E3 Previews (POSSIBLE SPOILERS)

[Lephys]

Guys do not do this in your first play through . Saving before each dialogue etc kills the entire purpose of an RPG game. You should live with your choices and consequences and not pick until you found the best answer...

... At least until consequences get modded out.

[ManifestedISO]

Haha! Push the beds together ... jesus, I laughed so hard the trail mix I was eating is now all over the screen. 

 

 

 

 

Some concluded with dialogue options that informed the ongoing makeup of your character, such as trying to resolve disputes with diplomacy, or mercy-killing a mortally wounded foe.

 

Oh, hell no, my dark paladin is letting that mortally wounded bastard suffer. Alone. 

[Kertys]

I squeee'd when I saw those text adventure bits at E3.

[BruceVC]

 

Did every one miss Poke around the pool with a stick?

 

There could be something in the pool that could yank you off the wall.

 

I was more curious about what "wait for a few hours" would accomplish. I already know Im choosing that option.

 

 

I was thinking that picturesque setting would be the perfect place to have a dialogue option similar to "Spend time courting attractive female party member".....but then I realized that there is no Romance in PoE and despite promising myself I wouldn't get sad again I did 

[Karkarov]

Guys do not do this in your first play through . Saving before each dialogue etc kills the entire purpose of an RPG game. You should live with your choices and consequences and not pick until you found the best answer...

Eh most of us wont do this, I know I probably won't.  That said think of it this way.... when you know you are about to fight Death Rex the Slayer of 10000 Men, do you stop and save before the fight?  I do.  I might lose, he slayed 10000 men and all that.  I don't want to replay the last 30 minutes to an hour just to lose there.  While dialog options aren't the same if they could lead to losing your favorite companion.... I could appreciate wanting an easy take back.

 

 

Smokey Joe! I'm getting so excited reading all these mostly the same but slightly conflicting articles that me and the missus may have to push the twin beds together tonight

Make sure you have your ghost bleach cooldown up when you move those beds together man!

[nikolokolus]

I squeee'd when I saw those text adventure bits at E3.

 

I think they have really absorbant adult diapers to help with that now.

[Cluas]

 

Thanks for sharing. I think this one deserves a bump

[Zwiebelchen]

Of course, that's before Pillars of Eternity's multiple game modes add several layers of replay value. Along with the easy, normal, and hard difficulties, which effect how many monsters are fought at once, Pillars features three game modes: Trail by Iron, Expert Mode, and Path of the Damned. Trail by Iron locks the play through to one rolling save, restricting any reloads to counteract regrettable decisions. Expert Mode turns off all dialog hints and help menus. Lastly, Path of the Damned combines all the monsters from easy, normal, and hard into one game. All three modes can be combined together to create a daunting hardcore RPG experience.

Anyone else also excited about this? As stated in this quote, easy, normal and hard difficulty don't just shift some numbers, but have different encounter designs. Awesome! I was never happy about how games so far handled the difficulty slider. Just giving a monster more damage or hitpoints doesn't neccessarily improve the challenge of a battle.

 

I now know for sure that my first playthrough will be on hard, without the extra options. Then, on my second playthrough, I will add the Trial of Iron to the mix (and maybe reduce difficulty to normal if I felt that I needed to many reloads on my first playthrough). All the replayability added by all these options and the possible combinations is exciting! And let's not forget you have replayability for all the companions anyway.

 

 

Other than that, I have only mixed feeling about the "pick your own adventure" intermezzos. I am not yet convinced that it doesn't break the gameflow. I'm concerned that it might feel weird to have an ingame-graphics dialogue and then suddenly some drawn images appear on screen and I'm playing a text adventure in the next few moments until the game switches back to isometric. I feel this could break immersion too much, but I guess we need to see it in motion first.

 

 

Yay for the interactive backstory, though and the "characterization checks" like:

 

 

traits like Honest, Diplomatic, Passionate, and Rational

.

 

That's extremely cool! I'd love dialogues to change depending on how rational or passionate my character behaves throughout the game.

It would be so awesome if suddenly an npc tells me "I heard what people say about you... that you're always that cold analyst an all ... I want you to to give me some logical advice on that matter, I just think I'm way too involved in this to think clear anymore."

Edited June 20, 2014 by Zwiebelchen

[Sensuki]

I wonder if Path of the Damned still scales accuracy and defense values.

[Kharador]

OMG Hype everywhere!!!

[MasterPrudent]

 

traits like Honest, Diplomatic, Passionate, and Rational

.

 

That's extremely cool! I'd love dialogues to change depending on how rational or passionate my character behaves throughout the game.

It would be so awesome if suddenly an npc tells me "I heard what people say about you... that you're always that cold analyst an all ... I want you to to give me some logical advice on that matter, I just think I'm way too involved in this to think clear anymore."

 

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

[Zwiebelchen]

 

 

traits like Honest, Diplomatic, Passionate, and Rational

.

 

That's extremely cool! I'd love dialogues to change depending on how rational or passionate my character behaves throughout the game.

It would be so awesome if suddenly an npc tells me "I heard what people say about you... that you're always that cold analyst an all ... I want you to to give me some logical advice on that matter, I just think I'm way too involved in this to think clear anymore."

 

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

 

 

Thanks for that link! All I can say is that this really lifts my expectations in terms of actual roleplaying in my dialogue choices. I hope this won't just be an occasional comment thrown into a conversation but have an actual meaning in terms of how you can approach quests and game decisions.

[Darji]

 

 

traits like Honest, Diplomatic, Passionate, and Rational

.

 

That's extremely cool! I'd love dialogues to change depending on how rational or passionate my character behaves throughout the game.

It would be so awesome if suddenly an npc tells me "I heard what people say about you... that you're always that cold analyst an all ... I want you to to give me some logical advice on that matter, I just think I'm way too involved in this to think clear anymore."

 

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

 

This could be great as long it is not like in other games when suddenly everyone knows what you did. Even when you come into a whole new town in which no one heard of you  before 

[MasterPrudent]

 

 

Thanks for that link! All I can say is that this really lifts my expectations in terms of actual roleplaying in my dialogue choices. I hope this won't just be an occasional comment thrown into a conversation but have an actual meaning in terms of how you can approach quests and game decisions.

 

I suspect dispositions are going to be more on the flavour side and faction reps are going to be more important for quests and the like but who knows?

 

 

 

 

 

traits like Honest, Diplomatic, Passionate, and Rational

.

 

That's extremely cool! I'd love dialogues to change depending on how rational or passionate my character behaves throughout the game.

It would be so awesome if suddenly an npc tells me "I heard what people say about you... that you're always that cold analyst an all ... I want you to to give me some logical advice on that matter, I just think I'm way too involved in this to think clear anymore."

 

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

 

This could be great as long it is not like in other games when suddenly everyone knows what you did. Even when you come into a whole new town in which no one heard of you  before 

 

I dunno. I think that sometimes that's the price you pay for some cool reactivity. Having said that it seems dispositions are less about people recalling specific actions and more about people hearing about what kind of a person you are - which makes sense if you're an important "chosen one" type. I think Josh also said that the dispositions tend to be created by big ticket decisions but I'm not sure about that.

[Karkarov]

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

This could be great as long it is not like in other games when suddenly everyone knows what you did. Even when you come into a whole new town in which no one heard of you  before 

Well like they sort of said.... it isn't that they "know what you did".  It is that your character is known to have a certain kind of attitude, or projects themselves a certain way.  When you meet a stranger you don't know their life story but depending on how they act you are more likely to respond in different ways right?  That is what they are trying to simulate.  These scores are essentially an extrapolation of how your character is "perceived" to behave in general.

