Can I even handle a game like PE any longer? Well, I sure hope so!

[Lephys]

Yea I don't get why item degradation was shouted down. Even something a little less involved than New Vegas.

Because! NOTHING else in the game is going to require maintenance!

 

... Except hitpoints... and spells/abilities... and ammunition... and inventory space... and the stronghold...

 

So, I mean, it'd be absolutely CRAZY to add in the aspect of diminishing resources, in ANY form, to an otherwise diminishing-resources-less game! Right?

 

[Gfted1]

Because! NOTHING else in the game is going to require maintenance!

 

... Except hitpoints... and spells/abilities... and ammunition... and inventory space... and the stronghold...

 

So, I mean, it'd be absolutely CRAZY to add in the aspect of diminishing resources, in ANY form, to an otherwise diminishing-resources-less game! Right?

 

Just fyi,

 

1) Stamina automatically regenerates but maybe you meant Health?

2) Spells and abilities automatically replenish via cooldown.

3) Inventory is unlimited.

4) Havent read anything about ammo but would not be surprised if its also unlimited.

5) Strongholds take money to fix up but I don't remember a recurring carrying cost. Link?

 

So yes, if after battle your weapons and armor repaired themselves then it would be the same as your examples. Otherwise, not at all.

[Lephys]

Just fyi,

 

1) Stamina automatically regenerates but maybe you meant Health?

2) Spells and abilities automatically replenish via cooldown.

3) Inventory is unlimited.

4) Havent read anything about ammo but would not be surprised if its also unlimited.

5) Strongholds take money to fix up but I don't remember a recurring carrying cost. Link?

 

So yes, if after battle your weapons and armor repaired themselves then it would be the same as your examples. Otherwise, not at all.

1) I meant Health. Granted, I should've said "health", but I ended up with "hitpoints." 8P

2) I've somehow completely missed this. I could've sworn they said there'd be some at-will (always available) abilities, some per-encounter abilities, and some per-rest abilities. Thus, my point was that the active replenishment of abilities (not unlike actively repairing damaged equipment) does exist in the game. Not that all abilities utilize it.

3) *buzzer*. The deep stash (inaccessible unless at rest points part of your inventory/non-immediately-usable inventory) is "unlimited" (I think Josh said it won't necessarily be "unlimited," but its limitations will be plentily large. Vague, I know...). Anywho, swappable-weapons/usable items and all that jazz will not be unlimited.

4) Touche. Can't really say either way, without knowing, I suppose.

5) I believe things will happen to it that you must go "out of your way" (unless you just happened to be heading back there anyway -- similar to having to go rest just 'cause you're low on health or spells, or travel back to town just because your weapons are worn out, etc.) to deal with, or suffer some undisclosed consequences. Still vague, but *shrug*

 

Also, I was being half silly, and just making the simple point that some people don't seem to realize:

 

Managing a finite resource, in and of itself, is not the enemy, and the game has plenty of that in it without durability. That's all.

 

And lastly, I'm hardly telling anyone they can't dislike things such as durability/resource management, but "it's bad because (insert worst-case-scenario example here)!" is about as useful as it is frequent with any of the "hated" ideas (such as durability).

 

They could implement ANYTHING in a horrible, unbearable manner. Just as they could implement even ideas, the core of which you don't really like, in an actually-pretty-awesome manner. People just don't even want to give things a valid chance sometimes.

 

It's a bit of the "I've been lied to by like 30 people now, so I'm just going to deduce that all people are liars and I cannot trust anyone" syndrome.

 

I hate to see people so up-in-arms about aspects of a game they'd like to enjoy (and that they thought they'd enjoy when they backed it, based on the core ideas of the game), LARGELY (if not only) because they are simply focused on all the negative possibilities and refuse to believe positive ones even exist, just because "they don't see them happening."

 

Ideally, the only people who feel like they're going to hate the game (or really suffer in the enjoyment department) are the ones who didn't back it. Not a bunch of people who did, and just keep thinking of arbitrarily negative possibilities.

