#2
I think you are exaggerating the bit, the game is being a "timed game". True you have 2.5 years of ingame time to stop the orks but that is enough to experiment with spells and such, rest properly and experiment again with minimal loss of time during your journey.

This game is a remake(of course with extra content and stuff) of an old-school RPG. That was a time when there was not even an automap and every room you stroll through was exactly the same of each other. There were no exact explanations of talents or spells...some spells or talents had no use at all. In this remake the weak sides of the original game is getting less and less over the development time. But of course, there is still time for some features to kick in.

I think a min-maxer approach would only ruin your experience, sometimes you should try to go by the experience(old school try and learn style with no reload much), playthrough once and redo your party or admit new characters to your party by ditching the broken ones. There is no perfect setting of groups or spells...in this game. Some of those talents are purely roleplay (as in checked during text-driven events) some of those talents are helpful during wilderness hunting events (sneaking to shot an animal for example) and some of them are checked frequently during your battles...there is even a skill checking your heroes' tolerance to alcohol.

It is true there should be a long comprehensive manual to inform people or perhaps a tutorial to teach those who are not familiar with Dark Eye rulesystem. But looks like a tutorial might be something we may see at the Gold Release.

#4
Seriously...if you are spending 9 months grinding for wilderness hunting and gathering herbs without journeying then you are on the wrong track. You are supposed to gather herbs and hunt while you are on a journey but of course you can grind here and there for a month at best...but not 9 months. If you are stockpiling something, it is your choice...but stockpiling for 9 months is plain wrong...you are playing an adventuring party in SEARCH of the Blade of Destiny not running a wilderness goods business.

Even if you wasted 9 months on getting filthy rich you still have 21 months to complete the game with good equipment and provisions(hopefully bought by the ducats generated by that senseless grinding). And if you follow the main quest you can get credit from Armory as well by Hetman's letter. Also you can always borrow money from Stoerrebrandt up to 200 silver...And at day 1 if you just explore Old Bailey a little, your money worries will lessen due to some loot. So basically you should play the game...not the mechanics.

And no, old-school players don't know rulebooks...most people don't have detailed information about the rulebooks and that kind of information isn't necessary. There are people who abides by reading manuals and stuff going by their intuition, there are people who played the original and there are people who just use their roleplaying experiences from tabletop games. Rulebook wizards are a minority.

Also nobody is against information about AE spending and such but there is a way to see it accurately already...so if you want correct data about a certain spell AE usage just hit F9 to see from the console. AE costs can vary due to spells and truly they should not need be in the descriptions of the spells. It would take ONE ingame day to see most of your spell costs (the ones you are able to cast efficiently and if you are curious about failure costs of others go ahead)


#6
Actually, like every mage does...you are supposed to experiment with your spells and it would be only loss of one or two days of time. Practically not much time. You are not supposed to save and reload everytime, but if you wish to do so...be my guest. And it is natural only after you practice a certain spell, you become knowledgeable about it. Let us look from roleplaying perspective, a book might tell you this spell is taxing and this spell is not taxing on your spiritual reserves...they would not tell you theoretically 5 imaginary Astral points are used. But since this is a game and there should be a numerical value for your astral reserves...and you learn how taxing a spell by casting it. Quite authentic. But of course, if they just add the Astral Costs to spell descriptions, I simply don't mind...after all it is not a major issue.

But I can understand the frustration behind the lack of direct information with calculations etc. Perhaps a revised version of manual will come better then the original.

Well, Old Bailey rumor is generally the most frequent rumor you get right after the Hetman's Call. If you did not listen to rumors then probably you are unaware of it which is perfectly natural. Or perhaps you heard the rumor and didn't notice(though in that case it should leave a note on your questbook about seeing Master Dramosch/Dramosh). You know, taverns are not for drinks and coin only...they are a good place to collect useful data about surroundings as well as a source of information where you might get extra work.

And well, I think it very well follows the Dark Eye standards and it might take a little time to get used to it till they publish a new and more comprehensive manual.

#7
hello Wraith_Magus, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the games and its as you call it "deviations".

First, regarding Spellcost: There is a basic spell cost to most of the spells, but displaying the spellcost in advance is difficult most of the time, because it depends on how good you were casting the spell you did. Example: When you use the combat spell "Ignifaxius", it lets you choose the number of Dices worth of damage you want to make. For every die you choose to use (up to your skilllevel in number), you get to make 1-6 theoretical Damage (total damage is reduced by Armor for this spell), costing you 1-6 actual Astral energy. So, for a wizard with a level 8 Ignifaxius, you'd get the display "Cost: 8-48 AE". Not helping, is it?

Other example: Fulminictus. This makes damage (ignoring Armor) in the amount of 2-12 + (remaining skillpoints on the spell casting check). Meaning again with a level 8 Spell, you have a variable cost (and damage) of 10-22.

