Nakia

I upgraded to the digital collector edition by going to the Backers Portal/My Pledge/By Add Ons. I believe you can still do that.

But guys! If they fix the bugs, how will all the beetles repopulate?! o_O I don't think we need to worry. This game will be buggy no matter what.

Day one for me.

In role playing games I like to see if I can anticipate a quest. In the BB I did all the quests except Cat and Mouse before I had been given the quest then I found the quest giver and got the reward. I like and find refreshing that no matter how you complete the quest the XP is the same, the rewards may be different and with the Egg quest you can even fail. Blood Legacy I think very interesting because in a sense there is only one way to NOT fail the quest. Although the quest does say you are to find Alyse which is a bit sneaky. I love the twists that each quest has.

@Sarek, As I understand your statement you have stated that backers will not get the game they expected if they if the game does not give them XP for killing. I am a backer of the game and I did not back it in order to get XP simply for killing things. That was the furthest thing from my mind when I made my pledge there fore it is incorrect to make a blanket statement. Some backers may be disappointed and others may be happy. Accusing me of being a troll is an Ad Hominid argument directed at my character and I protest it. My comment is directed at your blanket statement and not at you personally. XP for killing everything benefits those who wish to kill everything and penalizes those who chose the non-violent options that are also provided in the game. PoE tries to balance this by limiting how you get XP. Based on the BB it still favors those who choose to kill every thing but it is still fairer than giving XP for every kill. By doing this it encourages role playing, encourages people to think about what they are doing and explore various means of solving a quest. My opinion is that games that favor XP for killing encourages a hack and slash game and discourage role playing. Why bother with stealth except as a means to sneak up on an enemy or why use diplomacy to avoid conflict if the way to get XP is to kill? Why should the developers of PoE bother to take the time and make the effort to provide choices and dialogue for a variety of options if all you are supposed is to go kill someone? XP for all kills would have been the easy way out and been a lot less work for the devs.

Read carefully what I said: "Ask anyone who played the beta in the beginning, their original version of the xp system was pretty bad." Also read that big post before. Removing combat xp, removed a style of gameplay for us players. I have been following this discussion closely. 1) I feel Sarex is making blanket statements for players. i.e. I didn't back this game because I wanted a certain combat or spell system in fact I hoped they would change the IE games system. 2) I am famliar with PnP and PbP games and actually took over one when we lost our DM suddenly. Those are co-op games where a group of people get together andd agree to abide by a certain set of rules. The DM does have the ability to modify things in order to facilitate game play. 3) PoE is a single player computer game. It has to deal with the limitations of the the computer. It has to take into consideration that each one of us has our own preferred play style.. I don't mind the beastery XP if it makes someone happy but if I choose a non[combat options why should I be penalized because as a role player I do not wish to go in for mass killing? As a game player and a backer of this game who speaks for me? I speak for me and only for me.

When I first played the BB I got to level 8 doing the quests. My last playthroughs I have gotten to level 9 with the extra beatery XP. I really do not understand why you are arguing. Some people are focused on getting XP so they can level up and get more skills/spells so they can kill more things. Others of us what choices and enjoying doing quests and tasks in different ways. We want to role play to the fullest possible extent. I did not find it that eay to level up in BG 1.

A good voice talent can make a character come to life, make it stick in your mind long after the game has been played and even make you return to savor the play once again. Enzio in the Assassins Creed is a fun character in his own right. He is so beyound reality, a supernatural being yet still believable in the game setting. Yet it is his voice I like to return to, the dialogue was well written but it was Roger Craig Smith that made the character come to life. I know OE can't afford Roger C Smith but I still hope for some hidden gems, a voice talent waiting to be discovered. If I don't like the Vaing or get bored with it and there is no option to disable it I will see if I can remove the vocal files, if I can't well hopefully there are those who can and will. Voice overs are important to me, very important.

I like the way XP is being done. If the devs changed from the quest only XP in response to feedback good for them. The killing of beasts and monsters in the wilderness may or may not be optional. Even using stealth constantly you could walk into the aggro area of animals and monsters. I think the solution made is a fair one. There may be something better but this late it might take to much time and personal to make a major change.

But why would you kill the baddies (pull the lever) if you don't get XP (sugar water)? Are you telling us you're too good to play in a skinner box, Nakia? Sorry I don't know what a skinner box is. Seriously I seldom check to see what my XP is. If the game gives me choices I pick the choice I feel fits the character that I am Playing. My preferred D*D alignment is chaotic good although the most fun game I ever played was BG/ToB where I played what we called smart evil. I had a mod that separated reputation into public reputation and party reputation. Edwin, Korgon(sp?), Vicky and Jan Jensen. Added Sarevok when I got to ToB and the sixth member varied. It was a blast. Question - are those baddies really evil? From there point of view maybe your character is the baddie invading their territory. Only trolls are evil. edit: I looked up Skinner Box. A conditioning chamber for training animals. Hmm, ah yes life, the world, our enviroment, culture, society etc do condition and train us but human beings do have the ability to think, to rebel, to chose. We can train or condition ourselves and not be mindless pawns of others.

Voice acting is not easy. If you check out some of the profesional voice coaches you will see what I mean. A good voice, even a great voice is not enough. The character is having a conversation with the player and the trick is to get this across. It needs to be clear, the enunciation clear but it needs to sound natural. What the character is feeling, who the character is needs to come across and not every one can do that. Acting ability is needed. Most Voice talents have some acting training and experience. the standard USA English accent was developed by professional voice coaches for radio announcers and is not what ordinary people speak. We all have an accent Do you speak American?

Off hand I don't have a female VA but here is one male USA voice I really like and I don't think he is at all hammy. I like the singer also.

For me I want a game that offers a lot more than XP so I can level up and get more goodies so I can kill more things. I want a story that is interesting, dialogue that is also interesting and give me choices. What I want is to role play a game, have a character that I can relate to in some way. In fact I find XP in most games a bit silly. Kill twenty wolves in what ever way possible. Then I can increase my skills, my spells whether they relate to how I got the XP. At least by getting XP by finishing a quest I can feel that it is general and covers several skills used in finishing the quest. If the main point of a game is to kill everything that moves practically I pass it by these days.

I watched some of the PoE stream on Twitch.tv. It was interesting but I was very disappointed with the voice overs. I hope this is not the final set of voices for the game. The use of the standard USA accent is at best boring and the "acting" for the female voices was shall I say , lackluster. No individuality, little real acting. Finding decent VAers should not be hard. I have friends who do it for fun and for free for modders.

I seldom use slow mode because it feels so very slow to me. This could be a hard one for devs to fix since we have disagreement here.

One of your party will trot over to the NPC you clicked on unless your party is close to the NPC especially if it is someone you will have a conversation with. IE the Innkeeper. Sometimes the NPC will turn towards that party member. Not sure if all do.

I would rather they take their time and give us a Beta with at least the worse bugs fixed.

I am glad they didn't wait for my birthday. May 31

Yep, that was what I was trying to say. It is still part of D&D not a separate system.

I knew a little about 2.5 ed rules but nothing about 3.5 ed and I think I had an easier time with IWD II fights. Note: AD*D is just D&D expanded, it does not necessarily mean more powerful or better just some things added. It is still Dungeons and Dragons.

March would be either late winter or early spring.

1) I think terms like "spiritual successor" and "the feel of IE games" are subjective terms. Those terms immediately tell me the game will not be identical to the original game; What an individual liked in the original games may or may not be included. If someone loved the mechanics, the combat system or the spell system they will be disappointed. If an in depth story with good dialogue and choices with consequences are important I think we will get that. 2) Why start a fight if you do not need to? If you have a choice and it fits with your role playing it is great IMO to have that choice. 3) From the BB it seems to me that what you meet in wilderness are beasts or monsters for which you get Beastery XP. So there is equivalent of combat XP IMO. 4) At the moment I don't think we know how important side quests are. Even so if you got XP for fighting the Ogre in the BB and then return to the farmer and get XP for doing the quest this would penalize the person who chose the non-combat option. To me this is a role playing game and the more options I have the happier I will be. 5) There are many games published that fous on combat if that is what is important to players.

Here we go again.

One reason for my observation was because I recently visited a forum set up as a fan site for IE games to check what they were saying about Pillars of Eternity. One thread was labeled "Beta Demo". :sigh: This on a forum that should know better in my opinion.

Just got to wondering how fast people could go through the opening dungeon?