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

[Utgard-Loki]

There's nothing inherently bad about a fresh cast. Issue is with the quality of the writing. Besides Maia Rua, all the new companions were... what they were.

taking this std incubation unit onboard should result in your crew getting sick every few weeks.

"You May Think She's Just Your 'Gal' But She May Be Everyone's Pal"

 

[Nano]

One thing that annoyed me in this game was the lack of backstory on Old Vailia. As far as I know, you never even find out about the current relationship between them and the Vailian Republics. How am I supposed to tell whether it'd be in-character for my Old Vailian protag to align with the Republics without that information?

Or failing that, why not simply give the option to choose the Vailian Republics as an origin option?

 

[Feyd Rautha]

 

[Josh Sawyer Was Right]

Playing this again because the last time I got triggered that there were so few unique pistols and that skeletons are immune to pistol dmg and I have to say that I am liking it a lot when I try to limit my autism. Playing PotD with Devoted Psyblade(me), Fighter Eder(light armor but still tanky as hell), Herald Pallegina(kinda OP with stacking hp regen auras), Druid Fish Boy, and scout Maia.

Party feels mega strong and I honestly never had a real problem with any fight. Legit the hardest was so far I guess Arkemyrs mansion as I did it kinda early and because I'm the only character with any penetration.

Main story is dumb as ever but I have actually grown quite fond of the Eora setting. It tries to do something new and takes itself seriously which I think is actually a breath of fresh air compared to like "generic DnD derivatives" or larian garbage that is just impossible to take seriously and immerse yourself in. I unironically really like the random Spanglish words the NPCs throw out. Plus some of the world building stuff is really cool like urbanization failing the lower tribal castes and the Pallegina quest about godlike pirates being torn over potential eugenics of their kind. Just feels immersive idk.

I used to quite like per encounter abilities at the first few levels, but around after level 10 it just ends up feeling a bit tedious. I've got 8+ resources per fight on each character and there is very rarely any reason for me to not just yknow keep spamming them from the start. Like why am I clicking Mule Kick every auto. Early game it felt like I was making choices in most of the fights but now it's just a bit of an auto pilot which sucks. I think a big problem of this is that some of the early low cost ones are just extremely good. There is nothing in the fighter tree better than Mule Kick for a high pen character for example. And rogues are also completely fine spamming their 1-2 cost active for the entire game.

I think the game should either have not kept giving you more resources as you level up or made it so that the higher level more expensive options are just universally superior to the lower level spamable ones.

Itemization and Economy is I think the absolute best thing I have ever experienced in an RPG, and it's not even close. So many of the various uniques and magic item just being in shops that you can peruse at the very start of the game is amazing because of like specific anticipation for what you will buy with your money being established. The expensive enchants for upgrading the tier of your gear keep you with plenty of gold sink opportunities as you progress through the game and this combined with the gold sink of ships makes me go up and down in my cash reserves in a way that feels very active and engaging. I'm not getting the "I have infinite money for everything I could ever want to spend it on" vibe that a lot of RPGs provide.

Penetration as a system plays into this as well I think. It is a bit dumb I think when considered on it's own because of how impactful it is, but it being such a big deal just really adds weight to your purchases.

For example, at the start of my run I was an extremely fragile melee fighter because I dropped con, used the - deflection + pen modal often and wore light armor to minimize my downtime as I was the main dps. My first big purchase was a unique legendary breastplate and it just absolutely skyrocketed my survival due to most mobs now straight up being shit out of luck when it comes to penetrating my armor. The impact of the purchase was immediately felt and it feels very rewarding I guess to have the things you spend your plundered gold on to make you better at plundering more stuff.

Another obvious one is getting Maia the double tap gun, just turns her into an absolute beast.

And it goes both ways where I just threw a lot of money into getting a fully stacked Junk and now when doing current content it mostly feels like I am the only party member with enough penetration to actually do any dmg because I didn't invest into upgrading my companion weapons.

All of this would be improved if the game was just a bit more unforgiving tbh.


The real problem imo comes with the overall balance of weapon types. I hated playing with pistols because of how they are in the game but playing with an Estoc is just a heavenly experience as you kinda trivialize the penetration mechanic to an extent due to having such enormous reach(devoted probably plays into this too). Also some of the other weapon type uniques are just so extremely boring and low impact compared to the high performing ones that it almost feels like they might as well not exist which is a bit of a pity.

I regret not turning scaling up on as the game is quite easy overall and when you overlevel it by doing all the quests it's just somewhat lame.

I think the game is definitely an aquired taste but it's overall p great imo and I'm very glad that I gave it another try.

Thank you Josh!

infi pls approve I can write positive tldrs too

 

[Haplo]

Nice write up. AI scripts can help with the high number of active abilities across multiple characters, they are pretty good.

Also, I hate to bring this to you, but both the armor and the double tap gun can be... erm... obtained for free.

 

[ferratilis]

That post reminded me I need to do another playthrough, this time with a psyblade. I was planning a crazy dual axe wielding dwarf psyblade, siding with Principi, but there are so few good axes in the game that it makes me wonder if it would be viable?

 

[Josh Sawyer Was Right]

Nice write up. AI scripts can help with the high number of active abilities across multiple characters, they are pretty good.

Also, I hate to bring this to you, but both the armor and the double tap gun can be... erm... obtained for free.

I did get the gun for free, fuck paying the guy who wants me to kill my Vithrack mindreader homie. Being a watcher + cipher made me feel real connection to that abomination lmao. I just mentioned it as an example of important itemization. Sawyer really should have gone full Icefrog and made all of the uniques be equally as impactful. Balance through everything being OP as hell.

I avoided ransacking everything because I wanted to save that for a rogue run in the future, but at first glance a lot of the shop chests seem to be positioned in ways that is at least somewhat engaging to actually loot I guess. It's probably pretty trivial once you like figure each shop the first time, but I have no clue how much stealing everything impacts the economy feeling.

 

[Haplo]

That post reminded me I need to do another playthrough, this time with a psyblade. I was planning a crazy dual axe wielding dwarf psyblade, siding with Principi, but there are so few good axes in the game that it makes me wonder if it would be viable?

Few axes, but extremely potent axe modal. I think for a Soul Blade I'd prefer a more accurate weapon in the main hand - so that I don't waste Soul Annihilation when I use it. Something like a rapier with its +25 Accuracy (29 in case of Rannigs Wrath) ... or Sun & Moon flail with its dual attack (and 2 hit chances). Axe could maybe still be a nice offhand.

 

[Poseidon00]

Sailor/Pirate based game

No boarding axes to be found

For shame

 

[ferratilis]

I know other weapons would be better, but I like to roleplay a bit if possible, and a dwarf with rapiers or sabres is not as cool as a dual axe wielding maniac. But I guess it would work even with regular axes on Veteran difficulty.

Spoiler

 

[0sacred]

I finally got around to playing this and... boy what a mess it is. PoE's systems were so straightforward they were almost elegant compared to this crappy convoluted mess of active and passive shit going on in every fight.

Since I don't feel like going story mode and I'm not gonna read up on all that crap just to play the Sawyerpocalypse, I'm putting this shit on the shelf indefinitely.

Good thing the Kodex already enlightened me about all the inane woke stuff going on in this game so I don't feel like I'm missing out on some spectacular writing or anything.

 

[FreeKaner]

I know other weapons would be better, but I like to roleplay a bit if possible, and a dwarf with rapiers or sabres is not as cool as a dual axe wielding maniac. But I guess it would work even with regular axes on Veteran difficulty.

Spoiler

Axes are good because their modal is very good against any boss mob with lots of health, I.E the kind of mobs that you are generally going to be concerned about like the dragons and megabosses.

 

[Polyphemus]

The only companion I can stand in this game.

 

[Jarpie]

This is purely hypothetical question... if I decide to play this, how well does the turn-based mode work, or should I just stick to rtwp?

 

[Haplo]

This is purely hypothetical question... if I decide to play this, how well does the turn-based mode work, or should I just stick to rtwp?

A little glitchy (for example in regard to whom you can target with touch spells or moving in to deliver said spells), but nothing terrible if you're not playing a mounted character.

 

[Lacrymas]

^ Wrong game. As for the TB for this game - the short answer is don't play TB.

 

[Haplo]

^ Wrong game. As for the TB for this game - the short answer is don't play TB.

DOH!

Yep, wrong game.

Turn Based sucks here - removes some of the very important mechanics from the game.
Might be occasionally fun to play as overpowered caster - since casting a spell takes a round and swinging a sword takes a round... guess what has more impact?

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Unless your autism has autism, stay away from TB, it's unplayable.

 

[Diggfinger]

This is purely hypothetical question... if I decide to play this, how well does the turn-based mode work, or should I just stick to rtwp?

Played it 160+hours on TB, definitely prefer it to rtwp

^ Wrong game. As for the TB for this game - the short answer is don't play TB.

DOH!

Yep, wrong game.

Turn Based sucks here - removes some of the very important mechanics from the game.
Might be occasionally fun to play as overpowered caster - since casting a spell takes a round and swinging a sword takes a round... guess what has more impact?

Casting speed // regular attacks is determined on initiative which is based on a number of factors: stats (dexterity), skills, worn armour, weapons/wands base initiative, buffs/debuffs and total ranking of all enemies

 

[Haplo]

Casting speed // regular attacks is determined on initiative which is based on a number of factors: stats (dexterity), skills, worn armour, weapons/wands base initiative, buffs/debuffs and total ranking of all enemies

Which matters... jack all.

I mean, I guess it has some marginal uses.
But often its actually better to go last. Let the enemies come to you, use their actions... and no longer risk them interrupting your cast.

Its not like a higher Initiative can let you take more actions (like in RTwP) or even decide when in the round you want to go (delaying turn always sends you to the end of the round queue).

 

[Diggfinger]

Casting speed // regular attacks is determined on initiative which is based on a number of factors: stats (dexterity), skills, worn armour, weapons/wands base initiative, buffs/debuffs and total ranking of all enemies

Which matters... jack all.

I mean, I guess it has some marginal uses.
But often its actually better to go last. Let the enemies come to you, use their actions... and no longer risk them interrupting your cast.

Its not like a higher Initiative can let you take more actions (like in RTwP) or even decide when in the round you want to go (delaying turn always sends you to the end of the round queue).

Well OK...but kindda contradicts your previous point that it combat order in TB is irrelevant.
It's not. Having a caster act 'last' (which is often the case with spells) gives foes plenty of time to cancel or interrupt the spell.

thats an major impact, especially in large fights, because spells can have a significant damage output if they hit/crit/multiple enemies.
Since spells are often limited in use (grimoire, scroll or item limitations) you need every last one to hit and ideally crit. Also meaning mages are well balanced with fighters who might attack quicker and deal less but more consistent damage throughout the fight.

So yeah...overall TB is fun as hell to play.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Delterius]

How am I supposed to tell whether it'd be in-character for my Old Vailian protag to align with the Republics?

When I played the game as someone from Old Vailia I was certain that it is more than fine to do so: simply put most everyone you meet regards you as Vailian and associate you with the Republics or with the VTC. Either because they are not vailians themselves or because they consider you a compatriot. The drunk lout in Port Maje calls you company man, while the Bardatto girl in Queen's Berth calls you a fellow Vailian. Likewise, if you bring Aloth to the duel scene in Queen's Berth he'll comment 'well, if that's how these things happen in Vailia no wonder the Empire collapsed'. To which Larro responds, 'well Aedyran, how fares your own colonies then?'. He doesn't say 'what the fuck bro I'm not Old Vailian'.

This makes sense with the more general fluff that we know of: unlike Dyrwood and Readceras the Republics didn't declare a war of independence. They just saw where the wind was blowing and slowly decoupled from the homeland. Seccession came about when the whole of Grand Vaillia collapsed. All in all I feel that there's still a cultural continuum estabilished between the Old Vailians and the Republican Vailians, seasoned rather by a difference in outlook. The Old Vailians might all be more like Furrante, with dreams of aristocracy and empire that are in stark contrast with the Republic's way of life. Don't see this as your character making a geopolitical decision, but choosing between the romantic slaver princes on one side and the ruthless 'homus novus' financiers on the other.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The only companion I can stand in this game.

Maia is a CUTE

 

[Infinitron]

It's happening!