algroth

Ninja, if you ever come across an artist that has a vision as fully realized and absolute as the one you describe, where *every* decision has been thought out preemptively and *every* detail forethought before a production stage, you let me know, because in my years of experience so far working with artists in several media as well as in my own personal incursions into each I have yet to meet even *evidence* of such an artist existing. Both between people I have met and worked with, and with the artists I know about merely from consuming and learning about each medium. When people speak of artistic vision, they speak of an individual or collective perspective that guides and informs the decisions made regarding a certain work so as to define and configure the aesthetic, narrative and discourse of a work around that perspective and what is wished to be told. And by guiding and informing them I mean determining whether doing X or Y is a good idea or the right thing to best approach that ideal, and what might be a bad idea - but you get to trying "X or Y" through experimentation, and determining whether they work or not through trial and error. They *never* mean "this artist knows exactly what to do every time ever" - that is quite simply *not* how vision or any artistic process I've encountered works, at all. Moreover, the Might/STR+RES debate is such a *minor* element in the greater scheme of things that it's hardly worth framing a discussion on the presence or lack of vision in this project around at all. Josh's goals with regards to the attribute system in Pillars have been thoroughly explained in this video. With the new concentration system being implemented, resolve's overall impact feels negligible compared to the rest of the attributes and thus has become a dump stat, exactly what Josh wants to avoid. The ideal as per his vision is to create a system with no clear dump stats, and thus the change, even if it marks a departure from the original game, is in fact *informed* by this ideal. Ultimately however, the point is simply that whether "might" or "strength" make it into the game, this aspect is hardly so critical so as to say the game is "lacking vision" or any such thing.

We also have a bit of info on some of the new companions too, from some of the Fig updates. Update #13 in particular gives a fair bit of info on Maia Rua and Serafen: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire/updates/263 Also there's some info on sidekicks in this update: https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire/updates/273 However the sidekicks have apparently changed a bit since and we can't be too sure about how accurately these descriptions describe each character. Bonteru and Radora in particular have been 'scrapped', though whether scrapped or renamed I'm not too sure either. Fessina and Konstanten are the new ones in their place and whilst they might share some very superficial similarities it's likely that they've changed in more than merely name.

In my first playthrough I went to Defiance Bay before reaching Dyrford, whereas in my second I went to Dyford before reaching Defiance Bay... A couple of thoughts on either alternative in spoiler tags since they are mildly spoilery I guess... With these things in mind I still feel my personal preference would be to go to Dyrford first, but there is no definitive answer and the difference is really not that crucial in the end.

In Argentina "Spring" would be late September through later December instead. But yeah, I reckon they mean about April. We shall see soon though.

My experience indicates the exact opposite is true: a vision is an ideal and the ideal doesn't always translate upon its first execution; trial and error, all whilst adapting and changing the approach, brings the product closer to the author's vision and original intention. If something is not working the way it is intended, trying out a new approach can be just the right way to solve the problem. I don't see how the Might/STR+RES discussion is a sign of lack of vision, merely an adaptation for the attributes system to work as closely to the desired goal as possible.

It did happen for Tyranny too, so I reckon there may be a future "3.0"-style patch lining up with the release of a DLC as well, depending on any player criticism the game may get (say this bit or that is underdeveloped and so on). Maybe even to add some features from stretch goals that were planned but not reached either, like fishing and new sea monsters, potentially. Though I also reckon that the devs aren't planning on making such a patch per se either - ideally it would of course be best to release a game as complete and bug-free as possible right out of the gate, instead of trickling the final touches over the next few patches instead.

Well, Gilliam's film has a lot more history to it than the usual film of his too - it's been a pet project of his for a couple of decades now, and he's met so many obstacles to actually make it along the way that there's even a whole documentary dedicated on one of these failed attempts, being Lost in La Mancha. It's great, worth seeing. I'm definitely looking forward to it, as it's likely to be something special even within his rather unique oeuvre.

Finally I can immerse myself in the game.

