namelessthree

That would be a nice touch, tbh. Also... "Anyway, i don't care about discs but, it's mind blowing how i find it way more scandalous than people tend to think it is. For me, it feels like a bait to encourage people to pledge a minimum amount. You intended to pledge 40€ ? Look if you pledge 20 more, you'll get a physical copy of the game. Well i'll guess i'll pledge 20 more..." That's exactly how I feel. Should I know there would be no disc I would have backed the project at a lower tier, much lower in fact. The only reason I paid 60 was to get a physical copy of the game on a real box. It's also hurtful they are not addressing this situation at all and ignoring their fans. This makes me want to stop buying their games altogether. It's kinda sad really because I went from Pre-ordering the Collectors Edition of Fallout New Vegas ( the only other game I have ever pre-ordered was Witcher 2 Collector's edition) to basically wanting nothing to do with Obsidian anymore. And like I said, I own and love all their games. The fact they are willing to blissfully ignore so many unhappy fans breaks the deal for me.

I don't know about the Fig CE but I paid 60 bucks for the entry physical copy version on Fig and the Amazon CE is 63 and comes with discs and extra goodies. Obsidian also mentioned in the Fig campaign that theirs would be the only place from where to obtain a physical version which I believed. Maybe I was being naive but I took their word for it because I trusted Obsidian not to lie about this. So many games these days go full digital so I believed this statement to be true and the physical editions were going to be backer only. But not only there are superior physical versions out there outside the campaign but now Obsidian has lost a lot of trust from previous happy backers. Ok, well done. Ripping people off. I am collector and I still like my games on discs and boxes and all that. Maybe I don't go full on crazy and buy the most expensive versions out there all the time but I still enjoy my physical versions. I feel betrayed, to be honest.

I just received my physical copy of the game only to realize... there was no disc inside. Only an activation card. Hugely disappointed by this decision. When I backed the game the reward stated "Physical copy of Pillars of Eternity II". This was definitely not. Are we going to get a disc in the future? Is Obsidian going to fix this? Or was I just ripped off 70 dollars for a box with a thank you note on it? If so, I know which company I won't be backing again which is a shame since I love all Obsidian games and backed Pillars 1 but this decision was a very s-hitty thing to do.

Thank you, Andrea. Really good to know I am eager to venture into those mountains!

Anybody knows if the PoE expansion will include new portraits?

Well, in Bg1&2 you had useful level 1 and level 2 spells, I mean, useful until the end of the game. Maybe Pillars has them too.

Hi Sensuki. Which in your opinion would be the best build for a D&D fighter /mage focused on crowd control. I kinda love to mess around with the enemies before obliterating them

Fantastic guide, Sensuki. Thank you very much for all the obvious effort it took you to put this up together. It will certainly help non beta players to ease the way into the game

I haven't played the beta but I have to agree with Albatao. I see a lot of people really worried here but maybe there is no reason to ring the alarm. The real problem here is that the game is not out yet. Maybe to one particular backer this or that mechanic is flawed but that's one person's opinion. The only thing we can really do is wait for the game to be released and play it. If an overwhelming majority of players find infinite gold or the inventory system to be a failure, I'd like to think that Obisidian won't be passive to that, and like the teams behind Divinity Original Sin, Shadowrun Returns or Wasteland 2, they will fix, change and polish the game accordingly, but this time using the feedback of millions of players. So cheer up, guys, enjoy the countdown and don't panic!

Probably me before I put my kids to bed. Me, too. To be perfectly honest, I'm looking forward to the documentary almost as much as the game. +1 to that. I am really eager to watch that documentary and only after that, play the game.

Ok, thanks for clarifying on that. Still, you are right, the longer version looks way better.

I bought VtM:B in stores and tried to play it at launch. Did the same thing with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. One of these games had a total showstopper bug at launch; it was literally impossible to go past a certain point if you hit this bug. The other one had an uninstall bug that would wipe your entire Windows partition. Skyrim really wasn't that bad. Anecdotes are fun. I bought VTMB at launch and finished it in two days no problem. Skyrim was a way bigger mess but I dont fault Bethesda too much. It's going to happen when youve got a sandbox that big. The important thing is being able to get through the crit path with minimal issues for the majority of players. We will have to wait and see the reviews to know how well POE fares. On topic: Yes I agree with the over entitled OP whom I hate for making me use the word entitled. Obsidian owes us the game asap for not perfectly estimating the release date years ago like every other developer easily does. I'm glad your experience went so well with VtM:B, considering the known almost-without-fail showstopper bug with the boat in the cave that will force you to crash to desk top every single time unless you patch or use the command console. You want frustration? You want a bad launch? Try a game that is literally broken--does not work, does not function, literally is impossible to succeed in--at launch. That's what VtM:B was for most purchasers. Skyrim had some problems, but if that's literally the worst launch experience you've ever had then man, you are a lucky son of a bitch because at least the game was playable. God, I remember that bug. I felt cheated when I got to that point in the game. Like I couldn't believe a company would ship a game with a bug that made their game impossible to finish. Oh, good old teenager innocence...I think I'll wait some weeks / months before hiting PoE... A similar thing happened with Wasteland 2. The first part of the game I was thinking "This is awesome", "Goty"....then I arrived to the bug-fest that was Holywood...and I had to stop playing. It's been...I don't know how many months...and still I don't feel like going back and finishing the game...

I agree, the first breastplate length was better. It also makes the poor lady look fatter.

I understand the dissapointment. Hell, I am dissapointed myself. I also expected to get my goodies at lunch but If the docks are on strike the docks are on strike. There's not much Obsidian can do in that situation but wait. We'll receive the goodies a couple of weeks later...well, it's not the end of the world. By then the game should have received a patch or two, so your playthrough should be more bug free. Again, I understand the people that paid 500+ dollars for the signed edition and I agree with them. If there are 300 signed editions, Obsidian should have made a poll for them because they are real collectors. They paid a ****load of money and probably they wanted their thingy sealed. Should have been a good thing to ask. But I also understand Obsidian cause If they make the exception for the 500 tier people, then 65 and the 100 tier people and so on can say "hey, why them and not me?" and then the ****storm continues. Probably there was no good move for Obsi on this one.

Really good stuff there...and humbling, and sad and touching. Really glad I am a backer for this one even though I would have backed it anyway simply because Obisidian makes great RPGs. I would love to watch the documentary before playing PoE, though. It would make the whole experience more insightful.

I really hope they don't go Tosc with the expansion. Like someone else said, that would mean that by the time the expansion comes out, all of us would have beaten the game a couple of times if not more. For some folks it will be fine to go back to the game once more in a row just to beat a big dungeon (which I don't think we need since PoE has a 15 level megadungeon already!) but some would need a rest. I would love to have a separate storyline, a mini-adventure of some kind. Obviously not something linear like ToB but maybe something like a mini-campaign where you bring your characters, maybe half the size of Shadowrun Dragonfall. If the expansion takes place after the main campaign, even better. Something like Dragon Age Awakening, where you have a new story tied to the old one, new places to go, etc...That would be nice in my book.

Option #1 here. I'd love to take a look at all the goodies while installing the gaming and playing. The actual disk can wait.

I guess that they could have a faster walking speed on average for the party when walking normally, like in Icewind Dale, that way characters with the boots of speed still would have an advantage but the difference wouldn't be so so abysmal like it was in BG. Maybe they are not including boots of speed at all? Who knows.

A possible solution is what BG2 did. You progress in the main story or one of the companions' plot and that requires you to go back to one of these locations. That way you feel there is always something happening around even in some more stable-less central locations. Someone also mentioned Torment where you go back to certain locations only after you got some extra knowledge of how to open new paths or get info from characters there. It all comes down to the writing in the end and how the devs see those locations. Having a big central place where you get quests from like in BG2's Athlaka or Torment's Sigil also helps to feel the world is alive. You always have something to do when you go back there and there is always at least one more NPC that reacts to some of your solved quests. It will be interesting to see how PoE deals with this issue.

To be clear, I am not defending the all-answers-lead-to-the-same-scenario design. Actually, I concede great importance to choice&consequence but I don't think BG2 abused that particular design although it was very guilty of it sometimes. Icewind Dale on the other hand, you will struggle to find a choice that didn't lead to combat there. That's why while BG2 had those designs sometimes the fact that it wasn't like that the whole time can make you forgive its sins while in Icewind it was everytime and it's harder to forgive, at least for me. Anyway, I am sidetracking; like I said, I believe that even when you have this all-answers-lead-to-the-same-scenario, is very important to give the player roleplaying options to at least let them decide HOW they want to get in this scenario. Like I said, this might be important to some players, less important or irrelevant to others, that's why I mentioned in #165 that each of us have different conceptions and priorities when we start playing a RPG and that's fine. I am also very excited about PoE reputation mechanics. I think it's a very interesting addition and helps gives coherence to the roleplaying choices and personality of your character. I really can't wait to see this system in action.

