kaiki

That's not exactly a signature American thing though. It has been (and in some ways still is) much more prevalent in Europe. Hostility and idolization, there is a dual nature. Not sure about Europe but Americans are aware of how there's a fascination with foreign (ie British) nobility while at the same time stating that our ideals are opposed to nobility at the same time. This plays out with the crucible knights and the dozens pretty well. The Dozens hate all things noble while the crucible knights want to be nobles themselves.

I don't feel there is no "best" as it all depends on your objective. If you are rping your choices then whatever fits your character. For a solo run I'd recommend against the knights as their second quest was a hassle for me. The Domenels have much easier quests. I've haven't picked the Dozens yet, maybe in one play-through. Overall, there is no "best" faction just the one that is the right fit for you.

I found that if I had no weapons in the other slot the character would just attack with their equipped weapon. I believe the safest tactic, in regards to equipment, would be to have the weakest ranged weapon in the other slot so the dominated character doesn't run into melee combat and still won't do much damage.

On the contrary, for a fun time that is exactly what you say in a bar.

If you go into scout mode you "discover" the secret door, I believe. The sound will play, an alert will pop up in your log but nothing will be highlighted.

I like that idea. I would hazard a guess that they didn't use a system like that as it would have seemed too "outside" what the IE games did. I hope for PoE 2 they push those boundaries and implement a really robust system for dialog choices outside of "You deserve this gold more then me, keep it starving peasant." "Oh thank you! Take my grandmother's magic ring! It may be worth 10x more then my reward but you deserve something for being benevolent."

"Have Disposition cancel one another: 1Cruel gets canceled by 1 Benevolent resulting to neutral (non-existant) Disposition." I disagree with this suggestion. As there doesn't seem to be an issue with the system as is. People can have reputations (which is what disposition really is) as both benevolent and cruel at the same time, just usually not toward the same people. What would be interesting would be special dispositions that are gained from different combinations. Say Cruel 1 and Benevolent 1 would get you, just to come up with a name, Two-Faced 1. Instead of simplifying the disposition system I'd say go the other way and make it a more nuanced system.

In an interview Feargus Urquhart has said the stronghold is a "core thing of the game". It sounds like Obsidian plans on expanding it. http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-tabletop-rpg-and-card-game-in-the-works/ <- source "Now, in the future, we look at it as also a great place where we can, when we add content to the game, where we can sort of have these quests, new people can show up. If we have new features, new items and things like that, we can add aspects to the buildings, in which those buildings can do new things with items, so it's definitely a core thing of the game that we plan to grow as we continue to grow the game." <- relevant quote

I'll argue against removing custom companions. It's an optional part of the game that you don't need to use if you don't want to. I've never used one and don't plan on using one for any of my runs. For me they haven't effected the companions like Eder or Aloth in anyway as I want to enjoy their personal stories. On the other hand I don't mind that they are available as they are purely optional.

These were the skills I used Stealth: 6 Athletics: 5 Lore :1 (I believe I had 1 extra point left at max level so I figured, why not?) Mechanics: 10 Survival: 4 If I did this over I would have left survival at 2, I wanted a survival of 5 for the ogre conversation but didn't realize I could just use a survival increasing scroll.

If you arrive in Twin Elms with him in the party, I believe, he tells you "This is when I object to you looting sacred ruins and I swear to stop you and then you tell me this is for the greater good and I agree with you. I'm glad we had this chat, now let's go kill stuff." That isn't exactly what he says word for word, but pretty much it.

