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Gumbercules

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  1. Gumbercules
    The horn arrangements often looked liked crowns or stag horns. That might be appropriate for a specific individual, but not for the "ordinary" cean gúla. The figures where the legs had very little cloth with them felt less "ghosty", but we knew we were likely to develop even more ghosty creatures, so we wanted the cean gúla to keep her legs and a mostly bare upper body so you could tell it was a woman. We also knew that the cean gúla was not primarily going to be a melee-oriented attacker, so we had Polina play down the size of the hands and change the pose to be more upright with the head bowed down. Cool, thanks for this! Very interesting stuff. Can you tell me if the cean gúla will have a banshee-like scream-focused attack style, or if there's a different focus you have in mind for it?
  2. Gumbercules
    I hope we can see actual examples of this type of feedback in a followup post or future update. What was rejected, and why? For example, in the case of the Cean Gúla, what were the arguments for or against the horns that feature in some of the thumbnails?
  3. Gumbercules
    This update was dissapointingly short and vague, but it sounds like you guys are really busy right now so I don't mind. Good luck with prototype 2!
  4. Gumbercules
    The idea isn't about quest timers, but rather about "fake" quests that you can never complete, in addition to all the regular ones that you can. It's not about denying people content, it's about adding a bit of extra dialogue here and there that gives the sense that characters had problems and challenges before you arrived, and will continue to have them after you leave. edit: I just realized you were replying to Rostere, not Hormalakh and me. I too would prefer to avoid quest timers unless they're rare and done really well, and even then I think bottlenecks are generally a better way of keeping the game flowing if absolutely necessary.
  5. Gumbercules
    I figure you're probably joking, but I genuinely like this idea! Random fake quests that you can never solve because you were too busy with other stuff. There could even be rival adventurers who solve some of the quests before you get a chance, kind of like Bart and Lisa's rivals/doppelgängers Lester and Eliza on The Simpsons.
  6. Gumbercules
    Ok, that makes more sense. My point was mainly that I doubt that PE will have more quests than BG2, and that they'll have to be distributed differently spatially just due to differences in the world maps (larger(?) area, two cities instead of one). That said, I came across a suggestion on the Torment: Tides of Numenera forum that I thought had some merit: No feeling of "depleted" areas/cities I think it might make the world feel more alive if areas changed over time, so that instead of meeting every character and receiving every quest right at the start, then having everyone stand around twiddling their thumbs when you finish the quests, some people can leave and others can arrive, and circumstances change creating new quests. I guess it depends on how many times the developers want us to visit each place, but for areas that will be visited often, it might be good to freshen things up every so often. tl,dr: Open the world as much as makes sense, but stagger the quests and characters to keep things fresh.
  7. Gumbercules
    Interesting thread, but I don't see how what you're saying adds up overall. You say that the other chapters of BG2 were inferior to Chapter 2 (and could therefore be improved?), but if Chapter 2 were to remain the same, then the other chapters would need further quests added to them in order to improve them, right? But BG2 is already a huge, long game, and to make it longer would probably make it flabbier and more boring. Plus, PE will have two big cities, not just one, so either it will be even flabbier still, or Obsidian will have to do a better job of balancing quest distribution and pacing. I think that as long as they still make both cities large, free to explore, and full of interesting details and characters, they can get away with having fewer quests available at once than Chapter 2 of BG2. I do still want to have multiple quest choices at all or most times, but I haven't read anything so far that indicates that this won't be the case.
  8. Gumbercules
    It seems to me like class specialization is probably based on personality + effort. To be a monk, for example, you need to be the kind of person who is willing to suffer a great deal of pain, and then from there you learn to use your soul magic to redirect that pain. Meanwhile, a cleric needs to be a super-believer, a wizard needs to be willing to sift through long, boring tomes and memorize a bunch of stuff, a rogue needs to be sneaky, etc. So the manner in which a character develops their soul magic depends on what they believe and what they're best at. A cleric that one day just decided to become a monk would be unsuccessful unless they were genuinely enthusiastic about mortification of the flesh. At least, that's my guess.
  9. Gumbercules
    The next time Obsidian has to skip a weekly update, you should still put out a quick update that contains a single sentence in big, bold letters: All classes are powered by soul magic (yes, even the fighters).
  10. Gumbercules
    Hmm, so would staves and certain types of flails or scourges be fast enough to make a good alternative to bare fists? Because then you could create a Warhammer-type battle flagellant.
  11. Gumbercules
    Well, the climate of the Dyrwood is supposed to be colder, plus since it's more recently colonized the available materials would be cruder. To me, the Dyrwood clothing (especially for the men) looks like Aedyr clothing if they had to dress warmer and didn't have the same access to dyes.
  12. Gumbercules
    Nice update! So I now have a good sense of why we'd want to use an unarmed, unarmored monk, but what would be the situations where armor or weapons would make sense? Would it just have to depend on finding equipment that's good enough that the tradeoff is worth it? The new concept art looks great! I especailly like the Vailian costumes. Is the Valley of Ixamitl a place that can be visited in the game, or is it further away like the Aedyr Empire and Vailian Republics? Is it an actual nation, or just a region?
  13. Gumbercules
    But more seriously, it could mean the druid develops more arms and/or legs and gains the ability to use webs and venom.
  14. Gumbercules
    Even if we accept the idea that dragons have to perfectly reflect what we know about dinosaurs, there's no evidence that all large theropods were covered in feathers. In fact, preserved skin indicates that some such as Carnotaurus definitely weren't. From what I can tell, it's likely that many of the largest theropods either didn't have feathers, had them while young but not as adults, had some feathers for display but not covering their entire bodies, or were covered in feathers if they lived in cold climates. That said, feathers are a way to make dragons look different (although eastern dragons tend to have fringes/fur/feathers already in many cases) so I'd be fine with PE dragons having them in some cases (if PE even ends up having dragons). The Dyrwood area is supposed to be a fairly warm climate, so for such a large creature to be covered in insulation would be silly, but if there are mountain dragons they could have more feathers.
  15. Gumbercules
    Right, if they were all over the place it could put stealthy players at a disadvantage depending on how the soul-seeing ability works, but what if they were just in their natural lairs in the wild plus some fortress, laboratory, or organization headquarters that keeps them chained up to detect intruders? Maybe they can't truly be domesticated, and most people want as little to do with them as possible, but then one particular group is reckless or paranoid enough to take the risk of keeping them around. Even if Obsidian doesn't do something like this, I hope that stealth will involve more risk and planning than just "ghosting" around. So IMO, enemies that make stealth more challenging are a good idea, as long as there's still a way to get past them that's different than it would be for a combat-focused party. Basically, if the presence of a skuldr = stealth is impossible, that's bad. If a skuldr = stealth is trickier, that's good.
  16. Gumbercules
    Neat idea! I don't know if they could be domesticated enough for a regular city or village, but maybe for a weirder or more dangerous type of place.
  17. Gumbercules
    Nice update. The skuldr looks great as an in-game model. Is the concept art by new artists we haven't seen before? For archery, have you considered adding super-fast archery techniques as possible advancements for archery-based characters? The tradeoff could be shorter range and reduced damage in exchange for a massively improved reloading time. This is what I mean:
  18. Gumbercules
    Helm, Baldur's Gate 2 and Josh Sawyer are going through a rough patch, but they both want you to know that they still love you very much and that this isn't your fault. Now be a good sport and go play in your room.
  19. Gumbercules
    Alright, cards on the table: which elements that are unique to the Baldur's Gate games and not the other Infinity Engine games are you worried Project Eternity won't have?
  20. Gumbercules
    You're dodging the issue: where, in a world that will have Tolkien Elves and Dwarves, is the problem with, say, one human faction that has "Germanic" influences? Does it go against the flavor of the world? Is it out of tune with the other factions? So far, there seems to be no problem. I'm not dodging the issue. We merely have a misunderstanding, and for that I apologize. I'm not saying that Germanic influences are bad, I'm saying that I think it would be more interesting if those influences (which I want to be kept!) were blended with others to further distinguish the game from past fantasy works. Looking back at my previous posts, I can understand how it could seem like I was pushing some cultural agenda of my own, when really I'm just trying to plead for freshness and originality. As for elves and dwarves, we don't really know much about the Pale elves and Mountain dwarves, so I'll reserve my nitpicks on those groups for when they're revealed. The Boreal dwarves seem like they'll be fresh and interesting, so no complaints there. The Wood elves are apparently a significant part of the Aedyr population, so any tweaks to the Aedyr culture would presumably affect them as well.
  21. Gumbercules
    I can't quite see the problem there. The point is to allow for diversity between factions, not reinventing the wheel. It would be quite odd if the ol' elves and dwarves are actually the most 'conservative' humanoid beings, while all human cultures are pulled straight out of a travelling circus. It wouldn't make them a travelling circus. There's the real life example of Norman Sicily, where the Normans significantly evolved their style of art and architecture once they moved to a radically different climate and came into contact with the Arabs and Byzantines. Here, take a look at the pretty pictures: http://interamericaninstitute.org/norman_sicily.htm
  22. Gumbercules
    Right, I merely meant that if there's support for custom portraits, one can find a portrait they like on the internet and import it, or even draw/paint their own.
  23. Gumbercules
    I can't remember, will there be support for custom portraits? Because if so, that should greatly expand people's options for character customization as far as epicanthic folds and other such features are concerned. For the zoomed-out 3D models we'll be looking at most of the time, all the game really needs to ask us is, "Do you want your character to be white, black, or brown?" and then, "How white/how black/how brown? Move this color slider," and "What type of hair?" and that should be close enough to approximate all real-world ethnicities from a distance.
  24. Gumbercules
    Maybe Asian-influenced cultures will appear in a sequel, once the PC boards a ship and goes off to explore new lands. Dyrwood is supposed to be a very small part of the world, so they have to save something for future games. That said, I think some Middle Eastern and Indian influences could be worked into the Aedyran designs, given that they're supposed to come from warm climates.
  25. Gumbercules
    Josh, given that you previously said: it stands to reason that although the Aedyrans may be primarily northern European linguistically and in appearance, it wouldn't make sense for everything about them to be based on late Medieval northern European nations. For example, clothing and building styles would have to be adapted to the warmer climate. How are you handling that? Are you inventing unique styles, or could this be an opportunity to blend some additional real-world cultures into the design of the Aedyrans?
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