Do you realize that that was irony, right? I thought that every backer would know by now how Avellone feels about Arcanum.

I don't think he was defending rape or mixing the two, just pointing out that some conquerors were ,sadly, too happy in their sacking and for them there was no real difference between having sex or having forced sex. It's very sad but the history of the humanity is indeed a really sad one. In closing, I think what he meant was "sex has been and still is relevant for the bulk of humans that have populated the earth". Which I think is true.

I think you are talking about two different things (roleplaying and action&consquence), granted, both are important, at least for me, in an RPG but roleplaying doesn't always have to imply that you are gonna get a different consequence for your actions. When I talk about roleplaying, for me the HOW is as important as the result (more even) that you are gonna get with your answer because that let's you create a character to your liking, you can pretend the character is behaving in a certain way. Even in situations where three or four differents lines of dialogue lead you to the same result, for me there is a huge difference between saying: 1. Please, I don't want to fight with you 2. I don't want to fight you but I will if you don't get out of my way 3. Okay, you asked for this 4. Bring it on, old man 5. I will spread your guts all over this room! 6. Please, don't hurt me, sir! Those option might or not might end in the same scenario but even if they do, for me is essential they are there, because otherwise I wouldn't perceive the character that I created as mine, it would feel that it was forced to behave in a certain way. That's why even when you have only 3 options ( usually you have more than 3 in BG2 to be fair, although those 3 are always there, they have to) these options are essential and perfectly valid as roleplaying choices. Personally, I rarely felt that my characters in BG2 were forced to behave in a certain way because I didn't find an option to my liking. Usually the opposite is true and the options given were enough according to the context of the situation where these were presented. I never ever choose an answer thinking about the reward I am going to get. I think that misses the whole point of roleplaying a character, and personally I don't have fun playing that way. You are right in saying that sometimes the devs created and optimal path with unbalanced rewards and people might feel tempted to choose the option with the most reward but I don't think that's roleplaying. At that point you are powergaming and all your choices are enslaved to that behaviour, that has nothing to do with roleplaying, you are just metadecisioning every choice. One game that I think excels in giving roleplaying options to the player is Avellone's favourite Arcanum. I still remember the first time that I played the game and how I was blown away but the mountain of options that you could have in certain dialogues. Some of them led to the same result but the how of getting there was extremely satisfactory in certain cases. Torment is also a great example. As for the romances, I don't know what to say. Maybe for you Jaheira is the only one well writen. I find that the Viconia romance is a very interesting one for characters stubborn enough to see through her inital attitude, specially if you take her all the way with you up until the end in Throne of Bhaal. Even something as poorly writen as the Aerie romance has some interesting rolepalying connotations if you actually don't romance her. For example, at the begining, if you have Jaheira and Aerie with you, both of them will start hitting on you and eventually Aerie will start insluting Jaheira and even the memory of Khalid. Now, in that dialogue I think that you have some interesting roleplaying options. You can say to Aerie that you actually feel something for Jaheira and that she should stop pestering her. You can join Aerie in insulting the memory of Khalid or you can act in a very whiped fashion by simply siding with Aerie no matter what. You can also tell Aerie that you are only interested in both Jaheira and herself as a friend. Or you can ignore the interest both of them have in you for the time being and focus on Aerie's insults towards Jaheira's dead husband by saying that you will not tolerate such behaviour and insults towards your dead friend. All these are valid roleplaying options and all of them speak volumes about your character, making those roleplaying choices relevant for you and your companions both. I feel this is something very interesting and I am surprised when some people discard the value of this decisions (i don't mean you). In the end, no game is perfect and yes, BG2 has some bad romances, Torment has some bad combat and even Arcanum sometimes lacks in roleplaying options, it's either a million or a few. What I am trying to say, again, is that at the end of the day each of us set up a balance of pros and cons but those balances are different for every and each of us because we all have different priorities and differente perspectives. No better or worse. Just different.

Ok, it's good to know at least. Thanks for responding, Josh.

This is very interesting and, in retrospective, you are probably right about the naming. To be honest, I didn't think about the implications of the naming while I was writing it so don't take it as if I consider my opion more important than anybody else here because that's not true. That's only an assumption that you made based of the knowledge that you had about the definition of open letter which doesn't imply that I had the same knowledge or even thought about those implications at the moment of writing. I disagree about the raging. I don't think that raging leads somewhere or helps any kind of communication. The rest is very interesting and I thank you wholeheartedly for pointing that out.