Ethics Gradient

From the editor of PC Gamer, regarding the US release of the Deadfire issue:

For those of us unable to grab a copy of the UK edition because they live in the American Colonies, good news!

I’m really interested in the redemption method. Mysterious codes aren’t exactly in short supply; sure would be nice if we had something to do with them... https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95782-worldofeternity-funny-business-speculation/

Honestly, does it really matter what the plural is? The most important thing that I learned from that Bestiary twitter post is that Eotens throw the absolute best dungeon parties.

Bestiary Entry 4: Eotens A little tough to make out... BMahh7 Here's a frame inverted and enlarged.

Well, it's Wednesday again. Anyone want to take a guess which bestiary entry might hit twitter in a few hours?

While there was also a second Valentine's challenge, it only granted something small like 350 gold for completing two challenges. Assuming things don't get fixed soonish, it should probably reward that or the usual 500 gold. There were a lot of "named" challenge events around this time last year. They'll keep colliding with the 2018 schedule if nothing is done soon. Though... I've got a feeling that an update is slowly sneaking up on us.

It's another rollover \ from last year's challenges, and it's a little screwy as well. Despite offering a set of pink dice... it should actually be granting another copy of the Spooky Dice. So, uh. Happy Valentine's Day... I think?

We've been trying to come up with an answer, and nothing has made sense so far. That is just one of several codes that have been found in promo images. Come join the party!

Also, Sean Connery confirmed as Druid NPC in Deadfire.

No-one seems to have it yet. Word on the street is that it is currently being looked into by top men. [Edit: Not just a sarcastic meme post. Mikey actually did mention that someone is looking into key distribution issues, and we'll be informed as soon as they know anything.]

I concur. Aside from missing the pad character (=) to round out chunks to a multiple of four characters, it would still end up decoding to non-word gibberish if you forced it. What's your take on the upper-case/lower-case thing? Aside from something like a substitution cipher, encoding schema are generally case-insensitive. The casing frequency is about 50/50, so if it is enciphered text, you're potentially dealing with a 62-character set rather than a simple cipher where the capitalization carries through. That's partly why I keep circling back to brainstorming where on the web these codes might be relevant. For example: Youtube videos: 12 digits, base62 (two code blocks) Goo.gl link shortener: 6 digits, base62 (one block) Nothing's come up yet, but I'm still proceeding under the assumption that they're web-related rather than enciphered text.

IRoll20s GiveItem CRW_Shiba_Inu_Cannoneer GiveItem CRW_Shiba_Inu_Cook GiveItem CRW_Shiba_Inu_Surgeon GiveItem CRW_Shiba_Inu_Navigator GiveItem CRW_Shiba_Inu_Helmsman GivePlayerShip SHP_Shiba_Partyboat Darn. None of that seems too work!

Best patch ever!  Edit: 3.9 GB of patchy goodness on GOG/MacOS.

The bestiary entries have been posting every Wednesday since they started. Assuming we don't find anything else in other images, there are potentially 8 more bestiary-related codes before release. Those are also the only ones with an arguable "order" to them. The THQ code and Deadfire Release date code don't fit as neatly into a sequence. I still suspect each code is a standalone clue. While they all may lead to pieces that can be put together later, there probably isn't much to be learned by mashing together a pile of alphanumeric strings and seeing what sticks.

It certainly could be a countdown to.... something. They're using our own satellites against us!

Next up! Bestiary Entry 3: Engwithan Titans 8twCgw

24 characters is now in the "too long" range for normal steam/gog keys. Assuming the upper/lowercase thing is relevant, keep in mind that steam/gog is case insensitive. Probably need to keep looking for other places to use those strings. Best plan for now is to sit tight, look for other keys, and wait to see if we can find somewhere to type those codes.

Some other potential box pictures, courtesy of amazon. Std. Edition: Obs. Edition:

THQ Nordic Slipped this hi-res image into their site earlier today. Enjoy! https://imgur.com/5GHQhv9 Also, because of course it does, it includes another mystery code.

Alrighty folks, just found a fourth code to torment us: https://imgur.com/5GHQhv9 cCedpo Edit: Here's where it came from.

Also, Mikey dropped this hype grenade over on Discord: [1:43 AM] MikeyDowling: Some [1:43 AM] MikeyDowling: thing [1:43 AM] MikeyDowling: is [1:43 AM] MikeyDowling: coming [1:44 AM] MikeyDowling: c [1:44 AM] MikeyDowling: u [1:44 AM] MikeyDowling: tomorrow Boom!

It's the final stretch before the release of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, and for the last few months, @WorldofEternity, @Obsidian, @vs_evil have all been secretly adding codes digital, print, and real-life media. We didn't know what it was at the time, but they were laying the groundwork for The Deadfire Scavenger Hunt! Go here and start entering codes: https://eternity.obsidian.net/scavenger Below are the codes the community has found, listed in order of discovery: BtF6nW - Bestiary Entry 1: Imps (17 Jan) w6Pd2u - Bestiary Entry 2: Rathun (24 Jan) SHbEXB - We are happy to announce... (25 Jan) cCedpo - THQ Nordic mockup of the physical Obsidian Edition (26 Jan) 8twCgw - Bestiary Entry 3: Engwithan Titans (31 Jan) BMahh7 - Bestiary Entry 4: Eotens (7 Feb) KFK5Lj - February Press Images - Stone Doorway (Published 5 Feb, also in print) RMaM4A - February Press Images - Entrance Stairway (Published 16 Jan, also in print) XQrdGv - PC Gamer UK/US Cover (March 2018) CoC6eF - Bestiary Entry 5: Rotghast (14 Feb) DeYvu8 - Gamestar März 2018 cover (17 Feb) HTEPbK - Bestiary Entry 6: Naga (21 Feb) 25Pwqv - Backer Update 45 (23 Feb) VMTjAb - Bestiary Entry 7: Corrupted Tigers (28 Feb) yJ3BqA - Versus Evil video thumbnail (28 Feb) mfvU5r - Bestiary Entry 8: Constructs (07 Mar) vSKRXA - Bestiary Entry 9: Engwithan Saints (14 Mar) RHh2SA - Obsidian Pedi-cab (20 Mar) 3D7mzF - Bestiary Entry 10: Earth Blights (21 Mar) WgE69K - March Press Blitz - Right Balcony (26 Mar) tg2b3r - March Press Blitz - Circular Carpet (26 Mar) KUyE6X - March Press Blitz - Ship Stern (26 Mar) vitshR - March Press Blitz - Left Cell (26 Mar) 5Vtwje - March Press Blitz - Furled Sail (26 Mar) EQC3bw - Versus Evil PAX Tweet (28 Mar), Stoic Tweet (08 Apr), Backer Update 46 Tweet (30 Apr) APDPmj - Bestiary Entry 11: Party Time (28 Mar) zdhfFQ - Companion Spotlight: Tekēhu (04 Apr) zvzrSg - PAX East Twitch Stream, Day 1 (06 Apr) hCSjoE - PAX East Twitch Stream, Day 2 (07 Apr) iXncsY - Scavenger Hunt Site (11 Apr) eZ9ywi - Companion Spotlight: Pallegenia (11 Apr) mDjZsK - "Welcome to the Deadfire Explorer's Scavenger Hunt!" Email (11 Apr) 3kp5Bi - Companion Spotlight: Serafen (18 Apr) Ksucnw - Community Manager tweet: Aarik (23 Apr) 4eVMKu - Instagram Ad 1 (24 Apr) SNGVTh - Instagram Ad 2 (24 Apr) i2MrLF - Companion Spotlight: Aloth (25 Apr) aFJJ8F - Backer Update 46 (30 Apr) 6X4EYa - Backer Update 46 (30 Apr) BprrJv - Backer Update 46 (30 Apr) ysRHrs - The World of Eternity tweet (02 May) 3UNUbC - Companion Spotlight: Maia Rua (02 May) TjF5if - The power of friendship! (02 May) UBRYio - The Road To Eternity (04 May) P5swCz - Developer Tweets (04 May) PLmjXG - We can bearly wait (06 May) JvD6Sx - Last chance to pre-order (07 May) 47KjYc - InXile tweet (08 May) 7NLeRW - Deadfire Launch Tweet (08 May) zGckQH - Deadfire FAQ (08 May) UG6Q9Y - Backer Update 47: Launch day (08 May) PrHg3N - Press Kit Images eVSMvT - Press Kit Images cLD6nB - Press Kit Images uUZCgG - Press Kit Images E6Gqaj - Deadfire Manual - Table of Contents 56/55 codes found. WE DID IT! Congrats to the community! BONUS PETS!! The following console commands have been found in print magazines to grant the player some other fancy pets. After the game releases, open the console with the ~ key and enter any of the following commands: COSMIC DOG - Cosmic Dog Pet (PC Gamer UK, March 2018) COSMIC BIRD - Cosmic Bird Pet (GameStar, March 2018) COSMIC CAT - Cosmic Cat Pet Related Reddit Thread and Steam Discussion.]

It's not exclusively an RPG thing, but the greater the degree of freedom you allow the player, the greater the number of interactions that need to be tested to ensure a bug-free experience. It really depends on what sort of QA protocols developers establish, but it can get nearly impossible to test every possible interaction in large RPGs. Some testers might be running the critical path, others might be doing all the optional quests, others still might explore specific builds in specific encounters. Ideally, there's be some way to test absolutely everything before release, but in reality, the best we can hope is that the critical path is relatively smooth, and enough random spot-checks have been done everywhere else to ensure the base mechanisms of the game behave as expected.