Gromnir

am thinking your observation reveals a fundamental misunderstanding o' creative folks. get rid o' publishers does not erase the reasons why the publishers made compromises. once the creative folks is put in the position o' deciding how to spend money, fact they end up making same /similar compromises should come as no shock, but should be a teaching moment for developers who gnash teeth 'bout suit interference. HA! Good Fun!

can you be specific? what encounter are you referencing? are you playing potd? there are a few encounters which is disproportionate difficult compared to immediate adjacent content, but it ain't the norm. HA! Good Fun!

am not saying X is better than Y, but for frame o' reference, we played a contemplative through near all game content, including dlcs. potd. as some folks is aware, we do not min-max and we use companions for party. no mods. didn't use scordeo's edge or sun and moon-- pretty much marux amanth or summoned flail for 1/2 to 2/3 of game and then ball and chain or magran's favor at end... unless fighting veil touched in which case we would use beza's toothed blade. were a swift flurry contemplative eventual with heartbeat drumming, but such is a late game powha. if anybody is interested in other powers, we will provide, but for present discussion is unlikely to be relevant. for the sss and fs dlcs, 'cause we wanted recommended party companions, we we were the main healer and buffer for our party, which is not our design. anytime we had pallegina in party, we also sent xoti back to the ship... which also increased our heal & buff load. maybe 1/4 of game content, not including dlc, had Gromnir using pallegina. am mentioning 'cause such spells as restore and salvation o' time only count towards hit totals and not crits. so, with such qualifiers in mind, relevant endgame numbers looked like this: total damage: 345488.9 crits: 4614 hits: 10617 is not gonna be optimal swift flurry numbers 'cause as already mentioned, our contemplative, particular for the dlc, were a primary healer and buffer. nevertheless, is real numbers for a non-optimized full potd game with provided companions. HA! Good Fun! ps shoulda mentioned the contemplative described is a hearth orlan. apologies. pps our first deadfire character completing the game were actual a lightning strikes contemplative, but honestly, deadfire were near a different game at release. can post numbers for any interested... which seems doubtful.

general: in addition to previous stated... -focus on oracle. am not certain if attacking polyps or arcane whatevers is doing anything useful as o' 5.0. interrupt aoe from scavengers and soul mirrors, but focus on oracle. the oracle cannot be interrupted, but the scavengers and soul mirrors ain't impervious to interrupts. your eder should be able to handle a significant portion o' interrupting efforts. -if you are one o' those people who never needed food or potions or scrolls for deadfire battles, you will be unlikely to say the same after this battle. stock up on miraculous healing and arcane reflection potions. the best arcane reflection potions is using rare ingredients, so unless you planned ahead, you may need to go with imperfect arcane reflection potions... still worth it. -use figurines, but main use for figurines is to draw attacks from scavengers and soul mirrors which might otherwise target your party. -chances are you only have one character in party with high arcana, but if you got multiple it would be fantastic, 'cause stacks of greater maelstrom, storm of holy fire, gaze of the adragan, wall of many colors and especial wilting winds is a serious game changer. wilting winds is so good 'cause unlike virtual every other main game boss in poe or deadfire, the oracle and its flunkies is weakest to fort saves. give the oracle a whack or two with a morningstar modal, then hit it and scavengers with wilting winds. -withdrawal (potion spell, scroll) is all useful. -your goal for oracle can be near death... if you have xoti using soul bound dagger with worthy sacrifice. marux amanth is the ultimate anti-climax weapon for boss fights. 75% dead is a bit easier than 100%, yes? hit with marux amanth worthy sacrifice and then que up your pat travers. good luck. HA! Good Fun!

or if you are fighting with ranged weapons a significant % o' combat. HA! Good Fun! ps beat by enoch.

yes. both questions. for a few commentators, the talk o' mexico tariffs were the death knell for any kinda trade deal with china. after all, no doubt the chinese recognize how trump has zero interest in adhering to trade deals. HA! Good Fun!

great whites is mostly an issue in sf coastal waters in the autumn, so you should be fine. should be... HA! Good Fun!

the world just got a little less funky. if you inspired a muppet version, you musta' done something right... or something very wrong. HA! Good Fun!

Trump plans to declare new national emergency to impose tariffs another national emergency to ignore Constitutional limits? ... am genuine hopeful this is misinformation. HA! Good Fun!

well, good luck. during university we would surf near half moon bay, and as much as we hated the cold, and the possibility o' getting dead by waves, it were the sharks which scared us. have had more than one shark related nightmare over the years after a few close calls with sharks in nor cal waters. am sure you will be fine though. HA! Good Fun!

On the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, Native Americans Remember Veterans’ Service and Sacrifices "The 44,000 Native American men who served represent more than ten percent of the American Indian population at that time. A third of Native men between the ages of 18 and 50 served. Some tribes had as high as 70 percent participation in the war effort." also The Invention That Won World War II "The vessel’s unique design coupled with the inventor’s dogged determination to succeed may very well have swung the balance of victory to within grasp of the Allies. At least, that’s what President Dwight D. Eisenhower believed. “Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us,” he told author Stephen Ambrose in a 1964 interview." HA! Good Fun!

and what makes you think the additional time gained from absence o' full vo woulda' altered the main quest in any significant way? am having no doubt considerable polishing and revision o' companions and secondary characters and quests were given short shrift, but josh concedes he weren't aware o' a few foundational narrative problems until after the game were released. more time would not fix unknown problems. am thinking the folks most at fault for story issues o' deadfire were josh and the writers. anybody who follows these boards for a long time knows Gromnir is unlikely to hesitate from throwing feargus under the bus, and he deserves a measure o' blame, but the foundational and fundamental story questions shoulda' been addressed long before the vo issue became an issue. you got a bunch o' competent crpg writers at obsidian, so am baffled by a few o' the basic deadfire narrative problems. burned book of law were added post release 'cause obvious questions any reader might have were never addressed in the base game. lack o' player agency in critical path narrative as well as josh recognition o' pacing obstacles as well as focus on core themes such as colonialism? etc. ... not 11th hour fixes. also stuff the writers at obsidian shoulda' recognized early. is hard to imagine none o' the obsidian writers had concerns 'bout the deadfire narrative. am not suggesting deadfire were a complete fail, btw. there were much to like 'bout deadfire story, even so, more than a few narrative problems is baffling when looked at retrospect. given how much money were thrown around for vo and ship combat, am thinking obsidian woulda' benefited much more from a dedicated editor for narrative content. not every writer can hope to be james joyce. most writers, good writers, need editors. is possible that 'cause a game is a collaborative writing effort, the writers on the team may critique their office or cubicle-mate's work product believing they is capable o' such a task. dunno. am genuine not knowing what obsidian does insofar as narrative editing is concerned. as an outside observer we nevertheless conclude obsidian needs a better editorial scheme. woulda' liked to see more developed characters and dialogs benefiting from additional reflection. regardless, am thinking more time were not gonna be a fix for many deadfire narrative problems... suits and their ill-considered vo decision notwithstanding. HA! Good Fun! ps we brought up james joyce not 'cause o' his competence as a writer, but 'cause he spent near a decade trying to get dubliners published sans any editorial changes.

so, non responsive and straw man? gotcha. HA! Good Fun!

the answer may seem simple, but it wasn't. while full vo wasn't a recipe for success, obsidian believed, and still does believe, full vo is approaching being a prerequisite for success. is not that full vo woulda' guaranteed profitability, but absence were believed to be a death knell. josh compared to feedback of pathfinder:kingmaker and how owlcat were criticized for lack o' vo in spite o' fact such a thing were prohibitive considering their budget. disagree with obsidian conclusions, but while josh agrees it were not best for the game to try and implement full at the point in development when deadfire became committed to such a feature, he also seems to recognize how the vo bar has, for now at least, been raised. regardless o' deadfire success or failure, divinity 2 and deadfire both implemented full vo creating a level o' consumer expectation for similar future games. HA! Good Fun!

