PoE improvement thread for people who liked it only

[Black]

Can't we have one?

No. And ds is for degenerates too.

 

[purpleblob]

But would you rather have PoE over no PoE?

*snip*

Why bash it and try to get people not to buy it? What does that do? Maybe they should have skipped those titles and stuck to the next big Jrpg release on the console.

That's an extremely difficult question to answer. If I say yes, then it's not quite right because I don't want to waste money and time playing something I find mediocre and not worth my time. On the other hand, it doesn't feel right to say no because if everyone is too picky, there will be nothing on the market.

People bash it because the standard of acceptable/good/excellent etc are keep getting low and developers think it's ok to keep producing piece of sh*ts?

I agree, but that is because the so called rpg fans stopped spending money on and supporting crpgs and their pussies would just spray with the thought of a new fancy console piece of shit rpgs.

If idiots only spend money on console games only console games will be made. It comes down to what you want. That is it. It has nothing to do with mediocrity. If you look at any crpg game someone that is an actual crpg fan probably thinks it is mediocre or sucks. It comes down to do you want more crpgs? If you answer yes the only way to get them is to buy and support crpgs, and not be a raving lunatic when a game that is pretty good to decent to you isn't the Jesus of games.

I love crpgs. They are pretty much the only games I can play with some exceptions (like the xcoms, or JA Reloaded, or some space rpgish games like Void Expanse).

Console idiots are going to of course bash crpgs because they are console idiots and have shit taste. We have good taste so we bash console tripe. But there are bazillions of them and a fraction of us. We seriously need to make this genre profitable if we want more than a decent or barely acceptable game every two years like it was for over a decade.

It gets old playing the same handful of games over and over and seeing all these retarded pieces of shit piss their pants over the next big console hipster piece of shit depthless rpg-lite garbage.

Let me make one thing clear: I'm a PC gamer. I don't play console games. But that doesn't mean I can't bash a PC game I do not like. I did spend a good money on PoE because I was hoping it will provide me with fun experience like with IE games which I loved. PoE didn't deliver it for me. I have a right as a customer/gamer to bash it or provide a negative feedback, as much as someone next to me who might rave about it. And hopefully they will learn from it. Right now though, I'm not very hopeful on anything Obsidian produce because every single f*cking game they produced were bug ridden piece of sh*ts. They need to learn to f*cking program first if they want to create a game. Doesn't matter how interesting their f*cking ideas are if they can't implement them properly.

 

[Trashos]

Right now though, I'm not very hopeful on anything Obsidian produce because every single f*cking game they produced were bug ridden piece of sh*ts. They need to learn to f*cking program first if they want to create a game. Doesn't matter how interesting their f*cking ideas are if they can't implement them properly.

PoE bug ridden? It is surprisingly polished.

 

[Roqua]

But would you rather have PoE over no PoE?

*snip*

Why bash it and try to get people not to buy it? What does that do? Maybe they should have skipped those titles and stuck to the next big Jrpg release on the console.

That's an extremely difficult question to answer. If I say yes, then it's not quite right because I don't want to waste money and time playing something I find mediocre and not worth my time. On the other hand, it doesn't feel right to say no because if everyone is too picky, there will be nothing on the market.

People bash it because the standard of acceptable/good/excellent etc are keep getting low and developers think it's ok to keep producing piece of sh*ts?

I agree, but that is because the so called rpg fans stopped spending money on and supporting crpgs and their pussies would just spray with the thought of a new fancy console piece of shit rpgs.

If idiots only spend money on console games only console games will be made. It comes down to what you want. That is it. It has nothing to do with mediocrity. If you look at any crpg game someone that is an actual crpg fan probably thinks it is mediocre or sucks. It comes down to do you want more crpgs? If you answer yes the only way to get them is to buy and support crpgs, and not be a raving lunatic when a game that is pretty good to decent to you isn't the Jesus of games.

I love crpgs. They are pretty much the only games I can play with some exceptions (like the xcoms, or JA Reloaded, or some space rpgish games like Void Expanse).

