Gromnir

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3706905&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=553#post446934874 HA! Good Fun!

we got loads o' suggestions for a sequel, which we will share later. as for an expansion, our impact at this late date need necessarily be limited, or benefitting from mr. peabody's time machine. to whit, we have two requests for the expansion: 1) cassowary animal companion for the ranger. while such a request is resource heavy, sherman already set the way-back machine to 2014, and earlier. had positive developer feedback at the time. am hopeful we see a vicious and dumb bird companion for rangers in the expansion. 2) a talent or ability option that buffs a companion paladin's faith and convictions bonuses. am not needing maxed faith and convictions for our adventurer's hall tank paladin, but a talent that would buff faith and convictions based on loyalty to the player character has an internal logic and would go far towards making joinable paladins less gimped compared to pc paladins. a talent/ability is not a minor price to pay for a more robust faith and convictions for companion paladins. even got a nifty name for the talent/ability: Honor Untarnished. eh? thanks. HA! Good Fun!

am actual amazed that so little mention is made o' how obsidian added faith as a central theme in a crpg with a pantheon o' deities that interact with the world and display tangible proofs o' their existence and power. obsidian approach is arguably unnecessary, but their pantheon is unique and clever and deserving o' note. as we observed earlier in this thread, the dime-store philosophy o' players or the obsidians interests us not at all, but the Question o' faith is possible in poe. amentep is able to consider the question o' poe faith and come to his own conclusions. good on obsidian. HA! Good Fun!

immersion: the crpg baby rattle. HA! Good Fun!

holy handgrenades-- your anniversary is the same as Gromnir's parents. is a day that shall live in infamy... not for you... we hope. congrats. HA! Good Fun!

reach weapons do not extend the aoe o' the carnage, but the carnage point of origin is at the target and not the barbarian, so in that sense the "reach" of carnage is extended with a reach weapon. however, your intelligence will extend the aoe size o' your carnage, thus making intelligence your most important attribute. *shrug* if you do not understand the damage potential o' carnage from reading the ability descriptions, then an explanation here is unlikely to help. create an npc barbarian and level it up with the console. against single targets, the barbarian is mundane. however, particularly in hard mode with large mobs of foes, carnage is a potent ability. rogues have sneak attack. efforts to make a rogue more effective are about maximizing sneak attack damage and opportunities. barbarians are carnage in the same way rogues are defined by sneak attack. "If you don't like classes who rely on getting into trouble to maximize their combat effectiveness, you probably won't like Monk either. His abilities depend on wounds, so he actually wants high Con but low deflection and little to no DR from armor so he gets hurt more" this is a myth. if you wish to maximize wounds and the dps potential of a monk, you will need to watch your health carefully. even so, a heavily armoured monk who takes only moderate wounds can still dish out ridiculous amounts of hurt-- they make ideal off-tanks. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking you underestimate dps fighters as well. dps fighters are not glass cannons as are rogues and barbarians, so a dps fighter will be able to wade into the the thick of battle w/o as much concern that death is always imminent. a well-built dps fighter is an extremely reliable damage dealer, so over the course o' an entire game, it will seemingly improve.

Not that I believe the young earth theory, but logically, if an all-powerful god created the universe, then that same all-powerful god created time (it being a function of the universe), which means dating anything accurate is dependent on whether god intervened (ie god could manipulate time), which would - presumably - be impossible to detect without god intervening to say "yeah, I did it". Therefore, the earth could date to 4.5 billion years, and yet also be 6000 years old at the same time, because god intervened. I've never understood people who believe in an all powerful god fear the data of science - it seems to so devalue the ability of god who they claim to be all powerful, really. One of the interesting things to me about PoE's setup is that yes the pantheon we're introduced to are gods created by man, but while the Engwithans - we're told - could find no proof a real god (or gods) existing, it doesn't remove the idea that there's actually other gods out there that the Engwithans could never see. Yes - that is one of the most interesting parts of the PoE world. The Engwithans stopped looking and made something up. The plot twist in the sequel might involve actual gods of the world who aren't happy about the invented ones. just saw this, so apologies for a reply coming so late, but we would hate such a direction for the plot. obsidian managed to get rid o' the traditional fantasy world pantheon by making 'em human constructs. add more gods simple sends us back to proverbial square one, no? if it were Gromnir writing, we would explore the eothas death a bit more. perhaps the gods were created not so much as individuals but as a system and the system is currently broken. unfortunately, real world calamity is resulting from the failed divine system. eventual, the player gets a chance to deal with the eothas problem in a variety o' ways. fix system, effective replacing eothas with a new deity construct. another option would be to fix w/o a new eothas; make so other deities can absorb the increased load. end system, terminating the power o' the gods... which wouldn't necessarily end belief in those gods. etc. *shrug* the thing is, we don't wanna know what obsidian is gonna do. we want for obsidian to do something we do not foresee, but having reached the conclusion and looking back on the entirety o' the story, we only then realize how all the myriad pieces finally fit together and we recognize that the way obsidian did were inspired. in any event, we don't want a turtles all the way down problem by adding additional deities. HA! Good Fun!

"It's very likely that you slaughtering most of his castle has him thinking, "Well, I can just hire replacements." He probably feels it's much more beneficial to him to have the killing machine working for him instead of against him." again, what raedric is thinking ain't the issue. you can't lead unless people follow. a tyrant who has shown he cannot defend himself is not long for this world. you walk outta raedric castle alive, much less as an ally, is the beginning o' the end o' raedric. one o' his "loyal" followers is gonna be killing him, and soon. HA! Good Fun!

is kinda a no-win for the obsinaties. for every person that wants a dungeon crawl and thinks such is the epitome o' ie gaming, other folks want less wave after wave o' beetles, trolls and undead... which is iwd dragon's eye... or is it endless paths? and am not sure how folks distinguish errand quest and a new major side quest. take the one ring to mount doom to be destroyed is an errand quest. find the grail? *shrug* HA! Good Fun! That's true. What I meant as "major side quest" was that I would like to see more open areas with varied types of quests instead of levels and levels of dungeons just for the purpose of gaining experience to level up. But you are right...it's impossible to make everyone happy. Maybe they will go with the "cake recepy" and make it half dungeon crawl and half open area making everyone happy make everybody happy is exceeding difficult if not impossible. what tends to happen when trying to make everybody happy is that instead you gots all people mildly dissatisfied. and expansions? well, those is even harder to get right as even if the developers do 'em well, some folks will necessarily be displeased that they didn't get more. tob, which were a large expansion compared to most any crpg expansion we might mention, were hated by more than a few folks. bioware added the optional watcher's keep, high-level abilities and finished their bhaalspawn story with an extreme variety o' locales. more than a few folks were still disappointed with tob size and scope. am getting the feeling that people is expecting tob, and when they get totsc or how, they is gonna be mighty angry... particularly as they is gonna get 1/2 o' totsc with this initial poe expansion. HA! Good Fun!

is kinda a no-win for the obsinaties. for every person that wants a dungeon crawl and thinks such is the epitome o' ie gaming, other folks want less wave after wave o' beetles, trolls and undead... which is iwd dragon's eye... or is it endless paths? and am not sure how folks distinguish errand quest and a new major side quest. take the one ring to mount doom to be destroyed is an errand quest. find the grail? *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

two observations: first, am confused. presumably somebody with authority at codex, if such a person exists, asked those folks contributing to pj's review to "keep it under wraps," yes? however, earlier in this thread it were noted that sensuki received permission from the codex to post pj's rough draft. is Gromnir missing something? or is that why sensuki is "pleased with himself"? tell collaborators not to do exactly what sensuki got permission to do? ... second observation is that we got no idea why we continue to post in this thread. bad on Gromnir. HA! Good Fun!

the only thing we will note, as we ain't heard how sensuki spins it, if pj offered a review to sensuki with the clear understanding that sensuki represented the codex and that the review were a submission to the codex, then... *shrug* no takebacksees on those embarrassing penthouse letters to the editor. the thing is, it appears to us that pj were going to sensuki personally for editorial review o' a work sensuki knew were incomplete. is so many things wrong with what sensuki did, but again, we only hear from pj. am not sure how sensuki spins, but am having a hard time imagining a motivation that makes sensuki actions less slimey. HA! Good Fun!

our understanding, based on nothing more than what we read here, is that pj went to sensuki for feedback on a review pj were cooking. for reasons known only to him, sensuki, w/o permission from pj, posted pj's rough first efforts on the codex boards with a rather colorful thread title to boot. am not knowing when this all occurred at codex, but the drama already happened at codex in "Twenty-odd pages of concentrated bile" and possible a few pms and/or emails. unfortunate, pj gets a shot to endure the insult anew 'cause bubbles reposted the "review" in this place. not actual fun at all.

given our already low opinion o' the codex, and sensuki in particular, am gonna admit to nevertheless being surprised that he would resort to such a petty and spiteful action. even protected by the anonymity o' the internet, it takes courage to share an essay, story or review. is going naked. go to folks for honest help and then have those same folks post your early efforts w/o permission is bordering on sacrilege-- writers and editors don't do that... evar. sensuki put much effort into his poe feedback, and he were mostly ignored save for bug identification and minor ui suggestions. that sensuki has not handled his impotence with grace comes as no surprise, but even so, am admitting that we would not have predicted that he would post pj efforts w/o permission. is something that ain't done. well, live and learn, eh? next time you want harsh criticism, ask Gromnir to take a look. HA! Good Fun!

before some person feels the need to offer "soon," we will observe that fans do not yet have a date or even an approximate date for the expansion(s) release. am recalling obsidian as having stated that more expansion details would be forthcoming in the week post e3, but whether a release date is among such details, we cannot say. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that shady would frequent think terrible thoughts 'bout us. when we ain't specific working on something where time is o' the essence, we... glide. in most circumstances, am preternatural patient and sedate. that being said, we ain't one o' those clowns that give the middle finger to the world as they take their time doing nothing. we will hussle across a street rather than making a guy wait while we saunter. woman behind us at supermarket checkout got a gallon o' milk? we let her go ahead o' us. our lack o' haste does not rob us o' awareness o' our surroundings. even so, am betting the fainéant impression we leave would set your teeth on edge. ... we don't look like a trevor... and the only brevin we know is the former point guard from stanford. we kinda look like esai morales. well, if you stuck esai morales' head on bane from the dark knight rises. so, more like a Grodd than a trevor. we tend to scare folks as is, which is one reason why we smile frequent and glide. HA! Good Fun! What does it mean to, "Look like a trevor"? preppy metrosexual? HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting that shady would frequent think terrible thoughts 'bout us. when we ain't specific working on something where time is o' the essence, we... glide. in most circumstances, am preternatural patient and sedate. that being said, we ain't one o' those clowns that give the middle finger to the world as they take their time doing nothing. we will hussle across a street rather than making a guy wait while we saunter. woman behind us at supermarket checkout got a gallon o' milk? we let her go ahead o' us. our lack o' haste does not rob us o' awareness o' our surroundings. even so, am betting the fainéant impression we leave would set your teeth on edge. ... we don't look like a trevor... and the only brevin we know is the former point guard from stanford. we kinda look like esai morales. well, if you stuck esai morales' head on bane from the dark knight rises. so, more like a Grodd than a trevor. we tend to scare folks as is, which is one reason why we smile frequent and glide. HA! Good Fun!

got all the info we needed. xcom 2 is an xcom game with much the same gameplay as enemy unknown and enemy within but with a variety o' enhancements, improvements and alterations. ... 'course, they had us at "xcom." HA! Good Fun!

am admitting that Gromnir is curious 'bout implementation o' those two abilities as feats. carnage-lite on a rogue is likely unnecessary, though is possible that we do not have carnage available as it weren't specific mentioned. fighters is an underrated dps class that we frequent run outta essential talents with which to customize. this would make fighters a prime candidate for off-class talents in our playing o' poe. somehow add both a sneak-attack and carnage to a dps fighter? our off-tank monk builds already do excellent dps. give'em sneaky attacks strikes us as potential unbalancing. am admitting that am curious as to how we might build a high intelligence dps monk to exploit a carnage ability, but am similarly recognizing that such is not needed and possibly unbalancing. regardless, the most powerful off-class talent combis is unlikely to be stuff we can predict. due to an unanticipated application o' abilities, spells and talents, there will be a couple ridiculous overpowered builds that emerge with the expansion-- is inevitable. the thing is, sneak and carnage is obvious, so we suspect that the obsinaties is work to make sure that those talents ain't gonna be exploited... at least not in any predictable way. HA! Good Fun!

a vd review? how amusing. am gonna pass on clicky o' the link. however, is worth noting that the first game made by black isle after losing the "artistic" troika talents was planescape:torment. HA! Good Fun!

