Eternity Pillars of Eternity II Beta Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Ulfhednar]

A huge chunk of NumaNuma sales were purchased four years in advance. D:OS 2 was a homerun because of multiplayer.

 

[Lacrymas]

If by "huge chunk" you mean 90% of them, yes. I have no idea why D:OS1 or 2 are so popular, even having highlights in mainstream media. I just can't wrap my head around it. Not because of their quality, but because they are what they are and are turn-based "isometric" RPGs in #CURRENTYEAR#. I can see why PoE sold so many copies, it has easily marketable qualities, but D:OS? I just don't get it. I don't think it's because of multiplayer, it's too easy an answer and such games usually don't thrive and even have multiplayer.

 

[Abu Antar]

Full voice acting, multiplayer and being in 3D.

 

[CptMace]

If by "huge chunk" you mean 90% of them, yes. I have no idea why D:OS1 or 2 are so popular, even having highlights in mainstream media. I just can't wrap my head around it. Not because of their quality, but because they are what they are and are turn-based "isometric" RPGs in #CURRENTYEAR#. I can see why PoE sold so many copies, it has easily marketable qualities, but D:OS? I just don't get it. I don't think it's because of multiplayer, it's too easy an answer and such games usually don't thrive and even have multiplayer.

It was well marketed. I remember Larian made a ton of effort to put their game on front back then, with some events here and there to promote the GM mode for instance. There was a stream with matt mercer, which never hurts.
Although, the conjuncture is more and more favorable with the years. Often associated with the little indie game market, which has been growing ever since the release of Braid and such games, classic crpgs are hype again, or could be with the proper marketing of course. Add to that the sudden and much welcome surge in "tabletop rpg shows" on youtube. I know there's critical role in english, there's aventures in french which is made by a youtube legend, stuff like this give a lot of publicity to DOS2 simply because of the GM mode.
Finally, the game is fun. We'll leave educated communities like the codex to discuss if it's actually good® but, for the average person, it's undubitably fun. Friends of mine who are not into crpgs at all were hyped by the coop mode (we quit during act 2 though, gets boring).

 

[The Bishop]

If by "huge chunk" you mean 90% of them, yes. I have no idea why D:OS1 or 2 are so popular, even having highlights in mainstream media. I just can't wrap my head around it. Not because of their quality, but because they are what they are and are turn-based "isometric" RPGs in #CURRENTYEAR#. I can see why PoE sold so many copies, it has easily marketable qualities, but D:OS? I just don't get it. I don't think it's because of multiplayer, it's too easy an answer and such games usually don't thrive and even have multiplayer.

My understanding is that D:OS simply became fashionable. It's no longer a type of game for nerds, but rather for sophisticated people who get it. What are the easily marketable qualities of thick wooden framed glasses? Why would anyone want to buy a vacuum tube amplifier and play vinyl records through it? Because they sound "warm". Well, D:OS plays "warm". And is totally rad.

 

[Bonerbill]

If by "huge chunk" you mean 90% of them, yes. I have no idea why D:OS1 or 2 are so popular, even having highlights in mainstream media. I just can't wrap my head around it. Not because of their quality, but because they are what they are and are turn-based "isometric" RPGs in #CURRENTYEAR#. I can see why PoE sold so many copies, it has easily marketable qualities, but D:OS? I just don't get it. I don't think it's because of multiplayer, it's too easy an answer and such games usually don't thrive and even have multiplayer.

Despite the game being a CRPG, it feels like a modern game. It looks pretty, it has good voice acting, it has multiplayer, and it has good reviews. It's always a popular let's play game on youtube. Seems like it was destined to be a success despite the fact that the CRPG bubble.

The success of DoS2 is definitely influencing PoE2's development. There has already been a few hints that they may go with full voice acting in the next game.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did Larian pay those 4 YouTubers (that dodge chick, Crandor (?) and 2 others I really can't remember) to play the game? "Good" voice acting is a bit of an overstatement, it's fair to say it has full voice acting, but is that what people want? Superficial trivialities like voice acting, looking pretty and being popular because it's popular? Sounds like it's becoming the Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian of RPGs, popular because popular. It's... disheartening if that's the case. I guess even Ebola can be popular in a good way if it's marketed and advertised enough.

It's also curious if this is going to stick or people will forget D:OS2's existence in a few months, it just being an ephemeral moment in the always fickle mainstream.

 

[Infinitron]

The interplay of elemental physics in D:OS's spellcasting is an important element of its success, IMO. It's got a Minecraft-esque appeal - creating fun interactions out of basic building blocks. And all in colorful, vivid graphics.

Also seems to be something that PoE2 is attempting to adapt to some extent (exploding barrels!)

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yup. The environmental interactions are Larian's take on Bioware's Awesome Button(tm). No matter what you do, the result has booming sound and flashy effects, and it makes you feel like you're very good at this video game thing. And yes, it's a TB, but it's a TB with a heavily consoltardized design (co-op, cooldowns, shields, metric fuckton of trashloot etc.).

 

[Lacrymas]

Interplay of elemental physics that don't really work most of the time due to the atrocious armor system, but whatevs. It's not something D:OS1 invented, though, and I'd say it's a stretch to say that PoE's exploding barrels is directly stolen from D:OS. It's just a very basic thing that has been in games for a while. At the top of my head, even Jagged Alliance 1 had them.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Mate, come on. Of course it's directly stolen. Both WL3 and PoE2 will be doing everything they can to ape DOS1&2. That's no accident.

And yeah, of course it's not a new idea, but obviously for some reason it's more appealing to people than it used to be. Maybe it's improvement in graphics, I don't know, back in a day if you combined two skills to start a fire it looked like your grandma farted, and in newer games it looks like Yellowstone is exploding near your monitor. Fuck knows.

 

[fantadomat]

Commoners don't like talking and reading in their games,they like exploring and killing shit. DOS is marketed more as action rpg,same could be said about Skyrim to.

 

[FreeKaner]

The itemisation in DOS2 is downright shameful, it's a step down from most MMOs.

 

[Ulfhednar]

The environmental interactions are D:OS best mechanic, and while I don't play MP, I can see why the elemental paper/rock/scissors would be a lot of fun when playing with someone. Diabloesque loot for a crpg, though, is awful.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's D:OS' most gimmicky mechanic, but I guess flashiness is all that matters.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

It's D:OS' most gimmicky mechanic, but I guess flashiness is all that matters.

There was that story from some classic game (the name escapes me). The playtesters hated some weapon and thought it's useless and does poor damage. Next patch audio people upgraded weapon sounds to more epic sounding, and the same playtesters started thinking damage was hugely improved.

So yeah, flashiness is an important part of satisfying gameplay. I caught myself running 2x arquebus in PoE just because I liked their shooting sound and loading animation , even when I knew fully well the damage per minute wasn't that good.

 

[Quillon]

There was that story from some classic game (the name escapes me). The playtesters hated some weapon and thought it's useless and does poor damage. Next patch audio people upgraded weapon sounds to more epic sounding, and the same playtesters started thinking damage was hugely improved.

Sawyer's story about New Vegas, classic game indeed!

 

[aweigh]

i don't think its that hard to understand why DOS was well received

DOS was shit

+

General audiences love shit

= ??? ?????

 

[Ulfhednar]

It's D:OS' most gimmicky mechanic, but I guess flashiness is all that matters.

If that gimmick let's you light your friends on fire after they try to poison you, then yeah, to a lot of people that is all that matters.

 

[Iskramor]

If by "huge chunk" you mean 90% of them, yes. I have no idea why D:OS1 or 2 are so popular, even having highlights in mainstream media. I just can't wrap my head around it. Not because of their quality, but because they are what they are and are turn-based "isometric" RPGs in #CURRENTYEAR#. I can see why PoE sold so many copies, it has easily marketable qualities, but D:OS? I just don't get it. I don't think it's because of multiplayer, it's too easy an answer and such games usually don't thrive and even have multiplayer.

Hipsters is answer to everything

 

[Lacrymas]

So, I guess that Bioware guy was right, the Awesome Button is where it's at. It's cheap, though, and a discerning/trained eye can spot it from miles away.

 

[Ulfhednar]

The Awesome Button (TM) and addition of multiplayer/GM mode is the secret sauce in D:OS 2's success.

 

[Ruzen]

I don't think its only about awesome button though. Yes, its flashy, explosions and all but I think the secret souse is It's very easy to get into. New customers who never played CRPG before want to get in but don't want to memorize different char builds or read longer than 2 sentences. Larian offers "elementary" combat Even 4 year olds know water>fire, electic>water,etc... It's very easy to understand the combat and don't need to read, someone is reading for them. Not that voiced dialogue is a shameful thing to have but the writing in D.OS2 is even got shorter for this reason. There are lots of things you can read or hear but all of them in a sentence or two.

Also, I do think GM mode is created great publicity too. It's not that great tool and I bet 95% of owners never played or spent more than 30min on it, but again it creates this sense of "you are getting more than its value" and a hipster from Kotaku mentions this, suddenly even my friend from steam who last bought any game in 2012, buys the game just to play 10 hours with it. The hype was unreal.

 

[Ent]

It can't be understated how much the multiplayer aided in the marketing of divinity 2. It allowed variety streamers and youtubers to do multiman collaboration videos and streams.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah, DOS1&2 is basically Baby's First Traditional cRPG. And there wouldn't be anything wrong with that, but it's huge success is starting to influence the rest of games in the genre and not in a good way.