IanTheWizard

(Please delete this thread)

This is just a thought on how the pet system could be implemented in a more logical way. Not that I think pets are bad, but perhaps how they work could make more sense. I didn't use pets because I couldn't figure out a logical reason on why they can provide buffs to players in all combats while remain immune to enemies' attacks. I don't use a thing/feature/stuff if I think it does not make sense. That's just me though, and there is probably not many players think the same way I do. Fairly speaking, everything is supposed to come with a price. Inn buffs and food buffs cost money or are consumed after using. Armor and weapon enchantments are magical enchantments, so they make sense. Figurines now have limited times of use. But a stray dog or cat buffs you in all combats and is completely invincible? I can't logically explain that. In fact, in a realistic sense, I think these fragile animals can become a distraction in combats and you might even accidentally tread on them. In comparison, how conjurers' familiars work is more logical. They are fragile, they can attack and be attacked, and they can die in combats. With enough being said, here are some ideas that could make this thing more logical: Revamp pet buffs and make them work only outside of combat. In other words, their buffs would be combat-unrelated. That would make their invincibility fairer because they don't aid you in combats anyway. Change pets to some kind of magic elements similar to D&D's ioun stones. This approach can save the logic about why a fragile animal is invincible. Make the pet system itself a raising sims. That is, you raise a pet and see it growing up and becoming stronger. And it also serves as a loyal companion aiding you in combats. Though the idea of animal companion kinda overlaps with Ranger's animal companion. Again, I'm not saying the current pet system is bad and really needs a change. Not using the pets only makes the game a little bit more challenging, if noticeable. I'm just bringing up a few ideas that could possibly make it more logical.

I wasn't able to upgrade Aloth's scepter to the Legendary tier because I didn't have enough Adra Bans. And my lacking the ingredient had a lot to do with my moral value. I don't take stuff which I consider not belonging to me. Precisely speaking, I don't loot any kind of ruins nor raid tombs because those deeds are usually considered unethical, not to mention taking/stealing stuff from random barrels and crates. I don't even take stuff I found under rubble or debris because I don't know whether they are ownerless. The stuff which I'm fine to take without feeling guilty are those that once belonged to my fallen enemies and plants/minerals that grow in the wild, except for sentinel constructs I fought within a ruin because I think they still belong to the ruin even after defeated. But I had no problems looting stuff on all the floors below Caed Nua back in POE1 because I considered that those places were within my territory (Caed Nua). The one Adra Ban I got was from a sinister keep. After I shut down their sinister operation, all those fallen criminals and the entire keep, including the basement, were mine to loot. I was really happy because I hadn't been looting so many stuff for a long time in game. Other Adra Bans I saw were unfortunately at locations which I would feel guilty to loot. Speaking of the ethics of looting ruins, I believe I'm not alone when it comes to this kind of moral values according to the fact that both POE1 and POE2 have a bounty quest asking you to hunt down a person who is infamous for looting ruins. In view of this, it would be helpful if a potential POE3 introduces alternative ways for acquiring rare ingredients, such as through crafting. Thanks.

Then make it so that every wizard can only have a bound grimorie, meanning the grimorie cannot be swapped out. And the content of a grimorie would be automatically erased on retraining. Problem solved.

I personally prefer POE1's grimoire system. The reason is obvious. It offers more flexibility, saves your belt slots, and makes more sense. A grimoire in Eora needs to be created so that it comes into existence, and the existing grimoires in POE2 were obviously created and written by wizards. That suggests that wizards in Eora have the ability to create and write grimoires. By that logic, it makes no sense to me that wizard players in POE2 are unable modify their own grimoires. It's also impractical that you have to spend two of your belt slots for carrying two more grimoires just to be able to cast a specific spell in each of them. There are alternatives for differentiating POE from D&D regarding the Wizard class. For example, wizards do not necessarily need to have spell books. After all, not every wizard in fantasy stories carry a spell book. But if a system of spell book is preferable, I would still recommend the POE1 way.

Time to learn to avoid using offensive words like "ludicrous" and "silly" when talking about different opinions.

I didn't say or imply that POE or other RPGs should be full of men or having no women, so I'm not sure how you reached that conclusion. And if you are interested in discussing "modern action games" such as Avowed, feel free to start a thread in its forum and @ me.

Seriously? That's not what I mean at all.

Thanks for the data, but it's factually incorrect. POE1 contains lesbian relationships (between female NPCs) and a certain kind of propaganda in the character creation screen. Fortunately, those content make up just a tiny bit percentage, so I didn't bring them up.

Finally, I finished the game. Considering the ending indicates that the story is clearly unfinished, I would like to humbly present my two cents, which could probably help a potential POE3 receive and sell a little bit better. Praises New Elements in RPG I think it's admirable that the devs have been letting players see new elements in their RPGs in order for the players to always have new things to try out. In POE1, we have the construction and upgrading about the Caed Nua stronghold; in POE2, we have the voyage, ship management, and ship combat. It seems to have been a tradition in Obsidian Entertainment's RPGs since Neverwinter Nights 2. Although I'm not a fan of the "Spirit Energy" system in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, I admire the devs' effort in bringing a new element to the game all the same. Also, in this game, when we are on our way from a region to another region in a city (e.g. Neketaka), we sometimes run into a random event. That's also an innovative and fun design in my opinion. This innovative tradition really worth keeping up so that players can see that RPGs can be more than just plain story and quests doing. Surprising Detailed Designs In a previous thread, I talked about my experience of completing a quest which I thought I wouldn't have a chance. And later after I took a seemingly insignificant action, I was able to complete the quest. In short, initiating a battle with a ship without firm evidence of their crimes is not my cup of tea, and I thought I probably had to give up that quest. But after I put up a different flag on my ship, the target ship came to attack me, exposing they were really criminal. I was surprised that the design is so detailed that it offers players an alternative way to complete a quest. The design is very helpful, especially for players who value their moral choices. Whoever came up with the idea really deserves a kudos! Advice Let Controversial Ideologies Stay in Real Life The ideology in this case is feminism. In the game, we keep seeing high-standing or role-reversing female NPCs. Female gang leader, female captain, matriarch, female monarch, female warrior leader, female admiral, female chieftain, female scientist, female weapon smith, female weapon vendor, formidable retired bounty huntress, brave little girl, Berath manifests as a goddess -- you name it. Even the story narrator is female. On the contrary, the counterpart male NPCs are noticeably less in number. Through out the course of the game, we meet those female figures one after another. The marketing is so obvious that I felt it became a bit pushy and contrived. There is a reason that POE2 sold less than POE1. Please understand that the majority target audience of classic RPGs are male, and the said ideology is not likely to be preferable to a large number of them. If you would still implement feminism in your future projects, I hope you could make it optional so that players can make their own choices. Incidentally, we know that D&D has been promoting this kind of ideologies, and I really find it regrettable that POE did not seize the opportunity to differentiate itself from D&D in this respect. Respect Players' Choice of Companions In POE1, there were some recruitable companions who I didn't recruit and White March NPCs who I have never seen before. However, when they meet me in POE2, their dialogs blatantly said or implied that we traveled together or have met each other in the past. It's disappointing that the game did not respect my choices in POE1. Precisely speaking, I felt like a non-existent story was imposed on me. Of all such characters, only one's dialog allowed me to thoroughly deny any connection with him (He is from White March, according to the wiki). The rest's dialogs simply force me to choose options to say something like I recognize them ... blah blah blah. Also, at the end when the narrator is concluding my journey, one of the scenes mentioned my companions and the screen showed all recruitable companions standing together on my ship. However, I only recruited Eder and Aloth, so it makes no sense that other recruitable companions showed up on my ship in that screen. In fact, one of them (the Rauatai ranger) had already been killed by me for joining force with her superior in trying to murder me because I refused their shocking proposal against the Huana queen. Had my choices were respected, I would have felt less disconnected from the story. This is definitely something worth working around to make players enjoy the game more. Avoid Reusing the Voice of a Voice Actor or Actress Actually, this issue already existed and was more prominent in POE1. That is, the voice of Eder's voice actor was reused for many male NPCs. It sounds awkward and embarrassing. Yes, embarrassing. When that happened to me for the first time, I was like why on earth am I hearing Eder's voice from the NPC in front of me when Eder is in my group behind me. Although some of them have a bit different intonation, you can still make out it's the same voice actor of Eder's. I still remembered a quite funny situation in POE1 that 3 or 4 of my party members all shared the same voice of Eder's voice actor, and when one of them in a combat said something like "the weapon's not working" I couldn't tell who said it. In POE2, the male part is less prominent, but still persists. For example, you can still tell that Eothas' voice is Eder's voice. I also noticed that a voice actress' voice is reused frequently through out the game for many female NPCs. Judging from the fundraising for POE, I guess it's not difficult to hire a few more voice actors and actresses, unless there is something I miss. So this issue is one that worth looking into as it can affect the quality of a game, in my opinion. ------------------------------ And that's all for now. Thanks for your time.

I originally decided to side with the Rauatai because the Huana queen's proposal went beyond my bottom line. But I eventually sided with the Huana because I later found that the Rauatai's proposal was more absurd. Regarding the watershapers exploiting a dragon, only the watershaper guild knew that secret as far as I know, and the rest of the Huana were totally unaware of that. Although the Huana's caste system is not good, it can be improved. For example, there is a quest letting you convince the Huana prince to distribute more food to the Roparu. Overall, I hardly think the Huana are the worst. In fact, they can be reasoned with most of the time. At the very least, they don't rob and plunder other people's ships like the pirates do, do they?

Thank you. The description of Arcane Reflection should have been clearer about that. I'm going add such a note on the wiki.

I'm currently at the final fight of the Forgotten Sanctum. When I saw a Soul Mirror was about to unleash Minoletta's Missile Salvo on my wizard, I had him casted Arcane Reflection in time. But that didn't work at all. None of the missiles was reflected. My wizard died and the Soul Mirror was still unharmed. Is that a bug?

It become okay after reloading. A bug, obviously. Probably something during the battle triggered that.

I'm currently at the final fight of the Forgotten Sanctum. I commanded Eder and Aloth to drink healing potions during the fight, but that wasn't working at all. Although they made the visual animation of drinking potions, their healing potions weren't consumed and they weren't getting healed. I had them tried it multiple times, and the results were the same. What kind of preposterous bug is that?