Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'combat'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Obsidian Community
    • Obsidian General
    • Computer and Console
    • Developers' Corner
    • Pen-and-Paper Gaming
    • Skeeter's Junkyard
    • Way Off-Topic
  • Pentiment
    • Pentiment: Announcements & News
    • Pentiment: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
    • Pentiment: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pentiment: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
  • The Outer Worlds 2
    • The Outer Worlds 2 Speculation
  • Avowed
    • Avowed Speculation
  • Grounded
    • Grounded: Announcements & News
    • Grounded: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
    • Grounded: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Grounded: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
  • The Outer Worlds
    • The Outer Worlds: Announcements & News
    • The Outer Worlds: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
    • The Outer Worlds: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
    • The Outer Worlds: Character Builds & Strategies (Spoiler Warning!)
    • The Outer Worlds: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
  • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Announcements & News
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
  • Pathfinder
    • Pathfinder Adventures: Announcements & News
    • Pathfinder Adventures: General Discussion (No Spoilers!)
    • Pathfinder Adventures: Characters Builds & Strategies (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pathfinder Adventures: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
  • Pillars of Eternity
    • Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
    • Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
    • Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pillars of Eternity: Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pillars of Eternity: Technical Support (Spoiler Warning!)
    • Pillars of Eternity: Backer Beta
  • Pillars of Eternity: Lords of the Eastern Reach
    • Lords of the Eastern Reach: Announcements & News
    • Lords of the Eastern Reach: Speculation & Discussion
    • Lords of the Eastern Reach: Kickstarter Q&A
  • Legacy (General Discussion)
    • Alpha Protocol
    • Dungeon Siege III
    • Neverwinter Nights 2
    • South Park
    • Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
  • Legacy (Archives)
    • Alpha Protocol
    • Armored Warfare
    • Dungeon Siege III
    • Fallout: New Vegas
    • Neverwinter Nights 2
    • South Park
    • Tyranny

Blogs

  • Chris Avellone's Blog
  • Neverwinter Nights 2 Blog
  • Joshin' Around!
  • Adam Brennecke's Blog
  • Chapmania
  • Pillars of Eternity Backer Site Blog
  • Pillars of Eternity Support Blog
  • Pathfinder Adventures Dev Blogs
  • Obsidian Marketing and Market Research Blog

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


MSN


Skype


Jabber


Yahoo


Website URL


Location


Xbox Gamertag


PSN Online ID


Steam


Interests

  1. I have the Linux version from Steam. I play an all-ranger party on PotD. I first encountered this bug on the 13th level of Od Nua; I lured a bunch of monsters from a larger group in one of the rooms out into a corridor to kill them separately, a tactic I've been using the entire game. I killed all the mosters close-by, but I noticed I was stuck in combat mode, so no regen, travel, or anything. I tried to resolve it by killing the rest of the group, which was pretty small at that point, so I gave my figurines a stretch and managed to solve this unplanned complication without regenerating. The second instnace occurred while fighting the undead Raedric. I managed to isolate Raedric from his fampyrs and kill him by a thin margin, but again, the combat didn't end, and I was too exhausted to do anything about the herd of fampyrs still remaining, and had to load. When will this bug be fixed? It's incredibly annoying, having to reload after just winning a difficult boss fight. Luring enemies away worked just fine before, so why not in these two cases?
  2. I figure someone else must have noticed this, but applying several overlapping debuffs breaks, quite often. Apply a prone debuff to an enemy. Before that debuff expires, apply a petrify debuff to the same enemy. Result: After prone wears off, the enemy will stand up and start attacking you, despite showing the petrify debuff as still active. This also happens if you apply a prone debuff twice. Instead of the newer prone overriding the duration of the older prone, the enemy will simply stand up and start attacking again (despite being under the effect of the second prone).
  3. Grazes seem to serve no real purpose and are not explained at all. Well, other than buffing the perk lists that is. Right now, they are way too common, instead of what they should be which is uncommon. A graze should be something that gives your character some breathing room in the endgame of a fight, or makes them go "oh ffff". Right now, grazes are so common that they should just be called regular damage.
  4. POE has a Gameplay option named similarly to an old Infinity Engine one: Auto-pause on Weapon Ineffective. The purpose of this gameplay feature has historically been to let you know when the weapon you're using to attack your target is ineffective, whether due to innate damage reduction, protection spells, or your weapon broke among others. In POE, I enabled this option because it's useful information to be alerted to, and I was confused because it was going off all the time from my very first combat encounter - nearly every round in combat with: Auto-pause: Weapon ineffective (your character name). My character's a fighter and came with a sword and I was thinking, "Are they really throwing enemies that are highly resistant to swords this early in the game?! They're just bandits!". A little later on when I was fighting a single young wolf, I paid special attention to what was going on. I finally noticed that it was only auto-pausing with the weapon ineffective message every time *I* was hit by the enemy. It's pausing to alert me that the enemy's weapon is ineffective on me. If it's intentional, this seems completely backwards and broken compared to previous implementations of the feature and for it to have any use in this game. (I posted this in general and it was suggested that I post it here in the tech support forums.)
  5. I made my rogue attack who has 20 might ( 1.3 ) execptional pike (averge 27 dmg) I expect him do average damage per hit before DR 27 * 1.3(might) * 1.2(reckless assault) * 1.15(two-handed fighting) * 1.6( sneak attack with glanfathan boots) * 1.5 (crit) = 116.2 damage or (1 + 0.3(might) * 0.2(reckless assault) * 0.15(two-handed fighting) * 0.6( sneak attack with glanfathan boots) * 0.5 (crit)) = 2.75 27 * 2.75 = 74.25 damage But actullay my rogue did average 65 damage(before DR) per crit ( from 50 samples) may be my sample is too small but I want to know my damage multiplier stacks properly. ( And I think there is more who want to know his damage multiplier) If it is too difficult and messy, just show us final multiplier (item mod+might mod+modal mod+crit mod+sneak mod+etc) it will be great help for me Thank you.
