IndiraLightfoot

Great find, Stun! If it's correct, this would mean it would get released early morning CET, so if a Friday off and then a weekend, I get to immerse myself big time at the get-go.

And now half of this waiting agony has passed. Only 23 days to go until CRPG bliss. Yep, my hopes and expectations are set sky-high! I cast Haste and hope that time will pass faster.

Excerpt from a recent Yahoo-games interview: "GamesBeat: Why has it taken so long for us to have a party-based D&D game for the PC? The last real one was in 2008. Nathan Stewart: The obvious answer is because it took Dan Tudge this long to pitch an awesome game to me. I could blame it on him. The fact of the matter is that for a long time, we had our video game publishing rights in a long-term agreement with Atari. Its publishing strategy for D&D games didn’t match my strategy exactly, but I’ve only been on the brand for three years. They brought me in at Wizards to run D&D, primarily because of my video game experience in the past. Right before I came on, they had ended their agreement, their relationship with Atari and said, we want to take the rights back. We want to manage this. We want to make the great D&D games we know our fans want. We don’t think that having someone else control our rights is the right way to do it. We didn’t think Atari was doing the best job, so we were able to end that. I say that all nice and fuzzy because I wasn’t in the middle of it, but the fact of the matter is there was litigation over the deal. This wasn’t the best ending of a relationship. But we got the rights back because we care about what the consumer experience is. What that means is that you have to be selective. You have to be picky about finding the right company, the right people at that company, the right concept. All those things have to marry together to bring this to fruition. I hope this is OK to say, Dan — I don’t think this is crazy — but Dan can confirm that when they showed us the project and they were talking about this, Dan was just kind of coming on board with N-Space. I talked to him and said, look, I love this. I think this is awesome. But you’re a big part of it, Dan. I need to know that you’re not just jumping on or partially here. If I’m signing up for this, I’m signing up the full team. It has to be you as part of the equation. He said, yeah, that’s what we’re doing. Dan Tudge: I agree wholeheartedly. There’s a lot to be said for these ideas brewing for quite a long time. Really, the timing was right for both parties to come together. What we really wanted to make was Sword Coast Legends. What Wizards really wanted to return to came into alignment a couple of years ago. To Nathan’s point, my answer was clear. This is a title that’s very dear to my heart. I definitely want to be part of it all the way through. GamesBeat: Does this mean that Wizards of the Coast is a video game publisher now? Stewart: Actually, Wizards of the Coast has been an official video game publisher for years — see our Duels of the Planeswalker and Magic Online games. A couple years ago, we also became the official publisher on all the digital D&D games Atari was previously publishing. As the brand steward and owner of the D&D [intellectual property], Wizards of the Coast is the licenser for Sword Coast Legends. However, we very excitedly treat Sword Coast Legends as one of our own games and embrace N-Space as part of our family. N-Space approached us about bringing this game to market more than two years ago, and we’ve worked closely ever since, but N-Space and Digital Extremes are handling all of the development and publishing efforts. WotC’s focus is on telling the entire D&D fan base great stories in the Forgotten Realms and finding the best partners to deliver those stories to fans." In short, Wizards want to have full control themselves, since Atari made a mess of it all (especially with Daggerdale, haha), and hired a smallish team to do a digital basic set, as it were, just to see if it works out. I have been following N-Space pretty closely as of late, and the guys on board are huge fans of D&D, some having played even from 1st ed and onwards, and I am happy to report that I share many of their visions of how D&D should be, ideally. It remains to be seen if they have translated this into a good computer game, however.

This gothic castle is right up my alley. In fact, I need to go down into my cellar, lay down in my coffin filled with homeland soil and dream of a future steeped in the past in order to kill the present day tomorrow, presently.

