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Tagaziel

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Posts posted by Tagaziel

    Ah, Rymrgand, why do you exist?

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    A bit late to the topic, but 2020 was weird for all of us. I feel that Rymrgand simply steps in to assume control of natural processes and entropy, to ensure that they don't happen outside the gods' control (and we all know, if there's anything Engwith loved, it's control). Souls will fracture either way, and leaving that to chance, rather than appointing one of your buddies to watch over the process is asking for trouble.

    • Like 1

    Perceptions of Gender and Stereotypes in The Outer Worlds

    in The Outer Worlds: Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    On 10/25/2020 at 8:06 PM, Waveybish said:

    Why did I bring this up? Because in my opinion the narrative of this game revels in the deposition of men from power just as those german civilians and nazi dignitaries revel in the death of the enemy displayed in that cinematic medium on our screens in Inglorious Basterds. I just wanted to be the mirror.

     

    You could just say "game bad, feminazis", you know. A good post ends up being sunk by a comparison that's incredibly on the nose and about as subtle as a primal in heat.

    Seriously though, is it bad that the game doesn't specifically cater to the one gamer type who is catered to in virtually every other type of media, by being taken as the default character? It specifically doesn't feature much in the way of the hyper-masculine caricatures who define themselves through violence and violence only, and that's compensated by a much greater variety of characters, including men. I'm surprised that anyone would consider Reed to be someone to look up to, though, when you have the ED secretary, Phineas, Vicar DeSoto (especially after he gets mellow), Felix, Sedrick Kincannon (a lovable, dashing rogue, if there ever was one), and a slew of other characters who can just as easy be followed/looked up to. 😛

     

    Something I didn't understand about the ending

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    So.

     

    Eothas is destroying the thingamagic that makes souls pass to the other worlds, and back. Without it, souls can't be reborn, and eventually people aren't born with souls, right?

     

    So how did it things work without that thingy? It was build by the Engwithans, or something right? How did stuff work before that?

    I specifically gathered the closest we have to an official explanation in this article:

     

    https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/The_Wheel

     

    Also, what house said. :)

    • Like 3

    SPOILERS About the end

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    potential drawback is that such fatalism has tendency to alienate non-trivial portion of audience. peeps like to feel their actions matter when they play games.

    I actually liked the fact that your actions don't matter to Eothas. He's a natural disaster, an act of god. Your actions don't matter in the face of Eothas any more than they do in the face of an earthquake or a tsunami.

     

    He just happens.

    • Like 1

    SPOILERS About the end

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Why is everyone acting like breaking the Wheel might just kill the world or something? Souls and Life existed pre-Wheel, it will keep going afterwards, there's no actual reason to believe that there will be ANY negative consequences for breaking the Wheel.

     

    I feel like I HAVE to be missing something, but... I'm not seeing it. Life existed before the Wheel, it should be under no threat of dissapearing if the Wheel is gone.

    https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/The_Wheel

     

    I compiled this article for this purpose.

     

    Basically, the Wheel is a natural phenomenon - but since it's been subverted by Engwith for two thousand years, it cannot return to its original state. The river parallel is particularly apt, since the Wheel (pre-Engwith) is the same kind of natural phenomenon as a river. Dam it, control it, tame it, and if you break the dam after two centuries of the river being forced down a specific route, it won't return to its original state without outside intervention.

    • Like 1

    Are the Huana the worst? [spoilers]

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Not so impressive as rotting piles of bodies beneath Neketaka. Catacombs and graveyards were, at least in part, old.

    The Defiance Bay riots that have hordes of bloodthirsty Dyrwoodans take to the streets murdering animancers left and right come to mind. Or Readceran fanaticism. Or arbitrary abductions by the Steel Garrote. Or... You're taking an example of the Huana extant governance struggling to scale up as evidence that the system is unfixable.

     

    I'm not a big fan of the Huana caste system, but the broader point here is that the Huana can and will change if they gain access to Ukaizo, their long-lost heritage denied them by Engwithans.

     

    And the tree? How many kith were there? And it was a desperate situation caused by crisis-induced madness of a local nobleman. Not an expected product of a deliberately implemented social system.

