|
Clearly it's "The Hand o' Cult" and they're all irish
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 12:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:34 |
|
|
Maybe the Hand o' Cult or whatever is referring to the writing being written from the perspective of the Cult (which it is). Pun or something.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 12:54
|
|
|
I already completed my non-beta pledge. Can I still buy into the beta?
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 13:50
|
|
|
I'd forgotten all about this game after backing it way back when. Exciting to see it's getting closer to release! Looking it up has given me the urge to play some classic party-based RPGs again, anybody have any suggestions? I've played most of the big names before (Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Fallout, etc) so lesser-known favorites would be appreciated.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 13:54
|
|
|
Dolash posted:I'd forgotten all about this game after backing it way back when. Exciting to see it's getting closer to release! Not really party based in the sense of BG2 and such but have you tried Divinity: Original Sin? Turned based combat and 2 recrutiable companions (with very little personality). However you can recruit henchmen (no personality NPC) that you can customize to make a 4-person party of your choice. Story is so-so but combat is really fun.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 13:58
|
|
|
Ither posted:I already completed my non-beta pledge. Can I still buy into the beta? At the moment I think you have to submit a support ticket and they'll reset it for you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 14:15
|
|
|
Dolash posted:Looking it up has given me the urge to play some classic party-based RPGs again, anybody have any suggestions? I've played most of the big names before (Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Fallout, etc) so lesser-known favorites would be appreciated. If you haven't given it a look, Divinity: Original Sin just released and is pretty great. Admittedly, it scratches a different itch from Pillars of Eternity: turn-based, much less interested in writing (it's pretty much full-on whimsical with a pretty forgettable plot) and much more focus on environmental interaction and player experimentation, but it's pretty classic and has a great, great combat system. EDIT: And, as it turns out, someone was just recommending it too. Just tells you how well received the game is, really.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 14:16
|
|
|
evilmiera posted:It sounds more like "The Hand Occult" Bit hard to make out though with how fast he speaks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 15:37
|
|
|
Fair Bear Maiden posted:If you haven't given it a look, Divinity: Original Sin just released and is pretty great. Admittedly, it scratches a different itch from Pillars of Eternity: turn-based, much less interested in writing (it's pretty much full-on whimsical with a pretty forgettable plot) and much more focus on environmental interaction and player experimentation, but it's pretty classic and has a great, great combat system. I want Eternity to have a crafting system as intricate and logical as Divinity: Original Sin, but with a recipe book that is more straightforward and not verbatim recipe book flavor text. Your dudes keep slipping on ice? Put some goddamn nails on your shoes and you're good. Also the environmental interaction during combat is great.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2014 22:30
|
|
|
J.E. Sawyer posted:Attributes in PoE are not quite so class-linked as ability scores in most editions of A/D&D. These aren't final lists (in fact, I haven't looked at them in a while and they will probably be adjusted soon), but these are the current attribute modifiers for the different base races: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66080-races/?view=findpost&p=1468913
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 08:15
|
|
|
Good to see minus stats are still a thing. I thought all positives in 4E was a bit meh. I also like how not every race has the same mechanical inputs (as in all having +2, +1, -1). I think that evokes 2E/3E a bit more, which is good, although maybe another way to get a con or int bonus would be cool too.
Sensuki fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Jul 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 10:44
|
|
|
Sensuki posted:Good to see minus stats are still a thing. I thought all positives in 4E was a bit meh. I also like how not every race has the same mechanical inputs (as in all having +2, +1, -1). I think that evokes 2E/3E a bit more, which is good
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 10:56
|
|
|
Jackard posted:Why is that good? Nostalgia? Which part specifically? 4E is very mathematically banal. Each race gets +2 and +2 to a different attribute. I'd rather have some variation in the bonuses, albeit balanced. The way Josh has done it with flat +2s, +1/+1s and +2/+1/-1 still gives an aggregate +2 across all with three different styles of bonuses. 2E and 3E did this to some extent, although some races got more bonuses coupled with a Level Adjustment. a 2E and 3E feeling is part of the IE feeling, which I think is one of, if not the most important aspects of the project.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 11:17
|
|
|
Jackard posted:Why is that good? Nostalgia? It's a bit of a personal taste thing, but it evokes the feeling that making a choice has meaning and consequence, both in a positive and negative way, and makes the possible races feel distinct.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 11:17
|
|
|
Nice job avoiding fantasy phrenology at the same time too, good to see aside from the actually-supernatural Godlike none of the races have any modifiers to their intellect.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 12:27
|
|
|
Sensuki posted:Which part specifically? That's only 'balanced' if every point in a stat improved its derived values linearly, rather than by any other curve, though. And considering each stat has multiple derived values, and we know to-hit rolls alone are not linear, it seems very unlikely for each point added to the same stat to be as useful as the last, let alone transitively across different attributes (because the values figure into different sub-systems). At least in this game all stats are useful to all classes, so the racial stat bonuses/penalties can avoid the "you are a moron if you make a Half-Orc into a non-fighter-or-barbarian" problem.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 12:40
|
|
|
Godlikes are both godlike and another race, right? Do the racial attribute bonuses stack so a godlike aumaua has +2 might, +1 dexterity, +1 intellect?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 14:47
|
|
|
Yes. Nah.
Sensuki fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Jul 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 15:29
|
|
|
Sensuki posted:Good to see minus stats are still a thing. I thought all positives in 4E was a bit meh. I also like how not every race has the same mechanical inputs (as in all having +2, +1, -1). I think that evokes 2E/3E a bit more, which is good, although maybe another way to get a con or int bonus would be cool too. Nah 4E racial stats was pretty much the best. It got even better when Essentials modified most races to be one set in stone +2 and then a choice between +2 to two different stats. Let you play up different aspects of a race (Do I want to play up the pious traditionalist aspect of dwarves or thhe stout warrior one) and avoided creepy uncomfortable poo poo like "but guys we literally know for a fact that orcs are an inferior species unfit to govern themselves! They have -2 int"
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 16:16
|
|
|
That's a pretty goofy set of things to be uncomfortable with. It's OK that the average elf is more perceptive than the average human and that the average dwarf is stronger, but not ok that the average gnome is smarter? Some characteristics of species that resemble characteristics or stereotypes about real-world human races or ethnicities are fine and others are bad? Orcs are just loving dopey on average, deal with it, any resemblances to Gilbert & Sullivan-esque cartoon Pacific Islanders are purely coincidental.Fuschia tude posted:At least in this game all stats are useful to all classes, so the racial stat bonuses/penalties can avoid the "you are a moron if you make a Half-Orc into a non-fighter-or-barbarian" problem. Yes.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 16:30
|
|
|
Otto Skorzeny posted:That's a pretty goofy set of things to be uncomfortable with. It's OK that the average elf is more perceptive than the average human and that the average dwarf is stronger, but not ok that the average gnome is smarter? Some characteristics of species that resemble characteristics or stereotypes about real-world human races or ethnicities are fine and others are bad? Orcs are just loving dopey on average, deal with it, any resemblances to Gilbert & Sullivan-esque cartoon Pacific Islanders are purely coincidental. Tolkien Gateway posted:All orcs are often described as "slant-eyed" and the Uruk-Hai at least refer to the Rohirrim as 'white skins.' In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as "...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types. Orcs were literally designed as racist caricatures and fantasy hasn't moved much further from that depiction since its inception. And most 'scientific' racism historically has been concerned with the comparative intellects of varying 'races', so cutting mental modifiers from racial traits is a nice way of still giving players meaningful character building choices in-game which broadly match to the physical characteristics of the actually different races without going into the unpleasantness of 'Orcs are three-fifths as intelligent as humans' seen in classic D&D. Good work Sawyer and Cain!
