@Sensuki & Other Vets - Request for latest impressions

[Gairnulf]

Regarding combat, maybe I don't have enough experience with it yet, but the feeling I'm getting so far is that you are allowed to experiment with different variations of the same general style of combat (because of different builds/party composition), but never deviate much from that style, which is "pin down the enemy with one or two tanks and concentrate damage-dealers successively on this enemy, then the next, then the next..."

 

The most challenging and fun combat I experienced in the BB was in Lle a Rhemen, in the south-east corner, where I had to fight 5-6 ranged enemies which were not moving and had very strong ranged attacks. Incidentally, since they were immobile, had strong ranged and weak melee attacks, that was the single combat where I had to move around the most, and it was the most fun, with most tactical options. This makes me hope there will be much more variation to combat in the full game than in the BB.

 

Other than that, the game looks and sounds wonderful, is stable, and by all expectations well written. I expect ruleset balance to be waay off, because of so much efforts to "balance" it throughout development, but it will be fixed, after the real beta testing starts on the 26th.

[drunetovich]

If AI could learn to attack robes before plates and retreat from loosing combat, this would be an amazing challenge. Everything else look good to me.

[Namutree]

If AI could learn to attack robes before plates and retreat from loosing combat, this would be an amazing challenge. Everything else look good to me.

Good luck to them retreating.

 

*tries to run* DISENGAGEMENT PENALTY!

[drunetovich]

 

If AI could learn to attack robes before plates and retreat from loosing combat, this would be an amazing challenge. Everything else look good to me.

Good luck to them retreating.

 

*tries to run* DISENGAGEMENT PENALTY!

 

 

More like: *knockdown* *wild sprint* *running away* *collects every other npc on map* *npc train wipes the party* ah, good times

[vril]

I certainly feel like it has improved quite a bit since that initial backer beta, even as a developer myself, interesting what 6 months will do to a game.

 

I think my main issue with the game from the start and going forward is that I feel that combat is more difficult than Infinity engine because there is more micromanagement required.  Back in the Infinity engine games, the classes that needed micromanagement were any spell casting class.  Now with PoEt, all classes have abilities in some way, where in Infinity, you just told your Fighter to attack a certain enemy, in PoEt you tell them to attack a certain enemy AND need to use their abilities, compound that with up to 6 members of a party and real time, it is a bit daunting.  I still think a turn based combat system would have worked better if they're going down this route.  But I suppose that was not the mandate, real time with pause was and turn based was not, no one it seems was clamoring for a Temple of Elemental Evil inspired games except for few, which included myself.

[Nixl]

Hey all,

 

  So a week out from release and I'm keen to get some impressions of the more dedicated community members regarding how BB and the game in general is shaping up for release. I played the first BB when it was initially released and while the story and visuals far exceeded my expectations, combat, logging, inventory and the general UI was... a steaming pile of excrement less than impressive.

 

  As such I'd be keen to hear your latest impressions of the final BB that is now available. Does it live up to your expectations? Are we still concerned that there's too much left to implement prior to release? How is combat? balance? the UI? visuals? inventory management?

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Koth.

Compared to its earlier versions, the game is much improved, which is to be expected.

 

I think the combat is solid, but not perfect.  It is hard to articulate, but I think the gameplay can promote extreme character builds over more moderate/un-specialized builds.  For instance, I think the game can force players to go straight damage or defense and without much need to go in between (purely my opinion here).  Moreover, I do not think buffs or dispels compare well with focusing on damage  (could change once I get further into the game). 

 

Also, I am not a fan of disengagement, because I am not convinced that it has the intended effect of reducing abuse of game mechanics and enemy AI.  I feel that disengagement does not stop people who know how to abuse the game mechanics, because disengagement attacks can be abused (see the various Sensuki videos).  For casual players, I do not think the disengagement makes a huge difference.

 

My favorite part of the game is the character building. 

Edited March 23, 2015 by Nixl

[vril]

I certainly feel like it has improved quite a bit since that initial backer beta, even as a developer myself, interesting what 6 months will do to a game.

 

I think my main issue with the game from the start and going forward is that I feel that combat is more difficult than Infinity engine because there is more micromanagement required.  Back in the Infinity engine games, the classes that needed micromanagement were any spell casting class.  Now with PoEt, all classes have abilities in some way, where in Infinity, you just told your Fighter to attack a certain enemy, in PoEt you tell them to attack a certain enemy AND need to use their abilities, compound that with up to 6 members of a party and real time, it is a bit daunting.  I still think a turn based combat system would have worked better if they're going down this route.  But I suppose that was not the mandate, real time with pause was and turn based was not, no one it seems was clamoring for a Temple of Elemental Evil inspired games except for few, which included myself.

