Crucis

Ditching Aloth? maybe. Ditching Eder? Heaven forbid! You can't ditch the Watcher's best buddy! After all, you'll always know that he has your bat. Ummm, I meant "back".

If the DLC is properly loaded, as the first question, and just ask her to continue, about after the 2nd "Continue", she'll ask if you need any help (don't remember the exact words). You do not have to start a new game to gain access to this. You can even have spoken to her prior to getting the DLC. Seems like it's not installed properly for me, for some reason it's trying to install in my secondary GOG location and for some reason it's not possible to change the installation path on the DLC. Sorry, can't help you with that. All I know is that *IF* it's installed properly, it does work and you don't need to start a new character.

One thing that might make 2H more interesting (and should affect all weapon types) could be having a Might related modifier that reduced recovery speed with most weapons. A very strong character should be able to wield a 2H sword more easily than a very weak character could wield a 1H sword. That said, it would need to be balance carefully. And IMO, it shouldn't affect firearms, but should affect bows/xbows (because stronger characters can handle those things with greater ease than a weaker character could). I would personally like to see quarter staffs changed so that they were quick 2H weapons, rather than reach weapons. Edit: I added in the "with most weapons" caveat to the first sentence. Also, Might shouldn't reduce recovery time for fists.

It would be nice if the sidekicks were a little bit more than pre-rolled adventurers you can get at any inn. They don't need to be as in-depth as true Companions. And definitely not hard-linked to the factions. A little bit of banter would be nice. A side quest would be nice, but if I had to choose between banter or side quest, I'd probably choose the banter. Banter is a nice reminder that the others in your party aren't just little robots. They're (pixel) "people" too. I'm sure that some would like to see Ydwin become a full fledged companion. I'd probably be one of those. But at the same time, I can realize that different people can have different sidekicks they'd prefer to see as companions. And personally, I'd probably prefer more sidekicks (with banter included) than converting existing sidekicks to companion status. I think that having more sidekicks would, or should, mean more joinable party members with wider variety of races, classes, subclasses, and multi-classes options. I will say though that I have zero interest in things like having sidekicks that are imps or vithracks or whatever. I'd prefer that the devs stick to the normal player races choices. I suppose that unique subraces or subclasses are OK, but in all honesty, it does kind of annoy me to see unique subraces or subclasses used when players can't have access to them.

If the DLC is properly loaded, as the first question, and just ask her to continue, about after the 2nd "Continue", she'll ask if you need any help (don't remember the exact words). You do not have to start a new game to gain access to this. You can even have spoken to her prior to getting the DLC.

I have to disagree. I want companions that I'd *want* to have traveling with me. Not some arseholes. I also don't want some bleeping vithrak companion either (as I recall at lesat one person asking for). That said, I happen to think that Tekehu is a total arsehole, at least the small amount that I've seen of him. And I have little desire to have him in my party with his totally conceited personality. Maybe he gets better, but I'm not really interested in putting him with him until them, particularly because I'm not at all interested in dragging along a chanter or a druid (or a combo of both) in a party of 5. If the party size was 6, I might consider it. But at 5, I want companions of classes I can depend on, not characters in a support class that I generally see as a luxury, not a necessity.

I was thinking the same thing. In one way it makes a lot of sense. OTOH, I'm not entirely sure how a drunken pirate girl ends up being a monk. It seems like she could have been sort of an untrained monk in the same way that Sarafen is an untrained cipher and even has his own subclass for it. But I suppose her being sort of an untrained monk could be why she has no subclass. RP-wise her rogue subclass is Streetfighter which I think makes a lot of sense for her when you multi to a monk/rogue. I could see her as either of the two multiclass choices. Monk/Rogue might be even better, but she's not really a good fit for me as a m/r since I'm already well covered there with Eder being my party rogue (though his skill focus is on Mechanics). I suppose I could take Mirke and turn her into a slight of hand specialist, though this late in the game, I'm not sure if it's worth it. OTOH, I've been putting off going to see the Queen of Nekataka, where I presume I'm going to be pushed to pick a side, and risk losing Pallegina or Maia. So maybe now might be the perfect time to start thinking about who will be a replacement. I'm leaning towards going with the Rauataians, which would mean I'd lose Pallegina. (Man, I HATE that, cuz I like having a paladin around. They're so damned useful against anything that wants to charm your party.)

I'm curious which class option for Mirke people prefer, pure monk, monk/fighter, or monk/rogue? I really don't need another rogue, since I have Eder as a pure rogue, and I occasionally have Ydwin in the party and I have her as a cipher/rogue. Personally, I'm leaning towards pure monk, but could be convinced to try out a monk/fighter. (Mirke really doesn't seem like a normal monk from a RP PoV. Monk/Fighter seems more her RP personality, at least to me.)

Do you have to start a new game to get her? I've finished off Deadlight, and she doesn't seem to have any options to join. UPDATE: I just got the DLC properly installed, and was not able to get her to join. It may not seem it at first when you talk to her again, but just ask her how things are around Deadlight, and she'll answer in an expected way, but then, she'll be sort of hesitant, and eventually ask if you've got room for another sword arm on your ship.

How many other unique maces are there in the game, that it's not that great? I found only this one actaully so... And it's definitelly the only soulbound one. It's called the Magistrate's Cudgel. As a mace, it's OK, I guess. Nothing spectacular, but doesn't seem horrible either.

I'm getting this exact same error (i.e. game crashes after switching party members at sea). I don't know if I've doing steps 3 and 4 every time, but I'm certainly getting this crash, seemingly about 1-2 times a day.

I guess that it's just not in me to have a Companion who has a subclass that's gun-based not using a gun. Hey, if she was a Sharpshooter subclass, I'd probably be all over putting the Frostseeker bow in her hands. But there's just something ... wrong ... about having a Gunhawk not using a gun, at least to me.

I didn't like it because its main attack is a AoE line that can hit friend or foe alike. I didn't even realize this was happening until I was in a battle where Maia was hitting Eder among others, because she's invariably in the rear of my formations, due to the great range she gets with Arquebusses. I stopped using 3BT because it was going to be too much micro management to prevent her from hitting friendlies. I prefer her using a nice, friendly-safe arq. EDIT: for what it's worth, the 3BT arq might be a good choice for a front liner who wants to get off a good opening strike, since such a character probably never had friendlies in front of them.

Do you play the game in english or with a localization? I have heard that some of the translations have problems. I play a female character in english and havent noticed weird things, but im a man so its possible im just blind to those because of it. Je joue en français. Mais tous les sons sont en anglais, donc cela ne change rien. Je ne parle pas de mauvaise traduction ou je ne sais quoi. Je parle d'interactions sociales, comme quelqu'un qui me tape le dos, comme si j'étais sa compagne de beuverie. Je suis une femme et non... juste, non. Il me semble qu'Edèr (entre autres) fait souvent ça. Et je déteste. Comme il dit lui-même au début de l'aventure : il n'est qu'un "pauvre fermier qui suit (aveuglément) la Gardienne et prend les coups à sa place". Ce n'est pas pour que lui m'en colle. Et puis, c'est déplacé. I play in French. But all the audio are in English, so it does not matter. I'm not just talking about a bad translation or whatever here. I'm talking about social interactions like someone who hits my back, as if I were his drinking buddy. I am a woman and it's a no-no. Edèr often does that. I hate it. As he says at the beginning of the adventure: he is a "poor" farmer who follows (blindly) the Watcher and takes the blows in her place. And then he slaps me (the back, the arm...) ? No, it's out of place. I think you may be projecting certain cultural assumptions about gender norms onto a game that does not share those assumptions. I've got to say, as a man, that I'm totally comfortable in that kind of low-key roughhousing and physical camaraderie with my female friends - and that's not at all unusual where I'm from (or, incidentally, in California, where Obsidian is located). Obviously you see things differently, which is fine, but you shouldn't expect gender reactivity to social norms that don't exist in either the setting the story is taking place in or the culture the writers mostly come from. ^This. 100000% This.

Holy crap! I just use Froskseeker for Eder (rogue), and it's not anywhere near that crazy! He does well with it, but nowhere near that level of OP-ness.

Blightheart's not great, imo. The cone corrode attack is short-range, so doesn't come into play much with the long-range arquebus attack. Heartbeat heals for 20% of the damage done by the attack, which again doesn't make much sense on a long-range weapon. Blighted Shot is a 1/encounter full attack that hobbles and weakens, which sounds great, except that Rangers are probably already hobbling with upgraded Wounding Shot, and Ranger/Rogues have Hobbling Strike to boost, plus Weakening Blow if you really want that effect. (And level 1 Maia is locked into both abilities.) And the last ability is nearby enemies become distracted for 20s when you get a kill, which I guess is pretty good though maybe a little slow and unreliable for a Perception affliction. I'm not sure if there's an attack roll on it though, and you may get distracted from other sources, such as a melee rogue. And there's the fact that you can't up it to Legendary, only Superb. Right now, on my Maia, I'm using the Thundercrack pistol. It paralyzes for 5 seconds on a crit, and Maia has 106 accuracy, plus Dirty Fighting (rogue ability, 10% hits to crits) and Uncanny Luck (another 5% hit to crit), and then with Driving Flight, it's just stun city all around. Plus 25% shock lash is nice too. Scordeo's is in the offhand, because Eccea's was very disappointing to me. (Low damage number, and raw damage isn't as great any more with how armor and penetration work now.) Thanks for the reply, Hippo. I'll have to take another look at the good, unique pistols vs the arquebusses. But the last time I looked, I thought that Arq's had a significant advantage in Maia's Gunhawk subclass over pistols, but I might be mis-remembering. Also, I have to say that I also love the great range that Maia gets out of using an Arq over a pistol. There's pretty much no enemy in a battle that she can't reach when she's using an Arq.

They should probably start with fixing the "boat compass". Half the time, it's not showing the right orientation..or I want those ship that aren't Voyagers with front canons. Pressing 1 right at the start and ignoring the rest is fastest and lowest damage way to deal with ships. This is very true. There are essentially two ways to do ship combat. 1. Try to defeat the enemy ship in ship to ship combat. This method is supposedly better for earning crew XP. 2. Try to defeat the enemy ship by engaging in a boarding action. This method is supposedly better for earning more booty. I generally prefer going for boarding actions, given that I'm still using my trusty little ol' Defiant. While she can do a pretty good job against small ships, I don't want to risk ship duels against larger (more HP), better armed ships. Also, if you think you can handle it, sometimes it's not a bad idea to try to engage the enemy ship for a while, using chain shot mostly to de-sail her and grape shot to try to maximize crew injuries, so that when you eventually commit to a boarding action, you've (I think) reduced the number of defenders on the enemy ship.

I'm always playing the nice Watcher, so I can't imagine sacrificing a companion. I'd be tempted to toss fish boy to the altar, but I suspect that I'd incur Ondra's wrath somehow (whether the game included it or not). I'd probably end up dodging storms for years on end. Or worse. Stuck in on for years on end.

Which arquebus is better for Maia (single class ranger)? Blightheart or Dragon's Dowry? I've had DD for a little while, but only just got Blightheart. And seeing as BH is a soulbound weapon, I don't know if it's worth committing to, if DD is the better arquebus.

I guess I sort of agree with you. I still maintain that if one was having to spam rests it was probably because they were spamming their per-rest spells like crazy rather than build a party that was strong on physical combatants who could keep going without any limits on per-rest abilities, as long as they didn't get knocked out. Personally, I still maintain that while not perfect, the POE1 system was considerably better in this regard. Managing your limited resources SHOULD matter! It's part of roleplaying. cRPG's shouldn't just be an endless string of battles with no limitations or consequences. Resting should matter. Managing resources should matter. Fatigue should matter. Camping supplies, not so much. (It's kind of silly to have a stash of unlimited size but then limit the amount of camping supplies you can bring along.)

That's...exactly what I said. In either system (mine with forced roster rotation and stronghold turns or yours with time requirements), you'd have to have a separate system for the Watcher, cause you cannot afford to cart your main character around with 3 injuries and waiting for 9 days before you can finally enter a fight without risking your entire campaign any more than you can realistically put your main character on the bench for 3 stronghold turns and go complete quests with some other main character. Yeah, I know. My bad. I didn't happen to notice that you'd said it until after I'd posted this.

I do not feel like this is an accurate characterization of how combats went down in PoE1 at all. I also think it might hint at why some of the same players on this board seem to rely on two criticisms of the original game. 1. "80% of the game" was auto attack fights. 2. Limited camping meant you had to go back to town alot. These things are related, and I think they demonstrate that certain players are simply not interested in exploring the wealth of options for optimizing your gameplay in the original. It's simply not true that 80% of the fights in PoE1 were just attack-move fights. It's likely not even 50%. Most fights and most areas actually wanted you to use SOME spells and SOME per encounter abilities in nearly every single fight. Yes there were a few lone trolls or lone shadows, but those were there to introduce monsters to the player. The Temple of Eothas below the first town is a perfect example of this. It doesn't actually have "the big fight where you blow all your abilities" instead it has a series of fights that, if done strategically and with SOME spell usage in EACH fight, allow the player to coast through the dungeon without needing to go back to town. Instead of just casting the same max abilities you use in every fight, you are judicious and focus on specific casts, i.e. fire damage for the spirits. But, if you just attack-moved every fight, yeah, you would run out of health very quickly. If folks were just auto-attacking for 80% of the fights in the original game, it's no wonder that those same folks had to go back to town regularly due to limited resting supplies. The majority of combat is definitely "trash mobs" and the majority of those trash mobs is definitely auto attacking. While i don't have hard stats, the majority would mean 50% of combat at the very least. Sure some of it is a spell or 2 here or spell or 2 there, but i'm talking majorities. Ok sure your Eothas example - no big fights, need to keep using your stuff, sparingly. That early you can what, use first level spells twice and second level twice? Maybe. You can have maybe 3 diff spellcasters with that use (priest druid wizard) and in one go on PotD, before needing to rest, maybe 5 fights or so due to health/endurance if nothing else. The thing is though, in those 5 fights you used a couple spells from each character here or there. This isn't to point out the majority auto attacking still, this is to say you then barely used your characters, barely engaged with the combat each fight and for what, some amazing and fulfilling system of saving your stuff, like it's some big achievement or some great challenge that no other system could rival? Death by 1000 (boring) cuts? Is engaging with each fight minimally really that rewarding? You see it as "man, i cleared that dungeon with only needing to rest once or twice, i saved the **** out of my abilities" while i see it as "Ok, i barely did anything most fights cause i had to stretch my stuff out and i still got through it all pretty easily, lol, kinda boring but what's next" You see the potential disconnect of a restrictive attrition system? You aren't thinking "how can i engage with this combat best? Take advantage of all the depth and diversity and strengths and weaknesses of friend and foe alike, what kinda fun can i have?" Instead you're being left to think "How can i end this fight as quickly and efficiently as i can, because i have another 10 - 15 just like it coming up" Unless of course, you were brought up on said systems and it's all you know and want to know.... Edit: When the challenge is "how much can i not play the game, not engage with the depth, variety and strategy of combat to make sure i can go the mile" then you know there is a big design flaw, oldschool fan favorite system or not. I'm sorry, but this is just a pant load of self-entitled excrement. As I see it, you're seeing through the eyes of a console gamer, while I'm seeing it through the eyes of a computer and PnP gamer! And explain what you mean by an attrition system. I have no clue what you're talking about. Regardless, what you're describing is IMO lazy console gaming. There's no depth to it. There's no challenge to managing resources. It's all about the combat and only about the combat. And that's boring AF.

The reason I'd tie it to a separate turn system is the introduction of the Wait mechanic. Instead of the rest button, you'd just be pressing the Wait button, except now you don't even need to consume food. The intent of tying it to a turn system that only ticks over during quest progress, like Stronghold Turns used to do, is so that when you're forced to change your party composition due to injuries, you actually have to USE that composition for something, achieve something with them, instead of waiting an arbitrary amount of time so that you can go back to the comp you were using the whole time. The only hole in that plot that I can see is that the Watcher would have to be excluded from that system and have a separate one all of their own, since, you know, you can't actually put the Watcher on the bench and take on someone else as the leader. I hated that stronghold turn mechanic because it didn't have a fixed amount of time. And that's why I would strongly oppose it. If someone is determined to not try out different comp mixes of companions and will wait/rest as long as necessary to get back their favorite wounded companion, then so be it. Also consider too that your main character can get injured too, and it's not like the Lord/Lady of Caed Nua can take a vacation from adventuring and fill the party with companions. So, just let people sit around if that's what they really want to do while their favorite companion gets better. It's not going to be any different for the main character, unless the gods deem that the Lord/Lady of Caed Nua heals at a miraculously fast rate.

I do not feel like this is an accurate characterization of how combats went down in PoE1 at all. I also think it might hint at why some of the same players on this board seem to rely on two criticisms of the original game. 1. "80% of the game" was auto attack fights. 2. Limited camping meant you had to go back to town alot. These things are related, and I think they demonstrate that certain players are simply not interested in exploring the wealth of options for optimizing your gameplay in the original. It's simply not true that 80% of the fights in PoE1 were just attack-move fights. It's likely not even 50%. Most fights and most areas actually wanted you to use SOME spells and SOME per encounter abilities in nearly every single fight. Yes there were a few lone trolls or lone shadows, but those were there to introduce monsters to the player. I think that the people who complained that "limited camping supplies meant you had to back to town a lot" probably were ones who were spamming their per-rest spells and abilities like crazy, rather than rationing their use and using the unlimited combat abilities of their physical combatants to carry a much larger share of the load in combat. I rarely had to spam camping in PoE1 because I rationed my pre-rest spell usage and relied on my physical combatants to do most of the work. And I usually used spells that assisted them in doing that more effectively, rather than using, say, my wizard to try to win the battle all by himself by nuking the enemy into oblivion.

I'd like to see resting matter too. But I wouldn't go with the old "stronghold turn". I'd just require each type of injury to have a certain number of required days of rest, same as is done for members of your crew. The game is already tracking days for crew injuries. Why not do the same for party members who you put in your reserve to rest up? I think that if you put them into your reserve for rest, they could be considered "busy", or unavailable for action (other than perhaps for defending the ship during boarding actions). And like you imply, this would be a good way to force players to mix up their party comps using reserve members. At the same time, say that Eder is injured during your action in some battle on a distant island, but your party perseveres and completes that areas and heads back to the ship. He might have time to fully recover during your voyage back to Nekataka or wherever. Also, the presence of a ship's surgeon should have an impact on how quickly the injuries heal. And the presence of medical supplies should matter too. You put Eder into your reserve for a voyage home on your ship, but you're out of medical supplies and don't have a ship's surgeon, then that injury should take the maximum time to heal. But with a skilled ship's surgeon and proper medical supplies, maybe Eder will be back in action far more quickly.