Eternity PoE Story Discussion Thread (spoilers abound!)

[Theldaran]

It's generic... AND clunky.

 

[2house2fly]

Anyway, the caravan has to stop because the MC is starting to look ill, which may be in relation to a bug bite. You're pared up with an npc and sent to fetch barries and water.

The berries, if eaten, may cause stomach discomfort up to and including diarrhea. But if you brew them into a tea, they will "clean out your innards". I'm sorry, am I missing something? Aren't those the same thing? The caravan master also mentions if you go 24 hours w/o water you will die.

I mention this because a common meme is that the game starts with you HAVING diarrhea, but this isn't accurate, the caravan stops so that you can go and ACQUIRE diarrhea. Also, trying to get diarrhea when you've been told you may die of dehydration within 24 hours- this is a perfect example of a piece of writing working against itself. Diarrhea can be extremely dehydrating. Who starts a story like this?! Wtf Obsidian?

You are missing something. This is what Odema actually says:

Your investigation of the story quality is going to be thorough, I see.

 

[Alkarl]

Your investigation of the story quality is going to be thorough, I see.

I was running off of memory. Thanks for the correction.

Anyway, I just got through the remainder of the prologue. You can find the fallen tree and see that it there is "sap leaking from a jagged wound" indicating the tree was purposefully chopped down. Nearby you can also find a barbarian camp and a few slain travelers. The game does pretty well at hinting at the ensuing conflict.

So we kill some wolves and find the berries, great, now I can cure my bug bite! Let's go see if that guy's got our water..

Well, poor bastard goes off into the woods instead of fetching your water. (What a cunt. "You will die!" "Meh, fuck that guy I'm going hunting.") Why not just have the player obtain the water? You can't miss the stream. Whatever. So we find the guy after snagging some water and find he's been attacked by the local barbarians. Combat! Early on in this game, there aren't a whole lot of options, but I can already see there may be some issues with combat.

With out getting too deep into it, the combat utilizes a system like AoO, where positioning an combatant near another all but stops each other in their tracks. If one combatant attempts to reposition, there is a penalty to the fleeing combatant in the form of a disengage. I don't hate this system, but so far, enemies don't seem to keen on rushing past Calisca, my fighter, and she's practically invincible to the mobs at this point. I hope this evolves as the game goes on, but so far it seems too easy to position a tank in front of enemies and then move in and hammer away with my rogue, shoot arrows from afar, or later let loose with spells.

Eventually we encounter the tribe leader holding Heodan, the merchant from Aedyr, hostage. He threatens us to drop our weapons. I know you can get more out of this guy with a lore score, but I didn't have this option. I believe you attempt to convince him that the ruins don't belong to his people or they don't need protecting, from what I remember it always ends in combat (though there could be an option I'm not aware of). Since I didn't have this option, I ended up charging him. I hope there is a better option than this, but from memory, this combat always starts with Heodan (another rogueish character) right in the middle of a melee with 3 combatants. He's immediately swarmed and any chance of disengaging is pretty much lost, better to strike back, else the character model will have a seizure while enemies bleed them dry.

Heodan went down pretty quick, but Calisca moved in and then my rogue followed and we mopped them up shortly afterwards.

Cue biawac & CYOA bit. A biawac is a supernatural storm that takes the souls of the dead and living alike. The party gets caught up in it as it begins, but manages to seek shelter. Except Heodan. The game offers a couple of opportunities of how to deal with the situation. Heodan is tackled by a barbarian feigning death. You can chuck a rock at him, throw your weapon, or let him deal with it himself. I decided to toss my weapon (a hand axe apparently) freeing Heodan. Not quite done with you yet buddy. I like these CYOA bits. I get they couldn't animate all of this, so this was a decent middle ground option. I'm not sure the consequences of the other options, but I believe one of them does get Heodan killed.

Cilant Lis. Heodan begs to rest, but I'm a slave driver. It's a decent beginner dungeon. Not much to say about it. I liked the roleplay opportunity with the Xaurip (kobold), but I killed him and took his phat lewt. A couple of "puzzles", some traps, and spiders.

Exit and we make our first encounter with the big bad. A big guy wearing a scary mask and with a rather flawless beard (the game mentions it a few times in a short span, so I'm assuming this beard is supposed to look pretty epic). Anyway, Sarevok beard-guy proceeds to conduct some ceremony with a giant spinning egg while a few other individuals stand idly by as T-he beard guy soul rapes everyone. He makes mention of releasing them from something or other and then there is another CYOA bit.

In this particular CYOA, we're witness to someone elses memories of beard-guy, trying to be cool, but desperately wanting to ask him a question. These memories seem to take place in a location that very much resembles an ancient ruin. It's quite obvious at this point we're dealing with a past-lives story. Calisca even makes mention of The Wheel and reincarnation rather nonchalantly and it's also alluded to by beard guy prior to his soul rape ceremony. It's an interesting theological choice, I guess we'll see how it plays out.

After the ceremony, beard guy runs off and you find your companions twisted and crumpled in pools of their own blood. It's not all doom and gloom though, apparently soul rape cures bug bites!

Not too many nit-picks with this bit. I don't even care that the illness was resolved the way it was. The writers were smart to cut that shit out when they did. Losing your companions at this stage was pretty rough. I'll be honest, I didn't see this coming the first time I played the game and it was a bit of a shock. Of course, YMMV. Neither Calisca nor Heodan are very well characterized, although you could argue they got more attention than throw-away npcs in other games. Calisca is worried about her sister in Gilded Vale, Heodan is a merchant with perhaps his own dreams and aspirations, a guy who's life you likely just saved. However, I would agree that seeing these two die is less than motivating for seeking out Tha-t beard guy. I'm pretty sure the writers were hoping the flash-back sequence would be enough to get you going, but without context, how are we supposed to know or care? It's obvious to a patient observer that you knew beard guy in a past life and really wanted to ask him something. The game sets up a few possible reasons why you might want to chase after him:

1. You want to know what the deal is, what he did to you.
2. You want to know if you knew him, how and why, and what you wanted to ask him in the flashback.
3. He's a terrible monster that must be put down!
4. He wields a terrible power... and you want it!

Other than that, combat could be TB, but beggars cannot be choosers.

 

[Alkarl]

Finally made it to Gilded Vale. There is going to be a bit of a lore dump in this post. I'll try to cover the important vocab words first, and then what transpired second. But first I should cover my brief jaunt through the woods connecting Cilant Lis with Gilded Vale.

Killed some wolves.
Came across a guy saying he lost his hunting partner, Perly, to some bears.
Wiped out a bandit camp. Saved a dwarf chef who thanked me and bid me seek him out when I get to Gilded Vale.
Wiped out a Xaurip Camp.
Discovered wild animals are fucking dangerous. Murdered by bears. Murdered by wolves. Screw this, I'm going to town.

Alright, so now we get to Gilded Vale. A number of topics are covered here, mostly in pieces. I've attempted to puzzle together most of what I've learned so far:

Eothas:
"Formerly" the god of rebirth and redemption.

Saint's War:
In order to understand Gilded Vales major concern, one must become familiar with a recent war between Dyrwood and a gentleman going by the name of Waidwen. Waidwen claimed to be an incarnation of the God Eothas. Waidwen organized a military by some means and marched. He overthrew Readceras before turning to Dyrwood where he was halted and presumably met his end. Dyrwood was the victor in this conflict. According to Eder, they "blew him up".

Waidwen's Legacy:
Some short while after the end of the Saint's War, children started being born without souls. While the vessels still live, breath, heart-beat, etc, they are apparently useless and "dumb things". The children born this way are referred to as "Hollow Born". These symptoms seem to be contained to the region of Dyrwood for some reason, as it is possible foreigners are not even aware of the condition upon arrival. The condition has been on-going for roughly 15 years.

Animancy:
A form of science-magic that involves the souls. Animancers are capable of miracles and great tragedies. The nation of Vailan appears to train animancers but is also wary of their abilities.

Watcher:
Someone who is able to recall their past lives and see souls, something most people may have been able to do in ages past.

Rymrgand's work:
Entropy of the soul. Every death and reincarnation sees the soul coming back a little depreciated each time.

