Support NeoGAF

[Brawndo Addict]

Do the character dispositions (honest, cruel, clever, etc) make a significant difference later in the game or is it just for some added flavor? Aside from the paladin/priest needing to adhere to theirs of course. I turned off conversation UI / meta information, so I never know if a response is possible because of reputation or stats, but I was curious on a system level how frequently this gets checked. The reputation levels themselves seem to go pretty slow, I've only ever noticed them jump up after a quest, but I think casual dialogue with NPCs affects it too because I suddenly had some points in Stoic for no discernible reason.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Anybody know a decent source of alternative character portraits? I'm very particular about my portrait matching my character model...

You made an Aumaua right? You know which portrait to use.

Do the character dispositions (honest, cruel, clever, etc) make a significant difference later in the game or is it just for some added flavor? Aside from the paladin/priest needing to adhere to theirs of course. I turned off conversation UI / meta information, so I never know if a response is possible because of reputation or stats, but I was curious on a system level how frequently this gets checked. The reputation levels themselves seem to go pretty slow, I've only ever noticed them jump up after a quest, but I think casual dialogue with NPCs affects it too because I suddenly had some points in Stoic for no discernible reason.

They will occasionally be referenced by those around you. I personally didn't see much of it, but I had the dispoition tags turned off and had a real jumble of them by the end-game.

One example I recall reading in this thread was

Spoiler

a group of robbers showing hesitation to attack the MC because of how brutal their reputation is.

 

[Moff]

Do the character dispositions (honest, cruel, clever, etc) make a significant difference later in the game or is it just for some added flavor?

yes, people will react to it and you get more dialogue options

 

[d00d3n]

I am just about to start playing the game. Is normal too easy for people who have played the Baldur's Gate games and understand them pretty well?

 

[Deified Data]

You made an Aumaua right? You know which portrait to use.

A lady Aumaua...

I'm okay, really. The one I chose is growing on me and looks close enough to my model - more than most CRPGs, anyway. Divinity: OS was a nightmare for people with my particular predilection.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

I am just about to start playing the game. Is normal too easy for people who have played the Baldur's Gate games and understand them pretty well?

Yes, the intended difficulty is hard iirc, the other difficulty modes add or subtract mobs from that baseline. Really the engagement system is the only thing that takes some getting used to. Otherwise you should feel right at home.

 

[d00d3n]

Yes, the intended difficulty is hard iirc, the other difficulty modes add or subtract mobs from that baseline. Really the engagement system is the only thing that takes some getting used to. Otherwise you should feel right at home.

Thanks! What about expert mode?

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Thanks! What about expert mode?

Picking expert mode locks the game to that setting (it cannot be toggled off or on). It turns off a lot of helpful indicators/features, but you can always turn them off yourself in the options even if you don't pick Expert Mode. I would recommend just tinkering with the settings yourself rather than locking yourself in, that way you don't have to restart just because you decide you do want something that expert mode turns off.

The things it disables:

Combat options

• Maim Companions Before Death: Characters will be maimed instead of dying permanently the first time their health reaches zero.
• Area of Effect Highlighting: Provide a graphical display of the range of area-of-effect spells.
• Show Relative Defenses: Hovering over enemies will provide a popup comparing their known defense scores to the attacker's accuracy.
• Combat Tooltips: If this option is enabled, lightweight combat tooltips will be shown above all characters during combat.

Non-combat options

• Show Unqualified Interactions: Display conversation options for which the party does not meet the prerequisites.
• Show Qualifiers: Display qualifiers that cause a conversation option to be unlocked.
• Don't Restrict Stash: Allow the stash to be accessed at any location.
• Show Personality/Reputation: Display the effects of choosing each conversation option on the player's reputation and personality.
• Detailed Quest Updates: When a quest is updated in the Journal, the log will identify the particular quest that was changed.
• Show In-Game Tutorials: Show tutorial pop-ups during the game to explain various game mechanics.

 

[d00d3n]

Picking expert mode locks the game to that setting (it cannot be toggled off or on). It turns off a lot of helpful indicators/features, but you can always turn them off yourself in the options even if you don't pick Expert Mode. I would recommend just tinkering with the settings yourself rather than locking yourself in, that way you don't have to restart just because you decide you do want something that expert mode turns off.

The things it disables/enables (whatever sounds harder is what it does in regards to on/off):

Combat options

• Maim Companions Before Death: Characters will be maimed instead of dying permanently the first time their health reaches zero.
• Area of Effect Highlighting: Provide a graphical display of the range of area-of-effect spells.
• Show Relative Defenses: Hovering over enemies will provide a popup comparing their known defense scores to the attacker's accuracy.
• Combat Tooltips: If this option is enabled, lightweight combat tooltips will be shown above all characters during combat.

Non-combat options

• Show Unqualified Interactions: Display conversation options for which the party does not meet the prerequisites.
• Show Qualifiers: Display qualifiers that cause a conversation option to be unlocked.
• Don't Restrict Stash: Allow the stash to be accessed at any location.
• Show Personality/Reputation: Display the effects of choosing each conversation option on the player's reputation and personality.
• Detailed Quest Updates: When a quest is updated in the Journal, the log will identify the particular quest that was changed.
• Show In-Game Tutorials: Show tutorial pop-ups during the game to explain various game mechanics.

Great list. I think I will disable expert and tinker with individual settings (as you suggested) instead.

 

[Deified Data]

Yes, the intended difficulty is hard iirc, the other difficulty modes add or subtract mobs from that baseline. Really the engagement system is the only thing that takes some getting used to. Otherwise you should feel right at home.

Can you switch to hard after starting on normal?

 

[Ala Alba]

Can you switch to hard after starting on normal?

Yes, it will take effect on the next map load.

 

[Deified Data]

What are you doing wrong if the game won't let you pick up something from a container? It's camping supplies and I've had more in my inventory than I have now so I know it's not a cap. It won't go to the stash or any character's storage.

 

[hemtae]

What are you doing wrong if the game won't let you pick up something from a container? It's camping supplies and I've had more in my inventory than I have now so I know it's not a cap. It won't go to the stash or any character's storage.

You changed from Normal to Hard right? The cap for resting supplies in normal is 4 and its 2 in hard.

 

[doublefrost]

Anybody know a decent source of alternative character portraits? I'm very particular about my portrait matching my character model...

Try these out: http://www.jasonseow.com/poeportraits they match up with the in game models really well too.

 

[Deified Data]

You changed from Normal to Hard right? The cap for resting supplies in normal is 4 and its 2 in hard.

Ahhh I see, thanks.

 

[d00d3n]

How important is lore for wizards? Have it at 6 currently, but thinking about diversifying skill spending at the next level up and boost my mechanics skill (currently at 1).

 

[NIN90]

I think I found a new drinking game. One shot for every backer story that ends with the protagonist stealing someone's purse, a bag of coins or something else of worth from a lover. You'll be drunk in no time.

 

[Deified Data]

Any tips for barbarians? I like the skillset and melee splash damage but I'm finding my character tends to be the first to bite the dust in tough battles. Will Eder eventually learn some abilities that make him a better tank? Playing on hard.

 

[Stevey]

Just got this today, no idea what happened.

 

[Varna]

Any tips for barbarians? I like the skillset and melee splash damage but I'm finding my character tends to be the first to bite the dust in tough battles. Will Eder eventually learn some abilities that make him a better tank? Playing on hard.

What difficulty? And yeah, even on PotD Eder eventually becomes pretty unkillable with Defender + the passive boost to it with some minimal assist.

On my PotD run with Barbarian he actually make a pretty decent backup tank via Savage Defiance. So save that for emergencies. I found the key to Barbarian was letting him go second into the fray. Have Eder and you second frontliner go in then have the Barbarian go into flank.

 

[Deified Data]

What difficulty? And yeah, even on PotD Eder eventually becomes pretty unkillable with Defender + the passive boost to it with some minimal assist.

On my PotD run with Barbarian he actually make a pretty decent backup tank via Savage Defiance. So save that for emergencies. I found the key to Barbarian was letting him go second into the fray. Have Eder and you second frontliner go in then have the Barbarian go into flank.

I guess that second front-liner is me for now, so I'll try to stay safe until I find someone else - maybe I'll hire a minion. Playing on hard, btw.

 

[Zomba13]

Just got this today, no idea what happened.

Same thing as me. This worked:

There was a post about this on their forums. One of the game folders get renamed, so putting it back to original fixes it in some cases. File integrity check is the other fix....

Note: We performed some changes to the game's Steam depots yesterday. Most of you shouldn't notice any difference, but some individuals that may have had non-standard game install locations were seeing some strange behavior where the PillarsofEternity_Data folder in the root of their game directory was getting renamed to EmptySteamDepot. If you rename that folder back to PillarsofEternity_Data, it should resolve the issue.

If renaming the folder doesn't work, try performing the Verify Integrity of Game Cache option in Steam to fix the problem. You can do this by right-clicking on the Pillars of Eternity game in your Library, clicking on Properties, clicking on the Local Files tab, and clicking the button that reads Verify Integrity of Game Cache. This will repair any missing or damaged files so you can play the game again.

Head to this thread on our forums for more information about the process. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79...-steam-depots/

Once I did that it checked the files again and stopped the download of the game and it was all good.

 

[Stevey]

Same thing as me. This worked:



Once I did that it checked the files again and stopped the download of the game and it was all good.

Glad it wasn't just me.

I just redownloaded it all :v

 

[Levyne]

Just started this today, finally. The character creation was very deep compared to other games I've played recently. So far I'm listening to all the dialogue, something about the presentation of the game makes me want to hear it all, at least so far.

Excited to really get to sink my teeth into it tonight.

 

[Deified Data]

My barbarian-ing is going a lot smoother now that I hired on a second fighter.

 

[Giolon]

Glad it wasn't just me.

I just redownloaded it all :v

It was apparently caused by a change to the game repositories they had to make (to all platforms)to allow for future content additions on the Mac version...

They did have a post on their forums about it and the fix, and in their Newsletter and Kickstarter update, but I'm not sure how they could've better disseminated the information. Maybe as an alert on the game's Steam page or something?

 

[Labadal]

Watching the Making of Documentary right now.

 

[Levyne]

Managed to beat Raedrics Keep at level 4 using traps, consumables, had to pull out all the stops. Just normal mode, but still felt like a nice accomplishment,

 

[Deified Data]

Every class seems to have something awesome about it, I honestly can't settle one one and I'm afraid to advance in case I change my mind...

 

[LurkerPrime]

Every class seems to have something awesome about it, I honestly can't settle one one and I'm afraid to advance in case I change my mind...

None of them compare to the druid's utility. Fighter, caster, healer, petrifier.

 

[bati]

Any tips for shadow fights? I'm currently on the top floor of the Lighthouse in Defiance Bay, party lvl is ~6 on normal difficulty and I'm getting my ass kicked by those little bastards.

 

[hemtae]

Any tips for shadow fights? I'm currently on the top floor of the Lighthouse in Defiance Bay, party lvl is ~6 on normal difficulty and I'm getting my ass kicked by those little bastards.

Shadow fights in general or just that fight? A druid comes in handy at least for me with shadow fights since he has a bunch of Foe AoE attacks. For that fight,

Spoiler

I say choose the flight instinct over fight instinct.

 

[Atraveller]

Spoiler

Siding with different factions of gods...

, I love this game, I'm having a hard time choosing.

 

[Treechopper]

Any tips for shadow fights? I'm currently on the top floor of the Lighthouse in Defiance Bay, party lvl is ~6 on normal difficulty and I'm getting my ass kicked by those little bastards.

Huddle your group in a ball and use chanter/wizard/priest AOE attacks. They're incredibly effective against you if they can break you up, but if your team is sharing priest perks while not fighting multiple shadows at once then you'll make it through.

