LibriumArcana.Games

After shelling out an amount of money that's downright embarrassing for a game, I now have early access to the Backer's Beta of Pillars of Eternity.


(no, there is no Mac edition yet- I'm running Win 7 with Bootcamp)


First of all, the Backers' Beta is NOT a complete game. It currently consists of one small village, some wilderness, and a dungeon. You are given an XP dump at game start to bring your character up to mid-game level, then given companions with such creative and exciting names as "BB Fighter," "BB Wizard," "BB Priest," and "BB Rogue." The number of quests can be counted with one hand. Having said that, impressions:


The Good:
The writing! It's been ages since I've played a game with a level of writing this good (it was Mask of the Betrayer and New Vegas, notice a pattern?). There are little flavor descriptions everywhere, NPCs are well done, even minor quests are well-written and have unexpected twists. There is grimdark, but it's so well done it seems organic, rather than contrived.

The reputation system had been redone, with many lines in dialogues now carrying tags (Aggressive, Benevolent, Rational, etc). The number of times you select these options is tracked, and checked upon in subsequent conversations (so, you would be able to succeed on an intimidate check if you've taken a number of Aggressive conversation choices, or get people to open up to you if you are seen as Benevolent, etc).




Chargen is detailed, and decently done, with you selecting race-subrace-class-flavor subclass (like your deity if you're a cleric or, your paladin order)- culture-background. Attribute system is based on the good old days of D&D CRPGs, skills are limited to Athletics, Mechanics, Stealth, and Survival. There are talents, that are akin to Perks. My only complaint with the Chargen is that Attributes are selected before Culture, which gives attribute bonuses, so if you want to fine tune them, you need to go back.




The Bad:
The combat. It's horrible. The game is generally unbalanced as hell- the chanter class dominates all, while certain builds are basically unplayable. There was a hilarious gameplay demo on Youtube where Josh Sawyer and Obsidian's lead programmer did a gameplay demonstration and had their entire party wiped out in the very first combat encounter. I'm proud to say that I've managed to avoid that with only half my party down. Other encounters, you just dominate. The game map is jam-packed with trash mobs that are either total pushovers or massively overpowering, which is especially mystifying as the game doesn't give combat XP. I do hope it's just a beta thing. There are two health systems- Health and Endurance. Endurance depletes rapidly in combat and characters are knocked out when it hits zero. It is increased by healing spells and potions. The other bar is health that depletes much slower and cannot be healed in any way other than resting. Dropping it to zero perma-kills a character. Resting can be done anywhere outside of cities and combat (dungeon resting is a go), but it consumes a tent to do so. Camera angle is either too high or too low. Oh, and traps don't really work yet. Neither do half the spells.

The Ugly:
BUGS! Bugs everywhere. This is an Obsidian game, and it shows. In the ~5 hours I've played it, I've encountered dozens of bugs, from audio playing the wrong sound in the dungeon (sloshing water footsteps while walking on solid rock), graphical ones like the game showing another party member's name and character sheet instead of the player character's (the stats are correct), to horrible game-breaking ones, like when a quest item failing to spawn. Also my fighter suddenly turned permanently invisible then. Yeah, it's that bad





Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Known issues Obsidian is aware about, as per the Backers Beta Forum.

Pathfinding - We are in the middle of revising the pathfinding system. In the Backer Beta at launch, you may see issues with characters jittering, getting stuck, getting "bottlenecked" between other characters, and overlapping their selection circles with other characters in combat.
Sliding - You may notice characters sliding in various situations, where their movement does not match their animation. This is a known issue.
AI - Some characters (including party members) may not respond to a command. Alternately, they may become stuck in an attack or reload loop. We've also found that our initial batch of instruction sets for enemy AIs need additional functionality and parameters that we decided to continue implementing during beta.
Selection Feedback - We are also working on the feedback you receive when selecting characters and actions for them to perform. It's important to us that the feedback is clear and immediate.
Stat Blocks - Many spells, abilities, and items are not yet programmatically displaying all relevant information about them. We are in the process of adding that information to all appropriate interfaces.
Attribute Balance - Testers have reported that Perception and Resolve are less compelling for their character builds than Might, Constitution, Dexterity, and Intellect. We are discussing different solutions for this.
Stamina and Health are Unintuitive - We have consistently found with players and testers that the stamina and health system are unintuitive as presented in game. However, we have also consistently found that, once explained and understood, the system was well-received by the people who used it. We are working on solutions to this disconnect.
Rangers are Buggy - The unique shared stamina/health of rangers and their animal companions has been a tricky system to implement and we are aware that their mechanics have a bunch of issues.
Chanters are Overpowered - Yes, they are. They'll be dialed back a bit, but in the meantime, enjoy playing a game where the bard-type class is king.
UI - Our UI is still being polished and fully implemented. Things like our death screen, stealth UI, and the engagement UI, are all being implemented or tweaked.
Abilities and Spells are Buggy - We are working through all of our abilities, but you may find certain spells and abilities that are not working as they are described.
Some Missing Assets - There are some pieces of the game that are still being implemented - like VFX, Audio, and Icons. You may notice that some assets are either missing or are temporary.
Fog of War Working Incorrectly - The Fog of War is not currently blocking line of sight.
Optimizations - We have not fully optimized the game yet. You may notice that load times and performance still need to be improved.
Save and Load - We are still working through many save and load issues. Passive and modal abilities can sometimes double on a character after they are loaded. Also, the Continue option is still being worked on. It is best to use the Load Game feature instead of the Continue feature.

I wonder who rushed their release now? :)

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

I hope the fix the combat, if the do they'll have a killer game on their hands.

Lousy combat in a game like this is at this point almost expected, if still disappointing. Dragon Age: Origins, which I loved, was ridiculous like that, as was Baldur's Gate. Hell, Mass Effect 1's combat was pretty bad, honestly. Not an excuse, but it's not something that will kill my interest in the game. As far as combat XP, eh, I can take or leave that. So long as they worked out proper progression, it really doesn't matter. Combat XP can lead to powerlevelling shenanigans and the less of that there is, the better.

That said, Obsidian and bugs, oy. You'd think that by taking several steps back technology-wise, they'd avoid them, but I guess it's just symptomatic of the company. So long as they are able to patch it to playability, it should still be good, but they raised three times as much money as they originally set out for. I know Stretch goals are going to eat a lot of that, but, yeah...

Honestly if they need to take another few months or even longer to iron this shit out, I say do it, the only problem is, ironically, they're probably running out of money. Seems like most of these Kickstarters do gangbusters at first, and then blow through the cash really fast, necessitating going to Steam Greenlight/Early Access to sneak in additional funds.

Fun fact, they tried to make dropping items from the inventory possible without horribly fucking up the game, but then they gave up. So, now, dropping things on the ground is impossible (this isn't that much of a problem because there is a deep inventory, which is only accessible in "safe" areas that has infinite capacity).That said, inventory is still horribly bugged. Combining items, for example, bugs out and then both items (as well as others) just end up disappearing. As of right now, the game is basically unplayable.

Hotfoot, as it happens, they DID announce shifting the release date from December 2014 to Early Spring 2015 once the first version of the beta came out and received feedback (scarily enough, the version I'm playing is the second, "polished" release, with many of the biggest bugs fixed).

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Hotfoot wrote:Lousy combat in a game like this is at this point almost expected, if still disappointing. Dragon Age: Origins, which I loved, was ridiculous like that, as was Baldur's Gate. Hell, Mass Effect 1's combat was pretty bad, honestly. Not an excuse, but it's not something that will kill my interest in the game. As far as combat XP, eh, I can take or leave that. So long as they worked out proper progression, it really doesn't matter. Combat XP can lead to powerlevelling shenanigans and the less of that there is, the better.

I thought combat was decent enough in Baldur's Gate. Tactical positioning and efficient use of resources seemed to make a real difference on how fights went, so it was a good mix of fun, interesting, and challenging. A least that was the case in Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, I can't talk about the original because I've never been interested in playing it.

No combat xp seems like the way to go in a CRPG, honestly. It's much easier to balance progression if you're not using people killed as a gauge, and it makes sneaking or talking past enemies more viable options. You could give xp for every enemy defeated or bypassed regardless of whether it was through killing, talking, or trickery, but then you might as well just not bother giving xp for enemies and just hand it out for completed objectives.

Lys wrote:I thought combat was decent enough in Baldur's Gate. Tactical positioning and efficient use of resources seemed to make a real difference on how fights went, so it was a good mix of fun, interesting, and challenging. A least that was the case in Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, I can't talk about the original because I've never been interested in playing it.

In every version of the game, there was always the chance of the RNG giving you results that would perma-kill party members which was just tedious because it meant going back to a previous save state, and that's to say nothing of the other aspects of AD&D that are just ill-suited to computer games, like the randomly generated attributes, hitpoints, and so forth.

No combat xp seems like the way to go in a CRPG, honestly. It's much easier to balance progression if you're not using people killed as a gauge, and it makes sneaking or talking past enemies more viable options. You could give xp for every enemy defeated or bypassed regardless of whether it was through killing, talking, or trickery, but then you might as well just not bother giving xp for enemies and just hand it out for completed objectives.

I prefer games that give out XP based on challenges completed or bypassed, rather than raw blood. I almost rather prefer games like the Elder Scrolls that work on how often you use a skill, but that has the potential to get broken very quickly.

And Galkin, we'll have to see how that goes. I didn't put enough into this Kickstarter for the beta version, so I can't add any commentary there. I do hope they fix this shit though, because these are things that seem like they should have been core mechanics that would be figured out before the big story stuff was added, but then, yeah, Obsidian. This was sort of their big test, because the line from the fans always seems to be "If they just had the time and the money a bigger developer has, they'd make AMAZING games. While first generation Kickstarter means they're going to be ironing out a LOT of rough spots and treading new ground, this was sort of seen by a lot of people as the chance for Obsidian to do what they wanted and the hell with their previous restrictions. If it doesn't work out, they'll have cemented their place in "eternally flawed but wonderfully ambitious game devs". Hopefully they'll never fall as far as Molyneux, however, that way lies madness.

