Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2 Pre-Announcement Thread

[Sentinel]

Why bother? I still don't think Land was on the level of fenstermaker or avellone.
PoE 2 is doomed.
It's gonna be the mass effect episode all over again. I can already see it.
Is there any rpg series that benefitted from changes in writing staff between direct sequels?

PS: Worth clarifying that I have no hope for it on the story/writing department. Sawyer's posts still give me hope for the gameplay mechanics.

Avellone had the last meaningfull influence on a game when, a decade ago!?
Hes too busy with trolling his former employer and not showering for months.
So fuck off and creep out of his ass.

I agree that Avellone is wasting his time with Arkane and being used as a marketing tool for kickstarters. That doesn't mean I can't recognize his work in PoE is among the best in the whole game.
When the majority of the good content was written by people who left, there's cause to worry. There's double the cause to worry when the project that had none of PoE's writing staff (aside from Matt) was so bad. There's triple cause to worry when some people from Tyranny's writing team are migrating to PoE2.

 

[jaydee2k]

We don't know for sure whos working currently on the game or will be in the future.
Neither do we know if Fenstermaker will write some parts as a freelancer.
It's a bit early to throw in the towel.

 

[Sizzle]

Sagani shouldn't be a party member because her long pilgrimage is finally over (let her rest!). She is from the Deadfire Archipelago though, so maybe there'll be a cameo.

Agreed, but that doesn't mean they won't bring her back ("The Vailian Republics are along the way to Naasitaq.", or some similar excuse to stick around).

Durance is the only character I think should not return in any way - not even as a cameo. Not (just) because he's MCA's baby and no one else could write him nearly as good, but because his story is neatly tied together.

What I would like them to do with NPCs is to continue in the same vein: no romances, no excessive whining, no (BioWareish) overt lolziness. Also, their personal quests should be like those in Fallout: New Vegas, where you get a different perk for that NPC depending on how you completed that quest. In PoE1, the only two companions which get something out of their quests (except XP and a different ending slide), are Zahua and Maneha. If they could also have some unique personal abilities that the PC cannot have (for example, in PoE1 Pallegina could choose several feats that were unique to her paladin order, but she's the only one) - again, F:NV did this pretty well - then that would be even better, as the NPCs need to be a bit more unique (just off the top of my head - Grieving Mother could have used her cloud presence ability to perhaps gain a small chance to confuse enemies attacking her, or some damage reduction, or even a slight bonus to her sneak skill - nothing too powerful, just anything to differentiate her from other ciphers in the way her dialogue indicates).

 

[Sentinel]

We don't know for sure whos working currently on the game or will be in the future.
Neither do we know if Fenstermaker will write some parts as a freelancer.
It's a bit early to throw in the towel.

According to Infinitron:
- Robert Land
- Matt McLean
- Carrie Patel
- Paul Kirsch
are working on PoE2.
Which, if true, indicates that Tyranny isn't getting any expansion, unless they want Megan Starks (lol) to write it all herself.
Even if Fenstermaker were to write something as a freelancer (which I doubt he will do, since he said he'd be home taking care of his kid) it'd be an extremely minimal contribution. PoE's story, Avellone and Fenstermaker's characters had "philosophical" themes that all related to each other. I don't think any of the other writers can carry those themes to the next game or even explore them. I predict a change in story tone and the abandonment of those themes for a much more simpler narrative (in fact we already saw this in White March 2, although even there Fenstermaker did an exemplary job by connecting Zahua's story to the main story and exploring a different side of the same coin).
Sawyer's direction will be the master key in this project. It all rests on his shoulders imo.

 

[Infinitron]

According to Infinitron:
- Robert Land

I didn't say that.

 

[Rev]

I'm just sad I won't get to play with her again in PoE2.

AFAIK, only Eder, Aloth and Pallegina have been confirmed as PoE2 party members, but that doesn't mean Sagani won't be there as well.

No one has been confirmed as a companion for the sequel, actually. Even the game is yet to be announced.
They could have just used some old character models for their tests. I don't think we'll see many former party members in PoE2, aside from some cameo.

 

[Infinitron]

PoE2 weather system details: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58877228/Code_Europe_2016_Game_Programmers.pdf

New Eder image:

 

[Prime Junta]

So AI does respond to weather. Nice.

 

[Fry]

Really, really not interested in weather effects on combat, but narrative and dialog checks... sure.

 

[Sentinel]

PoE2 weather system details: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58877228/Code_Europe_2016_Game_Programmers.pdf

New Eder image:

Why does Edér look so fucking old holy shit. Does PoE2 take place 30 years after PoE1 or something?

 

[Sizzle]

No one has been confirmed as a companion for the sequel, actually. Even the game is yet to be announced.

The official announcement is just a matter of time, as Feargus Urquhart has confirmed they are working on it.

They could have just used some old character models for their tests. I don't think we'll see many former party members in PoE2, aside from some cameo.

Whenever JS mentioned PoE2, he's always used pictures of Eder, Aloth & Pallegina. Also, take a look at the .pdf a couple of posts up - new pictures of Eder fighting and smoking a pipe on a ship. I believe they will be taking cues from BG2 for the sequel - a couple of returning NPCs (almost definitely those three, maybe more) and the rest will be new.

Why does Edér look so fucking old holy shit. Does PoE2 take place 30 years after PoE1 or something?

Well, look at the timeline - he participated in the Saint's War which started in 2807, and PoE1 takes place in 2823, so he's not exactly a spring chicken.

 

[Bonerbill]

No one has been confirmed as a companion for the sequel, actually. Even the game is yet to be announced.
They could have just used some old character models for their tests. I don't think we'll see many former party members in PoE2, aside from some cameo.

Check out the slides. There are TWO images of Eder on a ship, so it's pretty obvious that he's coming back. Not to mention JES showed some NEW artwork of Pallegina, Aloth, and Eder a month ago.

Well, look at the timeline - he participated in the Saint's War which started in 2807, and PoE1 takes place in 2823, so he's not exactly a spring chicken.

Well....he' s not exactly an "old" dude either. He's 32 at the start of PoE.

 

[Ivan]

a spring chicken.

i see what you did there

 

[Roguey]

ToEE had weather effects?

I guess I vaguely recall tree leaves moving.

 

[Barnabas]

It's going to be like Black Flag 2d

 

[FreeKaner]

I am hoping for combat aboard ships in stormy weathers and aspect of sailing between islands.

 

[HoboForEternity]

I am hoping for combat aboard ships in stormy weathers and aspect of sailing between islands.

 

[Roguey]

I'm confident any kind of boat travel is going to be as abstract as regular travel.

Though BG2 also had one ship fight, so that's likely to happen.

 

[Sizzle]

I'm confident any kind of boat travel is going to be as abstract as regular travel.

Though BG2 also had one ship fight, so that's likely to happen.

Maybe they will have ship combat in the form of scripted interactions, but I doubt we will get anything more than the occasional BG2 style ship fight: i.e. - no different than any other fight in the game, just on a boat :D

 

[vortex]

Just replace the regular boat with the airship or planeship like in Spelljammer. Regular boats are so overrated.

 

[FreeKaner]

I'm confident any kind of boat travel is going to be as abstract as regular travel.

Though BG2 also had one ship fight, so that's likely to happen.

Maybe they will have ship combat in the form of scripted interactions, but I doubt we will get anything more than the occasional BG2 style ship fight: i.e. - no different than any other fight in the game, just on a boat :D

Yes, this, we need scripted interactions in ships that can result in fights onboard or just plenty of scripted scenes in general.

 

[Reinhardt]

Maybe ship is our new stronghold, like in Suikoden 4.

 

[Ranarama]

Maybe they will have ship combat in the form of scripted interactions, but I doubt we will get anything more than the occasional BG2 style ship fight: i.e. - no different than any other fight in the game, just on a boat :D

That's just sad. If they're planning on making it central but don't actually do anything special gameplay-wise for it, that seems tacky and lazy. It'd be like making a game in an engine that wasn't designed for it - or a mod.

That said, you're extrapolating from two images with ships in the background, so who knows?

 

[Sizzle]

That's another thing, I'm very interested in how they will handle the stronghold this time around, and what will happen to Caed Nua (with the extra content from v3, it became much better - that new political questline was pretty good - but there's still so much room for further improvements), it would be pretty silly to just disregard it completely in the sequel, but I'm not sure how they would incorporate it into the game (besides teleporting, or a telepathic connection with the Keep, but there has to be a more elegant solution than that) if it will take place in a different part of the world.

Maybe they will have ship combat in the form of scripted interactions, but I doubt we will get anything more than the occasional BG2 style ship fight: i.e. - no different than any other fight in the game, just on a boat :D

That's just sad. If they're planning on making it central but don't actually do anything special gameplay-wise for it, that seems tacky and lazy. It'd be like making a game in an engine that wasn't designed for it - or a mod.

There will probably be some new gameplay angle to it, but I doubt it will deviate from the standard IE formula too much.

That said, you're extrapolating from two images with ships in the background, so who knows?

Everything that's been shown about the game so far points to either the Vailian Republics, or Rautai/The Deadfire Archipelago as the setting, where seafaring is important. Not to mention that the only two (non-portrait) art for the game we've seen features Eder on ships. This could just be the beginning of the game where you are sailing towards a new location, but up to now - everything points to them being an important part of PoE2.

 

[Reinhardt]

I don't like idea of the same mc for PoE2. Too high levels after PoE+WM.