Can't believe I'm saying this, POE combat is better than DAO.

I don't remember having this much fun during combat in Dragon Age Origins. Don't get me wrong, I loved DAO's combat, but Pillars of Eternity combat system is at least two times better than Dragon Age Origins and three times better than Dragon Age 2 & Inquisition.  Mind you, in DAO I played Nightmare, Ironman, no combat pausing, same in Dragon Age 2.  I made heavy use of the automated AI tactics system in DAO & DA2.  I loved the combat in these two games, but Pillars of Eternity combat is just so damn good, especially on POTD, TOI, blind.

 

I can't believe I'm actually having fun combat pausing. I NEVER combat pause, but for some reason it's actually fun in this game.  I never combat paused in the dragon age series, skyrim, mass effect series, kotor 1, game of thrones rpg.  I've always hated pausing during combat.

 

In regards to Pillars of Eternity 2, Obsidian please do a kickstarter if you need one, I got $25.00 waiting for you guys and PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME. Don't go all EA/Bioware on us!

 

(ALSO, just in case, if you decide to make POE 2 extremely gay, please don't make all the women look ugly just to be politically correct,thx!)

(ALSO, just in case, if you decide to make POE 2 extremely gay, please don't make all the women look ugly just to be politically correct,thx!)

You just can't stop yourself, huh?

 

(ALSO, just in case, if you decide to make POE 2 extremely gay, please don't make all the women look ugly just to be politically correct,thx!)

You just can't stop yourself, huh?

 

If only Freud were alive today. 

Luzarius, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with you completely. PoE combat is better than DA:O combat.

Well, I can't believe either one of you are saying that lol.

 

I personally like dao combat better but this isn't bad either. Glad you like it!

dao combat is good, but it boil down how fast i can chug potion

dao combat is good, but it boil down how fast i can chug potion

 

 

Actually underlying DAO spell mechanics is way better with spell interactions and resource consuming abilities. It is only hampered by encounter design and kooldowns. 

Also, the secret to success in DAO is HARDLY chugging potions. If you are playing that way, you don't get the mechanics. There is an optimal strategy with every kind of opponent: Mobs? Cast AoE. Melee fighters? Cast stuns and shatter. Magic users? Cast mana clash.. etc. 

Edited April 30, 2015 by Captain Shrek

dao combat is good, but it boil down how fast i can chug potion

 

This, in my nightmare iron man no combat pausing playthrough, I remember making over a 1000 various healing potions.

PoE is my favorite game since the legendary IE titles. The combat is very good. It's been a while since I've played DAO, but I remember enjoying that game as well. DA:I I'm not so sure of. I tried very much to like it, but I just couldn't finish it.

When I played DAO there were some bugs which had to be worked around.  Maybe they have since been fixed but I found it quite annoying.

DA:O was crap. 

DA:O combat for me was simply boring as hell. Though I'm not sure if that was mainly because of the combat itself, or because how poor the encounter/dungeon design was. So yeah, wasn't a hard to thing to beat.

Before it's too late... please ignore advice to play Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, and Planescape Torment.

 

Baldur's Gate 1 - unless you're a Dungeons&Dragons veteran, you will find combat rules opaque and enemy defenses a mystery. ALL spells are per rest. Very few per encounter abilities on classes, for example Fighter just stands there and swings his sword. No weapon switching in combat. It's pretty much impossible to heal without a Priest in party, resting only heals something like 8 HP. Random trash encounters, when you rest, when you travel etc. Save before every fight, the game won't autosave for you. To play properly, you need to know what weapon types have good weapons to find, for example Spears are trash, you can find a +1 one and that's it. No container highlighting, enjoy pixel hunting. No companion quests, little companion conversation. Very limited weapon and armor choices. So you're a druid, wizard, or priest ? Slings and staves for you ! On the other hand, ranged weapons are IMBA. Many dumpstats, for example fighters have no benefit from Charisma, Intelligence, Wisdom. Even Dexterity is questionable, it doesn't affect attack rate and accuracy depends on Strength. It's pretty easy to create a bad character. Make a wizard with low Intelligence, and you get fewer spells per level.

 

Baldur's Gate 2 - like above, plus very little wilderness, 40 quests per location. Tries very hard to make you care about certain party members, forces changes in party composition. Wiki-based combat, because often a monster will have some obscure weakness and I'm not talking about Trolls. It's pretty much Baldur's Gate x5, more content, few important changes. If you won't like Baldur's Gate 1, you won't like BG2. Didn't impress me for much the same reasons Fallout 2 didn't impress me.

 

Icewind Dale - less story than in Baldur's Gate, more wiki-based combat.

