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

[Merlkir]

The fact about the Witcher soundtrack is interesting and I can shed some light on that. Given that the melody is very diatonic (only using the main degrees of a scale, in this case natural D minor) and gravitating around the first and fifth of the scale (very, very typical) it's not surprising that many vidya gaem soundtracks sound like that. Tranny's limp dick loading screen "theme" is also in natural D minor and I think it was gravitating around the first and fifth, too, but don't quote me on that, I can't seem to find it in the soundtrack to hear it again to be sure. It's not plagiarism in that sense, just using very stereotypical melodic "gestures" that can be found everywhere, i.e. banal shit boring. Either that or this particular melody is in the public domain and these composers have all used it.

From the comments:

"
It's a traditional Gaelic song called Fear a' Bhàta for those who don't know."

 

[FreeKaner]

The fact about the Witcher soundtrack is interesting and I can shed some light on that. Given that the melody is very diatonic (only using the main degrees of a scale, in this case natural D minor) and gravitating around the first and fifth of the scale (very, very typical) it's not surprising that many vidya gaem soundtracks sound like that. Tranny's limp dick loading screen "theme" is also in natural D minor and I think it was gravitating around the first and fifth, too, but don't quote me on that, I can't seem to find it in the soundtrack to hear it again to be sure. It's not plagiarism in that sense, just using very stereotypical melodic "gestures" that can be found everywhere, i.e. banal shit boring. Either that or this particular melody is in the public domain and these composers have all used it.

Any examples of well composed video game soundtracks from any game you know?

 

[Delterius]

Hello_world.

I want to play a Priest of Wael that is basically the travelling god of knowledge, ie the Odin archetype.

So I must know wether Illusion spells are cool and interesting in this game.

Otherwise I'll need to rationalize my hatred prior to release and pre-write my TL;DRs.

Chanter/Shifter druid characters can chant while shifted - its pretty cool.

Your chants consist of growls, yet are still as effective as ever :D

and gravitating around the first and fifth of the scale (very, very typical) it's not surprising that many vidya gaem soundtracks sound like that.

So its basically the millenial whoa of videogame soundtracks.

 

[Lacrymas]

[
From the comments:

"
It's a traditional Gaelic song called Fear a' Bhàta for those who don't know."

Weeeellll, not really. It depends on what they mean by "traditional", without looking it up I can tell you that it has been composed by a specific person, i.e. it's not a folk song that has been passed down and there is no certain composer. It's kind of hard to explain to a layperson how I know this, but I've studied enough folk songs to know when a song is that or it's a melody trying to sound like folk music.

Any examples of well composed video game soundtracks from any game you know?

The Might and Magic soundtracks, composed by Paul Anthony Romero, pretty much all of them. Fun fact - he's an accomplished classical pianist; the soundtrack of Zanzarah, the Hidden Portal, composed by "King Einstein"; The soundtrack of Arcanum, but I'm pretty sure we are all familiar with that. He listened to many if the great masters' string quartet music to compose for Arcanum; The soundtracks for Larian games composed by Kirill Pokrovsky, but we are familiar with those as well. I've talked about him before; The Silent Hill soundtracks composed by Akira Yamaoka, ditto. This is a bit different, he's more of a rock composer who applies those principles to his soundtracks to great effect. That doesn't mean he's "less", just different; The Banjo Kazooie soundtrack is fun, composed by Grant Kirkhope; People like bringing up a lot of Japanese composers, for games like Chrono Trigger or Mario, but eh, they never impressed me that much. Other than that, ehh, I can't think of anything more right now. Before you ask, Jeremy Soule is overrated.

 

[Sentinel]

Will Justin Bell manage to topple this?


[/spoiler]

It's what I'm most curious about.

