Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[IHaveHugeNick]

Raising the level cap is pointless, classes are already OP as it is. I actually like this DLC because fights are pretty varied so you have to experiment with lineups and gear a lot, instead of relying on raw stat increase from more levels.

 

[tindrli]

tonight im gona try that giant cave grub monster in old city

 

[Jezal_k23]

The final DLC can add such an endgame dungeon, tuned for the most powerful weapons and armor you can find up to now. What the rewards from it should be is a good question, though. That's always a problem, what to do with your awesome endgame items now that the game is practically over.

People mock getting weapon enhancements or powerful unique items as a reward for beating the hardest fight in the game, ie when you've proved you don't need them, but I don't know what a good alternative would be. Making the main quest actually difficult would be one idea

But the main quest can't be nearly hard enough that you need to defeat a mega boss either, so it's not even a good solution to this particular problem. I think what people dig nowadays is the reward being an achievement for defeating the hardest fight in the game so they can officially be among the 1% who beat it more than any in-game rewards, since as everyone already said, they are completely pointless anyway. Ego stroking is an effective reward and that's what achievements do.

For me personally, though, the satisfaction I get from beating the hardest stuff the game can throw at me is the reward on its own.

 

[Safav Hamon]

I only got to the 3rd trial so far and got my ass kicked. Got to see from your writeup about later fights that they try some creative stuff instead of throwing another wave of trash mobs at you.

The fight with Maerwald? Surprisingly that was the only fight I've been able to win on my first try.

People mock getting weapon enhancements or powerful unique items as a reward for beating the hardest fight in the game, ie when you've proved you don't need them, but I don't know what a good alternative would be.

To be fair, some of the fights in SSS are starting to make the megaboss look easy.

Too bad there isn't a huge endgame dungeon where the new enchantment level will be most useful.

Forgotten Sanctum is supposed to be a huge endgame dungeon

 

[2house2fly]

To be fair, some of the fights in SSS are starting to make the megaboss look easy.

sure, but then what's your reward for winning those fights? If you get really good equipment for beating the toughest fights in the game, what will you need the equipment for? In a way I think achievements are a godsend for games like this, because it's finally something else you can be rewarded with

 

[Safav Hamon]

The reward for me would be being able to see the conclusion of the DLC storyline. I dread to think what the final boss is going to be like.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I only got to the 3rd trial so far and got my ass kicked. Got to see from your writeup about later fights that they try some creative stuff instead of throwing another wave of trash mobs at you.

The fight with Maerwald? Surprisingly that was the only fight I've been able to win on my first try.

Haha yeah, it took me 2 party wipes until I realized he summoned a reflection of my party. First attempt I went balls deep on Maerwald, but spirits were chopping me to bits. So next try I go balls deep on the nearest spirit, and I'm like, Jesus, this dude is tanky as fuck, what's up with that? Then it finally dawned on me that I'm attacking a reflection of Eder who I've built full tank with heavy armor and so on. :D

3rd try I swapped to Palegina, fired up her anti-spirit AOE and that was that.

 

[Jezal_k23]

This 2nd DLC sounds frankly awesome. I'll be waiting for all 3 to try them out all at once but in the meantime I'm pretty optimistic that these DLCs are coming out with quality content and decent size so the 3 together could be interpreted as an expansion.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

For a combat-focused DLC, I would have preferred a large dungeon instead of arena. But it's a good addition to the game, all the fights are nicely designed set pieces with varied encounters and various twists, difficulty is solid on PoTD. The game desperately need a reason for us to push the limits of combat system, because while the mechanics are nice and offer a lot of room for experimentation with bombs and drugs and poisions and summons, there just wasn't a reason to use any of that before SSS came out.

I'm at 8th fight atm.

 

[Safav Hamon]

Obsidian has learned a lot about encounter design. The combat in this DLC is twice as good as the main game, which was already twice as good as Pillars of Eternity 1.

 

[Father Foreskin]

This is the first rtwp game i can tolerate. Poe1 was half-decent after 3.0. Even the gold standard BG2 had utter shit combat imho.

Edit : (13 minutes and no takers yet)

 

[Safav Hamon]

 

[2house2fly]

He said something about them adding content for "a year plus" which is surprising. That'd take them well past the roadmap they put out with the first DLC. Oh my god what if they decide they can claw back some sales by making a fourth

 

[Safav Hamon]

These DLC are awesome, but they just highlight that Obsidian is capable of a lot more than what is in the base game.

If they combine the story of BoW, the combat of SSS, and the dungeon design of Forgotten Sanctum (presuming it's good), then Pillars of Eternity III could be a masterpiece.

