illathid

I am talking about PotD, but no matter the difficulty, still even on Hard how the hell a shieldbearer had the highest single target and total damage against classes like Rogue, Ranger, Cipher, Druid, Wizard etc? Don't think you used the other classes right because its against the current game mechanics I believe.... Didn't use rogues, rangers, ciphers, or druids really. Party was Me, Pallegina, Eder, Kana, Aloth, and Durance. Pallegina and Eder were pure tanks, Me and Kana were second row melee, Durance and Aloth were buffers and debuffers respectively. Whether I used them "right" or not is immaterial, I used them the way I liked and had no trouble with any part of the game really. I doubt much of anything would change on PotD except fights taking longer and requiring more daily abilities.

There are additional Durgan ingots added in part 2. As for selling Durgan refined equipment, it sounds like they've not gotten that far along in the process yet. They're still setting up inn the forge.

I just beat the game on hard with a Shieldbearer paladin. Focused on two handed swords, didn't take any shieldbearer talents, and I had the highest single target, and total damage the entire game with a full party.

"Anytime they want" is the key phrase here. They are elusive little bastards and sure, if they want to talk to you it's easy. But if you want to talk, good luck convincing them your cause and your questions matter. Watcher is lucky in this regard that Leaden Key and Hollowborn matter a lot to the gods, so it's a little easier to get their attention. Exactly.

So ... basically it's all Nedmar's fault? I can live with that. Although one might also fault Berath for not getting in touch with his priest and saying, "no, stop that." Gods, man. Haha, yeah. Since the player can so easily talk with the Gods in Twin Elms, one has to wonder why more people don't go get a direct opinion from the beings they worship. I have a feeling the PC is a bit special in that regard.

I think killing Raedric in favor of Kolsc is a pretty good example of a "good" decision coming back to haunt you. I mean, arguably the best outcome for Gilded Vale is siding with Raedric to kill Kolsc.

I wiped out the iron flail and got the same slide...

This is a pretty common Western misconception, because in Buddhism, gods (devas) are generally acknowledged to exist but not actually worshipped. You can't even get through the Buddha's backstory without bumping into Brahma, the Hindu creator. The crucial point is that gods are seen not as a wholly different class of being, but rather as having a better spot on the wheel of karma (see: death and rebirth) despite not having escaped it. Of course, Buddhists of many schools do pray to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats more-or-less as if they were gods, so this is all a bit esoteric. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, the difference gets even more arcane, for complicated syncretic cultural reasons that I won't get into. Suffice it to say that not only does Buddhism have gods, it has lots of gods, who are unusual by Western standards mostly in that they had nothing to do with the world's creation. What's interesting is that this attribute is actually also the most unusual thing about Eora's gods (by Western, post-classical standards); what it shares with Buddhism is not a lack of gods - it's the principle of gods as created beings who are not themselves creators. This isn't a novel idea - to Buddhism or PoE - but most of us are used to the Platonic notion of "god as unmoving mover," so we interpret "created artificially" and "god" as mutually exclusive. It says even more about our own concepts of divinity than it does about the setting's that we imagine Thaos' secret as being such a big deal. A lot of cultures, historical and extent, would see no problems. There's a further wrinkle in that due to the doctrine of upaya or expedient means. Buddhist could teach that gods exist, even if they don't, as long as it brings the learner closer to enlightenment. This is likely why the Pure Land of the Amida Buddha is described as a place of wonder filled with gold, jewels, etc. Also, I think there is some conflation going on in this thread between atheism and materialism. While there is a large overlap between the two groups, they are not the same thing.