[Yonjuro]

 

 

....

My preferred method of mind flayer handling was to buff my main character (brutal killing machine fighter) with haste, chaotic commands, death ward, protection from negative energy, a strength buff just to push him to 24, and hand him all the healing potions just in case.  Then he would open the door, walk in, turn, close the door.  5 rounds later when everything else in the room was dead because nothing they could do worked on him he opened the door again.

 

 

 

 Yes. Tastefully done, sir. (And, maybe a purple potion and blue potion thrown in for +3 INT each, just in case).

[Jarmo]

 

Yea I don't get why item degradation was shouted down. Even something a little less involved than New Vegas.

Because! NOTHING else in the game is going to require maintenance!

 

 

It wasn't as such, at least not by .. the faction I was in.

I'd have been fine with item degradation, it was the mechanic where fighters armorer skill worked (in combat) to prevent item wear, not just a skill to make and repair stuff out of combat.

 

Obsidian agreed with the sentiment in the end. But absent the combat use, armorer would have been a skill to dump and pointless busywork (you'd pretty much spend time after every fight giving all the equipment to one guy and have him repair everything).

 

End then there was the Oblivion example, where everybody carried around about 75 hammers for field repairs. I actually kind of liked that, but there's always an immediate shout down to any mechanic that was in any Elder Scrolls game, because otherwise PoE would become a hiking simulator.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

[Name one, and indeed you didn't find one straw man-argument in my post. Oh, told you so! ]

 

And no one is talking about Path of the Damned with things like "lazy design". That's a straw man right there! Who has said Path of the Damned has lazy design? You are saying posters in this thread are bringing up Path of the Damned has "lazy design"? The only person that has brought up "lazy design" is you! Yep, keep bringing up these strawman arguments with things like "lazy design" if it makes it easier to attack other posters on this forum - even though no one had mentioned Path of the Damned has "lazy design"..

 

[i'm sorry to break this to you, but claiming like several of you have done, that Obsidian will make sneak- and smooth-talking mechanics that make a walk in the park of the game via a mere attribute skill check or some stealth skill checks, is indeed the same as pulling the lazy design-card. Also, it's basically the same as taking a dump on their know-how. I mean, come on, do you really believe that they suck that hard or do you have some other agenda here?

 

Bringing up things like 'How is Obsidian going to do ..... in Path of the Damned?' is not all doom-n-gloom posts. They're legitimate questions and speculating on Path of the Damned with what it's based on (HoF) is legitimate discussion. Just because it's not all 'everything will be great' and 'have faith'^TM posts doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom.

 

[You rarely ask questions in that way, if at all. I did a back check on your posts. It's more the talk-to-the-hand-approach.     Unfortunately, it rings of insecurity, almost like some snarky bullies on some campus, pointing and chuckling for the sake of it. Rarely in the right, but always mocking their opponents with bad jokes, "I do too"-counter arguments, and ill-concealed needs of having it their way and chuck the rest.]

 

 

 

 

And lastly, I'm hardly telling anyone they can't dislike things such as durability/resource management, but "it's bad because (insert worst-case-scenario example here)!" is about as useful as it is frequent with any of the "hated" ideas (such as durability).

 

They could implement ANYTHING in a horrible, unbearable manner. Just as they could implement even ideas, the core of which you don't really like, in an actually-pretty-awesome manner. People just don't even want to give things a valid chance sometimes.

 

I hate to see people so up-in-arms about aspects of a game they'd like to enjoy (and that they thought they'd enjoy when they backed it, based on the core ideas of the game), LARGELY (if not only) because they are simply focused on all the negative possibilities and refuse to believe positive ones even exist, just because "they don't see them happening."

 

^This, a million times this!! Can we have some civilized and sensible arguments from now on, please?

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Name one, and indeed you didn't find one straw man-argument in my post. Oh, told you so!

 

I chose not to because it was going off topic. However there are mutilple strawman examples in your post.

 

But not happy with me ignoring your post to name one example, you continued to quote me and use even more strawman arguments. And your second post where I did answer and show a strawman, there were actually 4 strawman examples and a red herring. So if you want to bring up logical fallacies into this, then a bit of research is in order. And if you're going to accuse others of strawman arguments, then at least check your own posts first, considering you're doing the very thing that you accuse others of.

 

 

 

I'm sorry to break this to you, but claiming like several of you have done, that Obsidian will make sneak- and smooth-talking mechanics that make a walk in the park of the game via a mere attribute skill check or some stealth skill checks, is indeed the same as pulling the lazy design-card. Also, it's basically the same as taking a dump on their know-how. I mean, come on, do you really believe that they suck that hard or do you have some other agenda here?

 

No it's not. And no one has claimed that "Obsidian will make a sneak- and smooth-talking mechanic that will make a walk in the park of the game". You're making those strawman arguments again. I haven't made that claim. You're making out that I have. Show me where I said that? You can't because I never did. I also never said anything about lazy design. You're the one accusing people including myself of saying that when no one did.

 

So how about actually reading what people write as well as stop misquoting me. It makes you look bad.

 

 

 

You rarely ask questions in that way, if at all. I did a back check on your posts. It's more the talk-to-the-hand-approach.     Unfortunately, it rings of insecurity, almost like some snarky bullies on some campus, pointing and chuckling for the sake of it. Rarely in the right, but always mocking their opponents with bad jokes, "I do too"-counter arguments, and ill-concealed needs of having it their way and chuck the rest.

 

 

More personal attacks and more misrepresentation of myself. So what was the point of replying to me? Just to go on some wild rant and misquote me? To make out I said things that I didn't? You've got some serious problems if you can't discuss the concerns of people on this forum, continually misquote and misrepresent what others have said,  to make out I said things I didn't and to continue to take this off topic.

[ZornWO]

About the illithid lair in the Underdark, it is possible to defeat the lair without resting (SCS even has a component that forbids resting).  I've done it with cheese (infinite-spell trick), and I was able to do it once w/o cheese tactics by bypassing some of the combat (the normal illithid can't see through invisibility and SCS lets you keep it that way if you want).  If you have the bugfix that makes undead summons resistant to the illithids' mind attacks, it's positively easy.  Plus players on the no-reload threads have come up with a large variety of other ways to beat it.  And above all, it's optional!  The Matron Mother's quest itself is optional, but even if you want to do it, the illithid lair is optional even under that quest.  It'd be great to have optional, highly challenging quests in PoE.  In fact, it'd be surprising if it didn't have that.

 

 

I have to admit - all that talking strongly reinforced the assumption I made once, some months ago, that I shouldn't concern myself about mechanics.

 

People form such strongly held precise preferences about mechanics, it's almost intimidating.   I just have abstract goals, maybe I'm defective :-o

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

Name one, and indeed you didn't find one straw man-argument in my post. Oh, told you so!

 

You still didn't name one.

 

 

 

I'm sorry to break this to you, but claiming like several of you have done, that Obsidian will make sneak- and smooth-talking mechanics that make a walk in the park of the game via a mere attribute skill check or some stealth skill checks, is indeed the same as pulling the lazy design-card. Also, it's basically the same as taking a dump on their know-how. I mean, come on, do you really believe that they suck that hard or do you have some other agenda here?

 

I haven't made that claim.

I know. I hate marking semantics, but I wrote "you", as a second person pronoun plural, but you know, as well as I do, that contributors in this thread that you put likes on and back up are indeed making those kind of claims. If you abuse semantics, twisting everything to be about you, this is not our problem.

 

 

 

You rarely ask questions in that way, if at all. I did a back check on your posts. It's more the talk-to-the-hand-approach.     Unfortunately, it rings of insecurity, almost like some snarky bullies on some campus, pointing and chuckling for the sake of it. Rarely in the right, but always mocking their opponents with bad jokes, "I do too"-counter arguments, and ill-concealed needs of having it their way and chuck the rest.

 

 

More personal attacks and more misrepresentation of myself. So what was the point of replying to me? Just to go on some wild rant and misquote me? To make out I said things that I didn't? You've got some serious problems if you can't discuss the concerns of people on this forum, continually misquote and misrepresent what others have said,  to make out I said things I didn't and to continue to take this off topic.

Once again, this was not just aimed at you, but to all posters behaving in this way. Once again, "you" in the plural.

Btw, your post (this time, singular) was mostly "No, I didn't"-counter arguments.  QED.

 

[Reever]

 

The Internet needs more people like you, @milczyciel.

 

What about me Prime, doesn't the Internet need more people like me who are committed evangelists to decent Romance options in RPG? You know you need more people like me .....

 

 

Give this man a medal :D

[IndiraLightfoot]

DISCLAIMER: The greyed bold lines in my two last posts have been deliberately bogus. It's basically just me mimicking the way Hiro argues and replies to posts. I know, it was out of character and low of me, but I was just so tired of watching that same old-same old, over and over again. No content, just twisting and turning, and being wriggly and semantic while one's at it.

 

HIRO: No hard feelings, but you just got to chill down and jump down from that high horse of yours. Join the arguments, be constructive, creative and inquisitive, and above all, read and listen to what people have to say. I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to see a nice and fruitful discussion here, instead of a long line of balloon popping. I apologize for sticking a mirror in front of you in this devious and mischievous way of mine, but sometimes the best lessons learnt are the surprising ones.

 

I'm sick of this "If you can't take the heat, take a hike"-attitude that tend to leak into forums like this, so I did this parody of mine just to show that it only dampens the spirit and lowers the morale. If anything, it's destructive and not very macho at all. The same goes for Mr or Mrs Know It Alls, which I also tried to do a parody of here. Everybody should know that they are welcome to contribute and have a say, and that their opinions matter.

 

More specifically, Lephys, me, and many others here, certainly took on and discussed the opinions of all those criticizing how the difficulty should be implemented in PE, but then came posts after posts digging a new trench in a makeshift war of oppositions that few recognized or even acknowledged, and we suddenly had arguing (or rather counter-arguing) for arguing's sake. Please, try to be constructive and considerate when you post, and don't do it the way I did in my two parody posts above.

 

Have a good day!

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

 

 

You still didn't name one.

 

It seems you want to be proven wrong. Okay. Not sure why some people on this forum can't see this. Here's an easy one. The strawman accusation you accused others of is also a strawman in itself. You said: "You keep coming back to that strawman situ, where an INT or CHA check will solve any tough encounter"  = Strawman argument.

 

This implies that any tough encounter I or others come across in the game will be solved by an INT or CHA check. While it 'might' get us past some encounters, it won't get us past 'any' encounter in the game.

 

Another way to look at it is, Pick any card from this deck. That means every card from this deck is open for you to pick a card from. Replacing card with encounter, that means any encounter in the game which includes the end boss. No one said this was the case. But you're using the strawman argument, misrepresenting us, that others and myself have said any encounter in the game can get passed with an INT or Cha check, which we didn't. That was you.

 

I can use smilies too.

 

 

I know. I hate marking semantics, but I wrote "you", as a second person pronoun plural, but you know, as well as I do, that contributors in this thread that you put likes on and back up are indeed making those kind of claims. If you abuse semantics, twisting everything to be about you, this is not our problem.

 

eh, so If I like a post by someone in this thread that you don't like..., you're now taking issue with it? LMAO. A bit precious aren't we?

 

 

 

Once again, this was not just aimed at you, but to all posters behaving in this way. Once again, "you" in the plural.

Btw, your post (this time, singular) was mostly "No, I didn't"-counter arguments.  QED.

