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

[Jimmious]

Dunno man, I felt dread when I was massacred by a bear a bit after leaving the starting dungeon area

 

[Iskramor]

The only RPG that I've seen do kinda well on twitch for the streamer (as in 90% of the viewers don't leave the poor channel) was D:OS 2 on release

Full voice acting and multiplayer helped. As much as the CRPG purists on here and 4chan like to complain about both of those features, they actually help with popularity, especially for let's plays and streams.

Bonerbill? More like cuckbill....

 

[The Bishop]

Marketing this to Twitch viewers is such a gross misunderstanding and misidentification of their audience I don't have words.

Larian did pretty well marketing their games to Twitch though. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't sell even half as many copies if DOS2 wasn't one of the top Twitch games for a few weeks after release. And most of views that made DOS2 visible against the competition came from just a couple of prominent streamers. Another thing about success of DOS2 is that Larian managed to create perception of a game that is cool, hip, game for those who get it. And this is what Obsidian is apparently trying to emulate - to put PoE2 in hands of people who are prominent streamers and also hip and cool (at least in the eyes of their audience).

Doesn't mean it will necessarily work. The game might just suck. But if PoE2 was ever to be a commercial success, this is the way to do it.

 

[FreeKaner]

DOS2 is a lot more fun to watch with a lot of wacky shit going on, turn-based combat with environmental effects and much less dialogue though. They also have puzzles and exploration.

 

[Jimmious]

PoE story begins with the caravan stopping because you are too ill and then you being sent to fight wolves to get your own medicine.

So yeah, my hopes are not very high.

The game also forgets that it just told you through a wizened old caravan leader that you'll die if you don't get the medicine because it needed to soul wind or whatever.

You don't actually have the rumbling rot. The illness you feel is the first stirrings of the inquisitor's soul Awakening within you. When you witness Thaos and the inquisitor fully awakens, the game specifically notes that you no longer feel ill. They further confirmed that the illness you have is not the rumbling rot in the 3.0 patch which added a "mysterious illness" debuff to your character in the intro. They have since admitted that their faith in the audience to be able to read between the lines was perhaps misplaced.

I guess even Codexers lack the skill to read between lines. Since when is it okay for a caravan master to send you to fetch your own medicine when you are "sweating and shivering" and someone had to ask the caravan to stop on your behalf. It is clearly a plot hook and a stupid one at that.

He's your boss not your mother. What are you gonna do, file a complaint with the caravan guard union? And of course it's a plot hook, the game needed to introduce you to the basic mechanics and establish that you don't feel well because you're Special. It's entirely serviceable.

Baldur's Gate: Welcome to the Sword coast. Here's a bunch of easy encounters and some quests inside candlekeep to teach the mechanics. You're leaving? Oh no! Your mentor has died!
PoE: OH, YOU GOT THE SHITS EH? GO GET SOME BERRIES FROM THOSE WOLVES OVER THERE. OH FUCK THERE'S BAD GUYS EVERYWHERE. OH FUCK A BIAWAC. OH FUCK YOU MADE IT THROUGH AND SOME CULT IS UP TO SOME SHIT.

Baldur's Gate: Oh you woke up in the castle where you grew up? Here let random priests tell you random trivia everywhere as if you never talked to them before while you do crappy fetch quests for people that could easily do them alone. Oh hey bad guys! You must leave! OH NOES EVIL PEOPLE KILL YOUR MENTOR/DAD BUT SOMEHOW FORGET TO KILL YOU! THEY ALSO CONVENIENTLY LEAVE HIS STUFF BEHIND! RUN!
PoE: Welcome to Eora. You are travelling with a caravan and while it stops for the night somewhere, you are sick and need to find some way to heal yourself. You go around and deal with some initial learning encounters and the biawac happens to force you in the well designed tutorial dungeon.

(You see, you can apply bullshitry easily anywhere you want)

 

[Prime Junta]

TBF "Quest received: Cure your explosive diarrhoea" is a pretty original way to open an epic adventure.

 

[Ruzen]

It looks like a cheap way to advertise the game (trying the Twitch crowd) but I believe there is no market, to begin with! Twitch viewers are spending more time watching, rather playing or buying games. Most games watched are single consumed session games like MOBA. You rarely see a well-known streamer plays a "normal" game and when you do it's only for an hour or two. The viewers spent money only to get a reaction from streamers, not games to have same reactions. In games like these, it is an ill-advised decision for trying to reach twitch crowd for marketing.

