Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity [BETA RELEASED, GO TO THE NEW THREAD]

[Sensuki]

Can anyone enhance the text on this?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Thanks Josh?

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah I can make out Big Head Mode (with a Thanks Josh down the bottom), Gibs, perhaps Point Lighting and something to do with backgrounds.

 

[Sensuki]

Here is a screencap of Brandon loading an area. There are 34 areas on this pane, followed by another 4 & 1/2 panes. The scrolling down is consistent with this.

4 x 34 = 136 + (34/2 = 17) = ~153 areas

 

[undecaf]

It's really a minor thing, but I'm interested after seeing the wolves staticly waiting for the player to arrive the same way in all the presentation videos. Has there been any word how dynamic the maps and their relative NPC's and wildlife will be; eg. is it possible to run across some random shit like two wolves fighting a bear, or some road agents harassing a band of local "indians", or other things like that?

 

[Sensuki]

There will be some AI patrolling as far as we know. I think the wolves should have possibly engaged the party on sight.

 

[Kem0sabe]

One of the biggest issue with IE type games is how the fog of war works against having enemy patrols and other types of roaming enemies. Mobs simply "pop-up" from the fog when you have line of sight, i would prefer the tradeoff of not having such an extensive fog of war and have more mobile mobs.

 

[sbb]

Slider says Bathtub

 

[Sensuki]

IDK why the arrow speeds are still so slow in the game. I doubled them a while back but maybe my changes got reverted. In any case, they won't stay that slow.

 

[Dorateen]

Crackerjack programming.

 

[Sensuki]

Josh answered a question of mine (indirectly) on the OE forums about how Melee Engagement interacts with chasing down an enemy:

The exception to the "not moving" rule is when the character is moving but currently targeting someone with a melee attack. In those cases, the pursuer will Engage as soon as they get within range of the target.

A character will always stop moving when they are Engaged unless they are a barbarian with Wild Sprint activated. In those cases, the barbarian does not stop moving but will immediately take a Disengagement Attack from anyone they pass who tries to Engage them.

So they are engaged if you manage to catch them.

 

[Mangoose]

Josh answered a question of mine (indirectly) on the OE forums about how Melee Engagement interacts with chasing down an enemy:

The exception to the "not moving" rule is when the character is moving but currently targeting someone with a melee attack. In those cases, the pursuer will Engage as soon as they get within range of the target.

A character will always stop moving when they are Engaged unless they are a barbarian with Wild Sprint activated. In those cases, the barbarian does not stop moving but will immediately take a Disengagement Attack from anyone they pass who tries to Engage them.

So they are engaged if you manage to catch them.

That was me

Actually I was asking if it happened both ways - if an enemy is chasing me down and manages to Engage me, will my character stop moving? The answer is yes.

 

[Sensuki]

I've asked that question like twice before in other threads, which is why I said indirectly.

 

[tuluse]

Josh answered a question of mine (indirectly) on the OE forums about how Melee Engagement interacts with chasing down an enemy:

The exception to the "not moving" rule is when the character is moving but currently targeting someone with a melee attack. In those cases, the pursuer will Engage as soon as they get within range of the target.

A character will always stop moving when they are Engaged unless they are a barbarian with Wild Sprint activated. In those cases, the barbarian does not stop moving but will immediately take a Disengagement Attack from anyone they pass who tries to Engage them.

So they are engaged if you manage to catch them.

That was me

Actually I was asking if it happened both ways - if an enemy is chasing me down and manages to Engage me, will my character stop moving? The answer is yes.

How is this news? Two characters reach engagement range and they engage.

 

[Mangoose]

I've asked that question like twice before in other threads, which is why I said indirectly.

But he answered me directly

How is this news? Two characters reach engagement range and they engage.

It was never clear that Engagement stops movement. Prior to this (1) it was only stated that Disengagement Attacks stop movement momentarily, and (2) examples only talked about player characters Engaging pursuing enemy AI and then the enemy would stop moving, so it wasn't clear to me whether this was just an AI decision to stop moving or that Engagement stopped movement in all cases as a general mechanic.

 

[Sensuki]

The news is that we did not previously know if engagement triggered when a chasing character was still moving to catch a unit running away.

 

[Mangoose]

The news is that we did not previously know if engagement triggered when a chasing character was still moving to catch a unit running away.

He did, in May (http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66155-attack-speed/?p=1446506), which what led me to ask for clarification if it happened vice versa.

But moot point, we both got our answers

 

[tuluse]

It was never clear that Engagement stops movement.

I think we've known this for a while.

The news is that we did not previously know if engagement triggered when a chasing character was still moving to catch a unit running away.

Unless you mean some kind of moral system should prevent this, I don't see why moving units would change anything.

 

[Sensuki]

Unless you mean some kind of moral system should prevent this, I don't see why moving units would change anything.

In Update 44 it said something about engagement only working if the attacker was not moving, which is why we were asking (out of common sense).

 

[Mangoose]

It was never clear that Engagement stops movement.

I think we've known this for a while.

The news is that we did not previously know if engagement triggered when a chasing character was still moving to catch a unit running away.

Unless you mean some kind of moral system should prevent this, I don't see why moving units would change anything.

Does it matter how or when or why we knew this already or we didn't know this already or whatever? Talk about a meaningless, pedantic discussion.

I even admitted in the last post to Sensuki that this is moot, because we care how the mechanics work, not about who was right or wrong or whatever.

I really don't understand why people make discussions into winning or losing a fight. Relax, and try to focus on discussion that leads to new insights and answers.

 

[Sensuki]

http://www.pcgamesn.com/pillars-ete...e-dream-game-people-who-infinity-engine-games

This journalist apparently actually got to play the PE demo, regardless his write up is pretty good and more or less confirms that animancy is in fact, the main theme of the game.

Here's some info on the Baldur's Gate EE forums from Liam Esler about mod tools

LiamEsler said:
@Archaos I'm not sure that's still accurate. That interview was from late last year - a lot has changed in that time. I could be wrong, but - for example - I don't think weapons will be externalized (I implemented almost all of them myself).

Everything is moddable to an extent, of course, but Unity isn't great with mods.

Unity stores most of it's game files inside compressed Unity asset files. Currently there is no program that can reverse engineer the files to get at what's inside.

 

[Rake]

The chanter acts as Pillars’ primary summoner class

Cool, i didn't knew that

Naturally, Obsidian are also giving you the chance to dabble in this animancy business yourself. Depending on the character, some of your companions will lead you down quests where you can dissect and alter their souls, or the souls of people they know. Changing the demeanor, abilities, and perspective.

 

[Mangoose]

Chanter mechanics sound interesting:

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Chant

Chants are modal activated abilities, combinations of player assembled phrases that plays out over time. Chanters always have one chant selected, they are modal and exclusive to each other. They will always start chanting as soon as combat begins and always stop chanting as soon as combat ends. Chants can include repeated phrases and affect a large area.[1][2]

Chanters link together individual short phrases from different legends to create longer chants. The phrases have distinctive, thematically-appropriate effects that are low power long range buffs and debuffs but can be applied while the chanter is engaged in other combat activities. As one phrase ends and another begins, the effects of the first phrase will linger, allowing multiple phrases to overlap with each other. Through the clever overlapping of phrases, chanters can grant their allies a sizable stack of minor bonuses. Phrases are not individual words or ideas like "protect" or "fire".They encompass a complete idea that is passively expressed as a magical effect in the area surrounding the chanter. Chanters learn some phrases as they advance and can find additional phrases in the world.[3][4]

Chanters have a chant interface that allows you to place in all of your phrases to see how they will overlap/twist. When you pick a chant (which is a set of phrases you put together), you just click on it and it will automatically take effect when combat starts.[5]

And then once you have Chanted for a long enough time, you can cast an Invocation:

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Invocation

Invocations are spell used by the chanters. Invocations are powerful, but the intervals between using them are long—and they can never be used at the start of a fight.[1] With each phrase that passes, chanters gain greater control over the spirits assisting them. When enough control is gained, chanters can direct them to perform a single powerful spell called an invocation. Invocations are often support-oriented, but some contain powerful offensive effects. Invocations are so powerful that they disrupt a chanter's chants, disabling their effects for several seconds until the chanter can recover.

 

[Infinitron]

Unity stores most of it's game files inside compressed Unity asset files. Currently there is no program that can reverse engineer the files to get at what's inside.

This is false. Check out some of my posts in the Avatars thread in Site Feedback.

There are actually two Unity asset extractors that I'm aware of.

 

[Sensuki]

oh yeah?