Starwars

Not really a secret either but maybe something people might miss: -Once you learn Engwithan from the woman in Heritage Hill (as part of the main quest), you will be able to speak to the Fampyr guy on... what, level 8 or something in the Endless Paths. You will also be able to read the runes in Cliaban Rilag.

-There are (I believe) two "early endings" in the game. One if you kill Lady Webb and one if you jump down the pit in the end-game without having a god's favor. -Maybe not a "secret" per say but you can hear Pallegina sing in the game... Kana is not impressed. -More kickstarter related by the Club of Refined and Prestigious Gentlemen is the RPG Codex location. Vincent Dweiller is a long-term user/former moderator there (and now developing an excellent game called Age of Decadence) and Jaesun is a moderator. I think if you don't have CRPG ring, you'll get attacked by them (haven't tried myself but saw a post about it somewhere). Excellent topic.

More could've been done with the nightmares, I agree. And more with the companions freaking out afterwards. The visions is more tricky I think because it could easily get annoying. But more sudden "dialogue breaks" perhaps where your character zones out and you go through a little text-adventure of a memory outside the ones immediately related to Thaos and relive other harsh things that could serve to "rattle" your character, interactive visions so to speak. It's pretty tricky though all in all I think because it's a thin line from being barely noticeable to "god this is annoying me as a player, stop hitting me over the head with it".

Hrm, I kinda liked all of them but neither Pallegina or Hiravias did much for me. I liked Pallegina as a character but it just seems like there needed to be more stuff for her. Hiravias has some amusing quips here and there but at times it also feels like... trying a bit too hard with the "greasy pervert" schtick. Fortunately, he isn't a one-note character and there is some more depth to him as well. But I think both of them suffer a bit from feeling slightly... detached. Perhaps it's because they are character you are likely to run into a bit later in the game (not necessarily but I think it often turns out that way) and they have no real heavy impact on the story. For example, Grieving Mother is also likely to be encountered later in the game but she has a pretty big role to play in terms of the story.

I hide the options I don't qualify for but have the rest of the stuff on. Will probably turn those off as well on the next playthrough. Big thumbs up for providing the option.

I think the game should've pushed the whole "you're gonna go insane" angle even more. I mean, you see the visions and stuff near the start... But I think the game kinda fails to *really* make it feel relevant. I think an issue is that, while if you actually *were* the Watcher for real it'd be scary as hell, in game the whole Watcher/awakened thing basically only amounts to positive things for the player. You see useful things, relive interesting things that reveal stuff, etc... There should've been some moments where you fall into these visions and maybe the game screws with you somehow, tricks you, I dunno. There is no real pressure to it. I know many people didn't like the spirit-meter in Mask of the Betrayer (I thought it was a great thing for that game) but I think even without it, they still manage to sell the fact that... you're in a bad situation right from the start. PoE doesn't quite manage that in the same way and I can't quite put the finger on why. I also would've loved more backstory from the "old life". I really enjoyed those sequences and wish there were more of them.

Where did you approach the Zolla fight? There is a little hole in the wall towards the eastern part of the room where I found it great to setup. Stuff your tank(s) in there and just unload everything you have on the ogres as they clutter up. Spells like Slicken are invaluable there I think. If you have summons for Kana then those will help also. Also, be sure to attack them from a range (while they're still green) and draw them to you. Also, the hirelings thing is a bug I believe. Your hirelings are getting paid, it's just the UI text that's bugged so it lists them as unpaid.

Could be a change (set percentage) that it happens also maybe? Not sure.

Have fun. That level nearly destroyed me at lvl4 or 5. Maybe you'll have better luck. I still haven't gone to do lvl lvl 4 in there. Some of the banter in the game is really great. I also love the ones between Edér and Aloth... Edér just can't let the issue go, haha. Durance also pesters Aloth about it, poor guy. I'm doing a replay of PoE. First time around was a sorta smart-ass (but ultimately good) Orlan Cipher with the Philosopher background (pissed off the Priesthood). This time around I'm playing a Pale Elf Priest of Skaen (Theology background). The game is *largely* the same but there are plenty of little changes here and there that sorta... I dunno, reinforces your character. I feel like I can actually roleplay here even though there aren't any *huge* choices and & consequences. It kinda reminds me of Alpha Protocol in some ways, the way you can twist the narrative to your own liking kinda.

If I recall correctly, the backing price was 20 bucks. Pretty high for an expansion *but* if it's gonna be really loaded with content then it will obviously be worth it.

I think the wording there is quite confusing. I'm assuming (maybe wrongfully?) that he means that kickstarter backers who backed the expansion will receive both parts, not that everyone who backed the kickstarter proper will receive it? Otherwise, it would seem I wasted 20 bucks on the expansion?

Would just like to say that I finally got the first vision of Durance in my playthrough. But I do find it kinda weird that it took so long (was well into Act 2, more than half of it finished) before it appeared.

I also got a warning before accepting a quest from the Doemenels saying that I will piss off the other factions if I accepted.

I liked Aloth but yeah, I think he just needed... more stuff really. He feels a bit undercooked compared to the other companions. The more I think about the companions, the more I actually appreciate Sagani. She's excellent, really enjoyed the story of her quest.

Do you have the updated soundtrack? They updated a while back with proper track names and so forth and there is a track called Sun in Shadow on there I think (can't check now). If you have it on STEAM try unchecking the soundtrack in the DLC menu and checking it again to redownload it I guess.

I like most of the stuff introduced and I think it'd be easier to list some that I wish were changed. -The stash. I thought this would be fine with me but I really dislike the idea of having an unlimited inventory to put everything into. It makes looting completely brainless since you can just suck up everything in your stash and sell it off later. Would like some form of limit on inventory. -Separate stealth would be very nice. -The skill system doesn't feel great to me. Would love for that to be changed somehow.

My favorite area was probably Ondra's Gift. I just loved the look and feel of that area. The sea mist when you enter the area from the east entrance was a lovely touch. I loved the Twin Elms areas also, they are just really beautiful.

Still not getting the first dream event on my current playthrough. Could it be that there is some dialogue option in his "standard" dialogues that somehow sets a flag not allowing us to get the first vision? On my first playthrough (where it worked fine), I pretty much went top to bottom for his dialogues. Think he has like 3 starting nodes, 1 about religion, 1 about Magran and 1 about himself. So I exhausted the religion stuff first, then onward from there. On this playthrough, I've picked a bit from each node each time I've talked to him so I'm thinking there may have been some option there that prevented the vision from happening.

My first time playing the game, everything about this quest worked just fine for me. Everything progressed and so forth. On this playthrough though, I'm not getting the first "resting event" despite having rested a lot in the wild, and I'm now almost up to Act II.

I played an Orlan Cipher from the Ixamitl Plains on my first playthrough. Chose the Philosopher background that pissed of the priesthood. Being an Orlan came up a few times, mostly minor stuff. Durance said I deserved being a slave at one point. Being a Cipher also came up a few times here and there. Ixamitl Plains? Once or twice I think, can't really remember. Philosopher background, again, once or twice as I recall. It did however give me a fantastic option when the elf woman tells you that the gods aren't real near the end of the game. Based on the background, my character said "I KNEW IT!" which I thought was hilarious.

I like the general idea of the stronghold, and I like the basic functionality of it. I like the upgrading and I like the idea of people coming and going to it and adventures for the companions to go on. But it just needs a lot of fleshing out in my opinion. Was probably a bit too much to bite off for them to be honest but from the latest PcGamer interview with Feargus it kinda seems like they *may* have some plan of expanding upon it in the future (maybe in the expansion). That'd be good I think. I also don't think it quite works in the "feels" department at times. I like that you can send your companions off to do stuff but to just have it be called "Minor or Major adventure" is just lame... Give us some flavor there. It's not fun to read as is. Same with the attack on the keep, it's just weird that we would let monsters inside the bloody keep. Why not have the fight out in the open? Just seems weird to me to have it in the keep. Maybe there's some technical reason for it. And why do we need to go through several loading screens to rest... ? Also, areas like the library and so forth just feel like filler. I visited them once, after I had built them, and then never again. Just seems kinda pointless. Crossroad Keep in NWN2 felt lackluster mechanically to me. It didn't really feel like I was *doing* much that mattered. But what it did brilliantly was that... well, it made me feel like I was running a keep. Just the feeling of it. For Caed Nua, I really like the underlying stuff you can do with it, the interface and so on, but I don't feel anything when I go there, except perhaps dread of going through the loading screens to rest (and hearing the beginning of the music loop a few times, no offense Justin, I love the actual music but the looping gets a bit tiresome).