Hotfoot wrote:In every version of the game, there was always the chance of the RNG giving you results that would perma-kill party members which was just tedious because it meant going back to a previous save state, and that's to say nothing of the other aspects of AD&D that are just ill-suited to computer games, like the randomly generated attributes, hitpoints, and so forth.

Honestly I consider randomly generated attributes and hitpoints to be ill suited for tabletop too, but those are not problems with the combat system. Though I do tend to forget that particular problem because I'd use a character editor to give myself 96 attribute points and called it a day. Permanent death for party members is also not a problem with the combat system, it's a problem with the difficulty settings in that there is no way to disable permanent party member death without also gimping the system in other ways (no friendly fire, enemies do 75% damage). So the combat was fine, other parts of the system weren't.

I prefer games that give out XP based on challenges completed or bypassed, rather than raw blood. I almost rather prefer games like the Elder Scrolls that work on how often you use a skill, but that has the potential to get broken very quickly.

Yeah, those two are also my ideals. It's pretty fun how in Skyrim I was playing an axe and shield destruction mage, and I wound up with a ton of points in sneak without really planning for it. Also lots of points in lockpick, because why wouldn't I lockpick fucking everything when the minigame's so easy?

I'm a big fan of the Elder Scrolls' system despite the hilariously broken results it gets, in that you wind up with a character who is good at doing the things you do a lot, whatever those things happen to be. No need to min-max (well, LESS need to min-max at least), just keep playing and you'll be what you want to be.

The only real brokeness I recall from Elder Scrolls is the alchemy/enchanting/smithing loop wherein you make magic item to increase your magic item creating abilities which then you can use to create even more powerful items that increase your abilities further, and so on and so forth. That's not really an issue of you getting better at the skills you do most though, that's an issue of there being a positive feedback loop built into the mechanics with no diminishing returns. I generally refuse to take advantage of it because it makes the game rather boring for me. Same deal for spending large amounts of time farming a particular skill. It's boring, so why would you ever do it?

Started another play-through, that one ended in ignominy, too. When I entered the dungeon, the game went into combat mode, preventing me from saving, leaving the area, or regenerating spells and health, and also looting corpses and containers. That last part is important because apparently, the game decided to stay in combat mode until every last enemy in that dungeon is dead. Enemies that are impossible for me to reach because they are behind locked doors, the keys to which I cannot pick up because I am in combat mode. So, I cannot advance, and cannot leave. Joy.

I was told the old release was better. Apparently, in "polishing" the Beta, Obsidian managed to make it MORE broken.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

From a backer email sent out today:

Additional Time for Polish and Feedback

Through your help and feedback, the Pillars of Eternity team has spent the past two years creating a fun, fulfilling experience. An open development has enabled us to interact with our fans and backers in a way we weren't able to in the past, and this has really helped shape Eternity into a game that we all hoped it would become. Plus, with the Backer Beta, we have been able to get excellent feedback from our backers that we are using to shape Eternity into an even better game. We really can't thank you enough.

To incorporate as much feedback as possible, polish every nook and cranny of the game, and make sure we don't ship a buggy game, Obsidian has decided to push the game's release into early next year. We are going to use the extra time to make Eternity shine for our backers, and a game that we were proud to call our own and would live up to your expectations.

Once again, we want to thank you for making this all possible. With your help we can bring Eternity across the finish line.

Speaking of Backer Beta

We are hard at work implementing feedback and bugfixing items in the Backer Beta. One of the major focuses for the team over the past few weeks was adding in additional character progression options and cleaning up UI to make combat a little less chaotic.

You can expect everything from additional Talents and Ability selection choices to UI and HUD improvements in our next update. We are also very close to getting the Mac and Linux versions of the Backer Beta to you guys. It may even make it into the next Beta update.

In fact, here is one of the Backer Beta requested UI changes - Infinity Engine-style targeting reticles.

Looks like they know they done messed up a bit.

Looks like despite the above, it turned out well

I've yet to delve into it seriously myself, but that is some glowing goddamn praise for this game.

Played it for about 4 hours last night. The difference between the beta and the finished game is phenomenal. I haven't experienced a single bug in those 4 hours. Is it really still an Obsidian game if there are no bugs?

The game plays like an improved and very beautiful version of Baldur's Gate, but with more grimdark. I don't want to comment until I finish it, but so far, it's absolutely amazing. A true triumph.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Aaaaand, the first bug reports are coming in


http://kotaku.com/pillars-of-eternity-c ... 1694367618

The relatively devastating bug, posted to Reddit by kiror yesterday, happens when a player tries to swap out a piece of equipment on a character with an item in their inventory by double-clicking the inventory item—a relatively standard role-playing game practice. Doing so will remove a character's racial abilities, passive powers and permanent buffs.

Got me worried for a moment there, Obsidian. Good to know you were not replaced by alien doppelgangers after all

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

All games have bugs, that these are not devastatingly game-breaking and legion is a significant change.

For the hell of it, I tried to start again as a Fire Godlike and got hit by a bug where the cutscene outside the ruins never triggers. That is literally gamebreaking, as I cannot advance further. So, yeah. Go Obsidian

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin