Iankas

Now this is an interesting one. You have done your homework and check the obvious, right ? Do both computers have storage medium with roughly the same speed ? for example both have SSD of about equivalent performance like Sandisk Extreme Pro in one computer and Samsung 840 Pro in the other. Are you sure both have nothing else going on that can slow them down ? No compiling, virtual machine running, serving web site, torrenting, and the like. Both have the same version and the same save game ? IIRC people tell me the longer you play the longer the autosave and in consequence area transition will also take longer. Did you check in Task Manager during load screen where the bottleneck is ? CPU is the likeliest culprit but storage is a possibility if you're not on a good SSD. SSD does become slower as it fills up but it shouldnt be this dramatic.

I can tell you the SSD is no panacea with respect to the loading times either. Still taking 10 to 14 seconds per load screen. Haha. That is exactly what I wrote in this very thread a few days ago ( see below). Basically : One has to have both fast SSD AND fast CPU to achieve a barely tolerable speed. Crazy thing is you could play games like Shadow of Mordor which has huge and detailed 3D open world with superb graphics yet the loading time will be faster than PoE then after the initial load it will be almost seamless.

14 loading screens might have been simply been exaggeration to drive the point home. But 14 screens are actually just 7 area transitions since he has to go back the same way. 3 screens to go up 2 levels then use Master Stair back to stronghold 2 screens to go sleep in your bed (or an inn) 2 screens to go back to stronghold courtyard 2 screens to go to a vendor with supplies then back to courtyard 3 screens to go back to the original level That would be 12 loading screens. 10 if he slept at an inn which also sell supplies. Either way, pretty ridiculous. Pretty much necessitating having SSD and pretty fast CPU lest one'd smash his head on the wall with frustration.

You sound like you looked up argumentum ad populum on Wikipedia and just wrote it here to sound vaguely intellectual. We are talking about how the difficulty / complexity in PoE is perceived. Something that is inherently subjective. Objective claim -> same truth value for everyone ("earth is spherical") Subjective claim -> different truth value for different people ("Anna is pretty") Maybe learn the basics before you "educate" others ? Most posts in General Discussion obviously wont pertain to tactics as there is a sub-forum just for those discussion in the "Strategies" subforum. A sub-forum which is full of tactics that would break the game; hence me contending those who are ridiculously active in the forum are not the best judge for the game's difficulty. There's certainly a lot of argument to be made that the game can seem simple by around the mid-game at least. But again, until someone comes up with an extensive documention on how it could be improved AND create a mod / patch for PoE. I just dont see how whining about it incessantly would solve anything. In any case I'm done with this thread. Unlike some, I dont have all the time in the world. ** Here's ad hominem for you since you love fallacies so much :instead of trying to "educate" people on the internet, perhaps you should look for work instead since you oh so proudly display for all the world to see that you're "destitute and nearing homeless" therefore didn't even buy the game...

Your post numbers represent, at least partly, the amount of time you put into learning about the game. I definitely think that it illustrates quite clearly the huge divide in perception between the no-lifer forum-goers and your average game reviewers, hardcore gamers in their own right, who pointed out in their their reviews that PoE is quite difficult. Making it even more difficult means it is not accessible to all but the most hardcore of gamers. Saying that it is argumentum ad populum is just idiotic. Do you even understand what it is ? We are talking about opinions and perceptions. There is no one truth that overrides all other. In this forum we perceive the game to be not that hard, which I DO NOT DISAGREE WITH. Just that given that forumgoers already bought the game and most will buy future Obsidian games, they would be wise to focus their efforts elsewhere for the time being. As for EA and Bioware ... EA is making 150 million of net profit every quarter. Pretty sure most gaming studios would be A-okay being in their position. Divinity OS is a whole different fruit than PoE. Even when it just came out reviewers already pointed out that the difficulty curve goes down the longer the game goes. Here's one quote from RPGFan "Worse yet, mid to late game combat is astonishingly easy on the normal difficulty setting and the frequency of combat increases, as if the developers ran out of other ideas.". If even game reviewers think this game is too easy, obviously its most fanatic fans will be doubly as vocal in their protest for a "fix". Let me reiterate though. I definitely think an increase in difficulty would be just fine for me and the most hardcore PoE fans. More option is not a bad thing. However given the that there are still areas in the game in need of polish and fixes, difficulty increase seems like it should be way down the priority list.

