Gorbag

If options 6 and 7 both yield the "Heodan unharmed" result, then I'm guessing it would be an OR. If option 7 yields a better result (e.g. Heodan unharmed + Glanfathans pike off), then it would likely be an AND, because otherwise Lore alone would outweigh Athletics. Or it might be a situational thing where Lore just suits the situation better - I'm guessing none of the skill-check options lead to Heodan dying, so this is also possible, as choosing the right option depending on the situation would lead to a lesser difference in the outcome (harmed/unharmed) with the worst possible one being averted.

Are they being forced on me? How's "every goddamn day" for you, Mr. Curiosity?! I AM A HUMAN BEING NOT SOME DISPOSABLE TOOL FOR YOUR VICIOUS GENDER'S FERAL INSTINCTS!!! Anyway, thanks for the insensitive question. I feel emptier inside now...

January 28th 2015. You'll see... I'm opting out of reward as well.

^ Of course you are right, but detailed walkthroughs usually take some time. What I'm worried about is the game's initial reception as games rarely get second chances these days. The game is not powergamer-friendly, which may drive off some people, even some of those who like the IE games.

I have no problem with no XP for killing enemies myself, grinding was never my thing, and nether is powergaming (although exploring and resolving everything is). What I'm wondering about is the following scenario: Imagine if you will that enemies in PoE are, among everything else, loot pinatas. You get experience for not killing them, but you get their loot for spilling their guts. Imagine that the "How to be an adventurer" manual from IWD2 is right and a major part of players do tend to be "Neutral evil". Now, facing an enemy, would the actually-neutral-evil player take the XP or the loot? He/she would take both, of course, if such option exists - he/she will go the diplomatic/trickery/etc. way to take the XP along with anything that comes with it, and then turn around and blast the enemy to bits in order to get whatever they drop. What if the option for taking both is unavailable (how does the player know? - save-scumming!), which whould the player choose? He/she would start pondering on stuff like "Which is the more lucrative action to take? What would I miss out on if I take the XP? The Holy avenger? A token for the item-dispensing machine located on the next dungeon level? A side quest related thing?" Well, the only way to know is to save-scum more and find out. Outcome A: "I'm glad I didn't take the XP, imagine how screwed I'd be if I missed this" Outcome B: "Well, this was a waste of time *reloads and takes the XP* My point is, players who act like this are hardly a minority, so how long do you think it would take before the above procedure wears them down to the point where they stop playing?

Heh, the wolves outside of Candlekeep eat pups like these for breakfast. But of course nobody's talking low-level BG1 difficulty here, besides, what we see in these demos is kind of the "tutorial" level.

That would be her torch. Eh, I've killed for less...

I think I recall Josh Sawyer saying that Calisca is using one of the default portraits for the demo. Perhaps that's what happened to Odema's mustache.

1. Be completely unproductive at work on the day of release; 2. Get cranky during installation; 3. Spend the whole night staring at character creation screen; 4. Take 120 hours to play a 60h game (figures guesstimated) while being barely aware of my surroundings and even less social.

BG2 style class kits, although I don't know if they could be included through mods.

n/a He is no mercenary.

Yes the handing of the ass is a time honored tradition that must be done in order for a game to be truly released and accepted as it leaves it's developers loving embrace. Ah, it's Confucius stuff then. I see.

^ That's what skill checks do. Riddles and puzzles are there to test *your* mind. Yeah, riddles do not translate very well, but they are fun to have in a game. More fun than that goddamn circus tent genie's goddamn math problem in BG2 at least. Gah! Anyway, what J. Sawyer seems to be referring to is your typical "find a way to power up this device/get through this door/get around this pool of lava/etc." situations, which may or may not include solving riddles among other things.

Is handing asses really necessary? From my point of view, I got a great Divinity game and, by the end of this year, I'm hopefully getting an awesome IE successor. If everything goes well with PoE, I'll probably end up liking it better than D:OS, because I like Infinity engine games better than Divinity anyway, but I'll play both games to death, that's for sure. So far the only serious problems I'm having with Divinity:Original Sin are technical ones (and I did get the friggin shaft playing it on a 32-bit system, let me tell you). Aside from that, I switched off the dialogues between PCs (disagreeing with myself is fun for 5 minutes); the inventory takes a while to get (re)used to from a modern perspective (who in their right mind thought that Ultimas have an inventory worth throwing back to?!), but it's manageable, and the story is fine, if a bit bland so far, but then again few games jump right into the interesting stuff from get-go.

