sparklecat

The developers have said they weren't able to map pledges with add-ons that make them comparable to some edition to that edition; their system is only checking the primary pledge reward for which key you get. You'll still get your strategy guide and extra key via the backer portal.

Yeah, they got the keys up late in the evening for them and went home straight afterwards, presumably; there'll be an update going out today.

I actually found the deep misogyny on the part of Caesar's Legion to be one of the game's only major faults, not because it didn't fit the setting (which it did, no complaints from a storytelling point of view), but because it effectively closed off one of the three main factions to anyone who habitually plays as female characters who are neither insane nor self-loathing (or, for that matter, someone who simply finds that sort of sexism hits a bit too close to home and doesn't want to deal with it in her leisure time). The mental gymnastics required to come up with a coherent, enjoyable character concept for a woman who'd side with the Legion were beyond me, and I've still never completed a Legion playthrough because of it, which is a real shame when I otherwise enjoyed the game so much. /digression

You will get a disc with the actual game on it, no DRM, as in the olden days. Through the backer portal you will get one game key, redeemable on Steam or GOG. So yeah, you can give your friend the digital key you generate, then manually install the game from the disc yourself once it arrives, and download your patches from the backer portal.

I'm really surprised that Scholar isn't more widely available. eta: if anyone winds up modding the game to open up the different background options across the various cultures, please do share!

Ok, ok that's difficult, read this What name would you suggest for a Godlike born in a small boreal dwarf colony in The White That Wends? Um. Me personally? Because I haven't even named my own character yet, buddy.

Forced movement does not provoke attacks of oppor- wait no wrong system.

http://bake.pillarsofeternity.com/

No, because if they'd released keys to us before it was possible to redeem them on Steam, Obsidian's support email and the forums would've been flooded with people going "hey my key doesn't work on Steam help." So we get the keys after Steam's ready for us to input them, which as a side effect means a few hours after other people have started preloading. At least, that's my understanding of the situation.

I hope they're archiving that so I can watch it in a week or so when I emerge from the game.

Ask and ye shall receive. http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Personal_Names (The name differences are more by geographical area than race in this setting, I gather.)

How about this: gender, which in the broader sense is arguably more properly expressed as a continuum or a construct, is treated as binary for the purposes of the game's code, which is what is relevant to the discussion.

I wonder how we'll get the expansion for our physical DRM-free copies.

The expansion comes when it's done. The expansion is still in development. im not saying i want the key now, im asking if the backers who have the expansion and multiple game keys, will get an expansion key for each game key or not when the time comes I would assume you'll get the expansion only on one platform per key, just like the game itself.

Email support.

Yep.

Yes. I'm giving a reason why the encounter/daily spells mechanic doesn't mean that having buffs constantly in effect would be pointless.

Pretty sure they're not available until the game's unlocked on Thursday evening.

That's time you could be spending on something else, though, if your protection is already up when the fight's joined.

Yeah, my first game of BG2, I had the Haer'dalis and Aerie romance going on in the background, and I ended up way more invested in that than I was in any romances my own characters ever did, really.

What I find annoying is RPGs where maybe there aren't romances but they still assume my character is straight in little ways; flirty dialogue options available only with the other gender, for instance. Hoping that won't be the case here (and I'd be pretty surprised if it did come up, really).

Incidentally, I had the same problem and just emailed support; they uploaded the patch I missed and emailed me a link. Because, unlike Steam, they have support... Fast support, too. And not uncommonly lower prices. I only wish they were as fast about getting patches up; I'd prefer GOG overall, but I'm going with Steam for my digital copy because of that and the preloading.

Incidentally, I had the same problem and just emailed support; they uploaded the patch I missed and emailed me a link.

Through the backer portal, I believe.

Right, just go to http://eternity.obsidian.net/ and log in (top right).