  6. Why is the answer so obvious? Is it because it makes sense? Is it because we've seen the scenario a thousand times already and know how it plays out? If the right answer is so obvious then why isn't that an available option for players to start combat with? Why must the player, like a solo spellcaster, be forced into choosing option 1, 2, or 3 to start combat with any enemy? Why have we been content to sit back and sign it off as "oh, well, that's just how it is?" I don't mind some abilities being restricted to combat-only. I agree that many should be combat-only in fact. What I do mind is that I have no way to simply declare a state of mutual combat so that I can cast that in-combat-only ability as my first action instead of having to suffer the recovery frames from a senseless ranged attack or become too close to the enemy and allow them to declare combat. Solution? A Declare Combat button. By pressing the button while highlighting an enemy or friendly unit within range (open to suggestions) a state of combat is declared. Both the enemy and the player are drawn into combat as though a physical aggression against them were made. From an immersion or lore sense this could be achieved by suggesting the enemy became alerted to your presence by a shout, your weapon became unsheathed and you assumed a combatitive posture, or even that some choice dialogue had taken place. It could even be named the "Draw Weapons" button or "Shout" button. Whatever. I mean... this state of immediate combat is already made able to be declared through dialogue choices. Saying something aggressive in a dialogue choice doesn't require you or the enemy to make a physical attack to start combat. I am submitting this in the technical support forum as, after consideration, I truly believe the lack of this mechanic is an actual issue with the game. I've spent several "hours" in recovery frames that were counterproductive to my cause. It makes no sense whatsoever that the player has to sacrifice distance or that the player has to sacrifice recovery time to start combat where an enemy has to do neither and instead gets to take their ideal first action from their safe distance. This makes little to no difference for large parties- I'd actually prefer to open with a beefy archer ranged attack so that I can land a strong preemptive blow! And once combat is started with that arrow landing using my ideal first spell with my caster. With a solo spellcaster though you're not benefitting from a weak ranged attack as your opening move. You're not benefitting from forcing yourself to get close to the enemy, sometimes even immediately within melee range due to small rooms or corners or teleporting enemies. This isn't just restricted to solo spellcasters though it hits them the hardest. A lot of solo adventurers could benefit from the mechanic that's already used by enemies but not even an option to the player. You're a solo adventurer and see a group of 5 enemies? You know your first priority against this group is using your figurine for a summon? Well you'd best get close to the enemy to alert them, or perform a ranged attack and pray you have a low recovery so you have enough time to use your item before the enemies have teleported to you, peppered you with arrows, cast all forms of spells, or simply closed enough distance that they'll still engage you once the summon is cast (if you're lucky to afford that much time even). Because these are your options. Or, hey, why not just declare combat with a button and be able to take your first action, how you see fit, in a combat state with the enemy? Again- this isn't an issue with abilities or items being only available during combat. That's a whole other arena of debate. Items like scrolls of stealth should be allowed to be used outside of combat. I understand the restrictions in almost all other cases. This is an issue with having to take unwanted actions or place yourself in unrealistic distances of an enemy just to start the combat state. This is an issue with not having a means to start combat without an action against both friendly and hostile npcs. If dialogue can start combat without action, if enemies can start combat without action, why can't the player? This is a reiteration of a previous post that I have chosen to abandon as I communicated the idea poorly. Thank you.
  7. A group of issues, all either introduced with the most recent patch & hotfix, or which were in the launch version on Steam and persist post-patch. Win 7 64 bit, 8gb RAM, GTX 660 video Thanks in advance! New glitches: Roderic's Hold -- Unable to reproduce (will try some things later and upload a save if I can trigger it again) but I have screenshots - Went through hold, entering via climbing vines in NW corner. Killed many of the enemy groups in there except Roderick's group and mercs near the front doors. Wore priest robes to bypass floor full of priests (and loot it clean - possibly WIA, but wearing the robes allows looting of every container on that floor safely). When I went to the front door area (both inside and outside), enemies were red as usual, but most of them simply stayed put, and made no attempt to fight me even if I had attacked them; affected melee enemies would not even move to my position. Once it began, this behavior carried over to other areas of the Hold where I had not yet killed all of the enemies. Stronghold - "bad" visitor shows up, has an escort assigned. After save & load, his effect on stats is no longer shown on his status screen, though the penalties are still in effect Pet names sometimes doubled (one on top of the other, with an Endurance meter) -- only happens in combat Old glitches still in there: Books with really really tiny text titles at default font size -- Increasing size fixes those but makes many others oversized Not all Stronghold updates show up (esp building completed messages) (no screenies because...well...^_^:>) Stronghold messages queue hotkey (on the left) shows a number even though there is nothing on the list Stronghold messages -- Sometimes "Recall" will change to "Assign" even when an ally is already assigned to a Stronghold mini-quest Item names sometimes blank in shops -- scrolling the item off of the screen and then back on, or exiting and re-entering shop usually fixes this All screenshots may be found here, named to suit: http://www.mediafire.com/folder/y0qwc94mub9nv/set_01
  8. I don't expect this game to be balanced league of legends style. I know there has always been unbalanced spells / abilities in IE games yet since they did so many good changes I wonder why was there no further insight into this mechanic. Just take a look at first level wizard spells. Fan of flames (40 -55) vs Reflex (+ 10 acc) [most of the time you can target a large group] Kalakoth's Sunless Grasp (19-28) and a -10 acc debuff. vs delfection ( + 10 acc) [ 1 target ] Minoletta Minor Missiles (30 -54) [1 target] vs deflection Discarding the -10 acc de buff which is minor anyway there is only one clear winner. Consider also that 2nd one has supper close range, you risk losing the wizard when casting. I know Fan of flames is theoretically more difficult to use but most of the time you won't have any problems. I don't see any logic in this design. Heavy aoe spells where you can target almost all enemies from an encounter should have lower damage than the spells that target 1 individual. Otherwise why bother? Spells that require the wizard to come close to the target should be greatly buffed so the risk / reward balance is satisfied. Edited: I forgot to add the the 2 latter spells are rolled vs deflection. Most of monsters have more deflection than reflex so they are harder to hit also. At least that's the case on PoD. I will repeat myself : I don't expect the devs to balance this game like league of legends but it doesn't make any sense to me.
  9. What changes in game mechanics do you like the most in comparison to other IE titles ? In my opinion they made some really good design choices and major improvements. I don't wish to discuss the story or graphics or anything like that just the core beef of the game. Here are mine: Chanters The new bards are cool. In old IE games I always liked bards as characters but they weren't fun to play. Instead of fighting they would just stand and play with their flutes. Boring. Moving chanting into background sort of aura thing made them fun to manage in combat and they kept their essence. Cool! Being able to combine different chants together ads depth to it. In theory. In the end it's the reload speed you care about. Per encounter spells There are mostly 2 types of encounters in any dungeon. Bossy hard kinda like where you throw all you have and lesser guys you just kill on the way. Per encounter spells made the latter more interesting and enabled the developers to make it harder too. You don't have to feel bad about casting a spell on just a few guys to speed up the clearing process. Camping supplies Old system was bad. Sleep almost anywhere you wanted, got attacked, reload if not back to full force. Having only 2 camping supplies available at a time is great on PoD. Brings back the pen and paper feeling to it. You have limited supplies, lets try to finish the dungeons with the resources at hand. If you fail, you are punished with boring walk back to the tavern. Best feeling in the world is not finding cool loot. It's finding extra camping supplies in the dungeon. Knock out instead of death This is the best change in my opinion. In the old IE games tanking meta was the only option. It was boring and if somehow any of your squishes got attacked you went straight into reload. Changing this "one mistake and it's over" way of playing is a major improvement. I know there still is tanking meta in this combat but think how much different it is now. They can have monsters like shades and shadows that teleport to the back of your team and wreck havoc. And it's fun, suddenly wizard's defensive spells become useful. If they get 1 out of few of your dpsing characters you can still finish the fight. You don't have to load because of 1 slip. This also makes you not worry of sending you rouges into melee combat. It also removes the model where either you have everything under control. Meaning tank standing without any troubles the rest just obliterates the enemies. Or not winnable: tanks dies and everyone soon after. This mechanics allows more close calls. 4 party members knocked out and a drake with 1 dot of hp. How is it going to end? I have had a lot of super close calls playing on PoD killing last monster with a 10hp wizard is amazing. Way more epic. They way it should be. Side issue: buggy release was still unacceptable.
  10. I'm on my first play through, and I'm having a hard time knowing what type of armor to match up with which character. For my main I picked a Tanky paladin (based on a guide I read) mostly because I wanted to have a lot of dialog options. But now I'm just overwhelmed with all the armor types and weapon types. I kind of get that probably for my tank characters I want heavier, then lighter toward the guys in back. What throws me off are the details. Should I choose leather or scale for my ranger? Or hide? or any of them. I'm just not sure what to use. Here's a screenshot showing my main six characters and their stats. I also have the Cipher and the Druid, and just haven't gotten the paladin yet because I already have one. These are just the story characters.
  11. While testing some DoT stuff found this: Player is able to completely ignore recovery (reset attack timer / not hit end attack animation event / something) 1) Equip any weapon (tested with Rapier, Blunderbuss(very slow), Hunting Bow) 2) Attack Character 3) At time of damage or when projectile leaves weapon(ranged) pause game 4) Press I for inventory 5) Notice that pressing I "reset" characters animation (back to idle) 6) Press I again. 7) Character attacks immediately (no reload, no cooldown,...) EDIT: Pause is not required, you can attack and double-press Inventory at time of attack. Easy reproduction. Could post nice combat log screenshot showing me shooting Eder with Blunderbuss like 3 times in one second. If combatlog had timestamps. Screenshot of Durance casting 3 Iconic Projections in a second. Kinda cool. http://imgur.com/bzHXYu2 --- Feature Request: Add Timestamps to Combat Log (also make them toggle-able on/off in options or atleast with console)
  12. Hello devs/others, I just wanted to offer my feedback on the game. I haven't gotten all the way through yet, I'm only about 55 hours in, and level 9 (the next plot quest in my queue is "Undying Heritage"), but I wanted to leave a lot of my initial impressions type feedback now, while it's still fresh in my mind. I normally don't play games on release (I held out until Witcher 2 EE was released to play it at all, despite loving the first), and I'd been planning on waiting till the expansion to play PoE, but my excitement got the better of me. It's been 2.5 years! I've read every kickstarter update, and been checking the forums and dev tracker religiously since last summer, but I almost never post, cuz I'm a Watcher. I was not in the backer beta, and I jumped into the game on hard/expert, without actually reading the manual too much, thinking a modern game should do a fine job of explaining itself. If it helps qualify my feedback, I'm mostly a powergamer, I've spent hundreds of hours in the IE games, and my top 10 RPGs of all time are: ****************** GENERAL FEEDBACK *********************** For starters, I love the game. I think my pledge was totally worth it, and I'm glad I ponied up for the expansion and some playing cards as well. I think you guys delivered on what you promised, and the game deserves the 93 metacritic it has right now, and a 9.5 from users. Seriously. I want to be very clear about this, because I'm going to say a lot of things shortly that might seem overly nitpicky or critical, but I only say them in the interests of making a Perfect Game in the future, via sequel or expansion. AND because Jorge said you like every bit of feedback, so blame him. I like the music, particularly the main title. I know some people have complained about the combat music, but to be honest I just tried to remember what it sounds like, and I have absolutely no idea. After spending hundreds of hours in BG2 the only music I can remember off the top of my head is from character creation also, so maybe it's just me. The slow mo mode is great The fast speed mode is even better, but I really want a 4x option, not just 2x. It's still tedious walking back and forth across maps. In the IE games I just enabled the cheats and would teleport my party around city maps, to avoid having to watch them walk. I miss party AI a lot The graphics and sound are everything I would ask for. The dyrford area is particularly pretty. I've found a number of technical issues (most of which are minor), which I've reported in the support forum, but in general the game has been very stable for me and run very smoothly. I'm generally pleased with the level of technical polish. I do have a background in software engineering, though, so maybe I'm more understanding/forgiving of these things than your average user. I wish you'd stood strong on the locks and traps xp, and left it in the past where it belongs. The things in the chest are the reward. I actually like the bestiary xp, on the other hand. It's a pleasant reward as I fight things (and there are lots of things to fight on hard, apparently), but it doesn't encourage me to wipe every map clean. Plus it makes sense that I gain xp as I learn about a creature, but once I know all of its secrets the xp flow stops. Good good. I like the idea of the "accurate" fonts in the almanac, and the notes in the margins and stuff, but I have to really concentrate to read that gothic font I know this probably isn't your guys' fault, but it's slightly disappointing my physical copy hasn't shipped yet. Not that it really matters, I don't have the collector's edition and I already have a digital version of the game. ****************** USABILITY/UI *********************** I like the general look of the game HUD (I've only used the solid version). Since I'm playing on hard, I've never seen any of the little creature UI bars or anything like that, but I honestly think they're unnecessary. For me, I have all the information I need just looking at my screen. Which is great! I wish there were hotkeys to quick cast abilities and to switch weapon sets It would be nice if the companion quests had their own category in the quest section, because their names are hard to remember and I keep clicking on them looking to decide which quest to do next. If they don't get their own section, highlight them somehow so they're clearly companion quests I like the inventory, journal, and stronghold UIs The buying/selling UI is awful. I have to click like 100 times to sell up all the xaurip **** I picked up (which is apparently my main source of income for a while). There should be an option to select all [level of quality] items, or move every item of a certain type into the sell box. It's also tedious to scroll through the vendor inventory, and the sort buttons should actually remove items from the list, instead of just greying some of them out. I think not showing spell area indicators on expert mode is a huge mistake. I cannot for the life of me understand why someone would want to play without being able to see the exact AoEs of their abilities. It's not like counterstrike where no-scoping makes you a pro, and not having AoE indicators in the IE games was a failure of UI, not something that should be replicated. This game is about pausing and planning exact movements and strategies. Since I never played with the circles, I had to straight up guess at my abilities when I started playing, and as a result I'm completely unable to carefully place area spells amongst enemies I'm engaged with. All 4 of my friends I mentioned that "feature" to thought it was ridiculous also. the links and tooltips to explain game mechanics are very useful When I first started making my character, the game asked me to choose a race before ever explaining the attribute system. It would be nice if the char creation screen featured the same tooltips that the rest of the game does, because I had skip forward to the attribute allocation, read about all the attributes, and then go back and start again. I could've minimized and dug out the manual, but to be honest I didn't trust its accuracy, because I know lots of things can change in the last month before release The enchanting UI isn't super clear. I initially held off on