"Even though "spiritual successor of the Infinity Engine games" never figured in the pitch in those exact words, it is clear that that's what it was meant to be. These are big boots to step into. To what extent does it succeed?" HA! yeah, obsidian never said the words, and am not sure what "spiritual successor" means to the reviewers as they never define this bit o' nonsense, but that is the standard the reviewers will hold the developers to in the review? based on the quote they lift from the ks pitch, no bg2 comparison should ever be made, yes? is soooo tough to take reviews serious when they start off as this one did. not wishing to be unfair and dismiss the entirety o' the review 'cause o' an early stumble, we trudged onward, but our patience did not last long. "A visual style that looks like an organic evolution of Baldur's Gate 2 or Icewind Dale." *groan* "The Infinity Engine games made great use of one of D&D’s best features: Magic." okie dokie. am not gonna go further into the multiple problems with identifying magic as "one of" d&d's "best features," but this were the insurmountable fatigue point for Gromnir. perhaps you like the review 'cause you agree with reviewer opinions. perhaps you hate the review for opposite reasons. the degree to which a reviewer's conclusions match our own is not how we personal judge a review. this work in progress needs... work. one o' these days we is gonna get past the halfway point o' a codexian review before giving up the ghost, but today ain't that day. HA! Good Fun! ps the reviewer(s) is unlikely to take any Gromnir suggestion to heart at this point, but we would recommend that in future endeavours, they should exorcise any appearance o' really, very and i believe. those particular adverbs we mention diminish in efficacy each time they is utilized and is glaring beacons o' the author's lack o' imagination. shouldn't need explain why use o' "i believe weakens" a review, yes? am realizing we sound harsh. nevertheless, your efforts will be (somewhat) improved by taking the simple measures o' removing the aforementioned feeble language. really.

month or so ago we had a similar problem. if we cast a paralyze effect on a critter that were already paralyzed, the critter would actual be cleansed o' the original paralyzation. got 8 seconds left on paralyze and had grieving mother target a troll with mental binding would result in premature freeing o' the troll from paralysis. am not certain if this were ever fixed or if we simple became so annoyed that we changed tactics so that we avoided any possible layering o' paralysis. HA! Good Fun!

mostly a repost from the expansion thread, but our current observations on the issue is... "fighter is an obvious class for Gromnir to be considering the benefits of the off-class talents. particularly when we play eder as a dps fighter, we run outta abilities and talents that we is genuine interested in taking. some kinda mini sneak attack option would be something to consider for one o' those last couple slots as we most often use such a choice on a utility feat that, while useful, is sorta a compromise pick. our paladins, on the other hand, is less likely to run outta useful choices. our ranged/support paladins, particularly the gunners, has more than enough choices to utilize all talent opportunities. a tank paladin has gotta use multiple talents as it is to make 'em viable tanks comparable to fighters. "chanter-specific talents is currently limited and kinda lame. perhaps we would consider playing a chanter as something other than a secondary tank once we get a looksee at the options. maybe" am also gonna note that our poe druids often load up on the elemental talents mostly 'cause we can't think o' any better way to spend 'em. 'course any relevant discussion w/o seeing what are the actual options for off-class talents makes this a wonderfully pointless thought experiment... like killing schrödinger's cat. can a tank choose to acquire a mage arcane veil? hell, we suspect the folks who play the low constitution and unarmoured rogues might be even more curious 'bout an arcane veil talent... but only if it gives meaningful benefit. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna note our initial disappointment with the off-class talents idea. instead o' coming up with new and unique ways to improve talent choices for classes, obsidian will simple use already existing abilities and talents to pad the existing talent lists. feels like bloat. however, we will need to see the talents and how they actual improve classes.

paladin as needing/benefiting from the faux multi-class? huh. fighter is an obvious class for Gromnir to be considering the benefits of the off-class talents. particularly when we play eder as a dps fighter, we run outta abilities and talents that we is genuine interested in taking. some kinda mini sneak attack option would be something to consider for one o' those last couple slots as we most often use such a choice on a utility feat that, while useful, is sorta a compromise pick. our paladins, on the other hand, is less likely to run outta useful choices. our ranged/support paladins, particularly the gunners, has more than enough choices to utilize all talent opportunities. a tank paladin has gotta use multiple talents as it is to make 'em viable tanks comparable to fighters. chanter-specific talents is currently limited and kinda lame. perhaps we would consider playing a chanter as something other than a secondary tank once we get a looksee at the options. maybe. regardless, paladin is not the first class we were thinking o' when we heard 'bout off-class talents... and we refuse to call 'em multi-class talents, 'cause ain't anything like multi-classing based on the description we got so far. off-class talents works for us and is less dismissive than faux or fake class talents. HA! Good Fun!

if you have one item that boosts accuracy by 5 and another that boosts accuracy by 6, only the +6 item will be counted towards your combat accuracy. in most cases, bonuses do not stack, and only the greater modification is applied... but that ain't always true. nakia suggests checking your character record sheet as suppressed bonuses will be clear identified. in our initial example, the +5 accuracy boosting item would be identified as being suppressed. it would be smarty to switch out the +5 accuracy item in favor o' one that would provide a meaningful benefit in combat, yes? HA! Good Fun!