wingedchocolatecake

From what I can tell, the encounter is a little buggy. From my experience, you need to have completed 'He Waits in Fire' and be level 18. Only then will Llengrath show up on your ship. If the encounter is bugged, using the Fonferrus has always worked for me.

What other narrative device can you think of that would make your character want to trek all over the Dyrwood?

Well, that's entirely subjective. I don't think I'll ever get over my love of Tolkien-esque, fantasy worlds, so I didn't think the Dyrwood was bland at all. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'awaken and watcher are very difficult to understand and pointless.' Your character is a watcher, and I don't see how either PoEI or II could have existed of you weren't awakened and a watcher. Lady Webb's death did carry weight, though. So did Duc Aevar Wolf-Grin's. When Lady Webb dies, you see the real Thaos, the man you've been searching for all along. It fleshes them both out, and I was sad to see her dead. When the Duc dies, it literally starts fires and rampages throughout Defiance Bay, forcing you to flee the city. That's certainly weighty.

I mean, technically Gafonercos is in Deadfire, so Deadfire 6, Pillars 5.

Bold of you to assume I've played it

Didn't Neriscyrlas use magic? And I'm pretty sure none of the dragons in PoE ever used spells.

https://www.neoseeker.com/poe2-forgotten-sanctum/walkthrough This should have all the answers

Really? I loved Defiance Bay and Neketaka to a lesser extent. That feeling of walking into Copperlane after only visiting small hamlets, inns and forests was incredible. Before then, PoE almost felt as though the entire Eastern Reach was a series of dominoes that fell and tipped as the watcher came and went. Defiance Bay was surreal. All the bustling kith, each with different storylines — it fleshed out eora in a way Gilded Vale couldn't. For once the watcher wasn't the most important thing since sliced bread, they were just another traveler or mercenary. That feeling is what I felt was missing in PoEII. I'm not sure what the feeling is, but I'll try to describe it as best I can. Deadfire, in my opinion, lacked in 'wonder.' By 'wonder' I mean places or writing that just felt... unique? Interesting? If I think back to the opening of both games, I think PoE's is far superior. You're thrust into this world, sick and alone (unless you're a ranger) and bandits invade. You barely escape, surviving a biawac and hurry to a cave. You're given a breather, and after the moments respite, emerge only to find a strange ritual taking place. Everything from the music to the surprise of having your two companions simply... die, it's great. After the initial shock, you wander about the remains of your companions and the desecrated husks of the sacrifices. You press on and fin yourself in a misty forest, full of danger. You come across Nonton, and he advises that you head to Gilded Vale, which you do, only to be met with a tree of corpses and ringing bells of death. This opening is incredible. Most notable, I think, are the gigantic adra pillars jutting out from the earth, and the crystalline skuldrak cave. It gives you plenty of room to breathe, and is atmospheric enough to drag you in. Comapare that with Deadfire's opening. I'm not going to summarise it, rather I'll write how I think it could be improved upon. You start out as Watcher, Slayer of Thaos, Theyn of Caed Nua. You sit upon the steward's lap, ruling in relative peace and prosperity. A man steps forward, he wants your help in funding his marriage to his fiancé. You cast your judgement, and leave your fortress and walk among your court when you hear the cries of the guards. Maros Nua's ginormous fingers shake and then curl around the chapel, destroying it and everyone inside. Slowly, and with a great groaning, the earth beneath your keep begins to shake and the colossus emerges. Maybe Eothas kills a companion of yours (Hiravias, who stopped by for a chat? The Grieving Mother?). Then he kills you and in your final moments, Eder drags you aboard the Defiant. Once you awaken, the whole Benweth scene plays out as normal, but when the storm hits, it hits hard. The Watcher is completely separated from their crew and Eder, and once agin, you are alone in a foreign, tropical island... The difference between the opening I just wrote and the actual one is that mine probably has grammar mistakes and I think it a more personal one. Instead of the one cutscene, you stroll around Caed Nua, only for it to be destroyed while the player is helpless. It feels more relevant. As for isolating the Watcher, it adds stakes, and makes the Watcher's situation feel more desperate. Port Maje would act as a Gilded Vale of sorts. You would be reacquainted with Eder and Aloth, and your journey for your soul would begin anew. The main problem with Deadfire's opening is it tells, not shows.

My interpretation of the difficulty is this: STORY MODE: I either don't want to really interact with combat, I play the game for the story alone EASY/RELAXED: I play the game to have a fun, easy time and enjoy what it has to offer without stressing about combat. This is the 'test-the-waters' difficulty NORMAL: I want to play the game so that there is a suitable challenge that I have to learn to overcome. I like both combat and actively pay attention during it VETERAN/HARD: I know/have experience and want a challenge. I read all the weapon and item descriptions and pick them according to my party. I'm flexible and can take on enemies with a variety of different tactics and party members PATH OF THE DAMNED: The name says to all. You want a challenge. Now you have one. I understand the game design and mechanics and know exactly how to build my party. My problem with PoTD is that it is borderline unfair in some occasions. Some fights feel like punching a brick wall as a non-monk. Take a game like Dark Souls (a stretch, I know). Notoriously difficult as it is, it is never unfair. All fights are balanced and are completely doable. Sure, you may need certain items to succeed, but you can succeed. Whereas Deadfire sometimes feels unfair. Most of the time, this unfairness stems from how HP-bloated and how high their armour rating is regarding bosses. Even on PoTD, facing the Oracle of Wael and hurling an empowered Minoletta's Missle Salvo directly at it should do more than shave off a fraction of its health bar. Certain elements mentioned above are applicable to Veteran, and that's mostly where my problem lies. SSS was not at all an enjoyable experience on either Veteran or PoTD. Again, this is just my opinion and thanks for taking the time to write such a long answer.

I agree that difficulty is subjective, my interpretation differs slightly from yours on a couple notes. Veteran (in my opinion) should be playable for someone who has experience with these types of games. Only PoTD is supposed to test your 'in-depth' knowledge of the game. By that I mean knowing the ins-and-outs of the story, the mechanics, etc. My point above was that even on veteran, some bosses can simply be incredibly beefy, often requiring more 'meta-knowledge' than I believe should be necessary on Veteran. But again, this is only my opinion.

That's kinda my problem with the difficulty. Even on veteran (which is just supposed to be hard, not damning), there are certain abilities that you simply must have. On PoTD, I can almost justify everything, since it is path of the damned, but regular hard?

I agree that the DLC's can get a little unfair on PoTD — what with their bloated armor rating, 'boss' fights sometimes boil down to your party swinging at an enemy, hoping to graze it to death — but I don't see how Normal poses such an enormous challenge. Unless you hit select all and click on an enemy without abilities/buffs/spells, Normal should be perfectly doable. For Forgotten Sanctum, I'd recommend killing the summoner of the weapons, as they'll all disappear as soon as the caster dies.

I don't fully remember, but I think you can confront the Circle of Archmagi on whether or not they know more than they let on. Edit: Found it! With 8 Insight: "You're holding something back. What is it?" "Better that I remain silent on the matter." Arkemyr takes in the other members of the Circle. Their responses are myriad - some shake their heads, others shrug, and others still lean back in their chairs and wait to see how it plays out. (I think I arranged them correctly)

Yeah, Benevolent Soul just means your watcher went a Neutral Good route. I think all the choices are described somewhere?

Really? Personally, I thought FS was the best of the DLC and actually bolstered the main story rather than diluting it. The other two DLC fell rather flat for me, since BoW was a separate adventure (more so than the White March) and SSS was really just an excuse to have a battle royal arena, FS was a welcome reprieve. Since the main quests were... of poorer quality than the side quests, FS just helped give the story a nice boost. What with the rather unexpected return of Llengrath, whom I thought was a nice call-back to PoE. I just think FS as a whole is both a lot more polished and better integrated that the other DLC. For one, we have returning characters in Llengrath, Concelhaut and Bekarna (kind of) and mentions of previous quests (The Phylactery's Promise, The Siege of Crägholdt, The Archmage's Vault, Berkarna's Folly, etc). While lots of these connections are quite superficial, they allow FS to build on previously established lore and make it feel more personal? I guess. It's also a lot more character-driven, and by focusing on only a handful of NPC's, comes across as narratively stronger. But the writing in BoW is also incredible and these are just my two cents