perilisk

The death of the god of light, specifically. The death of Eothas is one of the major lore items that plays a large role in initially introducing the setting, especially in Act I with the temple, Eder, Raedric's wife, etc. It just seems like a hell of a coincidence, given that he is the equivalent of the god that gave its name to the game's spiritual predecessor. I was thinking of Magran as Hoder, since depending on dialog choices toward the end, you can easily come away with the notion that she was tricked into aiding Woedica by destroying Eothas (making her "blind"), though we all know better. At any rate, your main connection to Magran in-game is Durance, and she is in fact completely blind to his existence. Woedica and Thaos, for the sake of this story, share the role of Loki, the scheming, shapeshifting plotter who is something of an outsider in relation to the other gods.

Really? A conflict between nature and civilization, a necropolis, and banshees are your evidence of sameyness? Isn't that all fantasy gaming 101?

So, obviously PoE is a spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. In Norse Mythology, Baldur is often described as a god of light. He is most known, of course, for his death -- every plant on earth except for mistletoe had pledged not to harm him. Loki crafted an arrow of mistletoe, and tricked Baldur's blind brother Hoder into shooting it at him, killing him. This was the first in a chain of events that led to Ragnarok, the death of the gods and the old world, and the dawn of a new age (in which Baldur would be reborn). Now, the death of the god of light at the hands of another god (with wood playing a bit of a role...), due to the machinations of a third, malicious one... it sounds a little like the situation in the Dyrwood, yes? It could just be a coincidence, but I'm wondering if the Saint's War was the first step in a chain of events leading to a reckoning for the gods, and I'm also wondering it there was deliberate parallel with Norse mythology.

The word "god" is unhelpful in this context, because it doesn't seem to mean anything besides, "thing with superpowers." One could argue that "godhood" has less to do with what something is, and more to do with how people react to it. A transcendent, all-powerful being that no one is aware of is not a god, whereas a statue that people worship and commit sacrifices to is.

As for the rations, I was just thinking that it's imposing a cost on spending time that has some plausible justification. Not enough to be punishing or require much management (pretty much just a metaphorical gas tank) but it at least adds some additional reason to be thoughtful about resting. As for #6, a fortress or other orderly kith-run area isn't a dungeon filled with random critters or the undead. Once you start tangling with guards, you're pretty much committed to see it through, or it strains the bounds of plausibility (though retreat could be possible, at the cost of failing the quest, losing the advantage of stealth, etc.). Having the occasional area where you can't rest is good, for a change of pace if nothing else, so long as it's clear up front and it's balanced accordingly.

The first time I fought shadows in the temple of Eothas I assumed they would be unfazed by knockdown, since they are supposed to be incorporeal entities. If that were the case, why would they be affected swords? Or fire? As for fire blights, fighting fire with fire is a phrase for a reason. Though their DR values should probably be higher. That said, the occasional hard counter is not the end of the world. I would appreciate having more discrete effects, though (e.g., you're either charmed or you aren't, and it has a noticeable impact). A game loses a little bit of the magic once you start thinking of everything in terms of adjusting numbers up and down.

A priest isn't as mandatory as they would be in an old IE game -- they can't do much for your health, and in terms of endurance, if you can survive long enough to win the encounter, you're good. Healz-wise, their only use is to keep people on their feet for as long as they can contribute to the fight. Potions can help with harder encounters, and the right tactics are often enough to mitigate damage. If you really want a traditional spellcaster, a druid is a decent replacement for both a priest and a wizard. Petrify is about the only thing wizards are bringing to the table, and that's almost too awesome.

