wingedchocolatecake
-
Posts
66 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Posts posted by wingedchocolatecake
-
-
On 1/26/2020 at 2:29 PM, uuuhhii said:
become awaken and watcher after the biawac are suppose to be the motive for main character to follow the main story
but to the player it doesn't really means anything
even after meeting with maerwald the potential threat of slowly going insane are still too vague and lack urgency
suffer soul damage from biawac and find maerwald than the defiance bay animancers for help will be much better and easier to understand motive
deadfire get this part much better
the whole concept of watcher was never that interesting or important to begin with
it should never been part of the setting
What other narrative device can you think of that would make your character want to trek all over the Dyrwood?
-
On 1/25/2020 at 12:37 PM, uuuhhii said:
never understand why anyone would prefer main quest of poe over deadfire
dyrwood are pretty blend as setting
only the bleak atmosphere saved it from totally boring
awaken and watcher are very difficult to understand and pointless
lady webb and duke should have been merge into one character and their death carry no weight
the under line of saint's war are the only thing interesting about main story in poe
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.
-
3
-
-
I mean, technically Gafonercos is in Deadfire, so Deadfire 6, Pillars 5.
-
Bold of you to assume I've played it
-
9 hours ago, Haljamar said:
Obsidian should have put more dragons in Deadfire. Poe 1 had dragons out the ass, and it was awesome as hell to have them all have different elemental breaths and abilities. I'm disappointed they didn't throw in spellcasting onto the dragons in PoE 2
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
-
On 11/24/2019 at 11:12 AM, Boeroer said:
I agree. I don't think that a super linear, "railroading" approach is great either though. Some decent balance is nice. Areas where you can go as you please, but not too vast/big. Gated content for which you'll have to progress in the main quest line. I think that's also way easier to implement - given that managing connection points for quests, companions etc. can become a nightmare if everything is reachable at any time.
I also don't like those huge quest hubs like Neketaka or Defiance Bay. Something like Fort Deadlight, Dunnage etc. is more up my alley. Once you finished those you know you don't need to come back all the time and there's a feel of accomplishment and closure if you will.
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.
-
4 hours ago, Wormerine said:
Do you though? Perhaps, we disagree on what those difficulty settings means to us, personally. Here are my expectations:
- STORY MODE - I don't want to learn combat, I want to maw my way through encounters with little to no coherent imput from me
- EASY - I want to engage with combat, but don't want to be punished too hard for my mistake. Make me feel when I am playing wrong, but don't stop my progress
- NORMAL - I will have to learn how to play the game to succeed. There will be encounters which will be a challenge, and I will have to learn how the game works to proceed. Building a well optimised party is encourage but not required.
- VETERAN - I am experience player in this genre and in this series. I know the mechanics. I build competent parties, and characters with decend synergy. I know how to customise my equipment. In this setting a well build party will be put to the challenge.
- PATH OF THE DAMNED - I know very well how this game works. I beat and analysed the systems, I know how to exploit systems and like doing it. I know enemies I will be facing. I want to build the most OP builds I can think of, and I want those builds to be challenged.
EDIT: None of those, of course, assume playing solo, or controlling only one character. As this is a party based game, I assume them to be tuned with a party of 5 in mind, with levels NORMAL-PotD assuming I do pay attention to what my characters are doing - either by micromanaging it, or setting up detailed AI systems.
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.
-
1
-
2 hours ago, thelee said:
difficulty is extremely subjective. my sense is that veteran is supposed to target BG2-level difficulty, which means being punished for your mistakes or for not being aware of certain mechanics (much like how i would get screwed by not understanding how mind flayers or vampiric level drain worked). i think it maps pretty well onto that, actually.
normal is where you get more allowance for mistakes or unfamiliarity with the mechanics.
(PotD I put on the level of IWD or IWD2 with heart of fury mode on--basically you have to know everything in and out and be ready to min-max)
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.
-
On 11/23/2019 at 3:08 AM, Wormerine said:
Well, it is called Path of the Damned. It was slightly too much for my personal enjoyment, but I see it as indication that it was finally tuned right - I would consider myself a Veteran player, and I found DLCs on Vet to be just right.
As to HP bloats, I am afraid it comes with new per-encounter system: you want to make players in late game think about what they cast? Well, you have to send them against waves of enemies, or give enemies enough HP to let them burn through their spell casts. But then there is also Ancestor’s Memory/Salvation of Time to break it anyway.
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
-
https://wiki.fireundubh.com/deadfire/dialogue-options
That'll tell you races/classes/skills get the most dialogue as well as how many times companions interject
-
Nope, pretty sure there are no polygamous relationships in the game. If Maia and Xoti get together, neither will show any interest in you. Sorry pal, at least Tekēhu and Aloth are single!
-
Y'all need Berath...
(I'm kidding)
-
Yes, but if you read most of the dialogue in the game, you'd know that all the factions don't like each other. It's obvious that all the other factions would attack your Principi ship, since they have legal grounds to do so. Even if you have +1 with all factions, they have no way of knowing that the vessel with a pirate flag is your watcher.
What's Jack Sparrow got to do with this?
-
Maybe she's just really well versed in religious text? That aside, characters can have a maximum of 20 points in one skill (If their base was 0). Bleakwater shrine requires more than twelve. As for the desecrating, Pallegina likes those who shun the gods and do everything in their power to defy them. I agree, its a little weird that you can increase her religion skill.
-
Yeah, I also have some questions...
I'm just going to go with the theory that they simply test your abilities. The way I imagined it was that they'd make sure you could 'handle them,' like you said.
There are a few more contradictions concerning the Circle too. For example, Llengrath, when asked about joining, describes the process and says Tayn completed it because he "can be frightfully driven when he puts his mind into it." Tayn later says that he earned free scholarships due to his father's influence and wealth. He also states that he didn't fight all the archmages, but simply pulled up a chair. Does that mean the Watcher can also just pay their way into archmage-hood?
Another question more concerning Llengrath is: How did she get new dragons? If you kill her, you kill both Gafonercos and Turisulfus, so how in the world does smaller Llengrath have another dragon? Is there a store where she just picks them out or something?
-
Yeah, then it's probably a bug. You aren't actually supposed to go to the powderhouse until near-endgame
Best of luck
-
Did you blow up the entire Powderhouse?
I think Maia is scripted to either leave or stay if you have a +2 reputation (possibly need romance, no idea), but since there was no quest, then yeah, that's probably what did it.
Variables that are tied to Maia are (to the best if my knowledge):
RDC reputation
Huana reputation
Her personal reputation with you, ie your options during her dialogue and whether or not your 'follow' what she likes
Her quest, The Courier's Calling or something like that
Romance
Whether or not you sacrificed Kana and Kana's outcome in POE1
-
The Godseed quest in Forgotten Sanctum. (You have to make either archmage trust you)
-
5 hours ago, daven said:
Orrrrrr... if anyone has played Dargon Age: Awakening, you could either carry on your Warden character or have be a new guy. It was basically the same story but there were changes based on your character. Maybe something like that could work?
Maybe, but there'd have to be a lot of changes. Like, character reactivity. For example (and I'm assuming the Circle would return in POE3), why would the Circle of Archmagi employ some random flunky if they've already worked with the "illustrious" Watcher? The same goes for the gods. Why would they choose a random new guy if Berath already controls the Watcher? I don't think a new protagonist and the Watcher would work well in tandem. Besides, Obsidian will already have to write a crap ton of alternating dialogue based on the Watcher's reputation as a whole, which faction they chose and their reputation with companions and NPC's alike. I just don't see them doing all that and coming up with a completely new protagonist on top of that.
-
1
-
Requirement for "Hidden Depths" to trigger
in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)
Posted
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.