[So, the plot.]

I think the plot is a glorious ode to atheism and a kick in the nuts to religion.

 

I think the message is way more muddled than that (and not in a good way). I also don't think that's the sort of thing Obsidian would do, regardless of their personal beliefs. Their stories tend to be more nuanced than just "atheism = good, religion = bad." Much like how it's not that simple in real life.

[Difficulty of the game: very low ... I still love it!]

I don't find the game challenging, and my perspective is the only one that matters! Therefore the game is too easy! Every encounter should begin with my PC punching me in the face and then stomping on my fingers and then setting me on fire! Anything less is unacceptable!

 

Seriously though, I'm not really sure what can be done to satisfy your complaints. It's not like the AI in these sorts of games is ever going to be terribly good. If you want an opponent capable of human-level planning and tactics, play a tabletop RPG with a DM or something.

[Willing to pay for a voice pack DLC.]

OH SNAP GRAMMAR BURN. </sarcasm>

 

Seriously, why is this an argument or point of contention at all? Is it a slow drama day around here?

 

I will never understand the internet community's propensity for starting random fights with strangers, for no ostensible reason, even among circles where you'd think we had more in common to celebrate.

 

You don't want to fight over nothing? Them's fightin' words!!

 

Yeah, I agree pretty much. People on the internet are too often angry and loud but have nothing to say.

 

Unlike me, who is witty and charming and never obnoxious.

[Let's invent some talents!]

Engage!

Engages all enemies in the game. Modal ability.

 

The Eye of Argon

Watcher ability. Transform the target into a harmless backer NPC.

 

Living in the Future

Replaces your copy of Pillars of Eternity with Torment: Tides of Numenera.

 

Living in the Past

Replaces your copy of Pillars of Eternity with your choice of Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, or Planescape: Torment.

 

Mystery Inc.

Reveals all spirit-type enemies for what they are: petty criminals draped in sheets, trying to scare off tourists.

 

Naptime

The party rests without needing camping supplies. 2/rest.

 

Ol' Blood and Guts

Strap a bomb to one of your companions and toss them into the midst of enemies, killing the companion and dealing AoE Raw damage equal to the companion's remaining Health.

 

Weapon Focus: The Legacy

Trains the character in the use of the Hollowborn, gaining +6 Accuracy with all weapons of those types.

[Doesn't build diversity feel a tad....limited?]

Honestly that's true to one extent or another of the IE games too. Pillars is a lot like the first Baldur's Gate in this way. I think the cool unique magic items in Baldur's Gate II were what made characters really feel special, and there isn't anything like that in Pillars.

 

Since you mentioned Accuracy, keep in mind that the whole Accuracy system is a pretty bad idea to begin with. I mean, if you want your psychic powers to have a better chance of affecting your enemies, of course equipping a dagger would help, right? They can't allow players to significantly increase Accuracy or else their entire mechanical system disintegrates. Notice how many people bragging about winning hard fights mention they use the paralyzing trap? It's because they maxed out their Mechanics, because that gives you a flat permanent bonus to Accuracy on traps, which helps make traps extremely effective.

[Choice and Consequence in this game feels....lacking. [Spoilers Galore]]

Meh.

 

Out of all of the games made by the folks currently working at Obsidian that I've played, I think Pillars is weakest in this area despite having more mechanics built around it. It doesn't really help that none of the factions are terribly interesting. It's a pretty huge downgrade going from the factions of Fallout (Planescape: Torment and Vampire: the Masquerade too, but Obsidian didn't create those settings) to the Dozens and the Crucible Knights. Ultimately everyone, including your (former) self, is just a stupid dupe reacting to the whims of the villain right up until the ending when you finally kill him. Too bad he's not much of a villain, either.

 

To be blunt and honest, if we're talking about choice and consequences, in my opinion the bit where Thaos walks into the Duc's meeting and murders him before wandering off is, in context, one of the worst instances of writing in a video game I've ever seen. It renders everything you've done up to then (probably dozens of hours of gameplay) completely pointless and raises a whole bunch of questions like: If Thaos can just do whatever he wants wherever he wants whenever he wants, why does he need the Leaden Key? Why doesn't he just teleport into your face and detonate your head before siphoning your soul into his machines so you can't ever reincarnate again? You have to spend an entire act to get the chance to attend the stupid meeting (for no reason, mind you, since it's not like the Duc gets the chance to help you with your quest or anything) and he just gets to strut in like he owns the place? Well, thanks for wasting my time, I guess. Good thing I just did the easy thing and murdered faction members in Defiance Bay until Lady Webb let me go to the meeting, though not before wagging her finger at you and insulting you. Nevermind that her concerns about not having a faction's backing are completely unfounded since no one at the meeting actually cares who's supporting you. Maybe that's how Thaos got in, he just killed Crucible Knights or whatever until Lady Webb called him incompetent and gave him an invitation. Not exactly the trial from Neverwinter Nights 2, is it?

