Community For Balance: Codex Pillars of Eternity 2 fundraiser continues

[oldmanpaco]

No mater how much money is raised Codex should ask for a pirate party if only because how much enjoyment people would get slaughtering us (or at least how much Obsidian would enjoy us getting slaughtered).

 

[Melcar]

Or we can all keep our money and buy booze instead

And whores.

 

[thesheeep]

Fine, I wanted to get a second copy anyway to give to my GF (I do have a feeling PoE co-op would be more fun than BG because of less interruptions).

 

[A horse of course]

Anyone who donates to this should be banned (keep the money tho)

 

[fobia]

Anyone who doesn't donate should be banned!

De-ban available if $29 or more are donated towards the fundraiser by the banned party.

 

[aleam iacis]

I was one of the players that really enjoyed PoE on release
. . . .

but you have to decide this whether my investment into this genre of game EVER bring me the game that is worth the thousands of dollars I've spent trying to get that fifty hour experience of pure boner inducing CRPG goodness? If the answer is yes, I think you need to donate, even if you think this game is going to come out pretty shitty.

. . ..

I would have paid $2000 back in the day for a copy of Baldur's Gate 1 before I played it, but I paid about $40 at release for the giant box and the six CD's. Fallout I had no idea existed when I saw that on shelves at my local mall. Just browsing the box, I realized that that this game is kinda like Wasteland (my favorite game at the time), and I went off and pirated it the old fashioned way. I rolled a critical on my pickpocket skill and just shoplifted the fuck out of that thing. So I personally believe I'm still ahead dollar value per hour of enjoyment had, with paying $40 for two of the titles I've had the most fun with in my entire life. I would pay someone $5000 right now to wipe my memory and allow me to play those games again for the first time.

I liked KOTOR 2. PoE was boring, Tyranny was boring too . . .

I also loved BG2 and want to see another like it but these wannabes from Obsidian just aren't cutting it for me. I'm not sure if their original lore sucks, or their lore dumps suck, or their storytelling sucks; however, I think it's a combination of all three. Their combat definitely sucks but I think that's just their encounter/level design, since BG2 combat was fun but not because it was balanced or fair or mechanically good IMO, but because the encounters and levels were designed in an interesting way. Except for Irenicus' dungeon, that sucks every time.

Oh, and PoE and Tyranny have awful NPCs. PoE NPCs were bad but Tyranny NPCs were incredibly unlikeable. I usually try to give most NPCs a try and see what responses they give on missions get a taste of party composition for future playthroughs, and normally I enjoy it and find many characters a pleasure in games like BG, BG2, PS:T, Arcanum, Mass Effect 1, the 7th Stand User, most JRPGs where you can switch out NPC's, etc. But Tyranny and PoE... ugh.

No. POE was shit and I won't be fooled into giving them money again. Tyranny was also shit. Look at their track record and accept the painful truth that Obsidian doesn't know how to make good RPGs.

You are probably right, though I did like KOTOR 2 (they didn't make the battle system or the lore for that game). Never played Alpha Protocol but it might have been good, and I've heard good things about MOTB but I couldn't drag myself to finish the base game so ...

 

[thekdawg21]

I got you Aleam Iacis. I just don't think anyone but Obsidian and InXile are making the games we want to play (isometric cRPGs, definition is beyond me but I hope you know what I mean), so unless we back and support them, we're never gonna get another shot, and might as well put 'another great IE' game out of our hopes for the rest of our lives. PoE has fun enough combat to me (at PotD level) to keep me interested in a future game with more depth to it's combat system.

 

[Gunnar]

I got you Aleam Iacis. I just don't think anyone but Obsidian and InXile are making the games we want to play (isometric cRPGs, definition is beyond me but I hope you know what I mean), so unless we back and support them, we're never gonna get another shot, and might as well put 'another great IE' game out of our hopes for the rest of our lives. PoE has fun enough combat to me (at PotD level) to keep me interested in a future game with more depth to it's combat system.

So many battered wives in here: "he'll change if we just give him another chance! He promised he'd make a good RPG next time!" The problem with Obsidian is that they've proven themselves incapable, and now they've lost Avellone to boot. If anyone wonders why the writing/storytelling was bad in POE, look up the Fenster interview where he reveals there was no editing pass on the writing. What about the sheer laziness in the nonexistent encounter design? It was bad because they didn't care to make it good, and this project has the same actors as before. I have some bad news for you - there isn't going to be another great IE game. Not going to happen no matter how much money you give to Obsidian. It sucks, but it's almost been 20 years now, accept reality. If the logic here is, well if we keep throwing money at these types of games someone somewhere might make a good one someday, I could make the counterpoint that if we aren't discerning with our dollars, what incentive will there ever be for anyone to improve? They can just keep shitting these uninspired turds out and be assured that the battered RPG wives will continue to give them money. Obsidian had their chance and they blew it. If you want to back this go ahead, but at the attempts at hype.

 

[Infinitron]

What about the sheer laziness in the nonexistent encounter design? It was bad because they didn't care to make it good

That's a childish way of looking at it. There is no "didn't care", there's only "didn't prioritize".

For this game, they've explicitly said that they will.

 

[Gunnar]

What about the sheer laziness in the nonexistent encounter design? It was bad because they didn't care to make it good

That's a childish way of looking at it. There is no "didn't care", there's only "didn't prioritize".

For this game, they've explicitly said that they will.

It's the same thing, Infinitron, you're splitting hairs.

