Armors look great but how about robe designs if you prefer to play a squishy glass cannon type character wearing a robe and slinging fireballs?
Although the robe art was missing in the latest update, I offer everyone to look (maybe once more) at this presentation:
Also, we've seen some cheap/beginner robes/clothes in the 61th update:
Also, it seems here (http://justpressstart.net/obsidians-josh-sawyer-discusses-pillars-of-eternity/) is the latest interview with Project Lead Josh Sawyer about the game's real time non-round-based combat, the AI, the setting and more. Although it's not a written interview (just a 20-minute podcast episode) it's still pretty interesting.
This looks great and the old school feeling combined with our todays possibilities is just awesome. couldnt look any better. It´s a perfect balanace... do i get some money for being such a slimy fan for this game?
How did it happen nobody hasn't covered the major Update about chanters and priests yet?
Chanters are storytellers and repositories of ancient lore from myriad cultural traditions. They use these stories and legends to stir the memories of the dreaming lost souls and soul fragments that surround them. The spirits respond by creating magical effects, essentially playing their part in the recreation of the legends. In this way, chanters act as directors of supernatural actors playing out momentary plays for the chanter's benefit. Due to their heavy focus on folktales and storytelling, they have an inherent bonus to Lore. As explorers of many lost and forgotten vaults dating back to Eora's antiquity, chanters also have a bonus to Mechanics, helping them bypass tricky locks and traps.
Priests are devoted followers of one or more deities, though almost all have a primary dedication to a single god above all others. They are well-versed in philosophy, myths, and legends, giving them an inherent bonus to the Lore skill. Additionally, the requirements of their faith often involve traveling long distances in difficult circumstances, giving them an inherent bonus to Athletics.
An insight into priest spells:
Armor of Faith is back : All allies in the area gain bonus Damage Threshold. Also:
Divine Mark - Blasts the target with Burn damage and reduces their Deflection for a short duration (Will). Holy Power - Allies' Might and Resolve are increased. Cleansing Flame - Hurls a ball of holy fire at an enemy. It does continuous Burn damage to the target and reduces the duration of beneficial effects (Reflex). After a few seconds, the Cleansing Flame leaps to another enemy within 3m and repeats the process again, ultimately affecting up to three targets. If no valid targets are in range when a leap occurs, the spell expires.
Chants look interesting too;
Rage against the Machine, I mean Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon! - Revives unconscious allies and heals a small amount of Stamina in a large area. This has no effect on characters who have already been Maimed or Killed in combat.
Also: If their Bones Sleep Still Under that Hill, None Can Say - Summons three skeletons. The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore they Crossed Half the Hall - Increases the Might, Constitution, and Resolve of allies in the area of effect.
We'll also have Paladin orders and deities for priests.
Update # 79: Graphics and Rendering By BAdler on May 28, 2014 10:00 AM Update by Adam Brennecke, Lead Programmer and Executive Producer
Over a year ago, in Update #49, we showed you the first movie of Pillars of Eternity. The movie showcased a beautiful scene in the Dyrwood complete with dynamic lighting, per-pixel occlusion, dynamic water and waterfall, and a day-night cycle. In this update I would like to give you an inside look on how these images are put together and rendered in the game, and I will cover new rendering features that we've added over the past year to address feedback from our backers about how our characters look in the scene. Warning: things might get technical!
E3 We are going to be going on update hiatus for the next three weeks as we prepare for E3 in Los Angeles. After E3, the next update will feature the final classes covering The Front Line (fighters and barbarians).
At E3, the team will be showing Pillars of Eternity at the Paradox booth behind closed doors. To avoid spoiling what we will be showing, we will be saving these moments until you get to play it. Because we want to include you in the experience, we will be taking photos at the booth, and in a future update we will be sharing more screenshots from the demo. To give you a small taste, here's a sneak peak at a scene that will be shown at E3:
Engwithan ruins at night.
Rendering Time Backgrounds
Day/night area example.
As we mentioned previously, our beautiful backgrounds are rendered out of Maya as a 2D image. They are very large images, sometimes over several gigabytes of raw data, and before the images get into the game we run a program that compresses the data. Maya renders out the backgrounds in four layers or "passes": final, depth, normal, and albedo. These passes are combined together in Unity for per-pixel occlusion of 3D objects, and for real-time dynamic lighting. When we bring the backgrounds into the game, they look like a flat 2D plane, and when viewed in Unity's editor the whole world has an awkward skewed look to it. The illusion comes together only when an orthographic camera is placed at the perfect angle.
Some of the rendering passes in an area.
Characters
Next we overlay the 3D world on top of the 2D rendered image. The characters are dynamic 3D skinned meshes that are animated and then rendered into the scene with a variety of shaders and materials. Our default material that we use on most characters includes a normal map (adds tiny variations in surface detail), specular map (adds shininess), and an albedo map (adds the base color). The default material also supports a tint map, which allows our designers and you to customize the colors of armor, hair, and skin.
We have other shaders that can change the look and feel of characters. For example, we have a metal shader for armor that adds an extra level of shininess and can reflect the environment via an environment map. A Cloth shader removes the shininess, and allows the character artists to make outfits made up of cotton, wool, and satin. We have special materials, like an emissive shader that isn't affected by light, used for the fire-godlike, ghosts, spectres, and the windows seen in the screenshots and video.
Because the characters are 3D, they need to be lit differently than the background image. We use a system with two directional lights. The first directional light is the key light and typically matches the sun color and intensity in outdoor scenes, and this light can be modified by the day-night cycle to cast moonlight at night. The second directional light is used as a fill light to make sure the "back side" of a character isn't in total darkness. The two lights are adjusted per scene depending on the pre-rendered light settings to match the sun direction, mood, and desired atmosphere.
In addition to the directional lights, we use dynamic deferred lights that can affect the background and characters. For example, if a torch is placed in a scene, the torch can illuminate both the 2D environment and a 3D character standing nearby. In addition, deferred lights are used for spell effects; a fireball explosion emits a burst of light, brightening up a dark dungeon room.
Bringing it all together We noticed, and so did many of you, after releasing our first few screenshots, the 3D characters were not matching the 2D rendered scene as much as we would have hoped. So we put our thinking caps on, and we came up with new features since our first batch of screenshots, including dynamic ambient and a shadow control system.
To really make sure the characters fit in the scene, we came up with an ambient system that samples color from the 2D background, simulating a quick and dirty global illumination model. Characters pick up subtle color variations depending on where they are standing and what type of environment they are in. If a character is standing in a lush green jungle, it will pick up a subtle green hue from the light reflected off the environment. Game programmers love fast and cheap methods, and the ambient system gives us great results with little impact on rendering performance.
Ambient before and after:
Image with ambient off.
