I'm considering pre-ordering the game.  I know I'm a bit late to the party but I'd like to get the pre-order bonuses.

The only thing stopping me from pre-ordering right now is concerns about the difficulty of the game.  I've played a little bit of Baldur's Gate and enjoyed it.  However, I found combat a bit of a challange.  Is Pillars of Eternity easier or harder than Baldur's Gate?

 

I do have a few additional questions.

 

First off, Have any off the backers been able to use the pre-order bonuses?  The Pledge of Gaun ring sounds useful but the Space Piglet sounds more like a gimmick.

 

I'm also curious, How do spells work in this game?

Are they dependant on available energy points or can they only be used once per day?

 

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Can only comment on the spells: They don't use any kind of 'mana'. Some spells can be used a certain times 'per encounter', or 'per rest', and I believe there was a 3rd kind? 'Per day' perhaps? Though Ciphers (I believe) use some kind of soul energy which they first must gather before using spells.

Edited March 24, 201510 yr by iseijin

here is a good overview of wizard spells:

 

Pillars of Eternity: Wizard Spells

 

I you played enough Baldur's Gate you should have recognized what a Space Piglet is. Just sayin'

Wizard, druid and priest spells work on an x number per rest basis. Eventually low level spells can be cast on a per encounter basis. Ciphers gather power for their spells by attacking enemies. Damage from their physical attacks is converted into "focus" which acts like mana. Chanters use chants which are continuous buffs and debuffs. After a certain amount of chanting they're able to use more powerful debuffs, offensive and summoning spells called invocations.

 

The preorder items aren't in the beta. The piglet will be cosmetic though, like all pets. I wouldn't factor the ring into your considerations - one protective item isn't going to make a huge difference.

 

Baldur's Gate at low levels can be quite rough at times. I think PoE should be easier on its lowest difficulty setting but I've only played the beta.

(1) Difficulty: Based on the BB, I'd say it's in the same ballpark as the IE games. You can't just sleepwalk through even on Easy; you do have to pay attention to what the rules are and how things work. However, it ain't rocket science, and the rules are much more transparent than AD&D. But it's definitely harder than most games these days.

 

(2) No pre-order bonuses in the BB.

 

(3) Spells are per-rest. They said previously that at higher levels low-level per-rest spells become per-encounter, but I'm not sure if that's still true. Additionally there are some spell-like per-encounter abilities.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions.  I pre-ordered Pillars of Eternity yesterday evening.