New patch, but how hard is the game?

[Matteo89.b]

As the title says.

 

I played the game as soon as it was out, but i uninstalled it after only a few days.

 

The reason? Even on PoTD the game was disappointingly easy.

 

 

So, some months have passed. We reached patch 2.0.

 

How is the game now ?

 

Should i give it a try or is it still the same as before?

 

 

...it's just great that i bought a game that requires months of patches before being enjoyable...

Edited August 3, 2018 by Matteo89.b

[Manveru123]

Very enjoyable.

 

Use mods if you need more to autoattack monsters more often for some reason.

[Karkarov]

Considering there are now modes that make it so you can't pause, can't recruit any team members, turn on iron man mode by default, etc, I would say it is probably pretty hard.  Obviously if you are an idiot tweaker and you plan a team full of min maxed custom characters who can all summon mobs so every fight is 10+ v whatever, maybe it still won't be super hard.  But then if you are doing that I have to question the validity of your "I want a hard game" statements.

[Manveru123]

Obviously if you are an idiot tweaker and you plan a team full of min maxed custom characters who can all summon mobs so every fight is 10+ v whatever, maybe it still won't be super hard. 

There are many people around here who will only be satisfied when what you're describing here is a requirement to even attempt POTD.

[Karkarov]

 

Obviously if you are an idiot tweaker and you plan a team full of min maxed custom characters who can all summon mobs so every fight is 10+ v whatever, maybe it still won't be super hard. 

There are many people around here who will only be satisfied when what you're describing here is a requirement to even attempt POTD.

Pretty sure that is not a requirement to "even attempt" path of the damned.

[Manveru123]

Ofc not, that's not what I said.

[Karkarov]

Ofc not, that's not what I said.

My bad, misread it, haven't had my coffee yet.  The problem with people like that is two fold, like I said, I don't believe them when they say they want a harder game.  If you wanted a harder game all you had to do was not make a twink fest party.  Second, designing for the biggest twinky and making it really hard for that, makes it nearly impossible/impossible for everything else.

[Tommy1984]

I started a new playthrough with Triple Crown (PotD + Expert Mode + Trial of Iron) + Solo (no companions) + Berath's Challenge (kill on knockdown, no flee from combat) + Magrans challenge (no pausing/slowing) as a Herald (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour). Its harder than I thought (I had to restart once), but its still manageable.

 

You have to make good AI settings, as there is no pausing. Also the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is really helpful for a Chanter, because combat does not end when you get out of sight of enemies. So you can just summon creatures and send them towards the enemy without risk for yourself. This helped me a lot in the dragon battle at the Ruins on Maje at the beginning of the game.

[Matteo89.b]

My idea of hard is simply a challenging game.

 

Deadfire months ago was the kind of game you could almost sit and drink a coffee while your party did all the work in battles. That's easy and boring.

 

My idea of hard is having to control my characters and having to create some strategy in order to win.

 

I'm not asking much.

[Starwars]

My idea of hard is simply a challenging game.

 

Deadfire months ago was the kind of game you could almost sit and drink a coffee while your party did all the work in battles. That's easy and boring.

 

My idea of hard is having to control my characters and having to create some strategy in order to win.

 

I'm not asking much.

 

Same here. Obviously, we're all at different skill levels but if I choose Path of the Damned then I want the game to go all out and really work against me. I think it should take knowledge of the gameplay systems, the consumables, viability of classes and how they combine, choosing good equipment, etc. It shouldn't need challenges outside the "normal base game" (such as no pausing allowed) to feel extremely hard.

 

Haven't tried PotD after the tweaks though so hope it's better. It must be an ordeal to tune games such as this. But yeah, with PotD I think it should really be aimed at challenging the very best of players.

[M4xw0lf]

I started a new playthrough with Triple Crown (PotD + Expert Mode + Trial of Iron) + Solo (no companions) + Berath's Challenge (kill on knockdown, no flee from combat) + Magrans challenge (no pausing/slowing) as a Herald (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour). Its harder than I thought (I had to restart once), but its still manageable.

 

You have to make good AI settings, as there is no pausing. Also the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is really helpful for a Chanter, because combat does not end when you get out of sight of enemies. So you can just summon creatures and send them towards the enemy without risk for yourself. This helped me a lot in the dragon battle at the Ruins on Maje at the beginning of the game.

 

Obsidian owned by their own game mechanics once more.

[dunehunter]

I started a new playthrough with Triple Crown (PotD + Expert Mode + Trial of Iron) + Solo (no companions) + Berath's Challenge (kill on knockdown, no flee from combat) + Magrans challenge (no pausing/slowing) as a Herald (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour). Its harder than I thought (I had to restart once), but its still manageable.

 

You have to make good AI settings, as there is no pausing. Also the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is really helpful for a Chanter, because combat does not end when you get out of sight of enemies. So you can just summon creatures and send them towards the enemy without risk for yourself. This helped me a lot in the dragon battle at the Ruins on Maje at the beginning of the game.

 

That sounds more like a cheat than a challenge, i mean the cannot flee one...

[Karkarov]

That sounds more like a cheat than a challenge, i mean the cannot flee one...

If he were any class other than spam summon chanter it wouldn't be very helpful.

[Matteo89.b]

You don't get a challenge or increase of difficulty with things like " no pause in battle " , " no saves allowed " , " Die once and your save file is deleted ", and so on...

 

You obtain a good challenge and a good difficulty working with the AI.

 

Example :

 

Party has 1 ranged char and 1 mage/druid/chanter ? Enemy AI send certain monsters against the ranged char, and other monsters against the mage or druid etc etc...

 

If this is done well (like it was done in PoE 1 in the monastery), you get a entertaining and challenging game.

 

 

...considering what i'm reading, i guess the game is still easy. Better wait for patch 4 or 5

Edited August 3, 2018 by Matteo89.b

[omgFIREBALLS]

Obsidian owned by their own game mechanics once more.

Triple Crown Berath's Challenge mass chanters inc!

[dunehunter]

 

That sounds more like a cheat than a challenge, i mean the cannot flee one...

If he were any class other than spam summon chanter it wouldn't be very helpful.

 

 

And? It doesn't stop this to be a cheat..

[Big-Ben]

If the game isn't hard enough I'll glady come to your house and mock/yell at you while you play. It'll cost you money but I assure you you'll want to quit because everything is so difficult. You'll be glad!

[Matteo89.b]

 

If the game isn't hard enough I'll glady come to your house and mock/yell at you while you play. It'll cost you money but I assure you you'll want to quit because everything is so difficult. You'll be glad!

 

This comment is as constructive as using sugar instead of concrete to build a palace.

 

Other than that, i agree with dunehunter.

 

It's always bad when you can solve a situation with cheeseing the game.

[gkathellar]

You don't get a challenge or increase of difficulty with things like " no pause in battle " , " no saves allowed " , " Die once and your save file is deleted ", and so on...

 

You obtain a good challenge and a good difficulty working with the AI.

 

This. Good god, this. There's a reason that Sword Coast Stratagems is a damn classic.

 

"No pausing in our RTWP game," doesn't make the game harder so much as it demands you compile a bunch of AI scripts to play the game for you.

[Karkarov]

 

You don't get a challenge or increase of difficulty with things like " no pause in battle " , " no saves allowed " , " Die once and your save file is deleted ", and so on...

 

You obtain a good challenge and a good difficulty working with the AI.

 

This. Good god, this. There's a reason that Sword Coast Stratagems is a damn classic.

 

"No pausing in our RTWP game," doesn't make the game harder so much as it demands you compile a bunch of AI scripts to play the game for you.

Which I personally feel like that defeats the whole point.

[Vitalis]

 

I started a new playthrough with Triple Crown (PotD + Expert Mode + Trial of Iron) + Solo (no companions) + Berath's Challenge (kill on knockdown, no flee from combat) + Magrans challenge (no pausing/slowing) as a Herald (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour). Its harder than I thought (I had to restart once), but its still manageable.

 

You have to make good AI settings, as there is no pausing. Also the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is really helpful for a Chanter, because combat does not end when you get out of sight of enemies. So you can just summon creatures and send them towards the enemy without risk for yourself. This helped me a lot in the dragon battle at the Ruins on Maje at the beginning of the game.

Obsidian owned by their own game mechanics once more.

Next balance change, Chanters can only summon once per combat and if the summons get too far away they disappear.

[Tommy1984]

 

 

I started a new playthrough with Triple Crown (PotD + Expert Mode + Trial of Iron) + Solo (no companions) + Berath's Challenge (kill on knockdown, no flee from combat) + Magrans challenge (no pausing/slowing) as a Herald (Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour). Its harder than I thought (I had to restart once), but its still manageable.

 

You have to make good AI settings, as there is no pausing. Also the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is really helpful for a Chanter, because combat does not end when you get out of sight of enemies. So you can just summon creatures and send them towards the enemy without risk for yourself. This helped me a lot in the dragon battle at the Ruins on Maje at the beginning of the game.

Obsidian owned by their own game mechanics once more.

Next balance change, Chanters can only summon once per combat and if the summons get too far away they disappear.

 

 

My herald is still alive. But I had to refrain from dual wielding and respecced for Sword + Shield ... this is much safer. The "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge is a big thing - often you need to clear a whole map/dungeon in one go. So builds based on active abilities without ressource generating mechanics have a hard time. But weapons with stacks that stay until end of combat like Modwyr really shine, as they are maxed out most of the time.

[Wormerine]

I am somewhere in the middle of PotD playthrough. I find the difficulty to be enjoyable - I think about my builds, pay attention to what is happening, get my butt kicked everyonce in a while if I get to careless. 

My impressions is, that it is not too hard, but hard enough to be fun - I found difficulty in 1.0 too easy to be engaging. I am still hoarding consumables after first initial hours when I really needed them. The xp float is there. Still I find the experience to reliable and even than PoE1. Looking forward to those Mega-Bosses announced recently. Howefully they will provide those supertough fights the game lacks right now. 

[Tommy1984]

Update: it seems the "no flee from combat" from Beraths Challenge wasn't tested ... in Hasango it seems that I trigger enemies in an area that is only accessible via door/stairs, but because I'm in combat I can not get there. This bug is reproduceable for me ... I need to test if I can sneak through this or if I must skip Hasango completely.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

It can be more challenging than it was, but I've been killed by traps several times(no high Per party and mechanics don't factor into detection) and only been wiped in one encounter on hard

Bounty outside of the crypt in main city, had the accuracy debuff on all party members and no good electric damage to penetrate high AR. Came back without debuff and some shock spells to breeze through it