PatrioticChief

That is absolute fire. No pun intended.

I do think PoE2 is too easy. I surprise myself by saying that because I usually don't play RPG's for the combat. But even on veteran with no Berath's blessing I was absolutely wrecking face, including missions that were supposedly significantly above my level. I honestly expect a lot of this stuff to improve. Obsidian has proven to be very dedicated post launch when it came to PoE, I expect the same here.

I honestly do not know why she is in the game. I changed my history just to grab her along but she has virtually no interaction outside of a few lines of dialogue in the beginning of the game and occasionally talking to other characters on the ship. Even when you click on her she sounds like other members of the crew which is jarring. If you're going to have the PC kidnap a child you'd think there would be more than a modicum of interactivity. Just seems like a waste. I would be surprised if more content is not added to her post launch.

This is obviously just my 2 cents too. But enough people have concurred to make me think my analysis is probably not an isolated one. You feel differently. Nothing wrong with that. As for this It may be possible but I find it incredibly improbable. I am also fairly confident one could find more than a few scientific studies to support my skepticism as more of a fact than an opinion. I definitely believe there are reasons an individual in such a situation could find an excuse to suppress their attraction. I simply do not think the game gives a compelling one. Without one, or a reason they wouldn't be attracted due to race/batting for the other team etc, it simply feels unrealistic and contrarian.

Definitely feasible but it would be a major time investment to do it in a way that was remotely realistic a la HBO's Big Love. I'm not opposed to it per se but I definitely understand why games have steered away in terms of the opportunity cost, not to mention potential political blow back. If you are just interested in maximizing the content for your run, I imagine mods are the proper solution. I ran through DA:I once on Xbox and years later with the collectors edition on PC. Loaded up a romance all mod for the PC run and I am glad I did. Would have never played enough to romance Solas and that ended up being the most memorable romance I think I've had in a game. Though I will admit Bull's relationship, while not very impactful, still has one of the funniest scenes from an RPG I can remember.

what lvl is the machine dino actually? At lvl 16 party when I did it on PotD without much optimization prior it was a fairly nice fight - though once I figured I had to actually use healing abilities there and not steamroll it became manageable, just longer than the other fights. (compared to all the others in the game). but still it feels less strong than the dragons in PoE1 the drake fire dragon at magran's teeth was a joke though For real. I struggled with the mecha dragon (still got it on the first try but it was close) but the magma dragon was laughably easy.

There is practically all the freedom you could want. There does not have to be any narrative reason at all. If the character doesn't want to tell you the reason, that's their choice. Do best friends have to give a reason to not hook up? no..Even if Romance options weren't in the game at all I don't think many would pay it any attention, because there's 100hrs+ of other content, while romance does nothing and is ~1% of the game content. The reason the romance here isn't so "well written" or "free" is simply because most people are not going to care about that in an RPG where the focus is several other things entirely that are on a much larger scale. This is not a romance novel, it's an RPG with gods, magic, pirates, and whatever.. they really don't have a reason to waste time and focus on such a minor aspect of the game that most people would find cringy unless written casually anyway. People always find something minor to whine about though lol I don't think you addressed my argument at all. *shrug* Not to mention several of your claims are easily contradicted. The writers clearly disagree because they included romance for 5/7 companions. I loved PoE and there was no romance. My issue is deciding to include it for the vast majority of characters but not provide a narrative reason to restrict it for Eder, a fan favorite. The issue is compounded by there being plenty of narrative reasons that the relationship would make sense. By all means if Obsidian wants to shut the door on romance, that is their prerogative. But if you open that door, then you might as well do it well. I don't think they did with Eder.

Sure, and inasmuch as it is just bugs and it gets fixed, it's no longer an issue. I'm more responding to the argument that "people in Eora just don't care about race/gender/physical appearance/morals/etc in their partners" which we know isn't true. Ah yeah. I don't think s/s relationships in particular seem to be an issue. Inter-species seems to be more of an issue if anything. And since some of them are sterile it's hard to tell if they're common because there's not a bunch of halflings running around I think, sociologically speaking, there’s potentially an attitude shift towards interracial (inter species?) relationships starting to occur due to the hollowborn issue too. If healthy children are becoming scarce, adults are killing each other off in war and animancy craziness, and some races are potentially being affected more by the hollowborn issue than others, then population decline will trigger the adoption of taboos that weren’t previously a social issue. And like you said, we can’t know for sure because of inter species sterility. In the Tek romance you can strongly imply you were gangbanged/involved in a foursome with 3 orlans (M FOR MATURE KIDS)....so I am thinking inter species sex is a thing even if inter species sterility is too.

Where is this dude anyhow?

Thanks! This is the second item (found it with console, no idea where or if it drops): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1387190356 I have this. Cannot recall how I got it. Killing Furrante maybe? *shrug*

LOL. I had no idea what that was but assumed it was a reference. Thanks for sharing.

I concur.

[Xoti's quest ending spoiler warning, just in case] During her quest, i convince her to give souls from Lanter to Animancers, and she said, after it her nightmares are gone and lantern feels light as never before. so... good ending? maybe? Huh. I did that and she became a total lunatic. I'm gonna stop playing this game until a real patch comes out to fix this stuff. It's ridiculous even by Obsidian standards. HA HA HA! 40 hours in, not one bug. You just have bad luck. Sorry about that, but the game is actually *considerably* less buggy than Obsidian games in the past. Everybody is so quick to forget what it was like playing KOTOR II on launch. Release was far from perfect but a noteworthy improvement over past efforts.

