Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Azarkon]

The Witcher 3 not winning that award would be criminal.

 

[Sensuki]

lol (at the award)

 

[Infinitron]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=17931&perpage=40&pagenumber=11#post454859149

If we make a sequel, the default speed will likely be what slow currently is.

With regard to visual effects, there's another factor we've been trying to work through which is how effects render in the environment, especially when they overlap. The way that the renderer handles the effects tends to result in them blowing out very quickly, so if there are multiple effects going on anywhere, the individual effects get lost. The lighting also works this way, so if a visual effect has a lighting component in it, the way it interacts with other lights will quickly blow out the environment (and other) art in the scene. It's not something we can really fix for PoE, but we could fix it for a sequel.

When we did allow people to transition during combat, it caused a bunch of bugs. We used to not allow people to exit combat, period, because that also caused a bunch of bugs, but those bugs were fixed. There are a few fights now that won't end once they're triggered until everyone is dead (I think Raedric's might be one of them, Maerwald's definitely is) but most other fights can end as Samuel Clemens described.

I should note that one other thing we'd like to do on a sequel is allow for sub-areas to be loaded concurrently with a parent area. If we can pull that off, we should be able to allow you (and enemies) to transition during combat.

 

[agris]

It's interesting that the concept of reducing and toning down the spell VFX doesn't enter into the picture. He's focused on the lighting renderer and how effects stack, not the composition and frequency of visual effects.

It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

 

[Sensuki]

Every time I and others bought up the topic it was virtually completely ignored. They must thing the flashy shit sells copies.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

h
I should note that one other thing we'd like to do on a sequel is allow for sub-areas to be loaded concurrently with a parent area. If we can pull that off, we should be able to allow you (and enemies) to transition during combat.

Oh my God, yes. Having to go through 2 load screens to enter some broom closet on a third level of an inn was such bullshit. Especially with the Chanter bug that was around in vanilla.

Also lol, they're still throwing that line "if we make a sequel". As if there was ever any doubt as soon as the game launched to 93 Metacritic score.

 

[Roguey]

Josh said the only thing certain is death.

 

[Fry]

Lots of variables involved. I don't think the Metashitic score is very high on that list.

 

[Theldaran]

Josh said the only thing certain is death.

What about taxes?

 

[Delterius]

Josh said the only thing certain is death.

What about taxes?

Videogame companies get lots of tax exemptions.

 

[Sannom]

Human construct. It has nothing on death.

 

[AwesomeButton]

If we make a sequel, the default speed will likely be what slow currently is.

It's funny how Josh keeps coming up with good ideas, a year after the same good ideas have been pointed out as suggestions by beta testers. Oh well, better late than never, right. What they really should do to make combat easier to follow, and make his own balancing life easier, is to reduce the variety of cooldown timers' length, so it's not dynamically determined by weapons/armor/dexterity/etc, but it's like in the IE games - one base timer, and then half-speed for slowed characters and double-speed for hasted. It could still be readable, even with more options than these three, but the current tenths of a second counters are insane.

 

[Roguey]

Josh considers pandering to the Irenaeus crowd

 

[AwesomeButton]

Black South American, for added SJW.

 

[tdphys]

If we make a sequel, the default speed will likely be what slow currently is.

It's funny how Josh keeps coming up with good ideas, a year after the same good ideas have been pointed out as suggestions by beta testers. Oh well, better late than never, right. What they really should do to make combat easier to follow, and make his own balancing life easier, is to reduce the variety of cooldown timers' length, so it's not dynamically determined by weapons/armor/dexterity/etc, but it's like in the IE games - one base timer, and then half-speed for slowed characters and double-speed for hasted. It could still be readable, even with more options than these three, but the current tenths of a second counters are insane.

I think it's his design process... as far as I've seen it's been incredibly incremental. The whole pillars thing seems to consist of coming up with some starting system based off of innovating slightly by trying to merge more tabletop with the old infinity engine and then just grind away at it until it morphs into something workable, rather then try and understand/innovate with things like rtwp or math before hand. That's the way they balance things too... It's like they see the systems principles only through a dark glass of QA reports and SA emo with a sprinkling of the OB board thrown in.

