W.MacKinnon

Should so be rollin' Iorek Byrnison bear action there. Really armour mods should be added to the animal form. Bears+armour is almost as good as bears with chainsaw arms, or sharks with lasers on there heads. Though the armour should lower attack recovery times as normal. Figure magical armour should change form to fit the wearer anyway, how I always had it work in my Pen&paper games. Otherwise the Ring of Fire resistance on a troll would be like a wrist band, or for a titan with a ring of wizardry it's be like a hola hoop. If any of you DM putting a ring of fire resitance on a troll is halirious and makes damn good sense. Players be like, what do you mean my fireball is ineffective.

Edit: Sorry double posted. Got an error about posting to quick and suddenly had double post. LOL

Think the simpliest explanation is that a layer is made over the 3d Image. (If your familar with Photoshop) Then the 3d image is painted over to make it appear as a 2D image. Basically. Gives the aesthic appearance of a 2D image, but allows dynamic lighting/shadows and other engine effects to be run on the fly off the graphics card. Example: Fireball in BG just red sprite effect, in PoE - Fireball causes all nearby characters to throw shadows relative to position of the fireball.

The developers over at Obsidian have been tight lipped about companions (We have names, classes about it). This is due to decisions not to spoil the games core narrative that some of the companions play a part of. Companion interactions will likely be most similar to Baldur's Gate 1, no romances but plenty of character development. The companions were covered in update #73. >http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/65206-update-73-narrative-design-a-day-in-the-life-companion-goals-and-the-undead/?hl=companions Cheers friend.

Yeah, games feature locked. It's being released in March. Good points though, Ranger with it's animal companion is terrible. The current game has pre-fight buffs, through the use of expensive beds at the Inn; as well as foodstuffs.

I read this and realize I have much to learn. My party gets curb stomped on Normal mode all the time fighting beetles and druids. Still it's good to see that once you get the tactics the combat gets easier. Cheers by the way. Testing the hardest modes is important, especially for the longevity of a game. Once I beat a game on easy/normal if I play again I'll creep up the difficulty. Think my problem might be not syncing my PC abilities like you mentioned Osvir.

Having played a few games as a Ranger here's my opinion. (Note I have a novice grasp of tactics in this game. Still play on Normal mode.) Regardless the Ranger requires advanced tactics and enemy pre-knowledge to work. Used the Bear, holds up decently in melee vs other melee monsters. Then the same companion is a liability when fighting caster types. (Literally once I see a spell, usually the Bear/Ranger is out of the fight - this means for survivability you keep the companion out of range/out of encounter when fighting such monsters. Meaning Ranger is at half ability vs whatever your familiar is weak against. I figure I could have chosen a Wolf but figured it'd be half again as useful as the Bear in melee. Half as good as Gazelle vs mages. ) I can't come out and say the class is a lost cause, because I'm sure someone knows how to make it work (tactically, without taking the companion out of the encounter). Not sure how to fix it if it's more then me not utilizing the character properly. (For note I picked talents that affected the animal companion) I can tell you a permanent shield other effect is broken if the familiar has it's own hp pool. But at the same time, it was distressing whenever the companion went down and my main did to. Do know I likely won't use any Rangers in the game, but luckily have a large pool of companions to choose from. Cheers.

I haven't tried a Ranger in the Beta. As to how the animal companion works as stated, if this was a pen&paper game I would avoid the class. Sounds like the D&D Wizards familiar mechanically(In most D20 systems familiar has only 1/2 casters hp - it will likely work similarly with shared HP and a ranged primary character), by that it'll be a terrible front-liner. (Both the Animal cohort and the Primary character.) That it basically makes the ranger have two target-able sprites, the primary character and cohort. In pen&paper games, even a regular cohort only works when gamed to the max. Can the animal wear armour like a PC or have level up buffs increasing it's deflection relative to obtainable magical loot a warrior could obtain? On the other hand it would allow greater action economy if the animal cohort uses the Rangers base stats? How does it currently work and what would you want it changed Shevek? Give the cohort it's own Health/Stamina pool? Do you mean the cohort has a standalone health pool and has a constant Shield Other effect with the primary character? Regardless I'll try the Ranger myself and offer a few musing. From my reading of the class it seemed it wasn't meant to be a meat shield/front liner but to use the cohort as a harrier while using the Ranged attacks with the Primary.

