Helz

I understand where you are coming from regarding the stretch goals, and I know I'm in the minority on this, but I think the Stronghold, the Endless Paths, and the ship combat are all awesome. There would be no PoE or PoE2 without crowdfunding. For decades, no publisher would touch a 2D, isometric, RTwP RPG. Now the market is "saturated". If you like the genre, you have crowdfunding to thank (and I have you to thank for being a backer). I felt like a lot of the development quicksand in PoE2 was rewriting half the mechanics from the first game. If they make a third, they can (and should) keep what they have and polish it to a bright shine.

This happened to me on version 5.0.0.0040 (latest build). Unfortunately, I knew nothing about the flail at the time, so I didn't reload.

Right after I won a battle in the Drowned Barrows against some Scrivener Warlocks, my FPS suddenly dropped to single digits. I saved and quit. When I reload, my MC is in his underwear and all equipment except weapons and pet are gone. He also has active combat only buffs even though we're out of combat. I suspect this happened because he was polymorphed with Form of the Helpless Beast at the moment we won the fight. I can upload my Save file if anyone cares, but its over the max size limit.

I'm playing a barb-berserker/fighter (brute) for my first character. He's dual-wielding, but 2-handed would work great. The extra reach would help when cleave-stance procs; my dude whiffs a lot on those. Very early on (< level 5), he's kinda boring. Once you get some fighter and barb full attack abilities, it gets fun. Its a balancing act keeping him in position to hit as many enemies as possible without being overwhelmed. Being a berserker makes things more interesting, you don't want to be too close to friends and you can't see your HP. He's a Nature Godlike, but you can adjust for human and whatever background you like. His base attributes are: Might: 15 Const: 12 Dext: 15 (+1 Godlike, +1 Deadfire Arch) Perc: 12 Int: 12 (+1 Godlike) Res: 12 Like you, I prefer balanced characters. Gear and Frenzy bonuses make him uncommonly powerful. At level 14 he's done 2-3 times as much damage as anyone else in the party (he's also taken the most damage and been knocked out the most times). I'm playing on Veteran with full scaling upwards. Whatever class you go with, I suggest specializing in 2 weapon types. Either Greatsword & Morning Star (or) Estoc & Pollaxe, so that you have all 3 damage types covered. Some enemies are resistant/immune to slash and pierce and you'll want to crush them.

Summon spells are good. Maura's Writhing Tentacles work wonders for crowd control. The description is misleading, they don't hit friendlies. They have a lot of HP so they rarely die before the summon expires, and they attract a lot of aggro. Every attack is 3 aoe hits and they can immobilize multiple enemies. The Substantial Phantom dishes out a lot of damage and casts Arduous Delay of Motion. Its been said, but big, slow bruisers and pasty, noodle-armed casters are practically begging for a Slicken to ruin their day.

Hi, I recently started playing and my MC is a level 12 Berserker Brute nature godlike. I'm playing on the difficulty below PotD. Early on, he was a bit underwhelming. It took a while to figure out where to position him. Fighting beside Eder (main tank) was problematic because of the friendly-fire, but charging into the fray for max carnage was risky as hell. It didn't help that I had him wearing light armor for speed. I kept putting him in heavier armor, until at this point he's wearing Reckless brigandine. When combat starts, I activate Disciplined Barrage and Frenzy, then move in on a flank. This was about it at first, just autoattacks and reapplying DB and Frenzy. He's always frenzied. Once I got Penetrating Strike and Barbaric Blow (Fighter and Barb full attacks), things got fun and red numbers are flying all over the place. Upgrading to Disciplined Strikes and Blood Frenzy was a major improvement as well. He's currently dual-wielding sword (Modwyr) and battleaxe and either the sword or the berserker is constantly howling in laughter. After reading your post, I wondered how he'd do, so I turned on full upwards level scaling and PotD. We won our first big fight, but its obvious the enemies have a ton more HP, and it took almost an hour to kill them all. We also had to use all of our daily empower abilities, and in the end we had 3 injuries (none to the brute, but he was at 5% health). So its doable, but I don't know if I want to spend that much time and effort on every fight. Anyway, the brute is a blast to play after he gets some abilities. The hidden HP is a bit annoying, but I've prioritized abilities/equipment that make him tougher at lower HP and when facing lots of enemies, and that's helped. Also auto-pause on low health is handy. The Nature Godlike has great synergy with the berserker, he's always getting an extra power level. I'm mostly playing blind, but my rule of thumb is to prioritize higher power levels and that seems to be paying off. Companion-wise: Eder, Aloth, and Xoti are pure classes. I also have a hired companion that's dual-class Rogue/Illusionist. Our main weakness is nobody can dispel afflictions very well.

I finally bought Deadfire last month. I backed the first PoE, but didn't start playing it until it was patched and all of the DLCs were released. I wanted to experience the finished version. I didn't complete it until well after Deadfire came out. Watching the forum, I could tell that the sequel was being reworked even more than the original had been. I could afford to wait. I think its great news that Obsidian already broke even on Deadfire. That means that sales from here on are profit, and this is the type of game that ages really well. The game has maintained a relatively high price for how long its been out. I expect it will be a steady revenue stream for Obsidian for a long time to come.

Its great to see the upgrade to stealth, as well as the party AI. This leaves me hopeful that you might still upgrade the enemy AI. Will enemies remain in stealth and backstab? Please add more variability to enemy actions in general; give them counters for common player tactics. That will make the game more challenging and fun.

