curryinahurry

Cool, 1 AM for me. I'll be just getting back in from drinks with a business associate!

Other people have mentioned pre-releasing the character creator, but it might be interesting for obsidian to actually release a creator & trainer module so we can get an understanding of leveling and implications. I bring this up because there could be an autolevel function for people who don't want to fuss with NPCs too much that is tied to following "tracks" of development. For example, a mage NPC could be have a major track of Fire Magic with minor tracks in illusion and alchemy; A Thief could have a major track in Stealth with minor tracks in dirty fighting and traps, or some such. This way, one could set these tracks and let the NPCs level up on their own. The thing is, for this to really work smoothly, one would have to have some idea beforehand how different builds might look at the games finishing levels.

Very true. A lot of people on this forum are just new to Obsidian's work, having been pulled in by the link to IE games I'm assuming. Also, Ziets' work on DS3 crafting the storyline, and lore was really amazing. He really created a great mish-mash of ideas based on eastern and western cultural concepts and mythologies. It was unfortunate that there wasn't more story in DS3, as he created great depth to what was previously a fairly unremarkable world.

Meh...I would rather the devs come up with a playable race that was more unusual...a fey race, or spirits, or elementals. Also, one must consider that if humans are the dominant race and there are Orcs and Ogres that fill the fantasy trope of humanoid "other" (whether traditionally wild, undeveloped or evil), why would said races particularly want to associate or adventure with Humans? I guess it depends on how Obsidian builds its world, but I wouldn't mind having races that flat rejected humanity or even saw it as a blight that needed to be avoided or erased.

We're already up to 8 companions per KS goals and we really don't know what they might add before the funding period ends . Plus more money means George Ziets and his wizardy at conjuring up NPCs, so the count is likely to grow. Oh, and we don't know about quest specific or mission related NPCs (if any).

I don't think its like that. Let's say they use your money to make plastic cups and put popcorn in it and then try to sell you soda in the plastic cup you already paid for. Wouldn't you think, hold on I've already paid for the plastic cup, shouldn't I get the discount? that analogy is not good. do you have a problem that the higher tiers getting things like t-shirts and stuff? because they aren't paying to develop those either. I don't think you're game experience is complete if you aren't using a PE mousepad and wearing a PE hat while looking at your cloth PE world map hanging on the wall. You haven't bought anything from anyone on kickstarter. You donated money. They are nice enough to give you free things based on how much you donated. At best, you bought a cup. They gave you free popcorn. now you want free soda too. first of all, they don't give me(us) anything for free (plastic cup=game engine, popcorn=gameplay/story etc) I(we) have given them the money based on a promise to make "isometric, party-based computer RPG set in a new fantasy world". Now they are planing to use plastic cup(game engine) to put soda(new gameplay/story) in it. Supporting the project is one thing and I don't have a problem with it, but by "giving" the expansion to the $165 and above, it looks to me like: all below $165 are not worthy enough to get it(please remember that even $20 might be a lot for some people and there's 25000 ppl there). So they should either give the expansion to all backers (not only to $156+), don't give it to anyone at all or at least make it cheaper for backers, because they spend their money to get this project running. they will use kickstarter money, money you donated to give you "free" things I don't think its like that. Let's say they use your money to make plastic cups and put popcorn in it and then try to sell you soda in the plastic cup you already paid for. Wouldn't you think, hold on I've already paid for the plastic cup, shouldn't I get the discount? No. Not at all. I disagree with your assessment entirely. Obsidian should not feel compelled to give away the store because people like you are informed entirely by your own greed. Actually they should, because store doesn't add anything to the project funding, example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEaY4JYooJk Your example doesn't really apply to the game. You're paying for the product, not the engine or the story. If Obsidian created a KS to fund a game engine, then your point would still not be valid, because then all you paid for is the engine, not the product. The only time your analogy would work is if you had commissioned Obsidian under a contract to make x game and to hand over all tools developed in the creation of x game upon completion. That is not the case here, where we are crowd funding a game and giving Obsidian wide latitude to develop the game. Obsidian is then going to develop a second game, it will be smaller in scope and be sold 6 months or so after the first game is released. As a thank you to certain backers who paid larger amounts of money, they are giving the second game to them for free. The tools and assets they use will be partially paid for by the first game, but not exclusively, and regardless, they belong to Obsidian for them to do with as they please. Please refer to the modding issue as it has bearing on your complaint.

There is no good or evil, only survival and extinction. That which brings survival for the self and the group is called good. / Yes, there's nothing in the description of any of the characters that implies, "good aligned only." Even the way the Paladin class is described, they come off more as zealots...think the Templars were "good?" Defenders of their faith, yes. But otherwise? BadMojo, I understand the inclination to put things in the D&D frame of reference, but without an alignment system, a lot of the class kits (good oriented or evil oriented) really make no sense. A thief can be an assassin, a paladin can be an evil tyrant, a cipher can twist souls to do his/her dark bidding.

Mr. Ziets is a story orientated goal. Where do you think story stuff comes from if not writers. With one more writer you have all the writing, lore, NPCs, originizations, maybe even new areas and so on that he creates in addition to what the current writers are creating, which means more content and an improvement in content. The new Pally sounds cool, like the love child of 4e Warlord, 4e Paladin, and the Pathfinder Cavalier (especially the orders and causes focus in the cavalier). The Palace guard by the way is a throw back to the original prechristian Paladins in a sense. I believe Some Emperors had a Palatine guards or something. At least I think I read something along those lines. Rereading the Chanter, the Chanter really sounds like across between the Bard and the Shaman, with Chants (music/stories) that interact with the spirits of the world. For what comes next I wouldn't mind some more races and thier regions. Actually, this version of the Paladin has me intrigued. I never really cared for the alignment-based D&D characters as I hated alignment, so this more warlord/ cavalier type character could suit me fine. I need to read up on the 4e warlord! I'm also really interested in the concept of a loremaster/ artificer character. I've been really wanting good support characters in this game, and hopefully this will fill that slot.

They are using the same basic methods as ToEE. So that is the baseline that I am expecting. Anything better than that would be bonus, but anything worse would be a bit of a letdown. ToEE would be ok, but I wasn't wild about portraits and lighting was wonky in outdoor areas. I hope they can bring their game up a level, particularly with ambient lighting (ambient sounds as well, but that is another story) which is always a bit weak in most CRPGs; 2d and 3d.

Darklands remains my favorite character creation system ever in a CRPG. Anything similar to it would be terrific; heritage, and initial point buy followed by occupation with additional point buy. All of these affecting skills, with some discretionary points to throw around.

5 levels and counting...hopefully we'll get to 10 or 11 by the time KS wraps up.

Given that NPC interaction in PE is going to largely be driven by Factions, its pretty safe to assume that many of the items in the OP's poll will resolve themselves through this mechanism. Availability of certain quests in the game will probably be affected by reputation vis a vis these factions, so that pretty much deals with point 2 & 3. How much is more a matter of balancing resources and fun. It would be interesting to defeat a bandit gang in locale x, travel to locale y and find the price of potion reagents lower, or possibly have some other type of economic effect, but given the game time that we will likely be playing within, a matter of months, I wonder if real economic changes would be felt or even noticed unless spelled out for the PC.. Economic changes in particular require a frame of reference, so in the reagent example above, one would have to be in location y, notice the price on mandrake root, travel to location x, defeat the bandits, and then later when back in location y, you would notice that mandrake root is now less expensive. Will people really be paying that much attention? Also, I think it would be interesting to see how fame and wealth might attract people to the PC. In most games, it means more quests, but what if the PC became a target of a blackmailing scheme or a powerful warlord assaulted the PC and his party because he viewed the PC as a potential threat?

Josh Sawyer has already said that resting would be an important mechanic within the game. They just want to avoid the spamming of rest in IE games or the tedium of backtracking to rest if the PC felt unprepared vis a vis spells. I would be surprised if there wasn't a fairly robust rest/camping feature in this game. I would like it to be a bit more abstract than DA:O; with dedicated interfaces for crafting, potion brewing, conversations, etc. It would also be interesting to allow for resting in dungeons to have a strategic component, setting up watches, etc.

Actually, from the comments, it looks to be more of an SOZ/Darklands type of map. There was another thread about this where some salient quotes were posted, but I'm too lazy to look for them.

You people need to read the actual question and answer before responding in this thread. The question was regarding things that Avellone loved and hated in RPGs that form the basis of PE. His answer is not about fights, its about making decisions less about "winning' and "losing" and more about the exploration process. This thread is pointless in reference to the actual interview. If the OP wants to ask this question in general and have a discussion about it, fine; just don't paint it like Avellone is trying to get rid of difficulty in encounters.

Yes, a sliding scale by caster level. I also think a lot of this will be determined by how they categorize spells and their appropriate levels. Sleep at first level for example may be overpowered in a system like this. There might instead be a daze spell at first level and sleep moves up to second or third level.

PE setting is fantasy, but one that (allegedly) will be much more down to earth - hence the Darklands connection. In other words - It'll be Darklands sans the historical background and with more pronounced fantasy elements; at least that's my understanding. And if that's the case - I'm all for it Absolutely. Darklands is still the most living rpg setting I've ever played and its really the only sandbox type rpg I've ever truly enjoyed. What made Darklands so immersive was the way Hendrick layered fantasy elements onto real world, historical facts. Taking that a step further into the fantasy realm, it means starting with the D&D/ Tolkien tropes and turning them in interesting directions. I am really getting that feeling from the art we've seen so far BTW. Josh Sawyer being such a fan of the game and a student of how Arnold Hendrick created that world really bodes well for Eternity.

Regarding the cooldown system; it sounds like they are heading towards a, "by level" spell point system. Casters would get an allotment of casts for a particular level that would change as the player levels up and gains new spell levels. Once out of spell castings for a given level, I would hope that the cooldown would be based on encounters and not time. 2nd level spells may recharge every other encounter, while 5th level might take 3 encounters to recharge and this would slide based on caster level. I would also trust obsidian to balance this to prevent the "spamming fireball" comment above. What is interesting to me is the grimoire comment...will they be customizable suites of spells or broken down by schools of magic? Good update, and I like the concept art for the endless paths!

Epic Amentap. Truly Epic.

That's great, but I would like (depending on how many levels we get to), something truly ancient and alien as the main animating force behind this dungeon. Maybe finding a way past these foes can open up the real depths below; or the real prize is something deeper in the dungeon that the two enemies are both vying for.

Historically, Paladins where essentially knights, some of whom later became seekers of holy relics. They were lawful in the sense of being the champions of the king and were perceived as "good" because of their chivalric code. In this view they were not all that different from samurai. I don't think you need an alignment system in order to be able to model a character like this. But perhaps you need a system that modifies their soul-based powers depending on their ethical choices and loyalty. You're thinking of Templars I believe. Paladins were the historical champions of Charlemagne's court. I'm not sure if they actually existed or not.

Love those maps on Grognardia! Ok, a few off the top of my head: - An underground lake that must be traversed by boat to reach an island with a a puzzle of some sort that will lead down to the next level or a crypt; the lake must have a monster that for some reason only attacks on the return voyage - A level that is not a level, rather an illusion cast by a malign entity that has clues to solve and said entity to defeat - An arboreal level filled with strange living plants and creatures that worship one of the quest related items you must wrest away in order to progress I'll think of more later

Bards are a blast to have in a party in IWD & IWD2 The alignment issue brings up an interesting consideration. Considering what we know about gods in the PE setting being meddlesome and manipulative and the lack of alignments, how would Paladins work? Would they just be zealots? Armored Monks? I'm also curious to know weather the cleric class will be dedicated to single deities or more of a sort whose soul has the particular capacity to commune with deities.

Perfectly sensible, but Trashman's point has been why do rogues get the backstab bonus and not any other class (I think), particularly warriors who are trained to kill just as lethally. The stealth argument is fine but an attack from behind is an attack from behind. @ Ogrezilla, that is well and good...I think that they should get bonuses in those situations for specialized attacks like hamstring, bleeding, etc. not the generic backstab.

Male. Look at the arms and in the wallpaper, the body shape is masculine