As a defender of FPC I'll throw my hat in this discussion:
1) Inventory control: yes
2) Level up control: everything but classes. This would be an aggression to a RP aspect of the game and there's a variety of henchman wide enough to not make this a must
3) Spells control: yes. What spell to learn, scribe, memorize and cast.
4) Better direct command: yes, for those not interested in...
5) Direct control during combat: yes! Please, yes! The only way NWN(EE) is playable to me is not carrying any henchman because they keep doing stupid things like aggroing tons is enemies, misusing spells, tacking unnecessary AoO, running towards traps, and the list goes on.
this is why every time i play NWN i always go solo, bringing a hencemen is more hassle than what they bring to the table, which in my opinion is kind of ass backwards
i thought the "DND" experience was that you are supposed to have a party of adventurers taking down multiple obstacles that require different class abilities to get through, but i guess when NWN was being created they thought; nah brah, smash and bash your way through this game, its all about the multiplayer!
which is all fine and dandy i suppose, but it really makes for a lack luster ( really? that's not how you spell luster? hmm.... ) experience, and for me to try out all this "online stuff" i want to be proven in the single player how good the experience can be
also, dont know if this has been mentioned yet, but if you add full party control to NWN, the devs will have to completely revamp the AI of the entire series of NWN because enemy AI isn't to hot as well, so it will become a case of the game being too easy, because you can now use viable tactics against your enemies and your enemies are still sniffing glue because originally everyone was sniffy glue in the first place
I would need to know what exactly you mean by 'Full Party Control'. Are you talking about the party style of Kotor? where you can click on your party members portrait and 'be' them until you switch back (while the AI runs 'your' character)? and level them up, picking skills and feats?
If so, I don't think I would prefer that.
I've been playing on Arelith so maybe my focus is being affected by the mandatory roleplay there, but...
NWN is DnD. That is a ROLE-playing game. The idea being, you take up the role of your character. From an IC perspective, that 'henchman' you hired at the tavern has agreed, for whatever reason, to pal around with you and follow your lead. So yeah, I can see more abilities to direct their actions, but you should not be able to 'possess' them and make life altering decisions (class, feat, skill choice) for them. They AREN'T YOUR CHARACTER!
I can tell that crazy wizard I picked up to not throw fireballs when I'm in range (or, hey I'm fire-immune so go ahead), please go stand over there, hold this, or open this. I can ask him to use certain spells that he knows. Perhaps I can even give him stuff to wear while he's on an adventure with me but, frankly, if I do, I shouldn't expect to get it back.
I CANNOT tell him, 'guess what! you're not going to be a wizard anymore!' and force him to be a dual-wielding barbarian. Or completely alter the path of his wizardly studies that he (as any person with a life or a history) has chosen for himself. Or tell him which spells he is allowed to learn.
That sort of alteration of available companions should properly take place through dialogue and quests. You know, play your role and treat them like people. Or, you know, like NON-player characters.
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It was considered a wondrous and arcane phenomenon for a magic user to be able to possess their familiar, signifying their close telepathic bond. Don't make people familiars.
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I am NOT an extremely experienced companion manager; I found them finicky and it was simpler to just let them charge ahead, bash and be bashed. So, maybe some of these are already possible and I don't know it.
What I would prefer to see: a system to direct companions, familiars, animal friends, whatever during encounters, WITHOUT switching focus from your character.
Setup conditions beforehand that can be selected both by themselves and in combinations: don't attack until I say, attack as soon as you see an enemy, always attack the nearest target, always attack my target, NEVER attack my target, if I'm attacked defend me, if you are attacked defend yourself, defend me first, defend yourself first, don't use an AOE attack if I'm in range, don't use an AOE attack if YOUR in range, if you are not being attacked then move out of range so you CAN AOE, heal me first, heal yourself first, etc.
But above all, if a trap is discovered AFTER an order is given but BEFORE the action is carried out, for heavens sake, STOP!!! (unless you've set the condition ignore-all-traps)
Even with FPC that alone wouldn't make it a tactically rich experience. NWN lacks a lot of the timing and positional mechanics needed, which is tricky to work around with modding.
