My collected criticism on Pillars of Eternity (very minor spoilers)

[Lhynn]

Int did nothing at all. In the EE versions, they made it necessary for high level spells but originally you could cast the highest lvl spells with minimal int. Wis was supposed to do more but it just gave a few low level bonus spells (was supposed to affect saving throws I think but it didn't). Basically meaningless. Charisma was pointless. You were flush with cash, so price effects were meaningless and its other effects were very small. The only stats that mattered were str, Dex and con. Even those were implemented shittily since str, for example, was useless in wide ranges.

Of all the places you can critique PoE, stats isn't one of them. The system may not be perfect but its good and certainly allows for FAR more meaningful character customization than the extremely poorly implemented stats in the ie games.

Seriously man, if you think ie did stats right, you have exactly ZERO credibility.

As per AD&D manual int limited your number of spells, your chance to learn them and your max level. Im fairly certain 2 out of those 3 things were in the game.
About character customization, sorry to say it but no mate, in poe you have a few mostly cosmetical choices as per sawyer design, all warriors can tank, all rogues can dps, all mages can learn and cast all spells, etc. Multi and dual classing in IE games created far more options than playing around with some numbers at creation or picking between mostly irrelevant skills on level up, and they were tied to your attributes, so if you wanted to be a mage youd need a good int score for example.

You are flushed with cash in poe. As for stat checks, well, i did say i love poe text based adventures, as rare and short as they are. Definitely should have had A LOT more of those, but those arent a product of poe attributes, so i have no idea why you even bring it up. Tbh in poe stat checks are so retardedly high that i dont really care for them, i just get int 3 per 3 and at least pass more stat checks than if i had a buncha 10s, that in itself is stupid, because it means an average person cannot do anything, there are no stat checks for average guys, only for super heroes.

 

[Athelas]

and they were tied to your attributes, so if you wanted to be a mage youd need a good int score for example.

In the original Baldur's Gate 2 normal maximum spell level restrictions don't apply. Even a 9 Intelligence Mage can learn and cast level 9 spells.

Hey, idiot wizards were actually a viable build in the IE games. (9 INT is the class minimum for a mage.)

and they were tied to your attributes

There is no actual choice with regards to attributes - you can easily get an 18 in every stat your class needs. Even meeting the requirements for a dual- or mult-classed characters while having optimized overall stats is a trivial task.

 

[The Shattered One]

My number one complaint would be that end of the game came about very abruptly with very little gradation. It's like I am playing and playing.. Thinking I still have like 10-15 hours of gameplay based on what story feels like and than baaaam! EEEEEEEEEEENDING!!!!! It seem like game was a bit rushed or something. Right until the moment

Spoiler

when Defiance bay breaks in riot

the story was very rich, captivating and well paced. From then on it got a bit boring but I figured that it is only gathering breath for the final part of it. It wasn't until like 1-2 hours before endgame when I realised that this is mostly it.

 

[RK47]

Stronghold.

Fight is over, go home, Watcher​

I did not feel it is even close to worthwhile upgrading it, but hey you're swimming in coppers anyway. So let's do it.
Little did I know they would attach some annoying mechanic that had no meaning to it: random attacks.
Compared to Dragon Age Inquisition where Skyhold kept throwing you resource spending for more in-game resource generation, in PoE I kept having to return back just to beat up some thugs / baddies coming in from the basement.
This is in no way a fight I could possibly lose when I have a fully loaded spell book, and per rest item summons.
And to add insult on top of injury, I couldn't loot the thugs I just killed, meaning I got no EXP and literally NO REWARD for wasting my time aside from protecting my stronghold investment.
C'mon Obsidian, you can do better than this.

 

[A horse of course]

The Stronghold exists because you morons raved about the Keep in NWN2

 

[Sensuki]

< only mentioned BG2 Strongholds

 

[Mastermind]

It wouldn't take much to make the Stronghold bearable so blaming the people who asked for it is nonsensical. The following would require very little coding:

1) Generate funds in real time instead of generating funds based on turn completion (which is dependent on quests) and charging me hireling upkeep in real time
2) Let me build multiple structures simultaneously.
3) Let me manage everything directly from a distance. IE: if I'm not there give me control of the defenders instead of making me go back to defend or relying on the RNG (which could destroy another slow building piece of shit structure).
4) Let me hire a courier that delivers my shit to me after x amount of time
5) Have adventures/good events pop up more often. Like 1, tying shit to quest completion is retarded. Sure, I could just sit at an inn and let time pass but it's not like there's anything in the stronghold that is a MUST HAVE. Even bounties are just a way to speed up leveling and you can get to 12 without them.

 

[Sensuki]

o_O

That doesn't even remotely come close to fixing the problem with the Stronghold lol. It may as well not even be a physical location if you're gonna go that route.

 

[Ninjerk]

It's basically shitty O-game right now.

