Daggerknight

I apologize if this is the wrong place to post this. I'm doing so as per another users suggestion though... (original topic was here: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/105476-cape-of-the-falling-star-question/ ). As mentioned in the previous thread, I noticed that the Cape of the Falling Star from the Deck of Many Things shop ended up treating party pets as allies, and so basically became unusable every time your little piggy caught up with the party. Is this intentional? Also, the Ring of Prosperity's Fortune and Cloak of Poverty seem bugged; their description says "Missing string" rather than showing any effects.

To Eora itself, probably not. Remember though, that a big red flag is that without the wheel (or something like it), all those souls get stuck in limbo/ a very real state of hell. Sure, eventually they might wither away and reform into something else, but in the mean time you have a few million possible years of torment. That primordial chaos possibly existed before, but that doesn't mean its a state anyone should be in any hurry to get back to. Regarding the degradation of the soul; my guess would be that while an individual eventually fades, their essence, such as it is, falls off and reforms into other states. Key point here is that the soul is treated as energy, which cannot be "destroyed", just changed. Also, its possible that while souls erode, they can also be added to. We already see precedents of beings 'absorbing' other souls, so its likely that the process goes both ways regarding decay. Small correction - not "hell" (horrible place where souls get tortured) but Hel - a resting/waiting place. Now, as Sherab said, "dead dwarf amimancer" mentioned that souls fusion or even unchanging is a very rear occasion. Normal faith of the souls is to degrade. And again, should Eora be a closed system, in that case we would see a general degradation of kith (both mental and numbers). I tend to agree with Sherab, it's more like writers did not think about that problem but it's not the first time headcanon comes to rescue. So far, to rectify all inconsistencies, I treat soul energie as sun energy - a constant flow (from somewhere) allowing accumulation of biosoulmass. This way if Wheel destruction indeed disrupts the flow of the souls (questionable at best, considering the source of information), all we have to do is to wait for the critical mass to overcome the obstacle. I actually meant hell, as in, the state of being, not the place they refer to in Eora. That's the part about Eothas's plan that I never could get on board with. He sort of just assumes that the current generation of Kith will solve the problem in any reasonable amount of time, and has to be asked to create a temporary haven for souls in the mean time. Worse yet, he assumes that Woedica isn't going to do something to take advantage of the wheel being broken by marshaling a new form of the Leaden Key to remake and control a new system themselves, which would be a hundred times worse than the situation he's trying to 'fix' by smashing everything in the world from Raedceris to Ukaizo. Strangely, by the end of the game, I was actually on board with Galawyne, Magran and the Pallid Knight more than him. While Magran is super arrogant and the Pallid knight is a manipulative postanago, at least the current system does SOMETHING for Kith (a something that Eothas doesn't even have a problem with depending on whose running it). Furthermore, again, arrogance aside, I didn't really feel like that 'faction' of gods really had ill intents for kith (aside from the whole "absorbing our children' bit... 0_o ). Speaking of the absorbing of godlike... that's another thing I'm wondering about. On the one hand, it suggests they see the godlike as a backup plan. On the other hand, Ondera sounds like she has actual affection for her "children". Any thoughts? (off topic, pardon...). This seems like a pretty reasonable take, yeah. Eothas didn't seem to have it out for anyone besides Woedica since POE 1, and Hylea doesn't sound like she thinks he does either. Maybe he really does just want the door to be more open, though again, his solution being to plant C4 in the office building is a bit much....

So, I don't know if this is a bug or what, but did anyone notice that the party pet counts as an ally when it comes to removing the capes benefits? I tested out the cloak by running to the other side of the ship, and I had the deflection bonus right up until the piglet caught up with my main guy, at which point he lost the buffs. Is this intentional?

To Eora itself, probably not. Remember though, that a big red flag is that without the wheel (or something like it), all those souls get stuck in limbo/ a very real state of hell. Sure, eventually they might wither away and reform into something else, but in the mean time you have a few million possible years of torment. That primordial chaos possibly existed before, but that doesn't mean its a state anyone should be in any hurry to get back to. Regarding the degradation of the soul; my guess would be that while an individual eventually fades, their essence, such as it is, falls off and reforms into other states. Key point here is that the soul is treated as energy, which cannot be "destroyed", just changed. Also, its possible that while souls erode, they can also be added to. We already see precedents of beings 'absorbing' other souls, so its likely that the process goes both ways regarding decay.

