Things we like about the classics which we want in Deadfire?

[MortyTheGobbo]

The unique items in Baldur's Gate were nice and all, but they basically meant some weapon categories were better by virtue of providing us with cooler pieces. The haphazard placement of those pieces also meant that you could be deprived of the best equipment in your chosen category if you weren't lucky. Crafting is a gigantic pain in the ass more often than not, but one good thing about it is that it gives us control over what we get, rather than leaving it to the whims of RNG or item placement.

[Elkor_Alish]

This discussion could have had a bit more repercussion (if at all) if made earlier, but nevermind that, I'm up for playing. So here's a couple that come to mind...

 

1. More sidequests with long and complex story arcs

So, to my mind if there is one aspect where Baldur's Gate II clearly succeeds over any of its peers, Pillars included, is with regards to the quest design from a sheer narrative standpoint. Whether you look at the Cult of the Eyeless, Firkraag's offer, the Planar Sphere, the Deaths in the Umar Hills and several more, all of these have complex stories that could well have been the main plot to a whole other new game instead, with several plot points and twists and conflicts present, and often resulting in interesting repercussions that could very well be a quest or task or adventure all of their own (unlocking strongholds, having to tie loose ends and so on). The sheer depth to these quests is what I feel any game aiming to reach Baldur's Gate II's heights will have to aim for sooner or later, and whilst Pillars was certainly not lacking in content, there's very few quests that came anywhere close to this level of depth or complexity (one could think of Raedric or the Skaenite cult for example, but even these are in my opinion a fair bit more linear and straight-forward than the likes of the Cult of the Eyeless for example - arguably the most complex and intriguing one is DLC content, being that of the murder at the mines) - personally I would like to see a greater focus in quests like these, as well as possible other quests and content that might result from the resolution of the same (for example, having to deal with Raedric a second time in the first game).

 

2. Beefy hidden content

Whilst the first Pillars does seem to try and add some 'secret' content here or there to, say, reward the more attentive and exhaustive players, I still find that most of the content in the game is fairly easy to find. In contrast I find it very interesting how Planescape: Torment would go to such extremes so as to make whole areas and *companions* available only by the most obscure side-content, interactions and associations. So with the Modron Cube, for example, you never actually got a prompt to buy it or what to do with it at all - the player would originally have to buy it out of sheer curiosity, and bring it to the actual modrons only by associating that one looked like the other. This wasn't marked as a quest in any way within the journal. But possibly one of the most interesting interactions too is the means through which you arrive to Xachariah, where you need to have learned about Dak'kon's past, about the "four" that walked your path, but then also having to piece together through intuition that if Dak'kon were to act as an intermediary for Fell's words then he too might react in some fashion to the mention of the "four", thus proving him to be one of the same; then you'd also have to be attentive enough to figure out that you can use your Stories-Bones-Tell ability (if acquired - which one could have easily missed as well) on the undead at the Mortuary as well... And only through getting all these pieces together do you finally get the chance to talk to this former companion of yours and unlock another facet of your history and so on. Whilst I think that maybe a few of these 'secrets' in Torment were more the byproduct of a fairly poorly implemented journal, and perhaps it took these same to a bit of an extreme, I still wouldn't mind seeing more beefy hard to reach content in Deadfire myself, either in the shape of some larger quest or even the likes of a Twisted Rune-type encounter for example. Which, given how the game is promising uncharted islands and a more semi-open-world exploration mechanic through sailing, I suppose could well be the case in this game.

 

3. DEATH TO SUPPRESSION

God, are there few things that irk me in Pillars so much as suppression in items. I get it that this was present in 3/3.5ed D&D games like Icewind Dale II and the Neverwinter Nights saga and maybe it makes for better balance but it feels ****ing *wrong* all over. It turns itemization into a ****ing chore, it makes it so that items can be very easily made obsolete not just by those of their very own type/slot, but those of *any other* type/slot as well, and also makes it so that a normally very good or great item suddenly becomes very disappointing, because they could well not mean a thing since this +3 might bonus is overridden by this *other* +3 might bonus. It just sucks, it feels terrible in every way, and I'm glad that Josh has already "confirmed" that they're removing suppression for this game in one of the Q&As (I'm still not sure if they actually have done so or not).

 

These, I guess, are three points that come to mind. Maybe a few others will later on, and if so I'll look into expanding this list. But here's three things I hope to see addressed with Deadfire. The first particularly, since I really feel that that's where the most relevant progress can be made from the original onto a sequel.

Could not agree more. Nothing to add whatsoever to the first two points.

 

As to the third. Suppression really didn't bother me to any great degree, but I find the idea itself irksome in the extreme. It is an inelegant way to handle issues of balance, and balance is really only an issue when you are trying to dictate the experience you want players to have - a concept which I find incredibly problematic in the first place and earnestly believe has no place in an RPG. Some people are into optimization, and if over powered play is what they enjoy, who the hell does it hurt in a single player game? As for me, I just dislike the tedium of tracking down the redundant armor piece. . .Which in PoE wasn't really an issue since there were really only a handful of aesthetically pleasing but also inherently effective arms and armor to choose from. So long as Dreadfire isn't any worse in this regard I won't complain, but it doesn't strike me as anywhere near a necessary consideration as the first two points.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Elkor_Alish

[VincentNZ]

I was just thinking about items in another thread, because I can still name a ton of BG2 weapons and where to find them despite me having played 120 hours of BG, when compared to PoE where I can only think of the pantry door bought from the trader, in Gilded Vale and that Eder wore forever in my playthrough.

 

Weapon skins in PoE are somewhat unspectacular as well as their inventory icon. The descriptions are on par though. This is part of the problem, but also because you carry a lot of standard weapons for a long time plus the crafting system allowed you to keep the few memorable weapons you find relevant for a long time.

 

I hope they drop the crafting system and instead give out more unique weapons although I know it is hard to swap out a weapon that you carried for a long time.

[SonicMage117]

 

RELIGION.

 

Religion as a critical point. It made the original so good and unique. Helped to set it apart from other rpg's. Made the game relatable. As long as religion is one of the major lore details, then my investment will be worth it.

Are you saying you want religion or don't want it?

 

Pretty sure there was tons of religion in BG2, and there was a lot on Pillars?

 

Actually I've changed my mind about that. In the forgotten realms religion is pretty important. There are temples everywhere and people are quite serious about the gods and what have you. In Pillars it's only a side note unless the plot decides it's important.

Yes, I meant I want more

 

There's not alot of games that do religion well, I thought Pillars 1 did an excellent job. I saw alot of gameplay from the beta but skipped story elements to avoid spoilers. Glad to know it's still a strong focal point of the lore.

[Sedrefilos]

 

Big big difference from how religion works.

Polytheism is still a religion.

 

It isn't. No polytheistic (is it a word?) society had a name for it. They didn't say "we are X", as they say now "we are christians" for example. There just were some gods doing stuff. There was no dogma, no official church.

[wahmann1]

 

 

Big big difference from how religion works.

Polytheism is still a religion.

 

It isn't. No polytheistic (is it a word?) society had a name for it. They didn't say "we are X", as they say now "we are christians" for example. There just were some gods doing stuff. There was no dogma, no official church.

 

From Wikipedia:  There is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.^[1][2] It may be defined as a cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, world views, texts, sanctified places, prophesies, ethics, or organizations, that relate humanity to the supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual.

 

Now, back to the game!

[omgFIREBALLS]

What are we glad has gone forever?

Waiting around to detect traps and secrets because in AD&D games it's a pulsing check whereas PoE just does it all the time, and at a greater radius if in search mode. Traps are more of an annoyance on my 50th rerun of BG2, even though I know where they will be, than they were the first time I played either White March expansion.

[wahmann1]

I know this isn't coming back because they were intentionally excluded, but random encounters: I love them. For deadfire, assuming you don't turn off random encounters in expert mode, you are just walking along and suddenly a random encounter screen pops up. If you aren't stealthy, the monsters already know you are there (and if you aren't perceptive, FINALLY the monsters get an alpha strike from stealth--the poor things never get to do that), but if you are stealthy, you can fight, steal, or leave as you wish. Or a random monster takes up residence in an area you previously cleared.

[IndiraLightfoot]

This discussion could have had a bit more repercussion (if at all) if made earlier, but nevermind that, I'm up for playing. So here's a couple that come to mind...

 

1. More sidequests with long and complex story arcs

So, to my mind if there is one aspect where Baldur's Gate II clearly succeeds over any of its peers, Pillars included, is with regards to the quest design from a sheer narrative standpoint. Whether you look at the Cult of the Eyeless, Firkraag's offer, the Planar Sphere, the Deaths in the Umar Hills and several more, all of these have complex stories that could well have been the main plot to a whole other new game instead, with several plot points and twists and conflicts present, and often resulting in interesting repercussions that could very well be a quest or task or adventure all of their own (unlocking strongholds, having to tie loose ends and so on). The sheer depth to these quests is what I feel any game aiming to reach Baldur's Gate II's heights will have to aim for sooner or later, and whilst Pillars was certainly not lacking in content, there's very few quests that came anywhere close to this level of depth or complexity (one could think of Raedric or the Skaenite cult for example, but even these are in my opinion a fair bit more linear and straight-forward than the likes of the Cult of the Eyeless for example - arguably the most complex and intriguing one is DLC content, being that of the murder at the mines) - personally I would like to see a greater focus in quests like these, as well as possible other quests and content that might result from the resolution of the same (for example, having to deal with Raedric a second time in the first game).

 

2. Beefy hidden content

Whilst the first Pillars does seem to try and add some 'secret' content here or there to, say, reward the more attentive and exhaustive players, I still find that most of the content in the game is fairly easy to find. In contrast I find it very interesting how Planescape: Torment would go to such extremes so as to make whole areas and *companions* available only by the most obscure side-content, interactions and associations. So with the Modron Cube, for example, you never actually got a prompt to buy it or what to do with it at all - the player would originally have to buy it out of sheer curiosity, and bring it to the actual modrons only by associating that one looked like the other. This wasn't marked as a quest in any way within the journal. But possibly one of the most interesting interactions too is the means through which you arrive to Xachariah, where you need to have learned about Dak'kon's past, about the "four" that walked your path, but then also having to piece together through intuition that if Dak'kon were to act as an intermediary for Fell's words then he too might react in some fashion to the mention of the "four", thus proving him to be one of the same; then you'd also have to be attentive enough to figure out that you can use your Stories-Bones-Tell ability (if acquired - which one could have easily missed as well) on the undead at the Mortuary as well... And only through getting all these pieces together do you finally get the chance to talk to this former companion of yours and unlock another facet of your history and so on. Whilst I think that maybe a few of these 'secrets' in Torment were more the byproduct of a fairly poorly implemented journal, and perhaps it took these same to a bit of an extreme, I still wouldn't mind seeing more beefy hard to reach content in Deadfire myself, either in the shape of some larger quest or even the likes of a Twisted Rune-type encounter for example. Which, given how the game is promising uncharted islands and a more semi-open-world exploration mechanic through sailing, I suppose could well be the case in this game.

 

3. DEATH TO SUPPRESSION

God, are there few things that irk me in Pillars so much as suppression in items. I get it that this was present in 3/3.5ed D&D games like Icewind Dale II and the Neverwinter Nights saga and maybe it makes for better balance but it feels ****ing *wrong* all over. It turns itemization into a ****ing chore, it makes it so that items can be very easily made obsolete not just by those of their very own type/slot, but those of *any other* type/slot as well, and also makes it so that a normally very good or great item suddenly becomes very disappointing, because they could well not mean a thing since this +3 might bonus is overridden by this *other* +3 might bonus. It just sucks, it feels terrible in every way, and I'm glad that Josh has already "confirmed" that they're removing suppression for this game in one of the Q&As (I'm still not sure if they actually have done so or not).

 

These, I guess, are three points that come to mind. Maybe a few others will later on, and if so I'll look into expanding this list. But here's three things I hope to see addressed with Deadfire. The first particularly, since I really feel that that's where the most relevant progress can be made from the original onto a sequel.

I love you! Points that I wish I'd made, served up as the tantalizing art of explaining something well.

