constantine

When the game is released I will steer clear of the forums for as long as a full playthrough, in order to avoid anything spoiled for me. If I am patient enough I will not play right away, to avoid game bugs ruining the experience for me. So the thought is that I will jump in after the 1st (or 2nd) patch that will most likely address the most prevalent issues. Then I will let myself be immersed in Pillars World (although my lady & work will not let me do this as much as I will like to )

The OP is as right as it could be. Narrative- story- game world- player choice are the more important aspects of a great game. And, as it was mentionted, most of us take that for granted for a company as Obsidian. What we've shown so far proves us right. The Campaign World is a great place to venture, with rich and deep history. The narrative is top-notch, as shown by the BB. Things we hope to be there: -an interesting story and side-stories, immersive with deep thematics -actual player choices, in the form of disposition/rep influence, multiple endings (update #87 states a play-tester reached an early game ending) and meaningful companion interaction to all that. Put all that in the sac and you have a true role-playing experience, unlike anything we've had before.

On the latest update (#87) it is mentionted that one of the play-testers reached an early game ending. Now that is a step towards the right direction ! It will be great if Pillars features multiple endings and meaningful player choices. Another thing that will also add to that is if companions interact with such choices in a substantial manner (like when shown in the demo and more like that) Lastly, I would like to expect much from the disposition system (reputation), much more than NPC comments, like quest trees opening up for certain dispositions and not just the usual cruel, a.k.a 'evil' and benevolent (good), but also for other ones, like clever or diplomatic. Let's be honest, should Pillars involve all those features it will be a breakthrough to role-playing games. No other rpg has come even close to that. But of course, all that matters is that all these features have *actual* meaning in-game for that to be achieved. Pillars of Eternity, the most interactive rpg of all time ? I surely hope so. Future will tell.

I would prefer demihuman faces to look quite different from human ones. Most of what I posted have been discussed in-depth in other threads, but often such discussions succumb to ugly arguments among users and get off-topic. I hope this 'argument-free' thread to voice our suggestions more clearly.

So.. Obsidian introduces the stash, angering a number of people who want a more 'realistic' inventory system (I am not one of them, I like the stash). Now loot is generic- you drop a guy wearing plate,you won't get it, unless the programmers name that a 'special encounter' designed to drop normal or masterwork or magical plate. You get some cp instead. Yeah, people can throw any number of items in the stash and hoard dozens of items should loot be 'what.you.see.is.what.you.get' . . . . THEN DON'T PUT A STASH OF INFINITE CAPACITY IN THE FIRST PLACE IF YOU THINK IT WILL INTRODUCE PROBLEMS Current loot system introduces bigger problems: -First and foremost- player frustation, where is that special soldier that I have to kill to get his/her plate ? Or perhaps I can collect all those cps and buy my own at the store. -Even less rewarding encounters- we don't have 'kill XP', now we also don't have meaningful loot ! 'Trash' encounters have one less reason of existence. -It's bad for players to see the developers take actions that counter their previous ones- like, trying to patch up mistakes. -Even less realism- but then again, who cares for that, huh ?

I'm very satisfied with the game visuals, in fact I never believed they would look so refined ! However, as previously mentionted, there are some spell effects that really dominate the screen and make it really, really hard to make out what is going on. I currently find the Web Spell to be troublesome, as well as Fireball, b/c it takes a lot of time for the lightning it produces to cool down. Also, I believe character models need to be more refined in contrast to the enviroment, especially in darker areas they look dull and almost devoint of colour. As a final note, I would like to see some reworking on the demihuman races, Elves and Aumaua in particular. I very much like that Aumaua are supposed to be shark-people (Mr Sawyer's dream becoming reality, no more were-shark substitutes!) but I feel they fail to convey that and look like big, generic, blue people. It's a pity that one so inspired race be called blue-orcs.. As for the Elves, they are not as elf-like as we are accustomed to by elven gaming looks. Unfortunately they look more like Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' Elves, which look essentially like normal people with pointed ears. These are the things I'd like to point out concerning game visuals.