Alright, now I'm going to get into the major players that are mentioned and met in Gilded Vale:

Urgeat:
A sort of town sheriff. Works for Lord Raedric. He is likely the first person to greet the player when they arrive. He is found standing in the town square, beneath a well-used hanging tree. You can make mention of your recent condition, to which he responds with very little empathy and advises you keep your condition to yourself. If you inform him that a group of cultists were doing something strange at the ruins, he informs you that messing with Engwithian ruins is illegal by law in Dyrwood and that it was likely some fools attempting to appease the gods. He will make mention of Waidwen's Legacy as it applies to the current conditions. Says that Lord Raedric will not be handing out any land until his heir is born. After a brief conversation, bells toll signalling the birth of a hollow born heir. After which, Urgeat grimly informs you that conditions have changed, you should seek an Inn and it may not be unwise to move on. Also mentions the recent addition to the tree, a female dwarven animancer.

The first thing I told the guy was how I was reconsidering his lord's proposal on account of his Christmas Tree of horrors, to which he attempted to coerce me to stay saying I looked like I had nowhere better to be. Prick. He also informs me that no one is handing out land at present. Well shit, which is it? Should I stay or should I go? Make up your mind Urgeat.

Aloth:
Since Eder is unwilling to talk just now, heading up to the Inn puts us in an encounter between an elven mage and a few peasants. The most I can say for Aloth is he appears to have Dissociative Identity Disorder, though I highly doubt that's the short and long of it. He seems to have a second soul, a very rude and feisty second soul. Together we murdered some peasants and I asked him to join up with me. He's obviously trying a little too hard to keep secrets from me. Aloth comes from Aedyr, if he is to be believed.

At the inn we get a rest and a nightmare involving the dwarf hanging from the tree. I return to inspect and discover I can converse with the dead to some degree.

Caldera de Berranzi:
This is the old dwarf animancer. She mentions several key terms, Waidwen's Legacy, the Shroud, Rymrgand's work and the entropy of souls. She came to work for Lord Raedric for a pittance, only wishing to help. Gives her diagnosis of Raedric's wife, that her spirit was clean, but that she pretended to be helping by telling Raedric otherwise about his wife. Says she is from Valian, where she studied animancy. Informs you that you are a watcher, while not giving a whole lot of info on what that means. Tells you to seek out another Watcher named Maerwald at a keep in Caed Nua, beyond Black Meadow.

After the vision, Eder is finally feeling chatty.

Eder:
Eder is slightly more interesting than Aloth at the outset. He fought in the Saint's War and comes with a trophy piece of armor to prove it. Eder and his brother are both worshippers of Eothas. Despite this fact, neither of them could accept that Waidwen was or could be the incarnation of Eothas, and so went to war with him. Eder served under a man whom, after the war, looked out for him and provided him with work on a farm. Eventually, Lord Raedric and his men came to suspect someone of conspiring with a man named Kolsc, to end Raedric's reign. Eder and his mates were all threatened with death less someone step forward and confess to the charges. Eder's old captain did so to save his men, and can be found hanging from the tree in the town square. Because of this, Eder assumes it wont be long before he finds himself hanging right along side his old captain. And given the locals disdain for Eothas and current plight of hollow-born children, the God of rebirth is an easy target of their anguish. As such, Eder joins pretty readily if for no other reason than to gtfo of town, a goal I sympathize with 110%.

Nearby Eder is a ruined temple to Eothas, providing enough evidence that the locals are not too pleased with the god or his worshippers.

Aufra:
Aufra is a sister to Calisca, our departed traveling companion from the prologue. Informing Aufra of her sisters death causes her to spill concern about her pregnancy, her fears over Waidwen's Legacy and how she may be hung if her child is born without a soul. Begs for your help in the stead of her dead sister. I agreed to help her for a number of reasons. First, she informs me of a midwife that may be able to assist her. Second, since Waidwen's Legacy appears to be a spiritual condition, and I'm also currently suffering from a spiritual condition, it seems likely I'll learn something useful in assisting her. Third, I'll be honest, her plight is a little heart-breaking. While I may not be able to assist Raedric's wife or learn much from that tyrant, Aufra makes an excellent surrogate for study.

