gkathellar

I dunno, for all that New Hope is clearly modeled after the Joseph Campbell's Magical Book Of Ignoring Anthropological Research And Interpreting Freud Literally, I think the other two entries in the trilogy are intended very much as subversions. Empire Strikes Back asks, "okay, you've had your hero's journey, what now?" while Return of the Jedi is a take-2 loaded with criticism of the whole original idea (and it bears remembering that Lucas didn't write either the second or third entry, and that a lot of the major plot points in those two originated with the lead writer. Again, I'd just argue that TSL has pretty much the same relationship to KotOR as ESB and RotJ have to New Hope. Uh ... has anybody professed to that? I mean, Zoraptor seems to agree with what she puts forward more than some of those who say they like the character, but the general consensus I'm seeing is distinctly not what you're saying here. Are you just using hyperbole to insult the people who disagree with you and call them dumb, or is there a point her that I'm missing? Yes, absolutely. Kreia is a lying hypocrite who is absolutely certain of her own objectivity. Her flaws are on full display from the first. This is all part of why she works so well as a character. ITP: "This person disagrees with me! I'm going to associate them with this group of mostly fictional internet bogeymen-scapegoats who I dislike, and then invoke Godwin's Law! That totally constitutes a meaningful response and definitely doesn't sink to the level I claim to be criticising!" Dismissing others by equivocating their claims with childish whining doesn't really constitute an argument, regardless of how unsubstantiated aforementioned claims may be.

I mean, really, the solution to all of these balance arguments is to just do PoE2 as an Etrian Odyssey ga- /shot

Alas, it seems unlikely, unless they see a huge increase in pledges over the next 60 hours. I don't care personally, but it's true that people won't truly shut up about wanting a new NWN without the addition of a DM mode. Spoilering Star Wars junk for length and for whocares.jpg Edit: I ... what? When? Where?

There are side effects I agree when you get 0 phrase invocations, but you don't get them until level 13 and that is when wizards, priests and druids get to use their 3 level spell in every encounter, which gives them ability to cast over 10 spells per encounter. So if you limit chanter ability to cast 0 phrase invocations as many times as they have generated phrases in that fight they usually still could not get even close to capacity that those classes have and chants aren't that powerful that they would turn scales to chanter in late game encounters at least not usually. Of course this is just calculations in my head and reality may actually show different results, but I have my doubts on that happening. I generally agree and quite like your idea. I think many of the particular phrases and invocations need renovation as well (un-nerf Thrice She Was Wronged, you barbarians! *shakes fist*), but this would definitely be a good starting point. The two invocations I'd be wary of if phrases were allowed to reach cost 0 are the two stun cones. They're pretty reasonable if you have to charge them up, but if they were at all spammable, they'd be stunningly* good. Those on their own are a good argument for why a minimum cost of 1 phrase would probably be a good call. That's just incoherent. I level up, and suddenly I can't nova as effectively? What? But you're right, per-encounter doesn't need to be removed. Other things need to be brought up to par. Like, you know, Chanters. *Eh? Eh? EH?

They'll say that if you kill 'em, too. If you allow them to go through the rift, though, some of the townsfolk will mention that the ice is still spreading.

That's a given, I think. GM implies that her glamour is not something she can willingly suppress - it may even be a natural talent. (My headcanon is that she's the reincarnation of Eothas.)

Wait, really? I was able to sneak my way through Rymrgand's quest, pass some dialogue checks to convince people to leave, and successfully complete the quest as Rymrgand asked without killing anyone. You might just need a high Resolve? IIRC, the Merchant background can also get you through the quest, as Ondra will intervene with Rymrgand on your behalf to reward you for being a smooth operator. Regardless, it bears noting that the people of Twin Elms are unhappy about a resolution where the rift stays open. You know, on account of the giant hole to a dimension of infinite entropy in the middle of their community.

I'll third (fourth?) the suggestion for extensive use of auto-pause. Like you, I find these games much too fiddly to react in to without pausing constantly; I'm only able to play effectively by figuring out a group of auto-pause settings that work for me. I do not suggest using the "auto-pause every X" seconds, however - time scales in PoE vary a lot, so it ends up being kind of gawky in practice.

But still she will be worse than any normal rogue That's about the size of it. When you have to use valuable Durgan Steel that you could be using on a better character to make the Devil competent for a rogue at a role that rogues in general don't excel at, you've got a bit of a problem. At least she's a decent candidate for the Deep Wounds/Retaliation combo. That's something.

They didn't used to, which may or may not have been a bug. Pretty much positive that they actually do now.

Log in the Tech Support forum, where devs trawling for bugs will actually see it.

Except that per-rest spells don't change the game's balance. They adjust the butthurt:power ratio in favor of butthurt, but they don't make casters any less powerful. So at the end of the day, when you do your boss fights fully rested, your casters are still going to make MVP.

I feel absolutely fine about it. Expansion packs are nice and all, but stories shod be Llowed to end when they're complete.

