Your perfect world state for PoE2 (NEW QUESTIONS UPDATE!)

[Messier-31]

 

[CottonWolf]

 

That's a good point but it actually makes me want that option even more. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, maybe things go horribly wrong and a defeated Thaos ends up winning in the end because of your thirst for power/knowledge/cool headgear. The game already gives you "bad options" that can result in your death so I don't really see a problem with that being a possibility.

They cut a lot of stuff from the game, including being able to get Iovara's soul to help you in the fight against Thaos in exchange for freeing the Forgiven souls. This might be one of those things. 

 

 

Oh, I had no idea that was going to be an option. Interesting.

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I really wonder if the various boons carry over. You can grab Skaen's boon post-thaos and then immediately betray Skaen, which is hilarious and weird and a free +1 dex (you keep your other boons too now, at least).Oddly when I did this I didn't see the endslide for betraying Skaen either.

[The Sharmat]

Josh said earlier on that you don't start the game with them but you can regain them over the course of the game IIRC. Presumably as you partially restore your soul or something? No idea if that's still in though.

[Tanjaxxx]

Good questions except....I never poisoned the man. I either killed him the old fashion way, or just kidnapped the baby lol. 

[huang]

I really wonder if the various boons carry over. You can grab Skaen's boon post-thaos and then immediately betray Skaen, which is hilarious and weird and a free +1 dex (you keep your other boons too now, at least).Oddly when I did this I didn't see the endslide for betraying Skaen either.

 

Wasn't the boon something they only granted temporarily for the fight against Thaos?

[The Sharmat]

Well that can't be the case with Skaen's since Thaos is dead at that point.

[Skazz]

Though I have already prepared a save state for Deadfire, I keep going back and forth on Eder's ending. I really can't decide which outcome makes more narrative sense to carry on into Deadfire, and I can see both angles working in light of Eothas' return.

 

I'm reasonably sure it won't matter all that much either way (something something variables something something cutting off the branches), but I like to keep things nice and consistent.

[The Sharmat]

Even if it does end up mattering it may be hard to tell what makes for the best narrative before a complete run of Deadfire. PoE 1 had the same issue. Most RPGs do I think.

[Yenkaz]

The only logical answer is: What do you think makes for the best narrative now. What does your character want to tell Edér and Kana and so on?

 

I really didn't expect being quite critical of the Engwithans to send Kana into long-term melancholy, but those were the results of the actions I took, so better to stick with it and see where it goes.

 

Creating the best POE2 narrative is for replays!

[The Sharmat]

Yes the blind run is the purest run if you want consequences to matter but that's not entirely in your hands. Devs rarely make save import impactful.

[Skazz]

The only logical answer is: What do you think makes for the best narrative now. What does your character want to tell Edér and Kana and so on?

 

Good point. I concur.

 

I really didn't expect being quite critical of the Engwithans to send Kana into long-term melancholy, but those were the results of the actions I took, so better to stick with it and see where it goes.

 

I had a similarly funky experience with Kana. I was convinced that making him see both the good and the bad of Engwithans would be the best outcome for him, and the story seemed to follow that train of thought. At the end of the game, I really enjoyed the point he made to Thaos' face about Engwith being a cautionary tale-slash-case study for the younger cultures and not something to be venerated blindly.

 

Then the ending slides start to roll, and I'm all ready to be proud of my fancy-hatted, shark-toothed boy. But no, he ended up being some kind of hobo philosopher with zero academic relevance. What?

 

I suppose this is only fitting with PoE's insistence on avoiding definite answers and definite endings, but boy was I confounded. Doubly so when I discovered later that the best outcome for Kana basically requires the player to forge a false narrative based on the completely worthless tablets and omit everything negative the Builders have ever done - or, in other words, to have your resident scientist man present blatant lies before one of the most prestigious lore colleges in the world.

 

Talk about a rollercoaster of unexpected events.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Skazz

[The Sharmat]

Hm, I got a decent ending for Kana without outright lies. Just focused on the good the Engwithans managed to accomplish amidst the bad and talk up the whole experience of discovery even if the end result didn't agree with what he set out to find.

 

As for the hobo philosopher thing, well, Rauatai is in a nationalist mood. Just because he says something true doesn't make it popular I guess.

Edited April 29, 2018 by The Sharmat

[flazeo25]

Its funny that Kana best ending requires glorfiying and lying to him about Engwithans. When telling him the truth turns him into bar storyteller.

[fgalkin]

 

The only logical answer is: What do you think makes for the best narrative now. What does your character want to tell Edér and Kana and so on?

 

Good point. I concur.

 

I really didn't expect being quite critical of the Engwithans to send Kana into long-term melancholy, but those were the results of the actions I took, so better to stick with it and see where it goes.

 

I had a similarly funky experience with Kana. I was convinced that making him see both the good and the bad of Engwithans would be the best outcome for him, and the story seemed to follow that train of thought. At the end of the game, I really enjoyed the point he made to Thaos' face about Engwith being a cautionary tale-slash-case study for the younger cultures and not something to be venerated blindly.

 

Then the ending slides start to roll, and I'm all ready to be proud of my fancy-hatted, shark-toothed boy. But no, he ended up being some kind of hobo philosopher with zero academic relevance. What?

 

I suppose this is only fitting with PoE's insistence on avoiding definite answers and definite endings, but boy was I confounded. Doubly so when I discovered later that the best outcome for Kana basically requires the player to forge a false narrative based on the completely worthless tablets and omit everything negative the Builders have ever done - or, in other words, to have your resident scientist man present blatant lies before one of the most prestigious lore colleges in the world.

 

Talk about a rollercoaster of unexpected events.

 

That depends on your definition of "best." Is Pallegina's best ending the one where she is honored by her ducs for sacrificing her own principles? Or the one where for the first time in her life she stands up for herself and does what SHE thinks is right, and suffers the consequences for it? 

[The Sharmat]

Best Pallegina ending is the one where she gets expelled for disobeying orders but then recalled because the empowered Dyrwoodans immediately kick the Republics' collective asses in a war proving she was right all along.

 

That said the "companion finally stands up for what he/she thinks is right" story arc has started to fall flat for me lately when I look back on how many of them only happen because the player character tells them to do it. That's neither standing up for yourself or doing what YOU think is right. It's just another form of doing what someone else wants.

Edited April 30, 2018 by The Sharmat

[CottonWolf]

Its funny that Kana best ending requires glorfiying and lying to him about Engwithans. When telling him the truth turns him into bar storyteller.

 

The best Kana ending is the one where he gives up on politics entirely and just becomes an explorer.

[Yenkaz]

Best Pallegina ending is the one where she gets expelled for disobeying orders but then recalled because the empowered Dyrwoodans immediately kick the Republics' collective asses in a war proving she was right all along.

 

That said the "companion finally stands up for what he/she thinks is right" story arc has started to fall flat for me lately when I look back on how many of them only happen because the player character tells them to do it. That's neither standing up for yourself or doing what YOU think is right. It's just another form of doing what someone else wants.

If you shrug at her, she disobeys her superiors.

 

I let her make a decision, it was never something the Watcher should decide for her anyway.

 

I wish there were more dialogue options like that and when talking to other party members and other characters 'well, what do you want to do about it / how do you feel about it / why would you choose to do that?'

 

Mostly when people come to you in real life with a (personal) problem, they really want someone to emphasise and/or bounce their thoughts on off to see how they respond. They don't actually want you to tell them what they should do.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Yenkaz

[Voss]

Best Pallegina ending is the one where she gets expelled for disobeying orders but then recalled because the empowered Dyrwoodans immediately kick the Republics' collective asses in a war proving she was right all along.