Oddly enough, Kickstarter has been down for like 20 minutes now over here. I can imagine all the crying and moaning for projects on the final stretch. On a Kickstarter every lost minute could spell lost money.

http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/76137431236/what-are-the-average-life-spans-of-the-races-in#notes Thank you! The question was asked Feb 9 2015: inertia-atomsk asked: What Are the average life spans of the races in pillars of eternity? Josh: "I don’t have the docs in front of me, but humans are pretty standard, dwarves and elves are longer-lived but not as much as in a lot of A/D&D settings (I think elves top out around 350). I don’t remember the aumaua lifespans, but orlans are shorter-lived than humans." So, the question of aumaua average life-span remains.

And some general in-world explanation as to why a druid's shapeshifter ability is so brief.

Life expectancy for each of the races we get to pick in the game.

Mac and Linux support is now part of the base goal. Great news! And Tracy "Ravenloft" Hickman is on board as well - and part of the 750K stretch goal (then writing a novel).

Hey! I bought that album with pride, and I still listen to it!

Yeah, I really want that Lost Mine tileset too, since they have now confirmed that you for instance can create the entire basic set adventure of the same name using the SCL tools! http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/1238/feature/9410/page/2 OMG!!!! I have waited like seven years for a D&D toolset like that. The first game will include six classes and five races - see my link. 5 races available on launch: Dwarf, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, and Human 6 classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger rogue, and wizard Tiefling is looking likely as an upcoming candidate, and half-orc as well. Also, they intend to expand and delivering tons of adventures from all over Faerun. In short, that mid-sized studio is going big.

My suggestion is to go for a simple solution. As things are now, hostiles noticing you is some form of pre-combat mode, which unfortunately still triggers the battle music. Then combat mode ensues later, at the first attack issued or something. This is how I'd like to have it: -Hostile enemy spotted equals Combat Mode. -If your party manages to disengage from that (via stealthing or running off), Combat Mode is off again (so no pre-buffing or auras going possible.) Just like that, nothing more, nothing less.

So, after hundreds and hundreds of hours of playing, and having killed thousands of treasure bandits, all of the sudden the impossible happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and I took screenies for posterity: The goblin's portal was all of the sudden usable for me and my flea-ridden gang! It led to the Vault realm. First, we had to enter the Vault door. And it was filled to the brim with riches and treasures and goblins - all in all I made over 50 Million gold pieces in there. So, darn sweet! Then, deep down in the Vault realm, I reached the Inner Sanctum (felt like NWN2) And there lived a rude Baroness of the Vault, which was a sweet tooth, to be sure! But she soon went from sweet to hostile, realizing I had cleaned out her place and killed everyone inside. I had to kill her, this arch-demon Greed! And even afterwards, during that session, the portal to that realm remained open for hours - it was mine, all mine!