Well, it's not like Marcel Proust is writing a novel there. It's a rpg that introduced a completely new setting and had a small budget compared to other rpgs out there. I think they did a pretty good job with the writing. The only thing I did not like were those texts you could read when clicking on the golden plated backer npcs. Not that all the individual stories were bad or so - it just felt completely out of place. I agree. But how often did you get a character in game? I was part of the Sorcerer’s Place group who got some stuff in game. Taluntain’s Staff.... quite nostalgic, at least it was for me. When people ask me about PoE, it’s the first thing I mention in conversation. Though I don't have any assurances about the content making it into the game, I know I for one am very excited to seeing my own personal contribution to the Black Isle Bastards making it into the game. It's a single line for some log/journal that most won't even read, but if it makes it in I'll be extremely pleased not least because I know I had a part in that. Generally speaking I have to agree that the backer characters were perhaps too intrusive an addition to the world, though - but I can imagine it must have been quite special for those who designed them.

Annihilation comes to mind as an early one, as well as Ready Player One later on. Also Scorsese's The Irishman. Isle of Dogs is another big one as well as Early Man for more animated films I'm looking forward to. A Neil Armstrong biopic by Damien Chazelle too... And if we're lucky we'll also see both Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and Malick's Radegund this year too. And even so I reckon I'm missing a few major players as well. Also not that I care much for the franchise in general but there's a stand-alone Bumblebee movie coming out this year which could prove interesting, not only because it's *not* being directed by Michael Bay this time around but also because the director in charge of it is actually rather cool, being Travis Knight, the guy behind Kubo and the Two Strings.

Unfortunately there weren't that many places to actually go. You could spend a lot of time in one place going through a lot of text though. I'm playing through it right now and that is one of the aspects I'm finding curious about it - it's like they've gotten completely rid of all the smaller locations and made them all a part of each open area (bars, inns, and so on). The game seems of a decent size but its economy of locations does in some superficial way make its scope feel more akin to Tyranny's than Pillars', for me at least... Which is weird considering the success and promises of the Kickstarter campaign and so on. All the same, I've been enjoying it so far.

The only I can agree with from these in the first Pillars is the lore dumps, and that is mostly when the exposition was delivered in a manner that was too dry or obvious, sort of spelling the themes out instead of allowing the player to deduce what was being spoken of. But by and large I thought the writing was excellent, and in my own review of the game I in fact praised their approach to character motivation, structure and pacing. (Rest of the review here: http://bcb-board.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=133899#p3836416 ) The very last caveat sounds like it won't be much of an issue with this game, considering that the conflict in this new game is spelled right from the get-go by a soul-sucking 15-stories-high reincarnation of a seemingly vindictive dead god. Though yet again I suppose the actual meat of the conflict will involve the colonizing of the Deadfire and so on.

Not that it's Josh's case specifically, but I have known of several artists/directors/authors who openly proclaimed their work a mess while in production, only to have it turn out the exact opposite when released. See the Hearts of Darkness documentary on the making of Apocalypse Now as a notorious example, though the likes of Herzog, Kurosawa and Tarkovsky have all been similarly tortured in a few of their film productions. It's come to the point where I take it as a good sign actually. But it's nice to see confidence from Josh's behalf on Deadfire all the same.

To add a bit more on Three Billboards, I thoroughly agree with Kermode's review about it:

I notice combat/mechanical bugs sometimes and am annoyed by them but they never linger in my mind when it comes to evaluating the overall experience I had with a game. Heck, even the more narrative/quest-related bugs are annoyances that only last for so long provided the rest of the game is good enough, and in Pillars' case it most definitely was. I guess this is why I can never understand the people who I see downvoting games in Metacritic due to 'bugs' whilst admitting the rest is good, as clearly my enjoyment in games and so on is derived from that 'rest' instead. I get the same feeling with this thread/complaint, but then I don't expect everyone to enjoy games in the same manner I do either, and if it's a deal-breaker it's a deal-breaker. I do agree with injurai that this seems like a very flimsy justification for a refund though, akin to asking for your money back if you did not like a film you just watched (though to counter this argument I will also say that at least in this case one hasn't yet had access to the product they're paying for).

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was fantastic.

