Can PoE affect Deadfire in any substantial way?

[xzar_monty]

As it says in the title. Can your PoE endgame save affect Deadfire in a way that actually has meaning?

 

I'll give an example. In PoE, I treated Maerwald with kindness and mercy, to the extent that it was possible. In Deadfire, I was told at one point that it might change things a bit, but I'm not sure if it did, in the end: his attitude surely wasn't reciprocal. I had to do some serious battle. So, I was left with the impression that although I was told my previous choices would matter, they didn't. Somehow, precisely this is the impression I keep on getting. Therefore, I am curious.

[Enoch]

3 of the 7 potential Companions being dead before you start the game counts as "substantial" to me. 

[xzar_monty]

Absolutely. Do you mean that if Pallegina, Eder and Aloth are dead in your final save, they won't appear in Deadfire?

[Enoch]

Absolutely. Do you mean that if Pallegina, Eder and Aloth are dead in your final save, they won't appear in Deadfire?

Yep.  Dead is dead.

 

(IIRC, they also don't appear if you never recruited them.) 

[xzar_monty]

What you say in the end doesn't sound true to me. I have no interest in Pallegina and didn't recruit her (unless it was for an instant -- can't be sure about this), but she did appear in my Deadfire.

 

But the first point is interesting and, of course, well done from Obsidian.

[thelee]

As it says in the title. Can your PoE endgame save affect Deadfire in a way that actually has meaning?

 

I'll give an example. In PoE, I treated Maerwald with kindness and mercy, to the extent that it was possible. In Deadfire, I was told at one point that it might change things a bit, but I'm not sure if it did, in the end: his attitude surely wasn't reciprocal. I had to do some serious battle. So, I was left with the impression that although I was told my previous choices would matter, they didn't. Somehow, precisely this is the impression I keep on getting. Therefore, I am curious.

 

What's your definition of "substantial?"

 

Some small sampling of differences I would consider "substantial" (on top of companions being alive or dead) in that they actually affect gameplay and aren't just a text reference or the presence/non-presence of a non-important NPC.

 

in SSS one of the challenges significantly changes difficulty based on how you treated maerwald. is that what you're talking about?

 

Also, depending on how you handled your god pledges matters. Things that I've seen:

- pledging to Hylea and betraying her starts your ship off with a hull covered in bird poop, which reduces travel speed (though you only have to spend a paltry amount of money to buy a new hull)

- pledging to Hylea and honoring it gives you the Hylea's bounty consumable

- pledging to Galawain and betraying him causes him to create a buff on some boss fight. pledging to him and honoring it might also affect how easily you can avoid hard outcomes in SSS (a developer commented on this, but i pretty much go on a killing rampage in all my runs of SSS so i haven't paid attention).

- helping out Woedica gives you something at start of game, but I forget (it was one of my first runs)

- helping out Wael makes it easy to convince him/her/it of your choice at end of FS, I believe (otherwise I think there are some tough speech checks to make)

I'm sure there's more interactions, I just haven't permuted all the different pledging/betrayal cases. (edit: I googled and found a few more:

- if you pledged to give the souls to Woedica, you get the Effigy summon without needing to sacrifice a companion (though IME you can also do this by being a priest of skaen).

- if you betray berath, you have a -1 to all stats until you kill a bunch of kith)

 

Depending on how you resolve Pallegina's quest, her paladin subclass changes (irrevocably so) and her breastplate is different.

 

Depending on how you resolve Eder or Aloth, you get different starting items for them.

 

Depending on how you resolve Devil of Caroc you may be able to purchase a specific item from Mahiri's Metalwork.

 

Fixing up the WM cannons gives you arguably one of the best cannons in the game for free (unavailable otherwise).

 

There's also the availability of the two different swords you can forge (with a third combined option), though this is not really a "decision" you make in PoE but more like "did you actually do this quest".

Edited February 4, 2019 by thelee

[MountainTiger]

Galawain referred to a POE 2 choice in my most recent SSS run, with a character who pledged and honored in POE, but he didn't mention POE. The POE 2 choice might overwrite POE reactivity, though.

[xzar_monty]

 

As it says in the title. Can your PoE endgame save affect Deadfire in a way that actually has meaning?

 

I'll give an example. In PoE, I treated Maerwald with kindness and mercy, to the extent that it was possible. In Deadfire, I was told at one point that it might change things a bit, but I'm not sure if it did, in the end: his attitude surely wasn't reciprocal. I had to do some serious battle. So, I was left with the impression that although I was told my previous choices would matter, they didn't. Somehow, precisely this is the impression I keep on getting. Therefore, I am curious.

 

What's your definition of "substantial?"

 

in SSS one of the challenges significantly changes difficulty based on how you treated maerwald. is that what you're talking about?

 

 

That's a fair question. Difficult to say exactly, but some items on your list would qualify, in my opinion. Thanks for the list, btw!

 

As for the Maerwald incident: yep, I was told that my mercy might change things, but I'm not sure if they did. It was a damn hard fight, and Maerwald sure didn't say anything about me having been merciful towards him.

[thelee]

 

 

As it says in the title. Can your PoE endgame save affect Deadfire in a way that actually has meaning?

 

I'll give an example. In PoE, I treated Maerwald with kindness and mercy, to the extent that it was possible. In Deadfire, I was told at one point that it might change things a bit, but I'm not sure if it did, in the end: his attitude surely wasn't reciprocal. I had to do some serious battle. So, I was left with the impression that although I was told my previous choices would matter, they didn't. Somehow, precisely this is the impression I keep on getting. Therefore, I am curious.

 

What's your definition of "substantial?"

 

in SSS one of the challenges significantly changes difficulty based on how you treated maerwald. is that what you're talking about?

 

 

That's a fair question. Difficult to say exactly, but some items on your list would qualify, in my opinion. Thanks for the list, btw!

 

As for the Maerwald incident: yep, I was told that my mercy might change things, but I'm not sure if they did. It was a damn hard fight, and Maerwald sure didn't say anything about me having been merciful towards him.

 

 

what did you do to maerwald?

 

i think the heads always mention something about "maybe your mercy" blah blah even if what you chose to do is not merciful. I'm scratching my memory - my most recent run was from a game where I absorbed maerwald for knowledge, and that's suppossed to be the meanest outcome, and i had to fight 3 maerwalds and a bunch of mirrors of my party. If I try to really hard remember, I think I had another run where I released his soul, which is supposed to be the nicest option, and I only fought 3 maerwalds, or maybe it was 1 maerwald and soul mirrors. (I might be misremembering though, memory is really suggestible after all.)

Edited February 4, 2019 by thelee

[bell88]

Wait, @thelee does Pallegina's paladin subclass actually change in Deadfire depending on POE1? I've seemingly never been able to get her be a Kind Wayfarer no matter what import choices I choose. She always seems to be Five Suns

[thelee]

Wait, @thelee does Pallegina's paladin subclass actually change in Deadfire depending on POE1? I've seemingly never been able to get her be a Kind Wayfarer no matter what import choices I choose. She always seems to be Five Suns

You're right. I was going off of memories of stuff near and around release, which was vague about it. She is always five suns as a playable character.

[house2fly]

It makes sense for Pallegina to be in Deadfire either way, since presumably without your presence she just did her duty like normal and stayed with the ducs. Eder and Aloth shouldn't be there though

[xzar_monty]

 

 

 

 

what did you do to maerwald?

 

i think the heads always mention something about "maybe your mercy" blah blah even if what you chose to do is not merciful. I'm scratching my memory - my most recent run was from a game where I absorbed maerwald for knowledge, and that's suppossed to be the meanest outcome, and i had to fight 3 maerwalds and a bunch of mirrors of my party. If I try to really hard remember, I think I had another run where I released his soul, which is supposed to be the nicest option, and I only fought 3 maerwalds, or maybe it was 1 maerwald and soul mirrors. (I might be misremembering though, memory is really suggestible after all.)

 

 

I allowed Maerwald's soul to return to the Wheel, which seemed like the most merciful option at the time -- and, indeed, gave me a message to that effect (I recall it had something to do with gratitude from Maerwald's soul, or something to that effect).

 

I had to fight 1 Maerwald and the soul mirrors, so your last recollection is correct.

 

From what you describe, it seems that although you do get punished for having chosen a cruel option (i.e. you'll get three Maerwalds), you don't really get a reward for the mercy you have shown. Nothing wrong with that, but the mercy comment from the heads is misleading. And, again, nothing wrong with that: they can bull all they want, of course.

[xzar_monty]

It makes sense for Pallegina to be in Deadfire either way, since presumably without your presence she just did her duty like normal and stayed with the ducs. Eder and Aloth shouldn't be there though

 

Comments like this always make me think how Indiana Jones is a complete non-entity in Raiders of the Lost Ark: the story would have unfolded just the same without him. The nazis would have found the Ark and died just the same. Indy affects nothing. That's just lovely, priceless.

[Triple - A Foxy Lad]

 

It makes sense for Pallegina to be in Deadfire either way, since presumably without your presence she just did her duty like normal and stayed with the ducs. Eder and Aloth shouldn't be there though

Comments like this always make me think how Indiana Jones is a complete non-entity in Raiders of the Lost Ark: the story would have unfolded just the same without him. The nazis would have found the Ark and died just the same. Indy affects nothing. That's just lovely, priceless.

Not like thats anything new or unique. The denouement from war of the worlds was that humans had no agency in their victory.