soedenone

I'm currently trodding through the Nashkel Mines. There's no iron here, that's for sure.

What?? You got an email before me?? That's it, I'm getting my pitchfork right now Okay okay! But remember, he *is* a backer! :Cant's broad grin icon: I really like that smiley :Cant's broad grin icon: Given the OP is apparently the answer to a support-ticket, Obsidian have yet to actually make such an announcement officially, or what? Is there something I'm missing? Just seems curious. Oh well.

Is that an email your received? I "slacker-backed" immediately following the kickstarter, so I was never sent any of those kickstarter emails. I guess they might be doing the kickstarters first, then the "slacker-backers"? Nope, that's most likely an answer to a support ticket. I didn't get such an e-mail neither. Ah, that does make sense. My fingers will just be crossed then, cheers.

Is that an email your received? I "slacker-backed" immediately following the kickstarter, so I was never sent any of those kickstarter emails. I guess they might be doing the kickstarters first, then the "slacker-backers"?

It's knee-jerk gamergate nonsense, mostly. Best to disregard. I googled "Gamergate". Uhh... I don't dislike Kotaku because of that, whatever that is. I dislike it because I find myself disagreeing with just about everything I've seen from the site, and I find that I am clearly not part of their primary demographic. I don't harbour any strong feelings towards them or any other newssite, I just don't like them. That's why I jokingly said it seemed like a bad sign that they liked the game. It still irks me a little, honestly, haha.

Paradox generated 1000 steamkeys that they distributed to youtube let's players and twitch streamers. They gave priority to people who had already been playing/streaming their other very recent title, Cities: Skylines. The guy from the video above is called arumba. A quick youtube search of "arumba skylines" netted this: So there is your explanation for why that guy got access.

Morrowinds (post Tribunal) journal. Best of both worlds. That is something I would also really, really like! I think a balance has to be struck and that one actually worked just about as well as possible, in my estimation. Oftentimes journals function like checklists nowadays and are, as you say, much too gamey.

Just want to chime in here and say that I watched the video, skipping around to the parts I was interested in, and it was actually quite helpful to me, being otherwise clueless on the mechanics! So thanks! If you're still answering questions, I would like to ask you one: How reliably can you keep back-liners out of trouble? In other words: Can I get away with min/maxing a wizard to intentionally being really weak to physical attacks and survive on difficulty levels above normal?

That curious, I didn't even consider that. I'm too scared of spoilers to go to the article itself, but it does indeed seem rather sketchy. I suppose they can frame it as "commentary" and as long as they don't discuss anything beyond act 1, I think they are covered legally.

A dev has already been quoted as saying the "Shipping soon" description is erroneous and not updated. Supposedly all the physical materials have already been shipped and are in transit, so don't fret

What? I assume you have played other Obsidian titles? As much as it pains me to say it, because I think Obsidian have made the best games I've played in recent years, like Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas and NWN2:MotB, they have had some serious issues with bugs and glitches on release. Yes. I have played every Obsidian game. AP and MotB I had zero issues with. Recent games such as DS3 and Stick of Truth, zero issues. I remember having problems with the camera and group movement in NWN2 which made it borderline unplayable at times, but that was fixed in a patch before I had finished the game. So first off, I haven't really experienced a lot of bugs in Obsidian games (unlike the Troika games - Bloodlines and ToEE were both impossible to complete because of bugs in the state I first installed them in). You don't play a game because it has few bugs. There are gazillions of complete **** games out there without a lot of bugs. What matters is the style and substance of the game - I'd rather Obsidian focus on that and then patch things up afterwards. Hey, I absolutely one-hundred percent agree with your sentiment. That doesn't change the fact that while Obsidian games haven't been, as you say, quite Troika-esque, in my experience they have been almost there. Even doing runs in NWN2 complete edition this year, that I bought on GoG, has forced me to reload earlier saves a couple of times because of broken triggers and other such nonsense making quests unfinishable. Anyway, it was more a pleased, joking statement than anything else. A couple of small bugs don't bother me in the slightest, as long as they aren't gamebreaking )

It's almost like getting to push back their game and not release it on someone else's schedule actually helped?! WHAT Also.....what's with despising Kotaku? What am I missing? Ah, the story of Kotaku is a long and troubled one. And yes, it's almost like Obsidian set their own releasedate, this time! What? I assume you have played other Obsidian titles? As much as it pains me to say it, because I think Obsidian have made some of the best games I've played in recent years, like Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas and NWN2:MotB, they have had some serious issues with bugs and glitches on release.

Exactly. Something is rotten if Kotaku likes it, haha! I only scim-read through the OP here and didn't venture to the actual article, but I wholeheartedly agree. It seems I will be pleasantly surprised at the lack of bugs. Obsidian, what happened? A lack of bugs and glitches? What!?

I'll try single-character, i.e. only recruited companions, human wizard on potd. We'll see what happens. Will build him with **** CON, so could be a short run! Considering naming him Edwin.

I'd wager this will require a lot more thoughtprocess than Diablo 3 hardcore, in which you could only die to stupid cheese or lag

I think I'll pass. I didn't play the Backer Beta and honestly haven't much of a clue. I watched Sensukis introduction video, but that is quite literally the extent of my knowledge. I'll roll with non-ironman, though still hard or path of the damned. We'll see The ironman will be saved for a later playthrough or if it turns out to be too easy!

