[Hidden Items and Stealth made me stop playing the game...]

what they need to do is allow you to stealth a single character ONLY.. that way you can have the one character do your scouting/disarming and the rest can stay back.. then when the coast is clear, have them move to you. 

 

to me it never made sense that i select my stealthy character, hit stealth and ALL characters have stealth.

 

otherwise.. going slow and trying to find hidden items and secrets are part of the charm with these kinds of games.  i dont want them to get rid of it.. just allow for the above and its fine.

[I guess i'm the only one who likes backer npcs]

i find there are good ones and bad ones.. just like any NPC in any game ever.

[Stronghold Immersion]

i enjoy the stronghold but i can certainly understand some of the criticisms.. and if its true that your idle companions/characters cant defend the castle (havent run into that yet). .yeah that kinda sucks.

[The world and atmosphere and artwork]

the music is what does it for me.  that and some of the soul bits are quite good.. even some of the backer stories.. i know that part is a bit unpopular.. at least on these boards.. but i rather like some of them.  and when i come across one i dont.. i just close the window and move on

 

also, whoever thought of the story boards is genius.  very creative way to put reading back into the game.

[The main things that bug me so far]

Some of this stuff I've mentioned before, and is my confirmed worries from before the release. Other is something that's made an impression on me while playing the full game.

• Economy - getting too rich too soon is a thing. I'm intentionally not using the Stash and this has allowed me to avoid picking up merely somewhere around 1000cp worth of loot. I'm being mostly thorough with looting, as much as my characters' inventories allow, and I refrain from stealing from those containers which are not marked by a red mouse pointer, yet it wouldn't make sense in a roleplay sense to steal from them. And still I've got a bit over 5000cp for 15hrs of playing (not taken the stronghold yet) - thats why you have so much money.  most of the stuff in the stronghold costs over a thousand to upgrade.
• Stash/Item weight/Encumbrance - needs added complexity to feel less like a vacuum-cleaner sim. The Stash is a mess functionality- and design-wise, among many examples - it's completely possible to accidentally send stuff you want to use into your stash while in the wilderness, and then be unable to get it out of the stash until you return to town. This is dumb as heck. Before someone comes and tries to be smart - no I can't turn stash accessible everywhere because 1) I play on Expert and 2) it defeats the purpose of restricting stash in the first place if you have to enable it because of technical reasons born out of a bad design decision. fair points
• UI
  • markers on map, it's important guise not sure what you are getting at here?
  • Make tab key highlight the destination markers when you've sent your characters to a location, in addition to displaying markers for selected party members good suggestion
• Stealth on party member level.  i kinda agree.. though i dont see it as much of an issue since i usually only have one person as my scout/disarm guy.
• Separated stealth and trap-detecting stance  why?
• Crafting/enchanting - shouldn't be possible everywhere, at specific smiths and for a price would be nice.  crafting/enchanting DOES cost money (and resources).. and why would you want to limit yourself to where you can craft/enchant?
• Might cannot designate both mental and physical strength. It's too hurtful to the very roleplay aspect to have a good wizard whose side-talent is breaking iron bars with his bare hands.  kinda agree here.  and btw, to others that might be reading this.. there is a specific example in the game where a wizard can do this if he/she has might.
• Stronghold - can't comment on this one yet, but from what I read about it, it will come up soon. - its not bad, though i can understand why some would think it can diminish the need to go to inns and shops later in the game.  my one counter.. maybe i just havent seen it yet.. but i THINK you can only get 1 type of rest bonus per rest (yes there are multiple upgrades for rest.. but my understanding is you cant have BOTH athletics AND mechanics bonuses when resting at the stronghold like you can when resting at an inn.

 

[We need to be able to con mob levels]

 

guys.. its a toggle to show a mob's level.. its not "hand holding".. having a toggle for this in the game is a reasonable request IMO.

 

 

 

Problem is they have more important things they could do, like fix all the bugs.  Adding hand holding features that are not required except by people playing at difficulty levels they are not capable of is just a waste of time.   A bit of common sense and reading can avoid most all deaths in this game provided you know what you are doing and not playing beyond your ability. 

 

for expert mode i agree.. but having this  for normal mode is a reasonable request, and IMO i dont think would be that difficult to add as part of a future patch.  i agree that a patch for bug fixes should be high priority.. but i definitely think this is one future request that should get added.  and if you dont want it.. just play on expert.

[We need to be able to con mob levels]

guys.. its a toggle to show a mob's level.. its not "hand holding".. having a toggle for this in the game is a reasonable request IMO.

 

that being said, i do believe it should be off on expert mode.  honestly if you are a spellcaster at level 1.. by yourself.. and you see that group of bandits early game.. and you dont have enough common sense to move on.. maybe you shouldnt be playing on "expert mode". 

 

oh and as for the bear.. well, again, i would ask.. have you played D&D before?  bears are usually dangerous at level 1 or 2.  especially by yourself.  so again, .. if you see the bear and still engage.. thats a YOU problem.. not a game problem.  sorry.

[IE Veteran's feedback]

i can understand the argument that spellcasters are basically an auto-attack npc for most fights.  yes they have a couple of per-encounter abilities.. especially as a watcher.. but still.. most of the spells they have access to cant be used in most encounters.. that is unless you want to waste all of your camping supplies early dungeon.

 

the above being said.. thats part of life as a spellcaster in a pen and paper system.  and im actually ok with them bringing that to POE.  back in the day, that IS what baldurs gate and those kind of games were really trying to do.. and IMO, the experience in this game feels  very close to a pen and paper experience instead of a hack and slash video game. 

 

also, there is nothing stopping you from limiting the lore skill to your spellcasters and using scrolls.  now you have spells coming out of your ears that you can use in combat.  also, there are magic items in the game that give you spells that you can use per encounter.  again, there is nothing stopping you from limiting those kind of items to your spellcasters.  now you have even more spells.

 

yes, it sucks you cant have the most optimal buffs every fight, but there are workarounds even here. craft potions and put a few points in survival.  and with the stronghold bringing in income which i hear is no joke, especially late game.. now your characters have buffs... if not every fight.. most of them.

 

so in the end, is it really THAT BAD?  i would argue no.

 

just my 2 cents

[How excited ?]

im really looking forward to the release.  ive seen many videos on the game and a few on the pre-release.. and everything ive seen so far looks great.

 

i like the fact that i actually HAVE TO read again while playing the game.. for some reason, that seems to be a lost art due to all the voice overs and such.

 

the other thing i like is all the customization.  not from an asethetic standpoint.. but from a statistics standpoint.  its fun to have choices and to be able to customize your characters to YOUR liking.. not to how the game publishers want them to be.  also, one of my favorite parts of pen and paper games is the making of the character and the min/maxing.  you dont get that very much nowadays with the AAA titles.. thank God we have games like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin. 

 

its awesome to see games like these make a comeback.

 

so from a gameplay standpoint i dont think i have much to be concerned about.  my only thing i am hesitant on is the story.  i hope it can live up to the gameplay.. because that part is spot on.

[Only 1 character?]

you also have to remember you get a stronghold at some point.. so creating custom characters would still be useful..

 

my strat is going to be.. create custom characters for stronghold.. then recruit premades as i go around adventuring. 

 

also, you dont get a full party right away, so creating some custom characters when you first get the ability would be a good idea.. particularly if you are on the higher difficulties.