Pillars of Eternity - Short Stories

[Messier-31]

So what do you guys think about these?

 

http://eternity.obsidian.net/media/stories

 

I'm going to read The Ratcatcher as soon as I get back from work, but it is always good to get moar loar!

 

[Bill Gates' Son]

I would be interested in reading these short stories, but the first one is about the most boring companion in the game.  =\

Edited October 24, 2015 by Bill Gates' Son

[AndreaColombo]

Oh. My. God.

 

I didn't think we'd get the first one so fast! These weren't exactly advertised.

 

I'm starting the first one immediately.

 

Also, the second story just might be spoilering the new companion from TWM pt. II

Edited October 24, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[AndreaColombo]

So, I've read The Ratcatcher.

 

Honestly, I found it a bit disappointing. Part of it has to due with its living up to its "short story" denomination—it is indeed short, perhaps too much to develop any kind of significant plot and/or relatable characters. As a result, most characters as well as the setting fall flat, and the atmosphere fails to build up to a satisfactory extent before the story is over. Likewise, a plot hook with potential is delivered too hastily, with a predictable resolution reached in steps that sometimes come too quick and leave a sour backtaste of triviality.

 

The prose is OK, but not fantastic. I know from what she wrote for the game that Carrie Patel can do better than this (I found the in-game prose for her characters to be superior to the prose in this short story) so perhaps the time and "space" constraints didn't do justice to her skill.

 

That said, this is in way meant to be a bash toward Carrie. I really like her writing in the game and look forward to her upcoming Aloth short story

 

All in all, I wouldn't mind if these short stories were actually novellas, as that would give the authors more room for character and plot development. I also don't mind waiting a longer time for more and/or higher-quality content.

[Jayngo]

I downloaded the Ratcatcher, but have not had a chance to read it yet.

 

Note to OE-the epub format didn't seem to work on my Retina iPad. I had to download the PDF version. Also, I'm an aspiring Indie Author (hint, hint) and would love to get the opportunity to write a short story in the PoE world. OE, please PM if you are interested. 

Edited October 26, 2015 by Jayngo

[BAdler]

 

Note to OE-the epub format didn't seem to work on my Retina iPad. I had to download the PDF version.

 

Thanks for the note. I will let someone over here know.

[BAdler]

Hey, Jayngo. We tried to reproduce the issue over here with a few different iPads and we aren't running into the same problem. We were able to get it working in iBooks just fine. Do you have any additional information that might help us figure out the problem?

[Doppelschwert]

The first time I glanced over the short stories, I misread the 3rd one as being 'The rapping' and given the picture thought about eder being in a rap battle. I'm not a rap person, but I'm still somehow dissappointed now that I misread the title.

[Eric Fenstermaker]

The first time I glanced over the short stories, I misread the 3rd one as being 'The rapping' and given the picture thought about eder being in a rap battle. I'm not a rap person, but I'm still somehow dissappointed now that I misread the title.

 

How do you know that isn't what happens?

[Messier-31]

Also, the second story just might be spoilering the new companion from TWM pt. II

 

I want Gacgen to be a companion!!!!!!!!111

 

Or at least make a decent portrait so I can make myself an adventurer...

[Gairnulf]

I read The Ratcatcher. I liked the condensed style and the main plot driver being less fantasy-rooted and more realistic. However I thought the dialogue didn't quite live up to the down to earth story. Maybe this a symptom of insufficient characterization of the secondary characters. In their dialogue I felt like they were lacking enough depth for their language to sound like the speech of different people.

 

I think that, in a sense, if you are writing in a realistic style, you are no longer writing "a fantasy story that sounds realistic" but "a plausibly realistic story within a fantasy world". The Ratcatcher reaches halfway towards this goal in my opinion.

 

This is just a personal opinion of course, but I for me realism in building the world and narrative should always go hand in hand with psychologism in character-building. That's what makes it hard writing realistic stories, you need to know more about each individual, and can't resort to archetypes as much as you otherwise could in an "epic fantasy".

 

I think the central question about Sagani is, how does she cope with the conflict between her obligations towards the realm of the personal and private - her husband and children, and towards the common and public - her mission. I believe exploring this question through her inner monologue, rather telling about her personality through dialogue with Itumaak, would flesh her out a lot better.

 

Frequent dialogue between creatures capable of speech and mute animals rarely manages not to feel cheesy, unless it's a child doing it. Either that, or if it's a case of the author trying to communicate human emotion through descriptions of the animal and its actions, with an underlying message that the animal has an understanding of events just as good as the human does, and is capable of reason and judgement, just not of speech... but that's a whole different ballpark, and not what the theme is with Itumaak. Or is it? That's something I would ask the author - is Itumaak a character, or just Sagani's pet fox? I think the GoT and ASOIAF characters conversing with animals are a good reference for animal companions treated well in fantasy.

 

Anyway, I could write a lot more, but I feel I'll be overanalyzing it. It's a good enough fantasy adventure novella, it just throws less light upon Sagani than I would like.

 

P.S. A question about Eder's story - is it going to rain all the time in Gilded Vale in the novella too?

Edited October 29, 2015 by Gairnulf

[Sannom]

I think Sagani talking to Itumaak is just an indicator that she's so lonely she started to talk to someone who couldn't answer back. As she said in the game to Aloth, her standards changed around year two.

[Jayngo]

Hey, Jayngo. We tried to reproduce the issue over here with a few different iPads and we aren't running into the same problem. We were able to get it working in iBooks just fine. Do you have any additional information that might help us figure out the problem?

I'm going to try downloading the epub version again when I get home. The first time I downloaded it all the pages were blank. I let it sit for a bit thinking it might be taking a while to populate. I'll post my findings later tonight.

[Guest]

Hey, Jayngo. We tried to reproduce the issue over here with a few different iPads and we aren't running into the same problem. We were able to get it working in iBooks just fine. Do you have any additional information that might help us figure out the problem?

Serious issue with the .epub on my nook. 

 

Font looks to be about 100+. Only a couple of characters on the screen at a time. My guess is that it's not scaling correctly and that what I'm seeing is the first letter and a half of the first and second line for each page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

P.S. It's a nook simple touch. Had no problem with the Wasteland 2 epubs.

[BAdler]

 

Hey, Jayngo. We tried to reproduce the issue over here with a few different iPads and we aren't running into the same problem. We were able to get it working in iBooks just fine. Do you have any additional information that might help us figure out the problem?

Serious issue with the .epub on my nook. 

 

Font looks to be about 100+. Only a couple of characters on the screen at a time. My guess is that it's not scaling correctly and that what I'm seeing is the first letter and a half of the first and second line for each page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

P.S. It's a nook simple touch. Had no problem with the Wasteland 2 epubs.

 

 

Thanks for the additional information. I will pass this on.

[Jayngo]

 

 

Hey, Jayngo. We tried to reproduce the issue over here with a few different iPads and we aren't running into the same problem. We were able to get it working in iBooks just fine. Do you have any additional information that might help us figure out the problem?

 

Serious issue with the .epub on my nook. 

 

Font looks to be about 100+. Only a couple of characters on the screen at a time. My guess is that it's not scaling correctly and that what I'm seeing is the first letter and a half of the first and second line for each page.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

P.S. It's a nook simple touch. Had no problem with the Wasteland 2 epubs.

 

Thanks for the additional information. I will pass this on.

Ok. I downloaded the ePub format again and opened it in iBooks. Only the cover loaded again. All other pages were blank. I closed out of iBooks, launched it again, then the last two pages of the book loaded, but nothing else. Waited a bit, then closed iBooks out again. Launched iBooks one more time and then all the pages finally populated.

 

Not sure what was going on. My iPad is updated and current. Anyway, I got it working now!

[Messier-31]

Blood Register is out.

 

Great cover. Please make a Gacgen portrait! Puah-leez.

[Fenixp]

Finished reading Ratcatcher. It was okay. I feel that Sagani kinda lacked motivation to even get into what she got into in the first place, and I think that the intro should have been cut a bit shorter and plot expanded upon a little - as it stands, plot actually properly started somewhere halfway trough and ended far too quickly.

 

Anyway, it was good enough for me to look forward to more short stories.

[Gairnulf]

I read Blood Register yesterday. I really liked Eric's Paul's style and characterization. I think his novella deserves to be developed further

Edited November 4, 2015 by Gairnulf

[Eric Fenstermaker]

Glad you liked Blood Register! However, credit where credit is due - it is the work of Paul Kirsch. Paul wrote our Collector's Book (and the instruction manual and probably some other things), and works as a narrative designer at Obsidian.

[Gairnulf]

My mistake, I confused the real author

[Eric Fenstermaker]

Nah no worries! Paul's was this past Tuesday, mine is next Tuesday. Just want to make sure the man gets his props!

[juanval]

I've enjoyed the Ratcatcher. I'm not english native and I need to use a translator for a lot of words. For this reason, the size of the stories is ok for me.

 

The PoE setting is one of the best features of the game, and reading short stories in this beautiful setting is great.

[Cantousent]

Fenstermaker makes me ill. Why the hell should he be so talented and I'm... not? Bastard!

[White Phoenix]

Blood Register was awesome! I liked it much more than the Ratcatcher. I hope that a new companion in TWM, part 2 is written by Paul Kirsch (or in future possible POE games). Can't wait for Eder's story!