I am very disappointed to hear the party will be reduced to five.

[Fenixp]

1 magic/fighter/rogue's all you need, really. The 5 other members are quite useless.

[Varana]

Abel: But both BG and IWD also had character classes that were decidedly lower maintenance than PoE. In BG, there weren't many (or any) abilities you needed to trigger with your fighter, and no SFX that cluttered up the screen. Similarly with some other classes. Spellcasters, as a general rule, required a lot of micromanagement; others had a few things to click and after that, flew by autopilot. PoE tries to alleviate that difference a bit; not by taking away spells from spellcasters but by giving the others viable abilities to use, as well. That greater difficulty to understand what's going on at the screen is a direct consequence of that so it's no wonder that BG/IWD didn't have that issue to the same extent.

[Abel]

Abel: But both BG and IWD also had character classes that were decidedly lower maintenance than PoE. In BG, there weren't many (or any) abilities you needed to trigger with your fighter, and no SFX that cluttered up the screen. Similarly with some other classes. Spellcasters, as a general rule, required a lot of micromanagement; others had a few things to click and after that, flew by autopilot. PoE tries to alleviate that difference a bit; not by taking away spells from spellcasters but by giving the others viable abilities to use, as well. That greater difficulty to understand what's going on at the screen is a direct consequence of that so it's no wonder that BG/IWD didn't have that issue to the same extent.

 

Most of this is pretty much what i said. I guess we agree about almost everything. The difference is that i feel that spellcasters in Pillars are more... well "straightforward" than in the IE games. I feel they need more attention in the old games while fighter type classes need more in Pillars. That's why i said that the micro is more equally balanced between characters in Pillars than it was in BG. As i wrote, i agree with the SFX problem, too. That's why i concluded than having less intrusive SFX, like in the IE games, would help a great deal. Obsidian is aware of this and design these SFX for Pillars 2 with that in mind, according to FIG updates.

 

In the end the only thing we don't agree about is: "does 6 party members management in Pillars need more micro than in BG?". And what i feel is that once the SFX problem is solved and the mechanics are made clear, it would not be the case anymore. Which is why i talked about bringing party to 5 as a way of solving a problem without adressing its causes (if SFX is better, the last problem is the unclear game ruleset). It seems to me you feel different about this. Well, i'm not pretending i'm right. It's just my impression.

 

As i said i'm more concerned about the differences between 5 and 6 party members when it comes to the relationship system and banters. I'm no specialist of combat, even though i'm used to the old IE systems.

Edited March 23, 2017 by Abel

[anameforobsidian]

BG can have a lot of micro if you play it like a Moba player.  That's what Sensuki does.  That said, if Pillars had a default level up ability that chose low maintenance abilities, that would probably help a lot of people out.

[Katarack21]

BG can have a lot of micro if you play it like a Moba player.  That's what Sensuki does.  That said, if Pillars had a default level up ability that chose low maintenance abilities, that would probably help a lot of people out.

The grumpy old grognard in me wants to complain about including auto level up options.

[Regggler]

The grumpy old grognard in me wants to complain about including auto level up options.

 

 

"Hey you kids, get off our RPG lawn!"

[SonicMage117]

Forgive me... I guess I've been playing too much Gauntlet lately. It's easy for me to forget people have different preferences of how to play the game vs how the game was designed to play. I think that's why PoE is so good, it has alot of freedoms that other games may not have.

[Churon127]

NO CAN DO!! 6 Players are MIN! I absolutely HATE games, where u can only have 4 or 5 players in the party cause it just means that there is not enough differentiation for 6 characters. I love synergy creation and finding out how different specialisations work together.

 

VOTE 6 !

[Obsidian sucks]

When did they decide this? 

Why change it? if someone wanted to play with five characters instead of six they could already do that in the previous game. 

[SonicMage117]

When did they decide this? 

Why change it? if someone wanted to play with five characters instead of six they could already do that in the previous game.

 

Some have said it's because the ship sports only 5 beds on-board, how do they know? I'm not too sure.

[Sedrefilos]

NO CAN DO!! 6 Players are MIN! I absolutely HATE games, where u can only have 4 or 5 players in the part

Like every rpg the last 15 years?

[Sedrefilos]

I think they changed it because Sawyer said 5 is his lucky number.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Sedrefilos

[Vaeliorin]

In the end the only thing we don't agree about is: "does 6 party members management in Pillars need more micro than in BG?". And what i feel is that once the SFX problem is solved and the mechanics are made clear, it would not be the case anymore. Which is why i talked about bringing party to 5 as a way of solving a problem without adressing its causes (if SFX is better, the last problem is the unclear game ruleset). It seems to me you feel different about this. Well, i'm not pretending i'm right. It's just my impression.

I think the difference is that 90% or so of fights in the IE games can be won with nothing more than haste (if that's even necessary) while most fights in PoE require at least some level of micro.  I found it got a bit tedious in PoE (and I think it would have worked 100X better and would have been incredibly fun were it turn-based, but that's obviously not going to happen. )

[alsey]

I think the difference is that 90% or so of fights in the IE games can be won with nothing more than haste

 

 

Yeah especially old BG1 or IWD1 version of haste = diablo

[Katarack21]

 

In the end the only thing we don't agree about is: "does 6 party members management in Pillars need more micro than in BG?". And what i feel is that once the SFX problem is solved and the mechanics are made clear, it would not be the case anymore. Which is why i talked about bringing party to 5 as a way of solving a problem without adressing its causes (if SFX is better, the last problem is the unclear game ruleset). It seems to me you feel different about this. Well, i'm not pretending i'm right. It's just my impression.

I think the difference is that 90% or so of fights in the IE games can be won with nothing more than haste (if that's even necessary) while most fights in PoE require at least some level of micro.  I found it got a bit tedious in PoE (and I think it would have worked 100X better and would have been incredibly fun were it turn-based, but that's obviously not going to happen. )

 

Ugh. No, please god, no. I *VASTLY* prefer RTwP. Turn-based isometric-view games a real turn off. Seriously. If I couldn't hit my pause button to play this game, I wouldn't bother.

[Ninjamestari]

 

With lesser number of enemies in encounters, it also means inflated defense and HP on enemies.

 

How does it follow that encounters having fewer enemies necessitates enemies having more health?

 

 

 

Necessitate, no, often leads to that anyway, yes.

[MountainTiger]

 

I think the difference is that 90% or so of fights in the IE games can be won with nothing more than haste

 

 

Yeah especially old BG1 or IWD1 version of haste = diablo

 

 

That's not fair; in Diablo, you have to click more than once on most enemies.

[Regggler]

I'm currently replaying PoE, and I have to agree with the assessment that the ****ton of active skills (including items) requires quite a lot to remember. Having one less party member would alleviate that. I'm not sure if that's necessary for me personally, though. I don't really have a problem if I forget using my figurines for a fight or two.

 

To be honest, my favourite party size would be (number of available companions) + 1. I'm sure five will be fine, though.