Purudaya

If the text in the game files is any indication, every faction companion can stay with you and fight against their faction under the right circumstances. Not that I'm a fan of the romances in this game at all Really? I'll happily eat some crow then - is it just a disposition requirement? I wasn't able to convince Maia no matter what I did.

[...] Regardless, I don't want the game to give me a high five. I just want a confirmation that I can share with my friends and anyone else who is interested, that I have achieved something worth achieving. If for some truly absurd reason this cannot be a part of Steam achievements because some people want 100% to be a freebie, so be it. But I think there needs to be some way that the game recognizes when you've achieved something difficult and a way to share this accomplishment with other people. Well, 100% isn't a freebie - I'm pretty sure you have to complete every faction questline, plus other requirements (as for Port Maje, EVERY game gives away easy early achievements to get the ball rolling). But I get what you're saying: the game should reward TCS somehow. A 30-40 pt. Berath's Blessings reward sounds about right. I just don't understand why a playstyle that only 1% of gamers wll ever even want to attempt should be a requirement for the other 99.

They basically decided that half of the character relationships would be with pro-faction fanatics who will leave you if you go any other narrative route, with no option to influence them or change their allegiances whatsoever. Maia, for example, is one of the most frustrating/unfulfilling character development paths I've seen in a CRPG. Deadfire is a great game, but for all of Obsidian's pontificating about "doing romances right," they botched theirs completely.

I have no Idea what you mean by this. The rogue's Smoke Veil progression path is an example. The "upgraded" versions ditch invisibility in exchange for relatively mediocre AoE functionality (and the game gives zero in-text warning that players will lose the invisibility proc).

I'd rather they do +2/-4, but it's still a useful ability for making friendly fire AoEs smaller alone. I was really surprised how often it enabled me to use a spell where I would've otherwise refrained due to poor positioning.

Wow, by 5? That makes sense actually, as the to-hit chance seems to decrease more with a large AoE than it increases with a small one. I agree that the ability description should be updated with the specifics, especially given that the PL adjustment is asymmetrical.

Part of the problem is that isometric CRPGs generally have a much smaller audience than, say, a Bethesda game. Modders hoping to build career portfolios (it's a thing) tend to gear their efforts more toward higher-exposure games, while casual modders might not have the time, resources, or drive to undertake a "big" quest-type mod with full voice acting, custom rendered maps, etc. There just aren't enough people playing these games - even BG2 never got the kinds of mods you (and I) would like to see. As was already said, the modability of the engine is also a big factor. I'm just glad to be able to play isometric RTWP CRPGs again. And who knows - once all the potentially mod-breaking patches and updates are out, we might yet see a wider breadth of content over at the nexus.

There are a few AoE spells that can't be changed - missile salvo is one of them, meteor shower is another (IIRC). The ability tree will indicate which spells can be shaped once you have selected the spell shaping ability. From what I can tell, the spells that can be adjusted have three settings, available via the zoom function: (1) standard AOE, (2) about 30-40% larger at -1 PL, and (3) about 30-40% smaller at +1PL. The effects of the PL adjustment are generally pretty miniscule - the percent chance to hit usually only goes up or down by a few ticks. It really makes a difference for friendly-fire abilities, though; enough to have me reconsidering spells I previously passed over now that they can be more flexibly targeted. Great feature.

I don't think I've met anyone on the forums that actually enjoys the no-pause challenge. Hope they take your advice, OP.

Sorry to say but I completely disagree with this. I mean, they are called achievements. Google says: "achievement: a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage". Games these days hand achievements for starting the game for the first time, getting the first companion or something equally trivial. Why are these even in the game when they're essentially participation awards? I just cannot understand people who want to have 100% completion just handed to them for the sake of it without any semblance of challenge. Achieving TCS and The Ultimate were one of my fondest memories of Pillars 1. I guess I have you (and other like minded people) to blame for denying me that sense of awe in this game. There's a difference between wanting 100% completion "handed" to you and not wanting triple crown solo to be a mandatory requirement. Setting the absurdity of needing a game to tell us that we've achieved something aside, TCS is above and beyond (both in difficulty, time investment, and - for many - lack of fun factor) what is normally required to reach 100% completion in most games. You can still achieve TCS; lots of people do. The game just won't give you a high five for it anymore.

Don't quote me on it, but my understanding is that you can now enable scaling after starting the game. It may/may not successfully apply to areas you've already visited, however.

Resolve and constitution are generally expendable except for tank builds. If you're looking for a classic engagement/damage soak, you'll want high resolve and reasonable constitution, probably a fighter or fighter/multi, plus the "tough" passive and decent athletics. If you're looking for more of an off-tank, then you can probably stick to average resolve, but I wouldn't dump it into the ground unless you're making a striker, caster, or ranged DPS. There's also Will and Fortitude to think about. Of course there are exceptions and I'm sure there are some tank builds out there with 3 RES or something (maybe a monk with turning wheel and enduring dance that just spams blade turning over and over), but for a standard sword-and-board build I'd recommend 16 RES, 14 CON, and the rest whatever.

+1 All effects need to be visible. Making hostile first doesn't fix the problem. Obsidian need to "fix" the problem. Period. Another annoyance I've found. The hotbar seems to block the formation. I can only fix it by selecting all characters before I'm able to click on my formation. Not sure how many people use formation but I do tinker with it The beta patch also includes new UI options that hide parts of the HUD outside of combat and/or when the game is not paused. I have one character whose ability bar blocks part of the combat log, for example, so I have it set so that - outside of combat only - it only appears when I pause the game. You can do this with any or all visible parts of the HUD now, including having a HUD-free setup that automatically brings everything back whenever a fight starts). It would be really nice if they'd let us drag HUD elements around wherever we want them, but this is still a huge improvement and at least gives players a way to prevent parts of the UI from blocking one another.