Some other things I did around town:

Assisted the local mill owner. He was being harassed by a bunch of hangry villagers, one of which was a dwarven fellow. I agreed to help the mill owner by talking it over with his harassers. All I had to do was buy them a round of beer and we hashed it out pretty quickly. The mill owner was pleased. Offered me money, but my own finances were starting to flourish, so I declined the payment so he could get more supplies when his ship finally comes in.

Agreed to find the blacksmiths goods shipment on the road. Likely waylaid by bandits or some other type as it is a week overdue.

I also cleared out the eastern road. Lot's of Wicht's and spiders, cleared them out quite handily. Encountered Kolsc:
Kolsc shows up wounded on the read to the east. Has a lot to say about Raedric. Well, not really. Only mentions how he wants to kill him and wont say much more. Asks my party to assist him. We beg off for now as I'm loathe to simply pick a side without examining all the possible implications. It's obvious Raedric is less than honorable, however, I need to know all the facts before I just start sacking castles and upending lords. Raedric's plight is an understandable one from where I sit. While the repercussions of his actions have been abominable, when powerful men make mistakes they often have powerful consequences. Anyway, all I'm saying is I'm open to both sides at the moment, but closed to none.

Alright, nit-pick time. Let me formally state how much I loathe the backer NPC's. Oh, sure, they aren't hurting anything, but they're pointless and they're everywhere. I found at least one whole house dedicated to two of these fucking things in Gilded Vale alone. There aren't a whole lot of houses, and of the ones there are, only a few serve any purpose, so walking in to this particular one was just aggravating. This is the dumbest reward option to ever be extended. I'm never going to go around and read all of this shit, particularly knowing it was player created. Maybe some of it is good, but all of it is a pointless waste of time. How much did this tier cost by the way? I'm sure I could initiate a web-search to find out, but I can't be bothered. I hate how they are all named actors also. I wouldn't mind if this was something that happened occasionally when clicking on generic villager npcs, but fuck, don't name them and make them look important when they're not! Shit! /rant.

This part wasn't terribly exciting combat wise, but we got some more lore and a deeper look into certain story elements. I actually find a lot of this interesting, and hope they continue to build on these elements. The Saint's War and Waidwen's Legacy which followed it are very interesting. Seems to me if you killed the god of rebirth, then maybe rebirth would quit happening, which makes Waidwen's claim on godhood all that much more possible.

 

[Zanzoken]

Let me formally state how much I loathe the backer NPC's.

FYI you can always recognize backer NPCs by their gold nameplate.

Additional fun fact -- there is one near the hanging tree you can kill without triggering an alarm. He is a moon godlike who drops plate armor and unless I'm mistaken that is the earliest point in the game you can get it.

 

[Alkarl]

Alright, lot's to cover this time. Well, not really, mostly just Durance. Let's see where to start.

After last time I had a couple goals to work towards. I could help Aufra by seeking out Ranga. I could help myself by seeking out Maerwald. Since everyone kept making a big deal about Black Meadow and how difficult it was to cross, I went after Ranga first.

Head south out of Gilded Vale and you come to Magran's Fork.

Here we encountered more fuck off wolves which we wisely avoided. Eventually we reached the fork part of Magran's Fork and found Durance.

Durance:
Where to start with this guy. Durance enjoys long walks on the beach and murdering soulless infants! Just kidding, I imagine if you asked him, he'd probably call the beach a whore. And if the beach was full of elves, orlan, or anything non-human, he'd probably set it on fire. Durance is a massive racist, and it's hilarious! He's an ugly son of a bitch. Old too. He's probably got more insight into what's going on in this world than anyone else around. At least so far. Why? Well, cause he was there man. If something important happened, a war, whatever, Durance was there. I haven't made up my mind if Durance is another Watcher of sorts or not. Let's see, what do my notes say:
Durance is a priest of Magran, the God(dess) of War, fire, purification, consuming, and (most importantly according to Durance) transformation. Durance has an odd attitude towards his God. He is quick to call her a whore, for one thing. Despite this, he seems quite devout, and finds fault with anyone who worships another God, especially Eothas. Durance is from Ashfall, might have spent some time in a rifle factory, and fought in a conflict known as the War of Black Trees.
On the topic of Eothas, Waidwen, and the Saint's War, we learn loads from Durance. Waidwen was apparently a peasant boy in Readceras before people started claiming he was a God. Waidwen went with it apparently and was eventually crowned king. Now, whether Waidwen was Eothas, Durance seems to be of two minds. He says that Gods may possess mortals, as long as they accept the weakness that comes with it. He also says that Readceras created a God with Waidwen. And then again, says that it was Eothas they killed at the end of the Saint's War. It's very hard to nail down what Durance means.
Regardless, Durance is the first to expound on the method of how they killed Eothas/Waidwen. Using a "weapon" Durance, himself, designed called The Godhammer, they blew the shit out of Eothas/Waidwen. What *is* the Godhammer? Oh, boy, I was hoping you'd ask. When Durance first mentions it, he says it was massive. A large weapon that they had to lure the cocksure Eothas to. So, it's like a trebuchet or maybe a big fuck ass hammer? No, not quite! The truth is The Godhammer was a bridge modified into a fucking bomb! They sharpened down the stones, removed some of the mortar and packed that bitch FULL of gunpowder. WHAT?! That's hilarious and epic! After this, Durance mostly believes that Eothas is dead.
Despite thinking Eothas dead and hating the shit out of him and his worshippers, Durance doesn't blame Waidwen's Legacy on Eothas, but on regular man. He doesn't have a reasoning for this, but he feels it to be true. Durance also has a disdain for animancers, ciphers, and even watchers. Calling them meddlers, wielding powers and doing things they cannot even fathom the consequences of. It's implied he has reasons to believe animancers are the cause of recent troubles like Waidwen's Legacy. Durance informs us that the Vessel enemies, particularly the Wichts, are actually the end product of allowing hollow borns to live. Others may have been manufactured by an event known as The Salvation. A period of time where animancers attempted to implant animal souls into hollow born children. This was apparently wildly popular among the Orlans, those filthy beast-people.
Durance will also tell you about Magran, but I honestly didn't find these topics particularly interesting. God lore.
Obviously I bring him with me. Even if he is crazy, he's the first priest I've come across, and a damn good one at that. It seems cleric spells are "per encounter" rather than "per rest" like Aloth's arcane spells. That's pretty cool.

On our way out of Magran's Fork, we come across Ludrana and a couple paladins. We dispatch them and claim another grimoire for Aloth. On one of the bodies we find a note addressed to Ludrana from an individual going by "O". The note warns her group to stay out of Defiance Bay and to watch the roads for Kolsc's men, saying that capturing one of them may put her back in the authors good graces.

Further south and we reach Anslogs Compass. We encounter a couple fisherman who inform us of a crashed ship carrying undead. After the conversation, we are assaulted by a small group of xaurip. They get one of the fisherman in the first few seconds of the conflict but die themselves quickly afterwards. We wipe out some Guls (the undead of the area, Vessel type enemies whose name is likely pronounced Ghoul but is one letter shy of something more common to a beach) and find Ranga and her pet xaurip.

We ask Ranga if there is anything she can do to help Aufra, to which Ranga begs a favor in exchange. She wants the local xaurip tribe cleared out lest they kill her pet while she is out one day. I agree with the idea that I'll be getting some real help out of her. Awesome! So, go kill a thing, got it, done, come back and she asks us to get her some spores from a cave full of mushroom men. Luckily I had swung by on my way back and while I only managed to take out one of the mushroom people therein, I already had the ingredient she needed. She gives me a potion and then tells me that the potion isn't actually going to do anything for Aufra.

Now, I know some of you might judge me for this, but I left that beach a ghost town. After providing me with a placebo this bitch had the nerve to lecture me on what I could do to help the people of Gilded Vale, by taking out Raedric. Fuck you, Ranga, you up and left everyone you knew to hide on a beach. I'm glad you're dead. I kill things for less in this game, as far as I'm concerned using me and lying to me is WAAAY up there on list of reasons to unleash my fury. This bitch had it coming. I took the potion back to Aufra anyway and told her the truth. I was only able to offer her the cold comfort that maybe her baby would come out fine. In thanks she gave me some money, a magic cloak, and other things.