But why should Obsidian follow your (our) every whims ?* We already bought the game. Most of us will buy the expansion and sequels anyways, no matter what we say in this forum. Those who starve for IE-like CRPGs gonna buy Pillars of Eternity anyways. As mentioned we represent a tiny minority who are very vocal. Business-wise they should somehow make the game more appealing to the wider masses. Increasing the difficulty is counterproductive to that. Catering to the tiny minority is counterproductive to that. I simply do not see the logic behind increasing the difficulty when the numbers of player is already so low. * Moreover I just noticed you have freakin' 2500 posts in the forum. How is it you dont realize that you (even more than most in the forum) are completely, absolutely in the minority and do not experience the game the same way as most of us who did not go into the game knowing it inside and out ? After 2.5k post, it sounds like it is time to move on.

Pillars of Eternity represents the creme de la creme of western hardcore RPG. Highest funding ever on kickstarter. Superstar developers from the IE RPGs A proven gaming studio loved by the hardcore fans. Extensive coverage from mainstream gaming media and the rave reviews that came with it. Even with all that PoE sales still only hovers around the 300k mark. So no. I doubt this will start a new wave of hardcore, DnD-like, CRPGs

Are we the right people to judge the difficulty of this game though ? Just by being active in the forum makes you a niche of a niche market. Or to puff up ourselves, we could say we represent the best of the best of all Pillars of Eternity players. Many in this forum are IE veterans, some even did so with mods that made the game more difficult. Some have tried the game in Beta. Some have deep knowledge of the game mechanics having backed it in Kickstarter and reading the update. Some have read character builds, combat tips and tricks in the forum even before installing the game. We represent years of accumulated game knowledge. If Obsidian were to cater to this super-niche player segment then they'd be just killing themselves. Many reviews have stated that even in Normal difficulty the game is rather difficult for the reviewers. Imagine if the difficulty is raised (way) higher as some in this forum would like it to be: It'd be lucky to break 100k in sales. Mod the game yourself. Wait for a mod. Restrict yourself from using the more powerful combat techniques. Whatever suits you except whining about it.

Thank you very much ! Have stopped playing PoE eve since April 9th to wait for the final release of 1.04. Was devastated when I couldnt apply the patch. You saved the day !

Pillars of Eternity patch log Update from version 2.1.0.3 to 2.1.1.4 Incorrect version of: c:\Games\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data\conversations\companions\companion_cv_durance_hub_ashfall_v2.conversation Incorrect version of: c:\Games\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data\conversations\companions\companion_cv_durance_hub_v2.conversation Eric Fenstermaker has kindly uploaded a temporary fix for the Path of Durance quest. Unfortunately it caused the 1.04 patch from GOG to fail. Could someone please upload the 1.03 version of the two files above ? Surely I am not the only one being an idiot and did not backup the files before manually patching them )

I really wish Wizards are able to cast all the spells known to them, just like Druids and Priests. Given the overall power level is similar (if not disadvantageous to the Wizards) there's little reason to restrict Wizards to only 4 spells per spell level. Between having to find Grimoire with the correct spell, spending money to inscribe said spells AND having to select 4 out of 8 spells every level; Wizards do feel like a poor man's Druid.

To me this is a very poor attitude. I don't go around the forum, checking for suggestions for OPTIONS that I unlikely to use then proceed to elucidate why that is bad thing (which would also imply that a person have too much free time on their hand). If it were made to be optional and I dont think I need it, I will simply refrain from mouthing off. Especially in a single player game. Every player has different needs, just because I dont need it does not mean everyone else dont. I dont know how they play, maybe they are multitasking, maybe they have disabilities. I do not know so I would shut up unless I have a constructive criticism. But ... that's just me.

Wow. Is this on the manual ? Guess I skimmed it while waiting for the download and promptly forgot. Thank you for the tip. I still would love to see a customizable hotbar though, there are a lot of spells and plenty of space left on the UI.

Thing is, if you are on the harder difficulty level or have a bunch squishy characters then that 1 second of the game not being paused can really make a difference. Especially earlier in the game where you dont have a lot of tools as spellcasters to deal with enemies up on your face. Not sure what's up with all the resistance. If the OPTION were available and you dont like it then simply dont use it.

Hey there, nice impressions. Some questions though: 1. Which difficulty level did you choose ? 2. Did you spend a lot of time replaying battles because of the difficulty ? I'm just trying to figure how you managed to play for 130 hours. At the moment, I've just started Act 3 and trying to figure out how long I have left if I am being a completionist.

Man, I wish people would stop bleating "SSD SSD SSD" as if it were a panacea to loading times problem. Also it is kinda pointless to point out that you have a fast loading time when you have an i5 Ivy Bridge with 16 gig RAM and RAID 0 SSDs. That's like twice the computing power of the recommended spec. Simply irrelevant. Now as for myself, I have a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD and loading time is somewhat annoying (15 - 20 seconds). The SSD has a high burst of activity in the couple of seconds but after that the loading time is gated by my weak CPU (AMD A8-7600). It seems PoE only able to use up to 2 cores. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be improved by patches. I think an option to load all the smaller areas in the main map i.e. load all the indoors area would be useful. For some people it is better to wait one full minute and then be able play uninterrupted for 5+ minutes. Right now doing some missions in town or doing stuff in the Stronghold means a multitude of 20 seconds of gameplay followed by 20 seconds of loading screen.

I'm using a fast SSD as well but .. it's about the interruption more than anything else. Yes it is merely 5-10 seconds but it happens rather frequently and at times excessively so. I remember one particular instance in Act 2: Dunryd Row (told to go to Crucible) -> In Crucible, got their support, told to go back to Dunryd -> in Dunryd told to go to the Duke's Palace. It was like 20 loading screens before I finally get to have more than 1 minute of gameplay. The annoyance sometimes prevent me from using a game feature. For example I was done doing the Endless Path since my party is low on health. After exiting to the Stronghold courtyard map I briefly considered going to Brighthollow room to sleep but decided against it since it would require FOUR loading screens just to go back to where I was. I'd rather sleep on the road and waste 75gp on camping supplies.

I didnt know about Steamspy. Thanks for the tip, it is such an interesting website. PoE hasnt done as well as I had hoped, especially after a chorus of rave reviews. At only around 300k sales despite all the publicity, we simply have to admit that this kind of RPG has a very niche market. On the censorship: I am disappointed with the behaviour of many members of the forum instead. Obsidian was put in a very difficult position and they did the only thing they could do. As a medium sized game developer, Obsidian does not have the freedom that a small indie has. You'd think this would be very obvious.

Eternity's resting system harken back to the old school RPG. Not every battle will present the party with the possibility of defeat, but you are still required to win with efficiency lest you will lose in the long run to attrition. Many, especially those who backed the kickstarter like the system. Some people dont like it. But that's all right. Cant please everyone. I sympathize with being annoyed with the bugs, I have to refrain from playing the games too until the patch comes out in GoG. That said, perhaps you should consider that this game just isnt for you. Instead of long ass post with bright colors in the forum, maybe find other games more to your liking.

Personally I feel they've done a great job with the resting system. Playing my first game on Hard i.e. can only rest twice: Having to manage my resources carefully makes for a better game. Being able to use my big spells all the time makes for a boring and repetitive game play. Being resource constrained I am forced to constantly change my tactic according to what's available to me. As a rule I try to withhold resting as much as possible when playing IE games so it carries over. Punished for being unprepared and forgetting to resupply is a good gameplay design in my eyes. But there's no denying that many players are unable / unwilling to play the game until the patch is out and we are still waiting even in the middle of Easter holiday. I chose GOG and kinda regretting it now if this is going to keep happening for all subsequent patches (being late days compared to Steam).