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AlperTheCaglar

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Everything posted by AlperTheCaglar

  1. The more I read these nitpicking posts on the forums, the more I realize publishers/consoles aren't the problem anymore. It's the players who have regressed, become insatiably pessimistic and pedantic beings. Pillars has nothing different from the flow of BG1, and is frankly better than it. Maybe BG2 can surpass Pillars due to the expansiveness and being a sequel, but that's just about it. Torment only had the advantage of ridiculously original and unique companions, other than that Pillars again takes the cake.
  2. No it's not. I would guess around 0.1 percent of the total players who play Pillars manage to progress in PotD, maybe a total of 100-200 people worldwide. Half of those people are cheating by using the IE mod by covering their console tracks. So a very hardcore select group of 50 people worldwide can manage it. I'd say that isn't easy.
  3. I played BG1 when I was 17, and I remember it as pretty depressing. I sucked at IE combat, and the Iron Throne was insanely overpowered and I was underleveled. I think Pillars is the right amount of depressing. In a world where reincarnation is taken for granted, everything could have been fun and dandy and idyllic. Imagine our world, random reincarnation being known to be fact-- we'd have a shortage of fear of death or a slight lessening of grief over a loved one's death (since you know they'll be conscious one day again) If you felt a little depressed I think that speaks volumes of the success of world design. If anything the reverse could have been far worse for the stakes of the story.
  4. I think a couple of lines of dialogue pertaining to their soul-past would have been truly wonderful. Like you meet the backer NPC, ask them about their past life, they react in certain ways, Cry Laugh Attack you Pay you Report you Curse at you etc.
  5. You're not the only one OP. This game is a monumental achievement in my book. I do miss alignments instead of faction reputations, I do miss thieves being weak but resourceful (instead of Kali-esque gods of DPS) and I do miss my dark maiden Viconia, but these are all things that can be mended in a sequel.
  6. In my IE-game-loving opinion, Pillars has surpassed all but one game. That is Baldur's Gate 2. BG1, IEs, Torment (even with the Planescape setting advantage) have either been equaled or surpassed with this gem. But BG2 is another beast entirely, and to be fair it IS a sequel to BG1, so let's compare it to Pillars 2 when it arrives. But it's a very close rivalry. BG2 edges out barely due to: a) Existence of Alignments (not just faction reputation) which serves replayability more than just arbitrary choices in dialogue. b) Companion depth, conflict and involvement (not always to the benefit of the PC) c) Quality of great voice acting (not just good voice acting which does exist in Pillars) c) Sheer length and breadth of the game (around 150 - 200% long as Pillars)
  7. I think Adra Dragon is meant to be a hook for the expansion / sequel. Dialoguing her Dragon Hunter form to leave Od Nua and journey to Aedyr sets up nice possibilities for further storytelling.
  8. Important thingies: Casting spells on NPC portraits doesn't work at all. The character instead casts it on the terrain beneath the NPC portrait Minor preferences in my case: Backer NPC's dont need golden name tooltips, it makes them stand in a meta way. Even more importantly those NPCs being just "soul examination" stuff with text is a little bit... I don't know, immersion ruining. They should perhaps have floating NPC text like everyone else, and when you choose to examine their experience rich soul then the Watcher ability should take effect. AoE targeting being missing for Expert is kind of a confusing choice. AoE circles are there to facilitate the caster's UI decision making, not to make the game easier. I just fling stuff with guesstimation yes but that doesn't make me an expert, it makes me a guesser.
  9. Music is flawless. I'm saying this as a person who works with composers occasionally. To remind the player of both BG2, IE and Torment while having its own identity and low-key motifs its no easy task. Mr. Bell deserves an award. And this track below... 40seconds and onwards needs to be the menu motif for the sequel just like BG2's explosive menu. My adrenaline spikes up when that music starts and I play for another 2 hours.
