Vague question...

[Magnum Opus]

WRT: DnD playing: Not really so enthusiastic. There are more agreeable systems out there, but DnD has the largest body of games upon which to draw, so that's what I'm doing. The concepts to which I'm referring, though, aren't unique to DnD: Storytelling, rules being used to tell a story rather than merely dialogue and cutscenes, continuity between games, an almost compulsive need for every group of heroes to become demigods within the scope of one game, etc.

But, your statement about "without levels and gear" is actually missing the entire point of my posts. The rule system for one GAME in a series need not encompass the entire rule system for the SETTING. A cosmetic nod toward continuity is actually worse than useless from my perspective: all it does for me is draw attention to everything else that's missing or reset. I'd rather start with a fresh group entirely if that's all that was going to happen. But, if Game 2 takes into account the things that happened in Game 1, if Game 2 is not a rehash of game 1 but instead a continuation, there's no need to reset anything: nothing gets broken to begin with.

I'm just curious about whether LoG has done this, that's all.

(there. A little more concise. )

[Mameluk]

Let me recap this... we're still talking about importing a party from the first game to the next one, right? Not just plot continuity but the continuity of your party? Okay. Yes, it all depends on whether or not every player MUST grind their party to become demigods in order to complete the game. If that's the case, then balance issues still exist. You see, if the game requires you to find the best gear and reach a certain level, it wouldn't be such a big deal. Everyone would start at the same point in the sequel. But if you can complete the first game with an incomplete party, so to say, you would have MUCH harder time progressing in the Game 2 because it's balanced for the high tier teams. Only demigods would be viable in the sequel. The sequel would result in being a vastly different experience for every player and could possibly harm sales and accessibility.

On the other hand, if the Game 2 is more oriented towards "all kinds of parties" in general, the incomplete party would perhaps do just fine, but the demigod party would have it too easy. So I think there's no fine line in which you can have everything from the previous game imported to the next one.

Granted, I do not know anything about the game mechanisms, so everything is just speculation based on the steady growth curve, and if the growth curve is steady, that means there's a difference between end game party and a starting party. We just don't know how big that difference is, really, as we have not played the game.

[jfunk]

You're asking a theoretical question about a hypothetical game a week and half before its predecessor is even released.

Man, it sure is a real mystery why you're not receiving more definitive answers.

[gonnarule]

I don't really see where the balancing problem would be...

Devs should have a vague idea of the end game level of the "normal" party, so they can evaluate the beginning level of a sequel.
If you maxed your team, well you'll have some advantage at the beginning, but you'll gain less xp due to your "high" level.
If you did not max your team, you'll maybe be a bit low at the beginning, which would be more challenging (which is good no ?). Anyway you could maybe decide to re-attribute some points in your characters, to "format" them as new characters (keeping their equipment), etc.

I don't see anything to be afraid of in this "importing party" thing

[Karkarov]

I don't see anything to be afraid of in this "importing party" thing

Yeap, neither do I. Lots of games have done this in one way or another many of them with far more skill than examples given. They have a max level, they have max skills, and they know what items exist in the game. If they want to make a consistent game world where the party can move from one game to the next on ever more perilous journeys all they have to do is the math. It is just a matter of putting in new enemies/loot based around the idea that on an average playthrough a LoG team will get XYZ level and gear level. It is actually quite simple.

Also you can trust that part of game balancing and testing revolves around the whole idea of determining what an "average" party can bring to bear at any given time to begin with. So more than likely, they already have this info even now. It is just a matter of whether they want to go that route with a sequel or not.