Inspection system and a new Auspex for 1.4

Let me brief everyone on what I've been working on the past week or so. If you've ever invested in Inspection in TFN, you'll know that the main 4 hubs have items (and their corresponding sparklies) hidden until your Inspection is high enough to see them. This was only done in the 4 main hubs, your haven, and the Pier map. And if you use Auspex, you still couldn't see higher level items but could see the sparklies on items that currently didn't have any.

I really liked the idea of hiding items until your Inspection was high enough to see them, but I didn't like how we only did it for 6 maps and Auspex basically was worthless for finding higher leveled items. Well guess what, I changed that in 1.4!

Here's what I've done so far...
1.) I've hidden EVERY single item in the game in every single map, including some quest items like Bertram's CD in the Warrens, and the two fetish items needed to get the occult items from Pisha. Your Inspection will need to be high enough to see these items. Even items we've taken for granted like the Morphine in Malcolm's office are hidden, of course you can now buy Morphine from Trip but you'll have to pay for it.
2.) Auspex has always increased your Perception but not when it came to seeing items. That didn't make any sense to me, so I changed it. Auspex now works in real-time so when you use it, and it's a high enough level to increase your Perception, items and their sparklies will appear out of nowhere and will disappear again when you turn Auspex off. All of it is in real-time, it's VERY cool!
3.) Auspex can still be used to temporarily increase your Intelligence increasing your Hacking feat, this has not changed and is still a wonderful option for hacker style builds. Of course, unlike Blood Buff for lockpicking, this can't be used in Elysium.
4.) Another cool feature added to Auspex is the progressive particle system I made. Instead of the boring red halo, it is now a white halo that turns blue as it pulls in. Also, the halo is small and barely visible at level 1, by the time you get to level 5, the halo is big, bright, and powerful, reflecting the power of your heightened senses.
5.) Lastly, since I figure Auspex players will want to walk around with Auspex turned on most of the time to find the most amount of items and goodies, I turned the Auspex_Maintain sound down so it doesn't get annoying. The graphical effect isn't overwhelming but as I playing with Auspex on all the time, it got annoying hearing it. So now, you can still hear it, but it's very quiet and not real noticeable.

I will post pictures and a video of the new Inspection/Auspex system and I must confess, IT'S FREAKING AWESOME!! Not to mention I also added $2,000 worth of cash throughout the entire game for the player to find. For those of you who like hunting for goodies, you're going to love TFN 1.4!

Great thing! And it makes sense too!
For example, Malcom's desk is such a mess,that it's difficult to find anything on it. not to mention that PC with Inspection 1 must be blind or something! =)

neonedrid wrote:

Great thing! And it makes sense too!
For example, Malcom's desk is such a mess,that it's difficult to find anything on it. not to mention that PC with Inspection 1 must be blind or something! =)

Exactly! Well I've been trying to figure out a way to make Inspection as good as Haggle, Seduction, Hacking, and Lockpicking, and this is the perfect solution. For players who want to specialize in Inspection but not in Haggle, Hacking, or Lockpicking, to make their money, this is the perfect way to do it.

Let's face it, Auspex was the least played and effective discipline in the entire game, so now it helps you in ranged combat but also benefits the player in several other ways outside of combat.

If I recall right, the spontaneous appearing and disappearing of itmes was the reason why we left auspex to the sparlies only, when we designed the hidden items.

Zer0Morph wrote:

Let's face it, Auspex was the least played and effective discipline in the entire game,
so now it helps you in ranged combat but also benefits the player in several other ways outside of combat.

I can debate on that. It was very useful if you're not hacker or perceptive PC.
Personally, the least played discipline for me always was Presence, even with Dominate-esque dialog choices in last Wesp's patches. It's lagging, and brings not so many benefits on low-tiers, and when I finally have enough points for higher tiers, I usually come up with something else.
Remember about Jack, who preferred Potence over Presence =)


But anyway, good idea with Auspex!

The fetish for Pisha is not exactly hidden, you can find its location by hacking a computer in the museum; I agree about the book though: it doesn't seem like something the Giovanni would let lying around.
The Bertram's CD should be easier to find after you actually receive his email.
Now Inspection will be much more important and more people will play the Inspection Histories.
The only "downside" is that now Auspex is overpowered

I will wag for agree with Zer0.
Now Auspex works more PnP, and I like it.

