Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Preview Divinity 2's Psychic Hearts

Jason

chasing a bee
Joined
Jun 30, 2005
Messages
10,737
Location
baby arm fantasy island
Tags: Divinity 2; Larian Studios

<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/divinity2egodraconis/news.html?sid=6198505&mode=previews" target="blank">Gamespot</a> is on a roll with another big RPG <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/divinity2egodraconis/news.html?sid=6198505&mode=previews" target="blank">preview</a>, this time for Larian Studios' <b><a href="http://larian.com/egodraconis.php" target="blank">Divinity 2: Ego Draconis</a></b>. The article gives a look at the multiple ways quests can be solved, such as through blackmail or mind reading.
<br>
<blockquote>Mind reading is one of the most important skills in Divinity 2, and it comes at a cost. During each conversation, you can hit the mind-read button at any time and gather an extra clue, or perhaps learn that the person you're chatting with has sinister motivations. For example, the champion Richard offers you cash to enter the forest and kill goblins. When you read his mind, you learn that he will sell the goblin hearts for three times what he offers to pay you. If you decline his offer, he'll run to the forest to kill the goblins himself. You can accept his offer along with his paltry reward. Or you can take the hearts to Richard's buyer and cut out the middle man, raking in the gold. Mind reading will cost you experience points to use, and conversations that are more crucial to the main quest will cost even more. But with so many solutions, conversation paths, and mind-reading options, it's almost impossible to play the same game of Divinity 2 twice.</blockquote>
<br>
Have to admit, I had little to no interest in Divinity 2 due to not having played Divine Divinity and that whole turning into a dragon thing. But the mind reading ability, and the fact you have to spend experience to use it so it's not a "push button to win" device, adds an intriguing twist. I loved the scrying ability in <a href="http://www.clivebarker.com/html/visions/bib/relat/misc/undying/" target="blank">Undying</a> but was a bit disappointed it had little gameplay impact.
<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com/">RPGWatch</A>
 

SuicideBunny

(ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
8,943
Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Torment: Tides of Numenera
the big question is, can reading really deranged minds cause insanity/game over, or is it really just a "more info" button?
 

Jason

chasing a bee
Joined
Jun 30, 2005
Messages
10,737
Location
baby arm fantasy island
can reading really deranged minds cause insanity/game over
Doubt we'll get that lucky (hope I'm wrong), but having the choice to sacrifice experience to solve a quest multiple ways through mind reading is still pretty cool to me.
 

Sovy Kurosei

Erudite
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Messages
1,535
This doesn't sound like a good idea. It'll encourage players to save, talk to NPC, mind read thoughts then reload if the results were not worth the loss in experience. There is also the problem where experience points have more value to the player than gold by mid/late-game where the marginal value of gold hits positive epsilon in typical RPGs.
 

Naked Ninja

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
1,664
Location
South Africa
Mmm, that argument applies to any dialogue with branching choices in it, regardless of exp spent.


Some players will do it, some won't. *shrug*
 

denizsi

Arcane
Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
9,927
Location
bosphorus
I hope there will be more to mind reading than using experience as currency, like rolls to determine success/failure, some npcs noticing your failed mind reading attempts and reacting to it, or misleading you with fake thoughts, things like that that involve further possibilities also in bad ways for the character (but not the player).
.
I have tried to explore similar mechanics for dialogue, which should be in my dialogue thread, reachable through the monkey project thread. Give it a read, it was interesting :p
.
Anyway, who else is betting that once the game's out, everyone will badmouth it because stupid brats won't be able to decide how to approach any given situation with multiple paths, and will complain that it's not as 'realistically simple' as Bethesda games and just 'unreasonably complex'? That giving too much choices that matter (relatively; examples in article weren't that good, but still, they mentioned a rather high number of paths which is hopefully true and in less materialist ways) is no longer an rpg and is a quest simulator? (Bookmark this post: somewhere somebody will say just this seriously. It's inevitable)
 

Sovy Kurosei

Erudite
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Messages
1,535
Naked Ninja said:
Mmm, that argument applies to any dialogue with branching choices in it, regardless of exp spent.

Players typically know what they are getting when given a choice in an RPG. This doesn't look like the case here. Developers should not incentivise tediousness in their games.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,426
Sovy Kurosei said:
This doesn't sound like a good idea. It'll encourage players to save, talk to NPC, mind read thoughts then reload if the results were not worth the loss in experience. There is also the problem where experience points have more value to the player than gold by mid/late-game where the marginal value of gold hits positive epsilon in typical RPGs.

The rewards for mind reading doesnt necessarily have to be gold.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom