1843

I like the idea behind auto-pause on ability finish, I never though of trying it - it would certainly help remind me to use more knock-downs and the like!

1844

Yeah, exactly - all the important things. Try it, it’s a game changer! :)

1845

I have been trying to uncover quests. I think I had just turned level 5 when I went to Raedric’s Hold. I just turned level 6 after getting to Defiance Bay, completing a side quest and clearing the temple that’s part of the main story. Does that sound about right to you, or did I get ahead of the curve?

1846

Great tip, I’ll try it out.

1847

You might be a bit ahead. I assume you’re playing on Hard? I think I was level 5 having a hard time with a few side quests (like that lighthouse, god-damn) and by the time I was done in Defiance Bay (or done enough) I was level 7 and nearly 8 (thanks to some bounties, which also net me some great equipment and cash for even more equipment from the market in DB) and right around then I was starting to find I almost never had to re-do any fights and I almost always found myself needing to only buy one camping supply here and there, never being at 0. Hard isn’t really all that hard once you get a handle on the combat system, but a few fights are still ball-busters. If you are finding it too easy, maybe give PotD a shot! I have been on hard for the entire game, and now here in Act IV there were half a dozen really brutal fights, all side-content, but for the most part it actually felt “right” - not easy, but not frustrating. Just about perfect for me, constant enjoyment and satisfaction with only a few “wtf!?” moments.

Fucking vampires.

1848

Yep, playing on Hard. I guess I’ll wait it out and see how it goes. Thanks for the help!

1849

Spoilers about how the opening of the game could be, if you were role-playing a horrible person. This game definitely feels like it has that trademark freedom Obsidian has done so well in the past (I’m thinking specifically of Fallout New Vegas, which was just amazing).

1850

I was actually about to ask this - has anyone gone balls out on a completely EVIL playthrough?

I always started out in an IE game with sinister ambitions to be a bow-wielding Hitler but the benefits from selecting the “good” dialogue options seem to result in greater gain.

Since I’ll probably just play this one once right through I’m firmly down the Lawful Good path at this point …

1851

Damn their oily hides.

1852

OK, first battle in Searing Falls was a little bit of a wake up call. I took it lightly and lost half my party.

1853

Just reached Dyrwood village. This game is boring the shit out of me. I’ll try to press on.

Signed, someone who finished both BG1 and 2 three times. Each.

1854

Elaborate?

1855

I am really enjoying the game. Signed by someone who never finished BG 1 or 2 because I got bored/frustrated. People change, I am not sure whether it’s relevant that you enjoyed a game 14 years ago and are bored with this one.

Anyway, just went back to the Valewood just to kill the bear that I skipped originally after reading about the difficulty (which was probably silly). The game didn’t handle it well, it told me to find the attacker who lived in the Gilded Vale, who I already let go. Not a big deal, and maybe the quest can still be completed by finding where ever he fled to. I doubt it though, the journal is telling me to find him in Gilded Vale.

1856

I tried it with a human paladin and got to the Gilded Vale, but it just didn’t grab me at all. At first I thought it was strange because I really liked Planescape, BG1 and BG2, but then again I completed them 12 years ago when that stuff was still impressive to me. Although I’m not 100% sure it really is the reason, I have a feeling that I’ve gotten too used to immersive first person and third person (over the shoulder) RPG.

1857

…or it was the Paladin. I tried a Paladin and it bored me too. A Ranger turned out a lot more interesting!

But again, yeah, games are like that. Sometimes a game that thrills one person will bore another.

1858

I was also thinking that getting to the Gilded Vale was barely trying the game. I might try again some time later.

1859

My main is a chanter. That is a boring class to play if anyone is thinking of starting a new game. Currently, at level 7, he is just a tank type with a weak aoe debuff. His summons take far too long to summon, and when I do, they usually die pretty fast.

1860

I wrapped up the main story last night! I also am on the final (15th) level of the Endless Path, and I did four more Bounty Hunts as well as some other post-game (so to speak) quests. I still have almost a dozen open quests and half a dozen tasks in my quest log, plus whatever stuff I completely missed (which based on my ending was almost all the companion stuff, at the very least). No spoilers, but that ending was epic - the narration going over what my actions led to lasted 12 straight minutes! I also have an entire map area I haven’t even touched, since when I first went into it I got a quest update for the Ranger quest so I always intended to go get the Ranger companion from my stronghold and bring her back, but never did.