enchanting things at all until i was level 7 because I didn't know if I could later overwrite or remove enchantments. Actually, I'm still not sure if you can remove them. I know portraits are super time consuming, and it's unrealistic to expect a portrait for every 3d face in the game, but the godlike options are quite limited in terms of portraits, at least for death godlikes. Also a lot of the portraits were a little more... happy? than I'd like. I don't make whimsical characters with bright eyes or wide smiles, I make characters that kill whimsical characters with bright eyes or wide smiles. I felt like some of the more serious portraits were kind of over the top with snarling or making angry faces. I actually almost reconsidered my character archetype because I couldn't find a portrait I liked, and eventually chose a helmet with horns that very vaguely resembled my godlike's head. If it helps, my favorite set of portraits from the IE games was from IWD2, by far. Actually, does anyone know if you can import portraits into the game? I'll just copy those over. I wish the game actually did the dps calculations for me, so I could see EXACTLY how changing armor types is affecting my damage output. ****************** COMBAT/MECHANICS *********************** On the whole, I think the new/updated mechanics are great, I think the design team did an excellent job Engagement is good. Third ed D&D had engagement in the form of of attacks of opportunity, and I think the ability to control areas makes this game far more tactical, not less I think the tactical choices between different spells and damages types is pretty good. I always look for which saving throw type an enemy is weakest against, and cast that sort of spell at it. I don't bother to check enemy, DR values for different physical damage types, but I know that I should. I just don't need to. My initial impression of spell diversity is that it's pretty good, in terms of both effects and damage types, but could definitely stand to be fleshed out a bit. A good starting point, though. Thank god there is no ammo. Dealing with ammo is ****ing tedious, and there's no point to it. Thank god for the stash. Filling every inventory with gems and other **** you're just going to sell so you can pack it out of the dungeon is also tedious. I like how some items automatically go to the stash There seems to be absolutely no incentive whatsoever to diversify skill selection. Seems like every character should put points into one skill, and only one skill, with the possible exception of athletics, because damn that priest getting tired is annoying. As far as I can tell, survival is useless and mechanics is super, super, super important. Stealth is useful for stealing some trinkets, but not really important either. Lore lets me use scrolls, which is moderately useful It's tough for me to tell how useful any of the skills but athletics would actually be in conversation, because expert mode doesn't show me dialog options I can't choose, so maybe some of my perceptions are off I wish I could stack bonuses from items. I understand this is hard to balance, but it also lets me customize my character more heavily The rest supplies limiting... I understand why it was put in, but ultimately it doesn't actually keep me from just going to the inn, getting some more, and heading back down. It makes rest spam more tedious, but doesn't actually remove it. It might be an unsolvable problem, though, aside from just removing the ability to rest in dungeons, which is far more realistic, but maybe a little too punitive. I don't know. I think the resting supplies was maybe the best possible solution, but that still doesn't make it a great one. I really dislike the whole "stealth is scouting" thing, it just makes me creep around the map really slowly so I don't miss anything secret. It's tedious I also don't really like how every combat starts with stealthing the whole party in Characters should be able to stealth invidually I think the general combat and game balance are vastly superior to the IE games, as they should be. I'm going to enclose a ranting digression about why I believe this is so in spoiler tags here, because it's not completely germane ****************** CLASSES/RACES/ATTRIBUTES*********************** I think wizards and rangers are by far the weakest classes, just from my experience with the companions The wizard's spell selection just doesn't seem to be as good as the druid's, at least early on. Seems like the druid not only has a bigger spell selection because he's not grimoire-limited, but he also has great untargeted (returning storm, anyone?), and single target damage options. Druids also have the summon, which is amazing. I couldn't imagine beating the game without a priest, which I think is a problem. I think the buffing and healing should be distributed a bit more amongst the other two heavy caster classes, so you don't HAVE to have a priest. I also think the priest should have a little more offensive capability in terms of spells, but that's just me. Every fight he just casts buffs or heals constantly, unless the fight is easy, in which case he just stands and fires his rifle. Ciphers seem to be amazing. I'm totally going to make a cipher as a second character. Three bouncing mind blades at the start of every fight? My cipher OWNS groups of enemies. Not to mention the damage amp spell (hourglass icon, can't remember the name) is fantastic against boss type enemies. She even hits pretty hard with her attacks, thanks to soul whip. I don't think the value of immediately available, limitless, per-encounter abilities can be overstated. The chanter seems to be sort of a reverse version of the cipher in that he has to wait a long time before casting one ability, then wait a long time again, and it's definitely for the worse. I think the idea of the class is really cool, and the passive, customizable chanting is good, but it absolutely pales in comparison to my aforementioned bouncing blade salvo at the start of every fight. My chanter will get off one, maybe two spells per encounter, and while some of them are really good, it's just not as powerful. I think the speed at which he sings should be sped up, so he can cast real spells sooner into combat (the first 10 seconds of combat usually determine how things will end), and I think his chanted verse effects should persist a bit longer. I think the mage desperately needs more per-encounter abilities. I carried the mage companion until at least level 6, and he was the main reason I had to rest. That, and the stupid priest running out of health constantly. He just doesn't have enough spells on demand to compete with the cipher in terms of damage, particularly since all his damage spells I've found also hurt my party, and he can't sustain damage output. I think the wizard should be able to use one free spell of every level he knows, per encounter. That way he's useful and exciting in easy and moderately difficult fights, without completely blowing his load before things get serious, if you know what I mean. I can't speak to the paladin, barbarian, or rogue, because I've never seen any of them. The latter two look good on paper, though. Haven't read much about the pally yet. The ranger seems to be bad. Which is really unfortunate, because I like playing them. I think the issue with the ranger is they're penalized so heavily when their pet dies, and the pet just dies like crazy. That thing lives to die. My experience with the ranger (who I carried with me for 2-3 wilderness maps worth of encounters) was that any time the pet is engaged in melee, it is dead. You really need to attack the target your pet is attacking, which means if the pet is engaged you can't focus the same target as the rest of the party, and disengagement attacks destroy the pet immediately. Also any creature actually attacking the pet destroys it immediately as well. Then the ranger is useless. I think the pet needs per-level bonuses, if it doesn't get