Pillars of Eternity

Kiith

PCGamer have an article about a 20 minute demo they saw at e3. Apparently, it's exactly what we wanted from Infinity mark 2. Sounds very promising.

PCGamer wrote:

Obsidian has done exactly what its 73,986 Kickstarter backers want: create a 1999 RPG with a 2014 graphical shine.

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/pillars-of-eternity-e3-preview-infinity-reborn/

YouSavedMyLife

Behold!

Kiith

A pretty hefty preview here, with some serious game footage from the start of the game. Really starting to look good now, and god damn i can't wait for this. Probably some spoilers for the start of the game, in case anyone doesn't want to see them.

Sephiroth_dude

Is this due for release any time soon?

Kiith

Winter 2014 is the release date, though i wouldn't be surprised if that changes.

Sarky

According to the video, backers will get beta access in about 2 weeks.

As a backer, I am super excite.

Kiith

Can't believe i didn't back this. Not sure what i was thinking.

Even if i had though, I think i'd wait for the full release. Or at least until it was feature complete before trying it. Very excited for it though. If they can make it half as good as other Infinity Engine games, i'll be damn happy.

Interested Observer

Just went to check my backer page, turns out I have the expansion pack paid for too. Did not know/remember that but nice surprise anyway.

Raphael

Sarky wrote: »

According to the video, backers will get beta access in about 2 weeks.

As a backer, I am super excite.

You backed at a high enough tier for beta access, Sarky? Damn you!

Sarky

I actually fanboy-ed hard enough to shell out for the collector's edition that gives a physical and digital copy. I ate a lot of Tesco brand noodles that month.

nesf

I got really excited and then I remembered it was Torment I backed not Eternity and it's not due until Winter 2015.

humanji

nesf wrote: »

I got really excited and then I remembered it was Torment I backed not Eternity and it's not due until Winter 2015.

Ditto.

Zapp Brannigan

Ha! I backed them both, but didn't go for Beta as I feel that'd ruin the game for me.

Raphael

Sarky wrote: »

I actually fanboy-ed hard enough to shell out for the collector's edition that gives a physical and digital copy. I ate a lot of Tesco brand noodles that month.

Hey, it could be worse, you could have done that for The Old Republic instead.

;_;

Sarky

Ouch. No, I have no love nor trust for MMORPGs, it's a kind of game that really doesn't appeal to me (at least the WoW style ones which everyone seems to try copying). A single player RPG involving some ex-Black Isle devs though? I nearly just handed them my credit card details and the rights to my body after I die.

nesf

Sarky wrote: »

Ouch. No, I have no love nor trust for MMORPGs, it's a kind of game that really doesn't appeal to me (at least the WoW style ones which everyone seems to try copying). A single player RPG involving some ex-Black Isle devs though? I nearly just handed them my credit card details and the rights to my body after I die.

But, but, the next MMO will be the one! I promise!

Sarky

Got my beta key at midnight last night, just before I'd gone to bed for a 7am start. It's nice when Kickstarters start delivering, although the timing wasn't helpful. Today is a long work day indeed.

BeerWolf

Raphael wrote: »

Hey, it could be worse, you could have done that for The Old Republic instead.

;_;

No kidding... Wasted I think €140 on the CE of it with the model in it... :pac:

Kiith

Would love to play it, but going to wait till the full release. I see myself flying through it, and don't want to run into any bugs or missing content.

Raphael

Actually, the beta looks like it wouldn't be too spoilery at all - they talked about it in the last update, it's not just the start of the game. There's no main plot, they jump you straight to level 5 and put you in a relatively enclosed area to play around with,a nd enoguh content to make level 8. Should give them some great feedback on builds and the chargen system, which is probably one of the most important things to test, while also not damaging anyone's playability. Really nicely done.

Sarky

Yup, was quite surprised to find myself dumped straight into Dyrford Village with a load of XP and a party consisting of generic "Backer Beta Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/whatever" characters. I tried the ranger, who starts with a bow and an animal companion that provide massive flanking bonuses, and more when you level up and strengthen the bond between the two. Had a brief look at the Cipher class too, which seems to be kind of like a close combat mage from what I could tell. Character generation has plenty to see, although portrait pics are pretty thin on the ground right now.

It's pretty much Baldur's Gate, but oh so much prettier. There's a missing noble, a shady double-cross, an alchemist looking for drake eggs, and a farmer complaining about the ogre that stole his pigs. Might be other quests, not sure yet. Bard in the inn has a few lore stories to tell, interesting background fluff. There's an explorable area outside the village, full of "feral druids" and motherf*cking lions, not an easy place to explore. There's some kind of crafting system, the levelling system is pleasant and gives everyone interesting perks and skills...

I'm liking it. Few small bugs, like the music from the level continuing when you quit to menu, or a couple of items named *missing string*, but it's pretty, it's slick, and there looks to be a lot of depth to the mechanics. It feels for all the world like an Infinity Engine game, but with a modern smoothness to it that just feels good . It's looking very promising for the full game.

mikeruurds

So I backed at a lower level than Sarky but I decided to grab a beta key add-on before the August 22nd pledge cut-off.

Long weekend ahead for some PoE beta goodness!

Kiith

Sarky wrote: »

It's pretty much Baldur's Gate, but oh so much prettier.

That's pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear.

Zillah

I think marketing in games has ruined the meaning of the word 'beta'. Back in the dark 20th century a beta was a version of the game that was feature complete, but needed polishing, refinement and bug fixing. It was basically the final game but a little rough around the edges. Now it means anything from pre-alpha-lol-build to "demo".

Not exactly specific to Project Eternity, which I am excited about, but that is far from what I would have been expecting from a "beta". It's a clever way to do it, actually: give them a taste without giving what is essentially a sub-par version of the finished game - it would just be better described as an early-access demo.

Kiith wrote: »

That's pretty exactly what I wanted to hear.

That's what I took from it too

nesf

Zillah wrote: »

I think marketing in games has ruined the meaning of the word 'beta'. Back in the dark 20th century a beta was a version of the game that was feature complete, but needed polishing, refinement and bug fixing. It was basically the final game but a little rough around the edges. Now it means anything from pre-alpha-lol-build to "demo".

Not exactly specific to Project Eternity, which I am excited about, but that is far from what I would have been expecting from a "beta". It's a clever way to do it, actually: give them a taste without giving what is essentially a sub-par version of the finished game - it would just be better described as an early-access demo.

To be fair I remember betas back in the day that were feature tests and you wouldn't get access to the full game. Most were full feature but not all.

Kiith

It's a good idea. I also hope it means that the game itself is coming along nicely, with the main campaign and quests near completion, and it's only a case of balancing and ironing out some bugs.

Sarky

One thing I like is how all the stats are relevant to pretty much everyone. The stats do what you'd expect in a straight fight, but abilities are more closely tied to them, so for example a character with high Intellect will have a larger radius on his AoE abilities and longer ability duration, whether he's a fighter or a mage. It's a neat way of discouraging cheesy min-maxed characters. That and the cutscene screens where you may be required to test Might to climb a wall or Perception to notice a clue.

Combat needs a bit of polish, the visual feedback isn't great so I have trouble seeing whether a sword swing actually connected without looking at the text (and who the hell wants to read a bunch of dice rolls?), but the combat looks solid, and everyone has a use.

The more I mess around with this, the more I like it. It looks really promising. and seriously, it looks and sounds utterly beautiful.

Sarky

Another nice touch is that while there are going to be interesting companions with their own history and quirks, if you feel there's a gap in party skills you can go to an inn and create another party member to 'hire'. While the starting party was lvl 5, the hireling was lvl 3, so I'm guessing they're purposefully always a bit less powerful.

Sarky

Spent a few hours mucking about with a cipher character, mostly Might/Dex/Con heavy, because old habits die hard. They're an awful lot of fun. Basically you build up focus in combat by hitting things. You can then spend it on magical effects. Blinding, charm, fear, a magical strike that chains to other enemies, cone-effect attacks that deal knockdown, things like that. As long as you're in combat to generate focus, you don't run out of abilities, where the mage or cleric have per-encounter or per-rest abilities that run dry. Ciphers don't have any protective abilities though so they still depend on clerics and other fighters to protect and tank.

Saw a post on the Obsidian forum about creating a muscle wizard, apparently it's a whole load of fun running a mage straight into the thick of it and flinging Burning Hands about with gay abandon, not having to worry about friendly fire or traditional mage flimsiness. The stats system seems to be doing a good job of making any build useful in some way.

Still bugged to hell though, but I guess that's why it's a beta.

nesf

*adds again to must buy on release/good pre-order discount list*