Preview Pillars of Eternity Gameplay Video, Previews and Interviews

[Infinitron]

The HP/stamina mechanic means that low level combat is automatically easier than in the IE games since the player doesn't need to develop a cleric character to acquire healing resources. Effectively, he has the full healing capabilities of a mid-level AD&D cleric at his disposal right from the beginning. That'll even out at higher levels, though.

 

[Sensuki]

That's probably easy difficulty btw (or at least normal).

 

[Rivmusique]

whoever was making that character at the start was annoying the shit out of me and seems to be a complete moron. He just randomly clicked on shit and could not be bothered to read anything or even look at most of the options so I could pause and read it if i wanted to..fucking idiots and their ADD these days, he made a noble highborn barbarian from the most dominate culture ( this combination makes little sense)....he then proceeded to give him high intellect which affects area of effect spells (not something I imagine is very useful to a barbarian).... its like he could not stop to actually think about what he was doing and just wanted to get on with clicking the buttons at random like a thoughtless dipshit.

Guy playing is Adler, so he is just playing to a script. Int is fine for a Barb from what we have heard, maybe even one of the more ideal stats (every attribute is good for everyone, but you can build to emphasize class advantages) as one of the Barbarians things is splash damage on melee strike, so a larger AoE on that seems pretty sweet.

 

[Invictus]

Gee those Obsidian guys are tricksy; they base their Kickstarter pitch on basicaly doing and updated IE game and then deliver exactly that, plus some great Darklands inspired interactive screen to booth
Anybody surprised or disapointed needs a new brain or to understand what they were aiming for; Icewind Dale 2 style combat and character progression, epic sprawling new IP with enough elements to be familiar to oldschool D&D fans but with some cool new ideas and features...I simply coudnt be happier seeing this
I think after missing out on the Divinity OS boxed version I will up my pledge for this one

 

[roshan]

What, you can't see difference between BG1 (walk out of the city, engage wolf, get crit for 10 hp, your fighter has 10 hp, rekked lol), and this - get out of caravan, left click 2 wolves (that are more of a size of a horse), kill 2 bandits (including an archer who just shot arrow after arrow into the backside of 1st level char - "glance! 0.5 hp damage"), kill more bandits, kill whole enemy party 3 on 3, kill oozes, more oozes, kill giant spiders...
All with suboptimal party of 2, then 3 characters - hurrah for regenerating hpstamina.
In IE trying to kill a bunch of enemies like that straight on with just 2-3 characters is death sentence, you had to use entangle/sleep/heal/bows/pots/oil of speed... use something.
Here NPC fighter just tanked everything that's all. "yeah you can get knocked down (fighter loses 5% hp), you can get badly beaten (fighter loses 10% hp)".

The combat looks so pathetically easy it's virtually automatic, like in the Dungeon Siege games.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Well, the game looks gorgeous. The environments are stunning. Characters models don't wow me themselves, but it's an improvement on TOEE. And I'm liking the myriad skill-based of dialog options as well as the in-game interactive narratives.

Combat isn't terribly interesting at low level, but I'm glad to see that we'll be able to exercise some amount of tactics and not just go around clicking things and chugging healing potions like BG1.

Early BG levels (1-2?) were more annoying than they were hard. "Oops, a gibberling crit'ed me. Reload." Not really going to miss that too much. After that, BG was so packed with potions and scrolls that it didn't matter if had a cleric/mage or not.

Also, is anyone else worried that they're bringing back the "start the player off with two filler companions" business like they did with NWN2? Because I was not a fan of that. :/

 

[Invictus]

Guys once again the demo is meant to showcase the game, the combat is simple right now for showing that up not going into the fight with the demogorgon ffs

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Guys once again the demo is meant to showcase the game, the combat is simple right now for showing that up not going into the fight with the demogorgon ffs

Yeah, I get that. My point was that low-level combat shown here doesn't look that interesting. Especially when you compare it to low level combat in D:OS. It's a flaw inherit in the RTWP combat system, I think. Yeah, you can use a few abilities here and there, but for the most part it's just watching your char and an enemy whack each other until one falls over dead. BG was worse in that regard. You are right that we're talking about low level though - and a non-magic class as well. I'm not damning the game here. I loved the BGs and I hope this will be even half as good as they were.

 

[Shadenuat]

I hope demo featured the only scripted forced dialogue where all your options are just a list, because forced scripted dialogues teleporting your party to the boss was one of the worst features of NWN2.

And I am totaly going to savescum through that first dialogue 7 times, and if I don't find a line that allows to avoid combat... ...

