Pillars of Eternity

Yeah, I definitely would have preferred a combat system more like Temple of Elemental Evil, or Arcanum to this. But on Easy it's tolerable enough- and the encounters so far aren't as bullshit as, say, Baldur's Gate II.

Except Shadows. Fuck Shadows.

Only thing with consistent bugs I have noticed is Stronghold system, and those aren't even major gamebreaking bugs, just interface bugs and one that can be easily exploited for lots of adventures <_<

Anyhoo, I think this does have best combat out of CRP Gs I have played :P Much less frustrating than baldur's gate was for me, I suppose it helps that wizards aren't "One shot and then useless for rest of the fight" at beginning of the game and that I can actually understand what all classes are supposed to do...

Anyway, I'm playing on normal so I don't get what you guys and reviews are saying about this game being hardcore even on normal :p Only difficult places are the places you are obviously not supposed to go right away, like Temple of Eothas with party of three(getting Durance(with the damaging righteous aura talent) for that first helps a lot). I'm at end of the game and I had breeze compared to all other IE games I played. I mean, sure, there are some hard avoidable bonus fight, but on main quest and sidequest? Not that bad. If something seems too hard, go do other stuff first. No point trying to kill Raedric with incomplete party for example since that guy is difficulty even with full party

Also, what this about there being shadows on temple of eothas? I could swear on normal they were all shades...

Anyhoo, on story side, I love that you can define your past self's story to a degree :p I mean, whenever you get visions, its not like you have to say one line only and its the true one, while the arc is about the same you can change minor details like how you can choose minor details at character creation Like, you can choose what is your relation to the "heretic" Thaos wants dead

edited 29th Mar '15 12:32:18 AM by SpookyMask

I'm currently stuck on the fight in the Sanitarium against the soul-hopping Leaden Key guy. There are just too many enemies, and I can't tell what's going on, and some of them go past Eder and the animals because they're already surrounded by enemies, and my squishies can't handle that shit.

And in general, with this combat system, I keep leaving some people without orders for a bit because I forgot I moved them or something. It's basically a fucking RTS with all the micro, and I hate it.

The sanitarium fight was pretty easy for me too ._. But then again, my tactic is doing sidequests before main quests in order to do everything :p

My advice on every fight in the game? Durance with righteous aura :p It cheeses undeads. And is best when surrounded by enemies(assuming you did upgrade it with talents) so I aim to always get surrounded in combat :D

More seriously though, what is your party composition anyway?

Also a tip on sanitarium fight: You can place your characters where ever you want and have anyone initiate conversation with the dude. Meaning that if you want to, you can have five characters outside the whole room or just close enough the end of the hall so they don't end up surrounded in cutscene.

Also, hmm, seems like characters are supposed to auto attack when they are idle since there is option for disabling it. I guess its bit bugged since I've noticed same thing where if you don't have characters attack someone they might be doing nothing

edited 29th Mar '15 1:02:42 AM by SpookyMask

I'd recommend setting a timed autopause so you don't run into that sort of thing.

My party is level 4. What level was your party? I have Aloth, Eder, Durance, Kana, Sagani, and my character is a ranger with a bear.

edited 29th Mar '15 1:05:44 AM by Matrix

Hmmm... Anything from 4 to 7? My memory is bit spotty but I'm pretty sure I was level 9 by time I got to Dyrford village since I did everything before it.

Anyhoo, I wouldn't think its that bad with 4 either(I could be underestimating it since I normally suck in IE and CRPG combat but this is easiest time on normal(save for fights like Raedric fight, fights with lot of priests, that darn ogre druid bonus fight and stuff), thats why I asked what classes you are using in your party since I'm not sure how squishy your party is

edited 29th Mar '15 1:08:13 AM by SpookyMask

My party was level 5 before I even got to Defiance Bay, so I'd say you're probably a mite underleveled for whatever encounter you're talking about.

Might want to go check the areas around Gilded Vale to see if you missed stuff.

Ok, I won the fight by putting my party in the corner beforehand.

Also, huh, you got pretty much same party I did have. Well, besides my character being barbarian.

Anyway, so hmm... Do you use Arcane veil with Aloth? Hes uber squishy without it. What are you doing with him anyway? I think I used him mostly to blind enemies and magic missile spam when I had him in the party. If you have Kana, you probably summon spam skeletons and shoot from distance which should work fine, Durance gets felled fast even on higher levels(thats because I never bothered to give him better armor than fine robe) but if he has enemy harming effects on righteous aura on that level he should at least be able to take down enemies a notch once before going down, Eder is good distraction especially when he isn't alone in melee, I don't know how to use Sagani well even though I still have her in my party, but I think extra ranged damage is nice plus at least she has the fox stuff.

