eselle28

I like the idea of an encounter where the character with the background recognizes the NPC as a former master or someone complicit in their being enslaved, but where other characters just treat the encounter as an ordinary one with a slaver. We ran into slavers in POE, in an area where it wasn't the local practice, so I can't imagine we won't already be having some of those encounters in Deadfire. I don't think it's likely everyone would recognize you, though. In addition to it being a large geographic area, it doesn't seem like there's anything visibly recognizable about former slaves. Orlans seem to be associated with it, but not universally, and you can create a former slave of any race or subrace.

It's interesting the way the mechanics arguments intersect with the story arguments. I'm more sympathetic to the mechanics ones, or at least the ones that focus primarily on complexity. There will be fewer combinations possible with five characters, and whether that is fun or not remains to be seen. I'm less sympathetic but still somewhat to mechanics ones that make strong assumptions about what classes are necessary to play the game at certain levels. It will be a new game built around five rather than six characters, but I can understand people wanting to use the game in front of them as a reference. I understand arguments about more party banter being better too. I'm not terribly sympathetic to arguments based on wanting to have certain characters for story reasons without losing any optimization or making any play adjustments. Sagani was in every party I've ever made in the game. I'm going to have to do without her from a story point of view because she's not going to be around, and I doubt Maia will play exactly like her mechanically. If your three favorite characters are the ones who are in the sequel, you're lucky, not cursed. Hell, you're lucky if your three favorite characters are ones who are mechanically compatible with each other. I'm sure there's some bizarre person out there whose favorites were Aloth, Kana, Grieving Mother, Sagani, and Devil of Caroc and who didn't want to play a melee class. That person presumably needed to make many adjustments to get through the game, or to split those characters into multiple playthroughs. I also think that it's presumptuous to assume that just because a character is in both POE and the sequel that they will be story linchpins in Deadfire. Eder, Aloth, and Pallegina all have reasons to be in the story, but there will also be reasons for the new characters to be there. Unless the writing gets very sloppy, at least a couple of them should have very key roles in the story. I actually suspect that, as any given player could be going into Deadfire without any of the three carryover companions, their stories might focus primarily on their quests and on events related to their interests, while the main plot of Deadfire will hinge more on characters who are available to everyone like Xoti and Serafen. It's not exactly an accident that Eder, Aloth, and Durance were basically impossible to miss, while less plot-central Hiravias is in a location where a careless first time player could miss him.

If powers are given up by the user rather than revoked by the god, I can see turning-over-a-new-leaf characters realistically choosing to keep them. People who change ideals later in life don't typically surrender the skills they learned during their earlier, regretted life, especially if those skills don't conflict with their current ideals. So, perhaps, the penalty should be losing out on Skaen-specific spells, but not ones that do things that for instance heal companions or harm random enemies? Though that may end up being extra programming for an option only a few people will be interested in, which could justify some restrictions, I suppose.

Oh, I love his stuff. I was reluctant to play an orlan my first time through the game because none of the portraits clicked with me, but I found this one on his site before my second playthrough, and all of a sudden knew my cipher would be a wild orlan instead of some sort of elf.

Which they won't be doing. In the same Q&A I linked earlier, Sawyer stated that they have no intention of prohibiting people from player characters who are both Honest and Deceptive (or Shady, now), for example, and presumably the same applies for other conflicting dispositions. And to reiterate, there are no plans to keep you from playing your Kind Wayfarer as the most vicious depraved bastard in Eora regardless of what god he follows, or your priest of Wael as a paragon of rational thought and forthright honesty irrespective paladin order. I'm happy they've gone this route. It's entirely possible to be both Honest and Deceptive. You could be secretive about your background but honest about your intentions, or blunt and forthright but willing to lie occasionally to protect others. An actual GM can (sometimes...) handle that sort of nuance, but I think we're a long way from an RPG that can do so.

I was hoping for an albatross, in keeping with the nautical theme. I'm fond of reptiles and amphibians, and it might be fun to venture beyond mammals and birds. A snake could have particularly cool animations, and could perhaps come with a constrict ability for some minor cc, or perhaps a poison. If there's ever content in The Living Lands, I'd love to see a carnivorous plant, especially as a Druid form.

Ah, good to know. Though I do hope that limiting the restriction to diametrically opposed orders and gods is limited only to extremes where there's more than one trait in conflict, and not to partial incompatibilities. I am still inclined to say that I suspect it would be hard for a player to make Eothesian Bleak Walker without either choosing at random or knowing that their character would be at a disadvantage.

I'm inclined to say that none of them should be forbidden. POE allows people to make other poor optimization choices when it comes to things like stats and talents. A person who decides to multiclass a priest of Skaen and a Kind Wayfarer (or a priest of Eothas and a Bleak Walker) has plenty of in game warning that those choices are going to clash with each other ideologically. I would imagine that the only person who'd consider those combinations would be someone roleplaying a character who decided to radically change their ways partway through the game, which might realistically come with something less than the full backing of the abandoned god or order.

It sounds like your proposed party makeup has already abandoned the idea of three melee specialists. If that's the case, I'm seeing parties beyond your proposed one, even with your other fairly rigid restrictions. This is the one it sounds like you plan to play with: Melee 1: Fighter Eder, Melee 2: Paladin Pallegina, Wizard: Aloth, Priest: Xoti, Wildcard: Druid PC You've already acknowledged the possibility of a priest PC, but there's also the possibility of starting Eder as a rogue from level one. Those two changes open up these parties to you: Melee 1: Fighter Eder, Melee 2: Paladin Pallegina, Wizard: Aloth, Priest: PC, Wildcard: any of Druid Tenehu, Chanter Tenehu, Cipher Seraphen, and Ranger Maia Melee 1: Barbarian Serafen, Melee 2: Pallegina, Priest: PC, Wizard: Aloth, Wildcard: Rogue Eder Melee 1: Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, or Monk PC, Melee 2: Pallegina, Priest: Xoti, Wizard: Aloth, Wildcard: Rogue Eder That's still not a broad range of options, but it does allow you to meet more companions than Xoti and to play a melee class if you wish.

I'm excited about the setting, which feels fresh compared to that of many fantasy games. More skills sounds awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing all of Aloth, Eder, and Pallegina again and getting to know them in a bit more depth due to the amped up companion relationships. My other favorite, Sagani, will not be, but that only makes sense. She deserves a happy ending with her family and it wouldn't make sense for her to traipse off to Deadfire. The new companions all seem pretty intriguing, and the the flexibility introduced by multiclassing and having some companions with two possible starting classes means that I'll be able to choose party members based on my PC's preferences rather than needing to consider each character's party role first and personality later.

I would prefer being able to take five companions to four, but I am hoping that with a smaller number of companions at each time, the developers will compensate by giving the smaller number of characters more lines apiece. I wouldn't have minded some more fleshing out of some of the POE characters, particularly in terms of their conversations with each other. The rest of it seems to depend pretty heavily on encounter design. I'm assuming they'll scale and balance for five, and am crossing my fingers that priests aren't quite as emphasized as they were in POE, making a druid or a healing-focused paladin equally viable in that role. In a game with eleven classes, no one should feel like it's a must-have for certain encounters.

I strongly second the first point. I actually didn't mind the second, even though I played a Godlike at one point as well and also noted the oddness of the comment. I just assumed that the people of Gilded Vale were parochial and badly educated - though an option to point that out to them might have been nice. A few more character checks would generally be a good thing. It would be nice for an artist to have an opportunity to talk about art or a scientist an opportunity to talk about science. I'm hoping that Iovara doesn't return and that any future investigation into past lives is a little more concrete. Some of those dialogues didn't work for me because they required me to make choices, but not ones that actually had any effect on my character or on the events being described. If a conversation doesn't do either of those things, I don't know that I need to pick one of several fairly random options. Oh, and I'm hoping the game doesn't decide to go the fan service route and is able to incorporate the promised romances without resorting to empty shell characters who have little to offer those who aren't there for the romance or the cuteness. I doubt that it is going to go that direction, even with Ydwin, but some of the player reaction to that character made me realize it wouldn't take that many changes for Eora to become a game world I didn't need to visit.

I also think that NPCs in POE reacted pretty realistically. I was a foreigner in Defiance Bay, but I was a well-off one in a place where hereditary nobility wasn't as entrenched as it is in some other places. Galvino, on the other hand, was appropriately condescending (especially to my non-Vailian character), and some Glanfathans were hostile and arrogant in a different way that was appropriate to their culture. I'm guessing that in Deadfire, raiders will judge you primarily by your deeds, ship, and crew. Historical pirate companies tended to be egalitarian and meritocratic by the standards of their times. Rauatai nobility might very well be haughty. The Vailian Trading Company is made up of merchants and bankers. I could see them pulling rank because Vailians tend to have a bit of a cultural superiority complex, but they might also respect wealth more than family background. The Huana obviously care about people's roots, but perhaps your character is too much of an outsider for them to apply their caste system to you. I might be totally wrong, of course. I'm just looking forward to some variety.

That one doesn't strike me as particularly crazy. It's an RPG staple, I suspect many people would find it fun, and it wouldn't be out of place in Pirate Land.

Super frivolous and totally not worth the programming time, but.... It'd be cool to have more ability to interact with vanity pets and some degree of in world reactivity to them. It would be cool to be able to pet Pumpkin's belly and have him nip at me, or have a quest giver question why I'm being followed around by a tiny obsidian wurm.

Pork roast with an almond-fennel-rice side dish.

Yikes. I am otherwise all for a walk toggle, even though I wouldn't use it myself, because it seems like something that would make a portion of players happier in the game without making it any less fun for people who don't care to use the feature. This suggestion is basically the opposite of that. People who enjoy RPing walking aren't all that likely to even experience being followed by guards because they're inclined to walk anyway. The people who have to deal with it are going to be the power gamers and the big group of people who RP a bit but aren't total sticklers for realism, and it's just going to make them angry that the game is forcing them to stare twice as long at the screen to get anything done in a city area. If the walk toggle is to be mechanically useful rather than just an appearance difference, it seems like it should be something that gives players who want to use it an experience they'll find fun rather than making players who don't use it do something they find boring.

Ooh, I hadn't heard this. I'm excited. My skill selection from main character to main character looks pretty much identical in POE because I'm pretty inclined toward lore and mechanics. It would be nice to play smart, talky characters who were more distinct from each other and had areas of knowledge appropriate for their backgrounds.

I'm guessing it would be a pain with guards, or if it were any kind of a general thing. I wouldn't mind seeing it in a scripted encounter or two, though. If you come to an opponent trying to broker peace rather than fight and have your blade unsheathed, they might start things off with a nastier comment than they otherwise would. That could result in a meaningful choice and interesting interactions. I think there's a decent chance it's just automatic, though. Which I suppose really isn't so bad, as adventurers who run with unsheathed swords probably don't live long enough to reach level 20.

If animancy is to be playable, I think it should be as its own class rather than as a wizard subclass. Part of what makes animancy interesting is that it's not just a particularly worrisome set of spells, and I think that to the extent the game does make it veer toward magic, it becomes less interesting. I rather like the idea that an animancer can be of any profession, and making it a class would allow that to the extent that it could be multiclassed with other things. I'm also fine with it not being a playable set of talents but rather a component of various characters' profiles, more like being a scientist from the Living Lands or an artist from Old Vailia.

I'm split on Durance and Grieving Mother. I thought Durance was very connected to the world around him and gave some good insights into how this society got into its current mess. I hated him at first sight, but I also thought it made sense to take him along as he and Eder were the only people I encountered who were familiar with the region. Durance was unlikable but Eder seemed less worldly, so it made sense to take both of them. (As for motivation to travel with me, only Aloth had compelling ones to both join my party and stay with it to the end of the game. Most of the other characters just wanted to trade my assistance for their assistance, and were nice enough to stick around once their quests were done, so I don't judge Durance's motivations too much.) And he did inject some humor into the game, even if it was humor that made me cringe at the same time I laughed. Grieving Mother didn't work at all for me, though. She's a fascinating concept on paper and is a character I've never seen in a game before. She also has extremely limited interests, seemed pretty distant from much of what I was doing, and often felt like a puzzle to solve rather than a companion who I could imagine having some sort of reciprocal relationship with. I also think she suffered from a lack of party banter. I can appreciate the concept, but it practice, it resulted in my party feeling like it was a five-person one rather than a six-person one with an odd, mystical presence. If there were a few more times companions noticed and then forgot about her, she might have worked better, or perhaps the concept would have worked better for me if the other companions were chattier and I didn't have time to actively miss her banter.

I thought POE did a pretty good job with trash mobs, but yeah, even I'll admit that Od Nua was a slog. I noticed Obsidian capped the voyage in Deadfire at 10 stops, and I'm guessing that was a wise decision. A few of the levels in Od Nua felt like they were there mostly because the backers had been guaranteed them. I could imagine a game that both reduced trash mobs at the higher levels and didn't have empty feeling dungeons. I think the key would be to put most of the dungeon crawling and open field wandering in the early and middle parts of the game, then have the last part of the game focus on main plot relevant content and only have a few dungeons. That tends to make for better pacing but also tends to irritate people who dislike linearity, so there's a tradeoff whichever choice a designer makes.

Yeah, sex workers are hard to write well. And while all writing makes use of tropes, I'm hoping the writers go really light on romance tropes for the characters who can be romanced or who like Ydwin seem to attract a lot of players' romantic attention. It's easy for the tropes plus the romance to overwhelm the character and leave little there for someone who doesn't find the character attractive or doesn't like romances generally. That's not such a big deal if there are loads of companions and the dating sim one can be easily ignored, but with only eight, it makes things rough on everyone else.

It depends on the type of game, but for a big, exploration-focused RPG, I think POE had about the right number. I don't want to constantly be attacked by bears and bandits, but as you say, a reasonable number of trash mobs help players figure out systems and get a handle on new abilities or companions. They also make exploration more fun. I'm sure there are people whose idea of a fun couple of hours playing a game is stealthing through woods filled with non-hostile animals in the hopes of finding a jewel hidden in a tree or a cache of weapons, but I think that for most people, adding a couple of combat encounters to an area will spice things up a bit.

I went with Hylea the first time. The wichts are troubling, but I also suspect that only a few souls will be impacted. There weren't that many wichts to begin with, and I suspect that humans with animal souls wouldn't have very high survival rates in the wild. As for the older children, I think it's a mixed bag. The souls may very well be damaged. However, it seems like the parents who were willing to care for a Hollowborn child for five or ten years would also be well-suited to raising a child who now has a soul but may never have a completely normal life. And, ultimately, I suspect the number of Hollowborn that are toddler-age or below exceeds that of the older Hollowborn who are still alive. My second time around, I went with Berath's option. That character was a less sympathetic sort and thought it would be the most efficient means of ensuring that the supply of souls wasn't further depleted without dealing with the social side effects caused by Hylea's option. I don't necessarily think that souls will be kept in too long of a queue. The kith birthrate will increase, and if nothing else, mice are born and mice die everyday. I may do a third playthrough before Deadfire comes out, and with the character I have in mind, I think I might end up going with Galwain. I've always sort of wanted to choose Wael's route, but it's never been something I can follow through with.