Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming February 18th

[Luckmann]

... THIS is important.

Why?

 

[Joseph Stalin]

... THIS is important.

Why?

Because it's a symptom of the universal laziness of most writers, as well as their lack of even an ounce of original thought.

 

[Efe]

Except a Chanter simulacra isn't summoned from the beyond. Nor does it choose to appear before the living world. A Chanter does not pluck a dragon from wherever to fight for them. They create one.

A Chanter's summons and invocations are woven from the fragments of souls who pass to and fro the Beyond.

Your difficulty is being at odds with yourself.
Adaryx seemed fine to me and what would a dead practitioner of a mostly unknown fringe science know about watcher condition?

also, is a summoned wurm a spirit or a beast?

 

[Yosharian]

IRL the discovery of gunpowder was apparently an accidental discovery from "medical research"; some monk was mixing stuff together hoping that it would have medical properties, i.e. he was basically trying to craft a healing potion. The initial formula wasn't even explosive, just highly flammable, it was many years before anyone made gunpowder that went boom.

In a fantasy world would anyone care about a flammable powder, or would they just discard it as another failed experiment and concentrate on those healing potions? After all there's already potions of fire and other magical means of setting things on fire quickly, if you really need to.

Dude discovers how to replicate certain magics using mundane materials and you think he's going to just throw it away cos LOL PEOPLE CAN ALREADY DO IT WITH MAGIC.

For starters, no that's just dumb, not everyone is a Wizard. Secondly, gnomes are just curious and inventive and would follow that rabbit hole just to see where it leads.

 

[Cat Dude]

Yeaaaayyyyy

 

[rusty_shackleford]

This is practically the function of 99% of all PnP setting material. The fact that the Harpers and other fuckers are actively curtailing technological development is in itself evidence that the setting doesn't at all "ignore it completely". Just because you don't have widely available firearms across the entire planet doesn't mean it's not there. Even in the real world, our oldest sources on black powder are from the 100's, and it took another 800 years before it started seeing real, practical use in warfare in the 900's, and even then it didn't really take off until it intersected with north-European metallurgy in the 1300's, and even then it took another good 200 years until we're starting to see widespread use.

iirc the reason gunpowder took so long was because europeans had no natural access to saltpeter

 

[Flying Dutchman]

The presence of guns in fantasy pretty much sucks.

 

[Luckmann]

... THIS is important.

Why?

Because it's a symptom of the universal laziness of most writers, as well as their lack of even an ounce of original thought.

Why?

It is not laziness that makes them not put fantasy in the gunpowder era, but an appreciation for the faux-medieval fantasy aesthetic. It is no easier or harder to put gunpowder into things than to not do so. It is of no inherent relevance, merely a preference. Even Pillows of Eternity - especially the original - was conceived specifically as "generic fantasy" in what they practically confessed was intentional laziness. Basically the only deviation (in the first game) from the faux-medieval fantasy aesthetic outside of background padding is the inclusion of fairly advanced firearms.

Hell, these intellectually lazy mouthbreathers even blame the failure of PoE 2 on the fact that it deviated from the popularized faux-medieval aesthetic.

This is practically the function of 99% of all PnP setting material. The fact that the Harpers and other fuckers are actively curtailing technological development is in itself evidence that the setting doesn't at all "ignore it completely". Just because you don't have widely available firearms across the entire planet doesn't mean it's not there. Even in the real world, our oldest sources on black powder are from the 100's, and it took another 800 years before it started seeing real, practical use in warfare in the 900's, and even then it didn't really take off until it intersected with north-European metallurgy in the 1300's, and even then it took another good 200 years until we're starting to see widespread use.

iirc the reason gunpowder took so long was because europeans had no natural access to saltpeter

Yes, I think the absence of easily accessible/open saltpeter deposits lead to Europeans not categorizing it as its own thing, and then later the knowledge was basically hoarded either by "alchemists" or sequestered among the monks throughout much of the medieval era. You need several things to be true before you can popularize gunpowder weapons effectively, and it is fairly easy to make any of those things not true for a fantasy setting if one does not desire to have firearms in them. It is equally easy to include these things if you really want them in there, and you could even have these things at a much earlier developmental stage - there would, for example, be nothing inherently preventing a faux-Roman Army utilizing some type of fusilier.