For example D&D stealth rules actually work a lot more like a tactical stealth game like Metal Gear but NWN has no concept of directional vision, concealment or cover. So a modder has to make their own elaborate vision/stealth system before it can be a tactically rewarding experience. Add FPC and you still need to make that custom system yourself.
@FreshLemonBun Quoted for chuckles and nostalgia. Can you imagine your character sneaking between the 2 patrolling bloodsailors in the basement of the Seedy Tavern in the Docks District during Chapter 1 of the Wailing Death Campaign, only to see an "!" appear above his/her head the moment one of them spots your character?
Even with FPC that alone wouldn't make it a tactically rich experience. NWN lacks a lot of the timing and positional mechanics needed, which is tricky to work around with modding.
For example D&D stealth rules actually work a lot more like a tactical stealth game like Metal Gear but NWN has no concept of directional vision, concealment or cover. So a modder has to make their own elaborate vision/stealth system before it can be a tactically rewarding experience. Add FPC and you still need to make that custom system yourself.
@FreshLemonBun Quoted for chuckles and nostalgia. Can you imagine your character sneaking between the 2 patrolling bloodsailors in the basement of the Seedy Tavern in the Docks District during Chapter 1 of the Wailing Death Campaign, only to see an "!" appear above his/her head the moment one of them spots your character?
Why do I get the feeling of ESO and Neverwinter MMO sneaking, lol.
As others have said, some clarification is required here. The thread title says "full control", but apparently there's still some ambiguity over whether that actually means full control or if it's just referring to some new commands or something.
Personally, I want full control, like in NWN2 or the IE games. I want to be able to select a party member and have the full range of actions available to me, as if I were controlling my PC. I want to choose what spells they learn/memorize, what feats they take, and so on. Classes, on the other hand, should be handled on a module-by-module basis. A character's class can be a very important part of their identity, so it should be up to the module creator to decide whether or not the player can change it (or if the player can change it in limited ways, like how Nathyrra could be leveled as a rogue, assassin, or wizard, but not a fighter or barbarian).
I would have to second DerpCity's suggestion that whatever improvements be made here be something that is not enabled by default, but turned on by the module builder setting a variable or something
I don't think anyone is asking for anything else. It would certainly be nice if they went through the official campaigns and rebalanced them for FPC, but I'm not going to demand that, and there would probably be community projects for that anyway. I just want it as an option for future modules. It would also be good if the player had the option of enabling FPC for existing modules, with a warning that it will significantly affect game balance. Maybe you could even add a flag for module creators to attach to a module that says "This was designed with FPC in mind", and any module that doesn't have that flag displays the warning. Or you could do it the other way around and have a message pop up that says "This module is designed to be played with FPC" when you load it for the first time. That might be better. It could be accompanied by a prompt to enable FPC. "This module wants FPC turned on. Activate FPC Y/N?"
If I had access to a toolset for Infinity Engine-style games that was as quick and easy to use as NWN's I would probably have greatly preferred that myself.
And doesn't that just say it all? FPC would only improve the game.
Unless you have an AI that can send your rogue to scout ahead, or prevent a fighter from charging until your wizard has thrown that fireball...
Or any number of things that aren’t easily scripted, then by default you dumb down the complexity of single player modules so that any class can handle any situation. Or you have to play a certain class to complete the module.
I think full party control is necessary for the long term health of the game. And by that I mean broadening it’s base to include more than the niche crowd who has kept it going for so long.
I couldn't agree more. The lack of FPC places huge limitations on how singleplayer modules can be designed. Adding it to NWN would elevate the game to a whole new level, and as you said, it would be very good for attracting new people.
NWN is a party-based CRPG. CRPGs aren't 1:1 representations of playing DnD in person with other people (not in singleplayer mode, anyway). A "henchman" in an IRL game is a temporary NPC. A "henchman" in NWN is a permanent party member. FPC doesn't remove the roleplaying aspect. Did Dragon Age prevent you from doing any roleplaying because you could control your companions? Did NWN2?
I've made this point several times before, but having FPC added to the game as an option wouldn't stop you from playing the game your way. You wouldn't lose anything, and people like me would gain something. Everyone wins. How can you be against that?
