Ivonbeton

I have found a solution! I'll explain it here so everyone who has a similar issue will know how to fix it. I checked my logs and saw some strange notifications stating that I wasn't using a 32 bit client. So basically I tried booting PoE with Win7 compatibility mode on. When I did that, I didn't get the White March DLC's and I suddenly saw my save I had installed before I got the DLC. This led me to believe that for some reason the DLC's weren't being friendly towards my 64 bit operating system. So, I uninstalled PoE and removed all my save games, both in appdate as in the mygames map. I rebooted my PC, ran steam in Win7 compatibility mode and reinstalled PoE fully. Now, when I run PoE in Win7 compatibility mode, I get all my saves - both old and new. When I disable the compatibility mode, I get none. You don't have to run steam in compatibility mode every time, just the game. I only run steam in compatibility mode when I reinstalled PoE to make sure that I got the DLC's back. This worked for me, hope it will for everyone experiencing a similar issue!

Alright, now my fix isn't even working anymore. I just bought the DLC's and haven't gotten to them yet..

So everytime I reboot, the game can no longer find my saves. I thought that this might happend because I dual boot at times, but it happens even when I don't switch OS. This started happening when I got the expansion. When I try to start a new game and save it, it won't display these saves either. The only way to solve it is to completly reinstall the game. I have to redownload the game every time I want to play. When I do that, it will also suddenly display the new games I started before reinstalling. This is a very enfuriating and frustrating issue. Any suggestions on how to avoid this or fix it without having to reinstall every time I reboot?

Is it just me or is the combat a lot more fun with a party of your own making? I know the Baldur's Gate also featured premade companions, but I felt like they were a lot more versatile and easy to work with. I'm nearing the end of my first playthrough and thinking of just ditching most companions for my second one.

I really think you need to replay BG 1 and especially BG 2 if that's how you remember them. I don't this game deviates as much from the atmosphere in those games. Just going through BG 2 chronologically in my head I can remember A LOT of fairly disturbing quests. For example Imoen being tortured upto the point it completly breaks her doesn't do it for you? Anyways, I took the third option. I didn't play the Baldur's Gate series or PoE to go and save Unicorns from eating too many candy apples. Talk about dark, have you played planescape torment?

I've read the Roxxor review and I disagree with most of what he said and I do think that his review is - as mentioned by Leferd - very vitriol upto the point that it comes across as unprofessional and unreasonable. I mostly disagree with him when it comes to the writing, I actually really enjoyed the writing. Also, to call BG 1 a mediocre version of BG 2 is just plain dumb and shortsighted. It was a different game with different strengths and weaknesses. I personally enjoyed BG 1 more than I did BG 2. The combat isn't as straightforward as he makes it out to be, but he does make some good points about difficulty scaling and disgengament mechanic. While I do agree that IWD had some of the best cRPG combat in any game I've played, it's rather ironic to complain about the effectiveness of tanks in this game if you enjoy IWD its combat. While I'd also love for the disengagement mechanic to be removed and for ranged mobs to maybe attack my party more randomly, I don't think I've ever played a game with tanks as effective as those in IWD. Some fair points he made : The disengagement mechanic combined with blocking party members and bad pathing, makes combat too static and often predictable. Don't think anyone would be sad to see it go. The exploration is not as good as it was in BG1 for example. Still, I think it's a lot less absent then he claims. Loading times are weirdly long EDIT : Also, the fact that some weapons are better than others is because that the DR mechanic is a bit too strong and all present.

