Katarack21

I personally disagree; I find it very upsetting when something happens like that. I feel like it's a cheap shot; I want at least the possibility of making an intelligent decision, not just getting killed at random simply because the developer put a monster here and I had no way of knowing I shouldn't be fighting it yet. If I go ahead anyway, or if I miss the information or whatever, then it's my fault and that's what ever. Otherwise I feel like I've just been had a bunch of my time wasted by some developer basically tricking me for their amusement. I'm not saying that's what it is, just that's what it often feels like to me.

I hope that puzzles do exist, but that they are not too difficult and specifically they don't block off important things. I hope this mostly because I suck at them really bad and they therefore frustrate me to no end.

Good luck at that. I've been trying to wrangle information about the pre-order items and the Kickstarter items for months, and all I keep getting is different versions of "The Kickstarter item is not the same as the pre-order items. We haven't revealed the Kickstarter item as of yet." They are quite good at playing their cards close to the chest.

They are pretty much all ugly as sin, IMHO. I know that's the theme, but...I wanted video game ugly, not actually unpleasant to look at.

Me too. Though I still don't think bigger areas would mean better quality. I did. Ankhegs were my nightmare back then. They made me realize the world ain't all sunshines and rainbows. They made me realize that I was free to go anywhere, though that didn't mean I was able to. Ankhegs north of Friendly Arm Inn or deathclaws north of Goodsprings, same thing, they belong to their games lore and design, and never felt out of place or stupid from my perspective. I wouldn't say out of place or strange, but it was sometimes very frustrating. I found it a little upsetting the first time; there was no warning, no way for me to know and plan my choices and actions accordingly. That's what I had a problem with, more than the actual placement or what have you.

Eh, fair enough. It could've just been the epicanthic fold that threw me off and got me thinking down the "asian" path and then I just got stuck there. Probably. Though fact is, epicanthic folds are also extremely common among the Polish and Scandinavians. I would not say "extremely", it is in fact very uncommon. The only "scandinavians" I can think of that has epicanthic folds are the sami, but they are ethnically asian, too (although since heavily mixed). But variations do occur, in relatively mixed populations (Finnish, Polish; the relative degree can be argued). But when you say epicanthic folds, I think of the more pronounced epicanthic folds. Obviously, if one mentions them as a trait, it's a characteristic pronounced enough to be worth mentioning. Honestly at this point I get the feeling that we're just talking about epicanthic folds to avoid calling it slanted eyes or something. I'd say epicanthic folds in general are extremely common among those populations, but that in general it is less pronounced than is common among the Asian population and that relatively extreme version is not particularly common at all. Fun fact: I once read a fantasy story where Asians and Elves both were consistently and without fail described as having "strange almond-shaped eyes". The desperate avoidance was actually more distracting than if he'd just come out and said it.

Eh, fair enough. It could've just been the epicanthic fold that threw me off and got me thinking down the "asian" path and then I just got stuck there. Probably. Though fact is, epicanthic folds are also extremely common among the Polish and Scandinavians.

Like in BG1, or deathclaws north of Goodspring, that's not really a problem. Pfft. You never tried to explore north of the Friendly Arm Inn to early and got slaughtered by ankhegs, did you? I did that, but quickly came to the conclusion that I should probably return south. That was part of the experience that made it feel real. Also, this soundtrack while exploring 4 areas of wilderness just to get to the objective. I still get goosebumps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZba87MtLY I have been known to just put that on loop in the background forever while I'm reading TV tropes and stuff.

Like in BG1, or deathclaws north of Goodspring, that's not really a problem. Pfft. You never tried to explore north of the Friendly Arm Inn to early and got slaughtered by ankhegs, did you?