Image with ambient on.
Another feature that we've added recently to solve the issue of grounding characters into the scene is a system to shadow 3D characters when traversing into dark shadowy areas in the 2D image. The new system samples a low resolution image map which controls the contribution of the directional sunlight on the character, and to avoid double shadows, the same image controls the value of the dynamic shadow map. Lastly, to better match the 2D and 3D shadows, we color the dynamic shadow to match the 2D rendered shadow color (which often has a blue hue to it).
Shadow Blending before and after:
Image with shadow blending off.
Image with shadow blending on
To tie everything together, we can optionally add post process effects. In this scene, we've added a very subtle bloom effect that effects both the environment and characters.
I hope you didn't get lost in all the technical talk! The important thing is that we hope you like the end result. We are satisfied with where we are at, but we always have a few ideas on how to improve the look and quality of the graphics. Improving the look of the game will be an ongoing process until we ship... and beyond. If you have any questions, please ask in our forums! Thanks for reading.
Yes, I saw this update as soon as it was released but it didn't bring anything really interesting, I thought, that's why I didn't post.
But since this update has been brought here nonetheless, I've found something really interesting, I think:
"Our team is still discussing whether or not we are going to do Early Access. Early Access has pros (influx of money, additional feedback from the community) and cons (releasing the game in an unfinished state to the general public, lesser impact of our final release), so it isn't really a slam dunk either way. As a gamer, I am not a huge fan of Early Access and I am usually wary of games that go that route. It is a good thing for some games (I think WL2 did a great job of using the money to help polish and finish out their game), but other games use it as an excuse to have a never-ending development.
PE's asset list and feature set is essentially locked at this point. There are still a large amount of bugs to fix and things to polish, but we aren't really generating additional content (besides audio, VFX, and a few B priority weapon and armor sets). Any money raised would likely into future projects (PE XP1)."
"Let's say that EA is a $10 premium over what we would normally sell the game for on Steam. This isn't necessarily the number, but it is an okay placeholder. Say we sell an additional 10k - 25k copies of the game as EA. Again, I am not sure if this number would be legitimate, but it seems reasonable. Assuming that EA cannibalizes our future sales, this would generate an extra 100k - 250k in cash. After Steam takes its cut (30%) that leaves anywhere from 70k - 175k.
That isn't a paltry sum of money, but it also isn't enough to really affect the game's development in any substantial way. That is enough to pay for an extra couple of weeks of development on the game. We have to weigh that against all of the potential problems and ill will if things aren't handled perfectly. EA is like playing with fire, in my mind, and if it isn't handled correctly it could burn the project (and the company)."
I think these posts give some insight into money generated and also imply that right now Obsidian are fixing bugs rather than adding new content - they want the most bug-less start there can be. As the story of BG:EE shows, Obsidian seem to be right.
Hey, everyone. Due to E3 crunch we are going to push off Josh's next class update for a couple of weeks. Instead, I will give an update about the general state of affairs for each department on the project now that we are getting ready to head into our Beta period. The next update will feature Josh's final class update along with info from the Eternity E3 presentation. Let's get into it.
Status
Area Design
All of the areas have been in the game for about a month now, and the area designers have been revisiting each area to make sure everything is in order. They're using specially crafted Alpha checklists to make sure that none of the major items are missed. For example, designers are checking that the area has a proper navigation mesh, ambient sound effects are placed, and scene transitions are working as intended.
Josh (Project Director) and Bobby (Area Design Lead) are heading up meetings to review all of the quests in the game. Each quest is played through by the team and analyzed. We ask basic questions like "Why is this quest fun?", "Does the player care about this quest?", and "What hooks the player into starting the quest?" If anything is lacking, the design team spruces the quest up to make it a memorable one.
Over the Beta period the designers will continue fixing bugs and polishing content.
Environment Art
Much like our area designers, our environment artists have been revisiting all of the areas of the game and performing their Alpha checklists to make sure all of the areas pass art Alpha. In addition to the checklists, they are performing polish work that had been identified previously by Bobby and Rob (Art Director) on areas.
Currently, the environment artists have done a pass on all of our critical path areas and they will be moving onto our side content once we enter Beta.
Take a look at one of the areas that has gone through Alpha polish without a paint-over pass:
Systems Design
Now that our systems are all in place, Josh has been focused on balance and polish bugs that have piled up over the course of the project. For me, this is one of the more exciting times in the project because the game really starts to take shape and become fun.
Game balance will continue throughout our Beta period, right up to our release.
UI
Kaz (Concept and UI Artist) has been finishing up the last remaining UI screens. He is now working on Scripted Interaction images, icons, area paint-overs, and portraits and will be doing so for the foreseeable future.
Animation
The animation team has been wrapping up the last B priority items and will moving into full-time polish until the end of the project. B priority animations are things like special creature attacks, class-specific spell casts, or animations for minor creatures (animal critters, for example).
Once the animation team has finished up creating the animations, they will be focused on animation polish.
Character Art
Our character artists have completed all of the creatures and creature variants we planned for the game (and even a few that we hadn't planned on). They have also created all of the base weapon and armor variants, and now character art is focused on finishing up all of the unique armors and weapons.
Once they complete the last bit of gear, they will move onto creating a few additional head and hair variants for each race. Like the rest of the team, they will also be polishing content for the remainder of the project.
Have a peek at one of our unique armors:
Narrative
The narrative team finished up the critical path a few weeks ago and now they have their focus on completing side content in our various regions. Eric (Lead Narrative Designer) has been tweaking and polishing the E3 demo areas, while Carrie (Narrative Designer) has been hard at work finishing up some of our companions. Narrative is also polishing up the areas that will be used in for our Backer Beta.
Over the next few months narrative will finish our companions, and we are going to start finalizing and locking down on the writing to prepare for localization and voice over.
Programming
At this point, the project is completely feature locked. The programmers are fully focused on fixing the mountain of bugs that have built up over the course of the project. There are still some items that need to be finished (installers, for example), but the majority of the work will be put towards fixing and polishing existing systems. This is where the build (that may have been unstable throughout development) really starts to come together.
VFX
The team is continuing to crank away at VFX. It is one of the areas of the game (along with narrative and audio) that are not at an Alpha level, which is intentional. The later on the project that you can bring the VFX team on, the lower the amount of rework that they will have to do on assets that may get changed.
We have added VFX on a little less than half of the spells and abilities, on all of our VFX creatures (creatures that are VFX driven instead of our normal creature pipeline), and on all of the critical path areas. We are scheduled to be finished with VFX in a couple of months.
Much like VFX, audio usually comes onto our projects a bit later than other departments. Many of our areas have had an ambience pass and are sounding really good. Same goes for our creatures - more and more of their SFX are being hooked up every day. We have also completed our initial pass on things like UI sounds, and very shortly, our audio team will create sounds for our spells and abilities.
Justin (Audio Director) has been working on finishing all of the music tracks for the game. In fact, he just finished composing our main theme.
Much like VFX, this audio team is scheduled to finish in a couple of months.
Overall
Overall, the project is coming together nicely. We have a ton of work that still needs to be done, but the team is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are no major roadblocks ahead of us at this point and now it's a focus on getting as much polish done as we can before our final release candidate.
If this is one piece of armor, than I assume this is the male and female version? I'm glad to see the ladies don't have a plunging neckline or a metal miniskirt. Though, I could be mistaken.
Don't miss the latest interview with Carrie Patel and Matt MacLean, Pillars of Eternity's narrative designers, as well as with level designers Bobby Null, Jeff Hughes and Olivia Veras.
Here's the link to the full version but I'd like to quote the words I've liked the most:
"Your party consists of your protagonist and up to five others. These five other spots in your gang can be filled out with the companion characters that you meet in your travels, or by building your own custom hired companions from scratch. The companions that you meet in the course of the story come from a broad mix of race and class combinations, and each have character arcs that react to the choices you've made in dialogues and in quests.
When fantasy feels generic, it's often because you've got these tropes that people hew to. Dwarves are all surly axe-wielders and elves are majestic tree-huggers with perfect hair. We wanted to start from scratch and say, 'If you had groups of people living in these circumstances, how might they really develop?'
Cultures in Pillars of Eternity are generally defined by the region of origin, and less by race. For example, dwarves aren't always stubborn, ale-gulping fighters that dislike elves. A dwarf's outlook on life greatly depends on where he hangs his hat and he is more likely to adopt the cultural traits of his neighbors, regardless of what race they happen belong to.
There are two types of reputation in Eternity: personal reputation, which we call 'disposition', and faction reputation. Disposition covers how your character behaves toward NPCs. Faction reputation is very similar to the system in Fallout: New Vegas and covers the things you actually do to certain groups in 'Eternity, whether that's completing quests on their behalf or killing lots of their dudes. Make a faction hate you enough and they'll send an elite squad of assassins to take you out. Make them love you enough, and the faction leader will turn to you when he needs to make a decision that has long-term consequences for the faction and the region as a whole.
Skyrim and Dragon Age are both great examples of high production values, each in its own way. To achieve these levels of production value, it is usually necessary to cut certain 'old school' features from the equation. Party sizes get smaller, dialogue options become limited and combat is streamlined.
Now I want to make it clear, I like [those games] for what they are. I also like, and miss, the older style RPGs I grew up on. Pillars of Eternity is being made for over 70,000 generous donors that apparently miss those games too."
This is looking better and better. I can’t wait to get my hands on it! “Obsidian can go as dark as they like without having to worry about alienating the money men.” I love this. Give me something with a bite for a change.
I hope it doesn't go too dark, though. I love some more moral spectrum than being either the saint or Satan, but quite frankly I could go without stuff like half-ogre rape factories in Arcanum.
"Despite Obsidian's claims in November that they were looking at a more skeuomorphic UI, the standard on-screen interface is surprisingly modern and muted. There's no enormous stone/wood bar taking up a large chunk of the screen. Instead, UI elements sit across the bottom, out of the way. Most of the icons and the day/night indicator look ripped right from the Infinity Engine titles.
Little text adventure or choose-your-own-adventure type snippets that describe actions, such as "The person slipped and nearly fell off the cliff" with an opportunity for you to respond. In the cliff example, for instance, our demo character's skills were high enough we saved our unlucky comrade from certain death.
When you walk off to collect berries, another member of your group accompanies you. She starts asking you about your past, about what you did before you fell in with the group. The answers you give—whether you were a soldier or a doctor—may play into the story later on, but more importantly they give you, the player, a better idea of the character you've created and his or her role in the world. Your answers are taken and inscribed into your character's biography for the rest of the game.
Instead of CGI cut-scenes, Pillars breaks up the questing and dungeon-exploring with interstitial text sequences that could be straight out of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. You get to make tough choices as you read through them.
The realm, Eora, will include two very large cities in addition to the vast wilderness.
Combat and other interactions appeared to be resolved by a background dice roll but the system behind it is one built from scratch by Obsidian. The encounters we saw were low-level - fending off wolves here, defeating enraged aggressors there. Some concluded with dialogue options that informed the ongoing makeup of your character, such as trying to resolve disputes with diplomacy, or mercy-killing a mortally wounded foe.
This game looks exactly like Baldur's Gate, from the slanted isometric view to the green and red circles around characters' feet. Hell, even the cursor seems straight out of the Infinity Engine.
But without the trappings of D&D, the folks at Obsidian were able to create their own lore, ditching the liches and half-orcs for a world full of enemy species with names like Glanfathan and Skuldr. Someone had a lot of fun coming up with this stuff.
There are eleven character classes. Any character can equip any item, but some classes will handle those items better than others.
Combat feels a lot like Baldur's Gate, too. It's real-time, but you can pause whenever you'd like to take a breather and give commands to your party. One big difference: instead of D&D-style "turns," characters have turn gauges that charge up in real time, not unlike the ATB system in Final Fantasy.
Also, you can't just rest after every battle like you could in the old Infinity games—in Pillars, you can either rest in an inn, or rest outside with camping supplies, which are limited based on the difficulty you choose.
"We don't want the player to rest after every combat," said producer Adam Brennecke. "We want the player to think a bit more."
At one point, for example, you're approached by a sickly enemy, and you can decide between killing him, trying to talk him out of fighting, feeding him, and other options. In the bigger-picture, the first dungeon lets you decide whether to solve a giant floor puzzle or find an alternative route.
You can zoom in and out, which is one of those killer, underrated features that will make this game much more convenient.
And the most important thing: they're still targeting late 2014 for release.
"The game will *not* be modder-friendly, nor will mod tools be released with the game. Probably not a big deal to most of us, but still a bit disappointing—mod communities can often contribute significantly extended value for games that support them."
It's just a pity. I can imagine BG without mods of course but mods drive the game further, they give longevity to the game.
In order not to concentrate on negativity, I like the "Scripted interactions" feature:
"A game element unique to Pillars of Eternity (as compared to its inspirations anyway) is something Brandon called ‘Scripted Interactions’, which is essentially a ‘choose your own adventure’ style sequence. In these sequences you read through a series of narrative panels and make choices – such as “Attack the dragon” vs. “Run away! Run away!” vs “Cast magic missile at the darkness!” (or maybe “Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!” to name a few possibilities)."
It reminds me about those old RPGs without graphics.
When BG was released there were no modding tools. Modders would reverse engineer game files and then manually hex edit them. Eventually the modding groups wrote their own tools. We're just about to see it happen again.
