Update #70: New Year Project Update

[Hassat Hunter]

Maybe there's a potion that "makes you as powerful as a flying dragon" and it sets your mig to 29

But aside from that, yeah I would thing pow and power is better...

[TrashMan]

Since in interaction with a creature, only the derived values (accuracy, DT, damage, etc.) matter, why not just set them directly? Seems simpler that way.

 

Becasue that way sucks.

 

I want it like it is in BG - the player and all NPCs and mosnters play by the exact same rules.

As it was in the IE games, I want all monsters to have stats. Skills. Everything the player has.

 

The mere mentioning of your desire top not have that makes me want to kill you for heresy.

[Rabain]

The text to the left does pop a bit more indeed.  Also it is worth looking at the image as a whole rather than focusing in on some text and then comparing it to something else.  You won't ever have that option in game.

 

That being said, on the Records screen the text does appear to float somewhat and I think that is because the white text is so different to the background, to the left on the Stats section the text is matching the paper background. Maybe some tiny dropshadow on the text to make it a part of the background?

 

The thing to remember is that this is a photoshop mockup, we can give our opinions and preferences but a lot of us have different tastes.  Obsidian can just take it all on board and make their own decisions.  It is by no means the final version but I think the layout is not terrible and is a very good place to be at right now, I think most would agree with that.

[Jumble Murdersense]

That environment looks quite cool.

[Metabot]

 

Since in interaction with a creature, only the derived values (accuracy, DT, damage, etc.) matter, why not just set them directly? Seems simpler that way.

 

Becasue that way sucks.

 

I want it like it is in BG - the player and all NPCs and mosnters play by the exact same rules.

As it was in the IE games, I want all monsters to have stats. Skills. Everything the player has.

 

The mere mentioning of your desire top not have that makes me want to kill you for heresy.

 

Pretty sure it's going to be that way. I don't know what primejunta is talking about here, maybe things like rabbits or something??

[Achaemenes]

Great! I am very excited!

[Landak]

Wow. This is really beautiful, and encouraging. I rarely comment on updates, but here I couldn't resist! 

 

Props to all developers, but particularly whoever it was who improved the typography in the character sheet. The text is beautifully aligned, well kerned, and has pleasing glyphs -- c.f. 'ff' and 'fi'. These are the sorts of little nagging things that irritate me if they're not correct. 

 

It all looks really rather impressive. One question I do have though is this: I still don't really know what the RPG system you've come up with *actually is*! Is there / is there going to be a nice pleasant explanation of it all somewhere? 

[PrimeJunta]

Pretty sure it's going to be that way. I don't know what primejunta is talking about here, maybe things like rabbits or something??

It's not important. If it's done properly, you won't even be able to tell if critters/NPC's have attributes or not (unless the game provides the information, or you look at the data files on the disk).

[Metabot]

I'm pretty sure, at least I hope, that Sawyer is in favor of enemies playing by the same mechanics and rules as the players.

[Lysen]

I understand that UI/stats discussion is important, but I'd like to stress that PE has very interesting lore and it seems that the devs put a lot of effort into it. The fictional languages are great, and the gods sound really cool. I especially like Galawain: he is not just your regular god of the hunt, he is a patron of all seekers, be them hunters or scientists. 

[Thundercat710]

Screenshot/character sheet quality - Nastabulous

 

Keep up the amazing work fellas. 

[AW8]

Resolve is used in situations where the character's intensity, presence, or believability are the deciding factors.  E.g., mental intimidation, inspirational leadership, a well-acted lie.  Intellect is used for convincing people through logic, either persuasion or obfuscation.  You could use Intellect to make a compelling case for something or you could use it to present a plausible (but made-up) scenario to explain yourself out of trouble.  Strength is used for outright physical bullying and intimidation.  E.g. picking people up, smashing things, imposing yourself, etc.

 

I love this.

[Agremont]

Looking beautiful.

[cresentdark]

This has really started to shape up in a nice way, I will be backing this soon however I did not do so just because I wanted to see where it would go I was a huge fan of the Baldurs gate 2 and the like. The pillars in the pic look like something you would see in Rome well during there time anyways. Not sure where that would take place in the game however in BG2 the final area was something to that affect. I think it depends on how you go about implementing the penetration when hitting creatures.

 

I think Blunt weapons are more of a stun and penetration should have a bleed affect if you could implement that into the game. Also people should not get offended by the names of gods or creatures they make they are not real and it takes away from the ability to name creatures what you want to. As far as the window for stats and the like I think it's fine.

[Gyges]

Environment is lush and gorgeous, why i haven't seen stuff like this in high budget games before baffles me. The UI looks great except for some minor number clipping. Though, have you considered showing stat relations in a flowchart-like illustration? I don't see this a lot in games at all but i feel it could give players a useful overview, making it easier to properly distribute points in their build. Not that i cant figure it out myself mind you.

 

Speaking of builds, will there be room enough among skills/abilities/stats for players to create builds to cater to personal playstyles besides the choice of class?

Great update as always. Cant wait for release.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Gyges

[Darkpriest]

So far I am so thrilled and hyped about the game, that you can't even imagine. Normally I would be ashamed of this, but it's like a feeling of riding a motorcycle well for the first time, or breaking for the first time the border of 200km/h in a sports car and having full control of it. I hope that this game will prove that it is the writing, companions, and reactive dialogs and world that tracks your actions and decision is the core of the big RPG, not a flashy FP combat and loot drops.

[Pipyui]

I think what PrimeJunta is trying to say is that, if all attributes that will be used by the game's mechanics are those derived from the core stats, then the core stats only serve to aid the player.  All creatures would still play by the same rules as the player if these stats were abstracted for them, as any aid or penalty to stats would translate directly and appropriately to their corresponding attributes.  The only aspect that may follow different rules, should the devs choose, is that base attribute values of creatures may not directly translate to core stats.  In my mind this is advantageous, as creatures don't then need to be limited strictly to "human" development, and can thus have more variety.  A player character's Health and Stamina would increase with their Constitution, and would thus follow a particular pattern.  A Slime however could have enormous Stamina but miniscule Health, which might contradict each other in terms of a Constitution stat, but would still follow the same rules of stat modification where a change in X Constitution would have the appropriate changes to Health and Stamina.  The mechanics would be virtually unchanged, only that attribute scores of creatures wouldn't be necessarily tied to the "human" distribution pattern - if they're not designed horribly, I don't think this is a bad thing.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Pipyui

[Soldat of Life]

It is due to this update that I noticed that one could register to this forum. I participated in the kickstarter as a slacker backer. I'm glad to see that the game is coming along nicely. I tried looking for a place to introduce one self, but didn't find one ultimately. All in all, game make on Obsidian and may chocolate always be with you!

[Zan Lynx]

 

By the way, have you changed the way fonts are handled, or are they still bitmap fonts? The new text looks fantastic (asked about this on page 1 ).

 

To be clear, that stat page is a mock-up and the text is still from PhotoShop.  That said, the in-game text is much better looking because Brian found much better settings for it.  There are still bugs to work out, but it's looking better in-game.

 

I am hoping that y'all test the game and the fonts with a 4K display and with Windows set to 150 or 200% scaling and the game running in native resolution. In both full screen and windowed modes. Because it seems that a lot of games don't work properly with those settings. Diablo 3 didn't click where the mouse pointed at. SWTOR did things all wrong when running full screen windowed as opposed to full screen.

 

Because I am seriously planning to get one of these 28" 4K monitors that CES showed off. I love Retina displays, as Apple names them.

[Metabot]

Also, as others have asked, will there be a guide to the language in the manual or some other document for our curiosity and edification?

Edited January 15, 2014 by Metabot

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

Fantastic update Obsidian!


 

[Lincoln]

Want to see more very nice!

[Ganrich]

Love the update.

 

I have one issue with the new stat system: The changes to Resolve are making me worry. A player that uses sound tactics with his other party members can keep enemies away from back line characters thus making Resolve a potential dump stat. Why give your mage Resolve when the Warrior, Pally, and Rogue are always going to stop enemies from getting to the mage to force concentration checks? It seems that Resolve needs something more than just Concentration checks. It needs something that directly effects your character in combat that isn't reliant on being attacked. All other Attributes directly effect your damage, accuracy, AoE, duration, or healing save constitution and resolve. Constitution makes itself useful by increasing your staying power via health and stamina, but Resolve seems less necessary.

 

The former system, although it had many people confused because of strength and intellect, had a better grasp on no dump stats IMHO. I have no idea what could be added to Resolve to make it better at the moment. I am trying to think through the fog of cold medication.

[Tamerlane]

Also, as others have asked, will there be a guide to the language in the manual or some other document for our curiosity and edification?

[rjshae]

I have one issue with the new stat system: The changes to Resolve are making me worry. A player that uses sound tactics with his other party members can keep enemies away from back line characters thus making Resolve a potential dump stat. Why give your mage Resolve when the Warrior, Pally, and Rogue are always going to stop enemies from getting to the mage to force concentration checks?

 

Because the mage can be targeted by arrows, bolts, guns, hurled weapons, and spells. Isn't that what you'd do against an enemy spell caster?

Edited January 15, 2014 by rjshae