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:18
|
|
|
Intellect, Resolve and Perception are mental modifiers though? (Unless the last sentence was meant to be separate from the rest of your post)
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:22
|
|
|
Sensuki posted:Intellect, Resolve and Perception are mental modifiers though? The only species which gets any intellect modifier are Godlike, who are literally supernatural and can be of any race, so I gave that one a pass. It's still not perfect, granted, I just appreciated the mechanics don't suggest any race has the shallow, stunted brainpan of a negro 
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:26
|
|
|
Except we're talking about literally different species in fantasy. Orcs aren't green skinned humans. They're are entirely different creatures. Are you going to argue a monkey is just as intelligent as a human? A T-rex as smart as a human? They are different creatures, with radically different physiology and that includes brain size and complexity. Of course they'll have different average intellects, just like they'll have different average strengths or dexterity.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:35
|
|
|
DatonKallandor posted:Except we're talking about literally different species in fantasy. Orcs aren't green skinned humans. They're are entirely different creatures. Elves are a fine bunch of folks and some of my best friends are elves, but I just wouldn't be comfortable using elf based technology. Is it so wrong to want a toaster that's not packed full of leaves?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:37
|
|
|
DatonKallandor posted:Except we're talking about literally different species in fantasy. Orcs aren't green skinned humans. They're are entirely different creatures. Okay that's good to know, I'd been under the mistaken impression fiction was deliberately created by authors and not an impartial record of events from an alternative reality. I guess when Tolkien spoke of Orcs as '...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types', it was just a huge coincidence they resembled his own racial prejudices.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:41
|
|
|
Sensuki posted:4E is very mathematically banal. Each race gets +2 and +2 to a different attribute. I'd rather have some variation in the bonuses, albeit balanced. quote:a 2E and 3E feeling is part of the IE feeling, which I think is one of, if not the most important aspects of the project.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 17:48
|
|
|
Quick Look EX of Pillas of Opportunity on Giant Bomb this Thursday.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:21
|
|
|
BigFatFlyingBloke posted:Quick Look EX of Pillas of Opportunity on Giant Bomb this Thursday. Rad a post about something cool and not attribute bickering.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:26
|
|
|
BigFatFlyingBloke posted:Quick Look EX of Pillas of Opportunity on Giant Bomb this Thursday. Hope Matt Rorie sits in on this. Also as they're in San Francisco for this it's likely there'll be coverage on Gamespot and IGN as well since they're nearby.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:27
|
|
|
Scorchy posted:Hope Matt Rorie sits in on this. Given that Rorie is by far the biggest CRPG fan left in the office and he used to work for Obsidian, I'd be shocked if he wasn't there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:36
|
|
|
Scorchy posted:Hope Matt Rorie sits in on this. I believe Giantbomb and Gamespot are literally in the same office. Nice to see the PoE press tour ramping up. Is Ropekid going to be at Gamescom?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:46
|
|
|
Many of the decisions on PoE are driven by nostalgia, including but not limited to the game being class-based, having six attributes, a six character party, and RTwP combat.Scorchy posted:Hope Matt Rorie sits in on this.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:47
|
|
|
Airfoil posted:I believe Giantbomb and Gamespot are literally in the same office.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:48
|
|
|
A Steampunk Gent posted:Okay that's good to know, I'd been under the mistaken impression fiction was deliberately created by authors and not an impartial record of events from an alternative reality. I guess when Tolkien spoke of Orcs as '...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types', it was just a huge coincidence they resembled his own racial prejudices. Okay that's good to know I've been under the mistaken impression you could have fiction that was not like our world so not just like our world all over again. I guess when you mean fiction you're actually just talking about non-fiction. Are you going to complain about Dragons too, seeing as how there's no evidence that they ever really existed? An author can write something while being a horrible human being - that doesn't mean everything he wrote is automatically horrible or infused with his mindset. And even if it was, the thing 10 generations derived from that first thing that author wrote isn't automatically tainted. Lovecraft wrote great stories and they're great even though he had a cat called friend of the family. All fantasy isn't automatically racist just because Tolkien (knowingly!) based one of his orc races on a racial stereotype. DatonKallandor fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jul 22, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 18:48
|
|
|
DatonKallandor posted:Okay that's good to know I've been under the mistaken impression you could have fiction that was not like our world so not just like our world all over again. I guess when you mean fiction you're actually just talking about non-fiction. Sorry to continue this derail discussion but I can't really let this pass without comment - 'In evidence of fiction not having racist subtexts I cite noted non-racist author H.P. Lovecraft' 
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 19:06
|
|
|
A Steampunk Gent posted:Sorry to continue this derail discussion but I can't really let this pass without comment - 'In evidence of fiction not having racist subtexts I cite noted non-racist author H.P. Lovecraft' Wasn't H.P Lovecraft the guy that turned another guy less racist by being such a racist poo poo heel?
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 19:14
|
|
|
A Steampunk Gent posted:Sorry to continue this derail discussion but I can't really let this pass without comment - 'In evidence of fiction not having racist subtexts I cite noted non-racist author H.P. Lovecraft' Haha literally the most overwhelmingly neurotically racist author I can think of  The dude so racist his correspondences with Robert Howard made Howard less racist.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 19:15
|
|
|
Roobanguy posted:Wasn't H.P Lovecraft the guy that turned another guy less racist by being such a racist poo poo heel? Yes, yes he was.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 19:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:34 |
|
|
Jackard posted:Funny given how unlikely it is for these negative/positive combos in games to ever truly be balanced. My, aren't you bitter.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2014 19:21
|
|