Not yet another Early Access thing. Cant devs just find an alternative???
Has anyone asked them whether the game will have regional pricing? (out of interest..i already backed this. wondering same thing with Wasteland 2 and Tides of Numenera ...)

Nope, tt's beta, some of the backers including me have paid good money for it. Hate it that now steam's early access has become synonymous with beta releases lol

Where did they say Early Access? It's just a beta for backers only as far as I'm aware.

no idea. we have no details other than backer beta atm?

Video coming soon? Once they edit out the spoilerish stuff.

As far as I know http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/66210-the-possibility-of-a-delayed-2015-release/page-4#entry1453767 is the last official comment on early access.

that seems to be from may. hopefully their stance will remain as a proper beta...surprised at the high number of No to Steam early access... lot of very valid points made :)

The first gameplay footage is out:
http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-ex-pillars-of-eternity/2300-9224/

Looks just grand, almost exactly like BG2 but high-res, I still have my doubts over the complexity of the character system but the combat looks better than I imagined. For some reason I imagined that it would be more "zoomed out".

Looking fantastic, I'm happy about being a backer of this game

He's playing it zoomed in as close as the engine allows. At one point in the video he briefly zooms out to show the limited camera zoom.

But yeah, I'm very pleased with what I saw of this and am very happy I backed this one.

Game looks great. Probably sate my BG2's thirst after all these years, Dragon Age Origins nearly did it. Dialogue check options are definitely in there. Hope they show some high level footage of magic spells and melee abilites.

I haven't read through all the posts on here (that would take ages, though I might do so at so at some point) but with regret I don't think I'll be bothering to buy Pillars of Eternity based on what I've read about the way the game seems to have turned out. As a huge fan of the IE games - and D&D rules-based combat - I don't like the sound of all the simplifications, still less the "rationalisations" for said simplifications. Smacks too much of Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age all over again to me. I suppose the sequel to Planescape : Torment will have been conceived and written along similar lines ? If so, not interested in that either, again regretfully. PC games just ain't what they used to be and are being made for different reasons than they used to be. It's very sad what has happened to PC gaming.

When you make a sequel or you make a game "in the spirit" of a previous, much loved game, you only need to do a few things :

1. You bring the graphics up to date (without necessarily totally revamping the engine).

2. You ADD complexity, you don't take it away. Obviously you do this in such a way as to not alienate fans of the previous games. You make the sequel for fans of the original, not for every man and his dog.

3. You remove "shortcomings" and add "enhancements" - and these also ought to be decided by fans of the original games.

No.3 is obviously a bit subjective but the first two ought to be obvious. ADDING complexity and not simplifying is the most important thing for me. Simplifying can also mean "dumbing down", and that's what it has meant in the case of Bioware's stuff since the IE games, though they don't like to admit it.

Why oh why oh why get rid of the best combat system ever : the D&D system ? This was the meat of the IE games and was what really made them great, though lots of other things also made them great.

Because it's a licensed system and they didn't want to have to pay the IP holders to use it (and would have been forced into 4e D&D rules if they had).

I love the D&D system myself (started playing way back in 1977) but I wouldn't say it's the best combat system ever.

Well I'm certainly no D&D expert but it's hands down the best combat system I've ever experienced in an RPG. There are all these otherwise "beautiful" RPGs (TES games, The Witcher etc.) but because the combat is simplistic and primitive in these games I don't want to play them. What the IE games did was to combine an incredibly engaging combat system (which actually worked rather beautifully with levelling up and general character development) with lovely hand-drawn art, beautifully realised characters, fantastic dialogue, all-round great writing and amazing atmosphere. I just cannot understand why this formula was dropped, unless it had something to do with the split between Bioware and Black Isle Studios ? I really don't know the answer, not being part of the industry, but for me every RPG since the IE games has been poor - especially Bioware's mysteriously much-vaunted stuff.

Edit : It's a shame - and also a disgrace - if it all had something to do with money. I know that the last IE game - Icewind Dale 2 - used a different D&D ruleset (3rd edition ?) than the first four IE games used (2nd edition ? I don't know any of this stuff, I just played the games and loved them). Well, Icewind Dale 2 was still awesome, though the new rules took a bit of getting used to. But to abandon D&D rules altogether - WHY ? There is no better set of rules, for combat at least, that I've encountered in a game. Why did Bioware go down the "dumbing down" route after this and is Pillars of Eternity just going to be more of the same dumbed down rubbish ? I already know that it is, based on very little research, so I shall not be bothering with it.