I complained once to Feargus about the pathfinding in IWD. He gave me a salty look and suggested that he send me the pathfinding code, and I could spend some time with it and get back with him afterwards.
Still have not dug into this…surprised there is not more feedback here. I googled some and didn’t come up with much either. There is a lot of feedback on the official forums though, though almost all of it very fanboy biased.
I backed this but not for the beta. I have no interest in beta testing something like this for the simple reason that when I finally get to play it, I’ll probably only play it once. I don’t want to risk tainting that experience.
That’s my take on it too. I did the same thing with Wasteland and will repeat it with Torment.
I read some very nice things over on RPS last night, though I can’t speak to any bias or anything. The general sense I get from everything I’ve read is this is a really good looking RPG with a lot of meat on the bones (even though it’s still early!) and it plays like a modern version of the Infinity games. If that’s what you are looking for (and I certainly am) then when it’s finally done the only unknowns will be things like AI, story pacing, character (narrative) depth, how well the end-game content holds up, stuff like that we won’t know until it’s out and reviewed/picked-apart by fans. For now, the infrastructure and gameplay core seem on the right track.
At this point I don’t think we can expect anything else–who else would pony up for beta access?
Have the beta. Played for several hours. Net net: There’s the hint of a good game here. Might be great depending on how they iterate until release. It’s got some glaring issues but you can tell that the skeleton is there for a good game to be built on. To anyone worrying about the beta being a spoiler, don’t. There’s nothing here main plot related.
Random thoughts:
Stunningly beautiful 2D backgrounds.
Combat is a clusterfuck, I don’t recall IE combat being like this.
They need to make the leveling up process more interesting.
Me (I backed at $165). Sure, I’m a fan of the IE games, and the proposed style of this RPG is precisely what I want in a game, but I’ve never hesitated in expressing dislike for something that isn’t a fit for me. Unfortunately, the timing is poor and it may be another week before I get to test it out.
I loaded it finally and created a character. I was pretty underwhelmed and couldn’t bring myself to play beyond a couple conversations and 1 fight. I mean its a beta so…ok, its a beta. Beta means different things to different devs. But it seems to me like it could be years away from release. Pretty much every aspect of the game I saw needs a lot more work.
I’m glad to see that my earlier point about only fans buying in the beta is being disproven!
Any chance you could be more specific? I bought in at the $25 level (i.e. no beta) and I’m very curious as to how it looks at this point.
There are countless videos on the you-toobs, I watched several and felt it looked just fantastic, but clearly YMMV.
I wandered into what I thought was the first combat area and wiped within seconds.
Yes, but, but, I don’t want to leave the safety of Qt3…
I am a huge fan of the game. I went for the $250 tier for a reason, lol I’ve never spent that on a video game before. This is my most anticipated game…ever? Certainly since the Kickstarter two years ago.
As for being more specific…everything needs work. I guess I am sort of spoiled but when I think beta I think Blizzard just because I have participated in more of their betas than any others and they are always so polished. What specifically needs work in PoE? The portraits. The textures. The sounds. The UI. The combat. The game rules. The manual (there is not one…). While its instantly apparent this is a descendant of the IWD/BG/PST games its really very different mechanically and I think that has a lot to do with why so many people are reporting the beta is hard. If you have history with those other games you assume you have a leg up when really you do not, at all.
Okay, a little more detail now that I’ve, marginally, learned to play.
IMO, the visuals are quite good. The character models looks rough during character creation, but they’re not really designed to be viewed at that scale.
The interface is very infinity-engine. The ruleset is more akin to Dragon Age, with most stats having some kind of benefit in combat in addition to non-combat stuff. There are shitloads of stat-based dialogue options, which I like very much. Most are along the lines of getting additional information, rather than talking The Master out of his plan. Feats, or “talents” as they are called, are very few in number, though Obsidian has said they are prioritizing class balance before adding more. Skills are few in number but pretty good; Lore is actually useful!
Combat seems like pretty standard infinity engine fare. I don’t fully grasp the stamina system or the concept of “engagement” yet, but it seems like it will provide multiple ways of handling challenges. I don’t really have a feel for class balance yet, although fighters and rogues seem to have pretty cool abilities.
As it stands now, there are significant pathing and quest scripting issues. Also, most equipment types are not sold in the shop, making it difficult to experiment with loadouts.
I feel like by the time I explore the beta content, I’ll finally start to grasp the game and wish there was more to play.
Played a couple hours, its definitely got the infinity engine gameplay. Glad they added a 1/3rd or 1/4 the speed instead of just pause and full speed of the old games. Reminds players that it is all real time.
Basically its looking solid, BUT you better be a fan of the BG/IWD/NWN/DAO (first) games…ie plan to pause ALOT.
I also like the streamlined UI. It does take getting used to, but after an hour or so makes total sense. Especially the inventory party screen. no more f1-f6 ala IWD/BG, theres a full screen inv management that makes it alot easier to move stuff around.
btw, if you play the beta try the cypher… its a wicked psionics class that feels just right. havent seen any fantasy game do psionics well.
also expect bugs, the pathing hitches often in tight spots and item drops disappear if you don’t loot immediately it seems.
six months from now, or so, i think we will finally see a great party rpg with lots of chunky rpg gameplay (obsidian is better than given credit in regards to rpg gameplay., ie IWD2/NWN2 are the best DND combat simulators (i prefer them to ToEE as well).
I’m curious to find out how it compares to the new Divinity, as I’ve just started dipping my toes into that and it feels like a nice throwback to the old RPGs too.
Thanks, I appreciate y’alls impressions. Sounds like, as long as they have enough time and willpower to flesh and smooth it out it should be a great game. At least that’s what I’m hoping for!
So is this still on track to release this year? Playing Wasteland 2 has made me curious about the other isometric RPG kickstarters, although the setting of Eternity seems wretched.
The release date is listed as ‘Winter 2014’…