xzar_monty

@Elric Galad: Strangely enough, I have never used any of those spells you mention (except Chill Fog). This, in a way, reminds me of Baldur's Gate II: of all the spells available, I only use a certain few, which are extremely efficient. The wizard spells I used in Deadfire tended to be Minoletta's Minor Missiles (rarely, but to finish off enemies), Necrotic Lance, Curse of Blackened Sight, Expose Vulnerabilities, Fireball (not at enemies, but to destroy sigils), Ryngrim's Enervating Terror, Gaze of the Adragan, Tayn's Chaotic Orb, Wilting Wind, and that's about it. Rarely any others. A conjurer lacks many of these. And it worked extremely well.

What about Fassina? It's quite possible that I'm simply not a very good player, but what do you think about Fassina? My admittedly brief experience with her left me with a feeling that she was missing a lot of excellent spells and has essentially nothing to replace them with. I will be happy to be proven wrong.

Ok, interesting, and thank you for that. It appears that I was, indeed, wrong, as I said I might be.

This problem is a very specific example of a general flaw in the game, which is that whenever something happens, everybody in the game world instantly knows about it. I can't see it as anything other than rather poor design. This example is particularly obvious, but I was often annoyed by the fact that after I'd arrived in Neketaka, everybody seemed to know that it was me who caused a bit of a stir in the harbor. Also, random strangers on the street appeared to know that I was "Watcher". D'oh.

I also don't think that a rotating camera adds anything significant to a game like this. The backgrounds are extremely well done the way they are, and as you say, a rotating camera couldn't really work.

I have a recent experience with this encounter, and it might help explain why some people might not be able to get this to work. (Or it might not.) When I played BoW the other day, I didn't ask any of the three possible helpers to come along and fight with me against Neriscyrlas. This resulted in a big surprise: when I finally went to confront Neriscyrlas, she was instantly hostile (red circle). Obviously, I cannot be certain that this wasn't a bug, but I interpreted this as being a result of not wanting those three to come along with me. I can be wrong here.

But there is nothing reasonable to do with your unlimited gold. I think that's a bit of a problem in the game: even if you just play a normal game, you will end with an awful lot of cash and nothing to spend it on. There is no need to upgrade the ship, ever. There is nothing special in any of the shops to buy. The latter point is a result of the extremely balanced system: although some items are better than others, you don't need the better items, and there are no especially good items that you'd definitely want to buy.

Hang on. So, does it mean that it's possible to meet any of the factions at the end? Very interesting. I've completed the game twice, thanks largely to corona, and I met the same faction both times.

In a sense there isn't, that's true. There's almost certainly a logical reason for it, too, as you say. It's the same with intervals: essentially everybody prefers thirds and fifths over diminished seconds and augmented fourths, that's just how our brains are wired, i.e. they prefer consonance over dissonance. (The mathematical ratios for consonance are much simpler than those for dissonance, hence they are "easier" and "more pleasing" to the ear.) But it's also true that the repetition can get boring, and the prevalence of that chord sequence is itself a reason for it becoming more and more prevalent -- there's a lot of copying going on, too, for equally obvious reasons. When I worked in music, I used to think that approximately once per year somebody was able to come up with something that sounded completely original, even if it used that most cliched of chord sequences.(*) And yes, the "these days" argument is nearly always just rubbish. Here's an interesting historical tidbit: one of the earliest extant writings known is a lament by an elderly priest in which he complains that the young ones no longer venerate the gods like people used to in the olden days. So this one is as old as humanity, and it's not going to go away. (*) Originality is a matter of context, too, to a surprising extent. The British hard rock band Def Leppard had a hit back in the day, Animal, and its chorus melody ("And I want, and I need, and I lust, animal") sounds really effective. And it can take a while before you realize that actually there is no melody: the whole thing is just one bloody note. It's the chords around that one note that make it sound like a good melody.

If memory serves me correctly, Let It Be is the only #1 hit by the Beatles that relies on those chords to any substantial degree. That's good.

Yeah, thanks. It's pretty powerful. I mean, Ulrich doesn't mess with the tempo too much, and even his double bass drum work towards the end is precise enough. Some of the live work in the 2000s has been heartbreaking: the frontline is good, but the drums...

