JerekKruger

I've got to say I agree that the new portraits for the returning companions aren't as good as their old ones. Aloth's is okay, though I prefer his original one, but I really don't like Pallegina's or Eder's. Hopefully they'll give them a rework before release, though it'll probably be very easy to switch back to the originals if not. Other than that it looks great so far. Consider me very excited. EDIT: looking at it a bit more, Pallegina's isn't too bad either. It's just the straight on angle I don't like.

I'll second this!

I think this is true. One of the arguments made by those who didn't like the enchanting system in Pillars was that you could enchant standard equipment to be as powerful as unique items, and that that made finding loot less fun. Ignoring for a moment the fact that this isn't true (you can't enchant speed or wounding for example, nor can you enchant effects like chance to knock down on hit), I don't know exactly who was actually doing this. Presumably those who don't like the system weren't taking the sword they started the game with and giving it the Superb enchantment, a lash and an X-slaying enchantment. Nor were the people who do like the enchanting system: a quick look at the character builds section on this forum show almost no builds using generic items enchanted to higher levels. I think the actual problem people had with the system was not that you could enchant generic items to be as good as uniques, it was that the enchantments on uniques were clearly from a master list of enchantments, which takes away from the feeling of uniqueness of the item. The Hours of St. Rumbalt feels less unique when you're told that it is essentially a generic great sword with the Annihilating, Overbearing and Accurate 3 enchantments on it. For whatever reason the target of this dislike ended up being the enchanting system itself. Yes and no. The act of enchanting an item in Pillars happens abstractly: we're not treated to an explanation of how it happens, so it might be that all enchantments are performed by professional enchanters on behalf of the player, rather than by the player themselves. In fact, since every enchantment has a gold cost I tend to think this view makes the most sense (the gold is the fee of the enchanter). As for the "only a renowned mage" thing: that really depends on your setting, and I think that Pillars doesn't fit that mould. Magic works differently to most other fantasy settings, and it's not even the case that magic has to be involved in the creation of unique item. Some descriptions make it clear that items gain their powers from the history: they were carried by an individual with a certain personality, and took on some of the properties of their bearer as a result. Given the soul thing going on in Pillars, this makes a lot of sense. Moreover with the whole "animancy as a science" thing going on, you don't need some mage with his tomes of arcane knowledge to enchant things, you can have a modern, forward thinking animancer do it.

Perhaps we can keep the enchantment discussion in the enchantment thread, it doesn't need to happen in two places.

Both would be best. I like the uniques appearance, lore and excitement of finding unique items, but I like the flexibility that enchanting provides. The rapper* rapier Josh describes sounds great though. No complaints on that front. *Bloody phone!

It's not all that surprising that you can beat Pillars on level 12: that was the original level cap for the game. If you couldn't beat it on level 12 then it would have been impossible to beat it at all till the White March I came out; and if you didn't choose to scale the Act III content up then it's not surprising that it's easy. As for a level 20 cap: that's for Deadfire, not Pillars. Not only will Deadfire be balanced around this new cap, the whole levelling system will be changed in Deadfire. Does that mean a level 20 cap is a good thing? Not necessarily, but to dismiss it based on Pillars is silly.

You didn't just ask for an update, you asked in a particularly obnoxious, entitled fashion. Had you said something like "I'd love to have more information about when Deadfire is going to be released" then chances are the responses to this thread would have been less critical.

Are you sure about that. I am fairly certain that it's not the case. There was selectable hard scaling yes, but I don't think there was soft scaling.

Don't quote me on this, but I think Josh said something about the possibility to customising your pet's appearance. For example you'd choose a cat as your pet then pick from one of several skins. This might have been an "if we have time" thing though, or I may have simply imagined it.

I think what rjshae means is having a time jump between, say, acts I and II, which is accompanied by enough experience to level two or three times as well as a narration explaining that the player has been doing other things. Then, when the expansions are added this is replaced with that content.

Jerek's on that list :D I think Osvir sounds pretty lore friendly. I imagine you could use it, with a note suggesting lore friendlier alternatives.

I am hoping it's a hatchet. I didn't like most the hatchet models in Pillars. If you can sheave weapons in game a lot of people are going to be very happy. I'll be even happier if the sheaved mode for two handers is resting them on the shoulder and not the awkward back sheaf that is so common.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. Even if we assume what Josh said about it was more illustrative that definitive, how many unique swords are there likely to be in the game? In Pillars there were five properly unique swords, two named exceptional swords sold by Vincent Dwellier, and Steadfast. Assuming Deadfire has a similar number of unique swords, I doubt Obsidian will double up on flaming. I assume there will probably be more than one flaming weapon though.

Exactly. I am all for player freedom, but it should happen within the confines of the setting.

It was stated in, if I recall correctly, one of the Twitch Q&A steams, but I wouldn't take it as a guarantee that there will only be one. For context it was (again if I recall correctly) actually in response to a question about making itemisation more unique in Deadfire.

Well Josh said at some point that there will only be one flaming sword in the game. If that flaming sword starts with, say, the fine enchantment then it can't be made superb according to the enchanting system as he described it, meaning anyone who wants to use a flaming sword will be at a disadvantage over someone using a different weapon. It's a fairly minor thing overall, but I don't see the problem with making an exception to quality enchantments. The stated reason for this change was peoples' complaints about loot not being exciting due to the ability to enchant any weapon to be as good as most unique ones, so if non-quality enchantments remain unique to items that start with them I think the problem would still be solved even if quality enchantments could be universally applied, and it would give players who want to keep some early game weapon the choice to do so without them being punished.

Agreed. I actually quite like the idea of limiting elemental damage enchantments to weapons that already have them, but I'd prefer it if quality enchantments were not limited at all. With a sufficiently varied list of non-quality enchantments that can't be applied universally I doubt anyone can really make the same complaint that was levelled at Pillars, but it would also ensure that if someone really liked an item that dropped early on they wouldn't be gimped by sticking with it.

As a side note, I really like the model of that axe.

Couldn't agree less. The thrill of getting new items is a big part of the draw of CRPGs, and I only dislike gear treadmills of the type Diablo 3 has: in Pillars, and hence presumably Deadfire, all the most important gear is guaranteed to drop.

It seems like in pretty much every playthrough I've done there has been some item that I end up with loads of. In my last game, I had tonnes of gauntlets of accuracy.

It's not about whether there are aristocrats capable of surviving in the Living Lands, it's about whether there is an aristocracy in the Living Lands. Presumably the developers decided that this was not a part of the world which has an aristocracy and thus didn't allow the combination of the aristocrat background and the Living Lands culture. It's strange that this is the combination that you've picked out. I find it far stranger that there are no clergymen outside of the Aedyr Empire and no artists outside of Old Vailia. The lack of aristocrats in the Living Lands makes sense at least.

I'd take offence at that if it weren't so true

Until they allow me to wear at least four ringers (preferably five) per hand I will never be fully immersed

I'd like to see more enchanting recipes that you have to find, rather than having the full collection from the start. I think it's likely that Obsidian originally intended it to be like this in Pillars (see the cooking recipe you can learn in Gilded Vale) but probably cut it due to time restraints. I also like the idea of being able to steal a powerful wizard's grimoire. I wouldn't have this be something you can do against every wizard, since it would become stale, but I'd love to see a scripted interaction that requires high stealth (and other things) for at least one wizard fight. I think it would also help if item properties were more varied and interesting. Before the White March expansions itemisation in Pillars was pretty bland: I certainly didn't get a feeling of excitement when finding a new item very often. White March improved this by having more items with genuinely unique properties (as opposed to the list of enchantments unavailable to the player but shared between multiple items that Pillars had) so I am hopeful that itemisation will be even better in Deadfire. On top of that, Josh has stated that their current enchantment system will be more limited in Deadfire insofar as you won't be able to enchant a low tier item all the way to the highest tier like you could in Pillars. Personally I don't like this, as I feel giving the player freedom is (almost) always a good thing, but for those who did have the problem you state with enchanting in Pillars this should go a fair way to solving it.

Okay yeah, that's comparable to PoE pikes.