#Deadfire Q&A Twitch Stream with Josh Sawyer and Lead Artist Kaz Aruga

[Aarik D]

Ahoy there all you seafaring Watchers!

 

Tomorrow we'll be doing another Q&A session with Josh and Kaz Aruga! Time to explore the depth of art and inspiration! So if you have some burning questions about art, here is your chance!

 

If you would like your question to be answered live on stream, let us know by tweeting us at WorldofEternity and make sure you use the hashtag #Deadfire. Twitter questions will be read first, so make sure to get on there!

 

You are also free to list your questions here, but please limit them to 2-3 questions as there may be a large number of questions coming in and we want to answer as many questions as we can!

 

See you tomorrow on the Obsidian Twitch channel!

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Will portraits be more consistent? A lot of them werw jarringly different in PoE.

[Heijoushin]

Yay! Things have been far too quiet lately. I'm just going to go crazy here:

 

1. How many new portraits are you expecting to add?

2. Won't the new "watercolor" style be a problem with custom portraits? I mean, if we use a custom portrait for our watcher, but don't have a watercolor version of it, won't it clash terribly?

3. Will different classes have different animations? (Kung fu for the monk, more stylish combos for fighters etc.)

4. What were art inspirations for clothing in the Deadfire region?

5. Will there be clothing shops in Deadfire? In PoE1, if you wanted a nice suit early on, you had to mug a backer character.

6. How will the pet eagle work mechanically? For example, will it only be targetable by range attacks? Will it be very fragile? (compared to other pets) Will you be able to explore the whole map quickly with it?

7. More info on Tekēhu please! He's the only companion we know nothing about. What kind of Godlike is he?

8. There was a thread wondering if oriental weapons will make it into PoE2. How do you feel about that? Do katanas and wakizashis clash with the European medieval atmosphere?

9. Some people felt the Godlike were underwhelming. The new artwork looks great, but are you planning to change their racial abilities too?

 

Thank you.

 

Edit: Sorry, in my excitement, I didn't see the "You are also free to list your questions here, but please limit them to 2-3 questions as there may be a large number of questions coming in and we want to answer as many questions as we can!" part.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Heijoushin

[draego]

Will there be portraits for npcs? Had a brain crap with this question. Ye the 2.2 stretch goal

Edited March 8, 2017 by draego

[blotter]

Will there be portraits for npcs?

 

The developers have already mentioned that they plan to have watercolor portraits for quest giving NPCs. See https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire?update=245#updates for more details and some examples.

 

1. We've seen unique idle animations for party members such as Eder and Aloth already; will all full-fledged companions have these and/or can we expect to see these occur among important NPCs as well?

 

2. Where recurring monster types are concerned, assuming that there are some, would you say the focus has been on refining established designs or adjusting them to better fit the different environments in which they are encountered?

 

3. Are there more variations in NPC body types or will they still share the same models?

Edited March 8, 2017 by blotter

[Heijoushin]

 

3. Are there more variations in NPC body types or will they still share the same models?

 

 

Good one! Or body type variations for player characters for that matter. They had them in Tyranny if I recall correctly, so it seems reasonable to expect it in Deadfire. Even better if they expand on the Tyranny options.

[blotter]

 

 

They had them in Tyranny if I recall correctly, so it seems reasonable to expect it in Deadfire. Even better if they expand on the Tyranny options.

 

Having the choice between three as in Tyranny would be great, as would anything beyond that (though with the far greater number of races in Pillars, I'm less sure we'll see this carry over). Fingers crossed for added NPC variation especially since they wouldn't necessarily have to make them cover all the different forms of armor/clothing that the Watcher and companions/sidekicks can wear.

[Leferd]

1) Who are illustrating the player, party, and NPC portraits -and how are they assigned and approved?

 

2) Will we see viable player clothing akin to Tudor, Medici, Habsburg aesthetics? e.g., Francis Drake, Ferdinand Magellan, Walsingham, the Borgias, etc.

[Jeckal]

What were the inspirations/thought processes behind the water color look for the scripted interactions?

 

With the change in location, will we see a significant change in the color pallatte of the natural enviroments, buildings, and clothing people wear?

 

Will there be any new player portraits?

Edited March 8, 2017 by Jeckal

[Heijoushin]

It's great having one's questions answered! I feel like senpai noticed me!!

 

Wish I'd noticed the "3 only" rule earlier though. I would have giving my top 3 questions a bit more thought then. Hope there's another Q&A soon!

[Messier-31]

Now here's hoping for another transcript!

 

"Go go Fereed Rangers!"

[Doppelschwert]

The archtype of the skilled fighter that dodges blows without wearing much armor is not very well supported in PoE1.

 

Will there be a subclass (preferable of the monk or fighter) that focuses on making light / no armor viable in melee, like the Kensai did in BG2?

Edited March 9, 2017 by Doppelschwert

[Duskshift]

1. Will we see a wider range (diversity) in the style / depiction of godlikes?

2. When deciding on the different enviroments that you want to cover (artistically) do you prefer this under the mantle of a theme or do you aim to do a bit of everything?

 

3. Will there be weapons and armor more closely related (in terms of art & style) to the region (Deadfire) and how does this relate to visual diversity of npcs?

 

Edit: Seems like reading is too hard for me today, seeing as it has already aired.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Duskshift

[Messier-31]

The archtype of the skilled fighter that dodges blows without wearing much armor is not very well supported in PoE1.

 

Will there be a subclass (preferable of the monk or fighter) that focuses on making light / no armor viable in melee, like the Kensai did in BG2?

 

Neat idea. I would also like to see something like a bladedancer subclass.

[Madscientist]

I watched the video, very nice.

I dislike that they want to remove the health/endurance system.

 

I really liked those images in the low right corner.

- Is this fan art?

- Can you see this in higher resolution somewhere?

I really like the cute version of Sagani.

[AndreaColombo]

I really liked those images in the low right corner.

- Is this fan art?

- Can you see this in higher resolution somewhere?

I really like the cute version of Sagani.

 

Yeah, it's fanart mostly from Tumblr/Twitter. Higher-resolution versions can certainly be found there.

[Madscientist]

Thanks, I really like this picture.

[Doppelschwert]

Now here's hoping for another transcript!

 

"Go go Fereed Rangers!"

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/5ye510/pillars_of_eternity_ii_deadfire_qa_stream_5/

 

Looks like I missed the deadline by one day as well - strange, because I posted my questions immediately after the facebook page told me it would be yesterday...

[Boeroer]

It was a nice stream/video. Good vibes somehow.

 

Since I have not much to say about art styles and pictures and stuff I was happy to just watch and listen.

 

But... I am the only one who had problems understanding what Kaz said?

[Messier-31]

So much info about portraits, not a word about custom/watercolour issue!

 

 

[compleCCity]

Will this one be upped to YouTube, too, like the others?

[Varana]

Yep.

[Morgol]

Great! Thanks for the video

[Kharador]

Wow looks promising