Hello, I wasn't sure if this belonged in Obisdian general forum or PoE forum so I'll post it here and move it if it's a problem. My thanks to Josh Sawyer & Adam Brennecke: Thank you both so much for birthing this idea and shepherding it through the kickstarter process, through development and finally to launch. So many other projects funded through kickstarter have failed to reach launch, it was wonderful to see Pillars of Eternity get to launch in a strong & solid shape. I'm really interested in watching the full making of documentary to see how much work just was needed just to get through the kickstarter process to even reach development. My thanks to Mark Bremerkamp, Shon Stewart and the whole animation department: The animations in Pillars were perfect in form and function. They conveyed the appropriate information, seemed natural and never took me out of the game. It must be hard at times working in animation as when it's done right I doubt many people clamor about how the naturalistic animation made them able to fully immerse themselves in the game. That was the situation I found myself in so I wanted to thank you for doing such a fantastic job. My thanks to Rob Nesler, Dimitri Berman, Hector Espinoza and all the art derpartments: Sorry for grouping everyone together as I wasn't 100% sure how each of your teams responsibilities lay. I will say that the art was fantastic. Everything had a unified and evocative feel of the old IE games while having a painterly quality that stands up against any modern game. I rarely play games done in the retro style or old classics as I can't bring myself to enjoy the art. With PoE I had no problem enjoying the high quality art. The lush colors and changing environments meant I never got fatigue from viewing the same environment for long periods of time. I loved the armour and clothing styles that gave a historic feel but with their own character. Art makes up such a huge part of the audio/visual medium of video games and your passion and talent really showed in this game. My thanks to Justin Bell and the audio team: Wow! The soundtrack for this game is fantastic. Even though it has an IE/fantasy feel with the music there is a quality that makes me unable to stop listening to the wonderful tracks. The environmental audio was fantastic as well. I found out that I was missing so much by listening on my PC speakers that I started playing the game on my studio headphones in order to get the full aural experience. There was a great balance struck with immersive and entertaining with the audio. It didn't distract from the narrative or gameplay while at the same time it brought a great value to the game. I also was impressed that you can hear footsteps from monsters through doors while sneaking and such. That seemed like a great accomplishment on such a, relatively, small budget game. It was noticed and appreciated. My thanks to Bobby Null, Eric Fenstermaker and the designer departments: The majority of games I play, I play for story. Gameplay helps me enjoy the experiance and keeps me playing, but the promise of a good story brings me in and makes me play to finish. The story for PoE was great. I loved the themes of faith, progress, responsibility in an environment where I find narrative games don't use those themes very often. I also enjoyed how Dyrwood was an analogue to America when so many fantasy settings take place in a European style continent. It set a different feel to the game and created wonderful narrative opportunities that your teams took full advantage of. I also loved the characters and choices that were put into the game. From the wonderful companions to the street urchins. Each one helped weave a living, breathing world that took me through a tanstic journey that I will remember for years to come. My thanks to Brandon Adler and the production department: My thanks to each of you for helping such a fantastic game getting made. I wish I knew the ins and outs of what the production team did so that I could have a greater appreciation of all the hard work you did. Unlike the art, designer or audio departments I struggle to point to one thing and say "the production department made that happen". I guess I have to point to the entire game and say thank you for helping the entire experience reach launch with such fantastic quality. My thanks to the programming department: The systems you created and implemented in the game helped PoE soar. The mechanics and gameplay were smooth and a joy. The day & night cycles, maps like the stronghold that could change over time, the reputation system and the rest that had to be implemented added such fun to the experience. I can't think of a time when I was playing where I ran into a system and thought "this was phoned-in". The passion of your work shows through and deserves all the thanks I can give. My thanks to Matthew Sheets and QA: I know Obsidian has had a reputation for bugs in their shipped products. With PoE I was able to go through my first play-through without any problems. It's a testament to the great work of the QA department that PoE shipped with such polish. I'm so grateful that I didn't need to sit at launch and say "I need to wait for a few patches before I can enjoy this game." I enjoyed it out of the gate and still enjoy it even after three play-throughs. My thanks to Jorge Salgado: I really enjoyed your parts of the Dev Commentary. Your passion came through as you talked about the dungeon or Twin Elms. It was listening to your commentary that I really understood that game developers can love their jobs. All too often It seems that as a consumer I see developers talking about the negative aspects of the industry, or read about other consumers unhappy with their video games or whatever. It's a rare thing to hear a developer sound pumped about something small like designing a cool dungeon. I just smiled when I heard that and felt happy just to join in the PoE experience that so many people worked, not just hard, but joyfully to complete. My thanks to Olivia Veras: Thank you for doing a fantastic recording of your commentary. When I got into the Temple of Eothas I knew I'd keep the de commentary track enabled for the rest of my second play-through. Though It bugs me to this day why designers should stay away from bell puzzles. Why? What was the problem with it, I must know D: Thanks again for your wonderful work. My thanks to design intern that I can't remember name or find on credits: Thank you intern for doing a great job at doing dev commentary on the Endless Paths. I was impressed that Obsidian allowed you to record the commentary and I had the thought of how video game development is becoming more consumer facing with the likes of kickstarter. So it was cool to hear you talk about design and the challenges the team faced. Very awesome and best of luck on your career. My thanks to everyone that contributed to the project that I didn't name or mention: Thank each and every one of you. In a time that games are reported to cost tens of millions the quality, scope and breadth of this four million dollar independent game blew me away. It gives me hope for the future of video games that not all games will either be AAA mega-games or 8-bit indie games. I'm also happy that Obsidian seemed to find itself in such a rough time of your history. I'm excited to see what the next ten years has in store for the company and all the wonderful games I'm sure you'll make.

