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

[Abu Antar]

 

[Lacrymas]

Seeing as there are "living" Engwithans still around, you'd think they and their soul manipulation methods wouldn't be such a mystery, especially given the existence of Watchers.

 

[2house2fly]

Engwithans having some involvement in the cycle of reincarnation seems like a new bit of lore

 

[CptMace]

Was there any engwithan besides Thaos in the first game ?
Maybe someone in twm that I forgot ?

 

[2house2fly]

There's some fampyrs in Od Nua, as well as some constructs and ghosts there and the Burial Isle, and the tree spirits in Twin Elms who are about that old iirc. Oh and the gods

 

[fantadomat]

btw will this game have biawacs

Well they were caused by Thaos turning on the Engwithan machines. So as long as there are adra-based machines across the Deadfire archipelago and someone can turn them on, then yes, there could biawacs.

Not really,they never explained them and people were acting as it was a natural occurrence. The machines were preventing souls to reach the babies not creating biawacs. The biawc was active before they activated the machine....you could even say that it was active days before activating the machine,after all you can rest a few times in that dungeon. Biawacs was pretty interesting mystery for me,but sadly they forgot to add them to the game. It was a deadend idea.

 

[fantadomat]

There's some fampyrs in Od Nua, as well as some constructs and ghosts there and the Burial Isle, and the tree spirits in Twin Elms who are about that old iirc. Oh and the gods

The Twin Elms were not that old,they even pointed out that they don't know some shit from that time because they are not that old.

 

[Lacrymas]

Not really,they never explained them and people were acting as it was a natural occurrence. The machines were preventing souls to reach the babies not creating biawacs. The biawc was active before they activated the machine....you could even say that it was active days before activating the machine,after all you can rest a few times in that dungeon. Biawacs was pretty interesting mystery for me,but sadly they forgot to add them to the game. It was a deadend idea.

Yeah, I thought so, too, at the beginning, but it's not true. The idea is that the machines Thaos was manipulating are causing the biawacs and that's how the souls intended to empower Woedica are sheared from the babies and people in general.

 

[fantadomat]

Not really,they never explained them and people were acting as it was a natural occurrence. The machines were preventing souls to reach the babies not creating biawacs. The biawc was active before they activated the machine....you could even say that it was active days before activating the machine,after all you can rest a few times in that dungeon. Biawacs was pretty interesting mystery for me,but sadly they forgot to add them to the game. It was a deadend idea.

Yeah, I thought so, too, at the beginning, but it's not true. The idea is that the machines Thaos was manipulating are causing the biawacs and that's how the souls intended to empower Woedica are sheared from the babies and people in general.

I am pretty sure that it is not true. It could be possible that activating the machines will have a biawac as a side effect in the area. Everyone acted as biawacs are natural disaster that happened all around the world,mainly in wield areas that are not heavily populated. There is no way to use a biawac as a way to take the souls from the babies,after all it turns the people that have lost their souls to dust. Babies just were becoming a soulless husks or wild animalistic creatures. Also if there is biawac in some city,it will wipe everyone.
Just read their lore on the biawacs,here it is. It doesn't sound like they are connected to the main story.

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Bîaŵac

Bîaŵac, Biamhac (BEE-uh-waks, Glanfathan), or "spirit winds", they are storms that can rip the soul out of a person's body, often creating blights.

Biamhacs rise up in cursed ruins, shearing souls away from the bodies of their owners. They appear suddenly and without warning, leaving victims little hope of escape. Strong-souled people are not harmed by biamhacs, but affected individuals are instantly reduced to a catatonic state and eventually their bodies shutdown.[1] Souls that are ripped free from their bodies and caught in the center of the storm, may become stuck together and bonded with any other elemental substances in the maelstrom, often creating blights.[2] Survival, while rare, is possible, if a person has a soul sufficiently "strong" to hang on to its associated body despite the storm's attempts to tear it loose.

The discovery of numerous biamhacs in Eir Glanfath during its early exploration resulted in thousands of Aedyr deaths. The deadliness and unpredictability of these events make biamhacs the most feared phenomenon of Eir Glanfath.