With Balm, you set up the Cost for the spell yourself (which is told to you in the screen you choose the amount of healing from, "VI = AE". Something similar applies for Fastness of Body, it allows to increase Armor by 1 - skilllevel, and costs ArmorIncrease x ArmorIncrease AE.

Then, there is the 4th Staff enchantment of the wizards, reducing all cost of Astral Energy by 2.

Yes, there is several Spells with constant, unmodifyable cost like Light in the Darkness, Evil Eye, Be my friend and so on. But the P+P Ruleset just causes a *very* complicated number of rules to apply, which is even more difficult to transfer to a clear and workable message for the user. But to be honest, I do like ugralitans approach to "just try it out". Or RTFM, for that matter. It doesn't state every spell cost in detail, but it explains several of your questions here, and if you were able to read the D+D Manuals back in the day, it shouldn't be a trouble to read the one we provided as well ;).

Regarding your "The Game doesn't tell me where the best quests to level up are right from the start" - well, bummer, you are not presented with the easiest way to play and win the game right from the start? Oh well, we need to do something about that... not. Look, you say you are absolutely for exploring into the wilderness, and if memory serves me right "to look under every stone and see if the creators bothered to put something creepy crawley under it". So why not look around in Thorwal a little bit more? [spoiler]You are being told about the Old Bailey (or "Ugdalf") quest right away, if you ask for it. Just be nice to an Innkeeper or throw a round in the tavern, and you will be told.[/spoiler]

But, and that is the whole point of an RPG, you are NOT told where to find all the good stuff right from the start - you are supposed to look for it. For yourself. Unguided and without a big red shiny Arrow above it saying "come here to get me". We tried to make not only a Remake, but a real game experience, where you can look around for yourself. The time limit is in place, but you wouldn't even know about it wouldn't you have looked around the internet a bit more,[spoiler]because you are told about that limit only at the hermit's lake, on top of a very big and hard to climb monolith with a Dark Eye.[/spoiler] So why is it such a bad thing to look around some more in guides when you get stuck or want to "play more efficiently". You can find everything you need in the game, you don't need to be told every ounce and bit by it without any effort, you can actually find out by simply doing the strolling and looking you described you like so much.

It is just that it is not the Skyrim silverplatter point-of-interest-highlighted-on-the-compass strolling you can do, you need to learn the mechanics of the game (like "wandering the map can yield a lot of (un)expected events and is far more than just getting from A to B"). And if you don't enjoy it, there is plenty of guides for the original, telling you exactly where to find what and how to play to maximize your result for the time you played. It is just, we won't change the game to that kind of gameplay, we like it to actually hide stuff people can discover for themselves, without placing neon signs above it to "ensure that they find it". Some will, many won't, but that is ok.[spoiler]There is even a secret cave somewhere absolutely non-obvious where we placed a memorial for us creators. But again, you'll need to find it for yourself, I won't tell you where it is[/spoiler].
Firefox ist immer schuld :)

#8
craftyfirefox and ugralitan, I think there's a misconception, or a misunderstanding between you and Wraith_Magus. Some of his claims actually make perfect sense (and have been implemented with this very patch ;) ).

As for the "how things are calculated" part- the interface has been adjusted to carter for exactly that. Do you play with the latest stable version? If so, when you hover the mouse over the "AT/PA"-Base value it should highlight and show you the involved attributes (and the formula in a tooltip), same as with each talent. It should work equally for Konstitution as well (which if you can see it in the character sheet, would mean you're playing the latest version).

The time limitation is nothing to worry about really, you'd have a hard time reaching it. If you focus on the main story, I'd wager you can easily finish the game in less than half a year, where you have two and a half. Plenty of people didn't even know there was a limit until they read about it.

I'm not sure if the game actually differs that much from common RPG standards (back in the days, they changed a little over time), most of the time logic applies, often even more than in other similar games. When you mention that agility counts for endurance, so does strength and I'd argue that only a mixture of the two really gets you endurance. A true bodybuilder would easily yield a weight, but he'd be hard pressed on a long travel by foot.

I could tell you what's important skills foe me, but that would force my "playstyle" upon you. Mainly you have plenty of points to waste, you'd still get a decent enough build to manage the challanges. If you want to, I'd compile a short list of things though that likely won't hurt to consider.

#9
[spoiler][quote='craftyfirefox','index.php?page=Thread&postID=67863#post67863']There is even a secret cave somewhere absolutely non-obvious where we placed a memorial for us creators. But again, you'll need to find it for yourself, I won't tell you where it is[/quote]

On that note, wouldn't klicking on the badge of honour for your knowledge on food be worthy of a Steam Achievement?
And has the reworked graphics and menu system removed the chance to meet "barbarians" (second easter egg)? That would be a true pity!
[/spoiler]

#10
[spoiler]Barbarians were accidentially removed, you're right. Badge of honour click would definitely be worth an achievement, as are the barbarians. I'll see to it that they get back :). And meeting them is not by chance, but by "clicking the right spot" ;).[/spoiler]
Firefox ist immer schuld :)
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