Kriber22

Love the patch changes, especially the ability to "re-level" your recruitable companions. Being able to pick everyone's talents and abilities to suit me is a huge, huge quality of life improvement in my book. No more need to rush to their locations to get them before the auto-levelling messes them up.

I was afraid something like that might be the case. Thanks for the replies, people.

I was thinking about buying the Prima guide (the digital version) for my second playthrough so I can find all the secrets, explore alternative quest resolutions and generally metagame a little now that I've seen the story unspoiled, so to speak. I was hoping someone here could tell me if it's worth the purchase. I realize there are always some differences between the final version of the game and what goes into the guide, but how major are they? I'm thinking about quest resolutions that don't reflect the actual game and other similar inconsistencies. Does anyone have any input?

What's the process like on Windows Vista?

Of course you can advance further into the dungeon. You just can't access that one room with some loot in it.

Never mind the lack of voice acting; I want a Kickstarter campaign to get more Quick Time events into the game!

I'm going to shamelessly bump this.

I see in the patch notes that the Talisman of the Unconquerable has been fixed with regards to Cipher focus, but what about the Drinking Horn amulet? As far as I remember that too had the same issue, but the patch notes say nothing about it. Is it safe to equip it or is it still bugged?

Your problem is almost certainly that you're running a 32-bit operating system with 4 gig of RAM or less. This causes crashes on area transition, especially to content-intensive areas like Gilded Vale, Copperbridge, Caed Nua and some others. The bad new is, this is going to happen A LOT in your game. The good news is, it's not a permanent thing. If you reload the game and try again you'll make it eventually. Just get used to making a save every time you're about to leave a map. You can also try going to another area, save, and THEN go to Gilded Vale. And if it still crashes, try restarting your computer and loading the game up again. I know it's a pain, but you'll make it eventually.

Out of curiosity, how do you do this on Vista?

A very, very common problem, especially on 32-bit systems (is that what you're running, incidentially?). Just keep trying, you'll be able to make the transition in the end. Try travelling from Valewood and back to the ruins you came from and then try going to Gilded Vale from there. Aslo, exit the game, restart your computer and load the game up again. This often helps you get to where you're going. Just be aware that this will happen a lot. Always, ALWAYS make a save game before exiting any map.

And people wonder why games these days are riddled with microtransactions... I think PoE hits a perfect balance between voice acting and written dialogue. There's absolutely no need to have every single word anyone says voice-acted. You can have so much, much more dialogue in the game if the developers DON'T have to pay to have it all spoken out loud. Not to mention that good voice acting is incredibly expensive, while bad voice acting is incredibly cringeworthy. Great written dialogue and juicy flavour text FTW.

Same for me. It seems like the ring considers itself two separate sources, and therefore supresses the lower one. It's still a nice piece, though.

Two gigs of RAM seems awfully low, regardless of the other specifications. My advice would be to upgrade to at least 4 gig, or 8 if your operating system supports it (64-bit).

Yeah, I found three of those in the Skaen dungeon and one somewhere else entirely (can't remember where).

There are two companions in Gilded Vale - Eder and Aloth. A third, Durance, can be found in the area south of GV and a fourth, Kana, two areas to the east of GV. And the underground temple is meant to be a pretty tough dungeon for that early in the game. Pick up some companions and get to level 3, minimum, before going down there. Your build seems OK. Once you pick up Aloth I'd consider scribing some spells from his tome; Fan of Flames and Minoletta's Minor Missiles come to mind.

Could be the 32-bit bug; you're not giving too much detail. Take a look at this and see if it works for you: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/77147-game-crashing-when-entering-gilded-vale-for-the-first-time-cannot-enter/

It takes lot to change your reputation in Defiance Bay, much more than Gilded Vale. Even if you gain moderate, for example, it probably won't be enough to bump you higher on the character sheet. Do a couple of the main quests, and eventually you should see some changes.

You're very welcome, I know how frustrating it is.

Sounds like you've encountered the 32-bit system memory issue (although some people with 64-bit systems also experience this). First, you could try entering again (and maybe again and again). Travel to another location and then go to Gilded Vale from there instead. Another thing that has worked for some, myself included, is to turn down the resolution a notch or two. You could also try turning down graphics quality to the minimum setting in the options menu. If none of this helps, you could try closing down the game and rebooting your system. When it starts back up, start Steam, GOG or whatever client you're using and start the game. Try the above steps again. In my quite extensive experience with this issue, suddenly things will work again. You're going to have this pop up over and over again many more times, so get used to saving before exiting any maps. The next patch should contain a fix that at least improves this issue somewhat although it probably won't fix it completely.

Does anyone knows how long the bonuses you get from resting at inns last? Is there a set duration of x hours? Sometimes the bonuses vanish when I camp out in the wild, but other times they're still there when the party wakes up again.

Trust me, you're going to see this happening a lot. Get used to saving before leaving any maps.

I never got an option to take Sly captive either, he fought to the death and left his head in a bag.

Well, if you use Intelligence as a dump stat what would you expect?

Have you by any chance equipped an amulet called the Drinking Horn or some similar? Or one called Talisman of the Unconquerable? If so, remove the amulet, save your game and then load that save - those items are bugged.