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Balbanes

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Everything posted by Balbanes

  1. I agree with everyone here. One of the things that distinguishes archetypal casters from non-casters is that they have a lot more options at their disposal. There's only so many ways a fighter can swing a sword, but there are generally lots of first-level spells available in a given system. By limiting the casters to picking spells the same way non-casters choose abilities, the devs have eliminated the versatility that makes casters special. Now all the casters have are abilities like everyone else-- except caster abilities take an ungodly amount to time to "cast" and can be easily interrupted. All of the bad, none of the good. I am sensitive to multiclass breaking concerns, but I think that can be handled in other ways. In particular, casters should have more caster-specific abilities that increase power level, increase range, increase casts, reduce casting time, increase penetration, etc. for some but not all of their spell types. That would let a pure caster specialize in fire/protection/touch/AoE/etc. spells in a way that's less accessible to multiclass casters, while maintaining the wealth of combat options that should define a caster.
  2. Yeah, wizard subclasses are just awful. Hope they get rebalanced in a patch, because right now very few players are taking them. Compare with every other class, where most builds use some subclass or another.
  3. You can add the "missing" spells yourself with console commands. As noted above, doing so will somewhat unbalance multiclassing, since you'll be able to use all of your ability points on the melee class, same as the "pure" version of the melee class.
  4. I liked him being around around because he's about the closest thing you get to actually having evil companions in an RPG anymore. That's just not done. He's unapologetically morally reprehensible. He is not a character a big triple A game company would ever make anymore for fear of the backlash. Let me clarify. I didn't dislike Durance because he was evil or morally reprehensible. I disliked him because he was consistently a jerk to everyone in the party. I can see why a player might keep Durance around (gotta finish those companion quests!), but I couldn't see any reason why the player character would. For other evil party members, I can usually come up with a reason. Korgan respects the Bhaalspawn and is hilarious. The Nameless One messed up Vhalior's and Ignus's lives and feels honor-bound to help them. Morrigan is exotic and polite, and the Warden wants to get in her pants. But I just couldn't formulate why the Watcher would put up with Durance's $%^$. He's not funny, or loyal, or your responsibility, or even attractive. Durance is just an anti-social jerk with no friends. So why does the Watcher befriend him? [Aside: if it wasn't clear, RPing is a big deal for me. When it comes to game mechanics, Durance is in the party simply because he's the only Priest and Priests are really useful in PoE1. ]
  5. If you want a tank who does decent damage, try a Fighter/Paladin. Lots of damage, lots of tanking, and doesn't require much micromanagement. Although note Pallegina can be speced this way as well. As far as attributes: there aren't really dump stats anymore, but you can certainly take a few points off (say) Intelligence without hurting yourself. I'd max Might and spread the rest around.
  6. Yeah. During the campaign, I remember thinking "wait, what exactly are they doing" and reading through the whole thing (and watching the humorous video!), which was actually pretty clear about what Obsidian ended up implementing. But I can see how someone might look at the first few lines, scroll down to comment and thus see the pictures, and think "OMG I can haz romance Eder!!1!1" And maybe it's OK that some backers did that? I doubt I read every word of every update either. I was just interested in this particular stretch goal and thus read the whole thing. I'll note that in my professional writing, I generally assume that people won't read my entire email/document/whatever and thus I put the takeaway in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence. Perhaps the updates should have done the same?
  7. I've noticed that damage seems "burstier" in PoE2 as compared to the prior game. Between fewer accuracy buffs and reduced grazing, characters don't deal damage as often as they used to. But when they do hit-- and assuming you're using an appropriate damage type-- they do full damage without DR reduction. So battles take about as long as before, but each hit is more significant.
  8. I went back to look at how companion relationships-- which were introduced as a $3M strech goal-- were described during the Fig campaign. Here's the money paragraph: As far as where the relationships can lead, companions may develop strong feelings of camaraderie, loyalty, loathing, fear, contempt, or even love. The culmination of these relationships may be a conversation, a scripted interaction, a special talent or ability, or even a unique item or recipe. The important thing to our narrative designers is that we treat each relationship as its own unique story that develops in ways that feel true to the characters and themes of Deadfire. Nowhere does the update say everyone is romanceable. It just says that the Watcher can have different kinds of relationships with the party members, and one possibility for that relationship, among five others, is love. I don't see how anyone could read the developer update and conclude that all companions are romanceable. But I can see how someone who did not read the developer update might conclude that all companions are romanceable. The update was made on Valentine's Day and references that fact. There are pictures at the bottom suggesting that Eder, Pallegina, Aloth, and Tekēhu are romanceable. The video even starts with a cheesy romantic setting, before abruptly noting that companion relationships are broader than romance. Perhaps those who feel jilted did not actually read through the post or finish watching the video, and thus missed the joke?
  9. I have a somewhat different perspective. When I participate in crowdfunding a game-- and I've done so over a dozen times-- I'm paying the developers to make the kind of game that couldn't or wouldn't be made using "traditional" funding sources. I want the developers to stay true to their artistic vision, not (say) add multiplayer because it helps sell DLC. Because I trust that people with decades of game-making experience can make better games when they don't have to go through design by committee. I certainly hope the developers listen to crowdfunder feedback, and incorporate good ideas where appropriate. That's one of of the benefits of crowdfunding! But I reject the notion that developers have to or should add some feature merely because the crowdfunders want it. That's design by committee, that's how "big studio" games are made, and that's *not* what I'm paying for as a crowdfunder. [Aside: I don't mean to suggest big studio games are awful, and I love my big budget RPGs as much as the next gamer. Just noting that the whole point of crowdfunding is to free the developers from having to incorporate things that funders demand.]