Console idiots are going to of course bash crpgs because they are console idiots and have shit taste. We have good taste so we bash console tripe. But there are bazillions of them and a fraction of us. We seriously need to make this genre profitable if we want more than a decent or barely acceptable game every two years like it was for over a decade.

It gets old playing the same handful of games over and over and seeing all these retarded pieces of shit piss their pants over the next big console hipster piece of shit depthless rpg-lite garbage.

Let me make one thing clear: I'm a PC gamer. I don't play console games. But that doesn't mean I can't bash a PC game I do not like. I did spend a good money on PoE because I was hoping it will provide me with fun experience like with IE games which I loved. PoE didn't deliver it for me. I have a right as a customer/gamer to bash it or provide a negative feedback, as much as someone next to me who might rave about it. And hopefully they will learn from it. Right now though, I'm not very hopeful on anything Obsidian produce because every single f*cking game they produced were bug ridden piece of sh*ts. They need to learn to f*cking program first if they want to create a game. Doesn't matter how interesting their f*cking ideas are if they can't implement them properly.

You certainly do have a right to bash games you don't like. No one is questioning your right to do exactly what you want when you want and how you want for whatever reason you wwant. I am questioning what you want the most though.

If you are a crpg fan more than anything else, and your goal is to have more cpgs made. Or even if you are a huge BG fan and you want more games like BG2 made. Can you deny that the best way to achieve this goal is to buy and support and not rabidly bash games that attempt to be like BG? Better someone try and fail to never have tried at all, right? Would you rather have no PoE than PoE? Even if it is only worth one or a couple of play throughs having PoE is better than not having it, right?

I really didn't care for the BG games but I still want more developers to attempt to make more games like BG than more console shit because crpgs are almost always worth buying, playing, and supporting.

It comes down to this - do you want more crpgs or do you want more console shit? If you want more crpgs the way to get them is clear.

This isn't saying you can never bash a game, or try and make a game better by mentioning its faults, but if your main goal is more crpgs or more games like BG2, or more blobbers, or more games with a little depth and meat on them instead of rpg-lite shit that spends 95% of the budget on graphics, then we have to advance and support the games that put a serious effort into trying.


Take Serpents in a Stagland. I don't think a lot of elements in that game really worked, or worked for me. But I took what fun I could from it and respect the shit out of the developers for making a game with a lot of depth and meat and trying new things (or incorporating things back into games we haven't seen in forever). It is 100% a game worth buying, playing, and supporting if you are a crpg fan or want more attempts at BG like games being made. Crpg fans are richer for it having been made. And I honestly do not think PoE can be viewed much differently.

 

[Jinn]

I have to say that the hatred for PoE on these forums borders on pure absurdity, to the point where it really does just seem like people feel it's the "Kool" thing to do. The levels of disdain this game receives seems like the kind that should be reserved for only some of the most heinous console abominations that were and are the harbingers of decline. I understand and agree that when the game first came out, the gameplay quickly began to fall flat due to the intense focus on "balance," but it was still pretty fun in several ways, and clearly a very aesthetically appealing feast for the eyes. The story and writing leaves a great deal to be desired but is by no means even close to the absolute shit that you find in most other games, and crpgs in general.

We all know that looking forward to something and it not living up to your expectations is a disappointing thing to have to go through, but really that's just life. What we did get was something that was way better than almost anything that came out in the deep dark days of the decline, and we should at least be thankful for that. Sure, it doesn't reach those heights of greatness that we had all (unjustifiably) projected onto PoE, but it was a step in the right direction at least.

This is by no means suggesting I am a dedicated apologist of the game. I just happen to agree with Roqua's argument that PoE is indeed a step in the right direction for crpgs in the grand scheme of things. We can certainly give it a fair and analytical criticism, but the hyperbolic hate fest directed towards this game seems extremely unwarranted and hurtful to the genre. People do actually come here for the posters opinions and many have probably never ever tried PoE out for themselves because of what they've read here as a result.

