Romanul

I too hope to see this on GOG, this and Stellaris.

Very nice, the pics look great and the twist about evil winning is interesting. I only hope the setting will be low fantasy. I'm tired of elves and dragons.

I found a very interesting review that expains why the ending is total crop. The review is written by somebody who loves the game btw. I selected some quotes: "Yes, after riding a magic carpet of souls made by the gods themselves, a ghost who has literally been damned by the gods tells you that the gods aren’t real. I’m sorry, I thought I was playing a well written Obsidian game Iovara, I seem to have made a wrong turn. Can you point me back to the real story?" "This is made worse by the fact that Iovara doesn’t actually tell you what made her reach the conclusion that the gods weren’t real. She literally just says “I saw things and heard things that proved the gods weren’t real.” The entire argument basically boils down this: Iovara: “The gods aren’t real!” Thaos: “Are too!” Iovara: “Are not!” Thaos: “Are too!” Iovara: “Nuh-uh!” It’s like every internet argument atheists and theists get into on Facebook. Only this time the theists have some pretty damn compelling evidence on their side." ... "But at the end, when I relive the final moments of my former life, and have our final conversation… I’m forced to ask him whether the gods were real. Despite the fact that neither my current or former characters would have asked that." "If the ending had been framed as “the gods were created by an act of pure evil and we should stop following them,” then yeah I could have hopped on board with that. Or if it had been “clearly the gods are ****ing up our lives more than they’re helping, we should get rid of them” then I could have worked with that. But the gods don’t exist? Yeah that’s not something the setting lends itself to." You can read the whole article here: http://johnswritersblock.com/2015/04/20/pillars-of-eternity-ending-review/ I'm sure he's just another unintelligent, poorly educated fool who just doesn't appreciate atheist propaganda.

You do understand that your government banning music is worse than a few American's in the 1960's burning a few records, right? So you should also know the difference between a video game with a story and "atheistic propaganda." In case you're still not getting it... you claim that you revered rock n rock that was illegally obtained, but if Rock n Roll is the devil's music, doesn't that mean that you revered Satanic Propaganda? In which case, why do you revere satanic propaganda but detest atheistic video game software? Perhaps the real problem here is that you don't like the PoE soundtrack? lol It more complicated. Here rock and roll wasn't the devil's music is was symbol of freedom and rebellion against the government. Heck, I think the even priests listened to it (if they had the chance). Also, I'm not part of the 60s generation, I'm a little younger than that so I do not revere rock and roll as the older people do or did. Personally, I don't listen to rock and roll. I find it horrible. Furthermore, banning rock and roll was the least our worries back then. Having access to proper food(meat) and heating were more pressing concerns. I'm telling you this to give you a better understanding on why the whole"devil's music" trend wasn't an issue here. I'm certain your knee jerk reaction is "uneducated idiots" for "missing" the trend. I never said I detest atheist video games. I dislike atheist propaganda especially when is out of place. It has no place in a fantasy universe with souls, fireballs etc. Had this been a universe without supranatural occurrences (no magic, souls, gods!!! etc) then it would have made sense and I wouldn't have complained. It wouldn't be my cup of tea but I would understand. I'm going stop posting on this thread since I derailed it enough. I said all I had to say on the subject.

Thank you for informing me. I might not be as intelligent as you and definitely not us educated but I knew that. As far as the other statement is concerned, I guess we better agree to disagree. Regarding your fun fact. I'm sorry that happened in your country. I can't the say the same happened here. Back then all Western music was banned (we were a communist dictatorship ) and had limited access to rock and roll. When people did manage to (illegally) get their hands on it it was revered. Be fair, I never said that. As the game sells in more countries you're going to get more diverse feedback. Insulting or mocking other players isn't the way to help grow the community. The way forward is to try to accommodate them. If the LGBT community asks for gay characters then you try to write some gay references/companions whatever. If the "unintelligent" and education lacking people from third world countries don't get atheist propaganda in a fantasy settings write a couple of more choices for the player character or be more careful about the wording. It not that hard really.

I think people are just having an allergic reaction to the highly unintelligent use of the phrase "atheist propaganda." I don't think is just that. I think some people are just rude.

