Update #84: Welcome to the Backer Beta

[Parallax]

My Radeon 6850 died and I'm back on my very weak Intel GM4500. What experience have people with the beta have people had with very low end integrated graphics?

 

I'm using the Nvidia GEForce 540m, which is a pretty average graphics card*, and it's not so bad.

 

A little sluggish feeling, but it doesn't look like it's dropping frames, stuttering or otherwise having problems.

 

 

 

*For the sake of giving a baseline...it can run vanilla Skyrim on High without any problems, but it cannot run AC4: Black Flag or Titanfall without significant issues.

[thealmogaver]

 

I donated 140 usd too, but under Products, I have "No products available... yet!"??

 

 

So do I. Donated 140$ but can't see anything in the Tab "Products"...

 IIRC, the beta was included if you donated 165$ or more, but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

 

 

Nope. they say:

 

If you have purchased the Backer Beta or if it is included in your Kickstarter tier (all tiers of $110.00 or above) 

 

110$ or more. I backed 140 and no get my product!

[thealmogaver]

Ok to all that have paid 100 ore more and dont get the product....you need to BUY your pledge before the product appears!

[IndiraLightfoot]

Alright. Thanks for clearing that up!

[mudd1]

Too poor to have a beta key myself but I gotta say, you guys did an amazing job from what I've seen so far. I could watch videos of the character creation alone for hours ... wait, I probably have. So much variety, customization options and depth. I'm deeply impressed. 

[thealmogaver]

WOW! The game is in Spanish too! Great surprise!

[BAdler]

I'll be Digging in soon. I'll let you know what I Uncover. Get it... archaeology!

 

This may be a silly question so let me preface it. I know the backer portal is ending soon. Has any of the backed money after the original campaign ended gone toward the 4 mil stretch goal? Also, does the 40K likes thing still apply for one more level in The Endless Paths? Even if it has to be released late I'd like that to still be viable as we're only >300 likes away.

 

I shouldn't answer this because of the bad puns.

 

We haven't been tracking additional money as it applies to stretch goals. We did toy with reintroducing stretch goals months ago, but ultimately decided against it. That doesn't mean that we haven't been making the game better with the extra money (we have), but it isn't something that was stretch goal related.

 

Also, EPoON is completely locked down for Eternity. We could always add another few levels for an expansion, but I wouldn't count on it. Many more cool areas to explore in the setting.

[BAdler]

I donated 140 usd but I cant seem to be able to download the beta anywhere.. 

Hey, Ilmarius. I just checked and it seems like your beta key has been generated. Let me know on a PM if you still aren't able to access your beta and I will help.

[AndiZ275]

ok, just upped my Kickstarter pledge for the Beta Addon and hope, that I can participate in the Beta soon (playing Baldurs Gate again at the moment and still loving it =) )

[BAdler]

I donated 140 usd too, but under Products, I have "No products available... yet!"??

Hey, michkord. I just checked your account and it seems like your key was activated. If you still aren't able to access the beta, send me a PM and I will help you through it.

[BAdler]

So do I. Donated 140$ but can't see anything in the Tab "Products"...

Hey, 3mbr4c3_m3. I just checked your account and it looks like your beta key has not been activated. Fortunately, it seems like you did redeem your tier. Just to make sure, you did go through all of the instructions in the update, correct? I just need to find out if the problem is on our side or if you just need to go through the entire process. Here are the instructions again:

 

• If you have purchased the Backer Beta or if it is included in your Kickstarter tier (all tiers of $110.00 or above) you can now head over to your Account Profile to redeem your Backer Beta Steam key.
• On the account page, you will want to click the link on the left that reads "Products." This tab displays all of the products you have associated with your account that are now available. As we release additional rewards, they will appear here.
• Click on the "Pillars of Eternity - Backer Beta" entry to expand the entry.
• Press the "Generate" button.
• You will be asked to confirm that you would like to generate a key for the Beta. If you wish to generate a key at that time, press the "Generate Key" button.
• If you generate a key, you should see a banner at the top of the tab that confirms your success.
• Expand the "Pillars of Eternity - Backer Beta" entry again and you should see your key with instructions in how to install it on Steam. Enjoy your first experience in the world of Eora!

If you run through these instructions and still don't see your beta entry in the Products tab, let me know in a PM. I will work with you to get everything resolved.

[JFSOCC]

Good luck to everyone playing the beta. I'll be checking the wiki and youtube for stats and gameplay.

