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.

There is nothing useless about that bow. That said, Sagani will make better use of it due to her ranger talents. Here's my suggestion. Put on a good set of headphones. Turn them up. Turn off any ambient lights. Run headlong into a group of enemies. Make sure Sagani shoots someone...anyone. Feel that thunder echo down through your chest and belly. Laugh heartily. Be confident you made the right decision.

Hey, man, don't undersell modern RPGs. I have my gripes with them too, but when you get to, "What do I do with the Geth in Mass Effect?" the correct answer is to turn off the TV, get a sandwich, spend the next twelve hours agonizing over the ethics of free will in war. That was such a good one. Trying to decide what to do with the Geth as a whole, while loving Legion as an individual. Well, as much as 1,183 individuals can be a single individual. Now that was difficult decision. That was a philosophical decision. Consider. You are trying to decide the validity of the thought processes of an entire sentient species. Just think about that... Also: Shepard: "I'm offering to be your friend. You don't want to be my enemy." Legion: "There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely." <3 Legion

The devil says...

I'd say level 6 or 7, if you have good intra-party teamwork. Level 7 or 8 otherwise. Theoretically, you could go as soon as you get the quest if you take Aloth and Durance. Properly used Slicken and Repulsing Seal can make things so much easier.

Yeah. I don't ever give him the armor. He's a.... um.... well the forum won't let me say that.... but yeah. Kill the SoB, he's not worth the air he breathes. Gasp! Oralaina! You would deprive the trees of much needed waste carbon dioxide?! How cruel! Although, I suppose if you were to bury him at that base of said tree, providing much needed fertilizer...

Assuming anything she said or showed the Watcher is true. The worst kind of liars are those that first convince themselves of a lie. Since they believe in that lie there is no way to tell if they are not telling the truth. GM is this type of person by her own admission, and with her cipher powers added into the mix there is no way to tell if any of her memories have any truth in them. For all we know there was no village, no Birthing Bell, no midwife job and she actually is a grieving mother that keeps lying to avoid facing the truth of her own Hollowborn baby or something like that. Several things fail to check out about her own story as well. She is not old enough, if you add the years since the Hollowborn Epidemic and the fact that she delivered children before that incident that she kept connected to well into puberty/adulthood, plus the time needed to be old enough and train to be a midwife she should be 60+. Also the "special" connection to the Watcher... while the Watcher gets the impression that he can do anything to her with that connection it is in fact under GM control and she can cut it off at any time forcing the Watcher to instantly forget about her, as it is shown in a certain quest near the end of the game if the "baby juice" option is selected. The problem with this argument is that it's infinitely recursive. It adds no value to the narrative. It is not a vehicle of suspense or drama, humor or relief. It doesn't matter if it is resolved one way or the other. The premise becomes irrelevant and her character superfluous. For all the flaws in the game mechanics, I do believe that character development is a hallmark of Obsidian. In some primitive cultures, roles were assigned at birth, often, but not always, along familial lines. It is quite likely that even a non-cypher would be a competent midwife in her late 20's to early 30's. I don't recall any specificity about her age other than her portrait. I have never taken the 'baby juice' option. I'm pretty sure that even Satan or Iblis would pull back from that one. I can suppose that GM would be so violently opposed to the idea of such a thing that every planck charge of psychic/soul energy of her being would assault any connection you may have had. It is a two way street - in conversation she often says she will not oppose you looking into her mind, implying that she certainly could have. She's clearly very powerful. If you were unprepared, I think she'd be able to wipe her existence from your consciousness, or at least set up a strong block.

I think there is a basic misunderstanding. No one, at least as far as I can tell, is asking that she be murder-bot 5000. We are questioning why she was intentionally given 2 less attribute points, inferior armor and a few odd deficits compared to the rest of the companions. Can she perfon adequately? Yes. Can you beat PTOD with just your PC and her? Sure. Performance isn't the issue. Inconsistent character design is.

It seems to me that she basically gives us the explanation in Act 3 when she confesses that she lost control of her illusion weaving and it became so powerful that it took on a life of it's own, ensnaring her so deeply that she came to believe that she was just another Hollowborn's mother.

There's got to be a joke in there about Rymrgand cooling Magran's fiery loins...

Undead kitties are fine if you're looking to frighten away some minor supernatural threat. Undead Pit Bulls are better. Super cute and cuddly until some uppity Spectre tries to steal your soul. Then you've got a protector that will maks hellhounds tremble!