Childe of Malkav wrote:

If I recall right, the spontaneous appearing and disappearing of itmes was the reason why we left auspex to the sparlies only, when we designed the hidden items.

You're right of course. But after I thought about it, it just didn't make sense to NOT allow Auspex to help the player see items.

MxM wrote:

The only "downside" is that now Auspex is overpowered

Seems like after I touch something in TFN, people always say it's overpowered. Haggle used to be useless, now it's OPed. Inspection and Auspex were useless, now they're OPed.

Way to go Zer0, stop screwing up our game!

Zer0Morph wrote:

Childe of Malkav wrote:

If I recall right, the spontaneous appearing and disappearing of itmes was the reason why we left auspex to the sparlies only, when we designed the hidden items.

You're right of course. But after I thought about it, it just didn't make sense to NOT allow Auspex to help the player see items.

MxM wrote:

The only "downside" is that now Auspex is overpowered

Seems like after I touch something in TFN, people always say it's overpowered. Haggle used to be useless, now it's OPed. Inspection and Auspex were useless, now they're OPed.

Way to go Zer0, stop screwing up our game!

You made useful for the first time both haggle and inspection. Auspex was always a bit OP (+hacking, +research, +defence, +ranged and +inspection) only before that inspection was useless

MxM wrote:

Way to go Zer0, stop screwing up our game!

You made useful for the first time both haggle and inspection. Auspex was always a bit OP (+hacking, +research, +defence, +ranged and +inspection) only before that inspection was useless [/quote]

And here this whole time I've been thinking Celerity was OPed. Hmm... Guess I could always nerf Auspex back to how it was, so basically you can only see people through walls fapping, but no real bonuses. LOL

Zer0Morph wrote:

MxM wrote:

Way to go Zer0, stop screwing up our game!

You made useful for the first time both haggle and inspection. Auspex was always a bit OP (+hacking, +research, +defence, +ranged and +inspection) only before that inspection was useless

And here this whole time I've been thinking Celerity was OPed. Hmm...  Guess I could always nerf Auspex back to how it was, so basically you can only see people through walls fapping, but no real bonuses. LOL [/quote]
I forgot how useless Auspex was in vanilla
Anyway Auspex + Celerity FTW

MxM wrote:

I forgot how useless Auspex was in vanilla
Anyway Auspex + Celerity FTW

Yeah, in all honesty, I think every discipline in TFN is well balanced and very helpful. I don't think any of them are necessarily "WIN" buttons. Presence used to be useless too, until I redesigned it to make people cower at higher levels. Now it's almost OP really.

Presence + Fortitude = Unkillable

Zer0Morph wrote:

MxM wrote:

I forgot how useless Auspex was in vanilla
Anyway Auspex + Celerity FTW

Yeah, in all honesty, I think every discipline in TFN is well balanced and very helpful. I don't think any of them are necessarily "WIN" buttons. Presence used to be useless too, until I redesigned it to make people cower at higher levels. Now it's almost OP really.

Presence + Fortitude = Unkillable

Yes Presence is an incredible debuff. I never tried Presence + Fortitude though, I usually use Presence + BloodBuff in melee ( +5 Strength +5 Stamina)

MxM wrote:

Presence + Fortitude = Unkillable

Yes Presence is an incredible debuff. I never tried Presence + Fortitude though, I usually use Presence + BloodBuff in melee ( +5 Strength +5 Stamina)[/quote]

Yeah, I could see that being a very powerful combination too. Presence debuffs them and causes them to cower, then you get +5 Bashing Soak and + Melee damage. Sweetness!!

I can't wait to post a video of the new Inspection system along with Auspex. They work so well together and the new particle effects are REALLY awesome!

Zer0Morph wrote:

MxM wrote:

Presence + Fortitude = Unkillable
Yes Presence is an incredible debuff. I never tried Presence + Fortitude though, I usually use Presence + BloodBuff in melee ( +5 Strength +5 Stamina)

Yeah, I could see that being a very powerful combination too. Presence debuffs them and causes them to cower, then you get +5 Bashing Soak and + Melee damage. Sweetness!!

I can't wait to post a video of the new Inspection system along with Auspex. They work so well together and the new particle effects are REALLY awesome!

I can't wait I'm really curious
BloodBuff +Presence is also great for sneaking as enemies gets -Perception and your stealth raise

MxM wrote:

I can't wait I'm really curious
BloodBuff +Presence is also great for sneaking as enemies gets -Perception and your stealth raise

I'll try to get a video up later tonight or sometime tomorrow. I'm really excited about showing it off.

