GameBanshee preview and interview

[Bendu]

Ok, how long till the preview and the interview. Can't wait anymore.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Ok, how long till the preview and the interview. Can't wait anymore.

 

Buck has said that considering he has 2 games to preview + 2 hours of conversations to transcribe, he's not sure if he's gonna make it this week.

 

So you may have to wait until next week.

[C2B]

DSIII facebook photos: The Great Obsidian Office Tour

The "Employees are our greatest asset" poster is on the wall of the hiring manager. The best place for it to be honestly. Also that Zombie poster is in the kitchen area, I joked that it was probably covering the government mandated health and safety placard cause it's more important. It would be funny if somebody was choking one day in the background while people are reading the zombie one and giggling oblivious to what's going on behind them, and that the Heimlich chart was underneath it.

 

From "The Spaniard" over at the Penny Arcade forums whos drinking buddys with some of the Obsidian folks. He also got invited to be a focus tester on DS3.

I drink with the Obsidian guys every Wednesday, a stand up group, and last week after discussing DS3 they just invited me over to try it out. There are a lot of guys in the drinking group from all sorts of different companies, Obsidian, Blizzard, EA, etc. I talk to a lot of them, but the only Obsidian ones I know by name are their awesome hiring manager, that set up the drinking night, and the guy who created Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, who now works for Obsidian.

Edited February 24, 2011 by C2B

[Starwars]

Great to hear George Ziets talk a bit about the game. Was always interested in... uh, hearing him talk I guess? Hehe. But it's great to hear them reaffirm that there will be choices to make, some which will come back much later on. I truly think OEI is pushing the choice bit, along with the writing, as a thing they will deliver on. I hope it continues.

[Alvin Nelson]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/67619/int...ent-ceo-feargus

[pmp10]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/67619/int...ent-ceo-feargus

It's too bad about Defiance.

Sounds like it could have brought back some originality into fantasy RPGs.

[Lord Elvewyn]

I've played plenty of RPG's with their various rulesets and some variations between the sequels NWN->NWN2, DS1->DS2 etc.

That's pretty limited list in my book.

 

No magic, no classes, no character customisation

According to what I read so far, characters are customizable in terms of their functional roles but they are tagged with given backgrounds...and no magic ??? Does no mana necessarily mean no magic? D&D doesn't have SP or mana but have magic, for example, if I have to point this out at all. If you replace the resting time of D&D with the cool-down timer in modern RTS/RPGs, you will get the system. It's just adjusted to fast-paced action RPG. Also, magic and magic-like abilities seem to have been unified into the same system, which may have caused confusion to you.

 

Communication doesn't seem to go well either with me or, probably, the designers. Reading info here doesn't seem to be so helpful to you. You may need to play the actual game in a way or another...such as visiting demos or using rental services.

 

I was just listing some of the rule shifts. I have played other RPGs & series but don't see the need to list everything I've played.

 

I'm aware NWN\IWD etc don't use mana. I've played them and they're very different in their approach to magic compared to DS. Magic is however treated very differently to regular hack & slash. You can select perks\skills\feats\abilities\whatever in DS3 so yes there's some technical customisation but no graphical etc options at all. Off hand I can't think of any RPG I've played that had this limited of customisation\choice. No wait I think I recall an early 90's game but it may not have been an RPG? It's possible more magic will be seen when there's more info released, there's still a month or two to go, but it seems to be missing at present and the third character to be revealed appears to be a science based ranged attack (guns) female. Where's my polymorph, or lightning bolt, or vampiric aura or spells of mass destruction? Okay I'm getting a little over the top but I want lights, colour, mass destruction not clang clang clunk as the baby faced killer finally amputates some poor guys head instead of beating on his shield.