them already, and at least needs its tankability increased greatly. Maybe make it so the pet can't engage targets, or at least not without a talent, but make the damn thing hard to kill. I think it needs to be more like a ranger pet in world of warcraft to be viable. I'm happy with the bowman actually doing all the damage in the background, but since the pet is so important to the ranger abilities, it needs to be able to survive much better. I plan to make a custom party next, and carry a tank of some sort, a fighter or barbarian for damage and secondary tanking, a cipher, priest, druid, and maybe a rogue. All the character creation options are great - the backgrounds, abilities, all the little choices In general I like the attribute system, although I'd rename might to power and dexterity to speed Shouldn't interrupt be based on how much damage I do? Having one's arm chopped off tends to disrupt one's casting, after all. Or maybe it could just be based on weapon type, with a % chance to interrupt on the weapon that's checked on every hit, with an increased chance to interrupt on crits I don't really get perception and resolve. Like, if I make a high perception character, what have I just done? I'm good at interrupting? Is that a thing? Will that make me master of the universe? Might, con, int, and dex are all very clear, I could see basing characters around those stats, but perception and resolve I sort of stared at for a while, wondering if I should put points into them. Seems like those two stats could maybe be combined, and the saving throw bonuses be redistributed a bit so everything's even. I do like how multiple stats influence each saving throw type I also like how every stat is actually useful for every character, and I'm not sure how someone could complain about this. No, an int-only fighter isn't GOOD, but it's not ****ing wretched like it would've been in an IE game, either. Sometimes leveling up does feel a little bit empty, even though it's more exciting than than leveling up in the IE games. I think the game should show me what passive stats I gained on the level up screen. It would also be nice if I got stat points occasionally, just to spice things up. Have you guys played Wizardry 8? Best level ups I've ever had. Lots of stat and skill points to allocate every level, new spells, AND new skills unlocked by maxing out stats. Plus you leveled often, which is exciting too. I also really liked how in that game you'd increase skills by using them, it made every combat important and rewarding, even if you didn't get phat loots. I realize that as an IE successor that sort of thing is maybe a little non grata in these parts, but it was still cool. In general, I like how every class can use every item, weapon, and armor, but I feel like maybe they should be differentiated a little more. Maybe certain classes are better with certain armor types, but there's no reason you can't just wear whatever you want. Even after playing all this time, I still have no idea what the best way to build my chanter or cipher would be, partly because the game doesn't nudge me in any particular direction, and their mechanics aren't so straightforward I can just eyeball the best way to increase their dps. Most notably, I'm not sure if they're better in melee or ranged. ****************** QUESTS/ENCOUNTERS/LOOTS*********************** Unfortunately, I think the game is generally too easy. Or maybe just the optional content is too easy (at least so far). I completed all the wilderness areas around gilded vale, then went to Od Nua before completing raedric's hold (cuz I got the bug), so I was without what I have to think was a large chunk of xp. I had 5 chars in my party: my high might, con, and perception death godlike fighter who wears plate and dual wields swords (I call him "the grim reaper" because I took the bloody slaughter trait, I wanted him to specialize in finishing things off), the fighter companion, wizard companion, chanter companion, and priest companion and delved straight down to level 8 of the mega dungeon. I think I was level 4 or 5 when I started? I didn't go to defiance bay at all. I did have to come up and rest and resupply a few times, of course, but there was no point in the dungeon where I ran into something that made me think "ok, I've hit a wall, time to go elsewhere." Which is what I was expecting. Some of the battles were hard, don't get me wrong, but not so hard I couldn't beat them. I'm sure there was no way I could've beaten the whole thing right then, but I expected it to be harder, like I'd only get through 2-3 levels at that point, particularly without a full party. In light of the above, I think enemy leashing should be removed, at least on hard and super hard, and all the enemies in a room should aggro if any one of them is. Or maybe they're supposed to, and it's bugged? Yeah, I know kiting and abusing the leashing is cheating, but killing the same group of ogres 5 times gets tedious. It's just a shortcut to something I could've accomplished anyway. Pulling is too easy, and since my strategies all revolve around choke points, I usually don't even know there were un-aggroed creatures until I've already killed the first half, and proceed further into the room. I think the hardest area in the game for me by far was the temple in gilded vale. I tried to do it first, before I even had any companions, and then again after I got one, but was unable to beat it until I had 3. Even with three, I had to go do some other things first, because there was one shade fight I just couldn't seem to beat. As a result of my doing a lot of the optional content first (I went straight from Od Nua to Dyrford), the critical path is now very, very easy. I can even just run through the encounters with slow-mo disabled, like in the IE games of old. I like the quests so far. I've done all the optional content up until defiance bay, and a lot of the optional content within, from what I've found. I've done 3 of the plot quests in the city, also. The absence of fetch quests is nice, and organizing things into quests and tasks is great. It's GREAT that there are different solutions to some quests, and a lot of things are not what they initially seem On the whole, I'm a bit disappointed with the loot in the game. The fine/exceptional/superb progression is clear, but kinda boring. There seems to be a huge shortage of boots and belts in the game, and I kinda miss having a separate cloak and necklace slot. The unique items are cool, but I feel like there aren't that many of them, and the abilities they give are largely... soulless? I'm not expecting every weapon to be a Lilarcor, of course, and some of the items are really cool, but there's a lot of +1 to a stat, or +25% frost damage, and the like so far. Things that are good, but I haven't seen anything like a vorpal weapon, or a crom faeyr, or a wave halberd, or a belt of inertial barrier, tansheron's bow, heartseeker, blackrazor, the answerer, psionicist's blade, etc. Things with cool extra effects or abilities. I do really like the items that improve specific class abilities I feel like I have a ton of money, but can't find anything good to buy with it. I've already cleared out the shops in the stronghold, defiance bay (that I've found, and I've been to 4 of the areas), and dyrford village The shops in the stronghold are disappointing, also. They didn't sell much I was interested in; I expected them to have some really high level things. Maybe the really cool loot is waiting for me down the road, but I'd rather have it available now, just really expensive. One of my biggest pet peeves in a game is not giving me the loot I feel like I deserve. For example, I see that this drake in od nua has a room STACKED with gold and treasures, and I go to an awful lot of bother to kill him. I think to myself that I am now in the money, and rub my palms together with glee. Except the giant pile of gold turns out to be what I'd refer to as a "pittance" of coppers when I