[Some criticisms about the game (MAJOR SPOILERS)]

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS in this post

 

This is going to be a long post. I really shouldn’t be spending this much time on it, but I just feel like there were some things that I wanted to say about the game.

 

Felipepepe wrote up a very good post “My collected criticism on Pillars of Eternity (very minor spoilers)” on the rpgcodex website and so I am going to be repeating some of his criticisms and adding my own thoughts on it.

 

Engine & Presentation

The game is beautiful and the soundtrack is solid. The 2x speed button is a great addition and having the secondary weapons appear on the back/waist showed an attention to detail.

The map backgrounds were gorgeous.

But the overall sense I got from the backer beta feedback and even after release is that maybe more art could have been put into the game, such as including more portraits or concept art.

                                 

Choice and Consequence

In Pillars, you have a lot of personality nuances, but it doesn’t really alter the endgame that much. You end up a bit of everything, get a few different dialog choices, and that’s it. That tends to make it difficult to replay it again, because there’s nothing necessarily game-changing.

Games like Arcanum and KOTOR allowed you to go to the very extremes. Pillars doesn’t seem to allow you to do that.

Races and classes could also be used a little bit more. I played as a Pale Elf, and I didn’t really get much of a response from my race at all. Contrast that to Arcanum, where there is a strong reaction to your appearance and race.  

 

Enchantment & Itemization

I am going to quote felipepepe directly here:

 

“Oddly, the systems logic isn't bad per se; you can enchant weapons and armor with a few bonuses, while unique named items usually come with unique, more powerful enchantments. What's unexplainable is how the designers used the system.

 

For example, about 1 hour in you can recruit Éder as a companion, and he comes with a magical Saint's War Armor that once per battle will "revive" the wearer mid-combat if his endurance drops to 0. ****ing amazing, you can't add that to regular armors, so it's a very special and useful item you'll probably keep until end-game, with a few enchantments of your own on top.

 

But that's an exception. Éder's armor is one of the best & most unique items in the entire game, more often than not you'll just find uninspired magical items, very similar to the ones you can craft. There's no sense of progression here, at end-game I was finding unique items that were just like the ones I had purchased & enchanted myself, just with an extra ability like "Ignores 3 DR". Yes, it's a nice ability, but one would expect a bit more after 40 hours of play, especially in a game where you can sit down and craft a Spirit-Slaying Blade of Fire +3 at any moment.

 

The worst offender is by far the Blade of Endless Paths. You must find its fragments spread out through the huge 15-level dungeon to reforge it, just like in Baldur's Gate 2. But while in BG2 you would get legendary weapons such as the Flail of Ages, The Equalizer, Crom Faeyr, the Vorpal Blade, the Wave or the Short Bow of Gesen - all unique weapons with distinct powers - PoE gives you a boring Estoc that's 20% faster, gives +10 accuracy to one ally attacking the same target, and cannot be enchanted any further. WOW! Not only other unique weapons have these abilities, but you can buy any Estoc in a shop and enchant it into a more powerful blade if you have the proper ingredients.

 

On this subject, each item can be enchanted up to 12 "slots". Each enchantment use from 1 to 6 slots, so there's a limit to the enchantments you can add. But it makes little sense. The aforementioned ability to revive characters mid-combat occupies only one slot, while the inane "+10 accuracy for ally" takes two slots! Moreover, the whole system seems designed solely to stop players from adding the "Superb" enchantment to already powerful weapons, since it takes whopping 6 slots. And that's about all that the system does really, you'll rarely run into the cap otherwise. This could be such a rich system, if there were secret and powerful recipes to uncover so you could add exotic enchantments, or if it made you weight the "size" of each enchantment carefully, but it's horribly underused.

 

Apart from that, there's a serious lack of some types of magical items in the game. PoE overflows with magical cloaks and necklaces (both which use the same slot), but has very, very few magical belts, rings, helmets and hats. Two of my characters finished the game with regular, non-magical (but stylish) feathered hats, simply because there was nothing better for them to wear after 50 hours exploring.

 

You see, since there are no hard-counters, items can't give you "Free Action", "Protection from Charm" or anything like that. So they mostly give bonuses like +1 to Might, +3 to Deflection, etc. But these do not stack - you cannot have a +1 Might ring and a +2 Might helmet. As result, my PC finished the game wearing the prestigious CRPG ring, as all the other rings available had similar bonuses to the ones she already had and wouldn't have any effect.”

 

One thing I will say in praise of Pillars is that there does seem to be a wide variety of available weapons. There seemed to be a fair representation of clubs, swords, and wands.

The other criticism that I would add is that in order to craft superb items, you have to have a dragon component, which basically means that you have to fight the dragons. To my knowledge, the dragon components can’t be bought in stores.

Getting rid of the arrows and bullets was a good decision, because It was a pain in the neck to constantly replenish your ammunition. But the problem now is that you can’t really customize the ammunition. You can’t really choose between +1 or normal bullets or flame/lightning/ice arrows anymore.

 

Gameplay and Classes

 

The classes still need some polish. In my opinion, ciphers are overpowered and fighters don’t have a lot of active abilities. When I use Eder, I send him to engage enemies. He has a few knockdowns and a clear out. That’s it. Otherwise, he’s just hacking away at the enemies.

Regarding the wizard class, I never switched grimoires with Aloth. He used the same 4 spells that I found the most useful over and over again.

BTW, as a side note, it would be amazing if someone could mod the chants so that you could actually play your own music or audio for the chants.

 

One really minor thing is character introductions. Eder is just hanging out in front of the gallows tree. Sagani is just waiting by the crossroads. Durance is standing by the statue. Kana is just chilling in front of the stronghold. Not terribly memorable. 

 

Books aren’t really used for anything except background. You can’t increase your skills or attributes if you find them. The one use they really had was when you were praying to the gods. Other than that, they didn’t reveal any hidden recipes or secrets or schematics.

The attributes system didn’t really feel any different from the Baldur’s Gate series. One of the oft talked about points of the game was the idea of a “muscle wizard’. The problem is that it doesn’t seem to work in practice. On top of that, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference with the attributes and the standard SCDIWC. I mean, resolve is literally charisma. If you look through the dialogue options,  it’s exactly that.

 

Some of the battles in the game don’t feel satisfying. When the player fought against and defeated Firkraag in Baldur’s Gate 2, they got an Holy Avenger out of it. When I was looting the Adra Dragon’s horde, I didn’t really find any useful weapons or items. The battle also didn’t feel very satisfying because I felt like I had to cheese my way to victory. I used tons of Scrolls of Paralysis and set up Seals to defeat the dragon. There wasn’t the same sense of satisfaction.

 

There’s got a better way to sell excess items in my Stash. By the time I finished the game, I had about 3 pages full of weapons that I would never need or use. Isn’t there a way to select all or sell off a group of armor?

 

The scripted interactions didn’t feel very original. As long as you had a hammer and chisel, grappling hook, and prybar, you could pretty much successfully complete most of the scripted interactions. It didn’t feel like there was a random element outside of those tools. I think there were a very checks on Athletics, but that was it.

 

Mechanics is completely overrepresented in the game. You use it to detect traps, hidden switches, and unlock the doors. The other skills just aren’t as useful.

 

I feel like you level up way too fast in the game. The bounties, unlocking doors, defeating enemies, disarming traps, and finishing quests all add up too fast. And when the level cap gets hit, there isn’t any additional improvement that can be made on the existing characters.

 

The Stronghold isn’t very satisfying either.

·         There’s really little to no payoff, other than the Warden building, for upgrading the keep. You don’t really get a bonus for completely upgrading the keep.

·         The bandits can tear down your walls. So why build walls at all if it’s a money drain?

·         The dungeon is built in such a way that you can’t really prevent prisoners from escaping. You only have the option of releasing them. You can’t execute any prisoners.

·         The adventures are guaranteed victories. You just send off one of your hirelings, wait a few days, and get money or experience back.

·         Resting in the keep feels more inconvenient than resting in one of the local inns because you only get bonuses in one attribute, and it only raises the attribute by +1, when you can pay for +2 increases in inns for a nominal fee. You also have to trek all the way to Brighthollow and then go up the stairs to sleep. It’s an inefficient use of time.

·         You don’t really get a discount from the merchants at the keep and they don’t really offer many unique items. You can get discounts from merchants elsewhere because you can have a good reputation in places like Gilded Vale and Defiance Bay.

·         There’s not a lot of interactivity with the upgrades. You can’t go into the maze. There’s really nothing special about the buildings that you can’t get already from the merchants in other places.

 

The reputation system is OK in the game. But I wish I could have collected certain titles and reputations like you could get in Arcanum, like “The Butcher of Stillwater”, etc.  I can easily think of a few off the top of head like, “Exorcist” for clearing the lighthouse or “Master Detective” for solving the murder mysteries or “Headhunter” for completing all of the bounties. Sort of like the Steam achievements, but in game.

 

Story

 

The story is the strength of the game. The only thing that bothered was in the end, when after you had this long conversation with Iovara about the gods being constructed by the Engwithans, and finally beaten Theos to a bloody pulp, and you end up in front of the Engwithan soul container, and you end up having to choose from the choices that the different gods. You don’t have an option to really go against what the gods want.

There was this long discussion with Iovara and Theos about whether or not the gods existed and whether or not people should have a right to know, and then your final choice ends up choosing between what the gods want. It's almost an admission or concession that you, the player, don't really have much control, because while the choices that you make are yours, they're also the choices that the gods want you to make. 

Even trying to break the pantheon, by serving Woedica, is actually helping a god. 

What I am trying to say is that even with the knowledge that the gods don't really exist, you are still somehow bought by the gods's rules. And I wish that Obsidian could have put in an option where you could have made a choice like Iovara's.

 

[Od Nua Master Staircase]

Nevermind. The issue was the person behind the keyboard. Apparently, you have to move the map itself around a lot, and you'll eventually find the images of the other levels, which have the activation squares on them.

I had the exact problem as you. I do wish there was a brief popup in game explaining that because I did waste a fair amount of time trying to figure out how to go down the levels. 

[Keep needs a serious overhaul]

I was over all fairly pleased with the keep - it's not like money *really* matters - unless you're going for the ultra-passive achievement.   The only thing that bothers me at all is I'd like to be able to transfer stuff out of my stash and into containers in the keep, because I dream of loading my keep up with crap I'll probably forget about - like I used to do with the dresser drawers in an inn in Beregost . 

 

Once you really start hammering out side quests the keep becomes a lot more profitable because you'll be swimming in adventures of various sorts.  It's just that when you first get it, if you play the "intended" route, you don't have a great lot of side-quests left to do for a little bit.  I actually got some fairly decent items out of it too lol. 

 

But it's not just about the revenue generation. It's about whether or not the keep is fun to play.

And right now, it's not really fun to play. It feels more like a chore, like Farmville or something, where you have to pay off bad visitors and fend off armies. 

It's micromanagement, but it's not necessarily fun micromanagement.

[Keep needs a serious overhaul]

 

Semi on-topic: I've just recently starting upgrading the keep, and all my hirelings have notes saying they are "currently unpaid"

 

What does this mean? Do I have to pay them out of taxes rather than my normal money? And what happens if I never get enough taxes to pay them, will they get pissed and leave?

 

A bug from what I can tell. They are getting paid, but the UI isn't being updated to show that. 

 

Aye, so far the stronghold hasn't impressed me. As examples: I haven't had any interesting visitors as of yet and the dungeon seems rather pointless, mainly because of the former and their ability to escape. 

 

 

And you can't really prevent them from escaping either and you don't really know when they are going to jailbreak. That's also a problem. 

[Most enjoyable companions?]

1. Durance and Grieving Mother

I actually loved these characters' dialogues. I thought they were very original and creative.

You could immediately tell the difference in writing style. I was not surprised at all that Chris wrote them. 

 

2. Hiravias

Hilarious.

 

3. Sagani

Great story about family.

 

4.  Eder 

Bro.

 

5. Kana

Scientist. 

 

6. Pallegina and Aloth

Kind of boring honestly. Maybe if there was more backstory for both, I would have liked them more. Aloth has backstory, but at the same time, I still feel like there was more to be developed there.  

[Efficient way of selling large quantities of weapons and armor?]

Is there an efficient way of selling large quantities of weapons and armor to stores? 

As the standard "murderhobo", I have accumulated pages of weapons and armor that I have looted from various monsters and cultists. 

 

When I go to stores to sell these weapons and armor, I have been individually moving them from the stash to the inventory. 

This can be a pain in the neck when I am trying to sell 30 pieces of armor or 20 swords at a time. 

 

Is there any way I can sell these items en masse at all? 

[Is it possible to learn new crafting/enchant recipies?]

While we're on the issue, I must say that it's frustrating as all hell to not be able to remove Enchantments. I'd love to retool one of my rapiers, but I can't. One needs to be ridiculously careful with what/how you enchant your weapons & armour.

 

Also, yeah, the selection is limited and it all feels very meh. Yeah, Enchanting is important, it feels important, it has an impact, but it just feels unfulfilling and unengaging in actual play, I think.

 

Also, I'm sad that the only things you can Enchant is Armour and Weapons. Not even cloaks or helmets.

 

It would have also been pretty cool to break down existing enchanted weapons into components that you can recycle for other weapons. 

[The No Bad Choices Thread]

Classes

Feels like Wizards don't have the same time of offensive and healing repertoire that the Druids have. 

Wish there were more summoning spells and more spells targeted at the undead. 

 

Stats
Resolve is LITERALLY Charisma. 

 

Crafting and Enchanting

I wish I could get enchant and layer on more effects on armor and weapons. 

Personally, I wish there were some more quirky effects from the unique weapons standpoint. 

 

Talents and Abilities

I wish I had more points to use for talents and abilities. 

I also agree that some of the talents and abilities aren't very useful. 

I barely use Pallegina's Lay on Hands. 

[Is it possible to learn new crafting/enchant recipies?]

I'm disappointed by the fact that you can't even name your enchanted items. That seems like it should have been an easy feature to implement. (But maybe not, I wouldn't really know.)

That's a good point. I think that would be pretty cool to implement. 

 

I liked the crafting options in Arcanum a lot because you had to find schematics to assemble items.

Or in Diablo 2, where you had to experiment with the Horadic cube to find different formulas. 

 

In this game, all the recipes are already given to you. I think it would be have been kind of fun to put in hints on recipes throughout the game. 

 

The challenge of unlocking or finding new recipes/items is gone. 

[Companion sidequests]

Is there only the single sidequest line for each companion, or do you occasionally get additional quests for adventuring/talking with them?  I'm just wondering if I can pull the correct ones out to follow their quests or if I need to be careful to have specific companions with me during specific times.

I am almost done with the game, and from my experience, there's only a single sidequest for each companion. 

[Too much VO]

My personal opinion of the voice acting is that they were all outstanding. I was very, very impressed. 

[Prybar, Grapling hook, Hammer and Chisel etc...]

Love the game, few bugs and all. That being said, I have a comment with regards to the scipt-relevant tools you come across. I should note that I'm not very far into the game (only just got Caed Nua), so maybe these comments are a bit premature. 

 

Regarding the tools: I originally thought it was a cool implementation with regards to the scripted events. But now my attitude towards them is just kind of "meh,". I think the reason is that these tools are just way to easy to come by, and cheap, so it never really adds any challenge to the game. It's not like camping supplies where there is some degree of resource management to it, because apparently they are indestructable. And so far, aside from the very begining of the game, where you need to find the hammer and chisel to progress in the game, your progress isn't really challenged by them. In most cases, it will already be in your stash, unless you went out of your way not to pick them up or buy it.

 

So I guess my overall point is, I don't see what they add to the game so far. Again, maybe because it's still early days.

 

What bothers me more about the tools is that as long as you keep them stocked, it's almost insta-win for the scripted interactions.

 There's no randomness or unpredictability attached to the scripted interactions, which to me, makes the decisions with the scripted interactions too easy. You always use the available tool. 

 

I also wish there were more varied scripted interactions. Most of the scripted interactions that I have gone through have been either, use hammer and chisel, torch, grappling hook, or prybar. 

You use them to climb up places, go over gaps, or chisel things away.

It's almost TOO logical. 

It would be nice to try different, varied items, with the scripted interactions for potentially unexpected results. 

[Companions - who wrote what?]

 

I've been asked who wrote which companions a number of times recently. I'd held off answering because there was a chance that it was going to tie into some of our PR around launch time, but I believe that is no longer the case. So for those curious:

• Aloth - Carrie Patel
• Durance - Chris Avellone
• Edér - me
• Grieving Mother - Chris Avellone
• Hiravias - Matt MacLean
• Kana Rua - Olivia Veras
• Pallegina - Josh Sawyer
• Sagani - Carrie Patel

 

 

Chris can WRITE. Durance and Grieving Mother really stood out for me. 

 

Some of the dialogue for Hiravias was also hilarious. 

[A little disappointed in the stronghold]

It seems relatively costly to purchase the upgrades without substantial benefits to it. 

