Zitchiock

Pillars 1's writing is full of unnecessary complication, of the type discussed in the first link from Literarylab. It's a chore to read through endless reams of overwrought description and awkward similes. Much of it is contained within companion dialogue, which is surprising considering that the dialogue in the game is written by a variety of different authors, many of them established experts in their field, such as Chris Avellone. I suppose this point is redundant without examples, so I'll try to provide some, but it's not as if I wrote down the worst examples I saw while playing through the game or anything like that. Example: Durance dialogue/description 'Dies' into a smile? This is just an awkward verb to use here. This is from the moment where you meet Durance by the statue of Magran. 'It shimmers in your eyes' is a really confusing phrase. 'In' my eyes? How can something shimmer in my eyes? That doesn't make any sense. 'Like water catching the light weaving across the statue.' So this is an attempt at a simile. The staff is shimmering, and the effect makes the staff... no wait, not the staff, it makes it seem like there's water there... floating in mid-air? Between you and the staff? Ok, I guess... so it's as if there is water, and it's catching the the light weaving across the statue that's nearby... god, this is a confusing sentence. It's very pretty but it's quite difficult to dismantle the meaning. 'Whatever power was bled from the staff, it doesn't make it - or the wielder - any less dangerous.' Ok so this sentence is trying to create the image that, despite the power that's gone from the staff, it's still dangerous, and so is Durance. But why? This old man dressed in rags doesn't seem dangerous to me. He's more like a runty hermit with a boss eye than a deadly enemy. How would I even know how dangerous he is? How would I know what power was bled from the staff? (this is early on, before you know anything about the Godhammer and Durance's role in it) How would I know that despite the power being bled, he's still dangerous? Nothing about this exchange makes me think that this guy is dangerous. Example: general description from prologue So this is another painful pair of paragraphs, this time from the start of the game. 'dark figures' It's not that dark in this scene. The enemies here could be described in detail and it would give much better understanding to the player. 'as if from half-split logs' This is another awkward simile. Half-split logs... so we're comparing these dead bodies to.. logs? Why? Other than similar shapes, why would you make this comparison? Does it make these enemies appear fearsome, to compare them to woodcutters? 'as they prepare to add you to the sprawling pile beneath them.' I'm already reeling from the confusing attempt at a simile with half-split logs, and now I have to dismantle this... add me to the sprawling pile beneath them..? The bodies can't be a pile. Unless they brought all the bodies together to put them into a pile. The bodies would be quite spread out. So not a pile. And sprawling? Remember, the definition of pile is a heap of things laid or lying one on top of another. So, a sprawling pile? This is just a really awkward description. It's quite difficult to think of a pile of things as being sprawling. 'at the neck of the man you recognise as Heodan' Another awkward set of phrases. At-the-neck-of-the-man-you-recognise-as-Heodan. Why not use 'at Heodan's neck'? Is it really so important to add this layer of detail, and in this sentence? 'The man you recognise as Heodan' just makes this entire sentence cumbersome. Anyway, I could go on, but again these are by no means the worst examples. They are, however, representative of writing that is generally ponderous and difficult to understand. Game writing, and really, good writing in general, doesn't have to be flowery and intricately detailed in order to do its job. One choice word, description, simile, etc is worth ten flat ones. There are a few other points I could make, perhaps about some of the supporting cast, but I already wrote a lot, and Thaos and the general quality of the writing are the two main problems I have with the story, so I guess this is ok. This was a high quality post. I don't agree with all of it, but I appreciated it. I also found the literary lab link to be useful. Thanks so much.

I was able to get it to work. Thanks.

Is this game not being supported anymore?

Hi all, I uninstalled the game a while back and just recently reinstalled. But, I do not see my saved games. They are backed up in GOG Galaxy. I also see a ton of save files under the Pillars of Eternity folder under my user name (using Windows 10). Can someone help me? Thanks, Z

Mentioned at length in last weeks Dev Q&A: the “bugged” portion of the problem was fixed in 1.02 (but isn’t retroactive) and the “balance” portion will be fixed in some future patch. Where is this Q&A?

I figured that by posting in the POE1 part of the forum (as opposed to the Deadfire) that it'd be clear! Apologies. I meant POE1.

I'm wanting to build the classic D&D Dwarf Fighter/Cleric (Priest) build, ideally using a mighty hammer and plate armor. Is something like that viable? And, if so, could anyone recommend a build? Preferably without complete stat dumps. Essentially, a front-line battle priest. Thanks so much!

Agreed!

Deleted.

Life is so hollow.

I'm definitely a dwarf guy. So, I shall join the front! But, I do think one of the other companions will be a dwarf! Have faith, my bearded brothers

Romances = ****ing Confirmed

David Warner's voice has such ties to Irenicus to me. If he were the villain in Pillars, it'd feel a bit cheap. A companion though, sure.

Agree with all of this.

Not necessarily true. They could use that money to hire people to do other projects rather than hiring artists to create these portraits.

The reasoning may be that more combat complexity (perhaps due to higher levels) is improved by fewer party members. Something like that.

The reply from Obsidian leads me to believe the rumor may be true. Why not just confirm six if that were the case? I seem to remember watching an interview with Sawyer where he said 4-5 is the ideal configuration, too.

Ack! Five party members just seems off. Hopefully that is a false report.

It is important to me that it be available on GOG, as well. All of my games are on GOG.

Just eclipsed $180,000. People are passionate about this project.

They should! It's been 4+ years! True enough! Some sequels don't make graphical enhancements, so I wasn't sure if it was just my eyes deceiving me. The visuals were pretty great if you asked me.. just that the awkward character animations.. i hope they can have new character movements, animations, positions, etc. this time around. Agreed. The environments were fantastic. I didn't love the way that combat looked - with all of the engagement arrows and markings. But, generally, Pillars 1 was eye candy.

I have never used FIG. What makes Kickstarter the better platform, in your mind?

They should! It's been 4+ years! True enough! Some sequels don't make graphical enhancements, so I wasn't sure if it was just my eyes deceiving me.

Am I crazy or do the graphics look a little better than in the original?

Wahoo! Really looking forward to this.