actually loot it. Somehow, a group of people in another area whose whole thing is that they're slaves, serfs, and the homeless downtrodden are considerably more wealthy than 7 levels of mega dungeon combined. On average I'd say I got maybe one usable item per level? Some of it was pretty good, don't get me wrong, but I felt like I didn't get much out of some of the levels, except the ability to go to the next level. The enchanting system is cool, and I think the crafting system has potential, even though I haven't used it (I'm level 8 now, I think) For the mega dungeon, I kinda wish there were more levels that were purely diplomatic, or at least, not super combat-heavy. It gets to be a bit of a slog wading through darguls room after room. I even wouldn't mind some levels that were just one encounter. One unique, tactically different encounter, maybe bookended with some dialog. I love a good hack and slash as much as the next guy, but I think a little bit more level to level diversity would've been a plus. Or maybe just weaving more of a story from level to level? I really liked finding the pages of the journal from the expedition, it would've been cool to have the journey downward be a little bit more of an exploration about what the endless paths actually are, and who the master is, as well. If I didn't say it already, I do really like how different all the od nua levels feel, in terms of aesthetic and enemy types. Also the giant adra man is still cool ****************** COMPANIONS/PLOT *********************** I like most of the companions (although I've never had the paladin in my party), but I don't think there's a Minsc, Jan, Morte, or Dak'kon in the group. Meaning the companions are good, but I don't think there are any super-memorable standouts, at least for me. The plot is good, but not great, from what I've seen. In BG2, Torment, the kotors, and the Witchers, some of my all-time favorite plots, I felt a lot of personal investment in the story. There are big things happening to my character, that I can identify and/or empathize with, and I want to figure them out, get revenge, whatever. The bastard stole my soul. I'm going to hunt him down, tenaciously, because I hate him. "You... you live *yet*! You possess less than a fraction of your soul, and yet you continue to oppose me?!" I'll oppose you all the way to hell, in fact, you sorry son of a bitch. Give me back my soul. I need it, for doing things with. In Pillars, I know that the hollowing is a Big Bad, but I don't feel that personally connected to it. My character isn't even from the Dyrwood, he's from the White that Wends, where I don't think the Problem exists. Yes, the one guy accidentally made me into a Watcher, but I didn't actually really realize that that was apparently another Big Bad until much later, even after the important convo in Od Nua (which I thought was very well done, by the way). I actually thought it was kind of a good thing. Or at least a mixed thing, like being a Bhaalspawn. Maybe I haven't gotten far enough in, and it picks up, but for me I don't feel quite as drawn into the story as I did in some of those other games. Again, the plot isn't bad by any means, I like the writing and I think the plot is interesting, but some of that might be because of the rich history of the world, and the mystery surrounding the gods, etc. I also like the whole idea of souls being important. I think the world was built very well. I really liked the ranger companion, but I didn't take her because I thought her class wasn't good enough the wizard companion was fine, I didn't get to know him too well before I replaced him the druid companion is sort of irritating, but also funny sometimes. I mostly take him because I think druids are good, not for his personality I like the fighter companion the cipher and priest companions are interesting, I've talked to them and I like their hidden depths (were they the Avellone characters?) I was a huge Kreia fan too, though, and I was always really disappointed I didn't get to find out more about Fall-from-Grace. I think the chanter companion is a bit of a boof, even after doing his class quest (his is the only one I've finished). I've not been super motivated to talk to him for fun a number of the companion interactions have been pretty funny I'm sure some of this is a little unclear or verbose, because it's late and I'm very tired, but hopefully it's helpful to the devs. I guess this turned into kind of a labor or love, but I like this game, and I want to see sequels and expansions that build upon the success established here. I'd be happy to clarify or expound on any points, should it please the court. tldr - I think the content in the game is good, and the systems in the game right now are a great jumping off point to creating more content in the future, either in this game or in sequels/expansions.
  13. I understand that my melee attacks are going to vs the opponents deflection, a specific spell might vs an opponents will etc, so obviously the higher my accuracy and the lower their defensive stat the better. However, I don't understand how the roll actually works. What happens in the 'verus' part? If I have an accuracy of 26 to hit with my wand and my opponent has a deflection of 65, what formula occurs with these two numbers? A 26 sided die is rolled against a 65 sided die and if my roll is higher, I hit? 26 smurfs come out and do a dance and if their voices can be heard over 65 oxen then I hit? How does it work? Thanks.
  14. MinorBug // Started game, lvl1 rogue. Onehand - Equip rapier in main hand - 10-15dmg, 47 acc // OK Dualwield - Equip rapier in main (10-15dmg, 35 acc) and stiletto in off (10-15, 30 acc) // OK Character Sheet BUG: OFFhand Single - Equip rapier on Offhand, no main hand weapon. Results in: Main - 10-15dmg blunt(fist), 42 acc Off - 10-15dmg pierce(rapier), 47 acc This would suggest that equiping weapon in offhand grants Singleweapon accuracy bonus to dualwield and that character would hit with both fist and offhand weapon. However when testing on wolf, character did not hit with fist and just used offhand weapon. Unfortunately I was not able to determine if character gets dualwield speed increase on single weapon with this method. Excerpt from output_log.txt (Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d63dfc6385190b60/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 49) Paperdoll Character doesn't have the specified bone (primaryWeapon) for Weapon Attachment.
  15. It would be nice if the floating damage numbers had a color (or other modification) to let you know if they were crit, hit, graze, or miss. A miss could just be an asterisk *.
  16. Hi, Kickstarter backer here, but first time POE poster. POE has a Gameplay option named similarly to an old Infinity Engine one: Auto-pause on Weapon Ineffective. The purpose of this gameplay feature has historically been to let you know when the weapon you're using to attack your target is ineffective, whether due to innate damage reduction, protection spells, or your weapon broke among others. In POE, I enabled this option because it's useful information to be alerted to, and I was confused because it was going off all the time from my very first combat encounter - nearly every round in combat with: Auto-pause: Weapon ineffective (your character name). My character's a fighter and came with a sword and I was thinking, "Are they really throwing enemies that are highly resistant to swords this early in the game?! They're just bandits!". A little later on when I was fighting a single young wolf, I paid special attention to what was going on. I finally noticed that it was only auto-pausing with the weapon ineffective message every time *I* was hit by the enemy. It's pausing to alert me that the enemy's weapon is ineffective on me. This seems completely backwards and broken compared to previous implementations of the feature and for it to have any use in this game. Is there some place to report gameplay bugs like this?
