Baron Pampa

Actually, Pampa, I think that a very good case can be made for giving certain casters Lore, because there are some scroll spells that are extremely useful in certain battles, but it also helps to have multiple characters being able to cast those scroll spells so that perhaps one hits. The Paralyze scroll, for example. Or the Revival scroll. Just because one is a caster doesn't mean that you have access to all of the spells on those scrolls. In a tough fight, your priest may be down, but if you have your wizard carrying a Revival scroll and has enough Lore to cast it, he too can cast a Revival spell. And visa versa, a priest or a druid might not have a paralyze spell in their array of class spells, but with enough Lore, they can cast a paralyze scroll spell. Having your casters have Lore allows them to do some cross-caster class casting from scrolls that they wouldn't otherwise be able to do. That's true of course. What I mean is the benefits of high lore are much bigger for non-casters, as their options are much more limited without it. That doesn't mean that casters get no benefits at all, but in most cases a spell from their repertoire is more beneficial than scroll. Can't say the same about rogues, fighter etc., which gain a whole array of new options. I think that it goes against PoE design goals, which included freedom to customize your character as you like regardless of his race and class.

My impressions were completely different. Especially dialogues with Eder and Durance were deal-breakers for me - it should be very meaningful for those relations that you are Eothasian priest, and it is just ignored. Don't know why there is an option to be a priest of Eothas in the game. Doesn't really make sense.

Actually I prefer giving high lore to non-casters. A caster will have lot to do in every difficult fight and scrolls which, more or less, duplicate his natural skills aren't something very worth to look for. Non-casters, on the other hands, get some nasty tricks with lore. Like casting moonwell, or paralyzing whole enemy groups, or fireballs....I know! One casts scrolls of valor for accuracy, other paralyzes enemy and then the rest can nuke them;). Makes difficult fights much easier sometimes.

I think that the attributes are abstract in ways they contribute to combat, but usually have clear, down to earth meaning in non-combat interactions. So you can create any kind of character and he'll be viable in combat, while retaining the characteristics you wanted him to possess.

I'm currently going through the game with a chanter mercenary, 14 con/14 res, specced defensively. Don't you find chanter's health a little bit underwhelming? I like to minimize number of rests, and frequently I have to put him in the backline because he gets low on health after several encounters, while Pallegina and Eder are all right. Of course, he can still shoot arbalest and spam spells from items xD

Not only a crawler, I'd rather say.

I'd only like to point out one thing: I've always thought that an atheist is "a man who states there is no God", while "a man who states he doesn't know if there is a God or no" is an agnostic.

So in every work of fiction if anti theism is universal truth it's atheist propaganda? Are IE games politheistic propaganda? And JRR Tolkien works monotheistic propaganda? And so on...?

@Brimsurfer You haven't at all referred to my post about the game showing believable, coherent and likeable characters while dealing with question close to faith("How can I live and what should I do without knowing the answers?") seriously. The finale isn't really about faith, it's about hard truth vs. comfortable lies dillema. Do you think it's anti-theist propaganda because it lacks "unshakable faith" answer?

Congratulations. You deserve a Guiness prize for that

I've only played through the endgame once, so I might not remember correctly, but I think that OP might have a point in this one. There were essentially two paths, as far as I remember: condemn Thaos in the name of truth, or accept his ethics of lies for the sake of peace, stability and order. Choosing another path, i.e.arguing that gods are gods regardless of their origins, or stating that the truth is irrelevant because people wouldn't be convinced by it anyway, or they would still believe in the values the gods stand for(Eder comes to mind), is certainly sensible for many characters, so it's easily understandable that many people who would like to do that find the ending lacking. Still wouldn't call it an atheist cliche, though.

The thing is, enemies usually target your teeth with highest priority, so neither awareness nor prowess help deflecting. It's just about beeing a man and letting them strike. Thus, a resolved character is better at deflecting and none of the other attributes help.

Would you be so kind and make a video? I'd love to see it.

I haven't read to carefully, but I'd like to point out one thing regarding Pillars approach to religious faith: It actually presents several very religious characters in a nuanced, believable and likable way, which isn't exactly common in video games. Moreover, it asks sensible questions regarding one's values and beliefs in life, most importantly "How to live without knowledge of the answers to my essential questions?". I don't see any agenda here, but it very often presents religion in a meaningful and positive way, so I really see no reason to state that it's some kind of "atheistic propaganda".

It's viable and fun. Bottlenecks work differently - you rather aim to create a halfmoon of death, where only one enemy fits and all your warriors punch him. It's good to have some reach weapons, as sometimes it's difficult to position them correctly.

Not that I care, but at least in some cases former attribute spreads were more adequate for the characters, and are much more viable right now. The head example is Grieving Mother, who's definetely very perceptive, but doesn't seem to be specially intelligent. After the perception bonuses change, her former stats are at least as good as the present one. And same goes for every companion - the former stats are more in line with their personality, and just as good as the present. Well, maybe except Hiravias. But it would be hilarious to see them switched back xD EDIT: I've just realized that Sagani had her stats changed twice, so there is a precedence xD

Not everyone comments! I'm anxious to read Thaos fight raport.

I too have a preference for shorter, but more polished stories, so you can focus on pure awesomeness of what you do and see;>

I think you need to reach Act II for the first vision to trigger.

"Benevolent – charitable, kind, soft, or weak." - from the game's manual. The victim's dead anyway, and you can't do anything for him. As Miquel93 have put it - you present yourself as a soft-hearted person relying on compassion and mercy, not the rules. That's generally seen as benevolent in the game's terms. You might not consider it to be good, moral or lawful. But it matches the definition of benevolent reputation.

Assuming that what they say is true(and I think we have to, otherwise discussion would be meaningless), letting them go with money is the choice in which you strive to improve the world around you through empathy and understanding. It seems that benevolence in the game is often understood as dealing as little pain and suffering as possible, which includes mercy and forgiveness. Revealing people to the law usually achieves nothing in that direction, they'd probably hang. So the choice might not be just, but is benevolent. It's similar to the choice of what to do with Wirtek, the man who betrayed Eothasians.

Have anyone tried to finish the game with 50% increase in level experience requirements? Is it possible to hit the cap with it? Poor Maerwald's gone, and I feel it would be a good moment to go up from 33%

It's not about disarming traps. Fields covered by a kind of red mist are trapped, and the mist appears and disappears in a sequence. So just step in when there's no red colour, and press further before it appears again; )

That one game failed to achieve desired effect with that solution doesn't necessarily means that the solution's bad. It's just a matter of setting the numbers right. Result would be similar to decreasing experience rewards for non critical content. Probably it's a matter of what's easier from the developer's perspective. BTW. I've just finished pre-Caed Nua content by killing Raedric with level 3 party and level 4 protagonist. 33% experience decrease seems very good up to this point.

Would you care to elaborate? It seems that if the level difference between a completionist and a critical-path player at any given moment is smaller than currently, and that's what an exponential level table would achieve, the problem is at least partially solved.