I actually disagree about all the gods coming across as selfish. I mean, in POE 1, Gaelawyn tasks you with giving the souls to the Dyrwood to make everyone there stronger. He does not demand you offer them to him, and in general he wants people to be strong. Heck, he even has a pretty tolerant take on animancy, calling it "another kind of hunt". Magran too, comes across as harsh and arrogant, but past that all I got the impression that she honestly thought she was helping. Contrast that with Woedica and Rhymergand; the former wants everyone to be her slave with little given in return, and the latter just wants the world to die. I do agree about Eothas himself though. That guy is just a naive prick whose idea of helping people in a burning building is to throw gasoline on the whole thing...

Actualy, I'm a buddhist IRL. This is propably why I don't see the destruction of the Wheel as such a big drama. Perhaps even quite contrary. Anyway, what you are describing fits some Hinduistic believes, I suppose. In "traditional" Buddhism, so to speak, gods are just another form of sentient beings - they are not considered creators, or "demiurgs". And, keeping things simple, with good enough karma, anyone can become a god. But while they live for eons, gods are mortal too, and after all, they do experience of suffering, hence becoming a god is not seen as something ultimate. Only true Enlightment - recognition of minds nature can free one from suffering. And this have nothing to do with godhood. To be clear - this is just to give some other example of far-eastern approach to divines. Anyway... While your theory is very interesting, the game's lore give us no single clue about this. Quite contrary - it rather suggest, that there never was any real god or gods. But Engwithans, insteed of seeing a freedom in this, they rather became terrified. I would say, they were "limited", because they assumed that the Kith are capable only of chaos, mischief and destruction when left without divine leadership. Hence, in no presence of real ones, they've created their own gods. By the way, I don't know why they've created also such entities as Skaen, but... whatever.... Close to Hindu yes, being from that background myself I suppose I should have clarified "some eastern philosophies". Anyhow, I mostly thought of that cyclical notion because I distinctly recall that in Pillars 1, the explanation was that the Engwithans concluded that either the gods simply didn't exist, or that they had left long ago. There wasn't much conclusive stuff on what really was the guess. Either way, just guessing that it is history repeating itself in all likely hood. As for Skaen; well, Skaen has a history of coming out of Woedica's mischief, who in turn is an example of the gods starting to succumb to corruption in many ways. My guess is that Eothas is mostly interested in handing the reigns over because a) Kith need to grow up and b) he doesn't have faith in his kins good intentions any longer.

My theory: its a cycle. Pillars of Eternity 1 suggests that there might have been gods before the Engwithans, but that either they had left long ago or outright died by the time that civilization started seriously looking. If that is so, it could have been a similar situation to what now falls over Eora. In other words: 1) God(s) create the world as we know it. 2) The races start becoming advanced while the god(s) become uncertain about their power or whether they should in fact be in the way of progress at all. That or they actively want their creations to "ascend" to the mastery of the universe like them, and so they take a back seat, increasingly as the mortal world reaches higher and higher. 3) By the time the mortal world has attained true mastery over the soul and reality, the god(s) have left the world, content that their creations can manage things without them.The kids are all grown up, so they can now leave in peace (and make sure their snarkier kin don't try to retake power). 4) The mortals meanwhile, forgot much about the gods, and after having spent so long with the gods staying out of their affairs, now try to find evidence of them. Finding nothing, they freak out and decide to make gods. 5) Gods are born. The cycle begins anew. That cycle seems present by the time of the Pillars arc. To wit: 1) Engwithans become masters of the soul at the height of their power. By that time, we can guess they are already an old civilization, and that the world had other cultures (the Huana being among them). However, by that time its clear the gods before them had pretty much stopped managing the world and just let its inhabitants take over. Realizing this, the Engwithans decide to use their power to ascend for the good of the world. 2) Thousands of years later, the gods themselves are starting to be corrupted by their own power and arrogance. Some of them even realize this while noting that the mortals can possibly manage themselves. Eothas takes point in trying to ensure that this comes to pass. 3) Eothas pretty much forces the mortals down a road to master their own souls. This will likely lead to a tumultuous age in which some gods fight to retain their power, while others allow evolution to run its course. This will either end in an age of darkness in which Woedicca keeps kith under her thumb, or a new age in which kith take control and, because they don't need the gods, eventually forget about them entirely. 4) Ages pass once more, and the days when Eothas walked are little more than faded legends. Philosophers wonder once more about who made who and who guides who.... On the note of a cycle in which mortals become gods; if this is in fact where Obsidian is going with the plot, it actually does have roots in real world beliefs, albeit in a different way. Eastern philosophies emphasize attaining spiritual enlightenment till you effectively become one with (or simply become) god. In a bit of an odd way perhaps, the notion of entire races evolving past their mortality makes sense in that context. just on a less individual level.

Coming from an Indian (and Hindu on top of that) background, the plot surrounding the Huana and the colonial powers was definitely a bit close to home, and I mean that in an absolutely complimentary way. The writers did an excellent job of portraying the real conflict beyond "bad outsiders/ heroic natives/ evil natives". Because my own culture had to deal with this very scenario first hand, it's a bit of a difficult one to look at, even in the context of a video game. On the one hand, the whole caste system is to this day a thorn that occasionally rears its ugly head, and definitely something I personally find villainous. So on account of that, the Huana loose points. HOWEVER... On the flip side, does a native land deserve to loose its independence to a foreign nation on account of having SOME laws and systems that don't morally hold up, but could potentially see change? In the real world, India was absolutely exploited and bashed into the ground by exploitative colonial powers. Britain might have done a few things right (pushed the caste laws further into the background, brought in a certain amount of technical innovation), but does it really justify the mountain of troubles it brought with it? Does it justify to the outright theft, killings, borderline enslavement and attempts to overthrow a native culture? For a lot of the above reasons, despite how sympathetic I was to the VTC's scientific endeavors, or the RDC's attempt to bring in a "New Order", it's hard to say that they are in the "right". Given a choice, I lined up with VTC the first time over RDC, given the latter is more overtly imperialistic and aggressively trying to eradicate the Huana way of life. But the VTC essentially wants to loot the land in a more permanently effective way than the Principi, letting alone the fact that they're essentially mining souls. TL;DR: Huana caste system is terrible, but RDC and VTC are not promising to replace it with things that are necessarily better. RDC will turn the Deadfire into a colony of second class citizens, while VTC will just loot and plunder the land, to hell with the natives. They'll replace one evil with other kinds, and its hard to say that their brand of exploitation would be inherently better.

I'm having a little trouble on the Food for Thought quest. I have done the "Trade Secrets" mission for the palace, but the Prince is still not providing a solution to the Roparu food shortage, instead just complaining that I'm bringing him old problems with no solutions. My standing with the Huana is relatively high, so I'm not sure what's going on... I don't want to go with the pirates on this one, but my only available solution seems to be to intimidate and coerce the prince into helping, which will net me a negative standing with the Huana. Am I missing something?

Endless Paths was fun and epic, but this game is hardly suffering from a lack of content as it is. Some of the dungeons could, perhaps, been bigger, but I don't think the game felt lacking without an obligatory massive dungeon for the sake of having one.

Wasn't a huge fan of the ending either. I felt like it ultimately didn't even matter if my character was there at all, seeing as how the same result comes of it regardless. For all the gods discussion on "kill Eothas!" and "He will only listen to you!", neither option really becomes available other than "what consolation will Eothas offer before he busts things up?". I can appreciate the emphasis on him being (literally) too big to stop, but it does mean that the players place in this story is ultimately meaningless. Heck, for that matter, the other factions place in the main story is pretty pointless. They spent most of the plot refusing to believe there's a giant stomping on their stuff, and when reality finally sinks in, they act like its a tactical advantage in a far lesser war. Ultimately, I was left confused as to what Berath was even expecting of me through the adventure. Being a god(ess) of DEATH, I thought she'd already be aware of what was going on down bellow, so she didn't need me to actually WATCH him. She said she wanted me to talk him out of stuff, but it becomes obvious early on that that won't likely bear fruit. She cannot possibly expect me to fight him, and if so, doesn't really help me with that. The other gods seem to regard me as an uninvited guest in their debate club meetings... The story also seems at odds with the big theme of POE 1; whether mortals messing with the soul in the name of science is good or bad. This was a VERY good, thought provoking argument that formed the basis of POE 1's stories, not just the main campaign. The idea that it could help, but that we were playing with fire that did more than just burn the flesh, that we were being extremely arrogant and trying to master a power that could go as wrong as it could well. We saw examples on both sides of the argument that showed the good and the terribly, terribly bad. ...then comes Eothas in POE 2, making the conclusion for us and saying "yup, Animancy is the way, go forth!", regardless of what anyone thought. The fact that that end was forced on us after an entire game encouraging us to think about it was a bit of a downer. Maybe the expansions will add to the ending. I do hope so. POE 2 was an otherwise excellent ride, and one of the few (quasi) open worlds that I really enjoyed enough to come back to for seconds and thirds. I would, however, be lying if I said the main plot was anywhere near as engaging as POE 1, or even Icewind Dale 1 and 2....

Probably not. Bounty is likely to be a bounty regardless.

Might have a teeny problem with their final quest. But, then again, much of the heart and soul of Planescape was dealing with the inherent problem of "Real Life" vs "Ideals" as well as finding out the various factions weren't quite as pure to their ideals as one might think. It'd make for an interesting dilemma for the character. The RDC will impose a highly orderly society on this area that is disorganized from their PoV, and with a minimum amount of relative fuss as well. But they ARE imposing it. And aren't afraid to get their hands very dirty in the process. They also don't exactly cloak themselves in the language of retribution and justice, which is more a VTC thing. In a way, the RDC is perfect for the Harmonium, especially the less savory aspects of said group. ==== I would also point out that at one of the pirate factions is trying to turn the Prinicipi into a legitimate government based more on the traditions of their Grand Vailian ancestors. Something to keep in mind, if you want to role-play a character who doesn't mind helping others rediscover their heritage. Of course, even that faction has... issues when it comes to skirting the law of the area (*cough* dealing with Crookspur *cough*). Then again, a Mercykiller might not care as much about what goes down in Crookspur as your average cutter. Depending the MK in question, true enough! Though Crookspur would definately be pushing it, given that slavery is illegal in Deadfire, and given that their slaves are likely captured folk, rather than criminals serving a sentence themselves. But I digress... Principi attempting to form into a new "government" doesn't really absolve them of being pirates meanwhile though, so I'm probably just going to smash their heads in this time around. You're probably right about RDC being more Harmonium. Honestly though, it's what made it a wee bit hard to choose between them and Huana. Aaah, the choices...(oh, and the bit about the RDC's final mission really applies to everyone, given that all of them want you to do something super underhanded at the end).

They really don't. There are five Ducs, and each one is trying to screw the rest only slightly less than the natives. If Valians understood the rule of Law, there would be still be an Old Vailia in high regard. It is worth noting that the principles of the Red Death would very closely align with the Leaden Key and (Especially) the Steel Garrote. Woedica is big on oaths fullfilled, and harsh to those who waver... Yeah, I was leaning towards Huana as well, seeing as how they are the 'legit' government. And yeah, upon your reminder I guess I do agree about the Valians basically being the chaotic segment here. What about the RDC though? Ugh, Woedica. I'm going to stick with "she's a Guvner" , with whom the MK might be allied but still butt heads with now and again. Or..anything really. Any chance to stick it to Woedica, evil conniving hag that she is >_> (I'll show you a moon you witch!!!!). ..ekhm.... pardon. Woedica inspires certain thoughts for sure.

Re-starting my second run of POE 2 here, and for this go, I'm going to make a close approximation of a Mercykiller character of mine from a Planescape community. Here's my question though; of all the factions present, which do you suppose a Mercykiller would find the most common ground with? Obviously, the Principi are excluded entirely, being brigands and lawless sods for whom burning at the stake is too good an end... The others though, they seem to have a decent case within them. Huana; the natives of the land, so their laws, harsh or not, are laws to be respected and observed. They are, however, so chaotic and fragmented that chaos follows in their wake, and no real way of keeping law across the clan borders. Valians come from a generally ordered government, but are so into profit above all else that they are willing to break or sideline the law in the name of more money. RDC are a true empire, the only one really pushing for true order above all else. Yet they are in direct opposition to existing laws? I know this is a bit of a bad question in general, since none of these factions are clear cut enough to do anything but make a Sigilian go mad, but all the same, I thought it could be a fun experiment :D. Anyhow, anyone have any thoughts?

Been a Black Isle/ Obsidian fan since childhood. Icewind Dale (1 and 2), Neverwinter Nights 2, and now the Pillars of Eternity series have all been my favorites in the genre through out the years. So yes, I'm with the OP: a big huge thanks to Obsidian! Your works are what inspired me to get into this field. Looking forward to what comes next!

Yeah, I'm currently using it one-handed style. It looks epic, especially for ciphers!

I apologize if this has been brought up. I didn't see the topic anywhere.... As the title suggests, I've been trying (and failing) to install the Scalawags pack for a couple of days now. I am running off the GOG copy if that matters. I've tried installing it via Galaxy, as well as manually. No dice. Any pointers?

First play through: After the Defiant, I got a junk and named it "The Astra" , in honor of my characters ship from a Neverwinter Nights 2 persistent world. Second, on-going playthrough: Junk named "The Reckoning" .

- More soul bond items, alike to what we had in both White March's. I loved the Soul Bound stuff in POE 1, and was a bit sad to see there being so few of them. - Less Faction emphasis. Don't get me wrong, I liked how developed they were in Deadfire, BUT... they were a bit too important overall. Especially their respective fixations on their economic and imperial goals, to the point where they seemed almost oblivious to the actual story going on. I'd like to see a return to focus on the quest. - Additional weapon models. Please don't kill me anyone, but I wouldn't mind seeing eastern weapons (tulwars, pata's, dao, guandao, and....katanas *HIDES FROM THE HATE STORM* ). (note; this is not me saying I am not a fan of the western arms focus thus far, just that now might be a good time to see some additions). - Long coats! I was sad to see that in this pirate/ colonial themed setting, we have no long coats. - Hooks for hands? :D

No you haven't missed something - just that every single NPC and companion in the game missed something. Namely, the exact same question you have asked. Which is a major problem with the Deadfire narrative IMO. It also creates the disconnection between the Eothsas quest line and Nekaetaka/faction quest lines. The problem is not that nobody has the answer. The problem is they don't ask the question. At all. If a bunch of aliens landed in the Sahara desert, for example, several things would happen with almost 100% certainty: 1. People would be freaking out right, left and centre 2. The only thing people would be talking about is whether they were friendly or not 3. Normal day-to-day life and concerns would be forgotten 4. All political leaders would be busy pretending they were in the process of establishing whether they were friendly or not and that they had a matters fully in hand if they weren't. Eothas arrival in the Deadfire, once his purpose becomes suspected, is exactly analagous to this situation, and would have the same results. It is simply not credible that not one person in the game asks this question, including the Watcher, as it is the first and most obvious question to ask. And once it is asked by anyone everyone else is going to be like "OMG, good point. How do we find out?". Becasue everything, life itself no less, is dependant on the answer. I mean even the bloody pirates are going twig that the extinction of the kith is going to mean a significant economic downturn, bad for buisiness and all. Even they are going to want an answer to it before taking any sort of position on what to do. Plundering Ukaizo is not going to be uppermost in their, or anybody else's, mind. IMO this is a massive hole in the Deadfire narrative. Almost a fatal one. One wonders what Obsidian were thinking. This jumped out at me too. Even when everyone in the factions finally accepted that there was a giant god made of Adra stomping around, possibly to destroy the cycle of life itself, they STILL wanted to talk about conquest, economics and rivalries. I sort of expected that at least SOME of them would put aside their problems and just band together. Hell, even if they were planning to back stab one another later, it would have made sense. In fact, I'd have been totally down for the final faction decision boiling down to who you'd help pull the rug from everyone else's feet AFTER THE END OF DAYS OF AVERTED. Now, I suppose there is an argument to made for the fact that the factions are not briefed on exactly -what- Eothas intends to do once he reaches Ukaizu, but it's pretty clear that; A) Whatever it is, it's bad B) Even if he's just going there to have a nap, he's bashing up the entire archipelago on the way, and probably going to break all the shiny things in the ancient city while he's at it. Principi pirates thinking "MONEY!" is fair enough, being pirates and all. The nations of the Huana, Valian Republics and Rauitie (spelling?) ? Not so much. I wouldn't say it ruined an otherwise great game for me, but yeah, this was definitely more along the lines of an Elder Scrolls plot than what I was expecting after POE 1. (End result wise, not writing quality, which was excellent).

It may well be part of it though. It's entirely possible that Woedica's schemes (via Thaos) were the last straw that convinced Eothas to put an end to the entire charade. I mean, seeing one of his fellow gods do such awful things in the name of power could certainly have made him feel incredibly disillusioned with the status-quo, resulting in both his attempt to thwart her, as well as ensure that something of the like never happens again.

Don't know about romance, but I did kind of want to bring her into my crew. We could use a bard! Besides, her buddy from Aedyr is with us, as is the dwarf dude who wanted an adventure.

First off; I would disagree that all the gods have a problem with Animancy. I recall in my play through of POE 1, Galawain, Magran and Abydon all litterally shrugged when asked about it. Abydon didn't seem to mind it too much, Galawain called it "another hunt", and Magran didn't seem to have any special opinion. I think it was mostly Woedica who had a real serious problem with it. Well, maybe Wael too, what with his obsession with secrets.... ...Berath perhaps.... death and all that... ...and Rhymergand makes his stance clear in POE 2. As for a middle ground; well, Aloth is definitely trying to find that middle ground by the end of POE 2. Confronted with the fact that one of the gods specifically pushed kith towards NEEDING to learn the art, there isn't much of a choice. Unfortunately, this is likely to push everyone - the Leaden Key included- further away from Woedica herself. Actually, my prediction for the future: - Woedica forms a dark alliance with Rhymergand, Skaen and Wael. This group is concerned only with power and dominance over kith, intent on exploiting the weakness and ignorance of mortals so they may remain on top. - Berath, Galawain, Abydon and Magran rally in opposition, seeking to aid kith and restore the cycle. They intend to stay on top but not for powers sake; they mean to keep doing their job and prevent Woedica's alliance from using the world as their toy. - Hylea fusses in a corner. - Nemnok rises again, assassinates everyone and becomes the new god of Eora. (okay, maybe not...) Anyhow, short version about Woedica and a compromise on Animancy; probably not. She wants to stay top-dog, and nothing that could possibly challenge that would go down well with her. Remember; she was at least half-seriously proposing dropping the moon on Eothas, even if it might kill the world.

I enjoyed the game enough that I've already started my second run of it. Far as actual game play goes, this is definately an improvement over POE 1, getting you right into the action much faster than the original. Build choices also seem a bit more varied. What I'm not a huge fan of: 1. The main plot feels drowned out by the sheer multitude of other things to do in the mean time. It ends up feeling more important to chase bounties and other random missions just to regain some power, than to get right to tracking Eothas. 2. I was not a huge fan of how the ending results in Eothas doing his thing regardless, despite the whole adventure being billed as leading to a major choice. The actual end-game options honestly feel inconsequential, amounting to "which faction rules Deadfire". Yes, the final choices have some influence over the future, but it's far more subdued than POE 1, in which you directly decide the fate of the entire country's souls, the secrets of the gods, and resolve a struggle thousands of years in the making. 3. Palegina. She just seems so... cold and harsh? It's like we didn't adventure together in POE 1 and see the very edge of eternity itself. She barely seems to care that we traveled, fought and bled together till we learnt the truth of the universe. She's just... a mook for the Republic. One who initially just barely tolerates my existence (even when I haven't done anything against the VTC). She takes every chance to remind me that the VTC is her priority, to hell with anything and everything, never mind that the Republics took a huge dump on her for years... In my first run through of the game, I actually ended up kicking her off my ship, which is the first time I've ever done that to a companion in an RPG. 4. No Soul whip VFX? 5. Soul Bound items are not quite as neat as they were in POE 1. (Except Modwyr). For that matter, I'm not so fond of how the crafting system in general feels very downgraded. 8. Naval combat is sort of meh. What I loved: 1. The game play is very well executed. 2. Multiclasses! 3. Eder and Aloth are back! And unlike Palegina, they seem to actually remember the epic journey we had together. 4. The fact that so much of what you did in POE 1 actually carries over directly here, from simple conversations with random folks to entire quest arcs. Aufrey's letter in the Defiant's cabin actually brought a smile to my face. 5. The little idiosyncrasies that can be found in the various cultures. I loved how the Valien insult for "idiot" translates to something so mundane as "carrot". Small phrases and words like that being weird when translated literally is in fact a thing in the real world (small example; in India, calling someone an owl is a very scathing way of calling them stupid). It was really nice to see Obsidian go this extra step to flesh out cultures instead of the easy route Bioware and co. seem to keep taking. 6. The entire "Colonialism vs. Native culture" thing was done VERY WELL, and addresses exactly the kind of issues that come with it far better than any other game I've played. I love how it actually takes a moment to talk about how, despite colonialism evils, sometimes even the local culture has troublesome things going on. Maybe it's my own Indian heritage and upbringing that makes the theme resonate with me, but I really appreciated how tastefully and realistically it was handled. 7. Sneaking has far more uses in this game than most CRPG's of its kind. 8. BLOOD! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! Making things EXPLODE as a ciphere has never been so awesome! 9. And finally... NEMNOK! NEMNOK! NEMNOK!