turn based or real-time combat?

[SpectralTime]

Well, personally, I suppose I'm just the opposite. I like decent combat, same as he probably likes a decent story, but I could care less about playing through fifty-bajillion times to get every single super-special-secret ending and achievement. I beat a game once, and that's it. I have drawn my enjoyment from it, and I do not NEED to say, "Time to do it again, only EVIL, and with a PISTOL ONLY."

I also enjoy min/maxing as much as the next RPG nerd, but if a game doesn't have a good story/allow for good roleplay (and the two aren't necessarily synonymous mind), then I can't really get into it for the same reasons I do an honest-to-God RPG.

It's like, consider the difference between, say, Planescape: Torment, the purest RPG I've ever had the pleasure of imbibing like raw cocaine over a full week of laborious days and sleepless nights, where story and roleplay are the reason to get into the game and the combat, while competent, is merely an afterthought, and Diablo 2, where combat and min/maxing are the bread and butter of the game and the story, while well-done and well-staged, is ignored by most of the players.

Honestly, I liked both games, but I liked Planescape much, much more since it was, to me, a much richer and more rewarding experience than Diablo 2's hack-and-slash, however masterfully done, as evidenced by the fact that while I beat the first in a week or two of uninterrupted play, I have yet to beat the second and my interest tends to "peter out" when I come back to try. I'm sure Elmsdor will report an opposite experience.

What point am I getting at here? Well, I say that I see what you mean, and that, what you're doing, essentially a Baldur's Gate-esque attempt to fuse the two together with "pick a side and then go kill things," is probably the best possible compromise to please the greatest number of players, and that as long as there are a few "certain amount of karma/stat-points required to pick this options" choices to avoid killing people over misunderstandings over the course of the game, I'll be fine.

[jack1974]

I played both those games and I liked Planescape: Torment much more too. Sometimes I like to see different path/endings, but I never replay a game from scratch either, maybe just save before some big branching option and reload to see what would have happened.
That brings also another problem I discussed a while ago on my blog. Is really good to have so many different branching/plot options? How many people are going to bother pursuing them all? Another great game I played recently was Alpha Protocol. Awesome FPS/RPG/story based game, but I really felt that rather than having so many different options I'd have preferred a slightly more linear story, but longer. There are full scenes that I have missed on my first playthrough, and obviously I wasn't going to restart the game from scratch just to see those (I watched them on youtube indeed).
So with Loren, while there will be a big decision point early in the game (like Planet Stronghold, pick your side) there won't be so many plot variatios. Solving quests in different ways, ok. But having lot of long parallel subplots no, because would increase the amount of time needed to make /test and make the game shorter unless you replay the game several times.

[pysali]

I can only speak for myself but with Planet Stronghold I played through twice fully, once as Lisa - Guardian and once as Joshua - Soldier because I wanted to see both romance/gender sides. I made sure to save at the Empire/Rebel choice so that I could easily go back and play through from there to get the other romance endings afterward.

That's my standard for RPG's (did the same for Mass Effect and Dragon Age). I like to play both options even if the changes to story are only cosmetic/romance/morality options.

[jack1974]

Yes and you'll be able to do that with both Loren and Undead Lily RPGs. What I meant is having LOTS of possible different choice for each situation. With PS I think I exaggerated a bit, since in many of them there were lots of different options (that's why also took me so long to make, each possible option needed to be tested carefully). So in those games will have a bit less variations I think!
But different paths based on which character you choose and which romance you pursue, that's ok and I like it too

[Elmsdor]

A linear campaign with enough diversions/side quests is I think the best formula for making a great story/game. I like it how it was done in Planet Stronghold too, with enough major decisions and minor to effect outcomes, with a few pivotal ones such as side changing. Linear enough for a story, divergent enough for immersion. And much to Pysali and SpecialTime's predictions, I've played the bajebus out of Torment, Planet Stronghold and Diablo, to perfect everything. Yes, I got 4 savefiles on PS, waiting for the addon

A good story, character development means a ton to me. The ability to engage in the dialogue, immerse with the world makes it all fun, and promotes replayability. A strong story does capture that and I enjoy it thus. But so does achievements and ambitions .

Everyone here recall Planescape Torment yes? There were SO many encounters you can bypass, with a high enough INT/CHA, which was your means of passing many such events as non combat. Don't get me wrong either, I love combat. But I love Triumphant Victory over all, be it with Parleying, or a Broadsword! :D

Cheers.

[jack1974]

To be honest I don't remember much Torment since I played when it went out several years ago. Maybe I should get a copy from GoG to refresh my memory
In Loren I think the new quest system will provide that variety.
Like in that example I provided, you'll be assigned a quest, but differently from Planet Stronghold, the quest will change when you're doing it, meaning that you'll have to decide what to do, no matter which side you picked early in the game.
The side in this case is only the faction you'll fight with (and not against). But then your choice will influence the ending and the general behavior of Loren. If you suggest her to make cruel/bad decision, she will shift more and more to the "dark side" if I manage to do this well I think might be very interesting, since this game will have even more moral decisions than PS.

[SpectralTime]

Everyone here recall Planescape Torment yes? There were SO many encounters you can bypass, with a high enough INT/CHA, which was your means of passing many such events as non combat. Don't get me wrong either, I love combat. But I love Triumphant Victory over all, be it with Parleying, or a Broadsword! :D

Amen, brutha. Amen.