Shame on you, Obsidian.

[Vorad]

Obvious troll/flamer not only food deprivation.

 

This thread is pointless.

 

/delete thread please

Edited December 10, 2015 by Vorad

[Ink Blot]

People should be wise to support the Fig campaign for Psychonauts 2 then, because the lowest bid still grants you a digital version of Psychonauts 1.

Um, you can get Psychonauts on GOG for the regular price of $9.99, and if you watch sales, you can get it cheaper. It's been as low as $3.69

[Karkarov]

Did you just..... Suggest that people should throw more crowd money at doublefine?

In all honesty there are certain things a person should look for in a video game kickstarter to warn you off from donating.  The kickstarter being posted by Doublefine is one of them.  They have no clue how to budget, they are so into their own hype they don't realize that they haven't actually made a good game in an insanely long time, and every game they do release always fails to meet their marketing spiel for it, most of the time on basically all levels.  Oh and of course you can be sure they will miss their original release window by months, possibly an entire year.

 

Have they even released the second half of that first kickstarter yet?

[Elerond]

 

Did you just..... Suggest that people should throw more crowd money at doublefine?

In all honesty there are certain things a person should look for in a video game kickstarter to warn you off from donating.  The kickstarter being posted by Doublefine is one of them.  They have no clue how to budget, they are so into their own hype they don't realize that they haven't actually made a good game in an insanely long time, and every game they do release always fails to meet their marketing spiel for it, most of the time on basically all levels.  Oh and of course you can be sure they will miss their original release window by months, possibly an entire year.

 

Have they even released the second half of that first kickstarter yet?

 

 

They released Act 2 in April 28 2015

[jintegrity]

Perhaps the real problem is the lack of just reward for defeating trash mobs and completing filler.

 

 

 

No kidding. As someone who always made a point of farming Basilisks and cheesing Drizzt on any new character in BG1 so I could play the character I wanted, rather than suffer through the painful level 1-3 stage of the game, having no XP on kill was rather disheartening. I enjoy the combat of the game, but just don't feel motivated to kill the things I want to kill because it simply isn't worth it. I want to full clear Raedric's Hold, as I know I've only seen a small fraction of the place, and what I have seen has been really well done. However, the sheer amount of time and effort it would take (playing PotD for my first playthrough, because that's what I enjoy) simply isn't worth it for what I'd receive. Now I had to hold off on killing Raedric because my level 3 party just couldn't hack it (PallyMC, Eder, Kana, Aloth, and Durance), so I was forced to continue progressing the story as there were no alternative means of acquiring XP. I would have preferred to just kill everyone in the hold, came back with some levels, and allowed him to join those in his employ.

 

I love how often people do things to "promote variety", only to actually take it away.

 

Still, the game has exceeded expectations in almost every other way (though I do want to disembowel Durance and put him on a pike in my new, shiny keep), and I have to say it was well worth the price.

[Tigranes]

If you want to kill the creatures, then all you have to do is go kill them. It can't be 'not worth it' if you aren't exactly losing critical resources, and you're doing what you want to do in a video game. Equally, so many people seem to feel 'forced' to kill everything they can to squeeze out the last drop of XP and make the game tedious for themselves when there is kill XP.

 

I don't really care about kill XP either way, because at the end of the day this is a game and you're setting your own challenges. You hate level 1-3? Just cheat yourself some XP, instead of "farming" things and wasting your time (unless you're fighting them as a fun challenge, which is cool). Doesn't make you a terrible person. 

 

Your point about needing to get quest XP to finish a quest is a fair one, though. This is not a problem after you get to Defiance Bay, but I can see how it might come up at the Keep.

[HawkSoft]

 

…though I do want to disembowel Durance and put him on a pike in my new, shiny keep,

 

He'd probably enjoy it 

[why]

I was reading some old threads about kill experience points and I guess that's a big can of worms that people have been kicking open the entire time.  I can feel for the people who like kill experience, but they're wrong.  Granting experience for kills means the game is balanced for kills.  It does, no matter what people say, force a certain attitude about kills in a game.  Conversely, I fight pretty much anything that starts out with a red circle in the game and have not shied away from engaging in or even provoking a fight if the PC would logically want to do so.  I can let a bandit get away, but I must be convinced he'll go on the straight and narrow.  A certain bad guy hanging out in the Od Nua's old joint?  As long as I'm convinced he's going to stay there and not cause problems for other people.  Cut throat mercenaries, undead, or other people that pose a threat to the country-side I don't kill.  So, for me, lack of kill experience has actually meant that I've engaged in fights that have yielded me very little in terms of loot and nothing else at all.  I much much prefer the game that way despite that.  I'm not punished for those fights, I'm just not rewarded for them, which is simply not the same thing.

 

Kill experience causes a headache in terms of balance and other than rewarding murder hobo fantasies it doesn't serve any good purpose in a role playing game.  In an action oriented role playing game, which is to say something like Diablo, then kill experience makes perfect sense.  There is no moral question about killing monsters.  Once you leave town, everything including other people you meet is a monster in need of smiting.  In a game posing moral dilemmas, such as Pillars, there should be no reward for killing other than the loot you'll get and reputation you'll earn.  That might not be a good reward, but it will nevertheless be one.

