Yonjuro

I voted no preference, but my real opinion is no preference between 5 or 6. I prefer more than 4.

I guess we can agree that the definition of good friendship can differ like night and day just like the definition of good romance in RPG. Don't we just love these games? On a last note, here's how I look at how my player character would view the evolving relationship with these two characters as friendship. They've been through many battles. They don't talk to you much. Slowly, they reveal deeper layers of themselves. Then they trust you enough to tell more. Then they let it all out, just lay it bare like they're emotionally naked. If I put myself in the player character shoes I would say, we've been through hell together and you've let me know who you really are as a person, you confide in me things you'd never tell anyone else. Thank you. I'll go to war with you anytime. A lot is happening 'off screen' (in your imagination) in these games. In BG2, you get expressions like Minsc's hamsters and rangers speech and it gives cues that a friendship has developed. In Pillars, you have a deep conversation with someone that you have been through difficult situations with and you can fill in the friendship cues if you see it that way.

This is a very nice picture but I really wish more artists would have a look at the existing historical European weapon treatises so that they wouldn't draw sword fights where both combatants are trying to commit suicide. This picture is no worse than most so I am not picking on the artist, just making a general statement about pretty much every picture and film made on the subject.

That sentence deserves upvotes.

And I'm sorry, but I just can't take anything seriously from a person who talks in third person. Your logical fallacy is: ad hominem https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem Thank you for playing.

I hope so. Let's pray some God I wouldn't pray to Eothas if I were you. I hear he's gotten grumpy these days.

That would make of "inhabited" an awkward lexical choice, and of present perfect and odd choice of verbal tense. The sentence as it is worded does indeed sound like Eothas has been in the statue for millennia; other meanings could have been conveyed a lot less awkwardly and less vaguely, imo. Maybe they should have said 'infested.'

Considering all the mechanics changes they are talking about it is a lot less forgot everything, and a lot more "I started a new job that was kind of like my old one but for a completely different company using completely different tools I am not familiar with yet." I see what you mean but I would have preferred a continuation of the same character where the same abilities still work in the new game. For example, one character that I liked playing in PoE was an unarmed/unarmored monk who got good at beating the crap out enemies with fists. In PoE2, that character would be an unarmed monk who now sucks at beating the crap out of enemies with fists and needs to get good at it again because, uh, reasons. Ok, fine, it's just not what I was hoping for. I liked the BG to BG2 import for a character and was hoping for something like that. I wasn't especially hoping for a redesign of the class system - I don't think it's necessary. I agree. Neither option is what I want. I will do one or the other.

What could possibly go wrong?

There is plenty to argue about/disagree with in that article, but the point about having a good editor is a solid one. This is especially true when you have large writing teams on a game and different writing teams for different games in a franchise. Games are always on tight schedules and sometimes you get a writer's rough draft vomited into a game, like ME2, for example. What a nonsensical steaming turd of a story for what could have been a good franchise. I liked the ME2 cover/shooter gameplay, but there is only so much stupidity that can be digested at once. I imagine that the writers were probably talented people who had about 1/5 of the time that they needed to do a good job. Ideally the editor will have the power to block a launch until writing problems have been fixed.

Deus in statuam. Ah, I see, thank you.

Yes, and if Caed Nua has just been destroyed, it would make sense for the Watcher to be busy.

am actual agreeing with rheingold's criticism. oh sure, we also prefer a level 1 reboot, but am believing the depowering o' the watcher is contrived and ill considered. perhaps the motivation for doing so is to make possible the recycle o' three companions who will likewise be depowered? to make the depowering work from a story pov requires some kinda deus ex machina event. almost literal in the present case. Indeed. Deus ex statua? This looks a bit like Obsidian writing themselves into a corner, already, with the first game in the series. For example, at the end of PoE, Caed Nua was either a ruin or a thriving stronghold depending on player actions. Now, apparently it's either a ruin or, err, a ruin. At least with Mass Effect, Bioware waited until the second game to irreparably damage the writing of the game world. If Obsidian introduces The Illusive Archmage who is actually a reincarnation of Raedric and who communicates orders to the watcher telepathically, I am out of here.

