Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions

[Jojobobo]

Something specific I've picked up on is I think the enemy petrified and paralysis attacks need their durations severely shortening. As far as I can tell Adragan Petrification is 10s on a graze, 20s on a hit and 30s (!) on a crit. Likewise for Vithrack Exarchs and paralysis. For a player character by comparison, Mental Binding and Killers Froze Stiff give 8s paralysis, and Gaze of the Adragan 6s petrification.

 

I think the base duration on hit here should be 10s, so 5s for a graze and 15s for a crit. This means that getting hit by one of these effects it's not quite the instant death sentence it is currently - particularly on a graze. And yes I know there's scrolls or a priest you can use for immunities, and you can of course shore up your defense against these attacks, but these are late game options at best. I also realise these enemies are low endurance, but I'm not a fan of situations where I completely kill them or they completely kill me - a little give and take seems a bit more fun.

 

So if not for a patch now, I think the durations on these kind of mechanics need revising for PoE2.

[Ser Pontonnier]

 

 

And at the end, after learning fortuitly that there is no cure to your state, you got magically ridden of it without reason. Your character was threatened to become mad without return to sanity, and the situation resolves by itself. Your main motivation to advance in the story was just a useful power that fades when the game ends. It fell flat.

The power doesn't fade when the game ends, your character is still a Watcher and their powers are still there.

 

 

Sorry to disappoint you, but i watched the ending again, it is clearly stated thta your visions ceased and the voices of the past became quiet, and that allow you to get some sleep. in other words : that you're no longer a watcher.

[Sannom]

Nope, that just means that your awakened previous life has found peace and thus doesn't manifest itself through your Watcher powers. The Watcher powers themselves are still there.

[AwesomeOcelot]

There's a lot of things I don't like about the IE games that Obsidian is obliged to keep, but it has changed and improved upon the IE games, so there's hope. Some issues I'd like solved:

 

1) Loading times are ridiculous on a SSD and i7 5820K, too many loading screens in general. Last game that was this frustrating was NWN 2.

 

2) The status of the party could be way better, the current action status seems to be delayed, I'd really like hold position and queuing of actions.

 

3) Having so much combat only party AoE buffing I don't really understand. I'd prefer the old style or modal party buffs. Some buffs make sense as AoE but a lot of them don't.

 

4) Stealth is underpowered and traps aren't worth the time invested, which is a shame.

 

5) There has to be a better solution to item stats stacking. Some games go with item type only have certain stats which is an imperfect solution, but it's better than the current one.

 

6) Too many talents, some of them don't do enough, which seems to be a problem with the entire RTwP genre, inherited from DnD.

 

7) Wilderness is a bit small, and sometimes a little crowded, especially the expansions.

 

8 ) Mid-game expansion, please no.

 

9) Companion content, I liked most of the companions but felt their content was minimal and quests were really lacking.

 

10) Not enough side-quests, content not rewarding enough outside of combat. Expansions were a bit better in this regard.

 

11) Not enough scripted interactions! More varied and awesome.

 

12) Companion comments at the stronghold bordering on "Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter", but one off comments were really cool. 

 

13) Stronghold missions and events not really worth it, it gives you stuff, but it's not fun gameplay or story-wise.

 

14) Stun/lock effects being overpowered and too necessary.

 

15) Audio stutters, goes really loud (especially first lines), or an effect plays when it shouldn't e.g. a crowd noise without a crowd.

 

16) AoE effect stacking making it impossible to see what's going on, literally multiple characters invisible, didn't happen a lot but it did make encounters interesting.

 

For PoE 2 I'd like more questing, companion, and story content focus which is probably too much to ask if the series adheres to emulating Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I'd really like to see my actions make an effect on the world and some things to just change as time progresses. I didn't really like Twin Elms and the last third of the game as much as the earlier parts and expansions, partly because of the culture but also I don't think as much time was spent on it outside of the main quest. I'm not the best at these types of games, in my experience I felt the difficulty had way too many swings, paralysis scrolls and spamming summon items made it possible but that didn't make it fun. If I'm playing the way I want to play, that isn't too unrealistic, I'm ripping through content or getting wiped with one-shot large AoE and there's no in-between.

Edited August 13, 2016 by AwesomeOcelot

[demeisen]

One balance change I'd like to see in PoE2 is related to money.  After the first third or so of the game, there's too much of it (or maybe a better way to look at it is that late game purchases are too cheap relative to the money supply).

 

I'm of the school of thought which holds that much like skill points, money should be a slightly scarce resource, where you never quite have as much of it as you'd like, and you have to make difficult choices about how to spend it.  The beginning of PoE1 feels nice in this way: I can spend 1000 upgrading the keep, or learning a few new spells, or buying that nifty axe... but the other two have to wait a bit.

 

Later in the game, however, you have far more than you can figure out what to do with.  Either things are too cheap relative to the money supply, or there aren't enough money sinks.  E.g: learning higher level wizard spells currently scales linearly with level: it could be super-linear.  The buy/sell spread for items could be larger.  Etc.

 

Edit for typo.

Edited August 14, 2016 by demeisen

[ShadySands]

Must haves

 

-A companion whose portrait is a painted over stock photo

 

-Fully voiced animal companion, preferably a dog type critter

 

-More stronghold

 

 

Like to haves

-Sentient weapon

 

-Fewer companions but with more depth, reactivity, and other buzzwords

 

-Harder POTD

[Jojobobo]

So I thought of another thing, give a transparent full run down of class/ability/talent mechanics from the menu screen on the game. Because the class mechanics have been pretty mercurial through the entire process and I took a departure while you released the full expansion, I'm on the back-foot to realise all the changes you made. This would be appreciated by RPG fans so they don't have to consult a frankly poorly updated wiki, and to casual gamers they're not going to care about or consult such a mechanics screen in the first place.

 

A transparent list of what does what, before people even make their character, would be fantastic - this is perhaps the worse game for lack of transparency I've ever seen, and the hack job done to class mechanics throughout the patching process only makes this worse. This game is manual-less in such a stark sense that even modern console games where people have such issues don't remotely compare, galling in mechanics dense game.

[Caeyrii]

Open-world. Feargus likes it to be too.

[anameforobsidian]

Looks like it is probably getting Unity 5.  Tyranny upgraded the engine to Unity 5.  Supposedly it helped with performance.  I've heard Unity 5 is much easier to mod than 4.  That takes care of two major wish list items.

[PIP-Clownboy]

Open-world. Feargus likes it to be too.

 

Maybe not for POE2. But I would love to play a Darklands/IE-like in a massive open world setting. 

[PangaeaACDC]

 

I'd like to point out that party size has already been dropped down to 4 in Tyranny, basically with a rationalization that "6 member parties were confusing so we're using 4 member parties now." Source.

 

I'm not happy about this decision. Not one bit. I do hope they'll keep 6 member parties for PoE 2 and 4 member parties remain specific to Tyranny.

Sawyer actually talked about this whole number of party members dilemma a while back: https://soundcloud.com/usgamernet/axe-of-the-blood-god-episode-46-obsidians-josh-sawyer-reflects-on-pillars-of-eternity

Skip to 36:10

Start at 35:03 if you wanna hear the "question" that's posed.

 

 

Thanks for this. What I took from it, also due to the talk a little later, was that Pillars was made for PCs, and Tyranny may also have consoles/tablets in mind, hence it made sense to reduce the party size, to make it easier to control for the inferior platforms. I know next to nothing about Tyranny, so maybe I'm talking out of my arse, but that was my interpretation. I find it hard to believe a person like Josh genuinely belives controlling a 6-member party is confusing, so he's kind of making arguments around a topic that isn't mentioned (or mentioned later): consoles/tablets.

 

Hopefully Pillars of Eternity 2 will be made with PCs in mind, so we can keep 6-member parties and not have to endure consolification of the user interface. One of the things I really disliked from Witcher 1 to 2, is the obvious console friendly user interface and inventory, which made it a pain in the arse on a PC. I'd hate to see something like this happen to PoE2.

[PangaeaACDC]

If I were to choose ONE thing I want changed/improved for PoE2, it would be this: drastically reduce reload time between areas and such. It's actually baffling how this can take such a long time on top-end computers on a game that isn't really that demanding.

[spardeous]

A comprehensive enchanting system with emergent options. If you're going to lock the economy down like you did in PoE, give us an enchanting system that makes money into an actual commodity. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to blow all my money tweaking a few items out to super-human levels.

Tie enchanting into the magic/ability system - allow for more variety and more power.

[Rolandur]

All these options I'd like tied to a challenge level of something similar to PoTD with an Ironman-esque play feel to it. Most of these suggestions will probably be disliked, at best (lol), and would be for a "new" Expert Tier that could be part of a PoTD type of challenge level with a verisimilitude perspective. Please understand most of these would not fit the gameplay style of this [potential] series and should never be considered (I'm just super bored this morning). --laughs--

 

• No initial, always updated, map system
  • Maps can occasionally be found as part of treasure or commonly bought from vendors for a price. The more rare the more expensive.
    • Maps never show your position (no GPS)
    • Dungeon maps are only part of treasure
    • Caveat: I do not believe adventures should be cartographers (basically, no vocations/trade skills for characters! They are adventures unless it's directly required for game mechanics; see Vocations below for more).
• No quick travel. In terms of this game, at least, that would mean two things: going to different area must directly linked to the origin area (no skipped 2+ areas and simply adding travel time) and the area you wish to travel to must be adjacent to the border of the area traveled to.
• Darkness in dungeons: light source in hand is beneficial. Not having light source would NOT make the screen dark or hard to see but instead just make the fog of war closer to the party or character [if the wander off by themselves] without a light source.
• Creatures always re-spawn over time in all areas; native monsters and animals. Not specific story/lore NPC's [if killed or left the area] just to be clear.
• Stash is a physical object and we must travel there to use it
  • Multiple stash locations are not tied together (if more then one location; base of operations)
• We never know an NPC's name until they give it to us (we ask) or there's a reason we know it (ex. Barek's Armory and Tidbits)
• Any found spell can be researched
  • Research: spells added to a Grimoire take in-game days (Spell Level = amount of days) to research and add to spellbooks. Because actually doing the act of researching would be boring this would just be a mechanic of click-to-learn, and in X amount of days it would be scribed to the Grimoire.
  • Spells of higher level than the caster could be learned as well but with a delta between the spell level and caster would be added to the research time. Ex: a 1st level wizard could learn a 3rd level spell but it would take 5 (3 [spell level] + 2 [delta]) days to learn.
  • Researching spells higher than the caster level costs exponentially more.
  • Casting spells higher than the caster level has potential to fizzle, backfire on the caster, or cause system shock. Scaling hazard mechanic based on delta.
• Priests (and other divine casters) have a Devotion system that works like PoE1 paladin disposition system. Break away from your God's devotional path and lose spell casting level(s) until rectified.
  • Divine casters who stray too far from the their devotional path permanently lose all casting abilities.
• Time between rests is based on the last Rest (every 16 in-game hours the party may rest)
  • If the Vancian system is used: a point system that builds over time (in game time) that spellcasters can use towards memorizing their spells (out of combat!) between rests. Ex: Every hour of in-game time a spellcaster gains one point which can be put towards to memorizing a level 1 spell. If two hours passed then the two points accrued can be put towards a 2nd level spell, etc. Resting always memorizes all spells, as usual, and all points previously accrued are reset to 0 at the end of the rest.
• Not resting after X amount of time has detrimental effects similar to the current Injury (from knock outs) system in PoE1. No their shoulder doesn't pop out of place because they're tired. =)
• Battle fatigue: I don't find mixing a fatigue system and rest system together ever works out well but a battle fatigue system can often offer additional challenge to long-lasting battles (as they should IMO). This could be a scaling system based on the parties average level that would trigger once a threshold is met. Party members, each round, would have a escalating chance of becoming Battle Fatigued. Effects could start out, chosen from a pool of minor effects, such as losing 5 points to a single Save type (-5 reflex) to -2 damage and could intensify to a pool of sever effects such as Confusion or Health loss.
• System shock: certain circumstances may (small chance; I'll just use a 10% base chance, on the examples below, because these circumstances would be uncommon/rare in the first place) cause system shock and one stat is lowered (players choice) by 1. Some examples that may cause system shock [though not necessarily related to game lore] with associated example chances: falling unconscious because all Endurance was lost (5% = 10% - 5%), falling below 10% Health (10% = 10% + 0%), planar travel (30% = 10% + 20%), using spells ~50% higher than the caster level (variable% = 10% + (caster_delta * 10%)  ), resurrection (50% = 10% + 40%), taking 75% of your max Endurance in a single hit (20% = 10% + 10%).
  • The attribute point lost should be a tight range of attributes the player chooses from unless the circumstance is highly relevant to the reason. Falling below 10% Health: Might, Constitution, or Dexterity. Using [much] higher level spells than the caster: Perception, Intellect.
  • Attributes lost to system shock are regained over long time periods. Certain spells (NPC and PC) can also remove this effect.
• Vocations: learning to brew potions or scribe scrolls costs the character their max level potential. Reduction of one level per vocation (not including cooking). So in terms of PoE1, if this system was in place, if a character decided to learn how to create a potions they could only ever attain level 15. Can not unlearn and is permanent. Hirelings can never learn a vocation.
  • Crafting would still be accessed just like it is now in PoE1 but if the character that *took the hit on max level* was not in the Party then Crafting of chosen vocation type would not be accessible until they returned to the party.
• Friendly fire also includes ranged characters having a small chance to hit front-line characters on Misses and two handed weapon wielders also having a small chance of hitting nearby characters on Misses. Normal casting FF rules apply (no additional penalties for 'ranged casting').
  • Dexterity and Perception lower, and eventually negate, these small chances of being hit (reflex) on the defenders part when a Miss of the initial target happens and/or based on the Accuracy of the wielder that Misses the initial target.
• NPC's are less present in towns at night, shops are closed, etc. They must Rest too.

[tinysalamander]

Priests (and other divine casters) have a Devotion system that works like PoE1 paladin disposition system. Break away from your God's devotional path and lose spell casting level(s) until rectified.

PoE priests do not depend on a deity to cast spells. Besides, Untroubled Faith is already a thing.

[demeisen]

​

 

 

All these options I'd like tied to a challenge level of something similar to PoTD with an Ironman-esque play feel to it. Most of these suggestions will probably be disliked, at best (lol), ...  most of these would not fit the gameplay style of this [potential] series and should never be considered

 

 

​Methinks you sell them short.  I like a good number of those ideas, at least as options.  E.g, a small chance for bow FF on front-line melee, if they are aiming close to your own crew.  ​Darkness is another one I've raised before too; I hope that makes an appearance (when situationally appropriate).

​

​

[Archaven]

Here's mine.. 

 

1) Improve the clunky combat animation!. Don't think anyone mention this before?

 

2) 6 character must stay!. Please don't dumb it down to 4 like Tyranny!. If they want to port it to consoles due controllers, you don't really have to dumb it down right? That's also the main reason why Torment Numenera went from RTwP go to full TB!. Come on! if i game on consoles, cRPG is not the game i'll be buying. I'll be playing AAA exclusives like UC4, H:ZD, GOW. So please 6 characters!. If folks like to play with 4 or 5 they have the options. But if you force the limit, others who like 6 are handcuffed.

 

3) Make stats/attributes important again. Recently playing Wasteland 2. Kinda love the mechanics of the CLASSIC attributes system. Perhaps Obsidian can take a look and consider some improvisations?

 

4) Have Quirks or Perks like in Wasteland 2 too. It kind of give players more options to fine tune their characters.

 

Thanks and can't wait to replay PoE when i finish WL2. And PoE2 will be the full-priced game that i will probably buy and not some AAA games that i can think of :D.

[ArnoldRimmer]

Things I would like:

 

* More class options or specialisation choices in pillars that come with some free talents and some hindrences to balance them out, undead hunter, fire wizard, water wizard etc.

 

* After playing through once have the NPCs all appear at the main inn for you to choose from... I don't want to have to wait until lvl 12 to get some NPC... by then my party is full and I don't want to change it... also pretty pointless when 3/4 of the game is done

 

* Allow people to carry four weapon sets

 

* Have BG style ammo for ranged weapons

 

* Give your choice of background a related talent. Merc gets arms carrier talent, clergyman gets vessel slayer or field triage, merchant gets a 10% discount on shop prices due to having learnt how to haggle etc. There are too many minor talents that are stupid to to take and thus never used.

 

* Change stat requirements... currently everyone has to be super strong and super smart.

 

* Better weapon focus... I don't see why I should only be able to use a crossbow with knight focus.... maybe my knight likes bows... but why should I waste a second talent on it? Especially since most of the weapons in a focus group don't make much sense. Why do nobles learn wand and sepcter but not rod? Where is the logic in that? Just let people select weapon focus and pick two weapons that it apples to.

