agris

This is known as 'perspective' view in Shadowrun Returns, and is noticeable when scrolling, despite the camera angle not changing. I like it, but if it isn't relatively free to implement I doubt OE would consider it. What's the cost / benefit of such a feature?

Also, didn't one of the team members state you will use ability checks in places where one might imagine a skill check? Rather than a Diplomacy skill, check the Charisma attribute, etc.. this gives you non-combat character build differentiation without skill bloat.

I know the gaming expo ended on Sunday, but are any you going to be here for other events? What are you guys interested in seeing, either professionally or personally?

I know a lot of players use free VPNs to get around region locks / censored content, then put steam in offline mode while playing the game. I'm not sure if you need a CC attached to a physical address in the correct region though. US military personel run into this problem when stationed in regions where a steam game hasn't been released, and VPN'ing is how they get around it. Another option, and someone please tell me if I'm wrong, is being gifted the game by someone who can purchase it.

there's always autohotkey if you've got your heart set on a controller. there's even scripts that take analogue stick input and remap it to mouse movement. ****, i'd be surprised if valve doesn't find it necessary to include an autohotkey-like universal remapping feature in steam at some point, but with a GUI.

I'd just like to point out that Jack Nicholson clearly needed that watermelon.

You seem to be missing the part where the game has already been pitched and features promised... Oh wait, you're kidding!

There are finite resources, and the game wasn't pitched as a romance/interaction simulator. I believe Brandon already pointed out the fallacy of the "romance would be easy/cheap to implement!" argument several pages back. Most of the people advocating for its inclusion seem to have no idea what finite resources and a tight planning schedule dictate in a project. OE has made a series of promises to the community about PoE, and romance was not one of them and more than that, has been categorically rejected from inclusion. You can have all the opinions you want, but poorly informed opinions don't advance the conversation. There isn't going to be romance, there aren't the resources for it, and the game won't suffer for it (i'd argue it'll benefit from the exclusion, actually). If you really want a romance intensive game experience.. Sex if You Win, Sex if You Lose

The existence of threads such as these seem to follow some basic, universal principal. If there is a desire by part of the community for romanceable NPCs, and it won't be included in the game, there will always be threads arguing for its inclusion. I've borrowed a rule from physics and re-purposed it to illustrate why these threads keep cropping up, We can lock one thread, but the conservation rule still applies...

Interesting, sounds a lot different. I'll download the rules at some point, but we're committed to our 4e campaign right now. If you're interested in taking a peak at the old 4e player/GM handbook, shoot me a PM

'Retroclone' is a new term for me. I started playing PnP about 1.5 years ago with HackMaster 4e which is a retroclone of 1st ed AD&D. It's very similar with some new and clarified mechanics like Honor, extensive non-combat skills, and a punishing GM-vs-the-Players attitude that suits our table well. I thoroughly enjoy it. @Al2O3- how do you like HM 5e?

For those who have been using Firefox for a looong time and don't like the new appearance, new FF doesn't have to look like ****. I'm using FF3 theme for FF4+ and "skip addon compatibility check 3" extension (without any sites rendering incorrectly, fwiw).

Each pixel in the depth map indicates its depth from the camera, which is then used for per-pixel occlusion on the effects and objects in the scene. Like a "1 - height" map, or the working distance of the detector for the electron microscopy folks.. (there's a lot of ya'll, RIGHT?!!?)

in regards to the thread topic: thank-****ing-god

Well then, it certainly sounds like the game isn't for you...

For $15, the game looks like a steal. The art fits the setting and mood that the devs are trying to convey very well. They also have a new narrative video up. It isn't just a side-scrolling rogue-like, there is a large emphasis on the psychological damage caused by facing these demonic creatures and being forced to kill. With an emphasis on resource management, the sanity of each team member has to be balanced against your desire to continue exploring. Add in the fact that the town is upgradeable, and you actually manage a roster of players (ala XCOM teams), the game looks pretty awesome. I'm chugging down the kool-aid and loving it. Some screenshots showing combat UI, camping resource management and the upgradeable town, respectively. If any of you are more interested, here's two good interviews with the devs: Pre-KS Post-KS

Thanks Josh, but I think you're interpreting 'timer' too restrictively and missing the point of my question, or maybe I shouldn't have used the word timer at all. Either way, I'm talking about the effect on the feel of combat by making class active abilities refresh on a per-encounter...basis, and casters' spells refreshing per-encounter/rest. I realize these existed in the IE games on a per-rest basis, but it's the density (active class/modal and spells) and frequency (per-encounter) in PoE that cause some of us to worry about the combat feeling MMO-ish. Did you guys consider using components to augment or replace per-encounter or rest active ability refreshes (man, finding it hard to avoid using the word 'timer'..)? I assume it came up during design, so why did it get ditched for per-X refreshes?

I realize that per-encounter and rest cool-down timers are an established part of the game, but I continue to read about people concerned that these mechanics feel too MMO-ish (in particular the per-encounter non-spell combat abilities). I share this opinion, and am worried about the gameplay deviating from the old IE style too much and for the worse. If the developers don't consider the combat gameplay feeling like a single-player MMO a bad thing, this point is moot. But I sincerely hope they do. So my question is this: have the developers considered using rare or expensive spell/ability components (inventory consumables essentially) to restrict the frequency of ability use, rather than cool-down timers? Not as a complete replacement of timers, but to augment it. Timers and components (either together or separate), rather than relying purely on timers to limit spell/ability usage. Do you, the community, have any thoughts about this? I'm sure you do..

Excuse me if this has been discussed already, but do we know if PoE will feature a narrator and chapters, ala all the IE games? I think the narration and 'hard' chapter-breaks in all the IE games were very much part of the experience, and I hope it continues in PoE.

That's like saying you want a shirt made out of asbestos

This is exactly why I want them to release the brand and line of shirt that will be used. Some L are too short, and the XLs are far too wide.

Isn't the WL2 project director Fargo himself? I assume that's as experienced as they come. It isn't experience I worry about with that development house, but rather their judgment. Time will tell, I hope the WL2 release makes all my worries pointless.

This is really off topic for the thread but: yea, Expeditions was great. I'm experiencing the WL2 beta right now and inXile's writing and map design have me worried for TToN. The codex news thread about the GameBanshee WL2 beta interview has several posts talking about the corridor / peninsula design of the WL2 outside maps and I have to agree- it feels too much 'on rails', especially considering the pedigree and stated inspirations for the game.

Not sure if you're trolling or not, but any time you commission the manufacture of something like a shirt you're given cost estimates based on options (such as shirt type). Its not behind the scenes... it's part of the whole 'paying for it' process. Also as a 6'2 guy... that last part of your post isn't valid in my experience.

To help all of us select the right size shirt, could you guys please tell us what brand and shirt line you'll be using for the OE and PE shirts? I don't want to end up with a shirt that barely covers my midriff or could be converted into a 2 person tent when I'm not wearing it...