Here's another video, with some commentary:

The-Cat-o-Nine-Tales wrote:

Gwydden wrote:

Ashbery76 wrote:

Game looks lovely but where are the aliens? We now even have virtual beings with boobs.

To be fair, the only truly weird aliens in ES1 were the Amoeba and maybe the Harmony.

EDIT: Also, while I still find the backstory of the Vodyani a little confusing, I don't think they are virtual beings. Near the end of their intro, their leader says that "only then can we shed our mortal cloth," implying that they haven't done so yet. It also looks like they may have not been humanoid originally but ended up remodeling themselves in the image of the endless?

Color added for emphasis. The usual phrase would be "mortal coil," I guess. Cloth, of course, evokes religious connotations as well, given the phrase "man of the cloth" referring to a man belonging to the clergy.

Hats off to Slowhands for that clever detail there.

I personally had the impression that 'cloth' was meant to imply the comparatively base clothing that a lesser species might wear. To a Vodyani they might liken normal clothes to that of a caveman's loincloth; crude, barbaric and a reminder of Vodyani supremacy.

Gwydden wrote:

Ashbery76 wrote:

Game looks lovely but where are the aliens? We now even have virtual beings with boobs.

To be fair, the only truly weird aliens in ES1 were the Amoeba and maybe the Harmony.

EDIT: Also, while I still find the backstory of the Vodyani a little confusing, I don't think they are virtual beings. Near the end of their intro, their leader says that "only then can we shed our mortal cloth," implying that they haven't done so yet. It also looks like they may have not been humanoid originally but ended up remodeling themselves in the image of the endless?

Color added for emphasis. The usual phrase would be "mortal coil," I guess. Cloth, of course, evokes religious connotations as well, given the phrase "man of the cloth" referring to a man belonging to the clergy.

Hats off to Slowhands for that clever detail there.

Game looks lovely but where are the aliens? We now even have virtual beings with boobs.

Fair enough. But what does actually carry over? The races? All of them?

Is the Endless homeworld still Torr? What about Auriga, does it still exist in the rebooted continuity?

UndeadPuppy wrote:

Frogsquadron wrote:

You're mixing up Endless Space 1 and Endless Space 2, UndeadPuppy. 

While we did have some "easter egg" heroes in ES1 to show what the Endless were like, this isn't the case with ES2 anymore. There is a much stronger emphasis on narration and narrative, so we tightened the reins of the story quite a bit.

So that means Endless heroes were retconned out of existence?

Because I'm not sure what elements of the lore got carried over from ES1 and which weren't.

I don't think any of us truly do UndeadPuppy (Aside from the developers  ) However, in the past they've said this is more of a reboot than a sequel in terms of lore, so I image nothing  from a story perspective carries over

You're mixing up Endless Space 1 and Endless Space 2, UndeadPuppy. 

While we did have some "easter egg" heroes in ES1 to show what the Endless were like, this isn't the case with ES2 anymore. There is a much stronger emphasis on narration and narrative, so we tightened the reins of the story quite a bit.

UndeadPuppy wrote:

I doubt they make the Sowers irrelevant. You have to keep in mind that a lot of factions worship/were changed by the Endless, and a lot of them are Ecologists.

That and thematically, I always though of Sowers more focused on Terraformation than preservation of a planet's original biosphere. They didn't really care about the ecosystem or the life forms on a planet (unless they were a threat), they only cared about their primary objective.

As for the Vodyani, I'm not entirely sure what they are. Ascendant beings? Are they even corporeal anymore? Because they do not look like their original form anymore.

Also, were they uplifted before or after the Endless fell? The trailer doesn't make the distinction.

The trailer did say they found virtual endless technology that shed them of their solid form and that is why they base their religion on the virtual endless.  The seem to have similarities to the broken lords. 

Good to know we have to research the ability to buy things out. That should add some spice to gameplay.

From their trailer it looks more like they found a virtual temple on their homeworld or in their home system. So a bit like the Vaulters.

Frogsquadron wrote:

BG123 wrote:

Frogsquadron wrote:

*discrete cough*

Cheers for clarifying. In this article- http://www.pcgamer.com/endless-space-2-takes-endless-legends-quests-and-varied-factions-to-the-stars/ it mentions 'The Vodyani are the second new faction of Endless Space 2's early access release. Uplifted by the ancient and powerful Endless' which I assumed meant the Virtual Endless actively uplifted the Vodyani themselves.

I mean, it's a bit of a stretch (or a shortcut), but it's not entirely inaccurate. But yeah, I wouldn't put the causality link this way. 

Was there an actual reason for their uplifting, like the Cravers, or was it just out of pity because they were dying out and the Endless at that point just loved playing God with the galaxy?

Also who do I have to thank for the Deuyivans returning to ES2? I know people love the new races and lore, but sometimes it's nice to see that the old ones haven't been forgotten.

One more question, sorry: Can minor factions conquer systems by themselves or expand in any way? 

BG123 wrote:

Frogsquadron wrote:

*discrete cough*

Cheers for clarifying. In this article- http://www.pcgamer.com/endless-space-2-takes-endless-legends-quests-and-varied-factions-to-the-stars/ it mentions 'The Vodyani are the second new faction of Endless Space 2's early access release. Uplifted by the ancient and powerful Endless' which I assumed meant the Virtual Endless actively uplifted the Vodyani themselves.

I mean, it's a bit of a stretch (or a shortcut), but it's not entirely inaccurate. But yeah, I wouldn't put the causality link this way. 

Frogsquadron wrote:

*discrete cough*

Cheers for clarifying. In this article- http://www.pcgamer.com/endless-space-2-takes-endless-legends-quests-and-varied-factions-to-the-stars/ it mentions 'The Vodyani are the second new faction of Endless Space 2's early access release. Uplifted by the ancient and powerful Endless' which I assumed meant the Virtual Endless actively uplifted the Vodyani themselves.

*discrete cough*

MezzoMax wrote:

UndeadPuppy wrote:

I doubt they make the Sowers irrelevant. You have to keep in mind that a lot of factions worship/were changed by the Endless, and a lot of them are Ecologists.

That and thematically, I always though of Sowers more focused on Terraformation than preservation of a planet's original biosphere. They didn't really care about the ecosystem or the life forms on a planet (unless they were a threat), they only cared about their primary objective.

As for the Vodyani, I'm not entirely sure what they are. Ascendant beings? Are they even corporeal anymore? Because they do not look like their original form anymore.

Also, were they uplifted before or after the Endless fell? The trailer doesn't make the distinction.

True, the sowers are all about the terraforming and preperation for the return of the Endless. Which allways sadenned me because it seems as if the Endless will never return. Which was a nice story touch to this faction. I could imagine that the Sowers will return as a minor faction though.

What struck me about the Vodyani is the fact, that they seem to utilise some kind of Endless armor. It looks like they are incorporal beings inside their new "form". This is substantiated by one quest descreption where it is stated that one Vodyani isn't allowed to eat for 3 days and that his suit receptors are turned off. Also it is stated that loosing one would be a big blow and that newly attained pops through conquest would inherit some of their attributes ( I guess the FIDSI output of the factions? ). So they are also uplifting other species? There are some similiarities to the Broken Lords with this focus on the armor and the binding to these.

I read either in one of the articles published today or a tidbit in the 40 minute gameplay video  that they are literally using the armour the Virtual Endless wore. I might be wrong though, the fact that the Endless uplifted them implies to me they'd have their own armour.