Update #61 - Patch Update 5.0 - The Return of the Ultimate

9 minutes ago, Purudaya said:

So the last god challenge is essentially just a switch that turns on all the other challenges? That's something I can do manually - would've been nice to see a new challenge type, especially one that would be attractive to more than a handful of players. That said, I really appreciate the new narrative tweaks; I've played around with the Woedica book and it's a really nice touch. Thanks for a great game and for continuing to integrate community feedback!

It also forces the game to the hardest difficulty and turns on trial of iron.

edit: Boereor gave a more in depth answer on the end of the last page. Cheers mate!

Edited May 9 by injurai

28 minutes ago, injurai said:

It also forces the game to the hardest difficulty and turns on trial of iron.

edit: Boereor gave a more in depth answer on the end of the last page. Cheers mate!

Yeah, but those are also things I can do manually. I know it also disables mods and provides players with some kind of tracker for necessary major enemies to beat, but it just feels like something that players could've done voluntarily that didn't need to take up that empty challenge space - it doesn't ultimately add much new to the game, imo. The plaque and patch I think are a great idea, I just would've liked to try out something that changes the gameplay in a new way (in the vein of the previous challenges). Not a big gripe, the other stuff they added looks really solid so far

Edited May 9 by Purudaya

It's a challenge. Not everyone would min-max every little thing to make the game impossible, especially not with Trial of Iron on. And if they didn't many wouldn't finish it just for their own satisfaction. By making it a community engagement thing with bragging rights and real rewards, they will encourage people to try the hardest of all hard things that one can do with this game. Makes sense to me.

1 hour ago, injurai said:

edit: Boereor gave a more in depth answer on the end of the last page. Cheers mate!

I'm half way through Pool of Radiance. I already left city of Phlan but it looks like it's time to go back to Deadfire Archipelago.

I will try new Ultimate Challenge but I didn't do proper solo run yet neither aby god's challenge. 

I'm glad they finally add some story content, But I don't like they just give us a book and talk with Woedica about what happen in deadfire, I feels like it's just a ridiculous deus ex machina and lazy.

Yeah, it's totally ridiculous and lazy to write new dialogue, draw new scenes and doing new voiceover one year after release - and for free.

6 hours ago, Silvaren said:

I'm half way through Pool of Radiance. I already left city of Phlan but it looks like it's time to go back to Deadfire Archipelago.

I will try new Ultimate Challenge but I didn't do proper solo run yet neither aby god's challenge. 

Do you mean Pool of Radiance 1988? How does it play in 2019?

7 minutes ago, fYNX said:

Do you mean Pool of Radiance 1988? How does it play in 2019?

I enjoy it more than todays AAA RPG. It plays like timeless classic but I like D&D in any form and I like Forgotten Realms. Very faithful adaptation of AD&D first edition. Audio is almost absent and graphics are prehistoric but there is nice amounth of digitalized pictures from Monster Manual. Story is decent, combat is fun and sometimes challenging. Interface require some time to get used to but after 2 hours it becomes  intuitive to the point that you can use it with closed eyes.

Narration is interesting (paragraphs in printed journal which inspired developers of System Shock to create audiologs). Every area in the game is in some way unique, adds something new. Boss fights are great. There are huge battles with dozens of enemies. It was probably the first cRPG with battles on that scale, where every monster or NPC was graphically represented on the battlefield - and even battlefields are representation of corridors and rooms from exploration map. Large and bigger monster take more space on the battlefield - so there is atention to detalis and rules.

You can parley with monsters, intimidate them, make them flee. Finding treassures is exciting - all those chests grant experience for entire party. There are even scripted interactive events. I was chasing thieves, they split and one of them lure me right into the ambush. Really cool stuff.

Pool of Radiance is one of Josh's Sawyer favourite game of all time. I can see why. It's funny that turn based combat from Deadfire reminds me more of Pool of Radiance than Temple of Elemental Evil. Casting time is very similar. Some spells are instant, some can be cast, but the end of casting comes after round of other characters. Anyway, great game. I'll complete entire gold box series in the future for sure.

Book of Woedica:

3 hours ago, misterjimmy said:

I'm glad they finally add some story content, But I don't like they just give us a book and talk with Woedica about what happen in deadfire, I feels like it's just a ridiculous deus ex machina and lazy.

I predict it'll feel a lot better as part of a new game- make a habit of checking the book at sea after doing a major quest and Woedica will make the gods feel that bit more present outside of the main quest

Hey there guys,

Any news/update on the PS port?  I believe after MS acquired Obsidian it was reiterated that there would be a PS port incoming.  I'm still sitting on 2 unclaimed keys for my PS friends, it'd be nice for them to be able to load up PoE2 at some point in the not-too-distant future.

