Mirandel

At the very best! Woedica suggests to drop down the moon on Eora and comments that "people can be reborn and souls can be reforged, no big deal". Though, Eothas does care about mortals, hence, all the commotion. Then I have to ask, why do you think "in-between" is so terrible? Boring, may be, and there is no reincarnation (probably) awaiting for you, but not exactly a "faith you would not impose on your worst enemy". Speaking or reincarnation... If you remember the quest with Pale Elves from PoE1, they were begging to stop the circle of reincarnation. And since Eothas (as all other gods) did not existed before the Wheel was created, he naturally does not know what was before or how to fix things - he did not created the Wheel, kith did. He simply destroys what he sees as an evil mechanism, with a reasonable assumption that kith would be able to come up with something better. "Children" as plural? Or do you mean only Tekehu? Because in Pallergina quest we see Ondra children without any support from her. Considering godlikes are walking batteries for "gods" I'd say Tekehu is nothing more but a favorite cow for a farmer. He likes her and name her, but she will be eaten at the end nevertheless.

To Eora itself, probably not. Remember though, that a big red flag is that without the wheel (or something like it), all those souls get stuck in limbo/ a very real state of hell. Sure, eventually they might wither away and reform into something else, but in the mean time you have a few million possible years of torment. That primordial chaos possibly existed before, but that doesn't mean its a state anyone should be in any hurry to get back to. Regarding the degradation of the soul; my guess would be that while an individual eventually fades, their essence, such as it is, falls off and reforms into other states. Key point here is that the soul is treated as energy, which cannot be "destroyed", just changed. Also, its possible that while souls erode, they can also be added to. We already see precedents of beings 'absorbing' other souls, so its likely that the process goes both ways regarding decay. Small correction - not "hell" (horrible place where souls get tortured) but Hel - a resting/waiting place. Now, as Sherab said, "dead dwarf amimancer" mentioned that souls fusion or even unchanging is a very rear occasion. Normal faith of the souls is to degrade. And again, should Eora be a closed system, in that case we would see a general degradation of kith (both mental and numbers). I tend to agree with Sherab, it's more like writers did not think about that problem but it's not the first time headcanon comes to rescue. So far, to rectify all inconsistencies, I treat soul energie as sun energy - a constant flow (from somewhere) allowing accumulation of biosoulmass. This way if Wheel destruction indeed disrupts the flow of the souls (questionable at best, considering the source of information), all we have to do is to wait for the critical mass to overcome the obstacle.

But who said even with the Wheel reincarnation was the only source of the souls for the newborn? After all, animals (including humans/kith) tend to multiply. With re0ncarnation only the number of living beings in Eora has to be constant. Hard to imagine that to be the case. We know nothing about demographic situation on Eora, of course, but we do know from PoE1, that souls wither in reincarnation process, plus get destroyed in all kind of gods games. Yet, no one talks about declining number of populous. I'd say, if anything, it's an indication, souls do appear anew and destruction of the Wheel should not be that dangerous for Eora.

And from my experience, there are always people who see companions banters that way - no matter what game, what companion and what situation. There is not a single companion out there that would not be accused by someone in cheesiness, bad writing and overall terrible concept. So, sure, OP, there are others who think just like you. And there are also those who do not think that.

No wonder Godlike is the leader of the second poll - in the first game nobody bet an eye on your Godlike, but here it makes most sense (and a lot of additional dialog options).

Small correction: "If it walks like a god, talks like a god" - so does any mental patient with self importance disorder "wields essentially unlimited ethereal power like a god" - in modern terms, a robot with a nuclear bomb on the back is not considered a god even though he is capable to wipe out civilizations "is omnipresent like a god" - actually, not at all, and this was the key problem in both PoE1 and 2, the inability of omnipresence created many problems for the gods. "and manipulates mankind like a god" - same as above, all they can do in terms of manipulation is distraction (humankind is fully capable of it on it's own, thank you very much) and souls punishments - the power assigned to them by humans. No, sorry, gods in PoE are still a human creation with powers delegated to them by humans (ok, kith). Very powerful superheroes/villains at best. Answering OP question - why can not you combine magic and sci-fi? Remember Shadowrun? It works very well together. And at any rate, judging by existence of mages and chanters, magic is a natural phenomena of Eora - another element of the nature - and divine powers is just another form of it. Draego suggeted a good explanation for the mechanism of how it works.