  10. Hi BG2 friend What do you think about his statement on monks ? I didn't check out monks but I suppose they're pretty similar with BG2 monk kit, I will see on my 2nd playthrough Right now I'm dps barb, op dps rogue, and voiced NPCs
  11. Simple truth: PoE system is awesome This is coming from a BG2 aficionado, and a person who can't play Fallout 2 below hard anymore. The rough edges will slowly be filed out as the game sets in patches arrive, classes are balanced and tooltips are decorated with a little flair instead of cold hard analytical data on hover. But its great. If you're older than 25, you'll recognize how awesomely similar it is to AD&D 2nd Edition while improving upon the proficiency and certain resistance pitfalls that TSR system had. My only minor gripes are about limiting resting to this superficial "resting supplies" system instead of defining areas as Minor rest / Major rest areas, and the fact that Rogue is utterly overpowered right now in combat. Other than that my two cents is that the game system is astonishingly clever and punishing without resorting to power inflastion tactics a la Bethesda
  12. Maybe its due to unrealistic expectations, but I had expected alot less combat in this game, as remarked earlier, due to the removal of kill exp (save beastiary) and the introduction of the scroll thingy before certain encounters allowing you to use stats/skills and make interesting decisions. Please do enlighten me on the fun you find in the game, for now while I love the lore and the world, the combat is just really off putting for me. Maybe I've been playing it wrong, but I've already given up on soloing, yet I still find the combat wholly uninteresting. You mentioned that BG's combat was a means to an end, which is perhaps what frustrates me about PoE's combat, it seems to serve little purpose other than padding, a means to no end, while being an unending flood. You know Fallout 1 and 2 were also very combat-padded and they are some of my most beloved games still. I don't think they wanted to emulate only BG, but also BG and Icewind Dale series. I believe Josh's first involvements with the Obsidian seniors began with Icewind Dale (which is itself an awesome example of a combat padded game). I'm just very learned in AD&D so I knew what I expected. I knew Psionicists (Ciphers) would be good because way back when they first came out with TSR everyone was rioting about how insanely useful and overpowered they could be with regards to other classes which used Wisdom (Will here) as a dump stat etc. I have very high standards but I really sincerely like PoE's combat. I realize how sadistically difficult it must be to the Planescape Torment crowd, but remember Torment was the most combat-light of the IE games. I love how it doesn't hold your hand either, like AT ALL, which takes me back to Fallout 2 days where you made a snap decision to go to New Reno early and got owned on the way over by utterly overpowered mobs compared to your power level. In my view Barbarian and Rogue are very overpowered currently (I play a Barbarian main character right now, and a custom rogue and they carry the entire group's dps). I'm level 8ish and the Rogue regularly sneak attacks 80-90s, and he finishing blows 200-250 damage sometimes, obliterating drakes singlehandedly. Barbarian is a little bit more realistic but they went a little overboard with Rogue dps potential. Not even Aloth spewing all his spells comes close to a Rogue's encounter damage with an Arbalest. Again I digress, I just like the system aside from a couple of pet peeves that I KNOW they will adress (xp being divided to 6 by default is a big no no imo / resting supplies is a mechanic that seems like a last minute limitation that could easily be fixed by modifying combat fatigue to require inn / house rest) etc. Other than those I just love the combat. It's like the perfect sweet spot between IWD and BG1. (BG2 was a different beast with LvL 18+ cap its not fair to compare it to a lvl 11+ cap game) I'm sorry this is wrong friend. BG1 was capped at level 5+. This game is a rival to that franchise starter not BG2. And comparing game hours BG2 was 100+ hours while this awesome baby is around 60+ (BG1 was around 40+). If anything you can compare level progression to PoE II when it arrives, and is a 100+ hours game which takes characters from 10 to say 25
  13. Underrail is a modern day one-man indie gem that takes its inspiration from BG, Fallout and Crusader series of old. You can find it as a bargain on Steam.
  14. I've recently been playing again through whole BG saga and having it fresh in my memory I have to say PoE combat system is by far more punishing and strategic. One character, even with major xp buff simply cannot do it. Example that shocked me: My 4-men lvl 2-3 party was ambushed by group of wolves in the woods. I died quickly. I tried this fight twice again and finally, with better positioning and using of more cc spells instead of damage ones, I've managed to kill them easily, having a lot of hp left. I quickly checked the difficulty setting because I felt like it switched itself to easy by some mistake. A while later same story happened with a pack of boars nearby. CC is king, positioning is king. In older IE games it was kinda whatever, you just used your strongest stuff first and focused the casters, or just cheesed it with cloud kill spell from afar ;-). PoE combat can be frustrating trial and error, even with full party. Nearly every encounter with more than one enemy feels like an mini-boss fight. Yea, well.... The BG games had more.... pacing? Like the difficulty of the combat encounters in the area varied, rather than all of them being hard or easy. Also, because the combat had both loot and exp, they were alot more rewarding. In PoE, not so much. Extremely poor/unexciting loot, no exp, little enemy variation made the encounters feel like more of a chore than proper gameplay. Also, that encounter -> dialogue -> combat with no ability to save before combat is so frustrating, especially since its almost considered an archaic design mistake. AD&D, a system I adore, was built on the idea of a person creating a good character through knowledge of the mechanics. 18(100) STR, 19 DEX ELF with good HP rolls, and you were king of the world. A thief utterly sucked in combat. Horrible thac0, beyond horrible staying power etc. The notion of a "combat dps rogue" thing only appeared with WoW. So what you mean as pacing is "combat was rewarding for a select few good builds". Believe me, AD&D would be a nightmare for players who had no idea how to build at the time. Way back in BG1, I would facepalm in every terribly difficult encounter with my level 2s slogging through ruin and suffering vs. kobolds. Pillars has a great system. Maybe they designed it a little bit more accessible, but not that much. There are a few imbalances that the devs will surely iron out eventually, but combat has great pacing. The DNA of the game system is very similar to AD&D as I believe Josh is a great fan of it as well. But dare I say, I think this is a more fun system. Baldur's Gate combat was a means to an end (furthering the plot)-- and despite all my cynicisim about BG RTwP combat being surpassed (no matter how much I respect and appreciate the design pedigree of Obsidian), I think they pulled it off. PoE is a far better game than BG1, and without having a boat load of materials and modules and mechanics errata for years, the combat system is ingenius. As an AD&D fanatic, the Pillars game system has won me over. There is still a lot more balancing to be done, classes to be tuned. Solo play aside, rogues and barbs need to be nerfed (they are ridiculously beyond all other classes in every arena right now), spells to be adjusted, etc. etc. But I digress, if you want a solo run on easy and maybe, MAYBE normal, go for a mobile ranged rogue, or str/con/int twohander barbarian. I don't think Hard and above is possible at solo as of yet.