 

[Immortal]

Yeah, yeah, yeah - you think it sucks and want to post a one line zinger letting everyone know how you feel about it. Fantastic! This thread isn't for you as it is only for people that like PoE and would like to post ideas of how to improve it. Since this is for people who played and liked it there will be spoilers.

I have yet to get very far into the game. I started an ironman game after white marsh 1 on the difficulty level below the hardest. And I went down a well in my keep's dungeon and was fighting my way out with no problems until I hit some giant troll type things that hit really, really hard. I think I almost cleared them all but at one point while fighting one group I got attacked my another group and we all died. I just started up another ironman on the same difficulty but this time without the option that restricts access to your stash and whatever else it does as it just seems to make the game more annoying instead of more enjoyable/challenging.

I like the engagement mechanics. I think the combat, chargen, and chardev are infinitely better than the BG games but I think they are not nearly as good as could be.

For instance, it seems every class always gets six skill points no matter what. I don't understand the thinking behind this. Tying skills to an attribute would increase the important of attributes.

And, honestly, that is my major issue with the game. Attributes. I like how they are limited, and I like how the have a direct impact on the type of build you are going for, but I dislike how insignificant they all feel.

I will compare this to D&D 3.5.

What I think is better - I think attaching attack speed to armor is a great idea and really opens up some interesting feats and character building options. I think it would be better if the options weren't so formulaic and there were tiers. As it is now there is a flat progression of +1 DR -5% speed with every + and - filled. I think the system undermines itself instead of really doing something with a significant choice or tradeoff, where as it could be a lot more interesting and meaningful.

I think the engagement mechanic is a good mechanic. I'm not sure if it was changed with part 2 but it seems less significant now, but it is a good system that fits well into a RTwP game.

I like the per encounter and per rest abilities, which we do not have in 3.5, but were (as far as I know) created by 4e and in 5e (which is more like 4.5 really when comparing 3 and 3.5 and 4e and 5e).

I like the health and endurance mechanic. I think it would be better with smaller numbers and weapons doing smaller numbers of damage so you can more easily see the difference and increase the importance of constitution.

What I don't like - the attributes. It is somewhat similar to 3.5 but unlike 3.5 they are all diluted and obfuscated. 3.5 attributes are formulaic, but in an easily seen and much more significantly impactful way. In this game getting gloves of +2 resolve really don't have the same impact it does in a 3.5 system, even though the stats are similarly restricted.

I think this is the area that needs to be modified significantly if they are looking to make a system as good as or better than 3.5. It just doesn't do it. If I want to build an aoe character increasing intelligence should make me feel like my aoes got bigger, but the gains are so minimal it just doesn't matter to me. Same with every single stat.

Once the stats are adjusted to be far more significant and impactful I think the traits/feats whatever they are called in this game could really be expanded upon. The have the bases for a million interesting feats but they just aren't there.

My goal playing through this time is high endurance and health, and getting the feats that recover health early since small dps gains aren't nearly as important to me as large survivability gains. Same goes for DR. A bunch of small dps increases add up to be significant, but by focusing on endurance, health, passive endurance recovery and getting the health recovery feats early I negate the impact of burst damage to a character and the significant loss of combat effectiveness by them getting a wound.

I haven't gotten very far into the game so I have yet to hit a point where I have tons of money to spend on whatever I want and I save up money for keep upgrades and make due with the equipment I find instead of purchasing better equipment. I think this is good and I don't see it changing anytime soon in my game.

I like how I can make the conscious choice to build a defensive party and I can see the direct impact of that playing. That is good.

I like that leveling isn't fast and furious and you get to level 40 after 10 hours of playing. Leveling seems as impactful and as rewarding as in ToEE.

What do the people who play and like PoE think is the good aspects of the mechanics and the bad? Similar to my thoughts or not even close? How can this be improved for PoE 2?

TL;DR

The Game is Shit.

 

[Maculo]

If there is a PoE2, I think Obsidian really needs to focus on what it means to be a Watcher. By focus, I mean story-wise and mechanics. Story-wise, it is not 100% clear why you needed to be a Watcher to thwart Thaos. As far as I understood it, being a Watcher allowed you to see into the past and to see through lies/conspiracies. Outside the main story-line (and TWM), I do not think Obsidian made that apparent. Even in the main story line, the importance of being a Watcher is not fully clear.