LOL

they should have canned this shitty ass made up in a week universe

In a week? hell no

I bet this game was made up by Sawyer as his dream game since he was managing the forums and nothing else

that's actually a traditional song, it has nothing to do with plagiarism

 

[Lacrymas]

It's interesting why he'd use a Gaelic "traditional" song (I looked it up and I was right, the song was written by Sìne NicFhionnlaigh in the 18th century) for a game/setting based on Polish myths. Especially one which has apparently been used to death. Why not use Polish songs?

 

[Maculo]

Hello_world.

I want to play a Priest of Wael that is basically the travelling god of knowledge, ie the Odin archetype.

So I must know wether Illusion spells are cool and interesting in this game.

Otherwise I'll need to rationalize my hatred prior to release and pre-write my TL;DRs.

I'll test Priest of Wael this weekend for you. I'll report back by Sunday.

Edit: Anyone else want something tested?

 

[Sentinel]

because The Witcher universe is not based solely on polish myths, and draws shit ton of inspiration from Scottish and Welsh mythology.

 

[Sizzle]

because The Witcher universe is not based solely on polish myths, and draws shit ton of inspiration from Scottish and Welsh mythology.

And Norse as well.

 

[Lacrymas]

Hello_world.

I want to play a Priest of Wael that is basically the travelling god of knowledge, ie the Odin archetype.

So I must know wether Illusion spells are cool and interesting in this game.

Otherwise I'll need to rationalize my hatred prior to release and pre-write my TL;DRs.

I'll test Priest of Wael this weekend for you. I'll report back by Sunday.

Edit: Anyone else want something tested?

The most interesting thing about the different denominations of Priest is the potential for "triple-classes". Every Priest is some kind of multi-class-lite - Wael is Illusionist/Priest, Skaen is Rogue/Priest, Magran is Evoker/Priest, Berath and Eothas are different kinds of Druid/Priest. You suffer from what spells Obsidian decided they'll give you from the various lists of other classes, but that can be worked around. This is maybe the most creative and outside-the-box thing they've changed from P1 in the context of classes.

 

[Delterius]

Being more specific, my fear is that by looking at PoE's spell list the few I would point out as definite Illusion material are just variations of the mirror image concept. It was always a sketchy school. Even in PnP its interest was mostly up to the DM's interpretation of disbelief and interaction, by poaching spells from other schools via Shadow as well as the player's own creativity. That last part is not easily implemented. My character in PoE was a priest of Wael and while being a holy nuke doesn't exactly fit with the archetype, I'd really rather not see him turned into a half-baked evasion nontank.

Are Phantom spells 'Illusions'? What about fear magic? Can you even apply abilities like spells in that stealth I saw a while back?

 

[Lacrymas]

Wael's bonus spell list -

Spoiler

Level
1. Arcane Veil
2. Iconic Projection
3. Mirrored Image
4. Llengrath's Displaced Image
5. Confusion
6. Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment
7. Gaze of the Adragan
8. Symbol of Wael
9. Blessing of Wael

That's it. It seems like you can cast spells while you are in stealth, at least it works outside of combat.

 

[2house2fly]

In a week? hell no

I bet this game was made up by Sawyer as his dream game since he was managing the forums and nothing else

He's said his dream game would be a turn-based historical fantasy like Darklands, and that there are some things in Pillars he thinks would make the game better but specifically didn't do them because Pillars is an Infinity Engine homage, not "Fuck You: Suck My Dick: Josh Sawyer's Ultimate Game". That said he probably spent months working out just how many copper pands are worth one Vailian lusce and exactly what legal powers would be conferred upon a Dyrwoodan Roadwarden.

 

[Maculo]

The most interesting thing about the different denominations of Priest is the potential for "triple-classes". Every Priest is some kind of multi-class-lite - Wael is Illusionist/Priest, Skaen is Rogue/Priest, Magran is Evoker/Priest, Berath and Eothas are different kinds of Druid/Priest. You suffer from what spells Obsidian decided they'll give you from the various lists of other classes, but that can be worked around. This is maybe the most creative and outside-the-box thing they've changed from P1 in the context of classes.

