kalniel
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Posts posted by kalniel
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We're not talking about "freedom of player choice" here though. We're talking about easy exploits. The freedom to use an exploit that drastically changes the difficulty is a pretty shabby kind of freedom IMO.
I've played the BG's both with and without rest-spamming, and it's vastly more enjoyable without rest-spamming. I'm kind of mad at the rest mechanic actually because since rest-spamming is so obvious it took me a long time to move beyond it and find a more enjoyable way to play. If resting hadn't been so broken to start with, I wouldn't have made that long and unenjoyable detour.
If there's an exploit, and it's no fun to exploit it, why would anyone use it? The devs don't need to do anything because player freedom to make their own fun ensures it remains fun. Likewise if someone *has* to use an over or under-powered character for their own fun, they can do so as well. Taking the choice away from the player doesn't fit in with the spirit of PoE where we can set up games to be the most fun for ourselves.
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No well-designed game should require self-policing.
Quite the opposite. No well-designed game should have to nanny players. Freedom of player choice is preferable in my books.
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Context is enough. There are many shared acronyms all over the place. Since PoE is a recently released game and the content is fairly easy to attribute uniquely to the game it's never caused any confusion in the many places I've used it.
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I found it added tension and increased my enjoyment of the scenario. I'm glad it wasn't used any more though.
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Thank goodness the aim doesn't appear to be chasing mass sales
One of the very nice things about Kickstarter is that it allows fans who are in a minority to put their money where their mouth is and allow the devs to make a game that isn't necessarily appealing to the mass market.
But I agree that it should be a good match for tablets as well, just make sure to aim for PC first
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But are they fun to play?
That's the question really - since PoE isn't a competitive multiplayer game, the only issue is whether they are unfun if played in the way they are expected to be. You can always find ways to game the system, and some choices will always be easier than others, which is one of the reasons you can change the difficulty level yourself so you can set it to what's fun for you.
Personally, I have one cipher and one chanter in my party, and the game is really fun. Different party members have different strengths and weaknesses and that adds to my enjoyment. If every classes was absolutely equally matched it would possibly even lose something for me.
One of the main reasons I like PoE is that it treats its players with maturity and gives us the keys to play how we like in many circumstances - sometimes that results in us having to take responsibility for not making the game unfun for ourselves.
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I think it's great as is. Makes sense to me that if you're taking extra care then you move more slowly. As for 'right' way to play the game, that's nonsense: The right way to play it is whatever's fun for you - for me my characters move at their normal speed most of the time and only slow down to search if they're looking for something in particular or being wary of traps.
I could have agreed with this sentiment if the secrets in the game at least tried to stick with a certain formula of logic. As it stands now most of the secrets are arbitrarily placed in hallways or in randomly placed cupboards. You'd expect to find a secret in a vault room, a puzzle or as a secret compartment in a suspiciously looking wall.
"You'd expect.." Aha but maybe they wouldn't be such good secrets if they're where you expect them to be
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I think it's great as is. Makes sense to me that if you're taking extra care then you move more slowly. As for 'right' way to play the game, that's nonsense: The right way to play it is whatever's fun for you - for me my characters move at their normal speed most of the time and only slow down to search if they're looking for something in particular or being wary of traps.
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I wish they would just list the DR for each type of damage instead of giving a general DR number and then breaking down the exceptions. There would be less potential for confusion.
I disagree - having the DR that is used by default makes sense to me. Listing exceptions keeps it much cleaner because otherwise you'd have long, cluttered lists for every damage time.
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Ok thanks to all, indecided between intelligence and perception, but seems like you need high int for some coiche. how many piece of gear can you enchant for stats?
Eight. But the same enchantment won't stack.
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Hi all, i just want to know how the 3 different mental attribute influence the conversation, what's the difference in disposition and approach for the situations for each one?
