Silent Winter

I'd like this too - maybe they can be available at the inns to hire as 'special hirelings'

This is one of my favourite stretch-goals - I think the side-kicks are a great idea. Not everyone who joins your team needs to have a tragic backstory / deep quest. I like to have some companions with banter and their own personality - so if this increases my choices then great. We've still got adventurer's hall and deep companions too. I'll end up using all three options at some point. Sounds like the side-kicks will be recruited 'in-world' too after helping them with some quest, rather than being hired from an inn, which adds a little to the bond for me. I still like the adventurer's hall - got some nice team-mates from there over a few playthroughs of PoE1 and can imagine their personality - The side-kicks idea just adds more to the game and I love it.

Iselmyr's romance path obviously. Iselmyr should have a romance/bromance with Aloth - they could leave each other notes

But did it make you think? Do you want to discuss it with others? yes - was her quest worthwhile? Does telling an animal about its former life matter? To whom does it matter? Is culture enough of a reason to send someone on this quest? Is letting that tribe of hunters eat the animal the moral choice? Or is it better to bury it out of respect for the soul within? Is it still a person or is it merely an animal? I actually had to stop and think about what advice to give in that situation. I can't remember what decisions I had to influence Durance on. He left little impression beyond being grumpy. I liked his past, just not his present. Don't get me wrong, Durance was interesting - but after the first go, I don't like having him around. He was too disagreeable. I can see why you like him, but not so much for me.

No - because Sagani's not an asshat Sagani's awesome, and so is Itumaak - I actually cared about her completing her quest and returning home. Durance was OK for one playthrough, he came with the backstory - but that was his most interesting part, not where he was going but where he'd been. (IMO, YMMV, Void where prohibited, etc) On the subject of more interesting weird characters - I liked DoC but found her quest too short - go to Stalwart, ask for Harry (or whatever his name was), go to woods and kill Harry. For PoE2 I'd like a slightly longer quest for most companions. Zahua's quest was cool, if a little sad - got a good ending for him though.

^This. I know they're not the most important things, but they do add a lot to the feel of the game

I'd like to be able to rename my crafted weapons and armour. I generally dislike crafting but PoE made it simple enough and in a 'take it or leave it' way - so I crafted a bit in PoE, even though I mostly used found equipment. It's there if you want it, but you don't need it.

So... he just reached the second island? Seems like this is going to be a very short voyage... Unfortunately yes. If we don't see the return of the original 77k backers we probably see 3-4 island the max I think they'll hit the facebook goal, or the twitter one - that adds an island. Pretty sure they'll get the next 1500 backers in a final rush. My bet would be 4 islands, maybe 5 in the final game, which is about the sweet-spot for me - not too long or too short.

Why no brig? I figured they'd use that a la PoE 1's dungeon - take prisoners. A Brig is a kind of ship. It's a variation of the Brigantine. And the PC in Assassin's Creed IV already got a Brig, so it'd be nice to have a different kind of ship. You learn something every day. I was thinking of "throw him in the brig" - didn't know it was a kind of ship - cheers

Why no brig? I figured they'd use that a la PoE 1's dungeon - take prisoners.

I'd like class-specific things, be it customisations or quests. Even if the customisation options were open to any class, but mutually exclusive and made more sense for some classes than others (so you're not stuck with the aforementioned gambling den for your rogue, but you can't have that AND the temple of anti-gambling in the same playthrough). So I could choose my druid-leaning garden of knobbly trees for my druid, or have it even if I play a wizard. But my wizard tower of lightning-bolts needs to be built on the same spot so I must choose which fits my character best. I'm pretty sure we're getting a ship - but having the option to decorate / assign a room to be the 'den of mother nature' or the 'library of the arcane' would be sweet.

I'd make use of generic hireling 'personalities' but I'd really not like 3 variations of 'can't talk' - I don't mind if they've got little to say though - only piping up at crit-path big quests. Not sure Obs would spend time/money on it. Since the ideal would be one for each class/race combo, we'd be stuck with "Don't look at me, I'm just here for the money" or "I'll follow whatever you decide." ^I can always roleplay their input anyway as per the character I imagined when I created them.

Yes No Yes No - maybe because they like the cat? (I'm less sure on this one - could be all pets provide some bonus)

Yes. You can choose where to get the final release via the backer portal - this is independent from the beta. (Same as for PoE1)

And here I read that as you wanting to have a party to celebrate the release of PoE2 As for my musings: Main for first game will be my imported Human Druid - if there's a spiritshift sub-class I might go with that. Then: Eder - fighter, Pallegina - Paladin, Aloth - Wizard, Serafen - Cipher May or may not multi-class Eder and cipher dude.

Robert Carlyle confirmed Voice Actor for Wicht Barbarian companion. "Grr" "Shnlfh" and other such memorable catch-phrases from our lively wicht will make him an invaluable addition to the team (and the cost of Robert Carlyle entirely justified much like Vin Diesel as Groot)

OK, do it. Because it's Robert Carlyle. For some reason I'm getting more of an Ian McShane vibe (and he played blackbeard in the last PoTC movie)

Almost certainly you'll get it soon after the campaign ends (after you've actually been charged) - which is after Feb25th. There may be a delay depending on how much they've got to organise, but you won't have to wait until PoE2 is released. Obviously an official word for Obs would be better.

Sagani was one of my faves of PoE1 (not least because Itumaak is awesome - did ranger pets get a boost in 3.0? All I'm seeing lately is "so-and-so killed by Itumaak" - the cunning fox even stole the last hit on the Alpine-Dragon kill). I liked her story and her quest. Mountain Dwarf would be great for PoE2 - I'd like a Chanter ("Raise yer mug and hear me song" ... "[blessed was Charley-Mops, most inventive of his tribe]...[Thrice he drank and thrice he was back to the bar]")

I'm sure Human will be OK - they're just saying death godlike won't be an option because it won't really matter what the under-photo looks like. Human, Elf, Dwarf should all be easy, Aumaua, Orlan should be fine. No idea when they'll start asking - it'll depend on when they're ready to do the portraits - there'll be an announcement and e-mail around that time - probably after the backer-portal is up and running on the site.

It'd be cool to be able to import player-made companions from PoE and have them available to hire at an inn (obviously reset to lvl.1). I know we can just recreate them, but it'd do something for the roleplayer in me. Not that it's worth spending big bucks on though.

OK, done my bit - pledged at $45 tier as that's what I can afford - roll on next stretch-goal. Don't forget to like it on FB / follow on Twitter if you have those things - it helps Fulvano's voyage as per the recent update

​Xuarip it is. Pet ooze to be carried in my handkerchief? ... .. . Oh wait, Kana just sneezed. Hey, Kana, stop borrowing my handkerchief!

In the update (text at least, haven't watched the vid), Kaz mentioned that the bloom had been exaggerated for this demonstration to show it more clearly - it would be lessened in the game itself. I'm not referring to the explosion scene. I even mentioned the "Final composite screenshot". Most often in many games, i find bloom actually makes visual look worst. There are games which allows the bloom effects to be enabled/disabled. I cant recall if PoE1 has a great deal of graphics options, it would be great if the bloom effects are not forced. Sure - but I got the impression that this was still being tweaked. It's easy enough for them to adjust levels. The 'final' composite isn't final for the game.

In the update (text at least, haven't watched the vid), Kaz mentioned that the bloom had been exaggerated for this demonstration to show it more clearly - it would be lessened in the game itself.