yeah, am not certain if josh believes what you describe is a problem, which is why we brought it up in the first place. am recalling during a twitch stream, there were talk 'bout deadfire setting and mood and how game would be less dark, so Gromnir kinda offhand mentions that deadfire would not be channeling The Mission? josh explains to twitch audience what movie we were referencing in our question, then agreed deadfire would be less bleek... but would focus more on themes such as colonialism. ... colonialism? is not that colonialism wouldn't work as a central theme... well, yeah, am thinking colonialism is too impersonal to work as central theme. make integral to game is fine, but you gotta personalize somehow and a crpg with a nameless and faceless protagonist is not gonna be the ideal vehicle for showing the human costs o'... colonialism. am not sure if josh recognizes the problem wormerine describes as being problematic. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't say there were a problem, seeing as how decision were reached democratic and don't violate the Constitution. you are the guy who wanted to make a parallel 'tween drug use and other activities. am also gonna note you are not addressing our marijuana example at all. if you believe you are making a point by mentioning legalization o' marijuana, please reread our example. and lord knows how many times Gromnir has pointed out how democracy and the tyranny o' the majority is the perceived evil which the Bill o' Rights and other fundamental freedoms is designed to protect. so, preach to the choir on that point. heck, in the post you quote we observe how groups with shared beliefs and experiences may be marginalized by the majority. you cannot keep having it both ways. you want government to stay outta your business, but you want protection o' those rights you believe is important. and who is gonna protect GD, hm? HA! Good Fun!

actual, josh example is a strong argument for the admitted limited example o' when full vo might be an excuse for bad writing. writing takes much resources and a whole lotta time. find out only after development has progressed deep you gotta wrap up writing asap 'cause gonna do full vo and such scheduling issues take precedence? writers think they got many tens o' man hours to finish and then revise dialogue and narration only to discover they is effective needing wrap up their efforts... yesterday. am only able to imagine the kinda roller coaster gut-lurch, followed by cold sweats, which musta' accompanied the full vo announcement being delivered to narrative team. HA! Good Fun!

we read rest o' post. "Further I object to your use of the world marginalized in the context of having a religious constituency which I remind has (or if we are talking ideals, should have) their right to private domains of life secured would somehow be marginalized because they don't dominate societal-wide legislation through the "democratic" ruse of never ceding the majority." feel better now that we know it were pretty much all straw man. please resubmit after releasing your grip on what is apparent your own dogma. HA! Good Fun!

straw man. ignored rest of reply. HA! Good fun!

the post mortem is revealing, as much for what he don't talk 'bout as he does. as a person who were fine with the amount o' vo in poe, is disheartening to hear how the narrative team were stifled by the late added goal o' full vo. am not certain poe2 writing woulda' been any better w/o vo, but the possibility for improvement were limited by a choice which did little to improve our game... stress am recognizing Gromnir's relative indifference to extensive vo. w/o context is difficult to figure out just how much effort went into ship combat, more than tb, but... *shrug* regardless. assuming ship combat were indeed sucking "quicksand," then am sympathizing with the regret sawyer feels. to us, ship-to-ship combat were a mildly exploitive minigame, but it didn't add much to our overall appreciation o' deadfire. if developer efforts coulda' been spent elsewhere on more relevant features, am feeling loss for the mighta and coulda beens. ... am thinking the postmortem also reveals josh blind spots. for example, when speaking 'bout what he describes as plot ambiguity, he fails any mention o' how a sandbox game impacts the pacing and ambiguity issues he recognizes. pacing is necessarily gonna be affected the existence o' dozens o' potential tangential sidequest opportunities, each with their own insular and discrete subplots. move to sandbox compared to poe less open clear impacted pacing, but not a mention in post mortem? why? how he talks talk 'bout plot ambiguity also reveals a conceit josh has 'bout narrative, 'cause he ain't talking character or thematic development. most fantasy plots is... dumb. heroic fantasy is even more limited and is no shock when folks wanna compare every new epic fantasy story to tolkien. destined hero or everyman, must overcome a series o' character defining obstacles which eventual makes possible for him/her to deal with the Great Threat to _______. plot is often a secondary concern in modern writing. plot provides opportunities for character growth and it reinforces theme, but plot itself may be lackluster w/o story suffering. nevertheless, josh fixates on plot. etc. regardless, we watched the post mortem in its entirety, so congrats to josh for holding our attention for near an hour. were enlightening. HA! Good Fun!

