Fluffle

Well, let me quote myself from another thread: To my opinion, that is because many players equal "Might" with "(Physical) Strength". And apparently, as has been pointed out, PoE1 uses that same interpretation in some interactions. "Might" could have just been some abstract measure of "Power", whether actual muscle power or arcane power. And I think that was how it was originally intended to be interpreted. If this was a new game, I'd be a fine either way. But it's a sequel. I must admit I am not too fond of too many changes of core mechanics in a sequel. Furthermore I believe, at least to my knowledge, there is no consent in the Pillars community on this change, is there? Nor is there a consent on the change of the health system. Those are vigorously debated topics, are they not? Some of the major changes of the core mechanics feel like some of the players will be presented with a fait accompli. You justify your changes by saying "Players have noted". For every such player that supports that change you may as well find a player who does not support it. The community seems to be split on some major changes. In such a case I would actually decide in favor of consistency with the first game.

To my opinion, that is because many players equal "Might" with "(Physical) Strength". And apparently, as has been pointed out, PoE1 uses that same interpretation in some interactions. "Might" could have just been some abstract measure of "Power", whether actual muscle power or arcane power. And I think that was how it was originally intended to be interpreted. If this was a new game, I'd be a fine either way. But it's a sequel. I must admit I am not too fond of too many changes of core mechanics in a sequel. Furthermore I believe, at least to my knowledge, there is no consent in the Pillars community on this change, is there? Nor is there a consent on the change of the health system. Those are vigorously debated topics, are they not? Some of the major changes of the core mechanics feel like some of the players will be presented with a fait accompli. You justify your changes by saying "Players have noted". For every such player that supports that change you may as well find a player who does not support it. The community seems to be split on some major changes. In such a case I would actually decide in favor of consistency with the first game. That said, I don't want to end this post on a negative note. I love you guys. I'm pretty sure I am going to enjoy Deadfire. I have supported you and I will continue to do so independently of these changes. And I wish you all a happy new year

Yeah, well said. That's what I've been thinking for a while now, too. I would have expected that the core mechanics of PoE would have been refined only. But some changes, like this one for example, seem to be rather big changes. Or take the different health/injury system as another example. Yes, you can find many arguments for or against each such major change. The point is, this is a sequel. I am coming from PoE1 and when I am going to play PoE2 I would like to be familiar with the core mechanics of the game. I would like to recognize them from the first game to a much higher extent than I fear I am going to recognize them now. Also, this keeps me wondering: Were the core mechanics of PoE1 really THAT bad? Or THAT in need of SUCH an overhaul? "people expect consistency of core stats and mechanics between sequels" Yes, call me one of those people. That's what I would expect.

Lucky you, hideo kuze! I hope you read this in time xD

So, I thought it may be nice to have a feedback thread dedicated to the world map. Since "Neverwinter Nights - Storm of Zehir" I have loved this kind of world map. It's the feature I loved most about "Storm of Zehir" and the devs actually brought it back to "Deadfire". I am excited! And yet... I would like to encourage the developers to expand on it and enhance it. Even the world map in "Storm of Zehir" looked more fleshed out. I haven't played through all of the beta yet, but are there random encounters for example on the world map? And it does need graphical enhancement. More atmosphere. And maybe instead of having a walking portrait of our main char, could we see a tiny model of our main char instead? Just like in "Storm of Zehir"? For comparison: The following video contains some scenes of overland map travel in "Storm of Zehir". What do you think? Do you like this kind of world map? Did you like it in "Storm of Zehir"? Should the overland map in "Deadfire" be enhanced?

WOW! It's gorgeous! I love it! Hats off to Llaney! Amazing work !

Shouldn't... shouldn't the beta be available by now? Did I miss something? Was I left out? I can't find the Beta under "My Products" on the Backer Portal.

