Silent Winter

Jesus, what a horrible, unnecessary feature. Just the existence of it degrades the player immersion. I wouldn't go that far, but I don't want the gear icon on the portrait - is it always there or just on mouseover? (not got the patch to install yet)

^one doesn't need to be an obsessive completionist - just enjoy the quests - I roleplayed and left undone some quests my character just wouldn't do - still levelled up a bit too quickly mid-game. (It's not just the cap - it's the pace of levelling out-pacing the encounters)

Er: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79226-full-making-of-documentary-is-now-live

I think when Josh was talking about dump-stats, he meant stats that are useless for a certain class (like WIS for fighter in IE games) and are always dumped without thinking, rather than not being able to dump any stats ever. I like that we have a choice. I don't dump any stats to 3 since they all provide some benefit (I prefer roleplaying to powergaming too so it doesn't matter to me if they're all the same benefit mathematically - I don't go calculating DPS of High DEX vs. High MIG for example)

You have to deactivate autolevel companions in the difficulty setting of the menus. Otherwise, no dice. So make sure to deactivate before picking up even one of them. Cool, thanks - will remember for my next playthrough (nearly finished my first so companions don't need adjusting this time) --- GOG patch now available (96.5 MB)

I thought I levelled a bit too quickly in the mid-game, but still didn't hit the cap until half-way through Act 3 (so part of Act 2 was too easy but then it caught up a bit again). Then I avoided the bounties after the first lot gave too much xp - apparently adjusted in 1.05. I found levelling up to 12 a bit underwhelming since it's not a 'big-step' level (like when you unlock a new spell-level or a cool class ability). I thought they should've balanced it to make the last level a 'special one' (but maybe they wanted to avoid people levelling up just before the last battle and not playing with their new toys enough ) Reaching cap in no way diminishes my drive to keep questing - I'm really enjoying this game and have no desire to rush to the end.

The reason for this is that traps in the environment (i.e. enemy traps) trigger when your character touches any part of the trap area, whereas the traps you place only trigger when the enemy steps right on top of them. It's not about Mechanics scores, it's about player-placed traps having a much smaller area than indicated by the marker. I don't know if this is a technical problem or not (I think it should be), but for the time being, try to place your traps so that the enemy is likely to walk through the center of the marker. As for their effect, traps in the environment are almost always going to be more accurate than the ones you place (even if the ones you place are the exact same deadly traps you disarmed previously). Even more so after 1.05. This is intentional. Traps in the environment are meant to be deadly, while those you place are meant to be moderately useful. You are not meant to roll a BG2 Bounty Hunter, even if your Mechanics is over 11. I don't mind them being less than deadly or even less accurate - I just want them to go off The trap marker needs to be changed to accurately show the trap trigger zone (or vice-versa) IMO

My point was that the trap triggers 100% of the time for enemy traps and ~0-2% of the time for mine (even with high mechanics scores (8-10)) Seems like a bizarre direction for Obs to take. (The assumption that under this logic, all (theoretical but still) enemy trap-layers had a mechanics score of 5000 to lay a perfect unmissable trap, whereas you with a mere 8 mechanics can't lay a trap that hits anything at all). It's less about my wishing and more about trying to understand it. (Hope I'm not coming across as argumentative with you - I'm just trying to discuss it - hard to convey tone on a forum) As others have asked - what are you basing it on? What's the readout in your combat log for a 'miss' roll leaving an untriggered trap? (I can't see one)

^I got the impression that was only when they first join the party - can choose to start them from level 1. I didn't think it was 'respec anytime' - can anyone confirm?

I mean the latter - but I'd expect the basic idea of a trap to be the same (it should either trigger and then roll for a hit/miss or roll for a hit/miss and then trigger). We can't set odd-shaped trap areas but why would the basic mechanics of a trap be different for party v. enemy traps? Because they are. There isn't some NPC setting those ahead of our party, whose Mechanics skill is going to determine whether or not Eder triggers it. Enemy traps are not the same as party traps. irrelevant - the traps could easily have an accuracy rating - determined by the devs rather than by the mechanics rating (and I think they do, as they miss Eder sometimes). There's no reason to have 2 different systems. Having the enemies trigger a player trap but having it also 'miss' wouldn't be a problem. Having it not go off at all, leaves the rest of us scratching our heads.

