Lorfean

Although the mega-dungeon was a nice stretch goal idea for PoE1, it clearly got away from them when it reached 15 levels and I never though it was a particularly engaging piece of content. Each to his own I guess, but I vastly prefer "dungeon content" similar to Raedric's Hold -- which we got in Deadfire in the shape of Fort Deadlight and Hasongo, which were both awesome. I also really enjoyed The Hanging Sepulchers and The Old City, both in Neketaka, though the latter admittedly could've been a bit bigger. But yeah, I'm always for more dungeon content, though I don't think they need to be 15 levels. In fact, I think I'd prefer them not to be that big. Some of my favorite dungeons ever -- Durlag's Keep, Dragon's Eye, The Severed Hand, Upper and Lower Dorn's Deep, Durgan's Battery -- are between 5 and 10 levels, which IMO is the sweet spot.

Obvious troll is obvious. And if he isn't, then... wow

Yeah, for someone who says they play these games for the story / world, it seems that you didn't exactly pick up on a lot of the world building in PoE -- either that, or you just ignored the stuff you didn't like and pretended the setting was technologically and socially more like the middle ages than the renaissance. All the signs were there that this world was in the early stages of the renaissance in PoE, and Deadfire continues that theme while changing the stage and the players, IMO resulting in one of the more unique and interesting settings we've seen in fantasy RPG's.

The original (ie. non-enhanced) Infinity Engine games, though BG1 and PS:T less so than BG2 and the IWD's. The original Neverwinter Nights -- the art style is quirky as hell and the controls might seem a bit odd, but they make sense once you get used to them, which is pretty quickly IMO. DOOM and DOOM 2 are still a blast to play. Diablo and Diablo 2 are, too. Adventure games like Broken Sword and Broken Sword 2 are very easy to get into with a timeless art style. There's a lot of games that have aged well if you don't mind old-fashioned graphics, it becomes more problematic when things like UI and gameplay are un-intuitive or unclear. Games like Darklands are rough to get into. The old Goldbox D&D games, too, and so are Fallout and Fallout 2 IMO. Not for me. But I think new players wouldn't have the easiest time getting into them.

Yeah I still have a handful of games on Steam too, but only three -- Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition, DOOM (2016) and Resident Evil HD Remaster -- that I really care about. If those ever came to GOG I'd cancel my Steam account in a heartbeat. As for the sale -- I got The Witcher 3 with 60% off, which got me Sunless Sea and RiME for free

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition is 60% off on GOG.com so I grabbed it. All three games are in my backlog now and I will start my back-to-back-to-back playthrough with TW1 after I've completed Deadfire.

If they make a sequel I'd like for the ruleset to stay largely unchanged. Add some new races, maybe some new subclasses, but keep Deadfire's foundation. As for story / setting -- I'd prefer a fresh start, separate from the Watcher story, and I want to see The Living Lands. I wouldn't be opposed to them adding some cool management type mini-game, like the ship, if it fits the setting. I quite like the ship, including the combat.

I voted "Just right". I don't have a problem with the amount of encounters -- and I think there were (way) too many in PoE -- but I do think that (playing on Veteran) a lot of the encounters are too easy and therefore too short. I'm looking forward to patch 1.1 improving this a LOT. If they get Veteran difficulty to the same level as Hard difficulty in PoE, with the encounter numbers the way they are now, but beefier, with more mobs, and more tactically interesting, then I'll be very happy.

I'm in the same boat (heh) as NCR75 -- I also force myself to not board ships unless there is no other option left, and I'm enjoying the system a lot in that way. I think it's good for what it is right now, and I nice diversion from / addition to the exploration and RTwP combat, which is still the bulk of the game. I wouldn't want it to be real-time, but I would like to see them add some more depth to the system and maybe some UI improvements to making the encounters a bit more intresting, visually . I also very much enjoy the ship management / upgrades, crew management, etc. and how it is ties into your decision making re. loot you find.

What does the number in the Empower button indicate? The number of charges available.

Click the Empower button. Click on any of your abilities or on your character's portrait. If you clicked on an ability you can now target that ability as usual and it will be empowered when your chr executes it. It can only be used in combat, only once per fight, and the Empower charges will only recharge through resting.

There is fast travel to previously discovered locations on the city maps -- see the list of locations at the top left corner of the map. Edit: Also, I can't verify this right now, but when you click the Supply button on the city maps, isnt there a party editor in that interface, too?

You realize that Alpha Protocol is absolutely nothing like PoE or Deadfire, right? I mean, you might enjoy it regardless, but IMO it's among Obsidian's weakest offerings (the other being Dungeon Siege III, for very different reasons). If you mean that Deadfire makes you want to check out Obs' other games then I'd suggest starting with Fallout: New Vegas. IMO it's their Magnum Opus. Neverwinter Nights 2 and its expansions are also good, but a bit rough around the edges in terms of camera / controls (though both can be tweaked to preference through .ini files) and you might want some mods to improve the archaic UI. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a very interesting take on Star Wars and The Force but, again, mods are recommended to restore cut content and flesh out the ending. South Park: The Stick of Truth is a lot of fun, well polished, and something completely different than all of the above.

