Skirge01

I like this idea. It's a bit more expensive, but I'd love that. As an extra to the Fig campaign? That's not what I had in mind, actually. My thinking was that they're going to put a disc into the box no matter what. If it's only a steam installer, let's be honest, it's absolutely useless to both Steam and GOG users. If it's a blank DVD, it's definitely useful to GOG users and I imagine Steam users might find a use for it. But, if a recordable disc isn't cost effective for Obsidian, I'd absolutely pay a few bucks to add one on.

What about throwing in a recordable or even rewritable DVD with the PoE2 logo stamped on the disc, so that when the final patches come out, we could burn them to the disc ourselves? I assume this wouldn't really work for Steam, but it would be perfect for GOG.

I heard the opposite... So the 3.03 is not the final ? http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/88089-303-update-live/page-3?do=findComment&comment=1827618

Have you stopped to consider that you're enraged because you can't play a game? Your life is in such a state that THIS is the thing which is bothering you most in life? Look at what's going on in the world around you. There are worse things that could be happening to you and your family at this very moment.

I've stayed out of this thread for a while because it was hurting my head, even though I was wondering the same thing. While I'm no scientist or mathematician and someone may easily disprove what I'm about to say, I figured I'd share it anyhow. We're thinking that Earth has 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night, but that's not what we actually have. Throughout the year, at 41 degrees latitude (northern parts of the US), there's a maximum of 15 hours of daylight and a minimum of 9*. At 65 degrees latitude (near Fairbanks, Alaska), there's a maximum of 21.1 hours of daylight and a minimum of 2.9 hours. Perhaps the people of Eora were smart enough to consider how much daylight they have, on average, and used that for "day"? I haven't actually looked at just how many hours long an Eora day or night cycle is, though, (a quick Wiki search turned up nothing) so I'll just throw out some numbers. What if a day in Eora averages 15 hours long, while night averages 12 hours? * Source: Have fun! I don't know who thinks that the daytime is always 12 hours(bar on the Equator), but take those minima and maxima, add them, divide by 2, what do you get? Observe the curve on the site you linked, for every point that is above 12 hours there is a corresponding point below for the same distance, or just check the "show yearly average" box . You see the average length of daytime during a whole year for any place on Earth is 12 hours, also Equinoxes were all the jizz for any culture that noticed them. Works great for Earth. However, we're not dealing with Earth; rather, Eora. In this instance, we're looking at an average of 27 hours per day, which is not divisible by 2, and that's the whole point of this thread (or so I thought): Why are there 27 hours on Eora? I offered a possible explanation for that. As I attempted to explain, perhaps Eora's average is 27 hours, so they looked at how long the days and nights are, saw the difference in how much light there is versus darkness, and found there was NOT such a simple way to divide by two. If the average daylight hours are 15 (or even more), you can't just go, "Hey, nighttime needs to start while it's still light out because we need a similar number of hours of 'night'." My theory attempts to offer a bit of reasoning for the seemingly illogical number of hours in a day. Also, you can't just add hours to a day since the hours are based on certain constants. I recall a US Senator or Congressman trying to add an hour or two to the days and he was laughed at big-time. Similarly, on Eora, 27 hours is based on certain constants which cannot be changed. So, the mathematicians or scientists couldn't just say, "While it takes 27 hours for the planet to rotate, that number isn't divisible by 2, so let's just add an hour."

Any chance you have a lot of saved games? I try to keep mine to ~100 and archive the rest to another folder. This is on a pretty speedy SSD, so if you're on a mechanical drive, YMMV. At one point, I was up to over 300 saved games and it was taking several minutes for the load or save screens to appear.

