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

[Ulfhednar]

... not things that physically exist.

Spoiler

It's more like you pull a Thaos and send your soul into the Adra Pillar while your limp body slumps to the floor outside. No explanation about your companions coming along for the ride, though. Edit: Now that I think about it, you do turn on an Engwithan machine beforehand.

 

[Sizzle]

Mods will fix it :D

 

[Cross]

The heavy narrative emphasis on adra (to the point that it seems to be connected to almost every major event in the plot and backstory) strikes me as misguided. I get that they want to showcase what makes the setting unique, but they should be exploring the ideas and concepts that make the setting unique, not mineral deposits. Adra feels way too much like a MacGuffin du jour that can serve any convenient narrative function.

 

[CptMace]

Yeah right ? What's next, title the game after these adra structures ?

 

[Mazisky]

How's performance in the beta? POE 1 was a CPU murderer thanks to shitty Unity 4...

Not good. Main areas are choppy like white march in poe1 but they said they are optimizing

Try playing it on a computer that from after 2005. There's no performance issues in the beta as long as you have a modern computer.

Edit: Also, with an SSD the load times are barely a second or two.

I have an I 7 with Geforce 1070 and 16 gb RAM. Also i have SSD.

Now you have one chance to show you are not a liar edgy fanboy: show a video where there are no fps drops in the beta or gtfo.

 

[Sensuki]

Speed increase in TB is just AP increase, so there is no added chaos. BG was closer to TB in this regard than PoE with it's immutable fixed 6 second rounds. PoE utilizes the RT element better by allowing you to modify action speed..

You can modify your action speed in the IE games (both attack, full action and cast speed) and the WC3 engine as well (just attack speed)

I have no idea how you have become married to the idea that percentile modifiers to the speed of both attacks and spell actons is somehow 'utilizing RT element better' than another manner of handling unit actions in a real-time (or rtwp game). I am definitely of the mind that a stepped / less granular approach is easier to read/process. Copper Dreams 'ticks' approach is one example, where every speed increment to anything is always handled the same. That's how I would do it, rather than how Pillars does it with 10% here, 20% here -50% here and modifier multiplication rules. Addition is easier for people to understand when reading rules or trying to determine the benefit or malus of something in real effect, and the effects in actual play are easier to notice on screen.

An RPG is always based on another type of game whether it be FPS, Third person shooter, real-time strategy, turn-based strategy etc etc. PoE1 combat is still definitely under the RTS style combat umbrella, and PoE2 is no different, so I think it's perfectly reasonable to compare the two, just because you may happen to play the others against people, that doesn't mean that you can disqualify such a comparison.

 

[Lacrymas]

The heavy narrative emphasis on adra (to the point that it seems to be connected to almost every major event in the plot and backstory) strikes me as misguided. I get that they want to showcase what makes the setting unique, but they should be exploring the ideas and concepts that make the setting unique, not mineral deposits. Adra feels way too much like a MacGuffin du jour that can serve any convenient narrative function.

It's not only adra, it's souls + Engwithans + adra. None of which are very interesting or explored in any detail. Obsidian treat them as plot-manufacturers and setting-defining to the exclusion of everything else that is actually interesting, like the Saint's War. You know, a conflict created by people and featuring people. The setting itself is too generic and by-the-numbers to carry the whole game (unlike VtM:B f.e.) and it doesn't, that's why they default to souls and adra, and Engwithans while forgetting that drama includes the motivations of characters within it, the setting is just a backdrop on which unique conflicts can happen. Even if the writers aren't technically proficient, and oh boy, they certainly aren't, but they center the story around actual drama, as opposed to god-beings returned to do god-things which has no tension at all, it will work regardless of any technical ineptitude.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't think you can really accuse PoE of being "adra-centric" when it's entirely possible to finish the game without understanding the significance of adra to Eora's divine physics or figuring out what a "Pillar of Eternity" is. Many people have! You could plausibly say that adra is actually underemphasized relative to its importance. We should probably expect to learn more about it in the sequel.

 

[agentorange]

The only thing I remember is some sort of fantasy thermonuclear explosion being referenced by one of the characters, and thinking that a fantasy nuclear war as the backdrop would have been far more interesting than souls and crystals.

 

[Infinitron]

The souls are another thing. I think people fixate on the term "souls" because it sounds sort of hokey and hippie/flower-powerish. Lol souls, how gay is that, everything in this game is about souls. But it isn't really.

If I had to name something that the game's story might ride on a bit too hard relative to how much the player really cares, it's gods, Engwithans and animancy. Animancy is the science of souls, but for the purpose of the story, it's really just a stand-in for any science that threatens to uncover the world's mysteries. It could be atomic physics instead of souls.

 

[Ruzen]

But the main plot and the environment is too intertwined with the Adra's. In every 3 hours, you either get to see someone mentioning Adra or seeing in a scene. It's a mystery to all. No NPC's knows about them nor player, not even writers know whats with the Adra's we keep mentioning.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did you miss the part where the game actively tries to soul guilt you? Being possible only by way of souls? Or that the gods are amalgamations of souls? Or that adra pillars can contain souls? Or that Aloth's entire shtick is his soul? Or that your powers directly come from your soul? Or that you can't sleep because you have soul disease? Or that the Hollowborn lack souls? Or that the Engwithan machines are created to control souls? Or that undead are trapped souls? Or that reincarnation is possible because souls?

