Azrael the cat
Arcane
One concern I, and quite a few others, have is that AoD's skill system will be so harsh that the only real character choices end up being those made in char-gen (make a sneaky character, must then take the sneaky option each time, talky can only get through the talky path, etc).
Now I'm not posting to re-argue that. I understand that this is a deliberate design choice by VD (though he would no doubt disagree that it restricts choices to char-gen), and that it's a creative decision, not an error.
What I'd like to know is whether the skill system is going to be mod-friendly? I don't mean adding or changing skills, but tweaking of the numbers, as for skill-points gain and skill-checks. To some extent, that might be the kind of thing that can be tweaked just by editing an ini file here or there.
If so, I suspect there will be mods that open the game up to those wanting more of a FO experience. By that, I mean the way that FO quite deliberately set the skill-checks to be relatively easy, so that instead of 'sneaky character must always take sneaky option', there's:
- 'sneaky character can do this quest most easily using the sneaky option'
- ....but if he has invested a few points in speech (not enough to be a 'talky build', just so the character isn't a stuttering mess), he can take another option that is overall slightly worse, but has its uses if the player is pursuing a particular strategy (say, a particular item, or opens a different gamepath).
- ....or, if the player has an excellent grasp of the combat tactics, spends on potions/equipment, and is stubborn enough to save-scum a bit, he can still take the combat option (which would be the 'easy option' for a combat build). Definitely the least efficient path for that character, but it's available if you just really want to kill that NPC.
Making this easily tweakable (outside of the game) could provide a means of widening the audience to people who are still very keen crpg-players, but who are looking for a slightly different experience to that on offer - without having to compromise your own design.
Now I'm not posting to re-argue that. I understand that this is a deliberate design choice by VD (though he would no doubt disagree that it restricts choices to char-gen), and that it's a creative decision, not an error.
What I'd like to know is whether the skill system is going to be mod-friendly? I don't mean adding or changing skills, but tweaking of the numbers, as for skill-points gain and skill-checks. To some extent, that might be the kind of thing that can be tweaked just by editing an ini file here or there.
If so, I suspect there will be mods that open the game up to those wanting more of a FO experience. By that, I mean the way that FO quite deliberately set the skill-checks to be relatively easy, so that instead of 'sneaky character must always take sneaky option', there's:
- 'sneaky character can do this quest most easily using the sneaky option'
- ....but if he has invested a few points in speech (not enough to be a 'talky build', just so the character isn't a stuttering mess), he can take another option that is overall slightly worse, but has its uses if the player is pursuing a particular strategy (say, a particular item, or opens a different gamepath).
- ....or, if the player has an excellent grasp of the combat tactics, spends on potions/equipment, and is stubborn enough to save-scum a bit, he can still take the combat option (which would be the 'easy option' for a combat build). Definitely the least efficient path for that character, but it's available if you just really want to kill that NPC.
Making this easily tweakable (outside of the game) could provide a means of widening the audience to people who are still very keen crpg-players, but who are looking for a slightly different experience to that on offer - without having to compromise your own design.
