JerekKruger

The gods don't give +1 to your skills in Pillars either. A priests power comes from their own soul. If an individual priest believes they are acting in accordance with the philosophy of their god then they become more powerful as a priest. This is even demonstrated mechanically in game by the Untroubled Faith talent, which represents a priest who believes that the unfavoured dispositions aren't important. You've only got to look at Durance for a prime example of this. He pretty much tells you that he doesn't act like other Magranites. He also tells you that this is because (in his opinion) other Magranites aren't following Magran's philosophy correctly. Moreover he's in game proof that it's not the gods that makes their priests more powerful since his own god literally cannot see him anymore. As for the priests of Berath supporting Raedric, how many religious figures have supported cruel lords in our own world, either out of weakness or a belief that they can influence them for the better (before you bring up God not giving his priests +1, re-read the two preceeding paragraphs). It has been a while since I've played through Raedric's quest but, as far as I remember, Nedmar essentially tells you that he thinks Raedric is trying to do the best for his people in a difficult time and that he's probably the best of two bad choices (Kolsc being the other). I don't recall him describing Raedric as a good servitor of Berath, but if he did it could be in the same way that cruel lords would often gain the favour of the Church by building big cathedrals and similar. Again, people aren't perfect.

Well, Attributes alone don't make a character build and are arguably not all that important. That said, with a group you definitely don't need high resolve (in fact you don't need it in solo either) and arguably Might and Intellect are the most important attributes for a Chanter. However pretty much any build can beat PotD with a group so go with whatever you enjoy.

The reason is hard to imagine a Christian + Muslim is because they have directly contradictory accounts of the same things, specifically Christians believe Jesus was the son of God (most also believe he was simultaneously one with God, though not all) whereas Muslims believe he was merely a prophet. Meanwhile Eora is demonstrably not monotheistic, and this religions don't need to engage in the same us or them rhetoric since they aren't peddling mutually exclusive stories.

What gave you the idea that Goldpact Knights would agree to every contract, regardless of the terms. They're dedicated to carrying them out once they've agreed to them, but there's nothing to suggest they'll agree to them willy nilly. Also Aggressive is more than simply using violence (otherwise every player would end up with maxed Aggressive disposition). As I understand it, it's violence for its own sake. Raedric's not a priest of Berath: he's someone who's trying to solve the problem plaguing his land, albeit in a terrible way. He brings in Berathian's because he thinks Gilded Vale's previous association with Eothas might have something to do with the curse, but he also brings in animancers who Berathians are generally opposed to (since animancers often interfere with the cycle by creating constructs). He'll try anything. Even if he were a priest of Berath it wouldn't stop him being cruel and passionate. These are disfavoured dispositions yes, but greed is a disfavoured disposition of Christians and yet there are plenty of greedy Christians in the world. People aren't perfect.

Goldpact Knights aren't really a mafia, they are the epitome of mercenaries. Passionate and Aggressive are disfavoured for them because those sorts of emotions get in the way of what they view as important: executing their contracts to the letter. To quote: As for Skaenites: they're plotters. Outwardly they act like good obedient servants whilst inwardly they are filled with hate. Aggressive options don't fit this: they're too overt. Skaenites aren't going to be threatening violence, instead they'll say "yes sir" and then poison their master's dinner.

Agreed. This might not have been the wisest thread to start but I doubt Jojo was trying to start drama.

Golden Shower eh? Interesting choice

Assuming it's not too much work (I'd guess they can simply change the colour of the VFX) then I'd like to see this too. Bonus points if those two classes have unique versions of SI as well!

Huh, I didn't know that. I assumed the native enemies remained and the bounty simply became harder as a result. I've always cleared areas out before doing the bounty under this assumption.

Surely you mean "www.xaurips3.com".

I'm confident that the story and the environments will be very good; I am a little less confident that the mechanics will be to my taste given what we've seen in the beta so far, but hopefully they'll improve between now and release (and, as MaxQuest says, between release and the final version). The final state of the mechanics will determine whether Deadfire ends up being a game I replay multiple times like Pillars, or one I simply play through once for the story.

I understand where you're coming from with this decision. I wouldn't make it myself but then I guess I am less bothered by bugs and/or don't noticed them. In any case you'll definitely be missed on the character builds subforum for PoE as one of the most active and imaginative posters there. I hope you find another game you can enjoy that's less buggy.

