Pathfinder Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition - now with A Dance of Masks epilogue DLC

[Desiderius]

battles that can drag for dozens of turns while units on both sides whittle each other to slivers

I've never encountered this. Battles take five turns tops. Git gud.

; moving armies slooooowly across the map; building uninteresting settlements like in Kingmaker's kingdom management; waiting for more troops otherwise you can't properly assault enemy forts and actually progress further into the map with your character and party.

Do one fight per day. Your troop growth should match the challenge at that pace. Use the extra time to get sufficient rest to make rnd/lvl abilities good. There are a lot of them and neglecting them makes the combat piece needlessly more difficult than necessary. Some classes rely on them to be viable at all but once they're turned on can be very effective. Also turns on Scroll Scribing + UMD to fill holes in characters/teams.

Then there's the fact your general(s) somehow do not exist outside of crusade mode, which is arguably the strangest fucking decision Owlcat has taken in both Pathfinder games.

Agreed. Should be able to use Companions as Generals as P:K did with advisors. Everything else you wrote would improve following from that change. I just think they figured - correctly - that people were going to bitch about it and want to skip it no matter what they did, so they put resources into other (mostly shitty) things.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I've found a lot of the in-combat events seem to take much longer.

I've just cleared the main city section in Drezen, and the battering ram parts took a really, really long time to smash down the doors. Additionally, the fight with the Balor continued for about 9 or 10 rounds with him on zero hit points before Greybor arrived. I don't remember it taking quite so long last time I did it.

Battering Rams can be bypassed.

Only if you're not interested in collecting 600+ XP from the fights while the doors are being broken down.

Thing is, it was never an issue for me before, but this time they took me around 5-6 minutes per door due to long pauses between playing the animation for the troops using the battering ram for them to occasianally produce a vapid comment about their progress. Previously it would have taken half the time. It just feels frustrating standing around between waves watching a load of guys stand in front of a door doing nothing except shouting dumb sound barks about how the doors are shaking.

 

[Kjaska]

Just found Yaniel. This game is Berserk levels of dark, damn. Something about her is fucky though. The way she talks about demons and leads me on the correct path and shit. At first I thought "oh noez, teh corrupshinz", but now I suspect she's that Areelu Vaifu and she's just trying to assess my character or some shit.

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II. Speaking of writing: sometimes one of the books will have the legendary loot indicator around it and after reading it I get a "you learned something" pop-up over my character. What do those actually do? Do they reveal something on the overworld map?

 

[Desiderius]

I've found a lot of the in-combat events seem to take much longer.

I've just cleared the main city section in Drezen, and the battering ram parts took a really, really long time to smash down the doors. Additionally, the fight with the Balor continued for about 9 or 10 rounds with him on zero hit points before Greybor arrived. I don't remember it taking quite so long last time I did it.

Battering Rams can be bypassed.

Only if you're not interested in collecting 600+ XP from the fights while the doors are being broken down.

Thing is, it was never an issue for me before, but this time they took me around 5-6 minutes per door due to long pauses between playing the animation for the troops using the battering ram for them to occasianally produce a vapid comment about their progress. Previously it would have taken half the time. It just feels frustrating standing around between waves watching a load of guys stand in front of a door doing nothing except shouting dumb sound barks about how the doors are shaking.

You get more than that for each lever you throw from the other side (or above).

 

[Desiderius]

Just found Yaniel. This game is Berserk levels of dark, damn. Something about her is fucky though. The way she talks about demons and leads me on the correct path and shit. At first I thought "oh noez, teh corrupshinz", but now I suspect she's that Areelu Vaifu and she's just trying to assess my character or some shit.

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II. Speaking of writing: sometimes one of the books will have the legendary loot indicator around it and after reading it I get a "you learned something" pop-up over my character. What do those actually do? Do they reveal something on the overworld map?

Check your abilities.

 

[Haplo]

I've found a lot of the in-combat events seem to take much longer.

I've just cleared the main city section in Drezen, and the battering ram parts took a really, really long time to smash down the doors. Additionally, the fight with the Balor continued for about 9 or 10 rounds with him on zero hit points before Greybor arrived. I don't remember it taking quite so long last time I did it.

Battering Rams can be bypassed.

Only if you're not interested in collecting 600+ XP from the fights while the doors are being broken down.

Thing is, it was never an issue for me before, but this time they took me around 5-6 minutes per door due to long pauses between playing the animation for the troops using the battering ram for them to occasianally produce a vapid comment about their progress. Previously it would have taken half the time. It just feels frustrating standing around between waves watching a load of guys stand in front of a door doing nothing except shouting dumb sound barks about how the doors are shaking.

You get more than that for each lever you throw from the other side (or above).

I know there are levers on top of the walls (which I normally use), but there are levers on the other sides of the gates as well - that you can switch instead of ramming the gates? You learn something new every day...

 

[Yosharian]

Just found Yaniel. This game is Berserk levels of dark, damn. Something about her is fucky though. The way she talks about demons and leads me on the correct path and shit. At first I thought "oh noez, teh corrupshinz", but now I suspect she's that Areelu Vaifu and she's just trying to assess my character or some shit.

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II. Speaking of writing: sometimes one of the books will have the legendary loot indicator around it and after reading it I get a "you learned something" pop-up over my character. What do those actually do? Do they reveal something on the overworld map?

https://www.neoseeker.com/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous/guides/Unique_Items

Scroll down to 'important books'

 

[Haplo]

Just found Yaniel. This game is Berserk levels of dark, damn. Something about her is fucky though. The way she talks about demons and leads me on the correct path and shit. At first I thought "oh noez, teh corrupshinz", but now I suspect she's that Areelu Vaifu and she's just trying to assess my character or some shit.

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II. Speaking of writing: sometimes one of the books will have the legendary loot indicator around it and after reading it I get a "you learned something" pop-up over my character. What do those actually do? Do they reveal something on the overworld map?

Check your abilities.

Yeah. But is it possible to grant these bonuses to someone else then the main char?
For example I'd love to give the glaive bonus to Sosiel...

Or the DC/CL bonuses to casters...

 

[Daidre]

I know there are levers on top of the walls (which I normally use), but there are levers on the other sides of the gates as well - that you can switch instead of ramming the gates? You learn something new every day...

Yes, and there is even hidden mini-quest with 3 keys to open the last gates, to inner part of the keep. As a result, you can skip all gate-ramming sequences and will get more xp while doing it.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah but true Crusader will break through the gate with his troops not pussyfoot around with some levers.

 

[Yosharian]

Wait so are we saying that this book can't give a bonus to a companion?

Laboratory Journal of Xanthir Vang, 4712
This book grants a +1 competence bonus to DC on a spell with compulsion or mind-affect descriptors.

 

[Grunker]

by the way Desiderius i ended following your advice regarding skill point distribution, so Wenduag now has Int CN12, IN12, WS12 for a couple more skills (though not perception like you suggested) and camellia used the spare points for more wisdom. more sensible/optimal even if it costs Wenduag her 20ST:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17JmUOooxLHscaDfGfuXMbXi0QZgYa4gPxBojQPnPYeg/edit#gid=0

The 12WS kind of hurts my sperg soul but there's no way to use those 2 points sensibly as far as I can see, and I guess she will be targeted by quite a lot of Will save spells during the course of the game.

 

[Yosharian]

Why would you put so many points into both STR and DEX

 

[Grunker]

Just found Yaniel. This game is Berserk levels of dark, damn. Something about her is fucky though. The way she talks about demons and leads me on the correct path and shit. At first I thought "oh noez, teh corrupshinz", but now I suspect she's that Areelu Vaifu and she's just trying to assess my character or some shit.

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II. Speaking of writing: sometimes one of the books will have the legendary loot indicator around it and after reading it I get a "you learned something" pop-up over my character. What do those actually do? Do they reveal something on the overworld map?

I'm very early, and while I kind of enjoyed the early Lann+Wenduag dialogue and the mongrel village, Wenduag has already gone full cringe and when I met Nenio I had to turn of the PC, throw it out the window and order a new one, so now I can't play until that arrives.

Nenio's introduction must be one of the most grossly annoying pieces of shit I've ever had to sit through in an RPG. It has the full combo of zanyness, complete irreverance for the fiction contract and infatile infatuation with the character in question

Why would you put so many points into both STR and DEX

Need DEX for TWF etc. Realise I could get around it with belts but find that sort of cheesey. Besides, I have no dedicated high AC people so Wenduag is doing a lot of heavy lifting with Defensive Fighting... so much I'm considering fitting Crane Style into her somehow

 

[Lambach]

battles that can drag for dozens of turns while units on both sides whittle each other to slivers

Here is my main general, an extremely powerful mage who can reduce entire legions to cinders

Seems a bit odd to say battles last dozens of turns when you have a Mage General. Unless you're attacking an army that's way out of your league, an average battle with a Mage General shouldn't last more than 2-3 turns. Or even 1 turn when the General gets to high enough level.

I found Crusade Mode to be a somewhat pleasant diversion from proper questing. But I think that's because I always get 2-3 Mage Generals, which turn it into easy mode. I think I'd hate it if I had to use other types of Generals. In that case, it might even be a challenge and require some thought put into it, but at the same time, it's just too half-baked to be enjoyable that way.

 

[Lambach]

Nenio's introduction must be one of the most grossly annoying pieces of shit I've ever had to sit through in an RPG. It has the full combo of zanyness, complete irreverance for the fiction contract and infatile infatuation with the character in que

That's pretty much her whole character in a nutshell, don't expect it to get better.

She also seems to be the fan favorite, at least from what I've seen online.

 

[Grunker]

don't expect it to get better.

Quite the opposite, I see it as a worrisome tendency in the writing in general

 

[Cyberarmy]

Nenio's introduction must be one of the most grossly annoying pieces of shit I've ever had to sit through in an RPG.

And that's only the start, though she'll annoy enemies just as you too.

 

[Haplo]

I know there are levers on top of the walls (which I normally use), but there are levers on the other sides of the gates as well - that you can switch instead of ramming the gates? You learn something new every day...

Yes, and there is even hidden mini-quest with 3 keys to open the last gates, to inner part of the keep. As a result, you can skip all gate-ramming sequences and will get more xp while doing it.

The 3 keys for the last gate I knew. Did it recently. ...but later backtracked to proceed to ram all the earlier gates for more xp :D

 

[Stoned Ape]

You get more than that for each lever you throw from the other side (or above).

When I pulled the gate lever for the left side (I was attacking the giants on the walls) I received no notification of gaining XP so I reloaded, went around the other side and bashed the gate.

Yes, and there is even hidden mini-quest with 3 keys to open the last gates, to inner part of the keep. As a result, you can skip all gate-ramming sequences and will get more xp while doing it.

You can still do the 3 keys quest and also bash the two side gates.

 

[Daidre]

Nenio's introduction must be one of the most grossly annoying pieces of shit I've ever had to sit through in an RPG. It has the full combo of zanyness, complete irreverance for the fiction contract and infatile infatuation with the character in question

I find it vaguely strange that like 2/3 of the game's cringe is concentrated in the female part of the companion cast, especially among the romancable ladies - Arushalae/Wenduag/Camellia + non romancable Nenio and 50% of Ember (written by committee) all sound like a bad, and not just bad, goddamn awful, fanfic. When their male counterparts worst sins - either being mind-numbingly boring (Sosiel) or a bit tryhard (Greybor). But those guys never break a mood and an atmosphere of the story they are in and they never go full Mary Sue with their author droning on and on and on about how beautiful/quirky/special they are. Well, Greybor has some shades of it, but never to the same degree.

And it is not just a matter of the writing skill it seems, more like a bizarre design direction and they try to meet some expectations from the modern batshit crazy audience.

PS Anevia + Irabeth are there too, but game shoves most of their "perfect love story" in the face right at the beginning and gives such a hilarious opportunities to treat Irabeth like a piece of shit later that it counteracts the awful first impression.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II.

Don't read past the first sentence. I think it's a requirement of writers too - the whole NPC response should be summarized in the first sentence, the rest of the text should be treated as something the player is not likely to read.

 

[Grunker]

Gotta say, the writing is pretty great at times, especially for the setting standards. It can also be horrible, like basically everything Aneela + Irabeth, but most of the time I don't get the urge to just skip everything like I did in PoEI & II.

Don't read past the first sentence. I think it's a requirement of writers too - the whole NPC response should be summarized in the first sentence, the rest of the text should be treated as something the player is not likely to read.

Tbh I had the complete opposite reaction. I skipped almost every line of text in the Inn and I almost never skip text in the beginning of an RPG but I just couldn't be arsed reading through pages and pages of Anevia and Irabeth's love story which I had no reason to care about at that point

I did like the atmosphere and Hulrun/Ramien-stuff etc though, as well as that traitor Dwarf. Those bits seemed setting-relevant and were decently set up

 

[Dhaze]

battles that can drag for dozens of turns while units on both sides whittle each other to slivers

Here is my main general, an extremely powerful mage who can reduce entire legions to cinders

Seems a bit odd to say battles last dozens of turns when you have a Mage General. Unless you're attacking an army that's way out of your league, an average battle with a Mage General shouldn't last more than 2-3 turns. Or even 1 turn when the General gets to high enough level.

I never said that battles last dozens of turns when you have a mage general. My exact words—which you've even quoted—were "Battles that can drag on for dozens of turns." Can. Nowhere in the paragraph containing that quote about possible battle length do I even mention having a mage general (it only came later), much less imply that what I mention is dependant on having said general.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Tbh I had the complete opposite reaction. I skipped almost every line of text in the Inn and I almost never skip text in the beginning of an RPG but I just couldn't be arsed reading through pages and pages of Anevia and Irabeth's love story which I had no reason to care about at that point

I did like the atmosphere and Hulrun/Ramien-stuff etc though, as well as that traitor Dwarf. Those bits seemed setting-relevant and were decently set up

Yeah, and the trick for me to enjoy modern games built by those huge teams is to identify the parts of the game where the person on the other side actually put thought and effort, and was consistent. Most of it is fluff.