Path of the damned

[ericdy]

I have finished PoE a long time ago, and with the fig campaign for PoE 2 I started a new game on Path of the damned... must say that I love this difficulty! The challenge of finding the right ways to survive and win encounters! You have to plan and micromanage more. Why haven't I played on PoD before?!

[JFutral]

I agree that it was fun in the first half of the game, but the difficulty seemed to level off again in the second half. I understand that since the game is actually fairly non-linear (other than you eventually have to find your self in one place to officially finish the game) so it is probably difficult to scale the game up as you progress, but that is something that needs to be solved. Even the options to scale different chapters up at the beginning of those chapters was not enough. And I don't mean just in monster combat strength. I would think even non-violent solutions should be more difficult to pull off, too.

Speaking of non-violent solution, it would have been really interesting to have a non-combat solution to the game in the final confrontation (unless I missed something). I don't know how that would have looked, but the idea is interesting.

It was really fun (though annoying at first) playing PotD in Expert Mode, too, so all hints were turned off. It was fun seeing how all over the place I was with reputation distinctions like Aggressive, Clever, etc. I definitely don't agree with how a lot of the possible verbal responses were categorized as one behaviour or another.

Ah, well. Game On!

Joe

[Hynkel]

Actually White Marsh 1 & 2 were a staple for PoTD players, since the core game doesn't have much to offer to players looking for a challenge, besides the Endless Path.

 

I think the issue is that normal mode is balanced in such a way that anything related to the main storyline must not be too challenging ; but it's ok if the dragons are somewhat difficult even on normal.

 

Strangely enough, it doesn't seem to be the case in act 1 where they force you to level up a little before Caed Nua.

 

The issue here if that the way difficulty is spread throughout the game basically remains the same in PoTD. Dragons are fine, but I would have liked a better upscaling of difficulty in Defiant's Bay and Twi Elms.

[MaxQuest]

Strangely enough, it doesn't seem to be the case in act 1 where they force you to level up a little before Caed Nua.

There was a related question asked in the recent AMA.

 

TL.DR:

Q: Do you agree with the assessment that the games gets much easier towards the end even on higher difficulties?

JS: Yes

 

Q: Do you consider this an intentional design choice, or mostly a balancing issue.

JS: It's mostly a balancing issue, largely due to the widening gap of bonuses and the increased gulf of efficacy that arises between system masters and non-masters.

 

Q: Do you plan to handle the difficulty (curve) differently in Pillars of Eternity II?

JS: Yes. We're paying much more attention to the widening of that gulf in the mid and late game to have more consistent challenge.

[Hynkel]

Thanks for the info, the developers' point of view is really interesting.

 

I think the game already has a way to discriminate "masters" from "non-masters", which is difficulty settings. That's why the difficulty curves of each mode should not be parallel but behave differently, tackling the fact that PoTD players will have both better strategies and character builds.