How much information should be revealed before release?

Obviously I am not talking about the main story line or quests here. How much of the mechanics would you like to know about each class/race? Or abilities? How many screen shots would you like to see? How much lore would you like to know? Do you want to "really be surprised?" or "do you want to know a lot."

 

Personally I would really like to see a lot of mechanics information (the thread on traps just got me thinking about skill mechanics) before I get the game in my hands. Before I start any RPG, I try to take a good deal of time to think about how I want to make my character, and if its a party based RPG, than about how to organize my party. I guess that has been the case since I started play pen and paper RPGS when I was young.

 

Where I'd really like to be surprised is with everything else. Story, setting, lore, et. I'd prefer than remain a surprise. If its well done, I find that the most enjoyable part of an RPG.

 

What do you think?

I don't want to know any more about the story, or any details on companions or major NPCs.. I'd rather find that stuff out in game.

But I am interested in the mechanics of how it will work, and also the process of actually making the game.

and background lore is good to know, as long as it isn't a spoiler.

luckily for you guys, my opinion doesn't count

or else simply every information would be available to backers

even the majority of the story

if there is one person on the planet that doesn't give the slightest damn about spoilers, that would be me

i always want to know everything beforehand, and hate it if i don't know how a story ends

i'm still glad i've read everything about the ending of mass effect 3 before playing it, at least i didn't have high expectations that way

Edited November 24, 2013 by lolaldanee

Ugh, I'm torn. On one side I want to know everything there is to know about the game. On the other side I'd hate to know all locations on the world map, I'd hate to have seen most dungeons and weird places and I'd hate to know who's the bad guy.

anything but the plot.

I agree with you, forgottenlor.

 

Ideally, I'd only like to know more about the classes and game mechanics, exactly for the reason you mentioned. I wouldn't mind if I found out about some background lore before the game is released, but other than that I definitely don't want to know much about the story, companions, other characters or cultures/races/etc before immersing myself in the game itself.

I would want to know all the mechanics. Well, all of the ones not story-essential/integrated. Also, any background lore I want to have access to. I wouldn't want to know too much about quests and plot, main-quest or side-quest. 

They should release it all. Only to me if necessary. I am excellent at keeping secrets. No need to be coi, Obsidian.

_{Mechanics?  All of them.}

_{World lore? Very little, things that in older games were mentioned in the manual, not more}

_{Story? Nothing}

Everything about the mechanics, everything about the lore that the PC should know, and the narrative shouldn't be revealed beyond what leads into the first bits of gameplay.

_{Mechanics?  All of them.}

_{World lore? Very little, things that in older games were mentioned in the manual, not more}

_{Story? Nothing}

Exactly. I want the equivalent of the information in the Baldur's Gate 2 manual. And the mechanics should have numerical values. I absolutely hated how Dragon Age described spells with things like "Arcane Shield: Grants a bonus to defense when active" -- the descriptions for half the mechanics were practically worthless until people dug into the code and got the numbers out. Don't just tell me it increases defense (it's obvious from the name), tell me that it's by 2d6 per level + 10 or whatever.

I like to see the mechanics, technology, concept art, screenshots, and only so much as you might see in a trailer after that (with a little gameplay footage).  I'm very pleased that Obsidian is keeping us in their development loop, and giving us a voice in the process.  So far they've been good in not telling us the story or too much lore, and I don't feel the game has been spoiled to me any more than it has been teased.

Very little, tbh. The more I discover in the act of actually playing the game the more enjoyment I get from it.

 

...of course, that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop checking the updates forum on a near daily basis.

Mechanics: I want to know all systems, abillities, spells, skills , talents and attributes before the game is out. The only spells/abillities or talents that they shouldn't mention are things that you need to find in the game world.

 

Items: basic weapons or armor yes, but not all unique items.

 

Lore: Some Lore about races/classes/deities etc. but there should be enough things that we don't know about.

 

Creatures/Enemies: Some creatures they can show (especially low level creatures), but I want to see some new creatures during the game.

 

Story: Imo We know enough about the story.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Prometheus

About mechanics, I want to know as much as possible as long as it doesn't tie in with the story in a way that it makes sense to only find out during gameplay.

 

About story and characters we know enough already, imo. 

 

About lore and the world, I want to know everything that might be considered "common knowledge" from an in-world perspective. I love reading about this kind of stuff and it just makes me more excited about the game. I want to start the game with a very good picture of the world and it's history, cultures and so on because I think it rarely makes sense to find out all this stuff during gameplay when you're playing a character who grew up in this world. But there should still be enough stuff to find out and discover during gameplay. Stuff that isn't commonly known or even stuff that is commonly believed to be true but actually isn't. I wouldn't mind if Obsidian actually spread a bit of disinformation in this regard.

Mechanics: I want to know all systems, abillities, spells, skills , talents and attributes before the game is out. The only spells/abillities or talents that they shouldn't mention are things that you need to find in the game world.

 

Items: basic weapons or armor yes, but not all unique items.

 

Lore: Some Lore about races/classes/deities etc. but there should be enough things that we don't know about.

 

Creatures/Enemies: Some creatures they can show (especially low level creatures), but I want to see some new creatures during the game.

 

Story: Imo We know enough about the story.

 

I hadn't thought about monsters, tbh. Here I'd like to see a small sample of very common creatures, perhaps. I also hadn't thought about lore tied to mechanics, like the choice of diety, or specialty schools of magic  in Icewind Dale 2. That would also be something cool to know in advance (for me at least). I also would agree that if some mechanics are introduced later in the game (maybe a sort of story ability like in Mask of the Betrayer) then I also don't need to know that in advance either.

Very little, tbh. The more I discover in the act of actually playing the game the more enjoyment I get from it.

 

...of course, that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop checking the updates forum on a near daily basis.

I find that interesting. Do you just experiment with character building? Or do you read the manual in advance? I used to enjoy reading manuals, however I really dislike digital manuals and I often find it difficult to sit down and read them.

I don't want to know any details of the plot, or more than basic summary of the plot centric NPCS, and as little as humanly possible about your "nemesis".  That said overall lore, history of the area, info about major cities and guilds, class/game mechanics, weapons/armor, etc etc....  I want to know as much as possible about those things before release.  Particularly world lore, history, and game mechanics.  Plenty of non story specific screenshots would be great too.

Release date and system requirements (yeah, I know it's not state-of-the-art but want it anyway).

I mostly agree with what seems to be the prevailing consensus in this thread that mechanics and common-knowledge lore should be revealed while plot and rare lore should be kept a secret. However, I think that to focus solely on the common stuff may make the game seem too bland or conventional, so I think they should also rarely reveal context-light snippets of weirder or more dangerous stuff.

anyhting that does not require this 

 

the story

 

About mechanics, I want to know as much as possible as long as it doesn't tie in with the story in a way that it makes sense to only find out during gameplay.

 

About story and characters we know enough already, imo. 

 

About lore and the world, I want to know everything that might be considered "common knowledge" from an in-world perspective. I love reading about this kind of stuff and it just makes me more excited about the game. I want to start the game with a very good picture of the world and it's history, cultures and so on because I think it rarely makes sense to find out all this stuff during gameplay when you're playing a character who grew up in this world. But there should still be enough stuff to find out and discover during gameplay. Stuff that isn't commonly known or even stuff that is commonly believed to be true but actually isn't. I wouldn't mind if Obsidian actually spread a bit of disinformation in this regard.

This is pretty much exactly how I feel.

I sure wouldn't like to see any kind of key villain(s) character descryption/artwork. 

Other than that - what Hugo Rune said.

I don't need to be surprised. I prefer looking forward to the game instead of just having "hopes". Like with a book, I like to get a good sense of exactly how it will feel before I buy it. I like discovery and surprises, but I don't want a trickle of basic ideas in-game ("oh, so they thought of that!"). I want it to be like I expect it, but different.  I don't want to know more than basics in anything, but I'm not particularly afraid of some specific element.

Edited November 25, 2013 by MattH

All of it: story, maps, secret areas, monsters and NPCs. All the dialogue, a complete and thorough walkthrough, an exhaustive crafting guide. Every music track and sound effect, each script, all the code, triggers, loaded objects, delays, the lot...

...NOT!     :alienani: