Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[aweigh]

I was about to write a slightly misogynistic comment meant to allude in a humorous way to the flightiness of women in literature versus the archetypal loyalty of manhood before I checked my privelege and realized that Jaheira's behavior was mandated by the sneering male writers in order to service the player's ego.

Whew, dodged that bullet.

 

[Neanderthal]

Plus, I don't like the relationship sim aspect of RPGs; that's not what D&D is about.

Could be argued that companions are fulfilling role of other players in pnp, if so then its at very heart of dnd.

 

[aweigh]

I have never seen LARP'ed romance between human players in a table-top game. That shit is too cringe. I'm sure it must have happened somewhere, sometime, but I'm just saying I've never even heard of it.

 

[Lilura]

Could be argued that companions are fulfilling role of other players in pnp, if so then its at very heart of dnd.

The heart of D&D is combat.

Luke K. said something about how BG fans writing fan-romances caused BioWare to include romances in BG2.

This is a prime example of why devs shouldn't take note of what fans are doing/saying.

 

[Pizzashoes]

I was about to write a slightly misogynistic comment meant to allude in a humorous way to the flightiness of women in literature versus the archetypal loyalty of manhood before I checked my privelege and realized that Jaheira's behavior was mandated by the sneering male writers in order to service the player's ego.

Whew, dodged that bullet.

Close call. I wouldn’t want to have to call you a bigot! It killed me to do it to Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss, but we just can’t allow that kind of insensitive behavior to pollute the highbrow discourse we maintain here.

 

[Jenkem]

Chris Avellone is going to love Deadfire once he gets around to playing it (after patching, of course)

He will be proud of Josh Sawyer. But I am guessing he is already proud of him.

 

[FreeKaner]

The heart of D&D is combat.

Luke K. said something about how BG fans writing fan-romances caused BioWare to include romances in BG2.

This is a prime example of why devs shouldn't take note of what fans are doing/saying.

D&D PNP is about expressing one's character through various stages of interaction, one of which is combat. A RPG should be more than just combat, in essence. If it isn't then I have to say Mordheim is a better fantasy RPG than any D&D game made so far.

 

[Fairfax]

So that's not very good then. I wonder if this is something Obsidian were expecting or are they surprised by it. No way to know though.

If number of Steam owners factors in the Backers (it should), then PoE2 had a challenge out the gate if there was a Backer disparity between PoE1 and 2 (73K vs. 33K). Still, the amount people pledged/Backer would make a difference.

While it certainly funded well (and they should be congratulated for that), I do wonder about the marketing push from Fig and in terms of profits, the % that Fig takes before/after/during the campaign - or what % they take after the product is released (I don't know how the payment works vs. Kickstarter, but I'd be curious to know).

You're already losing about 30% to Steam anyway (that's the price of admission and getting eyes on your game), but the Fig part of the equation is more of a mystery to me, and that would set it apart from PoE1, potentially.

I imagine when it comes to paying Fig's share as well, there'd also be some issues with Fig and board members being technically paid a % of the crowfunding of their own games outside what their company gets, but I'm not sure how that works, either. (If someone knows based on Fig policies, I'd love to know.)

Here's how the investment worked for PoE2:

Provided the game is successfully developed and published, the Developer will pay Fig a revenue share on PC sales received by the Developer. Fig’s revenue share % will calculated as:

(i) the Fig Funds divided by $14 million, until 1.13x the Fig Funds is returned; after that,

(ii) the Fig Funds divided by $28 million.

For example, if Fig Funds were $2 million, then Fig’s revenue share would equal 14.3% until $2.26 million is returned; after that, the Fig revenue share would equal 7.1%.

Fig will pay a minimum dividend rate of 85% of its revenue share to holders of Fig Game Shares - Pillars of Eternity II, with Fig’s board retaining the discretion to pay more than the minimum dividend rate (up to 100%) if business conditions permit after accounting for taxes and promotional costs.

That means Fig takes 14.07% of the revenue until $2,542,500 are returned (or $4.92 out of the $35 after Valve's cut). That would be reached at roughly 500k copies sold. After that point, Fig will take 8.03%.

85% of Fig's cut go to the investors, the other 15% stay with Fig itself, unless the board of directors decide to increase the dividend rate.

 

[Lilura]

D&D PNP is about expressing one's character through various stages of interaction, one of which is combat. A RPG should be more than just combat, in essence. If it isn't then I have to say Mordheim is a better fantasy RPG than any D&D game made so far.

A/D&D is basically 100% hack n slash combat RPG: read the A/D&D "literature" and ask any Ars Magica fan.

 

[FreeKaner]

A/D&D is basically 100% hack n slash combat RPG: read the A/D&D "literature" and ask any Ars Magica fan.

What a garbage franchise then. No wonder it hasn't have produced anything of note except derivative IE games.

 

[Neanderthal]

Could be argued that companions are fulfilling role of other players in pnp, if so then its at very heart of dnd.

The heart of D&D is combat.

Luke K. said something about how BG fans writing fan-romances caused BioWare to include romances in BG2.

This is a prime example of why devs shouldn't take note of what fans are doing/saying.

I've GM'd campaigns wi hardly any combat, never ran a campaign with lads not interacting wi each other. Romances are fucking cancer i'll give you that.

 

[Lilura]

What a garbage franchise then. No wonder it hasn't have produced anything of note except derivative IE games.

I'm glad we got ToEE and Knights of the Chalice. Also, Low Magic Age.

 

[Quillon]

I'm starting to understand why product makers will cut a feature; I would just cut out the half-developed companions instead of rebranding them as sidekicks just to save myself having to hear people whining.