Listening to this now, this is such a strange song. The intro is excellent and contains one of Hammett's best solos, but once we get into the first verse, it's all downhill from there. It has to be said, though, that this was the first version of The Metallica Ballad, and the next two iterations (i.e. Welcome Home and One) were both superb. By the way, wasn't this the gig where you saw a helicopter flying rather precariously close over the heads of the crowd?

Whenever this little stylized face thing comes up, I immediately wonder: which percentage of Deadfire players have no idea that these God challenges even exist? I suppose that's hard to know.

I also find this quite sad. But I also wonder, knowing how balanced everything is in the game, whether you can actually gain anything substantial by succeeding in those checks. I don't know.

Yep, it tends to be only two or three at a time.

If by "decent amount" you mean something in excess of 10 lumps (or whatever they sell sugar in, in the game) at a time, then I think the answer is no. Sugar is here and there, but never in great quantities. The herbalist in Delver's Row may have some, in addition to what thelee says above.

It's not as simple as this. Sales were poor right from the start, which indicates that a lot of people were not interested in the game in the first place. The reviews did not really suggest that the game was in a very bad shape. (It could be argued that it wasn't.) Also, they did not redo the Intro. They gave the option to skip it. Two totally different things.

I just had two battles in quick succession. My main group was me, Eder, Serafen, Maia and Aloth. I have recruited all the companions. Of those not in my party, Fassina and Xoti didn't appear in either battle. In one of the battles, I also had Mirke, Rekke and Ydwin with me, and in the other, I also had Tekehu and Konstanten. This is either exactly how it went, or at least very close. I didn't write notes. So this does change. I don't know the logic, but it definitely does change. (I don't mind.)

Because of this thread, I have paid some attention to this in recent days when playing the game (which I haven't had much time for). It appears that things to indeed change around, and in a way that is difficult to pin down, like Yefo suggests in his comment right above mine. I am inclined to say that you do *not* get everyone who can fight for you, at least not all of the time, although I wouldn't want to claim this in court without checking it further. Anyway, I do believe Yefo is right in saying that "In a given ship battle, the number of companions actually assisting me was not consistent". This is my experience as well.

The effect very probably stems from mind blades, you are quite right. However, I did have and did use mind blades in my previous game as well, and I don't remember the invisibility effect. Strange. Either I have forgotten it or there has been something rather peculiar going to with probabilities (not impossible, of course, just peculiar). Anyway, it's obvious now that the header of this thread is in error, for which I hold my hand up.

Oh yes, I did have him as a cipher. I don't understand the second question, though. I played him as a regular cipher -- and of course I did notice that every once in a while there was a random effect, but I don't think enemies ever turned invisible. The best random effect was when suddenly got an awful lot of focus, like, 100 points or more.

Wow! So it could be that, and not a bug. Thank you. Here's something really interesting: I had Serafen with me nearly all the time in my first playthrough, and I don't think this ever happened once. This time, it's already happened four or five times. A strange thing, chance.

To my surprise (and with corona and all), I started replaying the game, and I stumbled on a new and hugely annoying bug. Every once in a while, for reasons I really am not sure about, enemies turn invisible. The only way they become visible again is when they hit you. This is very, very strange. I have now had this bug about five times in my game, and I just entered Hasongo and did some battle on the battlements (d'oh). Either Serafen's cipher skills or Aloth's spells may be the main trigger for this sudden turning invisible, but I'm not sure. It could be anything. Heck, just now I entered a battle, gave my first commands (melee, paralysis from Serafen and a spell from Aloth), and once something hit those naga, they all just turned invisible. It doesn't matter who the enemies are, I think I've even seen it with xaurips. Knock on wood, though: I haven't seen the endless combat loop bug once in this particular start of a playthrough. But anyone else seen, or rather not seen, these invisible enemies?

Yep, PoE/Deadfire is right up there with BG2. I don't think these two have any serious rivals in this genre. P:K is slightly but clearly below.

Precisely. And yes, good point: it's a bit unfair to put so much blame on NWN. It was the whole change that was the problem, not that one game.