Obsidian's "Pillars of Eternity"

[satael]

How's the story (and writing in general) in the game?

[Khaldun]

At least early on, the writing's very good. Even the "let's start this thing up" is good--you're not given a knife to go kill rats, and you're not instantly identified as the Chosen One. It feels like good, seamless narrative.

[Rasix]

Stop. All of  you.  I don't want to buy this yet. 

[Ironwood]

Yeah, for fucks sake.  That review alone made me pull out my CC and I will get DIVORCED if I buy another game right now, especially one that'll suck the soul out my body...

The Gnomes are bad enough.

 

[Merusk]

I can't advise playing a ranger as pets appear to be broken. Mine never fights and now he's disappeared after the first mini-dungeon.  As a result I can't leave the map. Reloading has done nothing.

Also, I've got a bug with sound. The "closing scroll" sound just plays the first 1/4 second on repeat. Endlessly.  I had to turn off sounds to avoid the "Thap thap thap thap thap thap thap"

Fun other than that.

Ranger pet thing is a known bug. I believe the work-around is to load a save in a different area, then go back to your current save. Sometimes works... sometimes doesn't. I haven't had any issues with the created Adventurer of mine who's a Ranger.. but I've only had her for an hour or so.

The scroll sound bug I've only heard of in conjunction with some Cheat Engine stuff, so no idea how to fix it or what.

Yeah found that out when I reloaded to see if I could keep events in the mini dungeon & afterward from happening. (Hard to discuss without spoilers!)  Guess not!  I didn't get very far at all before encountering it, but it was really the last straw sort of thing.  I'd prefer not to have a pet at all but I'm forced to.  Then it doesn't stick with me and it's a character I have to micro that doesn't attack well or at all. Just doesn't seem like the class I want to play, even though I usually do rangers for their 'jack of all trades' qualities.

I'm not that far in so I'll restart tonight and try something else out.  The opening events are fast enough and gie enough variety that it seems like you get a decent feel for the classes early.

I didn't enable the cheat engine, so no idea there. Hopefully it's just a bug with that save that won't pop up in the next.

Don't want to seem critical of the game as it's really well done in these early bits and I did enjoy the hour or so I played it. Totally scratches an itch that BGI & 2 Enhanced didn't get due to the older interface mechanics.

[Rendakor]

Is this played as a single MC+Companion like SWTOR, or a full party of 4 like BG?

[Lucas]

Full party of SIX   . And this is ridiculously good; the "pencil-drawn", narrated sequences are such an elegant touch; and to think they were originally conceived in order to save money.

World building is a labour of love as well, already shown through the Cyclopedia: but, even if you don't want to spend more money, try to "obtain" the almanac and the collector's guide (the strategy guide is great too); the latter is basically a "player's handbook" of the setting, similar to the Forgotten Realms one for D&D 3.5 . They intend to release more guides as they explore other parts of the world of Eora in (hopefully) subsequent games.

[Fabricated]

I dig that they threw some "Choose your Own Adventure" stuff into the handwritten/handdrawn narrative sections.

Also it's hilarious how hard the musical score apes the BG 1/2 soundtracks. Yes, that's the intent but man it really, really hits their motifs.

[Ceryse]

You could try a ranged rogue, Merusk. Similar to the traditional ranger but with no pet (and actually deal more damage because, apparently, rangers are a bit weak currently) and still have the ability to melee a fair bit, depending on what talents you grab as you go. Personally I went with a dual wielding fighter because I always go with a dual wielding fighter in my first playthrough of these sorts of games. Had to restart once because of a bug (a certain quest npc didn't trigger a scene for me, which meant my game was, effectively, dead-ended, but thankfully didn't get the bug on the second attempt).

I'm just at exploring a bit past the first town, but I am enjoying the game.. even if I already have the two companions I don't like in my party. Still a big issue for me there, but I'm hoping the companions down the line are better, although I don't mind Eder and Aloth at least.

For those of you who haven't purchased the game; there's no rush, imo. There are various bugs (especially if you play the Mac/Linux versions) and a fair number of balance issues. If I wasn't such a sucker for the genre, I'd have waited at least until the second or third big patch, but unless the game's quality drops a fair bit further in I'd say the game is worth not waiting for the first big sale if you like the genre, so if you can hold out until a sale you're unlikely to regret it at all. There are a couple of UI issues, as well, such as the store UI which could use some work but I understand there's a mod on the way that addresses a number of the UI complaints, and I'm hoping that's one of them.

Should be able to get a solid eight or nine hours in today since I don't work tonight, and I'm looking forward to it. Shit, even the self-updating character history for the player character is well done which shocked the hell out of me.

[Ceryse]

I didn't enable the cheat engine, so no idea there. Hopefully it's just a bug with that save that won't pop up in the next.

Not sure how true this is, but I looked around and saw someone report the issue with the sound effect bug is from minimizing combat and tutorial pages. Not sure what the cause of the bug is, but if you have something suppressing those things (an Expert mode feature?), maybe turn that off and see if it goes away? I haven't had that bug and have those things set to pop up.

[Sophismata]

I started a Path of the Damned / Expert Mode game, but I'm going to reload without Expert Mode. A lot of the things it disables I classify as convenience features (like the tutorial about scouting and the combat tooltips) and it's annoying not having them there.

I ended up starting a second game just to see what the stat thresholds were for dialogue choices, and realising it was kind of pointless. I like the stash and fatality restrictions, but they can be toggled manually.

As I normally run most games on the hardest combination of difficulties this has irked me for no good reason.


In gameplay news, other than the inability to name my one save game and the crippling lack of ability hotkeys, it's pretty good so far.

[Merusk]

I didn't enable the cheat engine, so no idea there. Hopefully it's just a bug with that save that won't pop up in the next.

Not sure how true this is, but I looked around and saw someone report the issue with the sound effect bug is from minimizing combat and tutorial pages. Not sure what the cause of the bug is, but if you have something suppressing those things (an Expert mode feature?), maybe turn that off and see if it goes away? I haven't had that bug and have those things set to pop up.

Ah, that'd be it. I hit the "close/ minimise" button one one of the early pop-ups and that's when it started. I'm not suppressing them globally so it must be that one. Perhaps still trying to close or something in the background. Nice find, thanks.  Means it'll be out of the next game if that's the case.

In gameplay news, other than the inability to name my one save game and the crippling lack of ability hotkeys, it's pretty good so far.

Crap. I was hoping I'd just missed where the hotkey buttons were. Don't like the UI hiding the abilities in a cramped corner with the char. Portraits.

[Ceryse]

If that doesn't fix it you can try disabling the tutorial messages in the options menu, as some have reported that fixed the problem for them. One or the other seems to work for everyone who had the bug, from what I've read.

The inability to name saves is something I'd noticed and was surprisingly annoyed by.

[Tannhauser]

I think I'm going to restart tonight to a bow using rogue.  Didn't know I could do that and now that I see basically what's going on, I'll have more fun with my normal rogue game.  I might even put a couple of points in Lore to pick up a handful of spells.

[Lucas]

Useful Dev Tracker:

http://poedevtracker.net/ (currently includes 31 devs, preferences for posts timezone)

[MrHat]

I've restarted a bunch of times because I love making chars.

Note for those restarting a bunch: "D" enables Fast Mode.

[climbjtree]

I'm not going to restart, I'm just going to stick with my melee priest. Might not be the best choice, but armored up he can hold his own in the middle! I hired a level 2 adventurer to fill the tank role as paladin and my priest does as well if not better.

Might be missing out on his utility as a caster... but oh well.

[lamaros]

Monk so far is a bit eh, but hopefully improves.

[Khaldun]

I'm a wizard. Seems very D&D so far but at least they give you something to do after you've spent your spells.

I like the camping mechanic.

[Sophismata]

Monk so far is a bit eh, but hopefully improves.

I started a few new games with different classes. Monk seemed awesome but I've found its mechanic to be too reliant on your opponents attacking you a lot; but not too much.

Cipher has been rather pleasant. A great gish implementation.

Path of the Damned has been a decent high difficulty mode so far, and certainly much better than the usual Bioware difficulty mods (which tend to polarise their gameplay mechanics). Eg - so far I'm not finding any abilities or classes marginalised by the difficulty level, whereas in Dragon Age and Mass Effect a high difficulty was kind of laborious in how it mode most character choices utterly ineffectual, promoting the more boring play styles or long, drawn out but ultimately easy combats.

[lamaros]

Monk so far is a bit eh, but hopefully improves.

I started a few new games with different classes. Monk seemed awesome but I've found its mechanic to be too reliant on your opponents attacking you a lot; but not too much.

Cipher has been rather pleasant. A great gish implementation.