 

[mildTea]

I am pretty sure that it is not true. It could be possible that activating the machines will have a biawac as a side effect in the area. Everyone acted as biawacs are natural disaster that happened all around the world,mainly in wield areas that are not heavily populated. There is no way to use a biawac as a way to take the souls from the babies,after all it turns the people that have lost their souls to dust. Babies just were becoming a soulless husks or wild animalistic creatures. Also if there is biawac in some city,it will wipe everyone.
Just read their lore on the biawacs,here it is. It doesn't sound like they are connected to the main story.

https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Bîaŵac

Spoiler

Bîaŵac, Biamhac (BEE-uh-waks, Glanfathan), or "spirit winds", they are storms that can rip the soul out of a person's body, often creating blights.

Biamhacs rise up in cursed ruins, shearing souls away from the bodies of their owners. They appear suddenly and without warning, leaving victims little hope of escape. Strong-souled people are not harmed by biamhacs, but affected individuals are instantly reduced to a catatonic state and eventually their bodies shutdown.[1] Souls that are ripped free from their bodies and caught in the center of the storm, may become stuck together and bonded with any other elemental substances in the maelstrom, often creating blights.[2] Survival, while rare, is possible, if a person has a soul sufficiently "strong" to hang on to its associated body despite the storm's attempts to tear it loose.

The discovery of numerous biamhacs in Eir Glanfath during its early exploration resulted in thousands of Aedyr deaths. The deadliness and unpredictability of these events make biamhacs the most feared phenomenon of Eir Glanfath.

You're probably right. I thought that the biawac was caused by the machines, because the effect is quite similar when you compare the prolog in the camp with the scene where Thaos activates the machine at the beginning. Seems like they can occur both naturally and as a side effect in the small area around the Engwithan machines upon activation.

If the Aedyrans didn't know about them, it makes me wonder what was so special about Eir Glanfath? High concentraion of adra? If they are related to that magical stone, can there be then even stronger biawacs in the Deadfire Archipelago since it seems the luminous adra is even more powerful than the usual kind?

 

[2house2fly]

They may be naturally occurring (though note that that lore entry says they occur in "cursed ruins" and are "numerous" in Eir Glanfath) but also the Engwithan machine you see at the start of the game causes one. The turning to dust is probably an effect of proximity; Heodan and Calisca aren't turned to dust

 

[Lacrymas]

Yes, they are natural occurrence, but Thaos did force them to happen with the machines. We talked about this here. And continues here.

 

[CptMace]

There's some fampyrs in Od Nua, as well as some constructs and ghosts there and the Burial Isle, and the tree spirits in Twin Elms who are about that old iirc. Oh and the gods

Yeah in that regard, it's surprising that people don't know more about the engwithans. Who hasn't taken a stroll down Od Nua seriously ?

 

[fantadomat]

Yes, they are natural occurrence, but Thaos did force them to happen with the machines. We talked about this here. And continues here.

It is really sad how we are debating about shitty writing and coming up with better lore dumps than Obsidian could. We are debating the semantics of biawacs when the reality is that even the writers don't know the answer because it was dropped idea. Most likely they decided to go different route but already had a ready level or something similar.

There's some fampyrs in Od Nua, as well as some constructs and ghosts there and the Burial Isle, and the tree spirits in Twin Elms who are about that old iirc. Oh and the gods

Yeah in that regard, it's surprising that people don't know more about the engwithans. Who hasn't taken a stroll down Od Nua seriously ?

Another instance of bad writing,i would have captured the bastard and tortured him for the information. It was really slopy how they just put bunch of advanced ancient people in your cellar and acted as if it is normal. If only the writing was at least decent,it would have been great story/mystery. As a storyfag,it really pains me to think how disjointed and filled with plotholes the writing is. Pox on them for pulling this shit!!!

 

[2house2fly]

Yet more wishing for lore dumps. What's so wrong with seeing the machine create something that looks like a biawac, which kills your friends like biawacs do, and inferring based on that?