  15. Same here, no name in credits, though I did fill it out only a couple of months ago and not in August
  16. I really enjoy the spell interface-- and yet-- In its current incarnation, when you want to cast or use an ability, the tooltip that appears is an immediate mathematical effect of the said spell or ability. Lore, or gameplay flavor text arrives when you extra click it. However, I believe it should be the reverse. Similar to Baldur's Gate 2, IWD1/2. Flavor text should be primary, and numbers/effects/durations text should be in the expanded tooltip or detailed explanation of each spell. Having a MOBA like OOC spell menu right from the get go is not a great idea for a cRPG.
  17. This is an excellent thread. Background right now are there in a very unpolished state. Not only should the stats or mathematical bonuses be coherent with the background selected, but also simple reflection of this during gameplay shouldn't be too hard to implement. A merchant having better prices in towns, a mercenary being offered the odd quest for coins-- Even tiny, itsy bitsy "gather this, get this" quest would be a nice treat to reflect those backgrounds in game. The more connections to the storyline, the better. There should be no redundant or irrelevant character creations choices.
  18. In my opinion, specialization needs some more loving and fine tuning. Weapon bundles are cool for the initial weapon proficiency, but specializing in bundles just doesn't make sense to me. I explained my thorough reasons in another thread, but I'll paste it here: Imagine if there were a 3 tier system of proficiency with a weapon -- Good, Exceptional, Master. The Fighter could be the only class to receive the 3rd point: First point can be bundles. Second point probably shouldn't be bundles but perhaps the selection could narrow to 3 very related weapons. A hypothetical final mastery point definitely should be a singular weapon.
  19. I think Josh is spot on with his comment. Quests are a double edged sword. On one hand they give you a sense of purpose, and you don't wander aimlessly, they create orientation to the gameworld while subtly directing you to your proper challenges (since we all hate Oblivion-esque Scaling Difficulty). On the other hand, quests also can cause a cacophony of directions that you feel you must integrate into your decisions. The perfect medium-rare of game design, in my opinion, is giving a player options and some directions, but never preventing them from getting themselves horribly wasted while exploring or doing something utterly drastic. A player's failures psychologically give them a sense of accomplishment when they succeed during exploration. Then again, too much aimless exploration, and you get a sandbox game, which is ok, but we all agree PoE also needs a good story-- the "What can change the nature of a man?" moment. Athkatla didn't have an overdose of quests, but combined with the log systems unwieldy BG1 interface, it gradually could confuse you. I did look at PoE's quest log and liked it very much. A dedicated Obsidian dev sat through each one line summary and typed cool longer summaries for each quest detailing anything your PC might know. As long as a player can wander off and stumble upon redundant areas, or redundant quests on his own, and non-linearity is the core principle of quest design, quantity isn't as important as quality. Of course we want as many as humanly possible-- that's obvious.
  20. Josh commented somewhere that renaming thieves to rogues in transition from DnD 2 to DnD 3 was meant to reflect the change of focus of the class. Apart from that, the rogue in PoE can still do all that stuff you listed from IWD/ BG2. Given that combat and non-combat skills are strictly separated in PoE, they had to give the rogue some role in combat. Yeah haven't tried rogue yet, but in my ideal world of RPGs, it is OK to have a group member who is inept or bad at combat. Vic in Fallout 2 comes to mind, where until late game, he was a liability, and unlike Sulik's insane burst shorts, was terrible when you first picked him up. And yet I loved Vic, his comments, his role in the party-- what he lacked in combat he made up with character. That is not to say the rogue should be nerfed, or buffed, but I liked how thieves or bards in Baldur's Gate 1/2 struggled in combat but made it up with other things throughout your adventures. But I suppose no one in the post console world would ever accept the old school liability thief, I'm at peace with that.
  21. I'm a long time admirer and supporter of Larian, I used to love Divine Divinity (dat name)-- but Divinity Original sin was not my cup of tea. It was embarrassingly linear and had an abysmal puzzle system, the towns (for it had no cities) were (although designed with great love and diligence) too small, and the number of merchants could be counted by one hand. Their engine and combat accomplishments however did deserve praise, even though it dragged on at times just because of how slow animations were.
  22. It's ironic that the "rogue" class as a glass melee cannon is a recent phenomenon. I don't dislike it, but rogue used to be synonymous with thieves once, a totally mediocre melee combatant whose skills lied in stealth, infiltration and the very seldom succesful backstab. Baldur's Gate 2 or Icewind Dale thieves had interesting things going for them, especially in BG2 where thieving, burglary and disarming (also setting up traps) were a treat and very rewarding.
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