It tells you in the character generation screen:
Might: Intimidating displays and acts of brute force
Constitution: Withstand pain or endure physically taxing situation
Dexterity: Slight of hand and fast reactions
Perception: catch a lie, comment on appears or notice background details
Intelligence: deduction, realisation and problem solving
Resolve: Intimidation, leadership and convincing performance
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Thank you for the fix. Also, really appreciated the brief description of the cause
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I very much like the way they've done combat xp. Nothing is perfect in any kind of model, let alone a cRPG, but even just having the flavour of some good ideas elevates the game above many of its compatriots. Bestiary progression/xp is a really nice touch - if I want to farm for items or because that's what my character would do, then I can. It aids (not instantly makes perfect in all scenarios) balancing too.
So at the end of the day it makes the game more fun for me.
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That resolve and perception offer the most dialogue-options.
I made an int-cipher, because I thought he would be able to AE a lot in combination with a lot of dialogue-stuff.
Is there any way I can change my atributes?
I think you can alter the character who's stats are used by dragging them to the team leader position (left most portrait). So I used NPCs with different stats for different conversations - you can always hire one with the preferred stats for the conversations.
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The people that think sex is required for a mature story scare me.
Romance is fine. Sex scenes have no real place in video games.
I personally think they do if they're important to the plot.
Actually I think making a sex scene important to the plot would be even more devisive. Many of the objections to romance are when it is not optional, or unexpected.
The people that think sex is required for a mature story scare me.
Romance is fine. Sex scenes have no real place in video games.
I personally think they do if they're important to the plot.
So brutal violence up to and including humanoid beings exploding into red clouds of gibs and blood sausage, grotesque and cruel experimentation on humanoids and animals, mass murder, ethnic cleansing, racism, rape leading to unwanted pregnancy, humanoid sacrifice, implied mass infanticide; all good. They don't even need to be "important to the plot." But sexual relations between two consenting adults, well, that's where we as a society draw the line, huh? My Cipher can, with impunity, use a psychic ability that violates a sentient being's mind by forcing them to relive their most traumatic memories (a literal mind rape) for the purposes of gaining an advantage over them in combat, but they can't show them having sex with a hooker? My Wizard can set a living creature on fire to incinerate them because, hey, I'll be resting soon and I've got spells to burn (get it?) and hearing their last shrill screams brings a twisted smile of victory to my face, but GOD FORBID that same Wizard be depicted having a moment of intimacy and vulnerability with a loved one.
Have you guys played this Pillars of Eternity game? The one where they ended a war by detonating a fantasy nuke in order to incinerate a god? Where physicians try to solve the problem of soulless babies by implanting animal souls inside humanoid shells? Where your party slaughters their way through every single tile on the world map for no reason except to fill out the bestiary pages and collect random crafting ingredients? Where you can't even step outside without being mauled and eaten by rampaging hordes of evil wood nymphs, trolls, lions, kobolds, and bandits?
This game is profoundly and thoroughly screwed up. I fail to see why sex scenes, tasteful or otherwise (it's not like anything else is handled tastefully), would be some kind of problem.
I can't agree that the game is thoroughly screwed up - I'm enjoying it, and by the looks of the reviews, I'm not alone. Nor have the devs stated that they're not including romance because it would be some kind of problem.
There are many good games without romance. PoE is another great game without romance, so empirically it seems clear that it's not a problem not to have it either.
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Should be fine, there isn't really a medium or such as far as I can remember - there's very little for the CPU or GPU to do in the game. For more help post in the technical forum here: http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/104-pillars-of-eternity-technical-support-spoiler-warning/
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What an interesting topic! I was going to just chime in with 'what I think' but the discussion, particularly early in the thread, is far more nuanced that I expected. Just dropping what I want, or stating how the situation is w.r.t. PoE is unsatisfactory for the level of maturity shown. So I'll attempt a more fleshed out discussion point.
One aspect of RPGs that I like is that of immersion and having empathy with the characters involved - be that the player character, or a sidekick, or even in some notable games, the villain. Like a good novel, such characterisation stands out and in many cases leads me to think 'wow, I enjoyed the way this character made me feel'. And it does come down to feelings/emotion - ultimately empathy isn't just understanding the actions of someone, it's taking on board their feelings that motivate them to take their actions.
In that light, romance is 'just' another emotion. If a character can be written well enough to express needs, hatred, fear, why not also fondness, affection, desire?
