A few comments re: Game experience

[Squib]

There is an interesting article over at NewEggs GameCrate and a few points mentioned in the writeup sparked a couple curiosities. The following quotes will be from that article. (http://gamecrate.newegg.com/obsidian-pillars-of-eternity-preview/)

 

 

Obsidian told us that most of the quests and content in the game could be regarded as “optional,” with the caveat that completing a certain amount of quests in a region will be necessary to build up alliances, gain information, and make progress.

 

 

That seems pretty standard. What i find games have been lacking is a "special reward" for completing most or all available tasks/quests in an area/region. The reward doesnt necessarily have to be anything big, even if it is simply an Easter Egg (or equivalent) gives a player an extra sense of accomplishment.

 

 

Obsidian said they wanted to avoid forcing players to reload the game whenever a character died in combat, and in their new system most of the time your party members will just be knocked out, rather than permanently killed.

 

 

I love the added unconscious effect when a character drops. But having to reload a game gives a player a sense of failure. Coasting through the game leaves an element of monotony. Having a character drop to unconsciousness will make it much easier to progress through the game and essentially taking away from the fun and challenge. Are there steps being taken to prevent this? I believe it is important for a player to have that feeling of risk so they can rise up to that challenge and not just beat baddies but destroy!   .... or escape with an inch of their lives   I have no doubt there is a difficulty slider but I find the extreme difficulty settings make bizaar behaviours and gliches in gameplay making my temper short

 

 

What about solo play? Are you forced to reload upon losing consciousness or when you are dead? I hope this has been addressed.

 

“Your choices matter” is something of a mantra for Obsidian, and we heard it repeated several times in response to our questions about how race, gender, and dialogue choices would play out in the game. This will be a game where your decisions have meaningful consequences.

 

 

+1 - There are many comments like this throughout the article that made me smile.

 

Lastly, the production of Pillars shows more promise every week with the weekly updates. I am looking forward to a game I can fall back on for years as I do with the Baldur's Gate series, Pool of Radiance, and others.

[rjshae]

 

Obsidian said they wanted to avoid forcing players to reload the game whenever a character died in combat, and in their new system most of the time your party members will just be knocked out, rather than permanently killed.

I love the added unconscious effect when a character drops. But having to reload a game gives a player a sense of failure. Coasting through the game leaves an element of monotony. Having a character drop to unconsciousness will make it much easier to progress through the game and essentially taking away from the fun and challenge. Are there steps being taken to prevent this? I believe it is important for a player to have that feeling of risk so they can rise up to that challenge and not just beat baddies but destroy!   .... or escape with an inch of their lives   I have no doubt there is a difficulty slider but I find the extreme difficulty settings make bizaar behaviours and gliches in gameplay making my temper short.

 

It's been done this way a number of times before and I didn't feel any sense of diminished challenge. (E.g. Drakensang: TDE.) You still need to win the combat with your reduced party size in order for the unconscious members to revive, which can provide challenge enough. What it will do is negate the sense that I need to immediately do a reload; instead I keep fighting in order to see if I can win out. I.e. it may actually prolong the effort, while still leaving uncertain whether you will win.

[Fluff]

There's actually plans to be able to tweak multiple options for difficulty. From the official wiki you can find all the info.

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Mode

 

3 difficulty settings, and 3 more "hard settings" all of which can be overlapped to make a game for only the most masochistic of people.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Fluff

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Perma-Death is an option, so you should be fine dude.

[Messier-31]

What i find games have been lacking is a "special reward" for completing most or all available tasks/quests in an area/region. The reward doesnt necessarily have to be anything big, even if it is simply an Easter Egg (or equivalent) gives a player an extra sense of accomplishment.

 

Wait - gaining experience, levelling up, acquiring loot, getting to know the story more, having fun in general... isn't good enough?

[Bryy]

 

What i find games have been lacking is a "special reward" for completing most or all available tasks/quests in an area/region. The reward doesnt necessarily have to be anything big, even if it is simply an Easter Egg (or equivalent) gives a player an extra sense of accomplishment.

 

Wait - gaining experience, levelling up, acquiring loot, getting to know the story more, having fun in general... isn't good enough?

 

Also, acheevs.

[Squib]

 

What i find games have been lacking is a "special reward" for completing most or all available tasks/quests in an area/region. The reward doesnt necessarily have to be anything big, even if it is simply an Easter Egg (or equivalent) gives a player an extra sense of accomplishment.

 

Wait - gaining experience, levelling up, acquiring loot, getting to know the story more, having fun in general... isn't good enough?

 

Absolutely it is. Its about evolving a game. Throwing in bits and pieces adds big points to the overall game experience as well as the game industry. I never once implied the game was falling short in any aspect and was throwing out suggestions and comments. Take it or leave it.

[Squib]

@rjshae  good insight!

 

@Fluff  Thx for the tip... i like the bit about AI not dependent on the level of difficulty.