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After trying to make heads and tails of the descriptions offered by the game: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/User:Tagaziel/worldrefs And hoping that I managed to track most of them down, I decided to put together a rough map of what Eora might look like: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p41sNv3S-GBOoymbjdekaSGz_Ddb_KC-/view?usp=sharing Of course, I had to work with limited sources, mostly in-game mentions, but also posts by JES and other developers. The basic assumptions are as follows: 1. As JES said, the Living Lands and Rauatai are northern hemisphere, with everything else in the south. 2. Aedyr is on the equator, which is about as close to a definite location as we get. The location of the Reach is extrapolated from the mostly temperate climate together with Ixamitl's savanna's, the mention of Old Vailians sailing into the Deadfire past the reach, and the logical landing spots of ships from the colonial powers. 3. Deadfire is plotted according to in-game coordinates. The entire map is based on that, in fact. Comments and feedback are welcome. Yes, Yezuha is kind of Australia, what with it having red deserts and being dry as ****. No, I'm not sure the size of the eastern continent is accurate. Yes, I have too much time on my hands.

This is weird. I feel like I'm violating some unspoken taboo here, so seldom do we see anyone--in the community, in the media, in the industry--talk about western RPGs and their Japanese cousins in the same breath. Anyway, I'm excited for Deadfire, and I'd like to discuss some very special JRPGs that I think could provide interesting and valuable examples for the overall design of Obsidian's impending epic. I hope you'll indulge me on this journey. First, a quick refresher on Deadfire's premise: In Deadfire, we'll be captaining a ship and exploring the Deadfire archipelago. There will be an active world map (similar to that of Fallout 1/2, or more recently Wasteland 2) for us to explore, discovering and visiting the islands we find in whichever order we want. Presumably this will allow for some nonlinear storytelling, as the narrative beats we encounter will depend on the order we visit each island. To use Lord of the Rings as an example, something like saving Theoden from Saruman's curse might be accomplished *before* meeting Elrond in Rivendell. That kind of thing. So, on to the JRPGs. Dragon Quest VII follows a similar premise--the story begins with you discovering a sailing ship and exploring a world that consists of many islands of varying sizes that have been isolated from one another for centuries. The over-arching story is pretty simple: long ago, the Almighty fought a pitched battle with the Demon King and was defeated. Your task is to travel to each island and save them from the Demon King's minions (there's also a big time travel element, where you go between past and future states of the world, but it's not relevant here) and eventually find and defeat the Demon King himself. But that's just at the macro level--each individual island has its own story that is very self-contained. These stories are never about the demon king, but rather the specific demons plaguing each islands, and the often tragic fates of the people living there. This makes the game feel more like a collection of loosely-related short stories than a novel. Each island offers a new, self-contained story with a new cast of characters. When you land on an island, you get a *new* story, and when you leave the island, that story is *resolved.* And this is an approach I hope Deadfire takes as well. I'm not saying we should *never* end up having quests that send us from island to island, but rather that I hope those quests are not the norm. Baldur's Gate II took a similar approach, making each region feel like a self-contained D&D module. Romancing SaGa is the other game I want to look at. To date, it remains the *best* example I have ever seen of non-linear storytelling (multiple protagonists, multiple story routes for each protagonist, and a persistent world where big events will happen even if the player isn't there to affect them). There's a whole heckuva lot I could say about it, but for now I'd like to focus on just one aspect: location. in Romancing Saga, there is a "world story" that plays out--various events happen in each of the major cities and nations at various times. If the player is present--at the right place, at the right time--he or she can participate. For example, City A could be attacked by pirates. If the player arrives in time, he or she could fight off the pirate attack, save the city, and be rewarded by the king; but if the player arrives too late, he or she could arrive to find the king missing and the city destroyed by fire. No, I'm not suggesting Deadfire try to make a persistent world narrative to the same degree--that's be waaaaaay too much work--but wouldn't it be interesting if the player's starting position were--at least to a degree--randomized? So that, for example, the first two or three islands the player discovers once he or she starts exploring the world aren't always the same two or three islands? Like, there could be a starting island to serve as the tutorial area to introduce to players to the setting, and have the initial narrative beats (where you acquire your own ship) and then once you leave, you could encounter a "storm" that deposits you to a random or semi-random part of the world-map (depending on how combat leveling/scaling works, I suppose). This starting island doesn't even have to be in the Deadfire--it could be a port city in the Dyrwood, as you make your hasty escape. Alright, one last game I want to point at: Total War Shogun 2. Also known as the last great Total War game (sigh). Don't worry, I'm almost done here. Specifically, I want to point out Shogun 2's world map: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/896638219564697346/E49088D8C1C92ADC60ADCFAD370F1185EF660F9A/ That's the "fog of war." Rather than a simple black background indicating the "unexplored" regions of the map, they have a hand-drawn map. It's a really cool effect, no? And I'd love to see Deadfire go in a similar direction. Medieval and Renaissance maps are, well, really cool looking. Especially sea maps! It would be really cool to see something similar in Deadfire--an imaginative, hand-drawn map of the "world" that fades away to the "real" world map as you explore it. And, well, yeah. That's it. Those are three games I hope Obsidian takes some inspiration from. What about you? Have any games (aside from other, similar CRPGs) that you think could be valuable to look at going into a game like Deadfire? Before I leave, though, have some awesome old sea maps: http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com/legacy_blog/Whales-Olaus-38.3.jpg http://images.faena.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/07/hic-sunt-dracons-interior-2.jpg http://www.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SeaMonsterCvanDuzer017.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s04GCvW4O80/Ugf0g5w3zGI/AAAAAAAAI1g/sQpIwDR-LI0/s640/Sea+Monsters+(C+van+Duzer)+016.jpg https://img.purch.com/h/1000/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA1Ni82MTAvb3JpZ2luYWwvc2VhLXNlcnBlbnQtYXR0YWNrcy1zaGlwLmpwZw==

