Gilker

BG2 is epic level adventure with epic level items, where PoE is low to mid level adventure, with items that fit to such adventure. As such you should compare its items to Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast. Meaning that I would say that you problem is not necessary PoE's itemization but that it isn't epic level adventure. One thing that causes problems with PoE's itemization is amount of items that there are, because Obsidian wanted to give player freedom to build their characters as they want without hindering it with itemization that befits certain build over all the others (like for example BG2 does). And because of that decision PoE is so full of magic items that they start to feel non-magical (syndrome which Throne of Bhaal suffers too). Of course if you don't like/use the enchanting mechanic that PoE has then PoE's itemization become much worse, because its mainly build with expectation that player will use enchantment system to better their equipment during the game. I would say that Obsidian tries to fix issue in White March, but it is more bandage than actual fix, as enchanting is so dominant part of the game. So I would not expect things to change much before PoE2 (what ever is their next game in the PoE's universe). i agree with the two last parts of your comment. balance + a lot of builts = too mutch magical objects. ToB suffered from this too, but some items were still really memorable (ravager, axe of unyielding etc...). there is still some good ideas, soulbound weapons were interesting, and global loot is not that bad, but it could have been really better. i don't agree with the first part of your comment though, there is a high level of epicneess in this game, even if it's low to mid levels for characters. in the end, we fought "the right hand" of a god, 3 dragons including one feeding on adra for centuries and one of the most powerfull mage/lich living in this world. this level of epicness implie the same level of epicness lootwize. kill a dragon and get one eye and a fine hammer ? that's it ? i was really dispointed (even if the hammer turn to be really good when upgraded). it makes me think about PoE 2, what can we be afraid of after beating such powerfull ennemies ? if think a lot of player only asked for a few "better than superb" items with a few uniques effects. that wasn't hard to do. for exemple, after defeating that adra dragon, we could have found an ancient sword stuck between two scales, the blade totally covered with adra after the wound healed, stats being : accuracy +14, damage x1.5 with chance to charm the opponent. that would not kill the game a leave a smile on every players after defeating the dragon, not that "whaaaaat ??? is that my prize ??? really ???" feeling

totally back you on this one brindle88. PoE itemization is quite bad but obsidian has a problem with itemization in general (look at KOTOR 2, itemization was awfull too, IWD series itemization was ok at best). i will never forget finding carsomyr, black razor, celestial fury, crom faeyr etc... and the only weapons i found impressive in PoE are the sword of st rumbalt and tall grass and their acquisition is not epic at all... yet it's still better than the witcher 3 itemization system which really sucks big time. BG II had the best items in all RPG i played, seconded by morrowind, finding them was really fun and exiting. basic crafting on unique items like ToB expansion was simple and worked really well. picking every flowers/shrooms in a game is not what i call a fun mecanic.

pick pocket could have been introduced quite easily into the game. to prevent save scumming (which didn't bothered me on IE games), they could have introduced a few text events, triggered when you have a rogue in your team, succes being based on stealth and dext/perception. i did not miss pick pocket that mutch, PoE is a good game without it.

Yeah, seeing these two statements side-by-side, one immediately thinks the fault does not lie with the game. Some people cant handle the truth. Sad but true. The bugs, the rushed incomplete ending and the poor story and npcs really crushed kotor2 even though it had, for its time, a great gameplay engine. It was a sad excuse for a game i have the exact same feeling about KOTOR 2. i loved the first (especially the darkside path) but everything in the second felt rushed and incomplete, with a huge part of lazyness in the conception. outside of some good text lines, everything in this game is pure garbage. please save you time and do not play this game, and never, NEVER instal the droid planet mod. PoE is 10X better than kotor 2 in every aspects.

i'm having that same exact question, stacking properties of enchanted weapons is still very unclear. since durgan steel is quite rare, i don't want to waste it if properies doesn't stack.

nope, it's specified when you choose your scaling option

i have the same problem here. it seems that weapon speacialisation is ****ed up too. i just hired the devil of caroc and specialised her to use pike and warhammers, but she have no accuracy bonuses for thoses weapon, but show bonuses with spear and other non related weapons.

i checked and their stats increase every time i load my save so it's probably a bug. thanks for the tip, i didn't knew that one ! i'll wait until this is fixed.

Hello ! i'm quite ashamed to start this topic, but i'm really having a hard time at galvino's workshop . i'm playing on hard and i never been stomped like this before. i curently have a lvl 13 team and i chose high level party when i started the white march. my firsts encouters were quite easy to solve, but i'm now facing iron automatons with crazy accuracy (222) and deflection stats (244). i checked the adra dragon stats and i show 106 deflection and 105 accuracy so thoses automatons are twice more powerfull and there is 4 of them . did i miss something ? is it a bug ? or is there some tip to have a fair fight against them ?

i took the crucible knights faction and not really noticed that i couldn't do the other factions quest later. i might have missed something, like many, many, MANY players out there. there is definitely something wrong with the factions choice. it's not that big deal for me either. i never entered the doemenel house and i don't think i did anything against them before i was forced to join the crucible, so i was suprised to not be able to speak to their boss.