 

Behaving this way? How are we behaving? That we have legitimate concerns about one aspect of the game? So you have a problem with posters who don't conform to your way of thinking because we've expressed concerns? wow, just wow.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

HIRO: No hard feelings, but you just got to chill down and jump down from that high horse of yours. Join the arguments, be constructive, creative and inquisitive, and above all, read and listen to what people have to say. I can only speak for myself, but I'd like to see a nice and fruitful discussion here, instead of a long line of balloon popping. I apologize for sticking a mirror in front of you in this devious and mischievous way of mine, but sometimes the best lessons learnt are the surprising ones.

 

More specifically, Lephys, me, and many others here, certainly took on and discussed the opinions of all those criticizing how the difficulty should be implemented in PE, but then came posts after posts digging a new trench in a makeshift war of oppositions that few recognized or even acknowledged, and we suddenly had arguing (or rather counter-arguing) for arguing's sake. Please, try to be constructive and considerate when you post, and don't do it the way I did in my two parody posts above.

 

 

The old no hard feelings, but.. Which means you do have hard feelings. And the same can be said of you. Stop taking this personal if someone has legitimate concerns. There's another strawman argument again in your post. We have been constructive but some posters (including yourself) have taken it personal. And you admit that you did make a war out of this. I think you need to take a chill pill. 

Edited January 21, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[IndiraLightfoot]

Hiro: Still got your blinders on, I see.      See the post above yours. From your recent reply above I can tell that you don't like to get replies like mine, or rather like yours, as I only reflected back your own argumentative kind at yourself. Not very fun, huh? Just lay it off and give it a rest, Hiro. I know you can contribute better than this, rather than have your true colours pasted all over. And it's true btw, I love smilies:

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Hiro: Still got your blinders on, I see.      See the post above yours. From your recent reply above I can tell that you don't like to get replies like mine, or rather like yours, as I only reflected back your own argumentative kind at yourself. Not very fun, huh? Just lay it off and give it a rest, Hiro. I know you can contribute better than this, rather than have your true colours pasted all over. And it's true btw, I love smilies:

 

Your admitted trolling? Okay. You got me. I need to stop feeding the troll. You can have the last say.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[Lephys]

It seems you want to be proven wrong. Okay. Not sure why some people on this forum can't see this. Here's an easy one. The strawman accusation you accused others of is also a strawman in itself. You said: "You keep coming back to that strawman situ, where an INT or CHA check will solve any tough encounter"  = Strawman argument.

 

This implies that any tough encounter I or others come across in the game will be solved by an INT or CHA check. While it 'might' get us past some encounters, it won't get us past 'any' encounter in the game.

Thing is... if you're not worried about it being an issue any time there's a tough encounter, then what is even the problem? How does that even work? You don't know specifically what the situations will be, so you can't really say "I think like, HERE, in the beginning of the game, it'll be a problem, but then, all the rest of the encounters will be fine." So then, you either think that "any" potential encounter in the game could possibly be horribly imbalanced, with combatants doing all the work and getting the same or lesser rewards than the non-combatants (sneakers and speakers), right? I don't see how it can be anything other than "any" or "none."

 

If it's not "any," then are you suggesting "I totally trust Obsidian to intelligently use the XP system in designing like... 90% of the tough encounters in the game, but I'm quite confident that, for about 10% of them, they'll just forget how to do their jobs and give non-combat people the easy ability to jedi-mind-trick their way past one-or-more of the hardest fights in the game that really shouldn't be skippable, even according to story and lore and such."?

 

If you could just explain how "any" is horribly inaccurate, and what it is exactly that you're concerned about, that would be awesome. Methinks you don't understand that "any" doesn't just mean "all." If I'm in a store, with $10, and each individual item in the store costs $10, then I have the ability to buy "any" item in the store. Doesn't mean $10 lets me clean the store out.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Lephys

[Hiro Protagonist II]

 

If you could just explain how "any" is horribly inaccurate, and what it is exactly that you're concerned about, that would be awesome.

 

 

I've finished with the trolling, so there's no point for you to continue it. And I get the impression you don't want me to explain it further since my posts are well explained. It seems you just want to be argumentative considering a few troll posts by Indira have been liked by you. You can have the last say as well.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Hiro Protagonist II

[Lephys]

Man... I ask a question, and that gives you the impression that I don't want further explanation from you? I'm curious to know how I might go about giving you the impression that I do want further explanation from you.

 

[not-trolling]

I'd very much like to know how your concern is not over the potentiality for any given tough combat encounter in the game to be poorly designed by wrongly favoring the relatively easier, less-resource-intensive tasks of sneakery and word-weaving. And, if not, what your concern actually is. You know, so that we can discuss it.

[/not-trolling]

 

I've used tags this time, in an effort to avoid giving you the wrong impression. Now, obviously, there's no forum rule that requires you to answer me and partake in this discussion. So, if you just don't want to talk about it, then I'll understand. Well, I won't understand, but I'll respect your wishes.

[Sarex]

Thing is... if you're not worried about it being an issue any time there's a tough encounter, then what is even the problem? How does that even work? You don't know specifically what the situations will be, so you can't really say "I think like, HERE, in the beginning of the game, it'll be a problem, but then, all the rest of the encounters will be fine." So then, you either think that "any" potential encounter in the game could possibly be horribly imbalanced, with combatants doing all the work and getting the same or lesser rewards than the non-combatants (sneakers and speakers), right? I don't see how it can be anything other than "any" or "none."

If it's not "any," then are you suggesting "I totally trust Obsidian to intelligently use the XP system in designing like... 90% of the tough encounters in the game, but I'm quite confident that, for about 10% of them, they'll just forget how to do their jobs and give non-combat people the easy ability to jedi-mind-trick their way past one-or-more of the hardest fights in the game that really shouldn't be skippable, even according to story and lore and such."?

 

If you could just explain how "any" is horribly inaccurate, and what it is exactly that you're concerned about, that would be awesome. Methinks you don't understand that "any" doesn't just mean "all." If I'm in a store, with $10, and each individual item in the store costs $10, then I have the ability to buy "any" item in the store. Doesn't mean $10 lets me clean the store out.

 

Facepalm... Dude, do you even read what you write. What does anything you wrote in there have to do with what we were discussing? The basic question was, how is sneaking and talking going to scale with difficulty. What difference does it make how many fights are going to be "skipable"?

 

Oh and let's not forget the metaphor that somehow hasn't got anything to do with what you wrote above. Reading your post is a unique experience to say the least.

Edited January 21, 2014 by Sarex

[Lephys]

I'm about to answer your question, politely, despite the fact that you probably don't even care what my response is:

 

What you were discussing is the issue of the amount of effort associated with tackling a combat scenario increasing with the difficulty settings while the amount of effort associated with utilizing a non-combat method of approach to the same situation would go unaffected by the difficulty, in theory. Thus, either there's an implied issue of imbalance there, or you just think maybe non-combat approaches should increase in toughness with difficulty for no reason at all.

 

If there's an issue, then the issue is the imbalance, correct? To which people said (paraphrased) "What if the main/toughest combat encounters aren't optional, and you can't just circumvent them with still-the-same-easiness sneakery or speakery?"

 

Thus, this eventually led to Indira and Hiro to specifically debate amongst themselves. And Hiro called her out on her use of the word "any," even though it applies. Thus, I pointed that out.

 

That's what it has to do with what we were discussing.

 

The metaphor makes perfect sense, despite the fact that you don't get it. Since you haven't asked for an explanation of how it makes sense, I won't trouble you with an explanation.

 

I'm glad reading my post was a unique experience, at least. Better than having bland posts, I suppose.

[Sarex]

I'm about to answer your question, politely, despite the fact that you probably don't even care what my response is:

 

What you were discussing is the issue of the amount of effort associated with tackling a combat scenario increasing with the difficulty settings while the amount of effort associated with utilizing a non-combat method of approach to the same situation would go unaffected by the difficulty, in theory. Thus, either there's an implied issue of imbalance there, or you just think maybe non-combat approaches should increase in toughness with difficulty for no reason at all.

