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

[Luckmann]

I'm playing with the Magran's Fire that turns all Per-Encounter "resources" into Per-Rest (Woedica's Challenge), and I must say that I find it much preferable to how I'd imagine having everything Per-Encounter would work.

That said, I really wish that some resources, like that of Fighters and Rogues and such. There's a severe imbalance in that even with this challenge turned on, Ciphers and Monks and such accrue their resources as normal, so they can just keep going and going and going.

I wish there was a mod that increased the number of spells/spell points (or whatever they can be called) by ~50% and made Fighter's Discipline, Rogue's Guile, Barbarian's Rage, Ranger's Bond, and Paladin's Zeal regenerate per-encounter, even when using Woedica's Challenge. Or, even better, only regenerate up to 40-50% of maximum, to incentivize saving resources and resting realistically, but not leave those classes completely empty. I have no idea how someone'd go about creating such a mod, though.

I'm also running Skaen's Challenge and Berath's Challenge, because I thought they sounded appropriately anti-decline.

 

[Lacrymas]

The best challenge is undoubtedly Galawain, though. The others are very questionable. Skaen maybe contributes to atmosphere.

 

[Luckmann]

The best challenge is undoubtedly Galawain, though. The others are very questionable. Skaen maybe contributes to atmosphere.

Why? All Galawain does is add random powers to enemies?

 

[Lacrymas]

Because it actually adds to the challenge of the usual gameplay. What do you gain by having Vela constantly withdrawn? Or random storms in the seas?

 

[Luckmann]

Because it actually adds to the challenge of the usual gameplay. What do you gain by having Vela constantly withdrawn? Or random storms in the seas?

I dunno, it just sounded like such a minor and lolrandumb thing that I didn't even consider picking it.

 

[Lacrymas]

You mean Galawain? He makes the drake fight even more brutal.

 

[FreeKaner]

I like the storms in sea challenge actually, since it makes being caught in a storm as lethal as it should be and adds some interesting reactions to map movement.

 

[Luckmann]

Now I kinda regret not having picked those.

 

[Luckmann]

The composition of the enemy groups in Deadfire is fucking stupid. I just had a fight with a group of enemies that included boars, a bunch of panthers, and a drake. I then went underground in the same area, and there's a group of Will-o-wisps, drakes, sporelings, and spiders. Just sorta hanging out together.

There better be a damn good explanation later, because it's actually quite jarring.

Also, not going to lie, but playing with Woedica's Challenge, Berath's Challenge, and Skaen's Challenge, I'm getting my ass handed to me in fights at the moment. I'm expecting an inverse difficulty curve as usual, so I'm sure it'll get better, but I gotta say that it was still unexpected. Still salty that my choice is between "Everything is per-encounter lmao" and "Everything is per-rest in a game not really made for it".

 

[Lacrymas]

The drake fight is the toughest encounter in the game if you are doing it as intended (3 party members). I'm surprised you didn't go into more detail about it. Are you playing on PotD?

 

[Alpan]

The Ondra challenge also combines well with the Rymrgand challenge. Adds a modicum of flavorful risk-reward to traveling.

The drake and panther fights are not too bad if you use chokepoints, but I just prefer to stealth past the entire thing, as they despawn once you are done with the ruins interior.

 

[Luckmann]

The drake fight is the toughest encounter in the game if you are doing it as intended (3 party members). I'm surprised you didn't go into more detail about it. Are you playing on PotD?

Are you confusing regular drakes with some dragon fight? I'm literally on the first island, at the Dig Site.

Also, fucking lmao, they're doing the old "we couldn't make combat difficult, so we teleport enemies in from nowhere" along with random enemies being able to teleport for seemingly no reason. What a fucking joke.

And yes, PotD. I usually avoid artificial difficulty trash that just inflates numbers but I thought to myself "sure, whatever" when I started this one, since I'm so unlikely to ever replay it.

Xoti is growing on me, though.

 

[Alpan]

Are you confusing regular drakes with some dragon fight? I'm literally on the first island, at the Dig Site.

No, he's being quite specific. Relative to how powerful the player's party is at that stage, the dig site fights really are the most difficult combat encounters in the entire game.

 

[Lacrymas]

Are you confusing regular drakes with some dragon fight? I'm literally on the first island, at the Dig Site.

Like Alpan said, I'm talking about the drake fight with the animals and drakelings at the dig site. The KKKonsensus is that fight and the skeleton room in the same area are some of the toughest encounters in the game, if not outright the toughest, especially when done as intended (Eder + Xoti). How did you manage to beat it without it making some kind of impression?

 

[Luckmann]

Are you confusing regular drakes with some dragon fight? I'm literally on the first island, at the Dig Site.

No, he's being quite specific. Relative to how powerful the player's party is at that stage, the dig site fights really are the most difficult combat encounters in the entire game.

Are you confusing regular drakes with some dragon fight? I'm literally on the first island, at the Dig Site.

Like Alpan said, I'm talking about the drake fight with the animals and drakelings at the dig site. The KKKonsensus is that fight and the skeleton room in the same area are some of the toughest encounters in the game, if not outright the toughest, especially when done as intended (Eder + Xoti). How did you manage to beat it without it making some kind of impression?

Oh, you mean the menagerie at the center of the digsite, outside?

I didn't. I tried the fight once or twice, said fuck it, I'll be back later, and simply walked into the "Arena sub-level", where I currently. I didn't even realize that that fight was supposed to be much harder than all the others, I just thought it was hard, shook my head, and moved on. It kicked my ass even when I managed to charm the drake, so I decided to ignore it for now. Fucking lmao.

