Emerwyn

I'm absolutely in favour of utilising natural language in any RP context. That means both not overdoing the profanity, neither cutting it short with ridiculous euphemisms that nobody would use in any life real or fictious. I don't care for "fark you", "frigging orcs," or "a-holes" or "berks". Those words feel half arsed and lack the impact and emphasis that the real deal has because makes every scene with those words tremendously unbelievable and immersion breaking. If a scene calls for a word, just spell it out, dammit. As long as those words aren't blatantly forcefully and repeatedly utilised just for the sake of it. I commend Obsidian for spelling out the words the way they are. That said, I understand some parents might want their children playing the game, and even if some of those words are present in everyday's noon TV News and repeated at every break in their school, it's not something that they want their children reading and hearing as part of their family life, so a profanity filter option added to the game might be a good idea for those cases. As a side note note though, never stops to amaze me how some people are so sensitive about the "f---" word, but are fine with playing characters that murder dozen of people for whatever goals, profane tombs to get some gold or potions, raise the dead to do their bidding, strike out deals with demons, and a full blown array of things that lack humanity or morality at all. But well, since it's a videogame, it's fine. But dude, don't you spell a "F---" in my videogame. Because that's so terribly wrong.

The short answer is yes. You can choose different responses for most conversations, and they'll build up a reputation that gets tracked throughout the game to impact on how everyone else reacts to you. It's kind of an alignment system as seen in other games, but without being so black and white and allowing for more nuances and shades of grey. Eventually, some options might only become available to you only if you fit within certain "alignment". For example you have reputation of "cruel", some NPCs might choose to not speak to you at all, or attack you, while others might feel attracted and intrigued by it.

That's it guys, I'm playing the Old Republic instead.

There's a theory that says that time is flowing forwards because the universe is expanding. At some point the Universe will reach its maximum size and begin to contract, at which point time will go backwards.So we get to un-play Pillars of Eternity then!

I don't even use Steam unless it's strictly necessary, and in those cases I seriously consider if I should buy the game at all. The forums are just one of ten million reasons to avoid the whole thing.

Really good job, I'll definitely fetch these portraits for my collection.

Many of the portraits in that link have been updated/modified. There are also many more portraits that are not shown in that list. Yeah I hope there will be waaaay more portraits, especially female ones, else I'll struggle creating my own adventurer party. It's a good thing you can add your own custom portraits though.

I worked at GAME for some time, and it was pretty common to get game boxes a few days before release dates, in some cases a week before release time. So we had to keep the boxes in the store and wait to the release date to sell them, because not doing so would get us in serious trouble. Some notable cases of that happening more or less recently include Diablo 3 or GTA V. I remember people itching and bouncing around the shop, knowing we had the boxes at the store but we couldn't give them out. In fact, if you were caught selling the game (to a friend, for example) before the release date, you would get a very serious warning, or straight out FIRED. Some stores (like GAME) went as far as making release events where they would open at 00:00 for people to be able to legally buy their copy just the minute the clock ticked to the day of the official release date. I don't know who is the guy in that other thread unboxing PoE, but you can be sure that Obsidian isn't happy at all about it, and if they find out how it happened, they'll make sure it doesn't happen again. The official release date is 26th, and that's the date where the public will be allowed to play the game. Now, some developers offer their buyers some head-start access to the game as a lure for early sales and pre-orders, but this wasn't the case, it was never stated that backers or pre-orders would get any head start, so that pretty much shuts down any debate in that respect.

Just a little patience, there are other games to play and other things to do. Baldur's Gate keeps being a playable and relevant game 15 years after release, 3 days won't hurt your ability to enjoy PoE. If you want to avoid spoilers, simply stay off reviewer sites (and this site too, as I expect a lot of people posting links to reviews, screens and videos). Hoenstly, I feel like some backers are feeling a bit entitled, and all the majority did was paying 25$ early for something the rest are paying 45$, and they already got exclusive beta access on top. Just think of something else for three days, it's not the end of the world.

What appeals me most is trying to find those harder-than-average-and-optional encounters and beating them, then gathering their phat l00t. I think I'll enjoy getting into the setting and its lore too, I intend to fully read every text I find along the way.

All I want from the AI is that if I leave a unit auto-attacking a target, that unit sticks to auto-attacking that target until I give it a different order. Same for holding positions, or staying idle. That's really the only thing that has frustrated me in other games, when a party member doesn't stick to doing exactly what you told them to do without suddenly and randomly deciding they feel like doing something else and run into a fireball when you told them to stay put, or stay still while you told them to keep shooting arrows at X target.

I don't understand this comment. In BG and the other IE games you had a quick bar for all of your spells and combat abilities. Maybe I was a little snarky, so I apologise upfront for it. As a veteran RPG payer, it's just a little frustrating to see that every step the gaming industry takes towards making games more mainstream and casual-friendly, is a step towards the demise of quality RPGs. Just one example, BioWare selling its soul to the mainstream just led to the realms of day-one paid DLCs, micro-transactions, pushing out unrealistic release dates with bugged products, etc. It was like a heartbreak, and it's just one of many lately. The OP states that it takes too much micromanagement to get through fights. For me it's not too much, it's just right, and it's what I want, and I dare say that's what about every IE veteran that misses games like BG wants. There is enough market for ripped off and soul-less button mashing RPGs, and I'm pretty sure EA will happily have that kind of player. I fear if PoE takes the route of "pleasing everyone" and "making it all easier" it'll end up like every other generic RPG these days. Personally I want PoE to be exactly what it is. A PC RPG for PC RPGers, with the good old feel of Baldur's Gate saga. Perhaps too hardcore/oldschool for a lot of people, and perhaps that's why publishers wouldn't take the risk of embarking in a project like Eternity, and it needed to be crowdfunded. That's fine. It's crowdfunded now, and I hope the game stays true to its roots and style. Bottom line is: Don't consolize my IE games. It's fine to not like how PoE plays out, but PoE is a bastion of hope these days, and needs to remain being what it is.

If I wanted to play a mmo, I'd play a mmo. PoE is what it is. For quickbars and button mashing easymode combat there are consoles and gamepads.

The only class I see capable of soloing the game without using cheese tactics or exploits is Fighter. Once well geared, they can deflect blows, endure a lot of pain, and at the same time deal out a reliable, steady stream of damage. You'd also need a big pocket full of healing potions, of course. However, I think getting through the early levels while trying to gear up would be a pain in the ass. Still, can't see anybody else soloing the game, unless as said, cheese perma-kiting tactics or exploits are used and not fixed in time by the devs.

One thing I'm pretty sure. I'm not going to bother with any of the "reviewers" and play the game when I get it myself to draw my own first impressions. Most likely I'll even abandon this site on sunday altogether.

My story is probably similar to a lot of the people in these forums. Started out playing tabletop/PnP RPGs such as Warhammer Fantasy, Fading Suns, Legend of the Five Rings, Vampire the Masquerade and AD&D with my friends. Obviously we also enjoyed console RPGs very much, at first Supernintendo classics such as Secret of Evermore, Illusion of Time, Chrono Cross, Earthbound, or Secret of Mana, and later the big wave of JRPGs on Playstation led by Final Fantasy VII. One day we heard that a game based on Forgotten Realms would come out for PC, and I was the only in my group of friends to actually have a PC besides a Playstation. That was Baldur's Gate, which I picked up as soon as it hit the shelves. I fell in love with that mix of storytelling, free exploration and challenging tactical combat. I had already enjoyed very much games like Front Mission, Vandal Hearts, or Ogre Tactics, but those games didn't allow for exploration, it was just cutscene-combat cycles with no freedom to roam or do anything. Plus DnD as a setting just had a lure and magic to it that could not compare. And suddenly I became a CRPG fan and devoured every game of that kind, no matter how terrible it was. I even finished the awful Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, arguably the worst CRPG to ever see the light of day - and I still managed to enjoy it. BG2, IWD, IWD2, Torment, NWN, NWN2, ToEE, etc... they all were thirsted upon by my insatiable need for CRPGs, but then the genre suddenly died. That until Dragon Age: Origins, that gave me high hopes of a new CRPG era. Unfortunately, BioWare's soul was eaten by EA, and any hope for PC games made for PC gamers coming from BioWare was instantly killed off. From there we go to 2014, where out of nowhere came Divinity: Original Sin to completely blow me, being probably the most enjoyable game I played in 5 years. Then I had high hopes for Wasteland 2 that weren't quite met, but the reality was that the CRPG genre was back to stay, moreso when Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tales of Numenera had been announced to release shortly. Now as PoE is finished and ready to ship, we are pretty certain that there will be a PoE expansion, and PoE:2, as well as other indie projects like Serpent in the Staglands, and the sequel of Divinity: Original Sin, so definitely it's a great time for oldschool RPG players.

