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

[Lacrymas]

I think it's dumb that an official challenge can only be done by abusing abilities to create resource gain and invincibility loops in a game designed around limited resources. This was probably inevitable due to the already-present Chanters and Ciphers in PoE1, which have endless resources too and I hate it.

 

[CodexTotalWar]

For sure. It's even worst when you consider that even classes with infinite resources (Monks, Chanters, Tactician Fighters) haven't been able to do this challenge because they actually need to take actions to survive and can't baby sit Vela 24/7.

So far, all successes have been classes capable of abusing an invincibility loop (which was probably a developer oversight rather than intentional design).

 

[cyborgboy95]

About to fire up this bad boy for the first time, should I play it in turn-based mode or real-time-with-pause mode?

I want to try turn-based but this rsccording to this review turn-based mode has serious problem, is that true?:

 

[Sarkile]

I typically prefer TB games, but I would recommend Playing pillars of Eternity II Dumpsterfire in real-time

 

[Yosharian]

About to fire up this bad boy for the first time, should I play it in turn-based mode or real-time-with-pause mode?

I want to try turn-based but this rsccording to this review turn-based mode has serious problem, is that true?:

Yeah it does. Initially I really liked it, and argued in favour of using it. But as I got deeper into my playthrough I got sick and tired of casting the same buffs over and over at the start of fights. Deadfire is game built from the ground up for RTWP, with an automated casting system to automate repetitive casting short-duration buffs. Once you remove that system, the game becomes incredibly tedious.

It's unfortunate because I think the turn-based mode really adds a lot of depth to the game. But the lack of automated casting and also the lack of balance in this mode kills it for me. A novelty at best.

 

[Lacrymas]

As far as I know, TB is better in theory, but the way encounters are placed on the map and the constant buffing make it tedious.

 

[Perkel]

Is there any mod to fix initiative/speed ? Still don't fucking understand why they divided things into rounds and Turns instead of just rounds.

I mean they already had real time system. Just divide time into chunks give characters some ground movement and let them go one by one from best dexterity stat to worst.

 

[FreeKaner]

It doesn't have to be autism like dwarf fortress, just an attempt at it. People vastly underestimate just how much you can get away with by faking it. If you don't believe me, go look up the AI in F.E.A.R.(the guy who wrote it also wrote some papers on it, easy to find) -- it was basic as shit, but because it gave the appearance of being smart people actually believed it was really advanced.
Enter an area(dungeon, city, ...), randomly select some existing adventure parties(or create appropriate ones), put them in the area if it's appropriate. Maybe you've encountered one of them before and you're friends or enemies. Randomly advance things like quests they've completed or somesuch so they have things to talk to you about or phat lewtz to take from their bodies. There is no need to simulate their entire lives, you merely need to create the appearance of it.

Video games are, at their most basic level, an illusion.

PoE1 has this. There is another adventurer group you meet during some quest in the town with Skaen cultists.

I agree strongly with this sentiment also.

 

[FreeKaner]

Another problem is the disconnect between "Quick! Eothas is looking for something and must be stopped!" and "But have this huge world to explore at your leisure. Wanna map the archipelago for me?" - wtf?!.

They should have chosen the latter. Considering the main plot is extremely boring and distracting at the same time while random quests in the map are involved and fun with great combat encounters. Absolute highlight of this is the undead island.

 

[Lacrymas]

Like I've said before, they could've had both. The Eothas story is dumb full stop, but if there was absolutely no way around it because of Fergus they could've finished the Eothas business in the first act and the departure of his soul from the adra statue + the tsunamis that that would've created could've unearthed/created the luminous adra for the factions to fight over and other disasters that need attention. Muuuuuch better and not dumb, and would've shifted the focus to the actually good parts of the game.

 

[AwesomeButton]

PoE 1 is actually pretty OK after all the patches and the DLC. Well the DLC is mostly the best part of it.

They are not bad if you can cut the rotten parts out of your playthrough, like you would from an apple.

For PoE I: play up to the Dyrford Village and the two parts of The White March expansion. Suffer the parts until you get there, and no need to play any further.

For Deadfire: play the Main Quest up to Neketaka, the 4 Factions' quests and the more far-flung islands where the higher level content is. Ignore the ship combat. Ignore the gods stuff in the main quest. For god's sake ignore any companion quests - best play with a custom party. Stay away from the cringe romances while you're at it. Do play the Beast of Winter and Forgotten Scrotum expansions. Play Seeker, Slayer, Sawyer only if you are into the combat.

 

[Faarbaute]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

For "fun dungeon romps and exploration" I would go with Underrail.

Deadfire has a cool upgrade system with unique upgrades for unique equipment (armors, weapons, shields, etc), but combat isn't really very challenging, at least in my experience. You can always handicap yourself to play with 4 member party though.There are some memorable fights I can think of, especially in the expansions.

 

[MajorMace]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

Yes.

 

[Nano]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

No.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

Maybe.

 

[Tigranes]

Is Deadfire worth a shot if you're looking for some fun dungeon romps and exploration? Are there unique items and artifacts to be found? Not really intrested in the overarching story as POE 1 was kinda bland.

Yes, since it sounds like you found POE1 combat good/decent. Deadfire is much better suited for theorycrafting and running around killing & looting, and there are fun, challenging set piece fights later on, at least if you're not super-minmaxing, or do stuff like vacuuming every non-combat XP in one go. The story sequences tend to be fairly short and you're always able to go back into the open world map.

 

[Haplo]

Is there any mod to fix initiative/speed ? Still don't fucking understand why they divided things into rounds and Turns instead of just rounds.

I mean they already had real time system. Just divide time into chunks give characters some ground movement and let them go one by one from best dexterity stat to worst.

Yep. That's like the biggest mistake they did in Deadfire 2. An individual Initiative based system would make the Turn Based mode absolutely great (maybe with a little balancing). As it is, it simply butchers half the systems the RTwP was meticulously building.

Might still be fun (in on OP kind of way) IF you main a caster, particularly a wizard (Blood Mage?). A wizard multiclass with Assassin works good.

 

[Haplo]

Ignore the ship combat.

Eh, you can learn to be pretty efficient at it. And that way you can reap some bounties/nice equipment early - much sooner then you could tackle high level boarding fights.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Ignore the ship combat.

Eh, you can learn to be pretty efficient at it. And that way you can reap some bounties/nice equipment early - much sooner then you could tackle high level boarding fights.

I kind of liked it, though from what I see most people don't.

 

[Desiderius]

PoE 1 is actually pretty OK after all the patches and the DLC. Well the DLC is mostly the best part of it.

They are not bad if you can cut the rotten parts out of your playthrough, like you would from an apple.

For PoE I: play up to the Dyrford Village and the two parts of The White March expansion. Suffer the parts until you get there, and no need to play any further.

For Deadfire: play the Main Quest up to Neketaka, the 4 Factions' quests and the more far-flung islands where the higher level content is. Ignore the ship combat. Ignore the gods stuff in the main quest. For god's sake ignore any companion quests - best play with a custom party. Stay away from the cringe romances while you're at it. Do play the Beast of Winter and Forgotten Scrotum expansions. Play Seeker, Slayer, Sawyer only if you are into the combat.

I'm too hooked on Tehanu's no Friendly Fire.

 

[Sannom]

For PoE I: play up to the Dyrford Village and the two parts of The White March expansion. Suffer the parts until you get there, and no need to play any further.

Don't listen to him, Twin Elms is the best part of the game.

 

[Desiderius]

Ignore the ship combat.

Eh, you can learn to be pretty efficient at it. And that way you can reap some bounties/nice equipment early - much sooner then you could tackle high level boarding fights.

I kind of liked it, though from what I see most people don't.

As with KM in P:K most people never even tried. Have to really walk people through those kind of things with early, substantial rewards.

 

[MajorMace]

I don't think the rewards matter here. I don't like the ship combat because I literally do the same thing on and on and on. I shoot, I jibe, I wait, I shoot, I jibe...

 

[Haplo]

Kinda true. But in order to do that well, you need to prepare and optimize a bit first. Get single-class sailors (or better yet, master sailors, if you can get the Blessing). Get good cannons - probably Royal Bronzers, or maybe Double Bronzers or Hull Breakers and at least a Dhow with a Hull upgrade. You level up those sailors to 4 stars in their proficiency. So you kinda reap the rewards of this preparation.