LuccA

Almost everything you are complaining about was a stretch goal in the Kickstarter that people paid for, or a feature that was tweaked during the closed beta due to player feedback. But judging by your language, you seem to have a problem with how others play games anyway. You guys really think that because some stretch goal was reached, it was because people were craving for the specific feature? "New stretch goal: Stronghold??? Ow, finally! Now I can back the game! That's what I want in an cRPG, to take care of my fantasy mansion!" When I backed the game, they had funded more than 2M and it doesn't mean I wanted crafting or hired adventurers really bad. For me, that was the down side of the project. Even the devs admitted that they had to rush to come up with new stretch goals sometimes. You shouldn't rush to come up with a feature that will permanently be in the game. Specially when it seems it is more due to building hype for the funding campaign than improving the game per se. IMHO, we would be better of if there was just "Improving the game" as a stretch goal. So the devs could discuss the improvements after the funding was finished, maybe even doing some polls. I would easily trade a bland stronghold for more companions and more reactivity in the world (things I think are lacking). The stronghold could be added after with an add-on if too demanded. Lots of people are complaining about how the game feels big in options and content, but overall bland and shallow. For me, this came from the kickstarter. They had too many stretch goals to worry about (besides the promess of a IE feel game), instead of focusing on more worthy things for an RPG.

I notice that people complaining about not getting their boxes all have bronze badges (like me). I think nobody got the regular box yet, just the Collector's Edition.

I've not been following the forums for a while, so I might have lost the earlier discussion about it, but FINALLY I've seen someone suggest a smaller amount of stats. If there's always a dumping stat, why not shorten the amount to 5 or even 4 stats? It would probably solve a lot of balancing issues. "But god forbids cutting stats of! The IE games had 6, this HAS to have 6 as well!" ¬¬

IMO, a bug doesn't need to be game-breaking to spoil your first impression of the game. I didn't find any major bug, but I give reason to people dealing with double click and stat stacking issues. It is quite huge for a release version, and even not being game-breaking it seems frustrating enough to turn people down on the game (and that should be a main concern for release! Not just avoid major game-breaking bugs)... =s Although it's true that PoE may be above cRPG average in that regard. Personally, I'll just wait for the first patches to play the game for real. Even small bugs can be "game-breaking" for my perfeccionist cRPG lover inner child... P.S.: A dumb question (not specifically PoE related): If cRPGs are always so buggy, why don't they extend development schedule for three more months or so, for additional QA and release a bug free game?

You don't need to experience everything the game has to offer just in your first playthrough.

Would they add more companion interaction in the expansion though? Like, for the main game content? I don't remember IE games' expansions adding stuff like companion interactions to the original game. Added stuff is usually just in the expansion story line and areas. I think that's why bronzepoem suggested a DLC. Personally, if they could use the expansion time/budget (it would demand VO etc.) to add this sort of stuff to the main story and reactivity for the original game, it would be perfect for me. I still haven't played PoE much (waiting for the first patches), but bronzepoem's saying that companion interactions are too weak, and no one replying to it, made me worried. It is the stuff I'm most looking forward too =(.

Yeah, now that I played a little bit more, I think my problem is not just with the dialogue font size, but with the difference in font sizes overall. It's not cohesive and it gets me unconfortable. Also, I notice an overlapping text in the upper left corner of the screen during a new quest update right in the beginning. Those small things don't interfere much on gameplay, but transmits the idea of an unpolished game =s.

Same here

Am I the only one annoyed by the difference in font sizes in the game? I've played just a few hours for now, but I couldn't get used to it. The dialogue font size is too big for me (maybe even going against the elegant look of the game?), but when I turn the font size down in the options by 70% (maximum), the character sheet/combat log/tutorial tip font sizes become too small, almost unreadable. Which is a shame because dialogues and in-game speaking texts get the ideal size for me. An easy suggestion would be to include only dialogue font sizes in the options bar, since it's the one people most want to customize, I guess. While other in game texts remain in a single font size, or have a separate bar in the options menu. What do you guys think? My resolution is 1366 x 768

That's how I learned most of my english. Playing BG with a dictionary by my side. With google translate is even better, you'll be fluent by the end of the game

I really don't think that this kind of hype is healthy. It's pure anxiety. I'm the same actually =P. I wish I could be more rational and cool about it like some people (I've been postponing important university work for getting in this hype and now I've got my knees in the mud). Maybe it's the emotional value, we've been following this project for more than 2 years. But I really think it's a serious issue worth having a discussion for. I mean the 'practical life being left behind and prejudiced by a computer game hype' issue =s

I never understood why most people like playing with an evil looking hooded rogue or female super model likes, with no pernonality whatsoever in the portrait.

I would also like to know... but I'm pretty sure they haven't thought about that yet.

God, this will be like christmas when I was a child. Had to wait untill midnight for the presents, but always fell asleep and ended up opening them the next morning

OK, the page was off for several minutes here and when it finally came back... still no products available. The secret to happiness indeed is keeping low expectations.

