panjshirlion

That's fair. Now that I think of it, I actually quite preferred the prefab backgrounds in DA:O. I'll retract that point and just leave it as my general distaste for metempsychosis in fictional settings.

I'm only just heading to Dyrford, so my knowledge of the plot is pretty limited, and I can only really speak on some of the core premises. Of course, these could all be overturned at any point in the game; if that's the case, just smile and shake your head at my naivete. I can't tell if this is a hang-up specific to me or not, but for as much as I love POE, it's actually in spite of its premise. For some reason, I've always found the idea of reincarnation and past lives to be a particularly poor narrative tool (and kind of an unsatisfying belief system, but that's a whole other thread for another forum). That the cycle of souls is demonstrably proven to exist in POE (again, as far as I know) means that death does not exist in this world. You can liken the erasure of past memory to a kind of death, yes, but no one in this world must ever fear oblivion or wonder at what an uncertain afterlife might hold. True, fantasy is often about imagining a wholly different cosmology, but the thought that true mortality need never concern anyone I meet makes it extremely difficult for me to empathize with any of them or imagine what it would be like to inhabit the world. Plus, the premise of past lives tends to lend itself to some railroading. No matter how you design your character, the writers can always (and probably will) make your past selves whatever the narrative calls for, which feels kind of contrary to the spirit of blank slate CRPG characters (Torment being the successful exception to the rule). Like I said, this might all be part of a long con that I'm not aware of yet; if not, it might just be a problem with me and not the game. I was just wondering if anyone else felt similarly.

In reality, it's probably just one of those disharmonies of narrative and gameplay that are kind of inevitable in games with fixed rulesets. But if you want a way to square it with lore, perhaps not all ciphers have or utilize the glamour that Grieving Mother does.

I did some cursory research on the POE wiki, but I couldn't quite find the answers to these: 1. Are the accuracy bonuses conferred by the weapon feats (noble, ruffian, etc.) properly displayed in your character sheet? My rogue character should have had a bonus in daggers but not stilettos, but my accuracy ratings did not reflect that when wielding them both. I'm almost positive I've included all other relevant factors (the accuracy-boosting qualities of both weapons), but the numbers just aren't reflecting my weapon feats. It's possible that I'm just missing something obvious, but I wonder if anyone else noticed this. 2. What is it that gives a weapon the "unique" tag/yellow border? Do they always possess enchantments that you can't otherwise reproduce by crafting? Or are they simply prefab enchanted weapons of relatively good quality? I keep seeing these unique named weapons in shops being sold for exorbitant sums, and I can't tell if I'd be better off crafting a comparable weapon myself.