  17. A big shortcoming of the game so far is that combat is too difficult to read. This is caused by 2 main factors - the UI feedback (which Sensuki has discussed in depth) and the actual visuals themselves. Even when ignoring the bug causing characters to overlap each other, it's evident that the "readability of characters and enemies in battle is poor. Here is a screenshot which captures some of the issues: In it, the characters are correctly spaced and the overlap bug is not in effect. There is a spell effect going off, and the battle is partly obscured by an arch. While these situations are quite common in combat and contribute to readability issues, there are other factors such as: Low contrast on character models. Also the colour saturation seems lower than the background. Results in characters looking spectre-like and weightless. Not enough edge definition on character models. It's hard to see where one character ends and another begins. This is exacerbated by polygon overlap, but that can't be helped. Sprite sorting didn't have this issue. Poor selection circle visibility High contrast and detailing on background. Especially the tall grass blades. This combined with the low contrast and subtlely defined character models is catastrophic. Stamina and action indicators above characters introduce further clutter. Perhaps, these should be turned off by default or tweaked? The stamina indicators being individual dots instead of one bar also appears to introduce unnecessary visual noise. Now contrast this with a similar combat scenario in Baldur's Gate: While the background is darker, thereby lending selection circles better visibility, there is: Higher definition of character silhouettes in relation to background definition. Higher contrast within light and dark on character models, giving them weight and form. Much better selection circle visibility A higher angle top down view reduces occlusion darker, more defined shadows gives characters further visibility. Please contribute to this thread with visual examples of combat clutter and we can try to discuss what specifically it is that Obsidian needs to do to improve combat readability from a graphical perspective.
  18. Hello, I do apologize if any of this was asked before on the forums. I did a search, nothing came up with clear info I was seeking. Before I go and buy this game~ am just curious on a few things. 1. Hairstyles Since its an rpg game and one of those that looks like you can spend many hours playing. Any chance the elf females can have long hair? or is it the generic shoulder styles named "long" ? 2. Armor Have only seen a few videos, but looked like every single class was in chainmail or plate armor..there are no robes or clothing you can wear? Had hoped to make a healing focus druidess in a robe or dress.. backline support type. 3. Combat This one has me excited a bit! if what I saw was right.. in one of the videos I saw the game looked like it auto paused after all the characters did their action. so you could re que up actions and hit play.... Is this one of the options you can have the game do? cause I would just.. hug the dev team forever if thats the case. 4. Respawns Here is a huge one for me..I like to take my time in rpgs and not just feel like a drone stuck in forward mode. Will monsters in the world and dungeons (aside from bosses) respawn? if no.. well that is a huge deal breaker for me..sorry, Don't like rushing to the end and walking through blank maps. 5. Romance Is there any of this in the game? if yes.. can the female main character interact with male npcs? or is it the typical male protagonist focus. 6. Modding Will it be moddable? Easily or steep learning curve? Thanks to anyone whom can shed some light on these things ^_^ visually the game looks neat.
  19. I find it very obstructive to have 'Action Icon', 'Recovery Bar' over PCs' head right in the middle of combat. Apart from that, it's ugly to look at, being that it takes away from the stunning game visuals. As has been requested by many backers in different threads, it would be an easy task to pass that info down onto the character portrait. PCs should have *nothing* above their heads, that is why the UI is there. Please, do that.
  20. Yikes :s I mean, first time I listened to it I was like.. seriously ? BG1-2 had so memorable and engaging combat music and I hoped they could capture the mood, but no.. There's little to none I hate about PoE, but combat music is one of them :s
  21. I'd like to ask the backer beta players, based on their exp with the different beta builds, and their intution on how the classes will end up in the final build, to make a top 3 list of the most valuable classes, explaining the reasons they find them most valuable. Of course the top 3 will be subjective to one's playstyle (for example someone may manage without fighter's sticky methods, while someone else cannot picture playing without it) and to play difficulty (some classes may shine on hard-PotD, while others may become obsolete and hamper the player), but in general the feedback will be tons of useful to us non-beta players who didn't have the opportunity to play the game. Thank you in advance for your feedback
  22. Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director and Lead Designer Last week, our art director, Rob, showed you our godlike concepts and dazzled you with an in-depth technical breakdown of how we're doing animation rigging on the project. This week, we'll be talking about a different technical subject, but one that's more connected to gameplay: engagement -- specifically, melee engagement. Melee engagement is a solution to two common problems in the Infinity Engine games: melee characters' inability to control an area and ranged characters' ability to "kite" melee characters. In the Infinity Engine games, melee characters could be quite powerful in toe-to-toe combat, but many opponents found ways to foil those characters with little difficulty. Fast characters could easily rush around a slower melee character with impunity and ranged characters could backpedal perpetually out of reach. If you're familiar with D&D 3E/3.5/4E/Pathfinder's attack of opportunity mechanics, Project Eternity's melee engagement fills a similar role by making melee combatants "sticky". Coming near a melee combatant means being drawn into Engagement with him or her, a state that can be risky to get out of. Here's how it works: when two opposed combatants come near each other and one of them a) has a melee weapon equipped b) is not moving and c) is not currently at his or her maximum limit of engagement targets (the standard is 1), the other character will be Engaged. When an opponent is Engaged by an attacker, moving any significant distance away from the attacker will provoke a Disengagement Attack. A Disengagement Attack has an inherent Accuracy bonus, does significantly more damage than a standard attack, and will call a hit reaction animation while momentarily stopping the character's movement. When it's initiated, a Disengagement Attack automatically breaks Engagement on the target, but if the target is also the attacker's current melee target, the attacker will typically be able to re-establish Engagement before the target can move farther away. In this manner, melee combatants, especially ones that have high Accuracy and damage per hit, have a solid mechanic for keeping enemies close to them -- or making the cost of escape extremely expensive. Of course, there are other ways to end Engagement. If the attacker switches to a non-melee weapon or performs a non-melee-based action, Engagement immediately ends. If the attacker moves away from their Engagement targets, is paralyzed, knocked down, or otherwise prevented from maintaining a threat, Engagement will also immediately end. If the attacker has a limited number of Engagement targets (as most do) and switches his or her attack focus to a different character, Engagement immediately ends. We believe that Engagement can give AI a clear "decision point" where they can evaluate the threat of their new status and choose the appropriate course of action. For player-controlled characters, it makes melee enemies more potent threats and presents players with tactical challenges to solve. We want Engagement to be a mechanic that players and enemies can mess with using a variety of class Abilities and general Talents, so we will be experimenting with a variety of elements to that end: Fighters' Defender mode allows them to engage two additional targets and increases the range at which they engage targets. This gives fighters much greater capability to control the area around them. The limited-use Escape ability lets rogues break Engagement without provoking a Disengagement Attack. It is generally best used when the rogue's enemy is preoccupied with another target. Barbarians can use Wild Rush to temporarily ignore the movement stop and hit reactions from Engagement and Disengagement Attacks, respectively -- though they can still suffer massive damage while powering through. The wizards' Grimoire Slam allows them to attack an enemy in melee with their magically-charged grimoires, unleashing a concussive wave of energy on contact. If it hits, the attack knocks the target back, usually far enough to break Engagement in the process. Additionally, creatures may have their own special abilities related to Engagement and Disengagement Attacks. We hope that the system itself is easy to understand but allows for increasingly complex tactical considerations over the course of the game. That's all for this week! Let us know what you think of the mechanic on our forums. Your feedback, as always, is appreciated. In our next update, in addition to our usual weekly content, we'll also be continuing our thrilling coverage of Chris Avellone's playthrough of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.
