h^2

Looking at: http://satellitereign.com/forums/topic/linux-problems/ and https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/game-freeze-on-debian-wheezy-sid-64-bit.6403/ it seems like other programs are also lacking this plugin. Can you please pressure the developers of said plugin to release some kind of (non-supported) linux library? Why is it so difficult, if they already support Android and OSX? I know Linux users are a small percentage, but it's sad I don't get all of the game's features

I agree, this is not really a good VS evil thing, but evil in IWD2 proves the point. I am just argueing in favor of different pathways, e.g. you could decide not to help someone, because you are evil and don't care, because that someone's race or background conflict with yours, or because the rewards don't convince you; the point is, that you can chose not to, and that the game offers plenty of other choices, things that can't be undone, and that change the direction of the game. -> I don't advocate binary alignment choices, of course it is even more fun if other background stuff makes a different; the whole point for me is that I can act in a way that seems logical for my character. If I its possible to play arrogant an selfish child from a noble family, I don't want to have to help some poor kid get food, just because thats a possible quest in the first village. OTOH if I am from surpressed ethnicity and poor background I am not likely to sacrifice myself for the defence of some lords farm against raids from the countryside. EXCEPT if I have proven to be rather greedy myself and see benefit from the reward, that totally depends. If a logical path is not possible for a combination of alignment, race, background, it shouldn't be available, because it will just decrease the RPG factor. But maybe the beta-testers will find some of these things, so that they can be adapted. There are possible workarounds, by adding dialogue options for these specific situations that add detail that might dip the balance. Maybe the lord who wants you to defend his farm will say "I know you are a poor Orlan and have little reason to help a Snobby white human, but please know that my family always supported happy coexistance between humans and orlans" (or whatever, you get my point). BTW, just because that was raised concerning IWD2: I did help the duerger and killed the stupid monks, just to end up getting a quest to help their emissaries in the severed hand regain their original body (some chapters later). There was even an option for "Dude, I killed all your brothers and sisters, because they were so pathetic and your next." The only dialogue option to engage theme was sth like "You evil monster must die!" which is also totally unsuited for Dreadmaster of Bane. It just doesn't add up to a consistent picture, thats my problem. In general I just started stealing from everyone everywhere and then killing them (so the monks *and* the duerger had to go). That at least fealt evil...

I wanted to go for 2014-12-16, but since there is already three people on that date I will pick 2014-12-15 instead. Not to sure about a Monday, but ya never know, right?

I have previously played BG2 and Planescape Torment as good or at worst neutral main character, and the immersion was superb. I had also started playing IWD2 a while ago with a good/neutral party and immersion was ok (story too linear, but thats a different issue). A few months backed I decided to replay IWD2, because I had never finished, this time I chose to play as an evil party. And I was thoroughly disappointed, I must say. 95% of all quests were "save person x" or "save the world" (game plot). "evil" dailogue options where available, but almost never went beyond "give me more gold for it" and even then a very selfish character would never have undertaken them (children got lost in the forest... come on!?). The last chapter is absolutely stupid for an evil party, you have to actually imply to a slave that you could kill his masters to be able to complete, then you get ridiculous quests like organize more food for slaves... The first time I thought "cool" was when I got the quest to kill the stupid mage in the mage tower to earn membership in the mage school... however it is impossible to do, as the quest giving NPC betrays you immediately and trying to still attack the mage on top of the mage tower (what an annoying fellow!) immediately kills your entire party. Then you start the ritual and lo! I am actually offered allegiance with Xvim, which is what my characters had in mind all along (after all they are EVIL and a Cleric of Bane is among them, you know Bane, the Daddy of Xvim who all these folks pray to?).... BUT epic disappointment, striking a deal with Xvim has actually no effect on anything, it just forces you to start the final battle earlier (which is also a lot lot easier then many other encounters in the game)... poof the bosses are dead and instead of being able to take over the hand (which Xvim promised to me), I flee and am celebrated as the hero of Icewind Dale... what a pathetic destiny for a Cleric of Bane. ok, enough of whining, what I am getting at is: I hope this will be different in PoE. I'd rather have entire areas and side quests as well as main story *exclusive* to certain alignments, factions, races whatever, then being able to generate 5K different types of character with little to no influence on gameplay. And I hope it will be possible to be cruel and selfish and all of that, and it being worthwhile, i.e. have extra quests for this that go beyond "OK, I am going to save poor Emily from drowning, BUT ONLY IF I GET TWO COPPERS EXTRA" -- which is *not* a good answer from an evil character.