The problem IMHO comes with that strange place that (interactive) games reside in w.r.t. the forth wall. We are not simply reading a book or watching a play, but partaking in it. Suddenly it is not just enough for us to receive the emotions of other characters, but we need to be able to interact with them as well, and this is one of the biggest challenges facing games - when we give a character the instruction to fight a monster we leave it up to the dice rolls and animations to determine the outcome and keep us clued into what is happening. When it comes to having our characters communicate emotionally in their world it's almost impossible to do other than present a discrete list of preset options.
Think about it. In almost all games you will have more options for how to fight a battle than you would for expressing your characters emotions, especially in a way that can then be responded to.
It's this that makes romance (and indeed any forth wall crossing emotion) so hard in computer games. I think romance can work incredibly well when a game is telling the story of a character - the nameless one and Deionarra is a good example, or indeed romances between NPCs. But where you have a freeform player character who inhabits the role the player wants to take, we just don't have the emotion-expressing/receiving tool kit to make them work well at the moment.
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Clearly this is smack in the face to us on the east coast, that we have wait until noon and you guys on west get to play first thing in the morning. Obsidian, why do you hate us?
We don't hate you - we love you!
Paradox set the time then so as many of our worldwide customers can enjoy at the same time as possible. That put it's at 9 AM our time, 12 PM yours, and 5 PM where they are. That way there are staff at Valve, Obsidian, and Paradox all at the same time in case something happens. Plus it means us hard working Europeans can concentrate on work without thinking about a game we could be playing instead
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Hehe OK so people have run with the discussion into Earth historicity and application of that to PE.
The real idea behind my starting post was to think not so much in terms of historical accuracy, but to imagine what scenarios it would be fun to use firearms for in the game, and what makes them stand out in terms of both the effect on the scenario and how they are experienced/interact with the game world.
To break down my short story: it imagines a possible use of firearms in bringing down a large or perhaps well armoured/protected beast. Only one person in the group has a firearm, perhaps indicating that they are expensive, hard to come by, or requiring quite specific training to use. The firearm itself is an object of wonder - giving clear scope for a range of customisations/expression of background stories, and requires quite a lot of support material - at the least a ramrod, shot, wadding and powder, the latter of which carries it's own concerns of environmental protection.
In this example, it takes a while to prep the gun, and possibly restricts mobility once prepped, leading to tactical decisions in when to prep, protecting the character, and using a scout to lure the target into an ideal firing solution rather than taking the gun to them.
The firing of the gun demonstrates some more point - inaccuracy (also a cause of needing to lure the target in) but also that the gun has useful effects even if it doesn't hit. Also the sheer noise in firing a gun is an event by itself - there's a big environmental reaction so the party have just revealed their position in the forest for anyone interested. Perhaps similar effects could be used tactically to draw or distract foes.
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I think you've missed the point.. I mean literally - a flint or other sharp head arrow (or crossbow for that matter) is applying its energy over a much smaller area than round shot is. Hence the ability to punch through plate if you fluked the loose and didn't have too much wobble in the arrow. Not so much good against chain mail however - you'd use bulbous tips for that to try and expand the rings and break them - shot would be perfect for that however.Even if you ramp up the English longbow's numbers to the level of the most absurd claims, there's still no competition.
Not that it matters a jot for PE
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We will have to experiment with firearms to see how integral they are to strategic loadouts and what their different tactical applications are. I want them to feel similar to historical firearms: inaccurate, powerful, and slow to reload, but I want them to be a real choice compared to other ranged weapons. It comes back to the high-level design goal: if we're including something in the game, it needs to be a viable option, not a marginal gimmick or no-brainer.
http://www.gamebansh...iew/page-3.html
We felt the beast before anything else - a trembling of the earth rising up through the soles of our feet. Only once we stopped and held our breath did we hear the slightest sounds of its passage through the forest. Immediately Johan, our scout, melted into the trees to circle out ahead of us. Kurt looked at me, pointed to a clearing not far ahead, and simply nodded.
