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KindCollusion

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Posts posted by KindCollusion

    Resolve based Ravager

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    My class was a Ravager  (Shattered Pillar Monk/ No Subclass Barbarian)

    So i finished the game on POTD with stats :
    Might: 18

    Con: 11

    Dex: 10

    Per:10

    Int: 10

    Res: 19

    the game went fine using robes and light armor, Mohora Tanga and Tuotilo's Palm. I spec into both two weapon fighting and sword + shield fighting. This makes me very tanky. Only issue I ran into was missing a lot of my hits. I had enough life and i was attacking more than fast enough. A lot of people don't know this, but with Shattered Pillar Might is just the way to go. Dex is good, and it yields superior dps but you're already fast enough and the extra might gives you the single hit damage to gain wounds more easily.

     

    Also used Lord Darryn's Voluge and went barehanded. Darryn's works great for crowds and synergizes well with primary attack abilities but it lacks dps vs single targets until you get off that first disorient. Barehanded had great dps versus single targets. Both weren't defenseless but werent tanky enough for me to be comfortable. Mohora Tanga and Tuotilo's Palm did nearly as much damage as barehanded but they had the added benefit of making me very tanky. So the build felt better overall.

    As i mentioned before my only issue was not landing enough hits. On my second play through I plan to use the same armor, weapons and class. My stats, with Berath's blessing have changed to:
    Might: 18
    Con: 10

    Dex: 10
    Per: 18

    Int: 13

    Res: 19

    Any thoughts? Also I am considering specing into Blade Turning/Dance of Death. Has anyone tried that? Can you tell me if it works?
     

    How bad was that ending? (Spoiler alert)

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Well to be fair I actually like this story better than many others. The narrative of poe 1 was over-complicated. BG1 had a good but over-complicated plot as well . BG2  and its expansion are some of the best story lines in gaming.  Icewind Dale 2 was good as well. Some of the characters are bland and caricaturish in Deadfire but the story is good overall. My main criticism is the end. It really sucks the life out of the adventure but the direction is okay and i loved the way they explored sociopolitical themes.

    How bad was that ending? (Spoiler alert)

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    So i loved the ride to this game but that ending was awful. 1st of all, we never get any answers about what the world was like before the wheel. Travel through Ukaizo was so fast. All they would have needed to add were maybe some murals or some lines of dialogue but we dont even get that. The beast of Ukaizo. Gives us this confusing explanation involving outsiders and old ones. If the beast is going to be using our language why would it name the the Engwithans and Huana something we cannot readily identify?  The last big problem is the final confrontation. It puts the protagonist in the position of standing and watching. The inactive protagonist is a common mistake among amateur writers. It makes the audience question why the protagonist is even around. Frankly, it makes me wonder why we even needed to use the Audra statue at all? Would have been better for Eothas to just take control of another Waidwin type figure who instead takes control of the statue. Then we could at least have someone to fight. I liked most of the game leading up to the end but the final confrontation just fell completely flat.

    • Like 2

    Can we all agree that Aenalys needs to be a romance option?

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Ugh no way. She annoyed me right from the start.

     

    Now Rabyuna however....

     

     

    Anyway they are all prostitutes so why romance when you can get your fix any time you want if you have money. 300 g a pop. Cheaper than most girlfriends.

    I want to save her, you just know her love died at sea or something and shes just trying to fill an empty heart with strange men.

    Worldbuilding

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

     

     

     

     Brandon Sanderson once said something to the effect of 'there are two kinds of writers, worldbuilders and character writers.

     

    If this is true, what devil did he deal with to be good at both? CAN I DEAL WITH IT AS WELL?!

     

    You guys talking about Brandon Sanderson made me think: do they have Highstorms in Rauatai?

     

    Does that mean Ukaizo's a conduit for Stormlight between the cognitive and physical realm? Is animancy the study of Investiture? THERE'RE SO MANY POSSIBILITIES HERE!

     

    also, inb4 the gods turn out to be some weird shard offshoot

     

     

    Or a Shard comes to show what a "real god" looks like.

     

    huh lolol i hadn't thought of that

    Worldbuilding

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    While i agree that Obsidian built a really good, believable world in Deadfire, I wouldn't say they should focus on one aspect over the other. There's a reason a company like theirs hires various narrative designers: some will inevitably be better at one aspect than the other, and I wouldn't call characters like Tekehu or the faction leaders shallow. Hell, the "shallowness" of the gods only serves to strengthen the idea of them being personified ideals, which is a good thing in my book. I'd hazard to say good narrative design means knowing which writer does what best, and trying to work with that as much as possible; however, as they're a company on a deadline (moneyline?), this won't be possible most of the time.