there won't be future balance updates. that said, while am agreeing priests deserve attention, am gonna disagree with the conclusion that, "priest spells are currently very weak." there is a problem with priest spells, but ain't weakness. there is strong priest spells at every level. the thing is, the strong spells tend to be obvious and o' limited number. you mention restore, yes? recognizing how different health works in deadfire compared to poe, restore is an incredibly powerful spell available at level one and with a near instantaneous cast time. when deadfire were first released, we mentioned how a few priest spells were underappreciated. didn't take long for folks to realize how powerful were multiple priest spells such as salvation of time... spells at every level. the thing is, am always choosing restore and salvation. am near always choosing devotions of the faithful and pillar of holy fire. all our priests look the same, save for a few minor alterations when multiclassing. weak? no. limited? yes... definite. too many situational useful spells. multiclassing allows for a bit o' variation o' priestly characters, but given how few priest spell options there are per level compared to wizards, the paucity o' genuine strong spells which have usefulness in a majority o' encounters is curious... is unforgivable when one realizes obsidian initial had school prohibitions implemented. am honest not sure what the developers were thinking with school prohibitions for priests save as a kinda token distraction. knowing players would be angry with priests, josh added school prohibitions he never intended to implement? lift prohibitions would thus make fans feel like they won a victory o' sorts. did something similar with paladins in poe. too cynical? *shrug* regardless, am thinking you are gonna find little agreement that priest spells are weak. far too many priest spells are o' such situational usage as to be of no value when choosing per-level abilities, and there are a few underwhelming spells, but priests got many o' the most powerful and useful spells in the game. not weak, but limited. HA! Good Fun!

typical is not arbitrary. there is usually dollar amounts which may be attributed to those prohibited activities. in any event, 'cause we love how your example closes the circle, we will observe how it is the democratic process which is resulting in those kinda prohibitions which offend gd. either direct, or by elected representative, gd's fellow citizens decide whether or not the well-documented dangers o' marijuana use by folks who are still undergoing brain development is the kinda thing which deserves the body public's attention and/or action. does Constitution preclude drug use from review by the democratic process? under certain circumstances, yes it does. can't force a person to take drugs, even if such drugs would be beneficial. different than saying it ain't up to government to decide what a person is allowed to take into their body. even beyond the legal reasons, should be obvious how such is different. what are the costs o' airplane pilots getting drunk or using lsd before a commercial flight? is airplane pilot on lsd an extreme example? sure it is, but as soon as you allow yourself to begin a cost v benefit analysis to decide which behaviors should be prohibited, then you are no longer dealing either legal or Constitutional issues. value judgements is for lawmakers who can create committees and do studies... is not fodder for judges and courts is moot in any event. the dangers o' being compromised 'cause the politician is seripticious doing that which is illegal not change in the least 'cause gd has self-contradictory love-hate relationship with democracy. HA! Good Fun!

am agreeing with these sentiments, but what about the folks for whom their religion is central to their personal identity? do we dismiss them as wrong and move on to the next issue? bruce says 5% o' uk population, and am expecting a much higher % for london. even so, is 1 in 20 uk politicians islamic? am honest not knowing. more than Gromnir, people o' islamic faith and red state christians got their personal identity inextricable intertwined with their religious beliefs. should we marginalize those folks 'cause we personal find true zealots to be, at best, difficult to deal with? in a democracy, leaders should represent their constituents. those o' islamic faith deserve to be represented, no? is easy for leaders to dismiss small minorities in a democracy. claim they is leading for benefit o' the best o' all tends to result in minorities getting the fuzzy end o' the lollipop, regardless o' whether the minority is ethnic or religious or social. regardless, while am personal uncomfortable with folks who self-identify first and foremost based on their faith, it would be arrogant and narrow-minded o' us to judge such folks as undeserving o' democratic representation. and Gromnir would be worried 'bout any prominent politician with an illegal addiction. such problems open the politician to more nefarious influences and to outright blackmail. 'cause o' the illegal nature o' the addiction, the politician is vulnerable to being compromised by those with an agenda different than the politician and possibly antagonistic towards those who voted for the politician. HA! Good Fun! ps "That's a pretty sharp sword you have there." indeed. "sharp" were the first thing which came to mind.

the sad part being the image represents the full dimensions o' a standard 2019 studio apartment in hong kong. HA! Good Fun!

ever try and get your wife to say, "we make big trouble for moose and squirrel"? am knowing we couldn't resist the temptation. ... am s'posing is another reason why is best Gromnir remains unmarried. HA! Good Fun!