Ser Pontonnier

I remember that random encounters tended to happen a lot, and were always the same in BG II. Good first time, but boring after. I prefer the scenarized encounters. About resting in dungeon, I agree it's odd to sleep just a few meters away of dangerous monsters that attack you on sight. There's should be a chance of night attack on your camp on such occasions. after all, in reality, it's always when you sleep that pests raid your skin without mercy.

The power doesn't fade when the game ends, your character is still a Watcher and their powers are still there. Sorry to disappoint you, but i watched the ending again, it is clearly stated thta your visions ceased and the voices of the past became quiet, and that allow you to get some sleep. in other words : that you're no longer a watcher.

Some things i like in PoE : - Choices and the possibility to build a behaviour’s reputation, and that reputation bring consequences. - Observations from NPC on PC’s background (merchant, dissident, labourer, etc.) - voice acting. They were convincing (well, Durance’s wail of despair was so convincing that my neighbour came knocking at my door to see if I was well…) - party commentaries. They make the NPc more lively - the possibility to use the traps you disarm - I don’t know to mention them correctly, but I really like the short passages with scriptures, like the burning house, the climb for the dragon egg, the escape from the moon. - the battle of Yenwood. Mass battle was interesting. Wish list : Party with a goal : NPC shouldn’t join your party just because you give them a small service. OF course it wasn’t the case for all of them : Kana Rua needed your help to get through that dungeon…. But the others are just individuals that are passing by or just needed an excuse. I wish that the NPC join you because they have a good reason to risk their lives doing so. Moreover, they shouldn’t be compelled to do things they have no interests in. Kana Rua should have left the party as soon as his quest was finished, for example. Freedom and evolution for Party members : after their goal is achieved, they should leave… and you may find some of them again in later acts with different belongings or talents following the result of their quest(s) and your choices for them. In other words : impacted by the choices you made for them. Better “time management” in the story : even if the main story told the contrary, I never felt in a hurry. Taos busy resurrecting Woedica ? The man is waiting for you taking the long way while all he has to do is push a trigger… and you can make him wait for months alone there without food. Next game should at least use some tricks to make you feel the urgency. No side quest at tensed moments or side-quest that close when you choose one ; consequences if too many days passed without doing the main quest would give more rythme to the game. Navy stronghold. That would be great. You may add being able to do a few navy battle with it, like the Yenwood battle. After all, many countries have powerful fleets in the PoE universe. Factions : more of them or a least more than 3 quests with them. Also, choosing one of them should have more importance in the in-game. Doing quests for them should have direct influence in the followings Acts. Less contriving story, your choice should matter more in game : final stage and final boss shouldn’t be the same for complete opposing choices. More contriving game : you shouldn’t be being able to do all the quests and side-quests in one run. I would enjoy more redoing the game if it allows me to do thing I wasn’t able to do in the first run. Some quests should open with conditions, like a specific value in a certain behaviour, reputation in a place, who you have in your party, class or background etc. and I wouldn’t mind less background options if it allows to focus more on them. Side-stories were good. Main story…. Meh. It could have been better if it was more articulate. The beginning hook is very generic and unfitting for someone who will fight a lot (getting a small land to cultivate… let’s say that for a barbarian, I didn’t expect an answer to the question “what’s best in life” to be water crops and growing salads). Then you infiltrate a sect without much problems and; much conveniently, the one person who should have suspicions about you give you missions… when you were supposed to ask them questions to know more about your state and ask them for a cure. And at the end, after learning fortuitly that there is no cure to your state, you got magically ridden of it without reason. Your character was threatened to become mad without return to sanity, and the situation resolves by itself. Your main motivation to advance in the story was just a useful power that fades when the game ends. It fell flat. Examples to flesh out some of my expectations : The goal is to explore a newly discovered archipelago/land. You can ally with 3 different factions like Vallian Republics, Rauatai or Aedyr that want to control and colonize it. Each have different assets, trump cards and disadvantages. You’ll work for this faction for many acts, or defect to another one, or side with the natives to help them fend off the invasion, and doing their jobs will impact the following acts, not just the slides at the end. Inside those 3 mains factions, you’ll have sub-factions that have different approach to solve the same problem or different objectives. Your actions can support some of them, to make the whole faction’s actions more aggressive or more diplomatic, more focused on conquest or discovering knowledge... etc. A few months will pass between different acts, so you can see intermediate results of your actions : like building a fortress on some place to control/survey the area, or to install some trade to gain some funds… etc. If you have merchant as a background, you’ll be approached by merchant who want you to help them conclude a trade agreement. A ranger would be asked to explore a dangerous are or to hunt a specific beast… etc.