I've stayed out of this thread for a while because it was hurting my head, even though I was wondering the same thing. While I'm no scientist or mathematician and someone may easily disprove what I'm about to say, I figured I'd share it anyhow. We're thinking that Earth has 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night, but that's not what we actually have. Throughout the year, at 41 degrees latitude (northern parts of the US), there's a maximum of 15 hours of daylight and a minimum of 9*. At 65 degrees latitude (near Fairbanks, Alaska), there's a maximum of 21.1 hours of daylight and a minimum of 2.9 hours. Perhaps the people of Eora were smart enough to consider how much daylight they have, on average, and used that for "day"? I haven't actually looked at just how many hours long an Eora day or night cycle is, though, (a quick Wiki search turned up nothing) so I'll just throw out some numbers. What if a day in Eora averages 15 hours long, while night averages 12 hours? * Source: Have fun!

Congratulations on your achievement of being a complete *sshole! Go somewhere your condescending attitude is welcome, like Linux forums. The OP made it sound like he might be trying to do it all at once, so I was attempting to help him out. Nevermind, why am I attempting to explain myself to someone like you...

When I first went to Caed Nua, I tried the first level and was getting my *ss kicked, so I just figured it was too soon to go to level 2. I came back later and got through a few more levels. I'm currently in Act 3 and have gotten through to level 7 with relative ease, so I probably should've come back a little sooner. Based on this, I get the feeling the levels were designed to be done in spurts, not necessarily all at once.

I'm the one who started the thread titled Idiot's Guide to RTwP? because I felt the same way as you did when I started playing (if not more so!). I received a TON of great suggestions from people via that thread and I'm now thoroughly enjoying the game. Check out that thread and feel free to chime in. We are not alone. The solution is out there.

Something similar happened to me when I installed the patches in the wrong sequence. Try reinstalling the whole game from scratch if Aarik's suggestion doesn't work.

For those wanting a high level party, how does someone who has never played PoE1 make sense of the fact that their character is starting at level 16 and already has a ton of spells/abilities? I never played BG2, so maybe there is an easy answer for this. Do new players to PoE2 start at level 1 and those who played PoE1 start at level 16, thereby giving them a significant advantage? Or, is the expectation that only people who have played PoE1 will buy PoE2? Continuing down this path, for PoE10, would we start at level 160 with 4,000 endurance and 20,000 health?

I recall doing this with the Ultima series and they always knocked you back down to a low level character when you journeyed back to the world through the moongate. I haven't finished PoE yet, but I have to imagine that something like that isn't possible. Also, with Ultima, time passed at an accelerated rate compared to the "real world" back on Earth. That last part was critical because the world of Britannia needed to change since the last game in order for there to be more evil to be vanquished upon your return. Once PoE is done (however it ends), I'm not sure I see--realistically--how something could just happen and now you have new stuff to do. I'm thinking that time will need to have passed, cities and people will need to have changed--somewhat drastically--and something has simply transpired since the events of PoE1 which requires your attention. In the end, I really don't see a logical way to get your old character into PoE2 with any sort of believable story. How fun will the game be if you start out at some higher level, with advanced weaponry? For the devs, the beginning of the game would need to be designed for two differently leveled sets of characters. Something which I think could work would be to incorporate at least some of your character's choices from PoE1 into PoE2 in some fashion. These would have to be fairly minor choices or, at least, short in reach because of all the possible outcomes available in PoE1 and how much additional reactivity would need to be added to PoE2 in order to accommodate things. However, thinking about this a bit more, the Stronghold may be the best option for bringing in your old character in a meaningful way. Your character could be imported, aged, and dying, bequeathing you the Stronghold. Your new character could meet the old one, interact with him/her and everything before they die. The new villain could even have some connection to why your old character is dying and the Stronghold is in disrepair once more. For new players, there's zero connection between the current occupant of the Stronghold and your character, but the same situation applies. Much like PoE1, your character doesn't need to start there and can stumble onto it after a little while. I recall a game designer saying that one of the first things you need to ask is, "Why should the player care [about some event]?" So, how could we get PoE1 players to really get emotionally attached to the storyline of PoE2. First, you import your last saved game from PoE1. Next, the game has you create a new character to play as. You start playing the game, wondering why the hell you had to create a new character. Through some travels and encounters, which offer a bit of back story regarding WHEN this is and a small taste of what has transpired since PoE1, you come upon what seems to resemble your old Stronghold. You make your way to the Great Hall and your old party is there, casually talking about some of your events from PoE1. Suddenly, the wall behind the throne explodes inwards, launching the throne across the hall, landing next to you. The explosion sends rubble flying everywhere and part of the roof even collapses. When the dust settles, your path forward is completely blocked by a wall of debris and you are utterly powerless as a large group of enemies enter through the hole. Your old party rushes into combat, using all the weapons they last had and the spells they had memorized. An epic battle unfolds, but your entire party is defeated, their weapons taken, with only your main character from PoE1 barely alive when the enemies leave, laughing maniacally. During the battle, some debris was knocked loose and you can finally get through. You rush to the side of your former main character and with his dying breath he utters two seemingly meaningless words. Moments later, the Steward beckons you and she proceeds to fill you in about what you just witnessed.

