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

[Crooked Bee]

Floor puzzle, lol. Probably bog-standard, too. Not that I would expect good puzzle design from Obsidian.

Also, these previews are so shit. Kotaku might be the only decent one, lol.

 

[Sensuki]

They sound like vailian names

You know you're obsessed when you're drawing conclusions based on the speculative linguistics of an unreleased game.

Speculation: Something happens to this Odema that puts him in the position to be the omniscient narrator.

Well from memory, Aedyran and Glanfathan names do not sound like that, so it's a pretty logical conclusion. Another name mentioned was Theodan which sounds Aedyran. I just remember the different styles from that thread Josh made.

 

[Athelas]

By the way, Sawyer really wasn't kidding when he said that the people who were enthusiastic were mostly people who played and loved the IE games. Articles like the Polygon one couldn't come across as more disinterested if they tried.

 

[Infinitron]

Source: PC Gamer

Aha! I knew this one looked familiar!

It's from Josh's GDC presentation.

 

[Sensuki]

I thought that was obvious?

 

[Sensuki]

Brandon is reading the Obsidian forums thread:

The Ghost Bleach ability is not called Ghost Bleach, it's Knockdown.

The Health bars above the characters head and the recovery timers can be switched off.

 

[covr]

Hey, why there is some kind of upper line between letters 's' and 't' ? Like in word 'constitution'. I've seen this before, in a book about dogs - I thought that those combined letters might represent image of a dog. Lol. I hate this and hope that final game will have typical font, not pseudo-moncled hipster new age shit.[/QUOTE]

 

[SophosTheWise]

Hey, why there is some kind of upper line between letters 's' and 't' ? Like in word 'constitution'. I've seen this before, in a book about dogs - I thought that those combined letters might represent image of a dog. Lol. I hate this and hope that final game will have typical font, not pseudo-moncled hipster new age shit.

Cry me a river

 

[Sensuki]

Rats, overslept.

I'll go spoiler-free for now, since the demo was literally the opening minutes of the game.

To start with, you get to pick your own backstory through some of the opening dialogues, and they cover most of the major adventurer tropes, though there's also always the option when asked to just say "None of your business" and you can just keep it to being whatever you want their backstory to be in your head without the game insisting otherwise.

Some of the text adventure scenes aren't even multiple choice, they're just there to illustrate what's going on. And something I don't see anyone else mentioning is that they're slightly animated, and with sound effects added in. It really enhances the feeling of it, even if it's just a still picture of a waterskin being raised out of a river.

The game just looks, feels, and moves in a way that we all think the infinity engine games did, until we actually go back and play them. All the seams, the tiling, the same animations firing without variation over and over... It's all gone. the game looks organic and vibrant and alive, just gorgeous in every second of gameplay.

Allies can join, leave, or die at just about any time. When I left there were three members in the party, but Ropekid explained how with a few simple differences in choices up to this point it could be one companion or the other gone or even both.

There's tons of dialogue choices. One situation I saw had no less than five different skillchecks that could have resolved the situation, and a handful of "Normal" dialogue choices besides, each with their own personality indicators and influence degrees. They kept skipping through large chunks of dialogue, but I was able to read big chunks with Ropekid would stop to talk, and it's all pretty solid stuff from what I was actually able to process.

It's all just looking really, really, really well done, but I think from now on I can't actually read anything about it. Painful as it may be, I think I'm going to start my embargo before I learn too much more.

I'll leave you with one spoilery warning: Soul Winds will fuck you UP, son.

 

[Jedi Exile]

There's tons of dialogue choices. One situation I saw had no less than five different skillchecks that could have resolved the situation, and a handful of "Normal" dialogue choices besides, each with their own personality indicators and influence degrees

 

[Athelas]

And there are only five skills, lol.

 

[Sensuki]

I predicted that a while ago, there's just no way to do any more lifting from the 4E skill list.

 

[Visperas]

Only five? Source?

 

[tuluse]

Why are you guys worried about 5 skills? This is an IE inspired game. The only "skills" in those games were thief skills.

 

[Visperas]

Yea, I know... I hoped for a more "fallouty" skill sistem anyway...

 

[Sensuki]

I'm not. I'm just saying there are five.

 

[Niektory]

Hey, why there is some kind of upper line between letters 's' and 't' ? Like in word 'constitution'. I've seen this before, in a book about dogs - I thought that those combined letters might represent image of a dog. Lol. I hate this and hope that final game will have typical font, not pseudo-moncled hipster new age shit.

stupid poster, stop it fast
lest the staff stuffs a fist
up your aß

 

[SuicideBunny]

Hey, why there is some kind of upper line between letters 's' and 't' ? Like in word 'constitution'. I've seen this before, in a book about dogs - I thought that those combined letters might represent image of a dog. Lol. I hate this and hope that final game will have typical font, not pseudo-moncled hipster new age shit.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographic_ligature
it's not "pseudo-moncled" or "new age shit" at all. a bit hipsterish though.

 

[Duraframe300]

Looks great/expected so far.

 

[Semper]

Only five? Source?

The five core skills are fairly traditional too – Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival. You’ll develop those as you play the game and mastery of certain skills will allow different solutions to the many problems you face in the game.
SOURCE

it's from this preview.

 

[Hiisi]

That's also a great interview. Someone needs to translate the third page of it.

http://www.gamersglobal.de/interview/pillars-of-eternity?page=0,2

My German's rusty, but this should be the gist of it.

Speaking of the gameworld: are we going to travel through the entire world in a linear manner, or are we also going to have to return to known locations? Is there a central city with shops and the like, a kind of hub?

Sawyer: It is not going to be an entirely linear progression. One of the most important goals for me was to not check any area off the list immediately. The player can return and take on additional quests. One can do some things without the correct order at the start and then move on to the second hub, or even return to the beginning. We have also constructed a mega-dungeon that opens itself to players during the course of the game. We have purposely designed this dungeon so that the levels become more difficult faster than the heroes can gain levels there. This way, the player comes with each attempt to a point beyond which he cannot continue until he has gained experience and become stronger outside of the dungeon. After some time he may return and will make it a couple of levels further. I love this progressive approach.

Is the game going to be structured by chapters?

Sawyer: Yes, it is. I like the open worlds of the Fallout games, but for our project it seemed simply better to build it around chapters. Within these, we allow the player a certain amount of freedom and exploration, because both are pillars of the game. There are going to be certain breaks, however, upon which one crosses an important part of the story and thereby moves on to the next chapter.

Can I also return to the beginning of the game in Chapter Three?

Sawyer: There are only a few locations to which we will not allow the player to return after he leaves. As I have said, it is about this sense of freedom. Perhaps the player does not wish to return to the beginning, but we allow him to go there. This allows the world to seem more open.

Are there plans for elements like one's own castle or theatre, as in Baldur's Gate 2?

Sawyer: We have in fact implemented a fortress. The fortress is not fixed to one's class in the game, there is only one. The fortress can be improved in many ways, in fact there exists a mini-game which progresses further upon successfully completed quests. It is also not based upon time played or rounds or any such thing; it is of no use to make the party members sleep again and again [to pass the time]. Rather, they must go through adventures and solve quests in order to progress the "strategic time" and to build the fortress further. It is actually very fun, because the player comes upon little background stories and other exciting events. I think people are going to enjoy the fortress very much. They already did in Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate 2.

Can you outline what players can expect from the story?

Sawyer: No, the players should find this out for themselves when Pillars of Eternity is complete. I can only hint at something about the beginning. The protagonist can be of any background. We allow the player a great degree of freedom in deciding where he comes from and why he has ended up in this part of the world. The protagonist is going to be a newcomer in any case; the character will experience the gameworld for the first time, precisely as the player will. This is important for us. The main character is a witness and a participant in a supernatural event that throws him into the story. This event brings him into difficulties, simply because he has experienced it. This drives him forward in the story. I would not like to tell more!

When you think of your game, is there an element of which you are particularly proud?

Sawyer: My answer may sound as though I am trying to extricate myself. But it is the spirit of the old games captured in Pillars of Eternity. When one plays this game, it looks and feels like Baldur's Gate once did. This is the most important thing for me. I believe it is also the most important thing for our backers; I had this feel of the game in my head through the course of the development.

 

[Shadenuat]

That's less than in DA:O. Obsidian, come on.
At least they are making use of stat checks...

Shouldn't there also be craft skills...

 

[Athelas]

That's less than in DA:O. Obsidian, come on.
At least they are making use of stat checks...

Shouldn't there also be craft skills...

Sounds like you want a bunch of useless skills, i.e. skills that are rarely checked or skills that are a waste to invest in if you already have a character with that skill.

Crafting is still in, it's just not governed by a skill (I think? Someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[Frusciante]

Havent seen this one mentioned yet: http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/22677/article/pillars-of-eternity-e3-2014-preview-a-fine-line/

Also a nice write up.

Small spoiler warning...

Spoiler

The bolt worked, and Hoedan was free, but not before taking a wound. Hoeden wished to stop and rest. Calisca would have none of it and demanded the group push forward. Sawyer informed me if the player rested for Hoedan, Calisca would leave the party for good. No prompts told the player this beforehand. Consequences will play a large role in the game and will be directly related to the player's choices. Careful reading of narrative text gave the clues as to what Calisca would do in such a situation, Sawyer assured me. The party pressed on, but Hoedan would remain wounded until the party could rest.

 

[Infinitron]

Havent seen this one mentioned yet: http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/22677/article/pillars-of-eternity-e3-2014-preview-a-fine-line/

Also a nice write up.

Small spoiler warning...

''The bolt worked, and Hoedan was free, but not before taking a wound. Hoeden wished to stop and rest. Calisca would have none of it and demanded the group push forward. Sawyer informed me if the player rested for Hoedan, Calisca would leave the party for good. No prompts told the player this beforehand. Consequences will play a large role in the game and will be directly related to the player's choices. Careful reading of narrative text gave the clues as to what Calisca would do in such a situation, Sawyer assured me. The party pressed on, but Hoedan would remain wounded until the party could rest.''

Nice, this one has even more info about the story than the MMORPG.com one.