 

[AntiFacebook]

Once I enter

Spoiler

Burial Island

,can i go back?
If so,does the game has any kind of a point of no return?

 

[Violet_0]

Any tips for shadow fights? I'm currently on the top floor of the Lighthouse in Defiance Bay, party lvl is ~6 on normal difficulty and I'm getting my ass kicked by those little bastards.

move the party to the left side of the room
choose a formation that protects your weaker characters
start the fight by attacking her with a ranged weapon, then move back into position
use all the summon items you have at the start of the fight (makes the fight a lot easier)
if you have a priest keep up the healing circle at all times, with a (lvl7?) druid the regeneration well spell or both at the same time
cyphers, druids and even priests* can cast aoe spells that don't deal friendly fire damage (*first fire pillar spell)

Once I enter

Spoiler

Burial Island

,can i go back?
If so,does the game has any kind of a point of no return?

it's a point of no return

 

[bati]

Well I managed to avoid that fight completely by doing some exploring around the room first and then following up on clues. Love this game.

 

[aravuus]

Once I enter

Spoiler

Burial Island

,can i go back?
If so,does the game has any kind of a point of no return?

You can still get back from the island. There's a very obvious point of no return there.

I think the game even asks you to save at the spot and names it "the point of no return" or something similar lol

 

[Shake Appeal]

Once I enter

Spoiler

Burial Island

,can i go back?
If so,does the game has any kind of a point of no return?

I think it autosaves a point of no return there, which is thoughtful of Obsidian. But no, you can't go back.

 

[Levyne]

I just learned this game has a fast mode, after about 10 hours, lol. What have I been doing.

 

[Deified Data]

Jesus, finally completed that Eothas Temple quest. I started it and completed the first floor when I first got to Gilded Vale, didn't manage to complete the second floor until after Caed Nua with a party of six. Between that and Caed Nua I'm getting really sick of fighting Shadows and Shades.

 

[FlyinJ]

Have the load times been improved since the first "load time improvement" patch a few weeks ago?

 

[Levyne]

My load times are fine, I do have it on an ssd though.

 

[Deified Data]

So is there a generally accepted threshold at which point allocating stats for roleplaying purposes is considered useless?

Say I'm making a rogue and think it might be cool to make the occasional resolve check in conversations - would I just be wasting points in it if I made it anything less than 15, for example?

 

[Annubis]

I've seen some low score requirements like 12-13 but 15-16 is the majority of them.
A very few will ask 18+.

 

[Deified Data]

I've seen some low score requirements like 12-13 but 15-16 is the majority of them.
A very few will ask 18+.

Gotcha - I turned off unavailable dialogue options so I wasn't sure what I was missing.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

I just learned this game has a fast mode, after about 10 hours, lol. What have I been doing.

At least you didn't play in Slow Mode for all that time

 

[AntiFacebook]

Is it just me,or does it feel like they save the bulk of the plot for the end of the game?
I'm close to the end of the game,and I still have no idea:

Spoiler

-What's the connection between Thaos and the main character
-What's the story of that lady that went against Thaos?
-What does he hope to achieve by eliminating animancy?
-What's the source of his power?

 

[Deified Data]

Does healing bonus apply to the amount one is healed or the amount they can heal with their spells?

 

[decoyplatypus]

Is it just me,or does it feel like they save the bulk of the plot for the end of the game?
I'm close to the end of the game,and I still have no idea:

Spoiler

-What's the connection between Thaos and the main character
-What's the story of that lady that went against Thaos?
-What does he hope to achieve by eliminating animancy?
-What's the source of his power?

The plot is badly structured. It also puts a lot of weight on two relationships the player has little clear reason to care about

Spoiler

(except, I guess, that the PC's head will explode if the player doesn't put him or her through paces)

. Some late dialogue choices even acknowledge the possibility the player won't see these relationships as meaningful, but that's a pretty disastrous result for some big 4th-act revelations.