Here are my suggestions to make the Stronghold better:
1) Make combat fun
2) Send increasingly more difficult and better-equipped forces as you defeat them and let you auto-resolve or manually fight them
3) Collect cool loot from the forces you defeat and reset to lowest difficulty attackers when you lose (now that your fortress has been ransacked)
4) Reap benefits of people talking about how many attacks they managed to repel consecutively and sell more games b/c people are still talking about your game long after launch

 

[Sensuki]

Quests like BG2.

 

[Rostere]

The only way to redeem the Stronghold is by making some actual content of substance for it, preferably with mutually exclusive choices for replayability.

As it stands it is just an odd minigame occasionally giving you a tiny amount of resources. It's just numbers, nobody thinks it's exciting to receive 600 copper or something every few days and that's it.

Making it a combat challenge is another option, however IMO this is somewhat redundant with the bounties. Redundancy is never bad but in the worst case it approaches pointlessness.

 

[Lhynn]

Here are my ideas for the stronghold. Made the entire interaction with it text based. Dont call me if it gets attacked, i hired guards for a reason, only if its both relevant and profitable should the lord of the keep be called.

 

[Ellef]

We can all agree the Stronghold is bad, but at least with it being there they might turn it into something wortwhile in the future, or modders will. Not sure is modding it into something respectable is possible with the current tools.

 

[Mastermind]

o_O

That doesn't even remotely come close to fixing the problem with the Stronghold lol. It may as well not even be a physical location if you're gonna go that route.

"make the Stronghold bearable"

 

[RK47]

I love the endless dungeon. So Xauripious.

 

[Apexeon]

Players that are bashing this game

I don't bash the game but it's hard to deny that some of the criticism is spot on. When you can fit all useful Wizard spells in one memorize selection (grimoire), you know something is wrong. When you use exactly the same tactics in 9/10 fights, you know something is wrong. And it's not even about tactical depth, it's about the diversity of encounters and being encouraged to think a little. When almost all DPS builds are MIN(Con,Per)/MAX(Mgt,Dex,Int) regardless of class, you know something is wrong. When monster levels have little to nothing to do with their how dangerous they actually are (in a game designed by a guy who worships balance), you know something is wrong. When half of the NPCs are "click on me and read a crappy fanfic or, better, don't" you know something is wrong.

 

[Athelas]

I'll just quote my stronghold suggestions from a few pages back:

They should make it so that those adventures that you can assign companions to, take their attributes, skills, class and level into account, with a chance of failure if the character is lacking in those areas.

In the future, they should tie the stronghold to an actually tangible town/city (it could have been Gilded Vale in this game), using the already existing reputation system.

You should also be able to recruit named NPC's you meet around the world to come work at your stronghold (merchants, artisans, soldiers and the like).

Also, for the love of god, allow resting (including with resting bonuses) from the stronghold menu (while at the stronghold, obviously).

 

[Whisper]

Encounters get pretty good at the end and they are ok before that.

You must be joking (Honest).

 

[Whisper]

Players that are bashing this game

I don't bash the game but it's hard to deny that some of the criticism is spot on. When you can fit all useful Wizard spells in one memorize selection (grimoire), you know something is wrong. When you use exactly the same tactics in 9/10 fights, you know something is wrong. And it's not even about tactical depth, it's about the diversity of encounters and being encouraged to think a little. When almost all DPS builds are MIN(Con,Per)/MAX(Mgt,Dex,Int) regardless of class, you know something is wrong. When monster levels have little to nothing to do with their how dangerous they actually are (in a game designed by a guy who worships balance), you know something is wrong. When half of the NPCs are "click on me and read a crappy fanfic or, better, don't" you know something is wrong.

Here, here.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Encounters get pretty good at the end and they are ok before that.

What are those pretty good end-game encounters actually? I can remember Mind Flayer bounty (that gives you a very nice robe), the already mentioned 2nd round with Raedric but that's about it. I'm asking for curiosity sake, not gonna engage in hyperbole slinging.

 

[RK47]

He probably means this one.

 

[MrMarbles]

Attributes are simply better in AD&D, they tell you more about your character than poe does

I would say key stats were very important to their classes

Roll fighter, put everything in str, some in dex and con, dump the rest
Roll mage, put everything in int, dump the rest
Roll rogue, put everything in dex, dump the rest

10/10 character creation, would dump stats again. thank god there is no actual variety, I like things to be same!

10/10 would call your BG stat allocation garbage again. If you want to use BG stats as part of a discussion of PoE, get your facts straight.

 

[ArchAngel]

Even with its flaws stat in IE games made more sense than in PoE. I will never get over Might giving bonus damage to everything.

 

[MrMarbles]

Also, for the love of god, allow resting (including with resting bonuses) from the stronghold menu (while at the stronghold, obviously).

+1. Could also make some of the resting bonuses stackable and thereby slightly less shitty.

 

[Lord Andre]

Resting in your pimped out mansion giving shittier bonus than inns is one of those design decisions that make you go .