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Written by BuckGB on March 9th, 2009

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As always in these discussions, let me point out that we are not striving to build the most accurate simulation of reality - our objective is to make a set of rules that provides good gameplay and character development options.

Rules that are, at some level, an abstraction of reality can be helpful, as they are more readily accepted by the player - decreasing the need for tutorial mechanisms. BUT we are not interested in creating rules to simulate reality - their main purpose is still to drive gameplay.

As for the issue at hand, some tidbits for you:

Most weapons have a strength requirement to wield which increases with materials.

Weapon talents have attribute requirements, but they vary from type to type. Eg. most two handed weapon talents have high strength requirements for you to be able to pick them during levelup - but most Dual Wielding related talents have Dexterity requirements.

- Most weapons receive a bonus to damage based on the character's strength.

- Some Piercing weapons (daggers, bows, etc.) receive a bonus from strength and dexterity.

- The crossbow only cares about Dexterity - if you're strong enough to use it, all you have to do is aim at the right spot (dexterity).

- To wield anything larger than a dagger in your offhand, you need a special tier4 weapon talent.

These mechanism make sense based on what you would expect from reality (e.g. a crossbow's damage not increasing because you are stronger) - but more importantly - they work well with the character development options and the combat rules system in the game.

E.g. the primary driver of making piercing weapons receive a partial damage bonus from Dexterity was not to make them more realistic but to make them the alternative to heavy melee weapons for Dexterity heavy Rogue and Warrior builds that have been neglecting strength. The fact that the mechanism makes more sense from a realism perspective is a nice side effect.

Would it be more realistic to have a higher strength requirement on offhand weapons? Probably - most people are not ambidextrous and people wielding two longswords never, ever happened in real life anyway. But the way dual wielding is structured puts a high emphasis on Dexterity and having low strength already affects your damage output - so putting a 'too bad you worked your way up this chain, but the highest level ability requires a completely different character setup - talent ' in there does not make sense from a gameplay perspective, especially not when done just to be realistic.

As always: The game is not yet done, so anything can change before it ships if we are not happy with it.

Well, kinda.

There are different tabs for different types of items. (weapons, armor, consumables, plot items etc.)

And yes, everything is stackable. Identical items stack.

Inventory is limited, however the limit is fairly generous and can be extended by buying expansions (think bags).

Finally, while each party member has their personal equipment (the stuff they wear, alternate weapon set), everything else is in the 'party treature' - meaning accessible for each character.

...

Armor pieces:Torso, Gloves, Boots, Helmet.

What could be a typical assignment for a new writer during the probation period? What about after?

Generally when a writer's in probation, we like to start them off slowly. In the past, we've given writers a small plot to work with -- a sidequest that works within the context of the rest of the game, for them to try out their skills under "real" conditions. Sometimes we actually use the results, but most often not. The point is to see what they can do with some direction and give them feedback.

Or, at least, that's what we'd like to do ideally. Sometimes someone new just gets thrown into the deep end of the pool out of necessity because the schedule simply won't allow for more training. That's what happened to me -- on my first day I was writing the bartender character at the Copper Coronet in BG2. Panic! At least it wasn't something critical, yikes!

Generally new writers do less in the way of quest design or are eased into that aspect. More often they'll be given an area or a character that they are responsible for, with us either given them the required design or working with them to create it. They're perfectly able to adjust it from there to what works for them, though in reality I've always found that new writers are a bit tentative on that point -- perfectly understandable.

Seeing how facial expression animations are becoming more refined these days, does that affect how you write dialogue for an NPC?

It's starting to, yes.

What about education? While I'm sure that a college degree in a relevant area of expertise would do nothing but help, is it necessary?

For a writer, not so much. I don't have a college degree, and of the writers I work with only one that I know of possesses an applicable degree (unless Philosophy applies? Maybe it does). Education can be invaluable in terms of developing your skills and broadening your background knowledge, so don't let me say it's not necessary -- not to mention that it can help in getting your application taken seriously right off the bat -- but impressing with your practical skills will count far more. Someone who is all theory and no practice isn't going to get anywhere.

I would not want to enter the video game industry. Is there any chance of you expanding the blog to include how to write good mods in general?

My modding experience is limited. I'd sooner leave such a blog entry to someone who has actually created some excellent mods -- my experience isn't, after all, with working with a small team of volunteers and unlimited time. The things that professionals can be asked to is far different from what you can ask a volunteer to do, and our requirements are far different as well (it is perfectly reasonable for a modder to make a mod aimed at a niche crowd, for instance). My biggest annoyance, in fact, is when fans claim they hold mods and professional developers to the same standard. They don't, and nor should they. At best I could offers modders some advice on how to keep documentation and what pitfalls to avoid in quest and dialogue creation -- but even there I suspect an actual modder could do just as well, I don't know.

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