Bryy

So the general consensus is unless it's a warrior-class, I can leave CON at 10?

Wait really?

I've got PCs specc'd to both Aloth and Kana's basic specs. I just think I need Durance. I also may need to sacrifice my Orlan Chanter for a Godlike if I want 20 INT.

... this is.... a very specific number.

Option 1: Shiloh (Fighter) Apocalypse Bunny (Fighter) - 19 M & 19 C Startyr Kelly (Defensive Wizard) Offensive Wizard Priest Ranged Chanter - 19 INT Ranged Rogue Option 2: Shiloh (Fighter) Apocalypse Bunny (Fighter) - 19 M & 19 C Startyr Kelly (Defensive Wizard) Aloth/Comparable PC (Offensive Wizard) Durance/Comparable PC (Priest) Kana Rua/Comparable PC (Chanter) Ranged Rogue Option 3: Shiloh (Fighter) Apocalypse Bunny (Fighter) - 19 M & 19 C Startyr Kelly (Wizard) Barbarian Durance/Comparable PC (Priest) Kana Rua/Comparable PC (Chanter) Ranged Rogue

CON below 10 with anyone is a death wish.

Going further, I like the pre-existing party member dialogue, but the characters themselves just don't seem interesting or really like a part of your story. They seem more like ancedotes of the world rather than companions.

Very, very nice. May be my new portrait.

The people that think sex is required for a mature story scare me. Romance is fine. Sex scenes have no real place in video games.

My Chanter is named The Anarchy of Love and is a green mohawk touting Orlan.

I'd be agreeing with the OP if the games mechanics are the way they are "just because of nostalgia" (like Broken Age). But they're not. They are drastically different from previous games in this genre. I honestly don't know what game the OP thought this was going to be.

Well, he's not wrong. Because that was the entire point of the game. But the art is also beautiful.

Oh, you see, I just consult the strategy guide.

Welp. Looks like I'm restarting.

Having two Wizards: one support, one offense. Works amazing.

Dude, I used to have Dragon Age dreams. Like, of playing the game. It was super horrible.

Such a backhanded comment. Wow.

*rolls eyes* Oh, please.

Aloth + a support Wizard is a beastly combination. Startyr and Aloth tear **** up.

Well now. It's still weird that is the default setting. Seems like it should be the other way around if there is a toggle for it.

They should simply show up in your inventory. Also, I sold them both right away. But not the Space Pig. Sir Reginald stays.

Yeah. Reading about how they charted the friggin' orbit of the Moons.

Seriously. Whimsy in video games is seriously a lost artform.

An era has ended. And by that, I mean, "the Kickstarter project that I spent so much money on is finally complete and I'll never spend that much again holy ****". That era. Kroze the Crowmaster now roams Eora somewhere. It is now up to me to find him, although my friends are already teasing me that they have. Backer NPCs are numerous and they share the herd mechanics of zombies in The Walking Dead, only exemplifying to the player what a weird, odd fantasy world this is. At every corner, you have creatures walking around town like it ain't no thing. I've attempted three runs so far, from Shortstack the Orlan Chanter onward. Always trying to find the perfect Main to RP. I finally settled on my Main as a stereotypical fighter since I couldn't make a War Vet background work with my Chanter. I also decided to model my Main after my friends LARP character, a post-apocalyptic soldier named Shiloh. I needed to sacrifice some points into INT for RP, but whatever. For this, I would need to possibly... go human. Shudder. On we go... Conversation Which brings me to my first real main criticism of the game: how conversational stat options are handled. For a game that lets you individually control each party member, and even lets you initiate conversation "as" that party member, this is rather sloppy. We're allowed to see what stats we need to hit in order to get certain dialogue options, and yet, only our Main is allowed to talk. If Obsidian wants to go the route of perma-locking dialogue options, at the very least flag the options so that they never, ever show up. Bringing me to Criticism #2. Backer NPCs are handled very interestingly. I'm not sure I 100% agree with Backer NPCs being little more than window dressing when Obsidian had the opportunity to very easily integrate Backer NPCs into the game at large (as the Backer Inns were), but using them as gameplay/narrative devices to allow you to play around with your newfound "Soul Powers" is extremely inventive as well as a non-invasive tutorial. Combat Since the backer beta, combat has improved immensely. It could be that enemy mobs have been scaled back due to the kinks being worked out, but the Beastiary EXP system works great as well. Now, you get EXP from defeating foes, but only to a knowledge cap of their data. This system also acts as an incentive for combat. Don't worry, you won't be hitting the cap anytime soon. Progress is slow and particular. It still gets a little messy when you have seven party members beating up one dude, the micromanagement of abilities gets tricky, but enemies are friggin' tough. They are hard. If you are lax, you will find your guys going down more often than not. Aloth taught me that I need to make a custom Wizard with a bit more padding in the defense department. I also fear down the line for the EXP:Leveling ratio, but then again, I'm not even to the Stronghold yet. I was also pleasently surprised by the variety of enemies. Builds/Party I rather like the idea of "no bad builds". It was one of my main complaints about Icewind Dale, where a bad combo could stop you in the tracks faster than if you made the Pillars OT on NeoGAF and made the mistake of not mentioning the site's owner spent $3k getting their own portrait. While the attributes at first may seem confusing (for instance, Might isn't called Strength because it is not the only stat that links to damage), the screen is full of percentages and descriptions that make every happy. It takes a while to make a "It's Saturday Night and we in the club, don't believe me just watch" build, but with the proper time, you'll be going GRRRRRRRRR to enemies who will be really scared. The party members themselves... well, the good news is that you can store them at local Inns and your Stronghold so that you can both build your own party as well as get all the nice gooey story bits with the pre-mades. Because, let's face it, the pre-made party members are all over the place stat-wise instead of specialized. As well, some classes are not even featured. For instance, this is my main tank, a Death Godlike the size of a Dwarf: The Art I could go on for ages about the visual design of this game. It's just the right blend of Infinity Engine and modern touches. The Interstitchal scenes are all expertly drawn, given the same love and care as the rest of the game (there are also a LOT more than I expected with a LOT more reactivity than I expected). Party stats DO matter at these. The rest of the landscape is a brilliant mix of static painting and moving pieces. In Conclusion.... Obsidian, even more so than Larian or InExile (even though Divinity and Wasteland 2 both made Eternity possible), has brought back the CRPG hard. There have been Great Kickstarter Games before (most notably The Banner Saga), but Pillars of Eternity, no bull****, is the friggin' return of an endangered artform on the verge of extinction. I don't mean that in some hippy, warm-and-cuddly "old school gamer" way. I mean that in a very real and tangible way, with a form for the future of a medium that is in its last years of college and struggling to prepare for the real world.

The Tali romance scene in Mass Effect 2 was just extremely pervy and abusive.