This is including all DLC / expansions: Fallout: New Vegas -- Probably my all-time favorite CRPG. Great world design, great quest design, great faction design, unequaled sense of exploration, awesome story, interesting companions, great character system, well-paced progression (with jsawyer mod)... The only weak spot is its combat, and even that can have its extremely satisfying moments. Baldur's Gate -- I prefer it to BG2 because I prefer low to mid-level D&D adventures and BG absolutely nails that. I also think its world design is much better, with a cohesive, semi-open world that feels realistic (like an actual region) and provides a great sense of exploration due to the way the areas are actually directly connected to one another. Itemization is clever and extremely well-paced (scarcity of magic items combined with the iron crisis affecting the durability of normal weapons makes magic loot feel special and powerful), and I also vastly prefer its more realistic graphics style / aesthetic, from locations, characters and gear, down to the portraits and paper dolls. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. This might be me jumping the gun... but Deadfire basically combines what I enjoyed most about BG and F:NV and, as such, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm having an absolute blast with it. Now, while it is already great, it isn't 100% "there" yet -- so this ranking is, admittedly, influenced by the potential of what it can be in a year or two from now -- but with the difficulty tweaks coming in a few weeks, more fixes and improvements already confirmed down the line, and a very strong track record in terms of improving and iterating on PoE1, I feel confident Deadfire will go from great to all-time classic for me. Honorable mentions: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Fallout Icewind Dale -- All-time favorite dungeon crawler. Neverwinter Nights Neverwinter Nights 2 Pillars of Eternity Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

RIP TB. This really bummed me out today... I watched his content religiously between 2010 and 2015, and still used to tune in for the podcast every now and then in more recent years. He introduced me to a lot of great games. Will have to do a Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons playthrough in his honor.

Dungeons & Dragons: Krynn Series and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition, both on GOG.com, both were on sale with big discounts. I bought the former to complete my GOG collection of Gold Box games -- I love (A)D&D CRPG's and I am very interested in these games and the history they represent. I plan to, at some point in my life, spend a year (or however long it will take me) to "properly" play through all the Gold Box titles back to back, exporting / importing my parties between titles, etc. And I bought TW2 for similar reasons -- I am slowly collecting the series with the intention to play through all three games back to back at some point.

Thanks Teacher, I'll take Withering Strike out of the build then and replace it with Finishing Blow -> Devastating Blow. And yeah, I plan to take Driving Flight as soon as it becomes available at lvl 13. Thanks Dunehunter, Shadowing Beyond (and focusing on backstabs) was already out after the things I learned earlier in this thread.

That actually makes sense and, thinking about it, I quite like that idea design-wise too. Thanks. Marked for the Hunt is one of those abilities I just like the "feel" of. I agree the random factor isn't great, but the concept is cool to me. Great point re. Arterial Strike, and something I missed. Thank you. That devalues the skill quite a bit. I noticed that to re. Gouging Strike. Very cool. This means Blinding Strike will replace Crippling Strike for me. The idea was never to build around backstabbing, but to have it as a viable option in addition to sneak attacks. Knowing what I know now, it's clear to me that it would be much better to build around sneak attacks and DoTs, also because I want the pet involved, and they can be useful in setting up sneak attacks (Flanking, Takedown) and Predatory Sense gives it an awesome synergy with DoTs. Thanks again for the discussion guys -- very helpful stuff!

Thanks for the answers. Good point re. Blinding Strike -> Gouging Strike. I had missed that one and its definitely a contender. But DoTs break Invisibility? As in, I can't fire a ranged Arterial Strike and then Shadowing Beyond to the target for a Backstab because the DoT ticks will break invis? Is this a known bug, or? I looked at Evasive Roll but the damage upgrade attacks a random target, which doesn't seem ideal. Finishing Blow -> Devastating Blow seems cool and its nice to have a finisher.

Hi, I'm playing a Scout in Deadfire (Ranger / Rogue, no subclasses) and I'm really liking it but since it's my first playthrough I haven't planned out my abilities, and I am already looking into things I would do different if I'd start over (which is likely, considering some of the bugs). The chr concept is a melee / ranged hybrid, able to deliver both strong ranged sneak attacks and strong melee backstabs, with my animal companion providing solid damage through Predatory Sense. I'm thinking of something along these lines: Crippling Strike + Marked Prey Escape Resilient Companion Dirty Fighting + Marksman Backstab Takedown? Arterial Strike + Predator's Sense Marked for the Hunt Vicious Companion Shadowing Beyond + Takedown Combo? ? ? Driving Flight + Uncanny Luck Withering Strike ? Improved Critical + Toxic Strike? Survival of the Fittest ? Deathblows + Superior Camouflage? ? So, my questions: - With Crippling Strike -> Arterial Strike providing sneak attacks and synergy with Predatory Sense, is it worth it to also take Wounding Shot -> Accurate Wounding Shot? (my reasoning would be that it is, because that way I have a DoT on each of my classes so I can divide resources in combat) - As an interrupt, is Takedown -> Takedown Combo worth it, or is Strike the Bell -> Pierce the Bell better? - Is Withering Strike > Toxic Strike a contender, as it provides another damage type and is also a DoT? - Merciless Companion or Vicious Companion (or both?).