I don't think anyone officially confirmed that. I imagine some sort of force attack would be in (by having a command, by using AoE abilities, etc.), but (as Lephys said), it's a matter of dealing with the consequences of being able to attack anyone. BG1 had Biff, BG2 had unkillable NPCs, Planescape and IWD2 had "Despite our best efforts, you somehow managed to f up the game completely. Congratulations, this is our special "game over" screen just for you". As far as I am concerned, any of those options are perfectly fine.

The most obvious are Horrid Wilting and Teleport Field in BG2. Hehe, I don't mean to nitpick, but Horrid Wilting (IWD2) friendly-fires like hell. Abi-Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting (BG2) on the other hand... Love that Abi-Dhalzim guy! He must have been best buds with the guy who invented Chain Contingency. I wonder if those two would have a ball in PoE as well?

Again, I'd like to stress that there is nothing un-kickstarter like about spreading the word and generating hype about your game. Kickstarter is not exactly a sales platform. Although it's a rather new funding method, I'd say that a successful venture would go something like this: backers->funding->game->hype-> ->sales->profit-> ->next game-> publisher funding ->backers: , developer: ->sequels->prequels->

My 2 cents: Why the press first? - It needs press coverage. The press generates New-s. Any information already disclosed to the backers is Old-s and the press doesn't care about it. Why a demo? - Shortens presentation time and allows the press to get just enough impression to provide coverage. Why don't we get to see it? - It may or may not look its best, it may or may not contain plot elements, stuff in it may or may not make it into the final game. Again, it's for introductory purposes. After 80 updates, backers don't need introduction, we need in-depth information and actual game footage. Why do we get less game footage from Obsidian than from Larian? - Larian didn't kickstart Original Sin to build it from scratch, rather to improve it. Therefore it is understandable they want to show off as many improvements as they can. Obsidian are building PoE from scratch and they are doing it on a schedule and through a pipeline, not by taking one area from 0 to 100% and then moving to the next. Thus, unless Obsidian puts special effort in a certain area in order to show it off, areas will be done when the game is done. And despite any claims to the contrary, everyone wants to see the good stuff - even if it's a 3 seconds fireball animation - it's got to be good. Nobody really wants a presentation of bugs, visual glitches, characters walking on air, morbid pathfinding and all that. Besides, even if we do get to see it in its current state, I know it's alpha, you know it's alpha, X screams that the game game is a piece of crap and demands a refund. That said, I do want to sink my teeth into some game footage just as much as you guys. Winter 2014 could not come soon enough.

^ Those jaggies may be the video quality though. I can't really tell.

Yeah. Although it may be cranked up for the purpose of show-off. Or it may be just Obsidian worrying that it won't be noticeable enough, given the size of the characters. Anyway, this update reassured me that dynamic cloth could work fine for PoE. It's often a nightmare, what with capes cutting through hands, weapons, bodies and everything, but if there are such problems in PoE, they are small enough not to be seen. Aside from that, I don't realy care much about shadows. There should be some for overall believability, but I've never once stopped my game to pay attention to how shadows move (where light should be). Finally: great update. The game is looking better every time.

The Shyamalan-ation is that you're actually the slab, and the slab was the character waking up on you. O_O Hey, stop spoiling the end-game content!

I'll most likely do the same thing I did with BG2. My first time through (damn, that was so long ago) I'd take NPCs as they come, probably switching some of them on the way if my party can't pull their own in battles or if others strike me as more interesting. Next replays would include my favourites as core companions and some of the ones I haven't tried, to see how they work and interact. When I get tired of that, I'd start experimenting with different and unusual combinations. I probably won't get to the Hall of heroes until very late in my replays, unless most NPCs turn out to be boring or obnoxious. Solo - probably never.

Michael Bay, is that you? You know what your trailer lacks? The thrilling sounds of *BWAAAAAA* Even when you think it's over, suddenly *BWAAAAAA* ... right in the kisser. Cut to the main character waking up to find himself on a stone slab in a mortuary. BAM!!! PS:T'd *and* Shyamalaned at the same time. Yeah, that just happened.

I don't believe anyone could even wildly guess that. I don't even know who is holding it at this point. Activision?