Osvir

Some more thoughts, and inspiration for Obsidian (for active stealth combat abilities): Heroes of the Storm, take a look at Valeera, Samuro, Tyrande, and Greymane. They have some of the most fun stealth mechanics I've seen.

I can think of 2-3 solutions, pretty straight forward: A) Caged NPC, fixed position (prisoner in Skyrim, awaiting execution, don't remember what town...). B) NPC commenting "Woah! You got a bit reckless there!" after combat, also giving you less experience~reward, instead of them attacking you during combat. C) Temporary Player controlled NPC. After all, it's the unpredictability of the siuation that seems to frustrate people. Then again, hitting that critical hit gives you the win, and no one complains, but not getting it, and losing, no one has any problem against

What purpose will a Barbarian and AoE in general have without thrash mobs? Gibs are fun as well. A fight you go for early in the game might pose difficult, but at a later stage it's trash. I think trash mobs need some touching up though... an encounter against a necromancer who keeps summoning the dead. The dead being trash, but they come in hordes making that a difficulty on its own (Battle Brothers). Squads of Xaurips, with various Alphas that could make/buff(aura) the measly Xaurip act as a Champion. Take out the Alpha, they become regular again. Many solutions exists, probably, to make trash mobs more flexible. To both exist within the realm of "This is a cakewalk" if you manage to complete a condition, and "No it isn't" if you don't.

I think the "issue" is, and it's the same in BG, that NPC can twitch unpredictably and suddenly they're standing in your targeted AoE. I can relate somewhat to OP, as it has happened to me too (not exactly this instance, but I can recall in BG, "Oh for f's sake!" *loads game*"). Also having targeted an area, and pausing with Fireball mid-air as you see the NPC move, sighing, palm on face, "God dammit" It can be funny, but it can also mean having to forfeit a winning fight, a difficult one as well. Obsidian has made a solution in the re-targeting feature implemented for Deadfire, so... it's already fixed. But it poses an interesting question... isn't the NPC standing there part of the challenge and difficulty of the encounter? Both having to protect it and also considering spell targeting?

Ship stealth! - Would a Wizard or Druid be able to boil water around a ship, to envelop it in mist or fog? Mayhaps creating a boarding party in a blind zone? - A Cipher Jedi, manipulating the crew of another ship "You have never seen us". Or a dockmaster. Alchemy and Throwables: - Smoke bombs?

Another thought... Black Mirror, a great series (on Netflix) touches on technological resurrection. An android that gathers all online data of what a person has said and done, and then re-enacts it. An artificial soul, animanced into a weapon. And the player crafts its "attitude"? Edit: Star Dragon Sword from Suikoden is also pretty cool, legendary.

Some of the Powder Monkeys and other crew mates in the midst of the Black Isle Bastards, mutineers. ^Pretty much this. ​Also, I know you've said you don't want a character in another game Gromnir, but I just thought it'd be fun to have a character with the catch phrase "HA! Good Rum!" xD

A talking Grimoire :D ​But I suppose it'd have to be a more universal item that everybody can use. Is it just one intelligent weapon or several of them? Is it an intelligent entity (A soul) that can be imbued/crafted into a weapon? Because that could solve a lot (Player gets to choose where the intelligent weapon goes and what type of item it is).

Fulvano is a soul, jumping from body to body? Or Fulvano is a cat, 9 lives. Edit: Maybe he's a Hermes like diety?

Been sayin' it since almost the start: -> Crew Ship destroyed/stolen -> Crew stranded (on BIB Island) -> Player reward = Ship Upgrade

Will there be any "superpowers" on the ship? Like, cannons. Something with looooong cooldown, charging up and then "BOOM!". Either through an end scene (when you win), or an active during naval combat. End scene variant might be cool the first couple of times though, then just a nuisance "Get on with it" type of thing.

She has effective mechanical functions for the game. Imagine having to go to each and every location at the stronghold to talk to people. It's the same for companions hanging out at the inn, when it'd make most sense to have Kana at the library. It's because it's more effective this way. I don't think she's going to as much of a nuisance this time, if it bothered you. This time you bring the stronghold with you wherever you go, pretty much, and probably won't have to have the "I must return to the [Fixed Location]".

Blade of the Endless Paths

Curiousity: Harry Potter-verse Hermoine or Ginny? In essence: It happens. Watcher should be treated as a protagonist, and not as a "Player choice". In terms of "romantic relationship" imo.

How about "Ondras Embrace"? Edit: @Aarik @Obsidian What are Ondras avatars? E.g. Gaun, Pallid Knight

Going on the title alone is this post: Warcraft IV. I'm a believer... it'll happen...

