Abel

These talents are obtained through quests. Since you can export a complete save at the end of Pillars 1, and since Pillars 2 will put an emphasis on the consequences of the choices you made both in Pillars 1 and Pillars 2, i would be really surprised if these were not exported too. It would be a damn huge bummer, even though i don't plan to get the "evil" talents.

Most of this is pretty much what i said. I guess we agree about almost everything. The difference is that i feel that spellcasters in Pillars are more... well "straightforward" than in the IE games. I feel they need more attention in the old games while fighter type classes need more in Pillars. That's why i said that the micro is more equally balanced between characters in Pillars than it was in BG. As i wrote, i agree with the SFX problem, too. That's why i concluded than having less intrusive SFX, like in the IE games, would help a great deal. Obsidian is aware of this and design these SFX for Pillars 2 with that in mind, according to FIG updates. In the end the only thing we don't agree about is: "does 6 party members management in Pillars need more micro than in BG?". And what i feel is that once the SFX problem is solved and the mechanics are made clear, it would not be the case anymore. Which is why i talked about bringing party to 5 as a way of solving a problem without adressing its causes (if SFX is better, the last problem is the unclear game ruleset). It seems to me you feel different about this. Well, i'm not pretending i'm right. It's just my impression. As i said i'm more concerned about the differences between 5 and 6 party members when it comes to the relationship system and banters. I'm no specialist of combat, even though i'm used to the old IE systems.

I don't feel a game is all about things you "need". I don't even need to play in order to live to begin with.

As i said before, my grievance about having only 5 members in the party is not about balance, combat or anything like that, it's about banters, relationship complexity in the group and life of the party as a whole. But still... I've read here and there some people arguing that, for the sake of combat and clarity of things, 5 is better than 6. That 6 may be too much. Some even argue that 4 may be best. I don't think it's necessary, but i will still write this as a reminder: "Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale had 6 party members". I don't feel like combat was a mess in these games. 6 Party members only allowed for more intense combats and more synergies between party members. In my opinion, the reasons why combat in Pillars 1 was messy and hard to handle was because the VFX prevented from being able to read what was going on on screen, and because tooltips being unclear, and mechanics being inconsistent made the player wonder how things actually worked: when the ruleset is poorly explained, it's no wonder the player is confused while using these rules. I don't feel things need to be simplified. They just need to be conveyed properly as they are, with less instrusive VFX. You may argue that fighters need more micro in Pillars that in Baldur's Gate. I would answer to that that Pillars has not the complex yet captivating system of protective spells versus piercing magic spells the IE games had (and i miss it). So, i would say that it's just that the micro is more balanced between every party member in Pillars than it was in BG. So in the end, arguing that 5 is better for the sake of making things more clear may be a mistake in my opinion. It's a way to solve a problem without adressing the actual causes of said problem. Players are not dumbasses. Allow them to understand how things work, and to see on screen what is going on, and they will fare well enough with 6 party members. That's what i thought. Am i wrong?

Some say now that soulbounds are not powerful enough. Next time, some would argue that since soulbounds have been up, other stuff is trash and is disappointing, and so on... I wonder if it's the same guys who complain that PoTD is too easy? I don't think the problem is that soulbounds are not powerful enough. To me, the problem is more about itemisation, and that, aside from grey sleeper, the unlocls make me think of boring fetch quests (go kill 26589 rats, go get 1485636 flowers,...). I'm neither a specialist of builds nor a real power gamer (i need to write it before i explain my point). To me, one of the problem of itemisation in Pillars is not the relative power of items, but rather than it's hard to have a clear idea what an item actually do. Too many little enchantments on the same item that don't really complement well each other makes it hard to figure out what is the best option for the type of gameplay you have planned for 1 character. As an example, if i found an exceptionnal axe which made 20% hits to crits (along with its inherent +0.5X crit multiplier), i would be tempted to use it and to try this ability that allows better crits. With another exceptional axe that gives the marking skill, i will have to think hard while watching all the game items in order to find items which work welll with this axe and every other items in order to help me define a focus for my character. Same with abilities. There are gloves that give +2 con +1 str which does not stack with this item that gives 2 str and 1 res, so should i use this cape that gives 3 str instead and look for something else for the gloves and such? I feel that BG items were more straightforward. Carsomyr barely overlapped the enchantments of other items. There were just a few complex items, like the unic katana or the wizard staff. Actually, i forgot one reason why i still haven't finished the game yet. It's that this itemisation gives me headaches. I would rather have an exceptionnal armor that provides a wonderful 50% hits to grazes bonus than an OP one with 3 random major spell binds, and +1 all attributes. At least i would have an idea what i will need to have on other pieces of equipment. As for the nerf of the unlabored blade. I feel it would be a better idea to find a way for barbs and such not to proc the spells linked to items over and over again rather that nerf an item that will still be more useful to the said barb than to others. Since all abilities are different, this probably needs to be worked out early on in the development and etched in the game systems from the start. I would say that i don't think that the problem is that soulbound weapons are underpowered. It's more than they lack clear focus and effectiveness on a particular role and that the game system managing the procs is unbalanced to its core. Given the obsession of Josh for balancing, i can't imagine him not doing anything about that for Deadfire. Ah, and i feel like most of their visual designs are over the top. Too huge. Too much "in your face". That's why i love "grey sleeper" and i won't ever use "abydon hammer", especially on my tiny pale elf girl.

Well, i guess no one here would throw you to the pit for having such unfulfilled dreams. It's only natural. I have some, too. It must be the same for many others. I know it can be frustrating. But while it's possible to argue about design decisions at the current development stage, it's way more difficult when it comes to hard coded features like multiplayer. I guess all we all say is that having it in Pillars 2 is pretty much impossible for various reasons. But Inxile decided to introduce co-op multi in Wasteland 3 since the very start. You should advocate for multiplayer being introduced in a future, more combat-oriented, more budgeted Pillars game. Inxile showed it's always allowed to dream. You should just chose the right moment to fight for multi . I genuinely wish you good luck.

Once again, stop with the fairy tale about multiplayer being possibly thrown in in Pillars or any RPG at the last moment. It has to be developped along the rest of the game. You can't have an optional expansion adding it. Multiplayer is in the game, or it is not. I can't even imagine the consequences on the core game of a multiplayer patch thrown in afterward that would patch the game files of an already extremely complex game with very complex code. Even without mentionning the absolute lack of features of such co-op multi or PVP in game, would this not introduce game breaking bugs? I seem to remember reading somewhere a while ago that in some cases, even the engine must be coded while taking multiplayer into consideration. I'm not even sure that a patch installed afterward implementing no more than PVP in an arena would work smoothly (even without considering balance of pvp mechanics in the least). Probably some guys more knowledgeable about coding could discuss this better than me. Anyway, i guess multi have to be one of the/the focus of a game since the start. Advocating for another game in Pillars's universe which would have this feature would make more sense in my opinion. Even though i would not be interested in it for the reasons i explained above.

I want crafting to be part of the world and the lore. This implies: -Learning about it by lore, by NPC dialogues who make a living of it. Finding books or pieces of ancient lore painted on a wall of forsaken ruins (or whatever) which describe ingredients and their effects, along with places you may be able to find them, and a bit of base scientific hints about them, like botany for plants. One could read it if interested or ditch the reading. Obviously, the data you find should be useful. You should truly be able to guess where to find this refined metal you need to enchant your sword with this glinting, blinding effect, at least if you know enough about the lore linked to the archipelago. Make reading walls of text rewarding. Please, do not include this in the journal like the bestiary. I want to have look for it by myself. -Find real stores in the cities where you could find ingredients, NPC to learn about it, and crafting workbenches (rather than just having to press a dumb icon in a UI while wandering in the desert). I want to sense that enchantment and crafting is a real thing. That there is an economy for that. A guild maybe, or whatever. Just it being mentionned by NPC should be enough to make me feel that there are people everywhere, existing, living, making things, even if i don't always see them. A short questline to explore deeper how things work would be best. Like you learn how work the Vailian Trading Company ruled by Verzano (i guess) in Pillars 1. -Recipes that make sense. No systematic 1 gem, 1 creature ingredient and copper just as a money sink (i really dislike this, this makes no sense). Less of the sameness in the recipes. I want to be able to guess what a recipe do (and the lore i mentioned should help about it). I don't see, either, why every recipe would need 3 ingredients. Some could need 2 and others 5. No need to make every damn sort of creature drop a kind of ingredient. There must be wholly useless beings in the word, regarding crafting. Most should actually. If dropping crafting ingredient in the 1st game was a way to make the player feel rewarded for fights that would grant no experience, then find something else, because after the 50th wing of XXX, it does not work anymore. Or just bring back experience for combat. -Finding recipes through quests, exploration and stores. -More recipes and enchantments. Like in more varied (not more powerful). Some with utility purposes. I don't want OP combinations. Just some very specific enchantments that do not overlap these of unic items. Things that can prove fun, or usefull in very particular circumstances. Almost anything would do. -Leave the most powerful recipes to true pros. I don't think we should have been able to enchant beyond exceptional by ourselves in PoE1. Maybe it would be a good idea to link the crafting/enchantment to a skill, just in order to make sure not everyone in the party can do anything just out of the blue. Because it's cringing and boring. I did have to go look for Cromwell in order to craft the Crom Faeyr and it was in the end way more satisfying than just pressing a dumb "combine" button in the inventory. I want to experiment this sense of accomplishment once again. Like it was the case for the stronghold, managing everything with a UI is lazy, and not fulfilling in the least. Alternatively, just remove crafting. That would, at least, give more purpose to magic items you find in the game. Especially Uniques.