As for mechanics, the "Watcher" mechanics showed up perhaps three times in the mainstory with little significance (Maerwald, Ghost Elf, and Thaos). I know the TWM improves on it, but I believe Obsidian could do even better. For instance, I think Mask of the Betrayer tied the narrative and the RPG elements of being cursed (forgot the name) perfectly. Each act or major event had a resolution that required the use of your power (sparing/devouring Okku, healing/devouring the tree spirit, devouring Myrkul, etc). How you used the power changed your companions, yielded special crafting components, etc.

I thought Thaos was a preview of what a Watcher could do (possess people, be practically immortal, etc). Obsidian does not need to look far for RPG mechanic ideas, because I think they already have one with Thaos.

 

[Immortal]

I wouldn't be surprised if Watchers become the Grey Warden of this setting. AKA Pretend it never happened and move on to the next chosen one cliche.

 

[Maculo]

It would be such a waste though. The implication behind Thaos was great in my opinion (not talking about the writing). Being Thaos/Watcher makes one practically immortal, and further allowed you control key people and events without notice (whatever Thaos did the Sanitarium, etc). I thought it was slightly Torment-esque, but Obsidian did not touch it. My hopes are that they follow through in PoE2 (if it happens).

 

[AwesomeButton]

then some $4 million of Obsidian's investment.

Waaat? Any source on that?

My bad. It was $4 million initial budget and then an extra $1 million that came from Obsidian themselves.

Feargus Urquhart says they burn one million a month.

This post where Infinitron quotes Urquhart, I think from this stream:

There was a funny anecdote about the editor for the original Fallout games at the beginning. Apparently it had no copy-paste functionality at all and every single tile in the first game was laid manually by Scott Everts.

Feargus doesn't actually say whether they added copy-paste for the sequel, but they only found out about the limitation then.

Feargus says PoE took in between 5 and 5.5 million dollars from Kickstarter + preorders, 110,000 backers

Pretty impressive post-Kickstarter numbers.

I think that's the source of the +1 million estimate that's circulating on the Codex:
An Obsidian developer admits Obsidian invested their own money to fund PoE in the final months before release.

Also from Brandon Adler.

Roqua , here is briefly my PoE2 wishlist. I'm intentionally not going into the ruleset too much, I think if it's well documented, it's good enough. Better documentation will make it easier for players to provide better quality feedback to the team for rebalancing after release. I plan to post this on the Obsidian forums as well at some point:

1. Ammunition for ranged weapons. Reworking the inventory screen to allow for a "quiver" section, as in the IE games.
2. The ability to split the party between non-party-required areas. I know there's a technical limitation to this currently, it's not a design decision that it can't happen in PoE.
3. Pickpocket mechanics
4. Enchantment and the creation of potions and scrolls to only work via NPCs who are proficient in enchanting and crafting. Possibly, tie these NPCs' willingness for helping the player to quests/reputations
5. Weight allowance based on Might or Constitution, and an option to make the Stash inaccessible for BOTH taking out AND storing of items, when the party is in the wilderness or in a dungeon. This way when you're out of the city, it matters what you decided to bring and what you decided to leave behind. Weight allowance is a classic PnP mechanic, and I've seen hints in the early versions of the game that they were going to implement it, but I guess they had no time, and later on the majority of the feedback was that people were happy with a limitless inventory, so Josh probably decided it was too late to add a feature that would piss off a big number of players.
6. Searching for traps should be an independent mode from sneaking, though it may remain tied to the mechanics skill. Switching from searching for traps should disable sneaking and vice versa. This will produce much opportunities for interesting dungeon and encounter design.
7. A city that's at least relatively equal to Athkatla in the amount of content.
8. Make weather effects like rain and snow, possibly fog(?) appear and disappear dynamically.
9. Larger maps, both cities, wilderness, and dungeons, to match the IE games' sizes. Also the ability to place notes on the map.
10. A random chance that an enemy group will respawn somewhere in a wilderness map. In the BGs they were guaranteed to respawn in some areas, and in the same places, which soon got boring. On the other hand, always knowing the map will be empty when you return through it is boring too. Note that I'm not talking about respawning all trash mobs, just one group at a random location, and not every time the map is revisited, to keep some uncertainty for the player. This will also make it a bit easier to gather crafting ingredients which come as loot from specific enemies. For example, currently once I kill all the wind blights in Pearlwood Bluff, it's very hard to find more of the wind essence needed to add shock damage enchantments.
11. A slower default game speed during combat, when the player is not in "Slow mode" (this is actually something Sawyer has mentioned he wants to do, but it coincides with my opinion).

 

[Infinitron]

Looking at the numbers, it seems to me like it was less than a million.

 

[purpleblob]

You certainly do have a right to bash games you don't like. No one is questioning your right to do exactly what you want when you want and how you want for whatever reason you wwant. I am questioning what you want the most though.

If you are a crpg fan more than anything else, and your goal is to have more cpgs made. Or even if you are a huge BG fan and you want more games like BG2 made. Can you deny that the best way to achieve this goal is to buy and support and not rabidly bash games that attempt to be like BG? Better someone try and fail to never have tried at all, right? Would you rather have no PoE than PoE? Even if it is only worth one or a couple of play throughs having PoE is better than not having it, right?

I really didn't care for the BG games but I still want more developers to attempt to make more games like BG than more console shit because crpgs are almost always worth buying, playing, and supporting.

It comes down to this - do you want more crpgs or do you want more console shit? If you want more crpgs the way to get them is clear.

This isn't saying you can never bash a game, or try and make a game better by mentioning its faults, but if your main goal is more crpgs or more games like BG2, or more blobbers, or more games with a little depth and meat on them instead of rpg-lite shit that spends 95% of the budget on graphics, then we have to advance and support the games that put a serious effort into trying.


Take Serpents in a Stagland. I don't think a lot of elements in that game really worked, or worked for me. But I took what fun I could from it and respect the shit out of the developers for making a game with a lot of depth and meat and trying new things (or incorporating things back into games we haven't seen in forever). It is 100% a game worth buying, playing, and supporting if you are a crpg fan or want more attempts at BG like games being made. Crpg fans are richer for it having been made. And I honestly do not think PoE can be viewed much differently.

1. I said I don't play console sh*t, clearly not buying those craps. 2. I bought PoE, as you call it *supporting* PC RPGs. 3. I am playing it and I don't like what I see so I'm providing negative feedbacks or complaining whichever way you want to put it. 4. I don't respect the sh*t developers, they are getting paid for what they do 5. Now, stop repeating the same sh*t.

 

[Roqua]

You certainly do have a right to bash games you don't like. No one is questioning your right to do exactly what you want when you want and how you want for whatever reason you wwant. I am questioning what you want the most though.

If you are a crpg fan more than anything else, and your goal is to have more cpgs made. Or even if you are a huge BG fan and you want more games like BG2 made. Can you deny that the best way to achieve this goal is to buy and support and not rabidly bash games that attempt to be like BG? Better someone try and fail to never have tried at all, right? Would you rather have no PoE than PoE? Even if it is only worth one or a couple of play throughs having PoE is better than not having it, right?

I really didn't care for the BG games but I still want more developers to attempt to make more games like BG than more console shit because crpgs are almost always worth buying, playing, and supporting.

It comes down to this - do you want more crpgs or do you want more console shit? If you want more crpgs the way to get them is clear.

This isn't saying you can never bash a game, or try and make a game better by mentioning its faults, but if your main goal is more crpgs or more games like BG2, or more blobbers, or more games with a little depth and meat on them instead of rpg-lite shit that spends 95% of the budget on graphics, then we have to advance and support the games that put a serious effort into trying.


Take Serpents in a Stagland. I don't think a lot of elements in that game really worked, or worked for me. But I took what fun I could from it and respect the shit out of the developers for making a game with a lot of depth and meat and trying new things (or incorporating things back into games we haven't seen in forever). It is 100% a game worth buying, playing, and supporting if you are a crpg fan or want more attempts at BG like games being made. Crpg fans are richer for it having been made. And I honestly do not think PoE can be viewed much differently.

1. I said I don't play console sh*t, clearly not buying those craps. 2. I bought PoE, as you call it *supporting* PC RPGs. 3. I am playing it and I don't like what I see so I'm providing negative feedbacks or complaining whichever way you want to put it. 4. I don't respect the sh*t developers, they are getting paid for what they do 5. Now, stop repeating the same sh*t.

Did this game touch you in an inappropriate place and say if you tell anyone they will think its your fault and then force you to put your mouth on its peepee?

I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.

 

[purpleblob]

You certainly do have a right to bash games you don't like. No one is questioning your right to do exactly what you want when you want and how you want for whatever reason you wwant. I am questioning what you want the most though.

If you are a crpg fan more than anything else, and your goal is to have more cpgs made. Or even if you are a huge BG fan and you want more games like BG2 made. Can you deny that the best way to achieve this goal is to buy and support and not rabidly bash games that attempt to be like BG? Better someone try and fail to never have tried at all, right? Would you rather have no PoE than PoE? Even if it is only worth one or a couple of play throughs having PoE is better than not having it, right?

I really didn't care for the BG games but I still want more developers to attempt to make more games like BG than more console shit because crpgs are almost always worth buying, playing, and supporting.

It comes down to this - do you want more crpgs or do you want more console shit? If you want more crpgs the way to get them is clear.

This isn't saying you can never bash a game, or try and make a game better by mentioning its faults, but if your main goal is more crpgs or more games like BG2, or more blobbers, or more games with a little depth and meat on them instead of rpg-lite shit that spends 95% of the budget on graphics, then we have to advance and support the games that put a serious effort into trying.


Take Serpents in a Stagland. I don't think a lot of elements in that game really worked, or worked for me. But I took what fun I could from it and respect the shit out of the developers for making a game with a lot of depth and meat and trying new things (or incorporating things back into games we haven't seen in forever). It is 100% a game worth buying, playing, and supporting if you are a crpg fan or want more attempts at BG like games being made. Crpg fans are richer for it having been made. And I honestly do not think PoE can be viewed much differently.

1. I said I don't play console sh*t, clearly not buying those craps. 2. I bought PoE, as you call it *supporting* PC RPGs. 3. I am playing it and I don't like what I see so I'm providing negative feedbacks or complaining whichever way you want to put it. 4. I don't respect the sh*t developers, they are getting paid for what they do 5. Now, stop repeating the same sh*t.

Did this game touch you in an inappropriate place and say if you tell anyone they will think its your fault and then force you to put your mouth on its peepee?

I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.

It sure did, it made me talk to people like you. I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.

 

[trym88]

It's actually so bad that i couldn't force myself to finish it. Story shit, Characters shit, Combat shit, just a puny abomination of what baldurs gate once was.

And really fuck those backers and their fucking backer npc's, fuck them all.

 

[Trashos]

5. Weight allowance based on Might or Constitution, and an option to make the Stash inaccessible for BOTH taking out AND storing of items, when the party is in the wilderness or in a dungeon. This way when you're out of the city, it matters what you decided to bring and what you decided to leave behind. Weight allowance is a classic PnP mechanic, and I've seen hints in the early versions of the game that they were going to implement it, but I guess they had no time, and later on the majority of the feedback was that people were happy with a limitless inventory, so Josh probably decided it was too late to add a feature that would piss off a big number of players.

I kind of think that weight allowance won't tie in well with the current attribute system. Might is already useful for everyone. Constitution would be a bit weird, but i could see that creating a real trade-off.

6. Searching for traps should be an independent mode from sneaking, though it may remain tied to the mechanics skill. Switching from searching for traps should disable sneaking and vice versa. This will produce much opportunities for interesting dungeon and encounter design.

I don't like this. Sneaking is the way to proceed in dungeons right now, and it works beautifully. If your idea is implemented, it will only lead to save scumming and metagaming like it did in BG. What is the process you imagine when moving forward in a dungeon? Will you proceed looking for traps or looking for enemies?

7. A city that's at least relatively equal to Athkatla in the amount of content.

We can only hope.

10. A random chance that an enemy group will respawn somewhere in a wilderness map. In the BGs they were guaranteed to respawn in some areas, and in the same places, which soon got boring. On the other hand, always knowing the map will be empty when you return through it is boring too. Note that I'm not talking about respawning all trash mobs, just one group at a random location, and not every time the map is revisited, to keep some uncertainty for the player. This will also make it a bit easier to gather crafting ingredients which come as loot from specific enemies. For example, currently once I kill all the wind blights in Pearlwood Bluff, it's very hard to find more of the wind essence needed to add shock damage enchantments.

I 'd hate to see respawning in PoE2. Also note that BG2 moved away from respawning, not towards!

In addition, respawning creates trash mobs and trash mobs are a death sentence for gameplay when there is no XP/kill.

On the other hand, if there is reason for grinding loot (eg arrows), maybe they can limit respawning in a small dungeon like BG2 did (and, to some extent, PST). But I 'd really rather have the desired equipment cheap at the marketplace.

11. A slower default game speed during combat, when the player is not in "Slow mode" (this is actually something Sawyer has mentioned he wants to do, but it coincides with my opinion).

The game already provides an option to go slow-mode automatically at the start of combat. What is different in what you are proposing?

I liked the ones I didn't comment on. Especailly the one with the crafting tied to an ability.

 

[AwesomeButton]

If your idea is implemented, it will only lead to save scumming and metagaming like it did in BG.

Not necessarily, 100% guaranteed that it will lead to savescumming. I'm often too lazy in order to save scum, and too curious to postpone seeing what's around the corner. I usually don't reload when I hit a trap, especially in PoE where traps reduce only my "long-term health". Metagaming is inevitable in any game we play more than once. And it's up to the player whether he'll do it.

The game already provides an option to go slow-mode automatically at the start of combat. What is different in what you are proposing?

"Normal", non-"Slow" to be a bit slower than the current "Slow". That's what I want, and I currently use the IE mod for that (when it gets updated that is). Of course, having it configurable is best, because it will suit everyone.

Like I explicitly clarified, I don't want respawning mobs in my face every time I cross the map. I just want some uncertainty. The way this is handled right now is boring - you just turn on double speed and wait for your guys to speed through the map. Might as well have enabled the ctrl+j teleport cheat, that would have been even faster.

I imagine this unpredictable respawning will discourage rest-spamming somewhat.

Actually, when I think of it, forget respawning. Instead of respawning, it's random encounters in the IE games' sense that would do the job. Especially if coupled with an algorithm that tracks if the player is moving very frequently between a given set of areas and detects the rest-spamming/returning for supplies.

My reasoning is that in a PnP game the DM wouldn't allow you to rest after every battle, but this being possible in a computer game is a deficiency due to the lack of a human DM.

 

[Roqua]

Well, it seems the Division open beta is over so the usual brainiacs will be back with their scathing wit and brilliant observations on crpgs until the next hipster console game comes out and fills the empty void in their life with the meaningless trash they enjoy but claim to hate.

 

[HatTrick]

I'd like companions to be more like Zahua. He had a cool quest where you do some fun stuff that ties into his backstory and when you finish, you get a good talent for him, whereas the rest of the companions just sort of use you as their therapist and yammer on about their problems, and the only thing you get out of it is XP. It's all very passive and doesn't really give you a good feel for what they are. Fuck, even MCA's companions were like this, although at least they were pretty interesting to talk to.

To use Fallout New Vegas as another example, I want more companion quests like those of Boone and Cass, and less like Raul's and Lily's.

