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J.E. Sawyer
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Posts posted by J.E. Sawyer
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What about all the backer content, including locations and NPCs? Are you already done implementing all of it by now?
I think we still have to enter the data for the backer memorials and some of the unique items, but otherwise, yes. All of the locations, NPCs, items, etc. are built and all (except for a few of the items) are placed in the world.
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Our artists are making a lot of the unique armors and outfits right now. Personally, I like the variety we've developed. JD Cerince is currently building the appearance for a unique suit of mail that has a silver tree and falling leaves wrapping around the torso built into the links. James Chea just finished all of our unique brigandine armors. I'm a big fan of brigandine in our game because its protection is just below plate, the speed reduction is better, and the canvas + rivet look is cool, IMO.
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We use "townsfolk" for reactivity and general chatter. In all communities there are a fair number of townsfolk going about their background activities (not like Ultima "scheduled" behavior, but idles like warming their hands by a fire, smoking a pipe, talking with someone, sitting in a chair and drinking, etc.). Also, every town/city map has a bunch of individual named NPCs, usually with quests, who are out and about as well. They aren't Assassin's Creed crowds but they're on par with (maybe a little higher than) the IE games.
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Guns and arbalests are both pretty slow. I'll be tuning the damage down a bit because their "alpha strike" capability is too dominant right now even with the low RoF. They'll still be pretty darn good weapons.
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I like developing currencies to help with world building but mechanically it can frustrate some people. I think our approach should work well because if you loot a dead Vailian you'll probably find some lusce or suole and a Glanfathan chest will be full of awlds but all standard transactions in stores are simply conducted in "cp" (copper pieces) represented as a single total value in your inventory (as in the IE games).
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We have a ToEE-style grid for customizing your party formations.
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It doesn't behave any differently, no. Until a rogue gets access to Deathblows (at fairly high level in PoE), it doesn't matter how many qualifying statuses are on a target. If the target is Blinded, Flanked, Hobbled, Stunned, and it's the first 2 seconds of combat, it's still an ordinary Sneak Attack. Deathblows increases Sneak Attack damage in cases where there are two or more qualifying statuses on the target (from any source).
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I have yet to see any characters stunlocked by standard damage-dealing attacks (i.e. by attacks other than those that cause the Prone, Paralyzed, Petrified, etc. Afflictions). Most attacks that have high Interrupt ratings also have slow attack rates. What a rogue can do is put an enemy in a variety of states that ensure Sneak Attack is continuously valid against them.
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The scouting state ends when the party enters combat, i.e. when a party member is being targeted by a hostile character. Using scouting to set up ambushes is extremely valuable even if you don't get right up in the eyeballs of enemies before you attack them. There are some practical gameplay limitations on how many traps you can put down, but scouting also allows you to do that, which can be very valuable for softening up a horde of attackers.
One of the rogue's Sneak Attack conditions is "within the first two seconds of combat". It might not sound like much, but in most cases it's good for at least one really nasty shot, melee or ranged. If that first attack is paired with one of the rogue's Affliction attacks like Blinding Strike or Crippling Strike, they can immediately chain that into a series of Sneak Attacks.
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Wealthy people in this world will try all sorts of things to extend their own lives or try to place their soul in someone else's body. Because animancy is highly experimental, many animancers believe the next revolution in animancy is just around the corner. All they need are wealthy patrons to fund their research. And all the wealthy patrons want to hear is how perfectly everything is going to work out for them.
Many Dyrwoodans wish the state would regulate (or ban) animancy as most other nations do, but there is enough pressure from powerful/moneyed people that even wild research continues with little oversight.
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Bleak Walkers definitely win for most interesting paladin order yet revealed. Yet I have to wonder how their mercilessness is defined, given their stated purpose is "to bring a swift end to conflicts". When the Bleak Walkers are unleashed, are their terms "surrender [under these harsh and non-negotiable terms] or die", or is it too late to even surrender if they are finally called to battle, with the mere threat of their presence used to coerce?
Any army/general may surrender after Bleak Walkers are unleashed, but the paladins explicitly do not ask for nor give mercy/surrender. If a warlord said, "Hey, Bleak Walkers, take out this town," and then halfway through the attack, the ruler of the city tried to surrender, the warlord would have a problem on his hands if he wanted to accept. Bleak Walkers won't call off an attack even if their "employer" asks them to or turns forces on them. The Bleak Walkers believe this behavior is necessary to make it clear what is going to happen when they get involved.
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Slightly off-topic, but has it been confirmed whether or not we will be able to use custom portraits for ourselves and NPCs?
