Primislas

This is why I like Sagani - Itumaak. Playing on normal, my PC tank was holding Thaos, Eder without Defender and with a 2H poleaxe was occupying one giant, Itumaak was tanking the other. We had no trouble whatsoever. Zero CC used throughout the fight.

And there's already the endings wiki page http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pillars_of_Eternity_Endings I figure to have animancy you can't support the Dozens. And maybe should dissuade the Knights from exploring animancy further. (I testified in favor of animancy during the hearing. But otherwise realized too late to reload that I was locked in with the Dozens and just rolled with them. As a result animancy barely survived underground.) Aloth keeps nagging me, as I told him to join me as an equal rather than a follower and yet he started working for the Leaden Key anyways. Durance is way above my head. Me and him are the only two people that deduced a secret Woedica-Magran alliance. And he believed me. Well, I guess when two inflamed minds conjoin everything's possible. Besides, it turned out well for him in the end, so... let's call it a touch of destiny. The Heritage Hill machine blew up back in my face too. The above are the things I didn't anticipate and would probably change in my perfect playthrough once the bugs are stomped out. And maybe try to make Kana into an inspirational explorer rather than a merry eccentric scholar. The range of options for Sagani surprised me. Fortunately I'm quite happy with setting her on the path of becoming an elder.

I totally do. Dropped him from my party only occasionally to take Aloth for a side quest stroll so as not to make him feel abandoned. D: He actually me think that chanting was very important to their culture, to the extent that an ancient text could sway his entire nation in a different direction. They did have their fair share of scholarly debates, so he's not at all unbelievable.

I think SpitefulOne and Tigranes are onto something. And I too see some patterns. Or rather echoes of a few themes. Eder is left without his answer. He'll never know, that's what he had to come to terms with. Kana finds his goal in ashes, and again he can't ever know what was on the tablets, his quest rendered pointless. He too has to come to grips with it. Durance discovers that one way or the other years of his feverish devotion to Magran were either a delusion or an act completely disregarded by his goddess, a revelation that would make a lesser man's head spin and feel as if the rug was pulled from under his feet. His life's work rendered useless, certainty of the teachings of Durance crushed. Same goes for Sagani and her revelation of Persoq being the deer. Imagine her feelings as she was kneeling down to recite all she arrived with, after years of pursuit away from home she misses dearly, to a mute beast who couldn't even comprehend her, in full view of a bunch of strangers either shying away politely or giving her only mockery. She now has to make sense of it somehow. Meanwhile Aloth and Hiravias have to come to terms with who they are. Why were they "cursed" with special powers and what are they to do with those now? Was GM right doing what she did with her good intentions? Mind-controlling people for the greater good? (What a foreshadowing.) Is Pallegina right doing what she's about to do, having next to no clues on the outcome of her actions, just as in the case of GM? As you ponder and resolve all these things (dealing with uncertainty and doubt, trying to find purpose where there seems to be none, accepting who you are, taking reins over your own fate instead of looking to authority to give you direction, and bearing the consequences of your actions) you shape your companions as much as they shape PC, preparing the Watcher for what's in store for him. As act 4 arrives: PC has no idea which deity tells the truth to begin with, PC finds himself without an anchor whatsoever upon meeting Iovara, PC comes to terms with his past and makes a leap of faith with his final decision. I don't think I've ever had to dwell so much on dialogue options in RPGs for a very long time, if ever, so I'm totally at a loss how you find the experience unsatisfactory or can compare these companions to all the daddy issues of Mass Effect 2. GM's resolution had me all in knots about my clashing ideals. Sagani's quest was unlike anything I've dealt with before. Do they really merit contemptuous "puppets with dialogues" and "exposition dispensers in need of therapy" labels? And indeed, the final quest almost might seem pointless as far as big picture goes. Hollowbirths end one way or the other, animancy in Dyrwood is suppressed for awhile one way or the other, consequences of Woedica's possible victory are shrouded*. But cue the line about purpose of the struggle, learn to take comfort from changing fates of all the settlements you visited (no, it's not just Defiance Bay), dealing with Thaos and the Leaden Key the way you wished to, getting to know all your companions, and, yes, live with the consequences of your final action, forever in doubt. I know I did. * That's why making an expansion or a sequel can't be that hard, particularly if it happens outside Dyrwood and no mention to the Legacy has to be made other than it came and went, this and that is happening in Defiance Bay. One more reason to applaud Obsidian rather than bash them?

You missed the quest to kill resurrected Raedric. Questgiver Even then it doesn't really thrive though. Same with the Heritage Hill - you had the option to destroy the construct. I left it intact FOR SCIENCE too, and it blew up right in my face. Thanks, Obsidian. ><

Defiance Bay has a slew of its own issues though. From the way the Dozens/Knights rivalry is implemented (consider the amount of people that unwittingly end up "supporting" the Dozens and realize it all too late) to the way post-riot city looks like. Twin Elms offered a thorough Glanfathan exposition with its denizens being responsive to almost everything you do (with the exception of Ethik Nol massacre ), whereas divine quests offered interesting dilemmas to solve. As for Iovara, she gives the Watcher the story of how these particular eleven gods were manmade, manufactured in a very obvious fashion. Not sure how that is comparable to Christians and atheists.

Because he started that way, it didn't happen over time, he was ready and prepared to commit genocidal scale atrocities on Day 0, including setting the souls of thousands of his own people on fire in the blind hope of successfully creating gods that might solve his personal issues with the nature of the world. And they don't. He has to spend those centuries committing yet more atrocities so that people don't notice the flaws in his plan, and the nature of kith never actually changes. His created gods don't change society, and the conflict of his 'real' gods aren't any different than the conflicts of 'false' gods. So, yeah, he's crazy stupid nuts on day 0, fails on day 1, and keeps going with a failed plan for centuries. That is just... dumb. He apparently gets plot armor reincarnation railroad powers from being bloody stupid. I thought he gave you an exposition of the world before Engwithian gods. Weren't "genocidal atrocities on Day 0" a willing self-sacrifice and a communal ascension to godhood? The gods he created certainly solved his personal issues with the world. He believes that his pantheon changed the nature of kith sufficiently by destroying religious practices he considered barbaric and replacing those idols with something he approved of. The fact that his gods could foster conflicts was a bitter irony, but from his point of view those were deviations because Woedica - order, justice, inevitable retribution - was supposed to stay in charge, and once he can restore her granting her enough power to stay on the throne this time, all can finally be well and good. Multiply it by a skewed perspective of a millenia-old person. To him a generation of hollowbirths in one province of Dyrwood is indeed just a hiccup in the grand scheme of things. "The world merely skipped a heartbeat". © Fanatical zeal and willingness to commit atrocities "for the greater good" is not unheard of. They can boggle the minds of us uninvolved spectators, yet I think it's fair to say that humans (kith) have plenty capacity for it. And as Lasci pointed out, humans are just as resistant to admitting their own mistaken conclusions when they are involved (let alone for hundreds of lifetimes) even when results stare them in the face, particularly if they can perpetuate their delusions. Yet another quite ordinary human trait.

I love the talking chair. She's my bro. Still can't say I feel comfortable sitting on that throne. ...on her lap.

Maybe that's the one secret room that you can only access if you consume Maerwald's essence for knowledge? I read about it on Steam forums with no specifics described, so it's just a guess whether that's the room.

Could be. I accidentally sided with the Dozens too. But I managed to complete the one Keep quest that unlocks that smith as a merchant before that. Maybe it's worth reporting as a bug.

You may be an outsider, but your companions are not. And they were as abhorred as you'd expect a modern person to be. Furthermore, the lord's transgressions inspired so much hatred and resentment that people were willingly sacrificing themselves to end him and all his family, make them a grisly example to bastards in positions of power who think they are beyond judgement. You can get the vibe from the villagers and journals scattered throughout the temple if Skaenite words are not enough. Also, his demeanor when you confront him with the truth about his niece. Edit: Dyrford disposition gain (or loss) also indicates how well liked the lord was.

It's the Crucible Keep. But you need to find pieces to reforge it.

I just find it amazing that nobody in Twin Elms gives a damn that war paint won't flow anymore. Once a faction announces me an enemy, I reciprocate by slaughtering them all. (Except for the nice blind old lady. But then she didn't decide to attack me on sight either.) I guess the villagers were so terrified (in part because they realized I now have all their war paint) that they pretended nothing happened when I was around.

The only character I really dislike is Hiravias. Not because he's a badly written character or anything, it's his personality I'm simply at odds with. To a lesser degree Aloth. Eder is somewhat boring, but I can see myself enjoying travels with all of them except for the aforementioned two. I've been using Itumaak as a second offtank all the time, he was great in the role. Also an excellent choice for baiting and pulling. Particularly when the puller gets insta-dominated e.g. by spores. D:

I've started my 2nd playthrough as a monk on hard. And, well, I was being slaughtered by wolves and boars. So it dawned on me to use armor and a staff. Even with armor I still get plenty of wounds. And now I try to think of monks as of templars / hospitallers kind of monks. Just had to reassess my perception of the archetype, it clicked and made me a happier player for it.

But. But. You can release her from her torment in a peaceful way. Poor Lillith. :'(

I've assumed that Woedica actually was installed as the major deity from the very beginning. Thaos and his Inquisition weren't spreading the faith of Woedica, but rather the faith of the whole Pantheon. It was only later that the other gods cast Woedica down from her throne and burned her with Magran's fire. And I'm not sure I've encountered anything suggesting that gods needed further sacrifices and "feeding" after they were created to maintain themselves.

I had Grieving Mother with me and she managed to undo the ritual from the girl. Saving the girl, I sent her into hiding. However afterwards I killed the lord myself. Doing it silently is an option and it nets Extraordinary reputation with Dyrford. (:

Can't be the real reason though. What about Calisca's and the trader's souls? Were they special too? So I'm inclined to go with "simply hid away in time" answer.

The gods are patently real with all the divine attributes. Obviously this isn't something that would happen immediately, but it could involve spreading the idea. <snip> Instead we're presented with various options that show the people of the Dyrwood bowing and scraping in their ignorant adoration of the supposed gods even more. Well, yeah, my point was more that it can't happen with the ending slides or as the machine option, and whatever the Watcher's actions, for the time being Dyrwood is certain that animancy is evil (is it possible to get any alternative ending in regard to it at all? I figure Sanitarium is always burned down during riots and the people always connect the dots between the riots and the ending of the Legacy). But the very last two slides are: All that remained was what to make of the answer. But at the moment there was little to be done, and the matter would have to wait. A long journey loomed ahead.

Skaen was explained on the first page of this very same thread. This is where subsequent playthroughs come in handy as we start to notice things we didn't pay much attention to in the beginning. As far as I understand it, with his awakening he inherited that crushing doubt from his past life. The first time the Watcher sees Thaos he feels there's a question he must ask of the man. The question eludes his mind for now, yet all the feverish angst is back.

How do you envision that though? Some weirdo emerges from a dungeon and just starts telling everyone that gods are a manmade fiction? I'm sure that any living world has plenty of heretics telling all sorts of things that seem absurd to the people. The gods are patently real with all the divine attributes. Ramblings of a watcher can't possibly be persuasive (as far as anyone's concerned you've gone insane from all the whispers down there in that dungeon). So first of all you have to do something with the souls. Whether you pursue the goal of exposing the truth in one fashion or another is its own separate story which I can hardly see being successful.

Loot usually contains uniques. Sometimes a couple per bounty.

Which gets you stuck on another piece. The quest log says to Yet I exhausted every option and are left with Have you tried resting in an inn a few times and trying again? My problem was that prayer activated final dialogues for two companions (him and GM) and GM was blocking him, so I had to deal with her first. Edit: also, what is the code for spoiler tags? Many thanks in advance. (:

I would've posted a screenshot, but I can't figure out the show/hide tags, so here is the text: When the dust settled in Sun in Shadow, Aloth looked upon the remains of Thaos ix Arkannon, his former master. He saw where the grandmaster had gone wrong, and knew what he would do better. [Yeah, better than a person with millenia of experience. Another ] The secret of the gods would be preserved, and with it, the sanity and the wellbeing of all the kith. He donned the remains of Thaos' ceremonial garb and prepared himself for the long and lonely task ahead. And the screenshot