I'm really looking forward to playing an Orlan cipher quite a lot. A stiletto and a hatchet...a polite, kind, courteous, vicious little snake...:-D

Seems to me ciphers would be good using reach weapons like pikes. Have the melee guy's up front, have the ranged guys in the back shooting and casting, have the cipher poking over the melee peoples shoulders with a reach weapon. He get's focus, cast's spells, and all of that without being in direct melee. Of course I haven't played the backer beta. This is just what I've picked up from thinking about what I've heard.

Probably me before I put my kids to bed. Me, too. To be perfectly honest, I'm looking forward to the documentary almost as much as the game.

I think this game has more anticipation than D:OS, having the true BG vibe. Didn't D:OS sell 160K in the first week? PoE is much more well known, I think. It's a bigger studio with a much larger and broader fanbase and reputation; it had a ton more backers, is getting more press coverage to lead up than D:OS did, etc. I don't think the two are directly comparable in that sense; I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it far outstrip D:OS.

well to be honest, the first NWN is kinda like MMO wannabe, instead of focusing on campaign and compelling plot and characters, it tries to focus on the online side, which i don't really dig either. glad obsidian fixed it with NWN2, and ultimately, Mask of The Betrayer, which is like the second best videogame story to plancescape. also i feel like a kid here you guys have like so much history with it, like a long-life marriage XD That was exactly my problem! I don't really game online, I don't much care about it. Especially with my RPG's, I'm in it for the solo experience of story and characters, with exploration and fun combat as added bonuses. NWN really did nothing for me; it wasn't my style of game at all. Jade Empire I really enjoyed, on the other hand, but looking back I can see both of these games were sort of the writing on the wall for my times of really enjoying BioWare products. And yeah, there is a long history there for a lot of us. I'm only 31 years old, but I've been playing video games since I was five; I played the original Doom shareware, I had Chrono Trigger, and I was in the right time and place to experience BG I and II when they were fresh. On the other hand, I can still just barely remember a time before household computers were common. By the time we had a computer, I was five years old and it was running an Intel 8088 chip, and I was one of the few who had access to one. My generation of gamers has *nothing* on the generation coming up; my little sister has computers and technology so integrated into her life that I can't really understand it. Thirty years from now I can't even imagine what things will be like.

It does not take add-ons into account. There is no easy way for us to map those keys. If you have add-ons you will have to download them from the Backer Portal. Coolness. I got the "just the game" tier and the expansion add-on, so I'm assuming I'll get my Steam key for the game on Monday or Tuesday and then another Steam key for the expansion whenever it comes out? Or will the expansion be a backer-portal only thing?

HOLY CRAP!!!! I would totally snap... Yeah. Exactly.

Notice the two pages of comments from people like "Oh, no!" Yeah, that's why they have an embargo.

Downloading a 5-disc game in 98....that must have taken a while.

Hmmm. It all goes on the scale, of course, but I, too, am now slightly more concerned than I was. Did they say they were sending a patch to the reviewers, like, super-soon though? I'm hoping that the review copies were an older build that was less stable than the release version.

We have not talked about them, no. Just that it is an item and a pet. http://buy.pillarsofeternity.com/ The item and the pet's names are in this link. Spoilers, I guess? No, those are the pre-order items which Kickstarter backers *also* get; the Kickstarter-only things are different. I've been trying to wheedle information about them for months.

