PoE II at E3 2017.

[TheisEjsing]

 

Kotaku podcast:

 

http://kotaku.com/e3-day-five-podcast-the-director-of-south-park-the-fr-1796149686

 

Last comes Adam Brennecke (35:26), executive producer and lead programmer on Pillars of Eternity 2, for an in-depth chat about how they’re designing that game and how much work it takes to make a good RPG quest.

 

• Have to upgrade ship for deep seas. - RTS like.
• Multiple options for level scaling; crit path only, side content only, both & none.
• Enemy level is shown when hovered over.
• Surprisingly smooth production, 2 more months of prod then post prod starts in August.
• Similar map count; less wilderness areas more world map exploration(?).
• No crunch at all. More smooth development talk, bigger team.
• Importing save game; even small conversation options(Calisha convo) in PoE1 can have reactivity in Deadfire.

Wonder if these small options will only be integrated with a save game(?).

 

• Some BG2 discussion, comparisons.
• Pathfinding, characters, background, engine upgrade, improved loading time, npc scheduling talk.
• Who are the writers?
• Returning & new companions talk.
• BG2 quest design comparisons, improvements in WMs noted.
• Pre-prod started before WMP2, serious pre-prod started after WMP2, prod started in September.
• They would have made the game regardless of the fig, fig made it bigger & better but they were confident fig campaign was gonna succeed.
• Since the fig campaign they focused on the ship; integrating it, making it not pain in the ass for players. Crew recruitment. Other ships, captains, ship to ship combat.
• Ghost-heart ranger talk.
• Cool beginning.

 

 

Adam is such a boss. His passion, dedication, and pride for his work shines through even here in a sound only interview. So much win. ^_^

[Quillon]

Adam is such a boss. His passion, dedication, and pride for his work shines through even here in a sound only interview. So much win. ^_^

And his confidence in the game. Very uplifting podcast.

[Ryuuka]

 

I really like seeing the per-encounter spells in the video. It'll be so nice to be able to actually use the spells I want as a wizard, without worrying that I might need them later.

 

Agreed, I found the per-rest thing to be rather annoying, especially early on when you don't have all that many to begin with.

 

I don't know. I am a bit worried combat will get very spammy. I know Josh said they would fix this with "action economy" but still. Even in Pillars 1 I felt like in the late game, every fight started with me casting many of the same spells, it does get a bit tedious after a while. Combat starts to feel very samey. Hopefully it's not the case. Except for that, Deadfire looks amazing.

[rheingold]

Not sure if this is the same video which has been posted. But it's easier to find:)

http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-2-video-highlights-improved-gameplay-in-a-new-nautical-world/

 

Looks good, really good, some nice changes from what little I can see including some use of stealth!

Can't comment on visuals to much. Bandwidth is slow, so I'm not sure how much compression is happening.

But exciting stuff.

[Wormerine]

 

 

I really like seeing the per-encounter spells in the video. It'll be so nice to be able to actually use the spells I want as a wizard, without worrying that I might need them later.

 

 

Agreed, I found the per-rest thing to be rather annoying, especially early on when you don't have all that many to begin with.

I don't know. I am a bit worried combat will get very spammy. I know Josh said they would fix this with "action economy" but still. Even in Pillars 1 I felt like in the late game, every fight started with me casting many of the same spells, it does get a bit tedious after a while. Combat starts to feel very samey. Hopefully it's not the case. Except for that, Deadfire looks amazing.

Maybe with a better custom AImyou will be able to automate some of that?

[Durgarnkuld]

This is such an insane improvement over the first game already. Great work so far!

[Karkarov]

That interviewer was kind of awkward lol

That is not the word I would use.  I would have said "god awful".  Adam is showing his professionalism in that interview big time.  I wanted to slap the guy when he made the "and suikoden 4 switched to a ship, and it was the worst game in the series!" comment, I can't even imagine how Adam or Mikey felt.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Karkarov

[Sedrefilos]

 

I wanted to slap the guy when he made the "and suikoden 4 switched to a ship, and it was the worst game in the series!" comment, I can't even imagine how Adam or Mikey felt.

 

This is what happens when you tag japanese adventure-like games with rpg elements as rpgs. People who play only those think this is the norm

[MaxQuest]

I noticed "Concentration" popping up along with "Aware" whenever Eder used Disciplined Barrage. It's not indicated on the DB tooltip so not sure what exactly it is.

Just a wild guess: Aware Inspiration grants bonus acc AND ability to interrupt on hits as well.

 

What's your thought on inventory screen? I looked nice, with a big HD character model, but a small thing which bothers me, is that you can only see one party member inventory at a time. I liked how easy it was to swap items between characters.

Agreed. It looks nice, but in order to find a specific item we'll have sometimes to circle through all the characters; plus we'll have to use stash as an intermediate mean when transferring stuff from one character to another.

 

 

 

 

Damn, that dagger is useless to me. I would never bind a dagger to a paladin or a priest. Maybe if a character is some weird multiclass with paladin or priest...

 

Yeah, it doesn't look like it would suit a dps paladin. FoD being a limited resource, benefits from slower, hard-hitting weapons more. On the other hand it looks like a soulbound weapon; and maybe it has some unique properties that could be useful for buffing or tanking.

 

As for priest... The feel of ex-vancian classes is going to change. Being able to use Minor Avatar in every encounter - opens some interesting phys-dps build options.

 

I didn't see any character get injured during that demo. The party seemed to walk away from each battle unscathed.

I haven't noticed anyone getting unconscious. It could be that a character gets injured when his health drops to zero; and you can't progress further once everyone is laying on the floor.

 

Pickpocketing does tend to have a very high requirement for actually working, but more importantly, it encourages, or outright requires save-scumming. If it doesn't work, the NPC gets angry, but you can just reload and try again.

Plus it depends on how worthy are the items designers are going to put into NPCs for us to pickpocket. And ofc if there are scrolls/spells/unique equipment that buffs stealth/pickpocket.

 

P.S. I still remember Divayth Fyr from Morrowind. He was providing a cure from corprus disease and I didn't want to kill him, yet he was wearing Daedric Armor. Solution was simple: max stealth, cast disintegrate armor spell, repeat x n, and pickopocket it once the armor drops to his virtual backpack.

 

I really like seeing the per-encounter spells in the video. It'll be so nice to be able to actually use the spells I want as a wizard, without worrying that I might need them later.

Definitely. But it's important to keep in mind that they get less spell usages.

Aloth in that video has access to rank 4 spells and is likely to be lvl 7 or 8.

PoE1: wizard lvl 7/8 can cast: 4, 4, 4, 2/3 spells

PoE2: wizard lvl 7/8 can cast: 2, 2, 1, 1 spells (link)

This makes ex-vancian classes weaker in prolonged and boss fights. In a way it equals the field through, as in PoE1 they (and especially priest) could deal tons of AoE damage.

Edited June 17, 2017 by MaxQuest

[MortyTheGobbo]

Man, the quote function on those forums is bad. Anyway, I'm not really talking about how efficient ex-Vancian casters will be. I'm talking from the position of comfort and ease of play. Of course, not operating on a completely different timetable will make them much easier to balance.

 

As far as the priest/paladin dagger goes... I wouldn't assume any given ability works the same as it does in PoE 1. Particularly spells, since they're per-encounter now. And there will certainly be new ones.

[Quillon]

 

That interviewer was kind of awkward lol

That is not the word I would use.  I would have said "god awful".  Adam is showing his professionalism in that interview big time.  I wanted to slap the guy when he made the "and suikoden 4 switched to a ship, and it was the worst game in the series!" comment, I can't even imagine how Adam or Mikey felt.

 

 

I liked the interviewer, he covered many subjects; usually most interviewers don't have a clue about the game: they ask 3 random questions and then "When its out?" question and ıt's a wrap.

 

And I'm sure Adam and Mikey survived that unscathed; another game did a similar thing and failed, different games different situations, no biggy.

[injurai]

I thought he was a good interviewer too. A bit too smarmy though, like Nardwuar. Nardwuar works because he brings artists down to the mortal level, but this felt a bit off given the context. I generally prefer if the interviewer isn't gushing their own personality everywhere but I guess that's what you have to do these days. But I couldn't do any better, there is a lot of pressure in these sorts of things.

[JerekKruger]

As for priest... The feel of ex-vancian classes is going to change. Being able to use Minor Avatar in every encounter - opens some interesting phys-dps build options.

 

Oh man, I just realised how much this will help summoned weapon wizards. A Citzal's Spirit Lance and Martial Prowess every fight? Yes please.

[anameforobsidian]

We'll have to see how grimoires work.  They're supposedly going to be a greater part of gameplay & spells will not be transferable.  That could mean that wizards have access to many spells on a big fight but also have extended periods of dead time.  More importantly if they keep scrolls the same, scroll wielders could outclass wizards because they have access to 30 total spells with an accuracy boost.

[Karkarov]

This is what happens when you tag japanese adventure-like games with rpg elements as rpgs. People who play only those think this is the norm

I don't know, plenty of JRPG's are quite good.  The suikoden series for example had a great first two games.

 

It doesn't have to be on a PC, require min maxing, real time with pause combat, and be in an isometric view to be an RPG.

[Sedrefilos]

 

This is what happens when you tag japanese adventure-like games with rpg elements as rpgs. People who play only those think this is the norm

I don't know, plenty of JRPG's are quite good.  The suikoden series for example had a great first two games.

 

It doesn't have to be on a PC, require min maxing, real time with pause combat, and be in an isometric view to be an RPG.

 

Oh don't doubt there are good j"r"pgs! I've played some and quite enjoyed them! I just don't think they are role playing games, since there never is any role playing invovled, that's all.

[anameforobsidian]

 

 

 

Damn, that dagger is useless to me. I would never bind a dagger to a paladin or a priest. Maybe if a character is some weird multiclass with paladin or priest...

 

 

Paladins with daggers are one of the viable builds for the ultimate achievement.  Now part of that is the Flick of the Wrist talent, but paladins with daggers are downright nasty.  There's a bounty with them and they're very durable while having a respectable damage output.  It may be a little gamey, but it works.

[Quillon]

Not questioning its viability. Its just wrong :D

[rjshae]

Not questioning its viability. Its just wrong :D

 

Not if it's an Orlan Paladin with daggers... and little bells on the ends of their shoes. 

[Quillon]

Good luck with that concept. Unless its a pre-made companion I'm always gonna make a human/human godlike or maybe elf, who wouldn't wield a dagger unless he's a rogue or dual-wield barb, cipher...ranger...hmn too many options but paladin & priest wielding daggers? C'mooon...

 

Maybe dual-wield paladin

[MortyTheGobbo]

One of the greatest things about Pillars is that it doesn't care about the knee-jerk reaction to some class/equipment combinations being "wrong".

Edited June 18, 2017 by MortyTheGobbo

[Osvir]

A Death Godlike Bleak Walker Paladin with a dagger? Sounds possible and possibly even thematic (with One Weapon Style/no shield). Or maybe dual-wield daggers? Sinister~

 

Or some Rogue/Paladin multi-class variation?

Edited June 18, 2017 by Osvir

[DigitalCrack]

A Death Godlike Bleak Walker Paladin with a dagger? Sounds possible and possibly even thematic (with One Weapon Style/no shield). Or maybe dual-wield daggers? Sinister~

 

Or some Rogue/Paladin multi-class variation?

Or a Robin Hood style kind wayfarer.

[algroth]

One of the greatest things about Pillars is that it doesn't care about the knee-jerk reaction to some class/equipment combinations being "wrong".

Not to mention that it's hardly 'wrong' either, as the dagger was commonly employed as a sidearm by knights.

[MortyTheGobbo]

Indeed, but RPGs have a lot of baked-in assumptions that endure because they always have, and people don't think twice about them.