There will be 140 locations in Pillars of Eternity. (!)
Going to a wounded opponent, the player can kill him, feed him, to try to convince and so on.
There will be no rounds/turns in the game.
The ranger can bring your pet, and some members of the party may have satellites.
After meeting with a new monster in the bestiary player will write about it to help find the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. This record can be supplemented, if, for example, the monster will apply unprecedented ability. (!)
The full version of the game will be ready for winter.
Update #81: The Front Line: Fighters and Barbarians By BAdler on June 25, 2014 10:04 AM Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director
In this, our final class update, we will be discussing fighters and barbarians. Along with the wily, pain-powered monks (covered in Update 52), these three classes form the front line. The front line defines the heart of any battle, where two sides tangle face-to-face. The responsibility of the front line is more than simply dealing damage. It means holding the line no matter what tries to break through. If the party rogue needs a breather, the characters in the front line need to be able to cover her retreat. If a swarm of xaurips descends on the group after the wizard hurls his fireball, the front line needs to be able to neutralize them en masse or absorb their attacks before they overwhelm the entire party. Designed to take punishment and tackle hordes, the front line are the first in and, more often than not, the last standing in any battle. Next update will focus on some brand new creatures that we haven't shown yet, so be on the lookout.
Each class holds the line in its own way. As covered in Update 52, the monk absorbs damage to fuel special attacks through the use of accumulated Wounds. These attacks can stun, push, or weaken individuals or small groups around them. While monks have to be monitored to ensure their Wounds do not overwhelm them, they can absorb a large amount of punishment and hamper enemy movement on the battlefield. In contrast, the fighter holds the line the traditional way: by standing her ground, blocking opponents, and being infuriatingly difficult to knock out. Barbarians are designed to jump into the fray swinging wildly. Lacking the accuracy and strong Deflection of the fighter, the barbarian makes up for his lack of discipline through sheer speed, savagery, and abilities tailored for fighting groups of enemies. We've already covered the monk's Wounds and how they play into their use, but the other two front line classes differ in how they stem the enemy tide and how players monitor and use them over the course of combat. To show you how they differ, let's look at the details.
Human Female Fighter
If one of Pillars of Eternity's eleven classes is the rock (we'll skip the obvious "pillar" joke), it's the fighter. All across Eora, fighters are known for their discipline, skill, and durability. In the Eastern Reach, they are often employed as caravan guards, soldiers, and personal bodyguards. Accustomed as they are to long marches, strange places, and life on the road, all fighters gain a minor skill bonus to Athletics, Lore, and Survival.
In combat, fighters are steadfast and stalwart. Even novice fighters enjoy the highest base Deflection defense of any class and the ability to passively recover a small amount of Stamina every second. As the levels rise, fighters gain access to weapon specialization, modestly increasing their overall damage for all weapons in a specific category. These categories are broader than they were in the Infinity Engine games. E.g. the Knight category covers battle axes, swords, morning stars, crossbows, and war bows. The Peasant category includes hatchets, spears, quarterstaves, hunting bows, and blunderbusses. The selections are designed to cover a variety of damage types, to include one- and two-handed options, and to always feature at least one ranged weapon. At even higher levels, fighters gain abilities to recover Stamina immediately after being wounded, to protect nearby allies from incoming attacks, to knock down groups of enemies, and even to yank enemy passersby into the fray. Overall, fighters are designed to be low-maintenance, reliable, and long-lived even in marathon battles. Here are more detailed descriptions of some of the fighters' abilities:
Defender (Modal) - Allows the fighter to trigger Melee Engagement on up to three enemies and increases the fighter's Deflection. While active, the fighter's attack rate is reduced. Vigorous Defense (Active) - Dramatically increases all defenses for the fighter for a short period of time. 1/encounter. Unbending (Active) - For a moderate time, the fighter will recover 50% of lost Stamina from an attack over the 5 seconds following it. This has no effect on the amount of Health lost and does not prevent the fighter from being knocked unconscious from a temporary dip in Stamina from a strong attack. 3/rest. Confident Aim - 20% of a fighter's Grazes are converted to Hits. Additionally, the minimum damage for any melee weapon they use is increased by 25% of the range between the minimum and maximum. Critical Defense - 20% of all incoming Crits against a fighter are converted to Hits. Crippling Guard - When a fighter Hits or Crits with a Disengagement Attack, the target is automatically Hobbled for a brief duration. Unbroken (Active) - This ability can only be activated when the fighter is at 0 Stamina. When used, the fighter will stand back up with 50% of her Stamina. For a short while, her defenses and Damage Threshold are both increased. 1/rest. A QA (Quality Assurance) favorite at Obsidian, barbarians are the wild, unconventional counterparts to fighters. Barbarians need not be from the "hinterlands" of Eora, though the vast majority are. In the Eastern Reach, barbarians most often come from Eir Glanfath, though some can be found in rural Dyrwoodan communities or drifting in from abroad through port cities like Defiance Bay and New Heomar. Barbarians are often used as shock troops for dealing with mobs or simply to intimidate the easily-cowed with their ferocity. As the Dyrwood has settled down over time, the regular employment of foreign barbarians has slowed significantly, but they still make up the majority of Glanfathan front-line forces. Barbarians all have a strong skill focus in Athletics and lesser focus in Survival.
Aumaua Barbarian
While fighters rely on disciplined adherence to proven combat techniques to weather difficult battles, barbarians charge furiously into melee and wreak enormous damage to everyone around them. Barbarians are relatively inaccurate, but every melee attack they make gives them an opportunity to strike out at bystanders. Barbarians have the highest Health and Stamina of all classes, which they need given their low Deflection -- a defense that suffers additional penalties when the barbarian frenzies. A barbarian's Frenzy is one of his most valuable tools, allowing him to dramatically increase his damage output and Stamina for a short period of time. However, in addition to suffering penalties to Deflection, the barbarian's Stamina and Health meters are obscured for the duration. It's not uncommon for barbarians to suddenly drop unconscious -- or dead -- when their frenzies come to an end. Many of the barbarians' higher-level powers shine when they are surrounded by a throng of enemies, outnumbered and often badly-wounded. Even so, they are designed to burn brightly and expire brilliantly in the unfortunate event that a battle drags on. Due to the nature of their abilities, barbarians are a higher-maintenance class than fighters.