Baldur's Gate was my first direct exposure to D&D, and to PC RPG's (I had played a lot of console RPG's, of course). I bought it in the store when it was reduced because BGII was soon to come out; I got BGII when it's price fell, too. BG just blew me away almost immediately. From that opening narration, "Nestled atop the cliffs that rise above the Sword Coast, the citadel of Candlekeep..." right up to the end I couldn't tear away. BGII was even better; Irenicus joined my list of favorite villains when I got to the second dream ("Life...is strength. This is not to be contested, it seems logical enough. You live, you effect your world. But is it what *you* need? You are...different...inside."). From that I looked backwards, much as you did more recently, and played Fallout 1 and 2. I was lucky, though; I came into this PC game genre pretty much at exactly the best moment. Things just exploded in awesomeness pretty much instantly; Planescape, IWD, KOTOR, etc. I fell in love with the whole style and genre of games, but more it seemed like there was a breadth and depth to the stories and characters that I just didn't get out of consoles. I cared so much more about Irenicus and the consequences of his war than I ever, EVER did about Sephiroth. Not to say I don't love FF VII; I still play it occasionally, but it soon became clear to me that there was something unique and special about the IE-style game. I'll be honest; I fell in love with virtually every game BioWare made between '98 and 2007. In that time period it was not uncommon to hear me say "BioWare has never made a bad game and probably never will." I still believe that might have remained true if EA hadn't ripped the heart and soul out of BioWare to feed their unholy legions. BioWare wasn't the only studio working in that genre, but they were a large part of the driving momentum behind it; when BioWare changed, much of my computer RPG gaming disappeared. Of course, NWN throws a wrench into this idea; I never have liked that game. Endless crappy fetch quests and fed ex quests; to this day that's all I think of about NWN. Obsidian came around with KOTOR 2 in, what, 2004? Something like that. I enjoyed it immensely, even felt it was in some ways and improvement on KOTOR; but the bugginess...it was *almost* the buggiest game I had ever played, but VtM:B beat it out by, like, a month. NWN 2 was exactly the same; a better game in almost every way, except so buggy as to be hard to play. After that it was a downhill fall for my favorite company; Jade Empire and Mass Effect were fun but less enjoyable, more contained, following from NWN on-rails gameplay but with points of psuedo-openess. After EA bought them it just turned into rails everywhere. I still have Castle of the Winds, though. You ****ers can't take that from me! *shakes fist at EA*

I bought VtM:B in stores and tried to play it at launch. Did the same thing with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. One of these games had a total showstopper bug at launch; it was literally impossible to go past a certain point if you hit this bug. The other one had an uninstall bug that would wipe your entire Windows partition. Skyrim really wasn't that bad. Anecdotes are fun. I bought VTMB at launch and finished it in two days no problem. Skyrim was a way bigger mess but I dont fault Bethesda too much. It's going to happen when youve got a sandbox that big. The important thing is being able to get through the crit path with minimal issues for the majority of players. We will have to wait and see the reviews to know how well POE fares. On topic: Yes I agree with the over entitled OP whom I hate for making me use the word entitled. Obsidian owes us the game asap for not perfectly estimating the release date years ago like every other developer easily does. I'm glad your experience went so well with VtM:B, considering the known almost-without-fail showstopper bug with the boat in the cave that will force you to crash to desk top every single time unless you patch or use the command console. You want frustration? You want a bad launch? Try a game that is literally broken--does not work, does not function, literally is impossible to succeed in--at launch. That's what VtM:B was for most purchasers. Skyrim had some problems, but if that's literally the worst launch experience you've ever had then man, you are a lucky son of a bitch because at least the game was playable.

I bought VtM:B in stores and tried to play it at launch. Did the same thing with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. One of these games had a total showstopper bug at launch; it was literally impossible to go past a certain point if you hit this bug. The other one had an uninstall bug that would wipe your entire Windows partition. Skyrim really wasn't that bad.

I'm really happy to know you were looking out for us about story spoilers. All the time I've spent here reading stuff and following the development, I still have *NO* real idea about the story--and that makes me *SO* happy. Good story, good characters, and an immersive setting are really the things I'm in it for. To this day when I think of BG II, I don't think of gameplay mechanics or quests or anything; I think of wandering through Irencus's dungeon learning fragments about this terrifying mystery man, I think about Minsc's clear but amusing insanity, I think about Bodhi's sheer creepiness or about the damage Irenicus did to Imoen's mind or the dream sequences where Irenicus challenges your conceptions of right and wrong. These are the kinds of things that stuck with me, and they are the kind of thing I'm glad haven't been spoiled in PoE.

Do we know what the special Kickstarter-only in-game items are yet?