[Philosophy/religion in PoE]

I was thinking about this myself, but I'm not sure that your character is necessarily interested in the true nature of the gods or whatever in the endgame. Your character wants to know whether Thaos truly believed what he was preaching, because if it was all a lie then everything you did back then was for nothing.

 

There's no answer to the questions asked by philosophy and religion. What is a god, what role should religion play in people's lives, what is the nature of the universe, etc., these are questions that don't have factual, objective answers. It's not about some absolute universal truth. It's not intended to take away anything from the setting or demystify the world. It's not even really about the world of Pillars. It's just about you and Thaos.

 

I still don't really understand the point the game seems to be trying to make about the gods being "fake." It actually reminds me of Planescape, though Planescape handled the same sort of notion a lot better. But I think the main reason why it feels philosophically unsatisfying is because it's not concerned with the universal issues, it's just the personal conflict between you and Thaos. In that case, it's unsatisfying because Thaos and Woedicca are not compelling villains.

[Too much VO]

I don't really agree with the OP or anything, but it is too bad we couldn't get some celebrity with a cool voice for the villain, at least. I think John Doman or Rene Auberjonois could have done a lot to make him more compelling. Or David Warner, if your mind is still on Baldur's Gate 2.

[Nerfing: You've GOT to be kidding me - get real Devs]

I'm curious where one could find devs who are more "real" than the people who made this game, seeing as how a lot of them have been in the business of making video games for, what, 15+ years? Never heard of this guy named Tim Cain, OP? Josh Sawyer? Chris Avellone? George Ziets? They helped make these little games you might have heard of like Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.

 

I might be a little biased since I've literally been playing the games they've made since before I can remember (the first Fallout was a great game for little kids to play, right?) but the devs seem pretty legit to me.

[The No Bad Choices Thread]

Disclaimer, I play on hard or potd with full party. It might be easier on low difficulty or different with one character, but I have no interest in playing casual mode or soloing.

 

Yeah, nuts to those lame casuals! Go back to the Wii, losers! I bet those casuals don't even use totally radical MMO terminology like CC and DPS and tank and aggro!

 

Pretty sure Rogues are actually the best class at hammering down a single target by far? Different weapons are in fact better for different situations because often it helps to use different tactics than just whatever does the most damage in one shot? Someone back me up on this.

[This game are terrible]

Way too obvious. Subtlety is key.

 

But this is what people on the internet actually talk like.

[This game are terrible]

Lock thread and change title, because clickbait.

 

*looks up what "clickbait" is*

 

Hey!

[This game are terrible]

so okay where do i even beginningg! This game is the worst game ever! to Start with you get sick HELLOW WHERE IS MY FORT SAVE against poisonn?!!? then the man says to get the berries for tea! i do not liketea! i will nto get ur berries caravan man1 how do u like that BUT I MUST?!?!?

 

Garphisc are well 2 b honest subpar at best i mean there is no 3d at all!! i want 2 see what is the oteher side of walls in case there are snipers or maybe loot! also camera does not zoom in far enouhg so i cannot check my characters makeup!11!

 

game is full of bugs!1! many big ones, including beetles and spiders! clearly no QA here huh Obsidian Enterlamement?!?!

 

no voice acting is unbleievalbe! seriously there are maybe like five thousand voiced lines out of five million??!? also there are too many words!! i canot reed tehm all!!

 

combat is awful i play a warzid and keep dying to deer! i cats sepll s at my copmuter but does nothing?!!? HAX bears in cave 2 easy though, soloed on pats fo teh darned, aslo kild gohsts

 

i read on forum s and poeple tel me is not Bladdur's Gate BUT HOWCOME ist diferent?? wehere is Imoen and Mr Irenicus??? and no Mincs??? i have named pig Minsc but he does not talk

 

oh wel I will review again after first level

 

5/5 stars

[Lack of voice acting and the solution.]

 

Oh yes, please, this must happen immediately. Drop all the bugfixing and implement this at once.

 

I never said that the priority should be features before bug fixing.

 

The game just entered beta, I know this

 

 

But think of all those NPCs going without voice acting! Personally, I'm going to voice all the pretty lady NPCs.

[The main things that bug me so far]

 

• Might cannot designate both mental and physical strength. It's too hurtful to the very roleplay aspect to have a good wizard whose side-talent is breaking iron bars with his bare hands.

 

That's what I keep saying, but everyone always poo-poos me when I say it and then they start talking about all this weird stuff Obsidian said about Might representing your "soul power" and so it makes perfect sense that damage from guns and spells and your ability to intimidate people and bend iron bars should all be tied to one stat, and I mostly tune it out and imagine if Pillars was just Dragonball Z.

[Lack of voice acting and the solution.]

Oh yes, please, this must happen immediately. Drop all the bugfixing and implement this at once.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

 

Is Gromnir a lawyer? It all makes sense now!

 

AFAIK that's what he's said here that he is.

 

 

He talks funny for a lawyer. I think he's up to no good.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

 

 

 

 

 

 

....  