The presence of guns in fantasy pretty much sucks.

I used to be fairly strongly against guns, but these days I think it can work fairly well. My main issue with guns is that often, they make no sense. They're either fairly useless outside of the battlefield (which is a mechanical issue, but one in line with the world as presented) or they're actually fairly good, which becomes an issue because if they are actually on the level of arquebuses or muskets or even revolvers and such, they should be endemically popularized and take a very meaningful place in the game world.

They easily become (and should become, if so) a very large facet of the world. Very much "go big or go home" kind of deal, and there is no middle ground. But some settings still try to have that middle ground, and it's actually shit. In this regard, PoE actually did the right thing; firearms are a big thing. They are both functional and endemic in the background. The firearm is known as "the great equalizer" against magic, and the cannons of Rauatai have ushered in an era of revived imperialism.

But it all depends on what fantasy aesthetic you're wanting to work with. Most do not want firearms to be this big thing in their faux-medieval worlds, so they easily don't make them big things by relying on any of the aforementioned issues and presto, no major gunpowder presence, with perfectly reasonable explanations.

 

[Gastrick]

Looks really shit, PoE 2 was a game that has gotten me excited to play it eventually. What a mess Obsidian has become, fucking MicropenisSoft.
For Outer Worlds, just hearing that it's a "good game" by the former studio who used to make fallout that "showed up" Bethesda was enough to get people to buy it. Their frustration over former Bethesda's Fallout 76 made them more willing to fool themselves into believing whatever nonsense narrative, even after playing it. It's fairly similar to how people think there are ghosts, psychic powers and aliens because they "want to believe" in what they are convinced of even if it isn't real.

 

[Luckmann]

For Outer Worlds, just hearing that it's a "good game" by the former studio who used to make fallout that "showed up" Bethesda was enough to get people to buy it. Their frustration over former Bethesda's Fallout 76 made them more willing to fool themselves into believing whatever nonsense narrative, even after playing it. It's fairly similar to how people think there are ghosts, psychic powers and aliens because they "want to believe" in what they are convinced of even if it isn't real.

Infinitron, can you confirm?

 

[Flying Dutchman]

For Outer Worlds, just hearing that it's a "good game" by the former studio who used to make fallout that "showed up" Bethesda was enough to get people to buy it. Their frustration over former Bethesda's Fallout 76 made them more willing to fool themselves into believing whatever nonsense narrative, even after playing it. It's fairly similar to how people think there are ghosts, psychic powers and aliens because they "want to believe" in what they are convinced of even if it isn't real.

This.

 

[fantadomat]

For Outer Worlds, just hearing that it's a "good game" by the former studio who used to make fallout that "showed up" Bethesda was enough to get people to buy it. Their frustration over former Bethesda's Fallout 76 made them more willing to fool themselves into believing whatever nonsense narrative, even after playing it. It's fairly similar to how people think there are ghosts, psychic powers and aliens because they "want to believe" in what they are convinced of even if it isn't real.

Infinitron, can you confirm?

Yes,ghosts exist!

 

[Avarize]

"Dude, why don't fantasy settings address gunpowder, electricity, germ theory and the combustion engine!?"

 

[LESS T_T]

Oh right if anyone's interested, Artstation entries for the CGI teaser trailer, made by Axis Studios. Also in case anyone wondered the last first person scene is any clue of actual gameplay than a mere representation, they all (hand models etc.) are made by CGI studio's artists.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/nYJPQE

Super happy to be able to share the work I did alongside all the artists from Axis Animation. I was responsible for modeling, texturing and shading the arms you see in the trailer (both archers and the warrior at the end), the skeletons and also the sword and the banner. All these assets were finalized by Axis' artists with final tweaks to the shading and some added details (I believe it was Camille Fourniols smiley ). Big thanks to everyone over at Axis and specially to my lead Jonas Bergholm, who helped me greatly.
Cheers!

