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For starters: I am starting this thread influenced by series of videos titled “Boss Keys” by Mark Brown analyzing dungeon design in Zelda series: (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc38fcMFcV_ul4D6OChdWhsNsYY3NA5B2) While I played a lot of games clearly influenced by Nintendo's work, as someone who never owned a Nintendo console I found his videos on Mario & Zelda series fascinating. The only Nintendo games I played were: Super Mario Bros on Comodore 64 (was it even official?) many many years ago, and Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros, Brawl for Wii, thanks to my modest undergraduate social life. I am very impressed by design of dungeons from old Zelda games – how much clever exploration and interaction with environment can be done with low tech. As limitations of such game resembles constrains a pre-rendered isometric game has to face, I started to think, if complexity of Zelda games could be(or should be?) implemented in cRPG like Deadfire. When I think about my favourite RPGs dungeons I notice some similarities in design – unique mechanics, a bit of backtracking, multiple locked doors to open, puzzles to solve, a feeling of exploration in a linear dungeon. Naturally, adopting some of the key tricks from Zelda games is impossible in cRPG – after all our party’s skills can vary and forcing player to play or interact with dungeon in one certain way goes against what cRPG is about. Vanilla PoE had some fine areas – Roderick’s Hold, ruins in Cliaban Rilag and Lle a Rhemen but unfortunately, I found majority of vanilla PoE dungeons disappointing. While beautiful to look at the interaction with them was minimal. The most disappointing to me was the Endless Dungeon. While I was hoping for something as unique as Durlag’s Tower or Watcher’s Keep, what we got was a stretched out combat gauntlet filled generic enemies. Instead of a break from main game, it was more of the same, just with different backdrop. White March has improved so much on dungeon design. Even the most basic areas have unique features, with main path being a stand out – clearing Durgan’s Battery was a joy. For example the mines – while getting to the exit is simple, it will take some exploration to open the doors. There are couple different areas in this level, all unique – ambush in a mine, a ride in a cart, Hall of Remembrance for which we need to find sigils to disable traps, locked Workshop. A well designed, varied environment, requiring conscious exploration, interaction with environment and utilizing different branches of gameplay (puzzle, conversation, scripted interaction, combat). The Abby of the Fallen Moon only expanded upon design, combining an open nature of Roderick’s Hold with complex, multistage design of WM dungeons. Tyranny’s dungeons were really neat as well – gradual collection of wall “keys” encouraged backtracking and gradually unlocked the whole area. I liked how new paths were opened, puzzles to solve to unlock spires. Dungeons we have in the beta for Deadfire isn’t much to brag about. While combat is much more varied than PoE1, it is once again a linear dungeon consisting mostly of couple combat encounters. I am not saying it is necessarly a representation of what will get, but after WMes I would be disappointed if it was. Now with expanded “scripted interaction” system we could get some really special ones. What are your hopes for Deadfire dungeons? Any particular likes or dislikes? Do you think that additional mechanics like vertical dungeons or special hazards could improve exploration?

I've found a few background issues in Redric's hold dungeons. I've experienced glitchy backgrounds in the skeletons room / animancers room. Also seen elsewhere in the castle. This is the Steam version. On the hold I'm finding the Steam version very stable (if a bit slow), nothing like other people have been reporting, just a couple of minor issues here and there.

I played the game (without white march part 1) and i liked it. Sadly, i've noticed that the best dungeon is raedric's hold in the whole game. There are different ways to break into the castle and there are many ways/paths to move and reach raedric. I think, it's a great example of good level design. Maybe the temple of skaen is non-linear too. Other dungeons are tendentially linear. Honestly, I found Od Nua boring and repetiitive. There is nothing to do except to kill thousands of trash mobs. I don't know if there are non-linear dungeons in white march, but i hope that in future (expansions or PoE2) there will be more open dungeons (like raedric's hold). These are just my thoughts. P.S. Sorry for my english

It would be great if you could have a Dungeon Delve Mode. It would work one of these ways, either: - You can't leave the dungeon until you've beaten the core quest/boss at the bottom of the dungeon. (Special auto-save before you enter.) OR - Leaving the dungeon resets the dungeon, but you still get to keep any experience/loot you got. Respawned mobs don't drop loot a second time.

Hello All, I am making this post because the other post were kinda ended up as a spam, becuase the edit time is low and i was forced to repost them. Therefor i am starting a new POST where I will have EVERYTHING in Each Post OF its OWN...ACT 1, ACT 2, ACT 3. Everything will be orginized and easy to find. If this Guide Helped Please BUMP it =) T Thank you all again for Enjoying this Wonderful Game. ACT 1 A Moment's Respite ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Saving Heodan ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/lmSEVG_YL9s?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Ruins of Cilant Lis ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Dungeon Guide ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/kOBIbepM2eA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Vengence from the Grave ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ►Different Outcomes ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/Np3-DOw557Q?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Late for Dinner ► Pillars of Eternity ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Saving the Dwaft ► Inn Discounthttps://youtu.be/NDlBrvbquI8?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Against the Grain ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act 1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/wWaZq-yb41U?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Buried Secrets ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Act1 ► Quest Guide ► Walkthroughhttps://youtu.be/4fsfnYsv1E0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Mother's Plea ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Anslog's Compass ► ACT 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/QPGRUVnJIHI?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Smith's Shipment ► Pillars of Eternity ► Gilded Vale ► Black Meadow ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YF7jo8_3vN0?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Whispers and Visions ► Gilded Vale ► Valewood ► Act 1 ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/YIn7XHYwzsQ?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza The Old Watcher ► Maerwald ► Pillars of Eternity ► Endless Path of Od Nua 1 ► Caed Nua ► Quest Guidehttps://youtu.be/GyWweTopND4?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Lord of a Barren Land ► Pillars of Eternity ► Raedric's Hold ► Esternwood ► Act 1 ► The Dungeonhttps://youtu.be/oO2gOyoeyGA?list=PLeusrXH_hwph8tkMqpKRX1njMaRY8gbza Complete Quest Guides - Tutorials/Walkthrough - Pillars of Eternity - Act1 - Full Game Review (BETA and Release) - Playlist

