Mr. Magniloquent

Pillars of Eternity is not turn based. There is a significant speed difference between Real-Time with Pause and Turn-Based gameplay. RTwP plays much more akin to a Real-Time Strategy game, which would be horrendous with a gamepad. I don't imagine it's out of the question that a port could be modded or performed sometime in the very distant future, but it's not happening for release or any time soon after. Rightly, and justly so.

I've felt for a long time that Strength and Constitution should be merged into a "Fitness" stat. Many checks could easily be used by either--climbing, swimming, stamina, etc. Likewise, it doesn't make sense for a burly muscular fighter to be wimpy. While arguments are more easily made for Constitution to be distinct from strength, I find them to be weak. Merging strength and consitution has a lot of logical consistencies both in use and character builds. It also makes room for the inclusion and necessity of other more interesting statistics, like percpetion, etc.

What I believe happened was that my e-mail address had changed. My kickstarter e-mail changed because hotmail rolled over to windows live mail. I imagine this caused me to fall through the cracks. Logging in to my kickstarter account, it shows that I backed--just under the defunct address.

I'm not sure what people are finding so ambiguous about this system. There are attributes, class abilities, and skills. All characters have the same attributes. These attributes influence abilities and skills in different manners. All characters have abilities, but these abilities are unique to their class. All characters have access to the same pool of skills, though some classes may be aligned more closely with certain skills than others. We don't know what all the class abilities are. Just because strength, axes, and chainmail can be useful to a Wizard, does not mean a Wizard played this way is merely a Fighter by another name. What is known, is that while classes will have distinct abilities, deliberate application of attributes and skills will give a spectrum of utility to a character which in other game systems (D&D) would have been regarded as multi-classing. That is the stated intention. Classes are defined by the abilities they have access to. Allocation of attributes and skills determine how those class abilities are expressed. The only thing we don't know, is the degree of latitute. This will likely not be known until the game is released.

Not having the green K badge means someone backed after the KS campaign ended and wasn't part of the group of people that made it all possible....the ones that made the Kickstarter campaign successful and without whom we wouldn't be having this conversation. I don't think that is necessarily true. I kickstarted very early in the campaign, yet when when the backer site came online it was going to make me pay to get the KS badge. No thank you. I put money down for a game, not a vanity sticker.

I concur completely. I like the notion of a companion being "unlockable" due to faction participation or other non-time sensative criteria. Fall-from-Grace, Ignus, and Nordom were good examples of how this can be done. Depending on the player's involvment, or even curiousity for that matter, they may never even discover that these NPCs may join the party. You have the opportunity to discover each of these characters within the world, but making them available has to do with elements other than unknowable and arbitrary timers.

A NWN persistent world I played on had environmental effects, and they were terrific. Heavy snow required a strength check to keep from being slowed. Blizzarding required a fortitude check to keep from being slowed. Walking across a stream of water beyond a certain size required a reflex check or you would fall prone and take a tiny bit of damage. That last one sure made walking to little bridges more practicle when your little wizard only has 8 HP. There were more, but those were the most promiment examples.

Late 2014 is a fine horizon, but ultimately I hope it's only released when it's done. Slings and arrows of delay are trivial to your flagship IP being incomplete, sloppy, and buggy. This game has everything to do with Obsidian's reputation. Budget could be used as an excuse for any precieved short-commings, sure--but I don't believe that will ultimately pass muster. Pillars of Eternity *must* succeed, and I trust that it will. I just want them to take as much time as required to do so.

I considered the expansion as well when I upgraded my pledge. I echo the senitments shared here, in that I would like to see how my kickstarter gamble pays off first. I did, however, purchase a copy for my old man. Seeing as it was him who gave me my first taste of CRPGs from the goldbox games to Baldur's Gate, I figured I'd return the favor. It's probably only a matter of time before I up my pledge again to the expansion though. We shall see.

The video was lovely. All of the animations were so fluid and well...animated! I loved the scale, detail, and realistic art style. I am *so* bored of the Blizzard art style and all of its derivatives and clones. The spell effects had a great deal of flare and heft to them as well--something I'm also very particular about. Not to say I ever had doubts, but I am well pleased. This is going to be the game that launches a renaissance.

There is only one thing left for this thread to do.

Overall, I think the music for Arcanum and Planescape: Torment were the scores that stuck with me the most. The melancholy and despondence of the Arcanum soundtrack was masterfully done and created a setting more powerful than any visuals or graphics could. The momuentous otherworldy quality to the Planescape: Torment soundtrack really lent well to the bizarre landscape and themes, and served to further alienate me while pushing me to delve deeper. Oh! Let's not forget Grim Fandango--possibly the best video game soundtrack ever created. The rich visuals and superb writing are to be credited, but it's the exquisite soundtrack to Grim Fandago which give it life. That is why those soundtracks stuck with me so much, because they painted a very specific picture, rather than just attempt to overwhelm me with power. There are so many good examples though. The Emerald Isle song of Might and Magic VII conveys powerful tone of magic, whimsy, and intrigue. Another piece that I definately feel is underappreciated is the Druid Grove theme from Baldur's Gate 2. Mystery, melancholy, severity, wonder--all in less than 60 seconds. While I'm sure this had to do with technological limitations, I believe that the concise nature of these tracks is very important. Most of them are around a minute to and minute and a half. They are crafted for a scene, and that scene only. I'd rather have a very iconic and rich piece seemlessly loop every 60 seconds than be pushed and pulled through the high and lows of an opus that could fit any number of games.

I find the notion of shared health and stamina intriguing, but it does introduce quesitons regarding suspension of disbelief. Bonding with a wild animal--or any animal for that matter is going to place you outside the realm of civilization. This is good from a flavor standpoint, as Rangers by definition should be woodsman and beyond development of Man. Bringing your ranger and his or her "companion" into a city, town, or even an inn should be very problematic.

If I am required to distill it down to one thing, I would have to say I'd like an interesting spell system. The IE AD&D games had the greatest spells of any cRPG I can think of. I had hopes for Dragon Age: Origins, but it fell woefully short of their ambitions and claims. I look forward to a system developed by Obsidian as a kind of "evolved Vancian" spellsystem, as every mana based one has been entirely mundane, unimaginative, and repetitive.

I think it would be interesting to partake in a heist. I'm not talking about walk in to the Hall of Wonders, brazenly loot a case then stealth out--reprecussion free. I'd like a multi-layered heist where many different skills would be necessary. Putting guards to sleep with a spell, charming the curator's daughter to access an office for security details, disabling some traps, etc. All this would need to be done without being detected, or at least diguised successfully enough to where you will otherwise become persona-non-grata even if you are able to swipe the item.

I liked the trolls in Temple of Elemental Evil best. My first impression of the PE Trolls was that they were inspired by the depiction of the troll in the film, Snow White & The Huntsman. If it could be detailed a bit more, I think I would like this type of troll as well.

I very much enjoyed the cosmology of D&D. I liked the different planes (prime, elemental, negative, abyss, hell, etc.) and felt they really worked well in both constructing "the beyond", but explaining concepts of after-life, divinity and general frame work of existence. Given that these guys were largely responsible for Planescape: Torment, I imagine that some planar distinctions will exist, but how far will they deviate from prior/earlier concepts? I personally liked what Dragon Age:Origins attempted to do with "The Fade", but the delivery was awful. Is there anything you guys want out of a certain cosmology or is it not particularly important to you? What kind of concepts do you guys have which might refine or go beyond convention, or break molds entirely?

They should release it all. Only to me if necessary. I am excellent at keeping secrets. No need to be coi, Obsidian.