Otherwise, sounds good. The chanter is very reminiscent of an everquest bard (with chant effects lasting a short time after a new chant has begun, allowing twisting). Hopefully, it won't be quite as intensive as that game's implementation (every four seconds, switch song), as that would be very difficult in a party-based game.
Definitely custom portraits for your own characters and I think (but am not positive) that we have UI support for switching companion portraits. Not 100% sure on that.
Chanters have a chant interface that allows you to place in all of your phrases to see how they will overlap/twist. When you pick a chant (which is a set of phrases you put together), you just click on it and it will automatically take effect when combat starts. You only need to switch if you want a completely different chant.
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Mr. Sawyer, as someone who really enjoyed playing melee or combat bards in older DnD editions, I would like to ask if we will be able to build Chanters as passable melee combatants ?
Yes, they are fair melee combatants. They don't have many abilities directly related to melee, but they have good health and accuracy.
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By the way, Kana literally means chicken in Finnish and Pallegina sounds a bit silly/funny. Palle can be translated as "a hem", among other things, although the word is not used very much anymore.
Not to be overly dismissive, but this is one of the reasons I don't worry a whole lot about what names mean in other languages. I think almost every name that's been revealed has, at some point in time, revealed to be "dog's butt" or "stupid idiot" or "jolly prostitute" in Basque/Hungarian/Lombard/Vietnamese/Esperanto. Really long names can sometimes get around that, but they often wind up being really cumbersome, IMO.
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And what is Norwaech? The name of the continent or something different?
Norwaech is the northernmost erldom in the Dyrwood. It's ruled by the Rafendr (RAH-ven-dur) family (arms: party per pale vert and azure overall a tower argent).
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PoE's priests are designed for people who enjoy support characters. I've noticed a trend in support class design in recent years to load support characters with offensive abilities to rival other classes while retaining (or improving) all of their support abilities. I think it makes the classes less distinctive and in the end the people who want to pump out damage are still going to skip something that's an "off-striker" class. I don't think every class has to appeal to every player.
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Is Holy Radiance a passive or active ability? I can imagine 6 priests carbonizing and frightening undeads while simultaneously healing each other. Not fair.
Unless it doesn't stack, of course.Holy Radiance is a limited-use active ability.
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"Eora"
Did I miss something -- is this the planet's/world's name where Eterntiy takes place? Or is it just a continent? Don't recall reading it before.
I think this is the first time we've used it in an update. People in this part of the world commonly call the world "Eora". This general region is called The Eastern Reach by colonists.
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Yeah, if you're not in Recovery, a character will execute a selected action as soon as they are in range.
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Yeah, stuff like the toad is what's called canting arms, where the devices represent some play on the name of the family or kingdom.
We plan to have major heraldry in the campaign almanac though we probably won't have full explanations for all of the devices and why families have them.
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I assume that using the cancel function only cancels the attack (or action), but not the recovery time?
If an action is canceled before its hit frame, there's no recovery time, but you do have to start a new action from the beginning.
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Nice job, folks.
I generally figured that if the charges were all in one field, the description would read something like "party per fess embattled, verte two estoiles or, argent", so it's got to be either like that, or both along the fess itself (though I don't think I've ever seen charges placed like that).
I couldn't find a standard for describing it that way, but the estoiles are both supposed to be in the top/vert field with nothing in the argent field (which is practically unknown in Euro heraldry, I know).
The difference between indented and dancetty is usually size/number of the peaks in the line. Indented typically has a lot more than dancetty.
And yeah in addition to ignoring the general "metal on metal" rules, they also ignore natural color rules for animals, so the falcon is entirely gules (no special colors armed or langed).
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Understandable.
Out of curiosity (from what Cubiq said), how does Attack Speed factor into broken-engagement attacks? Are they completely unrestricted -- as in a Fighter in Defender Mode will make 3 attacks within a 30-frame period if 3 opponents cross out of his engagement radius (even though only one animation has played)? Or will there be some kind of delay that's significantly shorter than the overall standard attack delay for that given Fighter?
Disengagement attacks are "free" and have no recovery. If three dudes are on a Defender fighter and they all decide to bail at the same time, they could all get horribly, instantly stomped by the fighter.
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What about if the monster is just running away, from a fear spell or morale failure. Will the Engage mechanic be enough to allow melee to hit the target?
As far as i know that only works when the opponent isn't moving, so will melee be able to damage a fleeing opponent at all?
If you can catch up to the character, it should. As soon as the pursuer stops moving, they will engage the enemy (meaning the enemy stops). The enemy can move away, but that immediately provokes a Disengagement Attack.
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Unless it doesn't stack, of course.
Update 80: State of the Project - From Alpha to Beta
in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News
Posted
They are. Just because features are implemented and functional doesn't mean they're polished enough to show.