kanisatha

From one of Swen Vincke's recent interviews it sounds like spell slots/memorization is/could be completely out because it's a mechanic that's not "fun."

Seems like "Baldur's Gate: Original Sin" might be what fits best.

This might be what encourages me to try the game despite its first-person perspective, since it is combat that I generally cannot abide in first-person.

I wonder if Swen might be pursuing some new type of combat system for this game, something that is a cross between RTwP and TB. Something like that I might very grudgingly be willing to accept. But if it is a typical TB system, especially something like the utterly crappy combat system of the D:OS games, I'll be - very angrily and very bitterly - passing on this game.

It's called Descent into Avernus, due out this November.

That's a good article. But I still don't know if it will be TB or RTwP. That's what will decide for me if I consider it a true successor to the first two games or not.

Yeah and that is precisely the source of my unhappiness of Larian doing this. But at the same time, I am trying to be hopeful based on the facts that (a) another D&D game is already being made as a co-op action RPG and I would be surprised to see WotC greenlighting two similar D&D games, and (b) Swen Vincke said in a recent interview that he wants to make different kinds of games from what he has been making thus far.

Yeah I hope they're smart enough to realize that if you're making game #3 in a series you should not mess with any of the core elements from the first two games, which means it needs to be single-player focused, party-based, isometric, and have RTwP combat.

It's interesting you say this because just a few days ago Beamdog finally revealed that they did have a D&D RPG in development some time ago, including using Planescape in it, but then that game was cancelled, which was then followed by Dave Gaider leaving Beamdog. No further details at this time, but I suspect WotC allowed them to say even this much now only because Larian's game is about to be revealed and it's likely WotC killed Beamdog's game when Larian came to them asking about doing BG3.

Yes they are, but that game is contracted out to some other studio. This game is what they've been touting as their next new game, codenamed Project Gustav.

Yep, anything about the game that does not honor the legacy of the BG franchise would seriously piss me off. The game being turn-based would especially push me over the edge. In other words, to be good it needs to be pretty much everything that the D:OS games were not. But there is room for optimism for two reasons. One, Tuque Games has already announced it is developing a D&D game that will be a co-op action RPG. I can't see WotC agreeing to two new D&D games that will be essentially the same thing. Two, Swen Vincke in a recent interview was very emphatic in saying that he wanted to move away from the things he'd already done with the two D:OS games into new, uncharted territory for Larian, because making the same type of games was boring and uncreative and he wanted to be challenged and try new and different things.

Agree with pretty much all that's already been said. I would add that multiclassing is probably my most favorite change. And yeah, ship combat is not my thing (though the ship as my home base is great).

I've been wondering about Surviving Mars myself, wanting to try out a space builder. My concern is that even as I like micromanaging, I hate having to micromanage down to the level of every individual colonist. Any thoughts/feedback?

@Wormerine, P:K is getting an enhanced edition soon so you may want to wait for that. On D:OS, I bought the first game on sale and slogged through over 350 hours on it even though I really disliked the game, and especially the combat, just so I could say I really gave it an honest chance. You cannot pay me to try D:OS2.

Having a party with me (even if they're called cohorts) is why I loved NwN2 and hated NwN1. I'm continuing to slog through The Witcher 3 right now but am beginning to lose some interest ... and not having a party with me is definitely *the* reason why.

You should consider also picking up the Mysteries of Westgate DLC. That was so worth the money imo.

Clearly someone has a Death Star. Yeah me too. The bastards!

It's a sign Syfy should bring back the show Dark Matter

Boeroer and Gromnir, I agree with you both very much. And Gromnir's point about the pitfalls of adapting from one system to another are exactly my issue as well. The gameplay mechanics that work well for RT don't for TB and vice versa. So adapting the mechanics developed for one to the other will always leave the latter in a less than desirable state. So in my view, the only way a developer can offer both RTwP and TB as equally well-balanced options in a game is by independently developing separate, parallel sets of mechanics for the two modes. And I'm not convinced any developer will be willing to throw that much in resources into their game. Boeroer is correct in the assesment that for Deadfire this was somewhat possible because Obsidian had already invested in tinkering with TB mechanics for the game, to which I would also add that it likely serves as an experiment for them for future games and as such provides some useful value. But I just don't see this being a thing for Obsidian or other developers going forward.

This is essentially a wall of personal opinion where somehow your personal opinion is right and mine is wrong, disingenuous, blah blah. You're clearly not a person with whom one can have a conversation so I'm done trying.

@Wormerine, thanks for the clarification. Though I'm not sure I completely agree, I can certainly appreciate your argument and agree with a lot of it.

Ah, so I'm supposed to be happy about a game that I will hate and not play just because it will be a game you will like? Yeah no. I'd rather have the PoE series end up dead than turned into a D:OS clone. Besides, why stop at making it TB because it will be more popular? By that logic Obs should go even further and turn the game into an MMO shooter, because that will surely make it a whole heck of a lot more popular. Also, show me the evidence that RTwP games "don't make money." PoE1 made a good amount of money for Obs. And furthermore, there is no evidence that TB is what made the D:OS games popular. My reading of those games tells me that cooperative multiplayer is what made those games popular, and having TB combat was merely a necessary artifact of having coop multiplayer.

That's your opinion. I'm entitled to mine, as I am also entitled to my feelings. I despice TB combat and find it to be vastly inferior to RTwP in every conceivable way, and will not play and be very angry with a TB PoE3. A TB PoE Tactics game I won't care about, so long as it is not represented as PoE3.

Well this is what horrifies me. I can live with a PoE3 built as a RTwP game with a TB option, but would hate and be, as an early backer of PoE1, angry with a decision to go TB as the default. If Obs wants to make a TB game in the PoE world, then they should go and do that with a completely new game and not alienate and throw under the bus the original PoE fans by fundamentally changing the core characteristics of the PoE games - isometric, party-based, and RTwP.

I also liked Enterprise which, alongside DS9, were my favorite ST series. Never understood all the complaints about Enterprise; seemed rather nittpicky. And yes, many TNG episodes were lousy and Picard routinely annoyed the heck out of me.