Haran

I did enable that option. And yes, once I loaded and returned with the skull I had the option of offering to give it to her and from there I had the option of reaching a peaceful solution.

I finally met my match with the Magran's Faithful bounty. Mind you, I stayed at level 9 despite having enough XP for level 14. I did eventually manage to beat them after I realized the accuracy bonuses from Scroll of Valor, Holy Radiance and Devotion for the Faithful stack (+45), as well as the defense penalties from Shining Beacon and Enervating Terror (-35 will and fortitude).

I meant a mod that adds appropriate dialogue, etc.

In my previous playthrough I found that there's a way to avoid the fight with Llengrath (AKA THE ULTIMATE DRAGON BATTLE) if you say you don't want to fight and then pass a resolve or intellect threshold. But this time through I don't have that option. The only real difference I can think of is that last time I had Concelhaut's phylactery as my pet, but this time I sold the phylactery to a random merchant. So am I missing something or is Llengrath simply out to get me no matter what if I don't have the phylactery?

Yeah, the extra dialogue in the council of the stars after finishing WM2 is pretty underwhelming.

The title says it all

Speaking of retraining, I noticed that retraining a wizard erases all the spells they learned. Very annoying. If you have a lot of money you can write them in spellbooks and then copy them anew after the retraining, but it's still annoying and costly.

Good idea, I might try that. Currently I'm just refraining as much as possible from leveling up or resting. The latter brought about the discovery that potions of vital essence can heal your health, significantly increasing the number of fights I can take before resting. Sadly and annoyingly, they can only be used during combat.

That too!

Oh yes! I was constantly switching on and off the AI. And then I'd forget it off and get my character killed in the next fight. I'd also like an "ignore engagement" button. I had go to the menu and untick and retick the "continue on engagement" box every time I needed that.

Surprisingly, even a barbarian's carnage's area is based on intellect. Also surprisingly, effects that deal X damage over time also have their duration extended by intellect, but NOT their damage, making them LESS effective the higher your int is.

Rust monster. Something that destroys your equipment is going to be very terrifying indeed. I suppose Unique items will be immune, and in PoE1 there was lots and lots of spare equipment laying around, so it wouldn't be all that awful. In BG1 I remember you could lose your (non-magic) weapon randomly in the middle of the fight because it breaks. In the first scripted interaction in PoE1 you can also lose your weapon. So as long as it's not taking your rare magic items it'll be fine. Second would be well scripted AI. Have enemies use their most powerful abilities at the start of the fight rather than giving you the opportunity to neutralize them or cast defenses. Have them not kill their own party members. Have paladins use their deprive to take down your best and longest-lasting defenses. Have them use their liberating to cancel long-lasting afflictions rather than ones that'll end before they finish casting. I remember fighting large groups that included several druids, priests and wizards with 6th level spells that simply neglected to use their strongest spells.

Dunno... seems like some people are looking for reasons to bash so called activists. I actually really appreciate it when developers take the time to avoid the common sexist themes we're so used to seeing in games. I suppose you can't please everyone.

There was one fight that got me repeatedly. The ogres in Stalwart. I was 6th level at the time. Had to come back later at 7th level when I had access to 4th level spells.

Once I got to level 11+ there were no challenging fights anymore. Even though I forced the "scaler" on in all areas. Even fights I remembered as being difficult in previous non-PotD playthroughs, like the lich and the adra dragon, were pretty easy (although those ones were not in upscaled areas). And I'm not even trying to get the best character builds and party composition.

Yes I know. I meant it was too high a bonus and not in line with the other illusion spells of higher level.

Wizard's double has a ridiculous bonus. Don't see the sense in it.

I'm all for it. Don't we already have genderless individuals in the game world? We already know that "everyone-is-bisexual", and we have sex-changing dragons, so having a genderless player character wouldn't be out of the ordinary for this setting. I suppose we'll have different cultures behave differently towards us, like they do depending on any other characteristics like race, class, sex and origin in PoE1.

Usually only the highest bonus is applied to any specific defense. But would it not make sense for "barrier" deflection to stack with "visual" deflection? For example Mirror Image plus Arcane Veil? Also, when dealing with a creature that does not rely on sight, it makes sense that any deflection bonus from illusions should be negated. Same goes for enemies that have been blinded. And it makes sense since the highest illusion defense is +25 deflection and blinded gives a -25 penalty to accuracy, so if you're already getting the -25 you shouldn't have to deal with the deflection bonus on top of it. How does the game system actually deal with this?

I noticed that when I arrived to their camp with benevolent 2 the guard says they heard about me, but no matter my answer the other guard forces a fight. When I reach their commander, mostly by sneaking but probably killing at least 10 more guards, there's no option to negotiate and he always attacks me. I know this quest is supposed to be a high-level combat challenge, but is there no way to avoid some of the combat through dialogue?

I'd say you should play the game for a bit and see if you like it before you go and buy the expansions. If you like the base game then you'll like the expansions too.

I'm not following the distinction you are making. Iirc, Mord sword could be clicked and assigned to attack any enemy, near or far. What are you referring to? The difference is a "sword" that acts like any other summoned monster and moves to attack enemies in melee, and a "sword" that is equipped in your character's weapon slot and acts as if your character is using a ranged weapon.

The BG2 kind is just another summoned creature. I like how it was implemented in IWD2, where it really acted as a long range melee weapon.

Will there be actual music in PoE2? PoE1 had no memorable music to speak of, just passive and boring background music, and the same music again and again for combat.

I'll tell you what worked for me: First, uninstall the game. Then download GOG Galaxy. Download and install the game with GOG Galaxy. It only downloaded the base game. Go to your game in GOG Galaxy, click on the "more" button, choose settings, un-tick both expansions and then re-tick them. It will now download the expansions. Done. Should work without pink-screen.