 

[Invictus]

I didn't mean that for you Lambchop 19 but at those who are saying stupid things about the combat; low level RTWP is not meant to be terribly ractical because low level chars don't have many options to start with...
Games like D OS can start off right away with challenging and fun combat with tactical depth even with low level chars and enemies
Even the UI looks good to me

 

[Infinitron]

Oh god Invictus is becoming the Daedalos of PoE

 

[Invictus]

The joke is lost on me Infinitron...lulz?

 

[Jasede]

Not every game needs to start out being challenging (though I enjoy it when they do).

Look, it's like this: when I first saw the Baldur's Gate trailer - the first one, you know the one, a lightning bolt hits a guy and some dudes fighting Gibberlings and casting spells - that game looked pathetically easy. And it kind of was, if you were clever about kiting. BG combat was challenging only once good encounter design figured into it. I think this game has the potential to be similar. I detected none of this Diablo 2 vibe, just easy encounters.

Now, that said, here's a point that is fair: we're not used to Obsidian designing good combat encounters in general. That is a valid concern.

I'm gonna be blunt, I love the Infinity Engine games. Their combat was /garbage/ but they made up for it by great encounters that really squeezed a lot of fun out of an inherently terrible system. Like I said earlier this game will stand and fall with its encounters. Personally I am not too optimistic about them, but even if it does fall them, maybe it will be written. Personally I am more looking forward to Torment, but I am still somewhat excited. Unlike Rosh I think there's clear potential here to tickle our IE faggots' fancies with this one.

Edit: as an afterthought, a big reason IE combat was endurable was the wealth of spells. I have this looming worry that there won't be enough spells thrown at you to make the battles diverse.

 

[Infinitron]

A Daedalos: Somebody who, sincerely or not, acts like he's an extreme fan of a controversial game, while saying things that subtly undermine it, and attracting even more aggression towards it. Named after a notorious RPGCodex member.

 

[Invictus]

Mkay, can I get a fanboi tag then?
Gee I have it already :D
I am really looking forward to playing this game but my fanboism for it isn't even in the same league as for Grimoire

 

[tuluse]

In IE games you would just chug potions between each fight or rest.

Wow such hard. So strategy.

In IE you would chug potions and rotate characters even during single encounter from the beginning of the game, not just facetank everything.

How do you chug a potion in a combat where a wolf kills you with one hit?

Can't have it both ways.

Anyways, yes, low level combat will be more survivable than BG1 was. Big deal. Most people were level 2 by the time they left candlekeep and level 3 not long after. Oh no the first 2 hours of the game are going to be easier.

 

[Dr Schultz]

PS Kevin VanOrd is a dummy who couldn't be more wrong about D:OS being "evolutionary" and PoE being a "clone."

If yesterday I'd bet all my money on this moronic statement coming from you, today I would rich as fuck :kwafuckyeah:

 

[MicoSelva]

This. is. ICEWIND DALE THREE

Oh God, I hope not.

 

[flabbyjack]

I made a post of suggestions to address the god awful UI on their official forums (http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/87-pillars-of-eternity/) but I can't cross link it because my thread has to go through *shudder* moderator approval.

 

[Tigranes]

Approved. Link. That's because we were getting a shitload of spammers for a while.

On topic, I actually like the UI for the most part, as I did the IE games - I like solid, 'traditional' looking ones as opposed to anything translucent & Windowsy (ugh, NWN1), and Inquisitor UI is also too full of flimsy bones and crap everywhere, even if it fit the theme of the game.

BTW - remember how the button 'click' sounds - and the deep presses of the button - in BG1/2 was so crucial to how good the UI felt.

 

[fanta]

I approve of everything I see except this asinine "you can be who you want to be" angle.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

"Shadenuat, post: 3402386, member: 14247"]

What the flying fuck does it mean to say combat "looks easy"? How can any sane person make a judgment about difficulty without actually playing the fucking game?

What, you can't see difference between BG1 (walk out of the city, engage wolf, get crit for 10 hp, your fighter has 10 hp, rekked lol), and this - get out of caravan, left click 2 wolves (that are more of a size of a horse), kill 2 bandits (including an archer who just shot arrow after arrow into the backside of 1st level char - "glance! 0.5 hp damage"), kill more bandits, kill whole enemy party 3 on 3, kill oozes, more oozes, kill giant spiders...
All with suboptimal party of 2, then 3 characters - hurrah for regenerating hpstamina.
In IE trying to kill a bunch of enemies like that straight on with just 2-3 characters is death sentence, you had to use entangle/sleep/heal/bows/pots/oil of speed... use something.

Guys once again the demo is meant to showcase the game, the combat is simple right now for showing that up not going into the fight with the demogorgon ffs

Yeah, I get that. My point was that low-level combat shown here doesn't look that interesting. Especially when you compare it to low level combat in D:OS. It's a flaw inherit in the RTWP combat system, I think. Yeah, you can use a few abilities here and there, but for the most part it's just watching your char and an enemy whack each other until one falls over dead. BG was worse in that regard. You are right that we're talking about low level though - and a non-magic class as well. I'm not damning the game here. I loved the BGs and I hope this will be even half as good as they were.

I think I must be one of the few people who prefers low level combat in RPG's and especially D&D. I like the low level combat in BG and Icewind dale and my favorite parts of the game are from 1-6 or 7th level, after that it starts to get stupid to me. In fact I am almost the complete opposite in the games I seem to prefer of the IE variety, I liked BG1 over BG2 to the point I could not even be bothered to finish BG2 because it became so silly and too magic oriented with the constant pre-fight buffing, then the spells that counter spells and then even counter spells to counter counter spells. I hate every character on screen walking around surrounded by glowing humming globes of invulnerability combined with numerous magical energy shields combined with everybody swinging flaming swords and lightning and fire shooting out of every bodies eyes and ass.

I dislike high level RPG's where every item on every character is super magical and you have endless gold and 20 types of exploding arrows and shit. My fav IE games were icewind dale, I could not get into BG2 and TOB was unplayable to me. I don't know why RPG's tend to lose control after about the midpoint of the game where finding treasure and loot becomes a boring tedious chore at best. Don't even get me started on crafting which is the worst shit ever. 1-6th level D&D is the sweet spot IMO, I really hate high level shit and also hate these epic saving the world story plots that encourage this high level overpowered magical items and powers being puked up like garbage later in the games.

I think there must be more people who think like this because B2 keep on the borderlands is a super popular module, but I guess mage duels with flashing lights and everybody walking around with energy shileds like the starship enterprise sells and gives nerdgasms or something.

 

[Shadenuat]

Their combat was /garbage/ but they made up for it by great encounters that really squeezed a lot of fun out of an inherently terrible system.

If after running through computer system ends up in a combat fun enough to make half a dozen of games and then kickstart more, it can't be garbage. AD&D is unintuitive and has a lot of concepts that might seem alien today, but in the end everything many modern games did wrong IE games did right - system worked without bloated HPs or level scaling and level scaled equipment, arms and armor mattered, low level spells did not get obsolete, when you got hit you really felt like you get hit, enemies did what you'd expect them to do (18/00 ogre behaved like you'd expect and was always dangerous) and so on.

Even best system in the world would feel like garbage if you design poor encounters (bugbears from ToEE wave to us).

I think I must be one of the few people who prefers low level combat in RPG's and especially D&D.

I always found low level adventuring in IWD1 the most solid gameplay in IE games. Seeing your party growing taking baby steps felt so good. Non-casters could have used more abilities of course, which was solved somewhat in IWD2 by adapting 3d edition.
I think IWD1 with kits from BG2 improved to complement characters through their whole career starting level 1 would have been even more solid.

 

[Tigranes]

KOTOR, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Dungeon Siege 3, Alpha Protocol, The Witcher, etc, etc... yeah, we've clearly had a lot of great RPG systems that leave AD&D in the dust, right?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yep. A decade of crap rulesets ftmp.

What, you can't see difference between BG1 (walk out of the city, engage wolf, get crit for 10 hp, your fighter has 10 hp, rekked lol), and this - get out of caravan, left click 2 wolves (that are more of a size of a horse), kill 2 bandits (including an archer who just shot arrow after arrow into the backside of 1st level char - "glance! 0.5 hp damage"), kill more bandits, kill whole enemy party 3 on 3, kill oozes, more oozes, kill giant spiders...
All with suboptimal party of 2, then 3 characters - hurrah for regenerating hpstamina.
In IE trying to kill a bunch of enemies like that straight on with just 2-3 characters is death sentence, you had to use entangle/sleep/heal/bows/pots/oil of speed... use somethin

This is valid.

I think I must be one of the few people who prefers low level combat in RPG's and especially D&D.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I like low level combat too. I just think BG's version of low level (again 1, 2 and maybe 3 - after that it does get better) combat is so random in whether or not you'll live or die, it's boring. Not to mention that your choice of tactics is extremely limited. In D:OS for example there are many options for all low level characters. There are different approaches to each battle you can take, regardless of your build. In BG, a low level fighter can only click the wolf and hope for the best. That's boring. The addition of multiple party members solves this somewhat though.

It's not about wielding flaming swords, fireballs using deflector shields, it's about doing something more than just clicking and keeping your fingers crossed.