Preview Pillars of Eternity Post-E3 Preview Blitz + New Screenshots

[Roguey]

Fact that you can turn them off doesnt make it any less derpy. I bet they start on by default.

Transparency is a good thing. If a decision I make modifies something, I want to know about it.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They're reputation/disposition modifiers and you can turn them off.

Fact that you can turn them off doesnt make it any less derpy. I bet they start on by default.

Is that [Bluff] tag on the first option in this Storm of Zehir dialogue screen derpy?

Nope, it's a skill use prompt. I thought this

Narration and dialogue choices are key factors to Pillars of Eternity as depending on how a situation is approached, the outcome will be different. This all ties into their Disposition Reputation System which tracks just what kind of a person you are. This is represented through minor and major choices when selecting dialogue (Hardcore players can turn off the visual indicators), crafting the protagonist’s demeanor. Choosing to be diplomatic, honest, aggressive, or something else will shape what kind of person the protagonist ends up being, even unlocking different pieces of dialogue for given situations.
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sounded like a more visual representation of how choices affected your alignment, like ME and DA2 did. If that's not the case, and the system is similar to the skill prompts like SoZ, New Vegas and AoD, then i'm okay with that.

 

[Infinitron]

There are people who would say that the skill prompts are a decline too. "The player shouldn't know that it's a bluff cuz that'll make him automatically click that choice instead of reading."

In terms of "feel", I don't see much difference between a

[Bluff] Shipment! From the locals. Sent us as a delegation to greet you!

that checks your Bluff skill, and a

[Sneaky] Shipment! From the locals. Sent us as a delegation to greet you!

that increases your "Sneaky" disposition.

The problem with Mass Effect-style "morality icons" is that the underlying "good/evil" dichotomy that they represent is inherently shallow and predictable. It's not the icons themselves that are a problem. The dialogue would be equally shallow without them.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Dual morality systems are absurd i agree, in the case of those bioware games i mentioned, everything was either good or bad, there was no "in between". I like how AoD deals with this, it takes into account your decisions and affects gameplay dialogue choices without labeling you as either evil or good. For example, if you kill a lot of people, you can get dialogue choices that reflect that and work to your favor, thats a better system.

 

[Volourn]

"Have you ever heard about a little and obscure game called Darklands :asd ?"

Yes, different game, different style, and different era. There is absolutely no need of this when the dialogue window does the EXACT same thing and doesn't pull you out of the game.


"It's better than just having these actions in a dialogue menu, like Torment or AoD."

It's worse.

 

[hexer]

Spoiler

• As the game starts, your player-character is on a caravan to something called the Gilded Vale. Your guy or gal falls sick, and the caravan has to stop for the night. Things do not go as expected.

The main character's sick at the start of the game? Hope they're not rehashing Van Buren's plot in some way

 

[Crooked Bee]

Spoiler

• As the game starts, your player-character is on a caravan to something called the Gilded Vale. Your guy or gal falls sick, and the caravan has to stop for the night. Things do not go as expected.

The main character's sick at the start of the game? Hope they're not rehashing Van Buren's plot in some way

Even if they are, the game is so completely different that I doubt that could matter much

 

[Sensuki]

It's very similar to The Black Hound beginning, bit a bit more "epic", for lack of a better word.

 

[Xu Fugui]

Those sound stupid and just seem unneeded. They won't add anything to the game

They add to the game same way music, animations, character portraits and all that stuff adds to a game. I think the vignettes are a great idea for increased atmosphere without a significant increase in resources spent on these interactions.

 

[Rake]

Those sound stupid and just seem unneeded. They won't add anything to the game

They add to the game same way music, animations, character portraits and all that stuff adds to a game. I think the vignettes are a great idea for increased atmosphere without a significant increase in resources spent on these interactions.

Beats cutsceens on all levels, that's for sure.

 

[Volourn]

"They add to the game same way music, animations, character portraits and all that stuff adds to a game. I think the vignettes are a great idea for increased atmosphere without a significant increase in resources spent on these interactions."

\They add shit and take you of the game. It will hurt atmosphere not help it. They do NOTHINg that the dialogue box can't accomplish hence FAIL use of resources. They aren't horrible and won't festroy the game but it certainly won't enhance the game in any meaningful way. What do they do better than the dialogue can? NOTHING.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Volourn has one of his 1/year moments of clarity.

They really don't do anything that couldn't be done in dialogues.
But lol Sawyer doesn't want binary choices in dialogues so now they're out of the dialogue in a different window. Improvement, even innovation, I would say.

 

[J_C]

"They add to the game same way music, animations, character portraits and all that stuff adds to a game. I think the vignettes are a great idea for increased atmosphere without a significant increase in resources spent on these interactions."

\They add shit and take you of the game. It will hurt atmosphere not help it. They do NOTHINg that the dialogue box can't accomplish hence FAIL use of resources. They aren't horrible and won't festroy the game but it certainly won't enhance the game in any meaningful way. What do they do better than the dialogue can? NOTHING.

You know for some people a nice hand drawn transition screen adds to the atmosphere.

 

[Infinitron]

Volourn has one of his 1/year moments of clarity.

They really don't do anything that couldn't be done in dialogues.
But lol Sawyer doesn't want binary choices in dialogues so now they're out of the dialogue in a different window. Improvement, even innovation, I would say.

Portraying a particularly dynamic or action-packed event in dialogue, while you can see your character standing in place doing nothing, is rather awkward.

 

[Excidium]

It's all abstrakshun

 

[Kem0sabe]

If the text adventure goes fullscreen and then with the appropriate transition from that to the consequences of your actions, i dont see how that would be jarring in any way, in fact i think it would be an improvement on the traditional rpg gameplay.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Worked well enough in PST.

I guess I can see the attraction to show them in a story-like manner similar to Darklands, but when you have Sawyer or well.. Roguey, droning on about choices that only involve character skill (which is terrible in an RPG did you know) and then have this it's pretty funny or something

 

[Athelas]

Pretty sure there would be a bunch of (reviewer) complaints about walls of text and lack of animation if it was done through a regular dialogue window.

 

[Excidium]

P. sure there wouldn't, or it'd be a reviewer that would complain about that either way.

Anyway why is this such a topic of contention

 

[J_C]

Worked well enough in PST.

It was OK in PST, but this style looks certainly better. Why wouldn't they give it a shot if they have the opportunity.

 

[AbounI]

About the statchecks/skillcheck, does anyone know how it works?

Will the game determine automatically whose character is chosen for the check or will the player have the choice of the character (like in Storm of Zehyr)?unless it only concerns the PC for all the skillchecks?

But in case of the screen, the constitution or athletic checks must apply to the whole party, as it concerns everyone in the party.Realms of Arkania managed to do that.Hope it will works that way too.Further than that, if some are injured, wounded, ill, tired, etc etc, some adjustment are needed for those characters
These kind of things are easy to be broken in a party based cRPG, less in a lonely character

 

[FeelTheRads]

Worked well enough in PST.

It was OK in PST, but this style looks certainly better. Why wouldn't they give it a shot if they have the opportunity.

I don't have anything against it, really, but it's not like I'm gonna miss an opportunity to pick on Sawyer.

 

[Tigranes]

The text adventures are fucking awesome. They look awesome, they feel awesome, and they will be fun in and of themselves. So fuck you.

 

[FeelTheRads]

they feel awesome

sup time traveller tell me how will I die?

 

[Anthony Davis]

There is a really nice effect when the images for the text adventures blend in, and most of them have nice sound effects as well.

The text adventures were one of my favorite parts of Darklands and Space Rangers - and those were heavy influences for PoE I think.