Josh Sawyer's tweets and teasers

[Lord_Mord]

 

In what possible way are they cool? There are only two outcomes a trap can have. Either you have a high enough skill to disarm them, or one of your characters takes an injury. Or you very carefully edge your way around it, which does absolutely nothing except slow down the game.

 

If it would be my game, traps would have a far less predictable and far more terrible outcome. I'm a big fan of oldschool text adventure with lots of dead ends. The ****ing trap would turn you into a hamster and you would have to travel to some far a away place to be healed. If you can be healed. They would seal you in another dimension forever. Make you sick. Release monsters. Flood the entire dungeon.

 

But for now I'm OK with traps as they are. Combined with injuries they make far more sense then before, when they just did damage that I didn't really care about. If you want a fast game play Diablo.

[smjjames]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVntBSFlZTj/

 

New clothing/robes model screenshot.

 

Looks like something you'd wear in the desert, or maybe cold/arid regions. Wouldn't look out of place on Tatoonie, so, I'm gonna go with desert wear.

 

Also, somewhat prominent boobs, I think. As a guy, I'm in no position to say whether that's truly realistic or not. Of  course though, you wouldn't be able to tell very well.

Edited June 23, 2017 by smjjames

[blotter]

In what possible way are they cool? There are only two outcomes a trap can have. Either you have a high enough skill to disarm them, or one of your characters takes an injury. Or you very carefully edge your way around it, which does absolutely nothing except slow down the game.

 

 

I'm not exactly an ardent fan of traps as they're currently implemented, but it seems to me that in addition to the interactions and outcomes you've listed above, it's also possible for you to lure or force enemies through traps as well, perhaps all the more so in Pillars 2 with the added emphasis on fighter abilities to drag enemies around. Beyond the possibilities available in terms of immediate responses to traps, the fact that they exist in some areas also changes the tone of exploration to an extent by introducing the possibility of unseen threats of a different nature than the monsters that are bound to be creeping about. Of course, whether this change in tone is a good thing or not is quite debatable.

 

If they were going to dump traps, then I'd hope they'd make up for it by stressing the importance of terrain more. The prospect of being guaranteed that the only thing that could possibly impede or endanger you within locations is whatever critters happen to be present there sounds pretty boring to me.

[Wormerine]

Like I said in the other thread; injuries reducing max health alleviates one of my concerns about the new system, but I still like the granularity of the old one.

Empower being able to restore action points sounds good. I may be coming around on the system, though I'm still not entirely convinced.

Same, but I do like the rest and food mechanic. I found food buffs a bit of a chore in PoE and I rarely used it. Longer passive buffs might work really well (does that mean survival won't give you passive rest bonuses now?)

[injurai]

 

Like I said in the other thread; injuries reducing max health alleviates one of my concerns about the new system, but I still like the granularity of the old one.

Empower being able to restore action points sounds good. I may be coming around on the system, though I'm still not entirely convinced.

Same, but I do like the rest and food mechanic. I found food buffs a bit of a chore in PoE and I rarely used it. Longer passive buffs might work really well (does that mean survival won't give you passive rest bonuses now?)

 

 

I believe so. Weren't they trying to rework the skills, survival might actually be gone. Or reworked for dice-roll sequences.

[Osvir]

@Traps: It'd be cool if there were like... well, some traps that have sort of... AOE circles. Kind of like in Diablo 3 or WoW or ESO and many other games, expanding circles of where a boulder throw will land, or a monster preparing to charge you and you see a red line towards you. It is a concious developer design so that the Player can actively dodge special attacks etc. etc.

It'd be interesting to see traps having such a feature, and that traps are treated as "Encounters" (So that you can use Encounter abilities). Example:

1) You are exploring.
2) *click* Yikes! [Pause]
3) You see a line from the wall, going towards your party. Unpausing and you'll be hit by a million darts (exaggerated) in an instant.
4) What are your options? Your Rogue could use Escape, your Fighter could boost defenses, Priest could cast a quick defensive spell etc. etc.

In another scenario, maybe you triggered a rolling boulder, and would have to actively run away? Spikes from the ground. An explosion, or maybe even gas seeping from hidden tubes into a chamber. Doors closing behind you and walls closing in on you. Pitfalls, and you land in a room with monsters.

Traps could be really fun to encounter head on, as well as puzzling to avoid.

I'm curious if traps will be hard-placed, or if they will be like in Pillars 1 and the IE games (you can pick them up). I'd rather want the former, meaning that if you disarm them you'd just simply disarm them. Maybe even be able to re-arm them too, to trigger when an enemy walks by.

[injurai]

Maybe they should add a "dark souls" style endurance. Change current endurance to just health. And have an real endurance pool by which to spend on avoiding traps, etc. That way you can only percept them passively. No more FULL ON STEALTH ALL THE TIME, and once you trigger a trap. It's up to you how you spend endurance to avoid it.

 

Edit. Also, we need more timing puzzles/guantlets. I know hanging axes are cliche, but I'm sure Obs can thunk up something equally appealing. Maybe an underwater cave with a current full of jelly fish, or a kraken below a bridge that will slap at you (you'll fight it later).

Edited June 23, 2017 by injurai

[Quillon]

No more FULL ON STEALTH ALL THE TIME.

This should have been already solved with:

 

They changed scouting to not effect spotting traps/hidden objects but I think it still has an effect, my characters were finding stuff just as I switch to scouting mode in v3.05 of the game.

And I think you can also auto-pause on spotting traps.

[injurai]

I think stealth boosts perception so once your perception get's high enough you start seeing stuff early. Yeah, I use the auto-pause for traps and hidden objects. One of the few non-default settings I turn on.

[MortyTheGobbo]

 

 

 

 

Traps are definitely something that has to be there because it always has. Unfortunate, really. They're nothing but a skill tax.

 

Traps have to be there, because they are cool.

 

 

In what possible way are they cool? There are only two outcomes a trap can have. Either you have a high enough skill to disarm them, or one of your characters takes an injury. Or you very carefully edge your way around it, which does absolutely nothing except slow down the game.

 

Why are they so terrible?  Is it a bad thing that it slows the game down?  I mean we shouldn't be able to sprint through dungeons without a care.  If anything I would go the opposite way with them making them have a bigger role maybe even a subclass that can get trap bonuses and unique talents that boost their capabilities or augment them. 

 

 

 

 

Why are they so terrible?  Is it a bad thing that it slows the game down?  I mean we shouldn't be able to sprint through dungeons without a care.  If anything I would go the opposite way with them making them have a bigger role maybe even a subclass that can get trap bonuses and unique talents that boost their capabilities or augment them.

I don't think he has a problem with traps.  I think he has a problem with the fact that they are only included because people expect them to be there.  Also the fact that their implementation is crap, it always has been in these games.

 

Traps should not be like this

 

Step 1: Sneak around until I find trap

Step 2: Try to disarm trap

Step 3: Was trap disarmed?

If so, continue on, process complete

If not, send tank to trigger trap, go to next step

Step 4: Rest or use healing items/spells to recover from trap

Process Complete

 

If you are going to use traps it needs to be better than that ^^^^^.  Make the traps be like from that first area in Eternity, the cave/ruins of Cilant Lis.  That was how you should do a trap.  If you can't do it that way every time, just don't bother including them as they aren't fun or interesting for the player.  Maybe you can have the generic boring ones, but if you do, keep them only to limited moments when it makes absolute sense for their to be a trap.  Not just this is a dungeon so it needs some random ass traps.

 

Seriously, who would trap up a hallway that leads to say the only way to go upstairs?  Or trap up every path leading to a room they are living in?  No one in the real world, crap tons of people in Baldur's Gate like RPG land.

 

 

Yeah, what Karkarov said. Traps as they are don't really add anything to the game.They're just random patches of the floor that hurt you when you step on them. We can't sprint through dungeons without a care anyway, since we can run into ambushes or miss valuable secrets. Traps are just a layer of annoyance you suffer if you run into them. If you miss a trap you sigh, reload and disarm it. Unless you can't. Then you slowly edge around it and continue on your way.

 

Also, yes, they make no in-universe sense whatsoever, most of the time. If you're assaulting a well-fortified position, sure. But most of the time, it does go along the lines of "we need to scatter some more traps here".

 

 

 

In what possible way are they cool? There are only two outcomes a trap can have. Either you have a high enough skill to disarm them, or one of your characters takes an injury. Or you very carefully edge your way around it, which does absolutely nothing except slow down the game.

 

If it would be my game, traps would have a far less predictable and far more terrible outcome. I'm a big fan of oldschool text adventure with lots of dead ends. The ****ing trap would turn you into a hamster and you would have to travel to some far a away place to be healed. If you can be healed. They would seal you in another dimension forever. Make you sick. Release monsters. Flood the entire dungeon.

 

But for now I'm OK with traps as they are. Combined with injuries they make far more sense then before, when they just did damage that I didn't really care about. If you want a fast game play Diablo.

 

 

I do feel better about traps in Pillars now. Because you've just shown that they could be much, much worse. So, mission accomplished? I guess.

 

The idea of passive obstacles is perfectly fine. Their implementation as ubiquitous landmines you can only interact with in a single way is not.

Edited June 23, 2017 by MortyTheGobbo

[dunehunter]

Always wanna play as a paladin of five suns in POE 1, can we expect this to be one of the subclasses of paladins plz Obsidian?

