Stun

As did the Icewind Dales. So? I said, with multiplayer IN MIND. You can't play the BG games multi-player and conclude that they were built for it. Indeed. I can answer your question though. The topic is always out there because casuals make up the majority. Because games like Diablo 3, WoW, and Dragon Age have conditioned the masses. Those games are the new normal. So of course, when Obsidian floated the idea of a classic RPG, we got the usual questions. "will it be multi-player?", "Will it have cooldowns?" "can I respec my character?", "can I play with a controller?", "Why is this game in 2d"? We got all these questions and more from these very same people. Thankfully, Obsidian didn't cave.

This is a load of BS, and it's already been addressed a couple of times on this thread. Get this through your head already. The issue here is NOT other people's play styles, the issue is game design. There's an integrity here that the stock game shouldn't break. Developing the game with a respec feature is just one of the breaking points. Others include: 1) Designing the game for consoles (Xbox1, PS4 etc.) 2) Designing the game without perma-death 3) Designing a game with multi-player in mind etc. With all of these, one can simply argue "well it doesn't affect you, since all of these things would be optional. Simply don't play the game on a console, don't play multi-player, and just dismiss party members who fall in battle! Problem solved!". But that doesn't address the argument. Some of us backed this game because we were specifically promised an "old school" IE experience. Had they, instead, promised us "the modern Dragon Age experience" I wouldn't have given them a single penny of my money. Enough of this. It's my turn now make suggestions. PoE does not have a respec feature because that's not the type of game it was designed to be. Deal with it. Cheat, download mods, grab your skyrim buddies at the Nexus and ask them to modernize the game to your own specifications. Or, just stick around here and whine about how unfair life is for another 5 pages. Either way, problem solved.

__________________________________________ False premise. Since we're talking about Pillars of Eternity, there are only 5 applicable RPGs. 1)Baldurs Gate 2)Icewind Dale 3)Planescape Torment 4)Baldurs Gate 2 5)Icewind Dale 2 None of them had a respec feature. And I'm not going to bother discussing Mods because that's a complete *red herring* and you know it. (why are you even here asking for a respec feature for PoE, when you know full well that someone will eventually create a mod that lets you do pretty much any type of editing to the game?)

-------------------------------------------------------- I don't have a problem with the Easy setting because the Easy setting has a legitimate function in any RPG: To trivialize combat for players who are playing for the story. And the HUGE difference between an "easy" setting and a respec feature is that the former leaves all the CC and RPG elements perfectly intact. The latter does not.

OK, here's one issue with it. RPGs are supposed to be about Choice & Consequence. But you're basically proposing a "remove consequences" toggle in the game play options menu. Why stop there? Why not also ask for a "remove RPG elements" toggle while we're at it? PS: the term is "Character Building". Not "Character Rebuilding"

How many times do we have to hear this "I'm too busy!" retort? There are countless thousands of Games for people who "don't have time". Many RPGs as well. These games offer: 1) instant gratification - for those who don't have time for the dramatic build up 2) very little reading - for those who don't have the time to read. 3) quest markers - for those who don't have time to explore 4) linear class progression - for those who don't have the time to sit down and study their options/choices 5) brief storylines - for those who don't have the time for a long narrative 6) the ability to respec - for those who don't have the time to replay the game. PoE was designed from the ground up to be the opposite of that type of game. When Josh Sawyer came on these very forums and told us, over a year ago, that PoE would be bigger than Baldurs Gate, You people should have taken the hint and ran for the hills right then and there. If you don't have time to either fix your build gradually via the level up process, or start over when you're 10 or 20 hours in, you probably won't have the time to finish the game anyway, so why are you even worried about your build? And again, why should developers cater to people who can't be bothered to give the game the time and attention it deserves?

Volourn has taken over the forum. From here on out, we must quote people without quotes.

--------------------------------------------------------- Yep. Decent RPGs have a character creation system, and the Option to...you know... replay the game. Oh wait, I forgot. I'm talking to a bunch of Modern casuals who can't be bothered to replay a game. ---------- ------ Translation: F*ck the story and the lore behind those NPCs, I want Viconia to have 18 strength, but I don't want to waste a Belt slot to do it! ------- ----------------- Worthlessly vague assertions. Do describe your respec proposal then, instead of simply making empty claims. Actually, don't bother, because, again, there isn't a way to make a respec feature that doesn't cheapen the character building process by eliminating 50% of the Choice-Consequence element.

Uh... no. Not like saving and reloading. Although, if we're going to nitpick, lets talk to Josh Sawyer and ask him what he thinks about stuff like save scumming. But whatever. This entire discussion is a totally moot point, because your side will never be able to overcome the two bottom lines here. 1) PoE is NOT a Diablo 3/Wow/Dragon Age influenced game. It is an IE influenced game. And the IE games didn't have friggin respeccing. (respeccing would have ruined those games) 2) PoE has already been released. It has no respec feature, and probably never will as long as Josh is its Project director. Thank God.

I have NO issue with people doing anything. My issue is with a game like PoE adopting these absurd, modern game, no-fail safety net mechanics. A respec feature? Really? Give me a break. PoE is a rare *gem*. A one in a million classic RPG where character building is actually part of the game's *challenge*. If they were to put a respec feature in the game, it'd be no different than being given the chance to "redo" a missed play in a football game, or some other ridiculousness that goes against the spirit of the game itself.

So it IS deliberate, and not a bug. Interesting. Is it new? Because this didn't happen in the backer beta. The map screen in the beta showed, clearly, the layout of everywhere you've already explored.

Getting bored with a game because its combat is too monotonous is a specific gripe about the monotony of combat, not of the way one built their character. But if the argument is that "I built my character a certain way, and now he's too boring", then the game already offers a solution. Make a party. This IS a party based game, remember? And the combat isn't about just your character, it's about your whole party. I think vanilla fighters in PoE are relatively dull no matter how you build them. But that's totally fine. I'll simply wind Eder up and let him do his own thing in combat, while I take full control and management of my Barbarian, my Monk and my Cipher.

Yeah, Same here. And it's like that for every dungeon. I've been in so far. Is it supposed to be like that?

The Mona Lisa? Yuck. Ugliest Selfie ever. My phone takes better pictures!

Next time I'm in France, I'm going to walk into the Louvre Museum and complain to everyone that all the art there is Dated.

I agree that the art style is dated. Not sure why we're supposed to see this as some sort of criticism or condemnation or whatever. A Modern art style would have ruined this game.

And a sidenote. PCGamer gave it a 92. An excellent, head turning score, although still 2 points less than what they gave Dragon Age 2. Oh well, better luck next time, Obsidian!

All the critics are loving this game. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/pillars-of-eternity It's got a 92 so far on metacritic. Highest of all the current PC games, and the Highest of any Obsidian game ever. And yes, I'd have to agree. I'm 10 hours in, and it's rather Obvious already that this is the best game Obsidian's ever done.

I blame modern RPGs in general. In PoE, Combat is a party affair, and the classes were designed to complement each other. A rare design in this day and age. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Imagine that. As it stands every class, on its own, will "suck" against a big boss. Fighters can go toe to toe with any boss, but just like Barbarians, they won't do much damage against them. Rogues will do great damage against Bosses, right up until that boss one shots them. Mages suck ass against Bosses, but can wipe out the rest of the battlefield faster than anyone. Priests can Buff and Debuff. Great. But you can't Debuff a boss to death in this game. You can, however use your cleric to turn the rest of your party into combat machines that can Kill that boss. That said. I'm currently Playing a Barbarian, and I'm noticing that he works quite well along side Eder. I built Eder up to be the Battlefield distraction. I gave him that talent that lets him engage 3 enemies at once. And every time he does that, I just send my Barbarian up to carnage those 3 from behind, constantly. Works every time.

I'd like to spend the final 12 minutes here, quietly composing... Haikus! It is almost time. Pillars of Eternity! It awaits us all!

Nice review! Perhaps the most shocking thing about these reviews is that they all.... All of them... are saying that this game is polished-- That it's relatively bug free. That's earth shaking when you think about it. When was the last time anyone said that about an Obsidian game....ever?

*A* video game? Kinda understating things, don't you think? That's like saying "this Lamborghini is just a car". Pillars of Eternity is a little more than that. It warrants whatever schedule change comes in conflict with it. And sleep is the easiest schedule to change anyway. Work schedules, on the other hand, are a little more tricky. But they're one of those things that is up to the individual to gauge. I personally, did not have too much trouble asking my boss for a day off, today. Wasn't able to get tomorrow off, but that's no biggie. I'm quite OK with playing the game for 12 hours today, then taking a 8-10 hour break from it tomorrow to work, because after that is the weekend! 2 1/2 whole days to play PoE!

That's a shame. This means that I won't get around to reading the Novella, or watching the documentary until, like, sometime in May or thereabouts. Game comes first, you know. And second. And third!

Plus, in PoE the Constitution modifier is percentage based, which means it's far more useful for classes that already get a high base health pool, like Barbarians and Fighters, since the bonus health will be exponentially more (+25% of, say, 500 health is a lot more than +25% of 200 health, for example). I'm not sure I'm a big fan of that. Because the only reason I'd want to pump constitution on a character in the first place would be if he was one of those low health squishies (like mages and rogues), in order to minimize their weaknesses. But as it stands one is better off spending attribute points on making a class's strengths stronger, than trying to eliminate the class's weaknesses.

Homebaked cinnamon rolls? that's.... That's a good trade! Actually, when do the Girl Scouts usually do their Girl Scout Cookie sales? Isn't it right around this time every year? Because I was thinking... a box of Thin Mints sounds like an absolutely perfect "release day event food" to have next to me as I'm playing.