She also leaves Ukaizo herself, though. I always took it more as ensuring that no one faction is able to claim it, which feels like the most balanced/stable outcome. She can return when wants to though? Seems like a great Roleplay for someone not concerned about repairing the Wheel. Can she? I seem to remember something about her essentially turning the coastline into a minefield so that no one can come back. From her perspective, it's the closest thing to maintaining the status quo in the Deadfire and preventing any one faction from gaining outsized power. It's not great from the standpoint of repairing the wheel (which animancers don't necessarily need Ukaizo to do - Eothas even says that modern animancy is poised to overcome Engwithan technology), but it's a far shot from 'crazy' imo.

She also leaves Ukaizo herself, though. I always took it more as ensuring that no one faction is able to claim it, which feels like the most balanced/stable outcome.

It would be nice if they would let you control her but limit her movement to the fog of war or something... just making her non-offensive with poor stats and no abilities is quite the challenge on its own; having her walking around the battlefield at random seems both unintentionally funny and way too hard to manage.

I'm at level 9 now, and apart from the four or five tools available (crowbar, grappling hook, etc., the absolutely essential stuff you don't want to be without in a scripted encounter), I have not bought anything. There has been no need. Actually, come to think of it: I have bought one thing that gives +2 might. I'm not saying that you're wrong, but so far it seems to me that Deadfire is identical to PoE in the sense that there is almost nothing to be bought in the game. Like in PoE, I also have not used potions at all, except for the two occasions I tried potions of moderate healing. There are some items absolutely worth purchasing - Dragon's Dowry and the Devil of Caroc breastplate in Neketaka, Grave Calling at Crookspur, Squid's Grasp in Dunnage, Assassin's Boots at the Deck of Many Things... I don't remember anything worth buying/affordable at level 9 either, but it doesn't stay that way

any screenshot anyone on beta can share? if this is true it would 10x my enjoyment of the game. I'm not able to share a screenshot atm, but I've played a few crucible challenges with the new UI (lots of effects flying around) and would go so far as to say this issue has been resolved. Even with extensive hostile and beneficial effects active, I don't think the new window came anywhere near the action bar even once.

Some nice inclusions in this patch, thanks! The UI adjustments alone are a major QoL improvement.

I agree. Many times I plan a character thinking about how to make them powerful, just to mess the build with something I think is cool. That's the reason why the only big concern I have is about Martial Single Class Ressource Pool. They're currently so low that their High Tier abilities can't be used more than a couple of time. Their sustainability is abysmal compared to infinite ressource classes, single casters or multiclass martial. And that feels weak and kills the fun at the same time ^^ The one exception to this is probably single-class monk, which has very good PL 8 and 9 abilities that make the trade off worth it (that and the split resource pool). I agree that they should increase resource pool for single classes, but the better alternative would be to give all martial classes a variety of high level actives that are genuinely powerfu/attractive and not unreasonably high in cost. If investing in a single class character track means sacrificing that much power pool, there needs to be at least one ability that's the martial equivalent of missile salvo, symbol of eothas, etc..

Although...wouldn't benevolent and child caring mean leaving her on the ship where it's safe and warm? Taking her along on crucible challenges and into the white void just seems...irresponsible

Well, if you know/remember that fampyrs can feed on adra to sustain themselves (PoE1/Ydwin IIRC), you can link that to the luminous adra potion you can make. That's true; the game informs you by providing you with the lore. I meant no in-game indication/setup for that specific quest, e.g. leaving a journal lying around or having a character chime in with the clue (haven't taken Ydwin there). Either way, it's a good example of a smart quest resolution that doesn't rely on handholding

All effects need to be visible, period. There are a lot of classes that need to actively refresh self-buffs (especially wizard multis and monks off the top my head), so having negative effects first would trade one problem for another. If it can't be solved by making the text smaller, they should at least make the effect windows pinnable/scrollable. EDIT: looks like the new patch beta has scaled down the UI significantly.

I'd be interested to see whether or not OP's assessment changes after completing the game - as another user said, BoW is really well done in this regard. I also remember reading that the final Splintered Reef encounter can be completed peacefully if the player has a certain uncommon potion on hand, for which there is no in-game indication or setup/the solution has to be arrived at intuitively. As for the criticisms of the encounters you've seen so far, I agree that there's some handholding (Arkemyr's mansion would've been better off without the robe gimmick, tbh... even imps aren't that dumb). I just don't think Deadfire is uniquely egregious about it – BG2 was littered with helpful journals and often made sure to place handy crates full of blunt/nonmagical weapons when clay/magic golems were nearby, fire/acid arrows for trolls, potions of free action, etc. The ward stones can at least be justified narratively: if there are often wardstones found near their corresponding sigils, perhaps they're a component or byproduct of their creation. They also only work on one character and are consumed on use (IIRC; I usually just circumvent or destroy sigils from range and don't use wardstones that often), so they're not that crucial to moving forward. I'm not sure how much you've played, but there should be plenty of instances later on where you have to actively search for a wardstone to protect against a certain sigil or where there won't be one on the map at all.

The only thing I can think of that would be intended behavior is if you happened to have turned on Berath's challenge, which kills your party members after they're down for six seconds. If you're sure you're not playing with any god challenges enabled, then can you check if you can reproduce the behavior in an earlier save?