 

 

Well... no, it's not. It's certainly a crime, but there's no institution of prejudice behind it. That's like saying when Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK because he was a communist (or whatever the real reason was), that was a hate crime. The reason why hate crimes are punished more severely is in order to single out and challenge the widespread beliefs and attitudes in society that contribute to the act of violence. It doesn't seem to work, honestly, but there it is.

 

 

So first, where are you getting this definition that there has to be an "institution" of prejudice behind a hate crime?

 

Second, how would you define such an institution?

 

And third, wouldn't you think that books being published about how the "bad" group as ruined the world, and the "good" group needs to take the world from them and fix it, qualify as an institution of prejudice?  Especially when the author of said book went on to shoot someone from the "bad" group out of hate?   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCUM_Manifesto

 

 

Don't ask me, I didn't invent the legislation, I'm just telling you the supposed reasons for it.

 

Why are we talking about hate crime legislation? Isn't that a country-by-country sort of issue?

[The game just entered beta a few days ago.]

I honestly kind of felt the same way about Wasteland 2 on release. Pillars is at least better than Wasteland 2 was, though.

 

EDIT: In terms of bugginess, that is.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

 

[something I deleted]

 

So, I guess you are coming out in full ad hominem mode then.  Assuming you actually care to discuss anything you could perhaps justify your reasoning for using the bigot label.  Specifically that someone having the opinion that MtF transexuals are still actually male makes them a bigot.  I see no reason that having that opinion makes someone a bigot.

 

I think you could certainly make good points from both sides of the debate regarding gender and transexuals (and even other positions such as them being a third gender) and it is an intersting conversation that is worth having, but I don't find any position to be inherently bigoted.  There is absolutely some bigotry towards transexuals in the world, but just having that opinion isn't an act of bigotry.

 

Sadly a lot of people want to apply the bigot and intolerant label (really any kind of attack label) to people just for disagreeing with them and that doesn't enable a conversation.  They just wanna wrap themselves in self-righteousness and then accuse other people of lacking self-awareness

 

 

Hey, I edited that post out. You stop quoting it, there.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

 

 

 

 

I disagree here, hate speech against ANY group, regardless of a history of oppression, is hate speech.

 

For example, I often see arguments that #KillAllMen is not hate speech on the grounds that men have not been historically oppressed.  I disagree with this.  Regardless of history, it STILL incites an attitude of hatred against people based on the unalterable traits they were born with.

 

It also doesn't take systematic oppression for someone to pick up a gun and shoot someone (cough) Valerie Solanas (cough).  Like, I think if I am some dude bleeding on the ground because I was shot by a radical feminist, I wouldn't think "oh well, at least I wasn't systematically oppressed."

 

I'm sorry, but you're simply wrong; hate speech has a very particular definition.  If you want to talk about speech that targets someone based on simple group identity, okay, but it's something different.

 

 

AFAIK, in the US, hate speech was defined in the earliest governmental publications as:

• Speech that advocates or encourages violent acts or crimes of hate.
• Speech that creates a climate of hate or prejudice, which may in turn foster the commission of hate crimes.

Hate crimes are defined (legally) as:

• crimes committed on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or gender of any person.

As I recall, the original provision didn't have all those categories, they've been added over the years. Anyhow, I've never seen anything that would indicate you had to be a "historically oppressed" to have a hate crime applied against you.  Where you'd have an issue would be in proving it was a hate crime if you're not in a historically oppressed demographic as opposed to it being just a normal crime, but in theory it could happen.

 

(Cue Gromnir correcting me on legal definitions; but as I always say, I'm not a lawyer, I don't play a lawyer on TV and this post does not constitute legal advice).

 

 

Well said, and to give an example...

 

If a paraplegic, half black, half native American, transsexual, homosexual woman shoots a Harvard educated cis white man because she hates white men...it's still a hate crime.  

 

 

Well... no, it's not. It's certainly a crime, but there's no institution of prejudice behind it. That's like saying when Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK because he was a communist (or whatever the real reason was), that was a hate crime. The reason why hate crimes are punished more severely is in order to single out and challenge the widespread beliefs and attitudes in society that contribute to the act of violence. It doesn't seem to work, honestly, but there it is.

[Good game, party AI is missing badly however...]

I'm not sure any AI would be worth it. The game requires painstaking micromanagement in pretty much every encounter.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

EDIT: Barney Fife said to be nice, so since I can't say nothing nice, I'll say nothing at all.

[Controversial Limerick Discussion]

 

 

I would say that removing a message because it offends someone is, by definition, censorship. 

 

 

Always applicable:

 

[video link]

 

 

Why should anyone care what Jim Sterling has to say about anything?

[The pretty robe I found for my pretty hat]

REMEMBER NOT TO SPOIL IT IF YOU FIND IT.

 

You've gotta kill em all to get if that way

 

Normally I think worrying about spoilers is silly, but in this case the secret must absolutely be kept for the greater good of turning the playerbase into serial killers.