That is a wonderful film... I wouldn't quite describe it as depressing though, even if there a few quite harrowing anecdotes in it. The whole thing to do with her acting gig, the slap, or that classmate of hers for example... All in all though it is utterly beautiful and it really showcases Takahata's eye for detail when it comes to portraying people. The characters and situations are all remarkably vivid thanks to this knack he has for capturing the details and nuances that dictate the emotional undercurrents of a scene. Every inflection is captured so meticulously and perfectly, it all does make him something of a modern-day equivalent to great humanist masters of Japanese cinema the likes of Ozu, Mizoguchi or Imamura. I can't say I enjoyed the adult-day segments any less myself, I felt the pastoral feel of them along with the many keen observations really made it just as enjoyable and moving in my experience. If you want another utterly gorgeous and harrowing film from him, though, be sure to check out The Tale of the Princess Kaguya as well. (Again I would recommend watching it subbed, but that's really up to you. Did you watch Only Yesterday dubbed?)

I reckon the cap gave a substantial bonus to intellect and the suit to resolve, plus acting as better armour than the other clothes available. Cue in the following:

Alright, I'm curious because your profile lists Texas as your location... What is your first language?

I love the sound of French and Japanese personally, so there's perhaps a bit of that which helps... But it's funny that you should mention French as a dub you can't stand as I would argue that they're some of the best dubbers I've come across generally. I also reckon I can see how some Japanese performances might be a bit over the top, but by and large I feel they handle subtlety really well both in a more theatrical and realist mode. Have you watched much other Japanese film?

Ghibli was founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, both whom are masters in their own right with pretty unique styles and an incredible, if not too expansive, body of work to their name. Isao Takahata made Only yesterday as well as Grave of the Fireflies (why did you hate it? You're the first I've come across who's been quite as vehement about it - it's an all-time favorite of mine) and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya amidst others. The two of these which you've yet to see I can very eagerly recommend. Also I'm the sort who wouldn't touch an English dub with a ten-foot pole, not just because of general "sub not dub" purism but also because in my experience with several dubs in different languages, the English ones have usually been far and away the worst here, even when they've involved the most well-known cast too. I feel the American companies tend to also meddle with the script in their dubs a *lot* more than just about everyone else, which at times leads to fundamental changes in the themes and narrative in said piece (see the ending of Kiki's Delivery Service as a particularly egregious example). But if it works for you, feel free to watch it that way. I was also wondering if it was perhaps my own list where you might have seen Nausicäa mentioned, but I didn't include it. It was close though. Here it is, just to share it again. https://rateyourmusic.com/list/algroth_89/top-100-films/

As someone who used to work as a journalist, I can assure that yes, you MUST know what you're talking about before interviewing someone on cam. That was possibly the worst interview i ever saw. I feel bad for Obsidian because whenever I see them in interviews, the "journalists" seem clueless as to what type of game POE is. I also worked as a eSports journalist for about a year a while back, and as a cameraman for an gaming channel for another year too, and my experience is that while knowing what you're talking about is the ideal situation, when you're covering conventions and the likes it's hard to prepare for *everything* you will cover there, as quite often you'll even be asked to cover things on the spot without prior plans of making said note (say you're asked to cover A-B-C and prepare a bit for those, but at the spot the editor also finds out D-E-F is happening and requests you to cover these as well). And this is especially true in my experience if it's about a site or channel that's only barely getting started, and has a limited amount of journalists who are not even professionals necessarily and are getting overtasked too. I can sympathize with the journalists in this case, even if it doesn't make for good work. Edit: And yeah, having seen the video I can agree that it's pretty shoddy. Were it me, I would have tried to edit out the multiplayer question and try to cut a few of the "umm" moments and the likes. The video editor hardly did him any favours there. Clearly the interviewer hasn't been at it for long, but oh well, you start off somewhere.

There was plenty of humour involving Hiravias and Edér, but I do agree that the mood was pretty predominantly bleak all the same. I didn't mind it terribly, but I wouldn't gag at the thought of adding more levity. And as a matter of fact this *has* been addressed in one of the earlier Q&As, and here's Josh's response:

I had a pretty opposite reaction to Baldur's Gate II myself... I never felt it lacked in size or exploration at all, and if anything I felt that for once a city area in these games was as dense in content as they usually promise to be (in comparison most RPG city hubs feature only three to five significant side-quests per area and otherwise pad out these same so as to appear large instead). I'm currently playing through The Witcher 3 myself and in comparison I'm constantly let down by the dearth of content in each new area I'm finding so far (granted, I'm only about 20-25 hours in, so there's still a bit to go).

Never been a fan, but R.I.P. 46 is no age at which to go.