1) you've missed the point I was making. I'm not saying anything about his actual beliefs about Magran. I'm talking about how Durance changed a deeply held belief based on evidence and logical argumentation. If he was non-functional as you claim that wouldn't have been successful, or he would've forgotten about it, etc. 2) what outbursts, memory/focus problems are you talking about? He makes interjections the same as other companions, has no problem remembering events that occurred 15+ years ago or since then, and he can focus on any given subject you bring up. I honestly have no idea where you are getting this from. 1) Crazy people can in fact change deeply held beliefs. Schizophrenics can change religions, change political positions, etc. That only becomes a problem if the belief in question is delusional or something. The loss of mental flexibility discussed in problems with executive function are for one thing not of that type--it's about the tendency to become stuck in routine habits, not the inability to change ones mind--and are only one symptom of executive dysfunction, experienced by some but not by all patients. 2) Durance can recall some events with perfect clarity, others are extremely fuzzy and unclear when discussed, and I recall at least one occasion where he couldn't remember details that were important to him. Sometimes he doesn't even seem clear about where he is, or what's going on. He can focus temporarily on the immediate events, but then he'll go off on unrelated tangents, or start ranting about random things at random times. Difficulty focusing also doesn't mean what you seem to think; it doesn't mean you can never pay attention to anything ever. It means you have a hard time controlling your focus; sometimes you can't pay attention to things, sometimes you pay *WAY* to much attention to things (hyperfocus), but in general outside of an acute manic or psychotic state even a deeply troubled individual can pay attention to a conversation for a minute or to. Even the dude down at the Mission I was sleeping at who wanders around in a daze talking to four or five people who aren't there can stop, say high, chat about the weather, discuss the food in line and then go back to his own little world. 1) Routine habits, like using priestly magic? Durance never uses it again if you convince him that Magran betrayed him. 2) Yeah, no I just finished my play through last night with durance in my party the whole time. You'll need to come up with specific examples you think show this behavior because there was none that I saw the entire game. 1) That's more like a person deciding to not be a Christian and therefore not pray; it has very little to do with the "routine habits" that come with loss of mental flexibility. You simply don't understand what it is; that's okay, but there comes a point where you should start paying attention to those who do. You're whole conception of mental illness is flawed, and you refuse to listen to the fact that your definitions and concepts regarding it are simply incorrect. 2) I'm sorry, I didn't take notes and write down every quote Durance ever said throughout the game. My bad. My 7th playthrough, I'll make sure to do that. My you are incredibly dismissive. I've actually not presented any of my own thoughts on the matter, as I've been trying to understand what your position actually is. You described mental illness in one way, and I gave evidence from the game that contradicted it. That says nothing about my own views on mental illness. So you should probably slow your roll before you start assuming what other people think. I think it would be helpful to bring this discussion back around to the start. The question isn't whether Durance is mentally ill, he is. The question is whether Durance is mentally ill to the degree that he is not culpable for his own actions.

yeah, but then you have to play a witcher game.

By what reasoning? I've backed Torment, but it honestly doesn't look that great to me. I'm waiting to make final judgement when the full release occurs though. Regardless of how good it is, I would back PoE2 as much as I could afford if it gets kick started (which is not guaranteed, as they could decide to go with a publisher).

1) you've missed the point I was making. I'm not saying anything about his actual beliefs about Magran. I'm talking about how Durance changed a deeply held belief based on evidence and logical argumentation. If he was non-functional as you claim that wouldn't have been successful, or he would've forgotten about it, etc. 2) what outbursts, memory/focus problems are you talking about? He makes interjections the same as other companions, has no problem remembering events that occurred 15+ years ago or since then, and he can focus on any given subject you bring up. I honestly have no idea where you are getting this from. 1) Crazy people can in fact change deeply held beliefs. Schizophrenics can change religions, change political positions, etc. That only becomes a problem if the belief in question is delusional or something. The loss of mental flexibility discussed in problems with executive function are for one thing not of that type--it's about the tendency to become stuck in routine habits, not the inability to change ones mind--and are only one symptom of executive dysfunction, experienced by some but not by all patients. 2) Durance can recall some events with perfect clarity, others are extremely fuzzy and unclear when discussed, and I recall at least one occasion where he couldn't remember details that were important to him. Sometimes he doesn't even seem clear about where he is, or what's going on. He can focus temporarily on the immediate events, but then he'll go off on unrelated tangents, or start ranting about random things at random times. Difficulty focusing also doesn't mean what you seem to think; it doesn't mean you can never pay attention to anything ever. It means you have a hard time controlling your focus; sometimes you can't pay attention to things, sometimes you pay *WAY* to much attention to things (hyperfocus), but in general outside of an acute manic or psychotic state even a deeply troubled individual can pay attention to a conversation for a minute or to. Even the dude down at the Mission I was sleeping at who wanders around in a daze talking to four or five people who aren't there can stop, say high, chat about the weather, discuss the food in line and then go back to his own little world. 1) Routine habits, like using priestly magic? Durance never uses it again if you convince him that Magran betrayed him. 2) Yeah, no I just finished my play through last night with durance in my party the whole time. You'll need to come up with specific examples you think show this behavior because there was none that I saw the entire game.

1) you've missed the point I was making. I'm not saying anything about his actual beliefs about Magran. I'm talking about how Durance changed a deeply held belief based on evidence and logical argumentation. If he was non-functional as you claim that wouldn't have been successful, or he would've forgotten about it, etc. 2) what outbursts, memory/focus problems are you talking about? He makes interjections the same as other companions, has no problem remembering events that occurred 15+ years ago or since then, and he can focus on any given subject you bring up. I honestly have no idea where you are getting this from.

There is no "think you can breathe in water or your not crazy" sanity check. That doesn't exist. That test has to exist, otherwise nobody is sane. There has to be an objective reality to go with an objective test, otherwise half the people can believe the CIA owns that MCDonalds and the other half disagrees. But nobody is right, or rather everyone is right. No, it doesn't. You seem to be going with the idea that if your not completely and totally disconnected from observable reality, you're fine. That's not how it works. Even in the depths of a total psychotic break, that's not how it works. It's more of an overlay changing how reality is perceived. The people who think they can breath underwater are really, really rare and mostly sit around in institutions being catatonic. More likely are the people who think they *could* breathe underwater if you can only find the final ingredient in that recipe the alien gave you last night, that recipe being needed to save the world from the secret Reptilian base under Lake Superior so if the security could just give me that St. Elmo's Wart and let me go I'll get on about my damn business. That's how delusion, paranoia, etc. work. They don't force you to do irrational things with no logic to them. Crazy people aren't being irrational, or illogical. Crazy people are making rational and logical decisions, having rational reactions, etc. *to completely irrational ideas and fears*. As I said, it's logical reactions to an absurd premise. Then there are other symptoms of mental illness, such as a break down of executive function. That ones common with schizophrenics; what that means is a disintegration of the ability to plan ahead, to inhibit the expression of emotions, the breakdown of working memory, the ability to focus attention, etc. What that means is that the people who suffer these symptoms have had a complete or partial loss in the ability to influence or control their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, the ability to plan ahead, the ability to focus on one task until completion, etc. They also tend to lose mental flexibility and suffer some forms of amnesia to episodic memory. People who suffer from these conditions are perfectly capable of walking around, going shopping, having a normal conversation with you on the bus, etc. They might seem strange, act a little weird, or they might seem perfectly ordinary. That doesn't mean they aren't completely off their rocker, or that they are in any way responsible for their behaviors. Damage to executive function is *defined* as damage to the ability to influence oneself; delusions and paranoia generally mean that one is reacting in perfectly logical ways to a belief that is irrational and *impossible to influence, control, or change*. Durance is clearly non-functional. He is the Eora equivalent to the wandering homeless preacher ranting about aliens on the street corner. I'll I have to say is look at the end of the Durance quest. If Durance was as non-functional as you claim, there would be no convincing him he had been betrayed by Magran.

That's patently false. Soulbound weapons absolutely do follow the rules of the game. You just disagree with how those rules work. Nope they don't follow rules of the game, they are very un-cRPG like....if this was a Fantasy Action game like Darksiders or PoP then I would have no problem with how soulbound items work but since this is an RPG which tends to have a specific system in place for how things work, I am sorry I find the current soulbound items mechanics very silly. People have been rationalising soulbound items cheesiness into something fantastically believable but in truth the fact that soulbound items are universal recipients of all accuracy and damage bonuses, no matter where the bonuses are coming from, is just plain stupid. Finding something silly =/= breaking the rules. Obsidian decides what the rules of PoE are, so anything they intentionally do can not break the rules. In the same way, a DM can not break the rules in a tabletop game of D&D. You can disagree with it, argue why it would be better if it was handled differently, decide to not play anymore, etc. But you can't say that it "breaks the rules."