NWN is DnD. That is a ROLE-playing game. The idea being, you take up the role of your character. From an IC perspective, that 'henchman' you hired at the tavern has agreed, for whatever reason, to pal around with you and follow your lead. So yeah, I can see more abilities to direct their actions, but you should not be able to 'possess' them and make life altering decisions (class, feat, skill choice) for them. They AREN'T YOUR CHARACTER!
NWN is also a computer game. The computer is not your fellow human player; the lack of control over npcs in combat means only that you are watching the computer fight against itself. That's not roleplaying, that's playing sims dnd-style.
And if you really need some kind of in-character/in-universe justification for being able to control a companion's actions, you could always just headcanon that in-universe, they're the one actually making the decision, perhaps with some input or suggestion from your PC. That's how I tend to see it. You have to be willing to accept some level of abstraction with things like this. I mean, if someone is so adamant that RPGs should only be played strictly from the perspective of the player's avatar, with no direct influence on what their companions do, that seriously reduces the number of RPGs that person can play. It sure as hell rules out most party-based RPGs, and D&D has always been a party-based system. Hell, it arguably rules out any game where you don't actually create the main character, like most JRPGs.
And the presence of FPC doesn't mean that party members can't still be characters with minds of their own who can disagree with the PC. When we're talking about controlling a party member, we're talking about technical or mechanical stuff, like casting a specific spell, scouting ahead to disarm traps, or blocking a doorway to keep enemies from getting to the mage. This isn't stuff that really deals with a character's motivations or feelings. It's stuff that deals with technical situations. We're not talking about choosing dialogue options for them or something. Just because a module allows you to have control over what a paladin does in combat doesn't mean it can't also be designed in such a way that if your PC wants them to do something evil, they'll refuse and might even leave the party, or even attack the PC. FPC doesn't amount to the PC, in-universe, having mind control over their companions.
There are other ways to create an impression of companion autonomy than taking away player control in combat. Autonomy can be expressed through dialogues and quests, e.g. a good aligned companion might refuse to help you on an quest they consider evil, an evil companion might betray you and so on (limited as it is, this is how BG2 did it). Unless a character is insane, whould the heat of battle be the moment where they go "oh, I suddenly disagree with your leadership, I won't fight for you anymore"? And yet this is what the AI in NWN is capable of.
Yeah, exactly. A companion's autonomy comes through in the story, dialogue, quests, and big-picture stuff where you decide what your overall goals are and why. When it comes to the small details of accomplishing a goal, that's where you need full control, for maximum tactical effectiveness.
I definitely agree that you shouldn't be able to just turn your paladin into a blackguard (or vice versa) through the UI alone and have them happily help you burn down an orphanage, and when the guards come to arrest you and combat starts, have the blackguard obey your commands to murder them. But the point is that if that were to happen, the game would have already massively failed as an RPG long before you started fighting those guards.
I don't know anything about Guild Wars. What kind of control does it give you?
You can: 1° Equip your henchmen as you wish 2° Modify their AI from defensive to aggressive or passive 3° Tell them where to go with a flags system 4° Chose their skills (only 8 at a time from a very large selection) 5° Order them to use a skill (which can be very tricky in a fast paced game but fine for NWN)
There is a new game which does pretty much the same as far as I could see on Twitch: Pathfinder Kingmaker.
And about the avatar, simple screenshot from the character creation screen ingame.
You can: 1° Equip your henchmen as you wish 2° Modify their AI from defensive to aggressive or passive 3° Tell them where to go with a flags system 4° Chose their skills (only 8 at a time from a very large selection) 5° Order them to use a skill (which can be very tricky in a fast paced game but fine for NWN)
There is a new game which does pretty much the same as far as I could see on Twitch: Pathfinder Kingmaker.
That wouldn't be enough control for me. That's just a few small additions to NWN's current system. When people talk about full control, they really do mean full control, meaning you can select a party member and control them exactly the way you'd control your PC. It would be like NWN2, the Infinity Engine games, or Pillars of Eternity.
As for Kingmaker, I'm pretty sure it actually gives you full control as well. I was curious about it until I found out that it apparently has no modding tools at all.
