Sedrefilos

There are very specific reason why I dodn't like DB. It's not bad just for Pillars, it is very poorly designed. Here is a link to my review after I finished the game. If you want to see my points of DB being the worst thing in Pillars, scroll down to the "things I didn't like" section (is highlighted); that is, if you're interested in the first place, of course http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/77841-i-finally-finished-the-game-and-heres-what-i-liked-and-didnt-like-about-it/?do=findComment&comment=1664797

Come on. Baldur's was an old game. Bioware was unexperienced back then (they even mention it in the intro of BG2 manual!). Defiance Bay has no excuse whatsoever. Obsidian has much more experience now. Twin Elms was a far better city. It was very good actually! So why DB is not as good? Who knows. Hope next time they work better their large city.

Yeah Defiance Bay was a huge let down for me and it definately wasn't Athkatla, though Athkatla 2014 wasn't Athkatla 2001 either Replaying BG2 I found other things more interesting now that didn't make me an impression back then and things that impressed be back then didn't impress me again as much now. Strange how age and time makes you see things differently even in video games

Pillars gave me a glimpse of what it might have been if the stat/reputation/skills were used more in conversations and scripted interactions. A 10/10 game. But I believe it did mixed the best of the older IE games and did some more (mechanics are way way way better than IE games used to be). Did I enjoyed the game? Very very very much indeed (I've posted a review back at April of what I liked and what I didn't and what needed more work imo). Did it make feel like how I felt when I played BG2? No. But why? Because it is an inferior game? Not even close. The thing is, when I played BG 2 I've never had played something like it before. I came back after a 5-year break from games and computers in genral and I was 21 when I played it in 2001. I didn't play any RPGs in the 80's and 90's 'cause they looked unappealing to me. Anyway, while I was playing BG 2 I couldn't believe such a game could exist. That much I liked it. Years passed and I played many other rpgs that I liked. Did they make me feel like I felt when I was playing BG2? Nope. None of them. Last summer I decided to re-play BG 2. Did it make feel like I felt when I played it in 2001? Not even close! Gameplay sucked, some dialogues and characters felt cheesy and the areas felt much emptier that they felt back then! If I didn't play it in 2001 and played it now for the 1st time I'd be like "why everybody talks about this game in the forums all the time?". I still have in my heart the feeling of my 1st playthrough but I also have the feeling of my second. Is BG2 the best rpg of all time? Not any more (though it still is a very good game). What I'm trying to say is, even if we deny it, nostalgia playes a huuuuuuge role to how we see Pillars compared with older IE games. At least to me. *Made a couple edits.*

I don't know if SCL reflects anything, since it was evidently a trashy B-grade game trying to cash in on other games. But in any case, cooldowns are probably the worst option out there: unlike per-rest/per-encs, cooldowns just encourage a mindless spammy 'tactic' where you just fire everything that is ready, and then you run around waiting for the cooldown on the next thing. If abilities tend to have short cooldown cycles you just play like a stimulus-response monkey, pressing the hotkeys when you see the cooldown timer fill; if abilities have longer (e.g. 180 seconds) cycles, they are basically per-encs anyway, with the added silliness of waiting around in-between fights for cooldown resets, using them basically as per-encs, etc. I think POE trying to combine per-enc and per-rest is nice, as it conserves some longer-term resource management aspect, but the balance between the various abilities needs a lot of tricky rethinking. I didn't say it was a good mechanic, I was joking about Wizards not liking their old magic system. Anyway, I personally think Pillars manages pretty well the limited spellcasting system, making spellcasters usefull all the time and tying it with the limited rest, thus making it more meaningful and immesrive. I used to hate resting in olader DnD games (although I loved the idea 'cause it was more adventury!) because it was mandatory to do after each combat if you wanted to use your spellcaster effectively in every combat situation, so I always prefered mana-based systems. Pillars did it well Older games never made resting too often have a penalty. NWN were especially bad at this. This is why I love how new Torment is going to be doing it. Time does not pass during the game (except in scripted events) but only once you go and rest (which you cannot do anywhere) and when time does pass things change, quests change, NPCs change and you get a different experience. It is not punishing or penalty (but it can be if after rest there are more enemies waiting for you in next battle), but gives you a different game experience in a logical way (things change with passage of time, who would guess that.. :D). I didn't know that detail of resting in TToN. Sounds very interesting. It ties to the game's style too. Hope they do it right. In pillars it wouldn't be a good idea though, given the ammount of encouters there is compared to TToN's (as they plan it to be, at least).

Does the POE lore provide underwater cities and areas? Btw, are there any novels like in Forgotten realms? There are a few short stories that can you find in the homepage of Pillars. I believe a novel is underway? The IP is very new so there is no library of novels right now. As for underwater cities, I believe there's nothing as such in the lore. Pillars' history is more "grounded" and history inspired than DnD - from what I've read thus far at least. It's not so high fantasy.

Yes, that is needed.

I don't know if SCL reflects anything, since it was evidently a trashy B-grade game trying to cash in on other games. But in any case, cooldowns are probably the worst option out there: unlike per-rest/per-encs, cooldowns just encourage a mindless spammy 'tactic' where you just fire everything that is ready, and then you run around waiting for the cooldown on the next thing. If abilities tend to have short cooldown cycles you just play like a stimulus-response monkey, pressing the hotkeys when you see the cooldown timer fill; if abilities have longer (e.g. 180 seconds) cycles, they are basically per-encs anyway, with the added silliness of waiting around in-between fights for cooldown resets, using them basically as per-encs, etc. I think POE trying to combine per-enc and per-rest is nice, as it conserves some longer-term resource management aspect, but the balance between the various abilities needs a lot of tricky rethinking. I didn't say it was a good mechanic, I was joking about Wizards not liking their old magic system. Anyway, I personally think Pillars manages pretty well the limited spellcasting system, making spellcasters usefull all the time and tying it with the limited rest, thus making it more meaningful and immesrive. I used to hate resting in olader DnD games (although I loved the idea 'cause it was more adventury!) because it was mandatory to do after each combat if you wanted to use your spellcaster effectively in every combat situation, so I always prefered mana-based systems. Pillars did it well

Even Wizard's doesen't like their old magic system, especially implemented in video games. Proof is they licensed Sword Coast Legends which has only cooldowns ;P

Have you played Grimrock 2? Their mimic's are splendid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wdf6EyfFBk Ah, Grimrocks... such great games. The thing about mimics is that when there is always a chance a chest to be a mimic, you always approach carefully and after the first time you never get surprised. It's a bit old tbh. But; what if there was only one mimic in the entire game? A boss mimic, when you run to get that huge decorated chest with your imaginary treasures and it comes alive as a big, tough boss mimic? That'll be cool. Just one mimic in the entire game

Nah, not all of us are like this. Speak for yourself mate.

See? Exactly what I'm talking about. Just because there's a game which, in your opinion, did something better than another game doesn't make the other game low-effort. The important information out of that statement is that you believe IE games did spells better and why do you think IE games did spells better. Information that Pillars is low-effort will inevitably take the discussion away from spells in Pillars in comparison to Infinity Engine games and start discussion about whether or not Pillars is a low-effort game, as nicely showcased by Zenbane right over there. That you think Pillars is a low-effort game brings nothing to the discussion, doesn't help you further your point, distracts everybody from the original argument and just antagonizes fans of the game. For absolutely no good reason. I feel the need to inform the newer members of the Pillars forums that there are people who strongly believe that Pillars is not a god game because it is not an exact copy of an IE game, which were the best games ever made and won't be any other games better than them. Good, it's their opinion - but; These people have found purpose in their last two years of their life in spamming this in these forums while being unable to properly converse with others or move on with their lives. You must have spotted them by now. Try to ignore them as much as possible for the sake of fruitful conversations. Else, it'll come down to what Fenixp said in the above quote.

That is not true. I did positive posts as well when the game deserved it. But most of the time I do analysis of the game systems as those interest me more than story. It is not my problem that people don't agree with me and see that only as negative. I am sure devs like to ready more detailed responses more than "I love the game." From what I remeber from the threads I participated, your posts are mostly about how the game sucks and how DnD and IE games are objectively superior and Pillars should better become one while talking angrily and many times offensively to people who disagree with you or Sensuki (like you're a knight sworn allegience to him). This is not contructive criticism, is childish hate-talk. Untill now, you should have accepted that Pillars is its own thing and will never be an IE exact copy that you desire. If you can't, it's your problem; this game is not for you, leave the forums to people who are interested in it and can make useful debates. If one doesen't like a game, they ignore it and play something they enjoy. You obviously don't like it - on the contrary, despise it. Just move on mate.

archangel979: anti-Pillars posting in Pillars forums since 2013. He has found the meaning to his life, people. Don't spoil it for him

We should only be looking forward Avellone's next game and hope he gets to direct one himself. Why he and Obs split is basically none of our business.

I generally like mana-based systems over vancian, but I believe they pulled it out very well in Pillars. In other DnD games the magic system was one of the worst parts for me. You had to rest after every fight if you wanted to use your spells in each one, which I did, otherwise why have spellcasters along? But in Pillars they used the per encounter system that works very well. Makes your spellcasters useful in every combat and makes you think when to use the most powerful spells because you have limited rest supplies. It adds to the immersion too.

A fully interactive environment (e.g. all objects are physics objects) is a huge time/money sink. I doubt this game will have a physics engine at all; it is just not a sensible use of time/money when any attempt to do so is always going to be a poor shadow of the interactive worlds in Skyrim / Just Cause / GTA etc. Far better to spend the budget on the unique selling points of this game, and for world interactivity scripting specific interesting things to interact with (adventure game style) instead of generic physics on everything. Divinity Original Sin is an isomentric, fully 3d game with 100% environment interaction and other unique and innovative mechanics. About same budget, about same development cycle, much much smaller company (Larian Studios). If Obsidian wants, they can do it for sure. Although, yes, I'd rather they don't go that direction, because they focus on other things. There's the Divinity games for people who want full world interaction.

I'd go with either 3d models in 2d pre-rendered background or full 3d environment. Personally, I prefer the second because both characters and environment are of the same "design" like they're both of and in the same world, whereas in the 1st situation characters and background don't "match" 100%. Of course I loved Pillars' graphics and especially the backgrounds but I believe the nostalgic feeling enforced this love. I'm sure whichever the situation, graphics and aesthetics wise, Obsidian will have me covered Other are the things I'd most worry about they get it right in a (or should I say "the"? ) sequel.

There's not a universally right way of looting and trading in rpgs. It has to do with game design. Here it works quite well, although I could live with less trash loot from enemies.

You should have seen the original beta models :D

Is this supposed to be funny?

Hmm how do we know it for sure? Is there a link to an interview or a tweet? The last thing I read about a possibility of PoE 2 was in a recent Fergus-Josh interview were Josh said "we'll try something like Baldur's 2; something familiar yet more exotic and unusual" or something like that. Didn't mention anything about continuing the watcher saga or whatever (although I'd like that! I want to port my character and continue the journey!).

Well you are part of the 1%. No seriously it released as a complete flop, even the games producer came out apologised for the poor quality of it. And I was being serious about you being part of the 1%. Legends rated on metacritic as one of the worst releases of the year. Legends was target audience was little kids. It reminded me off games I used to play on my Nintendo when I was six. It was a 6.5-7/10 for me, to put it this way. Maybe because the game was about what I expected it to be. I know many didn't like it but most complains I read was about not being an accurate tranfer (rules-wise) from the pnp to the pc Which I don't mind (I don't believe dnd rules translate good to a videogame). Anyway, yes, not so strong story but fun game overall; again I didn't expect it to be nothing more from the start.

Sword Coast Legends is a decent and fun game. First half is better than the 2nd imo. Not anything spectacular but a fun experience.

I believe PoE 2 is very likely to be made. The game sold well (Feargus said the sales are dreamy - or something like that) especially for an old-school, hardcore, somewhat low-budget, pc-only rpg. The team gave me the idea of being serious people so I storngly believe thay'll take in account all the feedback and deliver a far superior sequel (I believe PoE 2 will be what BG 2 was compared to BG 1). I hope I won't be dissapointed.