Time limits are problematic in games where exploration and story are big parts of the experience. It would make more sense in something much more mission-oriented and strategic. If it was fantasy XCOM or fantasy Jagged Alliance or fantasy Oregon Trail, a time limit is an important part of gameplay. Time management would also work better if you were paying party members a per diem or at least paying for food, since 8 hours of rest at camp is a lot cheaper than 2 days travel to an inn, plus the inn itself. Failing that, the typical mechanism to discourage abuse is random encounters -- that either resting or traveling puts you at risk of encounters you can't deal with. For something like PoE, I think the best approach would have been: 1) Random encounters on the world map and while resting. You're already using "You must gather your party before venturing forth", might as well add "You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself" too. 2) Replace the small number of camping supplies with a larger number of rations that you need to carry (can stock up in any town or at the stronghold). Every four hours (whether traveling, camping, or actually adventuring) depletes rations by a certain amount per party member, which would be reduced based on the highest Survival score in the party. IOW, time is money. 3) No resting without rations. Also, have a hunger debuff that accumulates if you run out. Rations determine how long you can stay outside of civilization, essentially. 4) Better fatigue gain. After about 16 hours of continuous travel, pretty much anyone should be tired. Encumbrance should play a role too. 5) More fine-tuned control over travel in the world map (tick hour by hour of travel), so you can decide when and where to camp to balance cost, time, fatigue, danger, and also react to any Stronghold events that pop. 6) Mission-style quests (Raedric's keep) should prohibit resting out of scripted sequences.

You mean this one? You could probably see foreshadowing there if you wanted to. Scattered light ("Scattered God" of light) features prominently, then it devolves into a discussion of how mortals can't hunt or kill something insubstantial (e.g., the gods as experienced in PoE) but could possibly surprise the gods and kill a flesh and blood being imbued with divine power to the point of theoretical invincibility (e.g. Saint Waidwen). Then, this is immediately followed with the idea that doing so would result in divine power being transferred to mortals as a boon. Eothas is, of course, the god of dawn, rebirth, and redemption. His remaining followers are called the Night Market (IIRC from the ending slides), and dawn follows the night. Maybe he tucked away the lion's share of his power into his followers' souls or even just random souls (possibly even subverted the Godhammer to this end somehow), and intends to pull a Bhaal later on. Or, maybe something less evil, like a sort of democratic theocracy, where every person has a little divine spark. They definitely left enough clues around to justify bringing him back, but they could just as easily leave him dead. If he is indeed pulling an Andy Kaufman, it would be interesting if his little comeback scheme was the reason that Durance didn't die in the blast and his soul can't be perceived by Magran. Wouldn't be the first time a guy who used to dedicate himself to hunting down a god's followers ended up serving that same god.

Or Thaos has used Woedica=) I though Thaos was person who creted Gods. I don't know if that's entirely the case. Thaos was certainly involved in their creation, but we're talking about a project that consumed the resources of an entire civilization, down to their very souls, to create artificial gods. Even the Dwemer couldn't pull that off properly. There were probably thousands of leaders, philosophers, animancers, and laborers involved. Maybe there's better evidence one way or the other somewhere that I missed, but he doesn't exactly strike me as the Adrian Veidt in this situation, more like the ruthless enforcer.

Well, notwithstanding that Eothas' motivations are still pure speculation... 1. Gods probably feel entitled to be obeyed without having to explain themselves. 2. The other gods probably didn't see sufficient reason or justification to act. Even at the critical moment, their involvement is indirect. Aside from Eothas, only Hylea and Berath have a direct interest in the Hollowborn crisis. For all we know, Eothas did seek their help and was rebuffed much like the Watcher (though probably even moreso, given that he had less proof of Thaos' agenda) 3. Granted that he is a god, but he is trying to prevent a crisis that hasn't happened yet. People who want a reason to disbelieve could just say he was a really powerful Godlike. 4. It's sort of hard to explain the problem without damaging the idea of the gods as divine (why would a Creator of the Universe need to steal babies' souls?). Eothas might have been a loose cannon, but he wasn't that far gone. Now, the Glanfathans are big on the gods and on keeping people from misuing the Engwithan tech, so it might have made more sense for Eothas to create an order of Paladins to protect the Engwithan ruins from LK interference, possibly even using their tech to better carry out this mission. Although maybe I just want to play as a member of the Eoran Knights Templar/Brotherhood of Steel.