Carnage - When barbarians hit with melee attacks, they automatically make reduced-damage attacks at all additional enemies within a short distance of the target. Wild Sprint (Active) - The barbarian gains a large movement bonus that lasts a few seconds. While active, it allows the barbarian to ignore the stop effect from Engagement as well as the hit reaction from an Engagement Hit. Additionally, his Deflection is reduced during the sprint. 3/rest. Blooded - When a barbarian falls below 50% Stamina, he gains a bonus to damage for as long as his Stamina is below 50%. Thick-Skinned - Allows the barbarian to take only 1 Health damage per 8 Stamina damage received, instead of the normal 1 per 4 ratio. Brute Force - When finesse fails, barbarians rely on brute force. On any attack that normally targets Deflection, the barbarian will automatically target the enemy's Fortitude if it is the lower defense. One Stands Alone - When barbarians are Engaged by two or more enemies, they gains a bonus to melee damage. They cannot be Flanked unless they are Engaged by more than three enemies. Vengeful Defeat - When barbarians are reduced to 0 Stamina and have melee weapons equipped, they immediately make instant Carnage attacks at every enemy around them. 1/encounter. Heart of Fury (Active) - In a blur of movement, the barbarian performs a melee attack with each equipped weapon at every enemy within 2m. Each attack does increased damage and Carnage applies. 1/rest. Our take on the traditional front line classes attempts to capture the spirit of their Infinity Engine predecessors while introducing some interesting and fun differences for players to experiment with. We hope that you've enjoyed this and all of our other class updates. More importantly, we hope that you enjoy making all the parties you can imagine when the game comes out. As always, let us know what you think in our forums. Thanks for reading.
Oh yea. I've been waiting for this since I first heard about it. I think pretty much everyone had. The information about it is absolutely top notch, the lore is amazing. The maps are amazing. The armour is amazing. Not to mention ORIGINAL IP! Which is awesome. It means they aren't stuck with licensing problems or to a set of rules and laws and precedents set up by someone else. They have their own playground to do whatever they want in. Should be pretty bloody AMAZING.
I think we can safely say. This will be epic. Not to mention the possibilities with the engine. . . *Drools all over the floor*
I'm just going to sit here and rock until release. . .
Hey, everybody. I just wanted to announce that we have decided on a release date for the Backer Beta: August 18th. We will discuss all of the particulars in a formal Kickstarter announcement, but we wanted you to hear about it first.
Comments
can't wait
Although the robe art was missing in the latest update, I offer everyone to look (maybe once more) at this presentation:
Also, we've seen some cheap/beginner robes/clothes in the 61th update:
Also, it seems here (http://justpressstart.net/obsidians-josh-sawyer-discusses-pillars-of-eternity/) is the latest interview with Project Lead Josh Sawyer about the game's real time non-round-based combat, the AI, the setting and more. Although it's not a written interview (just a 20-minute podcast episode) it's still pretty interesting.
Chanters are storytellers and repositories of ancient lore from myriad cultural traditions. They use these stories and legends to stir the memories of the dreaming lost souls and soul fragments that surround them. The spirits respond by creating magical effects, essentially playing their part in the recreation of the legends. In this way, chanters act as directors of supernatural actors playing out momentary plays for the chanter's benefit. Due to their heavy focus on folktales and storytelling, they have an inherent bonus to Lore. As explorers of many lost and forgotten vaults dating back to Eora's antiquity, chanters also have a bonus to Mechanics, helping them bypass tricky locks and traps.
Priests are devoted followers of one or more deities, though almost all have a primary dedication to a single god above all others. They are well-versed in philosophy, myths, and legends, giving them an inherent bonus to the Lore skill. Additionally, the requirements of their faith often involve traveling long distances in difficult circumstances, giving them an inherent bonus to Athletics.
An insight into priest spells:
Armor of Faith is back : All allies in the area gain bonus Damage Threshold.
Also:
Divine Mark - Blasts the target with Burn damage and reduces their Deflection for a short duration (Will).
Holy Power - Allies' Might and Resolve are increased.
Cleansing Flame - Hurls a ball of holy fire at an enemy. It does continuous Burn damage to the target and reduces the duration of beneficial effects (Reflex). After a few seconds, the Cleansing Flame leaps to another enemy within 3m and repeats the process again, ultimately affecting up to three targets. If no valid targets are in range when a leap occurs, the spell expires.
Chants look interesting too;
Rage against the Machine, I mean Rise Again, Rise Again, Scions of Adon! - Revives unconscious allies and heals a small amount of Stamina in a large area. This has no effect on characters who have already been Maimed or Killed in combat.
Also:
If their Bones Sleep Still Under that Hill, None Can Say - Summons three skeletons.
The Brideman Slew Thirty 'Fore they Crossed Half the Hall - Increases the Might, Constitution, and Resolve of allies in the area of effect.
We'll also have Paladin orders and deities for priests.
https://eternity.obsidian.net/news/update-78-the-leaders-of-the-band-chanters-and-priests-
By BAdler on May 28, 2014 10:00 AM
Update by Adam Brennecke, Lead Programmer and Executive Producer
Over a year ago, in Update #49, we showed you the first movie of Pillars of Eternity. The movie showcased a beautiful scene in the Dyrwood complete with dynamic lighting, per-pixel occlusion, dynamic water and waterfall, and a day-night cycle. In this update I would like to give you an inside look on how these images are put together and rendered in the game, and I will cover new rendering features that we've added over the past year to address feedback from our backers about how our characters look in the scene. Warning: things might get technical!
E3
We are going to be going on update hiatus for the next three weeks as we prepare for E3 in Los Angeles. After E3, the next update will feature the final classes covering The Front Line (fighters and barbarians).
Adam Brennecke describes the rendering process.
At E3, the team will be showing Pillars of Eternity at the Paradox booth behind closed doors. To avoid spoiling what we will be showing, we will be saving these moments until you get to play it. Because we want to include you in the experience, we will be taking photos at the booth, and in a future update we will be sharing more screenshots from the demo. To give you a small taste, here's a sneak peak at a scene that will be shown at E3:
Engwithan ruins at night.
Rendering Time
Backgrounds
Day/night area example.
As we mentioned previously, our beautiful backgrounds are rendered out of Maya as a 2D image. They are very large images, sometimes over several gigabytes of raw data, and before the images get into the game we run a program that compresses the data. Maya renders out the backgrounds in four layers or "passes": final, depth, normal, and albedo. These passes are combined together in Unity for per-pixel occlusion of 3D objects, and for real-time dynamic lighting. When we bring the backgrounds into the game, they look like a flat 2D plane, and when viewed in Unity's editor the whole world has an awkward skewed look to it. The illusion comes together only when an orthographic camera is placed at the perfect angle.
Some of the rendering passes in an area.
Characters
Next we overlay the 3D world on top of the 2D rendered image. The characters are dynamic 3D skinned meshes that are animated and then rendered into the scene with a variety of shaders and materials. Our default material that we use on most characters includes a normal map (adds tiny variations in surface detail), specular map (adds shininess), and an albedo map (adds the base color). The default material also supports a tint map, which allows our designers and you to customize the colors of armor, hair, and skin.
We have other shaders that can change the look and feel of characters. For example, we have a metal shader for armor that adds an extra level of shininess and can reflect the environment via an environment map. A Cloth shader removes the shininess, and allows the character artists to make outfits made up of cotton, wool, and satin. We have special materials, like an emissive shader that isn't affected by light, used for the fire-godlike, ghosts, spectres, and the windows seen in the screenshots and video.
Because the characters are 3D, they need to be lit differently than the background image. We use a system with two directional lights. The first directional light is the key light and typically matches the sun color and intensity in outdoor scenes, and this light can be modified by the day-night cycle to cast moonlight at night. The second directional light is used as a fill light to make sure the "back side" of a character isn't in total darkness. The two lights are adjusted per scene depending on the pre-rendered light settings to match the sun direction, mood, and desired atmosphere.
In addition to the directional lights, we use dynamic deferred lights that can affect the background and characters. For example, if a torch is placed in a scene, the torch can illuminate both the 2D environment and a 3D character standing nearby. In addition, deferred lights are used for spell effects; a fireball explosion emits a burst of light, brightening up a dark dungeon room.
Bringing it all together
We noticed, and so did many of you, after releasing our first few screenshots, the 3D characters were not matching the 2D rendered scene as much as we would have hoped. So we put our thinking caps on, and we came up with new features since our first batch of screenshots, including dynamic ambient and a shadow control system.
To really make sure the characters fit in the scene, we came up with an ambient system that samples color from the 2D background, simulating a quick and dirty global illumination model. Characters pick up subtle color variations depending on where they are standing and what type of environment they are in. If a character is standing in a lush green jungle, it will pick up a subtle green hue from the light reflected off the environment. Game programmers love fast and cheap methods, and the ambient system gives us great results with little impact on rendering performance.
Ambient before and after:
Image with ambient off.
Image with ambient on.
Another feature that we've added recently to solve the issue of grounding characters into the scene is a system to shadow 3D characters when traversing into dark shadowy areas in the 2D image. The new system samples a low resolution image map which controls the contribution of the directional sunlight on the character, and to avoid double shadows, the same image controls the value of the dynamic shadow map. Lastly, to better match the 2D and 3D shadows, we color the dynamic shadow to match the 2D rendered shadow color (which often has a blue hue to it).
Shadow Blending before and after:
Image with shadow blending off.
Image with shadow blending on
To tie everything together, we can optionally add post process effects. In this scene, we've added a very subtle bloom effect that effects both the environment and characters.
I hope you didn't get lost in all the technical talk! The important thing is that we hope you like the end result. We are satisfied with where we are at, but we always have a few ideas on how to improve the look and quality of the graphics. Improving the look of the game will be an ongoing process until we ship... and beyond. If you have any questions, please ask in our forums! Thanks for reading.
But since this update has been brought here nonetheless, I've found something really interesting, I think:
"Our team is still discussing whether or not we are going to do Early Access. Early Access has pros (influx of money, additional feedback from the community) and cons (releasing the game in an unfinished state to the general public, lesser impact of our final release), so it isn't really a slam dunk either way. As a gamer, I am not a huge fan of Early Access and I am usually wary of games that go that route. It is a good thing for some games (I think WL2 did a great job of using the money to help polish and finish out their game), but other games use it as an excuse to have a never-ending development.
PE's asset list and feature set is essentially locked at this point. There are still a large amount of bugs to fix and things to polish, but we aren't really generating additional content (besides audio, VFX, and a few B priority weapon and armor sets). Any money raised would likely into future projects (PE XP1)."
"Let's say that EA is a $10 premium over what we would normally sell the game for on Steam. This isn't necessarily the number, but it is an okay placeholder. Say we sell an additional 10k - 25k copies of the game as EA. Again, I am not sure if this number would be legitimate, but it seems reasonable. Assuming that EA cannibalizes our future sales, this would generate an extra 100k - 250k in cash. After Steam takes its cut (30%) that leaves anywhere from 70k - 175k.
That isn't a paltry sum of money, but it also isn't enough to really affect the game's development in any substantial way. That is enough to pay for an extra couple of weeks of development on the game. We have to weigh that against all of the potential problems and ill will if things aren't handled perfectly. EA is like playing with fire, in my mind, and if it isn't handled correctly it could burn the project (and the company)."
http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66210-the-possibility-of-a-delayed-2015-release/?p=1453767
I think these posts give some insight into money generated and also imply that right now Obsidian are fixing bugs rather than adding new content - they want the most bug-less start there can be. As the story of BG:EE shows, Obsidian seem to be right.
They did make the waves lap the beach!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/posts/873862
If this is one piece of armor, than I assume this is the male and female version? I'm glad to see the ladies don't have a plunging neckline or a metal miniskirt. Though, I could be mistaken.
Here's the link to the full version but I'd like to quote the words I've liked the most:
"Your party consists of your protagonist and up to five others. These five other spots in your gang can be filled out with the companion characters that you meet in your travels, or by building your own custom hired companions from scratch. The companions that you meet in the course of the story come from a broad mix of race and class combinations, and each have character arcs that react to the choices you've made in dialogues and in quests.
When fantasy feels generic, it's often because you've got these tropes that people hew to. Dwarves are all surly axe-wielders and elves are majestic tree-huggers with perfect hair. We wanted to start from scratch and say, 'If you had groups of people living in these circumstances, how might they really develop?'
Cultures in Pillars of Eternity are generally defined by the region of origin, and less by race. For example, dwarves aren't always stubborn, ale-gulping fighters that dislike elves. A dwarf's outlook on life greatly depends on where he hangs his hat and he is more likely to adopt the cultural traits of his neighbors, regardless of what race they happen belong to.
There are two types of reputation in Eternity: personal reputation, which we call 'disposition', and faction reputation. Disposition covers how your character behaves toward NPCs. Faction reputation is very similar to the system in Fallout: New Vegas and covers the things you actually do to certain groups in 'Eternity, whether that's completing quests on their behalf or killing lots of their dudes. Make a faction hate you enough and they'll send an elite squad of assassins to take you out. Make them love you enough, and the faction leader will turn to you when he needs to make a decision that has long-term consequences for the faction and the region as a whole.
Skyrim and Dragon Age are both great examples of high production values, each in its own way. To achieve these levels of production value, it is usually necessary to cut certain 'old school' features from the equation. Party sizes get smaller, dialogue options become limited and combat is streamlined.
Now I want to make it clear, I like [those games] for what they are. I also like, and miss, the older style RPGs I grew up on. Pillars of Eternity is being made for over 70,000 generous donors that apparently miss those games too."
“Obsidian can go as dark as they like without having to worry about alienating the money men.” I love this. Give me something with a bite for a change.
http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/pillars-of-eternity-e3-preview-infinity-reborn/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/e32014/11755-Pillars-of-Eternity-Preview-Hallelujah-for-Classic-Isometric-RPGs
http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/19/5823118/pillars-of-eternity-preview-e3-2014
http://kotaku.com/pillars-of-eternity-looks-like-the-next-great-computer-1592836049
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2365287/pillars-of-eternity-preview-spiritual-successor-to-rpg-classics-turns-promise-into-game.html
http://t.joystiq.com/all/2014-06-19-obsidians-pillars-of-eternity-looks-old-and-thats-good-news#1
You just HAVE to see these links.
"Despite Obsidian's claims in November that they were looking at a more skeuomorphic UI, the standard on-screen interface is surprisingly modern and muted. There's no enormous stone/wood bar taking up a large chunk of the screen. Instead, UI elements sit across the bottom, out of the way. Most of the icons and the day/night indicator look ripped right from the Infinity Engine titles.
Little text adventure or choose-your-own-adventure type snippets that describe actions, such as "The person slipped and nearly fell off the cliff" with an opportunity for you to respond. In the cliff example, for instance, our demo character's skills were high enough we saved our unlucky comrade from certain death.
When you walk off to collect berries, another member of your group accompanies you. She starts asking you about your past, about what you did before you fell in with the group. The answers you give—whether you were a soldier or a doctor—may play into the story later on, but more importantly they give you, the player, a better idea of the character you've created and his or her role in the world. Your answers are taken and inscribed into your character's biography for the rest of the game.
Instead of CGI cut-scenes, Pillars breaks up the questing and dungeon-exploring with interstitial text sequences that could be straight out of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. You get to make tough choices as you read through them.
The realm, Eora, will include two very large cities in addition to the vast wilderness.
Combat and other interactions appeared to be resolved by a background dice roll but the system behind it is one built from scratch by Obsidian. The encounters we saw were low-level - fending off wolves here, defeating enraged aggressors there. Some concluded with dialogue options that informed the ongoing makeup of your character, such as trying to resolve disputes with diplomacy, or mercy-killing a mortally wounded foe.
This game looks exactly like Baldur's Gate, from the slanted isometric view to the green and red circles around characters' feet. Hell, even the cursor seems straight out of the Infinity Engine.
But without the trappings of D&D, the folks at Obsidian were able to create their own lore, ditching the liches and half-orcs for a world full of enemy species with names like Glanfathan and Skuldr. Someone had a lot of fun coming up with this stuff.
There are eleven character classes. Any character can equip any item, but some classes will handle those items better than others.
Combat feels a lot like Baldur's Gate, too. It's real-time, but you can pause whenever you'd like to take a breather and give commands to your party. One big difference: instead of D&D-style "turns," characters have turn gauges that charge up in real time, not unlike the ATB system in Final Fantasy.
Also, you can't just rest after every battle like you could in the old Infinity games—in Pillars, you can either rest in an inn, or rest outside with camping supplies, which are limited based on the difficulty you choose.
"We don't want the player to rest after every combat," said producer Adam Brennecke. "We want the player to think a bit more."
At one point, for example, you're approached by a sickly enemy, and you can decide between killing him, trying to talk him out of fighting, feeding him, and other options. In the bigger-picture, the first dungeon lets you decide whether to solve a giant floor puzzle or find an alternative route.
You can zoom in and out, which is one of those killer, underrated features that will make this game much more convenient.
And the most important thing: they're still targeting late 2014 for release.
"The game will *not* be modder-friendly, nor will mod tools be released with the game. Probably not a big deal to most of us, but still a bit disappointing—mod communities can often contribute significantly extended value for games that support them."
It's just a pity. I can imagine BG without mods of course but mods drive the game further, they give longevity to the game.
In order not to concentrate on negativity, I like the "Scripted interactions" feature:
"A game element unique to Pillars of Eternity (as compared to its inspirations anyway) is something Brandon called ‘Scripted Interactions’, which is essentially a ‘choose your own adventure’ style sequence. In these sequences you read through a series of narrative panels and make choices – such as “Attack the dragon” vs. “Run away! Run away!” vs “Cast magic missile at the darkness!” (or maybe “Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!” to name a few possibilities)."
It reminds me about those old RPGs without graphics.
http://www.examiner.com/article/e3-2014-obsidian-s-pillars-of-eternity-strives-to-be-another-classic-pc-rpg?cid=rss
http://translate.google.ru/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=www.rpgnuke.ru/2014/07/04/informaciya_iz_prevyu_demo_versii_pillars_of_eternity.html
There will be 140 locations in Pillars of Eternity. (!)
Going to a wounded opponent, the player can kill him, feed him, to try to convince and so on.
There will be no rounds/turns in the game.
The ranger can bring your pet, and some members of the party may have satellites.
After meeting with a new monster in the bestiary player will write about it to help find the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy. This record can be supplemented, if, for example, the monster will apply unprecedented ability. (!)
The full version of the game will be ready for winter.
https://eternity.obsidian.net/news/update-81-the-front-line-fighters-and-barbarians- (might be an easier read)
Update #81: The Front Line: Fighters and Barbarians
By BAdler on June 25, 2014 10:04 AM
Update by Josh Sawyer, Project Director
In this, our final class update, we will be discussing fighters and barbarians. Along with the wily, pain-powered monks (covered in Update 52), these three classes form the front line. The front line defines the heart of any battle, where two sides tangle face-to-face. The responsibility of the front line is more than simply dealing damage. It means holding the line no matter what tries to break through. If the party rogue needs a breather, the characters in the front line need to be able to cover her retreat. If a swarm of xaurips descends on the group after the wizard hurls his fireball, the front line needs to be able to neutralize them en masse or absorb their attacks before they overwhelm the entire party. Designed to take punishment and tackle hordes, the front line are the first in and, more often than not, the last standing in any battle. Next update will focus on some brand new creatures that we haven't shown yet, so be on the lookout.
Each class holds the line in its own way. As covered in Update 52, the monk absorbs damage to fuel special attacks through the use of accumulated Wounds. These attacks can stun, push, or weaken individuals or small groups around them. While monks have to be monitored to ensure their Wounds do not overwhelm them, they can absorb a large amount of punishment and hamper enemy movement on the battlefield. In contrast, the fighter holds the line the traditional way: by standing her ground, blocking opponents, and being infuriatingly difficult to knock out. Barbarians are designed to jump into the fray swinging wildly. Lacking the accuracy and strong Deflection of the fighter, the barbarian makes up for his lack of discipline through sheer speed, savagery, and abilities tailored for fighting groups of enemies. We've already covered the monk's Wounds and how they play into their use, but the other two front line classes differ in how they stem the enemy tide and how players monitor and use them over the course of combat. To show you how they differ, let's look at the details.
