Pillars of Eternity: pillars lasting more than four hours

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pillars of Eternity: pillars lasting more than four hours

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Upmarket Mango posted:

Rope Kid, has anybody on the dev team has actually completed the game Triple Crown Solo mode?

No. It may not be possible without weird glitches/exploits unless we do some additional solo tuning. We support solo play, but it hasn't been a balancing focus at all.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 18:56

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:57

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Megazver posted:

You didn't figure that out from every pre-built character build offered in every RPG ever?

All of the IWD2 starter parties were built by designers on the project and the main criterion for inclusion was that they had to win the game with that party.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 19:00

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Insurrectionist posted:

Would something like BG's Wand of Monster Summoning, i.e. items of unforeseen levels of power, count? I mean you probably don't have a literal Wand of Monster Summoning (or if you do it's got the later-IE summon limit) but you know, there's probably going to be that one consumable of ridiculous usefulness. Or multiple ones.

Consumables seem key to anyone/everyone's solo playthroughs, so that would probably be part of it.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 19:01

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Tell one of the QA guys to try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHOAMTZedt0

still works in v480

Might help a little bit with a solo run :P

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/70530-435-weapon-switching-abuse/

You can click directly on the weapon switch icon if you just want to cycle/toggle.

There's already a bug in for this. In combat (with hostiles, that is), it's usually only useful for missile weapons because the combat state will start enforcing the weapon switching recovery time. I think the intended fix is that if you've passed the hit event on the attack animation, switching weapons will always incur a recovery penalty.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 19:29

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

DatonKallandor posted:

Who made (and wrote) the all-woman party? That one was cool.

I think it was either Damien Foletto or John Deiley.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 19:57

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Furism posted:

I really hope there are no huge game breaking bugs so we can end the stupid "Obsidian releases buggy games lol!" jokes.

We've already released two pretty low-bug games (Dungeon Siege III and South Park) but it typically takes a brand/company's reputation about a decade to recover. Right now I'd say PoE has more bugs than DS3 and SP, but far fewer than any of the other titles OEI has worked on. PoE is also a much more complex/variable game than DS3 and SP in a lot of ways, so some of that is to be expected.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 21:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

That's why this is one of my favorite F:NV videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr8SAAKhGVw

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 21:27

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

If you enable auto-combat slow (on by default on Easy), it shouldn't be too difficult or taxing.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 21:41

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Jackard posted:

Does this game still have a Big Head mode?

https://instagram.com/p/0RYTvlpx13/

Disco Infiva posted:

Could there be "auto slow on combat start" option patched in later?

That's what the feature does. The option is checked on by default for Easy, but any difficulty level can use it.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 21:58

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Vitamin P posted:

It's a small thing but I really dig that this map makes sense geographically.

Riverchatters are finally vindicated.

Basic Chunnel posted:

One thing I'm still unclear on is what system(s) the game uses to simulate the relationship between the PC and her companions, if any. Is there a discrete influence system? Do the companions react to dispositions or reputations?

Companions don't really react to you systemically, but through their individual dialogues/quests.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 22:41

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

If you want to build a character around CCing, it's less useful. E: Or non-healing support.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 01:02

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Do you guys have a bug for most neutral npcs going into recovery at the start of combat if you attack them from the non-combat state? (it's like they all make an invisible weapon switch or something)

Hmm, not sure. I'll ask.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 01:44

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

What about if you accidentally click switch weapons twice? It will give you 4 second recovery ? (should just reset the timer to 2 IMO)

Each time you click to switch, it will reset the "Weapon Switch" portion of your recovery to 2. So if you double click in real-time, you may gain a fraction of a second additional recovery, but if it's done during a pause, you can cycle through them a billion times and it should still just be base 2 recovery.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 01:51

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

1H used to be, by far, the most favored style. The only thing we changed, IIRC, was its Accuracy bonus.

If 1H became faster, there'd be less to distinguish it from two-weapon.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 02:29

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

I can look at 1H again but,

Sensuki posted:

Then there are the styles. Two-Handed Style gives a damage mult of x1.1 (or +10% damage), and One-Handed Style gives 20% Graze-to-Hit conversion. Grazes will, most of the time, have a 35% chance to occur, so that 20% has a 7% chance of occuring (0.2 * 0.35). Converting a graze to a hit only gives a +50% increase to damage and doesn't remove miss chance, so it is flat out worse than a point in accuracy all the time.

The 1H Talent is now a 30% convert and, practically speaking, a Graze > Hit usually winds up being more than a 50% increase in damage done unless the target has low DR.

Some of the QA guys specifically do "conversion" builds, but I don't really want that to be the entire basis of a viable weapon style.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 03:13

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

grrarg posted:

That is something I never understood, not having played the beta. Using a 2h versus a single 1h looks like a no-brainer when the 2h does more damage and is not slower. It seems like the comparison is even less favorable when you add in the loss of offhand stats and the weapon style differences.

