Faerunner

Don't take my word as the Gospel Truth, but I also wanted some social skills for my ranger without completely sacrificing combat competence (it helps that I'm playing on Easy), and think I found a decent solution. I made a ranger with: 16 Might 16 Dex 12 Perception, Intelligence, and Resolve. Not to give anything away, but pretty soon you'll find inn rooms and items that grant bonuses to "social stats" (though temporary with inn rooms, so time it carefully) which will give you a decent boost for those skills. While many conversations require 16-18 Int/Per/Res, a decent amount also have 12-14 Int/Per/Res checks. So if you can hold out for stat-boosting items, it's pretty satisfying. (Better than D&D-style cRPGs, where Rangers had NO social skills whatsoever.) That's a good solid build, though I'd personally recommend 16 Might, 16 Dex, 14 Int, and 12 Perception. (And 10 everything else.) Reason being that I've noticed that a decent amount of conversations only require 13-14 Int and/or 12 Per checks. (Resolve? No, they almost always require more...) I found the Int modifier frustrating at the starting game since I only had 12 Int, yet kept bumping into 13-14 Int dialogue options ("So close, yet so far!"), but after I got access to some Int-boosting items and inn rooms, it's been smoother sailing. 14 Int is also a pretty good spring board to hop into the desired 16 Int with items and inn rooms later, while still having 12 Perception to sprinkle onto the occasional conversation like garnish.

Aw, I was just thinking the other day that I rather like how the stats reflect the characters. For example, Aloth has high Perception and Intelligence since he's a learned scholar (wizards being this world's scientists and all), but doesn't have such great... anything else, since he's been pretty sheltered and indoors most of his life. Sagani has very high Perception since she's a tracker that's been searching for someone for 5 years, but her combat stats are just okay because she's probably more used to tracking and shooting at fleeing caribou and deer than fighting hostile adversaries. Eder, by contrast, is a salt-of-the-earth type who's toiled on a farm and fought in war before, so of course his stats would be more ideal for combat. I could go on. I mean, I guess it's not the best combat-wise, but I'm playing on Easy, so it's not that big a deal. If six kith and two animal companions (since Sagani and my PC are rangers) bum rush the enemy and whale on them long enough, they'll eventually go down no matter how mediocre our stats are. Still, I like how the characters are written, and how their starting loot, character portraits, and stats reflect it. I think it's clever gameplay/story integration, even if it's not useful combat-wise at higher difficulties.

Eh, game reviews are opinion-based. Different people play different games for different reasons, so you gotta take the game reviewer's tastes into consideration when you decide whether you find it valid or not. If the reason they like the game is not the reason you like it, or things they dislike about the game are things you like, file it under "different tastes" and move on.

Indeed. On the first point especially, don't forget that 2D animation in the movie industry got steamrolled for 3D animation too. In the late 1900's / early 2000's, there was a decent amount of 2D animated movies coming out alongside 3D animated ones. (EDIT: Like late Disney Renaissance films beside Pixar ones, and Dreamworks having a mix of both styles.) By the late 2000's/early 2010's, 2D animation is pretty much gone and 3D animation reigns supreme. Is it any wonder the game industry did the same?

We really need more Orlan and Godlike portraits. Especially Orlan. There are only 3 of them; 2 for Hearth Orlan and ONE for a Wild Orlan. And, no offense, but that Wild Orlan portrait is hideous. I had to outsource a custom portrait by a PoE fan artist in order to stand playing as one. Similarly, there seems to be only 1 Godlike portrait per type. (1 Death Godlike per gender, 1 Moon Godlike, although 2 Fire Godlike and 1 Nature Godlike with three types of hair for females.) Since each Godlike seems to have three different head shapes, but only one portrait to reflect one head shape, it would be nice if there was a portrait for each head shape.

I used to have the same problem. I spent the first five or six days after PoE came out doing nothing but restarting and replaying the same character, or trying different race and class combinations and backgrounds because they all looked so interesting, or I wanted the ones I really liked to be really perfect, and was just going nowhere fast. 1) To settle the race/class indecision, I wrote them all down on a list and went through process of elimination. Wrote down all the races I wanted to play (Orlan, Nature Godlike, Death Godlike, Wood Elf, Pale Elf, and Boreal Dwarf), all the classes (Ranger, Druid, Chanter, Cipher, etc), and all the desired backgrounds (Hunter, Explorer, Drifter, Slave). Then I combined them in a way that would cost the least amount of playthroughs. (Wild Orlan Ranger, Nature Godlike Druid, Death Godlike Cipher, Wood Elf Chanter, etc). Each step of the way I also mentally put them in order from the ones I most wanted to play to the ones I least wanted to play, and slowly bumped off the ones I was less interested in or put them on the list. 2) To settle the perfectionism dilemma, I made what I wanted to be my "perfect" character, and then made another one who wasn't supposed to be perfect to "scout ahead." That is, an imperfect character to play the game first so she can make all the mistakes so the perfect character would make all the "right ones". The race and class I was most looking forward to was the Wild Orlan and Ranger. So, I had serious OCD "restart syndrome" with the Wild Orlan Ranger, constantly going back to fix little errors or tweak little stats or abilities. I couldn't progress passed Gilded Vale since I kept restarting over and over. So, I made a second character out of a race and class I also liked but wasn't crazy about (Earth Godlike Druid). Since it didn't matter that she wasn't perfect since I never intended for her to be perfect, it was much easier to play through the game without feeling pressured to restart. And now, knowing what to expect, my ranger can make the ideal decisions. 3) I also noticed that every class as different "non-combat stats." For example, while Rangers have gold stars next to Might and Dex (combat stats), they have dull stars next to... I think Intelligence and Perception. So, rather than min/making Might and Dex like originally planned, I put some points into Int and Per; just enough to flavor the conversation. She won't consistently make 14+ Intelligence or Perception checks in conversations, but if it calls for basic 12 or 13 checks, she can do it. By contrast, Druid and Cipher have HIGH Intelligence requirements. SO, I'm okay with my Ranger not being able to make that 17 Int dialogue option in one NPC conversation, but when I run through again with my Godlike Cipher? She'll be able to make it. To sum up: You KNOW the character is not going to be perfect in the first playthrough, so stop torturing yourself. Stop trying to chase an ideal you know will never be a reality. Find a way around it. Find a way to "trick" yourself into accepting an imperfect character. In my case, I settled indecision over which race/class to play first by putting them in a list, going down the list, and deciding which I wanted most by process of elimination. I settled my perfectionism by making the intended "perfect character" and then made another one who wasn't intended to be perfect, so I didn't feel the need to restart by playing her. I'm able to experience the story and make the uncertain decisions with the "imperfect character," deal with the fallout, and then know better for when the "perfect character" comes around. Hope that helps.

Wild Orlan Ranger, after days of indecision and partial playthroughs. (Will play an Earth Godlike Druid, Death Godlike Cipher, Wood Elf Chanter, Pale Elf Wizard, and... Well, I'll find some way to fit a Boreal Dwarf in there somewhere.)

I think many people wanted something you can build for, rather than a early game crutch. I like making viable shifters. Boo-hoo indeed. Agreed. I think many of us aren't disappointed with the Spiritshift because we wanted a "best of both worlds" powerful spellcaster and melee-damage class. A lot of us were interested in the Spiritshift for its own sake, and/or we wanted to play Druid just for the Spiritshift. Remember, there are other powerful damage-casting classes to choose from, (Wizard and Cipher come to mind) but Druid is the only class that lets us frequently turn into a giant werebeast. And yet we're forced to abandon the unique Druid ability after a few levels to be yet another full-time casting class? I'd gladly sacrifice spellcasting to be able to build a viable Spiritshift. In fact, I'd be okay with players being given the option to build up the Spiritshift at the cost of building up decent spellcasting, to build up spellcasting at the cost of having a halfway decent Spiritshift (as it is now), or have a mediocre "middle of the road" by building up a bit of both. As Dongom said, we're not disappointed with the Spiritshift because we wanted the best of both worlds, but we would like to choose between which of the two worlds we want instead of getting herded into one while staring longingly at the other.

That's good. =) That's bad. =( And yeah, half the reason I love nature-based classes is because I love animals. I was looking forward to the Ranger and Druid almost specifically for the animal companion and spiritshift ability. If they're both just crippling liabilities at this point (where all the class strength comes from not using them) I might just go with my planned Cipher playthrough until it gets fixed... You and me both. v.v

Wow, so many complaints against the Ranger (especially the Animal Companion) and yet it's my favorite class. (And the animal my favorite class benefit; Piggy!) Second favorite is the Druid due to Spiritshift, but it looks like that's a liability too. My first Obsidian game was NWN2, and its animal companions/shapeshifter abilities had damage/survivability/usability issues too. After how much passion, creativity, and in-universe lore the devs put into the PoE Ranger's Animal Companion and Druid's Spiritshifter, I was really excited and hopeful that this one would work out. Hopefully it'll get patched soon--I hope it gets patched soon, because I still really like the Ranger and Druid in theory, and would love to still love them just as much in practice. (In the mean time, I'm glad I'm playing on Easy since Piggy is less likely to get stuffed.)

So far I've only played the Ranger, Druid, Cipher, and Chanter. I can't really pick a favorite because they're all great in different ways. Ranger uses archery and an animal companion, which are always great in my book. Druid lets us turn into a giant anthropomorphized animal and slap the organs out of our enemies, and the spells are great besides. Cipher is dang powerful and interesting. And the Chanter is very creative and interesting in theory, even though, on Easy Mode, it doesn't work too well in practice.

