CynicalP
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Posts posted by CynicalP
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He also counted way too many expansion sales and forgot out of those 750 000, 80 000 are backers.Did you take into account Valve's 30% cut, steam sales (I believe it's been on sale a time or 2), etc.? I am unsure how Paradox has been compensated as a publisher since it was kickstarter and all that.
Baldurs gate and bg2 are still selling copies 14 years after they where released. Pillars won't be that succesful but will continue to sell well over a long period of time. I think my estimates where conservative for the main copy and the expansion. I'm not an expert on such things though but they have sold nearly 600k in only six months.
RPGs usually have a long shelf life. It's a niche market for sure and since there isn't a over saturated amount of games out there dedicated RPG fans are willing to pick up an older titles just to get their next RPG fix.
Yeah I no. The baldurs gate enhanced additions are probably selling more titles then the new forgotten realms game sword coast legends. Has anyone played legends? It is a complete joke. I deleted it after playing it for less then 1 hour.
Nope, I read the reviews and steam/RPGwatch forums and stayed cleared of that game. Neverwinter NIghts 2 and it's expansions were the last great D&D license games I played and enjoyed.
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He also counted way too many expansion sales and forgot out of those 750 000, 80 000 are backers.Did you take into account Valve's 30% cut, steam sales (I believe it's been on sale a time or 2), etc.? I am unsure how Paradox has been compensated as a publisher since it was kickstarter and all that.
Baldurs gate and bg2 are still selling copies 14 years after they where released. Pillars won't be that succesful but will continue to sell well over a long period of time. I think my estimates where conservative for the main copy and the expansion. I'm not an expert on such things though but they have sold nearly 600k in only six months.
RPGs usually have a long shelf life. It's a niche market for sure and since there isn't a over saturated amount of games out there dedicated RPG fans are willing to pick up an older titles just to get their next RPG fix.
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Expectations are crazy things when you think about them... Everyone's are different. Just like everyone's experiences are different.
Compounding the issue is the fact that the old ie games where not that similar, beyond the obvious, as in d&d rules, isometric,party based. But setting and story varied quite widely. Then some people played them purely for combat, some for the story etc, etc....
So while everyone had expectations that pillars would be a throwback to the old ie games, their experiences varied widely on what made an old ie game.
People should read or watch more movies
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashomon_
That is true. I felt Pillars met most of my expectations. It was the most recent game to capture the look and feel of an infinity engine game that I have played to date so I felt Obsidian lived up to their kickstarter promise. Again my major gripe was the overall story and antagonist miss the mark of true excellence. My only other gripe would be since there was no XP rewarded for enemy deaths there were too many trash mob encounters that couldn't be avoided. I got past that and just killed every thing in my path. Otherwise I really liked the game. Doesn't make my list of all time favorite RPG experiences, but a worth while experience regardless.
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My take on POE - I don't agree at all with the OP premise that the game was unfinished or rushed. I was hooked with the opening sequence and initial area. The beautiful artwork, the soundtrack, the voice work, and dialogs reeled me right in. However I stopped playing after the 1.03 patch with all the 'balanced' changes to my character. So I put the game on the shelf until I felt Obsidian was finished with most of their balance changes. Once Version 2.0 and the first part of the expansion came out I picked up the game again and after about 180 hours I finished the main story and all the expansion areas. I wish I could say POE was better or equal experience of the Baldur's gate games, but sadly I felt the main story was disappointing and the antagonist was just some vague memory up until the end of the game. I really didn't have any burning desire to stop him. In both Baldur gate games I hated the main antagonists from both games and I couldn't wait to end their plots, schemes, and lives. Those antagonists haunted my steps throughout the game, taunted my character, set ambushes, and just plain a royal pain in the rear so by the time I reached them at the final showdown it was a very satisfying experience to deal out justice to their sad hides. POE unfortunately just didn't capture that vibe. That would be my major gripe about the game.
POE did have some really interesting NPCs. I too like Sagani, She one my favorite characters as well as Eder, Aloth, and kana. I didn't really like Durance as a person but he certainly was a very strong and interesting personality and his priest spells were really handy. The rest of the NPCs were meh.
I enjoy the combat. I felt it ended rather quickly. In fact I felt bad for Kana cause by the time he could use one of his invocations the combat was already done. At least playing at normal difficultly. If it wasn't for his funny and positive personality I would have dumped him with someone more useful. He wasn't a bad offtank once I outfitted him with shield and sword and took talents to beef up his deflection.
POE was enjoyable experience overall. I felt I received my money's worth from the game. Not sure if I am motivated to replay thru the main game again, but I am looking forward to the second part of the expansion and the eventually sequel. I just hope the sequel has a better story line and antagonist.
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Yaaay! the crybabies that ask for nerfs in single player games win again!
Good thing that:
-I already finished the game and not planing a second playthrough (screw you crybabies)
-If i would ever consider doing another run i would use a mod to put the spells per encounter as they were and im not gonna come and cry to the forums so everybody has to play the game as i demand, because lets just remember that this crybabies could just have done that instead of demanding that everybody should play the way they wanted. (screw you crybabies)
I like the per encounter spells too, it allows my caster to do more than wand their way thru wave after wave of trash mobs. It grants flexibility on how I approach every encounter. Before my character reach the level where I could use per encounter I would save spells for the boss like encounters, so my character felt under utilized for most fights. I could rest after after several encounters but since their is a limit of camping supplies I would have to run back and restock and then have to wait thru all those reloading screens. My PC doesn't have a SSD drive so I would have to wait and wait for the loading screens. I don't know about you but waiting is not equal to fun. Honestly I wish they would have done way with the per rest spell system and made all spells per encounter and balance it by lowering the amount of spells available to cast. This way the caster still can utilize their abilities every encounter but with a limit number the player would have to think about tactics and how best to use those spells. Wanding thru encounters is not fun.
Like you I am not happy with Obsidian nerfing this. If they were smart they would have a check box option in the menu system that enable/disable 'per encounter spells'. This would give the players the option to handicap their casters within their games while allowing those players ( like you and myself) who like per encounter spells to remain unaltered. I would understand if this were a multiplayer game. I would agree on the need to enforce class balance in a multiplayer game, but this is a single player game. You can pick and choose what class you want to play, and what class skills you want to use in any encounter. If you want to run a pure Melee based party with no casters nothing stops the player from doing so. You can play this game with a party and you can Solo it. This game has been out since March and most of the players have experience the per encounter rules, why pull the rug out from under them. I am not going to happy with the second part of the white marsh expansion if my character has been nerfed where I have to conserve my spells again now or have to constantly rest after each encounter just to experience the same level of game play I am now accustomed too.
This change would not make me a happy camper one bit. My voice and the voices of others opposed to this change of the rules should matter too.
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I just finish my game yesterday it took me over 180 hours. What can I say I am a slow reader and I think I wipe out any and every enemy I could find. I was playing on normal difficulty. Here are are my two cents if any really cares or not.
I wasn't too impressed about the main story. I would fall under the ' Meh' category. I think the main problem is I just didn't have a strong enough hatred of the antagonist. Too me the main antagonist just didn't inspire much emotion in me one way or another. I guess due to the mysterious nature of the antagonist and his hidden agenda it left me without a clear purpose and therefore my indifference towards him. The end game reveal had little impact on me cause I just didn't care. Plus the fact that the main population of Dyrwood themselves were more of a threat to innocent lives than the antagonist with all their wars and purges. I had little sympathy for the general population. I guess superstitious ignorant people are unworthy of redemption at least that seems to be the underlying feeling I get from this game. I was getting pretty bored with the story until I began the white marsh content. The whole Durgan's battery dungeon was awesome and I loved the siege of Craigholdt which had some of the best combat encounters in the game.
I really enjoyed most of the NPCs in the game. Eder and Kana were my favorite NPCs. I really like the Baldur's gate like mini interactions between characters. Kind of wish they had more of them. Along with more input to the game's dialog within the story as well. At first I couldn't stand Durance but his whole character arc was worth putting up with. I felt he was the best developed NPC in the game despite not being a very likable character.
I really enjoyed the combat in the game it was what drove me to finish the game. Sure there could be improvements and by the end the of game all the trash mob fights broke down to a similar experience, but I still had fun. I guess I enjoyed having all those spells and options at my disposal and the freedom to dispense a righteous beat down of my choice.
The artwork in this game was awesome and the soundtrack was fantastic. Props to the artists and composer. The game was an audio-visual delight.
Overall I really enjoyed most aspects of the game. Doesn't steal the crown from Baldur's gate II as the king of the isometric RTwP based CRPG, but it does a satisfactory job in capturing the look and feel of an infinity engine game. I am looking forward to the POE2 hopefully with a more intriguing story and antagonist.
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^ Why decrease the number of spells per level that can be cast?
If you're going to keep the per-encounter novafest (which I'm enjoying as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong; but it is objectively cheesy), keep it as is.
My position is that all spells should be per encounter starting at level 1 on up. I am not a fan of the per rest mechanic. It limits low to mid range casters capabilities in any fight. The per rest mechanic forces to save your spells only for toughest fights which is boring and inefficient. I tolerated the low to mid caster play but the game play is so much more enjoyable once you get the per encounter spells. However, I can see the point of those who are critical of the current system. Having up to 5 level spells per level per every fight is tad overpowering so a good compromise would be to lower the available number of spells per level to say 2 or 3 (untalented) but have them per encounter from the very start. This will allow the caster to contribute their full potential in every fight but perhaps be a little more tactical in their approach of using those spells. Maybe that would placate those few fans that think the current system is unfair to their sensibilities. Since this is a single player game I don't understand why the system should change at all now that the game has been out for months. Rather have the Devs spend their time adding content or improve the enemy AI.
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I would rather them decrease the number of spells per level to cast but make them all per encounter. That would have been a better way to balance this in my opinion. That way casters could have all their tactical spells on hand for each encounter. This might encourage the use of scrolls or potions which I rarely use. If I really had my way I would prefer a cool-down based casting system similar to Divine Divinity Original sin. The whole resting mechanic is not enjoyable.
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The Problem with chanters is by the time you get to the invocation phase the battle is usually over. I guess their little buffs and debuffs are okay.
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Allow Chanters the ability to summon their creatures at the start of combat. It annoys to heck out of me that by the time Chanter can cast a summons the combat is usually over. To me the whole purpose of summoning creatures is to use them as expendable cannon fodder. To get around this mechanic I try to leave 1 enemy alive long enough to have the chanter summon more creatures to pull a new group of enemies so I remain constantly in combat. I have to trade off popping off per encounter abilities and save them for more strategic times but to me it is worth it to have summon creatures bear the brunt of the enemies focus of initial attacks and disables. So it would be nice I didn't have to do this and have the summons right off the bat at the start of combat.
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I agree with what you are saying, abaris was definitely trying to save face by changing from discussing a specific game to general gaming, however there is a chance that D:OS being ported to consoles can have a negative effect for future installments on PC.
No need for me to save face. My opinion hasn't changed. I resent the turning to console Larian is doing and I resent games being consolized for the reasons I mentioned. If you have no problem with action based hack and slash with limited options, you're entitled to your opinion just the same as I am to mine.
I'm perfectly aware that Larian is handing out the so called enhanced version for free, if you already own the game. That proves that at least there are still decent human beings at work. But it doesn't change my opinion that they are taking the first exit to mainstream once their kickstarter was successful.
InXile is doing the same thing with Wastland2. I just don't see titles like DOS and Wasteland2 selling well on consoles. Just don't think slow paced turn based appeals to modern console gamers anymore. It's all about the action nowadays. Plus I would imagine a controller would be painful way to play these types of games.
Bioware was once my All time favorite developer, but sadly I haven't played anything after ME 2. Haven't touched any of the dragon age series games. Just as the new PC RPG renaissance was kicking off Larian and inXile are already planning to follow Bioware to the console promise lands. I wouldn't be surprised to see Obsidian release a console version of POE within a year's time.
If these games find success in the console market we are back to the neglected step children once again.
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All I know is I have stopped playing after the 1.1 patch and I am waiting until Obsidian is finished balancing. Nothing is more frustrating when skills, spells , and items that change mid-way thru a game when you rely on those skills, spells, and items for certain strategies to work.
I am definitely in the camp of players that think nerfing is wrong in single player games especially once the game has been released out into the public. All those overpowered skills and spells should have been worked out in the beta prior to game release.
To me since there is a solo achievement in the game the only measure of balance should be every class should have the skills/spell necessary to solo the game. If there was no solo achievement then whatever mix of classes should have a reasonable shot of achieving success.
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Thank you for sharing the review. Nice folks who actual enjoy RPGs.
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I can only tolerate so much of RPGcodex. After reading any of their posts I get the impression that none of the dedicated posters actually enjoy CRGP gaming and just try to out do each other in their hatefest of any game in RPG genre. I prefer the sane RPGwatch forum as my go to RPG news and opinions.
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Well, it depends. And we shouldn't forget that there are other factors as well. It's not a simple causal effect.
For example, the release of GTA V could harm the sales of Pillars on a huge level since a whole lot of gamers who were maybe interested in Pillars (but not part of the core audience that already owns the game) could now be occupied with playing GTA V for quite some time. Others could still play other games that were released recently (e.g. like Cities Skylines) and therefore plan to buy the game later.
So what's the effect of a single famous youtuber? You can't say. It's definitely not bad - if s/he like the game of course.
