Pillars of Eternity Beta Discussion [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Sensuki]

I agree, added it to my list.

 

[Zed]

Anyway, not sure this clicking noise when you move your mouse between dialogue options and options menu options is necessary.

it's really not.

there was also some sound issues when leveling up.

and there's still bird chirping when creating the PC. although I guess they don't have to "fix" this since you won't be creating your character in this location in the real game.

 

[Duraframe300]

 

[imweasel]

What do you think of the following suggestion:

Remove current health/stamina, only use Health (stamina).
Instead of a two-bar system, apply a IE-like "fatigue" debuff when knocked down, but perhaps in three stages or something.
Wouldn't that be a hella lot better, and also more IE-like?

I dunno man it sounds good in mah hed.

It sounds better. Sort of like in Dragon Age: Origins.

Although what they should really do is drop this regenerating health bullshit. Even BioWare has dropped it for Dragon Age: Inquistion (except for the easier difficulty settings).

 

[Infinitron]

Sensuki Re: The length of the adventuring day, I actually don't think it's that far off the mark. Tough battles in the IE games did wear down your tanks rather quickly.

The difference with Baldur's Gate is that a larger percentage of the battles in the beta seem to be "tough".

 

[Sensuki]

Recorded a Monk video where I did all of the immediate Beetle encounters on Hard, video coming shortly

I disagree Infinitron, you shouldn't have to rest after 3 encounters. You could keep going for AGES in the IE games due to strategical resources

Priest Healing spells and Potions. At higher levels, I would save Greater Restoration for when my party was either inflicted with level drain (multiple chars) or everyone was nearly fucked, then I'd use it.

You don't get nearly enough time to even make a dint in the amount of daily spells / abilities you have, so I'd way the number is waaaaaaaaaaaay out.

PE does not compensate for this. Health is supposed to be a strategical resource, like Healing Surges in 4E. PE is more lethal than the IE games as far as direct damage amounts goes, IMO.

In the IE games it was kinda difficult to get your main tank sacked hard without some bullshit happening - like Death spells, Mass Status effects and all that jazz. Some encounters, sure - but not all really. In PE due to the attack resolution system you end up copping far more damage over one encounter from raw damage than you would from the IE games, which made up for it (at least in BG2+) with stuff like level drains, charms and stuff.

 

[Infinitron]

I disagree Infinitron, you shouldn't have to rest after 3 encounters. You could keep going for AGES in the IE games due to strategical resources

Sure, if you were in a trash mob infested zone, or an area where you were overleveled. Baldur's Gate 1 was built like this - large zones full of weak enemies, punctuated by the occasional badass fight that might extinguish half your healing resources or more.

When I think of the current PoE areas as "challenge arenas" consisting only of the latter, it all suddenly makes sense.

 

[Sensuki]

I don't think so. A group of beetles is not a challenge area. It's just an encounter with a few beetles. Wood Beetles have a Poison DoT and Stone Beetles have a teleport. Not even sure what ability Adra beetles have apart from doing pretty decent damage. They are essentially the equivalent of your Yuan-Ti's or whatever from the Icewind Dale Dragon's Eye. Not foes you can absolutely walk over like Wolves or Lions. However you could progress through rooms and rooms of Yuan-Ti.

The final level of Dragon's Eye has like 15 rooms of Yuan Ti Archers, Warriors and Mages, and then you have to face off against Xzunomei at the end, who has even more. You can do all that without resting once.

If that was PE, you'd be resting after the first three encounters, literally.

And that is terrible.

Edit: The challenge arenas thing should apply to Stamina. And become even more of an issue as you run out of your daily heals/etc - it should not eat into 50-75% of Health on your tank after 2 encounters.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't think so. A group of beetles is not a challenge area. It's just an encounter with a few beetles. Wood Beetles have a Poison DoT and Stone Beetles have a teleport. Not even sure what ability Adra beetles have apart from doing pretty decent damage. They are essentially the equivalent of your Yuan-Ti's or whatever from the Icewind Dale Dragon's Eye.

Sure, I can agree with you that the beetles might need to be nerfed, but I'm appraising them as what they are.

The final level of Dragon's Eye has like 15 rooms of Yuan Ti Archers, Warriors and Mages, and then you have to face off against Xzunomei at the end, who has even more. You can do all that without resting once.

You can, but I don't think that's very easy. (unless you have War Chant of Sith, heh)

You don't get nearly enough time to even make a dint in the amount of daily spells / abilities you have, so I'd way the number is waaaaaaaaaaaay out.

This, on the other hand, is a good point. Although I'd argue, not as strong as you think, since I'm not sure you were really expected to use literally all of your abilities in the IE games before giving up and going to rest - some of them were more like a "strategic reserve" for special situations.

In any case, I'm not saying the current ratio is perfect or even good. But I don't think it necessarily needs to be increased massively, either.

 

[Sensuki]

I think double would be a good starting point, anyway.

You can, but I don't think that's very easy. (unless you have War Chant of Sith, heh)

Health potions.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The final level of Dragon's Eye has like 15 rooms of Yuan Ti Archers, Warriors and Mages, and then you have to face off against Xzunomei at the end, who has even more. You can do all that without resting once.

What's more - sometimes you HAVE to do it all without resting once.