I don't think the cost of objects needs to match Baldurs Gate ctn2003. Black Isle had the prices from the AD&D Players handbook they had to go by. (Due to pre-existing rule precedence.) The developers will have a better idea of the local technology levels and availability/cost of high grade armour and weapons. (Not only that they should have a better idea of player wealth by level to help price superior items) Additionally the game uses multiple forms of currency, so unlike AD&D with it's standard 1gp=10sp=100cp; the cost of 600gp Plate Mail is 60,000cp. Full Plate costs 2000 cp - (copper pands) in the Beta; coins are based on the metal content(like a trade good) like Real life(medieval) currency. Frankly it's one of the better things I liked about Mr. Sawyers world building, in Pen&Paper the use of multiple 10 currency, plus lack of exchange rates - is used to make the game simpler and require less math. WIth a PC game first (no base on previous Pen&Paper mythos) the computer does all the work, so why not use a realistic coinage system that is messy like real life currencies are. (For instance the same Plate Mail would cost 1000 Copper Áilds used by the Glanfalthans, or 333 and 1/3 Silver Fennings used by the Aedyr Empire. IF bought off the same retailer without exchange rates.)

Whilst I think it's cool to view the "Unlimited Stash" as your own caravan of sort, where are these men and women? How are they explained? In the very opening scene of the game it's contrarian, Unless you mean in the BB, then sure, there could be a caravan with you. I'm telling your right now in a Pen&Paper game; which my comment was based. If the game developers want to include ways to acquire hirelings; let's think here. Local farmers, villagers could be hired. Town guards, actual laborers from a city, disenfranchised locals/poor, tradesmen from a city. Other adventurer's. Not even dealing with the idea that the Players themselves could just hire/purchase a horse drawn cart and ferry the trade goods to the markets at which they can be sold. *Thought process on where the profit comes from below Take into account that a Large golem(because they are never medium sized) made out of adamantine (as an example) would weigh in the neighbourhood of 4000+pounds. Well lets assume 1lb of adamantine is worth 100gp to 250gp - so worth between 400,000gp to about 1,000,000gp at the high end. Now let's assume you can't sell it at cost - even though it's a "trade good" even at a fraction of true cost let's say 10% still worth 40K gp on the low end. Now how much would hirelings, basic labour cost? Not that much for certain. In most of these settings 10gp would be more then a peasant gets paid in a year. So plenty of profit even if you include loss due to banditry. Really if you ever DMed or played in a Pen&Paper game you've likely had a player squeeing over fighting a monster made of precious metals. Heck even a steel golem is worth a small fortune, think a pound of steel is worth like 50gp or some such. They are always over 1000lbs. They don't make monsters like that medium-sized. Now talking of basic steel swords, they are roughly 2lbs of weapon grade steel(The most expensive kind mind). It wasn't uncommon for them to reforged into other items of use, like plough blades, or other utilitarian items of use to the community.(Meaning they are marketable as being steel, not just as weapons to equip an army) Now if "Bandits" really are such a big problem, the cost for delivered goods would go up - meaning more profit for the players if they decided to trek with the goods themselves. I mentioned it was beyond the scope of the game for a reason, but players would in fact collect all steel weapons, all items of value to sell at a later date. For instance an ancient statue from a haunted dungeon, would be worth thousands of gold as an art item. As a DM I make sure to include the fixtures of a dungeon when looking at character wealth by level tables. From a player standpoint hiring people to drive the carts carrying the goods even at explosively high rates of 250gp+ their would still be huge profits. Having the player with high Charisma, good diplomacy skills and gold to spend to hire labours - could likely hire people from any market. Heck it's quite possible local lords would be sending their army to attack the players due to displacing local serfs and labourers from their markets, or a suitability clever player may co-op a local lord via bribes or trade agreements to make their serfs help transport the goods. The best labour is free labour and serfs could be told moving the goods was paying their taxes.

I agree with Sensuki, dropped loot should match what the enemy was wearing/had equipped. In the old Baldurs Gate's and other Infinity engine games this was due to the game being based on a Pen&Paper game. If anyone has ever played one, players take everything and the kitchen sink when they loot. Heck if I could I'd loot the castles and temples I travel though in the game. Taking all the decorative painting, carpets, candlesticks, and statuettes that were present. (You know the pretty background stuff.) Heck even a large glowing stone pillar if I thought my character might meet someone to later sell it to. Especially the bodies of slain golems made of valuable materials, such as Adamantine ones. And to those who would say where would you put it, doesn't the player have a stronghold? All the loot could be hauled to your headquarters via hirelings, your own muscles, and or beasts of burden pulling carts. The infinite stash is kind of a concession to this I imagine as recruiting hirelings/horse driven carts that carry loot to your stronghold is beyond the scope of the game. From a game perspective all this looting of ruins/etc would likely piss off the Glanfathans which would be entertaining to play through. Also I read someone mentioning, they don't want all the normal sword, or leather armour loot, rather only the +1 or what have you mentionable stuff. Well here's the kicker, collecting all the regular gear and selling it allows you have the coin necessary to buy the magical equipment offered in the Inns or what have you.

Ok so big head mode is in, does that mean little familiar mode could be in as well? I can see myself playing around with the debug console after release having some loltz over this.

I think this leads into Mr. Sawyers whole premise of rules creation during his posts. Your call for separation of the talents into talents/feats departs from the intended gameplay mechanic he pitched. The current rules work as he intended them, by that a player who finds they have to many modal abilities as it is, or doesn't like hitting a button every couple of seconds can choose the passive talents instead of the extra use of ability, or alternate use, new ability etc. Basically playing like an IE fighter, while being another class or what have you. (You guys hopefully get what I mean, be a Paladin/Chanter/etc. WIth the party AI doing the tactical lifting >Positioning, etc.) Personally I can see me, making the tank of my party take mostly passives, and my casters loading up on modal abilities. I think this system works as he intended, and with 6 party members a vast array of talents can be picked. If the rules allows a bunch of talents, not only will a great deal of them need to be created; it also would likely lessen their effect on gameplay difficulty. (Basically they would affect gameplay less, maybe lower percentages or something.) I don't see the current iteration as necessarily needing changing. It works as intended I think.

Hey no need to troll the man for liking RE4. That game was great. (The scene on the river with the mutant crocodile was awesome.) These are very different games and both have merits, Crpg vs Third-person Shooter. I think it's worth recognizing that a large demographic prefers high-end graphics. This isn't that game with a budget for Dragon Age 3 or Witcher 3 graphics. So to expect that level of graphic production is over-reaching - sadly; but this game doesn't have a 10+million dollar budget. On Topic of what Pillars can learn from Wasteland 2. Wasteland actually delivered more then I expected; as I was highly suspect of Inxile. (there previous releases being what they were. Bards Tale, Hunted, etc.) So much so I didn't back it, only reason I have a copy is due to my Pillars backing. I agree with Sky_Walker that combat in Wasteland 2 gets boring quickly, already Pillars has superior game play in this area due to class powers. Though at this stage without a clear combat log or rulebook; combat in Pillars it's quite confusing. Wasteland is superior in that regard(rules transparency), having simple combat - the thing to remember is the combat log in PoE is likely gimped in the demo due the game still being balanced. Otherwise we forum goers might be up in arms about a rules change, like halving the damage of a weapon type, or doubling of another. Trap builds exist in Wasteland, as my blunt melee/toaster repairman PC can attest. Hopefully none present themselves in Pillars. So far the closest to a trap build I've made in the Pillars beta demo, was when my grimoire disappeared from my wizards inventory, making his class powers unusable(first beta build). Save-scumming is much in effect in Wasteland 2, every chest is random loot. Every locked door, every skill check basically you save before attempting. Even playing the Pillars beta demo, I haven't had the need to save before every enemy encounter. PoE likely will have a small amount of save-scumming, but evidence from the demo means it'll be less the Wasteland. Storywise, Wasteland 2 is average fair. By that it's not terrible, it hasn't had any moments I went dear god - who wrote this scenario. It has a small amount of funny charm that Fallout had (Pushing the red button in the Citadel, the Night Terror.) I recognize the game wasn't going for funny charm so it's seldom appearance is okay. I haven't fully completed the Campaign yet, but Sky-walker is right that it takes awhile to find it's legs. The biggest thing I hope Pillars has that Wasteland failed to give is interesting party members. Wasteland reminded me more of Jagged Alliance meets Ice Wind Dale, basically all PC's are blank slates with no personality. With Obsidian's writers experience I'm sure we'll see some great character development, as most of their rpg games have at least talking NPC party members. EDIT: Noticed a few replies when I was writing this. Malignacious learn some respect. Flaming people is unacceptable behavior. This is a public forum sure, but comparing a person to a terrorist organization that beheads people. I can only shake my head.

Have the stated the system requirements of the game yet? I've been wondering if I should man up and buy a new video card. Currently running on a GT630, which isn't very good but get's the job done for most of my PC gaming needs. Tend to play mostly on my Playstation rather then my PC so I haven't really considered buying a newer one. I figure my CPU's good enough as it's 2.66quad. You guys know if expected specs were posted anywhere? I didn't notice them in any of the updates.

Dark Elf from world of Glorantha, don't you think that s/he has very classic elvish look That particular image is a Myconid from the D&D 2nd edtion monster manual isn't it? Since your asking what Orcs look like to other people, or at least arch-typical features - and actually seem interested in someone answering you Elerond. I find it interesting that my and your opinion on Orc's are quite different. Here is my opinion - incoming block of text. ;p I tend to envision them as being slightly taller then an average human, having more bulk. Though that bulk is not that of a sculpted body builder but more of a core of muscle covered in fat (Muscle tone not evident). Skin tones ranging from moss green to pale grey - since typically aren't assumed to have great hygiene all skin tones can appear in one specimen due to skin discolouration. (Acme, scar tissue, dry patches, or even just dirt or other detritus on their bodies.) Hair colour being as varied as seen in humanity though earth tones being most common, I wouldn't expect to see Orc's with green hair. (Typically a feature that usually makes me infer a Troll.) On the features of the face, while not having tusks - would have protruding canines, the Orc would have a strong protruding jawline (Common overbite), and pointed teeth. Whether naturally pointed due to diet or sharpened due to cultural rituals would be unclear. Earlobe would taper to a point, similar to goblins, elves - though the lobe would not be oversized - would follow similar ear size expected in a human norm. Culturally would be considered Barbaric - and the worst of primitive cultural norms expected. Ritual killing of malformed infants, the slavery of defeated foes. Expected coming of age ceremonies would include killing a sentient foe - of a culture opposing their own. Lines of succession expected to follow strength of ability of leaders to feed and win glory for their tribesman. Matters of justice being settled by strength of arms rather then empirical evidence (or common opinion). Thats' about it. Though I tend to view them as I've used them D&D. If I tend to need a more civilized enemy using a goblinoid sub-type I go to the Hobgoblin not the Orc. On adding Orc's into Pillars - I think it was a good idea to leave them out. They are a typical fantasy staple, usually playing the roll of evil overlord low leveled minion. While I've read fantasy where Orc's are the main villain usually I don't finish them due to them typically be portrayed as lacking guile, or failing to be that interesting. So I agree with you Elerond on them being unnecessary. If someone were to take Orc's and say revamp them to basically be a Spartan-like warrior culture(advancing tech to gunpowder, and well crafted steel arms, and drilled soldiers basically), I would cry foul as it's basically swapping their alignment to Lawful and giving them the role typically taken by Hobgoblins. (Which are the typical goblinoid Lawful race.) If another extreme was taken, and instead of warriors they were tinkers or crafters, now they are misplacing typical goblins. Really I don't see a great amount of room to "reinvent" the Orc, or even that it's worth it. They do the brute barbarian culture pretty well as is - and if one hears of orc's their culture is assumed to match that of common fiction. Barbarous tribe of warriors basically.

Hm funny how it's always the man that is "gross." Are there any fairy tales with gross ladies, I'd like to know. There actually is a decent novel about "gross" or disgusting female that finds romance. It's called the Ship who Sang by Anne McCaffrey. Quite good, the premise is that deformed children are used as quasi Navigator Computers on FTL ships. Really look into this book if your into romance stories, in fact it leads to an entire novel continuity. In that novel, the characters that fall in love can't actually interact physically - due to the fact to reveal the person inside the machine as it were would kill her. I won't spoil anything more in case you might be interested in reading it. Figure that their might be some more out there but that's one that seemed similar to a toad prince type analog. Regardless good read, as scifi goes.

Yes one can but that doesn't automatically dismiss his observation and opinion (and correct me if I'm wrong) that sexual violence is often used as a shortcut to convey strong emotions to an audience. I would be inclined to agree. I would not say, however, that it should be off limits. Just that it's inclusion ought to be thought out and measured in the context of the story that is being told. Like most here, it seems, I am not into sexual content designed simply to titillate. If that is the goal then I think it will nearly always come across as awkward. Fortunately that won't be an issue here. agreed luckily that won't be the case unless this actually a 3 million dollar backed pron game. Sexual content could be used to strike terror into the player. Having a female lead captured and violated by tentacle monstrosities only to return later to ambush the player as a zombie oozing with strange goo from every orifice of her body and controlled by parasites. LOL, frankly had to give you a like Fallion. I laughed pretty hard reading the romance thread on this board, but damn. Wiping away tears here, thanks! Cheers

Hi Arcoss, not sure but I believe that in update #79 when Mr. Brennecke showed off some of the lighting and graphics effects they also revealed how 3d pathing was implemented. Pretty sure the backgrounds are pure 2D, while 3D pathing is created for the 3d player sprites(paperdolls) as an (invisible)overlay layer. During the graphics demonstration he pulled the camera back and swiveled it so he could show how it's implemented. Was quite an interesting video, should be in the announcements forum friend. Cheers Edit: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66254-update-79-graphics-and-rendering/ should be about 1:30 to 1:70ish on the video.

Thanks for the info on daggers guys. I never even thought of the idea of using the pummel to get additional thrust power in close quarters. Only type of blades I've handled have been replica swords, military service utility knifes, and my own utility knifes(hawkbill, boxcutter, and straight edge types). Reading about a dagger or knife in an rpg book is quite different then having any actual knowledge on them. Appreciate the comments - gives me understanding of the different designs at least. On some interesting designs that interest me on an esthetic level are flails. Especially with newer graphic animations maybe we'll see a decent swagger/idle hanging chain, and possible animation of a flail striking over a shield. While they aren't as showy as swords or daggers, they do seem very much a business weapon. By that look to be a tool to maim and kill first, the art of the piece comes second. Something is to be said about a no nonsense weapon like that, not to say a rich man might not have a more decorative flail head like a skull or some such. Just seems more of a commoner weapon.

I'm pretty sure the Memorial stones were due in March.(3months ago) I also had one, but decided I had nothing worthwhile putting on one without putting meta-game immersion breaking text. So decided to leave it blank, didn't want to make the game worse or have Obsidian forced to use a made up language to disguise in-game graffiti - which if it doesn't add to the lore or at least remain relevant to the setting - that's exactly what it is - me tagging the game. Figure your pretty late Ink Blot, don't think you're going to have any luck getting your memorial stone in there friend. Cheers and good luck regardless.

That rondel dagger looks delicate, by that does the pummel serve a purpose other then decorative? Is it also good for smashing an opponent in the head? I understand the pictures are probably modern art pieces (letter openers/wall hangers) then actual weapons intended to stab someone, or knock an adversary across the head with them. Art wise they look pretty cool (agree on that point), just figure it should have a bit heavier pummel to use an impromptu blackjack. The third picture has daggers with pummels of a smaller profile but looks like they could do some damage. The first one looks the coolest but the pummel doesn't look like it'd stand up to being used that way. I know all the rogues I rp'd would be to vain to ruin their dagger on a guy's head.

@Chaos Theory - Your not sexy enough lol ;p Honestly I think you have to buy a really expensive ticket I believe. Like $800 or some such - E3's a trade expo show not a fan convention. It has some cool stuff going on at some areas I'm sure it's probably like the red seal trade competition expo type deal(Only type I'm familar with) - watching some really talented pipefitters(or any trade for that matter) do a fast construction is something to see, but it's mostly for meeting other professionals creating new networking and business contacts. EDIT: I know that differences would be quite large due to gaming be a service industry - just figure the buzz about E3 is due to software being a media/service industry thing. Meh, haven't been to an E3 but that's what it sounds like from some descriptions.

I really think many of you are underestimating how quickly such news would indeed get around. Heck, word of mouth would pass such tales along as fast as supply convoys - which would be daily or weekly. On another note as for how quickly information might flow, if wizardry exists in a similar way as pnp D&D - a simple message spell(or a pillars amalgam) would work the same as a telegraph. This would lead to very fast transfer of information - not even taking into account possible instantaneous transports or what have you. Another factor is in large urban centres, there might be government proclamations. Whether in stone of hand writ or delivered in some magical format, which would likely tell of any undead plagues (Or actual sickness plagues). These would travel outward from the metropolitan centres to the more rural areas via traveling tinkerers or traders, or other magical means. Honestly though while the means of information flow are interesting(in a historical sense), I don't think they will actually be dealt with in Pillars. Just putting it out there, the only information passed would not be over tea and cuppets. Also if people are disappearing in the rags/port/poor district of the city - locals would notice the disappearances and spread word - via lines of trade at the very least.

On the same topic but somewhat diverged, how common would "incorporeal" undead be? From what lore we've been given so far aren't ghosts created when the body of the animated dead decomposes to dust. Similar to the creation of a demi-lich - the body now dust leaves the spirit of the undead being free to cause havok. Interesting to wonder how possession might work, or on how soul splintering might affect the undead. On the topic of soul splintering could their technically be multiples of the same undead being - or a reincarnated spirit fragment being alive while another technically undead. Pillars lore leads to some interesting complications if the act of animancy could potentially splinter the initial(targeted) spirits soul. By that I mean something similar to the Horcruxes from Harry Potter, where multiple being could technically house fragments of the same being soul. The idea of a person meeting a part of themselves, either alive, or in some state of undeath sounds interesting, a lot of good plot threads could come from how this setting is dealing with death.