I had the same reaction, and still do to an extent. Right now I've got it narrowed down to a Wild Orlan Hunter (boar animal companion), a Nature Godlike Druid (stag spiritshift), a Death Godlike Cipher (your worst nightmare), and a Wood Elf Chanter. Everything else can wait, but it's hard deciding between these four.

My mom's boyfriend at the time introduced me to Neverwinter Nights back in 2004 (when I was in middle school)... and I've been hooked on the genre ever since. =)

Final stretch! Oh my God, it's hard to believe it's been over two years since you first pitched this game to Kickstarter. I learned about Project Eternity shortly after the donation time was closed, but that hardly mattered since you folks at Obsidian met all goals and then some. I'm so happy for all of you, and so look forward to playing Pillars of Eternity. <3

I'm still trying to decide between a Wood Elf and a Wild Orlan. (I usually play elves first, so maybe this will be a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and play one of the "Little People" first.) Class will be either Druid or Ranger, and the background will be the most "hard luck" available to that race/class combination. (I do love a good underdog story.) EDIT: Don't know enough else about the game to make a judgment call yet.

I was playing DAI, but the emphasis on shine over substance made me grow bored of it much sooner than anticipated, so now I'm playing Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of the Undertide and Hoards of the Underdark until Pillars of Eternity becomes available.

I rather agree with the. I'm hoping this game has more meaningful story, interaction, and characterization, and less filler (like obscenely massive open world, mostly just collection quests, etc.) I don't mind if the story os long or has lots of quests, just as long as they are substantive, tie into the narrative, allow for roleplay freedom (like how you choose to respond to the quest can allow you to explore/express your character's personality, values, etc), explore larger themes and motifs present in the game, etc. Not a bunch of fetch quests where the NPC just tells you what they need (10 ram flanks, five camp locations, husband's ring, etc), you go grab it, then bring it back to them and cash in on XP like they're people-shaped slot machines. =( EDIT: I don't hate BioWare or Dragon Age (in fact, I like the series), but I am a little disappointed in the direction they're going. DAO was praised for having such an engaging story, themes, roleplay freedom, illusion of choice, actions having far-reaching consequences, characters being well-written, complex, having satisfying character arcs, etc. So what do they do for the sequels? Why, naturally, simplify the stories, restrict roleplay freedom, railroad "choices", restrict character exploration and interaction, etc. I'm especially disappointed with DAI because I felt that it could have been great with more emphasis on story and characterization, but instead they chose to focus on massive open worlds and pointless fetch quests. It has over 150 hours of gameplay, true, but I think it would be generous to say 25 of those hours go toward the central story and companion interactions.

Is the Spiritshifting ability really as bad as people say? That's highly disappointing. In theory, I always thought some kind of shapeshifting ability seemed the most interesting from a role-playing and combat perspective. In practice, in most games they're painfully mediocre at best, crippling at worst. I was hoping Pillars of Eternity would be different since it's Obsidian's own intellectual property and they set out to make every class balanced and interesting from the beginning. It seems that was a fruitless hope for the Druid's spiritshifting ability after all. ='(

I hope Lephys is right and they fix the ranger between the last beta release and the final game release. Ranger was the class I was looking forward to most, along with the Druid. If they both turn out as gimped as people say, I'm gonna cry. EDIT: OP, why don't you choose the animal companion that speaks to you? Or turns out to work best with your chosen style of tactical combat? It just seems like a personal decision that should go with how you imagine your character, not based on what a bunch of random strangers on the internet tell you is "best."

Depends on the character. I'm almost certain my ranger will worship the god of the hunt, my druid will worship the god of the water and moon, and my wizard will worship the god of secrets and revelations.

A release date, really? Oh, this is wonderful news! I can't wait!

Female. I always play female characters.

Are there going to be romances in this game? If there are, I'm all for it. They're just put down so often in the thread by devs and users alike that I assumed there weren't going to be any.

I don't know. Depends on what I like when the game comes out. I know I'll definitely play a ranger, druid and chanter, and organize my party accordingly.

Based on what I've seen after playing BG, IWD and NWN2, I think the racism will most likely show up in conversation, not game mechanics. If you play a race that's largely untrusted (like the drow or tiefling of NWN2) you'll get a lot of frightened or untrusting comments, and even people who try to discredit you with your heritage. You'll also get a lot of nods no matter what you are, like being acknowledged as a fellow elf from an elven character, or receive an incredulous comment from humans if they haven't seen many of your kind around (like halflings in BG). But I'm not sure about being barred from certain shops or quests. This game seems like it'll have much richer racial histories, cultures, and socio/economic interactions than in Forgotten Realms games though, so I'd like to think they'll be more in-game acknowledgement and consequences of our race selection. More comments, more opportunities, more detractions, etc.