Path of the Damned has been a decent high difficulty mode so far, and certainly much better than the usual Bioware difficulty mods (which tend to polarise their gameplay mechanics). Eg - so far I'm not finding any abilities or classes marginalised by the difficulty level, whereas in Dragon Age and Mass Effect a high difficulty was kind of laborious in how it mode most character choices utterly ineffectual, promoting the more boring play styles or long, drawn out but ultimately easy combats.

I'm trying out a method where he hes hit a lot and healed a lot and builds up massive wounds to deal really fast damage. So far it seems to be missing some things. Perhaps I should have gone moon godlike and not death.

[Signe]

But death is so much cooler looking.

[Teleku]

Apparently at the level I pledged at, I have a 'Royal Edition' and an extra 'Hero Edition'.  So I may possibly have a copy to give/trade away.  Though Access to a computer with steam on it is going to be tricky for awhile.

Glad to hear it being praised though.  Even if it agrivatimg me even more that I can't olay it currently!

[WayAbvPar]

Stop. All of  you.  I don't want to buy this yet.  

This. I really shouldn't have opened this thread.

e- I might be interested in taking one of those off your hands 

[Rasix]

Hey, I lamented first. Dibs. 

[Lucas]

Just like Teleku, I have an extra Hero Edition, but I already gifted it to my father.

Don't despair tho! Paradox is also shipping my physical Collector's Edition, that will include an extra digital copy with another code, of course.

Plus, I don't know if the physical version will come with yet another code (it might end up being the same of my current Royal Edition). If that's the case, I'll also be in the position to give away that....But it will probably include all the extra goodies that I already own, so I might put it up as a prize or something (again, this will only happen if the code is different from my current Royal Edition).

EDIT: hmm, I just realized that the Hero Edition I just gifted might mirror the one I'll get with the physical goodies, so yeah...I'll keep you updated.

[Ironwood]

Well, I just want to reiterate that I wouldn't mind if someone has a spare and Rasix is sated.

[MrHat]

Combat UI gets a bit unruly when you get 4-5 chars in your party going.

So far I've restarted like 8 times.

Good lord.

[Rendakor]

Put me on the list of people interested in extra copies too. Don't have the cash to spare for it since I just bought a new PC.

[rk47]

Don't like it.
Feels like I'm nitpicking but...
Hmmm let's see here...

The graphic is pretty. I wish more games go for this 2D style.
But I'm afraid I can't like this game.
Maybe once there's sexy mods make it in there.
Weapon Focus: Blue Collar. Kill me. XD

[schild]

Don't despair tho! Paradox is also shipping my physical Collector's Edition, that will include an extra digital copy with another code, of course.

Tell me more.

[Teleku]

Hmm, guess I also got another physical copy in coming.  Thought I had stuck with digital only.

In any event, I generated the key for the hero edition.  Several of you have shown interest, and you're all cool.  So.



Figure out amongst yourselves who deserves the key, and I'll message it to them.  Don't feel like picking.

[Lucas]

This looks like a serious bug; please take a minute to check out the following link (double-clicking equipment bug; bold at the end of the quoted message is mine) :

http://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/30lmx2/psa_doubleclicking_equipment_bug/

f you double click an item to equip it to your character, your character loses ALL Passives/Racials/Permanent Buffs, forever.

Dragging and dropping works fine, but do not double click or you might find yourself having to restart your game. Loading the game up from a previous save thankfully does fix it.

webm of the bug in action: http://webmup.com/HArIv/vid.webm

As you can see, I lose several passive effects (And am already missing my Wood Elf racial from a previous time before I learned about the bug), including a talent and a class ability. The abilities remain listed in the abilities/talents section, but if they aren't in active effects, then perhaps you've already encountered the bug first hand.

EDIT: Another webm http://webmup.com/aDSfX/vid.webm

Kana loses his 3rd Weapon Slot as soon as I double click so it's not just a visual display bug, you do actually lose all bonuses.

Also thought I'd stress that it only happens when you double click to REPLACE an item, if the slot is empty you won't lose anything. So please double check before you post saying that it isn't happening to you.

Reading the comments below, seems like that removing your current companions and adding them back  fixes the problem but *just for them*, not for the main character (have to use the console for that).

[schild]

Hmm, guess I also got another physical copy in coming.  Thought I had stuck with digital only.

In any event, I generated the key for the hero edition.  Several of you have shown interest, and you're all cool.  So.



Figure out amongst yourselves who deserves the key, and I'll message it to them.  Don't feel like picking.

Me? Do i get to pull rank? I dont feel comfortable giving Paradox money.

[Ceryse]

I dont feel comfortable giving Paradox money.

This makes no sense to me. At all.