Fiebras

More combat and character feedback. To a lesser degree, sharper Aumaua models.

Just tested it. You are right it doesnt work. I stand corrected, my apologies. It worked for me on a bugged BB Wizard just a moment ago so I assumed it worked for the other party members. @Matt: The sword icon is still there when you press A. Edit: for what its worth you can use cripling strike on party members, Knock down doesnt work though.

You can still attack party members. What are you talking about? A + CTRL Click.

The PER/INT/RES options Ive seen (Blood Legacy, Wurm Slayers, Ogre) have all been decently crafted and seem geared towards you not needing a combat build. Using high INT option with the Ogre lets you avoid combat so theres not that much need for a full on specialized combat build there, which is nice since fighting the Ogre is a challenge best suited for combat-oriented builds. The wurm slayer wizard thats meant to flee when you use the INT option regarding drake eggs doesnt actually flee as of yet and still fights you but the intent of making the fight easier through INT is there. PER/INT/RES in the Blood Legacy quest are more geared towards giving you more information to solve the mystery and some world lore which is pretty nice but that quest has all manner of ways of being solved not dependant on stats but on player exploration as it is and the way of having high mechanics (10 mechanics to avoid almost all combat, 7 to only have to do half the temple) is the fastest way of solving it, though you miss out on combat loot so its not "the best" method if you want loot but it is "the best" method if you care more about finishing it faster or avoiding combat. So if I were to use the examples Ive seen so far to judge the final game Id say PER/INT/RES builds would end up being more diplomatic and geared towards avoiding combat or making combat easier through dialouge options so you wouldnt really be "gimping yourself" by going a dialouge-stat-heavy build. And even a dialouge-stat heavy build is still useful in combat its just th you wont be a meathead bashing skulls but a ranged character that makes use of INT/RES/PER like a Cipher, a Ranger, a Wizard, a non-melee Priest, a ranged Paladin, a Chanter, or whatever really. Not everything needs to be about autoattack DPS and the game so far seems flexible enough to acomodate those options. Also, MIG/CON/DEX options kinda have their dialouge options. They are the default ones. Though Im sure they will get some options as well, just not in every quest or conversation as that might get silly. Heres hoping the rest of the quests and areas are as well or better designed than the ones in the beta. EDIT: Also for things like Mechanics and Stealth you have Party members that are taken into consideration for regular play and certain events like the Dragon Egg. So its not that you gotta have 100 in every stat.

I think expecting anything "Like the IE games" should always be converted to "in the spirit of the IE games" for this game. Especially at this point. We arent gonna get an IE game here but something else, which is both a good and a bad thing. Fingers crossed its more good than bad.

After thinking about it for a bit, I think Mechanics serving for both lockpicking and spoting secrets and traps is fine. The only thing this means is that you probably want one character in your party to max mechanics so you can send it around looking for secrets. Much like the rogues of IE games only not limited by class this time around and instead of trap detection and lockpicking being separate skills they are merged in one. May need balancing but seems neat. And the stealth thing is probably so you have ONE party member scout ahead (as the name of scoutng mode suggests) not limited by class (though the rouge seems ideal for this because of its escape ability) so you can prepare apropiately for the encounter (though you could probably use it to avoid certain encounters). You are free to agree or disagree with the design decision but I dont think you should be able to avoid every single encounter. I agree its weird that stealth is party-wide (maybe its so you can get all your party bpast certain encounter without having all of them invested in stealth which seems the intention). Detection radiuses and enemy placement still need polishing though. Would be nice if patrol routes arent only so you can fight one or two enemies separately instead of all in one encounter and served to further some more stealthy gameplay. EDIT: Also, should this be in the bug forum? Seems more like a thing to be discussed than reported.

[Description of the issue] Wizard spell Essential Phantom makes the Wizard portrait dissapear from party roster, makes him unselectable (selecting his model defaults to selecting the PC), inmobile and uncontrolable (he just stands there, the same as his duplicate). Note: I have 6 party members as I recruited a chanter. As pictured: This originally happened in the Skaen Temple but Ive been able to reproduce it everywhere else. The picture is after combat. After casting the spell, while still having the Wizard selected, you can open his inventory though he doesnt apear with the other characters: Once you unselect him you cannot acces his inventory again, and he doesnt appear in the Character Screen either. This was in Tyrgil´s shop encounter so its not area-specific. The Wizard was right next to Tyrgyl but no attack ensued. Enemies and the party can attack the Wizard in this state though he does seem to have extremely high defenses: Should you run away from the Wizard his icon apears on the edge of the screen like with other characters: When the illusion´s time runs the illusion disapears but the Wizard doesnt go back to normal: [DETAILED list of steps to reproduce the issue AND what to look for] 1) Initiate combat with a level 7 Wizard. 2) Cast Essential Phantom 3) The Wizard is removed from your party and becomes uncontrolable and unselectable. [Expected behaviour] The spell working as intended and creating a duplicate of the Wizard to attack enemies as the tooltip describes. [Other notes] Maybe related but when I reloaded the safefile of right before the Skaen encounter while still in Tyrgyl´s shop with the bugged Wizard the entire party disapeared except for BB Fighter who was stuck in a wall. BB Wizard was there without the phantom and was controlable but still didnt appear. And when combat started he was still with ridiculously high defenses. Also, the Skaen cultists started to fight each other. After a while the BB Rogue died somewhere off-map: Clicking on the inventory screen brings up this: Here we have the Character Screen were it initially pesenting the stats for BB Priest but on clicking next character it showed a level 0 barbarian and nothing else since: Clicking on the Level Up button takes us to the level up screen where the character apears to be the level 0 barbarian: And after clicking "Done" you get a black screen and the only way out of that is to close the game (thanks for Windowed mode). Closing the game and loading the save shows what is expected: the full party with the wizard before the skaen cultists with no problems so It doesnt seem to be a savefile-corrupting bug at least. So yeah, pretty severe bug which can cause other bugs aparently. Hope it was useful.

[Description of the issue] When a character kills an enemy that another character is queing an attack for, the first attack get a death announcement (and autopause if enabled) and the other attack by the other character instead of cancelled also gets reported, with0 damage and gets an autopause and registered in the combat log. As shown in this image: To reproduce attempt any combat with more than once character attaching an enemy. [Expected behaviour] The character´s death being registered only once and any subsequent attacks being halted. [Other remarks / Comments] It may be due to having a ranged character causing the first death.

It seems atm all the enemy detection ranges are all the same and the enemy placement makes it currently impossible to sneak past anything. Thankfully that can be fixed with ajusting values for stealth and detection along with moving enemies. The secret finding thing and party-wide stealth aproach need to get remade or severely adjusted. Heres hoping theres a stealth tutorial at the start of the game expaining all these things though.

[Description of the issue] After a battle the chanter did not stop chanting resulting in about 17+ verses recited to use in spells. This happened againt the wurm slayers. For the record my verse count never seems to go up until this one time. Though even if it doesnt go up (aka stays at 0) I can use chanter spells. Once a spell is used the verse count goes down to 0 and the chanter stops chanting. I had the pig pet equiped. This was a 6th party member as well. [DETAILED list of steps to reproduce the issue AND what to look for] 1) Go fight the wurm slayers with a chanter and pig equiped 2) Dont use any chanter spells 3) Kill them 4) Repeat until chanter does not stop chanting after the battle. May work with any other battle though I havent had it happen again. [Expected behaviour] Chanter not continuing to chant after combat. [Other Remarks] This might be related to this other report: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/68406-278-pet-combat-repeatedly-reactivates-with-no-enemies-in-sight/?hl=chanter&do=findComment&comment=1504911

[Description of the issue] Going to the Character Screen and repeatedly clicking the Level Up button will take to to the Level Up screen for the character. After the level up options are selected and you click "done" the screen will become black. [DETAILED list of steps to reproduce the issue AND what to look for] 1) Open Character Screen 2) Click on Level up button until Level Up screen apears 3) Proceed to level up. 4) Click "done" 5) Game will black screen with background music still on. [Expected behaviour] Not being able to level up without the required experience. [Other Remarks] While in the black screen you can click and hear clicking noises should you click around the lower left part of the screen. You cant enter any menus while in the balck screen and the only option is to corcibly close Pillars of Eternity. There is no crash message or anything. I had just finished the Dragon Egg Quest and had recieven some XP for that. I also had a 6th party member in the form of a level 5 Chanter. Was in Windowed Mode. EDIT: For what its worth this is how my character screen looks: Whenever I open that save and open the Character Screen I get a mess of text and numbers and have to click on the "next character" button to get rid of them though the character portraits and names never appear despite their information appearing. re-loading does not solve the black screen isssue mentioned above as there is no way to re-load afaik.

Cyclopedia mentions the locals making shields and armor from beetle shells so Im sure we will at least see those in the final game.