Not sure about Risen, but romantisation of obvious evil is an old tradition of many media. From Mafia to vampires - murders and blood sucking parasites suddenly become a "tragic figures with just interesting life". At a time of active piracy the very word "pirate" was a heavy insult, like a "bandit" (which is surprisingly still holding some merits of evilness). Now it's a compliment. I, personally, would love for Rautai and Huana be more anty-Principi. Ok, even more. After all, that is the biggest and immediate threat. But they concentrate more on Valiant Company.

Thank you, kind soul, it did help!

As it was suggested here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103496-cannot-get-past-sex-choice-in-character-creation/?p=2071429 removing Override folder helped.

Same here. Re-installed the game, verified files - same thing.

There is one difference though, "earthly" gods - any of them! - created the world (or were created by someone who created the world). Hence, had (disputable) rights to treat it as their own creation and do with it or with the people (created by them as well) as they pleased. Here we have a pure human creation. This is precisely "magical toaster" case, or (to be more animated) - kings with special "noble" blood, an artificial object of worshiping. So, I'd say - no, they are not gods but a magic using police force and upper management, ignoring their responsibilities (and what would you expect from a creation nobody ever cared to proper raze and educate). In short - engwitainians did not really think it through at time.

Pledging to all the gods is not peaceful and kind. They have different wills and you cannot satisfy them all. Not only is it irresponsible to make impossible promises and they will take revenge on innocents if you betray them, they also don't all want peaceful and kind things to begin with. Rymrgand, Ondra and Skaen want you to destroy the souls of the Hollowborn. Galawain, Magran and Abydon want you to feed them to the rest of the Dyrwood. Berath wants you to return them to her Wheel to be reborn (which is the most popular choice and also what normally happens to souls). Peaceful and kind would be supporting Hylea, who wants you to return the souls to their intended bodies. There is a Benevolent Soul premade history already Actually, according to poll here, the most popular choice is Hylea - which IS kind of kind (all things consider), and the second most popular Galawain (why so many people want to support Dyrwood so much is a mystery). But Benevolent Premade is truly the nicest you can get NPC-wise, just use it.

I too feel like Pale Elf cipher from White that Wends is THE Watcher in PoE1, everything is sort of written for that combination. And both of your chosen backgrounds feet - you needed a reason to leave your lands, what is a better one than a Mystical calling? And I am second on the notion about insignificance of sidekicks. This is not the reason to forfeit your story.

So you depend on reviewers to tell you how to play a game instead of just... you know... playing the game? Besides, I consider the game forcing me to go to Periki's Overlook and not gating off the guild hall as telling me it's fine to go there. So maybe stop apologizing for the game having poor quest design, since you seem to agree it has? Where did you find a hint of apology for the game in any of my post? I'll try to repeat - last time, don't worry - just to wrap the discussion up. There is no need to rely on reviewers. My first hand experience with PoE1 taught me about 2 things: 1. You have full complete freedom of gameplay. 2. But the plot line is very strict and do not allow deviations. There is no problem with it at all: plot is very clear in it's objectives. So much so, that you in the very post above complain about "being forced to do something". Yet, you in the same time complain about "not being forced enough and allowed to go astray". Choose one or the other. When you play PoE you make a choice - follow the plot and see the story as it is intended, or go on your own, ignoring every hint and direction. It's all up to you! If you wish to read random chapters in some book - it's your right to do so, but stop complaining the plot does not follow your whims. In this genre your character is supposed to follow the plot, not the other way around. Try Skyrim if above sounds too strict for you, might be more to your liking.

