HawkSoft

I think the suggestion was more along the lines of "if you don't know what you're going to fight, might as well roll with a more generic resting bonus". I mean, those of us who played on release couldn't use that added bonus anyway. I agree that you do not need any more bonuses to beat the game or cheese the final battle if that is your desire. I am thinking about some of the *game reviews* I have read on Steam (I assume other online game channels are similar), many of which are short on analysis and long on spleen What I am suggesting is that a small change by OBS, that should have not effect on veteran players, might result in new players having a better *game end experience* (please use the provided bag…) resulting in a somewhat better overall rating. V3 is probably going to be the last major update to POE (roll on POE2) and camping bonuses are featured in the preview video, what does it hurt to ensure new players, who may only play the game once get the best from the final battle ? My gut says the accuracy bonuses are pure cheese and should be scrapped as superfluous but I don't expect that to happen, Survival needed buffing and they will benefit the (vocal) power gamers who want to meta-game the system.

I agree that the camping bonuses are not required to beat the final boss or any of the rest of the game. What a new player probably won't know when they finally meet Theos is that he is a bit of a kitten compared to some of the fights they will already have won. My point is not that the camping bonus is needed but that it should be pretty easy for OBS to add some kind of *signpost* to help first time players choose the most appropriate one and so have them finish the game with best possible impression. Don't forget OBS are trying to widen the appeal of the game by including a story mode, to allow those players an opportunity to exercise a little more agency in the final fight should be no bad thing

Apparently it's an old bug that has returned: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83875-v300929-px1-steam-wandering-monk-ai/

There are a number of places where it says the protagonist/watcher can't sleep well but this is not reflected in the game mechanics at all, I agree with Heijoushin that it's one of the weakest parts of the story.

You meet spirits and vessels in Sun in Shadow, I found the spirits more annoying to fight, those drakes and shades appearing amongst the party are a PITA. I do not think it is reasonable for veteran players to dismiss this issue or say that everyone who plays the game FOR THE FIRST TIME has to consult a walkthrough, this is a story focussed cRPG, not a hack and slash aRPG. I am worried about the first impression the game's climatic battle is likely to make on new players when one of the *cool new 3.0* features is turned into a coin-flip To be clear, my concern here is not with the experienced players on this forum and elsewhere, they don't need my help, but on the game making the best possible impression on new players. A simple comment by one of the companions to the effect that statues near the machine look like scaled up animats or they think the party has dealt with all the shades should be sufficient of a clue. I think sharp players should be given a better than 80% chance of getting it right…

Maerwald remained sane long enough to rebuild Caed Nua and uncover some of the Endless Paths, based on historical castle building rates that probably means decades. I'd like the game to include some kind of optional/configurable timer but from a personal sanity perspective I think the Watcher has a year or two in hand to prepare for the final showdown. What might be much more of a push for a benevolent character is the Hollowborn plague, once you find out the real cause you would feel compelled to end it as soon as possible.

You are a Watcher, not a washer. Nothing will make you stop feeling the smell reek of his soul. At least, as a fire godlike, I don't have to worry about it catching fire.

A quick comment on the end game whilst I have it fresh in my memory. New players may well feel frustrated if they pick the wrong accuracy bonus (effectively a 50/50 chance) for the final boss fight. Once you have finished the game you will always get it right (or it playing to a script/walkthrough). I still feel that Survival on its own should not make you experts in slaying all kinds of monsters, it may enable the party to FIND the stuff needed to prepare but not WHAT they need to prepare. I would much prefer if this were a bonus unlocked by any member of the party having the appropriate *bane* talent. It also gives more reason to pick those talents.

I've just finished and old save-game, at the end when you are shown the potted future history of each companion I got one for Grieving Mother that contained a lot more about her background/quest than the protagonist had heard before. I had recruited all the companions and got nothing for Hiravias which did not surprise me as I had not triggered his quest. Should I get the full end story for companions whose quests are incomplete?

I stuck him in the Sanguine Plate, it looks quite snazzy on him. Durance got talked (with some difficulty) into wearing the Aru-Brekr as I got bored of him getting sacked. My monk is wearing Durance's Robe v3-beta (well washed!), with a quality boost it's one of the best robes you can find in the main game.

Agreed: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83917-v399929-px1-steam-inconsistent-learn-spell-icons/

I have very little time for atheist or humanist zealots, they often exhibit a somewhat *holier than thou* attitude.

I just beaten the game with my (beta 3 nerfed) cipher. with the memory fresh my comments are: ​Iovara is probably the most cardboard character of the main plot, she comes across as trite and her views one dimensional. She is a zealot as much as Theos just not as violent (and she lost). I had Eder, Sagani, Pallegina, Aloth and Zahua as companions and I was sponsored by Berath. Possibly primed by this discussion, I felt everyone's reactions were in character and not jarring given their situations. I think there should be more middle ground options available in the scripted actions of Act 4, I felt I was being corralled towards the extremes. The end bios for the companions were good and made sense given how they behaved at the big reveal, I particularly liked Eder's. EDIT: Just like to add: It was refreshing to find that Theos was not the *ultimate evil*, just very misguided. I thought the way the winning scene played out was very good, much more satisfying that a video cutscene, however cutting edge the graphics.

