Well, XML isn't a programming language.. it's just a bunch of tags for different attributes of the units/spells/abilities/research/improvements/quests/etc. Given that SD doesn't have a special GUI for manipulating game data, I'm pretty sure modders will have to work with the XML files too. Some stuff of course will be in the game editors, but not creatures/units/spells.
[quote]Not really.[/quote] Yes really. There's plenty left to do for release. Feature complete means they're not adding any new features, but there's still a bunch of balance work to be done and effort should be focused on that.
Frogboy, is there (or will there be) any way to tie an ability/spell to the actual level of the caster unit? Summon Familiar is a prime example. A familiar that's summoned by a level 1 Sovereign is exactly the same as one summoned by a level 20, and becomes obsolete very quickly. There are many spells that can use this sort of scaling up with the caster levels to remain viable as the game progresses :)
[quote](though I did make a fuss about units “stabbing” with a club).[/quote] Still doesn't hold a candle to Assassin Creed 2's "Broom of Doom" [e digicons]}:)[/e]
[quote who="Tridus" reply="6" id="2678777"]Until I know what's in the release version of the game, it's really hard to say. [/quote] Which is really why people should be focusing on the release version of the game before popping up expansion threads on the forums :P
Yay! Empire tree love! Among everything else! Sounds good. I'm not sure getting rid of barracks is really necessary, but don't have a strong opinion one way or the other. Would still like to see specialized military buildings that can turn some cities in military powerhouses, so to speak, rather than every city being able to do the same stuff militarily.
[quote]Load Game missing from Main Menu durng the game. You can save a game, but there is no visible method to reload a save game without exiting the game.[/quote] This will be in at launch :) [quote]Is there a method to change the unit exit point from a city? In my last game, a goodie hut generated next to my city right on the exit hex, one that I couldn't access and got the unable to access this goodie hut message every time a unit exited the city. That was a PITA, and cause
We were, but because they only had 2-3 days after the July 4th holidays to work on 3A, they put battles off until this coming week's update, and 3A is bugfixes/stability mostly.
Door is that way ----->
Yeah, before 3A it would spawn 40 per map, regardless of size. In 3A they added a thing to spawn them proportional to the map size, but that obviously needs some tweaking :P
[quote]You'd be suprised We're going to work our asses off (after a few days recouperation) to make sure that the beta testers feel 1.0 is a major improvement....otherwise, it'll just feel like another step in the beta processs, and that's not what we want to build up to [/quote] Well yeah, I just mean you're not going to manufacture disks, and then put in dungeon crawling for the day0 patch :P I'm not talking about beta and release, but Gold and release :P
[quote]Yes, but what if we don't like the unit stats, the scale, the unit abilities, weapon differences, how combat speed works, how spells are cast, etc. Can stuff like that be changed?[/quote] I would say most of those can still be changed, yes. By changed I mean tweaked in values and such, without needing large chunks of new code. But the overarching system of "Your turn, do stuff, hit end turn, they do stuff" isn't going to change. [quote]I'm pretty sure we are stuck with
[quote]for people who played BG and IWD series in their heyday there was no real improvement over those games in DA other than graphics.[/quote] Which is actually exactly why it wasn't forgettable for me and why I loved it so much. It was like playing a modern Baldur's Gate game.
[quote]Feature lockdown is for the release version of the game, the version we'll be playing if we choose not to patch it.[/quote] No, feature lockdown is feature lockdown. It means they aren't going to have one mechanic for the disk version, and completely re-do it for release. The difference between disk and release will be more fixes, balance, and polish, not features.
They aren't implementing a completely new tactical combat system, it's a turn-based system common to most games of thise type. It just comes down to bugs and balance.
[quote]We've adopted an old Bungie rule of '30 Seconds of Fun', where a great game is one where there are all these '1 seconds of fun' that you do over and over throughout the course of a game. From the amazing beta participation, I'd saw have around 200 'seconds of fun' that you guys have suggested, several of which are already planned out for post-release updates, but the truth is this type of game has so much friggin' potential, you could spend years on it and not get all those
[quote who="Polynomial" reply="26" id="2676253"]I don't know how Bioware is in decline when each game they release is a commercial and critical success. [/quote] I think they mean decline as far as their personal tastes go. They are moving away from the "BG" formula, which I personally don't mind as much. I loved DA, but also ME and ME2 even though I wished ME2 wasn't RPG-Lite on mechanics. But not everyone who likes BioWare's "BG" style games (NWN included in this also) likes ac
Did you get any emails? Specifically, one that contains a serial number?
Did you get an email with a serial number? I haven't heard that they closed beta entry after Beta 3 hit. Anyway, if you do have an email with the serial number, that means your preorder was processed and you can just log on Impulse, click the main menu pulldown in the top left, and select "Show pre-release versions". That should get Elemental to show up in My Games.
[quote]Carbon Lifeform[/quote] V-Ger used Carbon Unit, it's definitely fitting ;)
[quote who="JayC1407" reply="46" id="2676165"]Googling EST now... [/quote] About 3 hours 15 minutes from now.
I don't think Frogboy was talking directly to you, Denryu. Your posts don't sound like they carry that message. He's just referencing all the recent theads/posts that popped up with things like "This game isn't ready, delay it more!". When most companies do betas it's just for publicity and it's basically a finished product just needing some bug fixes. So, a lot of people are used to that sort of thing, and it's not as easy to see the big picture when they're just given little bits an
Probably in the later afternoon/evening. :P
[quote]This is also how stardock works, all of their games are on torrent sites with everything else, just search, I don't see them shutting down cause of piracy, instead they are growing.[/quote] Also, fun fact: when Sins came out, a bunch of us were sending torrent links to Yarlen, who would (probably with help) dig up info on the seeder and send a C&D. In a couple of cases they got their home addresses on 'em, it was great fun. In short, don't pretend to know how it wor
[quote]Yes they didn't pay but, they will play it, they will enjoy it, and they will advertise it to their friends, and guess what, I as a gaming studio I will make tons of money out of them, cause a pirated copy is not the full deal.[/quote] Yes, because someone who easily downloaded it for free is going to tell his friends to pay for it, instead of giving them the same link. That's totally how it works in the real world, not just in your head. Still waiting for proof of all