Abel

There are RPG musics that will never die... 10, or even 20 years later, you still listen to them fondly, and it still gives you goosebumps... I especially remember the tracks of IWD 1, the Deionarra's theme from Planescape, and the village theme from IWD 2 (posted by Leferd). While i did not like much IWD 1 (and even less IWD 2 which i could never play past act 1 because of boredom), the music was carved in my soul (and some of the maps, like the Severed Hand, so beautifully crafted i was in awe again 2 years ago). I very much like details like the one demeisen reported, and tend to notice them since i take my time while playing (currently 96H, still in act 2, WM 1 not even tried yet). That's the details that make you think that maybe, one day, the sound will be given as much attention in the west as in Japan (Japanese are gods when it comes to sound ).

Yep, in my opinion, XP should have been cut drastically. Like divided by 3 or 4, with a lvl cap around 10/11 (rather than 16), achievable only by completionists. Now, you could argue that there would be no need for a level cap anymore. And then, there would have been the sequel, PoE 2. BG was successful with a level cap around 7 after all (which is really not much), making BG2 even more enjoyable.

The poll asks about characters level. Actually i don't care much about level. The only thing i really care about is that i definitely want to continue with the same character (and party?) in PoE 2. To me, there is no point in buying PoE 2 if it's a brand new thing. I always hoped for Pillars to be in the BG way: 3 games, 1 story, 1 main character, 1 long journey. That's it. If i want a brand new one, i just start another playthrough.

Though... there are rumors floating about that Tyranny may only be available via Steam. If anyone from Obsidian is reading and Obs has any choice in the matter, I'd like to register a heartfelt plea for you to push the publisher for a GOG release as well. A lot of us will never permit Steam anywhere near our systems, so we won't be buying the game if that's the only way to do so. My case, too, definitely.

Hope not. I probably won't buy it if it is a steam only release. GOG or probably nothing for me.

Thanks for this thread. It may prove itself usefull for me pretty soon.

I remember that something like two years ago, all people was not ok with the first bits of music we had. But i'm happy to see that in the end, we now all agree: Justin had to do the music for Pillars. No one, but him. Well, i was kind of sure it will turn out like this. Indeed, the music is great. And indeed, Defiance Bay lacks something. Gainulf pointed the ambient sound problem. He's right: battle sounds are very noticeable, so i use to not listen other ambiant sounds correctly. Oh! by the way. It seems that the battle music in Ondra's Gift (my favorite track in the game) is tied to the sound effects volume, not the music one. When i try to turn music volume up, it has no effect. But when i turn the sound effects up, both the battle sounds and the music are turned up. Since it's my favorite track, it's a bit of a bother: i can't really put the music sound volume very high with more discrete battle sounds. Did not look at it in 3+ version, but it was still there in 2.03. Don't know if i should do a bug report. To me, another thing that is bad in Defiance Bay is that there is way too much opened space. Streets are way too wide, and now, it all feels empty. I would have expected narrower streets, alleys and passageways, even if there was one large avenue. I know it is very USA to have many large ways in their cities, but it does not feel quite right in a fantasy game like PoE. Baldur's Gate, and even Atkhatla had some narrow streets with piled up houses on each sides. For all these reasons, Defiance Bay looks there is barely any inhabitants. And damn, the town is meant to be full of refugees? Full to the brim? No way... There is barely any refugees, any townfolks there. These two problems are, to me, the most important in the town. Yet, better handled ambient sound (as describes Gainulf) would have improved the whole city even further.

Yeah, when the french version of the game was so awful, i used to play Pillars in english version (was the case for Wasteland 2, too). Indeed, it was... exhausting. And reading text became a chore. Because, after all, i never use english either in my everyday life, and i learnt it all by myself these past few years.

I guess that something is all about culture. The culture of animation i mean. It's not of the same importance in Japan and in western countries. And while animation is often looked like child matter in our countries, it's much more widespred in Japan. Unless we get some "animation culture", things won't change.

Yep, it's true. If you take a look, you'll see that even "DB Super" uses the same voice actors for the cast than the eighties and nineties series. Even though some voice actors have past 80 by now . But it may too be the consequence of some kind of cultural sense of responsibility, maybe. Once you take a role, you have to fulfill it for the sake of the fans. But maybe i'm mistaking. It's just very so japanese . Still, it would be great if voice acting became of the same importance in our countries. Many supports would benefit from it. Well, i'm definitely fan of japanese voice acting. There are scenes than i can see over and over again because the flavour of the acts are so impressive that the whole thing becomes heart throbling for some reason. The exact same than with Deïonarra. There is much to say about japanese cultural differences. I guess some are to their benefits, some are not. But it's a whole different (yet interesting) topic.

Quite agree with you. Don't know if Deïonarra was a Tsun, Kuu, Yan, or even if she could really be classified in one of the -dere thing, but it's true that her voice was great. This plus the Deïonnara music theme gave me a huge thrill, goosebumps and so on. The Deïnonarra theme even became one of my key musics afterwards, because of that. I will never forget the moment i first saw this ghost, eard her voice, and listened to this music... It's one of my very best gaming moment, very fond to me. Agree too about japanese voice acting. But it's obvious. Because, there is nothing like the "seiyu" thing in other countries. Doubling anime or games characters is a job as a whole. There are courses for it, it's a well know job, very competitive. It's not just anybody who can become a renowned seiyu and voice act for a living. That's why watching a japanese masterpiece in subtitled VO and dubbed is nothing near the same. And obviously, you're exactly right about mixings and sound volumes, too. But you know, regarding these kinds of things, US is all about... well... take-this-in-ya-face. That's probably the same reason why blockbusters scenarios are so... well thought, Blockbusters action scenes and visual effects so... believable, and blockbuster actors so... convincing, AND gorgeous... lol

There are good chances that i would never ever play in an arena with my characters, unless they are forced to, like it was in the underdark in BG2. The reason is quite simple. These fights mean violence, and are a matter of life or death. My characters generally already have their hands full just surviving their trials and nightmares, and would just avoid as much as possible adding to their pain, fears, and sometimes, loss of humanity. My characters always need good, deep reasons to involve themselves in fights. There is nothing like "for the love of the sport" for me. It's especially true for my current priestess in Pillars. She's terrified by her fate, the death she sees everywhere, to the point she barely manages to keep her wits.

Hmmm.... I actually don't like reading, whether it's books or whatever. But i agree with you nonetheless. I'm not a huge fan of voice acting because it use to disrupt my immersion and tie my imagination (and it's the same for first person 3D games, where everything is shown, modelized), all the more when a voice is not even near what i 'd expect for one character. Maybe the reason why i can read text heavy games like pillars or PS:T is that i actually know what is at stakes, and what i can get by doing it. And i know that i can get much of a wonderful gaming experience. To me, there are more people who like full voiced over games because they're used to them. Too much. Spoiled generation full of premade ideas. But i guess there are not many of these people who actually played PoE in the first place. According to what i read on the net these past few years, to these people, the matter is all about text. Not if it's long, or heavy. The text itself becomes the problem. Because if there is text, then, this must be a "****ty lame game for old geezers". I think that people who gave a try to Pillars are people who are more flexible about reading in games, even if they don't like to read in the first place.

Wow, wow, wow! I don't know where you are from, but i can tell you're using some particular point of view as a general argument. As a french guy i can't let this slip lol. I've several good friends, and there is no one i could ever bring to Mc Donald's. And the people i know i can, are actually more interested in the "convenient" side of McDonalds. What all the people i know really want here is "good, gourmet food", not ****ty Mc Donald's... People actually desire hamburgers? Well, sometimes it's true. But McDonald's? No. McDonald's is a default choice. We have many alternatives here (even for hamburgers). Last time i ate burgers, it was "foie gras, fig jam, steak", all handmade by proper crafstmen of my hometown. As i said, Mc Do is only the convenient option young people usually chose. Not the one people crave for. Definitely. And it may be the same about writting. I didn't like the writting style of Tolkienn, but i quite like the story he told in his books. I'm not sure, even, that the concise point is really relevant. I don't think it's about text lenght. I use to think that people who can explain complex things in a simple way are talented. Because when you read them, it all becomes some sort or revelations, and you use to think "wow, i would never have been able to communicate this kind of mixed feelings of the character in just one inspired sentence". In the same manner, people who are accused to be verbose may be people who like to use over-sophisticated language to explain their point. To the extent that neither me nor some of my good friends (who are all, i suppose, quite good with french language) can tell what his real point is. They are people who love to listen to themselves, imo. And now, you have the in between. The verbose type, but used to put an emphasis on details, where words themselves are as important as their goal. I would only criticize The second of my three examples. Tigranes may be right in his assumption. That would explain why i was sometimes bored with text in PoE, even if well written, and why i was not this much in PS:T (aside from the "somldering corpse", where there were too much reading at the same time).

From what i've seen so far, Torment Numenara looks like it has really good pieces of writting. There seems to be much more text than in Pillars, but the descriptions of the weirdness of the universe seems pretty inspired. I wouldn't mind delving into such a text heavy adventure. Oh, wait, i backed it, sure

The fact is, since i'm french, each and every character in Pillars does have an accent (always the same). I bet that if the game was voiced over in french, i would be the same as you: i may never have noticed the accent matter. But since for me, every thing that is said in the game is said with an accent i'm not used to, the accent matter became obvious to me. And now, if i look at things this way, i start to understand why one who is really used to US accent never noticed the matter with Sagani and several other NPCs.

No precise ones. I just remember i was a bit surprised when i heard a redneck dwarf having the same kind of voice than some kind of human aristocrat in Defiance Bay. I expected more differenciations between NPC in general. Not only companions. As i said, voice acting seems ok in itself. On the other hand, I think people who speak foreign languages with no accent are not this many (i never knew any anyway). We have TV, cinema, radio, internet and planes to help getting used to an accent and try to speak with no accent. Sagani did not. Even less in her frozen secluded country where only once in a while a merchant from somewhere else came to talk with the village elder. If BG was indeed over the top, this does not disqualifies it. It was just a common example of differenciated voices between races and such. It was not taken as the perfect example to reproduce perfectly by all means in Pillars. World is not black or white. I'm pretty sure something exists in between.

Then, i should play an Old Vailian . As a french, i would experiment the same kind of uneasiness towards accents than my character .

Was it a thread only about companions?

PST had even more text i think. I especially remember the inn, the "somldering corpse", or whatever, where i spent several hours in a row reading. It was quite exhausting in a way, but definitely interesting. Btw, PST is the best RPG ever :D. I, too, sometimes had the impression that some text in PoE was indeed meaningless. It's quite well written, by there are some occurrence, sometimes, when i wondered why i read some lines. In these several occurences, i thought that these lines did not bring anything usefull, whether it was information, or elements for flavour. Almost like the NPC just listened to themselves speaking. Text is important, and sometimes, to have things right, you need much text. And sometimes, you end up wondering what was the purpose of it in a precise case, wanting to say to some NPC "ok, great, now, to the point, damn!"

In this precise case, i may chose the weirdest one :D

Agree, totally. That's pretty much what i meant by "non random character voiced by random voices" or something like that, in another thread. It's even more obvious when non human characters have, too, very common humanish voices. Minsc is a good example of a memorable voice for a memorable character, indeed. Sometimes, few inspired voiced lines do a far better job that plenty common ones. Origins of characters should have an impact on their voices, too. Like Pallegina. Voice acting is not bad in itself in PoE. Just, imo, it lacks... well, color ?

If only people were more consistent about the abstractions that they allow themselves to be unimmersed by. Rationalizing fast loot management is beyond the pale, but recovering from grievous wounds (severe Health damage) after eight hours of camping seems to get a pass. Handwaved for the sake of smooth gameplay, as it were. I could be really jarred by the recuperative miracles of PoE camping, if I chose to be. Or dozens of other examples. Inventory management where it really matters is still in PoE: equipped items, quick slots, weapon sets, etc. Extended inventory management is vastly streamlined and improved over the previous IE standard of "click and drag hundreds of items into bags of holding." Well, the miraculous camping is another big problem i have in PoE. The system in BG was way better to me. And this miraculous healing while sleeping defeats the purpose of healing spells to me. That's why you can't find a damn healing spell which actually "heals". Which annoys me much, since i used to love priests in BG. Elthalas said everything about the stash . kudos.

It seems that we agree that the current stash is unexplainable, that it was a pragmatic decision, and that they have to be made. For you this one is of no significance, for me it has little. So...yes;). agreed. only reason we respond is 'cause genesis poster observed that the absence o' an explanation destroyed immersion and you observed that, "details like this are crucial in building general atmoshpere of the game." am not gonna get into all the things wrong with immersion complaints, but our point simple were that the degree to which the stash destroys immersion is highly subjective. is such details crucial? not universal. HA! Good Fun! Well i hear you. Let's just say that for some people (like the OP, Pampa, or me), it's a real annoyance. Call me crazy, but i would deeply prefer an old system like BG. The tetris in the inventory was somewhat painful, but it made sense to me. Since you can't pick up everything you come across, you have to make choices: will i take this bow or the sword? Just natural. I don't like this "click here and grab it all, and put it all in the... the what by the way?"

Well, i just said that it's a question to be used to one or the other ^^. When you are not used to one, you just can't feel it's natural, it strucks you. I'm not fluent with english, so i won't even try to argue about which one in the world is the more "correct" . Don't know. That would probably need some kind of talent i don't even know about.