It makes sense even in a world where they don't. Kill off the soft targets then gang up on the guy in plate seems a fairly sensible tactic to me.

Brilliant information Max.

Jon gets a pass because I'd rather he didn't conduct more... experiments on me

I will It's not hard to find examples. Here are two: the English (and later French) armies during the Hundred Years War were full of well trained, non-noble soldiers; and various Italian city states were training the citizens to use crossbows and various polearms throughout the middle ages and beyond.

At least I'm not, and never will be, a post-menopausal woman Sadly, whilst I am a little bit taller I am far from a baller.

IMCF really isn't a good representation of medieval combat. Their weapons aren't lethal (for obvious reasons) but this results in them acting in ways you simply wouldn't when your opponent is armed with a lethal weapon (and actually wants to kill you). The video of Warzecha represents a duel. This is a completely different situation to a massed melee. Of course your aim is still to put your opponent out of action as quickly and efficiently as possible but to suggest this involves no cunning or subtlety (who cares about beauty?) is simply wrong. Watch a boxing match with an untrained eye and you could be forgiven for thinking it's just two guys punching each other until one gets knocked out, but anyone who knows a bit about boxing can see the tremendous skill involved. Your comments on the state of soldiers in the middle ages, whilst certainly true in some cases, are simply wrong in many cases.

I'm fairly rigid, but I'm 6'7", does that mean I can't be a bureaucrat?

Well you have to bear in mind that the YouTuber you linked is, if not a professional YouTuber, certainly isn't one who's simply posting videos for fun. He wants traffic and you don't get traffic by appearing uncertain. Hence his title "Definitive Guide to Multiclassing - Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire" (no idea how it could be definitive given the game is still in beta). Notice also that this video was released a few days after the beta was live. Not enough time to do detailed testing but just in time to ride the release hype wave and maximise views. So when it comes to understanding the game well, these sorts of YouTubers aren't worth much. Watch them to see what the game looks like by all means, but they'll never come close to people like MaxQuest here.

Well my thinking is that the shield opens up opportunities to attack and allows you to control your opponent in ways that otherwise wouldn't be possible. You're right that there are things that can be done when you have a free hand of course, but Pillars already gives an accuracy bonus to wielding a single one-handed weapon so I don't see why shields should get a penalty to accuracy (perhaps large shields should, but not medium and small). Perhaps the way this could be represented would be to leave the penalty to Accuracy in, but have it removed with shield proficiency (since the character would know about this sort of tactic and counter/avoid it). Of course this would require a completely different proficiency system to the current one (which would be fine by me).

I don't disagree, and I personally wouldn't do it, but perhaps a particularly psychopathic* Bleak Walker might justify it in his mind. As a side note given that your Bleak Walker is rarely hired to do anything in Pillars, there really isn't any reason for them to be Aggressive or Cruel. *I know Bleak Walkers aren't, generally, psychopaths, but some are and I'd imagine it's the order that appeals to psychopaths.

I don't think you're understanding what click bait titles are. There's nothing wrong with your actual question in this thread, which was "is anyone here worried there might be less player freedom than the original game?", but your choice of title doesn't represent this question at all well and your starting post didn't help at all. If English isn't your first language that's fine, but then use simply short sentences that, together, express the idea you're trying to put across. Here's what you could have written in your starting post: "I think Deadfire will have more freedom than Pillars. However the addition of multiclassing, exploration etc. may mean story freedom has to be sacrificed. What are your thoughts on this? Does Obsidian's track record reassure you?" Anyway, to answer your question: no, I'm not worried about player freedom because if there's one thing Obsidian are good at it this sort of thing.

It varies between spells and abilities. For summoned weapons their near useless whereas for multiple projectile spells like Minoletta's various Missiles they can be quite powerful. One of the few single class characters that looks like it could have potential (once casting times are tweaked to not be awful) is a Nature Godlike Evoker using these spells (nature Godlike for easy access to +2 power levels). However even when power levels do benefit an ability a lot they're a little wonky due to having cutoff points. There will be times when activating my Nature Godlike's racial wouldn't be worth it since the +2 power levels won't be enough to add anything to my spells. Then I level up once and suddenly it becomes worht doing again. This is, in my opinion, bad design.

That fits with their lore. Once they are hired they can't be called off, even by their employer. It's part of their nature that means the me suggestion of their use causes conflicts to end.