What killed Wasteland 2 for me and kept it from being a great game was the unending gamebreaking bugs that forced me to reload the game constantly losing hours of progress. It became so very frustrating that in the end it felt like a crawl to just hit the end and finishing the game gave me more feeling of relief than accomplishment. "Phew, finally I can uninstall this and forget about it forever". And I was rather lucky, a friend of mine couldn't get past a certain area of the game involving a remote robot since the quest bugged and there was no way forward at all. I much rather wait even 3 or 6 months more if need be than having the same happen to Pillars of Eternity, as it'd just destroy the game and turn it into a forgettable game just like Wasteland 2 was for me. I want to play the game only when the game is perfectly bug-free, and the only way to have that is waiting to release day. Hopefully.

I know a lot of people who are still discovering and buying D:OS, as despite its great success, it never was advertised as an AAA title and went under a lot of people's radars. As someone else pointed in this thread, it's probably already around 1M sales, just within one year of its release. I think PoE will do similarly, or even better. Eventually I think both D:OS and PoE will have surpassed 1.5 million sales. And you have to consider both these games already had a massive kickstarter support, which means a lot of people that won't buy the game because they already got it when backing the project.

In DnD believing in a god is as trivial as believing in a fork. Unlike in the real world, gods often manifest themselves physically and send real signs of their existence to mortals (a bit too often if you ask me). That was never the question. What was the question then? It's kind of vague... I don't agree that every character rushes to advance their gods' interests. Fighters and rogues just get on with life for the most part... My doubt was solved by PrimeJunta: The rest is people going on about theological discussions, which I'm fine with, but the topic is solved as far as I'm concerned.

In DnD believing in a god is as trivial as believing in a fork. Unlike in the real world, gods often manifest themselves physically and send real signs of their existence to mortals (a bit too often if you ask me). That was never the question.

That's really what I was after, not the whole theological discussion. ^^ Thanks a lot PrimeJunta.

The point I was trying to make in the original post is that I don't want to feel the need for my warrior to be an avid follower of the god of Good and Light and pray to that god in his shining glory every dawn. My Warrior would be perfectly fine being just a good guy and doing what he feels is right. Or my Wizard could be a necromancer simply because he enjoys toying with life and death, but doesn't bother or even care about whoever is the god of Death because he doesn't need a valid meta-reason to be a necromancer. He simply is a necromancer in the same way that a football player doesn't need a god of Football to worship, and simply plays football because it's what he enjoys. The thing is, I like that gods add flavour to some settings, and are tangible forces in conflict, but I don't like when they become mandatory in the process of a character creation, or even a forcefully defining factor in a character's personality and goals (again, Clerics, Paladins etc aside for obvious reasons). Either way, real world religions don't apply and don't belong to the discussion here, I'm only speaking of how I preferred if my character could just be a "good guy" without having to follow "Mr Nice God" to back it up, or could be friendly prankster without having to follow "Mr Friendly Prankster God" to reinforce the concept. In other words, I feel that RPG deities rather than offering diversity and adding depth to characters, actually encase them into stereotypes, and that's what I wouldn't like for PoE.

Here's something that keeps bugging me, and I'd like some clarification because I've not read too much into PoE's lore yet (though I surely will once my GOG preorder goes through). And it's about how deity-centric is the game. Personally, this is one downside I've always found to DnD settings, is that you always have to be "John Hardy of Lathander" or "Susan Grail of Mielikki" etc etc. As if not following a deity in a way that it defines your character, or at the very least heavily affects her behaviour, your character is not complete. In fact, if your FR character dies without a god, she's in for a world of pain through eternity. What I'd like and hope is that PoE isn't that deity-centered. I understand that clerics or paladins need to have a deity, for obvious reasons, but I don't understand the obsession with every character having to follow a god to the end of its consequences, and rabidly protect that god's interests, be it a fighter, a rogue, a wizard or whatever. That's of course just my preference, but as I said, I don't know how deity-centered is PoE, and I wanted to ask any lore-hungry people or maybe even a dev if they can shed some light on this topic. It's not a deal breaker for me, as I'm a veteran tabletop RPer and Forgotten Realms is one of my favourite settings, but here's hoping that PoE's world won't be as god-driven as that.

I'm not very concerned about this. I remember some of the games I've most enjoyed are in the Final Fantasy franchise, and in many of them by the time you did every optional challenge, the end bosses were a mere joke. That didn't take anything at all from my fun. What I would be disappointed about is if there were no max level challenging encounters -at all-, but I'm pretty sure there'll be enough of those in PoE.

You came to the CRPG fanboy forum to ask if the newgen CRPG is worth it... Okay, it's worth it.