Shevek

Shrek: 1. I disagree with you that encounter design is worse than similar locales in the IE games (Beregost, Trademeet, etc), However, that has absolutely nothing to do with what my comment was about. I was not commenting on encounter design. Please reread. 2. Do we agree? 3. (A) When the game is made is not relevant to my comment. (B) Also, NWN2 is not relevant. I am not talking about NWN2 or South Park or NV or Alpha Protocol. Please reread my comment and what it was in response to. (C ) This may be the only part of your response that is relevant. We can disagree on the dual health system but I do believe that OE's willingness to innovate here is to be commended. Personally, I feel this is a huge improvement since my adventuring day is longer than the IE games (IE games: fight, rest, fight, rest, fight, rest). There are always going to be quibbles over what if they did x or y. That being said, I was when excited the system was announced and I am happy after playing with it. It accomplishes design goals and mechanics smoothly support the implementation.

I must admit while I do remember the looks of MotB NPCs, I don't remember much more about them. In my book that does not make them interesting.NV I managed to play for 12h only, only had that flying ball before I quit that boring game. Kotor 2 for sure didn't have all NPCs being interesting although on average it has most interesting one of all Obsidian games I played (I didn't play Alpha Protocol, DS3 or South Park). People have differents tastes. Even within a lifetime, tastes can shift wildly. When I was a kid, I loved standard high fantasy stuff (Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Tanis, Sturm, Raistlin, etc). I liked the good guys and the bad guys. The good and evil. Then I got older and tried to be edgy (Black Sun Rising, Vryce, etc). I liked the flawed "antiheroes." But now, I am even older. I want something much more basic. I want believable characters I can connect with. The bottom line, as how it was stated in Zero Effect (one of my favorite films), "there are no good guys, there are no bad guys, there are just a bunch of guys." Obsidian gets this. With the occasion exception, they give characters real motivations. While they may not be memorable to you, I find their characters to be moving. They are certainly muted. They are not CARICATURES. They are CHARACTERS. As such, they may not "stand out" in your memory. However, as all true characters, they move you. They speak to the human condition. Bioware caricutures are cute cartoon things and they are funny. But they do not help you understand yourself or your place on this pale blue dot floating about in infinity and into oblivion.

I agree with that. I think its great that he has identified those abuses with engagement. The devs have addressed those issues and the game is better as a result.

Err what? Not that I think you are wrong or anything. It's just that this qualification is pretty much insubstantial. As in, there is no real way to compare D&D sets with the PoE sets. Right now, you are just basing your judgement on "feels". If at all there be an objective criterion, then it would be not only NOT obvious at this stage (with a demo, not even a real beta) but also subject to fluctuations as the core mechanics of PoE has changed a lot since its inception. And I mean A LOT. There was regeneration. Now there is none. There were cooldowns, now it is per rest. Spells were to become per encounter from per rest. At will from per encounter. Now, NOT. etc. Stats were constantly altered to the point even now it is not certain they are to perform as they do. Skills are completely in the limbo. These are very crucial design differences. I would hazard that the game does not really have a fixed and clear design goal in terms of mechanics. A few points: 1. I have played the beta for many many dozens of hours. I gone far enough to not only play and discuss but to record and reflect. Seriously, I have looked at how I played PoE and reflected as I played through IWD:EE (one right after the other). If you want to ask me to explain where my judgements come from, fine. But please do not hazard a guess why you think I believe something and then state it as fact. 2. Objectivity on subjective judgements? What? Everyone of us have played the IE games in their own way and has played this in their own way. There is no objective measure on anything here. Sawyer set out to do the early/mid levels in a way that improves on IE titles. MY experience suggests he has nailed it. 3. Did the IE games have a better skills implementation? Are you saying that stats in the IE games were implemented better than the current implementation? Really? These are all non-issues in the context of my statements. Also, attempting to hazard a guess regarding the current design goals of devs is pure conjecture.

All the MotB npcs were great, the NV npcs were great, the KotOR2 npcs were great, etc etc. In general, they have a mostly very strong track record here.

Yes

And he did a darned good job too.

This game will be great.

Ok, next part redone and nearly reuploaded (it should show up soon; HQ version will come in a bit later since YT takes a while to encode the HQ versions). I detailed how the scripted interactions work and I began going through the Beta's final dungeon.

Lol, tried to record that next part but I sounded too tired. Might try to upload the rest of this series this weekend when I have no work and more energy.

Engagement feels good to me. As I grow accustomed to it, I find that I still have plenty of mobility. When I go for the Dragon Egg bandits, for example, the first instinct is to make a b-line for the mage. Instead, I send I leave one guy to tie up Sevis and I move unengaged targets to the mage. I find myself making decisions like this with increasing frequency. As the ui/feedback improves, it will be easier to see who is engaged with who. This way, you know who you can move without getting disengagement attacks. I think this adds quite a bit to combat. Rather than move with impunity, I am traversing the battlefield methodically and thinking about my actions. I can still move (especially with the aid of certain abilities) but I must do so carefully. Personally, I think the system is pretty good now. With the changes the devs announced, it should be just about right.

Awesome!

I hope not. The way attributes currently work, Int is of little value on my Cipher and Id rather use it as a dump stat, lol.

Haha, I admit, its crappy looking. I just want the portaits higher so I can see things easier without looking up and down so much.

I am working on uploading my play through of the latest Backer Beta. I figured those that didn't have access might want to see what it plays like and hear some of the new VO, etc. It is not finished yet (I still have to finish up an overland area and the final beta dungeon). Still, theres a couple hours worth that I have recorded. I have a full time job, a wife and 3 dogs, so I don't often have much time to play. I will try to get the last part or two done soon though. Still, you can watch the first 4 parts. Special note: I am not an entertainer and I don't try to take on a quirky personality. So, I am not going to tell a bunch of bad jokes or use some kind of funny voice. Basically, the videos can be a bit boring (especially since the music wasn't working in this patch!). Still, they should be of value to those that want to see how the game plays. EDIT: I start up a bit slow, explaining each of my custom characters and their abilities. You may want to skip the first 10 minutes or so if you want to get to the actual playing.

I would do something like this to put the log in the center and use the side more. Just messing around and whipped this up. Its not perfect but its how I would do it.

@ prodigydancer Dude, give the baiting a rest. Both "sides" have given substantive arguments. We just disagree. There is no need to go after the "crowd" you disagree with. In any case, the issue is pretty much dead until the next patch. Why dont we keep an open mind as we try the system out with the abuse fixes and ui adjustments?

As the title reads, it may be nice to be able to hide finished quests/tasks (maybe with a checkbox at the bottom). They are grey out currently, which is cool. But when the game comes out, I would hate to have scroll too much through the quest log as finished quests accumulate.

I dont think the camera is the problem with visibility. Its the grass. Part of the issue is that PoE has tall grass that partially obscures your characters. I dont think ToEE had that. They need to make it so the grass is slightly transparent and characters have a very thin dark outline (visible through the grass).

I tried it a couple times but I dont seem to be getting endurance heals from using Flames of Devotion when I have Sword and the Shepard. (I could be wrong - just dont see the heals)

"However, a micro-oriented player with a party of high movement characters devoted to kiting presents, if not an unsolvable problem, one where investing serious programming time to it has diminishing returns." -JE Sawyer Its possible and will stay possible. It just isnt easy.

"So does PoE have less attacks. If you are running back you are not getting most DPS as you have slower recovery times." Im confused. Are you against opportunity cost for movement or for it? "And in 5e you can move and do all attacks. And you could do so in 2e as well (which IE games are based on)." Two points: 1.Except IWD2. 2.And it was clear this would use a propietary rules system from the get go.

In DnD you have to build for that mobility. It does not come standard. Look at Shot on the Run (3E). Even after a host of feats to get it, you only get to make a single attack while moving. http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Shot_on_the_Run Also, its kinda funny that you list DnD concerning this. http://dnd4.wikia.com/wiki/Opportunity_attack http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/attacksOfOpportunity.htm

I think pencil drawings would fit this game best to match the pencil drawings in the scripted interactions and beastiary. The detailed items above look nice but dont fit thematically with the rest of the 2d art in this game. In any case, its a shame pencil drawings of items arent included.

@J.E. Sawyer Thank you guys for all the hard work. This sounds great.