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[NerdBoner]

Levelling at a snail's pace, fighting-as-grinding, story-tyme XP awards. LOL Sawyer is actually giving the impression that he doesn't actually like old-skool RPGs very much.

 

Maybe it's just that his idea of fun and mine aren't in the same groove. Is this really the guy who made IWD??

well there is something to be said for games that don't take you from lowly serf to burgeoning demi-god in the span of 2 hours gameplay...

 

after all, in BG1 you're max level was roughly 7-8 but you still felt pretty powerful compared to most people in the world...then came BG2, you still had that power but you were swimming in a much bigger pond this time around, one with big time sharks (Irenicus, Demigorgon etc.)

 

 

personally, I can appreciate a more conservative approach to power gain...after all, even in fantasy settings becoming a demi-god shouldn't be something you can accomplish 2 days off the pig farm.

Edited October 15, 2012 by NerdBoner

[Maf]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

Was waiting for someone to post this.

Yes, that's true but which do you think requires more work?

They're working on a budget and I think this part is fair game.

You'll get the xp one way or the other.

Of course it's just an opinion and I've already stated my preference

[Loranc]

marnyramirez

Will the Tim Cain cookbook be included in the game itself, and will it grant miraculous dishes of unparalleled deliciousness?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: we will have food in the game, so I will have some of those items reflect food from the cookbook. If you ever wanted to be eating the exact same food as your characters, now's your chance!

[Maf]

marnyramirez

Will the Tim Cain cookbook be included in the game itself, and will it grant miraculous dishes of unparalleled deliciousness?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: we will have food in the game, so I will have some of those items reflect food from the cookbook. If you ever wanted to be eating the exact same food as your characters, now's your chance!

Hahaha that's awesome.

They must be having a blast creating content for this one.

[Loranc]

tomimt

How many smaller locations (villages etc.) are you planning to add on the game?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: A fair amount. Any time we add communities it's a big deal (even small ones), but they really do help the world feel more alive and fleshed out. We also want to have a lot of exploration environments, similar to the original Baldur's Gate.

[Loranc]

tomimt

How many smaller locations (villages etc.) are you planning to add on the game?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: It's really hard to say at this point. Small villages tend to get added as needed to support a set of side quests, so until we have the full scope of the game design complete, we won't know how many of these we will need.

[Loranc]

They need to stop answering questions over each other.

[Shoeless Joe Jackson]

tomimt

How many smaller locations (villages etc.) are you planning to add on the game?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: A fair amount. Any time we add communities it's a big deal (even small ones), but they really do help the world feel more alive and fleshed out. We also want to have a lot of exploration environments, similar to the original Baldur's Gate.

 

Yes to this

[Loranc]

hideo__kuze

Can you say what will the player level cap be at his point, or is it too soon?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: Too soon to say, but we want to save room to grow for possible sequels.

[Valorian]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

Was waiting for someone to post this.

Yes, that's true but which do you think requires more work?

They're working on a budget and I think this part is fair game.

You'll get the xp one way or the other.

Of course it's just an opinion and I've already stated my preference

 

Neither requires more work. The work invested in an xp system is minuscule compared to, for example, the BIG BIG BIG city 2 and ultragigadungeon. So it's ridiculous to even mention this as an issue.

 

Getting "xp one way or the other, who cares" is not good enough for me.

[Tale]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

Yes, but kill xp makes killing the optimal solution to most encounters. Encounter XP (which can be around levels of a dungeon, fights, or quests) does not care how you solve the encounter.

[Loranc]

syn2083

In my own personal experience creating campaigns, and working on text based MUDs, I always found that creating a world was best done by conceiving of every possible point of reality within that world. Often times, 80% of these items never made it into the 'finished' item, but I felt, and my players felt, it created for a more realistic feeling when interacting with the world.

In your development process, is this type of approach used when creating a new IP such as PE? When the design meets the technical, do the game designers draw on this type of methodology while creating an area, or city, coupled with the world, and if so how does that affect decisions that are made regarding 'spontaneous' thought while designing an area?

I suppose this boils down to, how deeply is a world, lore, ethos, etc fleshed out during pre-development, and subsequently, how greatly does that effect the design and 'code' teams who create the tangible world?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

JESawyer: I think it's important to think about the setting comprehensively, which means a lot of work that, as you said, players often won't see. It's valuable because it gives you solid footing and a good basis for moving in any direction. Once you've established "the ground", it makes things a lot clearer for everyone involved in the project (even if it may take a while to get everyone on the same page).

[Monte Carlo]

Reading update 24 there is no the news that there's no healing magic or healing potions and the game mechanics rely on some sort of advanced pseudo-theological-spiritual stuff that my tiny brain is struggling with.

 

Is 'old skool' a trojan horse for some new weirdness they've been plotting and not telling us about ?

[Valorian]

My preference would also be monster xp instead of quest xp but I can see their point about completing it in different ways and not giving any solution (with or without deaths) an advantage.

 

One doesn't exclude the other. Quest xp can coexist with kill xp.

Yes, but kill xp makes killing the optimal solution to most encounters. Encounter XP (which can be around levels of a dungeon, fights, or quests) does not care how you solve the encounter.

 

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

[Tale]

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

To validate playstyles equally.

[Loranc]

Feldoth

Two things - I know nothing is set in stone and it can be dangerous to speculate on this sort of thing for fear of disappointing people, but I've seen essentially that same answer several times now and it really worries me - it seems like you're avoiding the (spirit of the) question, even if this is not your intention. On the other hand, I do like that you are differentiating the races/culture/background - however, please be careful with this. In NWN2 it's difficult to rationalize picking anything but a human for use in any sort of multiclass character due to all the customization bonuses they get (extra feat, extra skills, and essentially no multi-class penalty).

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Tim Cain: Feldoth, I don't mean to sound prevaricating. The simplest answer is that right now, multi-classing is NOT in the game. We are still designing the base classes, and after that is done, we will look into multi-classing. If we can add it without unbalancing the game, we will.

[Tigranes]

Knee-jerk isn't good for your health, I don't see how not liking grinding = oh god he thinks everything except the main quest is grinding.

 

If I were to choose between his track record of Icewind Dale, and a rather liberal interpretation of a single sentence, I'd go for the latter, no?

[Loranc]

]Borskey

Will you be releasing the documentary episodically like Doublefine, or releasing it all at once after Project Eternity is complete?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Adam Brennecke: Mayhaps a bit of both. We haven't decided the exact format yet. We will be releasing and doing more video/blog type updates in combination with the video documentary.

[Monte Carlo]

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

To validate playstyles equally.

 

BBBAAARRRRPPPPP. Wrong answer. Why validate something with little risk and involves a win-button skill dump versus a massive battle?

[Valorian]

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

To validate playstyles equally.

 

So if someone's playstyle consists in killing as many peasants as possible.. it should be validated with the same amount of xp as any other playstyle?

[SqueakyCat]

It just doesn't feel like an I.E. game.

 

There's little point, for me personally, to wander off the path and just explore unless it's tied to a quest or goal. I'd just be using up resources with no XP gain.

 

While I'm thankful for the new information, it's looking less and less what I had imagined. I'm sure we all had imagined it in our own ways and, for some, these design choices are what they are looking for in the game.

 

For me, not so much, and with less than 30 hours, I have to do some serious thinking about how much entertainment I believe I would get from the game versus the money pledged.

[Loranc]

tsavatar

Will backers be able to get some of the digital stuff like the Campaign Almanac, Map etc. before the game release date?

 

Obsidian_Ent[S]

Adam Brennecke: Yes, some of the rewards will be released before the game is released.

[Maf]

Neither requires more work. The work invested in an xp system is minuscule compared to, for example, the BIG BIG BIG city 2 and ultragigadungeon. So it's ridiculous to even mention this as an issue.

Doesn't require more work?

You think balancing an entire game is easier than creating a city or a dungeon?

Allowing kill xp shifts the balance enormously.

They could marginalize kill xp and leave quest xp as the "game changers" but then why have kill xp in the first place?

As I said, if they could (for example) make their life insanely easier by keeping it quest xp....

I would say go for it.

If it TRULY is no problem to create multiple ways to gain xp and balance that at the same at no aditional cost.. (yeah right)

Then go for that one!

[Tamerlane]

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

To validate playstyles equally.

 

BBBAAARRRRPPPPP. Wrong answer. Why validate something with little risk and involves a win-button skill dump versus a massive battle?

Why design stealth as a win-button skill dump?

[Lysen]

You mean.. "solving" an encounter by sneaking past them, for example?

This is not the same as solving an encounter by killing the monsters. Why should both ways give the same amount of xp?

To validate playstyles equally.

 

BBBAAARRRRPPPPP. Wrong answer. Why validate something with little risk and involves a win-button skill dump versus a massive battle?

 

Different players prefer different playstyles. I don't like slaughtering monsters and I would rather sneak past them. Sneaking is not a 'win-button' - it requires a lot of skill (character skill and also player skill in some cases).