New UI Question

Chippy

I suppose this could be kind of a query or hope that the new UI might work a certain way rather than expecting an enswer (as I appreciate info may not be released if a feature won't make it in) but was wondering if: I'm playing a Fighter, I've got a Bow in slot 1, Staff in slot 2, Hammer in slot 3, Dagger in slot 4 and another Hammer in my off hand.

When I switch from Bow or staff to hammer (main hand), does it default to dual wield?.
If yes, and assuming I'm playing a Fighter/Thief, I think it would be cool to switch to single weapon style for just the dagger, so avoiding the backstab's available per apr 'rotation' (e.g. in BG of 15 years ago you had 2 apr, you backstab on the dagger, hide, then hit normally with the hammer).

Anyway, I'm really happy with the UI from the recent let's play/interviews, and would have bought the game for this feature alone irrespective of the above.

Lifat

I haven't watched any of their in-game videos, but I would very much like a confirmation on one of the suggested UI features, that lets you use a shield in your off-hand even though you have a bow/two-hander equiped in one of the alternative weapon slots... Not saying that you should be able to use both at the same time, just that it would be nice not to have to juggle the weapons around every time you want to switch.

Chippy

@Lifat,

Yep, I think it's in. If you dig up the live Q&A on Youtube, towards the end there are questions directed at the team, and they confirm Bows/Shields. Might have neen doppelgangers, but I don't think the authenticity by which Beamdog confirmed it could be easily replicated.

Dee

We do have a couple of doppelgangers running around the office, but we don't allow them on our livestreams. What @Chippy says is correct.

Bigfish

Dee said:

We do have a couple of doppelgangers running around the office, but we don't allow them on our livestreams. What @Chippy says is correct.

I can totally see running down the halls screaming "Your time is done, primates!"

Lifat

@Dee: Be careful of the doppelgangers! Give them cookies to apeace them so they don't try to take over everything.

I heard that the UI change I mentioned was something you wanted to implement and was trying to get to work, but I hadn't heard that it was confirmed, so thanks for that. It makes me HAPPY! COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!

Nimran

Did somebody say s?!

*casts Storm on forumites*

Lifat

Nimran said:

Did somebody say s?!

*casts Storm on forumites*

Forum is saved by glutonous @Lifat who eats all da evil cookies raining from the sky.
*NOM NOM NOM.... Blurrrp!*
"You're welcome!"

Cerevant

To clarify a bit on this feature - it is the ultimate of simplicity: if you have a weapon/shield in your off hand, it will be disabled if you arm a primary 2-handed weapon.

As a result:

Chippy said:

When I switch from Bow or staff to hammer (main hand), does it default to dual wield?.

Yes

Chippy said:

If yes, and assuming I'm playing a Fighter/Thief, I think it would be cool to switch to single weapon style for just the dagger

This does not happen, instead you would dual wield the dagger & hammer (off hand). To do otherwise would require a much more complex (read: buggy, UI breaking) implementation (i.e. weapon sets per IWD or NWN) that we had been intentionally avoiding.

GreenWarlock

Looking over the lifestream, it seems that all classes now get 4 weapon slots and a bow slot, essentially giving of of the pure-fighter class benefits to all characters. It might only be a small thing, but fighters are simple types with few enough perks, I hate to see another distinguishing feature go away. (There have definitely been play-throughs where my non-fighters were impacted by this, and I bought it as the trade-off for all the other good things they were getting.)

Chippy

Cerevant said:

To clarify a bit on this feature - it is the ultimate of simplicity: if you have a weapon/shield in your off hand, it will be disabled if you arm a primary 2-handed weapon.

As a result:

Chippy said:

When I switch from Bow or staff to hammer (main hand), does it default to dual wield?.

Yes

Chippy said:

If yes, and assuming I'm playing a Fighter/Thief, I think it would be cool to switch to single weapon style for just the dagger

This does not happen, instead you would dual wield the dagger & hammer (off hand). To do otherwise would require a much more complex (read: buggy, UI breaking) implementation (i.e. weapon sets per IWD or NWN) that we had been intentionally avoiding.

That's cool, I prefer the concept of wielding weapons suited to character class/skills anyway. It's the long term debate on class power and item power that had me remembering my TOB late game stalker using a 30MR bastard sword (offhand) because the MR was so much more beneficial over the backstab. But just having this feature opens up great possibilities for classes like the stalker to excel.

elminster

GreenWarlock said:

Looking over the lifestream, it seems that all classes now get 4 weapon slots and a bow slot, essentially giving of of the pure-fighter class benefits to all characters. It might only be a small thing, but fighters are simple types with few enough perks, I hate to see another distinguishing feature go away. (There have definitely been play-throughs where my non-fighters were impacted by this, and I bought it as the trade-off for all the other good things they were getting.)

It might not be apparent in the stream but those latter two weapon slots are disabled for characters that couldn't otherwise use them (not sure what you mean by a bow slot). That said I've reported what I assume is the issue (the borders for disabled slots still appearing).

GreenWarlock

@elminster thanks - that clarifies things considerably, other than looking back at my post, I don't know what I meant by a bow slot either

Lifat

Considering the fact that you can instant swap weapons during a pause in the game, the fact that fighters have 4 weapon slots seems like a very MINOR perk... As in it limits the annoying weapon swapping back and forth.
Personally I don't care either way.

GreenWarlock

A perk is a perk!
The main effect for me is that fighters get to carry more loot out of a dungeon, and this is more frequent concern in BG1 than BG2, although usually involves a harder choice of what to leave behind when it occurs in BG2.

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Mikey205

Who really used those slots anyway except for storage. Fighters will still be able to equip arrow stacks anyway giving them a slight benefit over clerics and mages.

dib

Cerevant said:

Chippy said:

If yes, and assuming I'm playing a Fighter/Thief, I think it would be cool to switch to single weapon style for just the dagger

This does not happen, instead you would dual wield the dagger & hammer (off hand). To do otherwise would require a much more complex (read: buggy, UI breaking) implementation (i.e. weapon sets per IWD or NWN) that we had been intentionally avoiding.

Just wanted to say I really like this implementation, it sounds a lot quicker and smoother than the IWD implementation.

subtledoctor said:

feh, I'm STILL waiting for them to include a 'hardcore mode' option that disables game pause when you are in the inventory screen. Then weapon slots and item quickslots would actually MEAN something...

Or just disable the inventory all together when you're in battle. Would make preparing the right items both in the quick item slots and equipment a much larger factor. Only for a 'hardcore mode' of course.

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AstroBryGuy

subtledoctor said:

Oh yeah, that's a good idea - just make everything work like armor, so it can't be moved to different slots during combat.

Wait, how does armor work? Is there a flag for that? Maybe this could be done with a mod!

I would assume that behavior is controlled by the item type (or the inventory slot - but the usable slot for an item is then controlled by the Item Type).

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