 

And doors! Back in the Poe1 beta, I complained about not even being able to hit the hit box for opening huge openings like caves, as it was just some tiny circle. Most of those area transition problems still remain today.

Edited March 14, 2018 by IndiraLightfoot

[JerekKruger]

I hope they drop the crafting system and instead give out more unique weapons although I know it is hard to swap out a weapon that you carried for a long time.

 

They're changing it in a way I think you'll like. You will now be limited in how far you can enchant and item and what enchantments you can apply to a given item. As it was described quality enchantments (Fine, Exceptional, Superb, Legendary) can only increased by one tier, so a Fine item will never become Superb. Also you won't be able to stick elemental lashes on any weapon, instead they'll be tied to weapons that have them innately and you'll be able to upgrade them.

[algroth]

I love you! Points that I wish I'd made, served up as the tantalizing art of explaining something well.

 

 

And doors! Back in the Poe1 beta, I complained about not even being able to hit the hit box for opening huge openings like caves, as it was just some tiny circle. Most of those area transition problems still remain today.

 

 

Aw, Indira, you're making me blush!

 

With regards to exits/entrances, I don't recall having much of a problem with the doors as much, but I did have plenty of problems with the icons you mention for exiting world maps. It was very annoying how, quite often, the the icon would move *away* from the cursor when trying to click it, which was especially prominent whenever your UI was in the way of things. It's a minor problem for me, but I agree that it'd be nice to just make the edge or threshold clickable itself so as to access it, as it would probably aid in avoiding these issues.

Edited March 14, 2018 by algroth

[IndiraLightfoot]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that those icons were something of the UI equivalents of phase beasts.

[rjshae]

I don't know how practical it is to have enhanced ammo types, but how about enhanced camping supplies that provide an "unlimited" enhanced ammo stock? I.e. somewhat equivalent to special benefits from resting in specific locations, but applied to a consumable camping supply. You get a similar bonus on arrows, bolts, bullets, and so forth; it's something extra you purchased from a supplier for a special campaign need.

[JerekKruger]

This discussion could have had a bit more repercussion (if at all) if made earlier, but nevermind that, I'm up for playing. So here's a couple that come to mind...

 

1. More sidequests with long and complex story arcs

So, to my mind if there is one aspect where Baldur's Gate II clearly succeeds over any of its peers, Pillars included, is with regards to the quest design from a sheer narrative standpoint. Whether you look at the Cult of the Eyeless, Firkraag's offer, the Planar Sphere, the Deaths in the Umar Hills and several more, all of these have complex stories that could well have been the main plot to a whole other new game instead, with several plot points and twists and conflicts present, and often resulting in interesting repercussions that could very well be a quest or task or adventure all of their own (unlocking strongholds, having to tie loose ends and so on). The sheer depth to these quests is what I feel any game aiming to reach Baldur's Gate II's heights will have to aim for sooner or later, and whilst Pillars was certainly not lacking in content, there's very few quests that came anywhere close to this level of depth or complexity (one could think of Raedric or the Skaenite cult for example, but even these are in my opinion a fair bit more linear and straight-forward than the likes of the Cult of the Eyeless for example - arguably the most complex and intriguing one is DLC content, being that of the murder at the mines) - personally I would like to see a greater focus in quests like these, as well as possible other quests and content that might result from the resolution of the same (for example, having to deal with Raedric a second time in the first game).

 

2. Beefy hidden content

Whilst the first Pillars does seem to try and add some 'secret' content here or there to, say, reward the more attentive and exhaustive players, I still find that most of the content in the game is fairly easy to find. In contrast I find it very interesting how Planescape: Torment would go to such extremes so as to make whole areas and *companions* available only by the most obscure side-content, interactions and associations. So with the Modron Cube, for example, you never actually got a prompt to buy it or what to do with it at all - the player would originally have to buy it out of sheer curiosity, and bring it to the actual modrons only by associating that one looked like the other. This wasn't marked as a quest in any way within the journal. But possibly one of the most interesting interactions too is the means through which you arrive to Xachariah, where you need to have learned about Dak'kon's past, about the "four" that walked your path, but then also having to piece together through intuition that if Dak'kon were to act as an intermediary for Fell's words then he too might react in some fashion to the mention of the "four", thus proving him to be one of the same; then you'd also have to be attentive enough to figure out that you can use your Stories-Bones-Tell ability (if acquired - which one could have easily missed as well) on the undead at the Mortuary as well... And only through getting all these pieces together do you finally get the chance to talk to this former companion of yours and unlock another facet of your history and so on. Whilst I think that maybe a few of these 'secrets' in Torment were more the byproduct of a fairly poorly implemented journal, and perhaps it took these same to a bit of an extreme, I still wouldn't mind seeing more beefy hard to reach content in Deadfire myself, either in the shape of some larger quest or even the likes of a Twisted Rune-type encounter for example. Which, given how the game is promising uncharted islands and a more semi-open-world exploration mechanic through sailing, I suppose could well be the case in this game.

 

3. DEATH TO SUPPRESSION

God, are there few things that irk me in Pillars so much as suppression in items. I get it that this was present in 3/3.5ed D&D games like Icewind Dale II and the Neverwinter Nights saga and maybe it makes for better balance but it feels ****ing *wrong* all over. It turns itemization into a ****ing chore, it makes it so that items can be very easily made obsolete not just by those of their very own type/slot, but those of *any other* type/slot as well, and also makes it so that a normally very good or great item suddenly becomes very disappointing, because they could well not mean a thing since this +3 might bonus is overridden by this *other* +3 might bonus. It just sucks, it feels terrible in every way, and I'm glad that Josh has already "confirmed" that they're removing suppression for this game in one of the Q&As (I'm still not sure if they actually have done so or not).

 

These, I guess, are three points that come to mind. Maybe a few others will later on, and if so I'll look into expanding this list. But here's three things I hope to see addressed with Deadfire. The first particularly, since I really feel that that's where the most relevant progress can be made from the original onto a sequel.

 

Excellent suggestions.

 

Regarding 3, I think they're going somewhat in this direction by limiting which gear slots given attribute bonuses can appear on. For example, Might might only appear on gloves and hence there won't be suppression since there'd be no way to suppress it.

 

Not sure how it'll end up being implemented, and I don't think suppression is being removed, but hopefully you'll like it more than Pillars.

[Celeras]

I'd like for companions to have more of a role in the main story than they did in Pillars. They all had their own side quests but for the most part, it felt like they were all just along for the ride instead of actually having a stake in the outcome of events.

[VincentNZ]

 

I hope they drop the crafting system and instead give out more unique weapons although I know it is hard to swap out a weapon that you carried for a long time.

 

They're changing it in a way I think you'll like. You will now be limited in how far you can enchant and item and what enchantments you can apply to a given item. As it was described quality enchantments (Fine, Exceptional, Superb, Legendary) can only increased by one tier, so a Fine item will never become Superb. Also you won't be able to stick elemental lashes on any weapon, instead they'll be tied to weapons that have them innately and you'll be able to upgrade them.

 

Yeah that does make sense to me. I certainly like to know what I have in an item once I loot it and when I can drop it again. I also read that there will be a mid-tier and a high-tier weapon for every class, but I am not so sure what I think about that. I did like that there weren't many Katanas in BG2 and that this limited the effectiveness of certain proficiencies. I recall that there was a specific Katana +2 that also gave extra spells so that it really worked with that Kensai/Mage combination so that was something cool to build up to.

If there is a set number of high and mid-tier weapons so that everything is rather evenly distributed you lose a lot of story for these items as well, if you get my drift.

 

But yeah one can always find something to bicker about. I do want to have cool and effective weapons that are unique in certain ways and can be used individually.

[Mannock]

I recall that there was a specific Katana +2 that also gave extra spells so that it really worked with that Kensai/Mage combination so that was something cool to build up to.

Dak'kon's Zerth blade.

 

And yes, it paired well with Celestial fury, when you dual wielded katanas as a kensai/mage.

[Mannock]

This discussion could have had a bit more repercussion (if at all) if made earlier, but nevermind that, I'm up for playing. So here's a couple that come to mind...

 

1. More sidequests with long and complex story arcs

So, to my mind if there is one aspect where Baldur's Gate II clearly succeeds over any of its peers, Pillars included, is with regards to the quest design from a sheer narrative standpoint. Whether you look at the Cult of the Eyeless, Firkraag's offer, the Planar Sphere, the Deaths in the Umar Hills and several more, all of these have complex stories that could well have been the main plot to a whole other new game instead, with several plot points and twists and conflicts present, and often resulting in interesting repercussions that could very well be a quest or task or adventure all of their own (unlocking strongholds, having to tie loose ends and so on). The sheer depth to these quests is what I feel any game aiming to reach Baldur's Gate II's heights will have to aim for sooner or later, and whilst Pillars was certainly not lacking in content, there's very few quests that came anywhere close to this level of depth or complexity (one could think of Raedric or the Skaenite cult for example, but even these are in my opinion a fair bit more linear and straight-forward than the likes of the Cult of the Eyeless for example - arguably the most complex and intriguing one is DLC content, being that of the murder at the mines) - personally I would like to see a greater focus in quests like these, as well as possible other quests and content that might result from the resolution of the same (for example, having to deal with Raedric a second time in the first game).

 

2. Beefy hidden content

Whilst the first Pillars does seem to try and add some 'secret' content here or there to, say, reward the more attentive and exhaustive players, I still find that most of the content in the game is fairly easy to find. In contrast I find it very interesting how Planescape: Torment would go to such extremes so as to make whole areas and *companions* available only by the most obscure side-content, interactions and associations. So with the Modron Cube, for example, you never actually got a prompt to buy it or what to do with it at all - the player would originally have to buy it out of sheer curiosity, and bring it to the actual modrons only by associating that one looked like the other. This wasn't marked as a quest in any way within the journal. But possibly one of the most interesting interactions too is the means through which you arrive to Xachariah, where you need to have learned about Dak'kon's past, about the "four" that walked your path, but then also having to piece together through intuition that if Dak'kon were to act as an intermediary for Fell's words then he too might react in some fashion to the mention of the "four", thus proving him to be one of the same; then you'd also have to be attentive enough to figure out that you can use your Stories-Bones-Tell ability (if acquired - which one could have easily missed as well) on the undead at the Mortuary as well... And only through getting all these pieces together do you finally get the chance to talk to this former companion of yours and unlock another facet of your history and so on. Whilst I think that maybe a few of these 'secrets' in Torment were more the byproduct of a fairly poorly implemented journal, and perhaps it took these same to a bit of an extreme, I still wouldn't mind seeing more beefy hard to reach content in Deadfire myself, either in the shape of some larger quest or even the likes of a Twisted Rune-type encounter for example. Which, given how the game is promising uncharted islands and a more semi-open-world exploration mechanic through sailing, I suppose could well be the case in this game.

 

3. DEATH TO SUPPRESSION

God, are there few things that irk me in Pillars so much as suppression in items. I get it that this was present in 3/3.5ed D&D games like Icewind Dale II and the Neverwinter Nights saga and maybe it makes for better balance but it feels ****ing *wrong* all over. It turns itemization into a ****ing chore, it makes it so that items can be very easily made obsolete not just by those of their very own type/slot, but those of *any other* type/slot as well, and also makes it so that a normally very good or great item suddenly becomes very disappointing, because they could well not mean a thing since this +3 might bonus is overridden by this *other* +3 might bonus. It just sucks, it feels terrible in every way, and I'm glad that Josh has already "confirmed" that they're removing suppression for this game in one of the Q&As (I'm still not sure if they actually have done so or not).

 

These, I guess, are three points that come to mind. Maybe a few others will later on, and if so I'll look into expanding this list. But here's three things I hope to see addressed with Deadfire. The first particularly, since I really feel that that's where the most relevant progress can be made from the original onto a sequel.

Couldn't agree more. This is so spot on.

[Messier-31]

• Limiting text is a bad idea.  Sometimes dialogue could have been more concise, but there were plenty of short conversations in there too.  BG II definitely didn't limit dialogue to one to two lines between characters anyways.  Jan in particular could go on and on.

 

You misunderstood. OP has nothing against long dialogue, but would rather see less sentences in one "box". It means he wants to have long dialogues as they come, but with more "Continue" clicking, so the big wall of text is spreaded out.

[VincentNZ]

 

I recall that there was a specific Katana +2 that also gave extra spells so that it really worked with that Kensai/Mage combination so that was something cool to build up to.

Dak'kon's Zerth blade.

 

And yes, it paired well with Celestial fury, when you dual wielded katanas as a kensai/mage.

 

Yeah and it is a crazily special item. For most other classes it is rather useless or unavailable, but it something worth skilling for. I like these niche weapons, or weapons that have a history and are restricted to being good/evil/neutral. I would like to see similar stuff in PoE.

[Wormerine]

A modern classic, Pillars of Eternity. ;-)

 

Started it up yesterday, just to look at the new portraits, and I was blown away by UI design in general - from main menu, loading screen and overall look of the interface.

 

While I like the change of the style to reflect the new setting I hope that what we have seen of Deadfire is work in progress and that it will get an extra pass or two before the release. I am mostly talking about asthetic side of it, between black loading screen and some leftover menus it feels less “premium”.

[algroth]

 

Regarding 3, I think they're going somewhat in this direction by limiting which gear slots given attribute bonuses can appear on. For example, Might might only appear on gloves and hence there won't be suppression since there'd be no way to suppress it.

 

Not sure how it'll end up being implemented, and I don't think suppression is being removed, but hopefully you'll like it more than Pillars.

 

 

So here's what I could find from Josh on the matter, from one of the earliest Q&As for Deadfire (and the reason to why I'm not sure it still applies):

 

 

 

So, on equipment we don't do suppression anymore. What we do instead is: stats only get benefits from certain slots. You might find boots that give a dex bonus, you might find gloves that give a dex bonus, but you're never going to find anything in a belt slot, a head slot, a neck slot that gives a dex bonus. They'll all add together, but you're never going to find more than two slots worth of items.

Active ability stacking, that will still be a thing, but that's usually much easier to figure out what's going on. If you cast two spells only the most powerful active effect on a certain stat will apply.

 

(Source: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/120695299?t=58m02s )

 

So suppression is still a thing for consumables and abilities, which I think is fine, but not for items. The above is pretty much what I'd love to see, since it removes the burden from the player to have to sort out their items so that they do not come in conflict with one another whilst finding a rather simple and unobtrusive way of keeping bonuses balances or not permitting the player to stack attributes in excess. After all you can't wear boots on top of boots for example, you have to choose and that choice feels a lot easier to grasp and work with than having to measure a certain item against the rest of your inventory on top of it. It also makes minor items relevant again, since hey, those gloves of +1 dexterity are suddenly not made worthless by those sandals of +4 dexterity, to give an example, and maybe that's just what you need for your build.

[Tattyblue]

Restrictive inventory and stockpiling ammo for ranged weapons not only sounds dull, but also a shadow nerf to any one want to play as a ranger specifically or a ranged character in general.  I do like the idea of being able to craft or buy specialized arrows that do more damage or different damage than piercing.  As for classic games and mechanics and I know its way to late for the game but for a DLC, the game arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura blended old time technology amazingly well and it reminds me of the Glanfathian technology. Maybe some sort of DLC in which you could get deeper into the old time technology, would come in handy with metaphysics.

[Boeroer]

It was said by Josh that the Glanfathans weren't technologically advanced nor did they have better animancy skill in genereral. They just excelled at one particular field of animancy, and that was the translation and transformation of essence on a grand scale. Read this some days ago on either Twitter, Something Awful or Tumblr - can't remember where.

 

So it might be that we won't see any old but advanced Glanfathan technology other than the known machines that transform or transport souls.

 

But Eora is big - who knows what some forgotten ruin in a remote part of the world might contain? It is good that the whole lore of Eora is still underreported - more room for cool new stuff...  

[JerekKruger]

You guys mean Engwithins

 

Regarding specialised arrows, I'd prefer then to be abilities or modals. Ammo management is not something that appeals to me these days.

Edited March 16, 2018 by JerekKruger