Edited June 24, 2017 by dunehunter

[smjjames]

Always wanna play as a paladin of five suns in POE 1, can we expect this to be one of the subclasses of paladins plz Obsidian?

 

I think you're looking for the PoE2 suggestions thread? Anyways, while it was specific to Pallegina in PoE1, the presence of the Vailian trading company in PoE2 could allow for the possibility of that for a player chooseable order. Though Obsidian is going to have to retcon the fact that women aren't allowed to join that one, otherwise players either won't be able to choose female characters for that order or they'll have to otherwise explain it.

[Boeroer]

Or you pick a female godlike of course...

[Quillon]

Wasn't an option in PoE1 won't be in Deadfire. Unless if you can somehow become one/change orders in the course of the game.

[Quillon]

Yeah, trap triggers are either 3D tripwires/bear traps/pressure plates or they are highlighted in the 2D paintover. If you're not paying attention, you can definitely still trip over them, but if you're looking for them, there's always something different about where the trigger is.

 

Also, enemies can now trigger traps, so pulling someone into a trap can be an effective tactic.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3807509&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=206#post473698665

[smjjames]

 

Yeah, trap triggers are either 3D tripwires/bear traps/pressure plates or they are highlighted in the 2D paintover. If you're not paying attention, you can definitely still trip over them, but if you're looking for them, there's always something different about where the trigger is.

 

Also, enemies can now trigger traps, so pulling someone into a trap can be an effective tactic.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3807509&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=206#post473698665

 

 

I do that in Tyranny when the traps are rather close to the enemy. Though I believe enemies can also trigger traps in PoE1, there just isn't a whole lot of opportunity to actually make them do so.

[Boeroer]

No they can't. Only the ones you put there. The normal traps can only be triggered by the player.

 

And same vice versa: you can't trip your own traps.

[draego]

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/162251532341/will-departure-of-ca-damage-pillars-2-writing. This question isn't biased much . How is Josh suppose to answer this - "Well, our game falling apart i guess we need to pack it up."

Edited June 25, 2017 by draego

[dukeisaac]

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/162251532341/will-departure-of-ca-damage-pillars-2-writing. This question isn't biased much . How is Josh suppose to answer this - "Well, our game falling apart i guess we need to pack it up."

Yeah... Honestly, the MCA this, MCA that is getting old. He made incredible games, I get it, but today, it seems he's more of a marketing tool than anything else. Yes the writing in POE1 could have been better, but I think the team has acknowledged that and will work harder in Deadfire (ie Fenstermaker interview in the Codex). Frankly, was the writing that amazing in Numenera? As far as I know, no, it had the same problems as POE1, namely, not enough editing due to time constraints.

[injurai]

I enjoyed MCA's writing, but it didn't make or break the game for me. I thought Durance was a strong device to lore drop. GM was fascinating but far weaking overall.

 

A lot of my favorite parts of PoE were more critical path quest writing, Eder, and Aloth. Which I don't think MCA played much a part in.

[dukeisaac]

I enjoyed MCA's writing, but it didn't make or break the game for me. I thought Durance was a strong device to lore drop. GM was fascinating but far weaking overall.

 

A lot of my favorite parts of PoE were more critical path quest writing, Eder, and Aloth. Which I don't think MCA played much a part in.

Same here. I actually just recently finished Durance's quest (after 6 playthroughs, I know) and yes, he was well written and interesting character, but not my favourite (Eder and Sagani take the prize). Greaving Mother was ok, I feel she was too esoteric to make much of an impact.

 

Everything so far (including WM1&2) indicate that Deadfire is going to be amazing. If you want MCA, wait for Pathfinder (and even there, he plays a minor role, despite the marketing).

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Durance was great but GM felt out of place tbh. Apparently there was some kind of cut content where they interacted, but I'm butthurt we got GM instead of an Animancer companion, or at least a companion sympathetic to animancy in more depth than Pallengia or Kana.

[Lord_Mord]

 

I do feel better about traps in Pillars now. Because you've just shown that they could be much, much worse. So, mission accomplished? I guess.

 

The idea of passive obstacles is perfectly fine. Their implementation as ubiquitous landmines you can only interact with in a single way is not.

 

Yes, Mission accomplished. I just wanted to show you, that they could be worse and there would still be people that like them.

 

I agree that they could be more intersting. But I'd rather take them as they are than leaving them out completely. And seriously: Do they really break your gaming experience or something?

[MortyTheGobbo]

They're aggravating and persistent, thus reducing my enjoyment of the game. Isn't that reason enough to want them gone?

[Lord_Mord]

 

They're aggravating and persistent, thus reducing my enjoyment of the game. Isn't that reason enough to want them gone?

 

They're increasing mine. Isn't that a reason to leave them in?

Edited June 28, 2017 by Lord_Mord