  10. Yeah. I'm not nearly brave enough to do PotD on my first playthrough. Don't need to min/max for other difficulties. [Aside: Yes, I know that some of the better players here clear Triple Crown Solo for breakfast and don't need min/maxing for "merely" PotD, but I'm nowhere near that good. ]
  11. Like accelerating into the dive at the beginning of Torment: Tides of Numenera. Love the non-standard game overs!
  12. My recollection is that Obsidian was very careful to say "relationships" and not "romances," and that they clarified that not everyone would be romanceable. I remember that because I was excited about relationships that weren't romances. My Watcher wants to be bash brothers with Eder and shield sisters with Pallegina, not get into their pants.
  13. I'm enjoying shattered pillar monk/shifter. Drop a bunch of debuffs while the tanks set up the line, then shift to animal form and use monk abilities to wail on enemies.
  14. Yes. PoE1 is a great game. If you like one, you'll like the other. Which means you should play both. And *given* that you will/should play both, makes sense to play PoE1 first. That said, if you're unable to play both due to severe time constraints, you can probably play 2 without 1. Keep in mind that 1 is a lot more stable due to years of bug fixes, though.
  15. I liked GM fine, but couldn't stand Durance. Role-playing-wise, I had trouble coming up with a good reason why my Watcher would put up with him...
  16. You could with some cheating! PoE1 tracked priest and paladin orders separately from class, so you could set those fields (via editors and maybe console commands) and the game would give you corresponding dialog options. Not sure if that still works in PoE2, given that they're subclasses now.
  17. Paladin / Priest of Wael is absurdly tanky due to pairing the paladin's naturally high defenses with priest buffs and illusion spells. It's practically a triple class. Unfortunately you can't pair Wael with Goldpack for maximum tankiness, but Arcane Veil (at level 1!), Mirrored Image, and Llengrath's Displaced Image more than makes up for it. Keep in mind that unlike a Fighter, you'll need to go out of your way to increase Engagements to lock down an area. The Spear modal is good place to start, since you can use that right out of the gate.
  18. Sometimes you're just not their type and that's okay. omg, what type? watcher type? cos the watcher can be literally any type Not so. The Watcher must be a Watcher (duh), the leader of the party, the former ruler of Caed Nua, the slayer of Thaos, the redistributor of souls, the champion of Berath, etc. It's possible one or more of those feats pours a bucket of cold water on Eder's romantic interest. In particular, the Watcher does not seem like s/he could or would ever settle down on a farm, even discounting the high likelihood of going insane. Might be a deal-breaker for Eder.
  19. Nice work! Some observations for anyone seeking to maximize their dialog options: Resolve is no longer the most important attribute for unlocking dialog options. Instead, Perception is, followed by Might. Fighter is the only class that does not unlock dialog options, although the Blackjacket subclass does get one. Priest of Magran gets more dialog options than any other subclass, including Priest of Eothas (!). Tekehu is the chattiest companion. Aloth is the least chatty (excluding the sidekicks). As might be expected, the Deadfire background unlocks the most dialog options. Less expected: it has more options than every other background, combined. Similarly, Island Aumaua get way more dialog options than any other race/subrace pairing. Women get more dialog options than men, though not significantly so (8 vs. 4). Diplomacy, Insight, Intimidate, and Bluff get substantially more dialog options than any other skill, in that order. Streetwise is middle tier, and the rest are low tier.
  20. The last option for an imported PoE1 worldstate-- designated for experts only-- has the Watcher doing everything wrong. Can someone share what that entails? I assume all the returning characters were killed and are thus unavailable in PoE2, but how else does it affect the game? Mostly though, I'm curious as to how comically bad everything could have gone in PoE 1!
  21. +1. I've already restarted three times (I'm indecisive!), and I'm reaaally tired of that intro. It was gorgeous and immersive the first time I saw it, but now I'm just clicking on the right side of the screen like crazy.
  22. Assuming dispositions work like PoE1, it's a lot more important to not pick disfavored responses than it is to pick favored responses. There were lots and lots of ways to get any given disposition to "3", but no ways to *reduce* a disposition once it reaches "1". At best, you could sacrifice a talent to pick Untroubled Faith, which does not seem to be an option in PoE2. In other words, you shouldn't need to go all bloodthirsty all the time, so long as you avoid being kind and polite. Feel free to be stoic, clever, passionate, sneaky, honest, etc.
  23. Do you mean which classes get bonuses to which skills? There's a table around the middle of the page here: https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/Classes Multiclasses get +1s instead of +2s, but from both of their classes.
  24. It's worth noting that Pallegina can be a Herald. Doesn't matter at all if you're choosing your MC for roleplay reasons, obviously, but wanted to point out that you can already have a Herald in the party.
  25. One thing to note is that you get a potential tank right away: Eder joins right after the first fight, and you should make him a pure sword-and-board fighter. Since it's almost impossible to take one of those down on the lower difficulty levels, as a practical matter you can pick anything you want for the MC and rely on Eder to take you through all the fights. That said, the Moon godlike racial is very powerful and is not duplicative with any companion. Pick a melee class and you'll provide great synergy with Eder's tanking. Also, you can respec at inns fairly cheaply, so you need not worry too much about what abilities you pick for your melee class.
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