I wonder if those numbers would have been higher if PoE had been released in an episodic format like Telltale games or Life is Strange.

It was very intentional. Dyrwood = USA. I found it was a very interesting take as, it seems, most fantasy settings are set in an inspired Europe. To have the setting in an inspired America gives a slightly different feel. The immigration, the attacks on the native population, hostility and idolization of nobility. Great stuff.

For my PotD run my rogue used dual sabres with pistol in his other slot. So I chuckled when I read your post. If you do a good build that setup is very powerful, I can post his stats & talents if you'd like.

If your argument boils down to "I feel BG was not a good game" then there is no argument that can really disprove your claim. I disagree that BG was a bad game, but that is based off my own personal opinion that cannot be used to prove or disprove my claim or yours. It's a completely subjective argument. The same goes for "PoE is better then BG". We all have our opinions and preferences regarding those games. Unless you have some objective standard or testing methodology all it ever will be is subjective.

I hope they are able to do that in PoE 2. While I found the character quests hit all the right marks I did wish to see more intra-party interactions. Maybe Eder hooking up with Pallegina...or just romance in general <3

Not sure about all games but there was a good article that listed the stats for Bioware games. It came out to be around 40% finishes their games. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-13-less-players-completed-mass-effect-3-than-finished-mass-effect-2

I agree with Amentep that the whole premise and marketing of PoE makes comparisons natural. In a way both games are perfectly comparable as to which is better in that if you have both games on your pc you will make the judgement "Which one do I want to play?". As such, for me, it seems fair/reasonable/natural to make comparisons & criticisms between the two. Alot of them seem to be personal preference which should be kept in mind.

What worked for me was to have your 1-2 tanks up front and have your 4-5 ranged dps in back. 1-2 ranged dps should have medium-heavy armor with 1-hand weapons and shields in the other item slot. This way your other ranged dps can get away with wearing light armor and if enemies break past your tanks your heavier dps can engage allowing your squishies to pull further back. That is especially useful when dealing with teleporting enemies as they will focus down your squishies.

I think I've only seen those on one play-through and I sold them because I didn't think they'd be useful XD

For mechanics I was able to complete the game, without too much difficulty, with a 7. I did skip the Endless Paths. If you are running them, get Mechanics up to

As flawed as Metacritic is, it still holds weight with publishers enough as to be the determining factor in if developers get bonuses or not on their projects. Now I'm tempted just to send $5 in the mail to Obsidian for getting that high metacritic score on PoE XD If anything I hope the critical acclaim helps Obsidian get more work from publishers that look at the devs in a new light.

Hadn't thought of equipping ciphers with magical implements. Since blunderbusses are so nice. Though the increase in accuracy would probably be worth it on PotD runs.

Solid work there. A nice interpretation on the character.