Saito Hikari

I thought Eurovision was an unapologetic parody dance competition or something. It wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. VGA in comparison though... In retrospect, MHW winning the RPG category should have been expected. I remember in past VGAs, the RPG category was always treated as an afterthought despite being one of the most prominent and oldest genres in the history of videogames. I mean, the award this year did get announced during the pre-show instead of the main event, meaning the developers didn't even get a chance to give a speech or anything and it was done to get them out of the way quickly. Persona 5 fans last year had the exact same complaint about the show and were actually really miffed about it. MHW being in the RPG category should have also been a clear sign that it was going to win it as a pity award instead of Game of the Year which it was also nominated for. (Capcom developers also used the event to announce that there's something in store for Monster Hunter in a few days, and it's mildly obvious that the event has a greater emphasis on being a vector for advertisement rather than an actual awards show at this point. And this isn't even me being salty at all, again I'm thrilled that MHW won, but also like many other MHW fans, still wondering what the hell it was even doing in the RPG category in the first place. A quick glance at the reddit tells you that the general mood is like 'that's great, but what?')

As much as I love MHW, I'm mildly convinced at this point that it only got shoved into the RPG slot instead of action adventure because the people who ran the show felt it had to win something (what with RDR2 and GOW dominating everything else). And it was vaguely enough RPG that they could do it without most people batting an eye. It sold like 10x the amount compared to every other game on the category too. Plus, there's going to be an announcement for the MH series in a few days as well.

Eh, I'd be a lot more miffed if Deadfire loses to DQXI or maybe Ni-no-Kuni. Octopath is actually somewhat revolutionary in terms of game mechanics by JRPG standards, and its playable characters are very well balanced up until you hit endgame and you get access to the secret jobs. It has a more western design approach to its quest and overworld design, just tight enough that it's still considered a JRPG. It is fairly esoteric, I'd be willing to bet that if it didn't have Square Enix and Nintendo backing it, it'd probably be tossed in the unknown pile behind PoE.

It kind of says a lot about the CRPG scene when Divinity derails the thread this hard, despite not even being nominated due to releasing last year. I took a look at the RPG nominations this year out of curiosity, and I think realistically, MHW or Octopath Traveler are going to win. Though many even in the MHW community are puzzled at how it got categorized as RPG instead of Action Adventure. Having played it extensively myself, I have to question that categorization too. I suspect it only made it in because the Action Adventure category is packed, and the award creators didn't want to snub Capcom out of a nomination for a game that literally sold 10+ million copies. That and there's rumors that there may be some sort of announcement relating to the series at the awards too. Octopath Traveler has a rather novel character/plot setup for a JRPG (no real overarching plot or canon main character along with being rather open world instead of linear, every character having a personal overworld skill that works on almost every NPC in the game), though it's mainly going to be carried to a possible win by its retro-ish art style and the fact that it's a Square Enix game that's exclusive to the Switch above all. DQ11 is a JRPG-ass JRPG, I played it and it was charming, but hardly deserving of RPG of the year, especially with the awful midi soundtrack. At least it's not really SE's fault for the composer holding the series back. No comment on Ni-no-kuni, as I know virtually nothing about that. Alas, it's likely fans of the other nominated games will say the exact same thing about POE2.

I will add that Dragon's Dowry is exempt as well. I'm fairly sure every ranged weapon that has an elemental damage component is exempt, even if it doesn't do elemental damage 100% of the time due to using 'best of damage type' calculation (like Essence Interrupter). Although I think Frostseeker, Essence Interrupter, and Dragon's Dowry already cover most of those weapons. They're at least the most commonly used ones. Other ones I can think of... - Maybe Blightheart once you upgrade it to inflict Corrode damage (and it does soulbind with Rangers), but the subclass description specifies Acid, not Corrode. - Eccea's Arcane Blaster can be upgraded to have a RNG chance to inflict fire damage, and that might cause it to avoid the penalty as well (at the cost of other upgrades for the weapon). - Thundercrack Pistol I've looked through all the other ranged weapons and I don't see anything else that would qualify, unless the 'Spell' part of the subclass description results in any ranged weapon having a RNG chance to do something extra results in said weapons avoiding the penalty as well.

Admittedly, it's my expectations not living up to reality. Virtually everything I tested didn't work out the way I thought it would. I should have read everything far more carefully and realized that the whole 'Imbue/Frost/Fire/Electricity' part was in the 'Cons' section instead of the 'Pros' for a reason. Still, I know I'm not the only one who jumped the gun on this considering the amount of 'test with Essence Interrupter/Frostseeker!' posts there were, but even analyzing the subclass from a pure design standpoint... Pros: - You gain AoE options on a class that doesn't normally have them outside of using specific weapons, and compared to Wizard spells, they're instant cast. - The Imbue abilities have absurd accuracy when built correctly (anywhere from 5-20 bonus accuracy depending on Arcana level) Cons: - Maximum Health -15% - Imbue abilities only work with ranged weapons - Multi-hit weapons do not synergize well with Imbue abilities (fires one projectile instead of however much they normally do, which may result in a net loss of damage) - All non-elemental weapons and abilities have a constant -5 accuracy penalty That is a lot of cons and restrictions for something that basically just gives the Ranger the ability to instant cast a handful of Wizard spells. It doesn't even create any new interesting (intended) interactions with multiclasses outside of finding ways to avoid the penalty, as far as anyone has cared enough to theorycraft thus far (and on the other hand, you have the absolutely busted Tactician, which to be fair is very likely to get hit with the nerf bat). I mean, I guess I would understand the restrictions being like this if it turns out that the new DLC is actually going to introduce something that synergizes very well with Arcane Archer, but base game... Not so much. At the same time, I'm willing to accept Arcane Archer as it currently is, because I know there are far worse subclasses out there. I know the way I strongly worded my observations probably caused a lot of damage to everyone's perception of Arcane Archer. I should probably just shut up, sit out the rest of the testing cycle since I'm still largely a newbie to cRPGs while the actual veterans make more careful observations, and wait for the DLC and the next game, if there is one.

Hm, you're right. Arcane Archer really isn't worth it then. One of the only interesting things about it (the AoE interactions) is going to get taken away soon as well (though arguably rightfully so).

In that case, the subclass description should have clarified that only Imbued attacks work, instead of adding in all the other unnecessary descriptors about it working with fire/frost/electricity/acid/spell damage (and especially considering none of the Imbued spells even inflict electricity damage). That's where all the mass confusion and initial theorycrafting came from.

Also, guess what else the penalty applies to? I just discovered that the penalty applies to the Watcher's Mien of Death's Hearld. That's... Thematically questionable. I'm not even sure any other subclass will actually produce any penalties to using the Watcher's unique abilities. In other news, I finally got some attack spells for my Cipher/Arcane Archer multiclass, and I can now safely rule out Arcane Archer's penalties and bonuses applying to any spell effects other than the Imbue abilities. I also went testing several other ranged weapons, and have come to the conclusion that Arcane Archer's penalties will apply to every ranged weapon without an elemental damage component built into it, while those that can inflict elemental damage will be exempt (but won't gain any bonuses). Arcane Archer as it is now actually greatly upsets me from a design standpoint, because not only do its benefits only work on a handful of skills (despite the class description making everyone think otherwise), but it's also simultaneously one of the most restrictive subclasses you can ever take because of its -5 accuracy penalty applying to so many weapons at the same time, you take a major -15% health penalty on top of that, and you can't use the Imbue abilities with melee weapons (obviously).

Yes, Kalakoth's Minor Blights will cause Imbue effects to trigger on everything in the AoE. In fact, I've observed something quite odd with Blights and Imbue: Missiles, sometimes it appears that the Imbue: Missiles damage will take on the property of the blight element instead of crush damage. However, that's about the only interesting interaction I can find with Wizard/Arcane Archer multiclass, because as it turns out, their spells are also completely exempt from Arcane Archer's accuracy penalties and bonuses. I now seriously doubt the bonuses even apply to anything but the Imbue abilities at this point, while the penalty will affect the vast majority of weapons in turn.

I'm not sure about the focus part. It appears to me that the Arcane Archer's abilities are coded as if they're the actual wizard spells, just delivered through a full attack with a ranged weapon instead of having a cast time. Damage from the full attack component does generate focus, but damage from the actual spell component doesn't. It's already been established long ago that Cipher + other caster multiclass doesn't mesh at all for that reason.

That's the thing, though. I'm not even sure there's a single ranged weapon in the game that Arcane Archer's bonuses will apply to. The two obvious candidates got completely ruled out (assuming this is an intentional design decision rather than a bug), so it's very likely every other ranged unique won't work either. There is one final thing that should probably be tested, but I'm no longer interested enough to do it myself. Would Arcane Archer's bonuses apply to Wizard/Druid elemental spells/shapeshifts? I wouldn't be surprised at this point if it's a no, but it's worth testing.

Okay, so I finally got home from work and acquired the Frostseeker. It is currently a lot like Essence Interrupter, in that Frostseeker also appears to be completely exempt from Arcane Archer's bonuses and penalties as well. I know it's not that unique weapons in general are exempt, because I decided to have my main character dual-wield Xoti's sickle and St. Drogga's Skull (a preorder/collector's edition weapon that does additional burn damage), and got the -5 accuracy penalty on both despite the Skull doing burn damage. This tells me the developers likely had the foresight to specifically exclude Essence Interrupter and Frostseeker from gaining any bonuses or penalties with Arcane Archer. (Using Frostseeker with Arcane Archer's abilities is also a really bad idea, because using an Imbue ability just results in Frostseeker firing one projectile instead of 3, resulting in an outright net loss of damage compared to autoattacking in some cases. Especially with Imbue: Missiles, where the missiles actually do less damage than the missing two projectiles + even if the initial full attack used to deliver the spell crits, the Frostseeker AoE effect doesn't trigger.) Arcane Archer sounds like an interesting subclass on paper, but between its skills not generating focus/not gaining damage bonuses from Soul Whip cipher multiclass, certain unique weapons not benefiting from bonuses at all (and actively discouraging use of multi-hit weapons), and still having to deal with pet management, it doesn't seem like a subclass that lends itself to synergy with much of anything. I am honestly really disappointed. (Oh, and before anyone asks, no, you can't use Arcane Archer's skills with melee weapons. Even though you'll still get the penalties with said melee weapons.) On a slightly different note, since I haven't seen anyone mention this anywhere, it appears that Arcane Archer's bonus Arcana accuracy scaling is +0.5 Accuracy for every level in Arcana.

Okay, so I can answer this now. For the time being, I've noticed that Essence Interrupter appears to be completely exempt from Arcane Archer's bonuses and penalties. I imagine this is intentional, as the player has no real way to control whether or not Essence Interrupter decides to use electricity damage or piercing damage. My next order of business is to determine if Frostseeker behaves the same way, as Frostseeker has (minor) frost damage attached to every auto no matter what. I already tested to see if the bonus/penalty doesn't apply to auto attacks, and Arcane Archer's -5 accuracy penalty does apply to auto attacks with a regular bow.

I will test this soon. In fact, I plan on replaying the game as an Ascendant Cipher/Arcane Archer Ranger now. There's a lot of theorycrafting with that combination that relies on specific weapons, though. Notably whether or not Frostseeker is exempt from the accuracy penalty since it has (very minor) frost damage attached to its attacks, whether all of its attacks trigger Arcane Archer's effects, and whether the critical damage AoE applies its effects as well. I would probably assume no, though. (I don't care if Frostseeker isn't optimal, it still has one of the most impressive attack animations I've seen in any cRPG.) I'd imagine that at the very least, Essence Interrupter will be exempt from the penalty. I also do wonder if the bonus damage inflicted by Arcane Archer's skills also contribute towards building the Cipher's resource, and if Soul Whip boosts the damage of Arcane Archer's skills. Since the effects are delivered through full attacks, I would assume they do. EDIT: Okay, I can confirm that currently, Arcane Archer's skills don't contribute towards focus generation, and they also aren't boosted by Soul Whip. (Or at least Imbue: Missiles doesn't.) Mildly disappointing.

I think you just have to have it in your inventory in PoE1 when importing clear data to PoE2. It's somewhere in Caed Nua (not the Endless Paths).

I had 3x conviction and I still got attacked at the end, although I probably had to pick some very specific dialogue options to completely avoid combat at the end still.

I had issues acquiring it during the beta too. It's either glitched for older save files, or something went wrong during patching. I recall seeing it in my older save file after I patched the beta in, or that was in my new post-beta save file.

Not to mention the Living Lands could be hiding a civilization underneath its crazy environment, ancient or otherwise. It would be an interesting backdrop to see Engwithan society was like before they ultimately decided their gods had to come to life, any findings presumably free from hundreds if not thousands of years of interpretation from any modern day culture. There has to be SOME reason why the place is supposedly as weird as it is.

That's... Huh. The quest journal/quest dialogue should probably be updated to reflect that.

Exactly what it says in the thread title, Birna doesn't have it in her shop inventory at all like she usually does.

Ehh, it does seem like the developers of that game have noticed all of those issues and are planning to rectify those with DE, going off of interviews and press videos. https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-interview-armour-changes-mechanics-skills-types-and-more/ At least DE is free for those who already own the base game, so nobody loses anything from trying it out again then.

Ah, thanks. Although to be honest, I actually meant 'I really know nothing about DnD and its terminology such as rulesets' at all. I only did get into the PoE series some 3 and a half months ago, and it was my first real introduction to cRPGs that adhere closer to what DnD apparently is. I will definitely be looking through this resource, though. Thanks again. (Arcane Archer sounds awesome. I wonder if that's something that will be included in this game?)

Heard about this game two days ago. Seems quite interesting. Watched the first few episodes of a Let's Play of the closed beta, and it seems to imply that the companions you start with change drastically based on choices made during the tutorial phase. Alas, I know nothing of Pathfinder's rulesets and all, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Yeah, this is literally the only reason I've stuck with single class Cipher instead of muticlassing Cipher/Ranger so far. If this happens, then I'd hope that for the next game, OBS just makes multiclassing mandatory. Even now, it feels like trying to balance multiclassing VS singleclassing is a complete nightmare. Buff an earlier level skill too much for the sake of single class players, and it breaks all the multiclass combinations utilizing it.