Update #52 - Beast of Winter Preview

[Guest]

 

 

 

Vatnir looks amazing as well as other concepts.

But I'm slightly disappointed he's sidekick and not companion.

 

About shipments... as an export manager I can say there are many thing could lead to delay so, please, be patient and don't push Obsidian.

And nearly ALL of those things can be communicated to customers who are waiting and waiting and waiting. Plenty of crowdfunded projects experience delays on physical goods fulfillment. Of all of them I have experienced, those delays are actually explained.

Whereas all Obsidian has done is send us pictures of the giant fort they are building with our stuff. Bastards.

There are two forts actually. One for boys and one for girls. Neither is allowed in each others forts and this has caused mass confusion at the office.

It shouldn’t be too hard; the girl fort has all the Cosmo plushies taped to the ramparts like gargoyles

[ThacoBell]

 

Vatnir looks amazing as well as other concepts.

But I'm slightly disappointed he's sidekick and not companion. 

 

Yeah, if he's the leader of this doomsday cult, then he must play a significant role in the story. You'd think that would be companion worthy. I guess any new party members in the DLCs will be sidekick from now on. 

I hate to complain, because it looks awesome, but it would have been really really nice if they added the Priest of Rymrgand class or the new Godlike as selectable options for your main character.

 

I agree. I HATE it when games go, "Looks at al this cool stuff NPCs can use. Want to use it? Too bad!" Players should have access to all the tools npcs do.

[house2fly]

On the other hand it's nice for party members to have something unique about them

[bjon045]

No weekly update on the status of the physical kickstarter items?!?!?

[ThacoBell]

On the other hand it's nice for party members to have something unique about them

Make thier personality what makes them unique. Or give them a special ability or equipement. Don't wave fun classes in my face and go, "Haha you can't do this."

[gkathellar]

 

On the other hand it's nice for party members to have something unique about them

 

Make thier personality what makes them unique. Or give them a special ability or equipement. Don't wave fun classes in my face and go, "Haha you can't do this."

 

There's something to say for either of these perspectives. When a party member has some unique mechanic, that's can be cool. OTOH, it can be frustrating when the party member is mandatory in order to toy around with the mechanic in question. I think the big thing is finding a middle ground where party members have unique things that are not too different from what's otherwise available.

[house2fly]

You can do it, the party members are under your control just as much as the player character. Your companions' unique classes and abilities are specifically for you to use. The game isn't... taunting you(???)

[Big-Ben]

I personally like the idea of having things outside my playing field. If done correctly it makes the NPC more special. While we could debate him as a character I really liked Haer Dalis from Baldur's Gate II. His class most certainly wasn't off limits but his race, Tiefling and his twin swords most certainly were.

 

I suppose an issue might arise if it's TOO appealing though. I always wanted to cast spells like Irenicus did in those cutscenes but alas I was only part god and that just wasn't enough.

[ThacoBell]

You can do it, the party members are under your control just as much as the player character. Your companions' unique classes and abilities are specifically for you to use. The game isn't... taunting you(???)

No, I CAN'T. I cannot make a character with the cool class. I HAVE to dredge someone else along, and I'm stuck with that NPC just to try the new tools. What if I don't like their personality? What if I want to play around with stats and different builds? I CAN'T do any of that.

[AndreaColombo]

No, I CAN'T. I cannot make a character with the cool class. I HAVE to dredge someone else along, and I'm stuck with that NPC just to try the new tools. What if I don't like their personality? What if I want to play around with stats and different builds? I CAN'T do any of that.

 

Thankfully, Deadfire makes that fairly easy to mod so you should be able to play around with the cool tools eventually (and my guess is actually fairly soon after the DLC's release.)

 

 

Personally, when I get a new companion and their race and class are from the same list I have access to as a player (i.e. no unique race or subclass), I'm underwhelmed. "Oh yeah, more of the same I could already have for my character. Nothing special for me to see here. Moving along..."

 

Obviously that's not always necessarily the case and there can be (and there are) great characters who are great by virtue of their personality and story arc, despite having "standard" races and classes.

 

I'm just making a broad statement about how I feel on average when I recruit companions. Those with unique stuff I couldn't normally get have that extra kick that makes me want them and like them more.

[gkathellar]

I personally like the idea of having things outside my playing field. If done correctly it makes the NPC more special. While we could debate him as a character I really liked Haer Dalis from Baldur's Gate II. His class most certainly wasn't off limits but his race, Tiefling and his twin swords most certainly were.

 

I suppose an issue might arise if it's TOO appealing though. I always wanted to cast spells like Irenicus did in those cutscenes but alas I was only part god and that just wasn't enough.

 

And he's a good example of my view: being a tiefling makes Haer'dalis cool, and gives him a few minor bonuses, but there's no mechanics that you can only explore by having him along. If you want a bard other than Haer'dalis, though, your MC can be that bard, and the main thing you'll be missing out on is his character and a couple of cool swords. A similar case in Deadfire would be Xoti, whose unique priest subclass is interesting and distinctive, but has little in the way of toys that only she can access (IIRC, all of her bonus spells other than Blessed Harvest appear on either the Priest of Eothas or the Druid ability list). You can't build another character exactly like Xoti, but if you see a mechanic on her that you really like, you're not required to have her along to use it (except for Blessed Harvest, which I'm okay with).

 

A counterexample would be Pallegina (in either game, incidentally), whose unique paladin order opens up an interesting alpha-striking playstyle that no other character can pull off. I personally like Pallegina and almost always have her in my party for that reason, but if I disliked her, I think it could be frustrating to be locked out of exploring those mechanics. In PoE1, if I want to mess with something like the Fire General, Pallegina is non-optional. Likewise, in Deadfire, something like the Tuono e Fulmine is locked to her character and requires I include her in my five-man squad.

 

Again, this isn't to say that companions shouldn't have unique junk, it's just to say that I think it's best if that unique junk isn't too different from what's otherwise available.