Game News Pillars of Eternity Released

[serch]

Patch is here, reenter steam:kwanzania:

PS: Lol, 1GB

Infinitron

 

[Ninjerk]

I played the game a bit and read the collector's guide and the lore is great for a video game and mostly very well thought out. Anyone who seriously thinks that the setting sucks is a cynical, jaded fuck or has some utterly rose-tinted memories of past RPGs and their settings.

Whatever you think about Josh Sawyer and his design philosophy it is clear the man did put a lot of effort and thought into creating this world and I can appreciate that.

I really like the lore. Feels quite different from other fantasy settings, without getting all edgy and cynical.

Structurally it's fine, some of the implementation leaves something to be desired. Pop on over to the Act 2 thread for details.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I haven't read all the patch notes but it seems like my journal menu is a lot more high-res / sharper. Especially when reading my character history.

Edit: There's now a text size slider in the options.

 

[Shannow]

Edit: There's now a text size slider in the options.

Was there before.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Edit: There's now a text size slider in the options.

Was there before.

Ok. Must have been a bug that didn't set it properly. In the patch notes they talked about improvements to the journal.

 

[zeroprometheus]

Here's a more worthy complaint. Why is a mobile game called the stronghold in an ode to classic rpgs? The whole thing is a money sink for albeit the great quantity of cash you find in the game. The reason gold should be valuabe in an rpg is to buy rare items, skills etc. I remember from the IWD series there would be legendary uber equipment at shops that i'd scrape and save for all through my adventuring. This game has some of that and for some reason tacks on a stronghold in which i must sink tens of thousands of gold to be profitable. I dont even know how im supposed to upkeep hirelings with their daily expenses. Should i just hire them before a bandit attack and then dismiss? I thought all i need to prevent tax theft was a higher security than prestige. Now it seems that i just need to keep both numbers arbitrarly high. This is distravting me from the actual story game especially since i dont get a motification for all events. Not to mention that the bonuses (i only really care for the resting ones) are no where near the monetary investement. . I think I should have just left the stronghold unrepaired from the start. The money i would have save could have purchased much needed potions and rare items. Crafting is still a bit gimmicky because until ive finished the game im not sure at what point i should start investing coin and mats into equipment. So there's someone out there who vied and defended this feature?

 

[set]

The way crafting and strongholds work leave much to be desired but I still enjoy them. I don't expect my stronghold to "Turn a profit" - they maybe break even if you consider the quests you get (taxes are just a tiny amount of income).

The stronghold thing is kind of half baked, but at least you can DO STUFF with it, unlike a certain BioWare game.

 

[set]

Also, I would say that in general, Sawyer's attribute system fails hard. All it does is reward min/maxing.

For tanks, I just get Con/Res/Per, keep Int at 10 and put might/dex at like 3. What do you need those stats for as a tank? Deflection and fortitude basically do nothing anyway. Don't really need attack speed or damage as a tank.
For ranged damage dealers you just dump res/con/int for str/dex/per. Why do rangers need int again? So their debuffs linger around for a while? Since when does hobbled even matter in fights? I can barely get it off before the target's already in my fucking face anyway.

Rangers don't have much use for int, just like rogues/ciphers don't have much use for con (they can't take hits even if you give them 18 con). I guess you can make an argument for dex being pretty good for all classes, but that's about it. Not all classes care much for aoe/buff duration so int is pretty worthless in those cases and if you're spamming debuffs and support you don't necessarily care about strength either...

Also, resolve is a pretty shitty stat.

So yeah, instead of saying, "You can have a dumb wizard" (you can't, really; I mean you can make one but they'll probably be subpar) Sawyer's mechanics say, "All wizards are smart". It's pretty lame, since I was looking forward to stats actually mattering - but PoE has similar problems as DA - two dump stats.

 

[zero29]

 

[Athelas]

Not all classes care much for aoe/buff duration so int is pretty worthless in those cases

Every class has abilities with durations or aoe's, sometimes both.

 

[KreNich]

The first problem with health and endurance, for me at least, is that they are based mainly on the classes. The second one is that the bonus hp/end per point is shit. 3%, really? It should be at least 5 or 6% and the hp/end gain difference between the classes should be tweaked. Fuck 3 Con fighters whos HP/End are still bigger than my 18 Con rogues HP/End.

Resolve should had something like a +/- % negative effect and reversed positive effect duration or a -/+ 2%DR per point.

I dont get why Perception cant have accuracy altering. A -/+ 2 or 3% per point and a little class accuracy tweaking-nerfing and BAM, another useful stat. Everybody is saying that "Oh NO, if Per got acc boosts everybody would maxing it first". This is true if your game has a weapon skill system but in PoE everybody can use everything so why not?
Or if interrupt delays were a little bit higher, like weak->0.5s, average->1s, strong->1.5s, perception would be much better.

Sigh... I hope some basic rule modding will be available in the future.

 

[Tigranes]

Second playthrough, POTD, planning PC Rogue / Aloth / Kana / Pallegina.

Tutorial was a breeze, and then got myself raped by the bandits in the wood (though I came close, actually, if only a level 1 Rogue had any way of raising its deflection...) Didn't do my level up, but still found Alroth was level 2 when I reached him.

 

[mindx2]

Received my Signed Collector's box within a week of the release which is a first for any KS! I'm very impressed with this one compared to any of the other KS boxes or even any recent game period. This one is as Large as the BGII & IDII Collector's Editions and it's almost as large as the Witcher 2 which is the largest Collector's Edition I've seen (besides the Skyrim one but that basically just held a statue and really wasn't a "game box"). Here are a couple of photos showing what was sent (didn't include the t-shirt) as well as a comparison to some other Collector Editions:

The box contents plus the strategy guide which I purchased separately.

The signed part is a slipcase cover that slids over the game box itself. The box opens with a magnetic flap on it's right side and is shaped like a book. The deck of cards and soundtrack were extras I added. The letter explains that the DVD will be sent "soon" and thanking you for your pledge and patience. Some have criticized the cloth map as being too blurry but mine is in pretty readable condition. It's still using cheap materials compared to Ultima maps but overall it's alright and about three times as large as the Neverwinter Nights 2 cloth map which was a joke.

Overall, I'm very impressed with their effort on this one. I feel like I got my money's worth and it feels "old school." Only bad part was the manual should have been spiral bound as it's practically useless when trying to open it as it's so stiff I'd have to bend the pages to read it... and that's NOT happening! So definitely a out of 5 on this one!

Compared to the original BG.

Compared to the Collector's Edition of BGII.

Compared to the Witcher 2 Collector's Edition.

Now onto the actual game....

 

[set]

Not all classes care much for aoe/buff duration so int is pretty worthless in those cases

Every class has abilities with durations or aoe's, sometimes both.

The monk has an attack speed buff - so what if it lasts 30% longer at the cost of 8 attribute points? His aoe move even with 14 int on my monk barely has any aoe.

 

[set]

The first problem with health and endurance, for me at least, is that they are based mainly on the classes. The second one is that the bonus hp/end per point is shit. 3%, really? It should be at least 5 or 6% and the hp/end gain difference between the classes should be tweaked. Fuck 3 Con fighters whos HP/End are still bigger than my 18 Con rogues HP/End.

Resolve should had something like a +/- % negative effect and reversed positive effect duration or a -/+ 2%DR per point.

I dont get why Perception cant have accuracy altering. A -/+ 2 or 3% per point and a little class accuracy tweaking-nerfing and BAM, another useful stat. Everybody is saying that "Oh NO, if Per got acc boosts everybody would maxing it first". This is true if your game has a weapon skill system but in PoE everybody can use everything so why not?
Or if interrupt delays were a little bit higher, like weak->0.5s, average->1s, strong->1.5s, perception would be much better.

Sigh... I hope some basic rule modding will be available in the future.

My biggest gripe with Sawyer's system is there is no accuracy attribute. It's totally class based. So even IF you give your wizard ideal stats for using a broadsword, he's still gonna suck at it. Forget trying to do anything creative with the classes while their health pools and accuracy ratings are gated behind a class modifier.

Basically, why would I ever use a ranger if I want just pure ranged dps? A rogue with a ranged weapon is likely better. Only thing nice about a ranger is the pet.

 

[Athelas]

Not all classes care much for aoe/buff duration so int is pretty worthless in those cases

Every class has abilities with durations or aoe's, sometimes both.

The monk has an attack speed buff - so what if it lasts 30% longer at the cost of 8 attribute points? His aoe move even with 14 int on my monk barely has any aoe.

You are aware you can drop attribute points below 10, right? The difference between a low and high INT character is more than twice as long durations and more than twice as big AoE's. That's pretty significant. One of the monk's earliest ability knocks the enemy down, having a high INT monk is useful because of that ability alone.

My biggest gripe with Sawyer's system is there is no accuracy attribute. It's totally class based. So even IF you give your wizard ideal stats for using a broadsword, he's still gonna suck at it. Forget trying to do anything creative with the classes while their health pools and accuracy ratings are gated behind a class modifier.

Well, accuracy used to be affected by Perception in one of the earlier beta builds - they changed it because it was everyone's go-to stat. Unfortunate, since it would still be an improvement over the current system.

Basically, why would I ever use a ranger if I want just pure ranged dps? A rogue with a ranged weapon is likely better. Only thing nice about a ranger is the pet.

Rangers can achieve higher damage with a ranged weapon.

 

[Roguey]

My biggest gripe with Sawyer's system is there is no accuracy attribute. It's totally class based. So even IF you give your wizard ideal stats for using a broadsword, he's still gonna suck at it. Forget trying to do anything creative with the classes while their health pools and accuracy ratings are gated behind a class modifier.

Basically, why would I ever use a ranger if I want just pure ranged dps? A rogue with a ranged weapon is likely better. Only thing nice about a ranger is the pet.

Wizards don't get to gish it out until they can cast eldritch aim per-encounter (and even then it'd be more worthwhile to use that accuracy buff on spells).

There's also citzal's martial power but that's a level 6 spell and the others on that level are likely better given what few castings you have.

 

[Morkar Left]

Those comments are much appreciated from me. They fill the npcs and the world with life. I wish they had implemented such comments to backer chars, too.

 

[deranged]

So when is the official codex review coming out ?

 

[skyst]

Second playthrough, POTD, planning PC Rogue / Aloth / Kana / Pallegina.

Tutorial was a breeze, and then got myself raped by the bandits in the wood (though I came close, actually, if only a level 1 Rogue had any way of raising its deflection...) Didn't do my level up, but still found Alroth was level 2 when I reached him.

I did something similar, hoping to collect all of the NPCs at the lowest possible levels. I was disappointed to find that the wizard, fighter, priest and chanter all come in at level 2 minimum, level 3 for the rest if I remember correctly. I bothered to push through to Defiance Bay with the lowest amount of XP possible and without accepting any level ups to be sure, which was pretty challenging on PotD. The pack of ghosts within the main keep of Caed Nua was no joke with a minimally armed level 1-2 party.

 

[Tigranes]

The new patch bonus to XP gained for less party members is ridiculous. PC & Aloth on POTD are Level 3 after clearing the Cave Bear forest area and only the Main Quest part of the Gilded Vale. I'm using AddExperience [number] to regularly take away XP from the party, which is what I used to do when XP mods weren't a thing in IE.

Anyway, I don't see a huge difficulty spike with POTD so far. Eat food, maximally use all your scrolls and abilities, and level 2 PC & Aloth could down the bear no problem. It might be fun to take the XP penalty further and do something like reduce XP gain by half, which I suppose would mean Level 3 entering Caed Nua or so.

 

[skyst]

I have only done PotD but the difficulty goes away almost entirely once you have a well equipped tanking character that can ignore most enemy attacks. Seems the main difference is that many builds and weapon options basically get tossed aside in PotD as enemies have huge DR which require the slow, high damage weapons.

 

[Tigranes]

Right. They really, really need a difficulty mod. I wonder how easy the files are to unpack and edit, maybe I can do some basic changes for myself...

I'm going to try and persist with a dual-wielder though, especially since the patch has boosted one-handers a bit.

 

[Obama Phone 3]

Waiting on Codex's review as well as Gamespot. Totally surprised that Gamespot hasn't even posted the Metacritic rating yet.

 

[Bubbles]

The Gamespot reviewer had a progress blocking bug that only got fixed yesterday. He made the mistake of tweeting about it, so he can't simply pull a "full playthrough" review out of his ass now.