It’s worth doing so, really cuts down on the micro-mgmt of the party. Abilities that you hit every fight, it’s just nice to have the AI activate those for you. My new Sage build (wiz/monk) makes big use of it since I hit about 5 abilities/spells before wading into combat, and that will go up once I hit level 13 and start using Citzal’s spirit lance.
So this is going to be happening very soon…
I assume we’ll get details on the 2.0 patch they said they were dropping alongside this DLC and all the content and QoL updates it will bring any day now.
e: More info here?
I’m off to bed, but I’ll dive into this tomorrow morning for sure.
Wonder which will arrive first: the physical contents of the CE or the first DLC?
Mini patch today fixed the AI screen and other minor UI bugs.
So I get back home from vacation and I’m a little annoyed at how many of my builds have been heavily nerfed by patch 1.2. So I revert back to my evoker, who was only around level 10-11. He’s now 19th and is a complete beast. With PL 13 for evocation spells (base 10 + 3 for evoker/gloves/nature godlike), Wilting Wind empowered (PL23) annihilates most of the screen. The spell has a huge diameter and has one of the highest dmg ranges of any spell in the game. It’s insane. I thought my Votary was a good build, but nothing compares to a straight-up evoker with the right gear (get the chromoprismatic staff from Nemnok and cast swift feet, lhengrath’s, ironside, and citzal’s martial prowess and then laugh as your toon whack-a-moles everything in range).
Two days away, new DLC!
Here is a trailer, to wet your whistle!
It looks great. I am eagerly anticipating the day all DLC is released and I can buy the complete version of the game without spending $80 or more.
So, uh, when are the physical goods shipping?
There was an update about it just today (or yesterday?) but I haven’t read it, as I never do physical goods with pre-orders.
e: Here it is:
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I love physical maps too much, and the party companion figures, etc., to acknowledge that this game is even out until I receive my package.
Same with Shroud of the Avatar, for that matter. Matters even more for an Ultima-spinoff.
Is it me or is there a bit of a Icewind Dale vibe going on there?
That’s clearly the intent of this DLC and I’m all for it.
I kind of think it’s hard to put any isometric rpg in a frosty/snow covered setting and not bring about thoughts of IWD, though I would also assume any similarities are intentional.
Any idea what the recommended party level is for its content? I have so many toons at different stages of the core game, so I’m curious about it. Don’t want to make it too much of a breeze (the dragons in the core game were too easy IMO).
I think I saw somewhere it’s like level 12-15? Don’t quote me on that. Also may depend on level scaling options?
I saw in the email to me by Obsidian that the first DLC is available for this.
I didn’t make much of a dent in the main game. It really makes me think maybe I should put these old-style RPGs in the virtual trash heap. I backed PoE but didn’t play much, I backed PoE2 but didn’t play much. I backed Wasteland 2 but didn’t play much. I backed Torment: Tides of Namanama and didn’t play it much. I backed Bard’s Tale IV. That’s not out yet. But I’m sensing a pattern.
Of course, my thinking at the time is that it’s still worth backing these types of games even if I don’t end up playing them. But at the very least, I should adjust my expectations and stop thinking that I’m eventually going to get to all these massive games.
Especially the real time with pause ones. Life is too short to play real time with pause games that I don’t enjoy, when I could be playing a game with turn-based combat or action combat instead. Real-time with Pause is like the worst of both worlds.
Honestly, Torment: ToN taught me to finally not assume turn based would be better than RTwP. I still like Turn Based (see: Xcom or Age of Wonders!) but I think mostly for strategy games. I don’t know when it happened, but I think I’m starting to admit that real time/real time with pause is just more interesting to me now for my RPG combat.
It’s also important to remember that none of these games are as good as the original Infinity Engine games they seek emulate.
After I finished PoE2, I went back and replayed BG1:EE. And Dragonspear and BG2:EE + ToB. And I will admit … PoE2 is slightly better than BG1:EE. Because BG1 is sort of a mess. There are way too many useless zones. They mapped out the city and then just threw a grid over it so that when you zone you can be stuck in an alley, which is just dumb. There is minimal NPC interaction.
But after BG1? Forget it, they’re all better. Even considering the lame, half-broken magic system in AD&D Second Edition, they’re still better. And BG2? Forget it, PoE doesn’t come within a country mile of that pinnacle of gaming, magic system warts and all. Why does my stupid cleric still have level 1 cure light wounds spells? They heal for nothing. Wait, I don’t care, I just looted a freakin’ Holy Avenger which is cooler than every piece of boring-ass loot in PoE2 combined.
I still remember cool loot from BG 2.
That flail with all the elements you could forge. The ankheg plate mail. The sword that cast haste. The ioun stones. Staff of the Magi.
I can’t remember anything cool from POE. It was all ‘nebulous stat block A’ and ‘nebulous stat block B’.
I get what you’re saying… BG2 had some real game-changing loot that was challenging to acquire. However, I Often wonder how much the “rose colored glasses” effect applies here. I think Obsidian has done a lot to put interesting loot into the game, especially with the introduction of soul-bound weapons. They also build in a backstory to a lot of the powerful loot, which is doubly cool for soul bound weapons because those stories unravel as you level them up. I can distinctly remember the time I found Modwyr in some gosh-forsaken underplace, or the time I picked up Blightheart on a seemingly random island. What also makes it interesting to me is that soulbound weapons are tough to find and you have to go off the beaten path to find them, just like the holy avenger in Icewind Dale or the awesome katana in BG2. So while I understand where you’re coming from, I think that PoE has done a great job of taking up the loot legacy mantle of the old infinity engine games and even adding to it.
It’s possible that the BG2 equipment is more memorable because of its comparison to the rest of the loot in the game, which is so very mundane, and its rarity. I think PoE (1&2) has a wider variety of interesting equipment, perhaps less powerful when found, and that makes each less memorable than the instant power-punch-up that the BG2 items gave a wielder.
For my part, I agree that I remember BG2 equipment, even if only in vague terms, this long after my last play (back with the original). Meanwhile, I know I found unique items in the PoEs but, despite how recent I played both, I can’t for the life of me recall a particular item or its capabilities without seeing it again to remind me.