Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Game News Pillars of Eternity II Beast of Winter DLC revealed, releasing on August 2nd

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Tags: Aarik Dorobiala; Alec Frey; Alex Scokel; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire; Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Beast of Winter

In a Pillars of Eternity II developer stream broadcast today, Obsidian finally revealed the game's first expansion DLC, Beast of Winter. In this new adventure, the Watcher is invited to a remote wintry island inhabited by a cult of fanatical Rymrgand worshippers who have come to appreciate his capacity for destruction. There's a new sidekick, the high priest Vatnir, and apparently things get more than a little crazy from there. We got to see about 21 minutes of new content during the stream. I'll post that here along with the expansion's brief teaser trailer.



The guys at PCGamesN appear to have gotten an exclusive look at Beast of Winter, and their interview with writer Alex Scokel reveals some additional details about it. It may be an epic level DLC where you face off against the god of entropy, but it's suffused with a heavy dose of dark humor. I quote:

Beast of Winter begins with a letter. You are cordially invited to an island at the very bottom of the map made home by the worshippers of Rymrgand. Rymrgand, the beast of the DLC’s title, is the god of collapse: famine, plague, and disaster. The locals call you Duskspeaker - they’ve seen the way death follows in your wake, and they’re really into it.

“The people there throw a feast in your honour,” Scokel says. “Because they respect the way that you go about messing things up.”

When asked whether Beast of Winter’s story is commentary on the player as a destructive force in the Archipelago, Scokel phrases it another way.

“There’s certainly a recognition of the destructive nature of a protagonist in an RPG,” he says. “The world spins around the player, and these cultists have recognised that and placed you within the context of their own myths.”

The cult says you’re the harbinger of the end. Frankly, they can’t wait for the cataclysm. Whether or not that’s who you want to be is a question you’re encouraged to start pondering in this DLC.

[...] Throughout the quests and writing of Beast of Winter, dark humour has emerged as a consistent feature. It’s something of a surprise: while there are dashes of dry comedy in the Pillars of Eternity series, it rarely feels as if it could indulge in a Fable-style slapstick aside.

For the DLC, though - a story about the ways people fight back against the inevitability of death in a world with magic, gods, and immortals - comedy became necessary.

“We obviously don’t want to make an incredibly depressing piece of DLC,” Frey says. “It’s definitely an opportunity for us to show how people feel about this sort of thing, but also show the humour of it.”

“One of the reasons we wanted to be funny,” Scokel adds, “was to lighten what could otherwise be a really [miserable] experience.”

The world design of Pillars of Eternity began with Obsidian designer Josh Sawyer flipping over a map of the Forgotten Realms’ Dalelands. But over the course of two games, his team have fleshed out Eoras with unique lore - some of which we only ever read about in books or told by NPCs. Realistically, we’ll never see all of the places referenced in its stories.

“Scale-wise, Pillars is similar to the Infinity Engine games,” Scokel explains. “It’s not really a globetrotting game, it’s more a region-trotting game. And so we look for opportunities to bring in these other areas of the world.”

One example of this in Deadfire is the Valian Trading Company - a colonising influence in the area that allows you to see the culture and architecture of a people from faraway lands. Beast of Winter goes further, taking you to The Beyond, a strange dimension stuffed with devious challenges and shared by ancient souls. There will be some revelations there.

“We’re trying to find opportunities to take the player places that have been mentioned before in lore but haven’t been pulled into fruition,” executive producer Alec Frey says. “It digs into the history of Eora in some ways we haven’t done so far.”
The Beast of Winter DLC is coming out on August 2nd, missing its original July release window by a bit. The Steam and GOG store pages aren't up yet, but we already know it will cost $10. Additional details about the DLC and its accompanying patch are available here. I imagine we'll learn more in the next Fig update.
 
Self-Ejected

Safav Hamon

Self-Ejected
Village Idiot The Real Fanboy
Joined
May 15, 2018
Messages
2,141
Alex Scokel is a former writing professor for ITT and has contributed to over 16 books published by White Wolf. Let's hope this is an :incline:
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Alex Scokel is a former writing professor for ITT and has contributed to over 16 books published by White Wolf. Let's hope this is an :incline:
So this is how they plan to restock their miserable writing... sounds interesting but I think I am done giving Obsidian and Fergus a single cent of my moneyz
 

Tim the Bore

Scholar
Joined
Mar 20, 2018
Messages
109
Location
Potatoland
There's a new sidekick, the high priest Vatnir

Let me guess: he's going to be more interesting than all of yours companion from Deadfire vanilla, but since he's a sidekck, he won't be able to actually say something. Why Obsidian push do hard for this whole sidekick thing is beyond me. I mean, I guess it's cheap, but also annoying as fuck.

Plus, if someone is telling me upfront "we decided it's going to be funny, so we wrote it as such. Lots of jokes, I promise!" I have a tendency to distrust them immediately. Comedy is not something you can just force. Then again, I'm glad it's not just "doom & gloom", but more like "doom, gloom & entrophy. Also, jokes", so fingers crossed.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Yeah he probably has plenty to say within the DLC (but isn't part of the companion relationship system)
 

Bohrain

Liturgist
Patron
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
1,442
Location
norf
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I'll probably wait it out for all the DLC's to come out before shoveling any money to them. Assuming I'll buy any at all.
 

Shilandra

Learned
Joined
Sep 22, 2016
Messages
152
Location
The Hive
Is this a real epic level campaign? Like past lvl 20 epic? Do we get epic level spells and feats now?

If this doesnt end with the option to eat the god of entropy soul and become the new god why buy it?
 

Iskramor

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
Messages
910
Location
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Probably gonna buy GOTY bundle on discount for cheap and pray that here is mod that removes voice acting.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom