Can I trust Obsidian with PoE:Deadfire?

[fireflame]

Hello, I am making this thread because of my personal experience with PoE and also because of things I have been reading lastly.

 

I played all fallout games but 4, and all Baldur's Gate Games, as well as Planescape Torment, so I like CRPGS.

 

I enjoyed PoE overall, even though some elements of the gameplay frustrated me, like having to relya lot on tanking mechanic and not being able to pre-buff before fight.

 

Two things however make me hesitate.

 

I reported that Maneha and Zahua hads bugged conversartionsrealted to the Eyeless Quests, as both of them always side with you(Maneha) or with the Eyeless(Zahua) regardless of the choices you make. As there was no offocial solution from staff, I had to play again and go to that point and bring Maneha with me after making sure she decided to wipe her memories, so that the conversation with the Eyeless would be logic. But that means that to this day, anyone who wants to temper the Eyelessmemories is A=forced to bring Maneha because Zahua wont use his scripted answer where he sides with you.B=Bring Zahua but manually edit the script files because otherwse he will be stubborn. No need to say I tried all possible combinations during Zahua quests to see if this would bring him to change his mind.I waited for months, sent emails to staff,tried twitter, contacted CMs, but no solution has been found yet.

 

The second element making me hesitate is the Avellone incident. I am not sure about who is right,wrong, or if responsibilities are shared like in a divorce.But I would like to be sure that the alledged issues Obsidian has will not impact the quality of upcoming games in close and distant future.

[algroth]

Trusting Obsidian is really your own prerogative. From what we know from regards to bug-squashing, they've taken an extra month to resolve several bugs and generally iron out the game before release, and from what I've seen in the streams things seem to be alright on that front (I would suggest that, if you don't mind spoilers and are feeling a little on the fence about all this, go ahead and check out some of the recent streams for the game as they might give you a better idea of what to expect). With regards to the MCA thing, there's another thread covering that already which you ought to check out if these allegations and so on bother you, and whatever happened happened before the development of Deadfire (if I'm not mistaken he left whilst the expansions were being developed) so it should have had no real impact on the game (beyond relying on one less, admittedly great, writer).

[Hurlshort]

Well, the bug issue is a legitimate concern, because odds are decent that a game of this size and scale will have bugs, and you may end up affected, and they might not even get fixed. That being said, if you enjoyed PoE regardless of the bugs, it's a pretty safe bet that you will enjoy Deadfire. 

 

As for the MCA issue, it seems to be a rather silly reason to not buy the game, unless you think the lack of his writing will really bring down the quality. You aren't buying a share of the company, you are just buying a product from them. The inner workings of their business practices might be worth boycotting if they were using child labor or something else more villainous, but this is hardly that. A messy divorce is a good comparison, and I don't see how it is any of my business unless I am an employee of the company. 

[HoonDing]

you really can't

[Wormerine]

Curious: Are Maneha and Zahua bugged (as if the other conversation never triggers) or is it simply impossible to influence their stance on the subject? 

[Gromnir]

of the game you reference, fo1, fo2, bg1 and ps:t were all extreme buggy at release.  you enjoyed poe, and it were buggy as well, though only prohibitive so for rogues. based 'pon history, is no reason to expect poe2 will be far more stable than poe1... though you say you enjoyed poe1.

 

if you haven't yet purchased, then our advice is same for deadfire as any new release: wait six months.  you will get a much more stable product and it will likely be a bit encheapened after two quarters.

 

as to chrisA story...

 

 

got a one-sided narrative made available years after the events which is in question took place, and posted at a fan site a week before obsidian's newest release, with the only obsidian folks, past or present, speaking 'bout the matters in question is not speaking in support o' chrisA.

 

doubting thomas gets a bad rap. personal, we would want a bit more than chrisA unsubstantiated claims to be throwing obsidian under the bus. 'course Gromnir has criticized obsidian business choices for years, but we never saw malice in their mistakes.  still, questionable business acumen is hardly the reason we would forgo an obsidian game purchase.  would need real proof of ill intent, and we sure ain't seen such as yet.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Valmy]

Well it is their intellectual property so it is not like you can appoint somebody else to make it.

 

I can tell you nothing beyond the fact that past performance is an indicator of future results...as far as the game stuff goes. I have said all I am going to say about the 'drama'.

[Tuckey]

If you like how the games are at present then you will probably continue to like Pillars 2.

 

If however you want the quality of those games to improve then I would suggest waiting for management reform at Obsidian before buying another. The issues Obsidian have with their products have been consistently the same since their founding which I consider to be buggy releases and over-promising and under delivering. I would expect this pattern to continue until management reform occurs.

[fireflame]

Curious: Are Maneha and Zahua bugged (as if the other conversation never triggers) or is it simply impossible to influence their stance on the subject? 

The conversaion never triggers but looking at the files the lines of the conversation where they change their mind do exist.I manually changed some values and it did trigger the conversations where they do change their minds, both for maneha and Zahua.Maneha should disagree with you if you do not wipe her memory, and Zahua should agree with you if you convince him that his legacy is not  a positive one:""This burden of memory is not an ill one. It has made Zahua the warrior he is, and he will pass it on to those he teaches." If Zahua has a negative eperception of his legacy.:""Memory has been only a snare for me. It was a distraction that kept my soul from freedom.""otherwise:""For all their history and teachings, the Tacan were not strong enough to survive. It does them no honor to pass on their weakness. To repeat their failings."</DefaultText>"

 

All the players I asked to were never able to have Zahua side with them, or Maneha NOT side with them.

 

Regarding Maneha, here is what she says if she does not side with you(if you did not let her go into the pool).

 

"DefaultText>"Believe me, I wanted to let it go. But that would've been spitting in the faces of the people I wronged." She shrugs, but even so, she looks pained.</DefaultText>"

 

As far as i Can tell no one was ever able to get those lines without editing files.and yet thos elinesappear, they can be triggered.

 

To read thos elines, just go here; E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data_expansion2\localized\en\text\conversations\px2_04_eyeless_stronghold

Edited May 7, 2018 by fireflame

[DragonWiz]

It does make one quite suspicious doesn't it. Honestly, I would rather instead wait, then read up on reviews; before considering to purchase one of their products. Unless of course they seriously reform their management. Or leave management out of the equation, and instead leave the devs to do their own job, without management interference. 

[Gromnir]

It does make one quite suspicious doesn't it. Honestly, I would rather instead wait, then read up on reviews; before considering to purchase one of their products. Unless of course they seriously reform their management. Or leave management out of the equation, and instead leave the devs to do their own job, without management interference. 

 

 

now that were funny.  thanks.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

[DragonWiz]

 

It does make one quite suspicious doesn't it. Honestly, I would rather instead wait, then read up on reviews; before considering to purchase one of their products. Unless of course they seriously reform their management. Or leave management out of the equation, and instead leave the devs to do their own job, without management interference. 

 

 

now that were funny.  thanks.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

I'm glad I made you laugh  

[VitaminK]

PoE launched buggy but in the end made huge leaps in getting it up to snuff. PoE2 has had extra time to do that.

 

I do not understand why C.A. is getting so much attention over something that seems pretty normal as far as businesses go. Yes it is not very pleasant but he has further said his anger was not towards the devs Obsidian but upper management.

[SonicMage117]

Well, the game has officially launched and as we feared, it's filled with bugs and technically challenged but the game is beautiful and the storytelling is great as was also expected.

 

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game, should you trust them? Like anything else, it's a gamble. It seems that people tend to put their trust into a company, sometime even after they get burned badly they still tend to go back because of nostalgia and try to block the bad experience out of their mind.

 

So it's up to you really, not sure if any of us can really give you a solid answer except for the generic "Follow your heart".

[DragonWiz]

Game launched, and it is buggy. However, the game is still enjoyable. 

[physicalist]

 

 

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game

On the contrary, it seems the extra time was needed. Besides, I didn't see a really bad bug yet.

[cofoghlu]

 

 

 

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game

On the contrary, it seems the extra time was needed. Besides, I didn't see a really bad bug yet.

 

If you're playing on a Mac, however, it's quite likely that you can't get to character creation right now. Pretty bad bug IMHO. Lots of repeated walks down the memory road and then a blank screen. Let's hope Tuesday patch might help!

[Ganrich]

 

 

 

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game

On the contrary, it seems the extra time was needed. Besides, I didn't see a really bad bug yet.

 

 

I've had a few crashes, game chugs in the city (especially when it rains), I've had my Companions acting like their AI is on and it isn't (using spells I didn't tell them to cast when I've turn off their AI), I respecced my Chanter and lost a level 1 talent selection (So, I don't think I would recommend respeccing Chanter), etc.

 

Nothing major, really.  Nothing I can't live with anyway.  Game runs mostly smooth, it's fun, it has pretty minor bugs, and my only real complaint is that it is too easy (but that I can understand).  Anyway, I have no buyer's remorse, and I feel it is in a better state than PoE was on launch.  So, it's solid all around. 

[Taevyr]

The save import may be pretty bugged, and there've been a few crashes, but overall the game doesn't seem to have any severe bugs thus far, and i forgot how entertaining it can be when things don't entirely go the way they should yet, so there's that. The extra time was probably needed though.

 

On the actual gameplay: It's way smoother than PoE1, if somewhat easier, and i'm really enjoying it thus far. My favourite moment has to be when i got into ship combat with a ship that obviously outclassed me, then somehow lucked out by hitting their powder storage or something. My crew went from dehydration-induced hatred before to singing sea shanties afterwards.

[SonicMage117]

Seen a few different streamers tonight get frustrated with the game crashing It was a but painful to see but optimistic a patch will fix that in a month or something.

[Fluffle]

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game, should you trust them?

 

You don't see the bugs that were fixed prior to release. You don't have any knowledge at all how many and which bugs were fixed during that extra time.

 

It's more reasonable to assume the game would have had a lot more bugs if it had been released one month earlier than to assume that the one extra month did nothing good at all.

 

You have no way of comparing the state of the game from one month before release to the state of the game right at release.

[SonicMage117]

 

Seems the extra time for bug squashing didn't do any good for the game, should you trust them?

You don't see the bugs that were fixed prior to release. You don't have any knowledge at all how many and which bugs were fixed during that extra time.

 

It's more reasonable to assume the game would have had a lot more bugs if it had been released one month earlier than to assume that the one extra month did nothing good at all.

 

You have no way of comparing the state of the game from one month before release to the state of the game right at release.

Actually I do.

 

Mainly because I was talking about the press build which although wasn't the full build, didn't crash as much pr experience the bugs.

 

Anyhow, there's no denying the game has hundreds of bugs and technical issues, even if a few (and I mean very few) come forward saying they haven't experienced anything bad.

[AlphaShard]

I've only had the one crash so far, been lucky on that. Seems pretty stable though since I was able to get past that part. Don't know if it was something I did or completely random. 

[master guardian]

The major problem at the moment is game difficulty.

 

It is currently just about impossible to die on the hardest difficulty Path of the dammed,

 

The entire game is a walk over and it needs to be fixed ASAP

 

IMO the game is broken in its current state due to this and is unplayable

[AlphaShard]

The major problem at the moment is game difficulty.

 

It is currently just about impossible to die on the hardest difficulty Path of the dammed,

 

The entire game is a walk over and it needs to be fixed ASAP

 

IMO the game is broken in its current state due to this and is unplayable

 

I've died on classical a few times so I don't think it's impossible.