  23. Combat is too complicated to be fixed and is the weakest part in a game where it should be its strength. -Suggestions: 1.bring back the IE 'invisible' combat round. Limit attacks/spellcasting on that basis. Since there is a new faction in Dexterity, have the ability score influence the above somehow, eitherwise change DEX's function (it's pretty useless as it is now anyway). 2.Attack resolution- damage dealt must both be simplified. Current mechanics are too complicated for no reason other than causing trouble. You must come closer to IE (D&Dish) terms. The simpler it is, the better to 'control' combat as a developer- the better to control, the easier to craft interesting encounters/ manage difficulty/ create balance to classes-weapons. 3.Work on Engagement. Many believe the mechanic must be dropped altogether, I am not among them. If it is to stay, serious reworking must be done, like toning down how punishing disengagement hits are and limiting the rad-area at which those hits occur. Please share thoughts.
  24. At the current state of the game, combat remains its major flaw, where instead, this should be one of its major strengths. Obsidian is trying their best to eliminate bugs & tweak combat to make it fluid & fun-to-play. Backers are crowding the forums suggesting ideas on how to 'fix' combat since everybody wants combat to feel as enjoying as in the IE games, but also refreshed, absent GM sucker punches and not susceptible to exploits and cheesy tactics. All of this effort is sincere and worth commended for. The purpose of this poll is to determine whether you feel a radical change in combat should occur. Back in the IE D&D-like games, there where 'invisible' combat rounds that determined each & everyone's actions. Although that is arguably not the best way to handle combat in a RTwP game, it worked well placing limitations & making combat more easily to control (for the GMs) and easier for the player to handle. It is easier for a GM to design encounters when she knows what each combatant can & cannot do due to mechanical limitations of the combat round. This knowledge can extend to balancing out every single game aspect, from encounters to begin with, up to class abilities & weapons/armor. It may be possible that combat in PoE is 'chaotic' as many describe due to the absent of such a limitation. However, this does not cancel the fact that with everyone's best effort combat can be made to work retaining its current round-free state. You can vote about it, say your opinion & make your predictions/suggestions.
  25. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, and if I seem to go into too much details at times, it is because I have the maybe-too-ambitious goal to help the developers not just with suggestions for a current problem, but to propose them a better general approach to a more abstract problem. Ok, with that said, my main argument is that the problems we are all having with combat right now (v333) are due not to deficiencies in the game mechanics/ruleset, but to deficiencies in the User Interface. PoE is to use a "real time with pause" system for combat1. The main problem with this system is the risk to overload the player with information2, which breaks his Observation-Orientation-Decision-Action loop and prevents him from choosing the optimum set of actions for his current situation. Time pressure isn't an intended feature of the combat mechanics of the game3. Currently this is exactly what happens, the player is overloaded with information when playing out battles in realtime, which practically forces him to use the Slow time feature (press the S button at any time to toggle it on/off), and to pause the game manually at regular intervals and/or to use the autopause options. The problem I see (there may be more) with this playing style being forced onto the player (because of a UI deficiency), is that while it makes combat playable, the player receives only a piecemeal experience of it, and misses out the dynamics and the emotional impact provided by the beautiful graphics and by the sound effects4. I see two main changes that could be made to remedy this problem (with the piecemeal experience of combat), and they are basically pointed at preventing the information overload, thus restoring a functioning OODA loop with a humanly-feasable realtime combat speed. Firstly, I propose that the animation speeds are cut to about half when in combat, how much precisely is a matter of trial and error, with the resulting about x2 increase in action cooldown periods across the board, for all weapons, spells and talents5. Second, the current halos above character heads provide a sort of a meter for the action cooldown of characters (the little horizontal lines), but I'm pretty sure these meters, although identical across characters, don't progress with the same speed for each character. This radically reduces their usability while the player is in paused mode, because he can't get an idea of how fast the lines are shortening for everyone. And if he unpauses in order to get an idea of who will be the next character to initiate action, it often may be too late for him to react. Additionally, trying to visually compare the length of lines is inconvenient, even if they were moving with the same speed. The solution here is simply to provide a form of unambiguous visual feedback of which will be the next character who will be able to take action. This would give us a combat system which we may call "desynchronised turn-based" Off the top of my head, there are three ways in which this may happen. First, make all the cooldown indicators grow shorter with the same amount per second, but increase the on-screen length of the indicators. Then getting a hint of which character's "turn" would come first would be as simple as finding out who has the shortest line. Alternatively, you can make it so that when in paused mode, the section of the cooldown indicator that will shorten will blink. Then when paused, the player will check which of the characters has all his remaining cooldown indicator blinking, and know that this is the character who will next be able to preform an action. The third approach is I think the best - simply have the game make the calculation for the player and write the order somewhere in the halo. I've provided a modified screenshot illustrating that. One problem that always exists with this solution is that if one of the AI characters, or the player suddenly decides to change the action he was about to take when his turn comes, this may require a re-calculation of the whole queue and changing the numbers accordingly, which the player still has to keep an eye out for. A more radical solution to the problem would have been to provide all the information needed by the player, for any hovered character, in the center bottom of the screen instead of in a halo, doing away with the frankly redundant set of buttons there. I may make the argument for such a change in a future post6. Thank you and let me know what you think. ___________ 1 - Personally, I would have preferred a full turn-based system, but I guess it's unrealistic to ask for such a change at this point as this would require reworking much of the combat part of the ruleset, introducing action points in some form, etc. 2 - In Information Theory they would call this "Denial of information through oversaturation of the channel", but I won't go into that here. 3 - After all, the audience's expectations are for an IE games successor, not a Diablo clone 4 - In my opinion this way much of the artists' and designers' work's effect is lost, and this emotional impact is one of the main goals of a game designer - I'm oversimplifying, but you generally prefer people to associate playing your game with tense tactical combat, not with spending 90% of their time in combat in paused mode, sifting through spells and talents and squinting at the action cooldown indicators (the little horizontal lines). 5 - Unrelated to combat, I think the default animation for characters should be walking, not running, as in BG/IWD. Movement speed of the characters on screen should then be slightly adjusted if needed, but I think it's about right as it is. I also join in Sensuki's request that movement animations be desynchronized to prevent the party look like marching soldiers. 6 - I've worked as a QA on software with a halo-based UI though, so I may be biased here, but my impression was that a UI relying on halos has something inherently wrong and providing sufficient information without cluttering the screen is an unwinnable fight.
×
×
  • Create New...