Pillars of Eternity 2 Wish List and Suggestions

[Buzzskull]

Apologies in advance if these have been brought up before.

 

 

1. I'm okay with Romances as it adds more depth to the character your are role playing as long as its just a *little bit* deeper than Skyrim's but not full of unnecessary drama and sex like Dragon Age's.

 

2. I wish there will no longer be scripted events like the ones in "Ready the Cannons" quest when the game intentionally made your party feel vulnerable when in reality their opponents, the Skuldraks, wouldn't be able to scratch anyone in your party.

 

3. More hair options with more emphasis on short hairs for males and mid-length to long- for females. In POE1, I thought that best male hair was the bald one.

[AndreaColombo]

Something I forgot to mention before:
 

Please, for the love of all that is holy, don't use green selection circles on neutral characters.

 

We shouldn't have to resort to a mod to make neutral selection circles cyan like they were in the IE games—and this is not a bout of nostalgia. There's a reason why neutral NPCs had circles of a different color—it was to make it easier to tell allies from everyone else at a glance. Tyranny is doing this wrong too, and I'm surprised nobody at Obsidian noticed it doesn't look right?

 

Please, in PoE2 make neutral selection circles cyan (or blue, if cyan is too much to ask for.)

 

 

 

If you can sneak in a Seneca Crane beard style while you're at it, perhaps with a portrait that makes use of it, that would be A

Edited October 9, 2016 by AndreaColombo

[anameforobsidian]

Saying it in big letters just makes it hard to read anything else you wrote.

[AndreaColombo]

Saying it in big letters just makes it hard to read anything else you wrote.

 

I might have gotten carried away a little

 

The main purpose was to increase readability by visually separating the point from the "fluff" text that explains why I made it. I got rid of the all caps, though; definitely unnecessary in hindsight.

[Barbedbeat]

I've seen several posts concerning the mostly unanimous desire of having stronger, truly confrontational, challenging companions, but I cannot recall reading anything about a more specific idea, namely "problematic companions".

 

Whereas the topic of companion behavior on a strictly RP level has already been discussed, my two-cents would concern two specific areas: combat and interactive scripts.

 

Let's start by saying that, in the world of Eora, madness lurks behind every corner. It is a world of souls and reincarnations, and awakenings are pretty common an occurrence. A character suffering from such a condition might have a few issues dealing with her own behavior, in "normal", conversational life and on the battlefield alike. This gave me a couple ideas on how the gameplay could mirror that.

Such as:

 

1) Battle: during fights, said companion would all of a sudden stop following your orders and start acting on her own accord for a few seconds. "Oh, but that would be just SO ANNOYING!!" yes, I know that's exactly what you're all thinking. But WHAT IF:

 

A) it were implemented as a selectable, optional trait and

 

B) the sudden loss of control over a char could be paired with some random cool outcome, perhaps in the player's favour like an insta-, flamboyant kill, with some snazzy visual effect, reminescent of Fallout 1 and 2's "bloody mess" trait? Maybe mixed with some hilarious epic fail for good measure?

 

2) Interactive scripts:same thing. Have your pc follow a careful choice path only for one of the companions to physically hijack the course of action, for better or for worse.

 

I think such instances could add a bit of lore-y spice to the gameplay, as well as creating some serious dilemma on whether to keep a character in the party or throw her down the nearest- metaphorical- well.

 

There. Please, excuse any typo/lack of clarity, but I typed this post on my phone while commuting. Will re-read (and possibly correct) tonight, when I'll have a computer proper at my disposal.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Barbedbeat

[deathcoy]

I can't comment much on Mechanics and Balancing so i'll just throw out content based suggestions.

 

1. More classes. Preferably classes unique to PoE series.

 

2. An expanded and colorful multi-class system.

 

3. Romance options.

 

4. Dedicated modding support.

 

5. Multiplayer/Co-op

 

6. DM mode like in Neverwinter Nights series

 

7. Multiple storylines, diverging paths. For example choosing to be a conqueror in Act I will put you on storyline A but locks you out from B and C including the playable areas in them, maybe you could visit the minor areas.

Edited October 11, 2016 by deathcoy

[Phenomenum]

i'm lazy to write some big post there - too many wishes and thoughts for all classes and english is not my first language...but now i have some time, cut off lyrics)

Let's start from wisards.
Wizards in PoE is nearly OK, someway overpowered but it's not crusial for game expirience. Despite of that, we have several spells (everyone know it, so i not want to write a list of spells) which separate our game expirience into "before and after", which is no good for me, becose i think our progress should be smooth and silky trough levels - not stair-step-like.
So, one way - is to put spells in proper levels. Ok, but it the only one side. Other side is spellcrafting, which'll be in Tyranny somehow, e.g.
It will be good if we might craft own spells, combining effects from known spells - e.g. fireball and confusing etc.
Considering that opportunity might do our wizard overhelming, i offer at least 2 restictions:
1. Ability to combine spells provided for us with mid-high levels
2. RP element - If we craft our own new spell, we cant't be sure it's work as intended (remember Aloth discussion with Pallegina about unlucky used spell), so our crafted spell have significant chance to miss or do damage to allies, at first times. But we might reduce this mistakes to zero percent, by continuing to use our spell often (like training for our mage in combat conditions). Which is conditions being is player's decide - you might encouter some trash mobs to try your crafted spell, or if you risky, you might take a chance with serious enemy - it's up to you.
I dont't want to delve in mathematics, becose it's a general concept - anyway it requres testing and bla-bla-bla.
But i sure it will be interesting way to improve wizard's gameplay.
I'm sorry sorry in advance for mistakes in text
 

Edited October 11, 2016 by Phenomenum

[jones092201@gmail.com]

1. love to see a setting that was more multi-cultural in landscape, lore, and architecture. (something like the 15th century Mediterranean, and the conflicts between the western nations  and the ottoman empire would be cool. Some middle eastern flavor to the lore would be interesting, or really any eastern culture.)

2. I'd love to see the changes in technology (the introductions of firearms, etc) reflected in game play. maybe involve more weapons that are period specific, and also change the tanking dynamic, so that not every front liner has tower shield/plate armor.

3. Strong holds are fun, but most every rpg gives you one these days. I'd love to be on the run, or something like that. And if we do have a stronghold, make it a bandit camp, or a ship, and let us decide if we want to become blackguards or robin hood style heroes (obviously that suggests a certain narrative approach, but the gist of it makes sense, right?)

4. In KOTOR II, obsidian included the jedi saber styles, which gave different bonuses based on style- i'd love to see something like this for melee characters, complete with animation changes.

5. brace o pistols

6. pirates!

7. love to see a rewrite to rogues to make them more control/DOT oriented. Think caltrops, choking gas, poison darts, smoke bombs... and then give them huge burst damage based on afflictions.....

 

anyways, just bored at work. Going to be happy with whatever comes our way.

Edited October 11, 2016 by jones092201@gmail.com

[Boeroer]

I couldn't read the whole thread because it's way too long, so excuse me if this was already asked for:

 

Can we get some more weapons which fall into the category "unarmed"?

I mean we already have awesome things like The Long Pain and Shiritshift claws, tusks, horns and such - but those are reserved for certain classes.

I would love to see things like pitfighter gloves, brass knuckles and so on. 

If you are concerned about the interference of gloves and weapons: certain gloves could make it so that if you equip them in the glove slot they automatically equip the related weapon (and you can't equip another while you're wearing that special gloves) - just like with summoned weapons. For example if you put on Pitfighter Gloves (gloves slot) you automatically get 2 "Spiked Knuckles" as weapons in all your weapon slots. You can then decide if you can use weapons with those gloves (weapons "override" spiked knuckles like with monks' fists) or not (you can't wear other weapons while wearig those gloves then, like with spiritshifted claws).

 

Brass Knuckles on the other hand could be treated like normal weapons - you can wear them over your gloves.  

 

And what I also would like to see: more defensive weapons that are no shields. Like parrying daggers (what's the right term?) and the like. They can even be unique daggers (or other weapons you can imagine that fit) with a special enchantment "interfering". I really wonder why such unique daggers weren't part of PoE. I mean we have the Vailian Republics - tehre should be such daggers in the game. There's a pike and a wand which have that interfering enchantment which cuses -5 ACC on hit. I don't mean that -  I mean the thing hatchets have, plain +5 to deflection.

 

Oh yeah: whips! Please give us whips. This is the second time I beg for this. I did it when you guys were doing WM and WM II... to no avail. 

Edited October 15, 2016 by Boeroer

[Insolentius]

Keep the concept of soulbound weapons/armor in, but for the love of Abydon, don't have those items rely on "last-hitting" as a way of improving the stats. This isn't DotA.

[GloatingSwine]

 

If you are concerned about the interference of gloves and weapons: certain gloves could make it so that if you equip them in the glove slot they automatically equip the related weapon (and you can't equip another while you're wearing that special gloves) - just like with summoned weapons. For example if you put on Pitfighter Gloves (gloves slot) you automatically get 2 "Spiked Knuckles" as weapons in all your weapon slots. You can then decide if you can use weapons with those gloves (weapons "override" spiked knuckles like with monks' fists) or not (you can't wear other weapons while wearig those gloves then, like with spiritshifted claws).

 

Brass Knuckles on the other hand could be treated like normal weapons - you can wear them over your gloves.  

 

 

Brass Knuckle type weapons would be a good way of adding different damage types like piercing to unarmed attack as well.

[Slack83er]

Ok, my turn, in no special order of importance:

 

-Class-specific quests. I play paladin, I'm a wayfarer and no-one ever needs my assistance?

-Maybe 4 people in party is enough. To compensate for the loss of roles, introduce multiclassing? Or hybrid classes?

-More playable deities. Galawain?

-As a fellow player stated in one of my threads, make dispositions change my behaviour. If I always choose benevolent, progressively take out cruel from possible answers..if I want to become cruel again, I should go through a gradual change in my answers.

-This game is Cipher-oriented. Next PoE should not be. Each class should be well included in the plot. 

-I find humans meh. Not only is their ability meh, but there's no point in choosing one subrace over the other. Change pls?

-This is strictly personal, but I like my toon to resemble the portrait. Too few of 'em, even if I can download pictures. Just 2 orlans...to make an example..

-There are really too few unique weapons. And most of 'em are swords of various types. Extend the variety to other weapons pls!

-I like the idea of sets. Someone already said this I think. Wearing all set (preferably a class-specific one) gives bonuses the more pieces you have.

 

Nothing more comes to mind right now... will update this as soon as something new arises.

Cheers!

[tinysalamander]

-As a fellow player stated in one of my threads, make dispositions change my behaviour. If I always choose benevolent, progressively take out cruel from possible answers..if I want to become cruel again, I should go through a gradual change in my answers.

 

Considering that devs’ opinion on what a certain disposition is can differ greatly from player’s, I advise against this.

[Insolentius]

Another small thing... if you're gonna introduce more scripted/illustrated sequences in the sequel, don't hide skill checks even when the option to show them at all times is enabled (e.g. almost every sequence in the White March expansion). In my opinion, anything that encourages save scumming should be minimized as much as possible.

 

I played through the "lift" sequence in White March II, and there was a "10 Mechanics" check that I failed without even knowing that I failed it (or that it even existed). I can't recall any RPG in recent memory that went out of its way to hide skill checks this way.

[Insolentius]

After watching some of the Tyranny videos today (alongside Day9's stream), I hope that PoE 2 will also feature better and more natural combat pacing (unlike PoE's utterly chaotic, Looney Tunes combat), as well as improved animations & character models.

[Quillon]

Also after watching day9's and Obs' own stream; the conquest feature in character creation could be used instead of a possible save import from PoE to PoE2. They said it was Josh's idea anyway.

[JerekKruger]

1: Don't import characters directly. The game already suffers from power bloat and having us carry on with the same levelling progression, only going higher, will quickly lead to ridiculous power levels. Personally I'd prefer to start a new character from scratch (I have an idea for the hook for this actually) but even if we do continue the Watcher's story, have a new levelling progression that ensures we don't reach the point where PoE Dragon fights become trash encounters in PoE2.

1a: As an addendum to 1, take advantage of the fact that the PoE game mechanics are bespoke to change them. This isn't AD&D, Obsidian can change anything they want, and I'd prefer they do than feel like they have to carry over everything from PoE into PoE without change.

 

2: Tighten up the main plot. Towards the end, PoE's plot felt rushed. I'd like the main plot of PoE2 to be on a par with WM1+2's main plot.

 

3: Improve companion quests and interaction. With a few exceptions, companion quests felt a bit rushed and bolted on in PoE compared to BG2, and intraparty banter was lacking. I'd love to see this done better in PoE2.

 

4: Include a Caed Nua style super dungeon, but make it, say, 5 brilliant floors rather than 15 floors of varying quality (I know this was a victim of kickstarter stretch goals but still).

 

5: More, interesting items with unique abilities (WM was a great improvement here) and pencil style sketch art on all items!

 

Despite this list, I actually think PoE is an excellent game. If Obsidian did all of the above, PoE2 would probably be my favourite CRPG ever, and hence also my favourite game ever.

Edited October 24, 2016 by JerekKruger

[SkySlam]

3: Improve companion quests and interaction. With a few exceptions, companion quests felt a bit rushed and bolted on in PoE compared to BG2, and intraparty banter was lacking. I'd love to see this done better in PoE2.

 

I agree a lot with this point. I'm kinda fixated with companions and I've really missed some "let's sit down and talk" moments between my favorite companions. Jokes and witty comments are cool, but there should be more to party banter than a couple of sentences. Keep them - some are actually brilliant - but mix in some more serious, deep conversations between party members.

 

Also, one thing I always forget to point out: in PoE we get some companions way too late in the story!

I'm not saying that all 11 should be in Gilded Vale, but I believe that it wouldn't be too strange to have them scattered in the first zones of the game: those we can reach within one hour of (linear) gameplay, so to speak.

For example, Sagani might as well be in Anslog's Compass and Hiravias in the Black Meadow... they and their quests would be the same, because there's no story-reason to meet them so far away.

I can understand Pallegina, Devil and maybe Maneha, who are tied to specific locations, but all the other companions should not be hidden behind a wall of multiple hours of playing.

 

When I have a party composition in mind, I am often forced to rush through 1/3 of the story in order to get my desired companions and then backtrack to the quests/locations I've left behind. This process feels very gamey and mechanical, I hope it will get better in PoE2, it should be an easy fix.

 

PS: I want Cadegund as a possible companion in PoE2!!

Edited October 24, 2016 by SkySlam

[Sabotin]

Game mechanics wise, I'd like to see more synergy in the abilities of a class. Replaying BG2 again I am reminded how fun it is to use various combinations of spells that elevate them beyond the sum of their parts. In addition higher level spells are not always replacements, but can often enhance lower level ones to be relevant in higher level play despite their innate weakness.

[Reshy]

1.  Class and race-specific content: The class you take in the game seems to have little impact on events in the game.  Nobody reacts to you being a wizard for instance, not even Aloth seems to react to you being say a Wizard.  Putting in class specific quests and dialogue choices I believe would be good at expressing the point of the classes and where they fit in, as opposed to relying entirely on our foreknowledge of what these classes are and what they do.

 

This is doubly so with race, where it's barely brought up, even if you're a godlike.  There's no quests regarding race, and no responses either.  Godlikes are supposed to be feared (if not hated) but it almost never comes up.  So more ways to make your race feel meaningful would be appreciated.

 

 

2.  More variety and distinction in races.  It seems to be a problem I see with a lot of fantasy games relying on the same Tolkien races of Human, Dwarf, and Elf which is fine and all, but they don't really add much to the experience.  As mentioned above your race almost never matters, and moreover you're with the exception of Godlike all of the other races are just reskined humans with 1-2 different features.  You have Short Humans, Stout humans, Pointy-eared humans, and then you have Godlikes which personally were the only race that looked appealing to me.

 

I mean heck, Skyrim has races like the Khajiit and Argonian which add more interest to the world as a whole just having them as an option.  They're pretty much synonymous with the Elder scrolls series as a whole.  I feel that due to the lack of distinction between races, and the over-reliance on pre-existing races it prevents the series from really developing iconic races.  And, if I may be honest, Humans, Elves, and Dwarves are basically creatively bankrupt with how often they are used.  I'm not saying remove those races but make them more distinct, rather than them being a reskinned human with slightly different stats and fluff.  Main thing though is consider bringing in some unique races, look to sci-fi if you can't find it, but heck in D&D there's dozens of races.  Killorens, Raptorans, Aarakocra, Changelings, Warforged, Shifters, Dromites, Kenku Thri-Kreen....  There's so much variety in I enjoy, and then I look at the sorry list of races in Pillars and find myself frustrated. 

