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

[AwesomeButton]

The most important issue for me is that most of these "exploits" can happen completely unintentionally, because the AI obviously can't manage taking Engagement into account when preforming actions.

An exploit is something you do deliberately. This is no exploit, it's bugs in the AI, and with the battles being too fast-paced as they are, you may not even be aware of how come your party just kicked ass so hard, unless you are willing to jump into the mess that is the Combat Log and wade through lines of badly formatted text until you find the lines that say "suffers X damage in disengagement".

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I vote for "I AM BETA TESTING CUNT" tag for Sensuki

 

[veevoir]

I vote for "I AM BETA TESTING CUNT" tag for Sensuki

"There are 2 bugs and 1 exploit in your post"

 

[Zed]

Sensuki is explointing the game, using metagaming knowledge and breaking the system as usual. Thankfully most of the players don't play this way, at least not for the first playthrough. I wonder how many tries did you need to setup this fight so you have the desired result.

It's not like the IE games had any exploits:
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Exploits

You are so infuriating sometimes.

 

[Ellef]

Confusingly, they're treating that last bit as a bad thing. "You mean I have to use my companions' strengths and avoid their weaknesses? OMG horrible game design."

Well it seems to go against their anti min max design. Every character needs to max might as far as I can tell, nobody is going for deflection or interrupt stacking because it's either boring or not good enough. My builds all dump the same stats and max the usual suspects, the one thing about BG they disliked the most.

 

[Athelas]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10

Just as well, Icewind Dale II isn't entirely faithful to the 3rd Edition Rules. There are several glaring omissions of the official rules from the game, most notably the Attacks of Opportunity that are present in the pen and paper game, in Bioware's Neverwinter Nights and even in Pool of Radiance 2. The lack of that feature's presence hinders the game play from being much better than it could be now

What's the problem, Codex? Josh Sawyer is just giving you what you asked for.

Seriously though, is there any chance of engagement being removed in the big expansion patch? If there is a negative fan/reviewer reaction to it?

Well it seems to go against their anti min max design. Every character needs to max might as far as I can tell, nobody is going for deflection or interrupt stacking because it's either boring or not good enough. My builds all dump the same stats and max the usual suspects, the one thing about BG they disliked the most.

A high-deflection character can be extremely valuable and can even become near-invulnerable. I imagine a party built with a high interrupt rate would also be useful, being able to keep an enemy continuously staggered.

Besides, the goal was never for all possible attribute spreads to be equally powerful - it was for them to be at least viable. There still needs to be a lot of tuning done, but that will likely be achieved.

 

[J_C]

Sensuki is explointing the game, using metagaming knowledge and breaking the system as usual. Thankfully most of the players don't play this way, at least not for the first playthrough. I wonder how many tries did you need to setup this fight so you have the desired result.

It's not like the IE games had any exploits:
http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Exploits

You are so infuriating sometimes.

Good. At least you know how I feel while browsing the Codex.

 

[J_C]

Confusingly, they're treating that last bit as a bad thing. "You mean I have to use my companions' strengths and avoid their weaknesses? OMG horrible game design."

Well it seems to go against their anti min max design. Every character needs to max might as far as I can tell, nobody is going for deflection or interrupt stacking because it's either boring or not good enough. My builds all dump the same stats and max the usual suspects, the one thing about BG they disliked the most.

Yeah, you can make the most optimal character by min-maxing a few attributes, but the point is that you can do a lot of other type of characters. You say it is boring or not good enough, but it is only you, others might want to play an atypical character with good deflection or interrrupt.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10

Just as well, Icewind Dale II isn't entirely faithful to the 3rd Edition Rules. There are several glaring omissions of the official rules from the game, most notably the Attacks of Opportunity that are present in the pen and paper game, in Bioware's Neverwinter Nights and even in Pool of Radiance 2. The lack of that feature's presence hinders the game play from being much better than it could be now

What's the problem, Codex? Josh Sawyer is just giving you what you asked for.

You know who wrote that review, don't you

 

[Roguey]

2 weeks is probably the sweet spot for buggy game/good review length, given the bugsidian rep. A reviewer playing the game full time for two weeks should be able to get through the vast majority of the game.

I'd rather they not have any day-1 reviews at all. I believe it will only hurt them. All the hype comes from day-1 streamers these days.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I actually thought the way the D:OS launch panned out, with no early reviewer copies (for them to complain about a buggy release with) might encourage a few others devs to go that route. Guess it depends on how good early word-of-mouth is (and what Paradox plans for a retail launch I suppose).

 

[veevoir]

I'd rather they not have any day-1 reviews at all. I believe it will only hurt them. All the hype comes from day-1 streamers these days.

No day-1 reviews and no review copies are always a strong indicator that something is fishy with the game. Something those streamers will probably also mention at the very beginning of their stream.

You'd really want people to get that kind of impression even before trying PoE?

 

[Roguey]

No day-1 reviews and no review copies are always a strong indicator that something is fishy with the game. Something those streamers will probably also mention at the very beginning of their stream.

You'd really want people to get that kind of impression even before trying PoE?

As the poster above you mentioned, it worked perfectly fine for D:OS.

Meanwhile Wasteland 2 got us Fargo's freak-out over a score dinged for bugs.

 

[haraw]

Any words about a possible demo?

 

[Infinitron]

No day-1 reviews and no review copies are always a strong indicator that something is fishy with the game. Something those streamers will probably also mention at the very beginning of their stream.

You'd really want people to get that kind of impression even before trying PoE?

As the poster above you mentioned, it worked perfectly fine for D:OS.

Meanwhile Wasteland 2 got us Fargo's freak-out over a score dinged for bugs.

Brian did get the last laugh: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-01-30-joystiq-closure-official

 

[AN4RCHID]

If the mage companion has a low might, there is nothing you can do to make him a good damage dealer, and you have to focus on support abilities instead.

Confusingly, they're treating that last bit as a bad thing. "You mean I have to use my companions' strengths and avoid their weaknesses? OMG horrible game design."

It's not confusing at all. Not everyone (read: only Sawyer) wants to roll a "muscle wizard".

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

No day-1 reviews and no review copies are always a strong indicator that something is fishy with the game. Something those streamers will probably also mention at the very beginning of their stream.

You'd really want people to get that kind of impression even before trying PoE?

As the poster above you mentioned, it worked perfectly fine for D:OS.

Meanwhile Wasteland 2 got us Fargo's freak-out over a score dinged for bugs.

Brian did get the last laugh: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-01-30-joystiq-closure-official

It's dangerous to criticize him. Will bode well for future scores!

 

[Sensuki]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10
I imagine a party built with a high interrupt rate would also be useful, being able to keep an enemy continuously staggered..

I'm not finding bonus Interrupt to be very useful. I'm going to try a few more characters but basically, I'm gonna ignore it I think.

 

[MicoSelva]

I like muscle wizards, I played one in P&P (custom system where it was viable). I would however love to have an option to create a powerful (as in high damage) wizard that has low might, and that is something PoE will not provide, AFAIK. Not a big problem - I can always LARP that magic in PoE is like ki in Dragon Ball - you increase your potential by physical training.

This clashes a bit with the soul-powered magic lore, though.

 

[Infinitron]

If the mage companion has a low might, there is nothing you can do to make him a good damage dealer, and you have to focus on support abilities instead.

Confusingly, they're treating that last bit as a bad thing. "You mean I have to use my companions' strengths and avoid their weaknesses? OMG horrible game design."

It's not confusing at all. Not everyone (read: only Sawyer) wants to roll a "muscle wizard".

I don't see what that has to do with anything. It's not about rolling, it's about following the rules and using the strengths of the companions you're given.

Simple offensive damage spells aren't usually the ideal use of a spellcaster in AD&D, so people trying to use their mage companion as a bug zapper probably don't really understand the spirit of the game anyway.

 

[polo]

If you want a pussy healer use a cleric, i want my muscle wizard full of anabolics.

 

[Sensuki]

Healing spells don't heal for much at all atm, you can use a healing potion to fully heal yourself, or cast a healing spell that heals fucking nothing.

 

[polo]

Lol, so defensive magic is more about buffs i guess?

 

[MicoSelva]

Healing spells don't heal for much at all atm, you can use a healing potion to fully heal yourself, or cast a healing spell that heals fucking nothing.

I bet it would be different if he was your healer:

 

[Sensuki]

Lol, so defensive magic is more about buffs i guess?

Buffs? Lol. You cast offensive spells bro. Like, all the time.