I didn't need any more instruction. The others moved into protective positions while I shrugged off my backpack and started unbuckling the various belts and bags around my person. With reverence I removed Kaleh from her oiled wrapping. The blunderbuss gleamed as it caught the light, drawing a scowl from Kurt. He should have been watching the trails, but I can't blame him for stealing a glance at her - almost as pretty as me, and just as temperamental. Nevertheless, I waited for his gaze to move on before retrieving the powder bag from my breast - 'keep it high, keep it dry'.
The charge, wadding and shot were put down the barrel and packed down with the ramrod, yes, the boys usually enjoyed watching that bit too, but as the sounds begun to grow louder and more urgent they were keeping their eyes peeled.
"Bastard's bringing it in too quick." Abe grunted quietly. "Can't you hurry up?"
I didn't answer. You don't rush these things. I levelled the gun and carefully primed the flashpan with a little powder. Slowly, I got to my feet.
"Ready"
We edged forward the remaining distance to the entrance of the clearing. A soft chanting began behind me and I felt my spirits lift. Before I could nod my thanks Johan suddenly burst into the clearing, grinning. He rolled out of vision just as the bush to the left of the clearing exploded and the beast thundered into view. Its momentum almost took it past us before it noticed us and hesitated for a fraction of a second.
Which was just what I was waiting for.
The world erupted into a cacophony of noise as I pulled the trigger. The echo rolled around and the sky went black as everything capable of flight in a mile around us lept to the air. I have no idea if I actually hit the beast or not, but the effect was the same either way - it rocked back, too stunned to move. The rest of the party piled in and had the fight almost won before it had recovered.
So yeah. I’m worth the wait.
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I guess this comment is more about kickstarters/crowd-funding in general, but I wonder how the front-loaded/feature heavy nature is going to play out over game development and production. By that, I mean that you entice backers by pledging various features at various funding levels. That naturally leads to a temptation to push features (which perhaps leads to the inconsistency mentioned in the OP). But unlike a publisher, I wonder how we backers are going to feel if dropping a feature that was pledged is in the best interests of the game?
Feature cutting is part and parcel of game development (or indeed pretty much every other art form) - sometimes for time/money reasons, but often just because it doesn't work within the way the game is, and it makes for a better paced or polished etc. game if you cut (or even change) something.
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I know what you mean - in RPGs I love outdoor environments and the feeling of strolling through wonderful landscapes. But the sample render they've already shown should put your mind to ease - it's a lovely, daylit scene. I like my dungeons to be gloomy (unless there's some magical wonder perhaps) but that only serves to make the relief I imagine the party to feel when they get back to the surface even more real.
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"That's me. Sat in the corner. In the dark. Waiting for the party to finish before cleaning up after everyone. Never a thank you, and if I try to mingle people avoid me.
It's alright for the character classes - they're dangled in front of people like shop mannequins, enticing them in to spend the shinies.
Dungeon levels - come on out. Player housing... Stronghold... Big big cities.. all glittery and gold.
Even George Ziets.. sigh. I dream of being George Ziets.
But no. I'm not something to stick on a glossy front cover. I'm not going to make anyone pledge more money. So I'm just left in the corner, watching the mound of things to do grow larger and larger.
'We don't need you anymore' someone says, cruelly. 'Let the community do it!'
*sniff*
Their heart's in the right place, I'm sure. Some poor gamers who think even my job is glamorous. They'll see.
It's often the same story. 'Nice game', they say, 'shame about the bugs'. 'Shame about the lack of polish'. 'Just needs a bit more work'. My fault.
That's me. QA.
No-one loves me.
Please don't forget about me."
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The gaming community and "balance"
in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)
Posted
I hadn't even considered balance vs BG series or other IE games - PoE stands on it's own IMHO. But since I did play and enjoy BG I& II, my thoughts:
PoE is far better balanced.
BG swung between extremes too much - while also giving much less choice to playing how you wanted to play. Translating a 2.5 ed PnP ruleset into cRPG is likely to blame. PoE on the other hand brings the extremes in much further, and many more play styles are viable. This is to be expected, and they've done a great job - from a balance point of view PoE is IMHO more fun as a result.