An "old school" game needs old school marketing tactics to increase its sales, increasing its market potential. That is putting features. What are ideas for gaining popularity?
Branching Story
Various difficulty options
Mini-games
Full Voiced
Cutscenes
Co-op
Different game modes

They have to do more of these things if they want to be popular as D: OS2. They are trying to that by including customizable AI and ship combat such but they could have at least do the cutscenes. I'm not just talking about in-game, there should be quality pre-rendered scenes with each important event. Not just a single art with every act. Scenes for affecting faction relations, various places in the main plot, party relations, etc... Even game such as totalwar warhammer 2 has like an hour of footage with pre-rendered art and they look gorgeous. They are fitting the CRPG too. If you can't have quality fully voiced game at least have cutscenes.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

"You are very ill, so ill that entire caravan has to stop in the middle of nowhere. Go and fight these ferocious wolves to get better."

 

[Jimmious]

TBF "Quest received: Cure your explosive diarrhoea" is a pretty original way to open an epic adventure.

Imo , you can say what you want about PoE but the initial area is one of the best in cRPGs. Set the tone perfectly and didn't feel boring at all as a "tutorial" area.

 

[Jimmious]

"You are very ill, so ill that entire caravan has to stop in the middle of nowhere. Go and fight these ferocious wolves to get better."

Five wagons grope blindly for the path on a starless night, their master glancing ever upward to the skies for assurance that he is on the right course, a dim lantern his only protection against the encroaching darkness.

But the skies bring no comfort, shining no light, betraying no hint of what they know.

The caravan carries travelers bound for the frontier hamlet of Gilded Vale, you among them, where a local lord has offered land and wealth to settlers from abroad looking for a fresh start

You have taken suddenly ill, sweating and shivering, and one of the other travelers signals for the caravan master to stop on your behalf.

He pulls up just in time to avoid plowing into the trunk of a fallen tree that bars the way ahead.

You will go no further tonight.

 

[Once more unto the Codex]

People who complain about the beginning of PoE are the reason there’s a 50-story-tall adra statue galavanting around with your soul in Deadfire

 

[2house2fly]

Wait if this Critical Role voice pack is a free DLC and it's coming out at the same time as the game, why is a DLC and not just... part of the game? I guess it's the Witcher 3 thing of "free DLC sounds good"

 

[Once more unto the Codex]

Wait if this Critical Role voice pack is a free DLC and it's coming out at the same time as the game, why is a DLC and not just... part of the game? I guess it's the Witcher 3 thing of "free DLC sounds good"

It means people who are too to have a little corny fun don’t have to have it in their game if they don’t wish to.

 

[FreeKaner]

"You are very ill, so ill that entire caravan has to stop in the middle of nowhere. Go and fight these ferocious wolves to get better."

Don't be retarded. Caravan stops because of a tree trunk in a dark night, the caravan master especially warns you that it might be dangerous to look around and that's why he asks calisca to go with you to find a remedy.

You can't nitpick harder than this shit honestly. Retarded criticisms like this is why PoE's writing gets defended despite being mediocre.

 

[frajaq]

where the hell is obsidian finding these people to showcase their games

nothing says PoE 2: Deadfire like cyberpunk trojan helmet man!

 

[Ruzen]

TBF "Quest received: Cure your explosive diarrhoea" is a pretty original way to open an epic adventure.

Didn't WW2 started because a jew didn't buy Hitlers painting and resulting giving up on art?

 

[Iskramor]

where the hell is obsidian finding these people to showcase their games

nothing says PoE 2: Deadfire like cyberpunk trojan helmet man!

 

[Luckmann]

[...]

One missed opportunity is the great atmosphere they've got going after you awaken. It's kinda similar to after Gorion dies in Baldur's Gate, which I guess was intentional, how you're sorta left alone out in the wilderness. But that lovely, hostile feeling never really takes off. Despite the fact that Gilded Vale is all grimdark it never feels dangerous. In BG there was a great feeling of dread, especially with the little "boss fight" just outside Friendly Arm Inn.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It was amazing in the original BG1 just how "lost" you were after your foster-father just bit it, and the feeling of being lost tied in great with the feeling of loss (which the player likely did not really experience). The very real sense of "What now?" bridged that a lot in more than one sense.

Once you're to Gilded Vale, that just dissipates. The wilderness areas in PoE were frankly token, for lack of a better word, and never felt wild, but rather as areas you sorta have to trudge through anyway, as part of the rails. There should've been a lot more of them, and it should've been a lot longer before you got to Gilded Vale in that sense - a lot longer getting anywhere, really.

TBF "Quest received: Cure your explosive diarrhoea" is a pretty original way to open an epic adventure.

Didn't WW2 started because a jew didn't buy Hitlers painting and resulting giving up on art?

Hitler never gave up on art, and were an artist throughout the entirety of his life. The canvas may have changed at times.

 

[CptMace]

(You see, you can apply bullshitry easily anywhere you want)

Alright I'll give it a try.

