IA:EE progress report, thoughts, general observations, etc. Options

[critto]

The work is on-going, so I'll try to keep everybody updated on the progress in here. Also, people sometimes ask questions about how this or that functions, I can't answer these questions immediately and lose track of them. When I can I'll address these issues in this thread for the benefit of everybody.

This post has been edited by critto: May 18 2016, 03:51 PM

[critto]

So, this is what's been going on with IA lately.

Characters, kits and NPCs

The druid kit we're working on is the Avenger kit. It is given a nice set of improvements that intend to explore further its combat-oriented and ritualistic nature. Certain spells and abilities are added to allow for creative usage of the class in melee combat. There will be a whole set of specific helpers that the class can summon depending on what the situation needs. While these summons reduce some of the kit's powers while being active, they can be controlled by the player directly (in a fashion similar to Deva/Planetar) and, hopefully, create a whole new dimension to the tactical arsenal of the player. The work is still on-going and might not turn out in exactly the way I describe, but it should be interesting nonetheless.

In IA 6.2 this kit will be assigned to Jaheira. This will allow those players who prefer the half-elf's patronizing attitude to megalomania of Anomen and boring blandness of Cernd have a decent priest who actually talks and reacts to the game's events. In IAv7, Avenger will be as good a choice as Auramaster for a protagonist.

While we're on the subject of NPCs, Minsc is back, with a specific warrior kit and some performance-enhancing surgery. While he won't be as overpowered as a custom-created half-orc character, he will certainly add some flavor to the game. In the future versions, if they are to be, we'll try to explore other NPCs and bring them back to their former glory.

Items

The main focus here is to bring back the items that are currently underrepresented in the game. Main focus of IA6.2 was the spear, which is actually a decent weapon by itself and a good choice for a two-handed specialist. We've added a new item upgrade that should be comparable in terms of power to all-time favorites like Poseidon's Wrath and, incidentally, a good choice for the new Avenger

Another improvement we've made is to make scimitar a more accessible weapon. In the previous versions it was distributed in such a manner that made it completely useless, except for the Belm, perhaps. Now it's a much more sensible choice. The Water's Edge +3 was removed from its place in Underdark and randomized between certain locations that are reachable in the middle of CH2-3. The party now will be able to travel to the Underdark already having an extra option for a good slashing weapon. Another good scimitar, Yamato +4, was removed from its resting place buried deep down in WK, reachable only by high level parties, and redistributed sensibly in CH6 locations via the randomizer. The Water's Edge can now be improved to a +4 version and is a strong weapon for a party to wield. This could be done in CH6 or even in CH3, if the party is strong enough to handle certain encounters. And once the party advances to WK/ToB, it will be able to forge Spectral Brand +5 which completes the set of weapons available.

On a separate note, we've added more items that were previously available in shops only (The Sleeper, Armor of Deep Night and some others) to the randomizer as well.

Jaheira will now get an upgrade for her personal item, the Harper's Pin, as the long-term tradition of IA states.

Content and other things

We've added a completely new spell to the druid arsenal, with new animations, that can be used both by the player and the enemies. It looks nice

Numerous bugs were fixed, both from EE and vanilla game, thanks to the many reports from players and our testing team. The work on this will continue.

Our tests show that Monk is now a strong character and sensible addition to the party. The same goes for the Swashbuckler class, he's a decent thief now who can handle himself well in the IA situations. And he definitely likes the new Water's Edge

Stay tuned for more news to come. Maybe, next time I'll post some screens of the new content

Cheers,
critto

This post has been edited by critto: Jun 26 2015, 07:46 AM