Hiro Protagonist II

I've already seen the stats and prepared for the disappointment. But it would have been good to see how disappointing it is to the estoc I'm already using with Pallegina now. This just prolongs it.

No it's not considering this game is paying homage to the IE games. And Petty? I'd consider it a major task in the endless paths and no where does it say you should finish it before Act 2.

Thanks KP. Seriously, why couldn't that NPC be outside of Defiance Bay on the bridge map with a makeshift smithy? I know for any future playthroughs, I'll get the components and see Dunstan before finishing Act 2.

Okay, I now have a quest I can't complete. And it will stay in my journal through to the end of the game. GG Obsidian.

I was looking for my epic item that I submitted and was a little dumbfounded when it came up. I didn't have to go find it. The item found me. LOL. And I find the endless paths quite jarring at times. It feels like a mish-mash of random levels that don't have any significance to the level that preceded it. There might be something you have to go down and go back, but most of them don't have anything to do with each other. Also, when you've managed to get past a hard enemy on one level and then get to the next level and find it's a plain old corridor to the next level with maybe a couple of easy trash mobs, I'm like wtf. And the levels I mentioned with a corridor with a room to the side. Just look at these. Level 10 http://guides.gamepressure.com/pillarsofeternity/guide.asp?ID=29964 I was going to go back to that room [2] as I didn't bother with it initially. I did open the door and have a look at the enemies and thought, ugh. Seriously. More of the same old stuff. I did make a note in my journal to go back, but I feel pretty meh about it. I couldn't believe when I saw this. So I can basically walk down the corridor, deal with some trash mobs and go to the next level. Level 11 http://guides.gamepressure.com/pillarsofeternity/guide.asp?ID=29965 You can ignore most of the enemies. Just a simple climb and you're at the end of the level. Level 14 http://guides.gamepressure.com/pillarsofeternity/guide.asp?ID=29968 One room. Why not add some rooms and hallways, maybe a puzzle, and make the last room the boss fight for that level? Nope, we'll forego all that and go straight to the boss for level 14. Oh, and I talked my way past it. No stat requirements. I was expecting certain levels to be grouped together into a theme like Diablo. The first four were the same (Cathedral), the next four took on another theme (Catacombs), same with the next four (Caves) and the last four (Hell). Well in this case it was 15 levels instead of 16, but still. And I can't think of any item I've come across that stuck out and thought woohoo, awesome.

The mega-dungeon is disappointing and I'm surprised at the level of effort put in by Obsidian. Some of the levels are so small it's basically a corridor to the next level with maybe a room off to the side.

That fight on the first level of the lighthouse is when I noticed some tanking and spanking going on with how I placed my party. I immediately stopped and reloaded and tested it again by placing my characters in a slightly different spot and worked out how to do it.

Completely disagree. I know how to get around enemies and even know how to do shades and shadows with naked ranged characters with tank and spank. I worked out how to do it during the lighthouse encounters and then did all the shade and shadow battles in Lle a Rhemen with tank and spank with ranged nude characters and not one shade or shadow went to my ranged characters. I was also playing around with level 13 in Od Nua and came across this situation with the end boss. Pallegina has gone down, combat state is still on and the enemy went back to their starting location because they can't find the rest of my party. The nude option is not only viable, but very effective in ending combat quicker due to no reduction in recovery time and ending any status effects once combat ends. Oh and because combat is still going, I can send summons in. All combat spells are still in effect. I can also pre-buff in a sense by hitting Eder with a whole heap of buffs and send him in to tank. He and Pallegina have the +3 Boots of speed so they move pretty fast to get to enemies.

Well if considering DR reduction, and +1 or +2 to attributes hardly makes a difference when enchanting clothes, then perhaps you're right. But I'm doing this to see if you can play through with your back line being nude. So many people on this forum said you wouldn't be able to. That your back line would be targeted. The videos I've posted shows that's not the case.

I can wear clothes and enchant them but I'm choosing to not wear clothes to see how far I can go.

Yes, definitely in Od Nua. I'm nearing the end of Act 2 so I don't know any other places but I assume there are others.

I only play on hard and didn't have a problem tanking and spanking that fight. So much that my ranged characters were naked which they've been for 99% of the time. I don't know if it's my game and I'm experiencing some anomalous A.I. problems and I have easier fights or what I'm experiencing is normal.

Tank and spank does work for: I used Tank and Spank with the spirits in the light house. I know how to do it now to some degree. Last fight in Skaen Temple. Don't know what you mean by the trap and didn't use the door as a choke point. Worm fights in Searing Bluffs. I even showed a video where the drakes ignore your back line while flying through your back line. Ogre Matron fight. Don't know about Evil playhouse or last battle as I haven't got up to that yet.

Having the same problems with the enemy A.I. and pathfinding.. Three lions 'stuck' and can't figure out how to go around a tree to my ranged characters. So they're standing there doing nothing. Here's a video of it. Took on some feral druids. My ranged characters don't wear any armour and just let them walk into enemy AoE's. I understand why the aoe's and afflictions cease to continue after combat because they're combat spells. Once combat ends, everything ends including aoe's and afflictions. And the best way to end afflictions and aoe's is to end combat as fast as possible.

I haven't noticed much of a change if at all. My ranged guys are wearing no armour. I'll have to test it out.

Okay, I'd really like to know what level you should be when you get to Dyrford and Dyrford Crossing. I just cleaned house, killed everything and finished all the quests with auto-attack except for two fights. The one I already mentioned and the other fight I used a couple of spells. One from Hiravius and one from Durance. The difficulty went from okay in Defiance Bay to Super Easy. And I'm playing on hard.

I don't understand some of the battles in this game. I've just entered Dyrford Village and did one of the fights thinking it was going to be challenging (due to the constant tweaking in the beta) and it was over in seconds. Total sum damage that my party received was 13 damage to Eder. Seriously, I blinked and it was over. LOL.

I got a bit of a chuckle when my Godlike entered part of the Temple of Woedica. The only time a godlike can wear headwear.

No, not his vision and his vision alone. There were a lot of people agreeing with Sensuki on a whole range of issues including engagement. And with the vendor gold, the alternative was to walk out and walk back in the vendors store and reset the gold value, which in effect gave you unlimited gold. What a wonderful system it originally had, especially with the loading times with walking out and walking back in. And if I'm not mistaken, I don't think Sensuki wanted the gold system that's currently in place.

Yep, I often let my characters get knocked out all the time. Someone is going to get knocked out? Meh, no matter. I can finish this fight off with the rest of my party. And the characters who are knocked out are safe with not losing any more health and won't die. And after the battle is over, they're on full endurance again. And introduced new degenerative gameplay that the IE games didn't have.

I tried that and characters died. As I said, I was under-levelled so I couldn't soak up the damage.

I wonder if there's a certain way the dev's intended the game to be played. For instance I reached level 13 of Od Nua and I probably haven't finished half of the Act 2 main quest, and soon realised I was trapped in the mega dungeon. I didn't find the mega-dungeon too challenging even though I was under-levelled (except for one fight on level 11). Now that I've gone back to the main quest prior to getting trapped, I'm breezing through Defiance Bay, auto-attacking and steam rolling everything. I did something similar with Raedric's Hold. I went to Caed Nua first, did the first seven levels of Od Nua and then went to Raedric's Hold afterwards and found it relatively easy.

I just found out that if you venture too far into the mega dungeon without going back to the main quest, you can be trapped in the dungeon and can't get out. LOL. Getting to the end of level 11 could trap you in the dungeon if you're under-levelled. I was just about to start level 13 when I realised I couldn't go back. Glad I had some previous saves at the start of level 11 and now off to Defiance Bay. I've dropped Sagani and will pick up Pallegina before going back to the main quest.. The game is designed or assumes you've done certain quests when you get that far down. I recall the dev's saying the mega-dungeon will be too hard to do in one go and it will make you go back to the main quest. Now I know why. Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn't.

Encounter design has much to be said about. But you highlight two good points here. Enemy afflictions are short and combat ends quickly to the point it trivialises enemy afflictions and your own spells/potions. Why would I waste time using a spell or potion when I can focus fire and end the combat quickly and immediately end any afflictions on my party? I feel encouraged to end combat quickly as possible and to end any afflictions than to prolong the combat by wasting time on my own party.

I'm playing on hard but I feel like putting it down to easy so I can get through the game quicker. Playing on hard doesn't make it more challenging, just tedious. I was hoping the story would make up for the combat but I'm not feeling the story either. My companions have turned into robots and haven't said anything for the last few days. I wonder if I have to finish Act 2 to get my companions to talk again, because time going by in Act 2 with doing quests and Od Nua haven't made them more talkative, it's done the opposite.