IMO you are not fully correct about GTA there are few factors playing here as well.
There are probably millions of buyers who are entering and will enter steam for a a few weeks around the release and they might buy more games ,especially from the top selling list. I would have bet that every game as big as that will bump other games sales as well even if buyers will only keep the games to play later on.
Many individuals just buy stuff to satisfy an immediate urge ,a while ago I saw a statistic that showed that most buyers on steam don't finish the games they bought and sometimes wait for a long while before they start playing the games at all. It might be more relevant for sales ,but in this case I wouldn't be surprised if some of GTA buyers will buy POE as well.
Otherwise it's a free publicity ,even if it only influence future sales...
mmm listen ,i don't take him too seriously.
on one point in his videos he also says that he getting paid from publishers.
he often says the truth in his reviews but not always.
sooo.
He is only paid for some of his "lets play" videos ,and by youtube policy he has to put a notice on the videos' description. His reviews are always true to his opinion ,but he really just loves RPGs so you will never see him give a bad score to one.
You must have missed his Risen series reviews. Quite clear AngryJoe disliked those RPGS..
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I don't understand what superior tactics IE games over POE. In IE there were just three forms of attacks: melee auto attack, range auto attacks and spells/scrolls/items. With the spells system the only available attack that allowed for player choice. Here was my three main strategies I used thru out the IE games.
1) select all auto attack group and allow AI script to clean up . What target I selected depended on threat. Caster were first, followed by range then finally melee targets . Once I got Haste I spam haste my fighters and archers.
2) Once my fighter/thief character was of sufficient level I would stealth gibbed everything run hit and run attacks,, Stealth run in backstab then run away stealth again.
3) Personal favorite, With a stealth spotter, send either summoned canon fodder then take my Wizard and throw some fireballs or cloudkill . Rinse and repeat.
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Plays game for 164 hours, and only wants to complain...gamers these days...
Quite right.. 164 hours is a lot of time to invest oneself into there must be an opposite list of reasons that kept you interested to commit your attention for that 164 time span.
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It's clear that youtubers have more of an impact on games sales than the traditional gaming news websites. They are replacing gaming news sites as trusted sources of opinions. How many times have IGN, Gamespot, or PC gamer gave a glowing reviews not entirely shared by the majority of their audience. Dragon age 2 immediately comes too mind. Love him or hate him, AngryJoe seems to give his honest opinion and is not afraid to criticize developers/publishers. I could do without the whole Angry army nonsense, but otherwise I do check out AngryJoe and Totalbiscuit opinions on some games before I buy them.
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I think the game has the perfect amount of voice acting right now. I also love the text narratives. Although I don't agree that all amateur VA is bad. I have stumbled across some skyrim mods that had some excellent voice acting. it seems Bioware has spoiled many gamers to fully voiced games.
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Why does this SJW / limerick nonsense have to make its way into every thread. Isn't there enough of these threads dedicated to this discussion on this forum. I just want to know how well this game is selling, but here it is the same old tired arguments thrown around from both sides yet again. GO back into the threads dedicated to the subject and let those interested in this game's success discuss sales numbers in this thread. Thank you.
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I kind of agree without getting a XP reward I would have preferred they weren't there or I could sneak pass of talk past them.
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I don't know it looks interesting, however, it seems by the time you cast all your defensive spells the fight would have already been over..
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That's one classy outfit for one classy gal.
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Your entitled to your opinion and I will respect that, but to me, this is by far the best of the kickstarter games that I have played to date. Baldur's gate 2 is my all time favorite game and I feel that Pillars not only captures the spirit better than any other game I have played it has added many improvements to the formula. Sure the game isn't perfect however nothing a couple of patches or an expansion cannot fix. Why the Hype ? Well for many folks ,such as myself, believed that IE type games were gone and buried. A footnote in gaming history. Along comes kickstarter and Obsidian with the chance to resurrect an IE type game. It was a no-brainer for me. I had my doubts that Obsidian could even pull it off especially on a mere 4 million dollar budget. Pillars reeled me in and hooked me immediately with the opening narrative game sequence. The narrative, the dialog, the artwork, the music, the ui, and thought provoking combat all lovingly crafted and delivered in a high quality package. Obsidian created a game that has far exceeded my expectations. It is as close to recapturing the look and feel of a Baldur's gate or Icewind dale game more than any other modern game has delivered and that is enough to excite me.
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PoE 2.
in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted
With the state of the games industry now I wouldn't be surprised by this at all. There was a time Bioware was my favorite developer and could do no wrong in my book. Now I don't bother with their games. Mass effect 2 was the last title I bought from them.