So, you are running around, doing quests randomly and as much out of order as you can in a game, where every reviewer mentioned necessity to follow the plot to keep it coherent, and you are surprised something does not make enough sense?! PoE was designed (from the beginning) to give you maximum freedom in a gameplay (so, if you want to test your skills you can do it ignoring everything but fighting and selected quests), but plot was very strict and demanding of attention from the first game - one misstep and you loose important pieces of story. Same in PoE2: you want to explore and shoot things - go ahead, but if you follow the plot - you do it in a scripted order or loose the plot line. If I have to explain why your Watcher is supposed to report back to the second in command of the Huana nation (yes, the Prince) after said Watcher accepted and finished the task Prince gave him - I do not see why any kind of motivation or role-playing in general might be important to you at all. Not sure why am doing Captain Obvious here, either, since all your complains are exactly as Yria said: you like character - you do not care about why s/he with you, you do not like character - everything is "wrong" in the story.

Because this is why you are on the island to begin with - to see the Queen. Not to solve local problems, not to sightseeing or visiting random temples - you swam across the sea to visit the Palace. You also were told it's very difficult to get the audience. And just the moment ago you impressed the crowd with the ghost show, so, while impression is fresh, it makes perfect sense to proceed to the Palace immediately in hope it will let you see the royal family. Actually, when you are done with the Gullet, Prince gives you next task and sends Tekehu with you - again. If it's OK to take Tekehu with you to the Gullet on the Prince's request, it should not be less OK to do it again. And it does not make any sense because...? No, seriously - why? Tekehu has a personal problem - conflict of artistic nature and demanding political figure role. Why exactly he has to pay attention to some rumors about some giant statues? Not "a stranger" - a Watcher. And how is this particular complain related to believability of Tekehu? Address your complains to the genre then. 99.9% quests in every RPG there is has the same problem - main character being a total stranger is supposed to solve everyone's problems from kittens on the trees to world saving. But we are talking about Tekehu. And I can only repeat - it's totally understandable not to like his personality. But telling he is "badly written" or "makes less sense than any other companion" - is ridiculous.

I don't recall that. He and the guildmaster argue about him wanting to present himself at the palace, but they don't say why. He says he sent the prince a letter but doesn't mention the contents. If you invite him to join your crew, he says something about the adventure and to get away from the guild. Later the prince said to take him with us to the Gullet, but didn't say why. This is the general problem with PoE (PoE1 too) - strict order of the events. You deviate the slightest - dialogs (or plot) loose any sense. Well, they tried, sometimes you can even squint enough to see the plot in unorganized pieces, but in general you are supposed to follow the path that was meant in the plot. In case of Tekēhu you are supposed to talk first with the Prince. And Prince does say why you need Tekēhu - there is already a suspicion of watershapres guild involvement, that was the very reason Tekēhu petitioned to Prince. If you go to Tekēhu first, though, he actually say that you might help to get the audience with Royalty faster. I'd say it's good enough reason to join. Not to mention, as long as he is alone, he is bound to the guild and can not leave. Being on the mission is a perfect excuse to get out. I truly do not understand your problem with him (aside from personality).

I have had this for years, but not with every FPP title—and I suspect a lot of research went into the ones that I don't have a problem playing. FPP titles that have the camera slip/slide through the level, frictionless are definitely culprits here; FoV has been mentioned already. I love Quake, but cannot play Quake 2; can't play Battlefield 1942. I can play the Rise of the Triad reboot, but not the original. Forcing myself to play a game that affects me this way, always follows the same stages; first a mild hint of a headache (my first clue the game will be unplayable), then a definite headache, then disorienting nausea, and finally the desperate need to lie down (in misery) until the symptoms fade. I have never let it go further—where vomiting might occur. Thankfully for me, it's become less frequent with the more recent FPP games (probably them doing something about alleviating this for most people). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulator_sickness http://w3.uqo.ca/cyberpsy/en/cyberma_en.htm Wow, now this is what I would call a dedicated player! I, personally, simply gave up. No matter how good the game is - it's not worth for me having nausea. Not to mention, at any attempt to play something like this I immediately develop conditioning so in like three attempts even the music from the game can trigger motion sickness. May be I just got a very sever case, but doubt I am the only one like that. Either way, there are people who simply can not fight it, so, my admiration to your incredible will power!

