On the number of companions, as I understand, Eder is in some ways comparable to Imoen - his story is tied closely to the main story, in which case you'd probably want to have him with you pretty much every time, (or at least, it's expected that you will).
The way I'm looking at it is running with a party of 5: Main Character + Eder + 2 'real' companions + 1 custom companion.
On no combat XP - I'm still undecided. Part of me feels like it disincentivises exploration. On the other hand, every map being 'quest important' seems to be a goal - so you'll be there anyway.
For those testing the beta. How does the game handle battle related quests and locations? Do they show up if you are not in that particular quest, i.e. just exploring a location, or does the game just gives you the quest reward even if you have never heard of the quest in game?
@mlnevese If you don't get the quest, you don't get the XP. It's a bit hard to say with absolute certainty, but this seems to be the case anyway. Someone mentioned that they went and killed an ogre without first getting the quest to do so, took the head, and then eventually ran into the quest giver and informed him that the ogre was dead. Supposedly no XP was rewarded for this. It seems likely to me that that's a bug (or an oversight), but even if it is, it means that you don't get any XP without consulting the quest-giver at some point, be it before or after the fact. Once they push an update to the beta which fixes the journal bug it will be a lot easier to investigate this stuff. Should be within a couple of weeks since they suggested they'd be updating every few weeks or so.
Speaking of which, I'd like to say that I really appreciate there will be an optional Iron Man mode named Trial of Iron (which has a single save that is used to save your game when you stop playing) and an Expert mode that introduces perma-death.
I've always wanted BG to have similar options and it's good PoE will grant them.
@bengoshi Actually, expert mode disables certain helper features (such as those that tell you about skill checks affecting dialogue options I believe), while there is a separate box in the options menu marked "Death" that turns on death instead of maiming when health reaches 0. Both these and the trial of iron mode are nice features. I would have been especially disappointed if perma-death wasn't at least an option.
EDIT: I would prefer it if, like Expert Mode, Trial of Iron, and Path of The Damned (the highest difficulty), the perma-death option were unable to be changed mid game, but as it stands right now it can be turned on and off at any point.
Do you have any kind of proof or basis for saying that they wouldn't reward you for such a battle? getting exp/kill does not mean you don't get exp for defeating them. This just ensures you get the same exp for defeating them by killing them as for defeating them by outwitting them, which encourages you to roleplay your character rather than take the action that gives you the most exp.
Edit: Dammit, I should've checked for new posts before posting.
@bengoshi yep, no stat rolling. If you really want to roll for stats, though, you can always pull out the dice and use the results of an actual roll. Not the same feel I suppose, but the same end result at least.
I think this is silly. Having slept("slept" hehe...) in an area with a very active nuisance bear, the reality of being awoken by enemies and having to defend yourself Is very real to me. Oh well. This also doesn't go with their theme of increasing the value of inns.
Also, like @jaysl659 (quite well, I would add) I am all for the way the XP is going to work. I don't like the way per-kill XP incentivizes needless killing. For example, that group in the basilisk area. You don't have to pick a fight with them, but You always do. Because otherwise you don't get the XP or the loot. I think if it awards XP for talking them down that's a lot better and more logical.
What? Just tried to make a new game... The elves look miserable and sad? And they are shorter than I would have thought... Too short ... I guess I will play human most of the time?
Subtowner is now going through Pillars of Eternity with different character classes. You can watch each video and hear about the class, and the selections you can make for these particular characters. Character Creation, his thoughts, and combat footage follow.
For those who missed the gameplay footage, you can follow them here.
What? Just tried to make a new game... The elves look miserable and sad? And they are shorter than I would have thought... Too short ... I guess I will play human most of the time?
@Claus screenshot please. I really like elves, and I want to see it.
Something I noticed: you pick your portrait last, not first.
