GameInformer Project Eternity Wishlist

In what I presume is an attempt to focus on the classic RPG readership, after publishing a questionable list of the best D&D games of all times, GameInformer has followed with a wishlist for Obsidian’s kickstarter-funded Project Eternity, which cites the Infinity Engine titles as strong inspirations for its mechanics. Here’s a snip:

Don’t be bound by Dungeons & Dragons conventions.

Obsidian is creating its own ruleset for Project Eternity, but one with the explicit goal of recalling the D&D feeling of those older games. I love the classics as much as anyone (and more than most), but even the third edition rules that Icewind Dale II uses have a lot of legacy pen & paper issues that don’t make sense in a computer game context. In particular, the saving throw system while less stupid in third edition than older AD&D by an order of magnitude is a terrible design that locks combat into binary outcomes based on the heavily random roll of a twenty-sided die. That the old D&D computer games managed to have interesting combat despite having a selection of spells at every level that may as well read (opponent(s) save or die) in their descriptions is a testament to the skill of those designers several of whom are working on Project Eternity, which is a hopeful sign.

Let us break the game, at least a little.

Balance is important, but much of the fun of party-based RPGs that offer a broad range of party configurations and player capabilities is in breaking the game creatively using game mechanics to kick monster butt. As silly as it is, learning to give your rogue those two levels of ranger (for the better weapon proficiencies and free dual wielding bonuses, obviously) is a key part of Icewind Dale II’s draw. Loading up on invisibility spells for multiple in-combat backstabs from a fighter/thief in Baldur’s Gate II is probably unfair, but it’s loads of fun and in a single-player game, who’s to say a few (overpowered) tactics are wrong?