Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Martius]

Who knows? Could be, just with embargo date on releasing it for public.

 

[Abu Antar]

I can't wait to see footage next week. The reactions here will be amusing.

Because of the general codexness or because you know something that we don't?

I don't know anything that you don't. Even if I did, I would not be allowed to tell you anything, not that I do now anything. Whenever we do get to see footage, I think it will be funny, because even if people like the game or not, the Codex is a fun place to read reactions on.

 

[Sensuki]

Frusciante

Good lad, keep asking those questions on twitter.

Here's your reply too, btw

https://twitter.com/thedesslock/status/477852586184548352

 

[Roguey]

Roguey what makes you think that? Text-only coverage? (interviews and articles only)

It wasn't a "no photos/filming allowed!"-E3 showing.. was it?

Obs did promise screens, but they're not going to show a video until it's ready for the public at large.

 

[Sensuki]

In relation to Matt McLean's writing. George Ziets said while he can't 100% remember he thinks Matt did most of the writing for Safiya and Kaji and some Okku interjections in MotB. Can anyone give an appraisal of those (since i have not played the game).

 

[Sensuki]

Games.cz gave Pillars of Eternity a best of E3 (along with a bunch of other shit), although they didn't include any video footage in the clip due to the embargo and simply showed "and one more" (or something similar in Czech) and then the logo at the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82231TCejuk

 

[garren]

In relation to Matt McLean's writing. George Ziets said while he can't 100% remember he thinks Matt did most of the writing for Safiya and Kaji and some Okku interjections in MotB. Can anyone give an appraisal of those (since i have not played the game).

Been a while since I played MotB, but I think Safiya was pretty neutral about stuff, nothing really stood out to me. A lot of plot exposition stuff in the beginning and later levels too. Nothing cringeworthy or bad stuff, just average. Kaji didn't have too much dialogue, but he had some fun comic relief stuff every once in a while when he opened his mouth. Didn't play with Okku.

 

[mettalhed]

In relation to Matt McLean's writing. George Ziets said while he can't 100% remember he thinks Matt did most of the writing for Safiya and Kaji and some Okku interjections in MotB. Can anyone give an appraisal of those (since i have not played the game).

Haven't played it in awhile, but all of the characters were really well written, and the dialogue/story was the strongest point of the game. Okku was one of my favorite characters and i always found his dialogues interesting. Safiya was pretty good as well. I didn't play with Kaji. There were some lines here and there that were a bit dull throughout the game but overall the writing was really good.

 

[Merlkir]

Games.cz gave Pillars of Eternity a best of E3 (along with a bunch of other shit), although they didn't include any video footage in the clip due to the embargo and simply showed "and one more" (or something similar in Czech) and then the logo at the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82231TCejuk

Yep "And one more" is exactly what that said. Funny, I wonder if they couldn't even show the inside of their booth. :D

 

[Roguey]

"Masked witches, eldritch hags, and a red wizard traveling alongside... I'm beginning to think you gave yourself this curse to meet exotic, arcane women," is a fine line imo.

 

[Sensuki]

Just a bit of a recap from the E3 PE buzz:

Expect Interviews and/or articles from:

PCWorld - Already fan of the game, their rep saw it in December 2013 at Obsidian HQ
Kotaku - Writer Jason Schreier said it was an E3 "highlight"
Gameranx - Best of E3 for writer Lowell Bell
GameInformer
Gamasutra
Games.cz - Best of E3 (along with many other titles though)
Geekomatick (FR)
Angry Joe Show Interview

Possible articles from:

RockPaperShotgun - Nathan Grayson was there, but didn't mention the game most likely due to embargo
PCGamer - already done several articles
GameSpot
Strategyguidereviews
TriplePoint?
mmorpg.com ?
Roland Austinat (whoever he writes for, I think he's a freelancer)

Probably a lot of others that just haven't mentioned the game at all due to the embargo.

Josh seemed a little concerned about the non-backers and non-IE fans in the press on that talk show thing.

I recall last time that Nathan Grayson said that Obsidian told him about a lot of cool stuff, but all he actually got to see was a "Rescue the Princess" quest and some mundane killing of Wolves and Undead. I also recall him saying that he thought PE probably wouldn't have as much reactivity as Wasteland 2 (which actually doesn't have much reactivity) so it will be interesting to see whether he picks up on whether it does actually have more, as a couple tweeters were surprised by the amount of C&C. I wonder whether he will just accept the word of Brian Fargo, but not accept Obsidian's and write it up that way

 

[Infinitron]

Sensuki Here's what Grayson said re: Wasteland 2 vs Pillars of Eternity back in December: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/12/10/mega-impressions-obsidians-pillars-of-eternity/

Choices will manifest elsewhere, as well. While things like race and sex probably won’t matter quite as much as in, say, Wasteland 2, they’ll still come up.