100% agree with you on thoses parts. the stronghold could be so mutch more ! i was really disapointed with loot in PoE. BG II is in my gaming experience the game that come the closest to perfection in loot reward. there was so mutch awsome equipments... as you said, carsomyr, celestial fury, crom fayer, vecna dress, silver sword, gaxx ring, scarlet ninja-to, dragons armor... icewind dale loot was far behind in epicness of loot (except that paladin standard looking sword, very nice and cleaver idea), and PoE is exactly like icewindale in term of loot and thats really sad. i don't really understand why they refuse to make some over the top equipment, there is not a single reason for it (please don't tell me about balance and stuff )

i used light -20% speed armor with my rogue. you don't need a heavy armor when you drop you opponent in a very short amount of time, and that only when you are actually targetted, which should be avoided as mutch as possible. my rogue strategy was to engage the fight with high damage ranged weapon (heavy crossbow for 60-110 damage on first hit with sneak attack). then back off behind the front line, let the fighters soak the engagement, the casters cast crowd control spells and the rogue get back in the melee, using two maces (high damage and a little DR reduction). i like boots of speed too, having high mobility is a must have for a character glass canon like a rogue. when engaged by a powerfull enemy, invisibility is very usefull as it offer a free disengagement and an automatic sneak attack right after.

i prayed hylea but i choosed berath for the ending, sending the souls to a "restart" was the best option for me and my neutral character. i was also curious to see what hylea would do about my betrayal. she send those (weak ) feather dragons burn people, what a mad goddess... would have loved to take my revenge over her (and collect those nice dragon part to enchant all my weapons with superb enchants ) i tried the hylea option right after just to see what it does : hollowborn childrens still alive wake up with a soul and a lot of mother gives birth the foollowing year, not that bad

with two frontliners i had no problem to hold the line. the fighter can take multiple engagements, holding the line tight, the second melee character take the other part of the line. if the line is about to get crossed, i switch one ranged character to melee to help holding the line. i usually start fights with my rogue and his crossbow, he land a shot then get behind the line, waiting for the fighter to soak engagement. as the shot lands, i start casting AoE with my wizard and druid (mainly firebal and hail storm). as the foes hit the line, i have already casted one fireball and one hail storm and i'm about to throw another fireball. then comes the crowd control spell, giving me enought time to put my wizard on one side casting blast of frost or fan of flames. it works fr most encunters. in narrow area, it's even easier as 2 companions lock the line tight. on totally open area, 3 companions are needed to be sure to hold the line. if you get overwhelmed, use minoletta piercing burst from your wizard (or any crowd control spell) and relentless/returning storm with your druid.

two new companions (monk and rogue ?), reach lvl 15 by the end of the DLC, medium sized city (why not an underground city inside white marsh ?) + a few new area (4 ?) + one big dungeon (5+ levels, big big boss). stronghold war agains another lord. i'll give 20+ bucks for that .

Hello ! i just finished the game a few days ago and i'm ready to give my thoughts on this amazing game. first of all, i really enjoyed the game, the first 3 days i almost played it non-stop. if i have to give it a mark, it would be a solid 8.5/10 (i would rate BG I 8.5/10 too, BG II 9.5, icewindale 1 8/10 and icewindale II 7/10). good points : - story : i found the story appeling, well writen, it kept me hooked until the end of the game. - descriptive writiing : loved that writing describing gesture, atittudes of the characters and surrounding environnements. - music : overall good music. nothing truelly awsome (i think at kuldahar tree theme, bhaal pocket plane theme) but still great and fitting well the lore. it helped my immersion a lot. - graphics : stunning, almost all maps look really good and detailled, i like the characters when zommed in too. magical effects on weapons are really cool, some armor look awsome ! speels look good too, too bad they severely damage visibility in combats - combat system : suprisingly good. i first thought that the new combat system will fail hard, but i works, even if it needs more balance and visibility. i even like the engagement/disengagement system which i first thought was complete bull****. - companions : durance and eder are two amazingly written companions, some of the other may needed some more depth, but they are still quite interesting - lenght : i was expecting around 60hours, so 80 hours on my first playthrough is really good. - ennemy AI : i was pleased to see that foes often targetted my wizard and charmed first my highest DPS character. i haven't had high expectations for AI so i think it's quite a good work. bad points : - needed a little more balance and polishing : some early bugs where game breaking, some were really annoying (that insect plague killing all my companions permanently AFTER an easy fight made me rage quit a few times). the game still need some balance and polishing, but i can understand that a game that complex can't be perfect at day 1. - hard to discriminate companions and even companions/foes when there are a few spellcasters involved into battles. i often spend 10-20 seconds to figure out where my companions where located exactly (after 20 second of carfull looking : "ho, altoth is in the middle of the melee, that not good!") - loot : loot in that kind of game is very VERY important ! when i talk about bad loot, i mean there is not a single awsome weapon/armor/ring/amulet though the entire game. i will remember forever the first time i picked up carsomyr, celestial fury, forged the crom fayer, the red dragon scale armor, bought the vecna dress, firs time i read the description of the gaxx ring... there nothing close to that in PoE and that's a shame. that an issue that can be adressed very easily in the next game or addon, pleae think about it . the bottom less loot box was a very good idea, but i disliked the TON of xaurip's garbage loot, make it some coins and it will be fine. - difficulty curve : hard at the beginning, easy cake after on hard settings. we definitely need less XP reward as i reached the level 12 for all my party long before going to the ormes. enemies need some specific immunities too (fighting a dragon that's on is back almost all the fight is ot fun), so we have to think during encounter and not only using the same spell and tactics for the beginning to the end of the game. dragons need to be mutch MUTCH more dangerous, . - powefull enemies : i miss overwhelming ennemies, the kind that wipes your party in a few seconds if you don't play it right. no fights like kangaxx, no powerfull wizard, even the last fight was easy without knowing what i was doing exactly. - classes balance : give me some reasons to take a ranger/paladin over a cipher/rogue/druid ? somes classes need some buff and other some nerf (no more bouncing fireball doing 6X150 damage). - pathfinding : better than IE games for sure, but having our frontline blocked in the back in narow place is VERY annoying, especially when disengagement attack don't let you switch places when it happends. - companions interactions : i feel like it lacks a little bit of banthers between companions, there are some quite funny indeed, but a little more would have been appreciated. thats a lot of red, but again, i loved the game, i really enjoyed those 80 hours. i seriously think that it's some great material for a 9.9/10 game in the future. feel free to discuss