Didn't a bunch of the core Bioware team--writers, leads, etc.--leave after EA bought them? I mean, Jade Empire and 3/4 of Mass Effect were prior to EA and they both show a *LOT* of that "dumbed down" stuff that you think EA forced on them. Yes, absolutely. I made some researchs in the past, and what i understood is that the 2 remaining funders of Bioware agreed with EA buying them. They both quit Bioware several years ago. And a lot of people from the original Bioware quit over the years after EA bought them. It almost seems liike the 2 remaining co funders saw a way to make cash, and started to dumb down their games (did not play Mass Effect, but Dragon Age: Origins is still a good example of game developed before EA). I could even add to help your point that EA renamed numbers of random studios they owned across the world "Bioware XXX" while none had anything to do with Bioware, just to cash on the studio's name (like The remnants of Interplay tried to cash on the Black Isle name not so long ago (it was so pitiful though..)). And hence, a good part of the crap Bioware sell nowadays is actually not actual Bioware work. But Inquisition is. And still, it's not even comparable to what the already somewhat crappy Origins was. Inquisition had a lot more of the dumbed down features i mentionned than Origins. At the very least, it's hard not to notice that EA made no good to the studio in this regard. But still, i really don't think that Dragon Age 2 would have been the same, or even existed without EA. Publishers nowadays are almighty, because... cash. They are the ones who can pay the salaries and they force disingenuous conditions on the studios who need the money not to shut down. They aim for mainstrem games, mass market. Obviously i would find that Pillars and mainstream should not fit together.

Don't want it. A franchise like Pillars could never be mainstream without being dumbed down. Hertzila is right when he says that complex games are the exception nowadays. The standard now is dumbed down, brainless, cringing as hell sacks of emptiness. Even though it's Obsidian, i fear that they end up giving in to the appeal of mass market. Bioware did it when EA bought them. That's why i'm already worried about the fact that Sawyer may dumb down the game mechanics "because people find it difficult to understand them", failling to see in the process that they could not understand them because tooltips where awfully done. I'm not interested by a strategic combat declination of Pillars ala "Fallout Tactics". Nor i am in a 1st person open world aRPG. If Open world, 1st person, but true, deep, hardcore RPG, then... maybe. But i already find that Pillars 1 is dumbed down in its Roleplay mechanics. Which, in the end, is my major grievance against the game (to illustrate: rest and food bonuses, the stash, the ability to heal everything just by sleeping, and so on). What is it that you need to make a game mainstream? Unless you find a way to roll time back to the 90's, you need to find a common denominator to the mass. And the largest your target is, the lowest the denominator is. That's why Zenimax craped Skyrim and Fallout 4 and Electronics Arts craped Mass Effect Andomeda, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition. No mainstream, thanks.

I would see an interest in a pure co-op multiplayer. I don't tink, though, that RTwP, along with PoE's ruleset would allow good PvP experience. Actually, i may be wrong, because even on PvP games, i tend to avoid PvP and i may not have the right to say this, because of my low pvp experience. Reason i avoid PvP is: i hate it. All the more in a RPG like Pillars. Unless one play the Watcher and the other Thaos. While i think there would be some interest in co-op multi, i know for sure that i would find no one to play Pillars with me. And i'm not interested in playing with random guys on the net. Only good old friends in real life. They don't have time. Those who would be interested are away. In the end, while i'm not opposed to co-op multi, i have no interest in it. And i think it's already too late for Pillars 2 anyway, since this is a feature you would probably need to build the game around, like Wasteland 3, which have a very interesting concept for multiplayer. Plus, implementing multiplayer is not free.