Edited August 31, 2016 by ArnoldRimmer

[FlintlockJazz]

Fencing Schools!  In real life history, fencing masters would teach a selection of weapons (actually a lot like the selection of weapons Pillars gives you for each group), to enable them to choose the right weapon for the right task.  Students would get into fights with students from rival schools, kind of like kung fu students supposedly did, but with rapiers and the like instead.  The weapon focus groups could be these different schools and players pick them up by joining a school which unlocks further adventures and get to see fellow students batter each other in the street for honour!

[Randin]

Just finished my first playthrough of PoE (yeah, I'm late to the party). While I could probably come up with a few things I'd like to see in the sequel, there's only one major addition I'd like to see show up: class-specific content. I know developers tend to be somewhat reluctant to do class-specific stuff, as it's inefficient resource allocation, but I really love it; it creates a greater narrative sense of what each class is—making them more than just a bundle of stats and abilities—and greatly adds to the replay value of the game for me. So yeah, here's some potential content to add:

 

Class-specific dialogue: there's already some in PoE, but hey, the more the merrier. Having unique ways to resolve certain quests for certain classes would also fall under this.

 

Class subtypes: couldn't think of a better term for this, and I suppose this could partially fall under the dialogue thing, but I'll mention it separately. In PoE we had Priests choosing their god and Paladins choosing their order, with this providing both unique abilities and unique dialogue choices. I'd love to see all classes get similar subtypes (Wizards pick a school, Druids a circle, Warriors an army or mercenary company, etc.).

 

Class-specific quests: doesn't really need explanation, I suppose.

 

Class strongholds: these were easily my favorite part of Baldur's Gate 2, and I'd love to see them make a return in PoE2

[Elric Galad]

Druid currently choose a form and ranger a pet. This could be seen as subtype. The content for different pet or form (and also deity and order) could be expanded.

[Ben No.3]

Hm... I'd love to see see more quest-specific companion-interaction. Like say after siding with raedric Eder being all like "what is wrong with you". Then being able to either tell Eder to shut up, convince him that your decision was right, or let yourself be convinced by Eder.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Rolandur]

I hope this doesn't come off as bitter, because I'm not, but I don't know how else to say it: Real modding, with scripting, and API, UI widget modification that doesn't involve file hacking that actual game files. LUA and XML come to mind. It's all the rage!

 

Basically, entry level modding without having to download third party hex editors.

[anameforobsidian]

I hope this doesn't come off as bitter, because I'm not, but I don't know how else to say it: Real modding, with scripting, and API, UI widget modification that doesn't involve file hacking that actual game files. LUA and XML come to mind. It's all the rage!

 

Basically, entry level modding without having to download third party hex editors.

 

It might be easier with Unity 5, which they're using for Tyranny.  But I thought hex editing was in the finest IE traditions?

[Thrakkorzog]

​

 

 

All these options I'd like tied to a challenge level of something similar to PoTD with an Ironman-esque play feel to it. Most of these suggestions will probably be disliked, at best (lol), ...  most of these would not fit the gameplay style of this [potential] series and should never be considered

 

 

​Methinks you sell them short.  I like a good number of those ideas, at least as options.  E.g, a small chance for bow FF on front-line melee, if they are aiming close to your own crew.  ​Darkness is another one I've raised before too; I hope that makes an appearance (when situationally appropriate).

​

​

Friendly Fire can be a mess to balance, go play some of the original Fallouts where companions can be deadlier than any Supermutant  or Deathclaw, then tell me how great a FF system can be.  Getting killed because one of my companions decided to stand behind me and fire on full auto because I was being flanked by three Supermutants and he wanted to hit all three at once is spectacularly annoying.  (I will be polite and just say #%$@ Ian right in the $@#*%%$@ .)

 

Getting killed by a super mutant shooting me in the face with a rocket launcher, or because a Deathclaw ripping my face off is something I can live with.  I can level up, get better equipment, and just get good at the game.  Getting killed because of lousy companion AI is just frustrating, because I can't really defend against that.  Short of giving companions crappy weapons, which kind of defeats the purpose of companions

 

With a decent AI system, that considers things like party positioning before cutting loose, then a FF system might be a somewhat decent idea.

 

 

OK, so as for what I would like to see in PoE 2, I would like to see more party wide skill checks.  Yeah, my main character may be lacking a bit in X, but it seems like in some situations their companions could step up and explain things.