I am definitely excited for Priest. The denominations give ample space to roleplay and develop a character. Priest of Eothas with elemental fire certainly gives it a more heavenly vibe (if I remember correctly, the druid spells typically come from the air/sky).

Where did you find the full spell list?

Being more specific, my fear is that by looking at PoE's spell list the few I would point out as definite Illusion material are just variations of the mirror image concept. It was always a sketchy school. Even in PnP its interest was mostly up to the DM's interpretation of disbelief and interaction, by poaching spells from other schools via Shadow as well as the player's own creativity. That last part is not easily implemented. My character in PoE was a priest of Wael and while being a holy nuke doesn't exactly fit with the archetype, I'd really rather not see him turned into a half-baked evasion nontank.

Are Phantom spells 'Illusions'? What about fear magic? Can you even apply abilities like spells in that stealth I saw a while back?

From what I saw of the spell list Lacrymas posted, it seems to start with defensive spells, but moves in the direction of stuns and debuffs. Plus, I am curious what the blessing of Wael will be. Arkemyr's Wonderous Torments is -10 perception, intellect, and resolve, which is not bad.

 

[Lacrymas]

I am definitely excited for Priest. The denominations give ample space to roleplay and develop a character. Priest of Eothas with elemental fire certainly gives it a more heavenly vibe (if I remember correctly, the druid spells typically come from the air/sky).

Where did you find the full spell list?

I checked the Eothas spell list, they only get Sunbeam from the Druid spell list, everything else is a bonus Protection spell from the normal Priest list, which is lame. The spells are listed when you create a character and pick your god.

 

[Maculo]

I am definitely excited for Priest. The denominations give ample space to roleplay and develop a character. Priest of Eothas with elemental fire certainly gives it a more heavenly vibe (if I remember correctly, the druid spells typically come from the air/sky).

Where did you find the full spell list?

I checked the Eothas spell list, they only get Sunbeam from the Druid spell list, everything else is a bonus Protection spell from the normal Priest list, which is lame. The spells are listed when you create a character and pick your god.

Did something change? I could of sworn Priests of Eothas got Firebrand and Sunlance. It's been a couple weeks since I last played.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Lacrymas]

Did something change? I could of sworn Priests of Eothas got Firebrand and Sunlance. It's been a couple weeks since I last played.

Spoiler

Yeap. All Priests seem to have undergone some undocumented changes, like Skaen losing Sneak Attack.

 

[Maculo]

Well damn. That is a big change.

I was looking forward to being an incarnate of heavenly wrath. Still, those spells are in line with what I originally expected (resurrection, withdraw, etc.)

 

[Lacrymas]

I do hope they change some stuff around, though. Skaen gets pretty good stuff, like Escape, Finishing Blow and even Shadowing Beyond, but I hope they bring back Sneak Attack. Eothas is very boring.

 

[Maculo]

A trade off for Eothas not skipping leg day.

 

[Merlkir]

It's interesting why he'd use a Gaelic "traditional" song (I looked it up and I was right, the song was written by Sìne NicFhionnlaigh in the 18th century) for a game/setting based on Polish myths. Especially one which has apparently been used to death. Why not use Polish songs?

It's used in Skellige, which is a mix of cultures - mainly VIKUNGMANS, but also a bit of SCOTLANDARRRRRRGOBRAGH.
They used various Slavic and Baltic songs for the rest of the soundtrack. (iirc there's a Bulgarian wedding song for instance)

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, I'm aware of the Bulgarian song. I don't like these sorts of folk music citations played straight, it's cheap and kitschy, done to death already. Here's a much better use of a folk song -

Spoiler

 

[FreeKaner]

Those sort of chanting where voices join each other one after another is called "lamentation" here, it's a folk genre.

 

[Jarpie]

How is the quest design in PoE 2 beta, is it any better than in the first one? IIRC most quests in PoE were boring and barely had anykind of alternate ways of solving them using skills or ablities.