Slapstick87

I really don't get why they can't just all be at the same level. It's annoying as heck.

Same issue here

Same here, playing solo

If you wanted to make an easy implementation of this it could be a background. "Muse" You've been the inspiration of artists, composers and philosophers. Beguilingly elegant and gorgeous, there's been no shortage of people who've found their passions stirred to great achievements by the mere presence of your visage. You've never wanted for food or shelter, though envy and lack of appreciation for your character and ideas has been a stone in your plush, velvet shoe. Bonus: +2 Diplomacy Now if someone who could actually write something coherent made this into a background, I could totally see myself playing a female beauty if it had all the interactions to go with it

THIS! I was livid when I had enchanted a weapon with an enchant that was "ok-ish" and discovered that the one I really wanted but couldn't get at the moment disappeared. How they missed this part of the UI I can't understand.

So why make it 75% in the first place? It's just an annoyance until you cap the XP then. Because from RPG perspective, the inactive members aren't really doing anything so they don't gain as much experience as the one going around traveling. This is just a toned down version because jRPG takes it to the next level of not giving them exp at all. The only real flaw from not taking companions along is that they don't grow through special quest dialogue which affects the reputation point they have with you and your other companions. I take your point, but it's still not an argument in favor of this solution. a) If it's for the coveted 'immersion' then giving them a substantial part of the XP still breaks it. And b) I'm not really buying that it's important or even noteworthy immersion-wise. Levels are arbitrary distinctions in power that makes only a limited sense in the game world. And if I had picked Aloth back up again and found him to have similar XP as the others, I wouldn't have gone "well this is just totally unrealistic". I'm not really trying to be difficult about it, I'm just surprised if it's not more commonly opposed. It can't possibly be that anyone will look back at Deadfire and think "one thing I really appreciated is how companions I didn't use for a bit didn't get as much XP as the rest of the team. That really did it for me".

So why make it 75% in the first place? It's just an annoyance until you cap the XP then.

How come my companions don't have the same XP, preferably the same XP as me, regardless of wether they're in the party or not? I was "encouraged" to bring along Tekehu for a romp through The Gullet, and he changed places with Aloth. After going through that area and a few more side-quests, I wanted to switch back to Aloth - only to find him a couple of thousands of XP lower than my existing party and missing a level to boot. Why? I'm hard pressed to see any benefit to this, though I see a lot of con's. Con's - It discourages trying out companions you're not instantly loving - It discourages switching out party members to try out new tactics - It discourages switching out party members to get a feel for how different NPC's get along - Being "encouraged" to bring certain characters for certain parts of the game feels like the game is intentionally shoving stones into my shoe to irk me. - It's just plain annoying - I really hate it Pro's? - Making me want to play with a locked in party from start to finish probaby increases the chance I'll play it twice. Wohoo I guess? I simply fail to see any reason why it's like this... at all. It would be much much better if the entire party simply had the same XP and were at the same level at all times.

Yeah I agree! Mulling over new builds and characters is a favorite passtime of mine, and having to slowly somber my way over to the chair each time is a bit of a drag. Would be nice with a "faster character creation" option, where you just "poof" into the chair and "poof" into the ship.

This is the only part about Pillars 2 I'm quite decidedly not looking forward to. I already think it's hard to figure out how to make room in my party for "extra" characters that I want to include. If they had said "Guess what guys, 7 PARTY MEMBERS!!" I would've been overjoyed! Right now I'm trying to get through a game without a priest and proper tank so I can finally find room for what I perceive as non-essential characters for once. 2 tank/melee, 1 priest, 1 wizard is pretty much mandatory IMO. Sure you can hybridize the roles, but it's still hard to fit more than a single character rotation into a party setup with the player character filing one new role so you can try out one new character. The restrictions on party composition doesn't change, but whether or not you can include extra characters just for fluff and giggles is seriously reduced.

I just completes a normal run with a rogue - lots of fun Beginning of the game was just high stealth and almost no fighting until somewhere in Defiance Bay. Focused on high dps and killing enemies before they could kill me until mid-level where I rerolled to retaliation tank. Food and summons where used for hard/main fights, and defensive potions saw ample use. But it's just another skill button really, didn't use scrolls as I never invested in lore. Gearing requires a bit of thought, which is part of the fun imo. Rogue has just the right amount of tools and active combat skills to be entertaining, and some vicious damage so killing things was reasonably quick. I also think a monk would be a good fit for you. You will however not get entirely away from summons/food/potions etc. when you go solo. This is more of a tactical rpg, and not so much an action rpg.

Welcome to the fandom Actually fighters has so much innate defense and sturdiness to begin with, that you don't have to build them ultra-defensive. It can be much better to build some offense into them so they can be a properly disruptive force on the field. It also helps the AI not ignore them and just go for the glass canons instead, which they are liable to do if the tank is no threat. As you say, you usually don't even use vigorous defense! Rapid Recovery is generally not needed, at least not if you have a priest or druid for healing. Overbearing guard I haven't tested, but I find offensive talents more attractive. Disciplined Barrage is +20 to accuracy, which is huge. It's for anything the fighter might be doing the next 15 seconds! so the knockbacks will land, that's for sure. If you put spellbound items that charm or dominate, or scrolls, you can see how that's pretty awesome! With Armored Grace and Weapon Specialization he can ramp up the damage he can get out of a sabre quite significantly. Clear out, and then charge are all nice powers. he's still not going to go down unless you want him to I do keep vigorous defense in my build for the nastier stuff though.

A "New Game+" option that makes a solo play experience more tolerable. Such as making you unable to take companions, but also gives you immunity to hard CC's like paralyze and petrify. They can still be detrimental in some way, just not a hard CC making you dead the instant a 10 sec petrify lands.

I'm not quite sure why an "annoyance factor" is so objectionable. If I was an adventurer, trying to get to the bottom of a pit/dungeon/quest/whathaveyou, and I was so rubbish at being an adventurer that I would have to go back to town to rest all of the time, that would be REALLY ANNOYING. If I then became a better adventurer and didn't have to go back to town all the time, that would be a REAL RELIEF because the alternative is just so darn annoying. I'll concede that some people might not find it entertaining, but I'm happy that for once I'm playing a game that doesn't set out to be a "no bumps in the road" fun-fest all of the time.

I actually dislike it if dexterity/finesse becomes a defensive value that's competitive with armor. I find it utterly ridiculous actually. If you're a swordsman in the medieval times, and you know you're going to fight in a battle, and you have the option of using armor, you can be assured that anyone regardless of how lithe you are would want to put on that suit of plate. There's some very good reasons why armor was one of the most important technologies to develop and the best troops had the best armor. Of course there's a fantasy stereotype to cater to, not all medieval armor sacrificed all mobility for sake of protection, and fast agile persons are actually harder to hit than a sack of potatoes. So it agree that finesse could give a defensive bonus for those with a very high dexterity, compared to a fat slob of a man that's been drinking and eating his days away in some pub. As long as it doesn't become comparable with or a possible substitute for properly equipped knights in armor.