curryinahurry

A quick note about the color, or look of this art... I'm not sure how many people here paint, but usually before one paints a portrait, he/she will do an underpainting, or sketch in a sepia tone to serve as the guidlines for the actual art. This is how I take these recent concept pieces, as a sort of underpainting from which the character designs will eventually develop. Cheers

I Like it. The boob plate I'm indifferent to, but I like the details; gun, cowl, gauntlets. Like Edair, its a solid, realistic foundation to build from. Good stuff Oh, and I like the expression she has, a bit snarky

I like this, but instead of good vs bad king, it could be simply the king supported by the assassin's is also supported (unknown to the PC) by a faction that seeks to impede the PC, and if this king gets control of the area in question, the faction could become openly hostile to the PC, attacking with impunity or going after a faction that is allied with the PC.

No. Can you elaborate? It pretty much defeats the purpose of designing different looks to equipment. As others have said on this thread, the look of the armor is part of the game world. What if there is a great suit of armor that gives dex bonus but makes you look like a dandy? What if NPC's react to it in the game and make comments? It creates a major disconnect if you look as if you look as if you're wearing a completely different armor. Plus its one more vanity feature that many of us think is pandering and waste of time when more important things can be added to the game How does affect the developers designing armor??? There's no point to it that woudl make the developers design armor differently somehow? It merely allows the player to choose which armor they like the look of and to keep that look if they so wish to, it doesn't meant he developers would have to make less armor or design it differently somehow. As far as dandy armor and npc's commenting on your armor. It could simply apply to which armor you have visually equipped. So if you like the dandy armor and wear it they coment, but if you use the stats and have another armor visually showing they wouldn't comment about it. The two things go hand in hand. The designers don't just create the look of armor for the sake of aesthetics, a well designed world also takes into account re-activity ( as my example and others have pointed out). It also makes the player consider more then just the stats when choosing armor. You take those things away, and every suit of a particular type of armor could pretty much look the same. This game promises a world where there are consequences for actions, it should therefore be logical that all of your choices have consequences, not just the ones you find a convenience.

I never played either of the Witcher games, but I did spend a significant part of my childhood in Southern Louisiana, and a lot of time tooling around the bayous and swamps therein. They can have really varied terrain, but what you mention can also be incorporated in the game design; low nature or forestry skill an you wind up off a dry path and into the soup. That can lead to decreased movement, nasty monster encounters, or quicksand. I'm all for anything that deepens the gameplay.

No. Can you elaborate? It pretty much defeats the purpose of designing different looks to equipment. As others have said on this thread, the look of the armor is part of the game world. What if there is a great suit of armor that gives dex bonus but makes you look like a dandy? What if NPC's react to it in the game and make comments? It creates a major disconnect if you look as if you look as if you're wearing a completely different armor. Plus its one more vanity feature that many of us think is pandering and waste of time when more important things can be added to the game

Sewers I'm pretty meh about as they tend to be best when used as conduits to more interesting locations as Shardbearer mentioned. Swamps/bogs/wetlands however have a great deal of potential as they can be really alien environments. They can also be used to created unique scenarios like having to take a raft, which could lead to interesting encounter design...imagine fighting some unseen entity that attacked from below with your party in a confined setting. Also it could allow for interesting use of skills; a bandit camp in the swamps for example. If your party has a high swim skill, you can cut across the map and set up an ambush or attack from behind; if not, you have to attack from the front, but a party with high stealth combined with nature skill might be able to sneak up and ambush.

I really like this idea, not only are you using the factions/deities for boons, but in return they're trying to use you as pawns sort of thing, which goes well with the side-effects you mentioned. On top of this you could add something similar to ADOM, whereby the gods get angry and will refuse and maybe even give you a negative consequence (even death) if you pray too much for something without giving enough in return. There could be a ritual component to this, that if not done right could anger the deity and lead to something nasty showing up to teach you a lesson

Since the gods in Project Eternity are seemingly going to play a role in the story, it would be interesting to have a mechanic similar to Darklands where you could pray to saints to get temporary boons (here saints being replaced with gods). This should have consequences however; the more you pray to one the less likely his/her/its rivals are to be willing to grant you boons, possibly to the point of a rival sending a champion or creature to punish you, etc. A faction system of sorts for the deities. There could also be negatives to praying; pray to a god of war for increased prowess could lead to a berserk rage during or after a battle.

I would be all for a system like that. I have mentioned on other threads how starting down a quest path can potentially lead to offshoot quests or uncover deeper layers. There is a way; say within the faction system Obsidian is developing, to tie this into a central theme or main quest, that would be fine. I would like some form of overland exploration and mini quests to remain however, even if they don't net tons of experience.

So if my party happens to kill a mummy in a random isolated crypt that is 5 levels above us, but is not tied to any quest or "objective" ... we'd get no XP, even if we barely survived. But if my party talks a peasant (2 dialogue clicks, 2 skill distribution clicks) into saving a cat from a tree (talk skills!!) ... we'd get XP. That's neat... Not. Again, I don't believe that is what implied. I don't want to speak for the game designers, but I believe an offshoot area would be treated as separate from the main quest path and likely generate its own rewards. How you deal with the mummy; fight, charm, sneak past into the treasure vault, will net you the same xp rewards within the context of the encounter design. An offshoot area could also be turned pretty easily into a mini-quest if, lets say the tunnel leading to it is unlocked via the use of a skill like stonecraft or mining. Then you get a mini-objective to explore (pretty much how the SOZ world map treated these things).

