Pillars of Eternity Backer Beta v392 Released

Just in time for the Christmas holidays, Obsidian Entertainment has released a new backer beta build of Pillars of Eternity on Steam. So far only the Windows version of the build is available, though producer Brandon Adler promised the Mac build would be uploaded on Tuesday morning.

The beta includes a number of changes, bug fixes, and a number of added assets which include VO lines and new portraits and icons. I have given it a try, and at least the cleaned up UI seems like a significant improvement over the beta builds that have been published so far.

An excerpt from the changelog:

Important Changes

• You will notice quite a few combat balance changes in this build. Be on the lookout and let us know what you think.
• You will notice many UI polish changes. Some screens may even be entirely new (loot screen, I’m looking at you).
• Most of the icons are now in the game. There are still a few that are missing, but those should be few and far between.
• Some final VO is in the game. You will also notice sound sets are in and hooked up.
• Skill system has changed back to a point-buy system.
• Talents are now organized during level up.

Important Known Issues

• It can be difficult to loot bodies sometimes. It can help to try to loot the bodies toward their feet. One workaround is to do a save/load. The body will turn into a loot bag and you will be able to loot it properly.
• Saving with a modal active will cause the modal to appear to be non-functioning. If you deactivate and reactivate the modal a couple of times it will start working again.
• Pressing the “Take All” button in the Loot UI, if a lootable body is underneath the “Take All” button, will cause the cursor to get stuck. This can prevent you from opening doors or interacting with objects. To clear this you can do a few things: mouse over a loot container, loot anything, transition, or save/load.
• The “proof” mods (e.g. Pierce-proof) are not stacking correctly and will have problems after a save/load. Best to avoid those mods for the time being.

Update: The Mac build is now live.