That's patently false. Soulbound weapons absolutely do follow the rules of the game. You just disagree with how those rules work.

I tried that myself and it didn't work. Maybe more steps are required for it to work.

Yeah, makes determining if the self damage rights yourself kinda hard. Yeah, you could get this combo working much sooner if it did.

You assume that everyone is doing what they believe in. Do people work jobs because they believe in the company? Or because they need the money? Do people only rob others because they need to? Or do some just not care about their victims? If someone is doing something because they genuinely believe it needs to be done then that's one thing, if they are doing it because they got paid to do it then that's another. People do things every day that they know is wrong, yet they do it anyway. Regarding sociopaths (or psychopaths, I always get those two mixed up, think it depends on the country you are in as to which is which), they are capable of coherent thought unless they have other compulsions or issues (which is the case with most serial killers, they are usually sociopaths with compulsions that drive them to kill over their own deeply ingrained sense of self-preservation), they just don't care about anyone other than themselves. They are the closest thing to evil in real life, because they can sit there, know what they are doing is wrong and still do it anyway (and cover up after themselves) or not depending solely on a cost-benefit analysis. There is a reason why so many CEOs and politicians are sociopaths, and there is a reason why you should be afraid of them. And unfortunately, most of them are good at covering it up, passing the blame onto others, and come out smelling of roses. If Durance was a sociopath, you wouldn't know it, you'd think he was The Best Guy Around, he'd be like Eder (they are good at pretending to be what they are not because they don't care about lying to and manipulating people), and everyone would consider him a bro right up until he slit your thought in your sleep because he decided your continued existence was a burden. I think you're making a mistake regarding what people believe in. People may not think what they're doing is "Good" but very few people think what they're doing is evil. People who engage in criminal acts like stealing usually believe the acts are justified. The system hurt, or the guy was jerk, they had no choice, or they have a family to feed, etc. They may think that other people committing the same acts are evil, but they themselves are a special snowflake and the circumstances excuse it so it's not evil.

That's a silly thing to say. He's damaged, yes, but it's not as if he has no will.

I'd contend that "Evil" and "Crazy" are not mutually exclusive conditions. I would disagree. I think that in order to be evil, you have to consciously choose an action and be capable of understanding that the act in question is morally wrong. If you're crazy, you don't qualify under at least one of those requirements. The thing is by this standard absolutely no one would be Evil. No one actually thinks what they're doing is evil. Try to think of the worst people in history, not one of them would say the actions they committed was morally wrong. No, I think for insanity to excuse ones actions it needs to rise to an elevated level. Like they didn't intend to behead their wife, but they actually though her head was a hat (to mangle a famous example). I didn't say "believe that the action is wrong", I said "be capable of understanding that the act is morally wrong". The two aren't the same; I'm say the person has to *have the capacity* to understand the moral relevance of their own actions. Not that they judge their own actions a certain way. Ah, my mistake then. In that case then Durance is clearly not crazy but evil. Durance clearly has the capacity to understand the moral relevance of his actions.

lol I don't think you'd need to go that far myself. There's VN that don't go full harem, so you could probably get by with just Annah and Fall-from-grace. As I side note, I think I may start looking around to see if there's any "build your own" VN software out there.

I'd contend that "Evil" and "Crazy" are not mutually exclusive conditions. I would disagree. I think that in order to be evil, you have to consciously choose an action and be capable of understanding that the act in question is morally wrong. If you're crazy, you don't qualify under at least one of those requirements. The thing is by this standard absolutely no one would be Evil. No one actually thinks what they're doing is evil. Try to think of the worst people in history, not one of them would say the actions they committed was morally wrong. No, I think for insanity to excuse ones actions it needs to rise to an elevated level. Like they didn't intend to behead their wife, but they actually though her head was a hat (to mangle a famous example).

yeah, I can confirm this bug. I bound the souls to the forge but Nesta acted if I had set them free.

It's funny, I would actually pay big bucks for a PS:T visual novel. Hmmm... Maybe something to look into.