 

Planescape: Torment

Did someone say PoE has too much reading ? P:T has something like 15x more. Even fans admit it has the worst combat among Infinity Engine games.

 

I'd rate them Planescape:Torment > Baldur's Gate 1 > Baldur's Gate 2 > Icewind Dale

Edited April 30, 2015 by b0rsuk

Meh. You're exaggerating. The combat system has great potential, yes, but too many broken feats and too few viable builds to make your statement true. You're what we call a "fan boy" . If they make a Pillars of eternity 2 and they add twice the amount of feats and levels, then I will agree with you.

 

 

(ALSO, just in case, if you decide to make POE 2 extremely gay, please don't make all the women look ugly just to be politically correct,thx!)

You just can't stop yourself, huh?

 

If only Freud were alive today. 

 

 

So we could sue him for malpractice? Not all jews are rich, you know.

 

dao combat is good, but it boil down how fast i can chug potion

 

This, in my nightmare iron man no combat pausing playthrough, I remember making over a 1000 various healing potions.

 

DA:O is brilliant in that it allows no-pause, potion-chugging play (you) or pause-and-micromanage, no-potions-used play (me).

 

DA:O offers a great RTWP experience *if* you want it: Simply abstain from health and mana potions.

 

I think a toggle might have been nice: Fast and Furious Mode (potions common) and Hardcore Mode (potions rare, greater penalties for injuries).

 

If Bioware had refined the mechanics of DA:O for sequels...

 

- fix broken spells & abilities (Force Field, Scattershot)

- raise party limit to six

- potion rarity toggle

- greater penalties for injuries

- more abilities for each specialization

- more specilizations

- ability to choose a starting specialization

- ability to design custom companions

 

It could have been great... But instead we got DA2. *sighs*

 

For me, as someone who enjoys actively directing a party, creating synergies between abilities and spells, moving around during a battle for tactical positioning, DA:O is *far* better than PoE in terms of combat.

Edited April 30, 2015 by ddillon

I found the combat to be on par with DAO, each with their strength.

 

On Nightmare, DAO had very few encounters(if any) where you could block a narrow doorway and then the rest of the enemies are reduced to staring like retards.

 

On the other hand, on PoTD POE, you don't have many clear "I WIN" buttons till very late game, whereas in DAO the moment you got Crushing Prison(on 2 mages) it became easy mode, and then when you get blood wound it became Casual mode.

PoE combat is good, however being at Hard difficulty i found it easy (next one will be definitely PotD).

the best thing about DA:O is how detailed you can set ally AI is. in easy or normal, with right setting in each battle, the game basically plays itself

I highly doub i will back for poe2 but i could buy for more books

combat in this game isnt fun for me

It is not hard to make a combat that is better than DAO. This is not an accomplishment. They still need to get to Bg1 level and then later to BG2 level. They are not even close at the moment.

Offcourse it's better. It's also better than combat in all Neverwinter Nights games, and better than in both KOTOR games. It's still missing some diversity in battle positioning, some really high lvl enemy early on to scare the player, and level progression is still all over the place, but combat overall is very good.

Meh. You're exaggerating. The combat system has great potential, yes, but too many broken feats and too few viable builds to make your statement true. You're what we call a "fan boy" . If they make a Pillars of eternity 2 and they add twice the amount of feats and levels, then I will agree with you.

I agree about what he says about poe feats and such. I like it, but don't LOVE it yet.

Engagement > Fighters have inexplicable mind control abilities.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Enoch

One thing DAO had that I wish PoE 2 (or 1.5) would have, is some AI tactics for party members. (It could be argued the tactics were subpar until you used a certain mod, alas that mod introduced weird game-breaking invisible barriers to progress, and this is something that WAS actually improved by DA2; but they were there.)

 

As I've said: in tough fights, l love micromanaging. Against the trash mobs (which are more numerous), you sometimes just want autopilot. But it's a bit silly that under attack, your companions won't defend themselves unless you tell them to. Against trash mobs, you can "select all" and click-to-attack and then everybody gets set to attack with basic auto-attacks, but they won't employ any special abilities or spells. 

 

Enemy AI could be better. Party AI should exist. At a minimum, a "defensive/aggressive" setting. 

 

BTW, I also like the Endurance-Health system, but I don't like this weird mechanic where the ONLY thing that affects the larger overall pool of Health is resting. If this division continues, then there should be things you can do IN combat to restore Endurance (like spells, potions, etc.) and things OUTSIDE of combat to restore Health (like out-of-combat healing spells, that First Aid skill/talent, or eating food.) Would you not have to rest as often? Perhaps, but I really don't get why the game insists NOTHING can affect the larger pool of Health but rest. 

Edited April 30, 2015 by CybAnt1