Game News Pillars of Eternity II Early Gameplay Trailer + New Screenshots

[Infinitron]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

It looks like Obsidian have begun to rev up the marketing machine for Pillars of Eternity II. Yesterday store pages for the game were launched on Steam and GOG, and today Obsidian published a new gameplay trailer:

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The Steam page also features several new screenshots:

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The trailer doesn't really contain anything we haven't seen before, but this is only the beginning. Obsidian will be broadcasting another Josh Sawyer Q&A stream on their Twitch channel tonight at 16:00 PST. That'll be followed by a gameplay session featuring Twitch personality Ellohime at 17:00 PST, which will be our first look at the game's Backer Beta. I imagine its release can't be far off now. But more on that tomorrow.

 

[Neanderthal]

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DEFEND THE GREAT LUMP OF SNOT!

 

[Tavernking]

This is all just old footage they've already shown us

 

[Jason Liang]

It barely looks different from Pillars 1. Even has that green rock.

 

[MicoSelva]

The game looks better than the original but I will not be an early adopter this time. PoE 1 improved a lot with patches and especially the expansion - I am having a lot of fun with The White March right now (just defated Alpine Dragon, and it was probably the most challenging dragon fight I had since Abazigal in ToB), but even though that makes me somewhat hyped for the sequel, the name of the game for Deadfire is patience.

But if you feel the hype and cannot control yourselves, remember you can still get the game with a discount, for $35 at Obsidian backer portal. The release price will probably be closer to $45.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I feel nothing but contempt for all those chumps who crowdfunded this.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

A year of production later and the gameplay trailer that can't even showcase any new area that wasn't in initial trailer?

It's gonna be delayed to 2019, I guarantee it.

 

[Infinitron]

PoE1 was released six months after its backer beta came out, I don't see why this would be much different.

 

[J_C]

A year of production later and the gameplay trailer that can't even showcase any new area that wasn't in initial trailer?

It's gonna be delayed to 2019, I guarantee it.

I'm sure that's why they launched their store pages, because the release date is more than a year away.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Just more of the same, was expecting something more.

 

[GloomFrost]

Naga's on the second screenshot look absolutely identical to BG and IWD. They created their own universe and therefore can design creatures however they want but NO!! Nagas, forest trolls, ghouls, giant spiders, ogres. Shame!!!

 

[Ruzen]

Yes it's a bad trailer. There are some things new things out there but you really have to look for those really carefully (which is a bad thing for a trailer, you only have to pause or slow speed the trailer to find some easter eggs) but more disappointing part its too short and half of it is same as before. I highly doubt that this trailer would bring any new customers in. In fact, this trailer has the potential to lose some hype because of same things were shown before. The star of the first trailer was that big giants spawn animation and picking you up and throwing you but there are no rememberable things in this one.

Having said all that. This is only a thing to announce closed paid beta is open, It's not like steam early access or game convention(to create hype). It has a very little purpose so I say giv it a pass.

 

[Zed]

I'm excited!

 

[Sranchammer]

2023 Winter Sale is going to be LIT!

 

[JasonNH]

Did the AI get a boost of at least a couple of quotient points? Really wanted to like the first but couldn't endure the combat, particularly the engagement mechanic combined with horrible pathfinding.

 

[felipepepe]

The game looks better than the original but I will not be an early adopter this time. PoE 1 improved a lot with patches and especially the expansion - I am having a lot of fun with The White March right now (just defated Alpine Dragon, and it was probably the most challenging dragon fight I had since Abazigal in ToB), but even though that makes me somewhat hyped for the sequel, the name of the game for Deadfire is patience.

Yeah, all the recent RPGs have this trait... played Wasteland 2, D:OS and PoE on release, got the inferior experience in all of them. Gotta wait for the DLCs, Director's Cut and final patches. PoE 2 probably won't change as much as PoE 1, but it can still change A LOT.

 

[Infinitron]

Did the AI get a boost of at least a couple of quotient points? Really wanted to like the first but couldn't endure the combat, particularly the engagement mechanic combined with horrible pathfinding.

Only the Fighter class has engagement now. As for the AI, we'll know more when the beta comes out today.

 

[felipepepe]

Did the AI get a boost of at least a couple of quotient points? Really wanted to like the first but couldn't endure the combat, particularly the engagement mechanic combined with horrible pathfinding.

Only the Fighter class has engagement now. As for the AI, we'll know more when the beta comes out today.

Is this confirmed? Sawyer was talking the other day on how weapons have different modal abilities and the Pollaxe had "Engaging Threat: Lose Damage, gain +1 Engagement."

Seems like anyone with a focus in Pollaxe has engagement then, so maybe there are other skills like that...

 

[Infinitron]

Did the AI get a boost of at least a couple of quotient points? Really wanted to like the first but couldn't endure the combat, particularly the engagement mechanic combined with horrible pathfinding.

Only the Fighter class has engagement now. As for the AI, we'll know more when the beta comes out today.

Is this confirmed? Sawyer was talking the other day on how weapons have different modal abilities and the Pollaxe had "Engaging Threat: Lose Damage, gain +1 Engagement."

Seems like anyone with a focus in Pollaxe has engagement then, so maybe there are other skills like that...

Maybe the Pollaxe can grant engagement to other classes, but as a default ability only Fighters have it.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

why are so many of these RPG's developed around the idea of 'Gods'? especially since they seem to be largely developed by atheists? I get tired of the whole dead gods, son of a god, am I a god? type themes, etc..

 

[Zakhad]

why are so many of these RPG's developed around the idea of 'Gods'? especially since they seem to be largely developed by atheists? I get tired of the whole dead gods, son of a god, am I a god? type themes, etc..

Gods, like all mythical beings, offer a quick path into the tropes that motivate/occupy the human psyche.

Alternative answer: humans have evolved to need gods, and when we can't make ourselves believe in them, we push them into fiction or otherwise sublimate our desire for them.

 

[DeepOcean]

why are so many of these RPG's developed around the idea of 'Gods'? especially since they seem to be largely developed by atheists? I get tired of the whole dead gods, son of a god, am I a god? type themes, etc..

Because most atheists don't believe on God not because they think it is cool to not have an afterlife and become dirt after dying but because they can't swallow the bullshit people try to sell all the time as religion, bullshit that offend even the simplest of the common sense. I'm an atheist but if there was actually a God, it would be great, I just find hard to believe on the next fraudster wannabe cult leader after easy money.

 

[fobia]

Naga's on the second screenshot look absolutely identical to BG and IWD. They created their own universe and therefore can design creatures however they want but NO!! Nagas, forest trolls, ghouls, giant spiders, ogres. Shame!!!

Yeah, but the first kickstarter was built on the promise of a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate. Guess how people would've reacted, if there were none to a few recognizable monsters.
Even here on the Codex, people were incredibly butthurt over the fact that kobolds were called xaurips. Oh, why can't I have proper kobolds, now I have to call them by this stupid made-up name!
All while simultaniously bitching about the "fantasy language" Sawyer created and the names of the gods etc.

From an economic point of view, going for the iconic stuff was the right thing to do, even though it was also the more/most boring thing to do.

 

[Decado]

I will buy this.

 

[DeepOcean]

Will wait to see if they fixed the ai and the enemy placement this time, PoE only got to be challenging on Path of the Damned and on certain fights, mostly due to massive stat boosts for the ai, what I don't find fun. The engagement system made guarding choke points the most effective strategy, most of the time, what was a big hole on the design, more enemies like shadows and enemies that messed up the engagement system just for sake of variety was desperately needed but they were too rare. The punishment for not sticking to the engagement system felt too severe, so if you liked a more mobile playstyle, you were fucked.

We will see if they fixed those.