My ideal travel system is from Storm of Zehir. It possessed excellent sense of adventure and exploration while making each class's non-combat traits and skills relevant and significant. Traveling was productive and interesting with evading monsters or capitalizing on random encounters, rather than tedious or irrelevant. The lack of "fast" travel also helped compose a world, rather than merely a series of jump-points. I liked having reasons to go to small towns either out of expediency or necessity due to proximity and travel constraints. I also liked having to traverse the dangers of the wood to get to far-off markets with rare resources. I could extoll the virtues of Storm fo Zehir's map/travel system for many many pages. I read how Mr. Sawyer reads most of the posts here, and I hope he reads this one. This was probably the best overland travel system I have ever used. If flattery will encourage you to reproduce a similar system, let me know.

I swear I've hit multiple encounters before on my way somewhere in Baldur's Gate. Because, after a random encounter, it stops you whereever you "ran into an encounter," on the map, so that you then re-choose your destination: either the same one, or a different one. Maybe I'm delusional today, *shrug*. I hate my brain. It can and does happen. About the only time it ever will is when you leave the mines or some similar location deep within Cloakwood for a far-off location. I've been ambushed by Ettercaps, Spiders, and Wyverns attempting to exit Cloakwood as much as three times before finally making it out, only to be ambushed by Bandits, lol. That is probably the only place/time it regularly happens.

Don't get me wrong. I very much enjoy NPC interjections and interactions. These are the things that made those games great. Learning the Path of Zerthimon with Dak'kon, musing with Fall-from-Grace, and insulting people with Morte were absolutely inspired. The NPCs in the Baldur's Gate series bickering at each other or even with you were terrific as well. Interactions with Virgil in Arcanum were similar. They possessed depth, but didn't pull me out of the story to engage in some contrived buddy time. They were woven into the fabric of the story. To me, these anecdotes were semi-frequent but brief. They occured within the pace of the adventure and never operated as an aside which paused or forced my path elsewhere. Their brief and random nature also gave them a more natural feel, rather than the obvious script rehersing of NWN2. Ultimately what I don't want to see in P:E are the "Inn Scenes" of NWN2, where the NPCs all yammered on while the player was mostly a spectator. To me, I felt like the game was being put on hold while I was being forced to watch characters I didn't care about yuck it up. NWN2 possessed many such moments like this, and I did not generally enjoy them. NPC interaction should be fluid and seemless within the game, or be player invoked like with Planescape: Torment or Mass Effect when length/depth is required.

While I enjoyed NPC interactions in these games, I can't say I'm in agreement with your post. NPCs enhance the narrative and give life to what is otherwise a chess piece. I don't play these games to socialize with scripted virtual constructs. If that were my motivation, I'd be play The Sims. If an NPC's dialogue can enhance the narrative of the game--excellent. I don't care whether its addressing the PC, another NPC, an event, or otherwise. That's well and good, because it enhances the game, it doesn't change it. I don't want to go fishing with Khelgar, or spin limericks with Neeshka. That's something you do on a RP server for NWN, or at a table top game where the interaction is real and could possibly matter. I feel as though I am digressing, but I can make my message very succinct. I'm play this game for the adventure itself, not "Tea-time with Minsc". I want NPCs to support that, not divert it.

Frankly, I loved Temple of Elemental Evil's turn based combat. I felt it was intricate, strategic, and made every attack roll gripping. I felt the same way about the Fallout series. Most people associate turn-based with JRPGs--which is to say all of their negative connotations are richly deserved. Combat in these games is absolutely awful. For Torment: Tides of Numenera, gripping tactical combat wasn't even one of the stated major goals of the game--it was always about narrative, plot, and character depth. I understand the terror in your reflexive emotional response, but try not to embarass yourself. It's a game.

I'm hoping that there will be tell-tale signs that a trap is in vicinity. The only IE game I remember doing it was Baldur's Gate I--particularly in Durlag's Tower. A scortch-mark on the floor, or a skeletal corpse collapsed in an otherwise ordinary cooridoor, etc. While I understand this would only be pertinent in some long abandoned dungeon, I felt they were excellent contextual clues for an observant player.

I'm a bit surprised by how bureaucratic the process is--though on reflection I shouldn't be. Updates like this assure to me the level of competance I already ascribe to Obsidian. I look forward to this game dispelling remarks about this company's ability to deliver. Bully!