Unnecessary features

[Awathorn]

What would you like to see removed in future PoE games?

 

For me it's:

 

- Limited camping supplies. Stupid beyond comprehension. Especially when you can carry like 80 suits of armor. Oh, another thing that needs to be removed. "Take everything" is just dumbing down to please modern gamers. 

 

- Custom made companions. Devalues real companions and makes them detached from the story. 

 

- Stronghold. Just forget about it. It belongs in different kind of games. Give us a room in the inn, a house in the city or something like that. Why does every game has to have a stronghold?

 

- Enchanting/crafting. Again, why does this has to be in every f...ing game? Stop being lazy devs and make interesting items. Creating high level merchant or smith who will do this kind of work if he is provided with unique material and lots of gold would make sooo much more sense. 

 

Instead of all this superficial stuff I would like to see more attention given to combat, items, dungeon design, encounter design, lore, story, npc depth, dialogue etc.

 

 

[kaiki]

I'll argue against removing custom companions. It's an optional part of the game that you don't need to use if you don't want to. I've never used one and don't plan on using one for any of my runs. For me they haven't effected the companions like Eder or Aloth in anyway as I want to enjoy their personal stories. On the other hand I don't mind that they are available as they are purely optional.

[Althernai]

Ironically, every single one of those except for the limited camping supplies was a Kickstarter stretch goal. Some people clearly wanted each of them and I don't think they are necessarily a bad thing, but the way they were implemented and their interaction with the rest of the game would certainly benefit from changes.

[Tigranes]

I like limited camping supplies as a way to produce strategically interesting challenges (as opposed to resting whenever I want), and I like custom made companions, which only 'devalue' NPC companions if you somehow believe you don't have a choice, and contribute greatly to longevity of the game, just like they did in IE games. 

 

Strongholds are cool but POE's is crap and you can tell it's a consequence of ambitious KS stretch goals making them unable to scrap it. It should either be expanded / improved greatly, or removed.

[Dadalama]

I happen to like custom companions. Though I think it might be better if instead you hired from a roster of generated generic companions. The whole point was so that you could spend some money and have a mechanics or survival expert on somewhat short notice. Which is a good idea it deals with a lot of frustration and it makes designing areas a bit easier.

[Eos]

How exactly are optional features hindering your enjoyment of the game?

 

And 'take everything' is dumbing down the game? Because clicking items one-by-one is challenging and intellectually demanding? wat?

[Dadalama]

How exactly are optional features hindering your enjoyment of the game?

 

And 'take everything' is dumbing down the game? Because clicking items one-by-one is challenging and intellectually demanding? wat?

I think he means the infinite stash. As far as that goes I kind of agree. I know they don't like things like encumbrance but I think it adds something to the game.

[Cronstintein]

I don't feel like the crafting is at fault for the poor itemisation but it definitely reduces the percieved value of 90% of the found items in the game since most of them could be crafted instead. 

 

And half of the 'special' ones I found didn't even work properly... bonus attack speed % on guns does NOTHING (at least as of v1.3).

[Cronstintein]

Whoah you guys don't like the stash!? I think that's one of the biggest (and only) improvements over the older IE games!  Managing individual inventories is fiddly nonsense of no real strategic value.  I would also accept removing garbage items from circulation as a solution and replacing them with equivalent coinage.

[kaiki]

Strongholds are cool but POE's is crap and you can tell it's a consequence of ambitious KS stretch goals making them unable to scrap it. It should either be expanded / improved greatly, or removed.

 

In an interview Feargus Urquhart has said the stronghold is a "core thing of the game". It sounds like Obsidian plans on expanding it.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-tabletop-rpg-and-card-game-in-the-works/ <- source

 

"Now, in the future, we look at it as also a great place where we can, when we add content to the game, where we can sort of have these quests, new people can show up. If we have new features, new items and things like that, we can add aspects to the buildings, in which those buildings can do new things with items, so it's definitely a core thing of the game that we plan to grow as we continue to grow the game." <- relevant quote

[Tigranes]

If they can make a good stronghold, then great. NWN2 OC was a decent attempt with some unique moments, like the invasion. 

[gray808]

- Limited camping supplies. 

 

- Custom made companions. 

