Varana

Ah, okay - as I said, I didn't have any attacks except the one. --- Yeah, not being able to get the stuff of prisoners is kind of stupid. "I want them to be flogged. In full plate armour."

Do you actually click on NPCs just randomly? What you do in these games is looking for NPCs with a name, or some unique description ("Concerned Townsman"). Everyone else is irrelevant. :D

How often do invasions happen for people? I had one (some Xaurips and three Wurms) early on, and never again. Even though my stronghold is complete by now, so quite a lot of time and quests have gone by. As for them appearing in your Great Hall, I think they're supposed to be invasions from Od Nua, i.e. the Master Below having a lacklustre go at taking back "his" castle.

I'm not sure you understand it correctly - it's not just the plants that are quest-driven, it's everything in the stronghold. They're driven by "turns", which happen when you do quests. So you'd have to keep questing in order to unlock the ability to continue building stuff anyway. Or at least that's what I thought. The construction itself happens in game time, not turns. Almost everything else is turns, i.e. quest completion. Anyway, to stop everything dead until you got the Botanical Garden is a bit extreme. The game really isn't that short on turns; there are quite some Pilgrim's Crowns in the game world and in shops, and it's not as if you needed them in huge quantities.

Animals - yes, there's a major historical event tied to this (the "Salvation"). Trees and plants - don't think so. At least it didn't come up yet, IIRC.

You know, when a bee really, really hugs a flower... err. There's a brothel in Defiance Bay; you can spend time with the prostitutes there (doesn't count as a rest and it's only for you, not the party, I think, because that would be gross ) and get a stat buff.

Healing doesn't affect Health in the game, it only affects Endurance. So when someone like kat7ra recommends healing, they're referring to Endurance. Sometimes the distinction becomes a bit muddled as everyone's used to calling hitpoints "health" from other games, but in the end, they're usually talking about Endurance. As for the ogres, there's a thread which might help you a bit.

That is correct. With each level up, your secondary stats (defenses, accuracy etc., but not your attributes like Might, Constitution etc.) will rise a certain amount (+3 or +5, I think).

That's easily testable. Did you? I'm not sure it's that easily testable. The random element in it appears to me very strong, i.e. one time bandits manage to steal 80% of the taxes, another time only 20%, without any major change in security and/or prestige levels. I suspect there is some mechanism behind it, but if there's that much random in it, it's not easily detectable. Could be wrong, though; I didn't bother to run tests on it.

I'm usually not that OCD, but if there are corners that are inaccessible and leave some of that evil black fog, that bugs me, as well. :D Well, for a few moments. Also in BG - the way to treat a new map was to systematically go from right to left and back again to uncover every bit of it. :D Anyway, a free-roaming world just isn't technically possible. Every map is built and pre-rendered and then used as a 2D background. That the party is going "up" or "down" or that there is an obstacle or a tree or something is basically a very elaborate illusion. It isn't; it's a static 2D picture. And you can't pre-render a seamless world. (Well, you can, but not with PoE's budget and time frame, not even close.)

That's the point. It wasn't. There weren't any trans women mentioned or alluded to in the epitaph, and the person assumed to be was not "dehumanized". I'm honestly puzzled by this. I would be much more sympathetic to the removal of the poem if it weren't over an obvious misunderstanding (or deliberate misreading) of it.

Remember that the stronghold was one of the stretch goals. It isn't a core feature of the game; they obviously had a lot of ideas and tried to include as many of them as they could, but in the end, polishing the really important aspects of the game was where the resources went. I'd really like them to iterate on the stronghold in the next game - some of the things could certainly be improved. Anyway, expect to make a net loss from your stronghold, at least in pure money. You gain access to the Endless Paths, giving you a lot of loot and XP, the bounties pay quite well (gold as well as XP), and some of the shops give moderately rare crafting items. The connection between loss of taxes to bandits and security isn't really apparent - to the point where it's not even clear that there is a connection. But one thing is clear: Your money does not come from the stronghold. Quests and loot; taxes are negligible.

Unless you play Ironman: Save and try it! :D

That's just trust in Finland's reportedly excellent education - they assume everyone speaks enough English anyway. Be proud.

Last question: By playing the game. :D As with many games of that sort, the prices look outrageous when you start out but you'll get a better perspective if you play along. Not only do some quests net you serious coin, but loot adds up in the long run, esp. after enemies start dropping Fine stuff. The stronghold taxes are insubstantial. Construction, mercenary payday, and some event timers are tied to game time. Most other stuff - taxes, completion of adventures, appearance of visitors, stuff in your treasure chest from buildings etc., hapen as you (i.e. your party) complete quests. If you just rest for ages, nothing if that sort will ever happen in your stronghold. If you turn in several quests at once, several things will happen at Caed Nua. Yes, that means that costs like mercenaries are potentially infinite, revenue and adventures from the stronghold are not. It's usually not an issue if you just play the game - don't go overboard in the beginning, gold to spend at your stronghold will start coming, eventually. Don't assume that your stronghold taxes will make a difference. Just don't.

Some *exact* numbers would've been nice. The game goes out of its way to present the exact calculations of every attack - even thinking about a neat way of presenting them while not constantly cluttering the combat log. With regard to turns, though, "it has to do with doing quests" is all the game has to say? "Complete on turn 6" - I think that it doesn't count down, but upwards. So when you got the stronghold, turn 1 started. Kana will return from his quest on turn 6. Of course, the game doesn't tell you anywhere on which turn it currently is.

Trevor Noah has a segment on coming to America wanting to be "black" (as in ZA, they didn't call him that) - there's several variations on the bit on YouTube. I guess he's been successful. :D I saw the first few Wilmore shows, and he talks very specifically about black and racial issues. While such a show may be a good idea in general, it's not really suited to the Daily Show. Noah, as an outsider, isn't that entrenched in the specifically American debate over race and probably a better choice. Even though South Africa did have its own, ahem, problems with racial politics. Anyway, I saw him first on British TV (a QI appearance, I think), and I like him. Let's see how it plays out. As we saw with John Oliver, the Daily Show has enough talent in the background to carry not-Jon-Stewart, at least for some time.

Rogues do not need to be stealthed to backstab. The target must have some negative condition (there's a list somewhere in the load screen hints). A good way to cause such conditions is, by the way, a wizard.

With armour, you basically trade damage reduction for recovery time, i.e. attack speed. Heavier armour leads to slower attacks. People in the front, esp. a tank paladin, should get quite heavy armour. For a frontline fighter, it's also useful. The guys in the back should pump out their spells and attacks as fast as possible, so for them lighter armour is better. Chanters, OTOH, chant at a constant speed; their singing is not affected by recovery time. So Kana, in my party, gets heavy armour so he can double as emergency tank should anyone come from behind or get through the front. On top of that, however, come the special enchantments. My Edér still uses his personal armour, because I find the Second Chance enchantment to be useful. The same with Aloth and his Overseeing. That's meant as a general direction. Whether you have DR 7 and 35% recovery penalty or DR 8 to 40% (numbers may not be correct), is mostly not that important. In those cases, choose what looks good or where you get better enchantments. Esp. on Easy and Normal you do have that kind of leeway; the game doesn't force you to optimise the hell out of it.

There is sixth-level Priest spell that does this ("Revive the Fallen"). Simply restoring Endurance in the area doesn't help.

The "X of it to learn about it" is for killing creatures: For the first encounters with a specific creature, you'll get XP while learning about its weaknesses and characteristics. You can check your progress in the Journal/Cyclopedia/Bestiary section. After you've encountered enough enemies of one type (not sure about the exact number), you don't get XP from them, any more. That doesn't apply to items, materials or anything else. I'd also recommend keeping most enchanting materials. After you've gathered 60 Xaurip tongues, you could probably sell some of them as you're unlikely to use them all - if you're really strapped for cash. Regarding weapons and armour, sell what you don't need. I for one tend to keep named (i.e. unique) items, but it's not necessary.

The most obvious one is the issue mentioned in the patch notes: The factions' quest issue in Defiance Bay should have been solved with the patch. The non-retroactive things are mainly balance changes, like companion attributes, not fixes.

D) The tweet was a quite nice attempt at trolling.

In BG, you don't know either that Sarevok's going to kill you no matter what and where. You escape; after that, some random iron crisis appears to be the most pressing problem. Mostly, because not solving it prevents you from progressing in the game, like blocking off entrance to Baldur's Gate. What's really at stake is not clear from the beginning - you clean the Nashkell mines, and then Tazok, and Davaeorn, and finally the big Bad in the city. How you fit into all of that and how it affects you, is revealed rather late in the story. I found that very well done, and the skilfully executed gradual revelation is what stands out about BG's otherwise somewhat cliché plot. But it's not really clear from the start that you can't simply go away to, let's say, Athkatla, and leave the Sword Coast to sort out its own issues. Now, I wouldn't say that PoE is perfect in that regard. It needs an earlier indication how real the danger is of you going mad and how connected the whole Hollowborn business to your Watcher status. But to place BG's story hook on a pedestal, including hindsight from the very end of the whole series, isn't really that fair.

Well, I (i.e. my character) isn't an "unknown adventurer". She was when she first came to the Dyrwood. But now, she's the hero of Gilded Vale, a very well-known person and problem-solver in Defiance Bay, has made a name for herself in Twin Elms, and is a close ally of Kolsc of Raedric's Hold. And she's taken over a ruined castle somewhere in the wilderness which had been all but abandoned or neglected for years. Could they've done a better job with the stronghold? Sure. It'd be nice to, like, see where your taxes actually come from, and some of the mechanics (turns?) are quite wacky. But running a castle is in itself entirely possible in how the Dyrwood is presented.