She says the gods aren't real and IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT clairifies they were manufactured. You talk with her about the gods being manufactured and then you talk with Thaos about the gods being manufactured and then when you beat Thaos you get a long flashback scene of the gods being manufactured. Did you hit alt+f4 when Iovara said "the gods aren't real" or something. Yeah, I know she explains they are manufactured hence the atheist propaganda. She doesn't say the gods are manufactured, she says they aren't real period. You would't have a line like that unless you want to shove some propaganda down the player's throat. I'm not like i'm the only one who noticed this, there are a lot of atheist players who loved the atheist message. Nothing wrong with them enjoying it. Still I don't have to like it. And before you start that it doesn' t matter she said the weren't real, let me stop you there and remind you there are no options to tell her it makes no difference if they are manufactured or not. It's clearly implied that's a given ( the fact they aren't real). Now we can rationalize that it doesn't matter if they are manufactured or not or that Iovara is clearly isane for believing they aren't real but that's not the message the game wanted to send. Are you for real? The "gods aren't real" line is there for two reasons. One being for effect and impact, the other because that's what Iovara ****ing believes. You can say that it makes no difference, but to her it does. She dedicated her life -and death- to this idea. The amount of projection that is put on the writers shoulders is astonishing... and utterly retarded. You call it "effect and impact", I call atheist propaganda. I guess it had an effect and impact on me, just wasn't a positive one. I don't know if the projection put on the writers' shoulders is "retarded" or astonishing for that matter. They choose to go that route, it's natural that they receive some negative feedback from us players who were totally disappointed and appalled by it. To tell you the truth I don't get it why people are so passive aggressive ( see the retarded statement) about this. It's not like I said the game sucked, I said the ending did. The game was good, I enjoyed it but the ending was awful. I'm writing here because I like the game I want the next installments to be better. I hope Obsidian takes note of this for any future projects in the PoE universe. If not then it's no hard feelings.

From my point of view it works if his realisation comes when his child is born hollow. After everything he did for his faith and gods to have something like that could make him break. Otherwise, yes you would need a different story or have the pretender as a rational atheist as opposed to the fanatic Raedric.

She says the gods aren't real and IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT clairifies they were manufactured. You talk with her about the gods being manufactured and then you talk with Thaos about the gods being manufactured and then when you beat Thaos you get a long flashback scene of the gods being manufactured. Did you hit alt+f4 when Iovara said "the gods aren't real" or something. Yeah, I know she explains they are manufactured hence the atheist propaganda. She doesn't say the gods are manufactured, she says they aren't real period. You would't have a line like that unless you want to shove some propaganda down the player's throat. I'm not like i'm the only one who noticed this, there are a lot of atheist players who loved the atheist message. Nothing wrong with them enjoying it. Still I don't have to like it. And before you start that it doesn' t matter she said the weren't real, let me stop you there and remind you there are no options to tell her it makes no difference if they are manufactured or not. It's clearly implied that's a given ( the fact they aren't real). Now we can rationalize that it doesn't matter if they are manufactured or not or that Iovara is clearly isane for believing they aren't real but that's not the message the game wanted to send.

I have a question, if Abydon was killed and then resurrected/remade with him not even knowing about it. Can we assume the same can be done to Eothas?

Atheism is a lack of belief in the existence of god's (whether real or manufactured); whereas PoE presents a scenario where the gods are manufactured - which makes it more like Christianity and all other deity-based religions.The simple fact that the concept of gods is presented in the games story disqualifies PoE as being an atheistic perspective. Atheism entails zero deity references; theology entails manufactured deities. At worst, PoE's main story is a long-winded version of the Wizard of Oz. I know what atheism is, I deal with atheists daily.Also, the Gods of Eora are nothing like Christianity. The first clue should be the plural form. They are more like the Greek gods. Anyway you're rationalizing the ending. The elf lady didn't say they are manufactured but that they aren't real. That was the big secret. A ghost was telling you the gods aren't real because she heard some people talking. That's a crappy ending, sorry and it feels like an atheist propaganda out of place and out of nowhere. That's why it makes mose sense to dismiss her as clinically insane. Especially after playing the WM. The game could have made Raedric an atheist for example. His justification being that if this calamity is happening then there are clearly no gods and if they are and still allow for this to happen then he wants nothing to do with them. That would have been more appropriate given the game context. Not perfect considering the Eora gods are not known for their benevolence but better than that crappy ending. The game is still good though. Would have been even better if there were less emphasis on gods storywise.

Good questions, this game needs a proper wiki.

The whole quest leading to Yenwood field. I felt like real lord protecting his claim and making a name for himself. The endless paths was good too since it was related to the keep. I also enjoyed Durgan's Battery quest. Not the endless fighting but the idea behind it. You get a request for help from a village that's dying because there's little economic activity there and opening the battery will put the village on the map. The quest makes sense, the implications are clear and you can easily relate to the community. That small village is now more memorable to me than Defiance Bay. Well done Obsidian.

Yeah, the ending sucked. It felt like atheist propaganda out of nowhere and out of place. The gods aren't real? In a universe with fireballs, souls, and "gods" with supernatural powers? Give me a break! What's worse is I didn't manage to find an option to use the souls to become a god or demigod or something. That being said, I consider Iovara to be mentally ill and just ignored her ramblings. As far as Thaos ( or whatever his name was) is concerned he was just a pawn of his goddess. Makes more sense that way for me. Problem solved as far as I'm concerned. Also, I would have liked a less emphasis on Gods and more on the countries of Eora and their power struggle. I wasn't much attached to Dyrwood and in a PoE2 it's hard to get excited if it's another story about Gods and their machinations. I wanted to see more conflict between the nations of Eora, how that affected the lives of common folks, despair, genocide, betrayal etc As master of Caed Nua I would have liked to see more quests about the power structure in Dyrwood. Hopefully, PoE2 will take place in the Vailian Republics since that nation has a lot of potential for intrigue, power strugles and conflicts.

Didn't like him much, he seems high all the time and it's hard to take him seriously. On the other hand, I don't like most of the companions in PoE.

When defining good and evil we judge actions. I believe I don't have to explain the big difference between being a racist and murdering someone. You can have interesting characters who are racists and choose to defend the perceived lower race from abuse because they give precedence to upholding the law no matter what etc. A character being racists doesn't automatically make him evil. Anyways, the evil -good , chaotic-lawful is explained in detail on many sites and has a long tradition in RPGs. Sure, it's not perfect but's a solid system. Having more evil companions and even having them leave if your actions are too selfless would be a welcome addition to the game iMO.

Slavery is one part of the lore that seems to have been kinda deemphasized in the released game, compared to what Josh/other devs (and the guidebook too, I think) have told us about the setting. If I'm not mistaken, slavery is supposed to be a wide-spread phenomenon in this part of the world, with Aedyran and Readceran humans/elves enslaving orlans on a grand scale, and having done so for quite a while. And the Dyrwoodans used to do it too, but officially agreed to stop in a treaty with Eír Glanfath after the War of Black Trees, so now they do it inofficially by calling it 'indentured servitude'. In the game, this doesn't really come across all that much. Sure, there's that one quest in Stalwart, and that slaver guest in the stronghold, etc., but the whole topic is not presented in an in-your face way at all - if you skip reading the in-game books, you could finish the whole game and not realize that slavery is anything more than an insignificant side-note in this setting. Good point. It's quite strange considering the universe is dark in tone. I guess they didn't have the time and resources to flesh this out (and the implications) so they only mentioned it a couple of times. I hope a future PE2 will improve that. This is definitely a franchise that explores the dark side of human nature and history.

How do you consider Devil of Caroc to be Evil? People came and slaughtered her entire village and family by burning their homes down and killing whomever fled the flames. She survived and brought justice to the guilty. I see no evil in what she did. She did not go and slaughter the entire village of everyone who slaughtered hers, she just meted out justice to the guilty ones. I could see Grieving Mother as evil for her actions and manipulation of people. Mind control seems pretty evil to me. There's an event in Stronghold. An animancer comes to me seeking help. I have the option to consult with my team. The options are to send the Devil to the guy's lab, kill him and destroy his work, the other is to send the double personality Elf to destroy his work but not kill him. I chose to send the Devil and, I may remember incorrectly here, she said "With pleasure!". I believe there are small clues around that show likes killing/hurting people. When I heard her story I said "Oh man, not another she's not evil, she was just abused and is seeking retribution character". But seeing her in that event + some small other flavour text led me to believe she's the only evil companion we get. Sure, you might argue that she's insane (that is referenced at least to times by NPCs) but still, she's definitely neutral evil (if you remember the alignment from Baldur's Gate). I would have loved to have a Bleak Walkers paladin or a slaver as a companion since those are part of the lore and would have added a bit to the replayability. I'd consider her to be pragmatic, not evil, Also consider that she is trapped in a metal shell due to an animancer, the opportunity to kill one is another opportunity for revenge. Violence is a solution to most if not all problems. If you apply enough violence the conditions that are the cause of the problem get fixed. I agree that a Bleak Walker would have made an interesting companion. An interesting perspective. She enjoyed killing him because he was an animancer. I never thought about it this way. Anyways, it doesn't change much IMO that just gives her a motive not justification for killing the guy. She's killing the animancer because of what he is and not because of what he has done to her. That's an evil character in my book. It's like killing all cops because one abused you. Also, I remembered another instance that also proves she's evil. During the chats you have with her she confesses (or brags) that she kidnapped the people who were used for experiments by the "Italian" animancer. She says that they were all "Murderous (or slavers, I don't remember exactly), thieves, smuggles and the likes". At fist I thought she meant to say she only killed/kidnapped the scum of the earth, like a cleaning operation. While it would make sense with murderers, it makes little sense with thieves and even less with smugglers. I believe what she meant is that she killed (or kidnapped) people who were outside the law and thus unlikely to have the authorities looking for them. That's evil behavior without doubt. As far as I'm concerned the only debate to have is if she's neutral evil or lawful evil (as in she has a code she follows).

Yeah, I would have loved to see companions evolve towards good/evil and even potentially breaking off if I pushed them too fast (like the Grieving Mother does). However, I realize that would have been a pain to implement. A possible solution would be to cut the number of companions in half if not more. Yes, that would mean you would have to recruit custom adventures to fill all spots but the trade off would be worth it for me. I'm sure other would disagree profoundly.

How do you consider Devil of Caroc to be Evil? People came and slaughtered her entire village and family by burning their homes down and killing whomever fled the flames. She survived and brought justice to the guilty. I see no evil in what she did. She did not go and slaughter the entire village of everyone who slaughtered hers, she just meted out justice to the guilty ones. I could see Grieving Mother as evil for her actions and manipulation of people. Mind control seems pretty evil to me. There's an event in Stronghold. An animancer comes to me seeking help. I have the option to consult with my team. The options are to send the Devil to the guy's lab, kill him and destroy his work, the other is to send the double personality Elf to destroy his work but not kill him. I chose to send the Devil and, I may remember incorrectly here, she said "With pleasure!". I believe there are small clues around that show likes killing/hurting people. When I heard her story I said "Oh man, not another she's not evil, she was just abused and is seeking retribution character". But seeing her in that event + some small other flavour text led me to believe she's the only evil companion we get. Sure, you might argue that she's insane (that is referenced at least to times by NPCs) but still, she's definitely neutral evil (if you remember the alignment from Baldur's Gate). I would have loved to have a Bleak Walkers paladin or a slaver as a companion since those are part of the lore and would have added a bit to the replayability.

I didn't like her much. I play an evil character and the Grieving Mother leaves the party after an incident with a baby. Nothing special about her imo. I liked the Devil of Caroc the most. As a matter of fact that's the only companion that I really like.

Yeah, I too think the game needs more Evil companions. I think evil is objective but I won't go into a debate on why evil is objective. I will instead give a short description of the character I would like to see: a slaver searching for fugitive slaves. A kind of character that doesn't complain when I trade a hatchling for 500 copper (like Ender does in WM1) or when I harm the baby (like the G. Mother does). A kind of character that would support my dungeon efforts in the Stronghold and would be willing to trade some of my companions to the slavers. On the plus side, the Devil of Caroc is well done and fits my definition of evil. I like how in the Caed Nua debates I can use her to kill the NPCs who ask for my help. Definitely a nice touch. What I would have liked to see is a better explanation/option for why the Devil of Caroc is my companion. The official one is pretty vague and I would have liked to have the option of blackmailing her some way ( a truly evil way basically making her a slave or something). It's not the kind of character I would normally allow free as a companion (without some major leveraging).