Thanks for this, i will have a look . I can somewhat watch and understand videos, but several times 1H (with US accent) tend to give me headaches because i must really concentrate and struggle to understand what is said. I learned english by myself by reading on the net with a dictionnary and have only 1 occasion every several years to put it in pratice by actually speaking and listening to an actual english speaker ^^. So, i'm not used to it.

I did not follow everything about these changes. I was only aware of points 3 and 6. I may have to make my brain bleed and watch these videos after all. I can't make a judgement without having enough material to fully understand what Josh is thinking. But still, i'm a bit worried by several things i learned since yesterday.

Is it a question, or a criticism? Well, Fallout 4 is probably fancy "modern", so it may be more of a praise than a criticism actually. You have some good points JFSOCC, and i mostly agree with you. Though i would never stress enough that White March is really worth it.

Hum? What about healing mechanics? Does that mean that there is no health anymore? You got endurance, and 3 knock out = death? With silly regenerating again? I'm not sure i grasped everything yet, but at first sight it's worse than in Pillars 1, where my main concern was about the lack of healing spells to manage health as a strategic resource over a long dungeon crawl without having to spam rest because your wizard took one hard hit (along with the whole concept of 100% endurance regeneration). I'm more and more worried... Anyway thank you. But i probably won't watch these videos. They are 1H long and since i'm french, i would have to struggle like hell to understand every single sentence, which would end up consuming my brain along with 4 or 5 hours minimum for each video.

Did not read everything, don't know if the matter about the toggle is settled yet or not. But i must say "i agree". Running everywhere is silly. Being able to walk at times is a key component of roleplay to me. -Hey, have a beer? Want a beer! *running everywhere in the tavern* -Not a Red Bull? *squinting* -Hu? Why Red Bull? *Doing push ups and running* -Yaaah.... Nothing.... So i want the toggle allowing to walk too (cyan circles would be great too actually ).

Sorry to ask a dumb question. But i started reading these Deadfire fora only yesterday. You're all talking about a new health system i don't know anything about, although i read every single update on fig. I don't seem to find anything on the announcements forum either. Is there something i missed? Since i had several problems with the health system in PoE 1, i would be really interested to learn more about this idea of Josh. Any idea where i should look for these informations please?

Remember, too, that while Skyrim and Tyranny are steam only, Pillars and Torment are sold on GOG too. And it's not just 10% of the sales. I would guess that Torment may have sold better than Tyranny already (unless the backers accounts count towards reaching 112 000, since Tyranny did not have backers). Which would be good news for me, since i can't wish for the success of Tyranny in the same way than for Pillars, Wasteland or Torment. By the way, is there a way i can give away my 50% coupon on Steam for Tyranny? Would be a shame not to use it at all. Witcher 3 is sold on GOG, too. If these numbers are Steam numbers only, they can't be compared alone to sales of Skyrim or Tyranny. Anyway, i'm a tad bit worry too about what they are about to do with Pillars 2. If they happen to feel like things like "the no friendly fire idea in Tyranny was cool" ii'm going to panick, i promise.

I couldn't agree more.

Just lol ! Well otherwise. I will agree that 5 party members is a let down. Over the years, i saw games, like DA: O limiting their party members to 4. I always hoped for a great RPG with 6 to come out again. I have a feeling Obs may have wanted to reduce the party to 4, like in Tyranny, but they felt the pill would be hard to swallow for the backers. If so, they would be damn right. Many people seem to think that it's just a matter of balancing the game for 5. Well, combat and balance is not the most important thing for people who like to have 6 party members i guess. 6 just allows for more banters, more rich group interactions and group life than 5. Pillars 1 lacks the party relationships. They are introduced in Pillars 2. So, 5 is even more of a bummer now ^^. Plus, if i consider how i use to play.... I will most certainly take Aloth, Eder AND Pallegina in the party, since i have them in my PoE 1 party. Exporting my save from the first game allow for a longer time spent with them. Years have passed you know. I can't imagine just dumping them right away to get some unknown people in the group. Plus, since i use to write the diary of my character, my priestess have somewhat developped a deeper relationship with them than the first game would suggest. I'm pretty sure i'm not the only one with this kind of fidelity-in-friendship approach while roleplaying my character. Thus, this only allow 1 spot for a new companion. Here is the true bummer i daresay. I will have a real hard time discovering the banters between the new companions. I hope for a mod... And heard they had revamped class and abilities. I hope the only goal was to make things more clear and varied. Not to dumb down the deepness of the gameplay. I tend to become a tad bit distrusful now. Just a tad bit though.

