Party size

[Greensleeve]

Any opinions on recommended party size? In BGII I always played 4, maybe 5, man large parties. It wasn't really worth it going for the full 6.

 

Any suggestions for Pillars of Eternity?

[Tartantyco]

It's not even released yet, how do you think anyone would be able to give you a good answer on this?

[Greensleeve]

Well, people have played the BB, and presumably the mechanics regarding XP-sharing amongst party members are known by all. 

[Aarionn]

Party composition is on you to decide. Like in BG/IWD you could go and try solo everything or have half/full group or whatever.

 

PoE is bringing this to unprecedented high because not only you can decide for yourself on the party size, but also decide between in-game PC with story or making your own characters or mix them or roleplay however you want!

 

 

I imagine myself being in stronghold and if I need to go for example to some dungeon I can make new char and roleplay him and leave others in the stronghold. or whatever. The choice is yours/ours/MINE!  

[syfpsy]

It's not even released yet, how do you think anyone would be able to give you a good answer on this?

 

Beta players can easily comment on this. There are tons of people who played more than 20 hours, they may have a say on this too. But you, as I see, have nothing valuable to say about this, yet you still comment. I wonder how many of those 689 posts of yours are contributing.

[Frog Man]

Oh snap! That dude got burned.

[Elerond]

 

It's not even released yet, how do you think anyone would be able to give you a good answer on this?

 

Beta players can easily comment on this. There are tons of people who played more than 20 hours, they may have a say on this too. But you, as I see, have nothing valuable to say about this, yet you still comment. I wonder how many of those 689 posts of yours are contributing.

 

 

Beta players can give definite answer for this question because we were restricted to only small part of the game, which makes it impossible to tell for certain what you need in full playthrough.

 

But you get minor (not even close to boost that you get in IE games) xp boost per open slot in your party. There are build that allow you to solo beta, but by nature of mechanics support bigger parties, but most of my playthroughs of beta area I did with party of five because it was default set up and missing one party member don't hinder you too much.

[Luckmann]

Well first of all, previous posters are correct in that we have no bloody clue.

 

But second... why would.. I mean.. wha.. why wouldn't you go for a full party? Why would you not consider it "worth" going for a full party in BGII? What the.. hell?

 

I mean, aside from challenge or simple preference, of course. Some people prefer smaller parties, but.. worth?

[Sian]

Well, the advantage of a smaller party is more items to distribute, but I always like having as many as possible just for the comedy value of the inter-party dialog. I find it good to have a good core (in BG) of 4 folks, and then swap other NPCs in needed for NPC specific quests too.

[Sherr]

Well first of all, previous posters are correct in that we have no bloody clue.

 

But second... why would.. I mean.. wha.. why wouldn't you go for a full party? Why would you not consider it "worth" going for a full party in BGII? What the.. hell?

 

I mean, aside from challenge or simple preference, of course. Some people prefer smaller parties, but.. worth?

 

For me its about RP part also - its hard to really attach to 6 guys, there will be always 1-2 who just meh. Also increased difficulty will make feel everyone in your party much more important which would lead to even more attachment to your characters. I will play party of 6 only because i love character intereactions in dialog and personal quests, but when i will learn it all i can see how party of 4 is more interesting to play.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Sherr

[isms]

You can play whatever party size you want. You only get +5% xp for each missing party member so you won't see huge experience benefits from smaller parties. Considering that lower difficulties hold fewer enemies per encounter, you can always lower the difficulty and play with small groups.

 

Higher difficulties will remain difficult to control the flow of battle with small groups though. A Fighter can engage 4-5 enemies with the right talents, but if you try and use just 1 tank and it's not a fighter, it will engage 1 or 2 enemies and the rest will just run right past to your back line often. Regardless, I plan to play between 4 and 6, depending on how "dire" the quest appears for roleplaying reasons.

[Ohioastro]

There isn't kill EXP, and the boost for fewer party members is small enough that you can't trade off fewer members for higher effective character levels.  Running with fewer than 6 therefore seems to simply be a form of handicapping yourself.  I want all six because I'd like to see how the class mechanics work, and the more classes the merrier from that point of view.

[flashedarling]

I hadn't realized that there was a strong contingent for playing BG with a less than full party. I'm in the camp of "Why can't I just bring them ALL along". It's always a tough choice when I have to dismiss a party member to bring a new teammate into the fold.  I'll likely run with a full party where 3 are my core allies who I'll never dismiss and the remaining two slots are for rotating guest stars.