 

Cool down timer? Unless you mean casting duration I've no idea what you're talking about. In both NWN (non-mana) and DS (mana) based games casting a spell, swinging a sword, or any action in fact takes a certain amount of time to complete. Is that what you mean? If that's so this still allows infinite spell spamming. NWN etc limited the number of spells you could cast without sleeping to recharge your spell pool. DS required you to chug down mana potions\let time pass to restore your mana pool. Both restricted what you could do. It's possible in both to unlock high level spells but have a small spell\mana pool. Oh one complaint I do remember reading in relation to NWN is that in an overly magically based world magic becomes useless\underpowered. I definitely hope that's avoided here. Anyhow if there's only a regular action cool down spells become actions\regular attacks than selected actions of significance. And yes I'm aware TQ steps in that direction but that's TQ not DS.

 

A demo would be brilliant!!! What are the odds of one being released though, especially before the game itself is released? It's supposed to be a DS sequel so I've pre-ordered it but want to know the good\bad news before I make my mind to cancel\wait in anticipation for it to arrive.

 

 

 

Minor addendum: Yes I'm aware there's four characters (at present) and that they loosely relate to classes - male sword melee, female spear melee\fire something, female ranged gun wielder, unknown Alchemist. They're characters not classes and I've not taken to them\the format. Where's my nature mage or my combat mage with high strength\resilence\whatever? Oh you can add in that I don't want to play as a girl and 2\3 characters are known to be girls ... Not an issue for some I know.

Edited February 25, 2011 by Lord Elvewyn

[Tigranes]

Cool down means the amount of time between each use of the same ability. e.g. 30 seconds between each fireball. We dont' know how that'll be used in DS3 though (do we even have confirm of cooldowns?)

 

I want lights, colour, mass destruction

 

You will certainly get that, it seems, just not 50+ spells to choose from like in D&D CRPGs or whatnot. See: Diablo sorceress.

 

Although my current feeling is that instead of having "Warrior Guy" and "Mage Guy" the DS3 characters will mix it up a bit more (other than, I suppose, Lucas - you do need a pick up and play type.)

[lychee26]

Where's my polymorph, or lightning bolt, or vampiric aura or spells of mass destruction? Okay I'm getting a little over the top but I want lights, colour, mass destruction not clang clang clunk as the baby faced killer finally amputates some poor guys head instead of beating on his shield.

 

You do know that Anjali, in her fire spirit thing form can chuck fireballs, and set the place on fire and stuff, and I think she can summon something at higher levels. Isn't that magical enough, and close enough to what a combat mage does anyway (minus the choice of element). Plus we don't know what the last male character does. He probably covers the nature mage aspect of dungeon siege magic, while Anjali covers the combat mage.

[Flouride]

I now want Project Defiance as well.

[C2B]

CheatCC preview

 

http://www.cheatcc.com/xbox360/rev/dungeon...iiipreview.html

[rc deaths agent]

CheatCC preview

 

http://www.cheatcc.com/xbox360/rev/dungeon...iiipreview.html

Sweet preview!! Can't wait to learn more about the online multiplayer.

[Wombat]

Cool down timer?

Cool down means the amount of time between each use of the same ability. e.g. 30 seconds between each fireball. We dont' know how that'll be used in DS3 though (do we even have confirm of cooldowns?)

Sorry, my bad here. I guess I speculated too much to mix it up with my own speculation. There seems to be focus meter, which can be charged through basic attacks, compared with mana meter, which needs to be recharged through mana potions. General attacks seem to work as a power generator for special attacks.

 

I remember when I was playing DS demo, which was quite fast-paced action RPG at that time but have to stop at times to wait mana/health healed, occasionally. The time felt quite long for me due to the pointlessness and I can understand why Obsidian needed to do something with that. I just mixed it up possible solution in my head....something like cool-down timer for each spell. The problem with CRPG is that, different from its PnP counter part, even if I have some frustrations, I cannot change it by myself.

 

Although my current feeling is that instead of having "Warrior Guy" and "Mage Guy" the DS3 characters will mix it up a bit more (other than, I suppose, Lucas - you do need a pick up and play type.)