 

[Quillon]

Did you miss the part where the game actively tries to soul guilt you? Being possible only by way of souls? Or that the gods are amalgamations of souls? Or that adra pillars can contain souls? Or that Aloth's entire shtick is his soul? Or that your powers directly come from your soul? Or that you can't sleep because you have soul disease? Or that the Hollowborn lack souls? Or that the Engwithan machines are created to control souls? Or that undead are trapped souls? Or that reincarnation is possible because souls?

They should have really chosen Soulcraft for the game's name which has been suggested by a goofy dev and its more catchy than pillows

There will be faction conflicts, power plays, relationtrains, PIRATES! etc against soul stuff's domination in the game.

 

[Infinitron]

Did you miss the part where the game actively tries to soul guilt you?

It's the plot device of being haunted by a past life, or by the deeds of an ancestor, common in many stories. Souls aren't really crucial to that IMO.

Although the game frequently uses souls as a way of "implementing" various interesting fantasy situations, I don't think you can really say that it overuses them. Despite the fact that you are a Watcher, a professional soul-manipulator, it's rare that your overarching goals are about souls. Souls are something that you happen to spot along the way which help you, they're rarely if ever your mission. There's no "Find the soul of X" quest. I think the game could have actually been a lot more soul-centric than it was.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

In POE2, does every singleclass and every multiclass combo have the same base stats and the same stat increases on levelup?

 

[Lacrymas]

it's rare that your overarching goals are about souls.

Did you miss that the main quest is called The Hollowing of the Dyrwood and it's about trying to cram souls into children? Sure, your moment-to-moment questing is rarely about souls, but that doesn't mean the whole setting isn't built on that idea and every single fantasy cliche is spun around in the most ham-fisted way possible to somehow include them.

 

[Delterius]

past life Souls

i do think they are connected tho

 

[Iznaliu]

In POE2, does every singleclass and every multiclass combo have the same base stats and the same stat increases on levelup?

Do you mean attributes or derived stats (e.g. saves)?

 

[Parabalus]

Speed increase in TB is just AP increase, so there is no added chaos. BG was closer to TB in this regard than PoE with it's immutable fixed 6 second rounds. PoE utilizes the RT element better by allowing you to modify action speed..

You can modify your action speed in the IE games (both attack, full action and cast speed) and the WC3 engine as well (just attack speed).
I have no idea how you have become married to the idea that percentile modifiers to the speed of both attacks and spell actons is somehow 'utilizing RT element better' than another manner of handling unit actions in a real-time (or rtwp game). I am definitely of the mind that a stepped / less granular approach is easier to read/process. Copper Dreams 'ticks' approach is one example, where every speed increment to anything is always handled the same. That's how I would do it, rather than how Pillars does it with 10% here, 20% here -50% here and modifier multiplication rules. Addition is easier for people to understand when reading rules or trying to determine the benefit or malus of something in real effect, and the effects in actual play are easier to notice on screen.

An RPG is always based on another type of game whether it be FPS, Third person shooter, real-time strategy, turn-based strategy etc etc. PoE1 combat is still definitely under the RTS style combat umbrella, and PoE2 is no different, so I think it's perfectly reasonable to compare the two, just because you may happen to play the others against people, that doesn't mean that you can disqualify such a comparison.

You cannot cast more than 1 spell per round without IA, that's the whole point.

I'm not married to a percentile modifier, it's about removing the clunky 6 second round action lockout and abusable dead time, which PoE did.

The statement about addition is true, which is why many people swear that the PoE system feels worse despite stuff having a bigger impact than DnD, weapon enchants and attributes are prime examples.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

In POE2, does every singleclass and every multiclass combo have the same base stats and the same stat increases on levelup?

Do you mean attributes or derived stats (e.g. saves)?

HP, accuracy and deflection.

 

[Quillon]

In POE2, does every singleclass and every multiclass combo have the same base stats and the same stat increases on levelup?

Do you mean attributes or derived stats (e.g. saves)?

HP, accuracy and deflection.

Average of each class' stats the master said.

 

[Iznaliu]

HP, accuracy and deflection.

I believe some of those (I can't remember the exact details) differ between classes. Multiclassed characters take the average of the classes' base stats.

 

[CptMace]

Yet again, this focus we're making on adra is probably due to the fact we don't know anything but what's in the beta, which is adra stuff.
Don't forget they put the emphasis on factions this time, either for teasers back then or during dev updates.
Although yeah, I have no doubt they'll talk about adra and souls. That's the fucking theme of the game.

 

[Lacrymas]

I have a feeling the factions will only be a focus in act 2 and be quickly forgotten about after that, no matter how involved and in-depth their storylines are. I'd like to be wrong, of course, but I doubt I am. Unless act 2 is 90% of the game, that works, too.

 

[santino27]

In POE2, does every singleclass and every multiclass combo have the same base stats and the same stat increases on levelup?

Insofar as these things change from single class to single class (i.e. barbarians have high hps or whatever), they also apply to multi-class; the boost on leveling is an average of the two classes.

Edit: old.