If Im not crushed into goo by an ogre in my first 10 minutes of gameplay, I wont be happy.

[Mungri]

Or bitten and poisoned to death by a giant spider.

 

Or mauled to death by a territorial brown bear because I wandered too close

 

Or preyed upon by a hungry wolf.

 

Or shot in the head till I'm dead by a bandit, rather than merely taking an arrow to the knee and no longer being able to adventure like you

 

Or burned into a crisp by an evil wizard outside the first friendly inn I come too.

 

Or magically held in place and clobbered to death by a bounty hunter priestess at the second Inn I go to.

 

Or charmed for eternity and made into a sirens lifelong playtoy with a game over screen.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I hope you won't be happy.

[nikolokolus]

I get it. No level scaling in other words?

 

I sort of feel the same way, so long as there are (occasionally) some subtle hints that you are about to wander out of your depth from time to time.

[Pipyui]

If I'm not a twisted heap of poetry within my first 10 minutes of play, I won't be happy.

 

If the gates of Hades bar my path

I shall not turn away

Nor cower in it's fearful symmetry

For I have a rendezvous with death -

The path most traveled

Quoth the raven "always"

[Wolfenbarg]

If I can't optionally kill my mentor during the prologue, I'm gonna be pissed.

[Rostere]

Me will crush. CRUSH YOU TO GOO!

[Mungri]

I get it. No level scaling in other words?

 

I sort of feel the same way, so long as there are (occasionally) some subtle hints that you are about to wander out of your depth from time to time.

 

Hmm, not really about level scaling, just recalling my very first experiences with Baldurs Gate many years ago.

 

 

 

And no level scaling is a good thing, but the warning isn't. There should be uber high level stuff right near the start of the game, which ofc you can skip and come back to at a higher level, but if you randomly wander there, you get gibbed.

 

Or a quest right at the start of the game at level 1 - The quest giver gives you a wooden sword and asks you to go kill a nearby monster with it. The monster turns out to be a level 100 ogre that smashes you to goo and game over. When you skip the quest and come back later to kill it when your better levelled and geared, you get a measly 1 EXP point, and the quest giver has already died and turned into a skeleton cos you took so long, and can no longer give you his promised reward of that uber epic super edition two handed sword of instakill the whole screen in a single hit.

 

Instead, the skeleton raises from the dead, and swings said sword in your direction. You die.

[mcmanusaur]

If I cannot, in the process of completing the most unimaginably epic quest ever (thereby saving the world no less than three times over), simultaneously craft a functional unicycle and impale a pair of katanas into the kneecaps of seven (or any multiple thereof) children, while also reciting from memory in reverse-alphabetic order the names of all members of the in-world pantheon in the process, all within the very first 36 seconds of gameplay (not including any beginning credits of course), then I won't even be remotely content with this sorrily pathetic excuse for an RPG.

 

Whew, glad I got that out of my system. What can I say? Everyone has their preferences in RPGs, those of some ever so slightly more particular than those of others.

Edited November 20, 2013 by mcmanusaur

[Sensuki]

He actually sort of has a point. Not necessarily about being killed, but being allowed to rush through the dialogue/cancel cutscenes and get to the action on consecutive playthroughs. I know I don't read the BG dialogue on my 30th playthrough that's for sure.

[Messier-31]

Or bitten and poisoned to death by a giant spider.

 

Or mauled to death by a territorial brown bear because I wandered too close

 

Or preyed upon by a hungry wolf.

 

Or shot in the head till I'm dead by a bandit, rather than merely taking an arrow to the knee and no longer being able to adventure like you

 

Or burned into a crisp by an evil wizard outside the first friendly inn I come too.

 

Or magically held in place and clobbered to death by a bounty hunter priestess at the second Inn I go to.

 

Or charmed for eternity and made into a sirens lifelong playtoy with a game over screen.

 

Dude be havin' some serious issues.

[BruceVC]

 

I get it. No level scaling in other words?

 

I sort of feel the same way, so long as there are (occasionally) some subtle hints that you are about to wander out of your depth from time to time.

 

Hmm, not really about level scaling, just recalling my very first experiences with Baldurs Gate many years ago.

 

 

 

And no level scaling is a good thing, but the warning isn't. There should be uber high level stuff right near the start of the game, which ofc you can skip and come back to at a higher level, but if you randomly wander there, you get gibbed.

 

Or a quest right at the start of the game at level 1 - The quest giver gives you a wooden sword and asks you to go kill a nearby monster with it. The monster turns out to be a level 100 ogre that smashes you to goo and game over. When you skip the quest and come back later to kill it when your better levelled and geared, you get a measly 1 EXP point, and the quest giver has already died and turned into a skeleton cos you took so long, and can no longer give you his promised reward of that uber epic super edition two handed sword of instakill the whole screen in a single hit.

 

Instead, the skeleton raises from the dead, and swings said sword in your direction. You die.

 

 

I don't disagree with certain quests being too hard to initially complete but I don't see the reason for a pointless quest like in your example where you get no reward for doing it later. Also you should get some kind of warning if a particular monster is going to be too difficult. I don't see this as detracting from the overall experience?

[IndiraLightfoot]

If I can't warp time and space within the first 4,096 Planck uinits, I'll declare the PE universe null and void. From my fingertips, there will smatter bursts of negative-pressure vacuum energy sucking the souls out of the entire in-game cosmos.

[Messier-31]

If I can't warp time and space within the first 4,096 Planck uinits, I'll declare the PE universe null and void. From my fingertips, there will smatter bursts of negative-pressure vacuum energy sucking the souls out of the entire in-game cosmos.

 

Forsooth, a blasphemy! Everyone knows that the Planck unit (h) is a physical constant of the quantum mechanics, and its value is approx 6.62606957(29)×10⁻³⁴J·s ¹⁾ !

 

 

¹⁾ In other words it means a value of 4.135667516(91)×10⁻¹⁵ eV·s.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Messier-31

[IndiraLightfoot]

I stand corrected: I'll rephrase that: "within 4,096 Planck times in the system of Planck units."

[TrashMan]

Just have party memebr voice their concern that you better run and not fight the current enemy.

[BruceVC]

Just have party memebr voice their concern that you better run and not fight the current enemy.

 

I like this way of a possible warning around difficult enemies

[IndiraLightfoot]

Just have party memebr voice their concern that you better run and not fight the current enemy.

 

Bruce VC: Agreed!

 

But it's even more entertaining to ignore those warnings and go ahead and fight an uphill battle and come out on top, and then you get to hear a few barks like: "I didn't know I had it in me", "We're all knackered and next to maimed, but we still get to see another day.", "Did I just get hernia because of this hideous brawl?", "You were lucky! I got spider veins in my once beautiful thigh."

[BruceVC]

 

Just have party memebr voice their concern that you better run and not fight the current enemy.

 

Bruce VC: Agreed!

 

But it's even more entertaining to ignore those warnings and go ahead and fight an uphill battle and come out on top, and then you get to hear a few barks like: "I didn't know I had it in me", "We're all knackered and next to maimed, but we still get to see another day.", "Did I just get hernia because of this hideous brawl?", "You were lucky! I got spider veins in my once beautiful thigh."

 

 

funny comments

[Walsingham]

Me will crush. CRUSH YOU TO GOO!

 

I just had the almost overpowering urge to play Baldur's Gate. It all came flooding back. 

[Walsingham]

 

Me will crush. CRUSH YOU TO GOO!

 

I just had the almost overpowering urge to play Baldur's Gate. It all came flooding back. 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

DAAAAAAAAAAMN YOUUUUUU!

[Greensleeve]

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/401429781507362816 this should allay everyone's fears regarding this topic. 

[Walsingham]

I am basically dangling over losing a week or so of my life, thanks to you. You ape-bastard.

 

[Messier-31]

DAAAAAAAAAAMN YOUUUUUU!

 

Ah, yes. Stoke that infernal wrath of yours. I can feel the anger within you, boiling like a pit of sulphur in the crevices of your heart. You feel it, do you not? The taint that surrounds your soul like a serpent, squeezing it, spreading its venom... that taint, that wrath exists in all of the children of Bhaal, but few know how to use it.

 

[Mungri]

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/401429781507362816 this should allay everyone's fears regarding this topic. 

 

This makes me happy. But it has to happen right from the start of the game. Maximum hardcore difficulty, and NO tutorials or hand holding or assistance in game.

[Tamerlane]

If this game runs in 800x600 without mod support I'm demanding my money back, Sawyer.