First off, let me start off by saying that I very much enjoyed this game. I loved the writing and there were some very memorable moments - I loved the Sanitarium for example. I do think this point of yours offers some fair criticism. It made my own undertakings sometimes feel detached from my surroundings. However, this has been a gripe I've had with most - if not all cRPG's - including BG series - which offer this amount of freedom. The more freedom you offer a player, the more difficult it becomes to implement this. Even in TES games, this has proven very difficult and I'd even dare say that their attempt at "Radiant story" was far from successful. That being said, it would have been nice if some attempts were made. For example, they could have split up the game in two or three VERY distinct regions and changed the content - if only slightly - in each of those regions depending on player choices. That would make the game more immersive while avoiding many possible bugs/incompatibilities. This would also make intertwined story arcs stretching over multiple regions a lot more feasible. Then again, this is still very much a possibility for a future expansion or DLC. I hope Obsidian does consider this in the future. I think the fact that this project started from a kickstarter campaign was both a blessing as a curse. They improved where they could improve, but they played it very safe as to not touch the core experience people were expecting. Maybe a DLC will make some more bold changes and we will see more dynamic questing. Again, this would be rather revolutionary in my opinion. Very few cRPG's have done this succesfully, outside of some superficial content. I don't think the comparison with F:NV is accurate. What happens if you pick one faction in F:NV? It essentially just means that the other faction will attack you and you will have different quests. It's a noticeable change considering it's a very action heavy game, but it's a lot more superficial than you give it credit for. You also can choose to benefit a faction near the end of the game if I'm not mistaken, but the entire execution of the main storyline remains largely intact no matter what faction you go for. The faction Quest lines are a lot more fleshed out, that's true, but that's not the comparison you were making. About the stronghold, I like that it doesn't play an important role within the main story. Part of what makes a game like this great, just like with the Baldur's Gate series, is the amount of optional quests. I loved having a project I could go to when I needed a change of scenery. Building out my Stronghold, doing the Endless Paths and some bounties really helped enhance the illusion of freedom, which was a big plus for me. One of the reasons why I loved BG1 more than BG2 was the fact that I had more freedom to explore in BG1, having a base with it's own development arc from which I can go exploring, was something I very much enjoyed. Again, I think this is symptomatic for games which offer players the freedom to quest around as they please. It's something which really doesn't bother me, but I can understand that it does for some people. I prefer it like this because otherwise I'd feel rushed to get content done, a bit like in Divinity Original Sin. Something I severly disliked. There were some mentions of this struggle though, probably more than in the BG series. Both BG1 and BG2 also featured a storyline which had "urgent matters" which you could attend to at your own leisure. I don't mind at all, it allows players to explore content at their own pace. Finally, I'd like to say that I really love the gritty nature of this game. However, I would disagree that both BG1 & 2 were less dark. The main quests and most larger quests were all very gritty in those games. Lots of death, despair and torture. I do agree that they had more humour within dialogues and minor sidequests to offset this and provide a bit of balance though, however I think most people don't quite remember how dark many of the storylines were because the game looked a lot more "cartoonish" than this one.

You're kind of allover the place with this, you've typed a lot while actually saying very little. I think you have urealistic and very narrow expectations of what kind of experience an isometric cRPG should provide. Immersion in these kind of games does not stem from it's realistic nature or mechanical autarky of your avatar, it comes through the story progression and adventures you set upon. Did you honestly play the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series? Who in their right mind - atleast at proper difficulty - would send in their tank without buffing their entire party? Most of my time in these games was spent buffing my party. Especially getting your tanks immune to CC was essential in those games. This is a mechanice I personally LOVE about these games and it's one I've been missing ever since they were released. I love the tactical and strategical nature of combat and how every situation has a right spell to counter it. I honestly think that's something most players appreciate about this game. So despite the fact that I strongly disagree with your reasoning as to why these mechanics ruin immersion, I do believe that the magic and status system in this game needs some tweaking. The CC in this game needs to be shorter and there needs to be WAY more resistance against said CC. I'd like to see more defensive spells and less offensive ones, that could do the trick. Also providing stronger will and/or fortitude checks might be a start aswell. My experience towards the later levels of Caed Nua was simply this : 1. I bombard them with CC spells. Either confusion spells or stun spells, depends on the amount of enemies. 2. The few enemies that didn't get affected bombard my party with CC spells or simply ignore my tanks. 3. Either I live to bombard them with more CC and some damage in between, or I reload. It's fine when enemies have less CC themselves and decent CC resistance though, but when that is not the case, it kind of ruins the strategical mindgames that make combat so fun. That's what I loved about BG1 and the early levels of BG2, spells were about incremental changes and minor or average advantages. Not bombarding eachother with nigh unresistable God spells. Reminds me of how MTG evolved.

What really helped me was to use the IE mod and disable autosaves. Now with the 1.06 update I have to wait till they update the IE mod though. I think this should really be an ingame feature. Disabling autosave for some strange reason lowered my loading times from 30s-60s to only 10-20s.