I’m currently hovering at just under 52 hours, though I hit level 12 (the cap) probably at the 44 hour mark or so. This means other than exploring the endless paths I don’t have much incentive to keep playing this crazy over-powered set up of characters that can steam roll most things (including the final encounter, though that was a lucky roll with a powerful level 6 Wizard spell that gets all the credit there). I see an achievement to “kill all the dragons” but I only found one and that’s hard to miss. Is there one on the 15th level? Is there one if I go through all the bounties? Hard to say, but I’m going to find out, some day.

Anyone who has been following this thread knows my own hype for this one was completely off the charts, which actually happens to me several times a year as games I’m jazzed for get ready to drop, but what normally happens is once I can play said game and scratch that itch, I’m ready to move onto the next big thing I’m looking forward to. With Pillars of Eternity, as with only a very few select games in my life, I am more interested in starting a new game and playing through again than I am playing anything else coming out (including the Age of Wonders III expansion, which is saying quite a lot).

From minute one I fell in love with not just the tale being told, but the manner in which it was being presented. I could list off the several dozen mechanics, systems, and moments the game offered that I feel upped the ante for any narrative-driven and party-based RPG going forward, but most of them everyone knows anyway. This isn’t really a review or anything, just putting my thoughts into the written word - I loved it. It really, really clicked for me. I am certain I like it more than Baldur’s Gate/Icewind Dale, though I do recognize the reason is probably that it’s newer and I haven’t put several hundred hours into it (yet) over the course 15 years like I have those games. I’m also equally certain this supplanted Temple of Elemental Evil as my favorite combat in a party based RPG.

I vastly prefer the combat and what they are doing here though, and that’s a big part of why I look forward to a second and likely third (or more!) play-through of PoE more than I ever did playing the enhanced/modded versions of BG2 - not since Dragon Age Origins have I felt that sense of tactical satisfaction in a party based game, and the only thing I feel PoE is missing from its combat is some sort of scripting to help micromanage your part (I don’t know if at this point I would use it, or use it very much, but I recognize it would be great to have).

I am incredibly stoked for the expansion! I hope it ups the level cap, adds new low-, mid-, and late- game class-specific talents (I feel like some classes just don’t get offered very many interesting class talents, though thankfully the generic ones are really useful). I am really impressed with the amount of content, from the variety of creatures and encounters to the volume of spells and abilities that this first game has. It could really lead to some grand things down the road, and I hope it does just that.

Tonight I’ll wrap up the 15th level of the Endless Path, and then once the 1.03 patch drops (could be any day now) I’m rolling up an aggressive/cruel bastard of a Barbarian. It’s not something I would normally play, but I am intensely curious to see how differently the game plays out when not being benevolent/diplomatic (like I was with my Monk). This is the final test - how actually different will things play out when I’m making new choices? In Dragon Age Origins it seemed amazing at first, even the second play through, but by the third you could see that things weren’t really very different. Hopefully does a great job of that stuff, though I’m already really happy with how, more than almost any other game in this genre, I’m actually able to play a ROLE and define that role for my own.

One last thought - thanks to the Qt3 community in particular, you guys were a lot of fun to hang out with while I played this one, and I am especially pleased with the response I got from those class videos I made early on. You guys rock.

1861

I never got around to saying I loved your class videos, but they were great. They made me question getting into Bloodborne before PoE heavily.

I have a question for people not liking their main character class… I was thinking of running a Paladin as my main despite it sounding like a somewhat boring class because I figured since you control everyone in the party, I’d get enough tactical nuance from my companions. Reading up on this thread makes me feel like that’s not true. Why is having your main character in a boring class such a detriment? Does controlling your companions not add enough nuance? Do you get to choose how your companions level up?

1862

Well, there will be a few hours early in where you don’t have more than maybe one or two other party members, though you can always just recruit more, too. I’m honestly not sure though, you ask a good question.

I really, really liked the Paladin companion that “comes with the game” so to speak, but you don’t see her until Defiance Bay, which is Act II. I really, really found her incredibly valuable though, so I would definitely recommend a Paladin as a main character. In fact, due to how Paladin and Priest classes use their God’s personality traits they can be some of the best role-playing, I imagine, and unlike the NPC Priest and Paladin, a PC would get more (or less) powerful based on those choices you make in dialog (sticking with your God’s precepts).