I mean the latter - but I'd expect the basic idea of a trap to be the same (it should either trigger and then roll for a hit/miss or roll for a hit/miss and then trigger). We can't set odd-shaped trap areas but why would the basic mechanics of a trap be different for party v. enemy traps?

Yes, look at the Mechanics entry on the character sheet. It's not like the information is hidden. +3 trap accuracy per point in Mechanics. Mechanics 0 = +0 trap accuracy. Mechanics 10 = +30 trap accuracy. Higher end traps have -25 Accuracy, so don't even bother trying to set one unless you're sporting at least Mechanics 8 (-1 accuracy) So even if you put a trap in a choke point, it won't trigger unless the person setting it has enough Mechanics to make the trap accurate enough to "hit" when stepped on. So if the trap 'misses' , then it just stays there until it hits? That seems like a weird solution to me - I've had Eder trigger traps that missed him, but never walk over a trap that didn't trigger. Enemies walk over my traps like they're not there (Set by Durance with 9 in mechanics), but his seals trigger ok (larger area maybe).

^gog should be in a day or 2

^GOG installer should automatically verify the file integrity before install (unless you skip it). (Sometimes redownloading will give you the same corrupt/incomplete files as the computer uses the cache/assumes the last time was the right size) - clear cache (and maybe DNS resolver cache) before redownloading. Avast could be causing a problem (not likely but possible) - have you tried installing/running it with avast turned off?

I found the cipher to be pretty boring to play personally. I'll have to get back to you on that one then - intend to play a rogue in next playthrough but I'll use the cipher companion too. (Current, nearly finished, playthrough is just using the companions as I met them so no GM). I wouldn't switch often - 4 spells per level is usually enough to get a good mix - but there are certain spells that are useful in certain situations that you might want to switch to depending on enemies.

I like having different styles of spellcasting for different kinds of spellcasters. If they all had the same style of spellcasting, they'd be the same kind of spellcaster by a different name. I enjoy playing wizard with the grimoir decisions and druid, and I'm sure I'll like the cipher when I play one, I like the idea anyway.

I've not been using many traps - every time I've tried, the enemy run over it and it doesn't go off. The trigger area doesn't seem to be large enough (the red area shown on screen doesn't seem to correspond to the trigger area).

Having said what I just said - I've just had an animancer and a slaver show up (2 separate incidents in one gaming session) offering to buy the prisoner (Me being nice and all, didn't sell him - maybe with a different PC on my next playthrough).

I've taken a grand total of one prisoner - and nothing happened. No ransom offers, no prison breaks. He must like the food or the way we redecorated

Just to clarify - the quoted amount almost certainly meant 4x the VA budget, not 4x the game budget (6000 lines were voiced out of 25000 lines = just under a quarter of the total -> 4 and a bit times the lines = 4 and a bit times the budget (approx)). We don't know the original budget for the VA so we don't know how much it would've cost (probably not the 17 million you're saying). Still - I'm happy with the current level of VO - could even reduce it and use it just for opening lines IMO. The scripted interactions were great and I'd welcome more of them for use in the future.

where the voice acting starts before you've had a chance to read the text description. It should follow this format: where the text description is used only to convey what well-written dialogue alone cannot. ^Very much this

I agree with Sensuki here - there was a little too much VO on some characters, and none at all on others. It'd be better to get the intro-lines voiced for flavour, and then leave the rest to us to read. (I read way faster than they speak, too - not speed-reading, not losing any emotional impact, just faster).

For me it seems to happen every time I shut-down the computer overnight. (But oddly, not if I shut the computer down and turn it back on in the middle of the day after playing).

Not sure about the xp-gain. What's 'appropriate' may vary from person to person. As for the Stronghold buildings: One of them is needed to access bounties, as you said - bounties give a lot of xp - maybe leave them until Act 3 if you don't want to level too much earlier, or just leave them altogether. Restoring the dungeon gives the option to take prisoners (but only rarely) rather than fight to the death. If you're not interested in the stronghold - just leave it (restoring the above 2 areas may need you to restore another 2 areas first - it's listed in the stronghold UI. Oh, and npcs left in the stronghold - they don't level automatically, but can be sent on quests through the stronghold menu (you get a notification when one is available) - xp-gain isn't as much as going adventuring with you though (AFAIK)

If not in expert mode, it should be a toggle in options.