The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I'm on like an Obsidian/BI binge right now. Replaying Alpha Protocol, planning after that to finally put more than six hours into New Vegas, planning after that to replay Arcanum
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Pillars of Eternity by Obsidian Entertainment (Kickstarter) [Up: Teaser]
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WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
So, we need to sync our watches.
I was gonna make a few remarks about Casey Hudson and such but wanted to keep things positive in the thread
I'm on a tight schedule of Dark Souls, League of Legends and (soon) Dishonored, but after the dust settles, I'm planning to finally beat NWN2 plus the expansions.
I actually recently re-finished it
Maybe we should all replay Arcanum.
Ha. All this talk in this thread about Arcanum actually made me go buy it of GOG just now to play it. I should try to play MotB like I said I would as well. Man feels like I am being pulled in two directions.
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
Arcanum's one of the only two of the big RPGs of that era I haven't played. Guess I'm in too.
It had both real-time and turn based modes (no RTWP). It was a mess.
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
Has anyone ever tried to 'fix' it to just a working turn-based system? I dunno how much mod support those kind of games had except for restoration mods and widescreen patches.
Yeah it is. I sadly don't remember much clearly about that game, but one of the two things I remember clearly is it's combat was pretty awful. The other was just how much ass the Elephant Gun kicked for me at the point I got it.
Yeah, combat really is awful. And the music is mighty depressing. Yet I'm reinstalling it right now, help
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
If they could take the unique world of Arcanum, the writing and characters of MotB, the replay ability of AP, the bug free coding of DS3 and the free form adventuring of FO:NV, the world would have the bestest RPG ever.
What do you think they're doing right now?
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
Lucky bastard. Especially if you've somehow avoided getting spoilered up to this point.
Though I've still got BG2 left...
Planescape is the kind of game it gets better every time you play it, so no dice
I wanted to say that I finally started MotB. This will be my fourth attempt at not hating it.
BUT THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME
Instead of playing at my native resolution of 2560x1600 and quitting in frustration over the microscopic fonts and UI, I set the resolution to 1280x800. The UI is still kind of awful but at least I can see it!
And fuck it, I made a boring pure fighter and set the game to Easy so I don't have to think about the annoying combat system.
Sooo I think I'm going to get beyond the gates of the first town now.
Sentenza
Member
I played BG2 roughly 6-7 times over the years.
BG1, on the other hand, I never found myself willing to make a second playthrough.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Holy cow, you have a Maine Coon? Wonderful cats.
and there is one of the other games I just bought on GOG. I plan to have an old school RPG marathon over then next few weeks or months. I got games I never played before like Planescape, MotB, and Baldur's Gate 2(haven't decided if I want to try any of the other DnD games) lined up, and then I got old games like Arcanum and Darklands that i loved and want to replay.
It's cloudwalking & jarosh's cat, just visited them in Switzerland the other day. The breed is Siberian iirc.
I was actually asking that question in relation to Eternity. People getting tempted to replay Torment, Arcanum, MotB etc but not IWD or BG. I think it says that people don't want Eternity to be as combat focussed as BG or IWD.
That's what I did because I have the hardest time figuring out how that shit works. It aggravates me too because one of the things I love most in RPGs is leveling up and picking stats and skills, but I just don't know what skill to pick with all those numbers and rules in the game. So I pout and do auto level up.
If it wasn't for the great writing these games would be unplayable for me now.
yes, I don't know almost anything about it. I started it last year but I wasn't in the mood for it. Now I'm focusing on one game at a time so it goes very well. Also I modded UI and don't need binoculars to read dialogues anymore. I enjoy Buddhism "references", atmosphere, music and writing of course. So far so good, let's see if it goes that well until the end...
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
Well, I was under the impression that, in BG's case, none of the people who worked on those works for Obsidian? And the IWD games have always been (very slightly) less highly regarded than the other IE games.
Yeah but BG is an IE game and Arcanum is also not very highly regarded.
For myself I don't want the game to be too combat focussed. Will the game allow a non-lethal run? I hope so.
Although that may mean lots of functional redundancy in the party. Hmm
Sentenza
Member
The problem with BG1, beside an implementation of D&D rules that was flawed and way too easy to exploit (i.e. ranged weapons and summon spells extremely overpowered) is that BG2 topped it in pretty much every single way.
It was bigger, better, with more NPC interaction, better encounters, a more advanced version of the ruleset, more classes and kits, and so on.
But both games put a lot of focus on the combat, so I wouldn't say it's that.
Same goes for IWD1, which is probably the "dullest" of all the Infinity Engine games and it was topped by pretty much any other Black Isle/Bioware production, IWD2 included.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
IWD1/2 had the best combat of those games, bar none. Not even close.
It was also the least balanced and least focused. The game was the type of brutal that only old games really could nail. I love the combat in that game so much that I put up with some ridiculous ass fights. BG1 was pretty decent, but BG2 improved on it in every single way.