 

That said the "companion finally stands up for what he/she thinks is right" story arc has started to fall flat for me lately when I look back on how many of them only happen because the player character tells them to do it. That's neither standing up for yourself or doing what YOU think is right. It's just another form of doing what someone else wants.

Yeah, I don't think much of her or her 'quest' for this reason. She's a woman without agency.

 

She takes a stranger she just met (who may or may not have murdered her countryman) to her ambassador, gets shirty if said stranger didn't intervene on her behalf with the local representative about an issue they knew nothing about. And expects the stranger to give her permission to break an already arranged treaty because... she personally doesn't like it very much.

 

And this can happen in the space of a day or so, or an extended period of time where she gets to watch said stranger make all sorts of questionable decisions.

 

Its unclear why this is a companion quest at all, let alone the pretence that she's making a decision. She's just deferring to the player, in a way that seems like she's looking for an excuse to avoid the responsibility of making the decision herself.

[nightcobra]

 

Best Pallegina ending is the one where she gets expelled for disobeying orders but then recalled because the empowered Dyrwoodans immediately kick the Republics' collective asses in a war proving she was right all along.

 

That said the "companion finally stands up for what he/she thinks is right" story arc has started to fall flat for me lately when I look back on how many of them only happen because the player character tells them to do it. That's neither standing up for yourself or doing what YOU think is right. It's just another form of doing what someone else wants.

Yeah, I don't think much of her or her 'quest' for this reason. She's a woman without agency.

 

She takes a stranger she just met (who may or may not have murdered her countryman) to her ambassador, gets shirty if said stranger didn't intervene on her behalf with the local representative about an issue they knew nothing about. And expects the stranger to give her permission to break an already arranged treaty because... she personally doesn't like it very much.

 

And this can happen in the space of a day or so, or an extended period of time where she gets to watch said stranger make all sorts of questionable decisions.

 

Its unclear why this is a companion quest at all, let alone the pretence that she's making a decision. She's just deferring to the player, in a way that seems like she's looking for an excuse to avoid the responsibility of making the decision herself.

 

 

That in itself can be a compelling hook for her progression in POE2, a paladin unsure of her own place in life and thus shirks responsibility so she can avoid dealing with it even though she despises hylea and the gods for not taking responsibility for their actions. 

[The Sharmat]

 

Best Pallegina ending is the one where she gets expelled for disobeying orders but then recalled because the empowered Dyrwoodans immediately kick the Republics' collective asses in a war proving she was right all along.

 

That said the "companion finally stands up for what he/she thinks is right" story arc has started to fall flat for me lately when I look back on how many of them only happen because the player character tells them to do it. That's neither standing up for yourself or doing what YOU think is right. It's just another form of doing what someone else wants.

If you shrug at her, she disobeys her superiors.

When I did it, she did exactly what her superiors wanted. Glitch, or working as designed? If the latter, kudos to Obsidian.

[Yria]

I think all the companions at whom you can just shrug during their personal quest just make a decision based on the previous conversations. Like, if you keep telling Sagani that family is the most important thing and then pick "Listen to your heart!" option with Persoq, she will tell him about his family. Same with Pallegina, and I think with Aloth as well? But if you are not consistent with your replies throughout their conversations, at least with Sagani, trying to shrug at her in the end will cause some really bad results.

[The Sharmat]

Pallegina's conversations are pretty sparse and awkwardly placed though, it lends itself to a very obvious "do you the player want her to x or y" chain of events. The other companions may not be flashy but I consider stuff like the many subtle ways Kana can end up with radically different outcomes, that while not necessarily what the player intended, still logically follow the exchanges between him and the PC, to be something every video game writer should try to emulate.

[Yria]

Yeah, I consider the way Kana's endings were handled the best of all of the companions. Even though it can be a real pain to get him the ending you want, it's subtle and real life-like. Each of my playthroughs I arrived at the epilogue slides with the same thought: ok, how will Kana end up this time?. Was never able to completely predict it.

Edited May 3, 2018 by Yria