Shevek

Gairnulf: That made no sense. Anyway, worthy ideas do not need to be pinned.

This forum is where ideas go to fight, live or die. We dont need to pin the ideas. Natural selection determines what makes it and what doesnt.

Gairnulf: lol A pinned post for features "we" want, eh? No man, no. We all get to use the conch.

Hey, ive played all the IE games and their xpacks multiple times. I have bought, lost and rebought these games many times. I played them stock and modded. I played them single and multiplayer. I played the EE versions as well. I know these games. I enjoyed these games. And, I still play them. Pillars of Eternity feels good to me. Real good. It is both innovative and a very respectful homage as well.

Yup, "feels" about right to me. "Feels" does not necessitate x or y mechanic. "Feels" doesnt mean THAC0 or Vancian magic or romances. This beta is hitting the mark squarely. We should all be popping champagne and high fiving each other at this point. Dont be a Debby Downer! Enjoy it, man.

Disagree. This definately feels like an updated 90s crpg. They are meeting goals at this point and will be EXCEEDING them when this goes live. This game feels real good right now. If it keeps getting better, it will be great. Well done, Obsidian.

A "carbon copy" (BG series) of the second best "game" i've ever played in my life? .... Yea? If there was a kickstarter for a "spiritual successor" to Perfect Dark why the @#$% would I want a game that resembled a Call of Duty? Edit: As a sidenote, anyone know where to get the soul vessel for the ruins in Stormwall Gorge? So, after 2 years of hearing this wouldnt be a carbon copy you still expect that to change? Thats... interesting.

Raz: Are you saying the only valid reason to back this is if you want a carbon copy of IWD with better gfx?

You get some ratty clothes when making a Cipher (when selecting one of the cultures). Non enchantable.

@GrinningReaper65: I disagree. The statement "...add in the fun, intense combat and dungeon diving of Icewind Dale" does not specify combat mechanics or, to be clear, the EXACT combat mechanics. They could, and obviously did, mean the encounter and dungeon design. Which, in my view, are very much like IWD (I am currently doing a run through IWD:EE, btw). The "intensity" of the combat relates to its frequency and scope. Moreover, the idea that somehow engagement was sprung on us is ludicrous. They've been talking about it for a year and a half. One could use your line of thinking to decry ANY change to the IWD formula.

This is inspired by the IE games and meant to rekindle the "feels" we had while playing them. It uses a different rpg system and it is set in a different world. The devs were clear from the get go that while this is an homage to that "style" of game it is by no means a copy. In fact, they went out of their way to point out that they would be making significant changes to address issues they felt were prevalent in the older titles and to suit their own vision of what they wanted those games to be. Also, seriously, we may have commissioned the work but they are the artists.

Areas of strength: +The combat feels real good right now. Once they start working on visual feedback, it should be even better. OE should be proud of the system they've put together. +The voice acting is spot on. I was actually taken aback by how good it was. I wasn't expecting that level of quality. +The level of polish is noticeably higher. I can't wait to see when this all comes together. Areas of improvement: -I hope they significantly add to talent selection in order to expand build choices since it seems they are going to stick to linking talents and skills. -Visual effects are obscuring combat. They need to make things like webs translucent and/or thinner/smaller. -The characters are hard to see in outdoor environments. They may consider rendering characters with a (very) mild cell shading effect so they have a dark outline.

I have a small suggestion for crafting. I haven't actually crafted anything yet (haven't gotten enough ingredients), so I do not know if something like my suggest is in place and maybe isn't stated by the UI. So, I apologize now if I am missing something. Perceived Area of Concern: Currently, the crafting system seems fairly robust but due to how recipes work, they seem to reward hoarding your cash until you can afford the better recipes. Take this example: It seems to be a waste to invest in "Damaging 1" or "Damaging 2" when I could just save up for "Damaging 3." If I do get "Damaging 2," for example, I will feel like I wasted money when I can afford "Damaging 3." Possible Alternative: Why not do something like this: So, you would need to upgrade the weapon to "Damaging 1" before you could get "Damaging 2" and so on. I would do a similar change to stat boosts on Armor. So, "Strength 2" requiring "Strength 1" and so on. Benefit: This should get players to use the crafting system sooner. They would not feel the need to hoard thier copper until later and may be more open to upgrade pieces of gear as they advance though the game. To my mind, that makes the game more interesting from the get go. Such a system may necessitate toning down copper costs and ingredient requirements a bit on certain recipes but that shouldn't be too tough to do.

Weird, I didnt see the big crystal eaters when I went into the spider cavern. They must be in a group I didn't run into (I didnt bother with the Queen). I know it was on hard too. Spiders are easy if you don't bum rush in. The Ogre has 2 bear companions on hard but you can solo pull him and then down the bears.

Same can be said of both of our posts. This is a bug forum by the way.

You should make it a poll. I vote yes.

I dunno, it looks great to me. I mean, no need to nitpick, its not like this is D:OS with its WoW inspired armor graphics. Perspective folks, perspective.

I really think a simple "Junk" tag like in WL2 would solve this. Click a "Junk" checkbox in the bottom right corner of the item icon (or uncheck it for it to go back) and it gets shifted to the Junk tab in the stash. They can even put in a "Sell All Junk" button when going to a vendor. I have nothing against dropping stuff but a Junk checkbox might be an easier solution.

They could also let you tag stuff as junk and have a junk tab.

Can't wait till I get home.

No thanks. Current system is fine. Your idea would penalize player choice and create arbitrary sweet spots.

Diminishing returns suck. If I want my tank to have the strength of an ox and the brains of a potato, then thats what I want to see in game.

I must admit that possibility of this concerns me. This is one reason I have advocated against cutting out existing game mechanics. Like you, I am more open to design decisions taken by Tim Cain, MCA and Josh Sawyer than to decisions by a bunch of faceless unknowns on a forum. Thankfully, I have the feeling that they have locked in the feature set and are instead focused on bug fixing and tidying systems up (adding talents, etc) at this point.

Is that really that big a deal? The player subverted that in BG2 (the true bar against which this game is measured in the minds of most on this forum) as soon as they started finding ammo, potion, scroll and gem containers. Then you get to Saradush (EDIT: I think you get one in Spellhold too) and get the bag of holding and thats all she wrote for inventory management. Moreover, as soon as half your guys are running around with belts of giant strength and gloves of ogre power, weight becomes a non-issue in BG2. If you make a custom party, all your melee start with ridico weight capacity right off the bat. I suppose one can argue that even though encumbrance or inventory slots are never a real issue in BG2, it is the illusion of a challenge that makes the player feel exceptional as he subverts it. Still, the bottom line in BG2 never really presents the player with meaningful challenges revolving around managing their inventory. While I concur that it might have been nice if they implemented the stash a bit better and were a bit more mindful of stat based encumbrance, their implementation of strength (as being more than physical strength) somewhat limited them in that regard, I think. I also think that the stash should be a bit more limited (such access ONLY in the stronghold or at the inn to store goods but never in the wild - not to put in or take out). I am hoping to be able to mod that in. However, in the grand scheme of things, how much does that really matter? Enjoy the pig, man.

I dunno if I'd turn my back on that pig.