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

[Shaewaroz]

First impression: feels like I'm playing ToEE with Morrowind music in the background. Really weird feeling.

Also:

Winfrith: "People realized that they couldn't have babies and stopped trying altogether"

 

[Athelas]

Saw a livestream of a scripted interaction where you could climb a dragon (?) nest and steal a giant egg.

The character fell while climbing back down and broke the egg.

 

[Grotesque]

TI really miss the simple pencil drawings of items & weapons in their description windows.

That kind of frivolous clutter would take away valuable time from balancing the combat/ushering in a new Third Reich of video game development.

I did not know that the art department is also involved in balancing the game mechanics.
Anyway, thank you for showing us all that the only frivolous clutter to be found anywhere is in your skull.

 

[Sensuki]

Kazunori Aruga replied to my Suggestion 05 on Item Descriptions:

The item description window was one of the last things to make it into the game before we sent off the beta build, so yes it's a bit rough unfortunately. We've already done a pass on the text to simplify it, including the removal of irrelevant strings like ranged accuracy bonus on melee weapons. Also made sure primary stats like damage are being listed at the very top of the list. I agree with the comment about the size of the window being too small. Brian who is one of our coders working on UI implementation showed me how the screen looks when opening lore books in the game, and it was not pretty. Having a bigger window will definitely help with that. And yeah, I do miss the item sketches from BG and really wish I had the time to bang them out, but we have to pick our battles given the time and man power available to us.

 

[Infinitron]

Kotaku is impressed: http://kotaku.com/now-thats-hardcore-1623807662

 

[Bubbles]

TI really miss the simple pencil drawings of items & weapons in their description windows.

That kind of frivolous clutter would take away valuable time from balancing the combat/ushering in a new Third Reich of video game development.

I did not know that the art department is also involved in balancing the game mechanics.

That's why I put the slash in there, to cover all the bases.

 

[Harold]

Is dumb dialogue implemented yet? Can one of you betafags be so kind as to roll a low Int dude and post some screens?

Sensuki Zed Anyone? Pretty please with a cherry on top

 

[Rivmusique]

Should we use spoiler tags for any quest stuff in this thread? Oh well, I will for now:

Spoiler

I'm doing a playthrough where I pretty much avoid all talking and just go out and fight shit, so this is the only "quest" (it doesn't go in the log, but it pretty much is a quest I suppose) I tried. In the dungeon in the western wilderness, you kill a spider-minderflayer-thing (or you can, letting him go seemed the reasonable option here) and he drops a gem that you use in a puzzle involving floor tiles. I did that and got the dialogue that said I can now loot the urn. When I click it though, no loot box appears. Did anyone get what was in there (I inferred it was a weapon, that changes based on how you answer the questions. I really want my EPIC sword )

 

[Zed]

Is dumb dialogue implemented yet? Can one of you betafags be so kind as to roll a low Int dude and post some screens?

Sensuki Zed Anyone? Pretty please with a cherry on top

int is useless so I don't put any points in it. haven't seen any low int dialogue.

 

[Harold]

int is useless so I don't put any points in it. haven't seen any low int dialogue.

Lame, it was one of the promised features during kickstarter and I can easily see them abandoning it to save time. That means I'll have to scrap my planned Roguey the Retard rogue character. Shame.

 

[Rivmusique]

Saw a livestream of a scripted interaction where you could climb a dragon (?) nest and steal a giant egg.

The character fell while climbing back down and broke the egg.

Yeah my BB Fighter fell as well. I just guessed who to use as I didn't know what everyones skills were at, but I checked after and that fucker had 6 Athletics, which it pretty high. Why'd you fall you shitty dwarf?

There's grappling hooks in town, maybe they get you up and down safely.

 

[Sensuki]

Is dumb dialogue implemented yet? Can one of you betafags be so kind as to roll a low Int dude and post some screens?

Sensuki Zed Anyone? Pretty please with a cherry on top

My Monk has 7 Perception and 8 Resolve (or something like that) and I haven't noticed any stupid dialogue yet. Haven't dumped Intellect yet though because it affects durations. Many abilities have durations.

 

[Athelas]

Saw a livestream of a scripted interaction where you could climb a dragon (?) nest and steal a giant egg.

The character fell while climbing back down and broke the egg.

Yeah my BB Fighter fell as well. I just guessed who to use as I didn't know what everyones skills were at, but I checked after and that fucker had 6 Athletics, which it pretty high. Why'd you fall you shitty dwarf?

There's grappling hooks in town, maybe they get you up and down safely.

Maybe carrying the egg checks for Might or Constitution or something (in addition to Athletics).

 

[Sensuki]

Probably Athletics

 

[Duraframe300]

int is useless so I don't put any points in it. haven't seen any low int dialogue.

Lame, it was one of the promised features during kickstarter and I can easily see them abandoning it to save time. That means I'll have to scrap my planned Roguey the Retard rogue character. Shame.

My guess is that thats still coming.

Though I doubt its as extensive as Fallout or Arcanum.

 

[Infinitron]

Where exactly did they promise low Int dialogue? That sounds to me more like something that Tim Cain or somebody else may have said was "totally cool" without actually saying they'd do it.

 

[Duraframe300]

Where exactly did they promise low Int dialogue? That sounds to me more like something that Tim Cain or somebody else may have said was "totally cool" without actually saying they'd do it.

Both Tim Cain and Avellone promised it.

 

[One-and-a-half-Ivan]

Regarding Perception as a dumb stat, maybe adding small stuns will give more visual feedback and thus make this stat more useful?

 

[Sensuki]

Well Tim Cain promised a lot of stuff during his KS videos that never made it in, and Avellone really hasn't had much say on the project.

 

[Harold]

My guess is that thats still coming.

Though I doubt its as extensive as Fallout or Arcanum.

It would be interesting to see how they'd implement it in a purely party based rpg. Like, why are these companions letting a moron lead them? Will they butt in during conversation for him/her etc.

Infinitron
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/05/obsidian-on-project-eternity-old-school-innovation/
Avellone: Yes, we want to examine the dialogue mechanics, and one thing we’re going to do is low-intelligence options – either based on Intelligence or a trait – and have the sequences play out differently according to the player’s intellect. As a narrative designer, I enjoy writing interactions like that, and I had a blast with the stupid options in F2 in Vault City and New Reno.

Then again that's the same MCA who barely got out of Shrouded Hills for his Arcanum stretch goal and hasn't to this day finished his second batch of Codex trolls so...
he got drunk, screwed that Zoey queen chick and forgot all about it?

 

[Infinitron]

Well, it'd be nice if somebody from Obsidian could weigh in on that. 2012 was a long time ago and it'd be understandable if they axed what was ultimately a gimmick feature.

 

[Jezal_k23]

I'm quite thankful that I have access to enemy information!

 

[Sizzle]

Well Tim Cain promised a lot of stuff during his KS videos that never made it in, and Avellone really hasn't had much say on the project.

Like what?

 

[Grunker]

Sensuki: following the beta impressions, my main two worries right now are customization and combat feel. Can you comment a little on these:

1) From listening to you and Infinitron discuss in this thread, it seems like level-ups are nearly as automated as they were in the IE-games. I though the poor customization of the IE-games was something Josh vowed to fix as one of the first things? If you can only manipulate skills on level-up, it sounds like a pretty odd point to stick with IE-norms. I don't think you'll find many people who will defend the lack of interactivity on the IE level-up screen (which often mainly consisted of clicking 'accept').

2) Is it true that the game feels more like NWN2 than the IE-games in terms of impactfulness and kinaesthetics? That is potentially a huge detractor for me. I said very early on during the Kickstarter and still maintain that it was the below-the-hood type stuff that sent the IE-games into "great" territory. Among this stuff was some of the most crisp and solid kinaesthetics I've experienced in a game of their type. Accordingly, NWN 1, but NWN 2 even more, had some of the worst design I've ever played with in that department.

EDIT: Also, I predicted the impact of everything in character customization would be low and as a result, somewhat boring. A natural result of the "mathematically sound" balance premise and binding up your vision on 4th Edition. If this continues he should have stuck more closely to his own "balance means everything is useful" and less to the modern MOBA paradigm of "everything needs to be of equal power."

 

[Sensuki]

I turned those bloody stat pop-ups off, but the Options menu is bugged and doesn't save it over area transitions and stuff like that.

Like what?

Go watch his KS videos, he says a lot of stuff regarding the type of non-combat skills characters would have in the game. Unfortunately to many people's dismay, his idea(s) were not used and the system basically ended up being a really simplified version of IWD2 style D&D 4E Skills.