jools1980

My ship's crew simply started disappearing, despite good morale (70+), plenty of food and drinks, and no events/encounters that might have resulted in deaths. I must have lost about 10 crew members (active duty+reserves) in the last couple of hours of gameplay, and there are no new crew members to be recruited in any port/tavern. Any clue, anyone? Addendum - I noticed that the crew never falls below three members. Even if I hire new ones, they'll disappear within minutes, but 3 will remain. Savegame - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CmucjOaWTDB8bZ2I_0elF8C-WjISINRY output_log.txt

Yeah, today I completed my first solo+potd run (paladin/fighter), and I did learn the hard way about all of that. Positioning, bottlenecks, rest bonuses, potions, encounter-specific gearing, all matters a lot, in this game mode. I should mention that I exclusively play turn-based mode, btw, which also adds a layer of thought to everything. So, would it be viable to roll a character one way (like, more balanced) get past Maje, and then respec it (does ToI allow that, btw)? As per your ultimate builds, where can I find them? (feel free DM me if you wish, since it's OT)

Hmmm, I just tried it a bit in test-TCS (everything on except the ToI thing), and I died a bloody lot. Like you said, if it's just for the achievement, one could just cheese through the game with most builds really, avoiding all/most fights and just sneaking through everything basically. I'm not sure this build is for me, although TBH, I never played a cipher before so maybe there's stuff I need to get used to or just better at. And maybe I could tweak the build a bit (it's way too fragile as is, and Maje island is especially punishing), or just get the "+2 to all stats" BB (I haven't yet, but I reckon it would make things a lot better?)... As to your question, I myself am not really sure what I want XD . Yeah I'd like the achievement but I'd also like to enjoy playing the game, so a bit of both I guess? Megabosses aren't my thing so yeah, never mind those. I suppose I'll keep looking.

Has anyone tested this with 5.0? Seems like a great build and I'd like to give it a go for a TCS attempt...

Late to the party, but I just tried out the 2H version of this build (#2), and wanted to share my experience/considerations. First off, I forgot to get Berath's Blessing, because I'm dumb. Also, I didn't get the GotM, nor the Effigy (is it even possible to get the latter, on a solo run?). Difficulty: PotD Solo: YES Turn-based: YES Trials of Iron: NO Scaling: NO Gear-wise, I got almost exactly what's indicated. Armor: Reckless Brigandine Weapon: Whispers of the Endless Paths (only upgraded to superb because I can't obtain 4 kraken's eyes, and with offensive parry enchantment) Neck: Charm of Bones (+2 INT) Belt: The Undying Burden (+1 CON) Ring 1: Voidward Ring 2: Entonia Signet Ring Hands: Gauntlets of Ogre Might (+2 MIG) Cloak: Cape of the Falling Star Head: Helm of the Falcon Boots: Boots of the Stone (+1 DEX, +1 RES) Pet: Abraham Food: Mariner's Porridge Other that these minor differences (well, not so minor, especially the lack of BB in my build), I built it exactly like indicated. It is worth noting that the build was so weak at start, and skillchecks out of my range, that most of that gear I couldn't get until very late in the game (lvl 16 or so). Lvl 1-5, an absolute nightmare. I didn't have any gear, going through the first caves (I could only kill 2 beetles and 2 skeletons) sneaked through the rest) and the ruins on Maje island was mental. Especially in the ruins, I couldn't fight ANYTHING at all, or I would die. So I crafted some firecrackers and managed to distract&sneak past. Level 6-13: once you leave Maje Island and get to Neketaka, it's a breeze to just do talking or courier quests, plus exploring all the hotspot on the nautical chart (LOADS of XP), and you'll find yourself at level 12-13 in theheal blink of an eye. Level 13-17, a big slump: just spent going around, killing whatever crappy ships I could find for loot and xp, trying and failing to advance any of the 200000 quests I had active. I just couldn't complete any: either enemies were too strong, or the quests required to pass skillchecks that I didn't meet (especially mapping quests or quests that involved access to remote parts of some islands, which lay beyond some "checkpoint" event). The total lack of sneaking also makes this build very hard to play. I was on the verge of quitting/rerolling a bunch of times. Llevel 17-19: total PWNAGE. Jump into a group of 20 mobs, pop those buffs, and watch them suicide against you (courtesy of the sword's proc). Fights take a looooooooooooooooong time, especially so in TB mode, but you'll beat most stuff: positioning is essential, and sometimes going offensive on healer/caster enemies is required. After the first 16 levels or so of struggling and not being able to fight squat, I was having lots of fun at last! I finally could kill some stuff and actually progress some quests. Dinged level 20 before I even knew it. Level 20, very late faction quests and endgame. Well, it's back to the nightmare. Some of these quests are basically impossible, some are extremely hard, and some I cheesed via sneaking. Main issues: early on, it's very hard to even hit mobs. Later on, that gets better with gear, but the damage output is too low. Dunno if it's because I missed those extra 4 points in MIGHT (BB+GotM+Effigy), or whatever. I hit the enemies most of the times, misses or grazes were reasonably rare, but the damage I dealt was risible. Most of the times mobs just "suicided" against Whispers' effect. Later on, the suicide keeps going, luckily, although not as much with proper end game enemies (they'll actually hit or graze you for very low damage, but that doesn't make them "suicide" and that's what got them killed for me, using this build). Furthermore, enemies from the very late parts of the game actually hit you for real damage, and although the build is great at survival and dragging out fights, we're back to the damage output being too low to kill stuff before the fight is TOO long and you use up all your lifesavers and eventually just die. Here are some notes and examples I noted down as I played through the game: At level 16: Beina = no go Katrenn = no go Old City = no go Nomu (bounty) = doable Tahae (bounty) = doable At level 17 (finally obtained the Whispers sword, and a decent armour, although not the Reckless Brigandine yet): Rathun ships/mobs = no go Hanging Sepulchers = no go Eamund the Fox = doable Ikorno = doable (took about 20 rounds to take down the ironclad construct) Mutiny = doable, but left me completely crewless and I struggled to recruit any more Broodmother = doable (not the broodmother herself, but the "checkpoint" encounter that's on the way to her) Bardatto family extermination = doable Lady Epero = doable (Lord Admiral Imp and Katrenn too, but the guards kept aggroing and I could have taken them on but I didn't want the negative rep, and for Katrenn, I knew the fight VS the constructs would have lasted like 300 rounds, and I couldn't be bothered. I skipped these two, luckily I had other stuff I could do, by now.) At level 19: Hanging Sepulchers = still no go, the group of mobs North-East is just too beefy and has too many healers Giant Grub = easy Old City = clearable At level 20, with full gear: Drowned Barrow = absolutely no go, got rekt in no time Maw: splintered fortress = no go, I could fight a couple of isolated patrolling rathuns, but had to use sneak to avoid pulling the big groups Drowned Barrow = got rekt Aeldys = took me a couple of tries, but managed it (you need to get lucky and not get turned into a piglet by their casters) Fight VS 2x VTC ships during the approach to Ukaizo = no go Ukaizo Guardian = lol no. 15 rounds and I took maybe 10% of its health, I was out of everything, and then he regenerated. Ukaizo Sentinels = no way. They could hit me for 40-90 damage a pop. So, in the end, I'm stuck: is there any way to skip the Ukaizo guardian AND the two sentinels? I managed to avoid the former by letting it engage the fleet during the scripted event, and just sailing forward, but the sentinels still spawn and they see through stealth... Soooo, this was my first solo+potd attempt ever and I'm a total noob: do you guys have any tips on how I might get through this? Respect? Change of gear? Would the extra 2 points in MIG from the Cauldron and the sacrifice (neither of which I've done yet) make any difference? I'm really annoyed at the thought of having to quit so close to the end. Thanks guys! ADDENDUM - Because I'm a stubborn dunce, I just kept at it. I managed to cheese-sneak past the two Sentinels at Ukaizo, thanks to firecrackers and my 3 points in stealth. The fight with Furrante on my way back from the machine wasn't easy, but did it on my 2nd attempt (I switched to a greatsword with high damage -Whispers' is crap for single target-, chopped down the two priests asap, got lucky when a wizard cast a wall right in the middle of their group, and then went back to Whispers for finishing off the cattle), and I made it to the end of the game. It was fun, at times, and I don't mind a challenge but overall I feel I struggled more than I enjoyed this build.

Woooooah! What's with the hatred for Hiravias? Personality-wise, I will concede that he's a bit of a doorknob-with-an-attitude (inb4 famous Druidic rap lineup, D.W.A.), but functionality-wise, he's a one-man army. Buff, debuff, heal, aoe's, melee, you name it. "Better call Hiravias". Well, I was bored so that last line of mine gave me an idea and here, I drafted up a billboard thingie...

This is also one of my critiques to the game. Defiance Bay feels "hollow", empty, both visually and content-wise. Even in the middle of the game's day, the districts really feel like everyone's at home, dozing off. There is not that much to see, do, or talk about. I was surprised to find that many inns, in Defiance Bay. In fact, considering how deserted the districts felt, whereas I was expecting them to be bustling with activities of their own, and things to do for me (Ondra's Gift is the only exception: it does feel acceptably populated and there are enough "things" going on). On the other hand Dyrford, for example, is a small village out in the sticks, and despite its 8 total buildings actually feels more "lively" and better "crafted": this seems a bit at odds with the "state" Defiance Bay is in. On occasions I wondered if this was a deliberate choice from the devs, in order to convey a sense of "gloominess" and "melancholy", resulting from the city having had a glorious past and now being somewhat dimmed because of internal strife and the ongoing and apparently unstoppable Legacy.

I never tried that myself, not after finding out that "stealing" from a house in which there's only backer ghosts still results in "getting caught" and losing reputation. Well spotted. Will "test" tonight.

All considerations about the review apart, I have to disagree with you on this. From a "realism" and "coherence" standpoint, it really doesn't make sense that a non min-maxed character is only slightly behind a min-maxed one. I am not a fan of min-max'ing personally, and my critique to this system is that it really takes away a good part of the inherent meaning of attributes themselves. A min-maxed mercenary should be strong as hell and dumb as a doorknob, or strong as hell and slow as growing grass, and the balance should be found in those kind of tradeoffs (think Davide VS Goliath stereotypes, to fit this example of mine). Rather than "balance", the system in PoE achieves "blandness": the influence of attributes is only slightly noticeable, and the feeling is that all characters are at least decent at most activities. Rather than the (quoting you) "best of both worlds", I felt that this was the "mean and rounded average of both worlds". Sure, this makes it easier to assemble a functional party (I switched companions many times, and I was in no particular difficulty, nor advantage, with any party lineup), but it also takes away one aspect of RPGs that many of us loved.

I understand 86/100, but how's 4/5 different from 8/10? :D

(haters gonna hate) Unfortunately, 2/5. Writing: ranges from average to mediocre, never really managing to stand out. It has a few decent/good moments, but they get overshadowed by the average-ness of the whole. Companions are forgettable (GM has a few "ooooooh" moments and Eder has a couple, but they're too scarce and spread over too much "nothing" to be noticeable). Main Plot: again, it failed to get me hooked up with what's going on. Being a "Watcher" could/should have been made more central and dramatic, IMHO. Quests: similarly, quests are never really engrossing, and soon felt just like "flavouring" or "filler" ("chores"). Many of them also feel really "disconnected" from the main plot, and most of them have little-to-no influence on how the world reacts to the PC and their actions. Gameplay: too much filler combat, unrewarding exploration, small areas. Caves are sort of copypaste. Endless Path is utterly pointless/irrelevant, and so is the whole Stronghold. Reaching the level cap halfway through act 3 left me a bit bummed (not because of the loss of future XP, which I don't really care much for), but it gave me a false feeling of "completion" ("omg what do I with my life now?") and sort of stopped my progression short, whereas the game still had a whole act and a half to go through. Some classes could use some balancing, and so could the attributes system. Itemization is abysmal, the "economy" is risible (I am currently sitting at over 100k and can't find a single way to spend it). Conversation skill/race/talent/attribute checks are also heavily biased towards some, while others are almost entirely ignored. Stealth is not really viable. Skills need a major facelift: as it is, the only worth ones are athletics and mechanics (and maybe a few points in lore, just for dialogue checks), while the rest are absolutely useless. Combat: gets boring fast, and becomes really un-challenging after the player levels up a few times, thus feeling more like a chore that's in the way of enjoying the plot. Encounters need revamping, mobs and party alike need a hint of an AI. Considering the game is clearly focused on combat, and that there's so much of it, I would have expected some more care to be put into this aspect of the game (both in terms of core mechanics, Game World: a lot of effort has been put into creating an original world, and yet not much effort has been put into easing the player into it. Every other NPC will try giving you a history lesson, no matter what. There is a lot of lore lying around, which I enjoyed reading, but that also contributed to the feeling of just being "infodump'd" on. GFX: outstanding. The game looks pretty, the visual design is neat and fitting and there are no complaints whatsoever in this respect. SFX: the voice acting goes from meh to ok-ish, but what I enjoyed is the really really good soundtrack. I love the soundtrack. Overall: the game is not "horrible", but the sum of its parts is so "averagely inglorious" that it can't make up for the game's shortcomings.

So this guy went and played Dragon Age: Inquisition every time a loading screen came up?

So I entered Galawain's Maw, and started exploring the area, without having received the quest yet. I went north-east by crossing the broken bridge with a grappling hook, and then pushed on in the same direction until I met the wall of brambles, which I also managed to get past with a skill check. So I found Sul and Irensi, and killed both after trying to come to reason with them (well, I did suggest the Bear was a more legitimate candidate, and they didn't take it well). So as soon as I did, my journal created the quest entry and updated it to the phase "Return to Desthwn at the front of Galawain's Maw: I've resolved the stalemate between the beasts. Desthwn will want to know the outcome.", and I was shown a brief cutscene showing the bear and his attendants emerging from a dark passage in the north-west. I then explored and cleared the rest of the dungeon, killed all remaining lions, and made my way back to the front of the Maw. Only, when I talk to Desthwn, noe of the dialogue options allow me to progress the quest any further, all leading to Desthwn asking me if I have sorted things out yet, with me only being able to reply "still on it"... Anything I can do to sort this out?

Dunno man, that's one of aspects I didn't quite like in PoE. C&C seem irrelevant, within 10 minutes of act3 I had the following happening ("translated" into spoiler-free speech): 1. NPC: please do this horrible thing for me Me (a holier-than-holy pally): No, I won't. [ending the dialogue] Quest journal: "New Quest: Do the horrible thing" That don't actually has anything to do with C&C it may be poor way to mark quests that you don't want to do in your journal, but it don't anyway impact on your choices and their consequences. If I choose not to do a quest, surely I don't expect it to pop up as "active" in my journal. It feels like 4th wall breaking: "Hi player, we know your PC refused this quest, but we, the developers, want you to do it nonetheless, so here's the entry in your journal". That's just ignoring my choice, to be honest.

Dunno man, that's one of aspects I didn't quite like in PoE. C&C seem irrelevant, within 10 minutes of act3 I had the following happening ("translated" into spoiler-free speech): 1. NPC: please do this horrible thing for me Me (a holier-than-holy pally): No, I won't. [ending the dialogue] Quest journal: "New Quest: Do the horrible thing" 2. NPC: oh it's you, the guy who did what he did back in that time and place I can't spoil! We meet again! Oh btw everything you did got nullified because Obsidian decided so... Me: D'uh, ok, I'll go back and fix it. Again. Both examples came across as the game completely ignoring my choices and actions, and, more specifically, the game didn't even provide much of a reason (plot-wise) for it, other than "because we say so". More in general, I never had the feeling that the world was really giving a rat's arse about my present/past actions. Even after some major events, there was not really much feedback from the game's world. I'm talking about "changed" convos, people addressing the player differently random chat bubbles from NPC, that kind of small, "flavour" touches that yet add so much to a game's atmosphere, maybe even a few minor side quests "spawned" in consequence of the player's influence over the world/region.