Yeah, that really bugs me too. I build my character around the portrait most times, so having to choose that last is really counterintuitive
Right. My characters come from portraits. I don't say "hmmm, maybe I could do this, or mane that..." I scroll through things like ladyrhians thread and see potential portraits and say "ooh, this could be a.... That looks good for a....". Picking them last is really weird, especially for the first time. They are REALLY relying on people using custom portraits.
Actually...
Perhaps that's the whole idea. Everything we've been complaining about.... Intentional. The style inconsistency: so custom portraits look more natural. The seeming disregard for them: nobody's going to use them anyway. Hmm. By that logic I hope they've made implementing them easier. It's really kinda hard with bg if you don't know what you're doing.
I just hope there will be evil options in this game. I'm bored of doing always the right thing and being the good perfect guy. I'm imperfect in real life, why would I try to make a perfect being on the game? Makes no sense.
What you're describing is closer to evil than neutral.
And judging from what we know of the game, it'll be likely there's going to be plenty of morally ambiguous choices, that're neither wholly good nor entirely evil - rather than another game where you're either a living saint or a baby-punting moustache-twirling villain.
What? Just tried to make a new game... The elves look miserable and sad? And they are shorter than I would have thought... Too short ... I guess I will play human most of the time?
@Claus screenshot please. I really like elves, and I want to see it.
@meagloth - Here you go, I tried to put it in spoilers?
EDIT: To add: It doesn't matter much in the game, but I really dislike the size of the Elves in Character Creation...
What? Just tried to make a new game... The elves look miserable and sad? And they are shorter than I would have thought... Too short ... I guess I will play human most of the time?
@Claus screenshot please. I really like elves, and I want to see it.
@meagloth - Here you go, I tried to put it in spoilers?
EDIT: To add: It doesn't matter much in the game, but I really dislike the size of the Elves in Character Creation...
From that picture they seem to just be noticeably slimmer. They're not really that much shorter. They seem to be shorter than humans by an appropriate amount to me.
What? Just tried to make a new game... The elves look miserable and sad? And they are shorter than I would have thought... Too short ... I guess I will play human most of the time?
@Claus screenshot please. I really like elves, and I want to see it.
@meagloth - Here you go, I tried to put it in spoilers?
EDIT: To add: It doesn't matter much in the game, but I really dislike the size of the Elves in Character Creation...
I see, and yeah, they kinda do look sad. I don't know how big of a deal that is, since we won't be looking at faces much, but I'll give that she does look a bit down. @Cluas also, if you want to put it in spoilers you have to upload it, then click "insert image" [spoiler=image uploading details] Which should give you text that looks akin to: <img src="https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/FileUpload/b3/94655fcc84f88d260ab009eace6366.jpg" /> And produces Ta-da! And when your finished, the image thumbnails will still remain at the bottom of your post. If you want them deleted, there is a delete button, or if you have a lot you can save draft(to keep the text) and refresh the page(which makes them all go away at once)
P.s. Sorry if you knew all that already, I don't mean it like that:) lots of people don't know. [/spoiler]
I've been experimenting with creating characters from all available classes and races at the weekend. And you know, it's been so fun!
In order not to spoil anything, I've been just creating a character after a character, each of his own race/subrace and class. There're many descriptions already in the character creation section, many tidbits on how the world of PoE looks like, what creatures live there and what locations it has.
I'm sold to find out how they implement the relations between different races in the game, how the world interacts with your character basing on your race and background.
I think I just ought to quote @atcDave from another thread here:
"I intensely dislike allocation systems. To me, it simply sucks all the fun out of character generation. It forces mediocrity and sameness. I vastly prefer the quirkiness of random rolls, and I like seeing a meaningful distinction between a "strong" character and a "weak" one. This one of the biggest things that gives games like BG and IWD replay value, and it's a huge part of why 3E and later systems bore me to tears."
"I'm not fine with any point buy. High or low is beside the point. Its about "interesting", and only random can truly be that. Its the thrill of role playing a fighter with a 15 Intelligence and an 11 strength. If you point buy such a thing, you're just being stupid. But randomly created, now that has a feel of reality to it."