 

 

3.  Allow your companions to make dialogue checks for you and greater impact on interactions in general.  There are some options that require say Might.  Now I'm say a wizard so my might isn't the greatest, but I brought along Edér I should be able to use his Might in place of my own, albeit with minor changes to dialogue.  You can't seem to do that in this game though, so it makes things far more restrictive as to what you can or cannot do.  I used to do this in Shadowrun Dragonfall, I would always bring along Eiger, who was a Troll, for intimidation purposes.  But in this game you just can't do that, most encounters have NPCs acting like you're alone, with some of them even going so far to pick a fight with you when you outnumber them.

 

 

4.  The combat system doesn't feel particularly tight, it feels like it's trying to ape Dragon Age Origins, but not as well.  It's also inherited the problems of both a real-time combat system and a turn-based combat system.  The game moves in real time, which hinders the strategic element of the game, necessitating constant pausing to be effective which doesn't mesh well with the experience.  So it's like the game is trying to be diablo but more strategic, but faster-paced than shadowrun returns, but ends up doing neither well.

 

 

5.  A Fast Travel screen, if I've cleared out an area or are in a town and there's nothing blocking my travel, I should be able to open up the world map and directly travel without having to find a corner of the map.

 

 

6.  Dedicated mod support, modders can keep a game alive and in people's memory a lot longer than it otherwise would be.

 

 

7.  Make martial classes (Paladin, Fighter, etc.) have more class-based abilities.  Right now they're basically a trickle that you will only ever get maybe 3-4 of at any one time.  Giving them maybe a system to "learn" combat techniques like wizard spells (but more reusable, if weaker in effect) would make them more engaging to play.  Passives are nice, but they don't add an engagement value to the class.

 

 

8.  Better Formation Pathfinding.  Right now your companion's formation is not very consistent, often devolving into a standard "line" rather than maintaining the formation wherever they go.  This weakens the effectiveness of the formation since it tends to just not function unless the encounter comes to you.

 

 

9.  Prestige/Specializations for classes.  I'd like to see more ways to distinguish between classes, which can be accomplished by splitting them into sub classes that give unique abilities.  For instance, you might have a wizard who's specialization improves their martial combat capabilities a little bit, putting them closer to a fighter in terms of viability along with special spells or abilities only they know.  Another might be a specialist class that focuses on spamming low-level spells at the expense of higher level ones, for instance they might get some few spells as "encounter" spells rather than per-rest.  Options like these would make each individual wizard feel more unique without needing to multiclass.

[evilcat]

At some point taking game to next step is making another game. Tyranny seems to be example of that.

But idea is:

Oriental, East Asia setting. Something like Jade Empire. Probably with some gimmick where we can program our kata combat moves or something.

And of course isometric sci-fi action shoter in space with rpg parts.

Modern times supernatural, vampires, ghost, cthullu fatang, some more adventure gameplay (Broken Sword serries) more puzzle solving.

 

It is not PoE2, but there need to be something else than poe2 to refresh imagination.

Edited October 24, 2016 by evilcat

[Kravvenn]

First off, let me say thank you for Pillars of Eternity. A masterpiece of a game. (Its now in my top 5 favorite games) Secondly, I know this is a long list, it does NOT in ANY way imply that PoE needs to be fixed. It doesn't need to be fixed. Its great, its more than great its #@$% ing awesome!

 

These are just a things I would "like" to see:

 

 

(The only thing, the one and only thing that could use definitely use improvement is the pathfinding. That's it.)

 

 

Stat influencing hats. - many of the rings, armor, weapons etc in PoE influenced characters' stats and gave them access to different spells and abilities. I would like to see more hats with this incorporated.

 

 

Varying locations - I loved the White March DLC (or as I would call it – expansion pack). It provided a great change of scenery. I would like to see varying locations in PoE 2.

 

 

More consistent voice acting from NPCs and party members – I realize that the inconsistency in the voice acting in PoE was probably due to lack of money or time.

 

 

More choose-your-own-adventure sections – Like what you guys did with the White March (expansion pack )

 

 

Romance options for party members – Always fun.

 

 

Armor sets. - I believe somebody else mentioned this

 

 

 

Pets as companions – Would like to be able to level pets up like the regular companions

 

 

More illustrations! These were awesome! Keep it up.