Interesting post OP. I feel like it is usefull to do what you did. I guess i'll do it too, since i never finished it either. Though, i did not drop it. I kind of struggle to advance, because of some (numerous in fact) reasons, but i still find it is a great game, and plan to resume my playthrough soon. My very own reasons for struggling: -Like someone else said on the FIG page, wizards spells are not appealing enough. The guy spoke about some kind of power gamer issue, regretting the lack of utility spells both in and out of combat. I agree with this. There are barely any spell from Baldur's gate that i feel should not be there (even though some, very rationals, would argue that anything that has not enough of a measurable impact on the gameplay should be cut). Magic should not be all about ways to make DPS. BG had it right (or better, at least), imo. The fact that magic items only allowed more use/days and not more slots to memorize spells (and utuility ones if there were more of them) was a problem to me, too. Long story short: il lacked variations. Magic seems to just be another weapon. -Some mechanics i deeply disliked that i could not fully ignore: Rests heal everything (even severed limbs i guess. BG did it right, at least for me), bonus through rest and food that does not feel right to me (i never felt more clever or strong few seconds after eating fish), infinite stash (at least try to create some lore about it, like the bags in BG), numerous, souless and useless pets i can't bring myself to care about (unlike the familiars in BG, which i miss a lot), no healing spells for priests (combined to the rest issue, it's a problem for me, who does not use the endurance/health system at all, because i definitely dislike it), the early state of the stronghold (was way better in later versions of the game), ... -The reading. Although it's strange, i don't think it's a bad aspect of the game. Maybe the fact that reading became a chore quite fast is because the french localization was upright awful, and that i played several doens hours in english. I struggled quite a lot actually, and it was tiring. But sometimes, there was no purpose to some walls of text. I definitely feel that Pillars would lose its essence without most of the text it has, but still, me struggle reading was a huge factor why i did not finished the game yet. -Companions. I found myself having a real huge problem regarding the souless companions. When, occasionally, they would say something in a dialogue, most of the time, the NPC would not even notice it. Their skills were almost useless since for... reasons, they could not use them in dialogue. I could not understand why Sagani won't use her knowledge to warn the boy about him handling the knife the way he did, why i did not have the option. In the same fashion, i felt that whatever i could do, they would never be happy or bothered. They felt like bots, however well written they were otherwise. -No multiclassing. Well, it's weird, but it's true. Since the very, very start, months before the game was finished, i really, i mean really wanted to play a priestess/warrior of Eothas. I tried my best to emulate this muticlassing with a priestess. As a result, i may have spent more time reasearching how i could do this than actually playing. In the end she is... well ok-ish. But this damn flail won't have much of an impact in combat. Priests are way too vulnerable without a shield. In the end, i could not build the character i wanted, even though it was not a far fetched idea. -Game was unclear and spells were a chore to use. I'm ok with complexity needing a learning curve, i don't like dumbed down crap. But the tooltips and mechanics were way too unclear. Tooltips lacked crucial informations or were not better than chinese for me. And i had a very hard time to figure out how i could possibly make use of this mere 2,5 seconds lenght status effects with the panels of the abilities of my 6 characters. I still don't understand why they would create spells with status duration this short. Why not replace these low level, low duration, AoE spells par single target versions with more duration? There are way too many AoE spells while i feel more effective single target spells would add variation and more possibilities. Including to adapt to different encounters, different type of battlefields, different deployments of the opponents, different scarcity, too. It's true for wizards and priests. Never tried the other spell casters. But i feel that priests and wizards definitely miss single target, strategic, pin point spells, buffs/self buffs. The whole AoE thing made things boring for me. These 2 elements made the use of abilities and spells in combat a true chore. -Defiance Bay. The town reminds me of the shots i saw about cities like Los Angeles on TV. Large roads, large places, large buildings. Even Purnisc lives in a building that is several times the average size for a house in my city of Pau (France). I get that US people tend to think sometimes that bigger is better. But it's disturbing in a med-fan RPG. This made the city even more empty. Because there is so much empty space everywhere. I feel like the city of Baldur's Gate made it right: clustered houses everywhere, narrow alleys. There was a really good med-fan vibe to it. When we enter Defiance Bay, we are warned the city is overheated, brimming with refugees. Aside from 2 dwarves in the first area, i don't remember any refugee. And