Hey all, I was thinking about how the various 'powers' of classes (like powers from Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Wizard, etc.) might be able to be used out of combat in something like an Infinity Engine game. That is, for the non skill, non healing or restorative,usually 'clickable' abilities of characters to have some use outside of combat. Video games have a large set of abilities where people use various superpowers from one source or another in ways that are useful outside of combat, but those generally aren't Infinity Engine-like games (they are often sandboxes and such). Still, I have a few ideas, so far: -Various sources of trapfinding, eg, certain types of magic-oriented characters should be able to see magic traps / magic auras. -Various character types can bash through or blow apart certain types of walls, bypassing areas in some dungeons -If a character has a charm, beguiling, telepathic, or an emotion sensing, or a lying sensing ability, they might be able to determine when someone is telling a partial lie, if they are doing the speech, or they would have the option of using magic to charm someone in combat -Various methods of disguise and social coersion, both magical and mundane, should allow someone to try a 'social' way of getting through a dungeon What I am thinking of is things like the Deus Ex games, where there are SEVERAL ways of using your superpowers or even traditional skullduggery to solve a given problem, and many of them aren't violent. If these characters have lots of superpowers, or even are really competent at having normal abilities, this sort of thing should be a viable and interesting option, you know? And there should be a reason to do a nonviolent way to get through a level; even if you don't get to loot everything from the cooling corpses of the dungeon, perhaps the person who gave you the job will give you extra rewards for not being so 'kill them all!' in your methods. Does anyone have any thoughts about ways that this sort of thing might be posssible in an Infinity Engine like game? Also, does anyone have any idea about ways that the world itself might be made a bit more 'living' or interactive or 'real', like the old Ultima games? Where you can click and interact with many more parts of the world, and people have their own schedules and do their own thing? Heck, the dungeons having actual *sleeping quarters*, kitchens, etc. for the people living in them, which get used would be fantastic, or if you make a large commotion, the entire dungeon going onto lockdown or the alarm going up and everyone going to defend it would be great...

In many rpgs I saw a very big problem in the size of an indoor house ( mostly in neverwinter nights 2 ). As I walked the street with my group I saw a little tavern and I walked in, only to see the Inn is actually PRETTY HUGE inside and by huge I mean really huuuuuge. I like how Bethesda solves this with TES. They just take the outdoor model of the house and on the base of this model they make the interior. Huge interiors really destroy my immersion ;/. If I remember good in Baldur's gate this problem didnt exist or it didnt really made that difference. What do you think folks ?

I saw this article linked from another post and I really liked it and I thought it was good enough for even the designers to read. I have noticed that a lot of dungeons are really "simple" and this article talks about how to make your dungeons more organic and interesting. This is especially true with cave and sewer-type dungeons. http://thealexandria...ing-the-dungeon Anybody else have some good tips and ideas that have made your DMing experiences more fun? Anything you've seen other people do that has made your gaming experiences more fun?

Right, load up your rucksacks with iron rations, spikes, rope, flasks of oil and holy water. Oi, you at the back? Have you got a 10' pole. No? Oh, you've been eaten by a giant spider. If you don't get this then don't worry. There is always time. Getting to the point, folks have discussed the influence of Planescape (or 'Wordscape' as we call it here at The Schloss Monte) and BG2. Not so much about the shimmering palantir of win that is Icewind Dale. The influence of this game should be obvious: Dungeons. Can we please have a massive, just-for-the-sake-of-it mega-dungeon? One that makes Durlag's Tower look like a 10x10 room with an orc in it. And a pie. Like romances, the role-plaeyers that hate such things can ignore it (ha! see what I did there?). Icewind Dale showed how dungeon-crawling can go hand-in-hand with great atmosphere and story-telling. I'm also getting a sort of Conquistador vibe from this game, a party ship-wrecked and confronted by a terrifying maze on an island or something. Like the Maztican dungeon in IWD2 but with MOAR STUFF in it. I want slimes, rust monsters, traps, caves, underground rivers and demon statues with hobbit-sized rubies for eyes I think a stretch-goal that includes a special mega-dungeon, referencing Durlag's, almost EVERYTHING in IWD (and maybe Watcher's Keep, which doesn't get much loving) might get more old-skoolers out of their basements. I also think the majority of folks would dig it, what's not to love? Many thanks for reading. MC