Human Female Fighter
If one of Pillars of Eternity's eleven classes is the rock (we'll skip the obvious "pillar" joke), it's the fighter. All across Eora, fighters are known for their discipline, skill, and durability. In the Eastern Reach, they are often employed as caravan guards, soldiers, and personal bodyguards. Accustomed as they are to long marches, strange places, and life on the road, all fighters gain a minor skill bonus to Athletics, Lore, and Survival.
In combat, fighters are steadfast and stalwart. Even novice fighters enjoy the highest base Deflection defense of any class and the ability to passively recover a small amount of Stamina every second. As the levels rise, fighters gain access to weapon specialization, modestly increasing their overall damage for all weapons in a specific category. These categories are broader than they were in the Infinity Engine games. E.g. the Knight category covers battle axes, swords, morning stars, crossbows, and war bows. The Peasant category includes hatchets, spears, quarterstaves, hunting bows, and blunderbusses. The selections are designed to cover a variety of damage types, to include one- and two-handed options, and to always feature at least one ranged weapon. At even higher levels, fighters gain abilities to recover Stamina immediately after being wounded, to protect nearby allies from incoming attacks, to knock down groups of enemies, and even to yank enemy passersby into the fray. Overall, fighters are designed to be low-maintenance, reliable, and long-lived even in marathon battles. Here are more detailed descriptions of some of the fighters' abilities:
Defender (Modal) - Allows the fighter to trigger Melee Engagement on up to three enemies and increases the fighter's Deflection. While active, the fighter's attack rate is reduced.
Vigorous Defense (Active) - Dramatically increases all defenses for the fighter for a short period of time. 1/encounter.
Unbending (Active) - For a moderate time, the fighter will recover 50% of lost Stamina from an attack over the 5 seconds following it. This has no effect on the amount of Health lost and does not prevent the fighter from being knocked unconscious from a temporary dip in Stamina from a strong attack. 3/rest.
Confident Aim - 20% of a fighter's Grazes are converted to Hits. Additionally, the minimum damage for any melee weapon they use is increased by 25% of the range between the minimum and maximum.
Critical Defense - 20% of all incoming Crits against a fighter are converted to Hits.
Crippling Guard - When a fighter Hits or Crits with a Disengagement Attack, the target is automatically Hobbled for a brief duration.
Unbroken (Active) - This ability can only be activated when the fighter is at 0 Stamina. When used, the fighter will stand back up with 50% of her Stamina. For a short while, her defenses and Damage Threshold are both increased. 1/rest.
A QA (Quality Assurance) favorite at Obsidian, barbarians are the wild, unconventional counterparts to fighters. Barbarians need not be from the "hinterlands" of Eora, though the vast majority are. In the Eastern Reach, barbarians most often come from Eir Glanfath, though some can be found in rural Dyrwoodan communities or drifting in from abroad through port cities like Defiance Bay and New Heomar. Barbarians are often used as shock troops for dealing with mobs or simply to intimidate the easily-cowed with their ferocity. As the Dyrwood has settled down over time, the regular employment of foreign barbarians has slowed significantly, but they still make up the majority of Glanfathan front-line forces. Barbarians all have a strong skill focus in Athletics and lesser focus in Survival.
Aumaua Barbarian
While fighters rely on disciplined adherence to proven combat techniques to weather difficult battles, barbarians charge furiously into melee and wreak enormous damage to everyone around them. Barbarians are relatively inaccurate, but every melee attack they make gives them an opportunity to strike out at bystanders. Barbarians have the highest Health and Stamina of all classes, which they need given their low Deflection -- a defense that suffers additional penalties when the barbarian frenzies. A barbarian's Frenzy is one of his most valuable tools, allowing him to dramatically increase his damage output and Stamina for a short period of time. However, in addition to suffering penalties to Deflection, the barbarian's Stamina and Health meters are obscured for the duration. It's not uncommon for barbarians to suddenly drop unconscious -- or dead -- when their frenzies come to an end. Many of the barbarians' higher-level powers shine when they are surrounded by a throng of enemies, outnumbered and often badly-wounded. Even so, they are designed to burn brightly and expire brilliantly in the unfortunate event that a battle drags on. Due to the nature of their abilities, barbarians are a higher-maintenance class than fighters.
Carnage - When barbarians hit with melee attacks, they automatically make reduced-damage attacks at all additional enemies within a short distance of the target.
Wild Sprint (Active) - The barbarian gains a large movement bonus that lasts a few seconds. While active, it allows the barbarian to ignore the stop effect from Engagement as well as the hit reaction from an Engagement Hit. Additionally, his Deflection is reduced during the sprint. 3/rest.
Blooded - When a barbarian falls below 50% Stamina, he gains a bonus to damage for as long as his Stamina is below 50%.
Thick-Skinned - Allows the barbarian to take only 1 Health damage per 8 Stamina damage received, instead of the normal 1 per 4 ratio.
Brute Force - When finesse fails, barbarians rely on brute force. On any attack that normally targets Deflection, the barbarian will automatically target the enemy's Fortitude if it is the lower defense.
One Stands Alone - When barbarians are Engaged by two or more enemies, they gains a bonus to melee damage. They cannot be Flanked unless they are Engaged by more than three enemies.
Vengeful Defeat - When barbarians are reduced to 0 Stamina and have melee weapons equipped, they immediately make instant Carnage attacks at every enemy around them. 1/encounter.
Heart of Fury (Active) - In a blur of movement, the barbarian performs a melee attack with each equipped weapon at every enemy within 2m. Each attack does increased damage and Carnage applies. 1/rest.
Our take on the traditional front line classes attempts to capture the spirit of their Infinity Engine predecessors while introducing some interesting and fun differences for players to experiment with. We hope that you've enjoyed this and all of our other class updates. More importantly, we hope that you enjoy making all the parties you can imagine when the game comes out. As always, let us know what you think in our forums. Thanks for reading.
Now I'm really getting excited about this!
The information about it is absolutely top notch, the lore is amazing. The maps are amazing. The armour is amazing. Not to mention ORIGINAL IP! Which is awesome. It means they aren't stuck with licensing problems or to a set of rules and laws and precedents set up by someone else. They have their own playground to do whatever they want in. Should be pretty bloody AMAZING.
I think we can safely say. This will be epic.
Not to mention the possibilities with the engine. . .
*Drools all over the floor*
I'm just going to sit here and rock until release. . .
Hey, everybody. I just wanted to announce that we have decided on a release date for the Backer Beta: August 18th. We will discuss all of the particulars in a formal Kickstarter announcement, but we wanted you to hear about it first.