Saito Hikari

I went in and still managed to get Tristian to comply at the end. I think I just said that I just wanted to take a look around. I think the main requirement is that you had to have done his companion quests beforehand, agree with him in most of the dialogue prompts in the dungeon, and don't try any demonic rituals in the dungeon as well.

To be fair, I wouldn't consider it a 'true ending' (even if the file names indicate it as such), more like a 'very well hidden ending' considering that at the moment, only Good aligned characters might be able to achieve it. Or at the least, only Good aligned characters get a really strong passive at endgame while attempting to get said ending. I would know, I'm the one who wrote the initial information gathering guide over at the subreddit in order to find out what I and many others missed during the first month of release, after I ended up failing the very last step to achieve the ending. Nowadays, there's a complete guide (in Russian) on how to get it, though some details (particularly hidden stat checks in dialogue that may be required) still aren't very well documented. The guide was partially translated into English a while back, but the aforementioned dialogue requirements when talking to three of the end of chapter bosses weren't (so the exact dialogue options and stat checks to find them still isn't documented in English).

@Verde: It's not a game for everyone. It has one of my most favorite casts of characters in recent times (as tropey as they may be), although that's probably because their companion quests actually span throughout the game. However, a lot of the game is based around keeping track of timers, many of them invisible. Much of the game takes place in a strict 4 and a half year period, split into 7 chapters, complete with seasons changing maps and weather patterns. And it's strict in that you can't do anything to extend most of the timers, you'll straight up game over with the main quest timers. And that's where most people hit a game over wall, which is why the best advice is to keep backup saves at the start/end of each chapter. The game expects you to pay attention. If you have a bunch of trolls terrorizing your populace, you'd better go out and deal with it. (Also the endgame expects you to be a munchkin. Your party members better have Freedom of Movement.) Well, yes. It's an absurdly long game, and the game has no reservations about ending your playthrough. Pathfinder took me about 130 hours to reach the end, and that was with 2 restarts within the first 40 hours. Most people's first playthrough will probably fail, and the game does not hold your hand, period. It's hard for me to explain why I ended up liking Pathfinder so much. Something about it just feels so pure in ways most other recent cRPGs failed to evoke. Thinking about it as much as I can, I think it's because the writing actually gives an incredible amount of agency to the player character and their decisions, and there are actual consequences that crop up from said choices later in the game. I imagine the reason why there's so little information of what happens in a Chaotic Evil playthrough is because everyone knows the game won't try to stop you or sanitize it at all.

I'm pretty sure we don't need to be worrying about Owlcat and Pathfinder. It seems to me that the game was still a major success, and I remember seeing metrics estimating that Pathfinder had already sold more than PoE2 did within its first few days. If it weren't for the bugs and endgame design, I could easily see Pathfinder being regarded much more highly than PoE2, and a lot of people waiting for the game to get patched up probably feel the same way.

Oh yeah, I should have specified BG2 EE and not 1, but I guess I really should just go play BG1 first even though people recommend skipping straight to 2. I actually was going to play an archer, I was just torn between picking a Bard or a Ranger archer. People also said archers in BG2 weren't nearly as broken as they apparently were in 1, but eh.

That's pretty much the same boat I'm on right now. I've put my new playthrough on hold to wait for turn-based mode. That said, I've heard Temple of Elemental Evil being thrown around a lot for a game that supposedly had a near perfect implementation of turn-based combat, so I'm seriously considering looking into getting that in the meantime. Alas, I couldn't get into Baldur's Gate since I found it a bit too obtuse for my sadly modern gaming mind, but I guess I would attempt ToEE and attempt Bauldr's Gate again down the road, now that I have more experience with DnD terminology.

The more I think about this, the more I wish Obsidian just let us test this turn-based mode through the holidays while making it clear that this was an accidental release and it's still in a rather unfinished state. Call it an early Christmas gift to the fans that bought the game or something. I am already theorycrafting possible mechanics and builds for turn-based mode that most people probably wouldn't even bother with in RTwP mode, although it all hinges on how engagement/attack of opportunities are handled. If it works the way I think it does (merely moving past a non-blinded/immobilized melee character provokes an attack of opportunity), reach weapons/equipment that specifically boosts or counters attack of opportunities are going to see a LOT more use. This leak did tell me some important things, however. Obsidian isn't going to half-ass turn-based mode if they kept this under wraps for MONTHS. The fact that this was only accessible through a new playthrough rather than allowing us to switch on the fly means that if you choose to go turn-based, you're going to essentially play an entirely rebalanced game designed specifically for turn-based combat.

They probably will rebalance most, if not all encounters around this. Mostly the superbosses and ending DLC/dragon fights especially. They've already tweaked individual encounters before. It's likely the reason why when this patch went live for the hour and a half that it was available, only new games had the option and no one noticed it on existing saves. The game just won't let you switch between either mode at once.

Indeed. I've been monitoring as many mainstream sites as possible to see reaction to this leak, and everywhere I saw this being brought up, it resulted in a lot of positive interest towards the game.

Yeah. Upon further thought, a lot of builds likely won't translate very well to turn-based mode. Then there's other things like how would engagement even work? The maps in this game aren't designed with very tight chokepoints, which would probably make a summoning Chanter a necessity. Enemies could probably just move past your tank and go right for your squishies, unless anyone that moves past a melee character not currently suffering under an affliction like Blind immediately takes an attack of opportunity (although this would also result in equipment granting bonuses to attack of opportunities/defenses against enemy attack of opportunities seeing a lot more use). Abilities that inflict immobility/hobbled will probably see far more use as well. This is probably the most exciting future update this game could have had, implementing a mode that might as well be like playing an entirely new game. I'm a person that prefers turn-based, so I'm probably going to put my playthrough on hold and wait for this.

Jesus, that footage. The AI seems to determine actions faster than Divinity Original Sin 2 does. Either that, or the speed is because animations are much faster/DOS2's AI takes longer to calculate because there's a lot more field-related factors for it to be concerned about.

Yeah, the patch earlier today included it, and then another patch took it right back out. Looks like this was a completely accidental leak. But also hugely interesting because I'm not sure another game like this has actually explicitly included the option to play it RTwP -or- turn-based. Also, it'll be interesting to compare the balance between different classes from RTwP mode to turn-based. I imagine spellcasters and rangers will perform much more strongly in turn-based mode, for one.

https://old.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/a81gd7/poe2_my_game_has_turnbased_mode/ Does anyone know what's up with this? Did the game actually patch in a turn-based mode out of nowhere today? (I haven't patched yet for MMO connection reasons, but is this an actual thing?) EDIT: Looks like it was, and then it got removed. Completely accidental leak, it seems.

You won't really find anyone arguing about Monster Hunter World being an RPG or not. Even the Monster Hunter World community was bewildered at how it could ever be considered a RPG back when it somehow won the VGA RPG award a week and a half ago.

I mean, I suppose the only other real contender this year was Pathfinder Kingmaker, and that one literally released in a half broken state. Still a good achievement though.

I very rarely watch anime, if at all, but I came across one recently (if a Taiwanese puppet show with tons of special effects even counts as anime) that wasn't your typical childish smut. It's called Thunderbolt Fantasy, and the writing and plot seems like it came out of a hilariously fun Chinese DnD campaign. It has a wuxia style plot, but with twists and attention to detail that don't assume that the viewers are morons. The writing is really subtle and nuanced, I've noted that it appears as if all of the major characters in the show are written as if they adhere to the alignment wheel. Like the main character being rather Neutral Good, and the bard sidekick in season 2 is apparently Chaotic Good, and it clearly shows in their conversations and arguments they have. Then there's the one us westerners nickname 'Vape Wizard' who is quite possibly the best example of a Chaotic Neutral character I've ever seen in any fiction. Alas, I can't go into further detail on exactly what makes this show so good as it'd veer right into spoiler territory, but I highly encourage everyone to watch it. At the very least, after the first few episodes introducing the party members of season 1, the show really takes off in its fun factor. The show has a lot of buildup and it pays off in some of the most incredible ways I've ever seen. (There's currently two seasons of about 13 episodes each, with the finale of season 2 airing next week, so one can easily binge through it in an afternoon or two.)

As a newcomer to the PoE series, here's what I observed from more mainstream gaming sites. 1) Every discussion about PoE2 pre-release outside of topics strictly about PoE2 itself was always marred by comparisons to Divinty Original Sin 2. 2) As a tangent to the above, there appears to be a resurgence of people that want a turn-based game, and it would appear that real time with pause is being looked down upon more and more these days. 3) Bad marketing, you pretty much never hear about the game outside of dedicated topics. Hell, with the release of SSS and Forgotten Sanctum, you can't find discussion on either outside of said dedicated topics, which are usually pretty dead now as is. 4) As a tangent to the above, bad word of mouth. Part of it is people really displeased with the pacing of the main game. As a tangent to that, quite a number of people are also displeased with the large amount of DLCs being announced pretty much at release, and assumed that the game's overall quality will operate under the assumption that you will get them all. Even streamers like CohhCarnage have explicitly avoided streaming any of the DLC until all three have been released, to do another full playthrough of all of them at once. 5) The other part of it is that Obsidian's reputation of releasing games that are broken at release has become very overblown as of late, though PoE2 did little to alleviate this image (depending on what people's definition of 'broken' is, could mean the DLC stuff above too). 6) The game's a direct sequel to the first, and the first game didn't exactly hit it into the mainstream either.

Honestly, I know Arcane Archer isn't that weak, I've had time to seriously think after reading that giant post explaining your reasoning and I think I've narrowed down where my complaints really lie with the subclass. 1) It's not obvious which multiclass mechanics would have any effect on the Imbue abilities. It says a lot when we had to individually test a number of weapons and multiclass mechanics to see if they even interacted with Imbue in any way, and Arcane Archer is veering very close to (if not already at) 'do not consider multiclassing/must read this before attempting to multiclass' territory. Actually, I'm not even sure why there's even a distinction between weapons and spells in terms of what buffs will affect which type of attack. I feel that all it has achieved is promoting a perception in the general community where many consider the martial classes to have far more interesting multiclass interactions, and the mages (minus Cipher) should almost always be single classed as a result. 2) The Bond costs for Imbue abilities might be too high. It hugely discourages use of the other Ranger abilities, especially if you multiclass (at level 19 if you multiclass, you have 8 bond, which gives you two casts of the Imbue abilities that cost 3 bond, and 1 cast of something else before you run out). So far, all the builds I've come up with have actively avoided picking up most other Ranger abilities, just picking up a lot of passives instead. I suppose if you single class, this gives you room to pick up all the companion passives instead, though. 3) Imbue: Web and Imbue: Eora are too functionally similar in terms of end goal. One should be replaced with something else, though I've no idea with what.

Just tested this. It does not (well, it affects the initial hit, but not the spell rolls). My guess is that it considers Imbue spells to be, well, spells, and thus not subject to any weapon proficency bonuses. Same reason why Cipher multiclass Soul Whip doesn't affect Imbue spell rolls/spell rolls don't generate Focus. I've also noted something else: The Ranger Marksman passive (+5 accuracy to attacks against enemies that are >4m) also doesn't apply to Imbue spell rolls. So, the only interesting new multiclass interaction I've found is that Citzal's Martial Power doesn't disable Imbue spells. At this point, we can pretty much safely rule out any interactions with the Imbue abilities that are dependent on weapon proficiency. I'd say a lot of potentially interesting multiclass combinations with Arcane Archer just straight up don't work in actual practice, because the Imbue concept is being held back due to running off of spell mechanics instead of weapon mechanics. Although I get why this wouldn't work in the first place, trying to combine weapon and spell mechanics at once hasn't really been done within the programming of this game before, outside of summoned weapons.

Essence Interrupter, Frostseeker, and Dragon's Dowry are the only ones I've tested (for actual weapons). Theoretically, Thundercrack Pistol should also be exempt, and it's possible that a select few other ranged weapons may be as well after they take upgrades that grant the ability to inflict elemental damage. Caedebald's Blackbow should also be exempt, in the off-chance that the new DLC introduces a way to use it as an Arcane Archer (currently available to PL9 single-class Wizards). Minor Blights is also exempt, others say Rot Skull as well. I've tried an elemental melee weapon (St. Dogga's Skull) and that one got the penalty, so I assume all melee weapons, elemental or not, get the penalty. Unless dual-wielding requires both weapons to be elemental to have both become exempt.

Ah. All that I already knew, so I didn't end up missing anything. I still think Arcane Archer should at least have one adjustment to have the elemental +1 pen passives added to their version of the Ranger skill tree, as that would provide some bonus to the few weapons that don't fall under the penalty. Again, they'd still have to spend skill points to get the passives just like wizards do, the purpose of this would be to create new synergy for people to consider having other non-casters multiclassing with Arcane Archer for very specific use of the ranged elemental weapons rather than the casters (of which the rest of the caster skillset may not mesh well with what people have in mind). Then again, my idea design philosophy probably doesn't mesh well with yours or much of the developers. I understand it's not meant to be better than the other Ranger subclasses, the crux of my argument is that I just want something that would make it more of an enticing multiclass option in a more unique way compared to the others. As it currently stands, I kind of feel that Arcane Archer veers too hard into 'do not consider multiclassing at all' territory.

Are we missing something? The accuracy bonus only applies to the Imbue spells, so I'm not sure why you're basically saying that twice up there. Was there something added recently (or something going to be added that isn't implemented yet) or something that we all missed? Although your first sentence in the quoted passage intrigues me, since I thought Driving Flight already let Imbue effects generate additional times with jumps. But the 'will get some abilities' wording implies that there's something being added soon that doesn't exist yet, and that more than likely will actually render any complaints I have completely moot. You seem to have a much closer relationship with the developers than anyone else here, going off of your posts in the bug testing section, so I guess I'll just sit and see what happens. Although I'm probably reading that wrong too, and you're basically talking about how Driving Flight already interacts with weapons like Frostseeker, which... Is a valid point. (Also curse this forum's formatting for not letting me copy/paste quotes into edits, although chances are this is something I haven't figured out.)

The bonus accuracy isn't that low. There's a reason why I've decided to back off on suggesting to extend the Arcana bonus to everything that is exempt from the penalty once I learned that Arcane Archer didn't work that way. The bonus has a base of +5 accuracy. +0.5 accuracy is added to the bonus for every point of Arcana invested. A level 19 Arcane Archer with 22 Arcana is getting +16 accuracy bonus (+5 base and +11 additional Arcana bonus) to their Imbue abilities. Adding that to everything that is exempt from the penalty would be bonkers and would cement Arcane Archer as a strict multiclass option. --- Also, I was somewhat wrong with Arcane Archer not introducing new interesting synergy. I found one very niche interaction when I looked at the Wizard spell list and realized something. Consider Citzal's Martial Power. That ability buffs the caster's stats and accuracy to rather absurd levels when used, but disables spellcasting. It does not disable Imbue. The accuracy bonus ALSO stacks with Arcane Archer's Imbue bonuses! https://i.imgur.com/oOK9s1r.png Thing is, this is basically an endgame interaction since Citzal's Martial Power is a PL7 Wizard spell. It's probably still not interesting enough to really pursue (especially since you only have enough Bond to get two casts of super accurate Imbue: Fireballs), but it's a thing that exists, I suppose.

I've had time to think on Arcane Archer a bit more, and I'm still of the opinion that it's still a bit too limiting for a subclass that doesn't really introduce much of anything new mechanics-wise beyond a small pool of instant cast spells. It also never sat well with me that Arcane Archer comes with penalties to using the vast majority of weapons in the game, while simultaneously not providing any bonuses at all to the few weapons that are exempt from said penalty. The bonuses they do have are also entirely focused on the Imbue abilities, and the bonus is 'limited' compared to other Ranger subclasses. Once you run out of Bond to use said abilities, the bonuses are effectively no longer active (while other Ranger subclasses have persistent bonuses and penalties throughout a fight). I did come up with two potential suggestions though, and I'd like to hear people's thoughts on them. 1) To address the above, I wonder if Arcane Archer should have their Ranger tree adjusted so that they get the +1 elemental penetration passives added at, say, power level 4 or 6, so the few weapons that are exempt from the penalty actually do get a bonus without having to multi with a wizard, priest, or druid. The Arcane Archer would still have to expend a point to learn the passive(s) of choice, but it would make Arcane Archer much more enticing to multi with when building around use of the elemental ranged weapons. -OR- 2) The more limiting option that only matters for Cipher multiclass players, allowing Imbue abilities to generate focus. This only matters for Imbue: Missiles and Imbue: Fireball, as multiclassing with a Cipher by default means that the Arcane Archer is locked out of Imbue: Death. The first is probably a much more elegant solution, now that I think on it further.

Really? Compared to something like FPS which didn't really exist until later, especially when it comes to consoles? Then again, RPG isn't a prominent genre when one looks at it as a genre that is largely Japanese-dominated outside of a few big Western studios, and the VGA is largely a western-centric show, so I suppose you're right about that. The only time the western gaming press at large really took RPGs seriously in recent memory was when Skyrim and TW3 were released.