 

- Stronghold. 

 

- Enchanting/crafting. 

 

 

- Limited camping supplies - disagree. You need *some* kind of limiter, else you end up doing the old BG "sleep after every fight".  Suddenly, every single fight, you have a whole days worth of spells, feats, etc. I found the Hard limit of 2 a bit annoying at first, changed my playstyle, and now I am fine with it.

 

- Custom made companions - wholeheartedly and 100% disagree. Currently I only have one in my group. But I am looking forward to a future run when my whole party is custom made. I enjoy making my own party, especially after a couple run throughs for the NPC dialogs. It was one of the few "cheats" I used in BG/BG2. It's removal would nearly ruin the game for me.

 

- Stronghold - Meh. I don't love it, I don't hate it. It has potential to be cool. And again, it's pretty much 100% optional.

 

- Enchanting/crafting. I think it could use improvement, but I see no reason to outright remove it.

 

 

As to the infinite stash... yeah, there should probably be a limit.  Or limit what merchants will buy, basing the price they will give you on how many of Item X are in their inventories (and the other merchants of a given town). Why would they continue giving you 20cp for that Xaurip staff, when they have 10,000 of them they already can't sell?

 

--Gray

[View619]

Using the Infinite Stash is optional, I limit myself to character inventory for everything except quest items/crafting supplies with no major problems. Of course, I also use the IE mod's Drop Item function so I'm not forced to keep whatever I want to replace. Also, avoiding enchantments to make found items a little more meaningful (itemization still needs work).

 

Limited camping supplies is a great idea, I honestly think there should be greater restrictions on where you can camp (no resting with enemies about ala IE games). Custom companions are also great, since not everybody wants to use Obsidian's companions.

[Cronstintein]

I agree:  the stronghold, as it currently stands, is pretty crappy.  But there is potential there to make it good.  I was really psyched that having a prison was an option, unfortunately it was apparently made of styrofoam because people I stuck in there all escaped in under a week...

[constantine]

 

Strongholds are cool but POE's is crap and you can tell it's a consequence of ambitious KS stretch goals making them unable to scrap it. It should either be expanded / improved greatly, or removed.

In an interview Feargus Urquhart has said the stronghold is a "core thing of the game". It sounds like Obsidian plans on expanding it.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-tabletop-rpg-and-card-game-in-the-works/ <- source

 

"Now, in the future, we look at it as also a great place where we can, when we add content to the game, where we can sort of have these quests, new people can show up. If we have new features, new items and things like that, we can add aspects to the buildings, in which those buildings can do new things with items, so it's definitely a core thing of the game that we plan to grow as we continue to grow the game." <- relevant quote

 

Stronghold will hopefully get the love it deserves. It is still cool though even as it is, owning that place.

 

And in a sequel it could become a true base of operations, around which a whole village/community has sprouted.

[Volourn]

"(as opposed to resting whenever I want)"

 

Except you can.   Nothing actually stops you. The existence of this never changed how I play.

[Tuckey]

I agree that the enchanting/crafting makes itemisation in the game poor. Its also ridiculous that I can enchant my weapon/armour in the midst of a dungeon without access to a smithy. I would also like a smith merchant to do any crafting (I'm an adventurer not a blacksmith).

 

Camping supplies mechanic I am okay with provided improvements are made to the mechanic. I would like my party to be able to heal health provided they have bandages on hand (maybe limit it to 6 purchasable at one time). At least that way you can stay in a dungeon longer without having to rest.

 

The stronghold has a lot of unrealised potential so I hope it is improved significantly over its current implementation. Also give it more life by having my guards practice at the training yard or playing cards in the barracks etc.

 

I don't have a problem with hire-able companions.

[Sannom]

- Limited camping supplies. Stupid beyond comprehension. Especially when you can carry like 80 suits of armor. Oh, another thing that needs to be removed. "Take everything" is just dumbing down to please modern gamers.

I like the stash. I put everything I don't intend to sale or keep into it. That way the world isn't cluttered by the loot piles of all the people I killed.

 

- Custom made companions. Devalues real companions and makes them detached from the story.

That's an optional feature that I don't think hurts the game.

