Pillars of Eternity - Video Preview @ Polygon

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I had no idea this game looked quite so.....hot.
 
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A few weeks ago I finished another play-through of BG2:SoA and this looks a whole lot like it, which I think is intended.
 
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It's surprisingly beautiful at full resolution.

And the game itself seems solid -- but dang is it buggy for just a few months out.
 
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Looks plenty nice. The talk of simplified character development, though has me concerned. The commentators in the video mention how Obsidian is now freed of the "baggage of D&D." I don't see it that way at all. I'm current playing BG1 on Android, and I'm reminded of how much I like the two BG games. And much of that is due to the tried-and-true D&D system. I just hope Pillars' mechanics aren't dumbed down too much. I like my numbers...and not the lazier percentages popularized by MMOs because they're eaiser and, hence, shallower.

it's plenty pretty, though. And I really like the sound of those little text quests, though this is the first time I've heard speifics that make them sound more like tasks. Seeing marks on a statue and deciding if you want to move it and with which character, yielding different results based on that character's stats — that's straight-up PnP D&D stuff there. Very nice. Funny how the same commentator who refered to D&D as baggage got the most excited about a feature that has the most D&D flavor. Here's to hoping the system mechanics don't suck.
 
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Looks plenty nice. The talk of simplified character development, though has me concerned. The commentators in the video mention how Obsidian is now freed of the "baggage of D&D." I don't see it that way at all. I'm current playing BG1 on Android, and I'm reminded of how much I like the two BG games. And much of that is due to the tried-and-true D&D system. I just hope Pillars' mechanics aren't dumbed down too much. I like my numbers…and not the lazier percentages popularized by MMOs because they're eaiser and, hence, shallower.

it's plenty pretty, though. And I really like the sound of those little text quests, though this is the first time I've heard speifics that make them sound more like tasks. Seeing marks on a statue and deciding if you want to move it and with which character, yielding different results based on that character's stats — that's straight-up PnP D&D stuff there. Very nice. Funny how the same commentator who refered to D&D as baggage got the most excited about a feature that has the most D&D flavor. Here's to hoping the system mechanics don't suck.

There are arguments for and against the D&D system even in the Eternity forums. One goal of the developers was to make each stat potentially useful for each class. I personally think this is a good thing. Others prefer the old D&D system, where for some classes certain attributes were vital and others pretty useless. Here is a discussion on it which might interest you:

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/67930-class-diversity-in-dd-vs-pe/
 
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Count me in the "pro-D&D" system (3.5+). Dragon Age's system was dull so I'm hoping PE can get it right, but it seems there are already concerns on other forums.

Maybe 40 years of hardcore geeks thinking about an RPG system day-in/day-out can't be replicated in a couple years… Who knew?
 
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Sorry to be a nuisance, but I have not played any of the IE games nor D&Ds, however I am very familiar with Spiderweb games (Avernum, Geneforge .. etc.).

Is the party management in IE games (and therefore PoE) similar to say Avernum: different character classes to chose from and their specialisation (warrior, cleric, mage, ..etc.); combat is turn-based and you select melee/ranged/magic for your party members and take turns? I found the Spiderweb games system very convenient.

Thanks
 
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.. The commentators in the video mention how Obsidian is now freed of the "baggage of D&D." I don't see it that way at all. I'm current playing BG1 on Android, and I'm reminded of how much I like the two BG games. And much of that is due to the tried-and-true D&D system.

I just hope Pillars' mechanics aren't dumbed down too much. I like my numbers…and not the lazier percentages popularized by MMOs because they're eaiser and, hence, shallower.

We'll I played 'tried and true' D&D for 24 years and am in no hurry to go back to it's under evolved state. Give me 13th age any day for d20 fantasy PnP play.
There is nothing wrong with a percentage system done correctly. Tried RuneQuest or Eclipse Phase?
 
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Sorry to be a nuisance, but I have not played any of the IE games nor D&Ds, however I am very familiar with Spiderweb games (Avernum, Geneforge .. etc.).

Is the party management in IE games (and therefore PoE) similar to say Avernum: different character classes to chose from and their specialisation (warrior, cleric, mage, ..etc.); combat is turn-based and you select melee/ranged/magic for your party members and take turns? I found the Spiderweb games system very convenient.

Thanks

IE games are RTwP, but they have rounds in them so if you pause a lot you effectively get turns.
The IE games suffer from the early D&D 'dead levels' when progressing. D&D is class and specialization based but there are no skill trees like the spiderweb games.
I found the Avernum system a bit lacking compared to the Dark Eye system in Drakensang or even Blackguards. I'd recommend Drakensang/Drakensang 2 over IE games if you like the Avernum, level/power system. I loved the combat in Blackguards but found the character options a lot more limited than Drakensang and a very bad design issue that stopped me playing in part 2.
 
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I loved Drakensang's combat system. In some ways, it felt like a better D&D. What turned me off was the way it was so hard to keep your squishies protected. Enemies would always make a beeline for your backline ignoring your frontline who didn't really have effective ways of peeling them away. I don't recall exactly why but choke points weren't effective.I think enemies could get through them quite easily. I also recall that enemies could overlap and seemingly occupy the same space. Combat usually was my mage/archer running around being chased by enemies who were in turn being chased by my melee guys.
 
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IE games are RTwP, but they have rounds in them so if you pause a lot you effectively get turns.
The IE games suffer from the early D&D 'dead levels' when progressing. D&D is class and specialization based but there are no skill trees like the spiderweb games.
I found the Avernum system a bit lacking compared to the Dark Eye system in Drakensang or even Blackguards. I'd recommend Drakensang/Drakensang 2 over IE games if you like the Avernum, level/power system. I loved the combat in Blackguards but found the character options a lot more limited than Drakensang and a very bad design issue that stopped me playing in part 2.

Many thanks for the details. I have been meaning to give Drakensang a spin but have not had the time, and I did not want a detailed and stat heavy system like the one in NWN2.

Many thanks again..
 
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From what little I've seen, it looks like typical Obsidian stuff. Weak technically and in terms of art - especially the non-static art, but potentially interesting from a design standpoint.

It's a big problem that the characters blend so easily into the environment - and it's such a basic mistake that should have been avoided at an early stage.

There's no way it can match D&D 3.5 in terms of entertaining character development, but I'd never expect that from this anyway. At best, it might be on par with 2nd Edition - which is kinda what you might expect from a BG fan-service product.

The writing and exploration is what I'm curious about. The fact that you can't separate your party is a problem - but it's not a big deal to me.

Since I didn't really delve into it, those two aspects remain a mystery. But I'll check it out at some point post-release.

I find it somewhat hard to rely on the Watch when it comes to Obsidian and old-school games. It seems there's a pretty strong amount of favoritism when it comes to quaint nostalgic games like this - and I'd have to check it out personally to be sure. Then again, I do that with most games regardless.
 
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The beta doesn't really include a great deal of exploration or story, so it's pretty much impossible to get a good idea of what we'll get.
 
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The beta doesn't really include a great deal of exploration or story, so it's pretty much impossible to get a good idea of what we'll get.

No, I didn't really think so - which is why I'll wait for a release version.
 
Yep. Might as well. There's little point in trying to reach a verdict until then.
 
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The backer beta is broke to the point that makes me wonder why they decided to release it at all. It's hard to identify bugs when so much of the current build has issues, where do you start? I'm constantly crashing, spell casters are missing their spells, horrible pathfinding, ect.

My main concern about the game at this point is that during a battle it's difficult to see what is going on. The on screen avatars often blend in with the background and forms a blob. I was hoping for a little "sharper" graphics so your characters can stand out. Also, to me (strictly my opinion) too many of the spells and abilities all seem to do more of less the same thing. It's going to take some time to get used to the rules and how the game plays. I have to admit, I'd rather have a system closer to D&D or use D&D outright.

PoE is supposed to release before the end of the year, but if this demo is a snapshot of the current state of affairs, then I suspect it will be pushed back another 6 months or more to get it right. I hope I'm wrong...
 
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The backer beta is broke to the point that makes me wonder why they decided to release it at all. It's hard to identify bugs when so much of the current build has issues, where do you start? I'm constantly crashing, spell casters are missing their spells, horrible pathfinding, ect.

Most of the bugs were already known issues. They mostly wanted feedback, not bug hunting.
 
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The backer beta is broke to the point that makes me wonder why they decided to release it at all.
Maybe because they promised they would deliver a beta version and made it a stretch goal...
Very hard to send feedback on the basis on this release.
 
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