    That's an excuse if I ever saw one. You're ignoring the fact that this was a an example of a deliberately implemented social system at work, i.e. a local noble ruler preying on the local population with no oversight. It's a fundamental flaw with Dyrwoodan society and governance. Another flaw is the fact that your claim to Caed Nua can be contested by another noble leading to a full-out battle.

     

    What happens at Neketaka is not the expected product, because you can (and should) fix it. It's a bug, not a feature. If you want to dismiss it, sure, but then you have to dismiss every society in existence, fictional or otherwise.

     

    Also, why the roparu most likely turn to crime? Because they aren't very inclined to eat gooy, fun snacks from a pile of refuse provided for them by the higher castes. Do you really think this is justice and is this an alluring circumstance for you that promises the brighter future? I think not. I think it demonstrates that the Huana stick to rigid, morderous traditions. Even inspector Javert sentenced Valjean (for stealing because of starvation) to hard labor and not straight to his death, off as another corpse on one of many piles beneath the city. And Paris has an impressive system of canals, as Victor Hugo would tell you. Many corpses would fit there.

    Note that most of the Mataru and Kuaru aren't even aware of the situation down in the Gullet. Tekehu is a fine example of this ignorance - and ignorance breeds neglect.

    • Like 6

    Beast of Winter impressions

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Perhaps it is to be expected although it doesn't make her terribly interesting. Just a soldier carrying out orders. Maia is a soldier and a patriot too and she's much more nuanced.

    I found Pallegina plenty of interesting and nuanced. She has a lot to say and offers much needed perspective on the Republics, which are basically exploiting the Deadfire ruthlessly. She's a good counterpoint to the much less formal Maia, too.

    • Like 2

    Forgotten Sanctum is pretty darn good [Heavy Spoilers]

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    Three are missing. One is the subject of Forgotten Sanctum. One, in corpse form, is an important plot point in White March. Is the third Woedica? I wouldn't rule it out, but I also think she's something of a stickler for rules.

    I recall the implication that the dethronement might be a convenient story created by the divine tyrants.

     

    I'm entertaining the possibility of the third body being Skaen, if the apotheosis is fact. Making a titan takes time, so they may have built the machine with more spaces than they had titans, after Skaen in spe was selected to fill the position of a god of treachery and subterfuge.

    Beast of Winter impressions

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Stories (Spoiler Warning!)

    Posted

    I don't remember her being as harsh and aggressive about gods in first game

    That's by design, I believe. In PoE1, Pallegina is looking for a meaning behind her curse (sterility, freaky appearance, etc.), so there's a lot of doubt and uncertainty in her personality. She's full of what ifs and why fors. Then she gets to meet her god/parent, Hylea, who gives her a canned response and the equivalent of a divine shrug when she asks for answers. Shortly thereafter, she learns that the gods are fake constructs created by Engwithans to fill the void. So not only is she a victim of divine malice, the divines themselves are essentially con men playing the kith.

     

    Pallegina is strong-willed, independent, and proud. She had to overcome tremendous adversity in life both on account of her gender and godlike status. She had to prove her worth over and over again, stubbornly making her way in spite of everything. However, being a godlike is beyond her control or ability to redress. She feels - she was - violated by the gods, and that is made worse by the fact that there's no deeper meaning to it and the gods are fake idols created by a malevolent empire.

     

    They are tyrants manipulating the peoples of Eora for their own ends. She cannot abide that for reasons outlined above. It's further aggravated by her patriotism, as despite the money-obsessed horrorshow of the VTC, the Republics are perhaps the most free nations on Eora with definitely the best social mobility opportunities.

     

    So, tl;dr: Pallegina hates the gods because they violated her, are fake, and their behavior is antithetical to everything she believes in as a human, paladin, and Vailian.

    • Like 6

    Challenge level in the game (NOT difficulty settings)

    in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire General Discussion (NO SPOILERS)

    Posted

    I'd be interested to see whether or not OP's assessment changes after completing the game - as another user said, BoW is really well done in this regard. I also remember reading that the final Splintered Reef encounter can be completed peacefully if the player has a certain uncommon potion on hand, for which there is no in-game indication or setup/the solution has to be arrived at intuitively.

    Well, if you know/remember that fampyrs can feed on adra to sustain themselves (PoE1/Ydwin IIRC), you can link that to the luminous adra potion you can make.

    • Like 1
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