Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[Infinitron]

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire/updates/910

Update #61 - Patch Update 5.0 - The Return of the Ultimate
POSTED: 05/08/2019

Greetings, Watchers,

It's the 1 year anniversary since the launch of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire! We here at Obsidian can't thank you enough for the support and feedback you have given the game since the Fig campaign launched two years ago. Now we're here, a year out from the release of Pillars II, and have one final patch for you all. The time has come for the launch of Update 5.0 for Deadfire! This patch brings some new features and bug fixes to Pillars II and our own Design Director, Josh Sawyer, has made a video to let you know what you can expect from the update.

Patch 5.0 Highlights
There are a host of bug fixes in the 5.0 update that you can read on our forums, but here are some of the highlights for you:

• New Ship UI
  • An update to the UI has been implemented that will come up any time you engage with a ship on the seas that brings a more elegant way to perform ship-to-ship encounters.
• Turn-Based Mode Out of Beta
  • Thanks to feedback from the community, we have made a lot of changes to turn-based mode to account for bugs and balance fixes and it is now in full release with the 5.0 patch.
• New Story Content Added
  • After listening to feedback on the critical path of the game when it came to reactivity with Woedica and Eothas, so we’ve decided to go in and write new lines and get them recorded by the original actors to add more to that aspect of the game.
• Anarchist Path Adjustments
  • Some critical path items have been moved out of Neketaka to other locations in the Deadfire to address the difficulty and length that the game had if choosing to not side with a faction at Ondra’s Mortar.
• The Ultimate
  • The final God Challenge will be live with the 5.0 patch. This challenge, “The Ultimate” will turn on all other God Challenges, Trial of Iron, Path of the Damned, and Solo mode.

The Ultimate Challenge
In addition to the above changes, Patch 5.0 also introduces the Ultimate Challenge for Deadfire. The challenge is not for the faint of heart, and only the most devoted and erudite of our players stand even a chance in this challenge, but the first twelve players to triumph will be immortalized in Obsidian's studio lobby for all to see. The first twelve Watchers to succeed at the challenge will get their names and their Watchers' names, classes, and levels upon our Deadfire Ultimate Challenge plaque hanging in our lobby. And yes, that means that everyone who comes through our studio will bear witness to the glory of your triumph.

Not only that, but the first 50 players who complete the challenge will get a very special patch that not only celebrates your achievement wherever you wish to flex it, but also has Josh's face on it to let the world know you have his approval.

The Ultimate Challenge Submission Guidelines and Terms
In order to streamline the review and vetting process, please read the following submission guidelines and terms:

1. Cheating, including save-scumming, use of third-party tools or mods, and/or doing anything in a manner contrary to the spirit of the challenge is prohibited.
2. Console commands that do not require the "iroll20s" command be enabled are allowed.
3. Submissions must include a video of the entirety of your run and a save file of the run completed.
4. We reserve the right to disqualify a submission without notice or explanation.

If you have completed the challenge and wish to send it in for review and judgment, please send the following evidence to theultimate@obsidian.net:

• We require full video evidence of your run - acceptable forms of video include: YouTube playlist links, or direct download links via Dropbox.
• We also require the save game file with the completed challenge.

Pillars Pen and Paper
Josh has updated the Pillars of Eternity Pen and Paper ruleset and had it playtested with an intrepid band of merry developers - he is now pleased to release it to the general public for play and feedback. You can download it from the front page of eternity.obsidian.net later on today. We will also be pushing it live to your backer portals and, for those who have it, game libraries as well.

Thank you again for your continued support! If you have any issues with the game, contact us through our support portal to help you on your journey.

Cheers,

The Deadfire team

Reach out to us on our various social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or on our forums) and let us know your comments, your critiques, and what you love about the game.

Did you miss our last update? Check it out! To join the conversation on this update, head to our forums!

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm sure someone cares.

Definitely not nobody.

 

[GloomFrost]

Petition that if anyone from the forum can beat the ultimate the character should be called Sherry (or Orange)

OMG Josh calm down. Getting your name on a plaque in Obsidian office isnt exactly the greatest reward of all time! If anything they should offer money so people would actually play it again.

 

[Prime Junta]

I think the biggest turn-off for me was the music. It's just depressingly bad.

 

[Parabalus]

Where are the balance changes?

Extremely disappointed in Sawyer.

 

[Lacrymas]

The biggest hurdle I can think of with the Ultimate is Eothas + the DLCs. Is there enough time to do them all? I also like that they've added more Woedica content, I want my reward from her damn it.

 

[thesheeep]

Frankly, I am surprised they still put in all this effort.
Might even give it another go, to try out the turn based mode at least.

 

[Trashos]

Josh looks like shit, I wonder what happened.

They replaced their makeup artists, by the same method they used to replace their writers.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the challenge of having to guard the 1 hp NPC sounds the most annoying tbh

They replaced their makeup artists, by the same method they used to replace their writers.

you'd think women and gay men would be good at makeup

 

[Lacrymas]

Isn't the escort thing already solved by just crafting a ridiculous number of Withdraw scrolls? Or having a Priest in your party to always cast Withdraw. I don't know, the escort seems like a stupid challenge, but most of the challenges seemed gimmicky and not really all that well thought-out from the start.

