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Reever

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Posts posted by Reever

    Friendly Fire

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Thanks for the answers, Josh. And I totally understand the balancing aspect. Still, from what I can read, you guys though it through and I guess it shouldn't be that big of a problem given that we have different spells with different considerations to make! So, as Lephys said, it's great that there's an option in between and it's not just "don't do or die" :D

     

    That said, I'll probably just buff my party with some fire resistance spell and THEN fire a fireball at the bunch :p

    Excellent/favorite minor NPC's

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    Torment was indeed filled with excellent NPCs - Fall-From-Grace, being a recruitable companion, probably doesn't count as 'minor' but I was especially moved by her promise to search the Lower Planes for the Nameless One's soul in the 'best' ending of that game. (Excellent setup, I thought, for a potential sequel centered around her finding out what happened to Nameless and why, and attempting some manner of rescue even if the best that can be done for Nameless' soul is total oblivion... but alas, there isn't much market for games starring a fully dressed, chaste succubus.)

     

    A more recent (so new I haven't played all the way through the game yet) freeware NPC who deserves some love: The starting city in Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok includes a little boy named Heime who is usually seen practicing with his wooden sword (I spotted him 'dueling' a snowman in the street once, even) and often talks about how he wants to grow up to be a great warrior... and if you happen to be playing a warrior, he'll talk about being strong and brave like you.  Heroes deserve a little hero-idolizing now and then, don't they? :blush:

     

    Yeah, I like all of the Torment companions very much, but especially Morte, Anna, Fall-From-Grace and Dak'kon. Nordom was funny too, although I didn't take him along. And the first three's bickering was just great throughout the game! =)

    I'm also happy we could help Ingress!

    Playing other Kickstarter funded games makes me nervous

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    The scope isn't that important for me, to be honest, as long as the story, reactivity and characters are done great! Of course, I'd love to be able to play 40+, but as I said, those other things come first for me.

     

    And to be honest, Obsidian should know how to make RPGs and how many resources they need. I agree that Kickstarter rewards are something new and they're also a drain on resources, but I'd be a bit disappointed if a team developers add stretch goal after stretch goal without being sure if the money is sufficient only for the rudimentary parts (I'm exaggerating a bit now..).

     

    And what Nonek said is right, heard only good things about Expeditions: Conquistador. Will get that one at some point, too.

    Update #70: New Year Project Update

    in Pillars of Eternity: Announcements & News

    Posted

    Great update!! Everything looks mighty fine ;)

     

    I also dig the attributes more so than before, but I think some of the points people made in this thread are legit. As well as Josh's counterarguments, though :D So having a (constructive) debate can only be good, so we can have an as-good-as-possible combat system at the end! =)

     

    And then, this:

     

     

    Am I the only one who can't cope with words like "Elardh Dwr", "Frermas mes Canc Suolias" or the name of the banshees? I wish I could, but whether my head nor my tongue knows how to handle these. Will there be something like a pronounciation guide in the collectors edition of the game? :ermm:

     

    :D
     

     

    Also, as others have asked, will there be a guide to the language in the manual or some other document for our curiosity and edification?

    V9orHbq.png

     

     

    That sounds really great (yet again!). That way the world will feel even more alive. Alternatively, I would have proposed that Josh make video where he pronounces all the most important words :p (that can still be done, though)
     

    Increasing Pledge?

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

     

    It isn't possible at this time (once your pledge has been finalized in the pledge manager), BUT, I'm fairly certain they're working on allowing us to edit our pledges... I'm gonna try and find that quote that says so.

     

    We're working on adding the ability to upgrade and add on additional addons to existing orders.

     

    Thanks for your patience.

     

     

    Thanks, you can tell the guys from support to ignore my question, then. Or better, I won't be mad if they won't answer it anymore! Though this should be announced somewhere (if it hasn't happened already in the last update, haen't read it yet).

    Spell interruption in Pillars of Eternity will not cause loss of the spell

    in Pillars of Eternity: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    A quote from Josh Sawyer: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3593502&userid=17931&perpage=40&pagenumber=3#post424444483

     

     

    EDIT: But is a spell wasted entirely if it gets interrupted?

     

    Currently, no. If a spell or ability doesn't go off, it isn't lost but it has to be started over.

     

    I personally don't have much of a problem with this, since I don't think "spell loss" was a super-important mechanic in the Infinity Engine games and it was probably overly punitive (the mage already got hit AND failed to cast a spell, he doesn't need to lose it too on top of that).

     

    That said, this does remove the ability to "drain" an enemy mage of all his spells (by interrupting them all) and turn him into a sitting duck who can be safely ignored until the rest of the enemy party has been dispatched. Some people might miss that.

     

    Dunno about "Drain", but that sure was something I hate in Torment. You don't have enough spells anyway, wasting them like that is just "bleargh". There will surely be other anti-spellcaster abilities, so don't worry! =)

    Increasing Pledge?

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    It isn't possible at this time (once your pledge has been finalized in the pledge manager), BUT, I'm fairly certain they're working on it... I'm gonna try and find that quote that says so.

     

    Unfortunately, I didn't find anything on adding add-ons (ha!) either, so I sent a ticket to support (though that's probably very low priority, will be long till they respond). I'd like to get the expansion now...

    Difficulty Thoughts: Merchants with Limited Gold & High Level Loot

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    First off, I'm happy we can sell our loot to every merchant. Hated it that I had to find the right merchant for that in P:T =(

     

    And then, I got quite scared by Indira's post, be then she (he?) expanded upon that. I can't really chime in this discussion, since I don't have that much experience, but I think whatever will be done, it should be properly balanced (like always). If there's tons of loot, then it also can't be that special/expensive when selling it. If you go the route with almost no route, then the items we find should be exceptional.

     

    I don't wanna have to get a game editor to conjure myself some items and/or potions only so I can progress through the game :p

    Can I even handle a game like PE any longer? Well, I sure hope so!

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

     

     

    * Pre-buffing alters the difficulty of fights enormously.  About halfway through IWD's development, a QA tester (who went on to become a pretty well-respected developer) came up to Black Isle and was furious at the difficulty of a fight in Lower Dorn's Deep.  He had been trying to legitimately get through it for 2 hours and hadn't succeeded.  Kihan Pak and I loaded it up and beat it on the first try.  He asked to see what we were doing.  Naturally, we were pre-buffing for 5-6 rounds before we even went into the fight.  Because there was no opportunity cost to using buffs, this was "the way" to get through fights, but it was tedious -- and for people who were not D&D veterans, it was not something they ever thought to do, which resulted in a full roadblock (see also: Burial Isle misery, which was also pretty easy for me and Kihan).

     

    2. This game is presumably for a niche market. Not necessarily for casual players. It sounds like you want this game to be partially mainstream so all can play even if new players don't have any prior knowledge of the rules system or setting. I don't understand why you want to go out your way to make the game mainstream when it's a niche game for mostly serious crpg players. If people want a mainstream game without having to do in depth research skills, spells, tactics, and just sit back and relax, then there's always arpg's like Diablo 3.

     

    Now, I'm not having anything against some fights and I don't might reading a bit into some mechanics (as I did when I started playing P:T), but maybe some people also want to play this game for the story. I'm not backing a dungeon crawler which I can play only after reading a 60 page manual (I'm exaggerating here, but you get my point).

    This Kickstarter certainly was certainly targeted at IE players of old, but I don't think all of them are/can still be so hardcore (or want to be, for that matter).

     

    Can I even handle a game like PE any longer? Well, I sure hope so!

    in Pillars of Eternity: General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    @Reever, there's dumbing down, and then there's getting rid of unnecessary complexity and lazy design masquerading as challenge. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which, and the classics had a lot of both, and downright bad design to boot.

     

    As to the games you listed, I didn't care much for ME nor DA:O, but IMO their weaknesses were primarily with the aspects you liked, not so much that ME was actiony and DA:O was MMORPG-y. I didn't like the writing in either, and ME's universe was empty and repetitive; it also had the worst loot system in any game I've played, with mountains of endlessly repetitive, generic shinies.

     

    I've more or less given up on BioWare actually. They were on an upward slope until BG2, and a downward slope since then with occasional dead-cat bounces on the way. The last BioWare game I genuinely enjoyed was Jade Empire, and it was a pretty light snack compared to the banquet that is BG2.

     

    (Yes, despite having criticized BG2 a quite a lot here, it was a banquet. I didn't enjoy everything on the table, but the best courses were really good and there was such a lot of everything that I could just, like, not have any of the turd pudding.)

     

    I almost liked your post :p

    I totally agree with the first part! Sadly, there are still people that put the classics on a pedestal and flame anyone who dares to suggest any kind of change...

    As for the second part, I know that ME's plot isn't a masterpiece, but being the Sci-Fi fan I am and being under the illusion that my choices mattered (haha, I'm looking at you ME3 :p), it was a great experience for me. As for the looting, may I remind you of the rags in P:T? :p One of my main gripes with RPGs in general is that I never know what the hell I should take along and what I should just throw away. My perfect RPG would have a merchant at every corner :D

    And I can't really judge how BW are now in comparison to earlier and it'll still be some time till I can ;) I can only hope they can win some of their former fans back with the new games they're going to bring out the next few years =)

     

     

     

    Would you (everyone) say that the issues are a) overall game scope b) game difficulty or c) something else?

     

     

    In my opinion, an RPG should be a big game (if that's what you meant with scope). Although I wonder how a bigger series with episodic content would do. That would be more or less perfect for people who don't have that much time to invest in a game, but of course, even that depends on the mechanics and execution.

     

    For me personally, the only difficulties I ever have are either fights or puzzles. I'm not really that big of a tactician - nor do I want to really "waste" time to figure out how to kill a specific monster, because I just want to get it on with the story. At the same time, I do know that many people get a sense of accomplishment by doing just that, so it's cool. That's why it's important to me that a game lets you change the challenge fights pose to the player.

    Puzzles...sometimes they're fun and interesting, sometimes they're just frustrating and in the way. But many people like them, so I don't expect them to be taken out completely :p

    Another problem people (might) have with games with such a scope is of course remembering the plot points etc. That's why a journal is good to have, I guess. Started The Witcher a year ago I guess (finished the 1st chapter) and I forgot a lot about the plot. That's one of the more extreme cases of taking a hiatus, of course, but that's how it is.

     

    What I hate most in games are time limits though, especially in RPGs. That's why I'm anxious to see how a certain element in this game will turn out (is this a spoiler?) and I can't wait to see what I'll think of Fallout or NVWN2:MofTB.

     

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