You don't see the difference between dividing things into two skill groups and having classes?
There is no difference. The useful skill subgroup becomes a group of classes.
Let's pretend for a minute that all of Fallout's skills were great. Wonderful. But we wanted to add more flavor to the characters and the world. We want to be able to make the character humorous, or good at juggling, or a great dance, or a rock climber, etc. But we don't have the time to really give them much impact in the game, they'll only be used once or twice, just to add a couple of interesting things. We could leave them out entirely (since we can't fully develop them), include them with other skills (the more the merrier! skills don't even have to have any in game use), or add them as separate, flavor skills. The last option will mean that they'll get more use, and be used as they were intended.
Wait what? Where do you get that preposterous idea? Did Steve tell you that? If "Cocksucking" is part of the same skillgroup as "Big Guns" it'll apparently see less use and in a way that goes against the developers intentions (I guess people will max it and try to win the game with it lol) meaning that the only appropriate option is to create a "Big Guns" class (which you'll inevitably max) with the Heavy Weapons Guy having a number of hobbies, one of which happens to be sucking cock? Get out of here.
The two simplest solutions, if you're only going to suck cock once per game, is to either have it as a perk (either you know how to suck cock, or you don't -- 0/1) which you pick up at char creation or learn during the game, or to present it as any other skill but with a much simpler learning curve (as you probably know, cocksucking just doesn't have as many nuances as, say, being able to efficiently use all the big guns in the world) so that you can max it with 4-5 skillpoints and be done with it.
No. In EVN, there are six main story lines, and you can only go through one on each play. Geneforge has something like...five different endings? With three different servile factions you can decide to join (or not), two different outsider factions, and two different main villains. They have different paths, not paths you can choose to not take. There's a difference. A rather huge difference, that I hope you are able to comprehend.
The difference being paths are mutually exclusive, gotcha. But if they aren't, you'll do them all, gotcha. That's why I've always advocated a stricter time-limit, but then people shit themselves in anger at not having the time to do all the side-quests in one run.
Hit the level cap? No, this happens during a normal play through. Again, read the walkthrough made by the games designer. I did more or less the same thing, so I'm pretty confident I wasn't just doing it wrong (by, you know, talking to people and doing quests).
Read a walkthrough?
Hey man, how about you do a low-int MacGuyver build and go south right out of the Vault? It's a lot of fun.
amnotbright said:
Hell, I usually had dozens of unspent skill points saved up because there was no point spending them anywhere.
Umm... yeah?
amnotbright said:
Game not balanced? It's not the games fault. You just need to skip large portions of it. It's your fault for wanting to play the damn thing, you greedy player. Oh, wait, that's the way the game's designer - and most people - play the game? It's still your fault!
And those useless skills? They're useless, because Tim Cain and 90% of the sheeple lol never use them. It's the INTENDED way of playing so I'm not wrong in this assessment, so don't call me sheeple just read a walkthrough.
amnotbright said:
Fine, it's a problem with the game involving the skills that leads to less incentive to invest in a particular skill, leading to even less skills that people find important. But not a problem with the skill system. Happy?
You make me very happy.
I don't like split pools, but I'll note the newest edition of TDE/Das Schwarze Auge runs things this way, with weighted skills, and I do have a soft spot for that concept. Combat skills being harder to upgrade than hobby skills, it costing two more points to upgrade swords than to upgrade, say, flute playing. It doesn't make logical sense, if you want logical skill weights then it's simply about more complex vs easier-to-learn, but as a game balance concept it's not too bad, as long as you don't overdo it. I once posted an RPG system draft-up when I was considering doing a project of my own that I posted either here or on ITS that contained skill-weights. It has disadvantages, but it's definitely better than skill pools, which I really don't like.
As I said, I think it makes sense that logically easier skills should take less effort to max or become proficient in. I mean, you could reasonably learn to play the harmonica like a pro in one level, while mastering assault rifles or raising lockpicking to the point where you can open high-security safes would take you forever.
I also kind of like the idea of weapon familiarity rather than straight up increase to aiming % and damage with the increase of weapon skills, though I guess that's going a bit off topic. That way, you may have invested mainly in banjo, toaster repair, cocksucking and recreational plumbing, but you would still be gaining proficiency with a weapon as you continue to use it, albeit much slower and never to the point of wielding it expertly as someone trained in firearms might. That way you can't really make a character who is completely useless in a combat situation, but they'll never be as useful as actual combat oriented characters because they are unable to upgrade their arsenal without a long period of adapting to the new weapon. Then, of course, if your gun breaks or the specific ammo needed becomes scarce, it creates a new set of challenges for the character to overcome.
St.Toxic is wreaking havoc in these threads 
