oldmanpaco
Master of Siestas
Polls have been moved to the 2nd post.
Update - 8/7/10
Finally finished MotB for the first time (F13/WM7/DC10). Pretty good stuff. By far the best scene was the dialog with the dead god. Best interaction I have seen in an RPG in years. Really felt the moment there. Not going to address the spirit meter as it is story specific and will not make it into the mod.
Lessons learned:
Economy: I had well over 500,000 gp at the end. What is the point of gold if it's this abundant and there are no money sinks?
Magic Items- Once again had a bag full of unused magic items.
Crafting - Way, way overpowered. I only added a vampiric reg (+4) and fire damage (4d6) to my off-hand sword. The game was still easy. If I had crafted armor/weapons for the rest of my party it would have been a cake walk.
Story - This is where MotB shines. It is basically a doomed love story that the PC gets in the middle of. Also the PC has a vested interest (can't just move to a different town) in the outcome of the love story. Saving the world is great and all but there needs to be an emotional connection between the player the PC and the story otherwise it falls flat.
Narration - This was a great idea. In the tool-set you can convey visual moments but cannot tell the player how they feel. The narrator really tied it all together. This will definitely be in my mod.
Visual effects - They did a lot with the light ambiance in this game. Making some areas bleak and others soothing based solely on the light levels. Well done.
Next up Soz.
_________________
Update - 7/26/10
Well I didn't get the mandatory summer vacation I thought I would. As a matter of fact I was promoted (100 minions now do my bidding). So that means I had less time then I thought. Enough with the excuses though.
The OC - I played though the OC to completion for the first time (F13/WM7). The first half sucked, it got better, then finished sort of meh. The keep was interesting for awhile. The keep was also a good idea for a money sink but it didn’t go far enough. The story was crap, then so-so, then meh. The only battle I needed to replay was the first Dragon battle and I’m a little embarrassed that I died twice.
The value of magic items is really diminished in this game. Every crap person has some epic artifact when you kill them. It devalues them all. Then you can sell them for 20,000 gp each and buy anything you want. I crafted nothing and ended up with all the equipment I wanted to buy, all the keep upgrades, and about 200,000 in gp. That was with a bag full of unused items.
Also there was nothing memorable about them. Remember Celestial Fury, Crom Faer(?), Flail of Ages, Mace of Disruption, and the Ring of Wizardry? These items were noteworthy because they were far rarer than in the OC.
Lessons Learned:
Limit magic items: Named items should be rare to increase their perceived value. There should also not be multiple named items that do the same thing.
Limit gold: You need to have an almost fixed economy. Lower the base value of items and put a lower cap on what stores are able to spend on purchases. People are not going to be selling that +4 Long sword of Awesomeness if they are only getting 250 gp for it.
Limit purchasable magic items: Most stores should not have any named magic items. These are rare and should only be sold by selected traders.
More non-linearity: Chapter 2 in BG2 was by far the most nonlinear time I have ever spent in an RPG. In the OC almost everything is mandatory. Sure you can do (a few) things in a different order but you still need to do them all. Think about all the stronghold quests, the shadow temple, the unseeing eye, Trademeet, the Umar hills, that Red Dragon. All that was optional and you could do it in any order.
If you want a city make a damn city: Remember Baldur's Gate and Athkala? Those were some big cities. Each was comprised of 7+ areas. Neverwinter feels like a small town by comparison. Even that crappy city in DA had the same feeling. The areas felt smaller and there were less of them making the city feel small. It's only a big city because they tell you it is. Also why is there only one inn in NW? BG2 had one inn or tavern in every area. It's not a big thing but it creates the illusion of size and commerce.
Merchants need their own shops: I would say 90% of merchants in the OC are street hustlers. What the hell is that about? And, like I said before, they are filled to the brim with named magical items so it makes no sense. Merchants should have their own shops.
Crafting: What a waste of time.
I'll post my thought on MotB design issues when I finish that game.
Update - 5/23/10
After about two weeks of screwing around with the DA tool-set I have decided it's too broken to use. The final straw was the fact that water-planes will not appear in game unless you use some shitty workaround. Seriously, six months after release they have one update and still have not fixed some very basic issues. Also you cannot make your own world-map ensuring that you need create an add-on module or just go without.
Screw BioWare.
Now we are making a NWN2 module!!! I know most of you are poor like Liberal but I hope that you all have a computer that can run a 5 year old program. And we are still going with the V/O from the Codexians.
Another perk of the NWN2 tool-set is that since it is 5 years old most problems have workarounds and there is a shitload of pre-made areas, placebales, and scripts.
End Update.
Alright you bastards (I like starting any new topic with those words) I am more than likely going to have to take a significant amount of mandated time off starting in June and maybe sooner because of a nursing strike at the health system I work for. At best I will be able to work 20 hours a week. Since I will be using my PTO to make up the balance in salary and I have no idea how long the strike will go on for I cannot do anything that will cost extra money during this time. So I'm going to make a DA mod.
It is generally agreed that the DA tool-set sucks monkey balls. But what the hell, I'm going to give it a go. For the last week or so I have been going through tutorials trying to figure things out in anticipation of the strike (which was just approved by the union tonight).
Now DA was epic - but was it epic enough?
DA was dark - but was it dark enough?
DA had elf butt sex - but was there enough butt sex? And where the hell was the surprise butt sex?
I already have a framework for a story and a general layout of the beginning 1/3 of the module. And while the story is not necessarily lulzy there may be lulzy side quests and characters.
Also all of the characters are going to be from the Codex. Yes you will have the chance to interact with all your favorite on-line personalities like:
DarkUnderlord
Vault Dweller
kingcomrade
Volourn
Wrymlord (I promise you can kill him)
Skyway/Metalcraze
Cleave
Andhaira (I promise you can kill him)
This is just a sample of the many, many Codexers who will be making appearances. And since importing voice overs is relatively easy everyone can speak their own lines!! Keep in mind no one has agreed to do VO work but why the hell would you not. I will list the people who have been drafted (or volunteered) in one of the following posts. Keep in mind that not everyone can be a good guy and someone needs to be the butt sex elf (just kidding - that's Jaesun). So if anyone not listed wants in just let me know. If anyone wants out - to bad.
Anyway my Bioware project page is www.screwyou.com. Have you seen the Bio site? It also sucks monkey balls.[/url][/url]
Update - 8/7/10
Finally finished MotB for the first time (F13/WM7/DC10). Pretty good stuff. By far the best scene was the dialog with the dead god. Best interaction I have seen in an RPG in years. Really felt the moment there. Not going to address the spirit meter as it is story specific and will not make it into the mod.
Lessons learned:
Economy: I had well over 500,000 gp at the end. What is the point of gold if it's this abundant and there are no money sinks?
Magic Items- Once again had a bag full of unused magic items.
Crafting - Way, way overpowered. I only added a vampiric reg (+4) and fire damage (4d6) to my off-hand sword. The game was still easy. If I had crafted armor/weapons for the rest of my party it would have been a cake walk.
Story - This is where MotB shines. It is basically a doomed love story that the PC gets in the middle of. Also the PC has a vested interest (can't just move to a different town) in the outcome of the love story. Saving the world is great and all but there needs to be an emotional connection between the player the PC and the story otherwise it falls flat.
Narration - This was a great idea. In the tool-set you can convey visual moments but cannot tell the player how they feel. The narrator really tied it all together. This will definitely be in my mod.
Visual effects - They did a lot with the light ambiance in this game. Making some areas bleak and others soothing based solely on the light levels. Well done.
Next up Soz.
_________________
Update - 7/26/10
Well I didn't get the mandatory summer vacation I thought I would. As a matter of fact I was promoted (100 minions now do my bidding). So that means I had less time then I thought. Enough with the excuses though.
The OC - I played though the OC to completion for the first time (F13/WM7). The first half sucked, it got better, then finished sort of meh. The keep was interesting for awhile. The keep was also a good idea for a money sink but it didn’t go far enough. The story was crap, then so-so, then meh. The only battle I needed to replay was the first Dragon battle and I’m a little embarrassed that I died twice.
The value of magic items is really diminished in this game. Every crap person has some epic artifact when you kill them. It devalues them all. Then you can sell them for 20,000 gp each and buy anything you want. I crafted nothing and ended up with all the equipment I wanted to buy, all the keep upgrades, and about 200,000 in gp. That was with a bag full of unused items.