Sorry, I got one of the references wrong, see screengrab:

I'm not sure how it happened but my protagonist has acquired a raw damage condition: I think it happened as a result of a barrage of unfriendly druid spells in a cave which I mat have left before allowing all the hostile effects to wear off but I am not certain (sorry). There seem to have been a few instances of this happening in the past.

Two of the pale elf mob types in Noonfrost have missing characters (EDIT) 1893 & 1894.

Thanks for the advice guys, I've put it on my wishlist.

I agree, there have been many terrible conflicts fought between Catholics and Protestants but none that I can remember between Christians and atheists The reason I add this is because difference in the details of faith often seem to have more importance than gross ones, perhaps that's part of the explanation in PoE?

My preference is for lore focussed party RPGs like PoE, BG* and the Shadowrun series, I am also rubbish at twitch games. I understand that the Witcher has an excellent story but rather dodgy combat mechanics, do people recommend that I attempt to play it?

The setting is late renaissance/early modern rather than medieval so guns are not inappropriate. What is wonky is the rate of fire, English Civil War/30 Years War musketeers carried sufficient ammunition for about an hour's firing: 12 rounds!

I knew someone at university who had been born and raised as a member of the Church of Scotland (fairly austere protestant) and was an active worshiper who converted to being a fervent Roman Catholic in a few months. I know this is not the same thing as happens at the end of PoE but their (former) co-religionists thought it was huge. I go along with the idea that OBS: Were running out of funds and needed to get the story wrapped up, Didn't think they would get away with more walls of text at the climax of the story, Had no intention of making the major plot twist obvious*. *They do give clues but I didn't spot them on my first play-through.

I agree that, like many areas of the PoE lore more time could have been spent on it (EDIT, strike this*) and the *reveal* should have been more like the Dance of the Seven Veils than a discount entertainment at the Salty Mast * To ensure I had the end game fresh in my mind I completed an old save-game and no longer think this is a valid criticism. I'll offer some contrasting examples: Smoking damages your health. True but vested interests meant that this was contested for several (profitable) decades. Global warming (man made) is real. Almost certainly true, the consensus political view seems to have reversed relatively quickly on this. Nuclear bombs end wars. All practical evidence (Japan, WW2) says yes but I would not be so sure. This luxury car is more comfortable than that old banger. Self evident, many other similar example possible. My football team (any code) is better than yours. For most supporters statistics are irrelevant, this is a matter of FAITH, no change is possible. If religion in Eora IS mechanistic (a big if) choosing a god might be see in a similar way to choosing a favourite band, restaurant or even movie and some people might be able to change their mind very quickly. I suggest that the problem is not that in our world such a rapid conversion would be *most unlikely* but that the story did not pave the way by examining how people CHOOSE to worship a god in the Dyrwood. Blowing one up seems completely acceptable why not dumping one like an unwanted spouse?

I'll bite. In a world where *soul* can be extracted, modified, bottled and piped I would expect *religion* to be very different from what we are used to. Despite the character creation process (priests and paladins) I see very little organised religious activity in the world, the most active *temple* we encounter is a scam perpetrated by an animancer with a grudge (Dyrford Ruins). Yes, there are a few *temples* but only one per settlement which seems odd in a polytheist society (compare ancient Greece and Rome). It's a very mechanistic world, there is no need to BELIEVE in the gods because tangible evidence for their existence (if not their divinity) is readily available. Blind faith is not required, priests are seen as technicians, not theologians. As a parallel example see Sam Vimes of the Discworld. That being said I have experienced knowledgeable technocrats maintaining untenable beliefs in their own speciality long (weeks!) after they were shown incontrovertible proof of the fallacy of their views

As several people have selectively quoted me I'm going to quote myself: I appreciate the problems of imposed timers and would not want to make one a fundamental part of the main quest. The only example of a watcher gone mad we have is Maerwald whose sanity appears to have decayed over years or decades rather than months and that was whilst living with the pernicious influence of the Master Below. My expectation is that any timer might, by default reduce the watcher's will (any other suggestions?) by one point per year of game time (= no effect) but that the player could set the tick rate to any number of days they wanted or to have no effect at all. Experienced players could then set the timer to suit their requirements, be they role playing or simply making the game harder. Time pressures are not all bad, I remember the *thrill* of tackling Bodhi's dungeon in BG2 for the first time and my eventual disappointment when I discovered that the party was not being pursued after all.

Minsc attacked me once because I was too slow to rescue Dynaheir (I'd have preferred if she had survived to BG2 rather than Jaheira). BG1 was very good at making you feel time was passing and a fuse was burning down, BG2 less so. PoE has reduced the sense of time by taking away travel fatigue in the 3.0 beta, I'd be OK with that (it IS an annoying mechanic) if it were replaced by some kind of countdown on the watcher's sanity. This Could be driven by a player selected timer so we could set our own challenge, it should not be tied to game-play difficulty.