Kjaamor

Nothing you have said addresses the previous post. Your conjecture is that the the game not feeling exactly like an IE game is unfortunate.

You stated that it wasn't true that people are asking for what amounts to a mod/expansion of the IE games. You then criticised PoE for having "selective IE feels" (that is, by definition, having some feels be different), rather than "absolutely feeling like the IE games in every single respect".

This is not true. There are many basic things the IE games did very well that Obsidian has changed 'just because' in PE and ended up with something inferior. One of the bulletpoints of Josh Sawyer's GDC Next 10 Presentation 2013 was "IE feels", and unfortunately this only seems to mean "selective IE feels". Your third sentence would suggest that your first sentence is incorrect.

While it is up to the player, if the difference between doing that or not doing that amounts to a level of experience for your party, that's a rather large difference in difficulty come the hopefully-reasonably-difficult final boss fight. So the player who chooses to not do so is handicapping themselves which means that the designer is actively encouraging you do so. It's up to the player in the same way that deliberately using weapons you're not skilled with is up to the player. Yeah, it's a choice, but you are deliberately discouraged from doing so by the game. Tab-search is its own beast, but I will say that the "effort" that tab-search removes is not an effort I am looking for in any game. A good rule of thumb is to first ask "Does the effort constitute an effort for the players skills, strategy or tactics?" If the answer is no, and let's be clear that in the case of replacing tab-search with manual pixel hunting that is most definitely a "No", then it's almost certainly best ditched.

The other potential problem with bestiary exp compared to combat exp, is that it encourages pixel hunting rather than broader exploration. Finding the demi-lich is the house you had no cause to enter is good exploration, searching every single house in an area to find the last goblin so you can remain competitive is not.

The difference for a lot of people, including myself, is wanting something that is in the spirit of the IE games, while other people are requesting what amounts to a mod/quest pack of the IE games. Too many posts on this forum amount to "No, no! You've done it wrong, the IE games did it like this..." rather than trying to think in terms of the bigger picture of a new game. A long time ago, I begrudgingly accepted that PoE was not going to be BG3 with different spell names and world.

There are pros and cons to both systems, but I think I fall generally into your line of thinking. Although there is scope for separate spending to encourage tactical choice, practically speaking in a world with even semi-limited resources you are always going to save up for that top tier. And your system certainly encourages people to craft earlier. Personally, I would prefer crafting to be something you choose to do on a character build level, and that just having access to it by default is a bit distasteful and pointless, but ymmv.

Diddums. But yeah, the shops should have some basic clothing in as standard. Not a dress shop, but 1-3 (or even just one) sets of clothes/robes in any appropriate shop.

A further plus one. This, to me, was the point of the WYSIWYG system. Not to acquire a multitude of trash to sell, but to prevent incongruous drops. As for combat exp, while I was initially one the supporters of its absence (following the way it was used in VtM:B), I think having played the beta for a while that its absence doesn't really make sense for the nature of the game, and if bestiary exp is going to be implemented to compensate, they might be better off just implementing combat-based exp. Of course, that is dependent upon how much rebalancing that would require at this stage. EDIT: Although to clarify, my position on combat exp's absence was never that loot should replace it, but rather that intelligent play should provide greater rewards. As it stands, I'm not convinced that the play to avoid combat is more intelligent or thematic than engaging in it.

I'm familiar with the concept, yes. I still contend, however, that picking up everything but the kitchen sink and selling it is a terrible gameplay mechanic. I'm also a full subscriber to the notion that in many recent RPGs, not least the 3D Fallouts, not engaging in that terrible gameplay mechanic puts you at a substantial disadvantage, without once involving your skill, strategy or tactics. It is nothing more than a grind, and as such I not only strongly dislike it but would actively encourage its absence.

I sit somewhere in the middle. I dislike the idea of the enemies dropping gear that is plainly at odds to what they have equipped, but I also dislike, despise even, the idea of every enemy dropping every single piece of tat that they could have on their person. It creates clutter, and inevitably rewards bureaucratic workmanship rather than skill, strategy or tactics. To my mind the IE games did this. I've always viewed it as an effective abstraction between acquiring loot and your character ignoring things that he considers insignificant. It also helps with pacing. In PoE, I currently find that enemies drop a little too much crap, and would sooner they dropped a little less. In particular, high frequency, low cost cosmetic items like Skaen hoods are insignificant and serve as inventory bloat.

Yes.

Practically speaking, at least in the original BG, the biggest problem with darts was their small stacks and the way you had to keep going into your inventory to reload. Personally, I've always had my mages use slings and staves. The exception to the rule was Xan, whose Moonblade made it worth githing with him, but generally I preferred the artillery approach to magic.