Anyway, shot out to Black Meadow and found it easier than Anslogs Compass. Forest trolls are a clumsy lot. More Wichts. Found the blacksmiths shipment wagon and the bandit camp belonging to the ones who waylaid it. On one of the bodies or a nearby container we find a note giving us instructions to meet someone called Curnd and a password to speak to get him to talk to us. Took them out, returned the shipment to the smithy, and was rewarded with a nice shield for Eder.

In regards to weapon and armor upgrades, other than a few magic items and improvements to our ranged options, I've hardly had cause to spend money on new equipment. Just thought I'd mention that. Haven't smithed any upgrades yet. I just haven't needed it.

At this point, I've made my way to Caed Nua and recruited Kana. It's strange though, I don't have much to go on besides look around and explore. I'm not really pursuing any goal other than investigating my condition. As it stands, I'm a Watcher, and that apparently isn't a new thing, so I'm probably going to be fine for awhile.

No real complaints this time. I wish Durance was more straightforward, but I also know Mr. Avellone's writing style. I wholly expect Durance to be wrong about many things. Like Kreia was wrong about the Exile. Like many of the characters in Planescape each had their own account of events. I've yet to be disappointed by anything of Avellone's I've read. I think, more than anything, Durance winded me. He had a lot to say, and I didn't even record all of it here. A lot of his dialogue is mannerisms. Durance has a way of saying things two ways. I'm guessing his trick is the truth being somewhere in the middle. As he says himself, you take two truths and knock them up against each other. We'll see I suppose.

Combat has really improved. I now have more options. I can say I really like the Engagement system. The combat does require a lot of micromanagement. I have AI turned off and have the game set to pause pretty much anytime anything happens. This can make things tedious at times, but it's a rather fulfilling experience when you get it right. For instance, in Caed Nua, the place is infested with ghosts. These ghosts, particularly phantoms and shadows, can be a bitch in swarms, are hard to hit with melee, and even if you do, you may not do much damage. However, if I send my front line straight at an enemy to engage them, I can swing Aloth around their backside and start opening up on them with Fan of Flames which absolutely murders them. If I get the distance right, the flames just barely miss my fighters with each cast.
I also really appreciate the Endurance/Health system. In PoTD, enemy attacks are more lethal which forces you to utilize regen and healing as effectively as possible. This basically means that your total health pool is equal to Endurance and Health as one recedes to fill the other. At the same time, if an ally goes down, it isn't the end of the world. It allows you to consider riskier moves with the consequences typically culminating in losing a character simply for the remainder of the battle instead of losing them to death completely. It's often better to end a battle quickly to conserve total resource pools. Even if an ill-placed nuke might down a few of your front liners, if it ends the battle now, you may have saved yourself more trouble than you know. The longer a battle goes on, the more health you lose to restoring endurance. I've found myself letting a character go down versus healing so that they don't die. An interesting situation to find myself in. I still think this game would have been better turn-based, you practically have to play it that way to get the most out of the combat, but it's workable and enjoyable for what it is.
At only level 4, the combat is pretty decent.

 

[Alkarl]

Let me formally state how much I loathe the backer NPC's.

FYI you can always recognize backer NPCs by their gold nameplate.

Additional fun fact -- there is one near the hanging tree you can kill without triggering an alarm. He is a moon godlike who drops plate armor and unless I'm mistaken that is the earliest point in the game you can get it.

Yeah, I'm aware they are easy to recognize. I wasn't aware of what they were the first time I played the game. In this one, I did my research. They seem like something important if you don't know what they are. Easy enough to avoid. I'm open to checking some of them out if I knew who made them. Surely someone on the Codex put up the dosh to get one.

Anyway, that is an interesting fact. I'm not sure I'll go for that, seems a bit abusive, but on repeat playthroughs (if there are any..) I'll probably grab it for sure.