 

[Quillon]

the challenge of having to guard the 1 hp NPC sounds the most annoying tbh

Didn't they upped the HP on later patches?

 

[Seethe]

540 MB Jesus Christ maybe you should concentrate on Outer Worlds it is sort of out relatively soon! Also nice try Obsidian but thanx no thanx i would rather wait for the third DLC for Pathfinder and next big patch for Atom.

Who the fuck cares. Outer Worlds will be better by the time it comes out on steam anyway. It's probably gonna be shit at release.

 

[Krzysiek]

Ctrl + F: 'Nvidia' – 'Not found.'

Maybe this helps:

• Players should no longer be experiencing low frame rates due to multiple NPC's being on screen at once.

 

[pomenitul]

Thanks for the heads up, but it hasn't made a difference on my rig.

 

[Jenkem]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

 

[FreeKaner]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

 

[Jenkem]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

 

[Deleted member 7219]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

Hi Jenkem. Do you think saying Dumpsterfire all the time makes you a tough guy?

 

[Jenkem]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

Hi Jenkem. Do you think saying Dumpsterfire all the time makes you a tough guy?

Hi Rean. FreeKaner is the Prophet of the Dumpsterfire and I was trying to show respect to his prophecy. Do you think having an emotional reaction to someone trashing a product you enjoy will get you closer to Feargus?

 

[Deleted member 7219]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

Hi Jenkem. Do you think saying Dumpsterfire all the time makes you a tough guy?

Hi Rean. FreeKaner is the Prophet of the Dumpsterfire and I was trying to show respect to his prophecy. Do you think having an emotional reaction to someone trashing a product you enjoy will get you closer to Feargus?

Man, if only!

 

[Roguey]

Where are the balance changes?

Extremely disappointed in Sawyer.

He stopped caring about this as soon as it shipped.

 

[2house2fly]

Carrie Patel comparing the Teir Evron scenes to the Myrkul conversation in MotB reveals a terrible lack of self-awareness - the Dunning-Kruger in action.

She only "compared" them in the sense that that she said her boss told her "write something like that"

 

[entr0py]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

This resonates so much with my own view from earlier in this thread:

I have felt pretty much the same way. While PoE ruleset in both iterations is definitely the strong suit of the franchise, they lack a LOT in stroytelling, character development and most disappointingly I felt almost no attachment towards any of the characters* and especially nothing towards the protagonist him/herself.

(* I found Eder to be a correct dude, bit shallow characterization in the game itself but still kind of liked him. There were two characters I actually felt attachment with: the Grieving Mother and Durance. GM I felt connected with right away, shrouded in mystery, cloaked by pain and sorrow, some masterful writing and ideas right there, she was truly unique. Durance when I met him I hated him right away, but I still let him tag along, because I needed a cleric. Then as we traveled together and his backstory was pieced together slowly I first started to understand then pity him, and became an indispensable friend with traumas of the highest order. And I have to tell you guys, its NOT Avellone fanboyism, I only found out after finishing the game that he wrote the two actually memorable characters in the whole franchise)

I would say while mechanically PoE is the superior game compared to the BGs, very ironically it lacks something that was so much present in BG1/2, something very special, it lacks its SOUL, its an empty carcass of rules perfected to ridiculousness, it's all bones without marrow, its a hollowborn...

 

[Haplo]

FreeKaner what exactly do you disagree with?

That the game is worse than PoE1. PoE1 is mostly bad, white march aside. Dumpsterfire is just mediocre.

Durance and Grieving Mother are actually interesting characters compared to the zero in Dumpsterfire. There are no real dungeons in Dumpsterfire until the DLC.

White March is the best POE content.

And you said it yourself.. POE is mostly bad, but it still has more soul than the mediocre by-the-numbers Dumpsterfire. Dumpsterfire is the literal definition of a soulless cash grab. At least with POE1 they tried

edit: and I never said that POE1 was "better" just that it's not a soulless husk like POE2

They did try with Deadfire. Otherwise why all of the changes, revamping of graphics engine, addition of multiclassing, as well as some controversial ones, like switch to per encounter abilities and removal of the health/endurance dynamic. Addition of factions, base as a ship that actually serves a purpose apart from being there.
Now unfortunately not all of these changes are for the better or well executed, but you can't possibly say they didn't try.

I will admit that White March was the best PoE content so far.
But I do rate Deadfire higher then the rest of PoE.
There's more to a game then party NPCs. Story execution was pretty meh in both. PoE had a lot of promise with a strong start with a heavy topic like the hollowborn crisis... that soon became side-lined and you almost forgot about it.
Side quests are a lot better in Deadfire, often with multiple paths. Neketaka is vastly better then Defiance Bay. Itemization is a lot better. Character building offers a lot more options.

 

[Ulfhednar]

Played up to Port Maje just to see if the performance had improved for me. Loading times are still long. Far less screen stutter and drag during mouse scroll, though. Noticeable stutter during the opening when the souls are summoned on the first screen. It does seem an improvement performance-wise over the FS update, and it's the best the game has run for me since that early performance patch near release.