 

thanks!

 

edit:  I should throw in here.  Great game, thanks for the continued updates & support.  If the game sucked, I wouldn't be asking for PS keys for my buds.  Cheers & thanks, both PoE's have been well worth backing 110%..

Edited May 9 by tid242
bacon

Versus Evil is developing the console ports and afaik the release will be end of 2019.

Edited May 10 by Boeroer
typolinos

Well, that explains why GOG Galaxy permanently wanted to download an update yesterday but failed every time... I got an "update failed" notification every 15 minutes or so while playing the game

6 hours ago, misterjimmy said:

I'm glad they finally add some story content, But I don't like they just give us a book and talk with Woedica about what happen in deadfire, I feels like it's just a ridiculous deus ex machina and lazy.

It's more than just the book, though - they apparently expanded quite a bit of dialogue during the endgame, including a conversation with Woedica that brings your previous interactions to a conclusion.

If you open the book in a current save with most of the story content completed, it's not going to feel the same as consulting it periodically throughout your playthrough as you complete major events (it appears to light up as "new" in your inventory when new conversations become available).

Given how expensive new VO is and how break-even the sales apparently were, I think it's pretty remarkable that they added this. My only beef is that the book can be consulted anywhere but the VO only works on the world map - I wish they would've found a justification to restrict its use to the ship if that bug wasn't fixable.

Edited May 9 by Purudaya

28 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Versus Evil is developing the console ports and I afaik the release will be end of 2019.

gotcha, thx for the update, not on these forums much these days so didn't catch that before..

13 hours ago, Purudaya said:

Yeah, but those are also things I can do manually. I know it also disables mods and provides players with some kind of tracker for necessary major enemies to beat, but it just feels like something that players could've done voluntarily that didn't need to take up that empty challenge space - it doesn't ultimately add much new to the game, imo. The plaque and patch I think are a great idea, I just would've liked to try out something that changes the gameplay in a new way (in the vein of the previous challenges). Not a big gripe, the other stuff they added looks really solid so far

the big difference is that doing all the challenges now officially gives you a completed check mark plaque over the "ultimate" god slot. it's definitive proof that you enabled everything and killed everything.

otherwise you could have done a bunch of separate runs to individually get check marks on all the other god portraits and it would look indistinguishable to a player who did one run with all of the challenges enabled.

Edited May 9 by thelee

@ObsidianPeople: Thank you for this amazing game!!! We had to wait 18 years to get a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate 2, but the wait was well worth it!! Best rpg since 2000.

Thanks for the new content!

Good luck to anyone trying the Ultimate. I don't think I could finish with Eothas', Magran's and Hylea's, much less all of them. lol

But I'm sure Noober will do it without leveling up.

Edited May 14 by InsaneCommander

Just to clarify, is it necessary to start a new game to access the book of Woedica, or do you gain access to it automatically at some point in the game regardless?

So is it allowed to do the run in parts? I mean, you don't have to do the x - hours run in one turn or? And can you use fraps for recording?

On 5/13/2019 at 3:27 PM, Morrydwen said:

@ObsidianPeople: Thank you for this amazing game!!! We had to wait 18 years to get a spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate 2, but the wait was well worth it!! Best rpg since 2000.

Have you played Tyranny?

1 hour ago, Verde said:

Have you played Tyranny?

Ahahaha! Good one!

22 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Ahahaha! Good one!

Boeroer it's time to admit Pillars 2 is lackluster in every department but combat. Luckily for those who enjoy the combat its 70% of the game. My final rating = 7/10.

Tyranny on the hand is carefully crafted, engaging, and not completely bug ridden (except for hilariously undercooked Bastard's Wound) DLC.

I know you will go to the grave defending Pillars 2, but it could have and should have been much better.

Edited May 19 by Verde

44 minutes ago, Verde said:

Tyranny on the hand is carefully crafted, engaging, and not completely bug ridden (except for hilariously undercooked Bastard's Wound) DLC.

Your praise of Tyranny over Deadfire is vague enough that I don’t even know were I agree/disagree. Tyranny’s combat is quite bad, and that is a problem as a majority of game is combat, much more than in PoE. 

Story bits are cool, and opening chapter is really strong. After that, not so much. I dislike how choice/consequence is done - to me it suffers from Witcher2 syndrome, where while reactivity is impressive, it is not particularly engaging. I found it to be quite good for a single-play through, but didn’t find it appealing upon returning to it (it didn’t help that Bastards Would was pretty bad). Still, quite sad that this tv show ended on the pilot episode.