Yes, but the difference between that party and my own is that they are at a substantial disadvantage in terms of health, THAC0 and per-hit damage. Without buffs/gauntlets/girdles, only Korgan has 18 strength and can attain five stars in a weapon (in Axes, which is hardly the most desirable type), and with buffing items only Mazzy can be added to that list (with the even less appealing short-swords).

Mild agreement, and one of the problems of the IWDs and ToEE. However I have done custom parties before for both BGs and they do offer something. Perhaps a fairer test would've been fighter/thief PC, Korgan, Keldorn, Mazzy, Anomen, Minsc, but with the non-magic party already being at a severe disadvantage, the idea of taking that bunch is just a bridge too far. Challenge not currently accepted.

At a risk of quietly wading into a ****storm before immediately wading back out, I find it absolutely appalling that by far and away the most vocal person on gameplay mechanics in the beta forums is a guy who has already decided that he will mod enough of the game on release as to re-balance it entirely until it plays more like a game he feels he would rather be playing. What is this I don't even.

It's no evidence towards anything, just of minor note and vaguely on topic, but I recently restarted BG2. My previous BG2 playthrough was using NPCs an focusing upon the magic classes (PC Sorceror, Viconia, Aerie, Jan/Imoen, Nalia, Edwin). It was really enjoyable. This one was all melee-based used a custom party (Longsword and Shield Paladin [undead Hunter], Greatsword wielding Paladin [inquisitor], Staff wielding Kensai, Dual Katana wielding Swashbuckler->Fighter dual, Dual Mace wielding Cleric/Ranger, Halberd Wielding Mage->Fighter dual (In order to use Protection Scrolls)). I lost interest by level 2 of Irenicus' dungeon.

For the record, I used to absolute despise ToEE's radial menu, which I found fiddly and awkward, so it's different strokes for different folks.

I thoroughly expect absolutely nothing to change on the forums with the release of the game.

This was pages back but only noticed it now. Logical fallacy at it's finest. The voice that is least vocal is silent, you can't make a decision based on an opinion that never get's spoken. They can only listen to the people who are actually talking. I don't think asking them to fix blatant disengagement exploits is something that should be ignored. I don't think when almost all people who are posting agree and say "combat is at least a little too fast" that they should ignore that. I don't tell Obsidian how to do their job, I just make suggestions and trust that they will actually listen to good suggestions and fix the things (or at least try) that are obvious stand out issues. As for backers not being important? Well slippery slope there. No, they aren't developers. Some of them actually understand things like design and combat flow etc etc. I will never say Obsidian should design by committee and if you look at my posting history I am probably one of the over all most positive people saying "Give it time, Obsidian knows what they are doing" more often than not. That said.... no backers = no game in the first place. I am pretty sure that removes them from the level of "doesn't matter". Accuses poster of logical fallacy. Uses slippery slope argument.

The first thing I noticed when the original gameplay videos came out was the fact that they went for the large rag-doll in character creation, and I remember at the time thinking that might be a bad idea. RPG players love a good bit of character customisation, but it's not worth a great deal when it isn't going to be remotely visible, and indeed it is worth even less when it stands up so poorly in comparison to other RPGs where you might actually see your character in a bit more detail. Personally, I think they would've done better to completely remove those models, replace them with a handful of "actual size" models to pick from, and just offered many more portraits in order to showcase variation. I really think that aspect of character creation is digging a very unnecessary grave for PoE.

I agree. Using left-click move was one of the reasons I backed this project. How the hell can a game possibly complain to be a homage to a series of games over ten years old if every single feature isn't absolutely identical? Obsidian need to be careful or they'll fall into the trap that InXile did with Wasteland 2 - failing completely to pay homage to the original by using a GUI that wasn't copy and pasted from 1988.

One of these days, Stun, you're going to have to get over the fact that most people choose to play these games as games to be beaten rather than role play them, and that most people who role play do not use crpgs as their main vehicle for it.

Nice post generally, but it sounds like you're misunderstanding the concept of Quadratic Mages and why they are so. The 'Quadratic' in Quadratic mages refers to the increase of their power as the gain levels. Not only do they gain new high-powered spells, but their existing spells (Think Magic Missile for the best example) also increase in power.

Like Wanderon said, the opinions of the most vocal people are worth no more than the least vocal. Also the stat system is, to me, a classic example of a community going mad about something that didn't really matter and studying it in-depth and creating a replacement which when implemented turns out to be just as bad as the first system. Personally, although I think the skill system needs some work, I'd hate to have to go through attribute redesign a third time. And I know it's a sore point for many people but we on the forums were told that wizards were going to suck from fairly early on in proceedings. People shouldn't be getting surprised about that now. Tldnr: Backers suck and should be ignored.