eirik

Great update, I love everything about it! I can't wait to stroll through that hamlet. I loved the IWD voices, and didn't think they sounded too much alike. (Somehow, I did not get tired of "Three jumping paladins of Tyr... I'm done for") The HoW voices were a little alike, but they were so awesome I didn't care Don't hate on the pink demon gnolls!

That was all I wanted to hear. Thanks! I really like this. It would make the experience alot more engaging for those who prefer fighters over spellcasters. If you find the time on your hands and decide to make a multiplayer mode, it'll also make sure that everyone can enjoy the game, instead of just twiddling their thumbs while the spellcasters decide on what spell to cast next

Please make my characters mortal. While it was one of the frustrating things early on in BG and IWD, it was also one of those things that actually taught you how to play the game and utilize all of your characters' abilities, and in a way also made you bond with them. Having characters revive automatically after being burned to ashes (well...) by a dragon, really breaks immersion : \ While save games makes your characters immortal, having them not automatically revive after a conflict, means you actually have a struggle in you encounters, rather than a "last man standing" kind of gamestyle.

I personally feel that scaling should be done with consideration to how good a certain being can be expected to be. A dragon can be anything from a little puke to a great wyrm, but if it has a reputation for burning down villages, it most likely has some prowess. At the same time, a party of goblins can be expected to be vicious, but perhaps not dangerous to a party of adventurers that single-handedly killed the dragon above. Even if they have magical gear, the average level of a goblin should not be high, unless they've lived through some extreme experiences and actually come out on top. A group of brigands that have only roamed the countryside harassing small farming villages, will probably not be very proficient fighters, or have any special gear, which should become apparent when the dragon slayers decide to help the little man and take care of the brigand threat. On the topic of bosses always being challenging, just apply the above logic. Will a warboss be a fierce foe? Definitely, if he's bent the will of his army by his own might. If he's done it through manipulation - well, his elite guard is most likely quite dangerous. The brigand boss? Most likely, he's not much stronger than the rest of the band, meaning most experienced adventurers would dispatch him quickly, and the handful of bullies that surround him. Would the brigands be challenging to a group of fresh adventurers? Certainly. Would they get utterly destroyed by the warboss in an all-on-one? Definitely. Would the same situation be true for a party of adventurers that have braved the dragon and lived? Would the ability of the brigands change based on that experience? Maybe, if they've even heard of the deed. I think level scaling can be done, but it has to be believable. Is it reasonable that the brigands suddenly become powerful enough to level cities, while only going after small villages? Is it reasonable for a warboss to be defeated by a group of inexperienced adventurers, when he/she has bullied an army to march by himself? tl;dr, I think level scaling works, as long as it doesn't break the suspension of disbelief. (And that happens ALL the time, in all the AAA-games I've played the last ten years. Godspeed, Obsidian.)

On the doors, why not have them not block pathfinding, and instead trigger collision instead, which tells the game that the path is blocked by an door/iron bars/etc (and in turn displays a message to the player, perhaps with a ping att the collision point)? That way, your party can pathfind at least to the first obstacle in the way before stopping, and once you open the door, they can continue on their way. Since it would only apply to areas you've already explored (unless you skip fog of war/unknown terrain), you could add an option for characters automatically trying to pass obstacles (with certain risk if monsters patrol the area). You could also have an option for the doors that decide whether they block pathfinding or not, so that the collapsed ceiling blocks pathfinding, even though it can be dug out, and a door blocks pathfinding until it's been passed once. On the topic of armors, perhaps one size fits all with the regular difficulty settings, and race-specific armors with the highest one? You can still use the same texture, it's just that armors are normally crafted after a specific body build. I.e. all armours in the game has a tag for racial requirement, but it's ignored by lower difficulty settings. Or you could wield armours from other races but receive a penalty for doing so.