I liked the Endless Paths, it's a pretty... huge task to pull off to put it mildly, hehe. My criticisms of it would be: -I wish it had a slightly more doom-y, evil, rotten, ancient, eldritch feel the further down you got. There is *some* of that, but I think the progression of how the dungeon *feels* could've been done a bit better. -Some of the encounters were pretty lackluster. I think there were some levels where it really felt like they had just copy-pasted creatures into the various rooms. "Oh, yet another room with ghosts and the like... *sigh*" For me, it was a problem in some of the middle levels. -It would've been really nice if there was something unique about the creatures there. All creatures there exist somewhere else in the game-world. The Vithrack are the best ones (and to be fair, I think there's only that one in La Rhemen outside the Endless Paths?). The animats are boring. I dunno, it would obviously a be a huge undertaking and completely out of scope of the project but it feels like it really deserved its own "ecology" of monsters to keep surprising the player. It sometimes feel more like a showcase of "hey, welcome to the monsters of PoE showcase! On *this* level we have..." -Needed more non-combat stuff overall. Again... it's a huge undertaking as it is but I would've loved more interactivity. But yeah, I think they did a pretty good job in making 15 levels of dungeon feel pretty manageable and not boring. I think it helps a lot that it's always there, and you can sorta plink it down level by level and then... you can go out into the rest of the gameworld for a while and then come back when you feel like it again. It feels surprisingly good in the game (I was pretty worried about it before the game came out to be honest).

I didn't really have any problems with the motivation in the game though I think it could've done a much better job on pushing home the insanity part of being a Watcher and being Awakened. That part could use some work. Other than that, I dunno... I don't particularly need much motivation in games I guess. I know lots of people had problems in New Vegas. "Why would I ever want to go after the dude who shot me in the head? He's DANGEROUS!" But... I want to play the game, that's my initial motivation for wanting to follow the story. And, hopefully, that story will allow me some measure of tailoring it for my own "taste" so to speak. I didn't give a crap about the story in either of the BGs (and well, I hated the Imoen part of it to tell the truth), but coming up with a motivation for my character in a game isn't exactly hard. I'm kinda surprised that people were let down by Act III. I think it was unusually strong for... being an Act III in big RPGs. I thought Twin Elms was a good area and interacting with the gods was a real highlight for me in the game. I wish they had done it different so Twin Elms wasn't gated off though. One of the weakest things in the game for me was also the rioting in Defiance Bay. Now, that part is fine to me... But when you're allowed back into Defiance Bay, it's disappointing to see that everything is basically the same. I totally get the huge work that'd be needed to redo the areas, but if they were not up for that task, I think they should've written the story differently to avoid that. I also liked that the final dungeon was short. I *hate* how in RPGs you usually have to wade through an army of enemies before getting to the final boss, especially since the story at that point is usually at its "peak" and ready to resolve. While the ending fight could've been cooler (did like the statues though, they looked nice) I was very happy that it was short and to the point. The dialogues were extremely satisfying to me and I felt like I could really express my character through them. Had no problem at all with the ending slides, I thought they were nicely written. One problem with slides is that it's hard to "dazzle" people now. I mean, I've seen a fair amount of ending slides in games now and you kinda... know what to expect from the endings based on what I chose you know? So in that regard, it'd be nice to have a cinematic certain something in addition to them I guess, just to make it feel a bit more "meaty" (Dragon Age: Origins had a great ending in my opinion) but for the scope of a game such as this? Nah. I was pretty pleased overall.

Personally I could go either way on this. I don't mind at all that the companions aren't an *integral* part to the main story and I don't mind it the other way either. I do think one has to be really careful when tying companions to the story though. Kreia is often touted as being a wonderful character, and I like her myself, but there are a lot of things I *really* don't like about how she works in the game, namely that the player is forced into a certain... situation with her and you can't really "talk back" to her in a satisfactory manner because... well, because plot. And that's terrible in my opinion. MotB certainly works really well in that regard though, very well done. But yeah, not a biggie for me in PoE.

I liked the cities. Ondra's Gift was my favorite in Defiance Bay, a fantastic area in my opinion. I also really enjoyed the Twin Elms areas, a bit surprising to me as I usually don't like the "tribal, forest-y cities" much in games. And also, they look *fantastic*.