At minimum, even having an encumbrance system would have balanced out fatigue gain between the full-plate-wearing tanks with high athletics and the mages with lore and whatnot.

Rest and recuperate magic applies to plenty of systems, including any number of MP based system. Generally resting in RPGs has been balanced by supply cost (Tents in final fantasy, rations in some ultimas, etc.), and the risk of dealing with random encounters during rest, or worse, while backtracking to an area where you were allowed to rest. Anyway, PoE magic isn't even properly vancian, given that no class actually prepares specific spells in advance -- even wizards just prepare a shortlist.

I found the bonus spells to be useful, but mainly because they were broken so that I ended up between 8 and 26 extra casts. Slicken is powerful enough without being able to cast it 30 times per encounter...

Without random encounters or any sort of time constraint, there is little preventing you from just leaving, resting in an inn, and returning (with even a tiny bit of athletics, you should be able to use the stronghold inn and then reach any map without fatigue, so cost is not really a factor). If you're really concerned about trivializing resource limitations, you might as well ditch resting, and make everything either consumable or per-encounter. That, or design areas more mission-based than exploration-based (meaning, you either make it all the way through with your per-rest resources or fail). Resting would be more of a checkpoint under such a design.

I guess it just depends on what you want. The Doemenel are more traditionally evil, the Dozens are populist rabble rousers; the Knights are too concerned with power, status, privilege, and authority. That said, I think you can get the Knights back on track moreso than the other factions.

Actually, IIRC one of the endgame options sort of reinforces this notion. It is at least somewhat close to the truth.

I stopped playing too*. But I might pick it back up later. *After killing the final boss.

Readceras is Canada (never left the empire, see) mixed with Puritanism (they even mention the Readceran work ethic at some point). So, basically the War of 1812 mixed with the Civil War. Which makes the Dozens... the KKK? Damn, I think I sided with the KKK in my last playthrough. I was just going for completionism...

I would like to see an explanation for why the unseen subjects of Caed Nua are paying taxes to a talking chair. But that's just me.

They sacrifice people by trapping their soul in their blood, then grind their blood up into face paint and rub it all over themselves. You don't find that mildly troubling? Did I mention that people killed in this way are also permanently dead and taken out of the reincarnation cycle? Not true, they're reincarnated as magic ointment.

Probably because it just makes him seems so pathetic that no one had the heart to want him gone. I mean, the guy is so completely devoid of direction that he just latched onto the first person that seemed like they might have A Plan, even if it was to tangle with the very people he had wanted to meet. Aloth would never betray you, because that requires having some sort of actual will of your own.

I don't have a problem with crafting in and of itself, but it could have been done better. I liked lorewise (albeit not mechanically) how in D&D, creating a magical object involved pouring some of your own essence into it -- given the importance of souls and essence in Eora, they could have done something that made even player crafted objects feel unique. For example, on completing quests (and depending on how the quest was completed) the player and/or companions could sometimes gain memories reflecting what they each took away spiritually/socially/personally/philosophically, while quest XP would reflect mundane skill training. You could then imbue items with those memories, which would provide thematically appropriate bonuses (say, a quest where you arrived too late to help someone may confer a movement speed bonus), and the bonuses you add would be used to generate a more... poetic, Avellonian sort of item description of how it feels to you as a Watcher, sort of like the personal biography section. For that matter, all of the item descriptions would make more sense as a soul reading of the item, instead of the traditional D&D Lore nonsense (what sort of lunatic walks around memorizing the history of every random +2 sword that got lost in a dungeon?). They could have done these soul-based item histories instead of a billion gold godlikes for backer content. But done is done.

Living rock. Or, rather, rock infused with life force/anima/essence. Though they also probably play an important role in the cycle of essence and souls. The game doesn't really explain fully.

That was interesting. I still like how the characters turned out, at any rate. I wonder if GM was originally supposed to have biological children, or whether her "children" just refers to the fact that she used her powers to maintain a bond with each of the children she birthed until they grew older.