Yes, better do NOT share unless you have spoken with Obsidian first and they agreed to it. Otherwise, great to hear you like the almost-final version of your portrait. I wonder if we will be able to recognize you from your avatar

He is computing the chance to not hit at all first, which is (1 - 0.2) * (1 - 0.2) = 0.64Thus chance to hit is 1 - 0.64 = 0.36 Tehe, that was the very first problem, on the very first lecture in Uni. Strange, 12 yeas have passed, but I still remember it) I would model this as a binomial experiment. chance of success: p = 0.2 chance of failure: q = 0.8 trials: n = 2 number of successes: k = 1 then as per binomial pmf: (n choose k) * p^k * q^(n-k) = (2 choose 1) * 0.2^1 * 0.8^1 = 2*0.2*0.8 = 0.32 = 32% 0.64 is the chance to fail both times, that is correct, however when yo calculate 1-0.64, what exactly are you doing there? You try to get the probability for the complementary event. But what is the complementary event of not hitting at all? It is not just hitting once. The complementary event of not hitting at all is hitting at least once, so it's hitting once or twice. So what does 0.36 mean? You have a 36% chance to hit twice OR once. So with a chance of 36% you hit at least once. If you want the probability to hit exactly once, that's 32%. The chance to hit twice is 0.04 = 4%. If you add that to the 32% then you get the 36%. This all was caused because I thought it was about the probability of hitting exactly once. Which doesn't make much sense, I admit It's about the probability of hitting AT LEAST once. It's a difference and I should have guessed so

How did you calculate that? I may be mistaken but I would say it's a 32% chance that you hit once, when you try twice each time with a probability of success of 20%.

I think this is a very important topic. I recently replayed Pillars of Eternity and they were quite a few quests where I felt the most obvious and natural possible reactions of the player character were taken out, cut off, just to create a moral dilemma. I do like moral dilemmas in quests. I do like that you cannot resolve just everything in a black-and-white approach. There are shades of moral and different ways to approach a quest. That's all fine and good. BUT! Not by artificially creating a false dilemma by taking out the most natural reactions. The Ferry Flotsam task is THE example for this. I don't want to repeat everything what's been said on it. There is a thread about it here. PEREGUND IS A MERCHANT FOR GOD'S SAKE!!! A MERCHANT!!! And I cannot even offer to buy off her lost goods. WTF??? WHY???? Likewise I cannot offer to help out the looters with money. WTF?! The option is simply not there. WHY??? And there are some other quests that do this in a similar way, but no quest was so outstanding on this matter than Ferry Flotsam. Moral dilemmas should NOT - actually NEVER - be created just because the developers cut off logical, obvious, natural, probable reactions of the player character. rant over, I hate ferry flotsam task so much... HATE IT!!! now rant over xD

For me this is a typical case of "Be careful what you wish for..." If you wish for a full voice over you can very simply reach that. How? Remove all unvoiced text lines from the game. More or full voice over usually means less text overall in the game. That's how Bioware can afford their full voice over. Personally, I would hate to see that happening to Pillars. More voice over, yes please, but never at the expense of the quantity of text in the game.

Hey everyone, there is something I don't understand. As far as I understood Ondra came to realize that she wanted the Eyeless destroyed too. And what she absolutely did not want is for Abydon to remember and become the way that he was before. Well, but that's exactly what I did in White March 2. I let the Eyeless return to Abydon. I did NOT temper with his memory. He should remember everything. I did everything that Ondra did NOT want. And yet she was rather calm, friendly or neutral at the Council of Stars. She only acknowledged that I had destroyed the Eyeless and that was it, which was strange because I sent them back to Abydon. Not sure if that would count as "destroying" them. Anyway I expected Ondra to be outraged at me! Why wasn't she furious with me? Hope someone can help me understand Thanks guys

Hmm okay, this will be the only time I react to firkraag888 and such alike. Whoever he is, he has only one goal in mind. And that is not participating in this thread as many of you can hopefully see. He simply wants to have this thread shut down. And everyone who reacts to him in any manner, including myself with this post, does help him achieving that goal. So let's just ignore him and let's have the moderators handle him. His plan his to engage us with him, so we help him derail this thread, so it gets shut down. But even it it comes to that, I think for the most part this discussion stayed civil and had some good ideas and opinions and that is something firkraag888 cannot take away anymore even if the thread gets closed.

But there is no binary, that's the point. Saying that there is implies that there's some kind of a strict definition of these terms, which there isn't. When you click on male or female when creating a character, all you do is select your character model. Your personality, who you are is entirely up to you, and is not determined by the choice of that model at all. Which is why I said that the choice should be relabelled as 'sex' and not 'gender', because the latter refers to something that, while related to your sex, isn't your sex and thus shouldn't dictate your model. When it comes to gender, giving two options for it and immediately associating each to a male and female character model is indeed limiting gender to a binary choice. But the game does ask you for your sex, and not for your gender. And the OP asks for a THIRD option for gender while there aren't even a FIRST nor a SECOND option for gender. The game simply does not let you choose your gender identity whatsoever; it simply asks for your character's sex.