It's not as simple as 'not press the button', b/c the ugly icon will still appear when my mouse cursor hovers there. But if nothing changes, I'll suit myself with 'not pressing the button'.

But for maybe the dozenth time, I will say my opinion for engagement: I like the thought of it and the fact that it's there, but the execution is wrong beyond measure. Please tweak it. Suggestion: have disengagement attacks happen on a cooldown, not indefinitely. It is a very serious issue that movement-maneuvering in combat is so hampered. Have the bold (or stubborn) take the hit and charge on, not be massacred right there in the spot. Why is this so much to ask ?

Those icons ruin the looks for me, they look bad. Also, something I've asked before but received no answer, where is the feel of exploration (that the developers initially had intented) ??? I hold a button and all interectable objects/areas show up ? I don't want that.. i really hope it is something that can be toggled off, or at the very least addressed to with a mod. Right, @Sensuki ?!

Okay.. They can't even do 'what you see is what you get loot', as @Sensuki named it. Hmm, they did this b/c of the stash's ability to throw everything in there ? Wait! Is this the very stash that was their idea in the 1st place ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . Im just disappointed. Being a supporter of the stash, I ask you Obsidian, why do you care if I put 10 items in there or 10,000 ? Isn't it bottomless and with that role? Stick to your ideas, don t act like you see them as trouble. Or are you so lazy as to put gear and items on creatures ? More and more your game is turning into an INSULT to the infinity-engine games rather than a tribute to them. Show some respect to your inspiration for Pillars and to yourself for the promises you made to us back at KS days.

So, to boil it down, engagement is infinite D&D's 'attacks of opportunity' with an attack bonus plus greater damage! How do you like it so far?

For the love of god you think tweaking combat speed solved everything ? I can't believe you people.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . If engagement's problem was the lack of visual.

Stamina bar & Action icon are a DISASTER. Please, pretty please, fuse that feedback along with the Character Portrait.

How about this topic gets a poll- Do you want the engagement mechanic in Pillars of Eternity ? Yes No

Quoting myself, I want to say I've changed my mind. I would like to play the game as the devs wants us to experience it, no matter how bad some things may be. At least this is what I'll do the 1st time around.

See @Sensuki ?! Moving and positioning is very important for Pillars after all ! Everyone's worries calmed

If that won't catch the devs attention to do something about engagement, I don't know what will.

Won't you give it a try the way the devs have intented ? But actually you re doing so here in the beta.

You can take for granted that Pillars will have an interesting cast of companions, as well as an engaging, interactive story. This is what Obsidian does best.

A friendly request @Sensuki, when you finish your list of mods for Pillars, let the player be able to choose which to install/not install. G3 modders for the IE games did it like that and it was pretty helpful Although to be honest I still hope the vanilla PoE will not need any modding, but this may be wishful thinking. And there is also the fact I want to have the play experience the devs will design, unmodded.

Two-handed weapon style should be changed. Many good suggestions are present in this thread.

It's not just the Monk- every weapon/creature has a single attack animation. But I'm pretty sure this is a matter to be addressed by the devs. Just for reference, Baldur's Gate and similar games had 2-3 atk animations per weapon.

This is a very good suggestion. Various classes and monsters should have different defenses and we also need tools to break through those defenses. In BG2 we had to deal with enemies that had magic resistance, high AC, high saving throws, a plethora of arcane and divine protective spells, etc. Only a few had everything but almost everyone had something. So often we had to breach their defenses before we could CC or harm them. That's what PoE combat should look like and a careful redesign of wizard class could be a step in the right direction. You (and I) can hope all you like, but Pillars is never gonna be that kind of game. Best we can hope for to come out of this thread is for Obsidian to (at least) buff up the Wizard Class a little.

I like the inventory system. A lot. Playing the IE games, I realised I spent a lot of time managing inventory, storing items in containers and going back and forth towns to sell to make room. Wasted time that is, better spent on more meaningful game activities. I'm really happy Obsidian decided to rid us of that.