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Rather than make a traditional review I thought i'd indulge in a spot of backseat developing, share with the Obsidian devs my invaluable (read worthless) opinions and query the ladies and gentlemen on some of their choices. I would have done this on a dedicated review/feedback thread, but couldn't find one. Firstly a little praise, with this game I got exactly what I was promised, and Obsidian should be praised for this when so many Kickstarters have cheated their backers even when massively overfunded. I am more than satisfied with my purchase, and count Poe as a good game. On my personal old fashioned scale of 1-10 I would attribute Poe a 7, bearing in mind that 10 is an unattainable perfect score (and perfection is impossible) and five is a perfectly average game that is fit for purpose. I have some problems with the game; The MMO classes that are infecting all RPGs now, the fact that a Rogue is misnamed as roguishness has no connection to brutal combat whatsoever. The stash reinforcing the tyranny of loot that has to be included in all games now rather than worthwhile content. The amount of copy pasted combat encounters scattered over maps, that is somewhat necessitated by making an IE successor game, as they were similarly combat heavy. However all of these are little things that do not detract from the game too much. However to get to the meat of the matter, I question some of the design choices: For instance the massive amount of content invested in the Endless Paths, that is totally dispensible and seperated from the game itself. I would have merged a good deal of this in one of my pen and paper campaigns. Caed Nua I would have made Raedric's stronghold, and Gilded Vale the demense that a character may rule over and tax upon seizing the paths. If the character wished to. Furthermore the Endless Paths themselves (and the giant Adra statue within them) I would have made into the machine that created the Gods of Eora, and contain hints, histories and visions of Thaos that could be accessed through exploration and keys available through the main quest. However this would restrict the players whom do not choose to explore the paths, so I would have secret entrances and portals into each level of the paths that are unlocked upon the main quest path. Defiance Bay I would largely leave untouched apart from making the end of Act 2 reactive to the player in some way, perhaps have Thaos take control of the protagonist to murder the Duc, but in so doing reveal much of himself, the Endless Paths and the secrets that the Glanfathans hold. A give and take situation, though that is just spur of the moment thinking. I would start the game in the blasted ruins of the Godhammer crater, as this seems an area that cries out to be shown to and explored by the player, and have a little travel and adventure before the protagonist stumbles upon the incident that awakens him. Or even have it occur there. Two further settlements are needed in my opinion, one frontier township somewhat like the Dyrford but with stockade, defences and a more military demeanour to show the tension between the Dyrwood and Eir Glanfath. This should lead of course to Twin Elms, the path to confronting Thaos and the endgame content that will lead the players back to the Endless Paths eventually and the vast statues that breathed life into the gods. There would also be numerous adventuring areas connecting these of course, but perhaps a few less with a little more worthwhile content. Also i'd make Gilded Vale a depressed ghost town barely clinging on to life when the protagonist stumbles into it, and through the characters decisions i'd make it grow, adapt or be dispersed over time. For instance if the protagonist takes the stronghold, rebuilds the castle and village, rules fairly and justly then i'd have Gilded Vale become a bustling township and an important destination in the Dyrwood. If he disdains rulership but takes a home in the manorhouse of the stronghold, and defends the village then the people endure and become stronger, taking their cue from the local hero to carve out their mark upon the land and remain independent and strong. Etc. However hindsight and detatched observation is flawless as they say, and I am not faced by the struggles and problems that arose for the Obsidian staff, so my theorising is hardly a condemnation of them. I'd prefer to think of it as an alternate form of review, and an indication of how much the setting made me think and become invested, and therefore prove itself both as a game and a piece of art.

The FoW interferes so much with the background art. The difference is night and day...almost literally: WITH FOG NO FOG Yes, there's that unsatisfactory "nofog" command, which also clears the unexplored fog, needs to be re-entered all the time and also disables steam achievements...

Hi everyone I;m new to the forum and I hope I can contribute my thoughts to help Project Eternity in the best way possible. I've just watched the latest update **Water, Trees, Day/Night, Lighting... All That Jazz**, and i think it was fantastic. This is a huge step towards my most anticipated game since the realease of BG2 SOA. Lighting is something that I have a particular interest in. Nearly all games, including many of 2013's, havnt had very realistic lighting mechanics that work how light does in real life. This is the use of shadows and night lighting. The use of shadows and realistic night lighting wont just make the game have a realistic aesthetic, but will open a whole new area of game play. I have a few sugestions that I hope can help. Shadows I noticed in the most receint video update, the shadows stayed in place even though the sun set and eventually the moon came out it would be cool if these shadows can move while the suns position changes, this would make a more realistic feel, and certain areas would gain shadows during certain times of the daty and night. Night lighting (Mechanical and Magical) The main aspect I would like added, is realisiic night lighting, and how un-natural shadows from mechanical or magical lighting, effect the environment around the character(s) Let me explain how it works in real life. Say you are walking down the street after leaving a friends house. There are stree lamps to your left and right creating un-natural lighting so you can see where you are walking. However your eyes have naturally adjusted to the lighting you are looking at. So if you look away from the area litten up, and into a dark alley, your eyes take a certain amout of time to adjust and see what is ahead. So basically, you have a shorter sight while in the light and you almost walk blind into certain areas waiting for your eyes to adjust. This is an aspect i would love added to the game. As I mentioned earlier this would add certain gameplay aspects to project eternity. - It would be great to walk down a street and not be able to see what is in an alleyway unless i casted a spell of light into it or had a torch. - Certain characters could perform perfect assinations from dark areas and not be seen for a few seconds, giving valuable time to escape. - When camping in the wilderness you should have to have your characters face away from the camp fire to gain maximum vision incase you get attacked during the night by bandits or wild monsters. - Your *sneak/stealth* stats increases should you paint you're armour black while in the city at night. Or should you muddy you're armour and attach leaves during the day in the wilderness. This is just a few of the gameplay aspects I thought of in relation to realistic night lighting. I hope this is a valid sugestion. Please leave your comments and/or sugestions that could be added. Thanks alot Cheers, Bhaal_Spawn

Hi all, I'm glad to have joined theese forums, looking forward to PE, and i just wanted to say, i always dreamt of beeing part of making a game. It never really happened, but i got no regrets. Here is my story... When i was younger i wanted to be a writer, but my massive interest in roleplaying made me make adventures for my friends in stead. Then we played a lot of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Then i started making music, and couldn't decide a career path. I should have gotten into the business back then. But as i live in Denmark, there was really no options to get educated as a gamedeveloper, the market here is too little for that. My dreams kind of shattered. I got older made a lot of music, i got kids and thought, what the hell, it was just a dream, it would have never worked out for me. Then NWN came out, i thought wouw a toolset, let metry this. Got new hope i guess. Time to make a game. I did get to make games. I made a few modules for my kids to play. They loved it. It educated them to learn to read better (and to think for themselves). And kill the bad evil monsters all around them just like in real life. Now here i am, thinking how different my life could have been, had i been a little wiser in my younger days. I am no expert in anything beeing a self-learner. I COULD have been. I am very good allround, as long as things don't get too complicated. I have done stuff like translating, music, 3D, and even storytelling (and programming in Aurora - i was using a script generator, and never wrote much code, but i learned how the basic scripting workes). So what i am really trying to say, is that i am happy things played out this way. As long as i know that I COULD HAVE been a game maker. And for all the bright people out there, that got cought by the headline, my advise is: Follow your dreams where ever they take you. I chose this different path, as it was destined long ago. Now im a happy amatour, making my stories come to life. - Now that's a happy ending, right ? (thought this 'smiley' was the cutest) And sorry for my spelling Hope the mods can move this if it's in the wrong subforum

This post pretty much: Suggested thread by mrstark. Having the "Orc Slayer" makes Orc's lose morale? Maybe they hate the sword and they instead gain morale? (that's only related if there's going to be some sort of "Morale"). Likewise, having a Torch/Light source out could allow you a safe passage through a horde of bugs/wolves or whatnot that back of due to the light? ("I don't like the light"-monster) Thoughts? What's the potential with the idea?