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It's been stated by the development leads that compromises were made, presumably this is one of them. I would love to see walking added, together with de-synching the character movement animations when grouped, so their strides are not all exactly in unison - looks like they are running as a single unit. Yuck! I haven't trawled all the thread pages but for those saying use 'S', it is very different running in slow motion, to walking.

Pretty much exactly how I feel on this - I too would call Pillars a solid 9 or "A" grade game (ignoring the bugs as they will inevitably be fixed). I didn't like Baldur's Gate much when it came out, because I'd played Fallout 2 before it, which was vastly cleverer, less cliche, and better-written in just about every regard (I even have a semi-literate review I wrote from then, giving BG 6/10 for this reason). BG2, I'd say was 9/10, in part because it was so astonishingly long (even before the expansion) and went to so many unexpected-to-me places. Very excited for how good a Pillars sequel could be, for sure. I'm enjoying it a lot, but more than BG1? Not so sure. The criticisms the OP raises regarding companion choice and choice of places to go are hugely legit. The two biggest things I miss are the memorable lines from BG1 characters (are there *any* in PoE?) and the more open nature of the BG1 maps, the fact you could just go and explore map sectors for no reason other than adventure. We need the hype however, to generate sales and success for this game so that more get made that address those criticisms. If you do not hugely overhype these games, dumb financial people will not believe they can make money out of them, and will not commission such games in future. [edit I hate kickstarter - if you want to know why - kickstarted NPCs and memorials in PoE say it all] So OP, I demand you immediately change your metacritic score to a 10 (like mine). Tactical voting.

I've not experienced any of the bugs (30+ hours, mostly replays of the first chapters ). I 'naturally' dragged equipment in the inventory rather than double-clicking, which seems to have avoided the worst one.

The two health bars is one of the major improvements of the system, in my opinion! It 'feels' less like a hack and slash, healing-potion-fest and more like a 'real world' fantasy. (Obviously, non-gamers would laugh at this statement - but they ain't here)

I agree with people saying there are small but critical balance tweaks needed to various mechanics. These would affect all difficulties, but presumably in proportion.

You're late to the party - there were loads of positive praise threads a few days ago. Everyone (apart from D&D diehards) agrees the game is a solid 9/10. However we all want our personal 10/10 game. Sadly one man's 10/10 is another man's 7/10!

Haha I sent Aloth to another room and a teleporting Shadow still found him!!

On 'Hard' difficulty I tried with a lvl 4 party of 5 chars and had a similar experience to you. I don't like continuous reloads so I actually restarted the game after that (I wasn't liking my main char anyway). I now expect to go in there with 6 chars, possibly at level 5 but certainly level 4. I'm also tailoring my builds better this time. So I'd say level 4-5.

I've not noticed any of the bugs, not even Raedric's Hold. Although I'll save more, just in case...

They are not a big deal, but it's nothing like complaining about a Russian translation! There is no Russian popping up in my game, but there are 'gold' NPCs everywhere who I cannot even talk to. It's immersion breaking. You can't 'un-see' things. And even knowing that those tombstones exist in the game, somehow cheapens the experience for me. But it's still a great game. There was just...no need.

If I had been a backer (oops, I forgot, although I pre-ordered in December...) I would have paid good money to NOT have my game immersion soiled by legions non-interactable hero-style NPCs and joke tombstones! No backers actually got to design any of the game, I'll bet. In my opinion, NO input is better than this kind of cheese input. I never normally use Mods, preferring to play the game that is the developer's vision. In this case however those backer features aren't really the developer's vision are they? So yeah, I'll await a Mod and 'justifiably' use it

Dude, he hasn't played BG1 or 2 *AT ALL* (At least that's how I read it).

I second this opinion - start with BG1 (EE is fine, and easier to just play). Low levels and exploring the wilderness are the things that make BG1 great. The replayability is nothing short of extreme. PoE is more modern and will frustrate you less tho - I'm wearing rose-tinted glasses for BG1, of course. I haven't finished PoE or even got halfway, so I can't make proper comparisons, but the voice acted throwaway remarks of the BG1 characters are the best I have ever heard in any RPG, even though they are repeated, they are still genius. You will LOVE those characters (hint - good party : Minsc, evil party : Montaron and Shar-teel). I might make some sort of artwork out of the original (5) BG1 CDs now I've got EE...

