Manart

Is it possible to post how you've done it to here? Is it just replacing a Wwise file?

I am impressed, yet also terrified haha. How do you even know how to link which icons to their location in the spritesheet? Lol

I'l play around with this a little bit and let you know if I have any success.

I like to play with mods so often I'll have to open the game multiple times to make sure that none of them conflict with each others. By this point, I've been driven mad by the string orchestra that starts with the logo. Prior to patch 1.1, I've been using GoG Galaxy's command line prompt to add the -nointro and -skipintro argument but it seems to have stopped working. I'm asking if there's another solution to this, because right now I'm tempted to just delete the whole audio.unity3d file just to never hear that stupid intro again.

Maybe try it out on a test fight first, so you only need to edit a few modifiers and see how it goes?

(reserved for future posts)

Ok. With so many people deriving the plot for being too predictable or impossible to follow, I think it's past time we start talking about the themes at large instead of nitpicking the story to death. Let's start with one of the most overriding motif of the game. While going through the game you might notice that there is a lot of Buddhist influence. You can see it in the obvious with the cycle of death and rebirth, past lives and superpowers that deride from the chi. There are also subtle nuances like the way some cultures deal with past souls reincarnating in new forms (the Dalai Lama is the most famous example) and the mystical "Jade"-like substance that props up everywhere. One of the core tenets of Buddhisms is the inability to let things go and how it keeps us from ascending to a greater existence. You can see this in the journey of the Watcher and how his past life literally drive his current journey. This is also reflected in the companions' personal quests. For example, you get the chance to tell them to keep pursuing their objective or let it go: Edér can let go of his past or continue to follow his faith (or both), Durance can accept that he no longer is one of Magran's faithful or pursue a vendetta against her perceived betrayal and Sagani can focus on her duty to her village or the family that she left behind... All in all, props to Josh Sawyer and his team for capturing an Eastern philosophy without making it feel too "Far East Oriental". As someone who is a bit of a "lapsed Buddhist", I found their overall commitment to the underlying themes in play a refreshing change from the sea of "Kung-fu Eastern" depictions that try to single-mindedly capture the visuals without the teachings underneath.

Well... as much as I don't agree with most of what the reviewer said, I still found his point quite compelling and will keep a critical eye out for the things he talked about the next playthrough. If nothing else, at least he made his point in a hilarious and compelling manner, instead of just yelling at the viewer that a) He is right and b) You are wrong and you should be ashamed of yourself. Ah classic Sensuki-senpai, making me love to hate what you dislike about the game.

1. You survived because your soul Awakened and re-entered your body. If Thaos wasn't there, you would have been killed and your soul scattered due to the Bîaŵac. Which is why you can tell him at the end that he made you his enemy twice (once when he betrayed you in the past life, another when his sight made you Awakened). 2. The gods did find out about it, but too late. So their best bet was to do what Woedica did and empower a mortal agent i.e. you. Also, Magran is a fickle bitch, hence why she's okay with aligning herself with someone she burned centuries ago. Remember that despite being nigh-omnipotent beings, they are still constructed from ideals by the Engwithans and must follow their own internal directives, even to their own detriment. (Galawain and Abydon praised the work of animancers, despite knowing their secrets could be found out by animancy, due to it aligning with their own respective portfolios) 3. You find out about the Leaden Key's interference by reading about the apprentice's diary inside the tower, which showed him noticing "people with strange masks" entering the building before things go to hell. The Gul upstairs also confirm it if you ask him. The animancer at the north end is now a fampyr so I don't think people are going to trust her on anything. The duc's soldiers tried to go investigate but was enthralled by the Cean Gŵla inside the North East tomb. 4. Remember that the whole scene is supposed to be very chaotic with people yelling over each other constantly. Thaos could have entered the room without anybody noticing. And when some guards found out about that, he killed them before making his escape, as shown in the end of the act cutscene/voice-over. There was a dying guard outside who told you to get to Lady Webb even.

