Reddaye

Well if that type of idea is used in Arcanum, then obviously yes, like Arcanum? My Arcanum disc has sat on my desk at home pretty much unplayed for years. Hard for me to get past the combat. It's being put into the rotation for next year though. There's way more to enjoy than the combat, so I need to stop slacking.

If Project Eternity is supposed to be harkening back to the IE days, then keep lockpicking "mini games" out. I don't like then to start with, but they go against the status quo of attempting to give a reasonable simulation of actual pencil and paper roleplaying. In my opinion anything that takes more skill than opening a door needs a skill check. The stats are there for a reason: they define what your character can and can't do. Turning on a sink tap takes no skill, so there's no check. Fixing the tap if it's broken takes more skill than normal, so there should be a skill check. The same idea should be the same for lockpicking. It's a skill...so there needs to be a check. Even with Bethesda's skill systems it's still entirely possible for a player to whiz through master level locks if they're good enough at the mini game. Is it possible for someone with some basic lockpicking knowledge to occassionally get lucky and slip open a tricky lock? Sure. Even a blind horse finds water every once in a while. So if you happen to get a lucky roll, then you get lucky. Let's let Obisidian spend more time crafting great dialogue, events, and player choices. Let's not see them spend time implementing minigame features that aren't required.

To kind of go along with this; I think that darkness needs to actually have an effect on things. What I mean is: fighting and navigating in the dark should be hard. Anything that doesn't have the ability to see decently in the dark should suffer penalties when being in the dark. On the flip side the opposite should be true. Creatures or characters who have trouble seeing in light should suffer penalties when in the light. This gives something like infravision a useful purpose. Spells like "light" or "radiant aura" can be used for both utility and combat. Hell, even having lanterns or torches while moving through dark caves would be nice touches.

I've always felt that from a combat perspective that rogues should be very skilled at "controlling" the battlefield. The idea of being "top dps" is just too gamey for me. Rogues should be skilled at blinding foes temporarily with a kick of dust to the face, a boot in the groin, a blade to the leg for crippling, or things like that. I don't mind damage from behind being a bit more lethal, but the rogue's advantage needs to be the fact they can get back there more easily and get away before things get hairy. They also obviously need to provide the normal utility people expect. Lockpicking, pickpocketing, etc. Things that Obsidian need to make sure ARE useful.