Ethics Gradient

That's basically the Voice Actor's curse right there. People know your work, but nobody knows who you actually are. And if people know who you are, they probably have no idea the other things you've been involved with.

I sort of want one of those shirts now. Is it too late to update my Deadfire pledge and get a t-shirt that maybe only a dozen people on the planet would find amusing?

Never heard of it. Are they actually voice actors or is this a Felicia Day type promo stunt? They've all been doing VA for ages. Most of the cast members have a decade or so of VA on their resume.

Yeah. That's what I'm seriously leaning towards at this point. The latest Backer Beta dropped some strong hints at redeeming promotional codes that are different from the cosmic pet codes. Feels like the best fit for this bucket of nonsense we've accumulated over the last few months.

Oh, hai. Another code!

Oddly enough, I'm having almost zero problems on a 2013 MBP. It's certainly not blazing through the load screens, but performance doesn't seem too out of spec for a 5-year-old laptop. Which version are you running GOG? Steam?

Cool. The other thing fans have been wondering about is the upcoming VA lineup for the new companions. A couple days ago there was the not-quite-announcement that Travis Willingham may be voicing Tekehu (maybe with other cast mates joining in?). That (and Mikey/Aarik being huge CR fans) is probably a better explanation for the Trinket bit on yesterday's stream.

No stopping until we get to the release date!

On today's PAX stream, Aarik and Mikey named their character something super-curious.

The codes keep coming. https://twitter.com/worldofeternity/status/981607342222450688 zdhfFQ

The file name on the Children of the Downstairs image is consistent with being sourced via data mining. At this point, there is little other to learn about them besides the file name, and some secondary confirmation that it is indeed one of the known minor factions. I'm not sure which beta those images may have been dug up from, but in the cat-and-mouse game we're playing as we dig for spoilers, they may have been removed in one of the subsequent betas.

If only the artists at Obsidian could get a chance to visit beautiful California for some relaxing inspiration! Oh. Right. I don't disagree that some color palettes are more vibrant or pleasing than others, but the argument that it needs new schema hinges on whether Deadfire is strictly a work of art, or a creative medium to explore a logically-developed fantasy world. Sure, many of the structures in Tikawara appear fairly drab, but I can almost bet the creative team spent a few days researching and debating the natural resources of a beach-dwelling society, and let design flow from there. I caught that too. The video seems at a loss to explain design that may not be evolutionary in nature, but are constrained by their environment or history. If that video was all you knew about art, it would seem wildly improbable that humans have been living in Rome for the last couple thousand years when the bulk of architecture is still dirty white or shades of gray.

Hey, I think I found just the right wizard to answer your question!

I'm not trying to fan the flames of the debate or anything, but what exactly are you proposing? Brighter colors? More contrast? I wouldn't be too concerned about how the early part of the game looks. I don't think we're starting off anywhere near Tikawara anyway.

Hoist the colors lads! What say we give those cup-shot devils a proper Black Island Bastards salute!

Yes to all that. Shhhh... Don't tell anyone! We were discussing the cosmic pet codes over here. Also, Gamestar was kind enough to include the secret Cosmic Bird code in the PDF preview for the Deadfire article. It's pretty much an open secret at this point.

Short answer, I still can't prove anything. Long answer...

Yes. Even though it presently doesn't do anything, the command you use to redeem it just made an appearance in the latest beta. It's not a cheat. It just grants a specific thing to the party then marks the save as having received it. Since it's tracked per-party, yeah, you'd have to type it in every new game if you want a cosmic doggo.

FYI, the Cosmic command went online in the latest Beta. It presently doesn't do anything, but it's silently preparing for release day to grant players space doggos and other cool content. Also, it brought with it some other interesting baggage... There may finally be a clue about what we do with those codes we've been finding...

The codes aren't single use anyway. Even if you didn't grab a magazine, you're free to use the sekrit codes to treat your party to whatever cosmic dogs, birds, cats, and ferrets that the game may have to offer. They're hardly exclusives the other way game promos have been "exclusive." They're only exclusive in the sense that two magazines got the honor of saying: "Hey, look at these cool codes obsidian gave us that anyone could use to get a fancy pet!"

Its here! It's here! Well, it's on steam at least. Haven't checked GOG.

In short, none of that has to mean anything, but one can watch the patterns and make educated guesses when something might be coming down the line. Every time there is a change to a steam title, the fact that there was a change goes on something of a public record. By watching the timing of those changes you can get a feel for when to start expecting updates. With regards to the Backer Beta, updates on the Public branch (what we see) have followed shortly after there were updates to the (internal only) Stable and press branches. Again, you can't read too much into the logs. Maybe the internal team finds a bug as they're gearing up for Beta 4. Maybe the updates only concern the GM version. Maybe this is just all prep for a PAX East press build. There's honestly no way to know for sure. But in any event, its just another tool to glimpse the pace of development.

The Deadfire Beta has been rumbling really hard on steam lately, and that could be an indication that the next beta might be here real soon. The last time the private-stable branch saw this much movement, Beta 3 synced on the public branch less than a day later.

After all game releases next week! ...oh wait. So. Bunch of codes. What did we learn? Hah! That's prefect!

Versus Evil tweet from today.