Osvir

We might get more than 8 companions as well. The "More Wilderness Areas+More Companions" late stretchgoal~ It would be fantastic to find 11 companions, 1 for each class. And did I miss something, was Forton canned? EDIT: It seems he might be a developed character in the world though, he's the only one on the Wiki entry that has this: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Savannah_human#Savannah_human "Forton - A natlan monk." But it might be true that "Forton" is a name that isn't the final name, though, Savannah (or Natlan) humans might have a different naming~ "Male names: Aldwyn, Beacwof, Ethelmoer, Furly, Hafmacg, Unfric"

Or having a small descriptive box when you get to the naming phase of the chargen that says "Common Aumauan names XXXX" for whatever race you picked.

Haha! I was sure I had read that somewhere but I couldn't find it, I looked in Update #78 and in the "Update #78 is being pushed". I didn't want to spread lies or assumptions that I had read it xD Lost keys or items are always right in front of your eyes

I have a few character concepts I re-purpose. Other than that I just randomly come up with something that sounds fantasy-ish.

"Update might be coming soon! It is finished but we've created a macro with the range of 5/28 and 5/29, with a 20 sided algorithm!! It's kind of like a dice roll guys! And you like that, don't you????"

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66185-update-78-pushed-until-514/ For reference. Wouldn't it just be easier to make an Update thread saying "We are going to release our updates on Wednesdays at 10:00 AM Pacific Time now" instead of going with "The next update is being pushed"...? Going by when Update #78 came out, Update #79 (5/28) isn't even being pushed. It's coming out on scheduled time.

Auto-Updates in Journal = On/Off - OFF: For a full RP experience as well as making the game a different type of journey. A bit like old RPG's and Adventure games did it, you needed a pen & paper next to you to jot down ideas, clues, what people were saying and directing you towards and so on. Though, instead of having a pen & paper you could use the in-game journal straight away. Perhaps during dialogues being able to open up a "quick-note" interface where you could write down important stuff during dialogue because I imagine talking to someone and then afterwards opening up the journal could make some of the important stuff disappear in short-memory loss. Especially if it's a looong dialogue tree.

How little self-control do you have? And what's stopping you from just turning it back on when your addiction to getting more party members finally overwhelms you? You might as well have a toggle to turn off merchants, rest areas and the mouse cursor while you're at it. I'm pretty sure we've had this discussion before. I know where you stand, you know where I stand. I respect your opinion without insult or ridicule, I hope you respect mine

See below:

I like to play a 3 melee/3 ranged formation (or 2 melee 2 ranged) 1 engaging Fighter paired with a backup Paladin and a close-combat Cleric. Lots of heals. On the ranged I usually have a Mage (Spells/Darts) and a Ranger on the bow as well as a Thief (Sling). The Thief has no "stealth+backstab+trap" role in my group, but is usually a scout in caverns, corridors and open areas. I stealth with the Thief ahead and find out what's coming, searching for traps, disarming, opening locks etc. etc. and then decide my course of action. The main power is placed in the Fighter and Ranger, Wizard most often just hangs out in the back until hordes of enemies or bosses.

True, but if there's anything the Umbrella Corporation has taught us, it's "perfect your research at others' expense, THEN use it on yourself, only to discover it's not quite as perfected as you think, and eventually end up as a boss fight." Yes, but putting Resident Evil aside for a moment, if you have the knowledge and done research on animancy all your life, and you've fallen into the forbidden art of extending someone's life... and you feel you are "so close" to the revolutionary discovery, but your own life is about to end. Your existance is fading. Lay down and die? Or extend your life with the techniques you've been practicing for many years? Another question to the devs: Does consuming flesh of others "refine" the characters features/youth? An old man in his 80's becoming a fampyr, does he stay in his 80's appearance or potentially become younger and more vibrant? Stronger? Any powers?

Some thoughts on some of the discussion that I read through on the first pages, and what seems to be going on still a bit: Playing solo can be fun, some people like playing Baldur's Gate with 2 characters, or 3, or 4. The fun part of a 6 party game is that it allows for so many different compositions. Some like to play a 6 man Wizard party, where's the class combination in that? That's just 6 Wizards. Or 6 Rangers, or 6 Barbarians and so and so forth. There's so many possibilities! Which is very exciting. Being able to mix-up and recruit as many, if any, party members you want is only a good thing. I don't understand how some of the discussion I read went "I don't understand how people want to play solo in a party-based game". I myself am going for a 6 man party on my first run, but I'll probably try out many variations and combinations at later stages (ranging from solo play to 4 party plays). For the OP: I hope I can play the whole game solo, but if I do it on Path of the Damned I better be damn sure and ready that I'm going to have to start over from the beginning countless times and try and get some sort of meta-knowledge of where I can go for early equipment, early experience and find "loopholes" in builds and the like and research and spend a lot of "out of game" time to find the right recipe to be able to do it. Because it's probably going to be difficult. Speedrunners play the same game over and over and over again to become pro's at what they are doing to be able to do the things they do. The same thing would probably apply to a solo-run on Path of the Damned in Pillars of Eternity. But on the other hand, a solo-run on some of the easier difficulties (anything Normal or Easy really) could probably mechanically be totally feasible. At least much easier to do. EDIT: Thinking about it, it would be kind of interesting (and very rewarding) if Obsidian would write some Path of the Damned Solo-Run specific narrative for the end-game section. A last boss or a final character you face who say something like "How the hell did you manage to get here!?"

Sounds like extended lifetime would be something an animancer would try on him- or herself just to get those extra years of research eh? "I'll get it right this time... for sure" *nom nom nom+1 week lifetime* "This time... this time for sure!!" *nom nom nom+1 week lifetime* "So close! So close!" *nom nom nom+1 week lifetime* what if there's an animancer who is a fampyr with the knowledge to make other fampyrs, but is purely doing it for research and in an obsession of finding that revolution and develops a sort of "Dracula-complex". "The oldest one". "The King and God of the Fampyrs". I eyed the Update (#73) on the subject, but couldn't find any specific "time" of how long a fampyr is a fampyr. How long is the process of being fampyr? Does the person last for 100, 500, 1000 years as long as there is human flesh to fester on? How often does the cannibalism have to take place? Is a fampyr immortal as long as he/she can eat fresh flesh? Or will they eventually turn into darguls regardless of how many bodies they eat? Does the process speed up, say, a fampyr eats a human once a week, then once a day, then once an hour etc. etc. and the transformation into a dargul is a "natural transition" in the process? It says in the update "Allow yourself to decompose for a while..." which would mean that if you don't allow it you're going to live forever? I can see how a wealthy noble can keep this up for a while before being suspected and eventually hunted down. Heck, I can even see wealthy organizations flock to this idea... and even create a very much alike "Noble Vampire Faction" trope (which the "Fampyr" is obviously taking inspiration from). I can even see how wealthy human nobles could be lured into a wealthy fampyr noble faction, just for the fampyrs to get more funding+bodies (slaves*) to fester on as well as bait for hunters (Last in first out~ if a fampyr faction would be noticed, if the elder fampyrs are noticed, they'd make sure the trails lead to the latest noble added to their crew). And even more, if the Player character becomes a wealthy figure in the world and their Stronghold gets all mansion like, the Player could also be confronted by the fampyrs to join their faction, wherein the player could accept, go undercover to dismantle it, or decline (with more depth of course, I'm just writing out a simplistic concept). * I believe slaves is a thing in Pillars of Eternity? Nobles would have most ease to buy slaves, but of course it'd start to be suspicious when they buy lots of slaves every day, which is why a strength in numbers would be wise for fampyrs. If one noble has a total of 50 slaves, and he is a fampyr, he might run dry quickly and his stockpiling and buying of new slaves would be easily noticed fairly quickly. But if there are 10 fampyrs with 50 slaves each, and they take turns buying new slaves and share their assets with one another, they might instead last much longer before being noticed. In vampire fiction, it's usually the organized vampires who last for thousands of years, whilst the rebel/young or lonely vampires last for the least amount of time due to recklessness and panic... and many times an uncontrollable and non-disciplined thirst. A solo vampire only has his or her own rules, and some are intelligent, others are reckless. Whilst, often, in an organization of vampires, the rules are pretty strict and schooled.

Is it the publisher or the developer that exhibits the title in development though? I don't know these things... I did a search on new Paradox titls though, and they announced this in January. Is it common for a company to exhibit more than 1 title on E3? http://n4g.com/news/1442694/paradox-interactive-announces-new-rpg-runemaster EDIT: Wikipedia link some more intel on Runemaster (Release Date Q4)

I beg to differ regarding there is no disadvantage to be in the Early Access. Steam Early Access is a presentation of your product to the public Thus any flaws in your product is scrutinized and if you make one mistake too many you will get stuck with the negative review and require a uphill battle to restore your reputation. Even if you manage to clear your name in the end, you may lose some sales and your next kick starter may lose some backer. That said Steam Early Access is not a place to use the public to help find bugs and iron them out. It should be a place for you to show your DEMO, you want your demo to be as little bugs as possible so not to give the public a chance to give negative review! Yes you may use Early Access to test the balance of the game, the flow of the game play, 1/10 or more of the story, but never a place to iron out bugs. The public will not give you positive review if your demo crash now and then, have character stuck somewhere, dumb path finding and such. Think Steam Early Access as a place to release your full game, episode 1, and it will work in your advantage for you to get more positive review, sales and future backers. Absolutely, I did name the link "Oh the horror" for a reason. I don't think having an Early Access for a too long time is necessarily a good thing. But I think having an Early Acces is a good thing still, if it's kept to a minimum of a couple of months (Maybe 3-6 months?), but a lot of developers are pushing it to 6+ to 12+ months thus far. One of the games there is still in Early Access, since November 2012 and it is a Free to Play action-RTS multiplayer title with micro-transactions in place. This thing is never going to be finished, why is it in Early Access on Steam? (AirMech) It's like saying League of Legends or DOTA 2 is in a constant Early Access. Or WoW, or EVE, or any Multiplayer game that is being maintained and patched continously. Early Access justifies this "psuedo-MMO-model-patching" behavior, and I'm almost certain that when these Early Access titles do come out they are officially "out" and post-release patching will start to slowly diminish into the void. Hypothetically: If Fallout: New Vegas would've been in Early Access since release til now, then I think many of its bugs that it has would be gone and perhaps even way more content would be put into it. That's what I mean with "in that sense, there are no disadvantage to Early Access", though it would never be perceived as a "Full Release". UnEpic is in Early Access as well, and from playing it and owning it and spent a good many hours into it I think it is actually finished. Why is it still in Early Access? These things are not good things in my opinion. Titles like these discredit the Early Access program in many ways. Finished products that... aren't really finished? That said, there are good things about having a long Early Access as well. - Wasteland 2: The heresay was that it was "meh", and then it inclined more and more as it was updated. - Divinity: OS: Same thing. Personal experience. - Starbound: Yet again, same thing. Personal experience. - Xenonauts: And yes, yet again, same thing. Personal experience. These games are improving with each update, some more than others. I own 3 of the 4 titles above and I've been apart of this change and watched it grow. It's been an interesting experience for sure. But that doesn't mean I like it 100%. Does this mean they will be in Early Access til 2015? 2016? When will they get out of it? I've lost a lot of interest in Xenonauts, Starbound and Divinity myself due to the sheer amount of time it has taken, and due to character & save swipes after I've gotten far into the games. Now I'm just eager to get full products that are as complete as they possibly can be, and instead I'm waiting for that to happen instead of spend hours into those games. Starbound & Xenonauts feels finished though. Starbound just lacks its entire quest tree they've talked about and Xenonauts have some bugs that feel minor that they need to work out. A short burst Early Access, like you suggest as well, is what I think might be the wisest strategically. But it still needs to be out a couple of months and not just a week or two, so that as many people as possible can get on board to try the "DEMO" and give as much feedback as possible before a full release. I do think it is important that after a game has gone into Early Access, work should be done to get it out of there fairly quickly and not get it into a sort of "limbo" state where it hangs in-between in some sort of "Loading...." state. After all, don't we as gamers hate long loading screens? Also, economically speaking I don't think "Early Access" is a way to iron out bugs, it almost works like a subscription-based game where you get updates and the game world evolves with time. With a big update, Early Access games tend to hit the front page of the Steam Store with the message "New Update Available!" which results in more consumers of the title/product, which results in more money for the developng company, which results in more money & long-term customers for Valve. I think that from an economical standpoint there is nothing to lose in yearly long Early Access programs. Because when that year has passed, and the game has evolved from a buggy mess with almost no features and little to explore into a full fledged full experience with a proper character creation, skill system, companion fixes, tweaks, area overhauls etc. and all the placeholders are gone, people will forget what they played a year ago. Divinity: Original Sin was like that for me and my friend, one week we were playing and we were still enjoying it lots, the next week they released a major patch and it was like playing a "different" game. A transcended game. Suddenly it was way better. In a couple of months from now, Divinity will be even more fleshed out. You can also see those spikes in "Avg. Players" when new updates are released below in the charts. Numbers are looking better for Divinity for their "average amount of players", but note that Wasteland 2 has a higher potential peak (which means that eventually, as it currently looks like, when Wasteland 2 gets a full release it has a bigger potential player base): These charts do not show unique players, unfortunately: Wasteland 2 Steam Charts Divinity: Original Sin Steam Charts Something to consider here is also that the Polaris Network (YouTube Network) did cover the Early Access Release, TotalBiscuit & Jesse Cox both covered Divinity with Larian Studios developers. Which is also yet another aspect to consider when the game gets "Fully Released", namely YouTube and content creators which will spike sales and player base yet again. And as I previously said, it'd end up on the front page of the Steam Store as well. But relying on YouTube Marketing is a fine line to walk as well, I follow TotalBiscuit and watch all of his videos and he has a "loud voice" in the gaming world, and when he says stuff about stuff it affects MANY people's opinion about stuff, and you can hear he's uncertain where "Early Access" is going and he seems to lose some faith in it, which affects lots of people's faith in it (and here I am carrying that message forward myself xD not that I have a loud voice in any way, shape, or form, but here it is regardless). I'm sorry if I'm trailing a little bit off-topic here, but it is all part of "We might see a Full Release in 2015" discussion. Thinking about this, I'm split. I want Pillars of Eternity to be the best it can be, and I actually think that a longer Early Access period can be beneficial to the game, the community and Obsidian Entertainment in the long run, but a sooner Full Release would give me and everyone waiting for it a full experience sooner rather than later.

^I get what you're getting at but it contradicts the binary challenge. There could be a middle ground: A) On = You can recruit as many AH Companions as you can afford. B) Slider = You can recruit a total of "1-X" AH Companions. C) Off = You can't recruit any AH Companions at all. Or simply make it a single slider: "How many AH Companions can you recruit? 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-Etcetera-Infinite"

Adventurer's Hall "On/Off" - On = You can hire as many companions from the Adventurer's Hall that you can afford. - Off = "Closed for Business", you can't hire any extra companions at all. Having this "Off" on Path of the Damned, for instance, would make the game way more difficult because when you lose a character you wouldn't be able to replace them. You could call it a "Hero Resource". Having this "On", you have a potentially limitless "Hero Resource", whilst having it "Off" you have a limited "Hero Resource" (I.E. you only have the VIP Companions to recruit).

Thanks, I was unsure if it was permanent or temporary options

Oh the horror (Steam Early Access). UnEpic is an Early Access game?? I own this title and I didn't realize! It was released 13-Jun-2013. That's... scary. Xenonauts was released 31-May-2013. This is almost a year of Early Access now. The point I want to make is that Early Access can be degenerative in the long run during the period ("Is it ever going to be fully finished??" type of thoughts). Xenonauts is nearing completion, or so it feels. It is still almost a year. It still has bugs and needs tinkering with. Wasteland 2 and Starbound are in on their 6th month of Early Access. I don't know about Wasteland 2, how close it is to completion that is (I'm not up-to-date on that title), but Starbound feels like it is at least getting there. One perk about being in the Early Access program is that no matter how long you're in there, I do think that when the game is finally released, it pops up to the front page of the Steam Client and "New Releases" as an "Out Now!" product and that should be a 2nd spike in sales (Early Access "Out Now!" sale spike and Full Release "Out Now!" spike). I recall one game that was on Early Access that this happened to when it was finished (Don't remember the name of it). Another perk is what Ffordeson said about Wasteland 2, people were a bit "meh" about it at first, but are praising it more and more as time goes along. I feel the same thing about Divinity: Original Sin, when me and my friend first tried it out we were a bit "meh" about it, but it is constantly improving. And that is both a beautiful thing to see and very exciting thing to be a part of as well. When these games do come out of Early Access, and they prove to be awesome, people who might've complained at one point will instead of have forgotten what it was, and instead see it for what it is. In that sense, there's no disadvantage to be in Early Access for a year. It is still a bit of a bummer though.

@Sensuki & PrimeJunta cont. from previous page: Yes, but was that the only toggleable options or are there potentially more? The Quest/Journal System for instance, was that to be a toggleable option when you decide the Difficulty or an option in the options menu?

Was there any talk about sub-Difficulty Options? Toggles n' stuff like that~ I recall something early on on these forums, one of the earlier updates where it was either hinted or stated that there'd be toggles for difficulty options... For instance: - I pick Normal Mode - Then I get to toggle other stuff On/Off in a second list (One such thing being "Path of the Damned") I might've misinterpreted the message though.

Winter 2014 does mean "full release" right? Not "We will release Early Access 2014".. right? That might not be a death blow, but it will definitely be a "bummer" moment for me. The wisest strategy, I think, is to release the Early Access a couple of months before Winter 2014. Just to get some of that feedback from fans prior to release. Early Access does show a trend of pushing release dates up though, lots of fan/user feedback does that to products, so even if Obsidian releases an Early Access before Winter 2014 that does not mean it will be completed Winter 2014 (due to fan feedback). If, a big if, they decide to release an Early Access product in Winter 2014, yes, then we might even see a full release early-mid Spring 2015.

I don't think the idea is bad per say, but my personal preference is kind of minimalistic in this sense. I think this is nasty: This might sound a bit odd but Hearthstone (yeah) has some fantastic particle effects around the cards when you buff or debuff them and it is very minimalistic too. Here's an example (14:55): When he places the Dust Devil it has like all this "wind" going around it, and then it settles and it's only like 1 wind string going around~ the concept is that it shouldn't be obvious obvious extremely obvious like an icon or a massive Diablo 2: LoD Aura that sparkles and blinks like a late-night red light district sign. My personal preference is to have more subtle, light-weight FX. This is nasty FX as well, that thing around his hands: Nasty = Please avoid at all costs.

One now knows whom the main enemy of the game is, death to the Kind Wayfarer's! Their trademark move: Hug of Deathly Love

This caught my attention, in a "in-between the lines" type of way... Specifically the "Sometimes" in that sentence. Does this mean that there will be people in the world that appear at various locations at various times? I.E. an anamfath might be in the Hall of Heroes when I get there the first time, but for another Player there is no anamfath the first time they get there. Or am I just reading into it? i interpret it as there will be an anamfath companion that you can get in the hall Maybe so, maybe so. This is what an anamfath is by the way, for those curious: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Aedyran