Also, I'm actually legitimately amazed that they managed to make the inventory management worse than in Pillars of Eternity. Can't even take drugs or apply poisons without quickslots, it seems, so preparing before fights take forever.

Edit: I have 1 mercenary, by the way. A Rogue, since none of the early recruits are appropriate for Mechanics/Stealth/Pickpocket.

 

[Lacrymas]

I didn't. I tried the fight once or twice, said fuck it, I'll be back later, and simply walked into the "Arena sub-level", where I currently. I didn't even realize that that fight was supposed to be much harder than all the others, I just thought it was hard, shook my head, and moved on. It kicked my ass even when I managed to charm the drake, so I decided to ignore it for now. Fucking lmao.

If you beat the dungeon, the drake and the animals are gone later and you don't have the chance to fight them again. That fight can go horribly wrong in a myriad of ways, especially if you manage to pull the drakelings along with the main group, so charming the drake doesn't really matter much (it certainly helps though). The drake kind of throws people off, he's not the most dangerous thing there, it's the combination of boars and drakelings that is wtf-inducing. It's a pretty good fight and it can serve as a microcosm of what tough encounter design is for later attempts.

 

[FreeKaner]

A way I did it was sending eder forward to the gunpowder barrels in the lower digsite while PC and xoti are in stealth, throwing a cinder bomb on it and casting withdrawal on him with xoti as the barrel explodes, that tends to take out the panthers. However "easiest" is just choking them at the ramp, using ample scrolls and grenades. I restarted the game so many times now though I just hire a druid & paladin at lvl 2 then it's an easy fight. Similarly in the digsite itself there is a fight with bunch of gunpowder barrels that you can light up with Aloth that kills the entire encounter that can be hard otherwise.

Skeletons you have to LoS the mage near the entrance then kill him immediately, his noxious burst can oneshot your entire party.

 

[Delterius]

bro

just chill fog bro

lmao bro

 

[Luckmann]

I didn't. I tried the fight once or twice, said fuck it, I'll be back later, and simply walked into the "Arena sub-level", where I currently. I didn't even realize that that fight was supposed to be much harder than all the others, I just thought it was hard, shook my head, and moved on. It kicked my ass even when I managed to charm the drake, so I decided to ignore it for now. Fucking lmao.

If you beat the dungeon, the drake and the animals are gone later and you don't have the chance to fight them again. That fight can go horribly wrong in a myriad of ways, especially if you manage to pull the drakelings along with the main group, so charming the drake doesn't really matter much (it certainly helps though). The drake kind of throws people off, he's not the most dangerous thing there, it's the combination of boars and drakelings that is wtf-inducing. It's a pretty good fight and it can serve as a microcosm of what tough encounter design is for later attempts.

I actually did the fight just now, and it wasn't actually that hard, much thanks to the ideas you gave me. The trick was to kill he pack of boars and wurms at the chokepoint by the (upper) entrance to the Ancient Training Hall, and then use the lower smaller "stairs" as the chokepoint for the pull of boars/panthers/wurms/young drake. At one point, the drake and wurms even blocked the panthers for me, while Edér was just soaking things up.

Of course, this was with 1 extra dude (rogue) at level 4, after clearing what I think was absolutely everything else in the digsite, short of touching the adra thing.

Oh, also, my party is rapidly turning into a gang of drug-addled degenerates.

 

[Lacrymas]

bro

just chill fog bro

lmao bro

There are multiple ways to beat it without breaking a sweat with particular classes, but a) it's meta-gaming, b) you might not be one of those classes, c) it requires mercenaries, d) you still have to grapple with RNG and Penetration. And that's not counting Galawain. After having beaten it legit and like 5 times already, I have devised a consistent tactic even without relying on mercenaries or you being a wizard or druid, but this is one of the very few such encounters in the history of RPGs, so it's very commendable. You can just hire 4 mercenaries of course and go for it after doing everything else on the starter island for XP, but that's not what we are talking about here ;d

I'd say Gorecci street is the toughest encounter in the game, though.

 

[Luckmann]

I'd say Gorecci street is the toughest encounter in the game, though.

I'm sad to hear that the inverse difficulty thing is so pronounced that I've apparently already covered the hardest fight in the game, but that was a really bullshit fight. I feel like I only managed to power through it in the end because of lucky rolls and nothing else.

And it was waaaaaay harder than the fight with the young drake and the menagerie of random beasts.

 

[Lacrymas]

RPGs front-loading their difficulty isn't a new thing. The problem is the devs' lack of control in giving players options. There was no need to have new abilities every 2 levels (or have the cap be lvl 10 with slower leveling), just like it's not needed in D&D. This is what makes the difficulty wonky, especially since devs don't seem to focus on good AI at all. PoE2 gives you less options in comparison to D&D and even then the difficulty is a downward trend.

 

[FreeKaner]

I'd say Gorecci street is the toughest encounter in the game, though.

I'm sad to hear that the inverse difficulty thing is so pronounced that I've apparently already covered the hardest fight in the game, but that was a really bullshit fight. I feel like I only managed to power through it in the end because of lucky rolls and nothing else.

And it was waaaaaay harder than the fight with the young drake and the menagerie of random beasts.

There are very challenging fights later on with DLCs. Difficulty in the island is simply a function of limitation of options. Unfortunately in every game player's party scales in power exponentially due to synergy you can create while enemies will scale linearly.

 

[Delterius]

yes deadfire is unbalanced

 

[Sharpedge]

The drake fight is the toughest encounter in the game if you are doing it as intended (3 party members). I'm surprised you didn't go into more detail about it. Are you playing on PotD?

I would say from my experience that splintered reef is harder than the drake fight. Those fampyrs can be nasty.