 

[Anthedon]

I'd like to see some proper mage fights if they do a sequel. Enemy casters can still dish out a lot of damage if you let them, but their defensive capabilities are non-existent. And they rarely use any AoE crowd controls spells. Even the big bad mage in TWM is a joke as soon as someone gets in melee range. Muh Absolute Immnunity, Chain Contingency, Time Stop, etc.

 

[CptMace]

and Rain of Fiery Goldy Death, don't forget that one.

 

[Lord Azlan]

Oh, it's so nice to come across a thread I can just about understand. Usually I read these like a hungry wolf but get lost in the technical details. I just stand at the back of these threads and nod "yeah - what he said" with fake confidence.

Bravo to the OP.

So, Baldur's Gate was crap - is crap. It procreated and produced numerous off spring that were also crap. It directly led to the almost extinction of RPG for all eternity until brave developers fought back. It led to Bioware, Electronic Arts, Hell on Earth and the Evil Incarnate that consumed all before it, especially thinking about a number of great companies.

Maybe I had to be approaching mid-life crisis levels - but for some reason I really loved PoE. I won't pretend to be an expert on RPG, but I have played a lot of them - usually very badly.

My simple comments on how to improve the game which apply to simpletons like me only:

Touching Souls - I was quite excited about this and went around touching everyone up for a while. It soon dawned this was only going to be a descriptive/ passive pastime though. As far as I could tell it hardly influenced any quests or missions. I would have loved if you had a reason to touch up everyone in the game and with some detective work and there would be some benefits such as information (Bestiary) or solving quests. I am not talking about Derrin in Ondra's Gift or Vengeance from the Grave as many quests were cleared signposted. The devs obviously put a lot of work in this area and I would have liked a in game reason to read everyone.

Skills - I like how the devs set up a "the gamer can never fail" philosophy through the game. Everything worked. Infinite choices that all become meaningless like the number of TV channels available these days. You could concentrate and play the game rather than think of optimum builds or pump Intelligence as much as you can that appear in other (hallowed be thy name) games.

However, what the heck was going on with the skills. Would it matter at all if all my party had zero skills for the entire game? Maybe they become important as you play on the higher difficulties. They became skill dumps.

Loot - What the heck. My party could carry infinite loot that all could be sold for 1 GP each and then go shopping and find nothing to buy. There was a mini in game where I had to calculus how items made a difference to this character or that. And whether increasing X defence to Y had any influence at all. ANY INFLUENCE AT ALL.

Endless Paths of Od Nua - to be honest if there wasn't a Steam achievement I don't think I would have spent a penny on this dump. I really enjoyed the levels and the story behind it all. The dungeon was cool and gave me some "wow" moments. The amount of cash I used for the enhancements just makes me think the loot/ item balance in the game is wrong. I don't want any uber gear but give me something to aim for please.

My question would be did anyone think the advantages you received for spending 6 trillion dollars on that dump was helpful in your adventuring?

Agreed on

Larger maps, ability to note maps, random encounters,

Bravo too to Obsidian, they made a believer out of me.

 

[CptMace]

I was quite excited about this and went around touching everyone up for a while

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I would have loved if you had a reason to touch up everyone in the game

 

[Trashos]

Endless Paths of Od Nua - to be honest if there wasn't a Steam achievement I don't think I would have spent a penny on this dump. I really enjoyed the levels and the story behind it all. The dungeon was cool and gave me some "wow" moments. The amount of cash I used for the enhancements just makes me think the loot/ item balance in the game is wrong. I don't want any uber gear but give me something to aim for please.

My question would be did anyone think the advantages you received for spending 6 trillion dollars on that dump was helpful in your adventuring?

I haven't done a serious calculation on whether it is worth it. It does have some nice benefits, but I would have hoped for more.

Azzuro, the visiting merchant, sells some unique items at good prices. He is probably the best thing that the stronghold has to offer, and I THINK you need high prestige and security for him to visit.
The resting benefits are good.
The resident merchants are crap (what's up with that!).
The prison dungeon is very useful in one side quest. More could have been done with it though.
The barracks are useful to increase prestige/security quickly.

All in all, the stronghold upgrades feel optional, and I think they have been designed to be optional.