 

[Infinitron]

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95782-worldofeternity-funny-business-speculation/?p=1985925

Bestiary Entry 9: Engwithan Saints

vSKRXA ?

Edit: Maybe vSKRXN

 

[fantadomat]

Yet more wishing for lore dumps. What's so wrong with seeing the machine create something that looks like a biawac, which kills your friends like biawacs do, and inferring based on that?

We don't know how a biawacs kills,we never saw it. You get in the cave just before it actually happened,there was a little bit of text describing it,but i don't remember it. It is just assumed that the machine is making the biawac and nobody really knows if it is true. Another huge assumption is that there is a correlation between the two of them. Also i don't get it what is all that screeching about having too much lore! The problem of the game is not that it have too much lore,on the contrary,it doesn't have enough of it and the one it have is not clear. The real problem is the lore presentation and the poor writing.

 

[CptMace]

I guess the delay was decided a long time ago if they still have these little code things going in bestiary updates.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yet more wishing for lore dumps. What's so wrong with seeing the machine create something that looks like a biawac, which kills your friends like biawacs do, and inferring based on that?

We don't know how a biawacs kills,we never saw it. You get in the cave just before it actually happened,there was a little bit of text describing it,but i don't remember it. It is just assumed that the machine is making the biawac and nobody really knows if it is true. Another huge assumption is that there is a correlation between the two of them. Also i don't get it what is all that screeching about having too much lore! The problem of the game is not that it have too much lore,on the contrary,it doesn't have enough of it and the one it have is not clear. The real problem is the lore presentation and the poor writing.

Yeah, I never fully understood the bawuztit, I just knew a plot device killed the two tutorial NPCs, but not me fsr.

 

[Lacrymas]

No, the problem with the lore is that 99% of it doesn't have anything to do with what you are doing. You know that famous exchange "There are just too many notes, herr Mozart"? While it's used to mock excessive and ignorant criticism, it kind of works with PoE1, there are too many notes where there shouldn't be and not enough where there should be.

 

[2house2fly]

We don't know how a biawacs kills,we never saw it. You get in the cave just before it actually happened,there was a little bit of text describing it,but i don't remember it. It is just assumed that the machine is making the biawac and nobody really knows if it is true. Another huge assumption is that there is a correlation between the two of them.

They didn't go to all the trouble of setting up biawacs and what they do, only to show a machine causing something that looks a lot like what you've been told about biawacs, for no reason

 

[frajaq]

I'm happy with the enemy diversity so far tbh

 

[Lacrymas]

Wow, a whole 9 enemy types! Most of which we knew of already! Such diverse, much variety, wow. There are 60 enemy types in Painkiller, an FPS. 107 if we count the mediocre "fan" expansion, but I wouldn't.

 

[fantadomat]

No, the problem with the lore is that 99% of it doesn't have anything to do with what you are doing. You know that famous exchange "There are just too many notes, herr Mozart"? While it's used to mock excessive and ignorant criticism, it kind of works with PoE1, there are too many notes where there shouldn't be and not enough where there should be.

You need a world building for an rpg game,if the lore is 80% about your pissant doing stupid shit,then the game will not be much fun. Still i do agree with you on some level mate. Lets just agree that the writing is pretty bad on most levels.

We don't know how a biawacs kills,we never saw it. You get in the cave just before it actually happened,there was a little bit of text describing it,but i don't remember it. It is just assumed that the machine is making the biawac and nobody really knows if it is true. Another huge assumption is that there is a correlation between the two of them.

They didn't go to all the trouble of setting up biawacs and what they do, only to show a machine causing something that looks a lot like what you've been told about biawacs, for no reason

Well,modern day game industry. Does everything that people do has to have some reason? As i said before,most likely a story path changed and decided to leave it because remaking the level and rewriting the dialogue is too much of a work,deadlines and all that shit. During development things like that happen. Do you really think that the writing is good in PoE? Honest question mate.

 

[frajaq]

designing enemies for FPS is the same thing as designing them for RPGs, got it