The wiki is wrong, official interviews/info dumps on various sites state she is an eothas worshiper. As I recall Gaun is just an aspect of Eothas, like the Pallid Knight is just an aspect of Berath. Also pretty sure she is savannah folk, not meadow. Look at the skin tone/hair color, not to mention the name, also didn't they flat state that when she was announced? Either way I find the funniest part is that Eder and Xoti apparently don't get along. Makes me think she will probably be a little on the zealot side of things. She is​ an Eothas worshipper. http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Eothas ​Yes, it's Eothas other form, or Eothas "avatar" if you will. Someone who believes or have faith in the Pallid Knight, is essentially a worshipper of Berath as well. I'd be surprised if it says "Priest of Gaun" in-game. But then again, Pallegina was unique in being the only Avian Godlike in the first one *shrug* http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Berath ​It's not "Pallid Knight and Berath are two different entity's" or "Gaun and Eothas are two different entity's". It's more or less "It's another outfit". ​EDIT: They are clearly destined to be bunk buddies. Edér is a human farmer from the Dyrwood ​Xoti is a human farmer from Readceras ​Sounds like Wakka, Rikku and Chappu (Final Fantasy X). "She's an Al Bhed!?!".

I thought Barik was fun, and that's the sort of "Crafting" I'd like to see honestly. But with more flavor, being able to choose various upgrades differently. Disassemble common loot automatically, and use that as Resource points to upgrade Weapons, Shields, How many Quick-Slots, How many Weapon Slots etc. all done in the Inventory screen. It'd be amazing. 1.Right-Click, (Equipment Slot) ​ 2.Pick Option​ (See Resource Cost) ​3.Create New/Upgrade Item (Replaced Item disassembles back into Resource Pool). ​ ​Enchant that Leather Armor, or add some scale or plate to it? Carve in elements into your Staff. Powerful, Legendary or Named items wouldn't be disassembled, but could. ​In Eternity and the IE games you get like 10'000 useless swords to sell just to buy a better weapon. Why? I'd rather have resources to make my gear better, and spend money on ship upgrades and faction or quest related events. Tolls and taxes. Food, Medical, Salaries, etc. etc. ​*dreams on* ​EDIT: Speaking of dreams... Hiravias has a backpack on his portrait, and the Neck accessory slot is a thing, and capes exist... any tiny chance that...? No? :D

​With these tags I expect at least a little traffic, so, for newcomers. Campaign​ (Read me! Human advert!) https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire I'm discussing suggestions and philosophizing about design:​ It looks a bit like it might have more features than simply being a map you travel across (Information, Population, etc. "Eothas mad!!" -1000 Population, change of Faction ownership and whatnot maybe even, source). ​World Map/Global Turns/Global Timeline A discussion on Fig got me thinking... and about Readceras as well... ​Basically, how do the people of Eora communicate at long distances? Telepathy? Soul sharing? Or are Gods the operators? When Eothas is reborn, he texts everyone at the same time "I'm back"? Or other Gods pick up on it and warn their followers? How does it function? ​Let's say that they don't. It's medieval times, you have to send out runners and messengers, by horse, or bird messenger etc. it'll take weeks, months, before any decision is made. A Board Game World Map. With Global Turns, or perhaps "Global Timeline", and Faction AI taking in-game turns at the same time as the Watcher moves on the World Map. So it'd really​ become "Hunt​ a God", even on the World Map. What I'm really wondering about is what could be done with Mid-Game Turns and Late-Game Turns. ​This is just an example to give a general idea: ​Turn 1: Eothas wakes up. Takes a walk through Defiance Bay. ​Turn 5: Dyrwood refugees arrive. ​Turn 8: Eothas arrives at Nekataka. Huana sends messengers to Rauatai. ​Turn 9: Watcher arrives in Deadfire. Eothas leaves Nekataka. Turn 11: Rauatai arrives at Nekataka. ​Turn 15: Eothas destroys a village. ​Turn 20: Readceras arrives. ​Turn 1'000'000: Eora blows up. ​The Player would be able to completely ignore or intercept and act how they want. It might also not be 100% obvious "Here it is" pointers, but more or less random events occurring all around you as you travel on the World Map (because detective work and looking for clues is fun. Tracking down Eothas would be badass more than "Here I Am" on the World Map, even if he would just be patrolling A to B). Invisible Random Encounters essentially. https://i11a.3djuegos.com/juegos/11994/battle_brothers/fotos/set/battle_brothers-2761733.jpg EDIT: Sunless Sea is also a great example: http://scientificgamer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/sunless_london.jpg ​Thoughts?