I don't think good-old D&D level 1 magic user, who could only cast a spell once per day (Well, I know the time when they couldn't even cast a spell at level 1...), wouldn't find a place in modern action RPGs. They worked in the context of squad-based tactical RPGs but probably not action RPG. I remember some CRPG old-timers made fun of Oblivion's magic staff, calling it a locket launcher. Different from Oblivion, DSIII is still party-based but there won't be enough people for magic users to shield them. Also, what should mages do while being "shielded"? Even D&D shifted into more multi-class friendly scheme rather than pure class stereotypes of old times, where we needed 5 to 6 people rather than 3 to 4 in the recent editions. And now, we are talking of non-stop action RPG, here.

[C2B]

Also, what should mages do while being "shielded"?

 

In terms of DS3? We'll see. No truly ranged charachter has been shown yet. The last two unrevelead ones seem to fill that position.

[C2B]

And another Interview with Feargus

 

http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto/an...s-urquhart-4381

[rafoca]

I can

[WorstUsernameEver]

And another preview.

 

Screams of "I've read of this game on the Internet and I'm writing about it" to me though.

[C2B]

I just reread the cheatcc preview. Thats a very interesting part

Any of the four playable characters can accompany you on your journey after they have joined your fellowship during the main campaign. Companions will then be controlled by the game apostrophe s AI, and will use abilities according to how you've handled their leveling. If Anjali is more adept at her acrobatic skills and you've boosted her melee damage, then she may use that more often against her foes than transforming into her fire-spirit form for magical attacks.

[Nathaniel Chapman]

I just reread the cheatcc preview. Thats a very interesting part

Any of the four playable characters can accompany you on your journey after they have joined your fellowship during the main campaign. Companions will then be controlled by the game apostrophe s AI, and will use abilities according to how you've handled their leveling. If Anjali is more adept at her acrobatic skills and you've boosted her melee damage, then she may use that more often against her foes than transforming into her fire-spirit form for magical attacks.

 

This is true. We also keep our co-op revival mechanic in single player (basically, you have to run over and help your buddy get up for a couple seconds without getting hit) and the AI will help you get back in the fight if you die. If they manage to get to you (which can be VERY hard on higher difficulties )

[Miltstar]

I just reread the cheatcc preview. Thats a very interesting part

Any of the four playable characters can accompany you on your journey after they have joined your fellowship during the main campaign. Companions will then be controlled by the game apostrophe s AI, and will use abilities according to how you've handled their leveling. If Anjali is more adept at her acrobatic skills and you've boosted her melee damage, then she may use that more often against her foes than transforming into her fire-spirit form for magical attacks.

 

This is true. We also keep our co-op revival mechanic in single player (basically, you have to run over and help your buddy get up for a couple seconds without getting hit) and the AI will help you get back in the fight if you die. If they manage to get to you (which can be VERY hard on higher difficulties )

 

if two players are starting a co-op game from the start, can the second player choose from any of the 3 remaining characters right off the bat (after the first player chooses)

[Sannom]

if two players are starting a co-op game from the start, can the second player choose from any of the 3 remaining characters right off the bat (after the first player chooses)

 

I believe it was said in a older preview that the answer is "yes". A fill-in character is put in place, replaced later by the actual character in the game. I think.

[C2B]

Video Interview with Feargus

 

[Starwars]

I don't think an interviewer could ask for a greater subject for an interview than Feargus. That guy is always hyper, always very approachable and open, seemingly very knowledgable about actual games and their mechanics even though he's the CEO and doesn't shy back at all from discussing negative points about OEIs games or even possible future projects.

 

Don't always agree with his ideas and stuff he talks about but he's a cool dude.

[Tigranes]

if two players are starting a co-op game from the start, can the second player choose from any of the 3 remaining characters right off the bat (after the first player chooses)

 

Definitely Yes.

[Kronus]

Can someone explain to me the number of party members you play with at any one time. Some of the previews say you can only take one character and yet there is 4 player co-op. It seems a bit weird to have 4 characters allowed in co-op but only 2 in single player.