The inns offer better attribute bonuses than resting at the Stronghold. 

The upgrades take a fairly long time to build, specifically the walls, and they are also easy to tear down after an attack on the stronghold. 

I haven't really held that many prisoners in the dungeon and it doesn't seem particularly reactive. 

There have been a couple of unique items that I have bought from visitors but visitors don't seem to visit the stronghold much. 

There's no risk of failure for sending out companions for quests. 

I don't seem to generate a lot of income through the stronghold. 

 

The bounties are good. 

 

There just doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to really beef up the stronghold much, like completing all the upgrades would earn a bonus, etc...

[Ehm... What's with Obsidian's hatred for rogue NPCs?]

It also doesn't make sense to me not have a rogue NPC when there are other classes that seem to complement rogues really well, like the cipher, the druid, and the wizard. The spellcasters can cause status effects that the rogues can really exploit. 

[Are Ciphers overpowered?]

During my run-through, it feels like I can stun any enemy with my cipher.

[Really enjoying game, but some stipulations]

First, let me say how much I love this game. 9/10. If the few issues I have with it are mended, 10/10, and I will buy it for some friends.  Total nostalgia and hommage to Baldur's Gate/Planescape series and the other strategy RPG's i grew up with and played relentlessly when I was a wee lad.

 

However, one thing that i enjoyed more about those games that I am not enjoying so much in PoE is how you basically have two health bars. The endurance versus health is totally unecessary and adds a level of tedium for me that breaks the fun of the game. Having to camp way too much. Having to rest way too much, and no way to restore health by the priest/druid in the party casting a spell out of combat? Come on... Something easily done in Baldur's Gate that helped catalyze the gameplay rather than artificially extend it...

 

Granted I am only about 10 hours into the game, but I am not enjoying having to rest and camp so much. 

 

I also don't like how easily spells are interrupted while trying to cast. I dislike how few spells you get to cast  (using the tired method of spellcasting that even DnD abandoned, that of memorizing your spell "slots") before having to rest yet again.  Wizard in the party is getting basically two-shot knocked out in some fights.  Reduce the damage EVERYONE does across the board or increase everyone's health. Make fights last longer with everyone doing less damage to one another so that those lovely nice spells you coded into the game can actually get used, rather than just HEAL HEAL HEAL burn burn burn. Combats are either really fast, or not fast enough, or your wizard/priest/monk gets hammered and knocked out almost immediately before the (lets be honest) very slow cast time of some spells can go off. 

 

Fighter could use quite a few more class abilities as well.

 

Maybe I am bad at the game and don't quite "get it" just yet, but I am playing on Normal and some fights are just impossibly tough, with 5 members in the party (namely the battles with the Priests in the Lord's castle --- their unavoidable spells hit entirely too hard in my opinion).

 

Thanks for your time, guys, and thank you for giving us such an amazing game. It was well worth the money spent and I play it literally any moment I can spare.

 

POE reminds me a little bit of both Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil. I can definitely some elements of both mixed into the game. 

I think you make a valid point about more class abilities for the fighter or giving something more for the fighter to do. 

My spellcasters and ciphers are pretty busy during a battle but it seems like my fighter just goes around hacking people for most of the fight. 

Eder can knockdown people and he has some modes and passive abilities but he doesn't seem to have many ACTIVE abilities. 

 

I also agree a little with the variety of spells for wizards. I thought it was a little strange that ciphers could essentially use their abilities as long as they fought actively but wizards were still limited to the Vancian system. I also haven't been switching grimoires that much during combat. NWN's spell system just seemed to have more variety and more summoning spells. 

The druid spell system in POE, at least to me, was much more fun to play with. 

 

Martimus, some recommendations I would make, if you haven't done so already, is to try to put your spellcasters in the back of the party formation or to change the party formation a bit so that the fighters and heavy-fighters take on the brunt  of the assault. 

You could also try sending a few party members out at first to lure the priests or enemies into the position that you want them to be at, at a specific chokepoint where your fighters and heavy hitters can engage the enemies, and then send in the entire party or use the spellcasters to cast area of effect spells. 

You could also try pausing during combat and actively moving the spellcasters out of the enemies' reach.

In regards to casting time, it also helps experimenting with different armor, since they affect recovery time.  

The Lord's castle is also optional so you could always come back later to take care of it. 

[Kind of disappointed how mechanics dominates the skills]

Anybody else feel like this? To me it seems it far surpasses the benefits of the other skills.

Also, I've had Aloth join in on a conversation (8 lore at that time), yet the dialogue options were restricted by my lore level... kind of underwhelming... so party member skills are solely for the passive benefits like using scrolls? kind of disappointing as well...

Still it is an awesome game!

I completely agree. 

Lore does seem to help a bit with dialogue choices but Stealth, Athletics, and Survival don't seem to benefit me as much. 

I don't really use potions that much so Survival doesn't really have an effect on me. 

Athletics is really to prevent fatigue and after a certain amount of points put into it, it doesn't really seem to impact gameplay much.

I haven't found Stealth to be really useful.  

[Leyra, Missing Sentries]

Unfortunately the strategy guide is incorrect.

 

There's no peaceful resolution for Missing Sentries.

 

Just as feedback, gameplay wise, I am not sure why there can't be any peaceful resolution for Missing Sentries. 

[Endless Paths level 13 is uncompletable. [MAJOR BUG]]

Yeah, I don't mind that it's tied to an outside plot point, I just wish there were some indication that it was.  Maybe a journal entry saying something like "Unless we learn to understand what they're saying, we'll never get past that door," or something like that.

I agree that there should be some indication.

Also, the hidden door that wouldn't open unless you absorb Maerwald's knowledge issue bothers me too. 

I was scouting and trying to detect the hidden switch for a while. Didn't know that I had to absorb Maerwald's knowledge beforehand for that. 

Just wish that there was some indication that it was tied to it. 

[Endless Paths level 13 is uncompletable. [MAJOR BUG]]

Get this. I have already finished Heritage Hill Quest, so my character is familiar with Engwathian language. I was able to speak with the ghost (and get the password), and to open the "secret" door. However I can't open the talking door. All I can say, is that I am a servant of Od Nuya, which doesn't give me the permission to enter. What the hell? Anybody?

 

(Also I did exaust the dialog with the other ghost, he is not able to speak to me thou)

 

There's multiple ghosts on the entire map. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but just make sure you talk to all the ghosts and listen to what they have to say. It's similar to an Indian Jones and the Fate of Atlantis puzzle.

If you are still stumped, you should try clicking all the options when you look to open the talking door.

If you are still stuck, you can PM me if you don't mind spoilers. 

[PoE Embargo ends March 23rd, Backers wait for the 26th?]

Having a bunch of people play the game before me is not going to affect how I enjoy the game in any way.  

 

A metaphor would be someone driving past me on the highway. As long as it doesn't affect my time to my destination, my car, or my safety, why should I care if someone drove past me? 

[480 Discussion]

 

Since there's a programmer present, do you think you guys would have time to include an option to flip portraits in release so they face right or left? No biggy, but lots of the portraits are great, but if you have a pet, then they cover up a good portion of the portrait.

 

That's not something I have heard mentioned until today, so I wouldn't count on it for release. I know it might sound small to do but, there are a lot of small suggestions requested weekly on here and by the dev team. If we tried to cram all of them in, we would never have time to fix the bigger bugs and issues.

 

Even as of right now, we still have a sizable list of bugs and improvements we still want to address. But on a positive note, we have post release patches planned out and will be working on an expansion soon after. So feel free to keep offering out suggestions and they may end up getting shuffled into the mix somewhere.

 

Though it may not seem like it sometimes, the devs are constantly reading a lot of the stuff posted on here.

 

 

I have been very impressed with how responsive the developers have been to user questions and requests. 

I will definitely be buying the expansion. 

[What have you (Obsidian) done with the assetbundles?]

Right now, I doubt Obsidian's highest priority is bringing back modding support for a handful of people. 

The backer beta wasn't intended to be modded. It was intended for software testing.

[No portrait for Ocean Folk?]

Since at this point, we are just waiting for the game to come out...

And at this point, I am just shooting the bull here, so Kaz, please don't take this too seriously. 

 

Regarding the SD portraits, I actually like the one on the left more. 

The face has a leaner look to it. The eyes look more alert. There's more of a gradient background. 

 

The right portrait has a more contemplative feel to it. The eyes are looking to the side. 

The face has a more weathered look to it. 

I also think the lighting on the cheekbones is little bit more off compared to the one on the left. Maybe a little bit too much color on the nose. 

But the shadowing on the forehead is better than the earlier version.