Spoilers, obviously. As part of the main quest, you eventually end up with the quest Council of Stars, during which you're asked to pray to a deity of your choosing. Except not really. You're limited to a number of deities, that is, to the ones that are present at the temple. Which is.. odd, considering that the temple is really, really, really, really, really old. Blue = Altar of which deity. Red = Corresponding symbol. Green = Missing altars. Notably absent is Eothas, who does not get a symbol nor an altar. And it's extremely odd. Even if you can't pray to all the gods for whatever reason - they may be silent, they may be dead, they may ignore you - the altars should've still been there. Notably *present* is both Wael and Woedica, who you cannot contact through prayer here, so why wasn't Abydon, Magran, Skaen, Ondra and Eothas given the same treatment? If anything, by the background mythos, Woedica has been "dead" or "possibly dead" for far longer than Eothas. I think this is all a pretty serious discrepancy and I can't really wrap my head around why they didn't just include all the deities. Eothas missing from the sky and his altar silent, but still there, and if you were a Priest of Eothas, you could try to pray anyway - and fail. Magran giving you the silent treatment, especially if you have Durance in your party. Abydon refusing to get involved. Skaen as silent as Wael and Woedica, obviously. Ondra.. no clue, but whatever. I realize that there's such a thing as constraints and they may have felt a need to restrict the number of available quests, but at that point, it would've been far preferable if the alters were there but just not communicative. What's even odder is that when you do pray, you can utter prayers - some obvious incorrect - to ten different gods. Ten. Not eleven. These are: And again Eothas is ignored. Not from an objective observer/meta perspective, but from an in-character perspective. You can't even utter the wrong prayer to the wrong god and accidentally pray to Eothas by mistake. That is beyond stupid. The game almost makes it a point to make it ambiguous whether Eothas is truly dead or not, and whether Waidwen was truly Eothas or not, but at the same time, virtually jumps through hoops to drive home the meta that, yeah, he is, and he was, by restriction options related to him. Also, this might've been the best opportunity to use scripted interactions that never was. Instead there's a regular dialogue screen and a repeating light show. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. What gives?

I'm keen to know more about the game world. My understanding is that the setting will be detailed in the Campaign Almanac, which was included in some of the backer tiers and available as an add-on. So as we are about a week away from the backer beta and in the final few months stretch before the full release, I'm wondering when we'll get a heads up as to when this will be made available for download? This is certainly something that I'd like to devour before actually diving into the game and get immersed with all the lore and knowledge of what's going on in the world. I suppose the same question could be asked of MCA's novella as well.

Just a thought on a more organic method of marking out quests, giving directions and adding to the atmosphere and depth of the gameworld. Between cities we have milestones, giving distances to local points of interest, cities, shrines, battlefields of yore etcetera. So that we know we are on the correct path and do not need quest markers or glowing exclamation marks, we can just follow the simple directions we have been given. And if a path or trail is not marked, is that not intriguing in and of itself. Signposts could also mark the way at crossroads, perhaps with shrines for the prayers of passing pilgrims, the grisly gibbet of condemned criminals, or a toll house for the upkeep of the highway. All serving to give directions, while enriching the world, rather than a glowing mark in some far off spot. Street names so that instead of going to the marked house, we look for a hovel clinging to the side of Woedica's temple on Aedyr avenue. Venturing forth to beard the bandits in their lair we are advised to take Goodroad Gate, and the well maintained and travelled highway stretching beyond it. Famous events, heroes and peculiarities could be reflected in the streets names, so that in travelling them we learn more of the local culture, history and peoples. In time hopefully we come to know these locales as well as we do the Strip, Sigil, Mulsantir or Athkatla, and can quickly follow directions without the need to ask or be directed. That being said, random encounters that are not with monsters or peddlers, but simply a farmer leaning on his gate or a goodwife putting out her washing, might be perfect opportunities to gain directions. Local points of interest, warnings, rumours and such might also be passed on, all while serving to reinforce the atmosphere of the locale. Thoughts?

... I wonder if I detect the hand of someone behind the (here comes the geekery) fantastic 3rd Edition D&D Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book? Rob Lazzaretti or Dennis Kauth or someone like that? That particular book is probably one of the best role-playing supplements ever produced, and it's great that Eternity already carries some of the flavour and hallmarks of quality that I associate with it. Not just in the maps, but in a lot of the concept art that's coming out as well. Anyone else see the similarity? Same cartographer at work? Forgotten Realms 3rd Edition map (very big image file): http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_maps/FRposterLarge_150.jpg Project Eternity map (very small image file): http://www.primagames.com/media/images/news/Map_jpg_436x242_crop_upscale_q85.jpg