Hm, that's an interesting point. PoE had 8 before the expansion and 11 after but neither amount ever felt restrictive to me. BG2 had 16 (17 with ToB), and each had their own questline -- though some were a lot less involved than others -- and reactivity, with a handful being romance options and (if I remember correctly) having a lot more content to them as a result. My memory is fuzzy in regards to BG2 so I can't fairly compare the amount of content-per-companion between BG2 and PoE / Deadfire, but the companions in PoE felt very fleshed out to me -- possibly more so than the bulk of BG2's companions -- which might explain the roster being smaller in the PoE games. I haven't gotten far enough in Deadfire yet to say anything meaningful about the companion content, but so far it feels similar to PoE, with the added reactivity and chr development of the relationship system potentially providing even more depth. So yeah, I'm fine with the number of companions in PoE / Deadfire -- sure it's not a lot if you're looking for more variety in terms of party building, but they do give you other options there in the sidekicks and mercenaries. Also, I personally don't really go for the PoE = BG1, PoE2 = BG2 line of thinking anymore... I saw the first game as heavily inspired by BG and IWD, but always felt Deadfire would be more of Obsidian's own beast. And it is, IMO.

What's convoluted about it? 1. All food and drink you find or buy ends up in your stash, just like any other loot / purchases. 2. You then decide how to use said food and drink, just like any other loot / purchases. 3. So you either a) distribute it to your companions to use for buffing, b) keep it in your stash for later use, or c) assign it to your ship's resources to feed your crew. The gameplay element here is deciding what you're willing to give to your crew and what you want to keep for yourself / your party. Your crew consumes a decent amount of food and drink per day, so you don't want them to just automatically take any of the high cuisine dishes you have in your stash. Different food and drink types also affect their morale in different ways, so that's also sth to pay attention to (they won't be happy living on just water and hardtack for days on end). I personally enjoy this part of the ship management mini game quite a bit.

I'm one of those people who cares more about the companions' character and story arcs than their stats, so I'll focus on that in my impressions. I'm not too far into the game yet (just arrived in Neketaka) and have Edér, Xoti, Serafen and Aloth with me, and I also found and recruited Konstanten, one of the sidekicks. Edér is still Edér and he will be with me until the end. Xoti and Serafen have made positive first impressions and I look forward to continuing their arcs and finding out more about them. Aloth... I really liked his arc in PoE, but his chr is not connecting for me in Deadfire so far. Part of this, I'm sorry to say, is due to an encounter he had at The Wild Mare in Queen's Berth, which felt overly forced, unnecessary, and out of character (to me). Even though I think this was mostly due to the way the NPC involved with the encounter was written -- they felt like a complete caricature -- it really broke my immersion with Aloth's story. Which is a shame. Konstanten seems fun, and I am curious how the sidekicks will "feel" compared to the companions after some extended playtime, so he's taken Aloth's place for now. I did also run into Pallegina, but she had no interest in joining me whatsoever, so I guess I'll have to wait and see how that situation develops later on. She was a mainstay in my PoE party, so I look forward to her joining the fold again. In terms of class choices, I kept Eder, Xoti, Aloth and Konstanten single classed -- Fighter, Priest, Wizard and Chanter, respectively -- and multi-classed Serafan as a Witch (Barbarian / Cipher). My PC is a Scout (Ranger / Rogue). I am really digging the multi-classing system in Deadfire.

Deadfire. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far, but I don't have a lot of time to play (2-3 hours every evening) and feel I haven't really had enough time to properly get into it yet. I finished Maje Island, which was fine as far as introductory locations go (though I liked PoE's Cilant Lîs / Gilded Vale better) and then set sail for Neketaka, with a few detours on the way. I love the sense of exploration in this game and enjoy the ship management aspects, finding new crew, managing morale, etc. I haven't tried ship combat yet -- I did notice a few hostile ships on my way to Neketaka but chose to avoid them for now, figuring I would properly stock up in Neketaka. The city itself is very impressive and feels a lot more lively than Defiance Bay -- once you leave the docks it almost feels overwhelming, which is how a big city should feel. I picked up some quests and a few bounties and am preparing to head out again soon.

My PC is a Scout (Ranger / Rogue) and I multiclassed Serafen to be a Witch (Barbarian / Cipher) when I pciked him up. No regrets. I really like the way Deadfire handles multiclassing -- probably one of the most enjoyable versions of the system I've seen