I don't know about that, I already tell everyone what to wear, what to eat, what to learn and when to sleep. (Anyway, I agree about not giving relationship advice.) You, the omnipotent Player looking down on the party, do. We are the Watcher's/Party's Mom & Dad, in that sense I can't see Obsidian going in that direction. They said that the ways in which you choose to influence companions will affect how the relationship develops - which I read as "love" will only be possible for specific companions and even then only under very specific circumstances. For Aloth, perhaps that means "only if you told him to sublimate Islmyr." It would avoid the threesome implications and everything that goes with it, anyway. ​The appalling part of Romances isn't what Developers can​ do with it, it's what people want​ from it *shudders*

I agree that Eder is probably a given, because EVERYONE loves Eder. I'm hoping for Aloth, because I roleplayed my elf rogue Watcher having a soft spot for him in Pillars 1. It would be interesting to see how Islmyr affects a potential romance plot... my Watcher told Aloth to harmonize with her, but that means they would be having a threeway... Ultimately (which also can translate into "In the end") it all boils down to fap-fantasy. Stay away demon!

I need to express another thing as well. ​I don't want Eder, Aloth, Pallegina, Maia Rua, Serafan or the Blue Man Dude to come to the Watcher and ask for relationship advice "I think he/she likes me, what should I do?". Don't go that route Obsidian. If anything happens between companions in any way, let it happen, but the Watcher isn't anyone's Dad or Mom and doesn't need to be doting or play any sort of Couples Therapy. They don't need the Watcher's permission. ​Thanks.

I'm trying to set it up as a choir so that it sounds like there's more people singing, and then maybe some bell sounds, and some wind, and lots of "Ooooohm" or just "Ondra" in the background. Humming stuff~ ​But I don't know exactly what to sing about... ​We are the Bastards of the Sea ​Ooouahauaouuh~ ​And we're sailin', plunderin' all the tiiiime! ​Ooouahauahoouh~ ​(Instead of "We are the Heroes of our Time", chorus in the song below) ​It's joke of course xD ​But seriously, a bit of a writer's block... "Theme? What be the monsters? Naga? Dragons?". What do the Bastards believe in, dream about, and what's their purpose/end goal? Just to be plundering and earning a lot of money and live like kings? Or are they just pests who sail the seas? Adventurers/Explorers trying to make a name for themselves? ​And even... how are the seas of the Deadfire Archipelago? Monsters, Pirates, and Aumaua? Winds? Storms? Hm...

I see it in two ways: ​A) I don't want love for my main character, the Watcher. The only case that would make most sense to me would be in a sort of "We understand it's love but it doesn't need to express itself yet" type of thing, where the Watcher and his loved one are in understanding of their purpose and what needs to be done, the sense of urgency of the PLOT. No kissing or cuddling or anything, just a mature relationship. If there's going to be any sort of Love Interest for Watcher, it better happen at the very end, in a sort of cliff-hanger "Are they going to, or not?". A sort of speculative ending, where the Player can only guess if the Watcher+Love Interest made it. ​Then, if there's a second sequel, the Watcher+Love Interest can start off from the start, and suddenly we have Khaleed & Jaheira, an established relationship that doesn't need all that puppy love or anything, they're just comfortable with each other. Anybody who's had a real relationship knows that, sure, the puppy love-state is all gullible and all (and a bit nauseating), but it's when it matures and grows that it's the very best, when the childish manners are (mostly) gone or cut off, and the responsible bond has nurtured, and you just know "This is my second half". Before that it's just... "playtime". ​And I know from when Pillars 1 was in development, and these threads where all over, Romances was ultimately about "playtime". Playtime isn't "Romantic", it's a fling, summer lovin', someone you meet in the evening, and leave in the morning. ​If the Watcher is going to have Romance, then it better be that sort of love that is the Watcher's "Second Half". And in that case, there should only be ONE single character that the Watcher CAN have Romantic interest with, and there should be a specific or single path to get there. ​Say, if Maia is THE ONE, then there should be a specific path in dialogue, conversations, choices and consequences and so on and so forth, and YOU would have to figure it out. A meaningful THE ONE. Haven't seen that one in any RPG, it's more or less "You can play with everybody *wink wink*". Not some Playtime Buffet where every-single-companion is Romanceable. "But we have to be serviceable and incloooshive!". NO. You do not have to be inclusive. ​B) I have no problem at all with Eder, Aloth, Pallegina, Serafan, Maia, finding their true love in any of the companions, if any direction takes that path. I mean, Khaleed and Jaheira are perfectly fine, in my opinion, their relationship doesn't bother anyone, and one can only imagine what they are doing at least once or twice during a Rest sequence. We don't get the exposition and we don't need​ the exposition either. Maybe that's just it? ​Whatever the characters do off-screen, implicitly, I don't care about. Heck, when you're in Defiance Bay, who can say that Eder isn't going to the Salty Mast every night? No one can, just leave it to imagination.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0NF2mJllSik ​Just a first draft.