[Update #63: Stronghold!]

Another option would be to make the stronghold only partially available on the initial playthrough. Have consecutive games be done from inheritors of your initial character's estate with more options available.

[Update #63: Stronghold!]

 

I wouldn't have a problem with companions and hirelings dying while on adventures, so long as you can rez them in your Maxed-upgrade stronghold chapel or maybe as undead minions in an equally upgraded crypt.

We already know there won't be resurrection/raise dead magic in PE, nor (much) healing magic for that matter, so that one's out. Animating them as zombie minions sounds cool though. Macabre, but cool.

MAXED-UPGRADE Chapel. It doesn't have to be common, just make it expensive. If the NPCs are really something, players will get attached to them. Its a great tool to get players to act how the writers want too. If all this talk about being an "Evil Overlord" to prisoners is distasteful, they can tie desirable mechanics to being high-prestige Paladin Fancipants. Want to rez favorite NPCs? Make the totally awesome Sword of Light? Marry the Princess? Then you gotta be Good.

[Update #63: Stronghold!]

 

I know the reality is distasteful but please consider a torture/interrogation upgrade for the dungeon. Especially if you do a respect/fear scale the implications in game could be severe. Reducing the chances of a prison-break and maybe converting mooks into minions, but if one DOES happen an escaped villain gets put back into encounter rotation with buffs for revenge and your security/prestige drops as people hear of the horrors your dungeon commits. The actual room in the game could be as hands-off as a blacked out room or maybe used comically like in the old Dungeonkeeper PC games ( http://www.gog.com/game/dungeon_keeper_2 ) with a Dominatrix sprite and, as an old gf used to say, "yummy sounds".

 

 

The treatment of your prisoners could all be handled via a dialogue with your jailer. Graphically I don't see a need to go much beyond that. Leaving it to the imagination seems sufficient.

 

 

Like I said above, " hands-off as a blacked-out room..." Its a touchy subject that some people have strong reactions to, and others not-so-much. It all boils down to the predilections of the designers, and the tone they're going for in the game. A text option to the jailer works for me.

 

 

Like many others on this board, I'm not interested in playing a one-sided hero. Being able to be a **** is uncommon in games and is something I find that I crave (even if its just the option to go down that road, whether or not I choose it). The KotOR games let you go darkside (but not Really Evil, you're just a jerk who force lightnings people), but in The Last of Us you do Bad Things and make Hard choices. It makes those games feel deep and immersive. I hope that Obsidian isn't afraid to be serious with us in this game. If that's a tone they're willing to go for.

 

Who knows, the interrogation chamber, adult humor, ****ing, and blood splatter could all be portioned off behind an option to parents to censor the game for their children. Then the game can be marketed to all the children separately from all of us 21-60 year olds who will actually play it.

 

Another thing I wouldn't mind seeing is the loot that I store in my stronghold getting used by hirelings and companions if its left in storage for a period of time, or is of a lower level than myself. Perhaps the option to put gear in an Armory instead of Storage.

[Update #63: Stronghold!]

I don't really feel like reading through the pages here to make sure what I've written hasn't already been covered, so I'm just going to repost what I said on the KS page (before I noticed the forum link at the bottom of the update, sorry). So if I'm retreading covered subjects, please just ignore me...

 

You're not fooling anyone Tim. We all know you're not wearing pants in that photo, but that's alright, the comforts of your workspace are very important.

 

You might consider a love/hate or respect/fear scale alongside prestige/security. Run a police state, high security, lowered love and reduced prestige (hirelings are mercenaries (****) but do what you say, companions though are heroes and might go adventuring without your say so "for the people's good"; minor +/- for having more or less perhaps). Using resources to aid the surrounding lands might raise or lower all the scales even if its just a text declaration and nothing visible actually happens. Take a look at the Pathfinder book Ultimate Campaign's settlement and kingdom building if you need any inspiration.

 

I wouldn't have a problem with companions and hirelings dying while on adventures, so long as you can rez them in your Maxed-upgrade stronghold chapel or maybe as undead minions in an equally upgraded crypt.

 

I know the reality is distasteful but please consider a torture/interrogation upgrade for the dungeon. Especially if you do a respect/fear scale the implications in game could be severe. Reducing the chances of a prison-break and maybe converting mooks into minions, but if one DOES happen an escaped villain gets put back into encounter rotation with buffs for revenge and your security/prestige drops as people hear of the horrors your dungeon commits. The actual room in the game could be as hands-off as a blacked out room or maybe used comically like in the old Dungeonkeeper PC games ( http://www.gog.com/game/dungeon_keeper_2 ) with a Dominatrix sprite and, as an old gf used to say, "yummy sounds".