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3dEKeD
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/18LvxG
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mDWm3a

 

[BarbequeMasta]

Tbh it's hard to get excited at anything from Obsidian after Dumpsterfire despite me wanting to, especially when it's set Eora as well, especially when it's Elder scroll clone.

 

[Rafidur]

On the other hand, mages like Arronax or Nasrudin can wipe out entire civilisations by themselves.

Or in one case wipe out literally everybody. Why would you need a gun when you can do that?

 

[Joseph Stalin]

On the other hand, mages like Arronax or Nasrudin can wipe out entire civilisations by themselves.

Or in one case wipe out literally everybody. Why would you need a gun when you can do that?

If you haven't noticed, literally all of the powerful mages in that game are not... mentally well.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Just shove your gun up your arse stalin

 

[Luckmann]

On the other hand, mages like Arronax or Nasrudin can wipe out entire civilisations by themselves.

Or in one case wipe out literally everybody. Why would you need a gun when you can do that?

If you haven't noticed, literally all of the powerful mages in that game are not... mentally well.

So?

 

[Tavernking]

COME ON EVERYBODY ITS GONNA BE GREAT AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO HAVE A GREAT TIME

 

[Yosharian]

Can we delete this thread?

 

[undecaf]

I got bored so I started thinking about stupid things.

Couldn’t Obsidian - in theory - make Awoved a blobber even if it ”worked” and if it absolutely had to work like Skyrim on the surface with little party management, no grid movement, not turnbased.

Like building a party and then using the HUD to choose (from your characters; freely at any point in time) a so called ”team leader” whose viewpoint works as the controlled ”character/camera” and whose attacks are amplified by the rest of the party members with multipliers appropriate to their build and weapon (you’d need to change the ”leader” according to the situation at hand, i.e. if you wanted to go from melee to ranged or heavier magic). With an option for ”tactical” pause to assign multitarget attacks, kinda like a realtime version of Wizardry 8.

Not that they would, and I have no idea if that would actually work or be fun, but in theory.

 

[moon knight]

"Skyrim clone" already made it sound boring, but "Pillars of Eternity setting" really kills it

 

[Oreshnik Missile]

On the topic of magic vs technology, I'd like to see more cases where magic is used as part of technology.
One gripe I have with D&D magic is how convenient it is to use: Fireball gets aimed perfectly and only explodes on hit, Stoneskin transforms your skin with no downside or after-effects, the inhabitant of an Otiluke Resilient Sphere doesn't run out of breathable air, and so on.

What if Fireball was actually three spells rolled into one - partly the creation of flammable material, partly the propulsion of the material at a certain speed and in the right direction, and partly the ignition upon contact? If magic was something that could easily be miscast if any part of the spell was performed incorrectly, then you might see people using tools - like a cylinder to aim and launch fireballs from - to replace parts of the spells, making them easier and more reliable to cast.

 

[Kazuki]

On the topic of magic vs technology, I'd like to see more cases where magic is used as part of technology.
One gripe I have with D&D magic is how convenient it is to use: Fireball gets aimed perfectly and only explodes on hit, Stoneskin transforms your skin with no downside or after-effects, the inhabitant of an Otiluke Resilient Sphere doesn't run out of breathable air, and so on.

What if Fireball was actually three spells rolled into one - partly the creation of flammable material, partly the propulsion of the material at a certain speed and in the right direction, and partly the ignition upon contact? If magic was something that could easily be miscast if any part of the spell was performed incorrectly, then you might see people using tools - like a cylinder to aim and launch fireballs from - to replace parts of the spells, making them easier and more reliable to cast.

I think that scenario is possible if the use of magic is widespread that even a lowly peasant can cast a magic easily, the more people using magic widespread the more people start to apply magic for everything their doing in daily life including looking to improve existing technique or technology.

Such scenario isn't possible if magic is limited to select few individual that have potential as mage. Less people leads to slow progress to discover the new ways to apply magic on technologies.