How much text do you have to read in Pillars of Eternity?

[Wahooka]

I just started the game and see that much of the text of the game is accompanied by audio read out loud, such as the opening dialogues and story. But then I also noticed some of the narration and actions of the characters have no audio.

Would you say this game is heavily reading intensive, or is most of it audio?

I ask, because I have a reading disability and must use voice software to read.

Thanks for the help.

[Armanz]

It's reading intensive for sure. It's only a rough estimate but I'd say a quarter of the writing is voiced, maybe less. You can probably play the game without the reading and just pick up whatever is voiced and that should paint a decent enough picture, but a lot of the magic will be missing for sure.

[oldrocker99]

There's some reading, but not as much as a lot of other games. Stay far away from Torment:Tides of Numenera; it's a NOVEL.

[Wahooka]

Yeah, I see what you mean.

When you exit and come back later, I noticed that the dialogue box is blank, so it doesn't save the dialogue you heard in your previous games.

Is it saved in a journal or somewhere else? I don't see it.

I don't suppose there is a way to copy the text of the game to a clipboard so I can read it later?

[Armanz]

Every dialogue should be displayed correctly if not for a bug, obviously. Everything major and quest/task related is saved in your journey.

What do you mean by: When you exit and come back later?

[Wahooka]

The dialogue is recorded in a window at the bottom right.

When you save your game and quit playing, then reload the game later on, the dialogue window is now empty, and whatever dialogue happened is now lost, right?

[Armanz]

Ah, yes, that is correct. Only your journal can be used to trace that kinda stuff but it ofc doesn't offer the same dialogue.

While I'm at it: Avoid the NPCs with golden name templates. They are written by kickstarter backers and serve no purpose to the story whatsoever so you can soften your reading pains somewhat by avoiding those.

[Wahooka]

Thanks, what are kickstarter backers?

[Armanz]

Originally posted by Wahooka:

Thanks, what are kickstarter backers?

The game was originally funded by kickstarter, which in case you don't know is a crowdfunding website. So if you paid a certain amount you could write a bit of prose and they would implement an NPC into the game containing said prose.

The stories they tell are interesting and at least decently written for the most part, however it was not very transparent that they don't have anything to do with the story itself (only one of the numerous loading screens says so). On top of that the game already starts very reading-heavy so most people don't appreciate those NPCs and not knowing of their unimportance.

[~ Fabulous ~]

less than dragonfall that is for sure

[NightfallRob]

My specialty as a social worker is behavioral health rather than voc. or speech rehab, but I think the amount of reading in this game would be frustrating for you. You might reach out to Obsidian and see if they have an add-on to the game for people with reading deficits.

[Wahooka]

Don't think there is an add-on, but I think I know a way to capture a screen shot and then extract the text manually, but would be very time consuming.

[D-Black Catto]

a lot. much more than other contemporary crpgs like tyranny or shadowrun

a lot of that is just lore infodumping irrelevant to the plot

as for audio its annoying and bad and i never pay attention to it

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by drunk tanuki:

a lot of that is just lore infodumping irrelevant to the plot

as for audio its annoying and bad and i never pay attention to it

You should start playing the game instead of making bold claims without even having played the game enough for more than a first impression.

There is not a lot to read, which would be mandatory. Voice-over is partial, but good. Especially during exploration. After some time of playing, consider turning down the music volume to 0%, because that aids the atmosphere during exploration.

[D-Black Catto]

in crpgs i read literally everything there is to be read, and so far im in awe of how much stuff in lorebooks and companion conversations is bland and downright forgetabble, and serves no purpose other than worldbuilding

during character creation it was the same. all kind of info about different regions that the character might have originated from. but am i going to visit all these lands during the course of the game? i highly doubt so. its just infodumping for the purpose of creating a fantasy world, but that's simply not how it should be done

throwing a bunch of random names of towns, gods and characters and expecting the player to remember it or care, is what poor writing is all about. you know how in crappy fantasy books they do that all the time? its kinda the same here.

true so far ive only played the game for like 4 hours and maybe i will change this opinion eventually. but say, compared to writing in Tyranny for example, the difference is staggering.

tyranny had a lot of text, but it all felt like very little, because every little infodump and every little character conversation was always directly connected to what was happening at the moment, so reading through it was always a breeze. here, reading feels like a chore.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by drunk tanuki:

in crpgs i read literally everything there is to be read, and so far im in awe of how much stuff in lorebooks and companion conversations is bland and downright forgetabble, and serves no purpose other than worldbuilding

It is strictly required for proper role-playing. You arrive in the Dyrwood with a caravan, and you absolutely need to define the background of your player character. You cannot role-play a foreigner or a local Eothasian Priest, for example, without such lore. The way this game introduces you to local terminology, such as a Bîaŵac, is executed brilliantly. You can pretend that you are familiar with that term, but you can also ask your companions about it. Well done!

Originally posted by drunk tanuki:

during character creation it was the same. all kind of info about different regions that the character might have originated from. but am i going to visit all these lands during the course of the game? i highly doubt so.

That's the wrong perspective. You don't need to visit all lands of a fantasy world - but you deal with locals and foreigners. The base game takes place in the Dyrwood and in The White March (for the expansion). Parts of the story are related to the Vailian Republics, Eir Glanfath, Readceras and the Deadfire Archipelago, either because of political relevance or story companions. --> https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/File:WorldMap.jpg

Originally posted by drunk tanuki:

its just infodumping for the purpose of creating a fantasy world, but that's simply not how it should be done

And how should it be done, pray tell?

Originally posted by drunk tanuki:

true so far ive only played the game for like 4 hours and maybe i will change this opinion eventually. but say, compared to writing in Tyranny for example, the difference is staggering.

Tyranny is dumbed down in too many parts, unfortunately.