Josh Sawyer's tweets and teasers, part 2

[Frog Man]

Dude I am legit stupid - can you explain how to do that? When I pull in close I just get dragged into a ship battle, which i would prefer to skip.

 

I’ve enjoyed the jokes around Katrina’s departure- however just to be clear, this should mean next to nothing about Deadfire. She’s done her job (managing the crowd funding campaign). Also, when a great job opportunity comes along, you don’t tell the new company ‘hang on this game is about to ship can you wait 4-8 more weeks please’ you take the opportunity and go.

 

I’ve loved Katrina’s work- but she’s a marketing rep and she made some neat videos. Not exactly the CEO leaving.

[morhilane]

Dude I am legit stupid - can you explain how to do that? When I pull in close I just get dragged into a ship battle, which i would prefer to skip.

 

Currently in the beta, you can't really do that (outside full seal ahead to catch up), they are going to add a button to skip to boarding for the game release (I stopped hoping for another beta release).

[theBalthazar]

Hum... Not optimal.

 

I prefer a good integration rather than an optionnal mini-game.

 

Obsidian do not trust his mini-game?...

[bleedthefreak]

Hum... Not optimal.

 

I prefer a good integration rather than an optionnal mini-game.

 

Obsidian do not trust his mini-game?...

 

How is not allowing players to choose their preference non-optimal?

 

Some will like the mini-game, some will like it but not want to do it every time, and others may only like to engage in ship to ship combat. Why not let folks make that decision themselves?

[Wormerine]

 

Hum... Not optimal.

 

I prefer a good integration rather than an optionnal mini-game.

 

Obsidian do not trust his mini-game?...

 

How is not allowing players to choose their preference non-optimal?

 

Some will like the mini-game, some will like it but not want to do it every time, and others may only like to engage in ship to ship combat. Why not let folks make that decision themselves?

There are really few exceptions where it works. If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature. If it’s not good it should be improved or removed.

 

However, there were talks about automating fleeing/boarding, which is not present at the moment, and is not a bad addition by any means. The demo discussed is clearly put together from different gameplay bits. Transition between engagement and boarding is simply due to a cut. I am 100% sure there is an edit there.

[bleedthefreak]

 

 

Hum... Not optimal.

 

I prefer a good integration rather than an optionnal mini-game.

 

Obsidian do not trust his mini-game?...

How is not allowing players to choose their preference non-optimal?

 

Some will like the mini-game, some will like it but not want to do it every time, and others may only like to engage in ship to ship combat. Why not let folks make that decision themselves?

There are really few exceptions where it works. If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature. If it’s not good it should be improved or removed.

 

However, there were talks about automating fleeing/boarding, which is not present at the moment, and is not a bad addition by any means. The demo discussed is clearly put together from different gameplay bits. Transition between engagement and boarding is simply due to a cut. I am 100% sure there is an edit there.

 

 

"If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature." What kind of narrow minded nonsense is this?

[MaxQuest]

There are really few exceptions where it works. If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature. If it’s not good it should be improved or removed.

Yeah, but there are exceptions)

Also some games implement: "Auto Resolution"/"Manual Resolution" approach. So if the player doesn't feel like he wants to undergo the minigame this time he can let the game resolve it for him. Could be useful also when attacking a far weaker ship.

[Wormerine]

"If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature." What kind of narrow minded nonsense is this?

Why narrow minded? Either something has a place in systems/story/world or it doesn't. 

 

Its like autoresolve for battle in Total War games. They are there because... well, beyond spectacle, they are not great. For me the idea of "play like you want to play" was always odd. I am not a game designer. It is not up to me to craft the best experience. 

 

Just to be clear I was defending a statement made previously made on this thread, not say that Deadfire shouldn't have skippable ship content. I would be all for creating a seperate difficult slider for the ship stuff. The more customizable experience, the better. But I never see it as a good sign when a mechanic has a "skip" button. Why was it put there? When a designer sees a need to put "skip" button that's always a warning sign to me. 

[Wormerine]

There are really few exceptions where it works. If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature. If it’s not good it should be improved or removed.

Yeah, but there are exceptions)

Also some games implement: "Auto Resolution"/"Manual Resolution" approach. So if the player doesn't feel like he wants to undergo the minigame this time he can let the game resolve it for him. Could be useful also when attacking a far weaker ship.

Yeah, I was defending:

 

Obsidian do not trust his mini-game?...

 

Not opposing an idea of automated boarding/fleeing but I would still argue that, if engagements you partake in get to the point that you want to automate/skip it, its a weakness of a game. In ideal situation it would be resolved, rather than automated. 

Edited March 10, 2018 by Wormerine

[Sedrefilos]

 

"If the feature is made skippable it’s because it is not a good feature." What kind of narrow minded nonsense is this?

Why narrow minded? Either something has a place in systems/story/world or it doesn't. 

 

Its like autoresolve for battle in Total War games. They are there because... well, beyond spectacle, they are not great. For me the idea of "play like you want to play" was always odd. I am not a game designer. It is not up to me to craft the best experience. 

 

Just to be clear I was defending a statement made previously made on this thread, not say that Deadfire shouldn't have skippable ship content. I would be all for creating a seperate difficult slider for the ship stuff. The more customizable experience, the better. But I never see it as a good sign when a mechanic has a "skip" button. Why was it put there? When a designer sees a need to put "skip" button that's always a warning sign to me. 

 

Good point.

 

To be fare, though, "auto-resolve combat" in Total War games is there because there are many insignificant battles that you might not want to waste time on since the result is obvious, not because they are not good

 

Same might apply to Deadfire.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Sedrefilos

[blotter]

The fact that boarding enemy ships is an option doesn't necessarily reflect deep-seated developer insecurities about the quality of ship combat any more than the option to fly different faction's flags to fool nearby ships that might otherwise be hostile does. Both options are thematically appropriate extensions of features that have been promoted throughout the game's development to start with: faction allegiances, faction hostilities, and piracy in general (which, at least in books and movies, frequently involves actually boarding the ships you mean to plunder rather than blasting them from a distance).

 

From the twitch footage and interviews so far, charging into a ship to board from the start isn't just a way to cleanly sidestep ship combat for a number of reasons:

1. The enemy ship can take advantage of the time it takes you to reach it by blasting away at your ship and damage to your ship/crew that you suffer in the process can further complicate the boarding efforting along the way. In the worst case scenario, the enemy ship can apparently hit your gunpowder reserves and destroy your ship outright, though Sawyer said the frequency of this is getting tuned down
2. The enemy ship can react defensively by moving away from you as you're moving towards them
3. Disparities in ship features can affect effective cannon range to make boarding more dangerous. This might also extend to relative ship speeds where boarding/evasion are concerned - I'm not actually sure if ship/crew-based speed differences have been confirmed or not, but it seems likely
4. There is a distinction between the ranking system for captains and crewmembers and their actual levels, meaning that boarding could result in trading a ship fight with an inexperienced captain/crew for a perilous melee against high-level enemies

[George_Truman]

On the topic of boarding: do you guys find those boarding planks suspect? Like, do both parties agree to pull up next to each other and place the planks right next to their respective steps? Does somebody hammer these planks into the gunwales so they don't fall into the water when the ships rock? 

[DexGames]

You go way too far George... way too far.

[Joke, no offense of course ^^]

 

Ultimately, It's a fair question though. 

[Fardragon]

I think what is needed is a mini-game in which you swing from ship to ship on a rope. Better time those swings right...

[Beyond The Sea]

The scripted interactions are quite abstract. You can think of the boarding combat as a rough, abstract representation of what it's meant to be just because the game happens to have combat already.

[DexGames]

Ship Combat is just another nice feature added to the overall experience.

Just have to embrace it or leave it.

Enjoy what's left.

[malchiorita]

Well, from what we have seem so far ship combat looks like a snooze fest, so i'm glad we can skip it

[jf8350143]

Anybody think getting all the companion in the about the first third of the game sounds a little too late?

 

That's likely around 15 to 20 hours into the game already. 

[Frog Man]

Pillars junkies - come take a good long snort of this ‘hype’ I got for ya. I already chopped it up in a little line and sprinkled it on the coffee table. Here, place this straw in your nose, and snort it waaaay up your nose until it hits your brain and your world becomes a ****ing kaleidoscope of colors and sounds and music and euphoria:

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/171762156201/hey-josh-with-pillars-1-in-addition-to-the-beta

[IndiraLightfoot]

*Snort!*

*Nose bleed*

*OD*

 

It feels wring joking about this thing, though. Sorry, folks.

[morhilane]

Anybody think getting all the companion in the about the first third of the game sounds a little too late?

 

That's likely around 15 to 20 hours into the game already. 

 

Late, no, not at all.

 

I'm used to games of this type having companion recruitment right at the start of the last act of the game, so getting everyone in the first third looks super fast to me. lol.

[bleedthefreak]

Anybody think getting all the companion in the about the first third of the game sounds a little too late?

 

That's likely around 15 to 20 hours into the game already. 

 

Maybe more like around 33 hours of gameplay.

 

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/171762156201/hey-josh-with-pillars-1-in-addition-to-the-beta

[Wormerine]

Anybody think getting all the companion in the about the first third of the game sounds a little too late?

 

That's likely around 15 to 20 hours into the game already. 

No. For an RPG its super quick, especially if they are all accessible from the beginning. If they are simply spreadout around areas accessible from the very beginning it’s super good – you can go for ones you want in your party in future updates. It really doesn’t matter when you recruit everyone.

[the_dog_days]

Anybody think getting all the companion in the about the first third of the game sounds a little too late?

 

That's likely around 15 to 20 hours into the game already. 

 

Later than most modern RPGs? Yes. Later than the games POE models itself after? Not at all.

[HooAmEye]

I imagine that it will also be possible to beeline for the companions if you know what you are doing, just like in PoE1