I think my most fond memory of IWD1 comes from my 2nd or so playthrough when I got to the Dragon's Eye final level. This being the 2nd playthrough, I knew damn well what to expect, and yet it still launched me into 'shit just got serious' mode at one point.

See, those fucking histachi? If they hit you, you can contact disease that doesn't go away unless it's healed by a spell or a potion. My barbarian fell victim to that shit, and initially thinking 'pff big deal, that health degen is nothing serious', I moved on. It was only a few minutes later that I realised I had no fucking mummy extracts left, even though I was fucking sure I had a whole goddamn stock of them. The cleric didn't have the spell ready, either.

Couldn't sleep it off because it was permanent, couldn't return to the city because he'd get killed during travel, couldn't rest and prepare the cure disease spell because 8 hours rest = deff.

WHICH MEANT I HAD TO PRESS ON TIRELESSLY, GULPING DOWN ALL THE RESERVES OF MY HEALING POTIONS AND THE LAST CURE LIGHT WOUNDS I HAD

AND I WON

of course the barb died anyway because it's not like Yxunomei drops cure disease potions, but EH. I WON. AND IT WAS TENSE AS FUCK.

 

[Infinitron]

I think double would be a good starting point, anyway.

I was thinking 50% more myself, but we know that the Method of Josh is doubling and halving, so I guess if they decide to experiment with this in the next version of the beta, that's what you'll get.

Health potions.

Oh yeah, silly me for hoarding those.

 

[msxyz]

I've decided to leave PoE to its fate... I don't think Obsidian will dramatically alter the mechanics at this point.

I'm in full buyer's remorse now, knowing that I threw away quite a hefty amount of money on this, money I should have better spent backing other kickstarters instead.

I might force myself to play it a year from now, when dust has settled and -hopefully- most of the bugs will be fixed.

Of course, I'll steer clear of any kickstarter for funding PoE expansions or sequels.

 

[Once more unto the Codex]

I've decided to leave PoE to its fate... I don't think Obsidian will dramatically alter the mechanics at this point.

I'm in full buyer's remorse now, knowing that I threw away quite a hefty amount of money on this, money I should have better spent backing other kickstarters instead.

I might force myself to play it a year from now, when dust has settled and -hopefully- most of the bugs will be fixed.

Of course, I'll steer clear of any kickstarter for funding PoE expansions or sequels.

Hot off the press, read all about it: "Man walks into a sausage factory and has heart attack."

 

[Sensuki]

I don't blame anyone for wanting to wait. If beta testing is not your cup of tea, you should wait.

I'll try as hard as I can br0z

 

[Crooked Bee]

Got another PoE beta key to give away. Quote or tag me if interested and I'll do a draw later today or tomorrow.

EDIT: All gone now.

 

[msxyz]

I don't blame anyone for wanting to wait. If beta testing is not your cup of tea, you should wait.

I'll try as hard as I can br0z

It's not a problem with the bugs... I can live with them, I'm used to programming and testing stuff since I was a kid.

It's the way this game turned out to be, it doesn't look close to what I envisioned as a "spiritual successor to IE games".
Hell, it doesn't look fun to play at all.

 

[mutonizer]

Got another PoE beta key to give away. Quote or tag me if interested and I'll do a draw later today or tomorrow.

Sure if you got a spare, would be cool and might stop the "he's not even in beta" critics when feedbacking

 

[imweasel]

Hot off the press, read all about it: "Man walks into a sausage factory and has heart attack."

You should be getting that fanboy tag any day now.

Spoiler

 

[Sensuki]

It's the way this game turned out to be, it doesn't look close to what I envisioned as a "spiritual successor to IE games".

Some of the system design is a bit different, but at the moment the feel is way off. I hope we will get there in the end.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I don't blame anyone for wanting to wait. If beta testing is not your cup of tea, you should wait.

I'll try as hard as I can br0z

It's not a problem with the bugs... I can live with them, I'm used to programming and testing stuff since I was a kid.

It's the way this game turned out to be, it doesn't look close to what I envisioned as a "spiritual successor to IE games".
Hell, it doesn't look fun to play at all.

Dunno what game you played/watched but first thing comes to mind when you see PoE is IE games. Even my GF thought I was replaying BG series and rolled her eyes.
Nice backgrounds, good story (I hope...) and writing, dialogues with lots of options and shitty RTwP combat. Same with every other frigging IE games (mostly.)

My only problem is character and enemy movement speed, everyone and their grandparents are wearing Boots of Speed...

Edit: The feel is there, its only burried under some serious bugs which I think they'll manage to fix most of them at release. (If they want to get rid of "Obsidian=buggy games reputation)

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Got another PoE beta key to give away. Quote or tag me if interested and I'll do a draw later today or tomorrow.

Sure if you got a spare, would be cool and might stop the "he's not even in beta" critics when feedbacking

Have you been getting many of those responses here?

Messages: 1

Oh. Never mind.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Got another PoE beta key to give away. Quote or tag me if interested and I'll do a draw later today or tomorrow.

What the heck, throw me in the draw.

Zep--

 

[mutonizer]

Oh. Never mind.

Exactly
But you gotta start somewhere right?

 

[One-and-a-half-Ivan]

Got another PoE beta key to give away. Quote or tag me if interested and I'll do a draw later today or tomorrow.

Count me in, please!