Any property of a weapon that is related to it making an attack will occur less frequently when dual-wielding compared to single-wielding or weapon & shield.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 03:17

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Hand Row posted:

So in the end the difference between 1 handed style and 2 is that 1 should have much more consistent damage as you will have less grazes?

1H should have fewer outright Misses and more Hits/Crits because its Accuracy is inherently higher.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 03:20

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

It's just based on attack frequency. Over 18 seconds, with no armor penalty, two standard weapons making 1 second attacks with 1 second recoveries will make 5 attacks each.

0 Sec - Weapon A
2 Sec - Weapon B
4 Sec - Weapon A
6 Sec - Weapon B
8 Sec - Weapon A
10 Sec - Weapon B
12 Sec - Weapon A
14 Sec - Weapon B
16 Sec - Weapon A
18 Sec - Weapon B

Using just one weapon, you should see this:

0 Sec - Weapon A
2.5 Sec - Weapon A
5 Sec - Weapon A
7.5 Sec - Weapon A
10 Sec - Weapon A
12.5 Sec - Weapon A
15 Sec - Weapon A
17.5 Sec - Weapon A

In the same amount(ish) of time, Weapon A makes 5 attacks when dual-wielded, 8 attacks when single-wielded. So if you have a property like "Stunning" on a weapon, it's going to have more chances to go off simply because that weapon is making more frequent attacks.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 03:30

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

The whole reason the split health mechanic exists in the first place was because there was not supposed to be any health healing.

That's not correct. The split Health mechanic exists so the loss of Endurance within one or two combats does not require the presence of a dedicated healing class or consumables for the party to recover (as it does in pre-4E D&D). Endurance/Health accomplishes some of the same goals as Healing Surges in 4E for largely the same reasons. Health, like Healing Surges, is a resource that exists on the individual character and is replenished each time the character takes a full rest. The Health recovery Talents are class-neutral and they replenish on rest.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 08:24

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

For the record I quite like 4E's Healing Surge system, and I think something more similar to that may have worked better than what we have here, and definitely been much more consistent and more 'fair' for all classes.

4E Healing Surges are not consistent for all classes. Classes get different numbers of Surges per day based on class (e.g. base 6 for wizards and rogues, base 9 for fighters) and Con modifier. Surges are also percentage-based (1/4 of your total HP). The exception are healing potions, which cost a Healing Surge to use but grant a flat value of HP. A 5th level fighter with 16 Con has 55 hp and can burn through 156 hp of (13 hp) Healing Surges in a day (before any other bonuses). A 5th level wizard with the same Con has 42 hp and can go through 90 hp of (10 hp) Healing Surges.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 15:36

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Neutrals that are in factions can catch you stealing, but that deer probably doesn't have any valuable goods it's watching over.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

That deer is up to something. Why is it staring at you? Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xJUQxE9tY

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 15:45

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Scorchy posted:

I always kill that deer for this reason.

Harsh, but fair.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 15:49

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Ferrinus posted:

I haven't played/looked closely at the beta, so what existing mechanics keep spell attacks on par with weapon attacks? Do you just stop using low-level spells entirely after a certain point? Are there +3 wands or whatever that'll at least keep a wizard's lovely wand blasts competitive?

I never stopped using my low-level spells. IME they are different enough from each other (in shape, targeting, damage type, defense type) that there are often reasons to still cast them.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:15

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

You can still do that I guess, but it's sort of limited to reducing a defense of an enemy and then attacking that defense. Personally I (and many others) find the combat more of an exercise of encounter and build strategy, rather than a tactical exercise where you have to react to enemy actions. Unfortunately there's no cool dynamic stuff where you run in with a Vocalize and silence everyone, dominate your own charmed party members back (or failing that, a hold person) or any counterspelling. Anything remotely related to that has been rolled into "suppressing hostile effects" and "Arcane Dampener" - one size fits all counter spells.

Every level of priest spells has broad counters. Prayers against Fear, Bewilderment, Imprisonment, Infirmity, Restraint, and Treachery. I use Prayer against Fear in virtually every drake / dragon fight and Prayer against Imprisonment against darguls, cean gŵla, adragan, menpŵgra etc.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:23

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Well I'm sure rope kid will probably have something to say about the issue. I'm not sure he agrees with me but then again I don't think we played the Infinity Engine games the same way.

No, we did play the IE games in (largely) the same way. I don't view my way of playing games as the way in which I must design and make games. It has never been about that.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:37

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Yeah but you have to cast those BEFORE you get hit with those spells, right?

Prayer against... spells all grant defensive bonuses and reduce the duration of existing effects.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:38

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

I played in a 3.5 game last year where one of the players in the group made a high Charisma talky fighter. It was, mechanically, a terrible character. Bad at fighting, bad at talking. I made a same-level noble / marshal (3 / 4) for the same campaign. She had +26 (situationally, +29) to Diplomacy rolls, was an extremely effective support character and pretty good in melee. Cool / funny for me, not cool for the other player. In the Ars Magica game I play in, we broke the certamen system about nine months into the campaign. My character has lost two out of about thirty duels and the subsystem wasn't really enjoyable for anyone (including/especially the GM), so I redesigned certamen, buffed the weakest schools, and debuffed my character's. It's fun to build and play an effective character, but as a designer, it's also important to understand what consequences exist for systems that funnel toward those sorts of extreme situations.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:56

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Yeah well they pitched it as an Infinity Engine style game, so I was hoping for combat that felt more like the Infinity Engine games.