That's because some people treat games as vehicles for their political/moral agendas first, entertainment products second. So whatever negative effect inclusion of certain topics may bring, it is a worthy sacrifice in the name of whatever they're doing it for. I think I need to clarify. What I said before that goes both ways. There are many people who think "political correctness" from our world should be implanted in a game setting one-by-one. And then there are also many people who think "political uncorrectness" from our world should be implanted in a game setting one-by-one. Just as you shouldn't assume that all citizen across Eora adhere to the "political correctness" of our world and strive to treat everyone equally, you should also not assume that LBGT characters are mistreated and stigmatized as in some parts and societies of our world. So once again, I would ask the developers to explore this topic in alignment with Eora's lore. Until we don't know more, we are bound to discuss this based on assumptions. And most of the time those assumptions will be based on our experiences here in our world. And then there is danger that we disregard the lore and story of Eora too easily of which we don't have yet enough information which is my point...

YES! So much this. That is what I feel is being overlooked so many times in discussions about representation in games, fantasy or scifi-settings. So many people simply infer the whole representation and equality issues from our world one by one to a fantasy or sci-fi setting with (complete) disregard of the story/lore of that setting. And THAT is what I really dislike. As I have said so many times already this topic should be explored in alignment with the lore of Eora, WITHOUT the assumption that the societies on Eora treat their LGBT citizen and the representation of them THE VERY SAME way as we here on Earth in present or as we did in the past. And in my opinion the developers should give us (much) more information on this, otherwise it will never stop that people simply assume Eora treats this whole subject THE VERY SAME way as we do (or did) on Earth.

So I just stumbled upon this in the game. My char, Seth, is a MALE Death Godlike. But I am NOT in the Vailian Republics as far as I know Just as a note, my party is not referred to on the previous slide. So "them" cannot mean my party.

I didn't mean to say that Aloth or Iselmyr or Pallegina were examples of being transgender. But you could use their backgrounds to explore the broader topic of "self identification". With Iselmyr you do have a woman inside a man's body. She may not regard it as her own body of course, but that is exactly the point. When you feel like you are in a body that is not your own, a body that doesn't belong to you. That may be how some transgender people feel too. And Pallegina has something in common with the OP in the sense that she is not recognized for who she is. The OP would like to be recognized as something else other than man or woman, and feels that they are refused that. Just as Pallegina is refused to be recognized as a woman. The common denominator here is not being recognized for who you are.

Aloth would be one example how to explore the topic of transgenderism in alignment with the game. Of course, yes, he is NOT transgender. But it would be interesting to see what Iselmyr thinks of being in a male body. She inhabits a body that is not hers. A feeling that maybe transgender people could relate to. The other option would be, as I already showed, Pallegina. She's regarded neither man nor woman by law in the Vailian Republics. How does make her feel? It's not the same as being transgender either, but she is not recognized for who she is, she's is not recognized as a woman, just as the OP of this thread feels not recognized for who they are. So there are possibilities to explore this broader topic. To make it clear, I am pro inclusion, but not the way the OP seems to suggests. Not just as a tag-on with disregard of the game and its lore. It should only happen in alignment with the game and its lore and it should feel natural and not forced. You already have Aloth and Pallegina with who you could explore this topic. But given this whole soul theme of the game you could easily enough think of something else too.

As the assassins of the Leaden Key confront you: Assassin: "There he is! The watcher, kill him!" Watcher: "Oh hey guys, wait a moment, you referred to me as "he/him" which I'd rather not like. Could you please refer to me as "they" and "them". Thank you, that'd be very kind. " *Assassin scratches head and shrugs.* Assassin: "Sure dude, why not. There is the watcher, kill them!" Watcher: "WAIT! Just a moment! You just called me dude. I am not a dude..."

