Ristora

Hi, I just wanted to say that I am very pleased with Pillars of Eternity thus far. I made my pledge to the project around April 6th 2 years ago? 3 years ago? It's been a while, but worth the wait. OBSIDIAN: Thank you for delivering what you said you would. I have only played the game for a few hours, but already I feel compelled to commend you on your work. Though it may not have been the intention, I feel like I am playing Baldur's Gate 3. Everything is perfect, from the dialogue to the mouse cursor icons the the wonderful audio. In a market saturated with appeals to the lowest common denominator, Pillars of Eternity is an absolute gem. I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way. I feel like I stole the game at $29. I will be buying copies for my friends at market cost. Thank you, Adam Mantha

They also have more hair and like live in forrest and set traps. And they have some feline blood in them. haha

Is there any word on how Orlans differ from halflings, other than pointy elf ears?

Frost: It is little things like this that set already fantastic games apart and makes them memorable. Fantastic idea!!!

Re-reading what I quoted and what you've said now, I see you may not have been talking about set items as in 'quest items' which is what I thought you were talking about, hence my attempt to show how there could be reactivity despite having the same 'set items' (quest items). Were you referring to quest lines with the same linear plot points (set items)?

Where is information on this slacker backer site? Will slacker backers have the option of purchasing things like a beta key or a hard copy of the game?

Oh...I guess I should have looked at the timestamps Thanks for the explanation--I think I did miss the original point/post as I came in mid argument.

Lephys, I think what we and others are getting at in this post and the dialogue post is that there has typically been a lack on the NPC side of cRPGs. Reputation and renown systems, accounting for combat telemetry as you put it and oneda brought up--these things make NPCs more reactive to the PC. It's as though there has typically been a lack of community and interactivity among NPCs, and I hope PE is groundbreaking in this respect.

Agreed. My hope for PE is that the story line paths, if mapped out, will resemble two trees joined at the trunk where the multiple branches at the one end of the tree represents early choices like class, the trunks the inevitable chokepoint in the story, and then the other branches of the tree representing where to go in a game world affected heavily by what was done at the chokepoint.

Wowzers. So, if I understand here, the debate originated over whether there should be healing stuffs that take time to work. I might get my head bitten off for trying to do this, but I'm going to try to defuse this situation while at the same time trying to inform myself of what is up for debate. It seems there are a few things to consider: OPTIONS I (OPTIONS 2 replace 'Healing' with 'Stamina') 1. a) Healing inside of combat b) Healing outside of combat 2. a) Healing with an item/spell b) Healing by regeneration c) Healing by rest 3. a) Instant effect b) Delayed effect If I'm not mistaken, one should be able to choose one dichotomous option from 1, 2, and 3, to frame what kind of scenario they are talking about. For example, OP I--1a + 2a + 3a <---I think that should be possible. Or something like this: For persistent wounds it should be 1b + 2a + 3a whereas for superficial wounds 1a or b + 2a or b + 3a. Does that make sense? Does it help at all? Of course, there is much more at stake in the debate now since there is the inevitable desire to save face, but maybe you guys will find this post so helpful that you will just be like "Let's let bygones be bygones and use this new wonderful way of talking about healing and stamina scenarios" hehe

I think your ideas are very relevant given that the PE devs are focusing heavily on combat. You may have implied this already with your comment, but just to be clear, when the main quest line is over, I think the PC should still be able to roam the world, and random encounters (even as simple as those found in Fallout 2 when fast traveling) in addition to what you explicitly mentioned, namely areas that refresh and react to your party, combined with a game that doesn't kick you out of it when you defeat it (which fallout 3 did well with) would certainly enhance replayability. What's more, when I finish a good game, like, something that I am intensely immersed in, I hate seeing an outro, credits, then main menu. The reward centers in my brain by this point are expecting a fix and cutting off the game abruptly is like getting someone addicted to heroin and then taking away their money and stash, (haha, maybe not completely analogous ) What I'm getting at is that the game should ease you out of it and having re-visitable areas like you mention oneda, allows for post-game withdrawl to be minimal and detox gradual.

Yeah, it said 8 or more than original donation. I thought maybe my original donation could be considered $0. hehehe

I would like a custom title! I just became a slacker backer. Does that qualify me?

Suppose there was a metric that kept track of lying and reputation as a liar. Also suppose you had a quest that was to retrieve an ancient artifact. Suppose you have multiple ways of retrieving this artifact and you do retrieve it. And suppose that during your course of finding the artifact you lie (via dialogue options; something you have done a lot in the past) to a very powerful person in order to get it, . Again, suppose you bring this artifact to the person who desires it. Now suppose they say "yeah, whatever, don't waste my time" because they are convinced that what you have brought them is counterfeit. In fact, because you are *such a dirty liar* they won't even consider having it appraised. You are forced to bring it to the black market where liars are run of the mill. There are nuances that would have to be worked out in this example, but I think it is pointed.

Astonishing indeed! I have high hopes. As for my disappointment with New Vegas, the game felt like it was rushed in development. The simplest answer I can give as to what New Vegas was lacking is to reiterate what I've already said I'd like to see in a game with respect to dialogue and then simply point out that it does not exist in New Vegas. I think the crux of it comes down to a need to elaborate on what I mean by course-of-the-game affecting. This may not have been the best mash up of words to describe my over all hope, because you are right, New Vegas did have course-of-the game-affecting dialogue. However, it was how those dialogue choices impacted the game world that was lacking, I think. The most striking example I can think of is Mr. House. Without getting into spoilers, I think its agreeable that nothing you said to Mr. House had any impact on the outcome of the game. His destiny was set in stone when the game began, as was the player character's destiny to be disappointed by a lackluster finish. Just my opinion. In New Vegas, important decisions like those regarding Mr. House came way too late in the game and were choked to death by the few planned endings the game devs had in mind. So, 'course-of-the-game-affecting' dialogue is not limited to the dialogue system in and of itself, but rather relies on a successful 'course of the game' to be...well, successful. New Vegas would have been better, in my view, if making it to reno was one of the first things you did in the game, the families were fleshed out more (and I'm talking a lot more, it was just bloody pathetic how easy it was to bypass them completely as though there were no powers in New Vegas proper whatsoever which did not do justice to the memory Fallout 2, assuming my memory isn't clouded by nostalgia), and the build up to the various endings started earlier. More fleshed out factions, a system of dialogue that takes into account renown and reputation of both PC and NPC, and choke points early on in the game rather than at the end would have made New Vegas a good game in my opinion.