If anything this is the biggest thing I hope Obsidian differs from the IE games. Not to mention this is a different system while the one the IE games used was extensively known and documented. To use extreme Hyperbole examples: I had to watch tutorials and wiki-dive for three days to a week before I felt I could play Dwarf Fortress and even now I still always have the wiki open and have to look stuff up in the forums whenever Im playing. I watched a video of someone playing Rimworld just starting to learn the game with no idea what he was doing, decided "this looks fun" and went in without glancing at the wiki. Several hours and games later Ive never felt the need to look at the wiki even though theres a BUILT IN wiki button and dev blog button in the main UI. Because the game just gives you all the information you need via tooltips and 1-button/click-to-access menus right there in the game. Ive only looked at the wiki two times and those wre more for "did you know" information that was more flavor than anything. Its transparent. Its fun. Its "inmersive". Disclaimer: I know these are two polar oposite games and that DF is the superior and more complex game but that isnt what this is about. Its about feeback to the player so he knows what to do with all your game-bits and numbers. I love DF to bits but all the information is either under the hood or in obscure menus that need 10 keystrokes to access. EDIT: If the Character Screen is were all the infodump is suposed to be the make it an actual infodump.

Reposting a bit. Regarding the Cyclopedia: DT information would be nice though vulnerability information would be even better even if its in the flavour text. The damage types are, afaik: shock, burn, freeze, corrode, raw, piercing, crushing, and slashing but nowhere are resistances to these mentined outside spells and weapons so we have no information on resistances and such. Raw damage being the most useful since it goes through armor but nowhere is this stated in-game. I only found out that beetles were weak only to crushing damage through the forums (I mean youd go "but of course!" but nowere was this sugested in the game) on the other hand the Forest Lurker´s description at least mentions burning it (and even if its a plant and it would be obvious you can never know unless the game tells you about it, at least with this type of game). As it stands we dont even know these specialized resistances and vulnerabilities or how they work. Not even with out own party with things like Chain or if Death Godlike Paladins in Full Plate are more flamable than Fire Godlike Rogues in Hide Armor. Edit: Also, is the only lore that matter in regards to filling the Cyclopedia the PC´s? or is it the one that does the killing blow?

Ok you dont really NEED the wiki to play but in these types of games very few people dont spend some time looking at their character´s stats and numbers and fiddling around with them. The thing is, the game doesnt tell you what many of these mean (in either the Inventory Screen or the Character Screen) or do and even less about what is affecting them. Some are only mentioned in character creation. The game doesnt let you understand the system you are playing with. So we gotta consult the wiki, and even then you have to do some trial and error (activating->checking screen->deactivating->checking screen) before finding out if that 145 Deflection is the the base deflection or because I got Defender on BB Fighter or if that 216 Stamina is because I have high CON, I am a Barbarian or because I got the +20 Stam boots on. I cant see the calculations and I dont know what they mean. Unless I consult the wiki, which doesnt solve the numbers bit. The game does provide some calculations for stats like Might and Athletics but despite the ample tooltip size there isnt an explanation for what they do outside the character and level up screen: And the base value doesnt display the same calculation as in char gen (though thats understandable as chargen stats are meant to be your "base", but it would still be nice to see where that base is coming from outside char gen). Speaking of Chatacter Creation, the only defenses mentioned per class are Deflection (which it doesnt explain, though that is understandable as it can be interpreted as overall defense [which it isnt] and you dont want to overwhelm the player with too much information): And AFAIK there Concentration/Interruption mechanic isnt mentioned outside Resolve and Perception (which, once again, arent expanded upon beyond char gen). The Inventory screen does have tooltips that work when you mouse over certain things. It would be nice to have these (with more detail like calculations and descriptions obviously) for the stats like Stamina. Or at least allow us to right click on the stats to see a detailed popup like with Might and Athletics in the Character screen. And then theres the thing with diferent damage types (shock, burn, freeze, corrode, raw, piercing, crushing, and slashing) for which natural resistances or the ones that your gear give you are unkown (chainmail good versus slashing, bad versus crushing but these defenses and damage types arent displayed anywhere in the Character Screen). DT is a mistery beyond "the more the better". So new players or players simply trying to understand how the numbers work are gonna be like: Do I want more Fortitude or more Reflex? Does it matter? Does 17 Def applies to Burn damage or does it depend on what the ability is? Does Defense matter at all besides auto-attacks? Do I have to exit the game to consult the wiki every time? What Im saying here is basically: We need more information feedback on our character´s numbers. We already got a mouse-over calculation text on the combat log, why not add that into a popup-tooltip like the character Screen one if you feel its too crowded for calculations? I feel there are many ways already within the game to make the player understand the whole system better without having to alt-tab to the wiki every time he gets a new pair of boots. This is a good start: I just think it needs to be fleshed out more. TL; DR: More detaled Tooltips to prevent wiki-alt-tab-diving and better understanding of the new game system from the player, plus better character number-management/building.