Also there was nothing memorable about them. Remember Celestial Fury, Crom Faer(?), Flail of Ages, Mace of Disruption, and the Ring of Wizardry? These items were noteworthy because they were far rarer than in the OC.
Lessons Learned:
Limit magic items: Named items should be rare to increase their perceived value. There should also not be multiple named items that do the same thing.
Limit gold: You need to have an almost fixed economy. Lower the base value of items and put a lower cap on what stores are able to spend on purchases. People are not going to be selling that +4 Long sword of Awesomeness if they are only getting 250 gp for it.
Limit purchasable magic items: Most stores should not have any named magic items. These are rare and should only be sold by selected traders.
More non-linearity: Chapter 2 in BG2 was by far the most nonlinear time I have ever spent in an RPG. In the OC almost everything is mandatory. Sure you can do (a few) things in a different order but you still need to do them all. Think about all the stronghold quests, the shadow temple, the unseeing eye, Trademeet, the Umar hills, that Red Dragon. All that was optional and you could do it in any order.
If you want a city make a damn city: Remember Baldur's Gate and Athkala? Those were some big cities. Each was comprised of 7+ areas. Neverwinter feels like a small town by comparison. Even that crappy city in DA had the same feeling. The areas felt smaller and there were less of them making the city feel small. It's only a big city because they tell you it is. Also why is there only one inn in NW? BG2 had one inn or tavern in every area. It's not a big thing but it creates the illusion of size and commerce.
Merchants need their own shops: I would say 90% of merchants in the OC are street hustlers. What the hell is that about? And, like I said before, they are filled to the brim with named magical items so it makes no sense. Merchants should have their own shops.
Crafting: What a waste of time.
I'll post my thought on MotB design issues when I finish that game.
Update - 5/23/10
After about two weeks of screwing around with the DA tool-set I have decided it's too broken to use. The final straw was the fact that water-planes will not appear in game unless you use some shitty workaround. Seriously, six months after release they have one update and still have not fixed some very basic issues. Also you cannot make your own world-map ensuring that you need create an add-on module or just go without.
Screw BioWare.
Now we are making a NWN2 module!!! I know most of you are poor like Liberal but I hope that you all have a computer that can run a 5 year old program. And we are still going with the V/O from the Codexians.
Another perk of the NWN2 tool-set is that since it is 5 years old most problems have workarounds and there is a shitload of pre-made areas, placebales, and scripts.
End Update.
Alright you bastards (I like starting any new topic with those words) I am more than likely going to have to take a significant amount of mandated time off starting in June and maybe sooner because of a nursing strike at the health system I work for. At best I will be able to work 20 hours a week. Since I will be using my PTO to make up the balance in salary and I have no idea how long the strike will go on for I cannot do anything that will cost extra money during this time. So I'm going to make a DA mod.
It is generally agreed that the DA tool-set sucks monkey balls. But what the hell, I'm going to give it a go. For the last week or so I have been going through tutorials trying to figure things out in anticipation of the strike (which was just approved by the union tonight).
Now DA was epic - but was it epic enough?
DA was dark - but was it dark enough?
DA had elf butt sex - but was there enough butt sex? And where the hell was the surprise butt sex?
I already have a framework for a story and a general layout of the beginning 1/3 of the module. And while the story is not necessarily lulzy there may be lulzy side quests and characters.
Also all of the characters are going to be from the Codex. Yes you will have the chance to interact with all your favorite on-line personalities like:
DarkUnderlord
Vault Dweller
kingcomrade
Volourn
Wrymlord (I promise you can kill him)
Skyway/Metalcraze
Cleave
Andhaira (I promise you can kill him)
This is just a sample of the many, many Codexers who will be making appearances. And since importing voice overs is relatively easy everyone can speak their own lines!! Keep in mind no one has agreed to do VO work but why the hell would you not. I will list the people who have been drafted (or volunteered) in one of the following posts. Keep in mind that not everyone can be a good guy and someone needs to be the butt sex elf (just kidding - that's Jaesun). So if anyone not listed wants in just let me know. If anyone wants out - to bad.
Anyway my Bioware project page is www.screwyou.com. Have you seen the Bio site? It also sucks monkey balls.[/url][/url]
