Rostere

You must be insane. Crafting Scrolls of Paralyze is completely OP. Crafting weapons and armor to their maximum potential is a no-brainer. That said, I don't like crafting in general, but it sure as hell is not useless.

Well, it's pretty apparent there are things in the game that he did not quite "get", both from his review and earlier posts on the Codex. I guess he could have written a more serious review but then... Worse than DS3? That's just trolling for attention. If that doesn't mean he's into ARPGs in which case you can just disregard his opinion. In any case it's typical Codex to glorify their own village idiots, and going to edgy extremes in general (I must confess I'm not entirely innocent of the latter). I'm honestly surprised they did not put up an even crazier review, saying that PoE is worse than Lionheart or Brotherhood of Steel, or saying that the game was completely ruined because a certain poem was replaced, or whatever. Actually people are completely wrong when they say that this is an "elitist" review, and that the Codex is THAT old-school. There's a 160 pages long thread about modding Skyrim and 40% of Codexers believe F:NV is Obsidian's best game, a more popular choice than MotB, KotOR 2 or PoE. Action RPGs and FPS hybrids such as Deus Ex, VtM:B and F:NV occupy high places in the Codex best games of all times-list (where Dark Souls is ranked above Wizardry 7...). Those rankings are fairly close to mainstream and I wouldn't be surprised to find a similar list in PC Gamer or something.

The "problems" with the engagement system is worse on low levels. As you reach higher levels, there is a plethora of ways to handle disengagement and positioning.

But it would only be worse without engagement. Without engagement, a proper AI would hunt down your backline completely uninpeded by your frontliners.

67 is a bit low .

1. Eothas marched on Dyrwood (did he actually invade?) 2. Dyrwood rallies at Halgot/Godhammer and attacks him in Readceras. (why, isn't he in Dyrwood? is Dyrwood the one staring the war?) 3. Readceres invades Dyrwood through White March, uncontested by locals at first. (why uncontested? retribution for invasion of Readceras?) Again nothing to say who started the war. The cause is said to be flight of Readcerans into Dyrwood, but part about war starting with spread of dominion is again vague. That dominion can be understood as invasion, or it can only be religious subversion. Rallying at Halgot is again curious. Why rally at the border of the invading country if you are already invaded? What's obvious is that there was a religious conflict between Eothas and Magra. We learn very little about the causes of it. Waidwen goes crazy and starts destroying temples. End makes it almost certain that it was Eothas working through Waidwen to do that, but the causes are again obscured. Did he as Engwithan construct rebels against that idea and is in turn he the one attacked by Magra, who may be in league with Woedica as well, to hide it? Thanks for this interesting tidbit, I hadn't noticed this yet.

Ha ha, very funny. See, this is how you constructively engage these issues for the fun of all. Not by sending rape threats to Anita Sarkeesian.

Haha, Durance actually reminds me a lot of an IRL friend of mine. There's a lot that have been said about him and I feel I can't add much original thoughts. I do think that his very, very awkward sexual quips are hilarious though. Ahh, Grieving Mother. What a great NPC. GM and Durance goes straight up with my favourite NPCs of all time. Basically, she's this: while at the same time a pro-life activist midwife, and a complete utilitarianist to the point of being willing to mind control people for their own well-being AND **** with the player's mind by showing him/her false memories, all the while feigning weakness and hiding her identity as a powerful cipher in an unassuming guise, psychically shrouding her presence. I like how in the final fight, Thaos addressed all my non-hireling companions except GM, and how Hiravias only barely seems to notice her as "that peasant woman that has been traveling with us for some reason, I guess she must be a glutton for trouble" when you talk about your companions with him. There's also something wrong with the recording of her voice which makes all the "s" sounds very unsettling. I REALLY like her portrait as well with captures her personality perfectly with that hypnotic gaze, the best portrait in PoE I'd say. In some sense she appears evil, only that she is monomaniacally fixated on birth, children and motherhood which aligns her with typically "good" goals. Truly a great NPC written for a mature audience. No offense meant to the other writers, but there's a reason Chris Avellone is regarded as the best writer in the industry. As for the other NPCs, first I guess I must start by stating that I think all of them are great concepts. Any of these character concepts is definitely BG2-tier (which is what PoE aimed for I guess). In praising GM and Durance to the skies I might also suffer a bit from confirmation bias as they were the companions I used the most. So, Edér. When I first met Edér I thought "this is going to get old fast" and "if he's this close to boring now it will only get worse" and so on. Fortunately, I was wrong on both accounts. Edér in many ways reminds me of Garett in Thief with his minimalist style of humor. Edér actually really feels like a real person and has several funny quirks, such as how he likes to cuddle with animals and how he almost appears to fall in love with Aloth's alternate personality (or if he's only teasing him, I don't know). The reason Edér is not top tier along with Durance and GM is that I feel that his identity as an Eothasian and the Purges should have been explored a lot more. Ultimately, Edér's story is about conflicted loyalties with regards to nationality and religion, and about the fate of his brother, and second-guessing himself in general. Edér's story becomes too personal when it would also have great potential exploring the themes of religious persecution, specifically the systematic killing of people of different faith during the Purges. Obsidian were very brave to put something like that in their game lore to begin with (since it's not easy to handle such mature themes with the dignity they deserve), but I really think they should have gone all the way with Edér on that point. I do like how his and the PC's initial quest for Maerwald starts off very Wizard of Oz-like and similarly ends on a depressing note with Edér conceding he was stupid to believe he would get any answers. Pallegina definitely does not lack the "cool factor". I like her voice acting, especially the various interjections in Vailian. She has a good introduction where she does not immediately join your party. I found her background very realistic, touching and quite decently written actually. She is a good example of how to explain a female fighter-type character in a game. The way she complements the game lore (on Godlikes and on the Vailian Republics) and fits into the world is pretty much perfect. The bad part is really where she seems to defer too much to the PC in her personal mission. The dialogue screen where you can signal your approval/disapproval at her negotiations in Twin Elms should seriously be cut from the game and Pallegina should make her decision based on earlier conversions with the PC. Seriously. Cut that one dialogue screen and Pallegina would be a lot more consistent. The conversation about her view on the trade treaty should also be longer, IMO. As it is, it feels a bit abrupt, but this is not really jarring like the scene of the treaty negotiations. Aloth is an NPC with a great concept and so many wasted opportunities for awesomeness. For example, consider if the PC would be able to make his alternative personality permanently take control (compare this to Edwin's unintentional gender change in BG2). You could at least give him a different voice set to reflect his other personality taking over if your personal quest with him goes awry. His MPD problems could have been turned to 11 to make him much more funny and interesting. As things are, it's good stuff but too little. The way you join up with him is pretty stupid (although not by BG standards) - he feels arbitrarily placed and way too eager to join you for no reason at all, HOWEVER, there is another plot twist about Aloth - he's actually a Leaden Key member who was sent to Gilded Vale to spy! This is also sadly not pondered upon a lot, but essentially it's Yoshimo done right. I like how his MPD is connected to him being abused as a kid and how he's internalized this though some kind of Stockholm Syndrome where he actually praises his dad for "putting pressure on him" - at points like that PoE really feels like it's written for an adult audience. Kana Rua is a really sympathetic guy, probably the nicest out of all the PoE characters. I like his motivations as a historian (although it feels a bit anachronistic to be honest... I guess that's what you get when modern authors write a renaissance/late medieval setting) and I kept him throughout the entire Endless Paths. I'm not sure how much content there is for Kana outside of the Endless Paths, but I feel quite a lot underwhelmed when you put Kana beside some of the better PoE characters. He's a really nice guy but he does not appear to have a lot to add (please correct me if I'm wrong). Concerning Hiravias, let me get this out first - I hate Druids. There, I said it. Sadly, I only recruited Hiravias late in the game and therefore used him almost nothing. In spite of my prejudice against Druids however, Hiravias both has hilarious dialogue, excellent voice acting and a very interesting story, possibly only second to Durance and GM. I will have him in my party on my next playthrough, for sure. Sagani is another NPC I barely used. Since I thought she seemed boring, I only barely had her in my party, resulting in me not learning about her story a lot, resulting in me concluding she was boring. Confirmation bias, I know. She just seems too commonsensical when you meet her, without any real interesting issues or perspectives. IMO her personal quest (which I didn't solve) seems like a great introduction to the concept of souls and reincarnation in Eora. Sadly, by the time you meet her you will be so acquainted with these concepts that her quest has no appeal (at least that's what I thought). In conclusion I think the companions in PoE were very good, especially seeing how different people have different favourites - it's possible this vindicates the approach of having a gazillion different writers to suit different tastes. Here's a comparison between the numbers of companions in games though: MotB: 6 (with Ammon Jerro) Torment: 7 (all very fleshed out) PoE: 8 NWN2: 10 KotOR 2: 12 BG2 + ToB: 17 BG1: 25 (rose tinted glasses off - many were very shallow, although many also had a lot of personality) Arcanum: 30 (with veeery varying depth) Thus, I think it's VERY safe to say that PoE would benefit from at the very least 2-4 new companions in expansion packs or as separate DLC. Companions are a great way of altering your playthrough and I think this would increase replayability a lot.

Just wanted to comment on this further. It's just my computer that's had some VEEEERY spooky hardware issues. The machine spirits must have been very agitated. I think I've sorted it out now, it's worked great the last 36h or so since I just gave my graphics card a gentle nudge.

I have played through the entire game without any transparency issues at all. That said, it would be a good addition to the game.