The massive amount of sales Steam does is anti-consumerist? There's not much anti-consumerist about Steam beyond its terrible customer support. I'd say the indefensible difference in regional pricing is just about as anti-consumerist as it gets. GoG does that particular one so much better, by offering you a coupon worth whatever you pay in excess, that you can redeem on your next purchase. Just think about it, some people cannot pay as much for games as most of us can. Now steam could sell them the games for the same price as to everyone else, but in those countries games would be for the elite only. So its not that we pay more, its they pay less. In my book thats very much pro consumer. Anti consumer would be abusing that and getting the games for the cheaper price and hurting the guys making the games with that. The real problem is that we cannot buy some games in germany even though we are mature and they do block the activation of those games here. Sorry, but that is a completely ridiculous argument. There is no reason for a digital product requiring exactly the same ressources to sell to two different countries, to have a difference in pricing outside of VAT. There is no excuse for it. A physical copy you can make some sort of convoluted claim, as it would involve a number of different layers of fees, but as for a digital product? No way. Thankfully Steam has been steadily, as least from what I have observed, decreased the difference in cost aswell as the frequency of the practice, in the last couple of years. EDIT: I should note that Steam may not have done it intentionally and it may well be a byproduct of the dollar increasing in value, with the Euro remaining somewhat consistent.

I would personally assume that it would be best with a digital copy from that perspective, because there's so many different levels that cuts into the end price of a box (producer, shipping, retailer) but the price remains largely the same (-ish). Meanwhile, digital distributors take a clear ~20% (or something) cut. That said, if you're that dedicated, I'd invest in both, just to make sure. Boxed for Steam and then get a proper GOG copy for future-proofing. This is where I also repeat my annoyance over boxed copies being Steam. Absolutely ridiculous. Buy a boxed copy for a singleplayer game, requires Steam to use. What nonsense. Both Valve and GoG take a flat 30% cut on every sale made using them as distributor. In that department your choice of store makes no difference. I think Luckmann is right on the money though. While the pricing of digital/physical copies are similar, there are many more fees associated with physical production and distribution leading to the logical conclusion that digital purchase would net Obsidian more $cash money$

The massive amount of sales Steam does is anti-consumerist? There's not much anti-consumerist about Steam beyond its terrible customer support. I'd say the indefensible difference in regional pricing is just about as anti-consumerist as it gets. GoG does that particular one so much better, by offering you a coupon worth whatever you pay in excess, that you can redeem on your next purchase.

How is what I said misleading? I was referring to the OP's desire to discuss spoilery stuff and not being able to do so in this, the PoE "General" - eg, they could start up a topic in the PoE Gameplay & Mechanics forum instead. The PoE forums likely need/will get some restructuring to be more suited to post-release-period discussions etc but I'm not in charge of that - I'm just a lowly volunteer forum mod. Excuse me, I misunderstood and thought you were including this forum section aswell. I understand you're volunteer and all that business - but we really do need a specific spoilers-allowed subforum. You can't spearhead it by yourself, I understand, but if we can't ask for different forums, on the forum, then how are we supposed to go about it? I'm cowering in the fear of the black monstrosity already! And the issue does indeed "irk" me. I know I will have to leave the forum altogether, if stream discussions start piling up. Which, in fairness, they haven't so far.

I completely agree. I absolutely do NOT want to discuss any spoilers of ANY kind, but I know that there are many people who will and want. Saying things like "The other forums do allow spoilers" seems incredibly misleading, given, for example, this forum is literally named "NO SPOILERS". Either it allows spoilers or it doesn't - but I am only still here because I know spoiler's aren't, and I'm sure it is the same for many others.

I'm told that steam non-backer users have their hands on their keys and are able to pre-load, while us backers ("slackers" or otherwise) still haven't received our keys. That seems odd and just reinforces this bad feeling I have. Please, please, please enable me to play this game on friday!

Man this 'no romances' nonsense is just off the hook. These people have written some of the best PCs in history are you freaking kidding me? Man Chris Avellone makes a few self-deprecating jokes and rumor mill just goes insane. Obsidian cares obsessively and deeply about their PCs. Then I would say the fault is with Chris for what he said, not on others for how they took it. Chris has done nothing to make anyone think any differently and acts too arrogant to be bothered with it. Not the kind of person I want to throw money at. I'm sorry, but are you, as they say, "cereal"? If you have played any Obsidian game, ever, you know that they take the utmost care with their companion npcs and oftentimes they are finely crafted. Not usually faceless, thoughtless goons. If you are really on the edge on whether to buy the game and the fact that there is no romance in it is swaying you towards not buying it, I think you are doing yourself a massive disservice. I assume you are here because you love or like the idea of IE games returning. That you fondly remember classics like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment or maybe something Fallout or even something like Temple of Elemental Evil or Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader. I don't see how whether or not Pillars of Eternity will have romances could possibly affect you in any way, as a fan of any of those games. If you are truly here as a fan, which I'm assuming is the case since the game hasn't even released yet, I frankly don't even begin to understand your thoughtprocess. If you are a fan, you know better than to say something as ridiculous as what you did. You know better than that, come on!

I won't tell on you, if you don't tell on me!

They certainly have their fans still but yeah, they moved on from us hardcore RPG fans and we feel sad. That's no joke. Bioware was literally my very favorite game company; they made my favorite games. I loved everything they did--it was like a treasure trove of awesome every time they made a game. Until EAl. When EA ripped out everything decent in Bioware and left a soulless husk, it felt like a direct betrayal. I loved the "Dragon Age and Mass Effect will remain separate franchises aimed at different people, don't worry"-pitch. Hahahahaha, oh wow. And then there was EA, ME2, and DA2. There's a reason I got banned there and was locked out of all my EA content I had (DA:O CE, ME2 CE, and all the DLC at the time). What? That doesn't sound very legal. But yeah, Bioware is like an old infected wound that refuses to heal. Just when you think "Oh, finally it will heal and everything will go back to normal" you realise it's still infected, it was just trying to cheat you; trying to assimilate you into the infection and have you become part of the virus. My heart aches.