 

If there's an issue, then the issue is the imbalance, correct? To which people said (paraphrased) "What if the main/toughest combat encounters aren't optional, and you can't just circumvent them with still-the-same-easiness sneakery or speakery?"

 

Thus, this eventually led to Indira and Hiro to specifically debate amongst themselves. And Hiro called her out on her use of the word "any," even though it applies. Thus, I pointed that out.

 

That's what it has to do with what we were discussing.

 

The metaphor makes perfect sense, despite the fact that you don't get it. Since you haven't asked for an explanation of how it makes sense, I won't trouble you with an explanation.

 

I'm glad reading my post was a unique experience, at least. Better than having bland posts, I suppose.

 

Yeah, that facepalm thing wasn't very nice to say. It was pretty late when I read your post, so my filters were thin, apologies.

 

Ok, first I want to address red part. Dude, you wrote your own answer. When you increase the difficulty you expect the game to be harder, the whole game, especially on path of the damned mode.

 

As for the metaphor, "If I'm in a store, with $10, and each individual item in the store costs $10, then I have the ability to buy "any" item in the store. Doesn't mean $10 lets me clean the store out.", 10$ you have = 10 skill points in persuasion, items in stores = fights, 10$ price sticker = how many points you need to circumvent a fight. So if you have 10 skill points, you can circumvent any fight in the store that has a cost of 10 skill points and because they all cost 10 skill points you can get past all of them. Now I know what you meant to say, but this metaphor in the context of the discussion is, as you can see, wrong.

[FlintlockJazz]

No you can't handle it, that's why you should hand me all your copies of the game you get, your money too, your house, your game collection, your PC, your bank account, um, your furniture, er oo your kids too can always get a fair price on the Black Market for those, your immortal soul too you never know what you can get for that...

[PrimeJunta]

Ok, first I want to address red part. Dude, you wrote your own answer. When you increase the difficulty you expect the game to be harder, the whole game, especially on path of the damned mode.

(1) Why? What's wrong with increasing combat difficulty only?

(2) Can't you think of any ways to increase overall difficulty? I sure can. Off the top of my head, here are a few easy ones you can do simply by tuning numbers, with no added mechanics whatsoever:

 

- (stealth) increase radius of noise circles

- (stealth) increase radius of enemy detection circles

- (stealth) decrease radius of party detection circles

- (stealth) shorten detection lag if present

- (stealth) make stealth buffs rarer or more costly

- (stealth) raise lockpick check thresholds

- (stealth) raise trap disarm thresholds

- (stealth) reduce availability of lockpicks

- (talk) raise ability check thresholds

- (talk) raise faction reputation check thresholds for factions

- (talk) raise personal reputation check thresholds for individuals (e.g., something that requires "Merciful 20" on Normal becomes "Merciful 50"

- (talk) raise costs associated with talk solutions (e.g., if bribery or payment is involved, raise the price)

- (talk) make talk buffs rarer or more costly

- (overall) raise buy prices in shops

- (overall) lower sell prices in shops

- (overall) reduce loot

- (overall) reduce XP rewards

 

Srsly, guyz. This isn't rocket science.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Good points, Prime Junta!

 

And we already know that increased difficulty will be, amongst other things, the same as increasing the number of enemies.

So why not increase those detection circles and make them bigger? 

Or why not increase the number of talk checks necessary to pass a certain encounter/situation?

And why not design the game around this kind of incremental jogging of difficulty?

Well, I for one, have a strong feeling that Josh & Co have done just that.

[BruceVC]

 

Hiro: Still got your blinders on, I see.      See the post above yours. From your recent reply above I can tell that you don't like to get replies like mine, or rather like yours, as I only reflected back your own argumentative kind at yourself. Not very fun, huh? Just lay it off and give it a rest, Hiro. I know you can contribute better than this, rather than have your true colours pasted all over. And it's true btw, I love smilies:

 

Your admitted trolling? Okay. You got me. I need to stop feeding the troll. You can have the last say.

 

 

You allowing someone to have the last say .....this I gotta see