@Zerubbabel, I agree that optimization/pathing/inventory/camera/chain control are some of the bigger issues for 6-person parties. I don't trust Larian to properly address many of these issues, which is a large part of why I'd want a 6-person party to remain optional.
I still think that it wouldn't take too much time to balance the game for 6-person parties, especially since I'd prefer that the game is also re-balanced for smaller-than-4 parties. Like, I want a solo character to level up faster than a 4-person party (divide exp for an encounter between all participating party members). If this method is used, then extrapolating to 5 and 6 should be minimal extra work. - For playtesting, the simplest *roughly balanced* method is to take the final boss fight that's balanced for a party of 4 adventurers at level N. Then, Larian performs that fight with a 6-person-party of level N-2, N-3, and maybe N-4. One of those options should provide a similarly balanced fight. Find out which one, then scale exp by the appropriate amount.
Most of the rest of the points rely on the 6-person party being optional. I 100% agree that, at this point in development, 4-person party should be the intended/default way to play.
Originally Posted by Zerubbabel
-Okay, then have that, with a toggle in the main menu and a warning. Have the developer's vision on one hand, and an easy-to-produce "do whatever you want" set of options in the settings. There's a lot of random bullshit you can put there that would satisfy everyone. Why not? If it's low-time, low-resource, and low-effort, and the average consumer has to really look to find it, add it in. There's no reason not to.
ACTUALLY, all the things that people have been demanding that would be easy to add in, but are not part of the developers' initial vision should be a hidden toggle in the main menu. Limiting camp supplies more, limiting resting more, modifying party size, muting companions (I saw it once), disabling barrels, removing height advantage/disadvantage, ALL OF IT WHICH IS EASY CAN GO BACK THERE. Fuck it, why not.
I like options, but an important consideration is that the game will be balanced assuming a certain set of rules (possibly multiple sets for different difficulty levels). These base rules are important. E.g., Larian basing the game around height advantage and/or surfaces would drastically change encounters, enemy AI, etc. People that wouldn't want to play with those settings would have a worse game experience by toggling them off. It's a balance between "What default setting makes a better game?", "What percentage of players want that option?", and "How much does that destroy our vision/how much work is it to implement that?"
Y'know, I just thought of this, but one way to solve the problem of rolls being too easy with larger parties is to just secretly load the die. Clearly there's a background probability calculator for the game and the dice are just cosmetic. Rig the die with larger parties so that the overall probabilities for a party of 6 are the same as a party of 4... by making the probability of failure slightly higher per each character. I should have thought of this earlier.
I will level with you, though: It is highly likely that the game will not ship with larger party options, but that there will be a highly endorsed, highly effective, easy to download mod in the Steam Workshop very early.
Last edited by Zerubbabel; 31/01/2312:01 AM.
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