Can't seem to get into the game

[Pangalactic]

Hi!

 

So I've played quite a few party-based RPGs (a lot of MIght & Magic, Torment, KOTOR, DA:O and so on) and was very excited to try out Pillars...

 

until around 4 hours into the game, I find myself struggling to enjoy it. Here are the issues I'm currently having, if you have any ideas (no spoilers of course) if they'll go away or can be fixed please let me know  

 

1) The AI of the companions is brain dead. Unless you tell them specifically every single time what to do they could be a warrior standing 1 meter away from the enemy and not attacking. Which brings a lot of unnecessary and annoying micro to the game.

 

2) Pathfinding + disengage rule: the game has really terrible pathfinding. I had a few cases when one of my characters couldn't get through a doorway that is wide enough for three people or would be running around a huge enemy group to get engaged somewhere where I didn't want him to. Which would be fine but the extra strike on disengage makes the flawed pathfinding even more punishing to the player. Even if you are fighting two spiders that can be easily defeated you have to micro the whole group to make sure everyone is doing at least something.

 

3) Mages seem to be very...unfun I guess would be the word. You have some great spells but you have to hold on to them in case some big fight happens, so they end up shooting their staffs 90% of the time. I'm fine with advanced spells having this restriction but basic spells? Cast 4 missiles and you are out of magic? 

 

4) The battle music. I don't know if this will go on but so far I had the same song playing probably around 200 times every time a battle starts, it is really getting on my nerves now 

5) The tons and tons of useless loot that you end up carrying. And it's not even fun loot, it's just basic swords and armor and junk just for selling. There's soooo much of it, probably more than in any other game I've seen! 

 

6) The weird mix between some characters speaking some dialogue, then going silent out of a sudden for me to read and then starting speaking again. 

 

 

I'm hoping the game would get more fun later on but so far these things kind of spoil the fun for me.

 

[the_dog_days]

Not that it isn't true for PoE, but every real time with pause game I've ever played (which is just about all of them) has horrible pathing bugs.

[claudius]

1 and 2) 

 

I haven't hit this because my play style is to specify every single action of every single character, summon, animal companion.   So I just have a different play style and haven't hit this.  I'm not saying you 'should' play my play style but you might enjoy it?  One thing that helps is I have 'autopauses' set after things like "companion uses spell or ability".  Essentially I am constantly having auto pauses and checking if actions are wise.

 

The drawback is the time and fuss to do all that but the advantage is you have access to use more efficient tactics and even just more variety tactics.  I find the micro painstaking and meticulous but not annoying.  Your experience could vary.

 

3) For mages, druids, and priests yes it's a different class balance than compared to fighters, monks, and paladins etc.  The former do run out of spells if you use them all the time while the latter usually have per encounter ability like Fighter knockdown and Monk stun.  It's just a different character type.  If your difficulty setting you can rest whenever you want then you can find the sweet spot between using too many or too little wizard/druid/priest spells.  Also you don't have to take a priest/wizard/druid so you could avoid it.  Or just take 1 or 2.  Chanters and Ciphers can use some spells but they earn the points to use them each battle.

 

A second aspect is that you get more spells per rest as you level up on a wizard etc.  When you are level 13 for example you will have 4 x 1st, 4x 2nd, 4x 3rd, 4x 4th, 4x 5th, 4x 6th, and 4x 7th level spells.  That's a grand total of 28 spells/ rest and by that time you have developed 1 or 2 spell 'specialties' that you can cast each encounter!  Example I think at 12th level you get to pick 1 first level spell that you can cast every encounter.  I choose rapid speed for Aloth and he starts combat with that usually since it's a 'fast' casted spell.

 

5) for this I find it goes into my giant multi page loot bag and I sell all of the non-component thins like weapons and armor that aren't in any way special or needed by one of my companions.  The components I save in case I want to enchant or craft something.

[Mangamina]

Pathfinding is fine, just don't plan your battle around doorways; YOU lure them into a battle area of your choosing, let the chokepoint be your enemy's problem.  You really have to plan ahead in this game otherwise you will get slaughtered.

[Phil5000]

I found it a bit boring as well, but mostly because I think the story is quite dull and the writing isn't very sharp and at times just goes on and on. I did struggle with the combat at first but I got used to it and came to appreciate the tactical nature of it.

 

The biggest thing that puts me off is the load times. On PS4, every time you load a game or enter or leave a building its a minute to a minute and a half to load.

[Mangamina]

Load times schload times who gives a...  You learn to manage around it (while it's loading there has got to be something you can do).  The worst game for load times was Oblivion in addition to all of the Elder Scroll games (Skyrim too).  Long load times is a good indicator me which is they're loading a LOT of stuff and the game is immensely rich and complicated, not for people without patience.

[dreamrider]

Just a possibility.

 

Have you right-clicked on the little head profile icon above the character portrait in the lower left of the main screen, and set up each character's default combat AI rules? 

Sounds like maybe not.

[Kray]

The biggest thing that puts me off is the load times. On PS4, every time you load a game or enter or leave a building its a minute to a minute and a half to load.

 

And here I thought 5sec loading times on my SSD were kinda bad. In SkyrimSE I usually have something from 1-3s. But 1.5min? Wow.

 

I'd upgrade that console in an instant if that's possible. SSDs became quite affordable in the last couple of months.

 

Kind regards

 

[asnjas]

Minor correction, the story and writing are great.

[Mangamina]

Minor correction, the story and writing are great.

 

Minor correction to what?  There's no other post by you in this thread

[dreamrider]

@ Mangamina:  

[Mangamina]

@ Mangamina:  

 

What's THAT supposed to mean? There's so many games to choose from these days, to waste time on a poo-poo thread like this, someone needs to get a doggy-bag and clean up the mess on my yard.  Pure trollism.  The OP created his handle for this one post, very peculiar (troll-check-off #1).  Another peculiarity, doesn't come back to comment on replies (troll-check-off #2).  Makes statements like this:  "Mages seem to be very...unfun I guess would be the word. You have some great spells but you have to hold on to them in case some big fight happens, so they end up shooting their staffs 90% of the time. I'm fine with advanced spells having this restriction but basic spells? Cast 4 missiles and you are out of magic?  This is troll-check-off #3, almost laughable.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Mangamina

[dreamrider]

It was an acknowledgement of a well-crafted (well-spoken?) troll-tamping comment.

(Perhaps I could / should have chosen a more obviously "Right On !" imogi.)

[Mangamina]

It was an acknowledgement of a well-crafted (well-spoken?) troll-tamping comment.

(Perhaps I could / should have chosen a more obviously "Right On !" imogi.

My apology dreamrider, I get a little testy when it comes to trollism.  In no way am I implying you have. Quite the opposite, you have written some of the most helpful posts on this board.  However, this board seems to get very light traffic lately.  I'm sure it's because most of the community is now playing Deadfire, and I have to wait til Christmas to get my PS4 version waaa! waaa! waaa!  It's OK though, DOS2 is coming out in 2 weeks for the consoles.

Edited August 17, 2018 by Mangamina