Now let's take a look at this, this might give an insight how people in the Vailian Republics treat people who are "different". Of course the Vailian Republics is just one part of Eora, and may not speak for the whole of it. To my opinion that speaks VOLUMES. Now, the question is, do people who have a male body but insist they are a woman and vice versa count as " being different"? People who expect other people to magically know that they would prefer to be referred to as "they"? Does that qualify as "being different"? Then the above might give a hint on how people in the Vailian Republics could react on that. Pallegina is by law regarded as neither woman nor man in the Vailian Republics. So there, you have it, your third non-binary option in the Vailian Republics. Pallegina tells you how people like her are treated. Also have a look at this post by Josh Sawyer:

Gender identity is not the same as sex. You can read about it here. It's not the same as your sex. As far as I understand it, to break it down very simple it works like this: You can be born inside a man's body and also feel like a man. Or you are born inside a women's body and feel like a woman. In these cases you are cisgender. Your sex and your gender align. But you can also be born in a man's body but not feel like a man (or feel like a woman in a man's body). Or you are born in a woman's body but you do not feel like a woman (or you feel like a man in a woman's body) . Then you would be transgender. Furthermore there are people who reject the gender roles altogether, and they see themselves neither as woman nor as man INDEPENDENTLY from their body. Or they see themselves as both. So again, sex is NOT THE SAME as gender identity. Also, as I have previously pointed out, even the sex is NOT a binary option since intersex people do exist. Remember, the game asks you for your sex, not your gender. I know what gender dysphoria is. And that's not relevant to this discussion. Obviously, anyone who identifies as the opposite sex, will play as that sex in a game. Or at least i can't imagine why the wouldn't. What i don't understand is this gender roles thing. Since when gender roles became a thing? So much so that some people feel like they need to be called anything other than he/her. Maybe i missed something, but i always thought that he/her, again, mostly refers to your genitals, and is not in any way shape or form a comment about your "identity", whatever that identity may be. So why all the fuss about the "non-binary" stuff when there was no binary to begin with when it comes to who you are. He/her are gender pronouns, not sex pronouns. That's literally the linguistic term, "gender pronouns". There is no such thing as a sex pronoun in English. If somebody has a vagina and you call them her but they happen to be a man, it's a problem. That's *the* problem. You're assuming that this person is a "her" but they are not; they are a "him". And many people don't feel like a he or a her; they don't feel like any gender. This isn't "new" by the way. People have felt this way for *thousands* of years; literally for as long as human beings have existed. You can read diary entries about it, and there's rare few people that were public about it even in 1734, people discuss this in ancient Rome, etc. but in general it was more rare in the recent past of the Western world because 1) It was generally illegal in the western world and often punishable by death and 2) It was also considered a mental illness and you'd be thrown in a brick room and tortured until you stopped saying those crazy things. And that is why I said the developers should first define how the cultures and societies of Eora handle the topic of being transgender. What if it's illegal or punishable by death too? I doubt that seriously but do we know? What we are doing here is we discuss how this topic is handled and was handled in our world. And we simply infer that then in Eora it should be like so and so because in our world it's so and so. And that is exactly what I dislike. The people of Eora do not have to abide by the same rules and standards as we here on Earth. Yes, even DESPITE the fact that all the ideas from the games were inspired by our world. That does not mean that the citizen of Eora MUST treat the topic of being transgender the very same way as we do in the present or did in the past. It is up to the developers alone to explore this topic in their game world if they so wish. And if you now simply put that option in the game - nevermind that the game asks for your sex and NOT your gender - then you say that the citizen of Eora just know by magic that you would like to be addressed as "they" and they happily comply without asking any questions about it.

Gender identity is not the same as sex. You can read about it here. It's not the same as your sex. As far as I understand it, to break it down very simple it works like this: You can be born inside a man's body and also feel like a man. Or you are born inside a women's body and feel like a woman. In these cases you are cisgender. Your sex and your gender align. But you can also be born in a man's body but not feel like a man (or feel like a woman in a man's body). Or you are born in a woman's body but you do not feel like a woman (or you feel like a man in a woman's body) . Then you would be transgender. Furthermore there are people who reject the gender roles altogether, and they see themselves neither as woman nor as man INDEPENDENTLY from their body. Or they see themselves as both. So again, sex is NOT THE SAME as gender identity. Also, as I have previously pointed out, even the sex is NOT a binary option since intersex people do exist. Remember, the game asks you for your sex, not your gender.