Varana

I found Mind Blades highly useful even until the end. It's a quick, cheap AoE spell that doesn't need elaborate positioning, is guaranteed to hit enemies even if they move between aiming and casting, and has some chance of interrupting along the way. It's nothing you win hard fights with, but it definitely helps.

Das liegt v.a. daran, daß es an sich nicht einfach ist, das Konzept der Wirkungsradius-Erweiterung durch hohen Intellekt in einen verständlichen Halbsatz zu verpacken. "Der äußere Ring des Wirkungsradius, der durch hohen Intellekt des Zaubernden entsteht, verletzt Verbündete auch dann nicht, wenn der Effekt im normalen inneren Wirkungsradius Schaden verursachen würde." Das fällt dann eher unter die Kategorie "wir wissen, was gemeint war, und versuchen's zu erklären". :D

The ending, and certain dialogues esp. with Grieving Mother, are essentially about free will: Is it better that people can decide on their own (and potentially create a mess), or should they be led by a dictator trying to prevent the biggest failures? In the end, the Watcher discovers that there are no gods but that some ancient people had decided for themselves that other people needed dictators, and created some for general convenience. Some of them benevolent, some real a**holes. It's a "the Party is always right" or "the State knows best what's good for you" scenario. The analogy to powerful A.I. is quite good, imho. You don't even stamp out religion with the end of the game. But you free the way for those who think that it's not really necessary.

PoE went the way not of upgrading its spells, but of introducing better versions of it at higher levels. There are more powerful MM versions - as separate spells later on. That said, there are some spells from the lower levels that remain useful until the very end. I cast Slicken still in Act IV (even after the nerf), the Cipher's Mind Blades and that Paralysis spell (both from level 2) are still useful later on. I even used the level 1 Magic Missiles now and then, esp. after they become per encounter. They're not bad at interrupting enemies while doing some damage without draining vital resources like high-level spells.

The defence against spells and abilities should be noted in their description. Deflection usually is for physical attacks.

The name is definitely based on Mesoamerican languages, esp. Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) - there is even a very similar word in real Nahuatl (Ixamatl, apparently meaning "map" :D). As a Nahuatl word, it would be pronounced something like "ishámatjl" (difficult to render with English orthography; IPA for tl is tɬ ). As scrotiemcb said, however, Kana Rua pronounces the word and clearly says "iks-". Also, Ixamitl doesn't really have anything to do with Mesoamerican culture, except the name.

Is it even sure that the Godlikes actually have anything to do with specific gods (or the gods at all)? Or is it just superstition or a kind of after-the-fact explanation people give for their existence? They are said to be blessed/cursed by the gods - but whether that's really the truth, and how, is IMHO not sure.

Also, it makes up for a lot of non-verbal information. "Yes, let's do that. [stoic]", "Yes, let's do that! [Passionate]", or "Yes, let's do that... [Clever]" are completely different responses. The dialogue system with pre-formulated answers often tends to take over my character. "I'm pretty sure my character wouldn't say anything like that" is not that rare. "How would my character react?" sometimes is a question that leads nowhere, because how they would react isn't in the responses. The disposition information gives me another level of playing with dialogue here. I can safely assume that my character wouldn't use those exact words, but I'm sure they would react passionately about the issue, so I choose the passionate answer. The restriction to certain dialogue lines is also why the argument "you wouldn't know how they reacted in reality" doesn't really apply (or not always). There are quite a few lines in the game where I sit and think "oookay... I wouldn't have guessed that that is meant to be 'benevolent', but if they think so..." In reality, I'd have the choice to answer differently. In a computer game, I don't have that choice. I have very limited information about the NPC, even if it's the first time we talk to them. PoE sometimes shines in that regard when it describes the NPC's look and manners in detail and doesn't just rely on dialogue alone, but nevertheless, information is restricted in contrast to RL situations, just as much as my possibilities of expression are restricted. The Disposition information is, I think a quite decent compromise to deal with that problem.

Yep - the point is picking up the adra shard. I actually did both Hylea's and Galawain's quest before ever entering Teir Evron, and just didn't complete Rymrgand's quest because you need something from Teir Evron to complete it. In spite of that, everything went fine. I do get the double experience notice and the Rain Blight message, as well, although it doesn't have any detrimental effect.

I think that you read a bit too much into the lore there. The Collector's Guidebook states outright: That race is not a defining factor, is intention, not oversight. As for Orlans - yes, they're often slaves in Readceras or the Vailian Republics, and servants in the Dyrwood. But not because they're viewed as inherently inferior, or similar RL-based notions. Wild Orlans are even considered to be "poor slaves" because of their violent nature. So while many Orlans may be slaves or at the lower end of the society, it's not because of their race per se. And with Godlike, it depends - no, them coming to town does not automatically entice the population to get their forks and torches: Could there be better reactivity? Sure. But outright hostility, blatant racism and things like that are not what the lore states.

No, because taxes are tied to quests - the stronghold "turns" only happen if you turn in quests. If you just travel or rest and do nothing, nothing will ever happen at your stronghold except construction and hireling wages. Original question: I agree with most of the others - in the beginning, you're strapped for cash; in the end, you're quite doing quite well. I usually had about 50k in my bank account on Normal. You won't be able to buy everything - in fact, with five-digit prices on some items, it wouldn't be really hard to spend 100k if you wanted to. But you don't have to - you find quite decent loot, and many items aren't really better than the things you have, or heavily depend on build/class/party/specialisation. The suppression mechanism also renders many items useless: if I already have +2 Might on my armour, all the other +1/+2 Might items are useless to me. TL;DR: Plentiful.

Yep, that was what bugged me the most, too. The game gives you a good reason to follow the main quest if you care at all about the Hollowborn, and I thought it hinted enough at the fact that you might do something about it. What it didn't really do very well is getting your personal involvement across. I was kind of surprised when the dialogue said that that ritual in the beginning made me into a Watcher. The ritual didn't get anything across except "obviously evil dude in probably evil ritual". Could've been the storm. Could've been that I always had been a Watcher, just that it had to be kickstarted - how most of the "farm boy becomes the Chosen One with special Powerz!" stories work. And later, it really fell flat in making clear that you're slowly going mad. I kind of accepted it after the game mentioned it a few times in passing, and filled the rest in for myself with (basically) Paul / Leto II Atreides stuff, but I never found it in any way inconvenient to be a Watcher or to have those memories, or that I had to hurry in any form. The Hollowborn were my main reason of doing things until the end.

That there is some racial tension, esp. regarding Orlans and Godlike, doesn't mean that race has to play a major part in all interactions. Especially if you're not talking to poor neighbour kid (who happens to be Orlan) but to a paladin in full plate (who happens to be Orlan) with several friends who is going to be your customer. Could they have done a few more checks here and there? Sure. There can always be done more. Does race have to permeate everything? Of course not. In the Dyrwood, several species living together within one culture seems to be quite normal, and the whole reincarnation business renders Earth-standard racism kind of moot, anyway. Some are more equal than others, but not even close to some RL examples. Is that bad? No. It's just different. --- Race vs species: The term "species" also has a decidedly scientific ring to it, while "race" is more... mythological, and therefore it's usually preferred in fantasy, a genre where anything resembling modern science and technology often is anathema.

In most cases when this happens to me, it's because of the general attack cooldown - the yellow bar above the character that shows when they'll be able to do anything again. That doesn't only affect attacks but also other abilities and quickslot items. So if you just attacked, it will take a while until you can gulp a potion. If the action requires time, it can be interrupted, as well. Targeted abilities (like special attacks) sometimes suffer from the often atrocious pathfinding - if the enemy is moving, or another character nearby, or because of other "obstacles", the pathfinding can easily become quite wonky. Maybe the AI / auto attack can sometimes get in the way, as well, esp. if the ability doesn't fire for some time because of above reasons.

Intended. If it allowed you to sacrifice custom companions, they simply could've replaced it with "put 200 copper here".

Yes, religious and cultural divisions are more important in this game's world than race. So what?

On. I like to know what's under the hood in the game. Other people are interested in why exactly their characters didn't hit someone or other detailed combat stats. I'm interested in detailed dialogue stats. Also, it's nice to appreciate how much checks and unique dialogue actually has been written, even if I don't see it.

OT: That is nonsense. Skyrim sold like crazy, in spite of heavy criticism from the start. Probably with exactly the same, err, "arguments" like PoE now - boring, not fun, buggy, whatever. Neither Skywind nor Enderal have produced something playable until now (that is, something that works and has dialogue and stuff). Arthmoor doesn't have much to do with TR. Which is mostly a Morrowind project, anyway. And yet, even if it's been out for over three years now, there's twice as much people playing Skyrim on Steam than PoE (as of writing this). [/OT]

Stating what people don't like is fine. Discussion about what's good and what not, is the entire point of having a forum. Although the drama often gets cranked up to 11 - "this game is unplayable because I don't like X!", "this game is the worst thing evaaAAA!", "the devs suck, complete morons!!!" Jeez, get a perspective. So just subtract several levels of outrage, and you'll be fine. "These are great days for exaggeration. In fact, these are the greatest days for exaggeration!"

This has so much to do with PoE's sales figures on Steam.

Also, the hirelings don't cost per day - that would be ridiculous. They cost the stated amount per pay cycle, which is either something in turns, or a longer amount of game time (I thought it's game time, but I'm not sure anymore). (And in between pay days they're listed as "unpaid", which is equally nonsense.) With high prestige and security (I have both in the 40s now) you probably can earn back your hireling cost with taxes. Probably, as the share stolen by bandits seems to be highly random. But in general, the rewards of the stronghold are negligible, except for the Curio Shop, Botanical Garden, and the bounties. The bounties give lots of XP and money, and the others can produce some decent crafting ingredients. Look at it as the giant money sink that it is, and sink money into it if you're feeling generous.

Combat in D:OS is great, and world and graphics are quite good, as well. The story, however, I don't know. I stopped somewhere in Hunter's Edge because I lost interest. I had actually lost interest in why I did anything quite a while ago. Shorty after Hiberheim, I think. I found the story quite incoherent; it wobbled between being really predictable at times, and erratic at others. And the inventory is simply horrible. That said, D:OS definitely is more forward-looking than PoE. Which isn't surprising, as vintage was what PoE advertised. How you weigh these aspects in a review, depends on personal preference.

In contrast to another somewhat recent game (looking at you, Divinity), crafting in PoE actually requires crafting materials and not loads of other stuff and then some. So no - if it's not sorted into the crafting tab, it's not used for crafting. Hides are for selling. Disclaimer: I'm halfway through Act III. So it may be that in the end there'll come a guy who creates the "Superb Greatswordpistol of Archdemon-Annihilation +38" out of 15 wolf hides and 20 lion skins, but I seriously doubt it. :D

I get it that the Knights refuse to cooperate after a certain point in that quest. But earlier? Even if I had no intention whatsoever to actually complete (or even do anything!) in that quest?

Umm... that's what he said? You're a person with a mighty soul. (Sounds ... strange, though.) That means that you automatically have both physical and magical strength. You can't separate the two. You can't get one without the other. Now whether that's a good idea, is quite another question. Or whether it's been executed always consistently.