I can see why they would do such things, seeing as it was make and break and they needed to start from a position of strength and familiarity. It doesn't, however, lead to groundbreaking design, but at least it doesn't lead to a complete mess.

That being said, sometimes when aspects of the design is too poor but too integral to iterate away from, you end up with horrible things like POE's engagement system.

 

[Infinitron]

I think it's his design process... as far as I've seen it's been incredibly incremental. The whole pillars thing seems to consist of coming up with some starting system based off of innovating slightly by trying to merge more tabletop with the old infinity engine

Weird that you say this when AwesomeButton is talking about something that definitely isn't from the Infinity Engine nor tabletop.

Fact: If the original IE games had used the same action-duration system that PoE uses and Josh Sawyer had decided to streamline it down to constant duration for everything like AwesomeButton is asking for, every grognard in the universe would have been screaming bloody murder.

 

[tdphys]

I think it's his design process... as far as I've seen it's been incredibly incremental. The whole pillars thing seems to consist of coming up with some starting system based off of innovating slightly by trying to merge more tabletop with the old infinity engine

Weird that you say this when AwesomeButton is talking about something that definitely isn't from the Infinity Engine nor tabletop.

Fact: If the original IE games had used the same action-duration system that PoE uses and Josh Sawyer had decided to streamline it down to constant duration for everything like AwesomeButton is asking for, every grognard in the universe would have been screaming bloody murder.

I was referring more to the fact that Josh takes his time to come to design consensus on things that people chirp about via a long process: engagement was essentially nerfed into being tactical meaninglessness; perception was eventually added back as an accuracy attribute; even hard immunities/counters were added in... and this all took an incredibly long time. It just feels like a very data-driven process, with a preponderance of data needed before he'll move. That was in response to AwesomeButton's first sentence. Whether or not the rest of what awesome button is saying is the kind of visionary idea that I'd expect from an established/celebrity designer is besides the point. However, I don't think it should take long to test it and come to a conclusion.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Metal Hurlant]

ugh. What were the old stats? Even when they get new stats, the items are bland and dull.

 

[Infinitron]

Durance's old robe was just a mundane robe with a unique look, I think.

The staff looks like it now does Burn damage for the full damage value, whereas before it was Crush + 25% Burn. Makes it useful for Crush-resistant/immune enemies.

 

[Prime Junta]

I was referring more to the fact that Josh takes his time to come to design consensus on things that people chirp about via a long process: engagement was essentially nerfed into being tactical meaninglessness;

Nonsense, it's not tactically meaningless, essentially or substantially. If you do nothing to mitigate engagement, it will clobber you hard. Try disengaging with a typical low-Deflection, low-Endurance squishy, it's painful.

What you can do since 2.0 is stack enough deflection and anti-disengagement bonuses to be highly mobile. A well-armoured fighter with a medium or large shield and talents to match can effectively ignore engagement for example. You can even make an entire party that can tolerate a significant number of disengagement attacks, but to do that you incur a significant opportunity cost: using Zealous Charge instead of Zealous Focus, The Fox From The Farmer instead of Sure-Handed Ila, shields, armour, and Cautious Attack or Weapon and Shield Style instead of weapons, talents, and light armour that let you strike harder, and so on.

I.e. there are a number of ways to deal with engagement. Since 2.0 this includes the possibility to "harden" your party to the point where they can ignore it a lot of the time. None of it is free, and all of it results in different ways to play the game effectively. That's a good thing in my book.

 

[Drudkh]

More Uniques is always a good thing... Durance's staff looks damn good now.

New hyper easy (story) made and idiot proof bow for Sanagi... maybe the "troubled" Pillars fans be able to complete the game now.

 

[Sizzle]

What I dislike about the staff (and I love unique NPC gear) is that it should also have a unique description - after all, it's integral to his quest (and it should also be undroppable/unsellable).

That also bugged me even before this change.

 

[Dorateen]

Take that, Adra Dragon!

Spoiler

Although the battle with Concelhaut was more exciting.

 

[Infinitron]

Take that, Adra Dragon!

Spoiler

Although the battle with Concelhaut was more exciting.

Nice. Looks like you're all out of oldschool dungeon crawley bits now. At least until White March Part 2 comes out.