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

[Grunker]

I would say it was passable.

Then what is your definition of good? I didn't say "perfect" or "great."

I don't ascribe to 'everything is shit' nor 'all RPGs fundamentally suck'.

 

[Ninjerk]

Oh wow, I thought that was alkeides. I was going to tell him to get back to Codex fitness.

 

[S2ensuki]

I've been forced off my avatar too. Can I have my old account un-ruined pls

 

[Grunker]

To be fair that mainly seems to be the case because Obsidian seem to end up working with half crippled engines

Obsidian weren't forced to make NWN2 a piece of shit or the engine complete garbage.

At some point, the apologetic bullshit has to stop. Obsidian might have the best intentions, but at the end of the day, how can you blame the critics for using their actual catalogue of games as basis for their competence?

 

[Roguey]

The engine is garbage because they wanted to make a 360 port even though neither they nor Atari could afford to pay the licensing fee.

Feargus seemed rather vague about whether or not that decision was entirely his or something Atari wanted despite not being able to deliver on their end.

Now for some unrelated Joshposts. He made some pretty sick burns this week.

examining games critically is great but edition warriors pick sides and that ends up biasing them. they may be able to articulate the fundamental reasons why they enjoy a game, but it becomes difficult for them to recognize strengths of others games or acknowledge flaws in their preferred game. in many cases their defenses are either intentionally or subconsciously disingenuous. they dislike other games for relatively shallow or minor reasons and build up broad/vague critiques and stick by them rather than looking at things with less bias.

This could also apply to the turn based/real-time divide.

the big flaw of tradgames is that they're full on narratologists over there, they can't imagine anyone enjoying a game where you meticulously create an entire world with rigid rules like "harpies nest near cliffs in groups of 2d6"

i think that attitude is fine as long as you openly acknowledge it. e.g. endrite thinks d&d is a baby game for idiot children and that's pretty much the end of the critique.

he's right

it's amazing how single minded cage has been on weird, film-y shit and keeps getting huge money to do it.

i think it's time for me to develop bizarre idiosyncrasies and pathological dysfunctions to celebrate my extensive shortcomings as a game developer

david cage loves shower scenes but only if the showers are weird as hell

it's a weird thing to be about, his main failing is that he isnt weirder about all of his steez


also he's a film writer pretending to be a game designer

in the year 2013 it is worse to be a game designer who designs games than a film writer pretending to be a game designer/game designer pretending to be a film writer.

 

[Infinitron]

I've been forced off my avatar too. Can I have my old account un-ruined pls

What's wrong with your old account?

 

[S2ensuki]

You guys gave me a shit avatar and disabled my ability to change it

 

[Sensuki]

Oh they were wiped today, sweet.

We're still debating the merits of various ammo systems. IWD2 was the pinnacle of absurdity near the endgame with archers' inventories filled with stacks of arrows. Ammunition can be enjoyable as a consumable resource, especially if it's something you can craft, but it can very easily get annoying.

All of the melee weapons are distinguished from each other by properties separate from speed, damage, and damage type. E.g. estocs negate a flat amount of DT, pikes have increased range, flails negate a flat amount of Deflection provided by shields, morning stars use the more advantageous of two damage types (Pierce/Crush), etc.

 

[Zed]

I think Standard Arrows might as well be in unlimited supply. Magically endless. Equip a bow and congratulations you got arrows from nowhere.

Any other arrows: Arrows of Fuck You, Arrows of Dirt, Arrows of Exploding Moss, etc., should be limited however.

So, equipping bow with no arrows = bow uses gimp standard arrows.
Equipping any special arrows = overrides standard arrows until depleted.

Buying gimp arrows isn't fun and it never feels like "oh shit only five arrows left" anyway, which would be the sole reason to have them in limited supply. However, it's not unusual to be in a situation where you think "oh shit, trolls up ahead and I have no fire arrows and I can't rest and get back my spells, FFS".

I think this is a great idea. I am so smart.

 

[Duraframe300]

it's amazing how single minded cage has been on weird, film-y shit and keeps getting huge money to do it.

i think it's time for me to develop bizarre idiosyncrasies and pathological dysfunctions to celebrate my extensive shortcomings as a game developer

david cage loves shower scenes but only if the showers are weird as hell

it's a weird thing to be about, his main failing is that he isnt weirder about all of his steez


also he's a film writer pretending to be a game designer

in the year 2013 it is worse to be a game designer who designs games than a film writer pretending to be a game designer/game designer pretending to be a film writer.

Where is this from?

 

[Roguey]

YCS's replacement.

I think this is a great idea. I am so smart.

Dragon Age: Origins did this and it was correct to do so.

 

[Infinitron]

Roguey

During the Kickstarter or shortly afterwards, Josh told me all ammo would be limited. Don't remember where.

He might change his mind, of course.

 

[Roguey]

He should rethink it. Even without the larger stacks tweak, you could buy 40 arrows for 1 gold which just creates pointless busywork and he's all about reducing that.

 

[Zed]

I think this is a great idea. I am so smart.

Dragon Age: Origins did this and it was correct to do so.

yup

 

[April]

He should rethink it. Even without the larger stacks tweak, you could buy 40 arrows for 1 gold which just creates pointless busywork and he's all about reducing that.

The best addition by BG2:ToB were truly the limitless ammo containers.

 

[imweasel]

And PE will be a storyfag game first. If it'll be a storyfag game with good tactical combat remains to be seen. For all of Sawyer's talk, from the "design pillars" of PE, fun tactical combat is the one Obsidian has always failed to deliver, in contrast with narrative and C&C.

Yup.

During the Kickstarter or shortly afterwards, Josh told me all ammo would be limited. Don't remember where.

I believe this is what the fans said they wanted on the Obsidian forums. They should keep it this way too.

The best addition by BG2:ToB were truly the limitless ammo containers.

This. The magical limitless ammo containers are great rewards, the bows with unlimited magical ammo too.

I like building my characters with special items, it adds to the feeling of progression. No need to remove any of that IMO, limited ammo is the way to go.

 

[Surf Solar]

Limited ammo all the way. As long as the ammo stacks arent as small as 20 per bundle..

 

[Arkadin]

Running out of ammo in a tense battle is a fun part of games. I love having to have my bowmen switch to melee in a dungeon just to preserve a few precious arrows for when they might be needed.

 

[Lancehead]

Limited normal arrows would make sense if they are lethal in the hands of a skilled archer. Arrows with magical effects should be reserved for enemies who have various resistances; from wearing heavy armour to being outright immune (e.g. undead).

 

[Lhynn]

Limited ammo does not create busy work so much as it makes me feel like im actually preparing for an adventure, and if i fail to get that or other needed things and i already started the adventure, i dont go back out, i just cope with it knowing that part of my preparations failed.
I believe it should stay in.

 

[April]

Then weapons should be breakable from use. Don't know if this is the case in this game though so far. Punishing ranged users only without making the same sort of preparation necessary for melee is imo shitty.

 

[Infinitron]

Then weapons should be breakable from use. Don't know if this is the case in this game though so far.

They wanted to do something like that, but it didn't work out too well: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64070-lol-durability-has-been-removed/

 

[Sensuki]

have like 1 stack of arrows, or 3 quiver slots that hold quite a lot together, even if unrealistic.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

If it's even remotely like BG, just make it unlimited. The only point of making anything limited is if it's either scarce, costly or takes up inventory space/weight. If it's none of these, it's just an exercise in how many times you're willing to click on an icon in a shop.

 

[Infinitron]

What they could do is make it a resource that automatically replenishes on rest (maybe only in towns?), much like health

That way it doesn't add any more busywork - it's just another resource management constraint for you to manage while you're dungeon delving out of town