| |
Site Navigation
Main
News
Forums
Games
Games Database
Top 100
Release List
Support Files
Features
Reviews
Previews
Interviews
Editorials
Diaries
Misc
Download
Gallery
Music
Screenshots
Videos
Miscellaneous
Staff Members
Privacy Statement
|
|
From the IWD2 boards:Dave MaldonadoSmartass remarks
I wish the Intimidate skill had been introduced earlier as it made them real game-play choices instead of simple posturing that occasionally had an in-game effect... but alas. I know I ran through my areas and crammed a few more in based on that alone... but then the producers caught me importing new text strings and broke my left hand. >_<"
So anyhow, yes it's in there, and I think in future titles there'll be just as much or more of it. I believe we've also tried to make it all a bit more "setting-appropriate," if you know what I mean. For example...
Evil cleric PC: "Your naive confidence in your strength - and that of your "goddess" - delights me. Let's see you praise Auril when you're bleeding in the snow, heretic."
...as opposed to...
Evil cleric PC: "I'm gonna kick your frosty arse eleven ways to first-day, Aurilite chump."
NOTE: I realize that neither is a particularly great line; they're just examples! ^_^
varying ways of success in pickpocketing
Not if you don't want scumming.
In a PnP game, yes.
In a CRPG game where I would assume that most (if not nearly all) players will simply reload to avoid the consequences, no; it'd be largely pointless.
Even if someone were to play the dreaded realism card at this point (I feel it's an invalid argument, but it rears its ugly head so often that I'll address it anyhow), one could simply rationalize the new system as the same sort of abstraction that goes into combat, identifying magic items and so on. If the rogue can succeed, then he succeeds. If he can't, then he either realizes his limitations and does not try, or tries, fails, and gets out of the resulting awkward situation it in some way that doesn't make Arundel hostile and RUIN THE ENTIRE GAME or require time or technology that the current industry won't allow. I'd also add that to decry that as omitting gross amounts of detail is probably foolish; the PC's often do things that the player doesn't see or initiate - they're just "done."
I think that some people are unconsciously limiting or narrowing their view when considering the change. Again, it removes a punishment-based system and replaces it with a reward-based system. Whether or not Arundel does anything is not the key issue. The issue is whether or not a game's (sub-)system (like, say, that used for picking a pocket or disarming a trap) is fun for the player. Scumming is not fun for many people. Reloading is not fun for many people. Failure via random chance alone is not fun for many people. But being rewarded for good choices is.
Consequences
In any case, consequences do still exist. They are now failure. You, the player, fail. It wasn't mere fortune - no amount of reloading can salvage the situation - but your (possibly poor) decision to not devote enough Skill Points by that point in the game. You will now not get the goodies that are most assuredly there - goodies that are only available via thievery.
PnP Being superior
Superior... like a Humvee is superior to Ferrari, or a Chevy S-10 is superior to a Miata?
Aside from my usual drivel about how people should always be careful not to mistake personal preference for undisputed fact, I'd like to point out that the two entertain in wholly different manners. Each does things the other cannot (or at least cannot do well); both have particular strengths and weaknesses. One cannot apply all the rules and concepts surrounding one to the other, yet I'm afraid many are doing just that. I'm inclined to believe that from such stems the "this new system is poopy" movement.
In the end, consider how this affects the game as a whole. Even something as simple as the picking of pockets - once a seldom-used ability, perhaps something haphazardly tacked onto rogues simply because it was in the rules - becomes its own little sub-game. Every neutral character (and man did I want stealing from hostiles allowed, but oh well) in the game is now a little treasure box... but how hard are they to open? Will I have devoted enough Skill Points? And when I fail, how soon will I be able to go back and get all those goodies I missed out on? Designers can now assume that the skill will be used more often and will therefore devote more time to making it worthwhile and rewarding (more items, quest solutions involving thievery and so on). The list of effects - nearly all of which I'd consider to be beneficial - goes on and on... but alas, my time does not. Back to work for me. ^_^
Random HP
As far as I know, yes; currently the only "change" is that MAX HP is on by default.
While that's not to say it couldn't change (i.e. I suppose someone could go in there and eliminate the ability to turn it off), I certainly wouldn't want it to.
Picking Pockets
The excitement is in the obtainment of the items.
Again, it's the transfer from a punishment-based to reward-based system. The player is now happy about a good thing, instead of happy about having avoided a bad thing. No, it's not the PnP method, or the "Ye Real Olde Medieval Life Simulation" method, but with the current technology and development schedules allowed us, I think it's a good solution. I imagine that many players - players that never would have used the skill otherwise - will now get to experience the glee of scampering around and nicking stuff off of every NPC in sight that they're currently skilled enough to steal from. It puts thievery at the same level of "game-play validity" as disarming traps or casting spells, and I think that's a good thing.
Luck
I believe that luck means little in the face of the uncontested re-roll. As I've stated before, the fun of "dice" is in the element of chance, of risk... and when that's gone, I think the fun goes with it.
In a PnP game, getting lucky and stealing from some bad-ass when you only had a 20% chance is pretty exciting: "Woooo, I got yo' gold and cell key, bizatch!" (the player then jumps up and down, high-fiving the two players sitting next to him).
In a CRPG, the typical player just scums until met with success. He's practically forced to; with the option there it's not really his fault that he's going for it. When he suceeds, does he really feel like he's had fun? At least with a "no-roll" system, he knows that either (a) his success was based solely on his character development choices ("Woooo, I got yo' gold and cell key, bizatch!"; player then does a goofy dance in living room and gets a dirty look from wife), or (b) his failure was based solely on his character development choices, meaning he's not obligated to scum for success and must either return later with a higher skill level or find another solution.
Scumming
I don't think that's a good thing to have in the game... encouraging scumming as a conscious design decision to make up for poor playing. I'd much rather there was some non-metagame solution. Do we have one in IWD2? Hrm, not really, but I'll still take the benefits of the new system over the old one's rather dubious one(s), i.e. "scummability." ^_^
Bah. I hate being only able to half-fix things, but ah well.
How do you balance
Ever see a man dodge a bullet? Here, watch:
"Oh, we use a combination."
/me leaves it at that and runs away before angry mob attacks
Seriously though, it is. ^_^ Gut feel, QA, other designers, board suggestions, Contact Other Plane, all that good stuff. There's a lot of arguing over it. A lot.
In any case, my reasons for pushing the whole no-roll thing was fun-factor as far as skill accessibility and function goes; lack of such was my biggest beef with the original system (that is, there just wasn't much fun to it). Not balance-breaking-via-scumming prevention. I didn't have the clout to make the whole "no-roll" change on this project; that was someone else who I think did it for balance reasons, but I'm not entirely sure. I want to eliminate scumming solely because I don't think most players enjoy it; I'd rather have some sort of in-game system that solves whatever problems encourage/forced the scumming in the first place.
|
|
|
Icewind Dale II Forum Update
