Development Info Pillars of Eternity II Q&A Stream #12

[Infinitron]

Tags: Aarik Dorobiala; Josh Sawyer; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire

Josh Sawyer did another one of his Pillars of Eternity II Q&A streams last night, once again showcasing an area of the game that's not part of the backer beta. The area in question is a small island which is one of the stops on Fulvano's Voyage, the "mega-island chain" that was unlocked by backers during the Fig campaign. Most of the action takes place in the Drowned Barrows, a dungeon that appears to be the lair of a cult that's menacing a nearby village of boreal dwarves who have made their homes on the island. It's our first look at high level content, with a party that's well-equipped for the challenge. Watch for the tactical broom quarterstaff about 16 minutes in.

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As for the Q&A, it was enjoyable but it didn't reveal anything too special, other than a confirmation from Josh that yes, there are Durance references in the game. If Fereed from Reddit does a transcript, I'll be sure to post a link to it here.

 

[you know what time it is]

Looks p. good, though the guy playing is just a notch above Avellone and his arcanum ways.

 

[Bohrain]

"This guy is like our best playtester 'n shiit"
"-Proceeds to walk to three dozen traps-"

 

[aweigh]

They fixed the Ability Bar's positioning and finally centered it to left-justification. THANK CHRIST.

Having it off-center in the Beta (and beta videos) was driving me nuts.

 

[thekdawg21]

There are six different UI layouts to use. I thought the player was half decent, not pausing much. Of course he's playing the equivalent of "hard" level in PoE1, which means other than tough out of position boss fights you're gucci no matter what you do and have at least one well built character with decent gear. Other than that, I still have no fucking idea what was happening in the fights. Shit blew up and bounced around, and they died. I don't know if that's mission accomplished as far as making the battles more "readable" than PoE1

 

[Morkar Left]

"This guy is like our best playtester 'n shiit"
"-Proceeds to walk to three dozen traps-"

That's why he is the best. He tests every single trap ingame.

 

[fobia]

There are six different UI layouts to use. I thought the player was half decent, not pausing much. Of course he's playing the equivalent of "hard" level in PoE1, which means other than tough out of position boss fights you're gucci no matter what you do and have at least one well built character with decent gear. Other than that, I still have no fucking idea what was happening in the fights. Shit blew up and bounced around, and they died. I don't know if that's mission accomplished as far as making the battles more "readable" than PoE1

Yeah I agree, no idea whatsoever.
But that might also be a question of perspective. Watching others play PoE 1, same thing happens to me.
I do know what is happening when I play the game though. Most of the time anyway.
Also I found the sound and visual effects a bit over the top and it distracted quite a bit from what was actually happening in combat.

So maybe playing it after release it'll feel differently/better.

Any comments on that from our beta players?

 

[Bohrain]

In terms of readability this looked just as clusterfucky as the first game. The Pathfinder game is miles ahead of them in that sense.

 

[Cynicus]

Looks p. good. Should be a nice seller for Obsidian. Too bad I couldn't get into Josh's system or this would probably be near the top of my list of new games to look at and wish I had the time to play.

Infinitron , once this is out of the pipe, do you think we'll start getting info on Tim and Leonard's game, or does Obsidian have something else lined up? I've not been paying much attention for quite some time, so sorry if this is common knowledge.

 

[Infinitron]

Infinitron , once this is out of the pipe, do you think we'll start getting info on Tim and Leonard's game, or does Obsidian have something else lined up? I've not been paying much attention for quite some time, so sorry if this is common knowledge.

We suspect it'll be announced at E3 in June.