Edit: Ah crap you got it already Ah well, at least my earlier advice on party position helped so I'm glad about that ^_^

edited 29th Mar '15 1:28:24 AM by SpookyMask

I 'beat' that fight by faffing around until my casters were level 5 and then just pelted the fuckers with fireballs.

Nothing clears out unarmoured targets like a fistful of fire.

It might also be worth picking up a second heavy armour user. In spite of his brigandine, Kana isn't very tough in close combat. And the more guys you can keep from all your squishies, the better.

edited 29th Mar '15 1:33:49 AM by math792d

Pallegina is really badass, and fairly simple to recruit.

Also, having her means you can kick out the priest, so that's a nice bonus.

Whaat? Durance is awesome, if you get rid of him who is going to throw flaming pillars from the sky on the enemies?

He may be great in combat, but god is he annoying. I'd much rather have a badass bird-lady.

What, you don't find him hilarious? Its like "Aww, grandpa, you so offensive" like an evil Oppenheimer or something Only way he could be better would be if he would actually collect tithes(instead of threatening to do that) from you when you ask him questions

Yeah, I'm not down with the whole rude grandpa schtick. But I'm glad you appreciate him, at least.

Don't forget the vulgar sanctimonious preacher part

Anyhoo, though it took me a while to notice you can talk to all party members anytime when they are in your party <_< I'd recommend doing that to everyone, in some cases I think they might unlock their sidequests.(and with Grieving Mother her whole quest is about talking to her, though I'm still missing final part for her) I'm trying to complete Durance's quest but I haven't gotten final parts trigger yet even though I've exhausted his long ass dialog options(seriously, I can see why developers made it so that you can't exhaust all of Durance's dialog options in one conversation, there are lot of them for him xD)

Besides, Pallagrine's quest is more boring than debating with Durance, I mean, as you learn when you recruit her it basically boils down to "I have been given orders, but I think I know what would be better course of actions so should I do what I was told or not?" Which is kinda lame for a paladin. I mean, I get a rather strong feeling that if you tell her to do what she thinks is right, she is going to get fired :P

I just went and bought a new priest. They have far too many useful spells for me to discard them just because I don't like Durance.

Pfft, you guys can't handle people being rude can you? I mean, replacing the guy with personality-less drone(I got one adventurer for sake of party of four in beginning and never used that character again after recruiting sixth character) who isn't able to participate in conversations like the npc companions are able to?

edited 29th Mar '15 1:59:36 AM by SpookyMask

Pallegina's quest may be boring (I can't judge yet, as I haven't left Defiance Bay) but come on. She's a badass bird lady! What more do you need in a party member?

Radence was written by Chris Avellone, which may explain his verbosity.

edited 29th Mar '15 2:00:42 AM by Mukora

I meant its boring in that sense that for a paladin quest, its not about Sadistic Choice of paladin's ideals vs reality, its basically her thinking that trade deal she is supposed to do is harmful in long term :P I mean, I haven't seen epilogue so maybe she is right about long term effects of both choices, but I kinda feel like even if she is perfectly right, she does kinda deserve to get fired initially since going against your orders because you think you know better is kinda untrustworthy.

It IS bit boring in comparison to other quests though since its over fast :p I think her quest requires least effort of the all companion quests. Well, except maybe Aloth's quest, but that one requires a while until it triggers while Pallagrine's quest is gotten when she is recruited.

Meanwhile waiting for Durance's quest to finish. I'm not sure if you need to rest certain amount of time with him in the party of you need to progress specific point in the game, but when I do I'm gonna come here to point out what happens :p Since I'm pretty sure its going to be something interesting since the build up and stuff.

Okay, on Durance's quest... Well, still working on it :P Turns out I did miss one question so I did start next scene, but then I read that to start final part, you have to progress pretty much to final point in the game before no point of return :P Dang, I wasted lot of time on resting since I thought maybe resting enough would trigger it...

Ah well, I've done all quests except finishing Endless Paths and Choosing which god I want help to get to burial isle pit. Oh and druid's quest

The game is well balanced, but it doesn't expect you to have done an awful lot of sidequests after the first half or something, so it becomes kinda easier while retaining a bit of challenge (except the bosses of course, those remain hard). I suppose this wouldn't people much, unless they were lovers of the combat.

edited 29th Mar '15 1:14:19 PM by YoKab

Yeah, Durance's a bit of a dick, but honestly I'd still keep him over some random drone. At least with Durance I still get some personality and someone to argue with over some silent person in the back just casting support spells without any input or anything.

I'm enjoying this so far. My only gripe is unlike in D&D, my wizard can't summon mind-shatteringly insane Cthulhu/Centipede mix abominations.