Pillars of Eternity

botfly10

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Got this game and have spent 4-5 hours playing. Granted, probably half that was in character creation...

Anyway, seems pretty fucking awesome so far. If you have fond memories of the old cRPG's, you probably can't go wrong with this.

Obsidian has abandoned D&D mechanics completely and designed their rule system from the ground up. I am still getting a handle on it, so can't really speak to whether its an improvement or not. But the 2 main ideas behind the new system as far as I can see are:

1. Streamline any type of dice roll scenario. Its kind of weird to realize, but it seems like this is the first game that abandons pen and paper restricted rolls or algorithms. They wanted to take advantage of computer processing for more advanced "to hit" and savings throw rolls and shit like that without having to accommodate players using the system with dice, pen, and paper. Nevertheless, the system is still transparent and overall less complicated.

2. Change the ability/attribute system so its almost impossible to create dead end characters. Almost any combination of class and attributes are supposed to viable without much contortion. Like high might wizards or real smart barbarians.

So far, game seems to provide paths for many different approaches to play. Combat is not the main source of xp, so you do not have to kill everything all the time. In fact, it looks like combat against the same creature type provides a diminishing return of xp. So the game actively encourages exploration, creativity, and does not penalize for avoiding combat.

So far, it seems like story is at least AS prominent as combat, maybe even more so. This game does not seem like a combat sim like a lot of rpgs wind up being at all.

So far, I have not encountered a single bug. Usually, I like to wait 1-2 months before playing a game so patches and mods can roll out. But I could not wait on this one.

Also, worth noting that something like 77k people backed this game on kickstarter and from what I have read, almost all participated in an extended beta. It also looks like the beta was an actual test bed and not just a soft launch like so many games seems to do these days. Seems like devs were very interactive with the community on the level of Divinity: Original Sin.

[video=youtube;bb0Ze88fkvM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bb0Ze88fkvM[/video]
 

botfly10

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This video is a pretty good overview of the overall mechanics system, attributes, abilities, combat and whatnot. Almost zero spoilers since the whole video is in the tutorial phase.

[video=youtube;u96bzh-3Eyk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u96bzh-3Eyk[/video]
 

botfly10

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Also, looks like the game is going to be very, very mod friendly. Fuck, there is a release day mod that lets you completely customize the UI.

[video=youtube;uxS3MBURj50]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uxS3MBURj50[/video]
 

MassHavoc

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I read there is a potential game crippling bug in this that is making people lose shit? Looks amazing though, too bad I'll never get to play it because I'd have to buy a computer that can run it.
 

botfly10

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Game is not taxing at all. I bet a newish laptop could run it. Haven't encountered any bugs yet, but we'll see. Either way, I'm sure they will be quick with the patches.

So far, game is exactly what it aimed to be. I am finding it a lot more engrossing than Wasteland 2 and even Divinity Original sin.
 

botfly10

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Oh, just read about the bug. Apparently if you equip an item a certain way, it will remove any magic properties form the item. Obsidian has a fix and it is going out right now. They are also working on an additional fix that will work retroactively.
 

MassHavoc

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Game is not taxing at all. I bet a newish laptop could run it. Haven't encountered any bugs yet, but we'll see. Either way, I'm sure they will be quick with the patches.

So far, game is exactly what it aimed to be. I am finding it a lot more engrossing than Wasteland 2 and even Divinity Original sin.
I don't buy PCs anymore since work gives me laptops. Just not ones I can install my own programs on.
 

MassHavoc

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Oh, just read about the bug. Apparently if you equip an item a certain way, it will remove any magic properties form the item. Obsidian has a fix and it is going out right now. They are also working on an additional fix that will work retroactively.

Retroactively... now that's impressive. I don't hate obsidian, they have an excellent history of games, but I had such bad luck with Fallout New Vegas from a bug standpoint that I have a hard time trusting them again. hah. I really do want stick of truth though, too bad I barely play the PS3 anymore... Actually, I can't remember the last time I turned it on, yet it still has it's place of prominence. I guess in case a game comes out on PS+ I want to play. I wish Pillars would have came out on console so I could get it, but from what I've seen it would have required rework.
 

botfly10

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Been playing this a lot and really liking it. Patch came out today that fixed the first wave of problems. Stuff I said before is still holding true. Story has been engrossing and there is a lot of freedom to play how you want. All that said, I bet this game will be pretty different in another 2-3 months with more balance passes and tweaks to abilities. And I bet the mods for this game will be phenomenal.
 

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