Eder for me ! i will have a hard time doing another playthrough without him in my crew, i feel the "minsk syndrome" coming back.

can't say i REALLY disliked any companions... i dumped sagani because rangers are useless, but i find her writing good, the "inuit" style was refreshing, i liked her voice and her gesture (surprisingly detailled) her quest is not that interesting though. i kept aloth because i needed a wizard, but i didn't trust him or have any bounds with him and i disliked his personality, but i liked his story. Kana felt uninteresting too and not really usefull to my party. Pallegina has some funny banthers, i liked the lore she brings on the table and her fierce attitude (reminds me of Jaheira), but she needed more depth, more mystery... she could have been an unforgetable companion. Hiravias is quite cool too, very usefull to my party, he brings some lore too (they all did, but at various levels), its a little dirty guy that love to fight, kind of badass in a child body/voice. I have a large preference for Eder (both story and personality) and Durance (great great story even if i slightly disliked the man). so, i choose Kana as the least liked companions of mine.

well, dual wielding two maces for 22-32 base damage each with 76 accuracy (no weapon focus and savage attacks giving -5 accuracy) and 60% critical hits doesn't feel that bad to me on hard settings, pretty sure PotD won't be a problem too with a few adjustments on that rogue built . but thanks for the calculation for 1H style, i really thought is was way worst than it is.

i really think that PoE missed some fights against powerfull wizards like whe had back in BG II, the kind of fights you had agains liches and half-liches. contrary to you, i really loved the fight against Kangaxx. that particular enemy was casting Imprisonment "full-auto", no save, no magical resistance, just pure doom for your party. you actually had to think or winning agains kangaxx was impossible. in the end, you win that fight with a plan, and it felt like a great accomplishment against an extraordinary opponent. no such fights in PoE.

if you remember, BGII wa kinda easy on hard too. but taking out Firkraag on the first playthrough... it took me about 10 quickload at least. when you mastered the game (spells, builts, objetcs...) it was über easy on hard settings. i remember taking down a dragon defenseless in suldanesselar using time stop with my kensai/mage weilding crom faer and celestial fury, it was ridiculous (but still fun). we can conclude PoE is too easy on hard settings because even without mastering the game or even having good knowledge of the new spells ans talents, we can steamroll 3/4 of the game. the final fight was a good exemple, i died poorly at my first attempt. at my second attemp, i just changed the placement of my group (sneaky fire pillars falling from the sky), put some summons to occupy the two big guys, and i casted some random buff/debuff spell with my wizard (i was reading description of the spells during combat...) and that was it . my main character barely survived, but the fight as over, i honestly don't know what spells worked (the 15 level spell barrier saved aloth big time i think but thats my only clue), what weapons were the most effective... no plan at all. ps : the final fight feel so mutch icewindalish, i could have faced poquelin or isair/madae, i would not have been shocked . same feel, same type of area... brings back good memories !

so far, none of my party used one handed style. i can't see any pro bu i see many drawbacks. in the endgame, your accuracy is so high that the one handed bonus is pointless. plus you can have a shield absolutely stunning, Scat Gwannek which gives you +24 deflection and +7-11 dmg (basically dual wielding with a shield) for only -4 accuracy to wield it. Eder as a shield tank didn't do that mutch damage in my party, he ended the game at 38 000 damage done, that two time less than my rogue and wizard, both around 80 000.

i think you're right, not 100% sur but i think i was located in the master below treasure best armor for a rogue so far, nice looking too

this bug can also make one of your compagnion to go prone forever . the only solution is a quickload and retry the fight.

i first choose the dragon, and finally decided to slay it without even speaking to Falanroed. i guess i should have spoken to Falanroed before killing the dragon, did i miss something important ? when i first saw this shiny dragon, what i really saw was a piece of armor with some legs, i'm addiced to good gear