Thanks. Since the patch was out of beta, I didn't search in the beta forum; just the tech support and general forums. Hopefully my post will help others.

While the 3.02 patch did get rid of the mob itself, the audio of said mob is still present. Just walk outside the hall with this saved game: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2jx7nqjl6dfbt6w/82c73861fd2444259c74a291ec9de281%2016137441%20GreatHall.savegame?dl=0

Pretty sure I learned about it through a Tweet by Brian Fargo at inXile.

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm just a little bit surprised by the lack of discussion about flanking or other positional tactics, which leads me to believe that--for the most part--it's not exactly a feasible strategy for RTwP and PoE (which is fine). Like I said, I come from a TB playing style, so, if there's a way to benefit from such tactics or (to the developers) to design a RTwP game to factor positional tactics into the gameplay (obstacles, etc), that would be awesome, IMO. For example, if trees or rocks or water could impact the effect of spells or weapons (e.g. arrows), that would be pretty cool. But, it might not be feasible in the game design,which I totally understand. Back to tactics, though... Sking... this is an "idiot's guide", so can you explain what "CC" is? I, honestly, have no clue and there's no chance of success trying to search for two letters. Regarding the flames, bolt, wave, etc... how do you do that if your spell casters are in the back for protection when the battle starts and the spells themselves generally do damage to your own party? As far as queueing up spells, I really like that idea and I'll have to see if I can do that properly with the shift key. I thought I tried it and it didn't work, but that could certainly be on me. At least with my style of play, AI is a no-go. Maybe as I get better with RTwP, but I suspect my bit of OCD won't allow it. I absolutely LOVE having total control over my characters and knowing that they aren't going to do anything I haven't told them to do. In fact, that was one of my biggest frustrations when I started this thread. Other people might enjoy that flexibility, though, so I do see where you're coming from and I do, in fact, picture that I could allow that with certain characters. It's just not in me to do so. Now, I understand what a tank is and, in theory, what a damage dealer would be, but aren't they usually the same? How are people leveling/designing characters which are tanks, yet not damage dealers? What exactly are you focusing on for each? In my mind, the tanks are the guys up front, stopping the horde from advancing and attacking your lesser party members. At the same time--again, in my mind--these guys are FINISHING these people off entirely, so they're also dishing out a fair amount of damage. Am I looking at this.... I hesitate to say "wrong" or even "incorrectly" because it's a matter of style and opinion... but, is there a different way I should be looking at this? Again, thanks for everyone for replying so far! I really want this thread to help myself as well as others who are struggling!

Having extensively played PoE now, I wanted to revisit this thread and discuss alternative tactics. I'm having a blast playing PoE at this point and absolutely loving all the battles. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that if I lose a battle, I probably was just overmatched and need to come back to it later. Hell, I was shocked as anything to find myself fighting Lord Gathbin and winning that with pretty much just my party and a few archers. I thought for sure I was about to lose that one. Anyhow, getting back to tactics and how I play TB games, is there any way to actually use positional tactics in PoE? The way my party is currently fighting (and, as I said, it's working quite well), they stay in the formation I set and battle from there, head on. Does anyone break their party up and attempt to flank the enemies? Would that actually accomplish anything? More specifically, is there a workable tactic where you grab one of your fighters and team him up with a monk, cipher, or wizard to circle around, while the rest of your party attacks head on? Or, is this something which isn't really feasible for PoE and/or RTwP? Any other positional tactics which are viable or is the only real option to attack head on?

While I do hope they get it fixed, it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. First, as you noted, it doesn't seem to have any effect on your characters. Second, as I wrote above, I was able to get rid of the boxes with relative ease. Did that method not work for you? EDIT: Since I can't edit the original post, here's the workaround for this issue: WORKAROUND: At an inn (or the Stronghold, most likely), swap the "white box" character with another NPC and the white box should away when you swap the original character back in.

I had this written up in its own thread, and then a bit of Deja Vu hit me and I searched the forums. I guess I previously read about it. Anyhow... I already completed The Battle of Yenwood Field (see screenshot) a while back, but Lord Gathbin seems to be alive once again after I manually resolved the Cutthroat bandit issue at the Stronghold. At least, that's what Marshal Forwyn seems to be telling me by reminding me about the army I need to deal with soon. Also, there's a reappearance of the angry mob of farmers/merchants which Lord Gathbin seems to have recreated after I paid them off quite handsomely for their trouble some time ago. However, I can't talk to the mob. Here's the saved game before I began the fight with the bandits: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iymbihmr2lqbjps/82c73861fd2444259c74a291ec9de281%2015683415%20GreatHall.savegame?dl=0 If you manually resolve the bandit battle using this saved game, you'll see the crowd and marshal afterwards. I've done it twice and it happened both times. I also see you asked for a saved game before The Battle of Yenwood Field, so here you go: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qix2hspsdwlcgv6/82c73861fd2444259c74a291ec9de281%2014271722%20CaedNua.savegame?dl=0 Hopefully my saved game hoarding has finally come in handy. (Minor rant: I do wish the saved games list loaded faster, though. I have to move older files out of the game's directory so it doesn't take 3 minutes to bring the menu up. This is on a Samsung 850 EVO SSD, to boot.)

Already did. I provided the saved games from before and after in that thread. That's a scary thing to hear, though. Good luck. If it turns up again, at least I'll know it's a bug.

I had this posted in the general forum, since I didn't think it was a bug, but now I'm thinking it might be. While I can't reproduce it, I do have the saved games from both before and after. They're about an hour apart (real time), unfortunately. Anyhow, there's this white box next to Durance, like he has an affliction. You can see the effect in the 2nd image: I've camped twice and rested at an inn once with zero change to Durance's status. His health and endurance are at max. At an inn, I swapped Durance with another NPC and the white box went away, seemingly fixing the issue. Finally, here are the saved games: Before affliction: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rimt3gm0yzadvp6/82c73861fd2444259c74a291ec9de281%2012753423%20GreatHall.savegame?dl=0 After affliction: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a677h1nqg7ax2zb/82c73861fd2444259c74a291ec9de281%2012879714%20MagransFork.savegame?dl=0 UPDATE: I've edited the post--deleting the irrelevant parts--because I originally blamed some of Durance's stats on the white box bug, but found out that the stats were unaffected. To the best of my knowledge, the post is now 100% accurate.

That did it! Thank you! I didn't even need to rest. I saved in between the swap, just for the hell of it. I guess that was a bug then. I'll report it to OBS to see if they want the saved game to investigate. CORRECTION: While that did get rid of the white affliction box, the stats have not returned to normal, even after resting. I get the feeling this may be a bug, so I'm going to re-post in the tech support forum.

One of my NPCs seems to be afflicted with something which isn't going away after rest. You can see what I'm talking about here: The white box to the right of Durance's image is the apparent affliction. I've camped twice already, as well as rested at an inn, but that thing doesn't go away. He shows full health and endurance. There are a few anomalies on his character sheet, which I attribute to this affliction, as shown here: What is this and how do I get rid of it? I couldn't find any reference to this situation on the Wiki or the forums. Thanks.