It was also the least balanced and least focused. The game was the type of brutal that only old games really could nail. I love the combat in that game so much that I put up with some ridiculous ass fights. BG1 was pretty decent, but BG2 improved on it in every single way.
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
Well, there's probably some truth there, but people aren't bringing up Fallout 1 & 2 either, neither of which are more combat-focused than Arcanum, really.
And it sounds like a lot of people have replayed BG1 and 2 to death anyway.
Hm. Well, maybe I'll play BG2 next instead- 1 left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but lack of interactions with your party members was one of the bigger problems I had with it.
They haven't gotten a penny of your money yet AFAIK. The money will not be pulled until the end of the fund drive. Also, according to Tim Cain's eurogamer interview they are already working on the game.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...nformation-tentative-spring-2014-release-date
And it's a big RPG, be prepared for delays.
Sentenza
Member
IWD was quite underwhelming for me.
IWD2, on the other hand... While heavily focused on combat and dungeon crawling, it was on par with the best parts of Baldur's Gate 2 in terms of encounter design.
Arcanum has some serious problems. I really like the way they handled companion even though you couldn't control them, but the game has no interesting companions for you to care about. The combat is completely broken in real time and not too hot in turn-based either, Mages are insanely overpowered and you can easily screw yourself with character builds and the list could go on. But the game just has so much soul that it almost makes up for it. All in all, I'd recommend it, but with a big warning.
And in this day and age, I just don't recommend BG1. not with Tutu, not the Enhanced Edition. It's just not that good compared to what's to follow. BG2 is just so much better in every way thinkable the first one has turned utterly obsolete. And boy, BG2 is so amazing, I think I even like in better than PS:T! (though I don't dare commit that to any official statement or anything.) The companions shit all over the first's (and almost any other RPG ever made), there's literally not one join-able NPC that is not interesting and full of amazing dialogues. I could just go on and on about how amazing this game is, but really, anyone here who hasn't done so - Just play it. The only reason I'm not replaying it is that I actually found I remember some key dialogues by heart and that freaked me out a little.
And I actually prefer BG2's combat to Icewind Dale, it has much more interesting encounters and enemies. Spellcasters in BG2 are just amazing to fight.
And in this day and age, I just don't recommend BG1. not with Tutu, not the Enhanced Edition. It's just not that good compared to what's to follow. BG2 is just so much better in every way thinkable the first one has turned utterly obsolete. And boy, BG2 is so amazing, I think I even like in better than PS:T! (though I don't dare commit that to any official statement or anything.) The companions shit all over the first's (and almost any other RPG ever made), there's literally not one join-able NPC that is not interesting and full of amazing dialogues. I could just go on and on about how amazing this game is, but really, anyone here who hasn't done so - Just play it. The only reason I'm not replaying it is that I actually found I remember some key dialogues by heart and that freaked me out a little.
And I actually prefer BG2's combat to Icewind Dale, it has much more interesting encounters and enemies. Spellcasters in BG2 are just amazing to fight.
I agree with you, in BG1 the part in interactions were very lackluster - But luckily, in BG2, they realized they were the feature with the most potential, and they actually make BG2 for me. You actually feel like you're travelling with these people, the depth they have achieved is quite remarkable! It also features the best romances in cRPGs, ever. BioWare should lear.... Wait....
That's because Fallout is not fantasy.
But why am I arguing?! People are playing those games. And that's great.
EndcatOmega
Unconfirmed Member
True that.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Arcanum is a great rpg.
Arcanum is also a shitty videogame, everything, to the battle system to the freaking menus, is cumbersome and awful. Moving stuff between inventories should not be a quest on its own.
I would replay BG2 And IWD1 i guess, i still need to finish that one, but i don't have much motivation.
Arcanum is also a shitty videogame, everything, to the battle system to the freaking menus, is cumbersome and awful. Moving stuff between inventories should not be a quest on its own.
I would replay BG2
And IWD1 i guess, i still need to finish that one, but i don't have much motivation.
Sentenza
Member
I can easily agree on both.
piratepwnsninja
Member
I don't believe so.
Have they mentioned if there's follower appearance customization btw? I know people tend to be pretty big on that here.
I'm assuming so given everything else, but after reading this I was curious if it had been confirmed.
I should stop reading this stuff, being hyped for 18 months can't be healthy.
So good.
piratepwnsninja
Member
I'm just happy that companions are at the forefront at the beginning here. So many games are happy to just throw someone at you to say, "Look, you have a buddy!" but they don't think about ways the player can actually utilize them well from a game play perspective, nor do they take the time to actually give the player a reason to care about them from a narrative standpoint outside of the main narrative. For the most part, lots of these characters just end up kind of being there.
$800k would fund about ten people - earning roughly what I did - for a year. I was imagining that their team size would be larger, although if they were originally going with 1.1M for 19 months, perhaps not. Unless that's being supplemented with some of their own money.