Pyrian on 5/1/2016 at 20:52
I think cutting off the XP is a good choice. It gives a very clear message to players that might be worried about the consequences of leaving a side-quest unfinished.
Sulphur on 6/1/2016 at 04:20
Quote Posted by Ostriig
P.S. Sulphur, while on the subject, TW3 doesn't give you boatloads of XP for combat either. Enemies too far below your level don't give you any, in fact. You can, theoretically, level exclusively through fighting loads of foes in your range, but in practice most of your progression will be coming from completing objectives.
That makes sense, you get less and less XP for opponents that aren't a threat any more. It's a fairly logical resolution to the 'to do dynamic scaling or not' gameplay design quandary. I'm less in favour of PoE's method because combat usually takes much longer than a Witcher-style dust-up (I'm playing on Normal), and while it disincentivises combat in favour of successful quest outcomes, it's pretty stingy in its options to tip-toe around combat completely. There was a quest where I could infiltrate a keep by wearing priest robes, for instance, which was fun, but the final leg of it involves having to murder an entire room full of murderous jerks, because all options in talking down the 'boss' end in some deeply painful combat.
faetal on 6/1/2016 at 09:55
I think a good visual feedback for fighting foes way below your level would be if the PC pulls out a phone and starts texting while fighting solely with the other hand.
Ostriig on 6/1/2016 at 10:44
Quote Posted by Sulphur
There was a quest where I could infiltrate a keep by wearing priest robes, for instance, which was fun, but the final leg of it involves having to murder an entire room full of murderous jerks, because all options in talking down the 'boss' end in some deeply painful combat.
Really? I struck a deal with him and went over to murder the daylights out of the other guy. Your point still stands, of course, I still had to fight someone and I don't think I could talk my way out of that one, just worth noting that the other guy has fewer friends.
Dynamic scaling has its ups and downs, in my opinion, ultimately you can't go all in with it in an RPG. TW3 doesn't do any of it and when you're more than six levels over a quest's default or an enemy you basically don't get any XP. It works because, like faetal pointed out, with TW3 you get enough dramatic content even in seemingly small side-quests that they can still be engaging even if you're beyond their level to the point they offer little challenge or progression potential. But if you wanted to get the most out of your levelling, you'd have to make a point of completing quests while they're "green." In a way, it's merely a reverse of the common RPG custom where rewards were static but level-ups took ever more XP, as TW3 always levels at 2000 XP. Either way, it's in stark contrast to good ol' Oblivion, where you could go anywhere anytime and get a level-appropriate combat challenge, at the expense of any shred of narrative sense, what with its eventual Daedric-clad roadside bandits. Now, you take Fallout 4, for example, and it's a mix. It does scale encounters to around your level but only when you first trigger them and within some hard limits defined by enemy type and area. So it gives you some measure of veracity while allowing a fair amount of roaming and doing stuff at your own leisure. But it still has boundaries.
I think the main issue with what PoE does is less to do with how or whether it rewards you for encounters and more down to the combat itself being a slightly lackluster experience.
Just as a small pointer for later in TW3... there's a couple of rewards that
don't throttle down, conveniently. Clearing monster nests still lavishes full XP, regardless of your level relative to spawned monsters, and treasure chests can still yield high-level items even if they've got lower level guards. They don't necessarily do it, but they can. A couple of weeks ago I decided to celebrate TW3 getting some popular GOTY award by horsing around for a bit, so I just went around killing newbie mobs and picking up treasures I hadn't gotten around to. And there I was, level 40ish, killing off a 20-something ogre in Velen and getting my hands on a
superb, top-tier, 214 DR Nilfgaardian Guardsman Armour.
Renault on 29/12/2016 at 19:08
henke, you starting a thread for this year? And a fancy video to go along with?
henke on 30/12/2016 at 06:10
Sure, this weekend. I was gonna start one earlier but then I started playing Last Guardian and felt like it probably needs to be in there somewhere, so I gotta finish it first. Still, if anyone else wants to go ahead and start a thread, I won't stop ya!
But no video this year. Probably.
Jason Moyer on 30/12/2016 at 06:12
Don't we already have threads for DXMD, DH2, and ME:C? :) Hell, we even have a Tyranny thread even though I don't think anyone's gotten around to playing much of it yet. That pretty much covers 2016, unless I can just keep counting Assetto Corsa as a new release every year.
Sulphur on 30/12/2016 at 06:20
Great, now every time I see that it automatically registers as 'Tranny' in my head, and I'm the one who started the Tyranny thread. Thanks a bunch, Thirith! :shakefist:
