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

[fanta]

Heroes of Might and Balance - A Josh Sawyer Adventure

Brofisted even before reading based on previous output.

 

[imweasel]

Watched the video, interesting points, but staring at the bridge for that long made me realise that Obsidian REALLY has no clue about architecture - it's really poorly designed, just elements slapped together with no thought beyond (quite superficial) style. (Also pretty hard to make out it is a bridge, and not a weird wall from the viewing angle.)

Sawyer spaketh unto his disciples "I foresee arches that shall nevermore be constrained by the philosophy of nature, we shall release them of this unhallowed bond, they will sustain any burden even without keystones."

"Forevermore shall our bridges be built upon the foundation of aesthetics, I command thee to relinquish thyselves of the unworldy bound of architectonics, and with my blessing, you shall make it be!"

And so his disciples set to complete the task set unto them, because so is the will of Sawyerity.

Spoiler

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

They picked their way through the statues, heading toward the far side of the immense hall where a strange pink glow illuminated the walls. But a mere 10 steps in Josh sensed movement behind and spun around, readying his weapon. It was a statue of a spearman, beginning to move towards them!

"They're not statues!" yelled Josh, moving protectively towards Roguey. "They were just petrified and it's wearing off!"

Buahahahaha!

 

[Sensuki]

Osvir I took your very important advice on Sales Business and TotalBiscuit and incorporated that into my latest video.

Enjoy:

 

[Scruffy]

Watched the video, interesting points, but staring at the bridge for that long made me realise that Obsidian REALLY has no clue about architecture - it's really poorly designed, just elements slapped together with no thought beyond (quite superficial) style. (Also pretty hard to make out it is a bridge, and not a weird wall from the viewing angle.)

oh boy, don't get me started again on this or they'll call me a nerd.

 

[Infinitron]

Sensuki If it was really influenced by TotalBiscuit you would have spent five minutes in the options menu before beginning.

 

[Sensuki]

I've never watched a TotalBiscuit video so I've got no idea LMAO

 

[Nihiliste]

No, it crosses the borders of stupidity if you call a thing a completely unrelated name.
So it doesn't have anything to do with hurrr durr imaginashun.

"Petrification is the process by which organic material is converted into stone."

When a fireball burns, you use your imagination to support the magical fireball. You don't redefine burning. You imagine the fucker roasting like a kebab on fire.

Actually implementing Petrification would go against BALANCE. So lets REDEFINE Petrification! 1111!!!!!!
ALL IS BALANCED.

You both missed the point. I can think of plenty of reasons in a fantasy setting why a petrification effect inflicted by an enemy might not be permanent or might not result in a complete transformation, etc,. It doesn't seem like rocket science. Yeah the mechanics that Sawyer has put in place don't allow for a complete/permanent effect ever which is annoying, but it's not a big deal and I can live with it.

 

[Osvir]

Hahaha, I realize you're not attempting to be kind in any way, but that was fun (Maybe you should Tag TotalBiscuit into that, maybe it gives you a "Kickstart" for your other videos).

I never have ill intentions Sensuki you should read my posts again. Your previous videos, much better, I understand your point. I just wanted you to understand mine. If you haven't watched any of TB's stuff, then you're not aware that he provides very informed and objective content. Mostly, and that he avoides Let's Play content like the plague.

 

[Harold]

he provides very informed and objective content. Mostly.

lol no u

I think we need a TB fanboy tag

 

[Sensuki]

Osvir

I was just making a joke, br0

Basically: I am not trying to sell myself in the videos, the videos are unlisted - not public. They are for the PE backers and developers only. Fake enthusiasm or excitement is something that absolutely shits me up the wall, if something is not exciting then I am not going to get excited about it.

My tone of voice is probably representative of: "I have a cold, I have ear congestion and Pillars of Eternity isn't as good as I wanted it to be at this stage of development" and I think is fairly representative of the tone of an RPGCodex member.

When I do my Let's Play, then I will probably inject some more emotion into it, much like I do with my shoutcasting.

For now it's: IMPROVE THE GAME FFS

 

[Rivmusique]

Not going to be a professional game journalist with that attitude. A few changes and you could be fucking fat girls in no time!

 

[Shadenuat]

I propose Obsidian goes all the way and make their dwarves have the characteristics of DnD elves and vice versa. And, FIREball inflict ice damage. And, if people whine I'll just tell them to use their imagine.

The game is full of that stuff. It almost feels like marketing trick, so people would stop thinking Faerun or D&D because "Slowed" in this game is "Hobbled" and orcs are amaua and all that.

However, I know why petrify actually might be that way. It's because there are stone/earth-based spells at high levels that do just that - stop characters encasing them in stone.
I even think white spiders use that same spell, encasing you in a crystal.

 

[Osvir]

Cool Sensuki

I didn't feel it come off as very friendly tho, like being made fun of "It's no fun when everyone's laughing at you" or someone attempting to ridicule you. And I realize my comments might not always feel friendly either, but I never mean any ill, so let me talk with you on your level (setting up my OBS/near-future commentary). I'm yet again not saying "be more enthustiastic", I guess what I'm saying is "I believe if you put on a more professional attitude/mentality, you'd get places". "More", because you already have bits of it.

EDIT: I kind of suspected that you aren't trying to sell yourself. Just saying I believe that if you tried to sell yourself you could go far and not by doing it the annoying way that Salespersons do, but the often fun and more interesting way that Youtubers do (Sales people tend to be in your face, Youtubers are in your face when you choose or want them to be).

Chaotic_Heretic it's nagged me a bit and just wanted to say sorry for lashing out at you bro.

 

[Ulminati]

I don't really care but I have come to love the overpowered stupid shit from D:OS and hearing stuff like petrification that isn't petrification, inane percentile bonuses to everything, that just screams boring balance to me. The last game where you could abuse teleport that I remember was Heroes IV so D:OS made me really happy. It sounds like if the teleport was in this game, it would only teleport allies who aren't stunned/immobilized and only if there was no enemy in the vicinity. Shit like this, you know. Shit that's not fun. I'll wait and see anyway, maybe it will still be ok.

Seems like I should try D:OS.
Seems like these guys understand what gaming is about, for a change.

Coming soon to a codex thread near you:

Doctor StrangeDOS: how I learned to stop balancing and love the fun!

"Mein Kodex, I haff a plan!"

 

[Sensuki]

So glad Roguey isn't posting in this thread btw ^_^

 

[Shannow]

The whole "Sensuki outs himself as a gay shoutcaster with a cold detached voice" theme kinda distracts from bitching about/white-knighting He-Man RPG. So if all could get back on topic, please.

Spoiler

Actually I'm just butthurt that Sen's a guy and not a blonde chick in a black dress. Your voice and inflection are quite fine, btw. But please, never again try to sound enthusiastic... I also bow before your attention to detail. (Just remember never to go full autist on us and you'll be considered a quality poster (tm).)

 

[Volourn]

"1)who hate the game"

Don't lie, it's rude. I don't hate the game you dumbass.

 

[Sensuki]

You just might get your wish Shannow

 

[Hormalakh]

You conveniently left out those who have played the beta and are skeptical/disillusioned with the design, while providing legitimate reasons (your felipepes, shadenauts etc . <also, I have no idea what mental gymnastics you're doing to read Sensuki's or VD's impressions as optimistic>)

Also, just because someone hasn't played the beta themselves doesn't mean they are misinformed. That's the Oblivion defense that has been mocked around here for many years. For what it's worth, I've watched around 6 hours of beta footage on both twitch and youtube (more than many have played the beta, I might add) from players whose level of expertise varied from utter retards that didn't understand anything about the game's systems - the Escapist stream - , to obvious IE games pros - a dude whose name escapes (unintended pun) me at the moment who could only get through battles by pausing every 2s and painstakingly reading the awful combat log because, whether you want to admit it or not, right now the game's combat is nothing short of a clusterfuck and the visual feedback is shit shit shit.

Besides that, the obvious shitposters are easy to spot and ignore, and I don't see how the occasional joke at Sawyer's expense detracts from this thread's worth; it's just something that comes with the territory and you've had plenty of time to deal with it in the two years since you've joined. Not to mention, even Sensuki makes fun of the banalce every now and then, all while providing invaluable feedback to Obsidian.

Anyway, sorry to interrupt. You may now go back to your regularly scheduled fanboying program.

I haven't left them out: the reactions from those folks is still mild. If it was pessimistic they wouldn't even be having a discussion: they'd have given up and said that the system would never work. That's pessimism. By the very fact that they're making suggestions and hoping that things turn around makes it optimism.

Call it whatever you want: Oblivion defense or not, the value of someone who looks at things from afar approaches zero. Playing a game vs watching a game are two very different animals. You make it seem like the people on the Codex are some sort of god-gamers who can design a game in their sleep.

Yes obviously there are issues with the game: i agree that combat is messed up, and there are other issues at the moment. But hyperbole is only hilarious if used occasionally. It becomes tiring at a point to hear the same banal discussions a million times over (omg no combat xp? omg no realism in my game? omg attributes are not how I imagined them?).

Also LOL at your comment that I'm a Sawyer fanboy. Dude's trying his best to make a game reminiscent of the IE games. That's notable even if he's failing left and right.

"1)who hate the game"

Don't lie, it's rude. I don't hate the game you dumbass.

No, you probably don't volourn. You're a special one who just has a thing for sawyer. Guess it has something to do with being a pretty princess and all.

 

[Sensuki]

Well the aspects that he enjoyed about them anyway. Could be A LOT worse given a different lead designer.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Goddammit, I brofisted Ulm, what is the world coming to

 

[Shannow]

It has been pointed out to me that ranger pets are the reason/justification for all the lost space between the chacter portraits. I don't know how PoE handles summons, but overall that still seems like a rather weak excuse.
So far the UI seems kinda bad, even if Sensuki's recommendations are taken into account. Apart from his mentions that the devs don't like the old IE UIs and that some backers would prefer an absolute minimalistic UI I've yet to see a compelling reason to make the UI the way it is now. Cause, given the choice between any IE UI and PoEs current UI, I know which one I'd choose...

Anyway, currently I'm considering playing a guy with focus on INT without using any AoEs/duration abilities (once PoE is released) and then whining about how my build is gimped. Where is the banalce? Any argument sawyer cultist could bring up against me?

 

[Infinitron]

Anyway, currently I'm considering playing a guy with focus on INT without using any AoEs/duration abilities (once PoE is released) and then whining about how my build is gimped. Where is the banalce?

Game balance has nothing to do with playing the game poorly.

If you don't play to your character's strength then of course you'll fail. Balance just means that he HAS a a strength.

EDIT: Oh wait, you're probably joking right.

 

[Shannow]

Well, not completely joking. (Probably more trolling.) But the whole "no stat left behind"/"you can't gimp your character because of balance(tm)" runs into that direction, doesn't it?
If you ignore the information given in any present system you can easiliy gimp yourself. If you ignore the information in He-Man RPG you can still easily gimp yourself...
The whole argument for "banalce" previously was ... Well, I never really understood it, but it had something to do with warriors shouldn't need to be strong, dextrous and tough and mages shouldn't need to be intelligent, etc.
All of the whining against D&D could have been brushed aside with "Game balance has nothing to do with playing the game poorly.".
I've yet to see any compelling evidence that a bad for cRPGs system (DnD) isn't simpy being substituted for an even worse system...
From what I've seen so far, it's even less believable than DnD (I don't think I've made enough fun of INT increasing arm-length of barbarians) without improving on anything. So what was the argument in favour of it again? (Apart from not being D&D, again.)