OK so I'm about 20 hours (slow play) in, but I can't help feel I've done a few things wrong, and I'm going off my Paladin build. He was forced to massacre loads of priests in a certain well-known hold because he didn't know which door to go through, which has left him a broken man. Now he finds dialogue options he hoped would be there are not, and therefore his 4 companions face a very tough battle which by the look of it I'll have to reload several times to win. I feel I can tackle the whole of that chapter a lot better but of course it means doing everything else again too...all good fun tho. I'm a few points short of level 5 on all chars. I'm playing on Hard and it's about right for everything else, so I'll keep it like that. Should I start again?? Sooo tempted. Cipher or Barbarian this time. Anyone else face this dilemma or do you just push on through? I've not even gone to Defiance Bay yet. But I now feel I know a lot more about the system , what talents to take etc.

How is allowing sneaking in plate armour at no penalty, making sneaking less overpowered?

I think the OPs point is that sneaking closer to a target in shiny, clunky plate armour should be more difficult than sneaking in lightweight robes or normal clothing. How can anyone not agree with that? The decision to have this party-wide 'scouting mode' to cover both sneaking and search/detection is one of the weak points of the system (there aren't many tho) and I hope they do rework or at least tweak it.

I also agree that the combat is a whole lot better What I miss from e.g. BG is larger, more open wilderness maps, and random encounters. especially since there are no kill XP, random encounters would be nice as they are not so expoitable, and a few goodies and special encounters could be thrown in there. But I'm not too far into the game yet so maybe there is something to come. Without any randomness in encounters etc I fear the replayability will not be the same as BG (which I am also currently replaying for the nth time).I should say I prefer BG to BG2 simply for the additional optional wilderness adventuring possibilities.

Have you considered that you may be taking it too literally? That it's not actually the character doing it in all cases, but perhaps them contacting a skilled smith or whatever? I can RP that, I guess. Better to actually HAVE the skilled Smith instead tho . Especially when crafting is possible in the middle of a dungeon crawl.

He should auto-chant, you don't need to click the phrases although you can edit the sequence to make a combination you prefer. So he can fire the gun as well. Once 3 phrases are out you can use an invocation which is more powerful. This requires manual intervention and selection of the invocation to use (from the Level 1 abilities button)

In my opinion crafting should be much more onerous than the present system which just reminds me of Skyrim or what I hear of MMOs. Only true crafting experts with many years experience should be able to make stuff and this probably isn't going to be a player character at all - but a powerful Smith or Mage. It's actually immersion-breaking for me. If adding some flowers and a couple of gemstones is all that is needed to make a 'Fine' or whatever weapon - then why aren't ALL weapons in the game of at least that quality? Who in their right mind would NOT stroll into a nearby meadow and pick up the required ingredients to insta-craft something? Take it out entirely and replace it with rare, specialist NPCs.

No please don't make the per rest abilities more frequent - that would remove more challenge and atmosphere from the game in my opinion. Currently using one of those abilities feels 'special'. It's absolutely fine as it is. I don't see any problem whatsoever. I play on 'Hard' and am a veteran of BG and BG2. It's just a new system and people who are used to other systems are taking time to get used to it. There are some great improvements over the cheese of the IE games. Also, it will evolve some more I'm sure. I see no downside to single-character stealth, for example. Who is going to complain about that?? Nobody. Who is going to like it? 100% of people. Therefore I predict they will do it.

I don't like the crafting system either - it diminishes the value of powerful items and makes them less exciting to find/own. But it can be roleplayed, as others have said. It's not the end of the world.

Are stealth and perception affected by armour? That might be worth introducing, if not. But then - ARMOUR SWAPS.

You're obviously frustrated but accusing people who perhaps cope with the system better of blind fanaticism is silly. I love the combat system. I didn't play the beta, I'm playing on 'Hard'. I had a few reloads in a particularly difficult area, which was disappointing - but then I did choose 'Hard' . And one reload was when a phantom 'appeared' right beside my maimed Mage, perma-killing him with no warning. That was harsh! (reload...) Ranged attacks are good for a single hit - often enough to kill an enemy if you concentrate on one target. What do you expect, an enemy to stand there and allow you to attack? Remember it works both ways too, if you're under fire you can close down your enemy quickly. The endurance and health difference is another great idea. You can recover after a fight, but only for so long before you need to rest to treat injuries and fatigue, or face being maimed. I would say you just need to get used to the system. Once you do you'll realise that the difficulty you are experiencing just adds replay value and longevity to the game. [edit] I also think the engagement system is great! Of course if you run past an enemy they are going to get a free hit. Maybe it needs toning down a bit if so many people are hating it - but I don't think so. Worst case is someone gets knocked out now and again - especially (slight spoiler alert ahead...) due to those annoying teleporty shadow things in a certain fairly early location. Oh yeah and how do they know my mage is hiding outside the room and teleport into his face anyway?? THAT, I do dislike

Just means you will be slower to cast spells. Therefore you want your wizard out of the combat but in light armour, for maximum magic-effectiveness. But if you're going more battlemage, it can be done.