My collected criticism on Pillars of Eternity (very minor spoilers)

[Kel]

Daily reminder how gooey SJW romantic writing kills pacing in ANY game and EVERY game:



edited to correct accountability

 

[Infinitron]

We have an Eric Fenstermaker hater already? They grow up so quickly. *sniff*

Should have been cut imo so content could have been improved elsewhere.

Ah, but this is 2015. Today's incomplete content is tomorrow's DLC:

Now, in the future, we look at it as also a great place where we can, when we add content to the game, where we can sort of have these quests, new people can show up. If we have new features, new items and things like that, we can add aspects to the buildings, in which those buildings can do new things with items, so it's definitely a core thing of the game that we plan to grow as we continue to grow the game.

 

[Rake]

The crafting system in PoE sucks, yep.

You mean it's like any other crafting system? Yeah...

Not really.

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring. It doesn't add much, doesn't give anything you didn't have before (you're a lord of every dungeon and keep you cleared), and overall it's nothing but an ego booster.

A crafting system is a fairly useful and logical feature aimed to improve your gear and lessen the reliance on random items, which is important in a game with narrow weapon specialization. PoE's system isn't great or perfect but it's functional and useful, which is more than can be said about many other crafting systems.

No. Just no. A keep doesn't have to be at odds with a game's narrative, unless weare talking about an idea of adventuring that is illogical and retarded in the first place. (as in "wandering around the wilderness for no reason")
As for the crafting system, it's one of the two reasons itemization in PoE is bland and boring. "lessen the reliance on random items" is dealing with the problem ass backwards. There shouldn't be random items at all (at least from a power level and above). Junk loot and jems/consumables should be the only random items.
In practice, every crafting system is shit because: a)either you don't allow crafted items to be as good as/have the properties of found ones, making the whole system pointless, or: b) allow the Player to add the abilities, enchance his items as he/she wants, making found loot superfluous and strips every disticnive quality unique artifact have making itemization bland, like PoE.
The only good crafting system is something like Witcher 1, which exists in a separate dimension from loot, or at least something like KOTOR 2

 

[Roguey]

Daily reminder how Fenstermaker's gooey SJW romantic writing kills pacing in ANY game and EVERY game:

You know Avellone wrote Gann, right? And Safiya was a MacLean/Ziets collab (mostly MacLean though, George hates writing dialogue).

 

[Bleed the Man]

Daily reminder how Fenstermaker's gooey SJW romantic writing kills pacing in ANY game and EVERY game:

LOL

 

[Grunker]

I don't get any high fantasy vibe from PoE so far.

if the battlefield lights up like a christmas tree when people fight, that's a pretty sure-fire sign of high fantasy. ffs there ghosts walking around on the streets and people blowing up gods with magical mcguffin bombs

 

[Kel]

Daily reminder how Fenstermaker's gooey SJW romantic writing kills pacing in ANY game and EVERY game:

You know Avellone wrote Gann, right? And Safiya was a MacLean/Ziets collab (mostly MacLean though, George hates writing dialogue).

If that's the case then I apologize, my bad.

fixed with edit

 

[Grunker]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

 

[Kel]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

The keep in Pillars is better than any previous incarnation of a stronghold idea.

Just the engine of keep upgrades makes it incredibly elastic in terms of modding I suspect, think of the possibilities.

 

[Grunker]

he keep in Pillars is better than any previous incarnation of a stronghold idea.

 

[Kel]

he keep in Pillars is better than any previous incarnation of a stronghold idea.

as in better than De Arnise hold in BG2. Name me a better implementation of a player character keep in a game.

 

[Zed]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

when people say that BG2 had a keep, are they referring to the pocket plane in TOB, or the fighter-only castle? or am I forgetting something?
because neither location had any "upkeep" micro-management. I would not compare either of them to the NWN2/POE/DAI castles.

 

[lurker3000]

As others have said the biggest thing with the keep is that its just a money sink. If it was tied to any quests or even scripted events it would have been so much better.

 

[Space Satan]

Well, I remember how BG2 was so much better than BG1. I expect PoE2 to follow the exactly same route with the revenues Obsidian got. BG1 had shitload of companions but only in BG2 they became interesting. Characters with their own stories, not a simple walking template of their class.

 

[Grunker]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

when people say that BG2 had a keep, are they referring to the pocket plane in TOB, or the fighter-only castle? or am I forgetting something?

The class strongholds?

Mage's get Planar Sphere, Fighter's get the De'Arnise castle, Thieves get a guild, Bard's get a playhouse, Druid's get a grove, Paladins get a knight's order, cleric get a temple suited to their alignment, ranger gets a cabin in the woods and a rural village. They're really just facilitators for small gold earnings and quests/decisions that are "lord/archmage/guildleader"-like in their flavour. Meaning that they are based on the game's already implemented systems instead of being pointless minigames.

 

[Grunker]

But the keep isn't a moneysink. I sink nothing into it. I give it pennies and it spits pennies back. It's like a bank that only takes very small loans.

 

[Athelas]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

when people say that BG2 had a keep, are they referring to the pocket plane in TOB, or the fighter-only castle? or am I forgetting something?

The class strongholds?

Mage's get Planar Sphere, Fighter's get the De'Arnise castle, Thieves get a guild, Bard's get a playhouse. They're really just facilitators for small gold earnings and quests/decisions that are "lord/archmage/guildleader"-like in their flavour. Meaning that they are based on the game's already implemented systems instead of being pointless minigames.

I don't think scripted quests can be considered 'systems'.

 

[Grunker]

A keep is a retarded feature as it goes against the very idea of adventuring.

It works fine in Baldur's Gate 2.

when people say that BG2 had a keep, are they referring to the pocket plane in TOB, or the fighter-only castle? or am I forgetting something?

The class strongholds?

Mage's get Planar Sphere, Fighter's get the De'Arnise castle, Thieves get a guild, Bard's get a playhouse. They're really just facilitators for small gold earnings and quests/decisions that are "lord/archmage/guildleader"-like in their flavour. Meaning that they are based on the game's already implemented systems instead of being pointless minigames.

I don't think scripted quests can be considered 'systems'.

You misunderstood me. My whole point is that rather than being systems of their own they're just extension of whatever the game does already. As in: you go questing and do combat encounters.

 

[Trodat]

As others have said the biggest thing with the keep is that its just a money sink. If it was tied to any quests or even scripted events it would have been so much better.

It doesn't even serve as a good money sink. Without looting everything I have 40k gold and I haven't progressed to act 3.

 

[Haba]

Keep is a great feature, but it really requires a game built around it. I.e. it should be the central hub instead of being a side attraction.

 

[made]

Companions - mostly PoE, Avellone is still a God amongst men

God of the ellipses, that's for sure.

 

[Kel]

We have an Eric Fenstermaker hater already? They grow up so quickly. *sniff*

Should have been cut imo so content could have been improved elsewhere.

Disappointment, not hate.

Whenever a designer chooses "look at muh literary leet skillz" instead of "look at the risks I took at being even MORE non-linear" an angel is impaled on a rusty pike in heaven.

I don't want a Harvard snoot trying to emulate his own ego from a previous game, I want the freeform epicness of Darklands, Fallout 2 and/or Arcanum improved upon.

 

[Rake]

I want the non-linear epicness of Fallout 2 and/or Arcanum improved upon.

No one gives a shit about your wants. The game was sold as a IE successor. It has many faults, but not being Arcanum isn't one of them.
Wait for the Arcanum spiritual successor to bitch about your "non-linear epicness"

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I agree with most of your points but I think that PoE is far superior to BG and is good or better than BG2.

I understand and might even agree with it being on par with Baldur's Gate 1, especially considering the presentation. It's a bit cheating though, as Obsidian had a clear blue-print and 17 years of advances in technology, user-experience and ruleset to take upon, while BG was made by people that had never made a video game before.

But being better than Baldur's Gate 2? To that I disagree 100%. Besides being more user-friendly, there's nothing in the game I would consider superior. Encounter design, itemization, story, spells, NPC's arc, the villain, the character system, the cities, the boss battles, etc... BG2 clearly is a notch above PoE. At most Durante is a better NPC than any in BG2, and the premise (but not the execution) of the story is better, but that's about it. Pretty dissapointing for all the resources and opportunities Obsidian had in hands.

Oh God, it's that bad

?

 

[Kel]

I want the non-linear epicness of Fallout 2 and/or Arcanum improved upon.

No one gives a shit about your wants. The game was sold as a IE successor. It has many faults, but not being Arcanum isn't one of them.
Wait for the Arcanum spiritual successor to bitch about your "non-linear epicness"

Because you would consider BG2 to be linear? You poor millennial.