You become a Watcher by having your soul torn from your body and put back in. When other animancers tried to do this manually, they created the undead. You on the other hand survived because your soul also Awakened at the same time from seeing Thaos and remembering your past life.The dwarven animancer's spirit told you as much. I think Woedica's ascension was supposed to be a secret, kept by Thaos. Eothas found out about it, tried to stop it and was smote by the other gods for violating the non-interference rule. Magran at least knew some of it but was bribed with Eothas' followers and territory to keep quiet, hence when you finish Durance's quest he realized she tried to kill him to keep the truth hidden and vow to kill her in return. Thaos did send his Leaden Key to kill and discredit the animancers who were working at Heritage Hill. When he realized they were close to finding out what the machine does he sent his acolyte in to activate the machine and turn everyone there into undeads. He did try to stop you from finding out his plan by sending his assassins after you, but couldn't discredit you entirely due to Lady Webb's own influence. He was able to get in the hearing due to being an extremely influential member of the nobles. Only you could see him using his soul jumping power, using your Watcher's power. As far as people know, a noble entered the hearing, then suddenly the animancer went crazy and killed the duc. I'll try to answer some more of your questions tomorrow, keep on asking them if you feel there are parts you don't understand or were poorly explained.

...someone that is not you, I suppose?

So... you sacrifice a lot of babies in other MMO?

Awww... But I wanna pet 'im.

Oh wow. Amazing work. Wish I put as much thought into my own character as you did yours. At the end of the game, what choice did you make and how did all of your guys ended up in the epilogue? I need to know!

Well, soloers already beeline for the Sanguine Plate asap so if the loots are static, I would imagine they would have a much easier time getting things like the Gloves of Manipulation and Ring of Protection. It depends on your preference I guess.

Didn't the devs said that the next expansion was going to be in the style of Watcher's Keep of BG2 i.e. a new and separate dungeon with its own story?

I think the most detrimental part of putting plate on your Wizard is that if you're trying to buff them during combat, it can double or triple the time it takes for them as compared to wearing clothing or robe. This ironically affects tanky Wizard the most since they relies on their buffs to survive.

No they don't. They always provide the same bonuses even if you grab them as early as a level 3. Hence why some of the items in here are very powerful early game if you manage to get them early on. The Sanguine Plate for example is considered a core acquisition in many solo/challenge run. You can read more here: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Crafting

One of the last three bounties you can take. The vithrack one I think.

I'm pretty sure you can't talk to Eothas while doing the gods' quests and none of the other gods could probably gave Eder a straightforward answer. And while I'm not really keen on the "not everything is going to be answered right away" thing Obsidian is doing with this game, I respect their decision to do it and look forward to see where they take this series to in the future.

In my epilogue, Eder joins the underground cult of Eothas in Dyrwood despite knowing that Eothas wasn't "real" and is probably dead, which speaks volumes about his dedication to the ideals his god represents, even if the god himself may or not have fell short of it. I do hope an expansion that reveals the truth about Waidwen's War and Eothas' role in it would be forthcoming since I find that aspect of the lore quite fascinating. The poor guy deserves to know the truth and put his faith to rest at the very least.

Didn't Obsidian also said something about a Free to Play game they were also developing for a Russian company?

The 1.04 patch supposedly added some new AI tweaks. Did anybody get a chance to test that out?

To be fair though, Skyrim has been in a few Steam sale already, especially the Winter Madness ones. We just have to wait for the game to be out for like a year or so before we can make an accurate assessment.

If a vintage hardcore cRPG like this game sell well, then Obsidian should be able to make more of it. The company has been burned so many time by now, I wouldn't blame them for being cautious with their next game. I just hope that the people at Obsidian manage to keep up with producing quality RPG content like they have been producing for the last few years. And in today's industry, they are like the last few people of ye olde RPG days who are still working on new games (Bioware is another). You can blame publishers, other game genres or "social awareness", but at the end of the day, if a company can't make money off doing what they were doing before, then it's natural they turn elsewhere in order to keep running. It's the sad truth of business.