I have tons of university work to do this week, and I can't concentrate because of anticipation, it's the worst timing... =s

Namutree, thanks for the answers. I didn't play the BB, so I was not able to get a feel of engagement other then videos. But now that you mentioned interrupt, I wonder how does that work? The character that was able to interrupt its oponnent gets a few seconds to back away without triggering the disengagement attack? Is there a animation or feedback on the interrupting state/duration? Osvir, thanks for linking to the other thred. I've missed most of the discussion on engagement, so I might read some of it out of curiosity. I also watched the video again, and that's what worried me and made me ressurect the topic actually, because Josh seems to have created the mechanism for that single case that he used in the example, but it seems to me that most encounters take place in open areas and with large numbers of enemies.

I still have some doubts (and suggestions) about engagement, and I didn't feel like creating yet another thread about it so I'm using this one: Can a creature do a disengagement attack to a fleeing oponent even when it itself is engaged by another one? I mean, realistically speaking, if a movement of trying to get away from an attacker is punishable, shouldn't the movement to reach the fleeing creature be punishable too? Of course, if it's being engaged by a third one. Also, is the rogue the only class able to flee withot suffering disengagement attacks? I mean, if you have enough athletics skills, you should be able to roll back from an oponent right? Lastly, is the disengagement attack hit influenced by weapon range? I know this have been discussed a lot. I'm not against the disengagement attack idea at all, I just worry if the devs payed attention to other features and consequences of the mechanics, concerning realism.

This one I think everyone has. Even Josh, I saw him do it in a video: to set volume bars only in numbers that end in 5 or 0. Also, in IE games I couldn't stand a group of arrows or bullets that were not at their maximum number in the inventory. If it was below, I would just throw it in the ground, xP. Damn, I used to spend a lot of time just tiding up the inventory, organizing the objects in groups and stuff, got over it though.

I was just a kid when I first saw my older cousin playing BG1 (maybe 10 or less). He was killing wolves with his party. I remember I was amazed by the grey stone UI and the character portraits in the right side, wanting to know who they were. My mom bought the game later (I didn't even ask!), but the rules and the english were too much for me... I forgot about this game for years, until I got my first personal computer, so I remembered and looked for it... and I found the box and the manual all scratched with blue pen, probably by myself as a dumb kid (I made a hair in the skull in the box and stuff). Well, the CDs were alright, so I installed then and had a memorable playthrough, I was most surprised with the story, reactivity and exploring... Through the years, I played this game enough to memorize some lines, I think I can lipsync the narration in the beginning. For some reason I never went past chapter 2 in BG2. Not that I don't like it, actually I think it must be more enjoyable than BG1 due to party interactions and stuff (characters are my favorite thing about cRPGs), but I always had a techniqual or personal life issue that prevented me for continuing (I'm actually playing it right now, plan to finish it this time, and yes... I'm excited that I'm still able to get a brand new experience from a definit classic!). I also finished PS:T (another memorable playthrough, in a whole new level) and IWD (very nostalgic too, the best music and art of all IE games in my opinion) in the meantime, and had some frustrating experiences with tabletop RPG (not a common thing were I live too, probably the same sunny country issue as CaptainMace). Now, I'm looking so forward to PoE. I think it's the only life dream coming true I had, since I never had a redhead girlfriend.

Cool, glad to know that we'll get our keys before release day. Can you tell us if backers will get keys appropriate to their pledge tiers? We are giving people Steam editions that we have matched to their tiers. On Monday I will make a post showing the different mappings. Also, everyone will be able to download their rewards from our backer portal, as well. Is it this monday or the next?

Hum, for the beta testers, how does the portrait selection works? Because there are a lot of portraits with just slight variations in colors and clothing details. I don't know, it might be just a personal thing, but I think it would look better if there were side arrows to search between different portraits and up/down arrows to swap between color variations of the same portrait. Otherwise it all looks kind of mixed and thown there, i don't know. What do you guys think?

Yeah, that poll had a very unfair result for sealed box collectors and I wish Obsidian can still do something about it, like holding the physical packing untill disc pressing before shipping it. I voted for the second option in the poll, and if there's still choice, I would like to get my regular box with a disc inside as well. But come on... if a collector's edition is delivered later than the launch date, would it lose value too? That's the complaining I don't get.

@LordCrash If you think that playing the game without the physical content would be less interesting, than just wait a couple of weeks to start your playthrough. A lot of people are waiting for the first patches to have a less buggy first experience of the game. In the meantime, you'll have your digital stuff to pass the time. Seriously, how are you guys expecting Obsidian to "make things right"? 'They should make a scratch in every non backer's box to make it fair or something...'. $100+ backers are already getting something that non backers will never get! There'll be no other way of getting a signed collector's box! SO just be happy with what you got dudes... Actually, be happy this game is being done in the first place! The signed boxes look amazing!

Who else is going Old Lady Barbarian as first playthrough?