I would definitely like the ability to possess my summoned monsters like I can my wizard's familiar. The ability to cast more buffs on allies would help a lot too - some caster-only buffs could have the AEO expanded to include allies. Those two simple changes together would be a significant help to improve both Party Control and the various Summons.
As party tyrant I want to at least control my henchman spell casters memorized spell selection and have the ability to tell them when to cast certain spells especially in combat. And of course the ability to tell my canon fodder to take and hold a specific position during combat and hold it, where to focus attacks too. The ability to tell them what weapons to use (sometimes works now via inventory management) and when to use a combat feat or skill to use etc. Maybe the ability to tell them when to use a magic item too.
That is already a lot but not quit NWN2 level of party control and while I'm not exactly opposed to that level of control I don't feel the need for it either eg controlling their level up process or to speak through them. I wonder if full control might even make it hard for a modder to make a customized NPC henchman since the player might hijack it and turn the budding Bard into something else when maybe the modder wants it to become a high level bard for some reason though I guess they could implement a flag to disallow player control of NPC level advancement for specific ones.
NWN2 control party system-like, please. It does have everything that you need without any stupid restrictions. When you switch character to your companion or familiar or summon, your original player should be controlled by AI. And don't tell me NWW is about role playing your character. If I would like to play RP with just my original character I would go play multiplayer. But then I play single player I want to control all my party my self with AI support.
Unfortunately, there are apparently a lot of people who believe NWN is meant to be a multiplayer game and that allowing FPC would somehow ruin the artistic vision of the game. Obviously, that's something I disagree with. In the past, it seemed like Beamdog themselves subscribed to that view, but the existence of this thread seems to indicate that they've reevaluated that position, which is commendable on their part. Of course, it ultimately doesn't mean much unless the feature is actually implemented.
As party tyrant I want to at least control my henchman spell casters memorized spell selection and have the ability to tell them when to cast certain spells especially in combat. And of course the ability to tell my canon fodder to take and hold a specific position during combat and hold it, where to focus attacks too. The ability to tell them what weapons to use (sometimes works now via inventory management) and when to use a combat feat or skill to use etc. Maybe the ability to tell them when to use a magic item too.
I have to admit that I don't quite understand why people think FPC necessarily means that, in the context of the game's universe, it's your PC giving orders and your companions obeying like unthinking robots. I see it more as an abstraction of the companions making their own decisions, done for the sake of interesting tactical gameplay.
That is already a lot but not quit NWN2 level of party control and while I'm not exactly opposed to that level of control I don't feel the need for it either eg controlling their level up process or to speak through them. I wonder if full control might even make it hard for a modder to make a customized NPC henchman since the player might hijack it and turn the budding Bard into something else when maybe the modder wants it to become a high level bard for some reason though I guess they could implement a flag to disallow player control of NPC level advancement for specific ones.
I definitely think a module author should have the option to limit how much control the player has over companion leveling. You should be able to decide, for example, that one companion in your module could only be leveled as a fighter or rogue, another could only be leveled as a rogue, or whatever else. Or if you want to give the player complete control over everything, you could do that too. The point is that it would be handled on a case-by-case basis. Regardless of any other limitations, I do think the player should always have control over feat choice, spell choice, and skill point distribution.
I'd be happy with just improving the ai, such as ai characters not using spells that with heal my enemies, and giving them more commands such as to summon their familiar. But direct control is nice as well.
NWN EE expansions really need parties of 3-6 with full control of the companions.
In modern single character RPGs it's expected to have abilities to use. Controlling a single 3.0 character in combat just doesn't cut it anymore. It's boring gameplay with very little to actively do, with Fighters especially.
All the limitations of 3.0 characters and lack of activated abilities suddenly turn to strengths when you have a full party to control. It's good you can leave the tanks mostly on autopilot and focus on spellcasters.
And a full party that can cover magic, healing, traps, locks, fighting etc. is what D&D is about.
NWN EE expansions really need parties of 3-6 with full control of the companions.
In modern single character RPGs it's expected to have abilities to use. Controlling a single 3.0 character in combat just doesn't cut it anymore. It's boring gameplay with very little to actively do, with Fighters especially.