 

There's no perfect system, but I think people should feel happy that there's a bestiary that yields kill experience of sorts.  That seems to be a great compromise and does reward people for killing but associates it with a task rather than the arbitrary act of killing.  The real error isn't taking out kill experience.  It's that they included lock picking experience.  At least, in that regard, they don't block off the experience reward for everyone other than the rogue.

 

As far as Durance goes, I thought the point of Durance is that you love to hate him.  <.<

[Karkarov]

so I was forced to continue progressing the story as there were no alternative means of acquiring XP. I would have preferred to just kill everyone in the hold, came back with some levels, and allowed him to join those in his employ.

I love how often people do things to "promote variety", only to actually take it away.

Okay well there is a few problems with what you posted.

 

1: First you "want to kill everyone in the hold", so I have to ask why exactly do you just what your character to be an RP psycho killer?  You realize some people in the hold will actually gladly work with you and help you.  Some of them are just you know, normal people doing their job.  That said ....

 

2: If you REALLY wanted to kill everyone in the hold for no other reason than to kill everyone in the hold then doing that should be it's own reward.  If you are doing it just because you feel obligated, or that's how you would do it in the past, or you think that is the "optimum" path then truth is you don't actually want to do it you just think you do.  You are basically convincing yourself you want to do it just because you feel like "I'm supposed to do it".  Well I am supposed to mow the yard and do the dishes but I still don't like doing it.

 

3: There is plenty of reward, they have tons of loot, weapons, armor, money, treasure hidden in the keep, etc etc.  Just because some arbitrary number called EXP didn't go up doesn't mean you didn't get rewarded.

 

4: You definitely can kill everything in the keep, leave Raedric sitting there, exit the place, gain more levels, and come back later.  I know this because I didn't finish the quest on my first visit either.  You are not required at any point in the entire game to visit that keep ever.  You can leave this entire quest line unfinished and still complete the main story.  So.... your end complaint holds no water as there are definitely plenty of ways to get over level 3 before you go to Raedrics hold, or after you visit the first time.

 

5: Kill exp screws balance, because when you are awarded kill exp you only get one choice.  Kill everything for optimum game path (because it is now the optimum path due to kill exp) or take a non optimum path through the game.  That isn't variety it is "gimp yourself" or "don't gimp yourself" not much of a choice in most players eyes.

[jintegrity]

 

so I was forced to continue progressing the story as there were no alternative means of acquiring XP. I would have preferred to just kill everyone in the hold, came back with some levels, and allowed him to join those in his employ.

I love how often people do things to "promote variety", only to actually take it away.

Okay well there is a few problems with what you posted.

 

1: First you "want to kill everyone in the hold", so I have to ask why exactly do you just what your character to be an RP psycho killer?  You realize some people in the hold will actually gladly work with you and help you.  Some of them are just you know, normal people doing their job.  That said ....

 

2: If you REALLY wanted to kill everyone in the hold for no other reason than to kill everyone in the hold then doing that should be it's own reward.  If you are doing it just because you feel obligated, or that's how you would do it in the past, or you think that is the "optimum" path then truth is you don't actually want to do it you just think you do.  You are basically convincing yourself you want to do it just because you feel like "I'm supposed to do it".  Well I am supposed to mow the yard and do the dishes but I still don't like doing it.

 

3: There is plenty of reward, they have tons of loot, weapons, armor, money, treasure hidden in the keep, etc etc.  Just because some arbitrary number called EXP didn't go up doesn't mean you didn't get rewarded.

 

4: You definitely can kill everything in the keep, leave Raedric sitting there, exit the place, gain more levels, and come back later.  I know this because I didn't finish the quest on my first visit either.  You are not required at any point in the entire game to visit that keep ever.  You can leave this entire quest line unfinished and still complete the main story.  So.... your end complaint holds no water as there are definitely plenty of ways to get over level 3 before you go to Raedrics hold, or after you visit the first time.

 

5: Kill exp screws balance, because when you are awarded kill exp you only get one choice.  Kill everything for optimum game path (because it is now the optimum path due to kill exp) or take a non optimum path through the game.  That isn't variety it is "gimp yourself" or "don't gimp yourself" not much of a choice in most players eyes.

 

1 & 2. I want to see the entirety of the place, and the guards seem determined to make that possible only by removing them from the sights. Also, I enjoy the challenge playing POTD gives, and the guards aren't exactly chumps. I'd like to find a way to do it with only myself and companions (not adventurers) without being grossly overleveled, yet is so efficient that it becomes "easy". I assume that is possible through system mastery, and I always enjoy learning, and exploiting, game systems. I think, once I can and have done so, it'll cease to be appealing.

 

3. Perhaps, but the cost-to-reward ratio doesn't seem very good. Perhaps if I was better at the game, that would change, but seeing as I've not owned it long, each fight seems like a worthy challenge that taxes me.

 

4. I didn't want to progress the story any further, which I now realize wasn't clear enough in my original post. I was left with the option of either repeating the fight until I achieved a desired result (which I attempted until I realized it was a futile effort), or continue the story, despite my original desires, and come back later. Being accustomed to having an alternative, not having it is rather frustrating. I'll get over it.

 

5. That's why the level cap is comparatively low. You'll hit max level in a timely fashion whether you farm or not. One is more time consuming (farming), but yields results earlier in the campaign. However, a skillful player who does quests and content as intended should actually reach level cap faster (in real life time), albeit later in the story.