They haven't rebranded them, they were announced as sidekicks; they each were gonna have initial quests & environmental barks. Only one ended up with an initial quest and no barks for any of them. I wasn't interested in them back then, which isn't changed. They shouldn't have created them to begin with. Got 4 slots for 7 companions, best sidekicks can hope for is auto-fight in occasional deck combat in my game.

How awesome it woulda been if returning companions had returned as NPCs(which would have freed Obs to return more companions(as NPCs) and place them in important roles in their respective factions or some place else) and we had got only 4 companions

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

A/D&D is basically 100% hack n slash combat RPG: read the A/D&D "literature" and ask any Ars Magica fan.

What a garbage franchise then. No wonder it hasn't have produced anything of note except derivative IE games.

No, she’s just full of shit on this point. The idea that AD&D is 100% combat is a ridiculous exaggeration. It’s very much at the DM’s discretion. But, for example, my last P&P campaign was Faction War and we spent maybe half of that in combat at most. There are whole acts of Faction War with no combat or only optional combat.

http://www.jdr-eickos.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ADD2-Planescape-Faction-War.pdf

 

[AwesomeButton]

I would just cut out the half-developed companions instead of rebranding them as sidekicks just to save myself having to hear people whining.

I would just cut the bisexual any romances. Come to think of it, I might actually do that.

 

[Jezal_k23]

I'd be fine with no romances. PoE was fine without them, and in Deadfire they seem to have failed to capture the Bioware audience, so it's possible the romances did nothing for them. Or the VO.

 

[aweigh]

Alternatively you could mod in bonuses for ever NPC you bed, and gamify romances. Tee-hee.

 

[Lilura]

No, she’s just full of shit on this point. The idea that AD&D is 100% combat is a ridiculous exaggeration.

Note the word "basically".

I like reactivity, exploration (open-ended), questing (non-linear), puzzles, traps etc.

And strategic resource management stemming from rest/healing restrictions and limited itemization.

But combat is first and foremost — especially in cRPGs (which are about efficiency and power-gaming).

Of the baker's dozen of A/D&D cRPGs that came out between 1998-2009, all but PS:T are like that (PS:T opted for torrential dialogue). If you look at Golden Age AD&D RPGs, it's 100%.

EDIT - Also, yes, you can cite this and that sourcebook (exceptions), but the framework given in A/D&D core books (PHB, DMG, MM) is basically 100% combat RPG. Compare that with a "real" role-playing system, like Ars Magica (where the rules for non-combat activities are fleshed out, in-depth). Also, go and read transcripts of Gygax sessions. There is little story-/lore-faggotry involved. Instead, he throws them into a dungeon and gets ready to kill them off, as appropriate: a real DM.

 

[Pizzashoes]

I don't care for Ironman in most games, as unless the game is really built around it (roguelikes for example) it pushes you into super-cautious, low-risk and often tedious modes of gameplay. BB is a good example -- it's not hard as such to play it on Ironman, you just have to avoid ever taking the harder/more dangerous/more interesting contracts, and go through the busywork of retreating to the edge of the map if you notice you're faced with something tougher than you can manage. The trouble is that it's dull, rote, and repetitive.

The way you describe Ironman is truly boring and only fit for those who use it as a way of engorging their e-peen. Allowing yourself to lose in Ironman keeps the mode fresh and the rollercoaster going. But, you need to have the time/patience to make Ironman worthwhile. You need to put in tons of time. But if you do, you'll the thrill of success from victory so much more because you know you couldn't just reload. Oneshotting a boss after riding the edge of glory and failure is ecstasy. Of course on the flip side, you'll have to deal with the agonizing frustration of losing potentially tens of hours of play when you die.

 

[Prime Junta]

The way you describe Ironman is truly boring and only fit for those who use it as a way of engorging their e-peen. Allowing yourself to lose in Ironman keeps the mode fresh and the rollercoaster going.

Losing in Ironman means starting over, and unless the game is built around that (NetHack) and does it really well, that gets old fast too. Kind of the opposite of fresh really.

 

[2house2fly]

If Obsidian had contracted Chris for Ydwin, we would have gotten a proper waifu. Instead we got bisexuals, monsters, and furballs.

I can't believe we missed out on one of those classic sexy Chris Avellone babes, like Kreia or Dr Dala or Grieving Mother

 

[Prime Junta]

A/D&D is basically 100% hack n slash combat RPG: read the A/D&D "literature" and ask any Ars Magica fan.

Only if you ignore all the material on the settings.

And all the stuff in the core books that aren’t about combat. Tables on horse traits for example. Or pages and pages of NWPs. Quite a lot of it really.

I could get behind you saying that AD&D combat is shit, or that AD&D rules are shit, but disrespect the settings and I will fight you. The real magic of AD&D is in Al Qadim, the Planes, Dark Sun and the rest of them, the rest is a poor excuse to throw dice.

 

[Pizzashoes]

If Obsidian had contracted Chris for Ydwin, we would have gotten a proper waifu. Instead we got bisexuals, monsters, and furballs.

I can't believe we missed out on one of those classic sexy Chris Avellone babes, like Kreia or Dr Dala or Grieving Mother

I was thinking of Fall-from-Grace or Min,
my favorite waifus Chris had a hand in.

 

[2house2fly]

If Obsidian had contracted Chris for Ydwin, we would have gotten a proper waifu. Instead we got bisexuals, monsters, and furballs.

I can't believe we missed out on one of those classic sexy Chris Avellone babes, like Kreia or Dr Dala or Grieving Mother

I was thinking of Fall-from-Grace or Min,
my favorite waifus Chris had a hand in.

I do carry kind of a torch for Scarlet Lake...

 

[aweigh]