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Pillars of Eternity |OT| You must gather your party before venturing forth.
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
I'd much rather they just flesh it out further. Make some of the upgrades available linked to quests in the game. Perhaps these quest lines can involve the building of a structure and/or the recruitment of one or more NPCs. Remove the fog of war in the stronghold when there are no enemy NPCs on the map so that I can look around at the lively folk wandering around. If you're going to keep the stupid pets in future Pillars games at least make it so that if they're equipped they wander the stronghold. At least this way I would have a small chance of hearing more of the dialogue that the companions have for various pets.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Or just not make the keep a chore to see everything there. The amount of loading makes me not want to visit the keep much.
It is so damn odd that
there is no alternative solution, considering the other person for that quest can be handled without butchering their followers.
You had me going there for a while with the bear. I don't know really, usually some kind of Templar in the first playthrough, but if this hampers my enjoyment of a really good character down the road with a personality attached I might reconsider and choose someone that fits with great characters down the line.
Any suggestions?
I think just the sanitarium. I found a thread for the bug on the forums, so hopefully it'll get fixed. I think I could run past everyone and continue the game, but I'd rather wait for a patch and load an old save.
I agree with a lot of that, but I will give Obsidian the benefit of the doubt and assume a lot of that had to be cut or toned down do to budget. Hopefully Pillars sells very well and Obsidian has more resources to add on what they built in the expansion and hopefully sequel.
Anecdotally, paladins have been nearly universally panned. They just don't stack up with everything else in my opinion. It won't ruin your run if you play one, but I can't really recommend it.
I loved my ranger. Having a pet to coordinate with (read: sacrifice) definitely eased the learning curve a bit. I'm fairly sure bear is the best way to go because pet dps isn't that great no matter what you do and having an extra meatshield is a great help. Rangers do fall off a bit at the end as AOE casters ramp up, but they're still very useful.
I'd personally recommend a druid, I didn't pick one up until later in my playthrough and totally regret it. Tons of AOE damage that doesn't hit your team, a huge range of spells that include damage, healing, and utility, and a badass shapeshift.
Other than that, rogues seem to be well liked, although backstab is apparently lackluster. Everyone loves their cipher as a nuker. Wizards provide a ton of utility and lots of AOE damage, but don't come quite into their own until level 8-9. You don't get companions for
rogue, barbarian, and monk
Wizard becomes really strong endgame but I don't feel they are as fun and useful to play as in the Infinity Engine games. There's very few spells to learn as level increases and often I was telling myself I will never use those when I had to choose them at level up. In the end I would always take the AoE damage or AoE debuff since the whole game is about massive group of mobs. Pre-game release I was telling myself the restriction of 4 spell per level per grimoire was stiff but in the end 4 of each level is simply enough with the selection you are offered.
Like the criticism linked on a previous page, some of the spell choices are awkward. The grimoire imprint is fairly useless considering there isn't that much spell to learn in the first place and you will probably have all of them already.Moreover your spells don't seem to improve with levels unlike D&D. For instance, your magic missile is fairly useless quickly here where it got progressively stronger in the IE games.
It's also seems they've split what would be wizard spells between wizards, chanters and ciphers. It was also pretty disappointing that when I found a legendary grimoire from one of the most fabled mages in the lore of PoE that my wizard had already all the spell inside.
Like the criticism linked on a previous page, some of the spell choices are awkward. The grimoire imprint is fairly useless considering there isn't that much spell to learn in the first place and you will probably have all of them already.Moreover your spells don't seem to improve with levels unlike D&D. For instance, your magic missile is fairly useless quickly here where it got progressively stronger in the IE games.
It's also seems they've split what would be wizard spells between wizards, chanters and ciphers. It was also pretty disappointing that when I found a legendary grimoire from one of the most fabled mages in the lore of PoE that my wizard had already all the spell inside.
LurkingFear
Member
The...... The immersion.... it has taken me.
All hail Feargus and sons.
All hail Feargus and sons.
LurkerPrime
Member
Probably.
decoyplatypus
Member
The stronghold is a nice source of XP, crafting items, and bounties, but those functions could all be redistributed to other parts of the game. As could Od Nua (wonderful though it is). The value of the stronghold should come from unique narrative or gameplay opportunities. Right now the prison is about the only thing that qualifies. One route for expansion would be to populate the stronghold with visitors from the different factions with whom you've gained positive reputation. Your stronghold would then reflect your impact on the world and the friends you've made. These NPCs could be easily accessible sources of news and reactions to events in the critical path. And if you've got people from incompatible factions together, maybe that would motivate you to hire a warden to keep the peace or build additional guest facilities so Dozens and Animancers aren't on top of each other. Maybe one of your guests is murdered, but identifying the killer could have major political ramifications. I don't think Obsidian has to strain itself to make the stronghold a memorable part of the player's journey. But they probably shouldn't have made it a stretch goal here when they couldn't commit to more than some load screens on top of a megadungeon.
I actually think Obsidian did a pretty good job of balancing spells to be useful throughout the game. A level 1 magic missile may not be big damage by mid-game, but it is fast and reliable, and at the point its damage tails off you get additional charges to compensate. Slicken is good everywhere you go. Expose weakness never gets old. Coming from D&D, it's actually pretty nice that Eternity does not tie spell accuracy to spell level. But I agree with you that spell selection is limited (moreso once you factor out duds like grimoire imprint).
I actually think Obsidian did a pretty good job of balancing spells to be useful throughout the game. A level 1 magic missile may not be big damage by mid-game, but it is fast and reliable, and at the point its damage tails off you get additional charges to compensate. Slicken is good everywhere you go. Expose weakness never gets old. Coming from D&D, it's actually pretty nice that Eternity does not tie spell accuracy to spell level. But I agree with you that spell selection is limited (moreso once you factor out duds like grimoire imprint).
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
If we get a BG1 to BG2 quality jump ooooh boy. I want to believe, I really do.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Not sure they could have really pared back on these since they were promised in the initial pitch and stretch goals. If they do a follow-up kickstarter for the sequel then maybe their experience here will inform the scope of what they propose again and we will likely see stretch goals that don't strain the core focus of the game.
LurkerPrime
Member
You're spot on.
I don't know why CRPGs keeps chasing strongholds to begin with. I mean, sure, NWN2, DAI, and even DAO: Awakening did interesting stuff with their strongholds, but even then it was lacklustre and completely contrary to the game at large. They're the antithesis of "roving band of adventurers" and are always so meaningless to the overall plot and gameplay that they'd hardly be missed were they cut entirely. Only by designing the entire game around it (like Dragon Age 2 but not hot garbage) could they possibly make it something wonderful.
Larian - the Divinity devs - cut a promised Day/Night cycle stretch goal after they realised the scope was too much. This seems like a better option than barely implementing something simply to meet expectations. Think of all the ways PoE could be improved if all that time and effort weren't burned away on the stronghold.
Oh well. Too late now for what-ifs.
decoyplatypus
Member
That's a good point about strongholds not fitting the premise of many CRPGs. Hard to justify a Suikoden-level HQ for a game where the player might choose never to visit the place. Maybe the move in such cases is to scale the stronghold down to a safehouse or safehouses in various pre-existing cities (like Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines or, to a lesser extent, Alpha Protocol) -- a place to store trophies and entertain a few specific NPCs, nothing more.
just finished up and manage to have
Poor dude. I also found it pretty funny that
Overall I think the game is about what you'd expect from a kickstarted game. A number of things fell short but still a very solid entry into what I hope to be a series of better games from Obsidian. I might revisit in the future, depending on whether or not they address some of those issues.
Durance jump into a pyre he started using his staff as kindling.
Raedric was more or less so angry he came back to life to try and kill you again.
Overall I think the game is about what you'd expect from a kickstarted game. A number of things fell short but still a very solid entry into what I hope to be a series of better games from Obsidian. I might revisit in the future, depending on whether or not they address some of those issues.
It's easy to say the stronghold should of been cut, but Obsidian had complete control of the story so it is their failure they didn't do a better job incorporating it. As someone who really like stronghold/safe houses/etc in their RPGs I was very disappointed Obsidian made the stronghold such an apparent after thought.
I hope so. I mean I lean much more in this direction
then the hardcore fan he talks about. So I am extremly happy with the game, but I won't argue against more depth and reactiveness in an RPG.
I hope so. I mean I lean much more in this direction
then the hardcore fan he talks about. So I am extremly happy with the game, but I won't argue against more depth and reactiveness in an RPG.
I finally managed to scrape past level 4 with the last bit of XP I could find. I was still around 4000 gold so no figurine though (not selling 1500 gold preorder item).
Unfortunately even the level 4 moonlike barbarian can't kill the Raedric's Keep guard, and I failed a couple more attempts at the temple. The youtube video I was watching uses
Does anyone know if the potion of eldritch sight increases spell/scroll accuracy? I wish the combat log showed a breakdown of which enemies actually got hit/missed by spells and why.
Unfortunately even the level 4 moonlike barbarian can't kill the Raedric's Keep guard, and I failed a couple more attempts at the temple. The youtube video I was watching uses
two scrolls of fan of flames to help kill a phantom...but the phantom has 71 reflex so it just dodges those when I try it. I managed to hit it once before the phantom stunlocked me to death. Even the freeze resist cloak doesn't help since you just eventually die without ever being able to attack more than once or twice, solo 1v1 against the phanton in a doorway.
You can try using a tanglefoot scroll to increase your chances of hitting, but of course the 71 reflex saves the phantom from that too.
You can try using a tanglefoot scroll to increase your chances of hitting, but of course the 71 reflex saves the phantom from that too.
Does anyone know if the potion of eldritch sight increases spell/scroll accuracy? I wish the combat log showed a breakdown of which enemies actually got hit/missed by spells and why.
LurkerPrime
Member
I'm trying to think of CRPGs or just RPGs in general that do player-owned bases well and completely blanking. They're all camps or hubs that might as well be immersive mission select menus for how important they are.