[UrbicaMortis]

 

 

You'll be pleased to know that Josh has said that this is exactly what they intend to do. Apparently different characters are even going to have different reactions to the same dominant disposition. See here for more: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Disposition

This could be great as long it is not like in other games when suddenly everyone knows what you did. Even when you come into a whole new town in which no one heard of you  before 

Well like they sort of said.... it isn't that they "know what you did".  It is that your character is known to have a certain kind of attitude, or projects themselves a certain way.  When you meet a stranger you don't know their life story but depending on how they act you are more likely to respond in different ways right?  That is what they are trying to simulate.  These scores are essentially an extrapolation of how your character is "perceived" to behave in general.

 

I have admit that while I like the system, I'm not sure how you are supposed to get a Deceptive reputation since surely the whole point is no one knows you are being deceptive. Unless most of your lies are the sort that will get discovered later and lead to people talking about what a lying scumbag you are once you've blown town.

Edited June 20, 2014 by UrbicaMortis

[Messier-31]

[Nonek]

 

I have admit that while I like the system, I'm not sure how you are supposed to get a Deceptive reputation since surely the whole point is no one knows you are being deceptive. Unless most of your lies are the sort that will get discovered later and lead to people talking about what a lying scumbag you are once you've blown town.

 

 

I suppose one could garner such a reputation by being a social chameleon, say three npc's are talking of our famed protagonist, one claims that he was a fierce and passionate individual, the other says that he was calm and logical, while yet another states that the man was creative and lost in his own world. Perhaps if we game the system, do our research and successfully read characters personalities, and alter our approach to suit that, then we will appear to be deceptive? All things to all men, though not necessarily in a negative manner.

 

I admit that my calm and professional Michael Thornton in AP did exactly this, he appeared to be everybodies friend, at least until he grew tired of their talking ala Mina.

 

Edit: And Mina's sister Pootie.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Nonek

[Mor]

In one of the interviews, I noticed it says that we are traveling with a small caravan from Dyrwood, a colonial area, to the free land, Gilded Vale.

 

I wonder what it means ( I assumed it was part of Dyrwood), has any other new tidbit about the Gilded Vale?

[UrbicaMortis]

 

 

I have admit that while I like the system, I'm not sure how you are supposed to get a Deceptive reputation since surely the whole point is no one knows you are being deceptive. Unless most of your lies are the sort that will get discovered later and lead to people talking about what a lying scumbag you are once you've blown town.

 

 

I suppose one could garner such a reputation by being a social chameleon, say three npc's are talking of our famed protagonist, one claims that he was a fierce and passionate individual, the other says that he was calm and logical, while yet another states that the man was creative and lost in his own world. Perhaps if we game the system, do our research and successfully read characters personalities, and alter our approach to suit that, then we will appear to be deceptive? All things to all men, though not necessarily in a negative manner.

 

I admit that my calm and professional Michael Thornton in AP did exactly this, he appeared to be everybodies friend, at least until he grew tired of their talking ala Mina.

 

Edit: And Mina's sister Pootie.

 

In one of my playthroughs, I did the opposite and had Mike alter his personality to constantly anger whoever it was he was speaking to at the time. I think by the end of the game every NPC had a negative opinion of me. There's something really enjoyable about being a huge jerk.

Edited June 20, 2014 by UrbicaMortis

[Nonek]

Mike's speech to Albatross when gloating over Sis' death, one of the greatest moments in gaming.

[MasterPrudent]

 Here's a recently posted e3 interview with Josh (no new info): http://www.gamereactor.eu/news/202484/Obsidian+talk+world-building+in+Pillars+of+Eternity/

[Mor]

Another interesting tid bit:

"A mysterious purple wind appeared and sapped the souls of every member in the caravan". In the ruins "Hooded cultists chanted around an alter as the purple, soul-sapping mist swirled about outside"

 

So it appears that the cultist map that we have been shown so long ago, is the second area and that machine might be connected or give them control of the Biamhac.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Mor

[UrbicaMortis]

Mike's speech to Albatross when gloating over Sis' death, one of the greatest moments in gaming.

It's probably one of the most brutal moments I've played in an RPG.

[Sensuki]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/85055/pillars-of-eternity-preview-to-infinity-and-beyond