 

 

I loved the stronghold in PoE. The dungeon below and the epic quest to keep it: Great stuff. And of course building it up. I would like to see even more building options. Maybe different options for the class of the player's character. That way we can get a sort of different stronghold with future playthroughs.

 

 

 

Reshy had this to say:"1.  Class and race-specific content: The class you take in the game seems to have little impact on events in the game.  Nobody reacts to you being a wizard for instance, not even Aloth seems to react to you being say a Wizard.  Putting in class specific quests and dialogue choices I believe would be good at expressing the point of the classes and where they fit in, as opposed to relying entirely on our foreknowledge of what these classes are and what they do.

 

This is doubly so with race, where it's barely brought up, even if you're a godlike.  There's no quests regarding race, and no responses either.  Godlikes are supposed to be feared (if not hated) but it almost never comes up.  So more ways to make your race feel meaningful would be appreciated."

 

And I agree.

 

 

 

Dedicated mod support

 

 

One thing that I really want to see in PoE is the option to take a non violent route to finish quests. All of the dialouge options in PoE lead to a fight. I would like to be able to talk my way out of fights (maybe have this tied to a trait?) Or I would like to be able to steal, cheat, lie, sneak etc my way out of conflicts and even to finish a quest.

 

 

New game plus option.

 

 

I personally liked the slower leveling. Gave PoE a nice, classical feeling.

 

 

Jarmo said: Separate slots for necklaces and cloaks. I agree...slightly. Might make the game too easy if there were separate slots.

 

 

Which leads me to a word of praise: Thanks for making PoE difficult! Keep it up!

 

 

Also,to counter some of the suggestions I've seen here: Please keep the six party members. I liked it. Very traditional.

 

 

And I, for one, I liked the graphics as they were in PoE. Don't worry about making it look next-gen. I don't want next-gen, I want to be reminded of the of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

 

 

I'd like to see some characters that were in PoE show up in PoE 2. Eder for one.

 

 

More soulbound weapons and as somebody else said, soulbound armor.

 

 

I loved the simulation and building aspect of the Stronghold. I would like to see more of this. Maybe outside of a Stronghold (but with Strongholds too). Perhaps a quest has you rebuild a town?

Also, the Stronghold quests and having people visit you? Brilliant stuff.

At some point I'd like to see a dragon attack your Stronghold in PoE 2 or an enemy army lay siege to it.

 

 

Also, the choose your own adventure battle at the end of the main stronghold quest? That was one of my favorite moments in the game!

Edited October 31, 2016 by Kravvenn

[iryoku]

Some suggestions I thought of recently:

 

1. Some kind of dispel magic and more ways to protect oneself from one. Currently you can pretty much rely on your saving throws, Arcane Reflection or Suppress Affliction.

 

2. I know that you can quickly check what terms like "blinded," "dazed" and so on mean, but I think that actually writing it in a more detailed manner as well would be even better. For example, "blinded" (–25 Accuracy –20 Deflection –20 Reflex –2 Move Speed –4 Perception) becomes -29 accuracy, -20 deflection, -28 reflex, -12 interrupt, -2 move. Or "Miasma of Dull-Mindedness" (-6 Perception, -6 Intellect, -6 Resolve) becomes -18 Interrupt -6 Accuracy -12 Reflex, -30% spell duration, -24 will, -18 concentration, -6 deflection. When I first saw this spell, I actually thought it wasn't very good, cause I didn't calculate the net stats...

 

3. More spells :D . Wizards, for example, have very few spells which can decrease fortitude.

 

4. More "secret" places. Personally, quests such as the "Rogue Stone" and "Restore Kangaxx's Body" from BG2 were some of my favorites.

 

5. Even longer quests and more twists. Like you could make me go around 4-5 maps to complete one :D I thought the quest about Raedric was something in that direction.

 

6. More consequences of your actions.

 

7. More origin / background / class-specific conversations. And maybe you could separate the background from your faction.

 

8. Learning or searching for crafting / enchanting recipes.

Edited November 8, 2016 by iryoku

[rjshae]

They crippled the classes once they shrank the skills list. I don't see that getting better.

[ManifestedISO]

Watch, PoE 2 will have a classless skill-based leveling system.