more than overheated, it felt dull. Which was a really big problem for me. -I would have liked more "communitary settlements". Don't know how to say it better. But i felt that the race mixing everywhere deprived all of them of a sense of identity. The dwarves in White March had an identity. They were dead, but i loved them. But by mixing too much everywhere orlans, dwarves, humans, aumaus, elves and such, in the end, everyone lose their interesting racial specificities. They are just people in the town with different sizes and shapes. Well... a shame. I loved Gullykin in BG 1. -No rewarding combat. The fact that even dragons drop poor ingredients did not fuel any urge to battle them for me. Though you could argue that Firkraag did not seem to have a bag to carry Carsomyr, i would say i don't care, for once. Too many good items are found at merchant's. Not enough are rewards for though battles or exploration. Add the fact that there is no XP for combat proper and combat tends to make me feel like "Oh... ****... another fight....". I never ever felt like this in Baldur's Gate. And i played it several tens of thousand hours over 15 years. Can't even count the number of my playthroughs. -Crafting: One major problem i had with the game. I disliked the fact that you could just press a button and get it done whenever, wherever, with whoever. I read on the wiki way back, that at start you should have needed to use some crafting place to enchant, found the recipes. This would have made more sense. Find a magic store to get ingredients, rares recipes to learn, and tools. Find someone who is capable enough for the most powerful enchantments. Learn about enchantment with lore, talk about it to this guy who run the shop. Make crafting a part of the world and the lore, show us people that make their living with it. Don't allow any party member to craft legendary weapons. Don't just randomly throw the crafting into the game. The recipe of 1 gem, 1 creature ingredient and copper was repetitive, and i could not fathom how these could bring the result they brought. The recipes seemed random. And the fact it needed copper looked like an obvious, really disturbing, cheep and irrational money sink. -No rewarding items in the core game. I see several reasons to this. One is the crafting system. Since you can craft most of the basic enchantments, it was rare to find really specific items. Another reason is the way you obtain these items. I feel like the way you get them is as important as their statistics for them to be memorable. There is no mysteries or secrets. No Kangaxx, no teleportation through a thief stone, no Crom Faeyr. And the last reason i see for this is probably the backer items. There where too many unique items that were just plainly basics and made uniques look bad (mere exceptional should not be unique). The merchant in the brothel of Ondra's Gift is the perfect example of this. -Experience pacing. I add to research a way to slow down the xp gains. I still don't understand why Obs felt the need to make players max their lvl out this early in the game. I had to tamper with the game files and the console (this forum helped since i'm no good at that) in order to avoid the problem. I would have dropped the game definitely once maxed out otherwise. If Obs really feel like they need to cater to people that just do the main quest, then, they should at least provide a slider in order to adapt the experience gains for the completionists. It should not be this hard to do i guess, since i only had to modify 2 hex entries to do so. These and probably some others are the reasons why i struggle this much to finish the game. Although i see so many qualities to the game (graphics, ambiance, music, lore, quests, lenght, art, many game systems and mechanics, core concept, and so on), there are still many things that made me stop my playthrough thrice already. I'm still in the second act (Defiance Bay) and i've done with the excellent first half of White March (a blast).

Killing every NPC is not playing a psychopath. It's playing Diablo in a RPG. It's not roleplay. So, instead of saying "playing a psychopath", say "butchering everything, because i can't be bothered with RPG mechanics in my current playthrough (or all of them)". Playing an actual psychopath is actually pretty hard in my opinion. Because it has to be subtle. Plus, you won't only screw leveling. You'll screw the whole game, since i guess there are no immortal NPC in Pillars. This includes the NPC that are necessary in order to progress in the quests, main one included.

I miss an old, grumpy dwarf as a companion, too. Would rather have a dwarf than a naga

Done. Though i think it would have been nice to tell us who this partner is. It took me a while, so i would like, at least, to know for whom i spent this hour.

Nice thread; you nailed it, mate. Had the exact same thoughts myself. PoE companions should have more life in them, Baldur's Gate 2 style. Same as Messier. I could have copy+pasted both your posts. Also, i'm with you Skyslam, and i don't think you have to apologize for having your own opinion. Btw, I have the same as you on this matter. To me, saying "it's not because it does not show that it doesn't exists" is quite true. But when it comes to some crucial things like companions, i want to "see". Otherwise, you could just extend the argument to the aventurers and imagine whatever you like for them. It's not what i expect from written companions.