     

    I'd also wait until they've taken a good look at the relation system, and the stock reactions they used for it. It's really "hit-or-miss' the way it works now: i.e. Xoti would definitely approve highly of properly burying some dawnstars, but she probably wouldn't laugh her ass off. Not to mention "Jokes make everyone like you" except Aloth.

     

    As for your examples: I haven't used Pallegina much myself, but she did seem somewhat ruined compared to her PoE1 characterisation. Xoti seemed like a badly executed Leliana expy: not necessarily a bad character, but she could've been more.

     

     Brandon Sanderson once said something to the effect of 'there are two kinds of writers, worldbuilders and character writers.

     

    If this is true, what devil did he deal with to be good at both? CAN I DEAL WITH IT AS WELL?!

    Lol Sanderson says he can do both but i really feel like he is more of a worldbuilder himself

    Worldbuilding

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    So in my last post I complained about how badly the characters, namely Pallagina and Xoti, were written. To balance things out i wanted to complement this game on its worldbuilding. The factions and cultures are extremely well drawn. I have trouble deciding whose vision to side with. It all seems very realistic and there is very little if any bias weaved into the narrative. Brandon Sanderson once said something to the effect of 'there are two kinds of writers, worldbuilders and character writers. I think Obsidian must just do a better job at he worldbuilding. There are noble natives with backward traditions; a monarchy with good vision but strong feelings of entitlement and ethnocentrism; there is even a republic run by business interests with a reckless bend toward science. All well conceived, and made to make the audience think, yet still relevant to current philosophical discourses. I havent finished the game yet but I am very impressed with this aspect of the game so far.

    • Like 3

    Character disappointments

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

     

    Nobody's forcing you to say that. Yes, Giacolo might not survive the quest (you can still save him during the fight btw, it's not easy, but it's manageable), but that's consequences for you.

    I tried *SO MANY TIMES*. Literally like a *dozen* times, couldn't manage to do it. They run up to him to damn fast, I couldn't even get close.

     

    Position Aloth and Xoti in the front of the party. Use Aloth's Call to Slumber to sleep the three guys near Giacolo. Rush Xoti forward and have her cast Withdraw on Giacolo. U have to pause fast right after the conversation. Do it manually because it has to be faster than the game's default.

    Character disappointments

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Wow I just finished Pallegina's companion quest... Very manipulative game-writing... You basically have to say abortion is okay in order to get Tatzatl to let Giacolo live. I personally think abortion should be legal but jeeze that's preachy writing. Stories should make you think, not tell you what to think. Not only was that situation awkwardly themed but it's not realistic at all. Why would a group of pirates be floating around thinking so hard about the greater good that they feel the need to kidnap a dude who has done nothing but help their kind?

    Character disappointments

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted · Edited by KindCollusion

    I haven't gotten too far into the game but I kind of feel like the characters are a bit needlessly polarized. Eider has always been very nuanced in how he questioned his faith. It kind of makes sense that he lost much of it from the events of the first game.

    Pallegina, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any issue with Hylea until council of stars when the Goddess ignored her. Fast forward to deadfire and Pallegina seems to have some vendetta against the Gods and we find out she had her Godlike connection severed when she was very young. It seems like they added a bunch of new details to her character just to make her more anti-theist. It's awkward how anti-religious she suddenly is in this game. It redefines her whole character out of nowhere.

    Xoti is almost a parody of religious people, a sort of "ignorance is bliss" stereotype...

    Now don't get me wrong, I believe in God, but i find this interaction of polar opposites kind of off-putting. I was okay with the premise of God's being created by man. It is a fantasy world after all. I liked reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I like having debates with atheists. I just don't want the prevailing theme to be a war of straw men if that makes any sense. 

    I dunno, lol post your thoughts people

    • Like 5

    Soulbound weapons and weapon proficiencies

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Characters Builds, Strategies & the Unity Engine (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    So in the original Pillars i remember that all specializations work on soulbound weapons. so for instance you could use two weapon proficiency on a twohanded weapon to add 20% attack speed.

    I wanted to do the same thing with Lord Darryn's Voulge on my ravager. Do soulbound weapons still interact with proficiency this way? Im trying to make a resolve crit ravager build with shattered pillar.

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