Katarack21

And, more relevantly, they've forgotten BG1 - an 80 hour game where you can count on 1 hand the number of magical weapons that offer anything other than a simple to-hit and damage bonus. Nothing other than Modern RPG conditioning/brain washing can explain why BG1 never got bashed for its "boring" loot itemization, while we sit here and watch PoE getting raked over the coals for it. Um. I don't think you played the same BG1 the rest of us played. Either that (and more likely), it's a bit easy to forget what a game released last century (seriously) was really like. But as I said before, while I don't necessarily agree with the OP, I do think Josh failed in his goal to make variety a viable option. Regardless of what he may have intended with the design, padded armor still sucks. Daggers vs stiletto is a no brainer in favor of stiletto. And whatever cloak throws the most defensive buffs on you is the right choice regardless of class. I disagree. Daggers do slash damage, stilettos do pierce--and while stilettos have DR bypass, daggers have accuracy. Which one you want depends on your build and what you're fighting. I have Grieving Mother in cleric robes, actually--less armor and less activity slowing than even the padded armor, and I'm loving it. Having a cipher casting powers real fast is crazy DPS and is super useful as long as you keep them back out of the fray.

Sure, but your damage output didn't scale inversely to your ability to TAKE damage. The fighter has always been the best damage dealer, outside of AOE effects. Now my fghter has to just sit there and take it up the ass while some squishy that dies from a spitball gets all the glory. May as well be playing WoW. What? No, that's crazy. Magic (and psionic users) have been out-damaging fighters and barbarians at max level for decades in D&D, both AoE and single target, and it holds true in a large chunk of western RPG's that are based on a Tolkien/D&D style setting. It's actually part of the reason 4th Ed ended up like it did; they were trying to undo decades of screwing the physical combatants and make them actually worthwhile all the way through to level 20. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards

There's a plot event that occurs after that conversation--I think it happens when you rest, although not sure if it has to be at the inn or not. Anyway, after that plot event talk to him again and you can recruit him.

Where?!

Oh, true, I do have one shield with a bashing attack. It's nice! You don't like unique items? It would also be nice if there was some sort of system to transfer enchantments to similar items, but I suspect it'd be quite a lot of work to implement. I wouldn't say I don't like it, I just find it frustrating some times--especially when I see a really cool spell effect that I can't duplicate on a weapon type that I'm not going to be using.

I've actually seen a lot of items at this point that I can't make, and I find *THAT* annoying, Daggers with spells, shields with bash, etc.

yeap. BG didnt have crafting, while in PoE you can make any item matching your needs. Looks pretty close to DA:I, maybe not as good but still very solid. People still repeating that to convince themself as if a "crafting system" have to be personnal to be considered as such. This closed view of how has to be crafting show the lack of knowledge about such feature, only that. BG series had a crafting system, it was not character binded, that is the difference. Calling what BG series had a "crafting system" is a shame to RPG's. D&D 2nd Ed *laughs* at your "crafting system".

I was exhausted, and hungry. I hadn’t seen daylight in three days. Hell, other than the glow of our weapons and the blaze of Aloth’s spells, I hadn’t seen seen light. As we walked up the ruined hallway, I saw an opening ahead to our left. Eder glanced at me and I sighed again; I was going to have to point the way, of course. Who else was going to make the smart choice? Grieving Mother? Durance? My sword and armor was caked with Xuarip blood and my back was sore from sleeping on in my armor in the last room. We’d had to pile up the corpses in the corner after I used my hatchet to hack off all the dragon whelp’s wings so I could boil them for potions later. As we approached the turn, I motioned to the Eder and the others to stay back. I reached into the sack and pulled out a dark orange globe; a fireball trap could always come in handy. Sighing, I heading up the hallway wondering why I couldn’t have a damn wine cellar like every other noble.

****ty.

A real-world clock somewhere unobtrusive.

I haven't finished the game yet, and I'm playing a rogue main, so keep that in mind with my response... So far, contrary to Josh's goal, you want the heaviest armor possible in all cases. No. No, you absolutely do not. I just switched half my parties armor out as an experiment, and trust me--my ranged Cipher and my priest are both *MUCH* more useful with a much higher action speed.

Nobody in their right mind has every though 2nd Ed AD&D was "intuitive". "Intuitive" was never really their goal. It was stats, charts, and numbers heavy because it was trying to be ultra-realistic, in that virtually everything was directly measurable. It was never quite as bad as GURPS, but it was pretty bad.

1) Ranged weapons are meant to be used at range. You need melee characters to engage in melee, so that the ranged characters can attack from range. This isn't a flaw in the combat system, this is how combat works. Sneaking provides major tactical advantage; as one example you can sneak up, fire, and move back using the pause system to time it properly thus causing the enemy to walk over a trap. I do this a lot. 2) You shouldn't use combat encounters like that to prove how screwy it is because the problem may well just be you. I killed that cave bear, on normal, with three characters (MC, Eder, Aloth) and had no problems--didn't use up all my spells, didn't use up my potions, etc. The boars were more of a problem, but again--I succeeded. 3) Health and endurance aren't that complicated. One is short-term, the other is long-term. That's literally the distinction. Health works more as a controller of the pace and amount of exploration; if you are going into battle with low enough health to worry about actually dying, you're doing it wrong. 4) There is no fanatcism, just mocking.

You know u can create custom adventurers right? I have a party of 5 adventurers and managed to kill everyone in this area. Yes, but I was trying to play the game with the scripted companions and not bundles of numbers following me around ;-) Pick up Durance, and maybe Sagani. If you only have three, I'm betting it's you, Eder, and Aloth, right?

I sent my tank around the table and had durance using a reach weapon. It worked out okay--most of my party was *almost* dead at the end, but I survived. Maerwald is a glass cannon--if you can get someone up to deal damage he'll go down quick. I'm having a much bigger issue with the Skaen Temple ending fight.

I think, rather than a ****ty RPG system, you are just **** at this game. No shame in that; not every gameplay style in the universe is one you'll be amazing at.

I'm playing a cipher and I'm about 20 hours in; I just got to Defiance Bay. I haven't noticed any real reactivity between my cipher class and the Watcher stuff yet; haven't noticed any real reactivity to my class yet, even with all the animancer/cipher stuff in the lore.

Nevermind.

More reactivity. *Always* more reactivity. I want a game where my choices are directly reflected by how the NPC's treat me. If I'm playing a Priest, I want those priest and paladin companions to engage with me about my faith. If I'm playing a barbarian from the White that Wends, I want people to ask me what the hell I'm doing way up here. Etc, etc.

Your first link and your second link are the same link.

I use Aloth out in front to pull the enemies to me with a big, mean Rolling Flames. It does some damage, it can bounce around to hit them again, and since I have it set to auto-pause when an ability is finished I can immediately set Aloth to run back to the rear before the ball of fire is even halfway to them.

Most of the AI packs in IE games were useless but I agree that some of the basic ones make a huge difference to quality of life. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of in fights as it is so I often find myself really missing the basic AI scripts like Standard attack or Ranged. Currently after casting a spell your party members will just stand around so in the heat of battle it's very easy to miss your Cipher isn't actually doing anything after he finished his spell. I never used *any* of the AI packs in the old IE games. I tried once...got my whole party killed. Worse than useless. I micromanage combat like mad; I pause it literally every few seconds. You can set it to pause after ever active ability is finished, too--which helps a lot, honestly. I have auto-pause set for enemy sighted, enemy death, and active ability finished.

1) You try to scroll through the forums by moving your mouse cursor to the bottom of the screen. 2) Your cats are lonely and take it out on your ankles. 3) You hear beautiful orchestral music in the background of your dreams. 4) When something startles you, your thumb twitches--looking for a pause button that isn't there.

I already have an ogre working for my security. Bandits beware.