For those (like me) without beta access... this is a good read

[stkaye]

http://www.pcgamesn.com/pillars-eternity/fireside-chat-pillars-eternity-beta-impressions

 

And good grief, this really does make me happy. The depth of detail and lore and layered atmosphere appeals to me on a visceral level, even when it's just being described in an article like this.

 

Beta players - does this account chime with your experiences?

 

Can't wait to get my hands on the finished product. 

[Sensuki]

If using the same mouse cursor and Wood UI means a game is like Baldur's Gate then that's a pretty shallow opinion IMO.

 

Still a long way to go to even remotely feel like playing an Infinity Engine game (combat wise anyway), but they have got the broad strokes correct. Dialogue is bang on however.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Sensuki

[Starwars]

It completely depends on your expectations and what you consider the "bona-fide" IE experience to be exactly. Personally, it's pretty close to what I was expecting and similar enough to the "IE feel". Then again, I think the BGs are "only" good, the IWDs alright. I love Torment to death but this is very different from that I think.

The writing and lore feels really solid and I'm sure it will feel even better when you're not dropped in the middle of it like in the backer beta but can play it naturally from the start.

 

A lot of it, not everything but a lot, will depend on your relationship with the IE games and just exactly how close you want PoE to be. Personally I'm overall rather happy with the changes they have made (with some exceptions), while others will consider the changes to be an unforgivable offense (hi Helm).

[Sensuki]

If you're more of a storyfaq you would be less concerned about the mechanics in general I suppose.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Sensuki

[Starwars]

There is a difference between being a storyfag and liking the overall direction of the mechanics though. I don't really consider myself a storyfag aside from a few exceptions (Torment and MotB being the main ones, both which I would consider quite horrible mechanically), yet I don't consider the mechanics of the IE games anything particularly amazing. I certainly don't like everything that PoE does but I think it holds a lot more promise than the IE games in terms of gameplay. Whether it will fulfill that potential remains to be seen of course.

[Sarex]

There is a difference between being a storyfag and liking the overall direction of the mechanics though. I don't really consider myself a storyfag aside from a few exceptions (Torment and MotB being the main ones, both which I would consider quite horrible mechanically), yet I don't consider the mechanics of the IE games anything particularly amazing. I certainly don't like everything that PoE does but I think it holds a lot more promise than the IE games in terms of gameplay. Whether it will fulfill that potential remains to be seen of course.

 

Storyfaq not storyfag, lol!

[I Roll 20]

Storyfag should be a word, just like dicespin.

[Sensuki]

Was afarid it would be censored like the word t1ts and stuff. Lol.

 

I certainly don't like everything that PoE does but I think it holds a lot more promise than the IE games in terms of gameplay. Whether it will fulfill that potential remains to be seen of course.

The new ideas sound good in theory, but I was saying that it's still got a long way to go to play like an IE game combat and exploration wise. Dialogues are 100% IE though.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Sensuki

[Monte Carlo]

They must be playing a slightly different game to me.

 

Game 'journalists.'

 

Lulz.

[PrimeJunta]

Atmosphere, dialog, story, the way things look are great IMO.

 

Character classes and advancement are... serviceable. Workmanlike. Some classes are significantly more interesting than others (chanter, cipher, barbarian, paladin are good IMO, wizard is OK, priest, fighter, and rogue are boring). I don't think the boring classes are fundamentally boring though; I think more and more interesting talents and some general adjustment would fix them nicely.

 

Combat has the longest way to go. Pathfinding is still wonky although no longer a complete disaster, feedback is poor, and some of the mechanics don't... really... work very well. Needs a lot of tuning for balance, more transparency so you can actually tell what's going on and why, more auditory and UI feedback so you can tell when it's happening and to whom. 

 

It would be nice if some of the mechanics were actually revised rather than merely tuned (the armor penalty/flat DT/percentage bonus system isn't really doing much for me), but I think it would get to "serviceable" even without major mechanical revisions.

 

I also think the stealth system kind of stinks, but then that never was super-central to the IE games. That can't be fixed by tuning values; it would need more fundamental changes. It would be an ugly wart if left as it is, but not so ugly it'd RUIN the GAME IMO.

[Monte Carlo]

One thing I will lavish praise on is how it looks - I am very happy with the visuals and can't wait to see an optimized end-product. The little avatars look groovy.

[Sensuki]

Townsfolk look sweet as well.

[Stun]

Beta players - does this account chime with your experiences?

No. It's riddled with way too much Hyperbole.

 

The truth is somewhere in between this article, and the small legion of people who claim that PoE is a total crap attempt to recreate the IE feel.

 

Like....somewhere right in the middle.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Stun

[PrimeJunta]

The druid, by the way, is kewl. Finally got around to playing one. I would not recommend it as baby's first class because a lot of the spells rely on status effects or attacking specific defenses, which makes them either extremely effective or not effective at all, and if you don't know which is which it'll just feel wrong. But if you play it right, it packs some serious punch, and also synergises really nicely with some other classes, especially the wizard. There are some really neat one-two punches there, like using the druid for an AoE hobble, then the wizard for an AoE attack against Reflex, or the wizard for an AoE Weaken, then the druid for a multi-target attack against Fortitude.

 

I didn't care for the concept at first, but after experimenting a bit it's clearly one of the most interesting classes in the game, and among the thematically most coherent too.

[GreyFox]

Atmosphere, dialog, story, the way things look are great IMO.

 

Character classes and advancement are... serviceable. Workmanlike. Some classes are significantly more interesting than others (chanter, cipher, barbarian, paladin are good IMO, wizard is OK, priest, fighter, and rogue are boring). I don't think the boring classes are fundamentally boring though; I think more and more interesting talents and some general adjustment would fix them nicely.

 

Combat has the longest way to go. Pathfinding is still wonky although no longer a complete disaster, feedback is poor, and some of the mechanics don't... really... work very well. Needs a lot of tuning for balance, more transparency so you can actually tell what's going on and why, more auditory and UI feedback so you can tell when it's happening and to whom. 

 

It would be nice if some of the mechanics were actually revised rather than merely tuned (the armor penalty/flat DT/percentage bonus system isn't really doing much for me), but I think it would get to "serviceable" even without major mechanical revisions.

 

I also think the stealth system kind of stinks, but then that never was super-central to the IE games. That can't be fixed by tuning values; it would need more fundamental changes. It would be an ugly wart if left as it is, but not so ugly it'd RUIN the GAME IMO.

 

This sums up my feelings quite nicely atm, especially the armor and percentage system part.

 

Was it ever confirmed or announced that stealth is going to be group only? Or is it supposed to be single character stealth and that hasn't been implemented yet?

 

As a sneaky type of scout rogue that actually is pretty important to me...I don't want my non stealthy party creeping behind me at a crawl with their search circles all over the place.

[PrimeJunta]

Something as recent as the "how to play" post in the BB forums explicitly state that stealth is per-character, not full party. So it sure looks like i'ts not intended that way. In any case it does need an overhaul.

[CJoshuaV]

Something as recent as the "how to play" post in the BB forums explicitly state that stealth is per-character, not full party. So it sure looks like i'ts not intended that way. In any case it does need an overhaul.

I don't recall any of the IE or SSI games making stealth party based.  I always remember parking my party and sending in the stealth character or - in combat - hiding in shadows and backstabbing on a per-character basis.

[Zitchiock]

Hi all,

 

I found another article that is similar to the one shared by the op. This one comes to us from PC Gamer magazine Enjoy.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/pillars-of-eternity-hands-on-a-beautiful-detailed-ode-to-the-infinity-engine-era/

[archangel979]

And proves that even game journalists don't understand new Might.