All the limitations of 3.0 characters and lack of activated abilities suddenly turn to strengths when you have a full party to control. It's good you can leave the tanks mostly on autopilot and focus on spellcasters.
And a full party that can cover magic, healing, traps, locks, fighting etc. is what D&D is about.
+1 - Well said ...
I remember playing NWN years ago and remembering how much I liked the game - except for the stupid henchmen.
I would really like to see Beamdog enable that choice for us.
Alternatively, Beamdog could create their own super high quality PW with all new graphics and professional writing and sell that. Or modules designed entirely for multiplayer.
But the SP gamers aren't going anywhere and they need to have fun D&D party adventuring too.
The development of NWN:EE is focused on the new renderer, 64-bit. It's been this way for a few months. All other features will have to wait.
Is there any particular hierarchy for which other features are high/low priority once the new renderer is finished? If you have any estimates for how much longer the new renderer will take, that would be nice to know as well. Would definitely appreciate any details you could give.
An option for module authors to allow players to create entire parties from scratch like in Storm of Zehir would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if spellcasting AI improvements are possible but if not, an option to simply restrict party AI from using spells unless manually controlled by the player would make it more manageable.
I have to agree with @PL1 , NWN would be much better with full party control. One simply needs to look at NWN 2 and Dragon Age: Origins and realize what a success they were. Also thanks to FPC. There is a reason why Obsidian's employees, IE and D&D experts, decided to implement it in NWN 2. Because they knew it would solidify the experience.
When I was younger, in school we used to play all IE games + NWN and tabletop D&D. And every time someone asked us what we were doing, we'd say "playing D&D", and their response was "oh, that party card game again?". We were nuts, but it was the best time in our lives.
I bought the enhanced edition of every IE game and NWN, and am really hoping that they implement FPC, among other things. They've been great so far, and I urge them to continue (Except IWD 2 which will sadly never happen, not Beamdog's fault, of course...). If BD does at least a third of the suggestions given, it would make it a game-changer, and I'm certain, draw in more people. Better models and textures go a long way these days, especially since the game doesn't lack narrative or things to do. But I digress.
I'd be happy if there were a solo mode like KOTOR where you can use whichever character for a particular check and then revert back to your main character.
Would be good to be able to control spellcasting so you can turn off casting and then you switch to that character to use their spells etc.
The way I play wrath of the righteous is to have an auto pause whenever someone in my party defeats an enemy and not let them move on their own, that way I tell them who to attack and they won't initiate a new combat without my input or unless they come in range
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i thought the "DND" experience was that you are supposed to have a party of adventurers taking down multiple obstacles that require different class abilities to get through, but i guess when NWN was being created they thought; nah brah, smash and bash your way through this game, its all about the multiplayer!
which is all fine and dandy i suppose, but it really makes for a lack luster ( really? that's not how you spell luster? hmm.... ) experience, and for me to try out all this "online stuff" i want to be proven in the single player how good the experience can be
also, dont know if this has been mentioned yet, but if you add full party control to NWN, the devs will have to completely revamp the AI of the entire series of NWN because enemy AI isn't to hot as well, so it will become a case of the game being too easy, because you can now use viable tactics against your enemies and your enemies are still sniffing glue because originally everyone was sniffy glue in the first place
If so, I don't think I would prefer that.
I've been playing on Arelith so maybe my focus is being affected by the mandatory roleplay there, but...
NWN is DnD. That is a ROLE-playing game. The idea being, you take up the role of your character. From an IC perspective, that 'henchman' you hired at the tavern has agreed, for whatever reason, to pal around with you and follow your lead. So yeah, I can see more abilities to direct their actions, but you should not be able to 'possess' them and make life altering decisions (class, feat, skill choice) for them. They AREN'T YOUR CHARACTER!
I can tell that crazy wizard I picked up to not throw fireballs when I'm in range (or, hey I'm fire-immune so go ahead), please go stand over there, hold this, or open this. I can ask him to use certain spells that he knows. Perhaps I can even give him stuff to wear while he's on an adventure with me but, frankly, if I do, I shouldn't expect to get it back.
I CANNOT tell him, 'guess what! you're not going to be a wizard anymore!' and force him to be a dual-wielding barbarian. Or completely alter the path of his wizardly studies that he (as any person with a life or a history) has chosen for himself. Or tell him which spells he is allowed to learn.
That sort of alteration of available companions should properly take place through dialogue and quests. You know, play your role and treat them like people. Or, you know, like NON-player characters.
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It was considered a wondrous and arcane phenomenon for a magic user to be able to possess their familiar, signifying their close telepathic bond. Don't make people familiars.
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I am NOT an extremely experienced companion manager; I found them finicky and it was simpler to just let them charge ahead, bash and be bashed. So, maybe some of these are already possible and I don't know it.
What I would prefer to see: a system to direct companions, familiars, animal friends, whatever during encounters, WITHOUT switching focus from your character.
Setup conditions beforehand that can be selected both by themselves and in combinations: don't attack until I say, attack as soon as you see an enemy, always attack the nearest target, always attack my target, NEVER attack my target, if I'm attacked defend me, if you are attacked defend yourself, defend me first, defend yourself first, don't use an AOE attack if I'm in range, don't use an AOE attack if YOUR in range, if you are not being attacked then move out of range so you CAN AOE, heal me first, heal yourself first, etc.
But above all, if a trap is discovered AFTER an order is given but BEFORE the action is carried out, for heavens sake, STOP!!! (unless you've set the condition ignore-all-traps)
Personally, I want full control, like in NWN2 or the IE games. I want to be able to select a party member and have the full range of actions available to me, as if I were controlling my PC. I want to choose what spells they learn/memorize, what feats they take, and so on. Classes, on the other hand, should be handled on a module-by-module basis. A character's class can be a very important part of their identity, so it should be up to the module creator to decide whether or not the player can change it (or if the player can change it in limited ways, like how Nathyrra could be leveled as a rogue, assassin, or wizard, but not a fighter or barbarian).
I don't think anyone is asking for anything else. It would certainly be nice if they went through the official campaigns and rebalanced them for FPC, but I'm not going to demand that, and there would probably be community projects for that anyway. I just want it as an option for future modules. It would also be good if the player had the option of enabling FPC for existing modules, with a warning that it will significantly affect game balance. Maybe you could even add a flag for module creators to attach to a module that says "This was designed with FPC in mind", and any module that doesn't have that flag displays the warning. Or you could do it the other way around and have a message pop up that says "This module is designed to be played with FPC" when you load it for the first time. That might be better. It could be accompanied by a prompt to enable FPC. "This module wants FPC turned on. Activate FPC Y/N?" And doesn't that just say it all? FPC would only improve the game.
I couldn't agree more. The lack of FPC places huge limitations on how singleplayer modules can be designed. Adding it to NWN would elevate the game to a whole new level, and as you said, it would be very good for attracting new people.
NWN is a party-based CRPG. CRPGs aren't 1:1 representations of playing DnD in person with other people (not in singleplayer mode, anyway). A "henchman" in an IRL game is a temporary NPC. A "henchman" in NWN is a permanent party member. FPC doesn't remove the roleplaying aspect. Did Dragon Age prevent you from doing any roleplaying because you could control your companions? Did NWN2?
I've made this point several times before, but having FPC added to the game as an option wouldn't stop you from playing the game your way. You wouldn't lose anything, and people like me would gain something. Everyone wins. How can you be against that?
And the presence of FPC doesn't mean that party members can't still be characters with minds of their own who can disagree with the PC. When we're talking about controlling a party member, we're talking about technical or mechanical stuff, like casting a specific spell, scouting ahead to disarm traps, or blocking a doorway to keep enemies from getting to the mage. This isn't stuff that really deals with a character's motivations or feelings. It's stuff that deals with technical situations. We're not talking about choosing dialogue options for them or something. Just because a module allows you to have control over what a paladin does in combat doesn't mean it can't also be designed in such a way that if your PC wants them to do something evil, they'll refuse and might even leave the party, or even attack the PC. FPC doesn't amount to the PC, in-universe, having mind control over their companions.
I definitely agree that you shouldn't be able to just turn your paladin into a blackguard (or vice versa) through the UI alone and have them happily help you burn down an orphanage, and when the guards come to arrest you and combat starts, have the blackguard obey your commands to murder them. But the point is that if that were to happen, the game would have already massively failed as an RPG long before you started fighting those guards.
1° Equip your henchmen as you wish
2° Modify their AI from defensive to aggressive or passive
3° Tell them where to go with a flags system
4° Chose their skills (only 8 at a time from a very large selection)
5° Order them to use a skill (which can be very tricky in a fast paced game but fine for NWN)
There is a new game which does pretty much the same as far as I could see on Twitch: Pathfinder Kingmaker.
And about the avatar, simple screenshot from the character creation screen ingame.
As for Kingmaker, I'm pretty sure it actually gives you full control as well. I was curious about it until I found out that it apparently has no modding tools at all.
As party tyrant I want to at least control my henchman spell casters memorized spell selection and have the ability to tell them when to cast certain spells especially in combat. And of course the ability to tell my canon fodder to take and hold a specific position during combat and hold it, where to focus attacks too. The ability to tell them what weapons to use (sometimes works now via inventory management) and when to use a combat feat or skill to use etc. Maybe the ability to tell them when to use a magic item too.
That is already a lot but not quit NWN2 level of party control and while I'm not exactly opposed to that level of control I don't feel the need for it either eg controlling their level up process or to speak through them. I wonder if full control might even make it hard for a modder to make a customized NPC henchman since the player might hijack it and turn the budding Bard into something else when maybe the modder wants it to become a high level bard for some reason though I guess they could implement a flag to disallow player control of NPC level advancement for specific ones.
I have to admit that I don't quite understand why people think FPC necessarily means that, in the context of the game's universe, it's your PC giving orders and your companions obeying like unthinking robots. I see it more as an abstraction of the companions making their own decisions, done for the sake of interesting tactical gameplay.
I definitely think a module author should have the option to limit how much control the player has over companion leveling. You should be able to decide, for example, that one companion in your module could only be leveled as a fighter or rogue, another could only be leveled as a rogue, or whatever else. Or if you want to give the player complete control over everything, you could do that too. The point is that it would be handled on a case-by-case basis. Regardless of any other limitations, I do think the player should always have control over feat choice, spell choice, and skill point distribution.
In modern single character RPGs it's expected to have abilities to use. Controlling a single 3.0 character in combat just doesn't cut it anymore. It's boring gameplay with very little to actively do, with Fighters especially.
All the limitations of 3.0 characters and lack of activated abilities suddenly turn to strengths when you have a full party to control. It's good you can leave the tanks mostly on autopilot and focus on spellcasters.
And a full party that can cover magic, healing, traps, locks, fighting etc. is what D&D is about.
I remember playing NWN years ago and remembering how much I liked the game - except for the stupid henchmen.
I would really like to see Beamdog enable that choice for us.
But the SP gamers aren't going anywhere and they need to have fun D&D party adventuring too.
Is there any particular hierarchy for which other features are high/low priority once the new renderer is finished? If you have any estimates for how much longer the new renderer will take, that would be nice to know as well. Would definitely appreciate any details you could give.
When I was younger, in school we used to play all IE games + NWN and tabletop D&D. And every time someone asked us what we were doing, we'd say "playing D&D", and their response was "oh, that party card game again?". We were nuts, but it was the best time in our lives.
I bought the enhanced edition of every IE game and NWN, and am really hoping that they implement FPC, among other things. They've been great so far, and I urge them to continue (Except IWD 2 which will sadly never happen, not Beamdog's fault, of course...). If BD does at least a third of the suggestions given, it would make it a game-changer, and I'm certain, draw in more people. Better models and textures go a long way these days, especially since the game doesn't lack narrative or things to do. But I digress.
Would be good to be able to control spellcasting so you can turn off casting and then you switch to that character to use their spells etc.
The way I play wrath of the righteous is to have an auto pause whenever someone in my party defeats an enemy and not let them move on their own, that way I tell them who to attack and they won't initiate a new combat without my input or unless they come in range