I think that was Cantoussent's interjection with a misplaced quotation mark at the end.

As I stated above, this has answered by Feargus and posted by othrs; it seems from this that questing won't be the only way to get experience / develop skills

I just watched the video; Tim Cain doesn't say "quest only" at any time. He states that we will be rewarded not for killing things but for completing quests. I take that to mean within the context of quests, only. Since exploration and using abilities outside of combat are also mentioned, then there will be other mechanisms to develop skills and gain experience ( Also confirmed by others on this thread (and I see posted by IcyDeadPeople).

If we wind up with a SOZ/ Darklands type of overland exploration (which I hope we have in some form) and not just, "let me mark that on your map," then map notes are a must. I would personally enjoy discovering things like a ruin, that you had to then investigate and collect information about in a local town before heading back to use a password, key or ritual to gain access.

Were inXile's writers insulted when it was announced that Obsidian's Chris Avellone will join their team? I'd think that, if anything, they were delighted to have such a talented writer helping them create Wasteland 2. I don't know the mechanics behind how Chris Avellone wound up a part of the Wasteland 2 project. I do know that there is a difference between the enthusiastic call by a community for art direction, "in the style of..." and, "we want this guy because we know his stuff, and like it." It conveys a lack of confidence, even if we all know that no disrespect is intended (and I don't believe that any disrespect is intended). I can't and wouldn't want to speak for the art people at Obsidian, only what I know about the creative professions in general; and I know a great deal about that.

I liked the dwarf ranger concept art they posted. But I really don't fancy what was posted today. It reminds me of DA:O. I prefer an artistic direction to a realistic one. I think what was shown today was plenty artistic, not just very fantastic. I agree that this could veer into the vast blandness that was DA:O's art style, but I think the artists at obsidian are aware of the failings of the aforementioned and would try to avoid them. What I like about the art released today is that creates a baseline that is realistic, that is why I commented on the adding of magical items, etc. These things can lead to a sort of layering if you will which could become very rich and textured if done right.

This thread is pretty insulting to the artistic talent in house at Obsidian. From what I saw today in the concept for Edair, they are pursuing an art direction sensibility which I am very much in favor of; a restrained, believable world which will hopefully feel organic. I will be very interested in seeing how they develop monsters, magical items and magic itself with this type quasi-realistic style. I like Justin Sweet's work (although it may not fit based on what was released today), but I also like what I saw in DS3 and what was released today, so I am confidant that we will get a coherent, exciting visual representation of the setting and characters.

I hated the look of the UI in NWN, but I don't consider IE games to be a great alternative given the advancements in graphics. Maybe we can have some throwback items like world map or item information, but I think DA:O is probably more in the direction that I would want; frameless, clean and easy to navigate. The more decorative elements could be a toggle for those who want a frame with a bit of rocaille.

I'm glad a lot of people are mentioning an artificer type character; one that is good at alchemy, tech, making objects, etc. Most of the concepts mentioned in this thread thus far could be developed from one of the traditional 3 starting classes & I would be fine with that as long as long as we can create unique builds like some of you have listed. One of my personal character types in any party is the utility character that isn't truly great at anything but can provide an extra push for the party in any given effort.

I think that example could be fine. In all honesty, its more the word, "cult" that I am responding to as they seem to be such a staple of this genre; sometimes done well, but often done poorly. But yes, if the PC's investigation into such an operation met with interesting twists such as you mentioned, or if, in another example, you were about to move against a cult and an unexpected party (a respected local, or government official), and that uncovered a deeper and broader conspiracy, I would be all for such quest development.

We have different definitions of "boring" - slaughtering people does't entertain me. It's all in how you do it. I enjoy noncombat means as much as combat depending on circumstances but I really see nothing else to do with a cult unless I could persuade them to worship me and investigating it seems redundant....they're a cult....what do you expect they're into, baking cookies? I think (hope) the OP was using this as an off the cuff example. I would much prefer investigative quests to be rooted in political intrigue or factions trying to screw each other over. I would also like them to take us in unexpected directions; a missing child leads to uncovering a secret slave trade, as an example. Or a situation where the PC gets hired to hunt down rivals to a political faction or a brutal landowner and finds a secret organization acting in the shadows to do good for commoners, etc.

Yes to some modified version of the map used in Darklands. The problem I had with the travel map in SOZ is it felt a bit cartoon-y to me, but maybe some version of that could work.

Was it Ruins of Undermountain that spanned 3 modules? If there is some spanning underground system it could be uncovered over several games (we all hope this first adventure spawns sequels) as a sort of Undermountian meets Deep Roads. For now I think one massive, 15 hour dungeon would be great on its own.

Yes to a megadungeon in the IWD Dragon's Eye style or a larger version of Watcher's Keep (2x at least). Maybe as a stretch goal, but this is a lot of what I personally miss in recent CRPGs