Pillars of Eternity Thread [Pre-Expansion]

Yeah I had to see the screenshot to recall it

 

I would disagree that just because the story is more focused around the world building aspect than the player is bad. It's a matter of personal choice, for one, I find the companions to be good for your fantasy novel type situation and I find the story intriguing as well.

 

Your character gets almost blown to pieces by a magical explosion that somehow infects his mind so he can see fucking ghosts and gets nightmares almost every night which even makes his companions wake him up because hes shaking so much. He knows that the explosion was caused by this dark cult that sacrifices their own people to activate some strange magical devices and learns (through maka) that this cult does not refrain from killing innocents who get in their way. Then you meet this maelorn dude who shared the same fate as you in which progress he was driven mad like mel fucking gibson. And now you tell us there is no motivation for him to stop this progress? Should he lean back and wait until hes the same brabbling lunatic as maelorn?

And for the sidequest, well, youre not forced to do them. Whatever reason drives you to do them is up to you (getting money, fucking someone over that you dont like, playing the hero etc usw) Its still an rpg after all you know.

 

Yessssssssssss, Josh and I remain one and the same. Nothing could ever possibly make me care, so don't bother wasting time coming up with a reason. I'll do the content because it's there, as always.

 

I played BG2 recently, and I didn't have problems with pathfinding. Have you used that config dialog that allowed to increase number of pathfinding nodes? It has been set conservatively to protect computers with slow CPU.

 

Not bad. I can see doing it with two Wizards, sure. Party damage output with a Chanter PC is pretty shit near the beginning, and dishing out lots of damage quickly is pretty vital in a scenario like that.

Wish I still had my save file. I just assumed it was too much to take on after initially getting wrecked.

 

BTW did they corrected the bug where equipping with doubleclick removes bonuses?

 

But that's my whole point you blathering woman. The content is good, the context is not. I'm not dismissing the content on account of the context as you seem to suggest (or was it a willfully employed strawman?), I'm saying you judge what is presented to you, and the context presented to you is weak.

Otherwise why have a story at all? Why not just play strings of code manipulating other strings of code? It's not my fault the game has a story, and it's not my responsibility the structure works. It's Josh's.

 

(also it's formalist nonsense to say that contextualising stuff well is a waste of time if the content can stand on its own: it's simply one more tool you can use to show the player interesting things)

 

1. you can't move a character "accidentally", unless you're not paying attention to who you have selected at all. if you're subject to a disengagement attack the cursor will look differently. the game actually signals you, "hey, you move - you get stabbed in the back". I can understand that some people might not see the distinction, but it's there.

2. your rogue (as well as your mage) can reposition in combat without getting a "pat on the back" by using his skills/talents/whatever (for example, rogue has instant invisibility).

maybe it's because I'm playing on normal, but I have yet too see how disengagement breaks combat. this combat is certainly better than in BG, where I could just kite enemies for hours cheesing every tough battle

 

It is? It would be even more Fenstermakers as Josh

Anyway, not started yet, but would you say its similiar to New Vegas where the game kept you free to choose your own motivation instead of spoonfinding it to you?

Because in that case I will vastly prefer it. I hate when crpgs dictate your motivation. A strong motivation is only necessary in a game if it doesn't offer (or limits) the option to have your very own charachter.

Mentioned before but its my personal big beef with Fallout3. Ofcourse, the argument can be that NV went too far in the other direction but I prefer it this way (Not saying you may not have a point)

 

Well, first time I checked out the inn I didn't have enough cash to recruit the "level 1 adventurer", and the in-game tip said something about sending them on adventures which I assumed was some kind of retarded minigame so I never bothered trying what it really does. Good to know for a future playthrough though.

 

How are people playing with regards to reputation/personality traits. I started with them on but have played with them off a while. I have to say I vastly prefer it.

It's nothing like New Vegas, actually. In New Vegas every place you go to shows you its lore through the characters and their conflicts, there are next to no large infodumps that I can recall.

I guess what you're getting at is that they're similar in structure, building on Roguey's point that Josh can wash his hands? You would have a point if not for the fact that Josh probably had a hand in the overall structure of each location as well.

Like I said to Roguey, you can establish characters and themes and thus give the player a reason to care without dangling a "LOOK FOR YOUR FATHER DUDE" thread in front of them.

"Reason to care about something" doesn't mean "clear-cut personal motivation for PC".

 

I think the game definitely lacks an initial hook. Watching bad men do some weird shit that possibly affects you isn't really a strong story hook.

 

writing in this game is on the icewind dale level.

 

What?

Credit where credit is due, dude. You should know me well enough by now to know I don't bullshit in that regard.

Also I said that as the narrative lead (and the one who wrote the main story, dialouge and structured it into acts) Fenstermaker probably had even a bigger hand in it than Josh. Thats what we actually know, not what we assume. To Joshs specific role in the location infodumps and structure we'd have to ask. At no point did I say Josh can wash his hands.

FFS

Roguey getting to you?

 

I won't quibble about balance, here, but my own personal experience playing on Normal is that I've party-wiped, come back retooled (formation/spells/items) and won out by doing things smarter. Engagement is a factor on the battlefield, but not the factor. How you shield your back line, how you engage, when you use your per-rest and per-encounter powers - these all matter a great deal. Sometimes it feels like watching a game of NFL, when the offensive line and the defensive line collide and the offense/defense behind those lines try to make a play. Engagement, in that sense, represents the linemen tying each other up, because no one likes a defensive tackle bursting your line and swatting your quarterback. Or, conversely, a power back smashing through and running down your gullet.

Fighting Raedric, my mobile pieces (Aloth, Durance, Sagani) were dancing around positioning while my Rogue, ranger pet and Fighter tied down those Champions/knights. Raedric's priest and Archmage were doing the same on the other side, and it was an interesting game of cat and mouse for a good 20-30 seconds (felt like an eternity - no pun intended). Durance buffed/healed/AoE'd and Aloth tried to get his cones of fire to not hit poor Eder and PC Rogue.

 

You have to be quiet. Noise brings the hungry people.

They mostly come at night, mostly.

 

*nods* [stoic]




(if only)

 

Well yes. That may be why I wrote right afterwards that you could argue FNV went too far in the other direction. You might have glossed over that.

In terms of extremes I just prefer one to the other.

 

I did gloss over that, fair enough.

 

so i just cleared out the stronghold and watched maerwald suicide on his own fireball

then i [devour soul]'d to gain his immense knowledge and had a vision of a room with walking suits of armour

wut

such knowledges


Also, it's starting to annoy me greatly how little diversity there has been in items and enemies thus far

 

I think you misunderstood me. I only meant that if you're right, it's not really Josh's fault the way I see it.

 

i got to a fucking new area, saved the game, quick saved, moved forward and the game crashed. Now none of my saves work because they all crash. I'm 12 hours into the game.