The IWD games placed a very heavy emphasis on area control. They are also Infinity Engine games.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 17:59

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

cheesetriangles posted:

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect the player to put effort into a game they are playing. I'm sure you will disagree.

No, I don't disagree. People playing on Normal and Hard still run into difficult situations that require them to adapt and overcome (especially in optional fights).

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 18:35

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

Looking forward to these optional fights, although it's a shame that the crit path will probably be p. easy in comparison.

Do you think you'll do something similar to IWD:HoW for the expansion where if you complete more of the content the composition of the later crit path stuff will change or something?

IME the most difficult optional fights are the bounties on Hard. They often contain a large number of kith (human/elf/dwarf/etc.) enemies of various classes and if you pursue them as soon as they are available, they can be extremely challenging. The crit path is comparatively easy but I don't think that's a bad thing.

I'm not sure if we'll rebalance with the expansion like we did with HoW.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 18:52

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Sensuki posted:

In the game, it *looks like* 1H and 2H have a 60 frame recovery. In a frame-by-frame video, I'm capturing 54 frames of recovery but there are probably dropped frames. I believe in the code, the formula for recovery penalty still includes the animation length as well. Your old chart indicated that 2H has a 30 frame animation, 30 frame recovery and 30 frame recovery penalty from the 2H recovery penalty.

The non-dual wield (1H, weapon & shield, 2H) recovery is 50% longer. There's also the global recovery modifier, which is 1.2. 30 * 1.2 = 36 frames. 45*1.2 = 54 frames.

Over 20 seconds, assuming no armor, 10 Dex.

0 Sec = Attack A
2.2 Sec = Attack B
4.4 Sec = Attack A
6.6 Sec = Attack B
8.8 Sec = Attack A
11 Sec = Attack B
13.2 Sec = Attack A
15.4 Sec = Attack B
17.6 Sec = Attack A
19.8 Sec = Attack B

Weapon A attacks 5 times.

0 Sec = Attack A
2.8 Sec = Attack A
5.6 Sec = Attack A
8.4 Sec = Attack A
11.2 Sec = Attack A
14 Sec = Attack A
16.8 Sec = Attack A
19.6 Sec = Attack A

Weapon A attacks 8 times.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2015 19:42

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

MartianAgitator posted:

No, this is weak writing.

Yeah, this is my error. I'll clarify the language and have Tim change the effectt. It's intended to be extra Crit damage against targets with low End.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 16:59

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

The gaming timeline of history:

Ancient Tymes
Medieval
Steampunk
WWII
Modern
Post-Apocalyptic
Space??

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 17:37

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Roguelike posted:

That's not fair, many of the entries are far more misleading than that. Knock Down, literally the first fighter ability in the game, straight up says it attacks Fortitude, when it's just a normal attack that inflicts prone on hit without ever requiring a fortitude roll.

That bug was a holdover from when Fort wasn't a weapon-based attack, but just did a Prone attack vs. Fort. It's been fixed for release.

Magitek posted:

So is it viable to have a stealthy backstabbing rogue with a giant Pike? I would desperately like for this to be a thing.

Yes.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 17:58

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

derra posted:

I know you can create characters; is there a limit on how many you can have chilling at your stronghold total? Do they recruit at level 1 or a more advanced level, and if advanced do they come with talents and abilities pre-set?

You can build 8 adventurers in addition to your main PC (there are also 8 companions). They can be hired at your level-1 (minimum of 1). They arrive with experience and basic starting gear, but you have to level them.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 19:21

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

I think maybe it was this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pGjITOezVk

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 21:19

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

UrbicaMortis posted:

Paladins mostly aren't about gods. I mean, they can still believe in them but they aren't holy orders. You could do it as a priest.

A Shieldbearer of St. Elcga could fit.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 21:28

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

If you build your characters toward being more passive and use the companions with more passive abilities (e.g. Kana), it should be easier to manage.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 22:09

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Riven posted:

I just made a chanter for the first time in the beta, and INT doesn't affect the duration or linger of the chants it seems? Thought having a 20 int chanter would let me have multiple effects going on at once but it doesn't seem so...

It should affect Linger.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2015 22:37

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:57

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

zedprime posted:

What time period would gently caress You, Suck My Dick take place in if it was made?

Also at any point during locking in or fleshing out the setting for PoE, did anyone make any jokes or other allusions to making "Lionheart but better"

Probably 15th century.

People would have to know about Lionheart to make jokes about it.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2015 00:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pillars of Eternity: pillars lasting more than four hours

«‹›15 »