What you said makes perfect sense. I would only disagree on this. I believe balance is about fine tuning things. You will change something, look at how it fares for some time, change something else, and go back later to the first one to change it again. I believe balancing such a complex game is not about bringing one, definite solution in a DLC, but more about iterations. That's why it took quite some time to make Pillars 1 better. As a side note, i still fail to understand why people are discussing about PoTD like this. I can't see the point. Unless people assume (once again) that the class/abilities balance changes are only about increasing PotD difficulty. Which would be getting the wrong idea, probably. Obs takes into account the necessary balancing process while reworking PoTD, but they are not doing it BECAUSE of PotD. They probably aim to balance classes in any difficulty level to begin with, PotD or not. I'm pretty sure of that. Why are people complaining that PoTD gets more difficult anyway, granted class/abilties balance has nothing to do with it? The only reason i could see for this is that there are some people here who can't stand not being able to faceroll everything in the highest difficulty mode. If it's not the case, please, consider that the balance changes you are complaining about probably have nothing to do with the increase in difficulty for PotD, and pick another game difficulty to get the appropriate level of challenge for you. And if you can't stand having your character build modified by patches. probably just wait some time until things start to settle balance-wise. In short, please, stop complaining about PoTD when the problems you seem to experience have seemingly nothing to do with it. Besides, i never played PotD (sticking to hard), but i very much understand people who don't want PotD to turn into "Let's go pick Mushrooms in the Forest" difficulty... And I would even agree, accept fine tuning is truly "fine" only during betas. This is exactly what betas are for. Everything that passed beta-test (except obvious bugs) - should stay until huge events like DLCs, because people already bought it the way it was sold and many of those who pay knew exactly what they were buying. You change it mid-use - you change something that was already payed for and considered property of the gamer (not by law, probably, but psychologically). Worse than that - most of the changes were nerfs. Something was taken away from the customers who payed for some fun, were having that payed-for fun - and suddenly lost it. And all because developers can not stop fine-tuning released product! Difficulty is a questionable thing. For me "Classic" is challenging enough to enjoy mechanics too. For others - PotD is laughable. When they say "G, lower the difficulty" I can say the same - "G, increase your difficulty yourself - take the most gimped class and repeat your PotD. If it's not enough, try to play blindfolded or bind your hands behind your back, ffs!". And emotions aside, there was already mentioned at least one modern game (DOS-2) with no balance at all from the start, yet, game was a smashing success. "Balance" is not the reason people buy any game - cool mechanics and interesting stories are. If balance still so much important for Obsidian - fine, but released product is not their own playground anymore, yet they could play and tune DLCs all the way they want, then suggest it to players saying "you thought core game was easy, now try that!". That way those who left for lack of challenge will be lured back, yet, those who enjoy things as they are still can play the way they want. Everybody is happy!

I see only one problem here - bad timing. Many people do not like changes mid-anything. cRPGs are based on two things - mechanic and story. There are people who would like to skip the story and explore all aspects of game-mechanic and the opposite, who care only about the story. But whether a player is one of the extreme or something in between, changes of the core pillars of the game in the middle of a PT aggravate people to no end. If perfectionists in Obsidian would suddenly decide to "balance" dialogs and parts of the main plot - I, personally, would quit with several rage posts on every open media out there. Therefor reaction of people who suddenly lost a cool ability they based their gameplay on, looks very natural and understandable to me. HOWEVER, there is a perfect place and time to introduce your beloved changes to the game - DLCs. Not patches, but specifically an additional campaign. It's easy to headcanon changes, it can be avoided (install/uninstall), it can even justify all the changes. Why not wait until then? And - no - "not installing patch" is not an option because of bugfix and QoL changes. I really wish Obsidian would wait with re-balancing until first DLC (which is already on the go anyway).

From a spoiled MMO player - cosmetic armor slot Seriously, so much cool outfits out there and I can not use it since it's useless in the battles. Not to mention cool armor I do not want to use but would keep for the look only.

My Lightbringer:

A thousand thanks!!!!

Another humble request to the kind soul capable to make a watercolor portrait out if this: