Watched the stream. It was barely distinguishable in interface and gameplay from BG2 with some significant QOL changes and, obviously, more modern graphics.
I guess I’ll grab the VIP deal from Greenman. I’m a little concerned that the combat inherits a little too much from BG, but there wasn’t much of it in the stream.
Is that stream available anywhere else yet?
For my tier ($50):
listastic
Digital Downloadable Copy of Pillars of Eternity, DRM free for Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Kickstarter only in-game achievement and item.
Pillars of Eternity Kickstarter Backer Forum Badge.
Digital download of the Cooking with Tim Cookbook – An RPG-themed e-Cookbook.
Digital download of the making of Pillars of Eternity Documentary.
Digital Downloadable Soundtrack in MP3 and FLAC.
Digital Collector’s Book.
Digital Novella by Chris Avellone.
Digital Campaign Almanac.
Kickstarter Exclusive In-Game Pet.
Digital High-Res Game Map.
Digital High-Res Concept Art Pieces.
Wallpapers for Multiple Monitors.
Ringtones.
Also I tossed in $20 for the proposed expansion and $7 for a digital strategy guide. I may possibly be a sucker.
Edit: Looks like my tier got turned into the “Royal Edition”, that they’re charging $90 for, except I’m getting a few extra KS-specific gubbins and had to add on the strategy guide. So maybe I did get a bargain after all. Kinda.
I got it for $25 on Kickstarter, but I don’t have a clue what the KS pre-order gets me vs. the special editions available. If I find out I’m only getting the game and nothing else, what I may do is pay for a more expensive fancy edition (to support the game and Obsidian) and give the code to my boy, who watched me play a bit tonight and expressed interest.
So, for now, the stream is available as a VOD here. Eventually, hopefully the channel-operator @ Paradox will re-cut this into a “Highlight” video, as Twitch now deletes all “Past Broadcasts” (the automatic recording of most/all streams) after a few days/weeks. Most channels will re-save as a Highlight to get around this, which might change the URL. Just noting that for people who might stumble across my post in the Distant Future. Future Forumgoers: tell me, did my prediction that everyone is secretly Lizard People ever come true?
Edit: Just to note, the actual stream starts @ the 9:55 mark, give or take. Most streams tend to start before going truly live to accrue viewers/finish setup, and the downside of these Past Broadcast automated VODs is that stuff like that isn’t eliminated. . .
[video queues up] “Okay, sure, guys… it might look a little like Bal–HOLY CRAP that’s the same game.”
Yeah, they should probably release this game RIGHT NOW!
Thanks for the legwork you put into finding this video and the info you put in!
However, I was looking at YouTube (my own PoE video has gotten a lot of chatter and I was trying to find out why, it turns out it’s the top result if you just type Pillars of Eternity into the search bar!) and I see this stream is up there now, as well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz0hu8Zjqg
Thanks for that, Armando!
Did notice some weird stuff that’s hopefully gonna be addressed in the full release:
- Sounds are all over the place. Background / foreground noises have not been leveled yet. Lots of crap sounding samples in endless loops.
- Animation is jittery. Seems like a kind of micro stutter as if assets are being loaded in when you walk around the map.
- You can’t put a note on the map? I mean c’mon! :)
- Seems to have an excessive amount of junk loot.
- The amount of “fucks” and “shits” being thrown around seems a bit weird at first, but I guess I’ll adapt quickly when I play it myself.
I’m sure it’s gonna be great, but the only real negative impression I got was that the city maps seem to be huge with little content in them. He was walking around “one liner” NPCs an awful lot.
Other than that, I’m loving the BG look and feel and I can’t wait to be throwing out tons of magic missiles myself.
I can answers some of those, phero.1 -
- This was addressed during the stream, but sound mixing isn’t completed yet.
- I didn’t notice this in the stream myself, so it’s possible I’m not seeing it when I play and as such, the statement I was to write “I don’t see any sort of stuttering when I’m playing” might not be as useful as I mean it to be. Regardless, optimization is just about the last thing that’s worked on, so hopefully this won’t be an issue for you later. Do you have an example (time stamp)? I actually put up FRAPS and I’m getting 60FPS, too. Is it possible the 30fps cap on Twitch (and so that’s what the archived video is at) could be the culprit?
- In my years of RPG’s I’m trying to think of when I have actually USED map notes. I’m sure I must have, but I remember thinking when playing Wasteland 2 that it’s not a feature I’ve ever cared about (W2 let’s you do it). They may well add this in before it’s all said and done, but I’m not sure I honestly care one way or the other.
- I actually like that the equipment your enemies have is what you are looting. Since you can just send everything to the “stash” with the click of a button, I’m not sure I see any issues here.
- You mean the guy playing or the characters? I am such a potty-mouth IRL I must not have even noticed!
I’d rather have a lot of generic NPC’s filling the world than a bunch with random names and I never know who to click on. Some folks may enjoy the world feeling more alive, but I’ve actually always appreciated that if I walk into a tavern and hit TAB to see who has a name, I can walk over to only the folks worth interacting with. These big RPG’s take long enough as it is to work through.
I put a few hours into the beta again last night and it’s just incredible - I didn’t realize I could go to the tavern and recruit adventurers that I get to then create! Very cool.
It would be a bit funny if they didn’t have map notes in PoE, as IIRC they had it in BG2. Though, like BleedTheFreak, I don’t think I’ve ever used it in any game.
I also remember that in BG you got all the equipment from your enemies. I collected the shit out of that until I realized you couldn’t sell it for much, and money was never really tight anyway. It was handy to replace swords that broke due to the poisoned iron from the mine, but that only lasted until you got any non-generic equipment at all. (Though it was a cool bit of world-building there.)
Regarding;
- I really hope they get this right, sound is a big deal for me and if done wrong will take me right out of a game. (in the dev stream they claim to have it fixed before the game stream…)
- Don’t have an example but I noticed it when he was walking around the town. Hopefully it’s just the stream.
- I do use map notes and I did in WL2 as well, I enjoy that feature but ofc it requires a game built around finding stuff you want to come back to when you’re higher level and such, special traders, traps, chests and so forth. I mean, in a single player on rails game there would be no point.
- I absolutely prefer that enemies drop what they were using in battle. In divinity it was depressing to find junk items on even the toughest of foes. Still, I believe there is a sweet spot and what I saw was not it. He had like 50 junk spears or something like that. At least make them stack then.
- I’m not against swearing IRL, on forums and such but it just seemed a little jarring when he found that journal on the dead woman and it was full of “modern day” swearing.
Also, I didn’t play the beta even though I think I have access to it. My impressions are purely from the video.
Even the cursor and icons they use for the buttons are either exactly of very close to BG, aren’t they?
I used the map note feature in Might and Magic X all the time.
I used it in M&M X as well, but that was definitely a rarity. The only other game I can recall using it in was Dark Heart of Uukrul. What a game.
Xulima auto-annotates certain things on maps and it’s useful when you need it (as you occasionally do).
Cursor seems to be a straigh up copy, dialogue windows (font specifically) are also nearly identical to BG2’s.
I think you may have mis-heard, they definitely said the mixing wasn’t done yet. Here is a Dev post on the sound issues others have also pointed out:
Also, for anyone curious, the lighting/coloring is still being tweaked as well.
At 16.16 he says it’s gonna sound awful and they ask him to fix it to be ready for the stream.
Still, they’re on top of it I guess.
Planescape: Torment, for one. What, you were supposed to remember where all those quest givers were?