In fact, the only quasi-RPG I can think of that handles player-owned structures well at all is the Mount&Blade series, due to their complete integration with the rest of the game. The cities (of varying size) can grow, shrink, be conquered, liberated, or go entirely independant. Their wealth, defenses, stores, troops, and events vary based on the happenings in the rest of the world. IIRC, if the player is of high enough privilege, they can be given to vassels in your own kingdom. I think the player could even build more structures in them. Of course, M&B is an open-world game first and foremost so this makes sense.
The Suikoden series does it well and is my gold standard of RPG bases.
LurkerPrime
Member
Ah, darn. I've never played them, unfortunately. I seem to have inadvertently avoided almost every platform they've ever released on.
Emulators are your friend.
How much more is there
in Act 3? The combat with random enemies is kinda boring at this point (unless they have charm/confuse) but the bigger fights are interesting. With how people talk up the final boss and the boss of the Endless Paths I'm eager to try it but the other stuff is just kinda bland. While I do appreciate how the
, a lot of the quests are pretty binary and simple.
after you do a quest for a god
gods are just selfish, uncaring assholes
LurkerPrime
Member
If you rush it and ignore any side content you might have left I want to say about two or three hours give or take. At least on normal.
I won't argue against a PC port of more classic JRPGs.
jim2point0
Banned
The most sensible thing that's been said to me all game.
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
You're almost done. A couple hours at most.
For a melee rogue something like this is probably the result of a bug right?
You have relentless assault I assume?
There's some bug about that one.
Someone on the forum posted a damage of like 4000 per hit.
quackamole
Member
How random are the stronghold taxes? Last time I got 500 copper, lost 100 to bandits. few days and another security building later I am losing all my tax to bandits.... Wish there is a visible way for me to see how much tax I am going to get, how muchy security is helping, etc.
LurkerPrime
Member
I've seen profits anywhere from 100c-600c. The variance week-by-week is huge, though, as if its determined by a challenge diceroll against one (or both) of the stronghold's stats.
Given how much money you'll rake it from simply adventuring, I'd recommend against worrying about it one way or the other.
Reneledarker
Banned
Any news when the door glitch will be fixed?
Do not want to use the fog of war solution :/
Do not want to use the fog of war solution :/
The developer posting on the Obsidian forum said it deserved a fix right away I think, so I'd guess the next hotfix (maybe this week). Many people have posted about it.
If you're not playing solo, try clicking the door a bunch, sending pets and party members at different angles, anything that might glitch something through the door or give you a better vision angle.
Question, am I reading something improperly or is Scroll of Binding Web (lore 4, value 60) kind of crappy compared to Scroll of Tanglefoot (lore 2, value 20)? The range is twice as long, but other than that everything seems worse. No interrupt, smaller AOE, smaller duration, etc.
LurkerPrime
Member
I thought that was hotfixed the same day as the patch itself? That's what their patch notes implied, and there definitlely was a hotfix later in the day.
Web might be harder to resist or something, but Tanglefoot's huge AoE makes it useful for controlling a large, open area.
So, yeah... kinda crappy.
Endless Paths is designed like a really long NWN dungeon so naturally I kind of dislike it. Probably going to skip it completely on my PotD playthrough
item summons, traps, turtle in the lower left corner, priest with healing field, aoe spells
a certain drake caused me quite bit more trouble
e: ow, double post
Tanglefoot says accuracy +10, web says accuracy -5...so again web is worse. Or am I interpreting that backwards?
cdstephens
Member
Well, as an example, I chose to be a female Valian godlike. I met another character in the game that is also a female Valian godlike. She knew enough about me such that she shouldn't have to explain to me about the Republics or the life of being godlike or how they treat women there, and instead the dialogue options should be like "oh yeah I know all about that, had to deal with it too". It was rather grating.
a priest of Berath (my character) enters a temple of Berath and walks towards a npc:
"So, what can you me tell about this Berath?"
Stopping my solo addiction for the night. I managed to prebuff with beer, burn a couple of consumables, and finally beat the Raedric's Keep guard. This lets you loot a ton of gold from the keep and buy the figurine.
Unfortunately my level 4 attempts at the Eothas temple are still failing because of the phantom dodging both fan of flames spells with 76 reflex. I almost wonder if I should try for Caed Nua first, but (Eothas temple spoiler)
.
Unfortunately my level 4 attempts at the Eothas temple are still failing because of the phantom dodging both fan of flames spells with 76 reflex. I almost wonder if I should try for Caed Nua first, but (Eothas temple spoiler)
Gaun's Share is apparently really important for this build in the next part of the game
The main difference with Suikoden is that the main character is the leader of an army and the castle serves as the main base for all your forces. In most RPGs you're just a group travelling together where having a main base doesn't really fit the game.
At that point XP isn't a big deal, I hit the level cap before I even got to that place.
I've been stuck on this fight, too, and hadn't thought of using traps. I know that every character can have one trap active, but do they need skill points in Mechanics as well?
Well the spells do improve but in a very unflashy way. The success rates are all based on your accuracy, and that improves with levels, no?
Icewind Dale 2 was a much better designed, more interesting and more varied game than Icewind Dale 1
And both of the expansions of NWN2 were vast improvements over vanilla in very different ways.
I have hope