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

[Duraframe300]

Was the game watcher interview posted at some point?

http://www.gamewatcher.com/interviews/pillars-of-eternity-interview/12162

They’re making UI mods, graphical mods, they clearly hate the things I’ve designed… Which is great, you know, if they want to change balance or flip around the UI screen, why would we have any problem with that? As long as we can support it, which is not always easy on a Kickstarter budget and a middleware engine, we will.

 

[Ellef]

Another +1 for TotSC style expansion then.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I scan the news sections of various sites, and this interview wasn't linked from the news article. Maybe they wrote the news before they started typing the interview article.

Was the game watcher interview posted at some point?

http://www.gamewatcher.com/interviews/pillars-of-eternity-interview/12162

They’re making UI mods, graphical mods, they clearly hate the things I’ve designed… Which is great, you know, if they want to change balance or flip around the UI screen, why would we have any problem with that? As long as we can support it, which is not always easy on a Kickstarter budget and a middleware engine, we will.

You can hide disposition indicators in dialogue, have like 10 options to configure autopause, yet no separate volume slider for voices... So yes, people tend to grow irritted when you build a game down to the UI around what you consider important. Very deep scope in some areas compared to less than essential in others means either that, or severe time pressure.

 

[Sensuki]

I'd say #1 - developer feature preference.

 

[Havoc]

Looks really cool, but I liked the versions made by the guys in that dedicated thread here much better. Right now it's just some stretched textures over the U Shape :/

Yeah, Bester and Grotesque should work together to implement the UI Grotesque made.

How can two people work together when one thinks the other's work is shit?

Anyway, I started doing this mockup to serve as an inspiration for others.
If it doesn't make it into the game, at least I learned to use Photoshop as I never used it until now.

EDIT: for anyone interested, the latest iteration

This looks so good, I got a boner.

Spoiler

Feels good.

 

[Lord Andre]

Game is looking less shit and even Sawyer doesn't seem such an asshole anymore. I don't understand what's happening...

If after release I start posting how awesome the game is, please shoot me that I may keep my dignity in death. And tell Roguey to suck it one last time...hehe...

 

[veevoir]

Game is looking less shit and even Sawyer doesn't seem such an asshole anymore. I don't understand what's happening...

If after release I start posting how awesome the game is, please shoot me that I may keep my dignity in death. And tell Roguey to suck it one last time...hehe...

You're already wrong, from the PDX previews (eg. PCgamer one) it seems that JS is still 100% himself.

Looking forward to shooting you.

Spoiler

No I won't, will be busy playing that excellent PoE game

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Game is looking less shit and even Sawyer doesn't seem such an asshole anymore. I don't understand what's happening...

If after release I start posting how awesome the game is, please shoot me that I may keep my dignity in death. And tell Roguey to suck it one last time...hehe...

Nah, Sawyer is still an asshole but that doesn't mean he isn't competent at his job which is what counts and the game was always gonna be good at the very least (of course, depending on how much you crave that IE fix). Obsidian is a talented studio and given their background I doubt they'll botch a Black Isle style game, it's a shame they haven't been given an opportunity to make one (under Obsidian name atleast) until now.

 

[polo]

Was the game watcher interview posted at some point?

http://www.gamewatcher.com/interviews/pillars-of-eternity-interview/12162

They’re making UI mods, graphical mods, they clearly hate the things I’ve designed… Which is great, you know, if they want to change balance or flip around the UI screen, why would we have any problem with that? As long as we can support it, which is not always easy on a Kickstarter budget and a middleware engine, we will.

You highlited the wrong part of the quote.


Also, this is pretty decent:

What I would say about additional content other than that, is that I would like to see any gameplay tweaks and changes we make in an expansion get rolled into a free patch. So if you don’t want to buy an expansion, you get all the same gameplay benefits without the extra story.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Not much new info here, although some mechanics are being explained and some comments from Josh on bits of lore: How Josh Sawyer sold me on Pillars of Eternity's combat Funny but in the whole article with this title, there is not a word about Engagement

The most interesting thing I found was that he has let on info about some optimizations (or 'optimizations') they are doing to the Combat log:

“We also have started doing things like grouping similar effects together. So when someone casts fireball, instead of having eight entries like ‘This dude got crit for this much damage, this guy got missed for this much…’ Yeah dude, just give me the short version.”

I hope we see how this works in the next BB build. If they've messed it up very bad, there will still be time to raise racket so they go back or fix it.

I also especially liked this quote:

“You can explore, and we try to allow players to do that as much as possible. Obviously we don’t want the player to feel shitty for looking around. We always try to place things in the environment that makes them feel like they’re rewarded for taking on that challenge. I will say that a lot of the side content is specifically made to be more challenging than the critical path. Play the critical path, and it’ll be kind of challenging, but if you go off the beaten path, that’s where you find the really nasty challenges.”

 

[Shevek]

Game is looking less shit and even Sawyer doesn't seem such an asshole anymore. I don't understand what's happening...

If after release I start posting how awesome the game is, please shoot me that I may keep my dignity in death. And tell Roguey to suck it one last time...hehe...

Nah, Sawyer is still an asshole but that doesn't mean he isn't competent at his job which is what counts and the game was always gonna be good at the very least (of course, depending on how much you crave that IE fix). Obsidian is a talented studio and given their background I doubt they'll botch a Black Isle style game, it's a shame they haven't been given an opportunity to make one (under Obsidian name atleast) until now.

The backpedaling continues. Everyone will now probably be fanboys on release but they have to hedge their bets a bit, just in case.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

The backpedaling continues. Everyone will now probably be fanboys on release but they have to hedge their bets a bit, just in case.

I never backpedalled in regards to PoE (not once), my stance remained mostly the same throughout the last 2 years. Stop taking any criticism directed at the game/Sawyer personally, it's getting unnerving.

Also, saying everyone will be fanboys of an RTWP game on the Codex is nonsense, it will have its share of detractors.

 

[Rake]

Great game, mediocre gameplay(combat). That was my stance since the begining and it hasn't changed. I backed the game because Avellone-Obsidian's writing.

 

[Infinitron]

Great game, mediocre gameplay(combat). That was my stance since the begining and it hasn't changed. I backed the game because Avellone-Obsidian's writing.

Why is it it mediocre, though? Consider that all this time Sawyer has been accused of "killing fun", but it turns out he created a system that allows you to create all sorts of cool archetypes, which is probably the primary element of "fun" in these sorts of games. Sensuki said:

Been doing a lot of testing of different character builds this patch, and IMO that's where this game really shines on the combat side of things. There are lots of different viable character builds and discovering more and more effective ones has been really fun. What I mean by that is, if you want to execute a particular concept of a character for combat - "A Ridiculous Blunderbuss guy" or whatever, there is enough depth there for you to be able to do that and do it pretty well (under/overpowered issues aside).

That's what the "grognards" are always talking about, isn't it? Having an "open system" that lets you experiment with all sorts of gimmick builds.

 

[Kem0sabe]

I don't get why the U shaped ui is getting so much love, the one in the mod that is, its clearly worse function wise than the original game UI, and doesnt even have the tradeoff of being more aesthetically pleasing.

Unless modders manage to implement a complete interface graphical overhaul with the elaborate texture work that has been mocked up previously, i doubt i will ever use it.

 

[Sensuki]

That's what the "grognards" are always talking about, isn't it? Having an "open system" that lets you experiment with all sorts of gimmick builds.

Probably, but character building in this game feels a bit more like making a build in an ARPG or something to them - as all characters have equal opportunity to be good in combat and dialogue/non-combat gameplay. I think that might be what their specific issue is.

If you want to sperg whacky gimmick combat builds - go right ahead, you can probably pull it off on the lower difficulties without much issue. Hard and up requires paying attention to the numbers a bit.

 

[Rake]

Great game, mediocre gameplay(combat). That was my stance since the begining and it hasn't changed. I backed the game because Avellone-Obsidian's writing.

Why is it it mediocre, though? Consider that all this time Sawyer has been accused of "killing fun", but it turns out he created a system that allows you to create all sorts of cool archetypes, which is probably the primary element of "fun" in these sorts of games. Sensuki said:

Been doing a lot of testing of different character builds this patch, and IMO that's where this game really shines on the combat side of things. There are lots of different viable character builds and discovering more and more effective ones has been really fun. What I mean by that is, if you want to execute a particular concept of a character for combat - "A Ridiculous Blunderbuss guy" or whatever, there is enough depth there for you to be able to do that and do it pretty well (under/overpowered issues aside).

That's what the "grognards" are always talking about, isn't it? Having an "open system" that lets you experiment with all sorts of gimmick builds.

Do i look like a gnognard to you? I never cared about character creation all that much. By your creteria Arcanum had the best, more "fun" combat to date .
Besides multiclassing, character creation was never a big part of IE gameplay. yet i loved BG2 combat. PoE combat leaves me completely indifferent from what i have seen so far, kind of like PST or IWDs did. It's just there, in order to progress in the story/ see good looking maps etc/

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah combat isn't very tactical. It's pretty darn strategical though lol. Pre-determine the outcome of your encounter!

 

[Apexeon]

Yeah combat isn't very tactical. It's pretty darn strategical though lol. Pre-determine the outcome of your encounter!

Get out the calculator and pause ftw.

 

[Ellef]

Having interesting builds that all have similar effectiveness in combat is pretty secondary imo. Give us interesting encounters and enemies with we might need to adapt to. But then again counters aren't fun so adapting in this game amounts to bypassing varying amounts of DR.

 

[Infinitron]

Having interesting builds that all have similar effectiveness in combat is pretty secondary imo. Give us interesting encounters and enemies with we might need to adapt to. But then again counters aren't fun so adapting in this game amounts to bypassing varying amounts of DR.

Define "similar effectiveness". According to Sensuki it's not that simple:

If you want to sperg whacky gimmick combat builds - go right ahead, you can probably pull it off on the lower difficulties without much issue. Hard and up requires paying attention to the numbers a bit.

 

[Ellef]

Eh, either way its not my ideal of fun, the tough decisions being before the game or fight begins, then just press play and win battles.

 

[Infinitron]

I also think Sensuki is exaggerating with that description and that other people won't find that the combat plays out in that way, but we'll see.

 

[Sensuki]

As long as you have a sick build, know the basics and don't make mistakes - combat probably won't make you do that much thinking after you've done your opening. At worst you'll be forced to deal with high incoming damage or a hard CC like a paralyze.

Healing Potion / Suppress Affliction is probably the best answer to those. Priest heal if you're in recovery.

 

[Sensuki]

FIGHT THE DECLINE

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70...rocessing-effects-marring-the-2d-backgrounds/

REMEMBER THE WASTELAND 2 SCREENSHOTS?