[Osvir]

 

I donated 140 usd too, but under Products, I have "No products available... yet!"??

 

 

So do I. Donated 140$ but can't see anything in the Tab "Products"...

 IIRC, the beta was included if you donated 165$ or more, but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

IIRC, I read $110 during KS, $125 Digital Collectors Edition (Backer Site) or $35 for 1 Digital Copy+$25 for Early Access ($60 total).

 

*just an idea for the first post*

 

"How do you know you are in the beta?

- Pledged at the $110 Tier during Kickstarter Campaign (September 2012)

- Pledged at the $125 Tier after KS, Digital Collector's Edition

- Pledged at the $35 Tier for 1 Digital Copy and $25 for Early Access Key (Addon, $60 total).

 

You can still pledge for the addon here (Closes '22nd August'*, approx. 3 days)"

 

* I'm not 100% sure, I only recall reading something about it (don't remember if it was official or not).

Edited August 19, 2014 by Osvir

[Sif]

It's finally here! Thanks Obsidian

[karnesh]

Downloading it now. Been waiting to start beta testing for ages. I hope we can all give useful feedback to make this an awesome game come launch.

[Forge]

If anyone has beta access and isn't that interested, I'd love to participate. 25$ for beta access doesn't sound very good to me, though.

 

I miss the old days, when beta access was much less restrictive, particularly for a test like this, where there is no spoiler content, no NDA, and limited testing goals.

 

I just feel like being willing to Kickstart indicates the degree of interest that would make a good beta tester, as well.

[servercrash1978]

Looking forward to trying this game out.

[wanderon]

Some excerpts from the manual or basic FAQs about how things function in the game in a sticky someplace would be very cool! Just played for a hour or so and had some issues figuring out how the chanters stuff was used in battle - going to have to go looking for the posts that explain the armor and weapon stats and that sort of thing to figure out exactly what I'm doing but at first glance this is exactly what I was hoping for (and exactly what I expected!) 

[Osvir]

Some excerpts from the manual or basic FAQs about how things function in the game in a sticky someplace would be very cool! Just played for a hour or so and had some issues figuring out how the chanters stuff was used in battle - going to have to go looking for the posts that explain the armor and weapon stats and that sort of thing to figure out exactly what I'm doing but at first glance this is exactly what I was hoping for (and exactly what I expected!) 

Chanter = Click his/her ability buttons and you'll figure it out. The Chanter gathers resources (in the yellow field by the portrait) and with those resources you can utilize your more powerful magic. Chanters are OP. I didn't even know what I was doing and its abilities are the strongest.

[coffeetable]

We haven't been tracking additional money as it applies to stretch goals. We did toy with reintroducing stretch goals months ago, but ultimately decided against it. That doesn't mean that we haven't been making the game better with the extra money (we have), but it isn't something that was stretch goal related.

Back in April, Feargus said 

 

Urquhart: I think, obviously, it's money; they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They also get to involve themselves with a little product that's high profile. I mean, it's not Titanfall, but it's a game a lot of people are really looking forward to. We've got 100,000, or 120,000 backers now.

http://stevivor.com/2014/04/obsidians-feargus-urquhart-pillars-eternity-partnership-paradox-interactive/

 

Seeing it's $35 a pop and there were ~75,000 backers originally, that's $1-1.5 million more since the KS. And you're saying that's all been sank into the game? Wow.

Edited August 19, 2014 by coffeetable

[Skipperro]

If anyone want to know - the game works perfectly fine and out-of-the-box on Linux via W.I.N.E. No DLL override is required, simply install Windows version of Steam, download Pillars of Eternity and play. I recommend PlayOnLinux software instead of pure W.I.N.E. - it makes installation very easy.

 

Of course there is a lot of bugs in beta, but you will be able to find all of them on Linux right now - you don't have to wait until official Linux release.

[cresentdark]

So far it's rather sexy. I think their should be a NPC as a place holder to teach the basics of combat for those who don't know what's going on it has a mixture of different CRPG combat styles. Also I love how the Npc's currently feel alive as much as they did in BG2 now take it as you will that's a lot coming from me makes me want to play the game non stop however I will put countless hours more once it's fully released.

 

Bugs

1)

Some may experience fast FPS during or before combat may not be a bug however because not everyone is having the issue. I had it at first however I reloaded the game back up and the issue went away.

Fix

Ways to fix the issue above restart the game.

Sync the files in steam to see if any files are missing.

Go into Nivida if you have it to change the settings for fps.

Run the game in ADMIN mode.

2)

Combat sometimes seems a bit sluggish granted did not put to much time into it however I only mean that because sometimes it feels as though I have to re-click on the enemy to get them to attack.

AI sometimes when sending all NPCs to attack a creature sometimes one CH glitches out and gets stuck into another NPC it's rather funny.

3)

As much as I love the dialogue sometimes or some people have seen the issue with the text when going to the sexy page with context and choices the sentence needs to be pushed over a little bit more.

4)

It needs a little more optimization sometimes it's lags or is a bit sluggish when going in the creation mode before starting a new game.

5)

Sometimes their is a black out of the text when going to change settings you can't see the text in the left side where them sexy bars are with words in them. Granted this issue does not always occur.

 

Things I hope for.

1)

Hopefully their will be more hair designs

Hopefully this game becomes awesome sauce prob will just saying.

Hopefully you will be able to color armor although did not play much of the beta yet did run into a guy who was talking about dyes.

 

P.S

The development team is awesome sauce for making a game that reminds me of BG2 NW2 and IWD however the game is it's own entity so that makes it even better and it could end up being on the same par with those games may be even better who knows.

Sorry for any miss spelling I think most will get the point.

Edited August 20, 2014 by cresentdark

[Aelysia]

Although I do not have access to the beta, I really enjoy watching the posted videos on YouTube so far. It definitely has the same feel about it like games as Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Looking forward to start playing the final product.

 

Keep up the good work Obsidian! 

[mudd1]

Although I do not have access to the beta, I really enjoy watching the posted videos on YouTube so far. It definitely has the same feel about it like games as Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Looking forward to start playing the final product.

Same here, although the hope that they will at some point open up the beta to every backer dies last.

[Maf]

Blunt initial impression (simply starting the game and creating a character):

 

Love the music, disliked that music suddenly "stops" when you press "New Game" (which is usually the first step next to options).

This removed some of the initial "wow", for me personally

Was probably done as a go between for actually starting a game (different music?).

Not sure if you've already decided on a specific intro song, but if I can make a suggestion:

Make it brazen! (no, not the skunk anansie song ).

 

Concerning options:

I noticed the ingame menu has a more detailed resolution menu (adjust refresh rate etc), please include that in the menu outside the game.

Small feature request: please include a "borderless windowed" mode if not too much trouble (you will be thanked).

 

Character creation:

OPTIONS, ALL THOSE OPTIONS, THANK YOU!!!

Felt right at home moving through all the different choices.

 

Unfortunately it also contains the thing I disliked most in the game so far:

The character model heads (bodies are fine, so is the hair).

As a rank (good to not so good): Godlike, Dwarf, Orlan, Human, Elves, Aumaua.

Aumaua look weird (male) and the female elf looks so sad it made me cry a lil.

It's mostly the eyes I think? Unsure.

Currently I like the male death godlike model the most not due to the "darkness effects" but because the "worst" parts of the face (eyes) have been covered completely.

This causes me to believe that there's an actual person underneath the "mask".

Dwarf (male/head1) is also pretty good, believable for sure.

I've tried making a screenshot and noticed that zooming in, some other heads look pretty ok.

So perhaps you need to zoom out a little to get a better idea?

 

Minor thing:

I'm also currently missing a way to get back to the main screen back from the character creation screen.

 

When I actually came into the game:

AWESOME, tears of nostalgia for sure!

Feels a bit like some Arcanum mixed with Baldur's Gate so far.

Arcanum for the slightly melancholic music with the chirpy birds from Baldur's Gate

The 2D visuals are out of this world, in a class of its own surpassing both by a large margin.

Looking forward to what else I'll see.

 

After clicking I noticed that the team formation was a bit wide (looking at player 1 vs player 2).

You can see the correct formation when clicking on stairs or a door.

After noticing you can create custom formations (cool!!!) placing people closer together does not help.

In fact selecting a straight line (formation 3 and 4 I believe) shows people still seperated (not a straight line).

I'm sure it's fixable but wanted to make a note of it

 

The only actual bug I've seen so far is inside the inventory screen ("i") where weapons a shields are not correctly placed on the model.

 

All in all, looking forward to seeing future changes.

Keep up the great work, no regrets backing this project!