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Topic Summary

Posted by: Ghreyfain
« on: May 12, 2005, 01:44:44 PM »

I hope you will not make a final judgement on these issues until you have seen how things actually work.

Yeah, if it works in-game, then that's cool, I guess.
Posted by: Echon
« on: May 12, 2005, 01:27:10 PM »

Are there any plans to make certain components optional?  The poison one in particular, I think, could/does seriously unbalance the game.  Hobgoblin elite were bad enough with their arrows that did 1 damage/second to begin with, but you might as well have arrows+15 on them now.  I know you're probably adamant about changing this, because I've seen other discussions between you and someone who disagrees with something like this, but the ability to opt out would be nice. :)

I do not intend to make any of it optional. As far as the P&P changes go making any of these optional would be inconsistent and is thus out of the question. Making all the new content in the form of items, spells and creatures optional would not be illogical but it seems like it would be an enormous amount of work having two versions of most NPCs (and area and stores and containers, etc); one that uses only original content and one the makes use of some of the new things. I would also have to have two versions of a lot of scripts to deal with the different versions of these NPCs. And I doubt anyone would not want improved AI. The new areas are entirely optional ingame so being able not to install them does not make much sense to me.

As for the specific points you make, I see you assume hobgoblin elites still carry infinite arrows of biting and I guess this is natual since I have not told you otherwise. Well, the part of making magical items more rare includes removing magical items from all generic creatures such as hobgoblin elites, kobold commandos, sirines and black talon elites. Also note that arrows/darts/bolts of biting do not instantly kill those who fail their saving throws. The poison is not *that* strong. I do not believe the poison that *does* instantly kill you is unbalanced. Compare it to the petrifying gaze of the basilisks. The petrification works as a ranged weapon, you get hit automatically three times per round and there is only one spell and one item which can make you immune to it. The few creatures in the game with instant kill poison still need to enter melee, hit you and pray you are not gained immunity from the two spells and three items which does so.

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Then there's the store buy/sell ratios.  I don't know how a store that works on a 110% sell rate vs. 90% buy rate could stay in business.  As an example, there's an awesome record store in Calgary called Recordland.  They buy CDs for like a buck, and sell 'em back at $10-12.  This could be reflected by a 75% sell rate, and 10% buy rate.  Stores that sell stuff brand new, like a smithy, wouldn't buy stuff from you to begin with.

Most stores have ratios of 120/80 which only a few stores above that and even fewer below that. Remember that a lot of items, including *all* magical items, have an increased cost. In my test game I found there to be nice balance. You do not end up with insane amounts of gold at the end of the game and there are still things worth buying. Maybe this looks very bad to you theoretically but I also think you need to try it out ingame. :)

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So far that's it for things I think could change for the better or at least be offered as a compromise.

As above, I hope you will not make a final judgement on these issues until you have seen how things actually work.

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Then there's bugs.  Are there any that have a work-around I should use?  Are there bits of the game I should avoid?

As far as I know the only thing you should steer clear of right now is the Werewolf Island but it will probably take you sometime to get that far and I have fixed nearly all the new bugs and will update the mod very soon.

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Oh, and one last question, are the items that've been repositioned fixed, or are they random with each new game I start?

Their positions are fixed.

-Echon
Posted by: Ghreyfain
« on: May 12, 2005, 12:49:01 PM »

Okay, so I figure I'm going to try out FotD.  Not sure how long the urge to play BG1 will last, but we'll see.

First, though, I'd like to offer some feedback and ask a few questions.

Are there any plans to make certain components optional?  The poison one in particular, I think, could/does seriously unbalance the game.  Hobgoblin elite were bad enough with their arrows that did 1 damage/second to begin with, but you might as well have arrows+15 on them now.  I know you're probably adamant about changing this, because I've seen other discussions between you and someone who disagrees with something like this, but the ability to opt out would be nice. :)

Then there's the store buy/sell ratios.  I don't know how a store that works on a 110% sell rate vs. 90% buy rate could stay in business.  As an example, there's an awesome record store in Calgary called Recordland.  They buy CDs for like a buck, and sell 'em back at $10-12.  This could be reflected by a 75% sell rate, and 10% buy rate.  Stores that sell stuff brand new, like a smithy, wouldn't buy stuff from you to begin with.

So far that's it for things I think could change for the better or at least be offered as a compromise.

Then there's bugs.  Are there any that have a work-around I should use?  Are there bits of the game I should avoid?

Oh, and one last question, are the items that've been repositioned fixed, or are they random with each new game I start?