If you want to believe them, that's your prerogative, but this is from a company that felt it was okay to "not prioritize" encounter design in their Baldurs Gate type game.

 

[Infinitron]

It's the same thing, Infinitron, you're splitting hairs.

If you want to believe them, that's your prerogative, but this is from a company that felt it was okay to "not prioritize" encounter design in their Baldurs Gate type game.

And? Appreciation of good encounter design isn't something that's widespread - Bioware utterly discarded it after BG2 with zero negative repercussions to their bottom line. Most RPG players have probably never used the term and are only dimly aware of the concept. Maybe if the game had been smaller and mechanically simpler (fewer classes, etc) they would have had more time to invest in it.

But as far as believing them, well, they've already shown improved encounter design in the expansion pack.

 

[Gunnar]

It's the same thing, Infinitron, you're splitting hairs.

If you want to believe them, that's your prerogative, but this is from a company that felt it was okay to "not prioritize" encounter design in their Baldurs Gate type game.

And? Appreciation of good encounter design isn't something that's widespread - Bioware utterly discarded it after BG2 with zero negative repercussions to their bottom line. Most RPG players have probably never used the term and are only dimly aware of the concept. Maybe if the game had been smaller and mechanically simpler (fewer classes, etc) they would have had more time to invest in it.

But as far as believing them, well, they've already shown improved encounter design in the expansion pack.

And? If bottom line is our benchmark for good games, then Bethesda games are the best RPGs ever made. I thought we cared about such things around here?

 

[Lady_Error]

I got you Aleam Iacis. I just don't think anyone but Obsidian and InXile are making the games we want to play (isometric cRPGs, definition is beyond me but I hope you know what I mean), so unless we back and support them, we're never gonna get another shot, and might as well put 'another great IE' game out of our hopes for the rest of our lives. PoE has fun enough combat to me (at PotD level) to keep me interested in a future game with more depth to it's combat system.

So many battered wives in here: "he'll change if we just give him another chance! He promised he'd make a good RPG next time!" The problem with Obsidian is that they've proven themselves incapable, and now they've lost Avellone to boot. If anyone wonders why the writing/storytelling was bad in POE, look up the Fenster interview where he reveals there was no editing pass on the writing. What about the sheer laziness in the nonexistent encounter design? It was bad because they didn't care to make it good, and this project has the same actors as before. I have some bad news for you - there isn't going to be another great IE game. Not going to happen no matter how much money you give to Obsidian. It sucks, but it's almost been 20 years now, accept reality. If the logic here is, well if we keep throwing money at these types of games someone somewhere might make a good one someday, I could make the counterpoint that if we aren't discerning with our dollars, what incentive will there ever be for anyone to improve? They can just keep shitting these uninspired turds out and be assured that the battered RPG wives will continue to give them money. Obsidian had their chance and they blew it. If you want to back this go ahead, but at the attempts at hype.

Play 3.0 and White March. FFS, they created a new engine, new rules and a new setting for POE and many things needed fine-tuning. From what I've seen in White March, they are definitely on the right track.

 

[Infinitron]

The guy responsible for the best areas and encounters in PoE (Raedric's Hold, Stalwart Mines, etc) is now PoE2's lead designer. People at Obsidian read Roxor's review, they really do seem to have gotten the memo on encounter design. It helps that they're in competition with Larian now.

 

[Gunnar]

The guy responsible for the best areas and encounters in PoE (Raedric's Hold, Stalwart Mines, etc) is now PoE2's lead designer. People at Obsidian read Roxor's review, they really do seem to have gotten the memo on encounter design. It helps that they're in competition with Larian now.

Wasn't Raedrics Hold sort of a happy accident they slapped together on a weekend? I'm not sure rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic is going to majorly change things, but I do know the best part of the game, Chris Avellone, is no longer with the company.

Look, if the game turns out to be good, I'll buy it, but I'm not backing their Kickstarter, they haven't earned that kind of trust.

 

[Lady_Error]

Another advantage now is that for the second game they already have the engine and can now spend the funds on other things.

Inb4 voice acting and cinematic cut scenes.

 

[Infinitron]

Similarly, Raedric's Hold was designed near the end of the project. That's why it was better.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70682-new-screenshots-have-a-look-at-raedrics-hold/?p=1579169

 

[Gunnar]

Another advantage now is that for the second game they already have the engine and can now spend the funds on other things.

Inb4 voice acting and cinematic cut scenes.

Didn't Obsidian state they butchered the Avellone companions because they wanted all the companions to be of similar length for voice acting?

 

[Akratus]

Just donated 6 bucks.

 

[Crooked Bee]

No mater how much money is raised Codex should ask for a pirate party if only because how much enjoyment people would get slaughtering us (or at least how much Obsidian would enjoy us getting slaughtered).

Currently, it's more likely that we should ask for a Codexian NPC who wanted to assemble a pirate crew but failed. :foreveralone:

With a pirate parrot for a pet if we reach $2,000, and two pets to keep him company if we reach $2,500.

(On that note, updated the campaign's goal to $2,500. Let's take this step by step.)

 

[felipepepe]

Codex on its way to become the Guybrush Treepwood of RPGs.

 

[Arulan]

Codex on its way to become the Guybrush Treepwood of RPGs.

So fighting people with verbal insults?

 

[RK47]

surely u mean pirating games and not paying for it?

 

[felipepepe]

So fighting people with verbal insults?

surely u mean pirating games and not paying for it?

Ok, we've always been great pirates. Carry on.

 

[Turok]

I think he means that you can see a monkey with 3 heads.