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Game News Pillars of Eternity II Fig Update #2: Level Cap Increase and Seventh Companion Stretch Goals

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Tags: J.E. Sawyer; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

The Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Fig campaign took about 25 hours to reach its first stretch goal after funding. This time Obsidian were ready with an update announcing the next two stretch goals. If the campaign reaches $1.6M of funding, they'll increase the game's level cap from 16 to 18. Josh Sawyer explains, and also offers some details about the game's multiclassing system which are relevant to the next stretch goal.

Greetings. I wanted to write up a brief summary of what an increased level cap will do for Deadfire. I also wanted to explain how companion classes work, especially with regard to multiclassing.

The default level cap in Deadfire is 16, which is where Pillars of Eternity wound up after The White March was released. Raising the level cap to 18 will grant access to an entirely new level of abilities for all classes, from barbarian to wizard.

In our companion write-ups, you will see some characters described as class a/class b. This does not mean that they are forced to be multiclassed, but that the character's 1st level must be from one of those classes. For example, Edér's class is fighter/rogue. From level 2 on, you may advance Edér as you see fit, but his first class must be either fighter or rogue. This gives you the ability to customize your party companions while not fundamentally deviating heavily from their core character concept. Note that some other characters, like Aloth, must always start from a single class because it is more central to their concept. You may multiclass Aloth as a wizard/fighter, a wizard/barbarian, or a wizard/cipher, but his first class will always be wizard.​

At $1.8M, Obsidian will add a new, seventh companion to the game - Xoti, a Readceran priest/monk. She's part-Ixamitlan, hence the unusual Aztec-flavored name.



Xoti, a meadow folk/savannah folk priest/monk, is our seventh Deadfire companion. As a follower of Gaun, the aspect of Eothas associated with harvests, she wields a sickle and a lantern. When she was a young girl, she was one of thousands of Readcerans who came to Deadfire fleeing the devastation that followed the vorlas blight and the Saint's War. Her family, like many others, established themselves as farmers, and she fell in love with the lush jungles and bright beaches of her adopted homeland. She is intrigued by the rumors of Eothas' manifestation, but she fears what that will mean for her fellow expatriates, many of whom followed his previous incarnation into war and defeat.​

There are five companions in the game's title artwork, so I wonder who the sixth one is.
 

Cosmo

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Project: Eternity
Companions having two potential classes at the beginning is a point i remember having raised in the Fenstermaker interview thread...
Glad they decided for that really.
 
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Tigranes

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Jan 8, 2009
Messages
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Customisation options for companions within reason is fine. 18 seems really big, as if they want POE2 to be bigger than POE1 + WM1/2 combined at launch - maybe this really does mean accelerated levelling.
 

Deleted member 7219

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Again, thank you. We couldn't have gotten where we are without our awesome fans, and we'll need you with us to make Pillars II the greatest cRPG of all time.

Woah. :lol:

No reason why it can't be - Obsidian have more claim to the title of best RPG dev than inXile and they can deliver completed projects without having to cut promised content and release Director's Cuts.

However, looking at recent games only, they do have The Witcher 3 to beat which is a tall order....
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
? Obsidian are obviously making a bid to compete on Larian's turf now. (inXile too, but it's a taller order for them. I think they're going to be in trouble if Wasteland 3 doesn't deliver.)
 
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Deleted member 7219

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? Obsidian are obviously making a bid to compete on Larian's turf now. inXile too, but it's a taller order for them. I think they're going to be in trouble if Wasteland 3 doesn't deliver.

If Torment doesn't deliver, inXile are done... forget their other, currently vapourware games.

I was merely stating that of the three Obsidian are the most likely to create the 'best CRPG ever' as far as I'm concerned. Larian are popular but their games focus too much on multiplayer and too little on story and reactivity.
 

Fairfax

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Again, thank you. We couldn't have gotten where we are without our awesome fans, and we'll need you with us to make Pillars II the greatest cRPG of all time.

Woah. :lol:

No reason why it can't be - Obsidian have more claim to the title of best RPG dev than inXile and they can deliver completed projects without having to cut promised content and release Director's Cuts.

However, looking at recent games only, they do have The Witcher 3 to beat which is a tall order....
They said "best CRPG of all time", not best modern RPG, best upcoming RPG or whatever. They're setting themselves up to beat PS:T, BG2, FO1, etc.
 

Diablo169

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5CBQ50X.jpg
 

Perkel

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The ability to choose a starting class for companions is pretty swell.

It might not be popular opinion... but i disagree.

this screams to me like cheap hooker saying "I can be whoever you want me to be ". This is similar reasoning to other RPGs where everyone is basically BIsexual. OR that design that companion can never go toe to toe with PC. Or companion can never be permanently killed MID game or early game, only late game.

Whole point of companion is to create believable character. Not cheap hooker who is your hug pillow but someone who has its own mind.

This is one of the reasons i like BG2 characters. Despite their retardation they can leave PC party in various form or they even can go against PC. Their classes are also part of their personality. You can't have Viconia being rogue because it would have major impact on her design, jaheira being druid was also part of who she was (along with being harper).

Imagine Minsc being now wizard. His whole point of being in pilgrimage for his witch wouldn't make sense. Who they are is defined by what work they are doing like in life.

Torment also is similar to it. Annah is thief working for Pharod. Her being thief class is part of who she is.

In fact in PoE i barely felt that companions classes mattered to their characters. Durance sure, Pellagina yes but Aloth ? Aloth could be hooker class and no one would notice a difference, Kana being chanter also had little to do with his character.

Frankly i would wish for some developer to have balls going all in with companions that are all independent, where every choice you make should be first discussed with party in which anyone can have different opinion and sometimes you would have to make different choice than you want because party members have strong stick for you if you don't comply.
 

Mustawd

Guest
Again, thank you. We couldn't have gotten where we are without our awesome fans, and we'll need you with us to make Pillars II the greatest cRPG of all time.

Woah. :lol:

No reason why it can't be - Obsidian have more claim to the title of best RPG dev than inXile and they can deliver completed projects without having to cut promised content and release Director's Cuts.

However, looking at recent games only, they do have The Witcher 3 to beat which is a tall order....
They said "best CRPG of all time", not best modern RPG, best upcoming RPG or whatever. They're setting themselves up to beat PS:T, BG2, FO1, etc.


Why is BG2 on that list?? Confused..
 

l3loodAngel

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Again, thank you. We couldn't have gotten where we are without our awesome fans, and we'll need you with us to make Pillars II the greatest cRPG of all time.

Woah. :lol:

No reason why it can't be - Obsidian have more claim to the title of best RPG dev than inXile and they can deliver completed projects without having to cut promised content and release Director's Cuts.

However, looking at recent games only, they do have The Witcher 3 to beat which is a tall order....
They said "best CRPG of all time", not best modern RPG, best upcoming RPG or whatever. They're setting themselves up to beat PS:T, BG2, FO1, etc.
At this point it seems delusional at best or dishonest at worst. Even if they would have enough top tallent like MCA (writter), TC (designer) they would still lack top notch personnel that would do the heavy lifting. You can't get much out of cucks and SJWs. Their interests do no align with those of real world people.
 
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Arkeus

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The ability to choose a starting class for companions is pretty swell.

It might not be popular opinion... but i disagree.

this screams to me like cheap hooker saying "I can be whoever you want me to be ". This is similar reasoning to other RPGs where everyone is basically BIsexual. OR that design that companion can never go toe to toe with PC. Or companion can never be permanently killed MID game or early game, only late game.

Whole point of companion is to create believable character. Not cheap hooker who is your hug pillow but someone who has its own mind.
....That's why they are limiting the starting classes to a couple that fit the character? Or even lock it if only one class fits them?

I mean, Obsidian agrees with all you just said.

I am also unsure how a character whose sole goal is discover how other culture works and bring back the tales to his home country is not chanter personified, but whatever.
 

l3loodAngel

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The ability to choose a starting class for companions is pretty swell.

This is one of the reasons i like BG2 characters. Despite their retardation they can leave PC party in various form or they even can go against PC.
JS says that it never gonna happen in his games. Man he is truly blessed with "unique talent" to design RPGs and to do the fucking opposite of what people wan't.

I swear every time he opens his mouth he causes me erectile dysfunction.
 
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tripedal

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There's a tradeoff between companion writing and their gameplay value. Fewer companions = deeper quests, longer stories, etc. But you need a lot of companions to fill all possible roles combat-wise. By letting you pick the class, you evade that issue which lets you focus all efforts on a smaller number of companions.
 

Crichton

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Jul 7, 2004
Messages
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The ability to choose a starting class for companions is pretty swell.

It might not be popular opinion... but i disagree.

this screams to me like cheap hooker saying "I can be whoever you want me to be ". This is similar reasoning to other RPGs where everyone is basically BIsexual. OR that design that companion can never go toe to toe with PC. Or companion can never be permanently killed MID game or early game, only late game.

Whole point of companion is to create believable character. Not cheap hooker who is your hug pillow but someone who has its own mind.

This is one of the reasons i like BG2 characters. Despite their retardation they can leave PC party in various form or they even can go against PC. Their classes are also part of their personality. You can't have Viconia being rogue because it would have major impact on her design, jaheira being druid was also part of who she was (along with being harper).

Imagine Minsc being now wizard. His whole point of being in pilgrimage for his witch wouldn't make sense. Who they are is defined by what work they are doing like in life.

Torment also is similar to it. Annah is thief working for Pharod. Her being thief class is part of who she is.

In fact in PoE i barely felt that companions classes mattered to their characters. Durance sure, Pellagina yes but Aloth ? Aloth could be hooker class and no one would notice a difference, Kana being chanter also had little to do with his character.

Frankly i would wish for some developer to have balls going all in with companions that are all independent, where every choice you make should be first discussed with party in which anyone can have different opinion and sometimes you would have to make different choice than you want because party members have strong stick for you if you don't comply.

I don't know exactly how the PoEII system is going to work from the description, but if the result is that you have one fixed class but can add others, I think it could add flexibility without causing too much craziness. Keeping with your examples above, Viconia needs to be cleric of some kind, but does it matter if she's a single-classed cleric, cleric/fighter, cleric/rogue or cleric/mage? I think cleric/rogue at least works pretty well thematically. Likewise, I don't think Jaheira being a single-classed druid instead of a fighter/druid would have dimmed her character any. Minsc learning magic is a little different because being a complete dolt was such a large aspect of his character but I don't think he needed to be a ranger; a fighter or barbarian would have worked just as well. Having fixed classes is easier from a programming standpoint, but I personally would have appreciated the option to Viconia into a fighter/cleric or Shandra from NWN2 into whatever class the Knight-Captain was.
 

Invictus

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
I kind of like the idea and it is not anything very different from what they have been attempting anyway with Tyranny where you have several mmo style paths to make characters be adaptable to your playstyle and likes
For example perhaps you want your fighter to be more tank like who pulls enemies and distracts them for every one else to kill them off or you want a focused one on one fighter who tends to finish off enemies one at a time
In the end the very stats of each char will lean towards one way or another, so Aloth can be more rogue than wizard or whatever suits your style
Sort of the kits from the IE games...
Still remember those crazy one man parties with sword saint
Good times
 

CRD

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
I want a living ball of goo as companion for one of the next stretch goals
 
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