CaptainMace

It's just not the same companion design logic. Baldur's gate was all about second degree, a sort of hommage to the typical characters we'd incarnate during p&p sessions. The sneaky thieves, the plotting wizards, the light-hearted badass warriors, the aragorn-like rangers etc. Added to the general funny tone were some very peculiar individuals, including a depressive folk (love you xan <3) or a power-mongering crazy midget. They kept, somehow, this logic for BG2 though they added a well-deserved and needed depth... that still makes 'em archetypes, the faithful aspirant to a paladin order, the plotting wizard is still a plotting wizard etc. POE companions are more about participating in the game's lore, hence why so many of 'em either come from a specific land or worship a specific god, and their design is both about their own personality and giving the player some insight on the universe and its history. It's clearly not the same, Edwin for example is a red mage of Thay, yet his purpose as a character was clearly not to know more about them, but more to reference it. Since BG design considered the player would be familiar with the forgotten realms, and those who wouldn't still had a tonne of books to know more if that interested them.

Mike Laidlaw is in charge of DA. No idea about Mass Effect 4. Salt at even mentioning that BioWare did something. Why do you care if a dev at BW doesn't know who Obsidian are? And if they are in the industry, and in the RPG genre, and they work at BioWare, you can 100% bet they know who Obsidian are. I get that it's cool to hate on BioWare because of EA (and let's face it, that's the only reason), but getting angry simply because one group of people did something nice for another group of people? That's lame. There are better things to get upset about. Was about people who'd say stuff like "glad bioware likes crpgs again" and how it doesn't make sense. But I get the confusion, sorry for that. like this : Yes, and this Bioware that developped Baldur's Gate is nothing like the ones who made DA2 and DAI. And wasn't that free about the conception of DAO in the last 1-2years, see the itws of forgot-his-name who was lead on the project (and who quit after that). Concerning DAO I quite didn't like it, but I'll admit the intention was there (at the beginning, before console-shenanigans). You should tell that to the people who worked on its marketing, they sold Dragon Age Origins back then as the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate :')

Salt about what ? Who are your favorite game designers from Bioware right now ? Beside, how does that answer my point at all ? Why would we speak of "bioware" when there's such a turnover and a close management with EA, we have no idea who's actually leading projects there ? What does bioware mean when a random development studio in charge of Command and Conquer bears its name ?

Personally don't care about not knowing currency values. It's my money and I need it now.

What about a paint module to draw every npc portrait ? I did the caravan chief from the beginning :

... man... people backed the game over what they said... now that the game is released is precisely the moment to care about what they said. Again, claiming it's not legitimate to compare it with baldur's gate is just foolish. This being said, IWD indeed wasn't as linear as people make it be. It sure wasn't much about drifting off the road, but there was still a nice share of side content.

You smart bae, matter of fact you a genius. Say my name.

You do realise the game sold itself, and still does, as a game combining "exploration of BG, combat of IWD and narration of PST" right ? I'm not saying it succeeds in all of that, but that'd be foolish to consider illegitimate the comparision with all IE games. Who's interested in what they said it would be? Pretty much all the (sane) backers.

You do realise the game sold itself, and still does, as a game combining "exploration of BG, combat of IWD and narration of PST" right ? I'm not saying it succeeds in all of that, but that'd be foolish to consider illegitimate the comparision with all IE games.

Well banters actually trigger, from what I've noticed, only in cities, maybe only in big cities. I remember that during my exploration of the Bay, anytime I'd exit a building or transition through the districts, a banter would proc. There seem to be a lot of 'em by the way. So yeah, it's normal you haven't witnessed any yet, I understand your worries now.

There are banters in PoE, maybe you missed 'em.

There was no discussion between companions in BG1, unless you consider the random "i like you" "thanks" and "i don't like you" "well f**k you too" as conversations. Internal fights were cool, but of course wouldn't work with only 8 companions, that's the only thing I'd miss... and yet I wouldn't care past the first playthrough since I wouldn't, obviously, build a team with non-compatible companions.

Yeah I remember how deep and interesting was Khalid stuttering... More seriously I see what you mean. Yet it's obvious that companions in PoE are closer to the design idea of PST than BG... that's why I don't get the grief about it, it's just not the same companion design logic at all. Yet the IWD self-made-team-of-aces is although possible in POE, so imo, it's actually way better than BG in terms of replayability in regards of team composition. (btw Durance and GM > any BG character)

Why do people speak of Bioware like some sort of sentient supra-human being. There has been such a turnover since 2008, the only thing it shares with the baldur's gate dev studio is the damn name. "-Heard the news ? We sent some cookies and congratz to Obsidian Entertainment ^^ -Who the f**k is Obese Fan Entertainment ?" ...is pretty much how I believe some bioware employees perceived this gift.

I've read people complain about that too, but I never did myself. Actually, companions are fine as they are, considering the impact of attributes on a character efficiency (which is not decisive imo). However i'll say it as long as I believe it, the hard mode doesn't fit its description in the difficulty selection screen during the whole Act 2, and all the side-content available during this part of the game. I'm kinda tired of the "damn ego maniac" bulls**t... fighting enemies with such a deflection that your base accuracy on half the party is already higher is not a situation that "requires optimization through items, spells, etc" as the description says. So my point being, the problem resides in the encounters during Act 2.

1. So basically, there's no lack of replayability, as you admit there's a wide spectrum of party building available right at the beginning... the fact you don't want to do it doesn't mean it isn't there. You can make your PC a barb, a rogue or a monk and you'd be able to play these classes. Again, the fact you don't want to do so, for any reason, doesn't mean it's impossible. 2. Damn right. That'd be fixed though, since this problem doesn't occur on Mac afaik. 3. It really is. Maybe not better than BG2, in terms of encounters that is. But it's clearly better than BG1 imo. The combat system is superior and only suffers from the lack of better encounter design, which is something easily fixed by an add-on and easily improved on a sequel. I'd have other things in mind to criticize though : encounter design as I said, items lack unique effect through the game, there's a lack of party vs party fights. Although there's a damn load of bugs right now :/ I'd add a difficulty drop on Act 2 (beside the tower in Defiance Bay docks) before it becomes interesting again in Act 3.

Concerning localizations, paradox is improving since 2006. I remember EU3 and Victoria II on release... their french versions were simply unplayable :') I play POE in english since I wandered in the temple ruins in Gilded Vale. The translation of the clues about the three bells was so f***ed that I just wasn't able to resolve it. Turned the game in english and it got crystal clear. Anyway i'm not surprised. Still like what I read there : Hope the cooperation goes well for Obsidian, i'm a paradox braindead fanboy and it seemed the swedes wanted to step a foot in the RPG genre for some time now. Glad there's a publisher focused on PC and earning some fame and success for 5 years now.

There's a level 2 priest spell (last in the list) that cures any negative status if i'm not mistaken.

I'd say that means the weapon with "accuracy 1" can't receive another enchantment from the first type, while the weapon with "accuracy" can.

Rpgcodex folks aren't that harsh about the game. Beside roxxor doing his roxxor and sensuki pretty mad after he realised people actually don't care about engagement, it's pretty much like here in a more codexian way (ie. they always tone down the appreciation so they keep their street-cred yo). I mean, their rating thread is pretty clear about that. Although i think that press and player reviews is enough praise, and it's now about fixing bugs and reworking stuff, so it's kinda counter-productive to create another thread for that.

Yeah it seems that some people struggle in easy mode while some easily wander through Path of the damned, dat's news. Now to go back to what you said, yes, it should be challenging but not frustrating, that's how normal mode is described. You claimed it's not. The rest is pointless shenanigans to determine what challenging means, whatever, it's still how normal mode is presented.

Not today. And not by BG1's/ IWD's/ IWD2's/PS:T's standards. Dude it's literally written in the game. As for the lack of challenge, I think it only concerns the mid-game. I still believe rewarding a bit less xp from gilded vale to defiance bay would be cool. For side stuff at least, so the crit path isn't affected.

I think the safest way to go is to : - Never swap any party member. You can dismiss them, but don't take 'em back after that. Though that's probably not a problem as long as you dismiss them with nothing equipped, but I still don't really know if that affects the missions you send them on, so... Although dismissing them reset their general stats (which I don't care about but some do), in addition to all the potential stacking defenses etc. - Don't equip items that grant bonuses for the same attribute, defense, etc - Avoid raedric's hold interiors beside the main one. - Obv. don't double click to equip stuff. I'm pretty sure there's nothing else that can bother your game beside that list.

Hehe. C wut u did ther m8.

Killing bandits is fantasy ? Wolves and bears are fantastic creatures !