Jump to content
The Community Blog (An Invitation)

Ineth

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    637

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Ineth

  1. Ineth
    Well, the actual pathfinding (i.e. calculating the shortest path from A to B) was pretty good. The problem was how the engine reacted to moving characters blocking each others paths. Namely: Whenever the pathfinding algorithm was called by the engine, it only took into account the state of the map and entities at that very instance, effectively treating mobile entities the same as immobile obstacles. As soon as a moving character bumped into an obstacle that hadn't been there when his current path was calculated, the engine called the pathfinding algorithm again for that character, and set him on that new path (on which he then continued even if the obstacle was only temporary). I could think of at least 3 solutions for that problem: a) Allow characters to move through each other, or "push each other out of the way", so the pathfinding algorithm won't have to treat other characters as obstacles at all. b) Re-run the pathfinding algorithm for every moving character continually (say, twice per second), to allow them to quickly correct their paths whenever obstacles appear and disappear. In the Infinity Engine times computers where not powerful enough for that, but nowadays they probably are. c) Come up with a smart, dynamic, cooperative pathfinding algorithm that can intrinsically take other character's movement into account, and can detect whether obstacles blocking the shortest path are only temporary. Obviously [c] would give the best results, but I doubt that the Obsidian developers would want to spend so much effort. (Unless of course if the Unity engine helps with that? Does someone know?)
  2. Ineth
    I was told that the "state of the art" is to have at least two "graphics threads": One that runs the animations of all animated objects in real-time, and another one that performs the actual rendering in cooperation with the graphics card (by taking a snapshot of the animation states 60 times per second). But I could have misunderstood (my knowledge of this stuff is pretty basic). In any case, I think that's something that the developers of the engine (in this case Unity) would have to implement, not the developers of the game that uses the engine.
  3. Ineth
    I don't think that's true though. Before casting, say, Finger of Death in BG2, one would make the following considerations: Is the situation dire enough to warrant using up a precious 7th level spell right now?(And of course earlier, before resting: Is Finger of Death the best use of a 7th level spell slot, instead of memorizing a different spell of that level?) Which of the dangerous enemies in sight would make a good target for that spell?(i.e. who will likely have a sufficiently bad Death Saving Throw to allow the spell to work? Who will probably be outright immune?) What's the backup plan?(If the target's saving throw succeeds, my mage will have effectively wasted a round, which could tip the battle in the enemies' favor. Will my party have a chance to recover from that and still win the battle? If not, it may not be a good idea to take the gamble of casting Finger of Death right now, and a more defensive battle strategy may be in order.) Does the target have active spell protections that need to be removed first?(On my first game, I made the mistake of casting Finger of Death against a mage protected by Spell Turing. So the finger flew right back and killed my own mage. Ouch.) All in all, that seems sufficiently tactical and fun to me, not just "pure randomness without player effort". Of course whether the actual saving throw succeeds is decided by dice roll, but the same is true for the to-hit rolls of melee attacks and pretty much everything else you do in the game, so I don't see what's so wrong with it in this case.
  4. Ineth
    Only five?? This is what my character portraits tend to look like before boss fights in BG2 : And that's with a mod that hides portrait icons from equipped gear, so those are all pre-battle buffs... It may look extreme, but it's the only way I can beat SCS-enhanced mage/lich/dragon bosses with a medium-level party. Wouldn't that be a "resin feud"?
  5. Ineth
    Hm I was looking at the in-engine render where it does look very much like a male lion: But maybe that's not final yet, or it may give a different impression in the actual game (when it's animated and in isometric view).
  6. Ineth
    No. Druids' forms are costly on their own. Making sex-specific variants would be an even larger investment of time. Then can we have at least one form that looks a little more feminine than those we have already seen? (The lion with mane and stag with antlers are both modeled after the male of their species.)
  7. Ineth
    Paladins.
  8. Ineth
    +1 For example, I think the Spell Revisions mod for BG2 really improves upon the original BG2 spells, by: slightly nerfing the overpowered spells (Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Project Image, Insect Plague, ...) slightly boosting the weak/useless/boring spells, in many cases by making them scale up with the caster level. I find that I end up using more varied and fun tactics with this mod. In the unmodded game, I'd often fill an entire spell book page (especially the lower ones) with the single good spell of that spell level and ignore all the others because they were no longer useful at my character's level. With Spell Revisions, I have an incentive to keep multiple different spells of any level memorized, because almost all of them remain at least sometimes useful throughout the game. Of course it's just a fan-created mod, but to me it always represented the "modern" way to balance spells. I wonder what led Obsidian to go in the opposite direction with PoE.
  9. Ineth
    Well, during the kickstarter they did promise that they will design the game to be playable and enjoyable with any party size from 1 to 6. So, in the absence of multiclassing, the individual classes have to be a little more versatile in order to allow players to cover all important skills with a small party. I trust that Obsidian will take care to balance the classes overall. You can't really draw conclusions about the relative usefulness of classes based on just a few parameters. There are many other parameters that haven't been described in detail yet, which may be used to offset imbalances in those that we already know about. For example, maybe wizards will be able to cast more spells per encounter/day than druids? Or their damage spells will do a lot more damage on average? Or they can cast their spells faster? ...etc...
  10. Ineth
    No, multi/dual-classing is a way for powergamers to find cheesy combinations which the game designers failed to properly take into account when balancing the classes. Ranger/Cleric, Kensai->Mage, and Berserker->Mage FTW!
  11. Ineth
    Interestingly, they seem to have "borrowed" spell ideas specifically from 2nd edition D&D as implemented in BG1 / BG2 / IWD1. At least I don't see anything resembling some of the more unique IWD2 and PST spells in there... PoE is supposed to be a spiritual successor to those games too, isn't it? Also, a few more spells based on creative never-done-before ideas would be nice. I'd especially love some spells that interact with the physical surroundings to allow environment-aware tactics, as those are all too rare and there's still lots of potential for innovation there. And don't tell me that kind of stuff is too difficult to implement; the creators of BG managed to make the projectiles from the "Lightning Bolt" spell bounce off walls and damage everything in their path back in 1998 with the primitive Infinity Engine. In 2014 with the Unity Engine, it should be easy.
  12. Ineth
    Better one useful form, than multiple weak1 and virtually identical ones (remember "Black Bear" and "Brown Bear"?) 1at least at higher levels...
  13. Ineth
    There's "transparency", and then there's shooting yourself in the foot. Why do you want Obsidian to do the latter, when they only promised the former? When negotiating deals with other companies, one needs to retain a healthy bargaining position. It would be diminished by unilaterally "putting all the cards on the table" regarding previous deals. I think Obsidian has shown ample transparency to us backers during the development process so far, from describing the day-to-day workflow of many team members to showing us in-progress artwork and screenshots of project planning spreadsheets. But developing a crowd-funded game doesn't (and shouldn't) mean becoming a crowd-run or crowd-audited company.
  14. Ineth
    DLC is one the thing that has me a little uneasy about the partnership with Paradox. DLC in PoE? Yes, I can see it now: "Congratulations, you have cleared all five levels of this dungeon, and now stand before the entrance to the boss's lair (where all the good loot and the XP payout for the entire quest awaits). To unlock the boss's lair, please click: [buy 'boss014' DLC for just $10]" Everyone, start panicking!
  15. Ineth
    You should see Ellesime.
  16. Ineth
    If you don't visit it in the fampyr stage, how would you "experience" the change? Well, replays obviously. Or you could visit it and bypass the fampyrs with a non-combat solution, only to return later and see the change. Just an example. A whole new game mechanic (with all the development effort that goes along with it), for something that only might be experienced by some players (within one playthrough)? Not sure that's a good investment. As for "realism" between playthroughs (or, more abstractly, between the outcomes of different possible player choices), I never understood players demanding that. Each playthrough of an RPG is supposed to tell its own story, and construct its own universe. Just as a DM can make stuff up as the party goes along during a P&P campaign, a cRPG engine can arbitrarily choose not-yet-uncovered parts of the game universe to be different for different prior player choices, without needing an explanation for doing so. The only thing that matters, is that everything is consistent and plausible within one playthrough. If you go at it from a meta-level that takes into account knowledge from reloads or previous playthroughs, you've already left the confines of the game universe and "realism" becomes meaningless.
  17. Ineth
    If you don't visit it in the fampyr stage, how would you "experience" the change?
  18. Ineth
    @Sabotin So many questions on rather insignificant aspects of the PE undead, yet you don't ask how on earth a skeleton can stay in one piece (let alone walk and fight) afters its ligaments and muscles have rotted away...?
  19. Ineth
    +1 FYI, the Sword Coast Stratagems mod for BG1 and BG2 makes the enemy AI smarter in all the ways you describe (the vastly improved spellcaster strategies being the most noticeable), and more (like making enemies call other nearby enemies for help). [ It even makes liches smart enough to defend themselves if you're using Protection from Undead scrolls. The lich still won't be able to detect or attack you, as per the rules, but he will notice that he's being injured, and will react by immediately putting up defenses (Mantle/Mislead/Invisibility/etc.) on himself, bombard the room with AoE spells, and summon Mordenkainen's Sword and demons which can detect and attack you. ] Anyways, if a modder from the fan community can create smart AI for a 15 year old engine without access to the source code, Obsidian has no excuse not to add smart AI to Pillars of Eternity...
  20. Ineth
    What makes cRPG companions enjoyable for me, besides what others have already mentioned: Companions having a deep connection to some of the areas/events you encounter as part of the main story line i.e. don't just let them be ambassadors for their race and class, but also for a tangible part of the game universe. Example: I replayed BG2 with Viconia in the party a while ago, and when I entered the Underdark in chapter 5, I was positively surprised by how she suddenly started to blossom as a character. She made snarky comments that were totally context-appropriate and provided some glimpses into her (cruel) past of growing up in the Underdark, she offered useful advice for how the party should navigate this dangerous environment and deal with various challenges in the Drow city, etc. In the surface world she had been like a fish out of water, but here she was in her element and went from anti-social back-row travel companion to proactive and valued (albeit slightly scary) party member. Also, there was a short but memorable encounter with some former family members of hers, which brought home just how deep the hatred and coldness had grown in her heart. (I mention this, because believable characterization is a rare thing in "evil" cRPG companions.) PS: I had the "Viconia Friendship" mod installed, so I'm not sure which dialog lines were part of the original game and which were added by that mod. Companions having a profound reason for staying with you i.e. something better than "I like you and I'm a nice person, so I'll stay by your side forever" or "I'm bored and have got nothing better to do so I might as well keep traveling with you". Example: Dak'kon in PST, who was enslaved by an oath he made long ago. You knew he'd never leave you and you could always rely on him, but it was not a shallow "yay we're all friends" kind of relationship, it was actually rather tragic and could prick at your conscience.
  21. Ineth
    Don't forget the dynamic lighting, which was quite advanced for its time, and added a lot of atmosphere (especially to indoor areas).
  22. Ineth
    How about: click the spell icon in question move the mouse to the target area scroll the mouse wheel to decrease the AoE size (optionally, of course - the maximum AoE should be used by default) click to fire the spell This would feel more natural and convenient to me than click-and-drag. Also, it avoids the situation where you started a click-and-drag, only to realize that the AoE doesn't fit at that position (max still too small, or min still too big) in order to achieve what you want, but you can't move it anymore because releasing the mouse button would fire the spell. This is a PC game after all, so why not make good use of PC input devices!
  23. Ineth
    Inside of concrete, yes. Not inside solid blocks of natural stone.
  24. Ineth
    Yeah, I hope that all important names will appear in voice-over at least once, as early as possible. It would suck to find out half-way through the game, that I had the wrong pronounciation for a companion or important city in my mind the whole time.
  25. Ineth
    In Icewind Dale 1, you would find a small number of potions throughout the game, which allowed you to permanently alter the stats of a party member. A probably incomplete list: Potion of Action Transference: -1 dexterity, +1 charisma Potion of Holy Transference: -1 dexterity, +2 wisdom Potion of Strength Transference: -1 strength, +1 dexterity Potion of Life Transference: -1 constitution, +1 strength A nice way to "correct" some stat allocations without starting a new game, especially for newbies who may have made bad choices during character creation.
×
×
  • Create New...