 

[Quillon]

If they combine the story of BoW, the combat of SSS, and the dungeon design of Forgotten Sanctum (presuming it's any good), then Pillars of Eternity III could be a masterpiece.

Yeah we said the same thing after White Marches but DLCs turn out better cos they are smaller scale projects with more focused goals/stories on the same tech they've been interning with for the past couple of years There are just too many different themes, characters, factions, gods, new systems, features, tech etc flying around in a full game and making all that cohesive is prolly much harder.

How are the sales btw? PoE3's still unlikely?

 

[Safav Hamon]

There are just too many different themes, characters, factions, gods, new systems, features, tech etc flying around in a full game and making all that cohesive is prolly much harder.

I don't believe they need new systems, features, or tech for a third game. The foundation of this game is strong enough.

 

[Jezal_k23]

I thought they had a strong foundation in Pillars 1 but a lot of the combat system got changed anyway. Not that it helped... I mean, all the work that went into changing the combat system was nearly pointless as far as I'm concerned since I don't remember people or reviews really praising the new combat. If people are gonna shit on the game for being oldschool (and lots of people did), they are gonna do it whether the game has vancian magic or not.

I mean yeah, now they have a strong foundation again but I assume they'll just change essential elements of the combat system again if they make PoE 3.

 

[Jenkem]

Obsidian has learned a lot about encounter design. The combat in this DLC is twice as good as the main game, which was already twice as good as Pillars of Eternity 1.

FreeKaner

 

[Haplo]

That's why I specifically said specializations, as in the Fighter/Devoted talents, and not proficiencies. That kinda shoehorns you into using only 1 type of summoned weapon if you are playing Devoted/Wizard, but maybe that's the point. I haven't tested whether Spiritual Weapon gets the Devoted bonuses on my Priest, though, I didn't pick up the spell.

If I were building a Fighter/Wizzie, I'd probably go with another/no sublclass. Wouldn't be worth it commiting to single weapon type/modal IMO. I'd want to Mule Kick/Clear Out using the Lance, sure. But I'd also want to debuff Fort using morningstars (possibly also in aoe with Clear Out) and probably also debuff Reflex using Flails. Once I'd landed a Combusting wounds, I'd like to switch to dual blunderbusses to quickly stack damage ticks (8 stacks per full attack).
So actually a Black Jacket could be tempting.

 

[Haplo]

Aren't the highest level abilities ridiculous enough as it is? I don't think raising the cap is a wise choice, the game already is kinda lacking in 14+ challenges, remedied somewhat by the DLCs.

I wouldn't say so. Can't think of anything so ridiculous. Actually, I didn't even use my 20th level abilities as a Paladin, I didn't like them, decided to take some passives instead.

Of the wizard's spells, I tried meteor shower a couple of times. Yeah, it was powerful, but with its red-only circle of AoE, you have to be careful for friendly fire.

In Deadfire, with abilities power scaling with your power level, it's possible for an early-level ability to be continuously useful throughout the game.

Yeah, they are. For some classes at least. And empowered they clear whole screens. Already mentioned Wizard Meteor Shower, as well as Missile Salvo. Druid Maelstorm. Chanter Eld Nary. Monk Inner Death and Whispers of the Wind.

More balanced, but still plenty powerful are Ranger, Barbarian and Cipher end game abilities. Also Paladin is workable, but you do need to build specifically for it.
Rogues have less in terms of end game abilities and Fighters are probably the worst off. But that doesn't change the fact that these classes are prime multiclassing material.

 

[Mazisky]

They already said the last dlc will be basically a megadungeon btw.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

If they combine the story of BoW, the combat of SSS, and the dungeon design of Forgotten Sanctum (presuming it's good), then Pillars of Eternity III could be a masterpiece.

How about if they combined the storytelling of Planescape Torment, the combat of Icewind Dale and the exploration of Baldurs Gate?

 

[Lacrymas]

They already said the last dlc will be basically a megadungeon btw.

Megadungeon in the context of PoE means 3 bathroom-sized rooms and a garden.

 

[aweigh]

One of the biggest disappointments for me in PoE2 was the lack of any new weapon types. The way weapons and weapon groups work in PoE (and grouping in PoE2) just makes every weapon of a category feel very samey, and some new weapon types really would've helped out here.








...Yes, this is all just a thinly veiled ask for katanas and nunchuks. You guessed it!

 

[Safav Hamon]

They already said the last dlc will be basically a megadungeon btw.

Brandon Adler compared it to Fort Deadlight, so it probably wont be that combat focused.