Posbi

While PoE II would be neat I also wouldn't mind getting a game like NWN 2 in a 3D engine with a nice, huge toolbox for mods and user-generated content. Something along the lines would also seem to be the smart commercial decision, seeing how much life, new customers even years after the initial release, and replay value one can squeeze out of actively modded games...

it does poor job to describe world outside of Dyrwood area. I'd say that's intentional. For Obsidian it's better to be vague now so they can adapt the setting as the games progress.

Guys, it's been close to one and half months now. It'd be kinda nice to get my stuff now.^^

NWN2 allowed you to do pretty much this. Since Obsidian did that, too, I had hoped for the Pillars' stronghold to expand on these features, not cut back on them. In NWN 2 you had a whole lot of scripted events, even including other adventuring parties coming to visit you and do some tasks for you.

Unfortunately it's not quite that simple, areas also have depth and normal maps, and implementing proper pathing could get complicated. Largely depends on how pathing is handled in any possible mod tool or in the Unity engine in general. And what objects are actually 3D, ie. need/have depth maps? Would it not be comparably easy to handle them, as in placing 3D meshes on a 2D background? Isn't that what navmeshing in, say, the Bethesda Creation Kit amounts to: showing the NPCs where they can and cannot move to? Anyway, I suppose the answer to all this is: depends on how much time they decide to spend on any kind of editor. But I believe we can agree that a competent modding tool can keep a good game alive for years to come, right?

I don't really understand why modding in this case would be ultra-complex and would be lacking an accessible modding tool. For one, the mixture of 3D effects and 2D backgrounds should make it easy enough to place things on the map, block or enable paths, set location markers and design (scripted) interactions. Secondly, with access to the background layers and the individual assets placed there (there are hundreds, if not thousands of objects that have been copy-pasted in this game; not a complaint, just an observation), anyone with a good grasp on Photoshop will be able to mash up new areas comparably easy. And we already have a character creation tool in the game itself. Exporting a slimmed-down version of that into a modding tool ought to be possible. I, for one, certainly would welcome a tool allowing me some in-depth modding. I certainly have some stories written down ready to be told that would fit right in.

This. I don't have a problem with the idea of the stronghold. I loved the stronghold in NWN 2. What I have a problem with is the way the stronghold is a) given to the player and b) how it is presented - both visually and by the way of game interactions - in Pillars of Eternity.

Yes, immersion. In a fantasy RPG. Which is, you know, the most important "passive" quality such a game can or cannot possess. And which the Stronghold lacks. As in, almost completely. You get it out of the blue. There's nothing close to it, no responsibility linked to it. Kolsc or Raderic could have given it to you as means of payment for your role in their dynasty struggle. It could have served a special purpose, served as a hold for nearby villages, for some trade route etc. that has fallen to ruin with the spread of the Legacy and the madness of its former liege lord, Maerwald. Instead, it's literally "Here's a keep, including magical janitor. No strings attached. Have fun." So, yes, in a game that takes its setting extremely serious and creates an immersive atmosphere, the Stronghold is an immersion breaker. ...and it looks like crap, but I've mentioned that in quite some length a few times before.

The stronghold needs some serious conceptual and executive changes to stop being such an immersion breaker...

Just wait till she tweets to Sawyer. Seems he's the go-to guy with an open ear for the easily offended. And then the next patch rolls in, with a note by the CEOs that some quest content wasn't carefully enough vetted and had since then been removed.

...by pre-censoring themselves. Yay, great.^^ Because that's how this usually works.

Nobody forced Obsidian to act on this. The sane choice would have been not to react and succumb to the desires of a SJW crowd not making up their core customer base. This only became an issue because Josh Sawyer made it into one. "Transmysoginy." Yeah, right.^^ But it's not even about transgenders in the first place! For ****s sake! It's a mix of the old RPGs clichees of "people in drag" and "people drunk as piss". That's. All. There. Is. To. This. I still don't understand the mental gymnastics you need to put yourself through to look at the simple limerick and arrive at "transmysoginy". The only reason people get there is because they really, really want to get there.

Doesn't pressing "S" slow down your walking pace?

I don't really understand why modding in this case would be ultra-complex and would be lacking an accessible modding tool. For one, the mixture of 3D effects and 2D backgrounds should make it easy enough to place things on the map, block or enable paths, set location markers and design (scripted) interactions. Secondly, with access to the background layers and the individual assets placed there (there are hundreds, if not thousands of objects that have been copy-pasted in this game; not a complaint, just an observation), anyone with a good grasp on Photoshop will be able to mash up new areas comparably easy. And we already have a character creation tool in the game itself. Exporting a slimmed-down version of that into a modding tool ought to be possible. I, for one, certainly would welcome a tool allowing me some in-depth modding. I certainly have some stories written down ready to be told.

A hotbutton for sheathing weapons would be a nice addition to help with immersion. It's a wee bit awkward if you run around a peaceful village with all your weapons drawn. You CAN walk. Hit "S". The Stronghold really is *THE* immersion breaker for me so far. Everything I wrote on it here still stands, and the execution has been even more underwhelming than what I originally feared. Given the entertainment I drew from Crossroads Keep in NWN 2 I'm seriously disappointed. Even the way you get the stronghold in the first place is... less than stellar.And it could have been so easy. Take a plausible reason to gain the stronghold in the first place: Kolsc (or Raedric, but why the **** would you even chose him?) grants you the place for your support in the preceeding affairs. Seeing how he is the lord over a destitute and depopulated realm, that's all he can give you: a ruined stronghold and your name to it. You could still have Maerwald dwelling there, maybe as a trespasser or simply as the former liege lord who has gone mad over the years as memories have swallowed him while his territory falls to ruin in the face of Waidwen's Legacy. As the stronghold sits on an old trade route across a river ford you even get a reason for it's existence in the first place. The Endless Paths should be something you discover later on while repairing the keep, not something presented to you on a silver platter. And by restoring the keep you draw back in the settlers/villagers that may have left before, and that entails a whole slew of scripted (mini-)quests, adventuring parties visiting you, etc. See, that wasn't hard to think of. Took me ten minutes. Should have been no more difficult for Obsidian. I seriously hope you rework the mechanics and implementation with some future major patch, because right now all the Stronghold amounts to is an immersion breaking money sink! Any infor regarding the possibility to mod the game with a tool? The mix of 3D assets and 2D backgrounds should make it comparatively easier to mod than the old Infinity Engine games, and there are enough unused spaces to populate still.