Just downloaded something... It appears performance has decreased

Yeah. Well, we could start improving the atmosphere by stopping whining about entitled whiners. And stop whining about whining about entitled whiners, of course. Whatever, I give up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHgdgRBUKhU

You should take care to read the article more thoroughly. It simply says that this particular photo has been confirmed by the Defense Ministry as depicting a civilian boat, after extensive analysis by their best experts in the field. Also keep in mind that this photo was taken a week after the Defense Ministry claims that a foreign submarine was sighted in the Stockholm archipelago.

What about: Two Dwarf fighters in front, two Aumaua Rogues with pikes behind them, and two Death Godlike Wizards casting Slicken at the back?

Only a simpleton would judge a game by its number of bugs on release instead of its actual substance and content.

I must be the only one who believes that none of the usual posters around here is somebody's alt or a paid troll. That said, I do concede the point that unpaid trolling may be taking place at times .

"You know who else hates freedom" Worst trolling of the year award.

And continuing your analogy, the difference between a non-democracy and a democracy is that in the former, people are going to get raped even if the majority are not OK with getting raped.

The only problem with democracy is that people are to lazy and/or stupid to organize themselves. Then the democracy in effect belongs to those who are organized and opinionated. I'd say the health of a democracy is proportional to the amount of grassroots engagement in political movements. Anyway, it's laughable hearing from people that democracy is a failure, especially when they give no other alternatives.

Why should absurdity be a reason not to buy something?

I just came here to brofist everyone in the thread.

I don't think my point came across. That is exactly what I was referring to. A strategic weapon is a better deterrent, because it cannot be used for tactical purposes. The use of tactical weapons hints at conventional warfare taking place. If you are preparing seriously for conventional warfare against a major nuclear power (of which there are two in the world by my arbitrary definition), that means you're delusional, either thinking that you can negate the damage done by strategic nukes or that the other part won't use them. So the fact that a major nuclear power chooses to invest heavily in tactical weaponry during a period of confrontation with another major nuclear power is very worrisome. Luckily, it's probably a general trend which has nothing to do with the current climate of confrontation. But it leaves one wondering if Putin has lost his marbles. If I were Belarus or Kazakstan I would be scared ****less right now. This is what we must strive for by building up strategic deterrence (and Russia doing so to their taste also of course). Both sides must be clear they will not hesitate a global nuclear war, or else the other part will see it as a weak moment and strike, trying to grab small pieces of the cake. Putin has been good at this but Obama should be better IMO. Seeing what they choose to spend their money on, I'm more worried about what Russia is up to. Their early warning satellites are currently down, and the big spending programs concern typically tactical stuff such as the big transport planes we've seen. That's not something you invest in for modern total war. That is what you would invest in if you want to make interventions in third-world countries. Putin is (for some inexplicable reason) looking at the US for inspiration in building capability to interfere GWB-style around the world. I would be laughing my ass off to this if it did not hint at increased instability. Threatening with tactical nukes is a very bad development because as I've said, it can be used in wars to occupy countries, while strategic weapons can only be used to wipe things of the face of the Earth, which leaves nothing in terms of tax revenue, industry and human capital. It's better if both sides threaten each other with strategic weapons (instead of tactical weapons) because at that level we can be 100% game theory predicts both sides will be losers. In a total nuclear war between NATO and Russia, China would be the unequivocal winner. Since it's also best to escalate to a full nuclear war first (assuming an attack by the other side) we can be sure that no side would want to initiate any type of war, nuclear or otherwise, provided they are sane. Going further here, the more likely it looks that US and Russia is heading for a confrontation, the better it is for China to emphasize their neutrality, which in turn further emphasizes the incentives to stay the **** away from a nuclear war. Strategic nuclear deterrence in a multi-polar world is a very neat system which tend toward a peaceful balance.

I like realism but I think all of these are really minor issues. Possibly with the exception of the Stronghold.

Oh, come on! Jan is the funniest companion in the BG series. And Aerie actually has LOTS of intra-party banter with Haer'Dalis, where he gets to elaborate in detail about his Doomguard philosophy. You'll miss crucial details about his character if you don't have Aerie in your party. There's also the fact that there were 25 joinable NPCs in BG1. If Obsidian had written 25 NPCs for Pillars of Eternity, I think the sheer amount would have made everyone find enough interesting companions. They focused on quality over quantity. I recall them saying they didn't do a lot of companion stuff until after getting the story planned out, so they could have them interact and respond to it in more interesting ways. In my opinion it paid off. There were a few very good conversations over the course of the game that are of memorable quality and I don't think that would've been the case had they split the love between 25 rather than 8. Perhaps we'll get more companion options in the expansion and/or sequel. I think it is good that they did so. I was just saying that when people say that BG had better companions they must also keep in mind that both BG1 and BG2 had far more of them. BG2 had some interesting intra-party banter but I don't remember anything of that from BG1. No.