Shevek

Sensuki, give it a rest man.

I've been playing with it. If you use relevant active skills like knockdowns and stuff like the chanter song, its not that hard to make a tactical retreat when a character is in trouble. Can you run around constantly? No. Can you move out of the way when health is low. Ya. Can these be made a bit better? Sure. The passive talent that defends against disengagement attacks can be taken in addition to passive defensive talents (its not either or) but I do think it could be made better (like maybe giving it a chance to turn disengagement hits into grazes or some such in addition to the def bonus). Many of the knockdown abilities have fast casting times but it might be nice if there was a talent that took all knockdown/stun/etc abilities and made those casting times a bit faster. The system does not need an overhaul. Its nearly where it needs to be. All talents are not in yet and are not final. Lets give them some feedback here. As an aside, I cant wait until the AI is worked in and we begin to a few enemies employ some of these tactics. It might be nice if particularly skilled enemies knockdown the party tank and player must occaisionally react to a skilled enemy switching targets once it has freed itself from engagement. This would go a long way to truly making enemies feel different. So long as this is not a common occurance, it would add some nice oh crap moments once in a while and during the set piece combats without adding to tedium against trash encounters.

Small things I want: -To name my saves -A quick loot bar

I vote sci fi. A modern game inspired by Buck Rodgers: Countdown to Doomsday would be cool.

I think you can use the companions in FO:NV, KoTOR2 and MotB as a barometer of how OE does companions. Those were certainly interesting to me (more real and multifaceted) but also a tad bit more muted than Bioware's BG2 companions. In general, BG2 companions can at times feel more like caricatures than characters. Basically, Bio wrote BG2 characters as one dimensional archetypes (the evil wizard, the blood thirsty beserker, the simple yet brave warrior, etc) and leaves it at that (with the occaisonal quirk, like Korgan putting the moves on Mazzy). The most complex character in BG2 was Jaheira and Bio seemed to struggle with her. I have a gut feeling the OE characters will be grittier and more real than BG2 characters. I also think that some folks will miss the standard high fantasy feel of BG2 with its more standard fantasy character writing. Still, everyones opinions differ and we wont know until release. As to VO,the game will have very limited VO. I am thinking like PST or BG1 amount of VO from what has been stated by devs. Moreover, since characters will be a bit more muted personality wise, I am not sure if there will all kinds of quirky VO. So, if you are looking at VO to add personality to characters, all signs point to no on that one. Still, we wont know until we play.

The more I play the beta, the more I tend to think that the personal inventories are pretty useless. Just quick items, weapon slots and a stash would have the same basic functionality of the current system and feel less clunky. They can just embed the stash ui where the current personal inventories are and grey it out during combat. To be clear, I would prefer the personal inventories if they had proper stash and weight limitations but thats not gonna happen at this point.

I guess the best case scenario for magic is they rebalance the spells a bit to give them more oomph and they allow some kinda minor per encounter spell use. If we are lucky, they may consider stuff like spell sequencers and time stop in an xpac a year or so post release. Not sure if thats enough on release but, hey, it is what it is.

I am glad we could allay your concerns.

There are AoE knockdowns and disengagement debuffs the chanter can do every combat. The cipher gets aoe knockdowns and pushbacks as well. There are talents that give defense vs disengagement attacks. There are numerous per encounter knockdown etc abilities. Perhaps there is a combination of us needing increased awareness/understanding of these abilities and the devs maybe using our input to improve them somewhat or add a few more.

Well, hopefully you can work some of that in when the xpac comes out.

Bumpity bump bump bump

Youtube videos in my honor and now memes. I'm gushing.

Nam, you trying to address issues with a game system to ensure it can meet its design goals. Sensuki is advocating changing design goals, ripping out existing game systems, and installing new game systems to fit design goals that he believes better suit the game.

You got it.

Sensuki, I just love talking with you, man. Good luck with your mod.

Did you learn these trolling skills during your competitive CoD4 play?

Mad? No.

Character advancement choices that allow greater mobility is nothing new to rpgs. Edit: But, hey, I applaud you dedicating yourself to helping out the mod scene and working for improved AI.

Damn

I strongly second this.

Lol

Nam, it became clear when Sensuki, engagement's most vocal detrator, said... This is as clear as it gets around here. Engagement is nearly where it needs to be now to meet its design goals and can easily be made better by release. It can be fixed. The issue some have is at a core design level. That is a different conversation that requires the use of different verbage. Its not a fix that some folks want. They advocate removal because in their mind the only fix is removal. In other words, they want a shift in design.

I dunno man, I can readily pull up video or quotes where you used CoD4 competative play experience or copious IWD play seemingliy claiming that your professed greater skill renders your opinion weghtier than others. You claim folks are cowards since they do not play like you. You claim folks have mental disfunction since they do think like you. While I admit to decrying virtually unrestricted mobility in combat, I have not called those that perfer mobility in combat retarded cowards whose opinions mean nothing since they cant stand up to my years of FPS gaming experience. That has been you, man. A well reasoned response that addresses the game is one thing. A personal attack is another. Maybe we can try to put the ideas, rather than the individuals, at the center as we move forward.

You know, I dont name people in youtube vids. While I may decry gameplay styles, I try very hard not to insult people themselves. I dont always succeed but I make a real effort to put discussion of the game at the center. I have not called anyone a retard or a coward.