I never thought of that, but you're right, you'd get a bonus to Sneaking and the enemy gets a penalty to Perception!

The range of Presence 5 is insane too. It hits people REALLY far away and sometimes makes them cower even at a long distance. You're making me fall in love with Presence again, just talking about it.

I'm afraid that making Quest items like Bertram's CD and Pisha's fetishes unfidable unless you have Inspection a broken mechanic.
The good part of Inspection is finding items where you don't know where they are; the bad is, otherwise it's useless. Because, after taking notes, the replayability of the game lowers - you don't need the sparkles anymore.

Now, if you were to hide common itens like weapons, consumables and money, and not Quest items, even if secondary quests, than I wouldn't complain; but I have a better proposition: find I way to place the items on the general vicinity. This way, you actually need to INSPECT and LOOK FOR the Items. Auspex would greatly help you in finding these items.


Oh yeah, speaking of Auspex, could you please reduce the graphical effects? It gets laggy =(
But for the other disciplines as well ^^u soooo many passive disciplines stacked...

Cretino wrote:

The good part of Inspection is finding items where you don't know where they are; the bad is, otherwise it's useless.

Actually even if you know where they are, you can't see them or pick them up until you have the appropriate Inspection level.

Cretino wrote:

Oh yeah, speaking of Auspex, could you please reduce the graphical effects? It gets laggy =(
But for the other disciplines as well ^^u soooo many passive disciplines stacked...

Actually the particle effects in TFN are much lower than vanilla because I thought they were overwhelming in the vanilla version. I've toned them down a lot. Even after us toning them down, if your still having lag issues, you'll want to upgrade your computer to something modern.

I know you can't see them. But they are always there. You just have to level up Inspection to see. I was talking about Vanilla, and how you made you made it Chocolate.

This sounds like a good change. Auspex always seemed a bit meh, despite the buff to guns and this is going to make it better.

I like being able to find money directly. With valuable items you had to combine both Inspection and Haggle to get the most out of it, but if you can find money directly then you only need Inspection alone.

Although for quest items it would be nice to have alternatives. Like if you hack a computer and read a log that explains where the fetish is, that could make it visible and possible to interact with, even if you get no sparklies. Same for Bertram's CD. If you get the quest it should at least lower the difficulty of seeing it as someone suggested.

Dragatus wrote:

This sounds like a good change. Auspex always seemed a bit meh, despite the buff to guns and this is going to make it better.

I like being able to find money directly. With valuable items you had to combine both Inspection and Haggle to get the most out of it, but if you can find money directly then you only need Inspection alone.

Although for quest items it would be nice to have alternatives. Like if you hack a computer and read a log that explains where the fetish is, that could make it visible and possible to interact with, even if you get no sparklies. Same for Bertram's CD. If you get the quest it should at least lower the difficulty of seeing it as someone suggested.

True. When the PC knows something is at a specific location, finding it should be at least easier.

Agree to Ferals and Dragatus.

I do want to mention though, that one needs a reason to search for the items (thats why I would give a slightly better description in the skill descriptions). Giving the player a small information of what could be pursuited is way better to leave them in the dark completely.

I would keep the general inspection levels rather low. Some nice goodies need to be higher of course.
Why? Because its frustrating if you play and don't find anything at all. Especially when you come from vanilla when everything was lying around. The game might appear empty and everything if some things aren't really easy to spot.

So:

MxM wrote:

The fetish for Pisha is not exactly hidden, you can find its location by hacking a computer in the museum; I agree about the book though: it doesn't seem like something the Giovanni would let lying around.
The Bertram's CD should be easier to find after you actually receive his email.

I agree with kyoden: maybe make like part of the cash (20$) easy to spot the same for normal watch, stereo and silver ring.

Zer0Morph wrote:

. Of course, unlike Blood Buff for lockpicking, this can't be used in Elysium.

You can't use bloodbuff in Elysiums right? Cause I couldnt use Blood Buff to Lockpick the chest from the missing guy next to mercurio's appartment.

kyoden wrote:

Zer0Morph wrote:

. Of course, unlike Blood Buff for lockpicking, this can't be used in Elysium.

You can't use bloodbuff in Elysiums right? Cause I couldnt use Blood Buff to Lockpick the chest from the missing guy next to mercurio's appartment.

you can: just start lockpicking and then activate BloodBuff (while lockpicking)