PrimeJunta

Yeah I'm kinda amazed they still don't have pathfinding under control. How hard can it be?

Torment uses a different scale for the sprites (bigger), so I'd be extremely surprised if there's overlap.

@KaineParker you had trouble with the mushrooms? What kind of trouble? What happened? I just pull the little ones away from the big ones, slash them to death (immune to Crush, or as good as), then rush the big ones one at a time; they don't have time to charm more than one or two party members at a time which doesn't matter.

Let me expand on this a bit. In my view, the whole point of any character-building system in any role-playing game is differentiation. You should be able to build characters that produce different gameplay experiences. Ideally these differences would be qualitative rather than quantitative; if one character is obviously and unambiguously "the best" it eclipses the others. Look at Arcanum: magic is so overpowered most players never get around to playing technology, and thereby the miss out on the best part of the game, namely, crafting. You can do this in a class-based or classless system. However, they have to be designed differently. Classless systems should have "talent trees" which reward specialization -- your characters start in the same place, and diverge as you go deeper into the specialization trees. Class-based systems differentiate by giving each class different inherent capabilities, and then letting players pick things to support them. The cross-class talents go against this IMO. They dilute the class-based design, making gameplay more "same-y." If everyone can get an Aura, go into a Frenzy, Sneak Attack, or dazzle undead with holy energy, you've just removed a central defining characteristic of the paladin, barbarian, rogue, and priest. Even if these effects are weaker than what the real thing could do. True multiclassing, OTOH, is a different sack of beans. Picking a level in a different class already carries a trade-off: you're getting one class's base abilities, but deferring acquisition of your main class's high-level abilities by one level. If the high-level abilities are as attractive as they should be (which isn't always the case!) this should give you pause. Morever, this can make "weaker" classes more attractive. Pure AD&D thieves are kind of derp despite their great stealth and utility abilities, as they're not much good in combat, but dual- or multiclassed they're freakin' awesome. The Pillars rogue is similarly anemic -- yeah, great single-target damage but in a game based around mobs, why would you rather have that than great CC, great AoE damage, or great durability? -- but if I could mix a level or two of it into, say, a fighter, ranger, paladin, or even barbarian then that'd be kinda awesome. I.e., I stand by what I said earlier -- the cross-class talents are a half-measure. They shouldn't have done it. Instead, put that thought and energy into "proper" multiclassing. If they can't do it in Pillars 1 or the expansions, then do it in the sequel.

I really hate the cross-class talents. They dilute the class concepts without making genuinely interesting hybrid characters possible. It's a halfway-measure, intended to placate the people clamoring for multiclassing without actually doing it, just like lockpick XP. Either do multiclassing properly or don't do it at all -- or, if you like, get rid of classes altogether and make everything available for everyone, so you can build exactly the kind of character you want.

You need to build a solo character differently than a party character. In particular you can't afford to dump your defences. It's not impossible and wizards aren't weak. There are plenty of people here who have soloed successfully with a wiz at all difficulties. Here's a thread with someone doing a Triple Crown Solo with a wizard: https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/3fwc9c/triple_crown_solo_wizard_help_needed_in_temple_of/ Also, don't forget that you're not actually _obliged_ to kill everything in the game. Edit: here's another discussion with someone casually mentioning they did a TCS with a wiz https://www.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/311q2e/triple_crown_solo_builds/

They already did that.

Seems like. I don't like it there either; stuff gets hidden behind walls way too often.

None of these affect the "legibility" of the game at all. They just make it less nice to look at. I hate narrow maps in the IE games, but the problem isn't the visuals, it's the pathfinding. I find it way easier to read a lot of the time.

Yeh Gallant's Focus is too powerful, it needs to go. It's almost as good as the pally equivalent, and if you have an actual pally onboard, you can just give her one of the other auras and benefit from both. As it is, it's a bit of a no-brainer to give it to a high-INT dude who doesn't use modals (Aloth f.ex.)

I'd like PotD stats with Hard mobs. The PotD mobs are monotonously big which makes it all about CC which gets repetitive. (Yes I've said it before, but maybe if I say it often enough they'll take notice. )

Yeah the Pillars outdoor camera is too low. The FX are too blingy too. It makes it really hard to see what's going on sometimes; the IE games do not have this problem.

Stormcaller is soulbound so it doesn't matter which WF you pick, it'll be applied anyway. So WF Adventurer is fine. I'd pick WF Noble though as it gives you both Rod and Sceptre for alternative damage types against critters immune to Pierce.

There isn't one, and I haven't heard of any plans to add it.

Caed Nua is doable at level 3, but it'll be tough if you're not familiar with the mechanics. I recommend you putz around a bit looking for easier things to do until you've gained another level or so. Playing on Expert Mode to start with is not a great idea, since you don't yet know how the mechanics work, and they'll hide the numbers from you which means you will have a really hard time learning them as it'll be all trial and error. If you want a challenge, you can hit Caed Nua at level 2-3 on Hard: just pay attention to the combat log and other info the game gives you to see which defences are being attacked, and how your attacks against various defences turn out. Then adjust your strategy accordingly.

I am a level 4 wizard, don't have any :/ Buy an item for it. It costs a bundle, but if you scrimp/save/murder backer NPC's for their fancy gear you ought to be able to scrape it together.

Summons.

Only if you disregard the wack stuff they do on hit or crit -- summoning minions, destroying vessels, slapping debuffs etc. That's worth a lot more than a few points extra damage.

The weapon group doesn't matter all that much, there are good weapons in all of them. It's more a matter of picking one and then finding out the best build for it. You've pumped Mig and Dex which is good for a hurty build; to make it even hurtier you could dump Int, Res, and Con and put those points into Per for great Accuracy. Then pick any talent which increases damage, i.e. pumps Acc, converts grazes to hits or hits to crits, increases base damage, punches through armor and so on. As to weapon choice, for maximum hurtiness the only unambiguous advice is "don't use a shield" and "stack your bonuses." If you're using single one-handed weapons you'll hit and crit more -> more hurt. If you're dual-wielding, you'll attack more -> more hurt. If you're using two-handed weapons, you'll punch harder -> more hurt. Each of these has a different impact in different circumstances -- an estoc will be better against a dragon than dual sabres, but dual sabres will shred a horde of darguls and fampyrs. Either will get the job done in either case. Most groups have a fair amount of choice, although you'll only find reach weapons (pike and quarterstaff) in the Soldier and Peasant groups. Note that since 2.0 some monsters are immune to some damage types, so it's highly useful to carry backups so you can switch between, say, Piercing and Crushing when necessary.

I haven't had that much trouble with fampyrs. Buff Will however you can -- items that buff it directly, items that buff Resolve, spells, chants, or other abilities that buff one or the other --, know who the strongest-willed character in your party is and try to get them to aggro that, and it's quite manageable. Also target them with your missile dudes so they interrupt them as much as possible. Also you might want to level up a bit before hitting areas that have lots of them, like that one level in Od Nua for example. The difficulty in that dungeon is pretty spiky and ramps up faster than your party, so it's not easy to do at a go when you first get access to it, especially at PotD.

I am not in favor of making already OP items even more OP.

Sounds like a bug. Report it in the tech support forum and attach your save game.

Sounds like you're playing pretty well; if you're not, the Eothas temple and Raedric's Hold will be quite tough even on Normal. Crank it up to Hard at least. Ideally I'd like Hard mobs with PotD rules. I like any individual encounter better on PotD, but the problem is that the mobs are so uniformly big it becomes all about crowd control which starts to wear thin after a while. On Hard the encounters are more varied, but a bit too easy, moreso towards the end of the game. I've also played the game on Hard with Trial of Iron, and the extra tension Trial of Iron gives makes it a lot more intense. The downside is that you really do have to start over if you completely screw up an encounter -- and there are difficulty spikes that can do that if you go into them blind, especially in the Endless Paths. Even if you're playing pretty well overall.

True, the companions are weak. I especially liked the Tolkien pastiche WITH STEAM aspect of it -- they were having a lot of fun playing with the tropes that were already getting a bit stale by then. I mean seriously, in which other game do you get the option to help orcs set up a labor union? And how is that not awesome? I've had a lot of fun with technomancers, including the combat (in TB mode). It remains challenging for quite long, and you have to work hard to stay ahead of the curve. But you really have to look for the sweet spot in it; stray out of it and it gets really dumb and really un-fun really fast.

Arcanum has terrible art direction, terrible graphics, and mostly* terrible combat. On the other hand, it's outstanding in Crafting. Technomancy/gunslinging is crazy fun -- hunting for schematics and materials, developing your character + finding ways to "cheat" the system to be able to use them, then reaping the benefits in gameplay Quests. There are masses of them. It feels like they never run out. Yet there is none of "collect me 10 of this, 5 of that, 17 of the other." They all feel lively, unique, interesting, and individual. And there are always scads of ways to solve them -- by talking, sneaking, fighting, sending your minions after them, making story choices, and so on and so forth. Open-world structure. Once past the starting area obstacle, you can go anywhere and do anything, limited only by your capabilities. Yet there is an overall story arc and the whole thing hangs together. Other than Fallout 1, no other game I've played pulls it off as well. Originality and atmosphere in the setting. Steampunk has been done, but "fantasy setting with elves and dwarves and wizards and stuff undergoes an industrial revolution" hasn't, and the game explores this quirky premise in all kinds of interesting ways. What Arcanum does right, it does so right it hurts. The world deserves a true spiritual successor that builds on that, and avoids the mind-bendingly stupid flaws it has. If Obsidz decides to Kickstart this with Tim Cain at the helm, I at least am so in, and not just at the piddly bronze level the Pillars "BG spiritual successor" schtick did for me. *It is possible to have fun with combat in Arcanum, but only with specific builds, and only by specifically limiting yourself to not use the awful exploits or other flaws the system has.