I disagree pretty strongly with this. The great thing about Kreia is that she's not right, but she does a great job of convincing you that she is. If there's any other character in fiction who Kreia reminds me of, it's the Witch from Into The Woods (yes, I just brought musical theatre into this). On the one hand, the people in her world are generally either corrupt, or naive and blind to the world's corruption. But on the other hand, she offers no real alternative besides perhaps giving up one's principles and humanity altogether. Cynicism has a real value in its ability to sweep away the barriers of "common sense," and see the world's ugliness for what it actually is. But that's worthless if you just stand around in the rubble when you're done, and that's exactly what Kreia (and the Witch) do, and what they encourage those around them to do. Being unable to escape life's imperfections, they advocate smashing everything to pieces. But while a person may be free in the void that remains, they're free to do ... what? If anyone is allowed to be right in KotOR2, I think it's the Exile, and I think that this is the Exile's principal narrative arc (at least if you take the light-side path). Kreia sees the Exile as a living emblem of freedom from an ugly universe due to their disconnection from the Force, but it's only when the Exile reaffirms their connection to others through the Force that they actually start to direct their own destiny. KotOR2 is, to me, the journey from a childishly simple worldview, through the adolescent disappointment masquerading as maturity that Kreia peddles, and into the pain (but joy and invigoration!) of adult independence. The game is really about the relationship between Kreia and the Exile, and about the Exile's growth into someone who surpasses her and throws her understanding of the universe into chaos. Maybe this isn't as clear without the restored content, or maybe it's just my biases being projected onto the game. I can't say. But that's my 2cp about KotOR2. I think, to be fair, that it's a middle finger to the EU in particular, rather than the six three movies. Legend has it that Avellone prepared to do KotOR2 by consuming all of the EU (including the Christmas Special). That honestly sounds pretty traumatic. One could understand how a person might be embittered as a result.

I'm not necessarily in favor of the Alpine Dragon's immunity to crush damage, but I can think of a couple of arguments off the top of my head. First thing's first, it is the player that is supposed to react to the game world and adapt to enemies, not the other way around—unless, of course, you just wanted a game you could mindlessly cut through like butter without ever changing anything that you do. If you build your character around doing crush damage only all the time, you willingly pigeonhole them into a niche; can't complain if not all creatures in the game world adapt to your character's strength by becoming weak to it. It is on you to adapt your tactics/strategies to a fight; not on the game to adapt to your character build.That's great for certain fights - say, the Chromatic Demon or Magic Golems in Watcher's Keep. But those encounters were about the gimmick. For a major bonus boss who is supposed to demand you bring the best you have to offer? It's a different story. Honestly, that doesn't make much sense at all. A fire blight is made of fire; how can it possibly burn to death if burning is its very existence? When was the last time you could put a fire off by adding more fire to it?You'll notice that I didn't say "burn." I guess a good word would be dilution - hitting the blight with such intensity that it loses itself in the purer, grander flames that you command. It's not about burning so much as it is about making the blight lose cohesion. Sort of like how in a mass of plasma, electrons drift freely from atomic nuclei, losing their immediate ties to one another due to the immense energies involved. (Also dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel to extinguish coal fires.)

I believe they've said specifically that he'll be writing one of the origin stories. The scene towards the end, where you return to the Jedi Council? Where Kreia stops to sit on the edge of the dead fountain, and for the first time in the game seems truly old?* I just sat there and cried. *This scene may or may not be exclusive to TSLRCM.

Debatable? Are they? Really? Because I'm seriously interested in hearing an argument from someone - anyone - that justifies locking out any damage dealer who relies on crush weapons from meaningful participation in the fight. What if a fireball has such intensity and such raw, chaotic power that the fire blight simply can't hold together in it, and its spiritual matter gets swept away as part of the blaze? Honestly, if you're capable of dealing so much damage that you push through a blight's elemental DR, that seems legit to me. The conceptual issue is really one of minimum damage, so why not just grant certain creatures immunity to minimum damage of particular types, rather than grant them immunity to those types altogether and shut down awesome a player's (or monster's) ability to go beyond the impossible?

Have you played TSLRCM? Because if you've played TSLRCM and you still don't like Kreia, then we gonna fight.

It's something along the lines of, "How about I just kill you here, instead?"

It's a huge problem. The sheer number of enemies in the wilderness areas, coupled with the way combat works, becomes an ever-increasing pain that really messes with the atmosphere of the later game. This is how it goes: Me: "Oooh, a spooky, atmospheric ruin! I wonder what sort of strange and interesting discoveries I will make here?" PoE: "HERE FIGHT SOME SHADES" Me: "Goddamnit Obsidian"

You can do all of the quests, but make sure to only actually promise to follow through on the agenda of one god. Or make multiple promises, if you really want to see what happens.

Hmm. But here's a question: what combination of Dex + Int does a ridiculous carnage-lockdown build need to make their next attack just as the opponent gets up from Prone?

Because the only CRPGs that have ever been meaningfully improved by pickpocketing mechanics were Fallout 1&2, and those were in a totally different style from PoE. I could totally see text-adventure minigames for particular pickpocketing targets, as part of quest lines, or as conversation options - using Stealth, in either case. But pickpocketing mechanics almost never add anything to a game except hassle and problems.

OH SNAP Also, I'm very pleased to see they hit the 1.65m stretch goal. Maybe people will stop asking for every RPG and its cousin to include a campaign creation toolset now the D:OS2 is finally going to provide dedicated editor support. I don't really get that. Character writing has always been what Avellone does best. Well, that and just generally tearing existing properties into little pieces.

Isn't there an argument to be made the Perception, Dexterity, and Intelligence are all greater than Might? I mean, sure, another 9% in damage is cool, but Perception helps your CC and critical hits connect, and Dexterity affects cast speed, and Intelligence is just obvious as a priority.