sparklecat

I think at this point the best solution may be to apply band-aid solutions for this game, and consider an overhaul with the expansion or sequel.

I'm a proponent of regular saving :D

How many do you want? I've got 72 running back to when I started the game. eta: eh, I'll just zip them all up; uploading to an external site now, will post a link when it's done

Matt's point is that fixing any individual instance of one source of xp or another - the Endless Paths, the bounties, whatever - won't fix the underlying problem, and it's only going to get worse as we progress beyond this first game. eta: as he just said 2 minutes ago!

It's a single-player game. Why does it need to be "balanced"? My only comment on this "problem" is "I don't care, and it doesn't matter". Yet another mindless "the game needs to forcibly prevent people from playing a certain way because I imagine that way as somehow being 'less fun' or 'suboptimal'" complaint. Well, I know I found your contribution on this matter to be very valuable.

Save before I entered, save after I went in and out a couple times, and my output log: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw56i-bKiIvXdzdZY2pJRUE0WDg/view?usp=sharing

Perhaps the problem is that I picked up two quests I have to go in there for before I first went inside, and they're clashing somehow?

Two issues: 1. Every time I enter Teir Evron, I get the following messages in my log: Location Discovered! Blocked Passage - 150xp earned Location Discovered! Hall of Stars - 150xp earned Auto-Paused: Enemy Spotted (Small Rain Blight) There is no rain blight, or any other enemy, in the room, and I get the messages again when I leave and come back. 2. There's supposed to be something for me to do in here, right? I'm supposed to be able to pray to the god(s) of my choice somehow for the main quest, and to Hylea before I go fight the dragon that took over her temple? I have bookshelves with various books, a blocked passageway I can inspect, and a little altar holding an adra shard, but nothing that's giving me the option to pray.

You've got resting bonuses suppressing item bonuses on your character sheet? Because it is definitely not doing that for me.

Oh, the enemy AoEs were destroying me. I was also rushing in to try and save the others in the building where possible, which I expect didn't help much.

Fair enough. More challenging optional encounters would be nice. Though I'm not bothered in the least if encounters on the critical path are indeed tuned for the critical path. I just don't want to be 4-5 levels higher than the critical path for doing all the sidequests. 1-2 levels is just fine. Agreed; too much level variance at any given stage of a game simply leads to a mess. While how much I do in the way of sidequests before reaching any given point should have a noticeable impact on how hard I find the encounter, it shouldn't be the primary factor dictating it; that's a job for the difficulty selection. Amusingly enough, it was a... well, a crit path related quest that gave me the only real challenge in the Act 2/Defiance Bay area portion of the game. eta: another possible solution, of course, would be more gates on content, but I don't think anyone wants that

Yep. I've been suggesting significantly reduced sidequest xp as the solution because I do sidequests for the story and any item rewards, so them not having a major impact on my levelling is not a problem for me. But this would certainly be another way to ensure that the devs are better able to predict where people end up and balance the game reasonably for different playstyles. That said, whatever the solution, it needs to be coupled with straight-up difficulty tuning of the encounters in some parts of the game.

Yeah, I would definitely expect those two examples to stack; post this in technical support as a possible bug, perhaps.

You obviously have no idea how offensive this is to people with a more conservative political orientation. The left is dictating too much in this so called "democratic" society. Obsidian's customers aren't all American, buddy; sexual orientation and gender identity and expression are protected characteristics where I live. I'm not Murican either. I come from one of the most liberal states in EU. People don't like gays for that one reason, they just can't stop getting in your face. Also, they are heavily aligned with the far left including communist sympathizers. Here's the thing buddy. People will always find something political to harp about. That's their right of freedom of expression (in many states at least). That doesn't mean Obsidian have an obligation to listen. Removing the joke just empowers these crazed militant groups. Also, have you thought about the correlation between these vile "advocates" and how they have absolutely no qualms about ridiculing the Lord Jesus Christ? Hypocrisy at the finest. ...wow. Yeah, okay, I think I know exactly the sort of political groups in the EU you'd align yourself with, and I don't see a ton of point in continuing this conversation.

I'm not min-maxed in the slightest. I don't know any cheesy tactics. I've never had anyone maimed because I have plenty of camping supplies, even on Hard, to rest if anyone's health is getting low. I'll also be finishing my game without touching the endless paths or any of the bounties. It's still too easy, even at level 9 in Act 3. Though the drakes south of Defiance Bay made for an enjoyable fight at this level, at least.

Backers will get both parts: http://www.shacknews.com/article/89004/obsidian-ceo-discusses-pillars-of-eternity-its-early-success-and-its-first-expansion

You obviously have no idea how offensive this is to people with a more conservative political orientation. The left is dictating too much in this so called "democratic" society. Obsidian's customers aren't all American, buddy; sexual orientation and gender identity and expression are protected characteristics where I live.

Perhaps their criteria for what to include or not is less "is this politically correct" and more "is this hurtful to people." The Obsidian people strike me as pretty nice; seems like something they might care about.

Not a bug; bonuses from the same general category don't stack. Take a look at your character sheet and you'll see the lower effect listed as suppressed.

Yep. I like her, but having to plug my ears whenever a dialogue box pops up with her face on it is a bit... distracting from what she's saying.

Regardless of why a more streamlined approach to this wasn't in the game on launch, it should still be patched in.

Also, I rather liked IWD2's story, myself.

PS:T's gameplay was terrible lol. But generally speaking, PS:T is the exception to most rules whenever we have one of these rating-discussions. Its gameplay doesn't matter. It gets a pass because of the sheer, unmatched strength of its story alone. It simply can't be used as an argument here for anything. More to the point: PS:T's story isn't "good". PS:T's story is the best. It transcends its medium. The three games we're discussing on this thread, though, do not produce this phenomenon, and therefore must be judged on more than just their stories. Buddy. Quote from that game permanently inked on my body; you don't have to talk me into this view!

It's been a really long time, but I don't recall it being bad. Not that it much matters since that game's story made it great all on its own. Oh, I vividly recall forcing myself to struggle through much of the actual interacting with the game part in order to get to the story. I mean, I got a P:T tattoo so it's not like it's ruined it for me or anything, but it was still something I found pretty unenjoyable.

...you think P:T's gameplay was good?