Review after completing POE on Normal Difficulty

[anameforobsidian]

I will say that crafting makes it much, much easier to get unique weapons and armor, so they might feel less unique.  Varscona was relatively unique in BG1, but if you're midlevel in PE you can make as many varsconas as you have gold to buy ingredients.

 

However, I think PE needs crafting because it has many more weapon types than BG, and many more enchanted weapons, so it can't place them all.  Combine that with a randomized loot system, and players are in serious danger of not finding weapons that complement their proficiency choices in the late game.  BG's approach was to largely ignore several categories of weapons, which isn't a great choice either.  I personally would like to see more areas with higher level enemies that have better gear equipped and then drop the sell price on everything to combat gold bloat.

 

 

I will say this, playing on PoD, white spire and retribution plate are very unique.  And I'm trying to rush prestige to get the merchant early to get Hiro's cloak.

Edited May 1, 2015 by anameforobsidian

[Cronstintein]

You think PoE has too many weapon types?  At least you can spec in them by group (ruffian, knight, etc...).  In BG2 you need to spec into the EXACT weapon type (halberds, spears, maces, warhammers, longswords, bastard swords, two handed swords, katanas, scimitars, short swords, short bow, long bow, cross bow, darts, quarterstaffs, clubs, slings, daggers, axes ) it's a freaking mess. 

 

So I guess there's at least one thing PoE did better

 

I just wish they had more highly interesting items.

 

 

I will say that crafting makes it much, much easier to get unique weapons and armor, so they might feel less unique.

 

Um.. not sure that means what you think it means.  If you can easily remake an exact duplicate of the item, it's not unique then, is it?

[anameforobsidian]

You think PoE has too many weapon types?  At least you can spec in them by group (ruffian, knight, etc...).  In BG2 you need to spec into the EXACT weapon type (halberds, spears, maces, warhammers, longswords, bastard swords, two handed swords, katanas, scimitars, short swords, short bow, long bow, cross bow, darts, quarterstaffs, clubs, slings, daggers, axes ) it's a freaking mess. 

 

So I guess there's at least one thing PoE did better

 

I just wish they had more highly interesting items.

 

 

I will say that crafting makes it much, much easier to get unique weapons and armor, so they might feel less unique.

 

Um.. not sure that means what you think it means.  If you can easily remake an exact duplicate of the item, it's not unique then, is it?

 

The items can be relatively specialized in their mechanics but not unique.  Whereas weapons in Baldur's Gate were relatively unspecialized, and better versions of them were very unique.  Many weapons in PE are far more specialized in their mechanics than in BG.  You can have a acid-spitting ghostkilling +3 halberd in PE when nothing of the sort exists in BG.

 

Also, I love the weapon variety.  But PE has something like 28 weapon types compared to BG2's 19.  Placing a weapon of each type would be significantly difficult with the amount of content they have.  Since the weapons have significant differences, and are usually accompanied by another feat that narrows their use, not placing some would be a bad decision for gameplay and build variety.  Placing them in a big store would be anticlimactic.

Edited May 2, 2015 by anameforobsidian

[Cronstintein]

You got a point there about the weapon-types.  Though I don't think we really need 28 types of weapon tbh.  I think BG2 overdoes this aspect as well and would have been better off with more grouped categories.  Lets put pole-arms together, we don't' really need halberds, spears, pikes, tridents,etc.. separated into individual proficiencies.

 

I understand your reasoning, and it's not wrong, but the feeling of building a weapon out of enchantment legos is not nearly as gratifying to me as if I had found that +3 acidic halberd of ghost-busting. 

 

Over a decade later and I still remember finding that Mace of Disruption

(2d6 + 4 points to Undead, plus they make a saving throw vs. death with a -4 penalty or be utterly destroyed.)

and being blown away.  Save vs death or be destroyed!? That's awesome!

Edited May 2, 2015 by Cronstintein

[anameforobsidian]

I was purposefully talking about Baldur's Gate.  BG2 had many, many more unique items than PE.  They were also frequently more specialized.  People would make whole builds around the Caromyser, etc.  However, they also had more content to place items in.

 

Something that the PE team might want tp think about is separating more powerful weapons/armor, that way it's easier to place them as mundane loot, and it makes mundane loot more interesting.

[Cronstintein]

Oh my bad, yes BG didn't have nearly the expansive list of interesting equipment. 

 

 

Something that the PE team might want tp think about is separating more powerful weapons/armor, that way it's easier to place them as mundane loot, and it makes mundane loot more interesting.

 

Can you expand on this, I don't know what you mean.  Separate how?

[dekergus]

just finished my first playthrough, here is my 2 cents :

(sorry for my poor english)

 

i loved the game.

 

played it on normal mode , as i didnt want to play min/maxing games, but more rpg style, doing what i could with items i found, 

going where i fell like when i fell like, ect... i didnt play in a completionist fashion.

 

i ended up using mostly the following party : 

a hired warrior as tank

Eder as melee dps

my pc priest

Durance

Aloth

a hired rogue

 

i didn't play at all with other companions outside of completing their quests for a few of them, except Sangani whom i used some time instead of Eder.

a rogue companion would be welcome. evil companions are needed if you want to play the bad guy, wich i plan to do for my second run.

 

in my opinion , classes need some balancing. wizards need a good buff, rogues a small nerf. tank is too easy.

exp system is fine , i reached lvl 12 near the end of the game, as i did not do any of the stronghold guardian quests.

like everybody, i think the stealth system needs a complete revamp. individual stealth for rogues ?

for what i saw, paladin is useless, but im going to give it a try as tank.

 

monsters difficulty need some tuning. 

at some point , any humanoid encounters are dispatched in seconds, and some basic monsters remain a pain till endgame. 

some dragons are far too weak. a dragon should always be a deadly foe.

 

looting should be more various. you get tons of useless magic weapons, and very few good armors, especialy for casters. 

also, only found two usefull shields in the whole game, and tons of useless magic cloacks...

more variety in rings would also be welcome.

 

infinite paths were just awesome . in general, all the dongeons are pretty cool, need more of them !

 

scenario is brillant, with plenty of surprises, it forces you to difficult choices, but there is a little bit too much reading ^^

 

we earn far too much money, i endend the game with about 70k !

 

stronghold is a brillant idea, but underused. it should have more impact in the story line. also, it shouldn't grant you free conponents, 

there is enough of these in the game, to find or to buy...

 

for the extension, i'd love to go on a boat, and fight some new creatures such as giants, hydras, goblins...

 

thx a lot for this lovely game !

[kalel78]

 

I'd have to disagree. I'm with Kale on this, Pathfinder is for me the ultimate expression of D&D awesomeness.

 

I'm going to have to check it out. I first picked up D&D way back in 1977 (blue box - remember when Elf or Halfling was a class?), but haven't yet checked out Pathfinder or the new 5.0 edition.

 

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gettingStarted.html