Pillars of Eternity, relatively early though it still might be, is shaping up to be an impressive piece of work. I’m not quite wowed like I was when I went to see Wasteland 2, but so long as Obsidian sticks to The Plan, I think it’s got a good chance of pumping out another strong RPG.

He didn't really refer to "reactivity" specifically except the race and sex bit. Also, "reactivity" isn't the same thing as "C&C".

But anyway, that was back in December.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah while that guy is a dick, that wasn't a bad article.

 

[Sensuki]

This sounds like a Josh Sawyer thing:

Brandon Cole - Amateur voice actor for PE

Folks, I can finally announce to the world that I am doing voicework on Obsidian Entertainment's Pillars of Eternity.

However, the person who gave me this opportunity did so because he's very interested in accessibility.

 

[Zed]

However, the person who gave me this opportunity did so because he's very interested in accessibility.

I don't understand this. What does he mean?

 

[Aeschylus]

However, the person who gave me this opportunity did so because he's very interested in accessibility.

I don't understand this. What does he mean?

I think that would generally refer to making the game more playable for people with physical disabilities.

 

[Xeon]

I kind of thought he meant since he was close to them, they can call him any time for a second recording or something. Easier than Larian for example who need to finish everything in one session probably.

 

[Jagged Appliance]

Brandon Cole is blind.

 

[Abu Antar]

In relation to Matt McLean's writing. George Ziets said while he can't 100% remember he thinks Matt did most of the writing for Safiya and Kaji and some Okku interjections in MotB. Can anyone give an appraisal of those (since i have not played the game).

You may not play Pillars of Eternity until you have played Mask of the Betrayer.

It is known.

 

[Sensuki]

However, the person who gave me this opportunity did so because he's very interested in accessibility.

I don't understand this. What does he mean?

He got it largely because he's blind (and thus probably won't be able to play the game), is what I think he means. I'm sure his audition was okay too? Duraframe300 said he knew of the guy, so we'll see what he says when his net fixes itself

I recall Anthony Davis saying that Josh was a big believer in accessibility.

 

[Xeon]

Brandon Cole is blind.

True I guess, but "However, the person who gave me this opportunity did so because he's very interested in accessibility." since kinda makes it strange that the one giving him the job is the one that seems more interested in accessibility and not Brandon Cole himself. I am assuming that's him saying that.

Might be misunderstanding tho, looking up the definition for accessibility it says (Handiness: the quality if being at hand when needed).

 

[Sensuki]

Brandon Adler on a Gameplay video

Since this has grown into a contentious point, I wanted to address it.

We will not be showing a video of the demo. The footage has quite a few spoilers in it and it isn't ready to show to the backers yet. We want to show you guys something much more polished and we aim to do that sometime between now and our backer beta. Just so you guys are aware, it will likely be closer to the backer beta.

When we show you things, we want it to be the real deal - no hacked together footage or faked content. I can remember seeing the gameplay video for Shadowrun Returns and being hyped up over all of the cool stuff I was seeing... only to be let down when a lot of that stuff never made it into the final game. I want to make sure that from this point on, if we are showing something to you guys it is representative of how it will be in the game.

To do that means we have to focus a large amount of polish on a very specific area we want to show. This ends up hurting other areas in the game because they will tend to get less polish overall. We did have to do this for the E3 demo, but because we were showing off a few key areas, it is work we had to do anyways. Since we will show you something off of the critical path, it means we need to be much more careful over what get shown.

When we get more information about showing gameplay you will hear about it from us first. No need to speculate.

That said, I know that some of you are disappointed that we are showing gameplay to the press first. While you may not agree with our reasons for doing it, please know that we are showing to the press in this manner because we feel it is the best for the game. I will try to explain those reasons in more detail in the next update.

I know we sound liek a bit of a broken record, but we truly do appreciate the support you guys have given us - in helping to fund the game and in giving us feedback. Thanks for everything.

And streaming the beta

We have never said we wouldn't allow Twitch streams or YouTube videos of the backer beta. Please stop spreading this because it is completely untrue.
We will encourage people to share their beta experiences with as many people as they can.

 

[Abu Antar]

I might be naive, but I buy their reasons for not showing the game yet.

 

[Roguey]

Shadowrun Returns is a good example. Wasteland 2, with its fake hexagons and fake stealth system (that was cut), would have been another good one. Josh Sawyer is the most honest person in the industry, enforcing a vision of honesty.

 

[Semper]

Brandon Adler on a Gameplay video

We did have to do this for the E3 demo, but because we were showing off a few key areas, it is work we had to do anyways. Since we will show you something off of the critical path, it means we need to be much more careful over what get shown.

yeah, because you can't show footage of a lengthy fight without getting into quest details or conversations.
fighting wolfs and zombies to rescue a damsel from their bloody fangs ain't that spoiler laden to me. this level of national security makes me a little bit sick :/