 

- Stronghold. Just forget about it. It belongs in different kind of games. Give us a room in the inn, a house in the city or something like that. Why does every game has to have a stronghold?

Strongholds are nice, but one that is as big and advanced as the one in PoE doesn't work as a purely optional/recreational feature. Either it's as big as in PoE and it's really integrated into the story, or it's a side project that doesn't ask for a lot of resources and there a few of them depending on one's class, like in BG2.

[perilisk]

I don't have a problem with crafting in and of itself, but it could have been done better. I liked lorewise (albeit not mechanically) how in D&D, creating a magical object involved pouring some of your own essence into it -- given the importance of souls and essence in Eora, they could have done something that made even player crafted objects feel unique.

 

For example, on completing quests (and depending on how the quest was completed) the player and/or companions could sometimes gain memories reflecting what they each took away spiritually/socially/personally/philosophically, while quest XP would reflect mundane skill training. You could then imbue items with those memories, which would provide thematically appropriate bonuses (say, a quest where you arrived too late to help someone may confer a movement speed bonus), and the bonuses you add would be used to generate a more... poetic, Avellonian sort of item description of how it feels to you as a Watcher, sort of like the personal biography section.

 

For that matter, all of the item descriptions would make more sense as a soul reading of the item, instead of the traditional D&D Lore nonsense (what sort of lunatic walks around memorizing the history of every random +2 sword that got lost in a dungeon?). They could have done these soul-based item histories instead of a billion gold godlikes for backer content. But done is done.

[Cronstintein]

Perilisk-- that idea of soul-reading the items as a way of gettin item lore is actually a really good one.  Would have fit really nice thematically.

[View619]

Hell, I remember a picture of a Cipher soul-reading an item in one of the backer updates. Another feature that was planned but scrapped due to circumstances?

[Tuckey]

The stash could of been replaced by the Dungeon Siege donkey. At least that way it makes a bit of in-game sense.

[Bryy]

What would you like to see removed in future PoE games?

 

For me it's:

 

- Limited camping supplies. Stupid beyond comprehension. Especially when you can carry like 80 suits of armor. Oh, another thing that needs to be removed. "Take everything" is just dumbing down to please modern gamers. 

 

- Custom made companions. Devalues real companions and makes them detached from the story. 

 

- Stronghold. Just forget about it. It belongs in different kind of games. Give us a room in the inn, a house in the city or something like that. Why does every game has to have a stronghold?

 

- Enchanting/crafting. Again, why does this has to be in every f...ing game? Stop being lazy devs and make interesting items. Creating high level merchant or smith who will do this kind of work if he is provided with unique material and lots of gold would make sooo much more sense. 

 

Instead of all this superficial stuff I would like to see more attention given to combat, items, dungeon design, encounter design, lore, story, npc depth, dialogue etc.

Almost everything you are complaining about was a stretch goal in the Kickstarter that people paid for, or a feature that was tweaked during the closed beta due to player feedback.

 

But judging by your language, you seem to have a problem with how others play games anyway.

[Ink Blot]

I admit, I thought it was pretty stupid that you could put 100 suits of armor and 200 weapons in your stash, which you could access at any time, but for some strange reason, you couldn't put camping supplies in it. But whatever. I found on both Normal and Hard settings, the limited camping supplies didn't affect me in any way whatsoever. So with that in mind, I find it's kind of pointless. Whether they remove it or not really doesn't matter to me.

 

Custom made companions don't affect the game in any way whatsoever unless you want to hire them. It's not something that can happen by accident, so I see no reason for them to be removed.

 

Stronghold: if it's going to get some love, then keep it. Otherwise, I wouldn't miss it, as I utilized pretty much none of the features other than the bounties.

 

Enchanting/crafting. I'd like to see that become more robust, but if it were removed I also wouldn't miss it. I never used it in my runs of the game. As well, I tend to prefer something like suggested where you find rare components and have a master smith create a unique item with them. For a substantial fee, of course.

 

The one thing I'd like to see removed, although I know it won't be, is engagement. Not a fan.

[Bill Gates' Son]

 

- Custom made companions. Devalues real companions and makes them detached from the story. 

 

I would just like to point out that many people (including me) requested this feature since this was an opinion in BG1, BG2, and Icewind Dale.