Luma Akasha

Fixed /readies smacking hand I'm looking at you, AndreaColombo! /glare

You can install IEMOD and switch that way.

Just a slight correction: PC paladins can get up to +13 Deflection and +27 Fort/Ref/Will with the Deep Faith talent.

MO, it's like this: [insert psychology stuff] The interaction of the seek circuit and the reward circuit in the brain causes humans to feel a form of euphoria when they successfully accomplish a physical or mental challenge. That is hard to simulate in a video game. The physical challenge is almost non-existent and the mental challenge is usually just a slight twist on the same tactics that you've been applying for the last 50 hrs of game play. You do get a little of this in MMOs, because the physical challenge is a bit more (recall that release of tension you feel after downing the latest expansion's big bad the first couple of times) and the mental focus is greater since lack of attention can cause the oops that one-shots the raid of 10 - 72 people that you are working with (depending on the game.) Single player games, particularly non-twitch games like rpgs, tend to be at most a touch tactical: pause-think-give orders-unpause, repeat. So most people will say that a fight is too hard until they figure it out at which point they will say it is too easy. This is more pronounced the more of an adrenaline junkie the player is.[/end psychology stuff] The long and the short of it is that in single player games, people will tend to feel that it starts hard and becomes easier for the most part, barring the occasional fight. The better sense a person has of the game mechanics, the faster it will get easier for them. So few games have truly revolutionary mechanics, that simply having played a lot of games will make it almost instinctively easy. In that particular fight, a decently built tank and/or a little CC goes a long way. Tank built Eder is practically indestructible, cc built Aloth/GM/Hiravias let you wiz right through, Durance can make your party crazy durable, and Sagani with pet talent investment and stormcaller is just ridiculously op. I haven't tried to build an Pallegina as a tank and Kana makes me sad (summons & invocations take too long to develop) although he does have a few really good songs.

Wait...that doesn't happen to you all in real life? I must be doing it wrong

Hehe. Actually, I would love to write for Obsidian, Bethesda, or Bioware. I thought about including something like: Durance: "*cackle* I think he just called your mother a whore!" Aloth: "Durance, as always, your mastery of the obvious is without peer." but I thought that'd be too on the nose.

She did say that she was trying so hard to maintain the illusions of so many people that her own psyche was unable to handle the strain and she got lost in her own illusions. I imagine at that point her reality would be fractured with truth and various falsehoods all woven together. She seems not to understand the dreams until you talk through them. The need to escape without knowing why. The caul being like a spider lost in it's own web. I believe the birthing bell was because you suppressed everything painful, leaving her with an incomplete picture. She remembered helping women there, but not the Legacy effects.

Chanters are okay on POTD where fights can last long enough to make use of their invocations / summons.

Kana: "I shall be as quiet as a calm sea!" Concelhaut: "So was your mom before I hit her with my parasitic staff last night!" Eder: "Ooo! Burn!" Itumaak: "Arf!"

This. I have never had a rogue in my party save the Devil. MMOs just spoiled them for me. My main is usually the mechanic, but anyone will do just as well. Rogues have no special bonus to mechanics that other classes do not have. Chanters, priests, and wizards make good mechanics as well. I think Sagani (ranger) was my mechanic in my most recent playthrough. "After him, Itumaak!"

It seems like so many good/important dialogue options require high resolve. I always have it high enough that I can hit the requirement with some equipment, rest bonus or food.

Yes, you should explore all the companions. Hey all have different personalities and quirks. Eder is cool, laid back and funny. His quest could have gone somewhere interesting but didn't. Aloth is alternatively uptight or funny. His quest could have gone somewhere interesting but didn't. Durance is a jaded, old annoying ass and not in a funny way. His quest is tediously boring but semi-significant. Kana is like a giant, upbeat kid who sees the wonder in everything. Lots of people find his combat chanting annoying, but I kinda liked it. His going into stealth sound made me want to smack him. Another quest that could have been good but goes nowhere. Sagani is my favorite. She's interesting, her culture upends normal stereotypes and I found her voice to be the most pleasant along with Eder. I think she had the best quest. On the other hand, some people found her the least interesting and disliked her voice. Hiravias has an annoying voice, but less so han Durance. He's a bit of a savage and a pervert, but I like him nonetheless. His quest is better than most. Pallegenia is aristocratic, but not obnoxious about it. She's a consumate soldier. Her quest is slightly interesting from a moral quandry perspective. Grieving Mother had so much potential, but fell flat. You can change around companions any time at Caed Nua.

Torm, as your cypher evolves, you're going to want to hit hard enough to cast an ability every other hit. You also want to keep the frequency of those hits often enough to be relevant in combat. A Warbow is your best option for that once blunderbusses start to slow down.

Hey, I 'm a good girl. I can only take so much penetrating. Also, I'm drunk enough to know I shouldn't make this comment but drunk enough to think it's hilarious.

Honestly, it sometimes feels like the story needs it. It tends to lose focus so much in the beginning that I forget that I have personal issues and devolves into "I have just stumbled upon ye ole random hamlet in need of a hero". The whole "hey, I've got an entire ****tail party full of people in my head driving me mad" part of the story doesn't get communicated well at all.