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

[Zero Credibility]

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.

I know how you feel. And the problems with this are explained away by having might represent not just physical strength but also spiritual. Maybe because bigger muscles store more souls or something? That is why the same stat determines melee and spell damage. Of course, it also determines ranged weapon damage, including guns. I guess having high might also allows you to stuff more gunpowder down the barrel. Or you are using some kind of soul-powered gunpowder. God dammit.

 

[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.

I know how you feel. And the problems with this are explained away by having might represent not just physical strength but also spiritual. Maybe because bigger muscles store more souls or something? That is why the same stat determines melee and spell damage. Of course, it also determines ranged weapon damage, including guns. I guess having high might also allows you to stuff more gunpowder down the barrel. Or you are using some kind of soul-powered gunpowder. God dammit.

And then in conversations you can use Might (the soul power) to grab people by their collars and intimidate them that way LOL.

Obsidian shat in their own mouth and called it tasty.

 

[prodigydancer]

And then in conversations you can use Might (the soul power) to grab people by their collars and intimidate them that way LOL.

Well, it's possible that in PoE universe you're just not very intimidating if your soul is weak. But I still wonder how min/max tanks with 3 Mgt can hold the line and withstand blows from powerful enemies.

Might could actually be good as a stat replacing traditional Charisma and Luck. High Mgt could then give a noticeable bonus to all rolls (probably an even bigger bonus to social skills and conversation checks due to Cha component) and low Mgt would result in a substantial penalty.

 

[Zero Credibility]

I don't have a problem with might being used for collar grabbing as it is supposed to represent the physical strength as well, but has anyone seen the "spiritual aspect" of it in any dialogue? Or is it just collar-grab, wall-smash, etc.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

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.

I know how you feel. And the problems with this are explained away by having might represent not just physical strength but also spiritual. Maybe because bigger muscles store more souls or something? That is why the same stat determines melee and spell damage. Of course, it also determines ranged weapon damage, including guns. I guess having high might also allows you to stuff more gunpowder down the barrel. Or you are using some kind of soul-powered gunpowder. God dammit.

And then in conversations you can use Might (the soul power) to grab people by their collars and intimidate them that way LOL.

Obsidian shat in their own mouth and called it tasty.

I remember Sawyer complaining once about harem anime. Perhaps he watched so much anime it broke his fucking brain. After all anime are chokefull of schoolgirls beating up grown men, tsunderes punching people into skies and teenage boys performing amazing feats of strength because they are hot blooded and shit.

The whole thing about might being responsible for magic damage and bows would make sense. You just need to be strong to cast powerful spells and you can pull bow harder and thus fire more powerful arrows. However addition of crossbows and worst of all guns, makes the entire thing fall to pieces. There is nothing in the game lore that mentions strong people somehow powering-up their guns.

 

[Western]

Regarding the keep I would tweak a few things (in addition to Mastermind 's suggestions), then hopefully major changes will come.

1) Make the upgraded keep the best place to rest, not the shittest place.

2) Don't let structures get destroyed with auto-defend, that's just annoying and can lead to weird bugs if the upgraded keep is destroyed.

3) Better merchants, the current system has shitty random drops for some rare items, so you'll never come cross some great gear if the RNG Gods will it, some of this gear should become available or commissionable once the keeps shops are up and running.

4) More people need to give a shit you're the lord of Caed Nua, you should have political enemies, there should be a few short flavour decisions like with the BG2 keep.

5) Areas around the keep need to be expanded, fields, perhaps a small town, some areas where you could make a bit of narrative around the keep and have a few battles.

6) Just a few touches to expand existing systems, like having the option to execute prisoners, a nice cosmetic touch would be a further option to put their heads on pikes or nail them to the keeps walls etc, lowering prestige but raising the security of the keep with the intimidation factor. You could even interact with the souls being a watcher.

7) You should get some tangible reward for completely upgrading the keep.

 

[Athelas]

Obsidian shat in their own mouth and called it tasty.

You lost me when you used scat porn as a metaphor for RPG systems.

 

[ArchAngel]

Obsidian shat in their own mouth and called it tasty.

You lost me when you used scat porn as a metaphor for RPG systems.

I don't know what that is. You are pretty queer (as Imoen means it).

 

[Shevek]

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.

The player experience in some encounters is dependent partially on his level when he exeriences them. I fought Gramrfel (sp?)and the named Drake really early but those can be easy if you do them late. The Ogres, Adragans and plenty of other act 3 encounters are fun even at high-levels though. I really like the encounters in Od Nua - especially once it starts filling up with crystal eaters and fampyrs.

 

[Lurker King]

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

The Keep was one of the few things I enjoyed in that game and it’s much more interesting than the stronghold in BG2. The stronghold in POE sucks because (1) it just have fluffy content and (2) it’s not really integrated with the rest of the game. I think Tim Cain knows this and didn’t have the time to provide more content, but that is not an excuse for everything. The thing is so unimaginative that you don’t have even a stonemason in charge of renovating the fucking keep. You have a spirit of a fucking steward. That’s so lame.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

The stronghold exists because stronghold in BG were really awesome. Sure they were just a couple of dialogue lines and quests here and there, but made the player feel special and more connected to the world. High reward, for a pretty low effort. Complete opposite of the Watcher's keep.

 

[ArchAngel]

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

The Keep was one of the few things I enjoyed in that game and it’s much more interesting than the stronghold in BG2. The stronghold in POE sucks because (1) it just have fluffy content and (2) it’s not really integrated with the rest of the game. I think Tim Cain knows this and didn’t have the time to provide more content, but that is not an excuse for everything. The thing is so unimaginative that you don’t have even a stonemason in charge of renovating the fucking keep. You have a spirit of a fucking steward. That’s so lame.

I did enjoy the Keep in NWN2 until I read that it plays out the same no matter what you do so I tested that by not upgrading my troops or any defenses at all on my second play and when it turned out true that it is all a show I hate it from that moment on. Only thing I fondly remember are those adventurers that you send on quests (they reminded me of ToB adventuring group that decides to attack you and load the save game :D).
PoE has nothing to fondly remember its crappy Keep.

 

[Lurker King]

I did enjoy the Keep in NWN2 until I read that it plays out the same no matter what you do so I tested that by not upgrading my troops or any defenses at all on my second play and when it turned out true that it is all a show I hate it from that moment on. Only thing I fondly remember are those adventurers that you send on quests (they reminded me of ToB adventuring group that decides to attack you and load the save game :D). PoE has nothing to fondly remember its crappy Keep.

Sure, but you have a lot of interactions and choices in the keep that matter to the keep. There is a lot of stuff to fondly remember here. To take just one example, if you have connections with the Shadow Thieves, you can do a lot of chaotic shit with Uncus as a henchman. The Shadow Thieves send a messenger to put pressure on you, asking to act more freely on your lands. I said to Uncus “Kill him and make it look like an accident”.

 

[Whisper]

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.

Not just damage.

Might also increase healing.

 

[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.

Not just damage.

Might also increase healing.

I ignore that as it is probably the least useful stat bonus in the game.

 

[rezaf]

like having the option to execute prisoners, a nice cosmetic touch would be a further option to put their heads on pikes or nail them to the keeps walls etc

Out of curiousity, which NPCs could you imprison and how? After I had built the prison, I never encountered anyone where I was given the option to imprison him.
The only guy that I'd have rather imprisoned, in retrospect, was Reodric, and only because killing him triggers the stupid ass deus-ex-machina ending slide where he comes back as an even more evil UNDEAD tyrant.
I know that if your game drags on long enough, you get a chance to battle him again, but my first hint that there was something going on was an undead patrol that was ABOUT to attack my keep in three days when I entered the final dungeon.

 

[J_C]

like having the option to execute prisoners, a nice cosmetic touch would be a further option to put their heads on pikes or nail them to the keeps walls etc

Out of curiousity, which NPCs could you imprison and how? After I had built the prison, I never encountered anyone where I was given the option to imprison him.

Spoiler

There was a drug dealer mage in one of the houses of the market district of Defiance Bay. After defeating him, he surrendurs, and I have the option to imprison him. Also, a runaway orlan in the catacombs under the marketplace, who is running from the guards. I can send him to my prison. I'm sure there are several others, but these 2 are the ones I encountered so far.

 

[Darth Roxor]

you can even imprison a not-illithid that just sits there doing nothing because the jailer has a tinfoil hat

 

[ArchAngel]

I imprisoned the leader of the mercenaries that were attacked by Glanfathans north of their city. The ones that went there to raid some ruins and you are asked to save them. I decided to resolve the matter peacefully by offering to imprison the leader while his men are released unharmed.
I also imprisoned one the criminals from Defiance Bay (or maybe it was a member of the Dozens) but he escaped after like 3 days lol.

I didn't know you can imprison Raedric. I even made sure to build the dungeon before doing his quest so I can do that if the option is presented but it wasn't

 

[Gord]

Out of curiousity, which NPCs could you imprison and how? After I had built the prison, I never encountered anyone where I was given the option to imprison him.

There's also one side-quest in Act 3 which you can solve peacefully by imprisoning some mercanery leader.
The alternative would be to fight him or some Glanfathans. Even the leader commented on how strange it seemed that they would be satisfied with the PC imprisoning him.
It might be that this option depends on your previous actions though (your standing with Glanfathans and whether you are known as honest or something like that).

Edit: ArchAngel already said that...

 

[Western]

There's also an encounter in Magran's fork later in the game (just random not plot related), where you can imprison a death godlike.

 

[Shevek]

Gramerfel the Wayfarer or something like that. Good fight. Lots of xbowmen and gunners.

 

[Seari]

Does imprisonment of NPCs actually matter whatsoever?

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Once in a blue moon a slaver will come and offer you to buy someone for a laughable price. Or perhaps not. I only had that drug dealer in my dungeon, perhaps more important people, like that Death Godlike can be sold for more. It's not lice cash matters in this game.

 

[ArchAngel]

There's also an encounter in Magran's fork later in the game (just random not plot related), where you can imprison a death godlike.

Is this a bounty encounter?