Bumping this as I was just about to post it as well. I think you are suposed to assume they are more beefed up versions of the regular ones, though it would be nice if the favor text of the regular wolves mentioned them. Elder Adra Beetles anyone? DT information would be nice though vulnerability information would be even better even if its in the flavour text. The damage types are, afaik: shock, burn, freeze, raw, piercing, crushing, and slashing but nowhere are resistances to these mentined outside spells and weapons so we have no information on resistances and such. I only found out that beetles were weak only to crushing damage through the forums (I mean youd go "but of course!" but nowere was this sugested in the game) on the other hand the Forest Lurker´s description at least mentions burning it (and even if its a plant and it would be obvious you can never know unless the game tells you about it, at least with this type of game). During this I also found out why Adra Beetles do so much damage: they are suposed to be level 8 (and wood beetles level 6) and you are level 5.

I dont know why people are saying wizards need armor when they already have Arcane Veil. Not to mention even in fullplate and with Arcane Veil up the Wizard still dies extremely quickly to a single enemy due to low health pool. This may sound like a joke but so far the class that I think is the most balanced regarding the hp/stamina thing is the ranger as their animal companion helps spread out the damage while the ranger does dps. 5 ranger party anyone? Or 4 ranger + chanter?

Tell me when you get to the spiders. Tell me about the spiders. Particulary

The Wizard actually has some very useful damage aplifying spells and enemy-only debuff but youd have to level him up or create a Wizard yourself to get access to them. Im thinking this has to do with the idea that the Wizard is supoded to be cycling through Grimores though I dont know if he obly gets to cast any lx level spells per day or if its Grimore specific. Im hoping casts are Grimore specific though as that makes the Wizard inmensely more useful. But people dont seem to be comenting too much about the wurm slayers so thats why we arent talking about the double Grimore Wizard yet (also because learning spells seems to be broken last time I checked in the previous patch). Hopefully enough people advance through the beta to give feedback on it.

Early access already gives truckload of sales forr limited pre-alphas that never get completed with not even a quarter of the content and polish in the Backer Beta. I dont see how it wouldnt get sales provided they are clear that it is simply to fix, tweak and balance gameplay. Not to pull the Divinity card but they did use Early access for just that.

Wizard also has vampiric spells. Im wondering just how useful having a party of healers can be considering that you dont ever heal back health. At least I was wondering that until I fought the Spider Queen on Hard. Right now its cheaper to go back to town and rest at the inn than it is buying new camping supplies, by about 100 gold if memory serves which doesnt seem like much but it adds up. Really really dont think every class needs a sustain or healing ability then you end up like guild wars 2 were every class does everything and all of them feel underwhelming. I want unique classes of which some can fill some roles while they absolutely cant others, it gives them character.

I am very much a fan of Obsidian and the classic stereotipical argument people use to defend them when critics acuse them of bugs, polish or whatever is that their publishers had forced the product out prematurely. So I do find it odd they arent giving themselves more time if they feel they need it. Perhaps they feel they dont need the extra time, but if they do feel they need it Im fine with waiting.

It would be nice to include the updated "how recovery works" image Sawyer made in the OP for convenience sake as it pertains to the discussion. I dont think any light armor should give attack speed penalties, quite the contrary. It will probably come down to being naked giving you a -DT penalty, light Armor giving you either a boost or nothing, and Heavy armor giving you only a mild penalty all this while under the hood recovery times are tweaked do that with this setup gives you the same or tweaked recovery times we have now. I think its also an issue with presentation. When you see nothing but negatives your of corse react to minimize the negatives as much as possible. The same happened with Attributes giving you nothing but positives even when dumped. It creates a backlash reaction on people not used to the system(ie:all the backers) and keeps nagging them theough the whole game.

Agree with you Cantousent though some kinda blend into other plants and such as it is now or arent prominent enough. The River Reed and (something)'s Bell comes to mind. The Cave Coral, the ones on the trees in Stormall, and the golden ones around town are well made though, even if that last one looks a bit dull in color as oposed to golden.

Currently all hairstyles are available to all races which is nice but you get some collision issues or things like aumaua sking being visible through non-dreads hair. It would be nice to have some race-specific hair.