up to you to decide whether collecting 50.000 flowers to get that sword of nice hacking is really worth your time. You never have to get back to town because of your limited inventory, except if it's for selling that junk that clutters up your inventory. That's the very thing we're talking about. 'Course, this only be eliminated completely by making selling junk not worthwhile at all; but then, where's our simulated realistic economy? No, like you said yourself, looking at spoilers wouldn't be necessary if it's as easy as "mining town - buy swords here", so that's not what I was implying. What stat your fighter should increase WILL be a question of importance in P:E, as there will be no dump stats. So you can really come up with varied concepts of what a fighter should be. Great gameplay element, too - moreso than hunting down merchants, IMO Well, if I had to choose between two evils, that is "backtrack across the world to sell sword for best price", and "fast selling UI", I'd choose the latter. It would be just as pointless, but at least I wouldn't grow old just trying to get rid of my excess junk.
  18. Sacred_Path
    I have done this too on occasion. I still don't call it sensible behaviour and I payed the price. Game designers still put limits on inventory space and weight and don't pamper to my occational inability to make a sensible shortcut. And I learned from that. If the loot I had to drop was really valuable then it even could have been the right decision. You call making gold in an RPG insensible behaviour? I question your definition of what's sensible. No. A good decision is NEVER between wasting your lifetime and ending up weaker. Choosing a barbarian over a fighter, or offensive stance over defensive stance, the polite conversation option over the intimidating one, picking someone's pockets over safeguarding your reputation... good decisions. Choosing between losing gold or backtracking for 5 real time minutes is mostly horrible design. Merchant who will pay most for your item: best place. "Thought process" is a real euphemism here, just like Lephys' "using your information-gathering capabilities". A trained chimpanzee could accomplish this. The only real trade-off involved might happen if you're severely encumbered by the items in your inventory, and that happens very rarely in CRPGs as we all know. Though, if I'm encumbered, I will likely simply choose the merchant *nearest* me, and again there would be no real choice involved. And are you as neutral about this as your wording would imply?
  19. Sacred_Path
    My last point has nothing to do with powergaming.
  20. Sacred_Path
    It is a question of numbers, doubtlessly. If merchant hunting was an element loved by the majority of players, I would be fighting an uphill battle. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Hey, it was your idea. Note that non-unique items could also be weapons and armour. If the game has a slow progression curve so that half the game is spent in non--unique armour then people who want to play economy wizard can still save a few coppers. fair enough. I think they would sell, come back and grab more loot, sell etc. I'll have to backtrack and see where that leaves us. Speaking of backtracking... how are you supporters planning to minimize the time players have to invest to actually get to where the best deal can be had? Because, no matter if you find haggling to be fun or not, surely we can all agree that wasting the player's lifetime is to be avoided.
  21. Sacred_Path
    Oh no, please don't trust my judgement. Simply make a poll on this forum (or any CRPG related forum, really), and ask people what they prefer, giving two options: 1. The game should reward people for building their characters well and employing sound tactics 2. The game should reward you for cutting better deals with merchants I trust that the matter is settled until you have done so. Hav fun! You could find an even broader umbrella term for "managing your purse", such as "playing the game well". Surely no one will disagree that you should play the game well? Uh, I wouldn't say so. In fact, in that case, you're simply shuffling the problem from one side to the other. If a game forces me to buy 100 crossbow bolts every 2 ingame hours, always going to the merchant that sells crossbow bolts for the lowest price could become a top priority. Players will feel compelled to follow the path that gives them the greatest benefit; I never said I would be an exception there. I don't think we need to argue about that. So yes, players have real incentives to optimize their material/ XP gain. Why do you think people on this very forum are whining about even the vague possibility that "evil" choices could result in fewer rewards? Oh, it wasn't a self-imposed restriction. I was simply looking for an example of people needing more money on a higher difficulty.
  22. Sacred_Path
    Wow, you obviously did not read my post about different party setups at all. BTW the analogy is flawed since, as you said, mages are wimps at low levels. That's one reason to run a F/T/C/M party instead of M/M/M/M, and that's not counting other DnD restrictions like class restricted skills
  23. Sacred_Path
    Trolls gonna troll. Either that, or it's just a poor analogy. Anyways: If the (two?) paths of obtaining "Mithril Chain" are competing with each other depends very much on the requirements of both paths. Is obtaining the mail much easier pursuing said quest? Then that speaks in favor of completing the quest. Are the two about equal? Then both actually have a place in the game, and I never said anything else! It's a poor analogy because obviously, in this case, you did not implement a different mechanic into the game, not even a different item, therefore we can't say that any ressources went to waste. Now if there was one set of Mithril Chain lying around in the wilderness, and one set obtainable through a quest, and you definitely will never need more than one set, then that might raise some questions as to the appropriateness of the mail as a quest reward. A merchant offering the best prices will always be the better choice than any other merchant. Unless, like you suggested, we just add fluctuating prices, so you have to travel to every single merchant to check their prices. Except there's no fun to be had and no planning involved there. I don't know why you blatantly keep repeating that a player with more gold will have no advantage over other players, only a "different rhythm" to his playthrough. I've already adressed this. I won't repeat myself 1000 times, but maybe 999: Managing your party better resulting in an easier playthrough is broadly accepted. There's nothing wrong with it. Having an easier time because you faithfully trudge towards that out-of-the-way merchant who will pay a king's ransom for your rusty swords, not so much. It's just a test of patience. BTW you economy geeks have ignored what I said about better prices only applying to purchases made by the player, not sales. How about that?
  24. Sacred_Path
    eh, preconceived notions are preconceived. Do the majority of killers lead police to the body w/ being charged or even suspected? If not, there's no reason to assume she committed/ watched the crime. If you do not believe the psychic story, it's still more feasible that she stumbled upon the corpse and instead of simply reporting it made up a story about visions.
  25. Sacred_Path
    YES Or rather, I have an issue with save scumming, rest abuse, and unbalanced trade. I hope the latter two will be removed by the devs. The first you can avoid by yourself, a critical difference - simply don't save the game apart from when you stop playing.
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