Poor documentation: an ability description poor beyond belief

[xzar_monty]

I've seen some discussion about how the ability descriptions and other documentation in the game leave a lot to be desired. Well, the game's been out for quite some time now, and I just came across a real gem. I'm playing a monk, and at 7th level, there is the option of choosing an ability called Rooting pain. Here's how the description starts:

 

"Occasionally creates a shockwave around the monk each time he or she gains a wound..."

 

So, does it happen occasionally or each time? Does it happen each time when the occasion, whatever that may be, is right? Or did Obsidian just not now what they were doing?

 

Seriously: how can stuff like this be so much poorer than it was in the previous game? How can that be justified?

[Boeroer]

I don't know how it can be justified, but I think the explanation is that a lot of the description get written while the game is still in development. That's a time when mechanics change all the time - so the descriptions are kept rather vague. Then later when the mechanics are kind of set there isn't enough time to update all descriptions. And then after realease Obsidian is doing so much patching and balancing (which I appreciate) so there's also not much motivation to carve descriptions in stone and make the very specific.

 

THat would explain it - but I still don't like the way it's handled.

 

I complained a lot about the obscure descriptions in the past, in fact that's my biggest problem with both games until today. Obviously I still like them, but if I could choose which part of PoE and Deadfire should be fixed/polished first - it would be this.

 

Concerning Rooting Pain: Interrupts are more powerful than in PoE. Rooting Pain interrupts enemies each time it fires. In beta (maybe even at release?) it used to proc every time you got a wound and thus was way too powerful. So they changed the mechanics a bit. Now it only fires occasionally once you get a wound. I don't know if there is a proc chance (I guess) or if it procs every third wound or so - no idea. But it is not triggered every time you get a wound now for balancing reasons. It would have been really nice if the description said how exactly the mechanics/chances etc. are. But I guess also here there was a problem that nobody really knew which number would feel balanced. It may get changed a lot until it feels balanced enough. And so they decided to keep the description vague. That's only my guess though.

[xzar_monty]

Thanks, that was a really good reply. I will have to observe how it works.

 

The xp balance in this game is really weird, btw. I am now at level 7, and all I've done is travel from one map to another according to what I've been told and talk to people. There has been very, very little in the way of RPG adventuring, including fights. (I appreciate the fact that your rewards for fighting are limited, but I wonder if it's taken too far this time.)

[asnjas]

Lol

Whats so hard to understand? Any time you gain a wound you have a chance at a shockwave. Is english your second language?

 

Seriously sounds like you are the one thats doesnt know.

[Verde]

There is a chance it creates a wound...not all that poor of a description.

[xzar_monty]

Lol

Whats so hard to understand? Any time you gain a wound you have a chance at a shockwave. Is english your second language?

 

Seriously sounds like you are the one thats doesnt know.

 

Nope. The description does not say that. That would be: "Has a chance of creating a shockwave each time he or she receives a wound", or something to that effect. If this is what the description attempts to say, fair enough, but it fails miserably.

 

The description as it is is logically nonsensical, because it is impossible for anything to happen both occasionally and each time. It's tantamount to saying something like, "You are given a spherical cube as a gift". Makes no sense.

 

I'll wager my English is far superior to yours, but that's beside the point.

Edited October 7, 2018 by xzar_monty

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Mmm... yeah... it's not like it surprises anyone xD.

 

Anyways. If you want to see what exactly 'occasionally' means in this case, make a Shattered Pillar with the talent and just autoattack things in town. To me it looks like 30 % or so... you can keep him permanently in Blade Turning, btw.  

 

Doesn't excuse the poor descriptions, though. They really need to up their game and give us the proper details in written form. Comtessa's Cage ftw. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Hulk'O'Saurus

[xzar_monty]

Ok, 30% sounds pretty good. Thanks.

 

And as Boeroer pointed out, the ability would probably be overpowered if it activated each time you receive a wound. (Incidentally, I still think it's a superb ability. Looking at the various things available on level 7, my immediate thought was: who would NOT pick this one, and why?)

[Abel]

 

Lol

Whats so hard to understand? Any time you gain a wound you have a chance at a shockwave. Is english your second language?

 

Seriously sounds like you are the one thats doesnt know.

 

Nope. The description does not say that. That would be: "Has a chance of creating a shockwave each time he or she receives a wound", or something to that effect. If this is what the description attempts to say, fair enough, but it fails miserably.

 

The description as it is is logically nonsensical, because it is impossible for anything to happen both occasionally and each time. It's tantamount to saying something like, "You are given a spherical cube as a gift". Makes no sense.

 

I'll wager my English is far superior to yours, but that's beside the point.

 

 

English is definitely not my first langage and still, i completely agree with you. I was about to give pretty much the same example as you about how the tooltip should have been writen in order to make it clear.

 

It's strange to see that even english native speakers seem to, somehow, fail to recognize poor english for what it is. My own english is still far from perfect, but pretty often, i kind of have to correct sentences i read in order to make them understandable (not on this forum though). It strikes me as weird. More than once, i was told by an english person that my english was better than some native speakers'. At first, i definitely thought it was just some flattering. Pretty recently, i started to wonder if it was really just that...

 

Anyway, the tooltip looks confusing to me. Especially since we're quite used to the way they were done in Pillars 1. I think it's only fair to question the way the ability functions while reading it.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Abel

[xzar_monty]

 

 

Lol

Whats so hard to understand? Any time you gain a wound you have a chance at a shockwave. Is english your second language?

 

Seriously sounds like you are the one thats doesnt know.

 

Nope. The description does not say that. That would be: "Has a chance of creating a shockwave each time he or she receives a wound", or something to that effect. If this is what the description attempts to say, fair enough, but it fails miserably.

 

The description as it is is logically nonsensical, because it is impossible for anything to happen both occasionally and each time. It's tantamount to saying something like, "You are given a spherical cube as a gift". Makes no sense.

 

I'll wager my English is far superior to yours, but that's beside the point.

 

 

English is definitely not my first langage and still, i completely agree with you. I was about to give pretty much the same example as you about how the tooltip should have been writen in order to make it clear.

 

It's strange to see that even english native speakers seem to, somehow, fail to recognize poor english for what it is. My own english is still far from perfect, but pretty often, i kind of have to correct sentences i read in order to make them understandable (not on this forum though). It strikes me as weird. More than once, i was told by an english person that my english was better than some native speakers'. At first, i definitely thought it was just some flattering. Pretty recently, i started to wonder if it were really just that...

 

Many native English speakers, particularly from the United States, and to a lesser extent from England, are completely unaware of how poor they are at their native language. Which, sadly, is nearly always the only language they know. So they actually don't speak any language well. It goes to show that educational standards are sometimes staggeringly poor. So you are quite right to wonder.

[AndreaColombo]

To be fair, the ability's description should clearly state what the % chance is. Deadfire's annoyingly vague ability descriptions that don't give us the hard numbers are unjustifiably bad.

Edited October 7, 2018 by AndreaColombo

[Abel]

Many native English speakers, particularly from the United States, and to a lesser extent from England, are completely unaware of how poor they are at their native language. Which, sadly, is nearly always the only language they know. So they actually don't speak any language well. It goes to show that educational standards are sometimes staggeringly poor. So you are quite right to wonder.

 

 

That's what i thought. But we have the same problem in France with french. I sometimes have to explain the sense of many words i use in the every day life. I was accused more than once of speaking like a dictionnary. Even though i never thought i spoke a particularly high level french. It's kind of sad. But it's better than seeing people who have lived in France for years, but never learned a single french word ^^. At this point, it's downright infuriating .

[xzar_monty]

To be fair, the ability's description should clearly state what the % chance is. Deadfire's annoyingly vague ability descriptions that don't give us the hard numbers are unjustifiably bad.

 

Precisely. This shouldn't be too much to ask. The current description 1) doesn't give you the information, and 2) makes no sense.

 

That's pretty bad!