With the new beta patch, everything is much better for me. I can adjust the ZoomRange, and control the screen scroll speed, two really big issues for me. And Save/Load is working (better), tons of minor bug-corrections. Pathfinding and load times has also improved...
DAMN! THE FIRST THING I'LL DO WHEN I'LL BE BACK HOME I'LL START THE STEAM CLIENT TO DOWNLOAD THE PATCH AND BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH....!! Finally that door will open! >:c
Comments
The way I'm looking at it is running with a party of 5: Main Character + Eder + 2 'real' companions + 1 custom companion.
On no combat XP - I'm still undecided. Part of me feels like it disincentivises exploration. On the other hand, every map being 'quest important' seems to be a goal - so you'll be there anyway.
EDIT: I would prefer it if, like Expert Mode, Trial of Iron, and Path of The Damned (the highest difficulty), the perma-death option were unable to be changed mid game, but as it stands right now it can be turned on and off at any point.
Edit: Dammit, I should've checked for new posts before posting.
I'll miss it! That rolling process has always been my favourite part of creating a char.
Also, like @jaysl659 (quite well, I would add) I am all for the way the XP is going to work. I don't like the way per-kill XP incentivizes needless killing. For example, that group in the basilisk area. You don't have to pick a fight with them, but You always do. Because otherwise you don't get the XP or the loot. I think if it awards XP for talking them down that's a lot better and more logical.
Subtowner is now going through Pillars of Eternity with different character classes. You can watch each video and hear about the class, and the selections you can make for these particular characters. Character Creation, his thoughts, and combat footage follow.
For those who missed the gameplay footage, you can follow them here.
The Chanter - Part 5
The Druid - Part 6
The Monk - Part 7
Actually...
Perhaps that's the whole idea. Everything we've been complaining about.... Intentional. The style inconsistency: so custom portraits look more natural. The seeming disregard for them: nobody's going to use them anyway.
Hmm. By that logic I hope they've made implementing them easier. It's really kinda hard with bg if you don't know what you're doing.
And judging from what we know of the game, it'll be likely there's going to be plenty of morally ambiguous choices, that're neither wholly good nor entirely evil - rather than another game where you're either a living saint or a baby-punting moustache-twirling villain.
EDIT: To add: It doesn't matter much in the game, but I really dislike the size of the Elves in Character Creation...
[spoiler=image uploading details]
Which should give you text that looks akin to:
<img src="https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/FileUpload/b3/94655fcc84f88d260ab009eace6366.jpg" />And produces
Ta-da!
And when your finished, the image thumbnails will still remain at the bottom of your post. If you want them deleted, there is a delete button, or if you have a lot you can save draft(to keep the text) and refresh the page(which makes them all go away at once)
P.s. Sorry if you knew all that already, I don't mean it like that:) lots of people don't know.
[/spoiler]
In order not to spoil anything, I've been just creating a character after a character, each of his own race/subrace and class. There're many descriptions already in the character creation section, many tidbits on how the world of PoE looks like, what creatures live there and what locations it has.
I'm sold to find out how they implement the relations between different races in the game, how the world interacts with your character basing on your race and background.
"I intensely dislike allocation systems. To me, it simply sucks all the fun out of character generation. It forces mediocrity and sameness. I vastly prefer the quirkiness of random rolls, and I like seeing a meaningful distinction between a "strong" character and a "weak" one. This one of the biggest things that gives games like BG and IWD replay value, and it's a huge part of why 3E and later systems bore me to tears."
"I'm not fine with any point buy. High or low is beside the point. Its about "interesting", and only random can truly be that. Its the thrill of role playing a fighter with a 15 Intelligence and an 11 strength. If you point buy such a thing, you're just being stupid. But randomly created, now that has a feel of reality to it."
Sad but very true
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/541014/#Comment_541014
Finally that door will open! >:c
PRAISE GABEN.