I liked the extra descriptions, they gave me something to read while I waited for the voiced dialogue to end. I eventually just turned off voice sound all together though, I like the game better without it.

I agree with you here. Usually within an hour or two you'll know whether a game is for you. Watching a video on youtube might even be enough for someone to make a decision, but to then start making a bunch of nitpicky gripes when you haven't even experienced it for yourself just makes you look like an attention-whore. I haven't bought the game yet, so I actually appreciate hearing some criticism, but judgements from others who haven't played it are worthless. edit; I wouldn't have bothered responding to this half-troll post if the person in question hadn't 'liked' it.

I always start my games on the setting above normal. Ironman modes can be fun sometimes, but they limit experimentation too much for me. I like to take on overwhelming odds from time to time, and I'd rather not ruin my entire playthrough if things don't work out.

The less voiceover the better. Reading is fundamental.

All of these things are operating costs associated with developing a game. They were paid for through Kickstarter. Getting all the money up front is the whole point of the program. Now assuming they've managed their money properly and were able to predict these costs reasonably accurately, all sales from this point forward should be mostly profit. Staff bonuses and things are hardly a concern if they're predicated on sales, seeing as no sales means no bonuses. Are people against them doing another Kickstarter? As long as PoE turns out to be as good as it looks, I would have no qualms about backing more games from Obsidian. I'm more concerned with their newfound entanglements with MMO's, the moneypits of game development.

Rather than making certain classes less interactive, I'd prefer that the companion AI is decent enough to be competent without a lot of 'interference'. They won't operate at peak efficiency, but they should be good enough to play through on the easier settings. That way someone with a more laid back playstyle can be happy, yet players like me who actually enjoy RTwP party based tactical combat can have fun with all of the members of our party, instead of just half of them. When I said I thought the shield bonuses were pretty bad, I didn't necessarily mean that they aren't strong enough. More like they aren't very inspired. I think they should have more tactical use. For instance, say a shield user can block barbarians and rogues from rushing past him within a certain distance. Then you could line up three warriors with shields and have a viable shield wall. Or at least make them more resistant to ranged attacks. Or reduce chance to be critted unless flanked. There are a bunch of ways to make it more interesting. edit: I don't want to make it sound like I'm all negative btw. One thing I really like is the multi-weapon specializations. That's awesome.

I'm a little disappointed that warriors are "low maintenance". I'd think being on the frontline would require extra attention, not less. I understand that some classes need to be easier to play I guess, but I was hoping you'd make them more fun to play. Also, the shield bonuses are pretty bad, I really hope you guys have time to add fighting styles and make them more interesting. On the positive side, barbarians sound very cool. I'm not so sure about the obscured stamina/health bar. Do other status effects mess with the UI? If not, its kind of strange.

Got Papers Please during the GOG sale. I spent the first couple of hours figuring it out. I used to work in a parking hut many years ago, and it really brought me back. "Why am I playing this?" I asked myself. Told my wife about the 'horrible game' I bought, and she laughed at me. "It sounds like you're playing a job, why would anyone do that?" She asked. I said, "I don't know, I told you it was horrible." I spent 3 more hours playing it today.

I like the idea. Even if a certain NPC has "good" stats, he's not necessarily built the way you'd want him to be to complement your party. The characters may be preconfigured, but that doesn't mean you couldn't be given the option to change around their feats and things when they first join your group.

I've always loved how in the Fallout games, you can get an entire town to go hostile if a citizen gets hit by a misfired bullet. I like exploiting this by putting neutral NPC's in the crossfire and getting my enemies to accidentally shoot them. Nothing like an army of pimps and prostitutes fighting for you in New Reno. In Fallout 3/NV, I really enjoy finding NPC patrols/merchants on the roads, then running ahead and luring groups of hostiles into them. I like these kinds of AI mechanics and wish other games used them more.

The best Kickstarter rewards I've seen have come from the people doing Kingdom Come: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance/posts/749535 I generally think of all those "collectibles" as a bunch of cheap junk, but that stuff is awesome.

I want this game to be challenging from beginning to end, discounting overpowered builds/gear on normal difficulty. I want this game to be challenging, even with optimal builds/gear on the hardest difficulty. I don't really care how Obsidian achieves that, I just wish that they would.

Huh, well I guess I don't remember Mega Man that well. I don't think I played one after the NES.

I agree with you on the graphics. They don't look that great, and the combo stuff is annoying. Healthbars, huh? That isn't the Megaman I remember. One hit and you're throwing the controller across the room. That's the Megaman I remember.

Despite how what I said might have come across, I want to add that I don't defend piracy. Every excuse people make for it rings hollow to me. I don't believe for a second that someone "testing a game out" is actually going to buy it after they've already played it, nor do I buy into the anti-DRM justification. By stealing the game, they're validating the publisher's choice to use DRM in the first place and screwing over the rest of us.

It's pretty easy to feel that way if you're not actually a target of it. Overall though, I don't believe piracy is anywhere near as big a problem as its made out to be. In the OPs situation, I'd share the damn novella. Would the publisher be better off if he didn't buy it and none of his friends ever read it? Or would they benefit from the one sale they got and the interest in Wasteland 2 that it generated?

I was going to suggest this. Its annoying when loading screens have useful hints or information about the area written on them and you only get to see it for a split second before its gone.