 

One note, considering Torment will use the same engine, I wonder what the possibility of a turn-based mod is in the future.

[Luckmann]

 

I certainly feel like it has improved quite a bit since that initial backer beta, even as a developer myself, interesting what 6 months will do to a game.

 

I think my main issue with the game from the start and going forward is that I feel that combat is more difficult than Infinity engine because there is more micromanagement required.  Back in the Infinity engine games, the classes that needed micromanagement were any spell casting class.  Now with PoEt, all classes have abilities in some way, where in Infinity, you just told your Fighter to attack a certain enemy, in PoEt you tell them to attack a certain enemy AND need to use their abilities, compound that with up to 6 members of a party and real time, it is a bit daunting.  I still think a turn based combat system would have worked better if they're going down this route.  But I suppose that was not the mandate, real time with pause was and turn based was not, no one it seems was clamoring for a Temple of Elemental Evil inspired games except for few, which included myself.

 

One note, considering Torment will use the same engine, I wonder what the possibility of a turn-based mod is in the future.

 

 

"The same engine" doesn't matter as much as you seem to think. Lots of different games that are nothing alike is using Unity as a framework. D:OS is Unity, PoE is Unity, Wasteland 2 is Unity.

 

I mean, look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unity_Engine_games#2015

 

I'm not saying that it would be impossible to make a turn-based mod, although I would be incredibly surprised if it was reasonably possible, I'm just saying that "the same engine" means nothing.

 

I mean, Angry Birds Epic is apparently Unity.

[Elerond]

Divinity Original Sin uses Larian's in-house engine.

 

But anyway Unity is general purpose game engine that can used to make every sort of games, this sadly don't mean that you will have easy time to move implementations from one game to another. But when it comes to PoE and TToN there are much more possibilities with moving content from one game to another as inXile use modified versions of PoE's implementations in many things.

[vril]

 

 

I certainly feel like it has improved quite a bit since that initial backer beta, even as a developer myself, interesting what 6 months will do to a game.

 

I think my main issue with the game from the start and going forward is that I feel that combat is more difficult than Infinity engine because there is more micromanagement required.  Back in the Infinity engine games, the classes that needed micromanagement were any spell casting class.  Now with PoEt, all classes have abilities in some way, where in Infinity, you just told your Fighter to attack a certain enemy, in PoEt you tell them to attack a certain enemy AND need to use their abilities, compound that with up to 6 members of a party and real time, it is a bit daunting.  I still think a turn based combat system would have worked better if they're going down this route.  But I suppose that was not the mandate, real time with pause was and turn based was not, no one it seems was clamoring for a Temple of Elemental Evil inspired games except for few, which included myself.

 

One note, considering Torment will use the same engine, I wonder what the possibility of a turn-based mod is in the future.

 

 

"The same engine" doesn't matter as much as you seem to think. Lots of different games that are nothing alike is using Unity as a framework. D:OS is Unity, PoE is Unity, Wasteland 2 is Unity.

 

I mean, look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unity_Engine_games#2015

 

I'm not saying that it would be impossible to make a turn-based mod, although I would be incredibly surprised if it was reasonably possible, I'm just saying that "the same engine" means nothing.

 

I mean, Angry Birds Epic is apparently Unity.

 

 

I believe Torment is specifically using tools that Obsidian developed for PoEt though, I was referring to that, not that they were both Unity games.

 

( http://www.pcgamer.com/torment-tides-of-numenera-to-license-pillars-of-eternity-design-technology/ )

Edited March 23, 2015 by vril

[Luckmann]

Divinity Original Sin uses Larian's in-house engine.

 

But anyway Unity is general purpose game engine that can used to make every sort of games, this sadly don't mean that you will have easy time to move implementations from one game to another. But when it comes to PoE and TToN there are much more possibilities with moving content from one game to another as inXile use modified versions of PoE's implementations in many things.

 

****, you're right. I could've sworn I read that they used Unity. I apologize.

 

I believe Torment is specifically using tools that Obsidian developed for PoEt though, I was referring to that, not that they were both Unity games.

 

( http://www.pcgamer.com/torment-tides-of-numenera-to-license-pillars-of-eternity-design-technology/ )

Ah, fair enough. I still don't think it makes any difference, though, as much of this will be completely "under the hood", but it shouldn't be discounted.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Luckmann