1 PC plus companions, or create multiple characters (plus companions?)

[Aotrs Commander]

The one thing I can guarantee, is this game will have deep companions and that will be the default way you fill the party ranks. I worked on Storm of Zehir and I remember the #1 complaint about the title. Cohorts felt lifeless. Now, this doesn't mean I don't support the idea of being able to make your own party. What's important in an RPG to someone, is not always the same. That's what makes RPGs great.

 

For the record, I'm totally in favor of allowing players to create their own parties. It does create pacing issues early in the game though. In an ideal world (with a large budget), I would probably solve this with a recruitment system. In the most generic of terms, think Adventurer's Guild. Recruiting (creating) new party members would probably have a monetary cost associated with it depending on the level of the character recruited (created). Creating additional characters would happen during the course of your adventures, not all at once before the game begins.

 

This would solve quite a few issues including companion death, something I liked in BG2. I still remember Anomen loosing it and killing Aerie after listening to her whine for days on end. From a mechanics standpoint, it hurt. She was one of my healers and I liked her role in the group. If I could have hit the Adventurer's Guild and created a similar replacement, I would have.

 

Like any other feature, we are looking at everything closely and weighing the costs. That is the development process, and you never get all the features you want on any given title. With a smaller budget, the choice to include a feature is magnified greatly. Bottom line - the more funds we can raise, the more cool features we can get in.

 

My advice, if this is something you guys really want... make some noise.

 

And this is why we like you guys!

 

That seems like an eminently sensible way to go about things; it gives your primary (story) character - like you had in BG/BG2, and a good way to lead in at the start of the game, where you have plenty of narrative play, but also the option to use the NPCs and/or make your own, and come to that, even filter in characters if you suddenly desparetly want a mage or something later down the line! That is a really excellent idea - though, as they say, that's what we're payin' you for!

 

I really like the adventurer guild idea. I mean I really like it.

 

Is this like Might & Magic / Bard's Tale / Mars Saga/Mines of Titan? While interesting, and I'm not against it per se, it does feel a bit like a factory churning out adventurers... and it usually existed in games where, especially at lower levels, mortality was pretty bad.

 

But you wouldn't need to use if at all, if you used the fully-fleshed out NPC companions. I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting that instead of companions (or that the companions would come from the guild), or even the expectation that your hired advantures would have any more personality than they did in say IWD (which is exactly what you gave them, in your own head!) it'd just be one more option you could use.

 

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like it; it has a certain appeal, like some of the various JRPGs do (thinking of Disgaea mostly).

 

...

 

Or Pokemon... (I would not consider this a bad thing...!)

 

And, at the end of the day, some of us just love generating characters.

 

It also might give you something to spend all that inevitable excess gold on when you get to the end game...!

 

...

 

Yeah, Obsidian, you probably ought to have an upper limit to how many characters we can have sitting in our "inactive party" thingy, so that some of us don't get too carried away...!

[acrimony]

I remember how disappointed I was in Storm of Zehir, after loving MotB and NWN2 in general, it felt so empty and lifeless in comparison. And I never really got into IWD2, even though a friend had told me that if I liked the BG games, I would like it. A great story is important to me in RPGs, but having interesting companions is extra special.

 

I wouldn't mind the option to try generating my own party down the road, when I've played through the game a few times and don't want/need party interaction, but if the choice is either/or, I definitely fall on the side of story related companions.

[lolaldanee]

there really should be an option to create a full party

it is easy to implement and will make some people happy

[Pop]

My advice, if this is something you guys really want... make some noise.

This sounds like a good system to me. You've got the opportunity to cheese the system, but whatever, there's very little reason to design the game with the exclusion of such tactics in mind. If anything it would enhance replayability, since players might want to go through the game with a party configuration not allowed by the pre-built CNPC roster.

 

And I agree that placing the adventurers' guild in a mid- or late-game area (or equivalent) it would go a ways toward correcting any pacing or narrative issues cropping up around creating a full party from the start.

Edited September 22, 2012 by Pop

[Redwulf]

For the record, I'm totally in favor of allowing players to create their own parties. It does create pacing issues early in the game though. In an ideal world (with a large budget), I would probably solve this with a recruitment system. In the most generic of terms, think Adventurer's Guild. Recruiting (creating) new party members would probably have a monetary cost associated with it depending on the level of the character recruited (created). Creating additional characters would happen during the course of your adventures, not all at once before the game begins.

YES, the Adventurer's Guild recruiting has my vote too! That is an awesome idea!

"Make it so." Please, with a cherry on top. :D