I disagree, and to underline this position with authority, I quote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Sanderson.27s_First_Law

Like all other things in the game there would need to be balance... A level one rat doesn't drop the All-Eliminating Sword of Evergreatness, so an unprotected merchant shouldn't have the Sword either. The whole point of an RPG is that rewards and difficulty are matched, and it becomes interesting right at the point where you *might* be able to overcome the merchant and still profit from her goods. Maybe it would only be possible if you decided to go for a four-player party instead of six and your thief is thus a higher level already. Note also that just because it es technically possible for you to kill the merchant and profit, it doesn't mean that you are going to do it. I believe most people who are into PoE play it for roleplaying and not for power-build maximization. So, maybe you just don't want to kill the merchant, because she belongs to your fraction, race, religion or alignment. While I would like to see a great city that "lives" a little more than those of traditional IE games, I agree it is hard to do. OTOH what I am talking about here, can be solved without doing that, it just implements more consistency for your party interaction. Concerning your role in the game, I don't see how that relates to this certain problem, although I do advocate for smaller scale quests, as well It would be cool if devs could say something about how this implemented in the game then we would know how far off our wishes are... How could a merchant selling few non-magical weapons and some level 1 spells and small healing potions afford to have a bad ass golem that could wipe your entire party? What is the point to pay adventurers to kill some rats, ghouls, protect the village from goblins, do other low-level tasks if there are such golems and guards that are much stronger and could do this for free? This way you just replace one inconsistency with few another. Well then you better work at making it consistent. Thats the job of Dungeon Master, right? Maybe the merchant is a greedy bastard and doesn't want to lend his golem to the village for protection? Maybe if you have high intelligence and high charisma you can convince him to do so and thus solve the protect-the-village quest other than buy-club-and-hit-goblin-on-head?

Yes and no. That depends entirely on what kind of items the merchant has and at what point in the game you would be strong/skilled enough to pull it off. A merchant with non-magical weapons and some level 1 spells and small healing potions might have a bad ass golem standing around that is strong enough to beat your level 1 party; then when you come back and you are all level 5 you would be able to beat the golem, kill the merchant and loot the stuff, but it would be bad for your reputation/alignment and you have little material gain from the loot. Note also that you need not give every merchant 5000 items, as this is done in some IE games. A city merchant with a huge store might have hundreds of items (and good protection or even city guards that work like the Cowled Wizards), but a lone merchant out in the wild will only have a handful of stuff. AND keep in mind that usually the really cool stuff is not available at merchants anyway, but found on dead enemies and in dungeons etc.

I believe the problem is to keep the game balanced. Imagine you could kill such merchant at the very beginning of the game and have all his money and stuff. Well, duh. Imagine naked 16 year olds running around with sacks of gold and not getting robbed. The whole point of an RPG is trying to behave like your character would behave in a situation like that, which means if you can't defend something and are not protected by someone or something else, it probably won't stay yours for long. As others have pointed out, you can solve this elegantly in many ways, I just feel that it is not solved at all right now. You know in BG2 they had wizard police that prevented characters from casting spells without a license (or at least tried which is good enough), but its not possible to solve trading other than have all items appear from and disappear to thin air? [respectful tone] I really dig this game and I loved the IE games. I know this is not crucial to gameplay, but it's one of these small things that really matter, IMHO. The same way most of us like to spend time in the inventory, I would like to spend time pondering whether I should buy an item, try to steal an item or attempt to murder the merchant. It just adds more depth to the game, after all economic constraints and different reactions to it are universal to our society, and all past societies that had private property.

It's not so much about seeing the merchant get something (which has no influence on gameplay), but about the implications for gameplay. I think it is very natural for a merchant to have to protect her goods, and steeling from somebody wealthy is also a very common RPG scenario. Not being able to rob someone (or not reaping the in-world results of it) severely limits character choice and promotes good/neutral characters (in D&D terms). In IE games you can develop a high-level rogue, have her steel from a merchant and receive zero as result, while all the cool items are apparently stored in a bag of holding that the merchant has swallowed...

Disclaimer: I have followed the updates closely, but I haven't been too active in the board, yet, so I hope this hasn't been discussed, yet. I am just playing IWD2 CE again, and one thing I find really annoying is the way merchants work(ed) in IE games, i.e. you have some person standing around somewhere without protection, but carrying items worth 10 billion gold. BUT she doesn't need protection, because killing her will maike all the items magically disappear, as well. This makes for bad roleplaying in my eyes. If a merchant has 50 armors for sale, she should have them in (possibly locked) chests, instead of on her (or does she have STR 50?). She should also be able to protect them herself, or have guards or be in a town that has law enforcement. Should she not be able to defend them, then you should be able to rob her items, anything else just doesn't make any sense. IIRC Morrorwind's merchants worked this way. Any chance PoE will have good trading mechanics? How is this planned in PoE? edit: formatting was list for some reason...