Why I love PoE so far, based on the beta

[IndiraLightfoot]

Inspired by PrimeJunta's 3,000th post I just read, I decided it's high time for some well-deserved praising!

 

Obsidz, there are loads of stuff in PoE as it currently stands that are absolutely fantastic! You have done an excellent job!!

 

Here are merely some of the things that I love about it:

-Beautiful area maps, with great outdoor and indoor props, down to the smallest details.

-Lovely ambient sound effects, from chirping birds to murmuring tavern patrons.

-Overall, a very competent and engaging writing throughout the beta.

-Gorgeous spell icons.

-A sleek and cool UI.

-A captivating assortment of monsters and baddies.

-A surprisingly broad and varied selections of talents, skills, spells already at very low levels.

-A wonderful intro tune before you start the generous character generation.

-A select party and rotate party formation function to die for.

-Thanks for not going over the top with weapon and armour models. I really like this more realistic and toned-down CRPG-feeling!

-Also, thanks for considering our criticisms and many times offering improved solutions to common complaints

-The alluring atmosphere and the epic low-level CRPG are already top-notch. Just keep fine-tuning the systems!

 

Love, 

 

Indira

Edited January 8, 2015 by IndiraLightfoot

[PrimeJunta]

All that, and more:

• Class design. Most classes are much more fun to toy with than their IE or DnD3 counterparts. There are fresh new takes on the paladin and monk, the fighter and rogue are both engaging and fun, and the new cipher and chanter classes are original and altogether brilliant. Also low-level wizards aren't just baggage. 
• Character advancement. P:E hits a happy middle ground between the almost-completely-on-rails advancement of AD&D and the better-be-damn-sure-to-pick-the-right-feats advancement of DnD3. You can tilt your build in various directions effectively without becoming completely hopeless in other areas or making a "wrong choice" that'll block you from being what you want to be later on (DnD3 prestige class feat and stat requirements, looking at you here.)
• Engagement and the way it stabilizes the battlefield so you can actually control areas and, for example, flank with a caster to use those cone- and line-shaped spells. Yeah, I dig it. So sue me grognards.
• Weapons, especially missile weapons. I'm really digging the way you've made the weapons different and not just cosmetic substitutes for each other. Rocking firearms and opening an encounter with a devastating volley and then switching to melee is way-cool. Rocking a war bow and keeping up a deadly hail of arrows all through the encounter is also way-cool but altogether different.
• Items with personality. So very BG2/IWD and although purely cosmetic, Leadspitter is so much more interesting than Flaming Healing Apostate Staff.
• Aumaua. Aumaua are awesome. No two ways about it. 
• Breaking out of the race = culture trope and taking an actual close look at what it would mean to have societies composed of elves, humans, orlans, and others, and then making several of them.
• The reputation/disposition mechanics. We're only getting a small glimpse of them here, but I am sure they're going to be boss.
• ... and much more.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Nice list, PJ!

 

I'd also add:

-And finally a CRPG with a playable character majoring in "psionics". The chanter is superb!

-Orlan furries certainly rock my boat.

-And skipping any kind of woody alignment system will do this kind of game a huge favour!

[AndreaColombo]

Item icons and most portraits are pretty rad.

 

Also I greatly appreciate that companions will have their own distinctive portraits rather than draw from the PC portrait pool.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

-And finally a CRPG with a playable character majoring in "psionics". The chanter is superb!

 

I meant Cipher, but the Chanter is really neat as well.

[wanderon]

What? Yet another poll with no OTHER option?? 

[Nonek]

It's nice to see that any class can use any weapon, there has been a disturbing trend lately in AAA+ games to limit characters to weapons the designers want them to weild, a disturbing trend and proven to be ridiculous by Poe with its miniscule budget allowing a vast variety to be weilded by anybody. Well done for not caving into the degeneration Obsidian.

 

Of course also not limiting conversation options to a binary axis, or upper, middle and lower right is enormously attractive and positive, finally we know what our characters will say, we can choose our options and have a variety rather than being forced into a very narrow and pre-defined role. Nice to see actual roleplaying embraced, rather than cinematic arbitrary non choices, which are the favoured option of games with much higher budgets.

 

Heartily approve of such positivity.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Nonek

[Cluas]

I agree to almost anything, except you know, the UI, but enough has been said about that. This thread is about the good people at Obsidian, and their hard work. I want to thank all of you at Obsidian and I wish you good luck in the new year... 

 

I love the barbarian, the priest, the mage (erhm wizard) and the rogue is cool too...

There is still a load of work to be done, but after 392, I am much more positive... 

Thanks Obsidian

[Sensuki]

Lindsey Laney

[Formal Foreign Forum Fool]

Polls don't exist on a lot of forums because people abuse them too much.

[Luckmann]

Polls don't exist on a lot of forums because people abuse them too much.

Fools don't exist on a lot of forums because they walk around stating the obvious without relation to anything.

 

In other news, the colour blue is blue.

[Louis2014]

i´m a huge fan of PoE and think it is finally a RPG worth playing since old IE games (and such games as Wizardry, Ultima etc etc) :bow:

Playing now over 30 Years and I´m really excited about the Story and Character advancement.

 

cant wait to get hands on my Hard Copy :dancing: :dancing: :dancing:

 

good Job  Team at Obsidian (Thank you Josh)

[Bill Gates' Son]

It's nice to see that any class can use any weapon, there has been a disturbing trend lately in AAA+ games to limit characters to weapons the designers want them to weild, a disturbing trend and proven to be ridiculous by Poe with its miniscule budget allowing a vast variety to be weilded by anybody. Well done for not caving into the degeneration Obsidian.

 

 

So it's a disturbing trend despite the fact that class weapon restrictions have existed in RPGs since the beginning?  This "trend" existed for 30+ years now.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Bill Gates' Son

[TrueMenace]

Tried to play Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition from the Steam Winter Sale after so many years...thank you Obsidan for making PoE more accessible and easier to get into, yet retain that depth that I seek from my favorite genre.

[constantine]

This game is superb from what shown so far, but it is unfair to compare it with D&D pen-n-paper or even with the old IE games.

 

Although Pillars is inspired by both, the good-old IE games ruled back then and were a breakthrough at those times. No power on earth can take that away from them. Pillars manages to blend nostalgia with the modern and thus will actually be a far better game than those gods of ancient times

[rheingold]

It's nice to see that any class can use any weapon, there has been a disturbing trend lately in AAA+ games to limit characters to weapons the designers want them to weild, a disturbing trend and proven to be ridiculous by Poe with its miniscule budget allowing a vast variety to be weilded by anybody. Well done for not caving into the degeneration Obsidian.

 

Of course also not limiting conversation options to a binary axis, or upper, middle and lower right is enormously attractive and positive, finally we know what our characters will say, we can choose our options and have a variety rather than being forced into a very narrow and pre-defined role. Nice to see actual roleplaying embraced, rather than cinematic arbitrary non choices, which are the favoured option of games with much higher budgets.

 

Heartily approve of such positivity.

Are you referring to DAI by any chance? Talk about a pig dressed in lipstick. Really looking forward to Pillars, no more dumbed down console games ftw.

[rheingold]

Also my favourite class is not completely useless. Druids!!!

[Luckmann]

 

It's nice to see that any class can use any weapon, there has been a disturbing trend lately in AAA+ games to limit characters to weapons the designers want them to weild, a disturbing trend and proven to be ridiculous by Poe with its miniscule budget allowing a vast variety to be weilded by anybody. Well done for not caving into the degeneration Obsidian.

 

Of course also not limiting conversation options to a binary axis, or upper, middle and lower right is enormously attractive and positive, finally we know what our characters will say, we can choose our options and have a variety rather than being forced into a very narrow and pre-defined role. Nice to see actual roleplaying embraced, rather than cinematic arbitrary non choices, which are the favoured option of games with much higher budgets.

 

Heartily approve of such positivity.

Are you referring to DAI by any chance? Talk about a pig dressed in lipstick. Really looking forward to Pillars, no more dumbed down console games ftw.

 

 

Eeh, it's no DAI, and you're right that it's not really console-y.. but whether it's dumbed down or not really depends on what you're comparing it to, sadly. I was hoping that PoE was going to be a real step up in terms of the decline of the genre, but it's not so much a step up as just a much smaller step down than we're used to.

 

So far, that is. There's still a few months to go, but by now.. hrm, yeah.

[Bryy]

I say we just send Chris more booze.

 

All the booze.

[Sensuki]

He better not make any more bets though, because then he'll be sending that Booze to the Codex instead.

[Nonek]

 

It's nice to see that any class can use any weapon, there has been a disturbing trend lately in AAA+ games to limit characters to weapons the designers want them to weild, a disturbing trend and proven to be ridiculous by Poe with its miniscule budget allowing a vast variety to be weilded by anybody. Well done for not caving into the degeneration Obsidian.

 

 

So it's a disturbing trend despite the fact that class weapon restrictions have existed in RPGs since the beginning?  This "trend" existed for 30+ years now.

 

 

I could use any weapon in Ultima for any character, or Fallout, or pen and paper D&D (though admittedly the characters would have to deal with proficiency penalties.) Not being able to even weild a weapon due to ones class, that I find ridiculous, and of course a disturbing trend that I see as best left behind. Let us build the characters we wish, whom may have to use a non optimal weapon in a pinch, or find that certain abilities of the weapon are useful.

 

Edit: Ones personal opinion of course.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Nonek

[Vaalac]

The sad thing is that its really confusing me. I surprised myself thinking "Which weapon a chanter is supposed to use ? And which armor". I took a moment to realize "Whichever I want".

Was it loke it in BG ? I don't remember having so much choice with any character for armor/weapons.

[Dark_Ansem]

all true, but all can still be improved\expanded.

[Luckmann]

The sad thing is that its really confusing me. I surprised myself thinking "Which weapon a chanter is supposed to use ? And which armor". I took a moment to realize "Whichever I want".

Was it loke it in BG ? I don't remember having so much choice with any character for armor/weapons.

 

Right now, the answer is very simple.

 

When you ask yourself "What kind of armour is the best to wear?", the answer is "None."

 

The armour system in PoE is currently extremely simplistic; you get DT (why not just call it "Armour?") at the expense of Action Recovery, but Action Recovery is more important, since it decides how much damage you can dish out. Survivability doesn't really matter that much in PoE, you simply need to kill the enemies before they kill you. You are almost always (always?) better off naked than wearing any armour at all.

 

Unless they radically change the system to accomodate more variables (such as Dodge Modifiers, Damage Resistance, etc), I don't foresee this changing; either DR will be more valuable than the Action Recovery, or vice versa.

 

That being said, I really appreciate the freedom, and it really shouldn't confuse you at all. It's really up to you to decide what you want to use in terms of armour and weapons, and I think that is great. I just wish that freedom (esp. in relation to armour) mattered more.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Luckmann

[PrimeJunta]

Currently armor is useless because of the out-of-whack damage that (some of) the enemies do. Stone Beetles have 10 DT bypass, which gives plate mail or fine brigandine a whopping 2 points DR. And they graze for, like, 15-20 points. That can be fixed by tuning and/or relatively minor mechanical adjustments (e.g. switch to percentage-based DR or DR bypass).