We just have different philosophies for RPG's. I think RPG's are best when they maximize freedom. Is it moronic as hell to defy Eothas and let him obliterate you? Sure. But damnit that is my right as a role player! Likewise if there is no compelling narrative reason for a character to not be romanceable, and in fact several narrative reasons why he should be, why is the player being limited? To me there is no difference between the choice of defying the gods and romancing a character. It's simply an option for the player and if you are going to eliminate options there should be a decent narrative reason for it or it should be an opportunity cost relative to another part of the game. In this case the game actually provides numerous narrative reasons for it to make sense so it's doubly jarring from a writing perspective.

I wish there was an option to let Iselmyr take over Aloth. Would be a far more enjoyable companion and I know at least Eder would agree.

You should see her reaction if you break it off with him. Ondra would make for the most harrowing mother-in-law horror stories imaginable Wait what. So she's mad if you're with him then she gets mad that you dump him? How does that work? That's what I am saying lol.

Man I was worried this would be the case. Virtually no reason not to sacrifice everyone who isn't present in this game lol.

Sidenote but why does Ondra say you aren't good enough for him and then literally never bring it up? And why is fish guy so damn clingy in the game but then moves past you like nothing in the epilogue? Makes little narrative sense to me.

Not sure why people complain about flirting. It's easily ignored or you can choose companions that don't engage in it. I personally appreciate POE2 climbing out of its POE asexual shell.

Yeah I prefer keeping a character, a la ME, because you can really expand and grow relationships. When you were shooting cans with Garrus in ME:3 it felt so natural. You and your old war buddy just shooting the ****. But this game has very little of that. Being able to talk to souls have little narrative import that could not be easily edited. I like the premise of a continuing character but it doesn't feel as if they maximized the value to a significant degree.

What a feeling to have. It's completely baseless speculation. As mentioned above, the reasons are crystal clear. You can disagree with them, but that doesn't make them non-existing. Less combat clutter, and better accessibility for more casual players is valid arguments for Obsidian to make. They have an obvious interest in making combat fun for a larger audience. And even if some grognards like myself prefers 6 party members, that shouldn't be defining for their descision making. I concur.

I think it came down to party management. I agree I would prefer to have a larger group of companions because I want to maximize the narrative value of every play-through since I don't have time for a lot of them. But I understand the game play argument for having 5.

I stated before the game release that I had no issue with not being able to romance Eder. The idea of a platonic broseph, a la Garrus, seemed splendid. However given numerous narrative decisions in the game, I can't help but be disappointed by the writing. If you want to make the most popular fan character from the previous game a purely platonic relationship here are the things you should do and not do. 1) Do not make his companion quest about chasing down a chick he enjoyed banging a decade ago. Do not mistake me. Eder having an opportunity to save a a young boy from a cult is good writing material. The jokes about him being a baby daddy were funny. But the instigation for this quest is Eder wanting to find a chick he had fun screwing back in the day. Doesn't seem like the type of man who would be uninterested in a romance with a potentially attractive woman he has already formed a deep personal bond with. 2) Do not kill off this decade old love interest if you plan on using her as a prop to justify Eder not being romanceable Oh no this woman I banged ten years ago who got married and had some other mans kid died. I cannot possibly pursue a romance with my close and attractive friend! 3) Do not make him worldly with a light heart Yes, this easy going jester who enjoys bawdy behavior and sex has no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship? Again, it just stretched credulity barring a compelling counterpoint. 4) Do not make every other companion, except the games most standoffish character written by an author who has a hateon for romance, romanceable by both genders It just seems contrived. Every other character is romanceable regardless of race or gender but Eder? If you are going to carve out that exception, create a compelling reason for it. 5) Write a compelling reason why he would not be attracted to the Watcher He only likes men. He only likes women. He only likes Orlans (the freak). Cynical Eder rejecting Xoti advances makes perfect sense. She is a borderline zealot and he's angry and suspicious of the gods. But a Watcher he has a maxed out relationship with? Not so much. 6) Write a compelling reason why he would reject The Watcher even if he attracted to her Our quest is too dangerous and I can't allow myself to love you. I already lost my brother I can't get hurt like that again. I am already in love with someone else, a la Vivienne, therefore I won't allow you to pursue me. I honestly find the first reason fairly weak. After all, he starts the game devoted to you and can grow on top of that existing foundation. Losing you would already suck pretty bad for him and the Watcher could easily point that out. Still, it would be a better justification than the game gives. Given Eder's quest, quest outcome, and the disposition of the character, the writers really should have crafted a more compelling rationale for why you can't romance him or they should have just included it for the fans that wanted it.

I liked the OP because I agree the ex-girlfriend story line is weak (despite some humor from the companions on him being a dad). That being said I think his character was extremely consistent with POE1 and clearly grew in terms of him rejecting Eothas and wanting legitimate revenge/answers. So well written character, weak companion quest.

Still having issues with this. If I crank it up to classic will I be able to trigger it?