Come on. What's not to like? We can see Dodge, Resist Piercing, and here's the latest update for the SWC community: "Hello everyone, My name is Dan Tudge and I’m the director of Sword Coast Legends and president of n-Space. We’re all very happy to be finally be sharing SCL with the world and are very thankful that you have chosen to be a part of its creation. We've already seen a lot of questions on the boards here and while there is much we can’t talk about I’m going to do my best to answer what I can: Will there be a Mac version of this game? Boom! Right out of the gate something I cannot talk about! We’re not talking about additional SKUs right now. Will there be micro-transactions, or content locked behind a price tag? I can understand the concern around micro-transactions and assure you that SCL is a fully featured RPG that is not “locked behind micro-transactions.” Much like the table-top, we do plan on continuing to create adventures for both DMs and players long after launch. We have a lot of stories to tell, characters to meet and places to visit, but we cannot create them all before launch. We are going to keep creating content as long as you keep playing! How long is the single player campaign? While we’re not talking about the campaign in detail right now but I can tell you this: It’s not going to be short! A great RPG isn’t something you finish over a weekend and SCL certainly won’t be finished in a weekend either. What exactly is the Design Council? Access to special forums that will help us, the developers, make decisions that mold and shape SCL. What exactly is early access? (Roughly how long is it?) We actually can’t say just how long early access will be just yet, however we can say that you’ll get ample time to adventure prior to launch. Will there be an alpha or beta test? We’re not talking about alpha or beta testing right now. Can you explain more about how DM mode works and the DM toolset? The DM can fully customize the player experience, significantly altering an adventure by changing encounters, placing traps, spawning monsters, creating quest NPCs, generating secret areas, locking doors - all in real-time. There are also offline campaign tools that enable DMs to build campaigns for their players - more about that later. Are any localizations planned? We understand that there are a lot of RPGs players that love to play in a language other than English and we are evaluating additional localized versions right now – more details to come. Are there any plans for the game on SteamOS/Linux? We’re not talking about additional skus right now. Will there be Romances in the game? A hallmark of a great RPGs is the meaningful companions you meet along the way and how they react the choices you make in your story. These companions become your “friends”, ones you remember long after playing the game - characters like Minsc and Jaheira from the Baldur’s Gate series or Alistair and Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins. In SCL we’re creating companions that stand tall within that legacy. Will you be able to romance them? You’ll have to wait and see. J Will Sword Coast Legends be separate canon from the novels? We’re working in tight coordination with Wizards of the Coast and have created an original story for SCL, one that is tightly woven into Forgotten Realms lore. How do you coordinate with Wizards on lore/content? For two years we've worked very closely with the D&D team at Wizards of the Coast to ensure players get a true “D&D experience.” I would also mention that we’re all fans of tabletop D&D (and the Forgotten Realms) here. Many of the Sword Coast Legends team plays D&D several times a week and have done so for years. In fact, several of our story ideas have come from our personal campaigns! Can you tell us more details about the Belaphoss Statue? Right now I can tell you that it looks awesome and will be shipped to your house closer to launch. Will the camera be able to rotate, move and zoom in and out? Absolutely, and in single player you’ll be able to pause with the spacebar and issue tactics old school! How will movement be handled in the game? You will move around the game with your mouse using point and click. Will the single player campaign be playable coop? More details on that later! Any idea exactly what the tome of knowledge is? Reading the Tome of Knowledge will give players additional points to spend on their character’s ability scores and class features (spells and abilities). You’re a big part of SCL now so please keep your questions, comments and feedback coming! Best, Dan Tudge Director, Sword Coast Legends" EDIT: I have always wanted to cut down D&D parties to four party members, and this seem like it's happening here. Six is a bit busy, methinks.

Does this mean we might be dealing with the pundead here?! Oh no! We must be dealing with pundemonium. We'd better find the Pundemonicon and exorcize any bad puns from this world in earnest!

I need my D&D fix...SO BAD!!!

Thank you for considering preload, Obsidian!

That is indeed a huge difference. We all want that crisp portrait quality to the far left of the party portraits. Nice catch, Sensuki!

I mean, just seeing the spell Mordenkainen's Sword being used in that vid... INSTANT PRE-ORDER!

I really liked DA:O, I adore D&D (I haven't checked out the 5th ed), I love the NWN games and making/DMing adventures... Guess who's going to preorder? Me.

Yeah, that quickcast menu is something to die for in PoE atm, it would make a huge difference in the pretty frantic combat.

Yay! It's like 42 days left until we get our grubby hands on Pillars of Eternity. The wait has been fantastic, but having it for real will be even more excellent! In fact, 42 days before the shipping date only means one thing. The game will soon be locked, including present bugs and all, and burnt on those discs in those physical editions. Obviously, any bug tracking will keep on going frantically, and then there will be a hefty and very important day one patch. I'm so happy about this. PoE can't come soon enough. And a huge gratz, Obsidian, for pulling this one off!

I just love this post. It captures the essence of how I feel about this.

That's a fair argument, Namutree! I didn't like that in Skyrim either. Still, I reckon, the boost should be significant and perhaps more build-neutral?

Hmm, I see it as a pro-roleplay choice, since it makes races and subraces even more distinct and fun in replays.