Fallout : HEY SO OUR CHIP IS BROKEN, TYPICAL PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE AMIRITE. SO THERE'S ANOTHER VAULT NEARBY AND - OBVIOUSLY - ITS INHABITANTS PROBABLY HAVE AN EXTRA ONE TO SPARE. HERE, HAVE A GUN JUST IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENS BUT RLY WHAT COULD HAPPEN ? OH NO RADSCORPIONS, OH NO RAIDERS, OH NO SUPERMUTANT PLAN TO FUCK US ALL UP BECAUSE WE CAN'T SURVIVE OR SOMETHING.
Fallout 3 : You grew up in a vault, with your friends and your father. Your mother dramatically died while giving you birth, creating a super strong bond with your dad that - you know it - you'd follow even in hell. One day, daddy inexplicably leaves the vault, leaving you to live comfily and safely. A convenient but legitimate riot occurs, letting you learn the ropes as you can either kill the guards blocking your way or try to sneak by them, fail, and ultimately kill them anyway. Teaching you a valuable lesson : C&C is all the way up there, as long as your choice is frontal assault. You finally leave the vault after a calculated 40mins of scripted events, which eventually strengthened the bond you had with your dad, and realise that Megaton is right next to your vault. You then understand the undertext, civilisation was so close, yet so far.

Hey that kinda works.

 

[Jimmious]

Excellent

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

You guys are doing it wrong. This should be a "guess the game" kind of thing. He who guesses right gets to make the next riddle.

I'll start.

HEY, SO YOU ARE THIS TATTOOED HIPSTER AND YOU HAVE LIKE AMNESIA OR SOMETHING BECAUSE WE LIFTED THE PLOT HOOK FROM EVERY 90S THRILLER EVER. GO AND FIND OUT WHO YOU REALLY ARE, OH BY THE WAY WE MADE YOU IMMORTAL TO APPEAL TO MASS MARKET CASUALS.

 

[Lacrymas]

where the hell is obsidian finding these people to showcase their games

nothing says PoE 2: Deadfire like cyberpunk trojan helmet man!

This is the gayest thing I've ever seen. Two men having sex and looking each other in the eyes isn't as gay as this.

I don't really care about the beginning of PoE, it's fine, even if I'd have expanded the tutorial dungeon with an optional sub-level with a boss and a few goodies. Being a tutorial doesn't mean it has to be extremely linear and not be a legitimate dungeon. The whole beginning does kind of throw a lot of stuff at you with the intent of being dramatic and the transitions aren't as smooth as the beginning of BG1, but whatever.

 

[Fry]

where the hell is obsidian finding these people to showcase their games

Streamers exist to promote games. Genuine interest in the game isn't required.

 

[Infinitron]

For some reason, names of some DLCs are exposed on SteamDB:

• 38 minutes ago 812280 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Cutthroat Cosmo
• 38 minutes ago 812270 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Sails of Berath
• 38 minutes ago 812260 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Captain's Banquet
• 39 minutes ago 812250 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Cannons
• 39 minutes ago 812240 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Cloak of Berath
• 40 minutes ago 812230 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Golden Ring
• 40 minutes ago 812220 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Cinder Bombs
• 41 minutes ago 808890 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Scavenger's Lantern
• 42 minutes ago 812210 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Stinky Pete
• 43 minutes ago 812200 Added name – Pillars of Eternity II: Scavenger Hunt - Grog

I think this means they are somehow available to get (via codes or gifts for example).

Scavenger Hunt? I wonder those secret codes were actually redeem codes for these DLCs?

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95782-worldofeternity-funny-business-speculation/?p=1994739

So, I dropped a post about an interesting find a couple weeks ago.

All the pieces aren't quite there, but in the latest beta there are references to a thing called "Scavenger Bundles". They're similar promotions to the cosmic pet codes, but tracked and managed separately. Somehow you enter the code (console? NPC?), and it grants a stack of items, and then marks the party save as having received it. It's nice to see some independent confirmation that it's a thing.

 

[Mark Richard]

[...]

One missed opportunity is the great atmosphere they've got going after you awaken. It's kinda similar to after Gorion dies in Baldur's Gate, which I guess was intentional, how you're sorta left alone out in the wilderness. But that lovely, hostile feeling never really takes off. Despite the fact that Gilded Vale is all grimdark it never feels dangerous. In BG there was a great feeling of dread, especially with the little "boss fight" just outside Friendly Arm Inn.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It was amazing in the original BG1 just how "lost" you were after your foster-father just bit it, and the feeling of being lost tied in great with the feeling of loss (which the player likely did not really experience). The very real sense of "What now?" bridged that a lot in more than one sense.

It's a great engineered moment of uncertainty. Gorion is dead, you can't go back, there's nothing to go on but a vague direction, and just when you think things can't possibly get any worse: 'Heya! It's me, Imoen!'