I know what you mean, but in BG2, for example, you aren't a powerhouse at the beginning compared to some of the enemies you run into. The main reason that I don't like restarting at level 1 is that much of your character's identity consists of the level up choices you made (representing the time and virtual sweat/blood invested to get there). I guess it's like starting a new job only to discover you've suddenly forgotten your entire education and experience. I would rather have started at the end level of PoE and seen a higher level campaign in PoE2. I'm still going to back the game. I can always start with a new character rather than import from a save.

When you complete your pledge, there will be an option that "costs" -$5 that you can add to your pledge. If you already completed your pledge, click the view pledge button and then the edit pledge button and select that option.

There isn't right now, but there probably will be. For the first game, after the kickstarter ended, it was possible to back the game via paypal at all of the same tiers that appeared on the kickstarter.

Stop kicking people into the pit of death! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp__8oxM1AY

I think you're right. I was mixing up DnD 2 and 3.x in my comment. Also, thanks for the good comments on other munchkin inducing aspects of 3.x.

Yes. I think it would be great to have it, if it isn't a ridiculous amount of work.

Nope = A barbarian that doesn't care? Sorry = A humble monk? More like "I couldn't care less about Warrior/Ranger/Cleric/Mage/Squirrel/Carrot/Communist builds". IMHO they shoulda bring on the prestige class. Yes, or fighter/barbarian/paladin. Makes sense - because a barbarian is like a fighter who loses something due to lack of discipline but gains something due to ferocity and a paladin is like a fighter who loses some raw power but gains abilities due to more discipline so, yeah, no, it makes absolutely no sense at all. On the other hand, I guess flexibility is good, because players are free to play something that makes sense to them or to build the powergaming ubermunchkin of ubermunchkiness - whatever they like. (And, to be clear, I like me some ubermunchkiness every now and then). I think the reason for some of the crazy builds had to do with the power curve of the base classes. If, say, a fighter grows rapidly and then levels off after level 9, then taking levels in other classes for flexibility is a no-brainer. If a fighter continues to grow super-linearly, then taking a level in another class would be a genuine trade off (particularly in a system like D&D v. 3.x where the cost of gaining a level is exponential and based on the sum of all of the current levels).

I definitely think that dialogue is... skip friendly, for sure. On a second play through, that is. It would be that way with or without VO, though. True, but if it wasn't voiced, then we could have had something else. Maybe VA of a different scene or more voice sets for the PC or faster load times or whatever.

I brought that one up because it is one I have always read and skipped over the voice acting. I think the voice acting is well done, but listening to that whole conversation would just take too long. YMMV, of course.

As long as you can't take a subclass until level umpteen+1, then doing 8 class templates would be all you would need. There'd be no need to make a template for multiclass (particularly if Multi-Class is like D&D 3.X). If someone wanted to start with a new multiclass, they don't have to pick a template OR import a character. Yes. Also, in PoE1, the companion characters match your level when you meet them, so somebody is already making the templates for whichever classes have companion characters.

Then be against it. All the cool kids are doing it. One way to look at it is that, however much funding they get, it will always be a question of what to spend it on. Is voice acting the best things to spend it on? Sometimes, but not all the time: In PoE1, there was some good use of voice acting to establish the companion characters. Right away, you knew Eder was the guy you can count on, Durance was a nutcase etc. Maerwald was a good use of voice acting money because it was an easy way to communicate that he had multiple personalities. It would have been awkward to do that with text. The other characters near Maerwald were seriously creepy: "Light it!" - a good use of voice acting to set the mood. The conversation with the dwarf woman in the tree ... well not so much. She was a lore dump character who appeared once. One or two voice acted lines for flavor would have been more than enough. If it cost extra to voice the whole conversation, that was money that could have been spent on something else.

I agree. If I import a character, I want the character to have the experience of the previous game and the associated abilities. If you are playing a continuation of the PoE character's story, the abilities of the character are part of who the character is (especially in an RPG where stats and abilities are a major component of the character's identity). Otherwise it is like playing a different character who, coincidentally, has the same name as a character in another game. For new players, a template can be used to set attributes and the player can make changes if they want to dig in and understand the game systems.