Eternity Pillars of Eternity II Beta Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[conan_edw]

I know I will eventually pick up PoE2 and KCD this year and I'm certain there's no way to get a better deal than this %20 voucher before Autumn/Winter sales but man the sum is too much

 

[2house2fly]

Oh how soon we forget that horrible bug in PoE 1 launch where taking off certain equipment that gave bonuses crippled the character forever

I remember being really pissed off at having to restart because my main PC was basically fucked

I went to the Sanitarium, then left and asked a guard where the Sanitarium was, which made it impossible to beat the game.

 

[Quillon]

I went to the Sanitarium, then left and asked a guard where the Sanitarium was, which made it impossible to beat the game.

Cos they thought you were crazy and locked you up so you couldn't return home to continue playing the game?

 

[2house2fly]

@ObsidianEric


More AMA here

One of the things that annoys me the most about modern gaming is the insistence on playing after the "ending". Beating the end boss and the credits rolling is so 20th century, nowadays it's all about pottering about collecting crafting materials after defeating the villain, with the true ending of every game now being "the player got bored and never played again"

 

[Jenkem]

Given the open world aspect of the game and the comments about not putting the expansions in the middle of the game, I'm sure they will just add places you can go.. I'm guessing they will work a lot like FNV dlc

 

[Lacrymas]

Considering it's going to be "open world", churning out DLC that just adds places to go seems easy. I predict getting a bunch of DLCs like that and a last "big" one which sets up the sequel hook.

 

[AwesomeButton]

The smart decision is obvious - wait for the fully patched, discounted game + DLCs version, around April 2019.

 

[dragonul09]

I wanted to be hyped for this game but the terrible lore and bad writing really fucked my enthusiasm to the point that I don't even want to buy it. I still think they should have canned this shitty ass made up in a week universe and go with something else. Hell, Tyranny 2 would have been a blessing, instead I have to dredge through the first PoE again to remember the boring ass conversations I had with my companions and the silly sounding cities, gods and everything else for that matter.

Fampyrs, get the fuck outta here.

 

[Trashos]

Great news, aside from the ones about the DLCs.
I wanted just one good and big expansion, possibly post-ending or at least accessible from the main menu, instead of content like TWM which, even if it's very good, destroys the balance of the game and force me to reload an old save (which will have overleveled PCs) or start a new game and play for hours before I can even begin the DLC.
They pretty much already said they were going in this direction, but it's still pretty disappointing, considering the survey they did just months ago and how people react to it (aka we want big expansions, not many small DLCs).
I want a fucking MotB, not Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Roads.

In FONV, Josh rebalanced the game with a mod after the dlc came out.

 

[Jimmious]

PoE did have bugs on release but nothing extreme - apart from the weird "saving in specific places with specific items will save their bonuses on your character" which was fixed relatively fast, like in a week.

 

[Lacrymas]

There are a lot of UI bugs in the beta, the most annoying of which is the icons of spells not clearing from the progress bar and being unable to tell whether a spell is still casting or not.

 

[Prime Junta]

bugs in the beta

You clearly did not play the P1 beta.

 

[Lacrymas]

I heard the nightmare stories about the P1 beta :p And, yeah, it isn't as bad as that, but it still has a lot of bugs and not only UI ones. At the top of my head, 2 of my characters didn't get up after being knocked down in the last fight, transitioning to a new area didn't fix it, but reloading did.

 

[Lacrymas]

Lacrymas - how do chanters play? Did you like the changes?

I'd say they and Ciphers are the least changed casters. They don't have any new spells or any new mechanics, nor do they suffer from the limited spells per encounter like the other casters, my Chanter was a Beckoner and I'd say they are pretty badass depending on your spell choices. The only caster who doesn't suffer from Penetration because of the summons and the only caster whose damage doesn't depend either on STR or RES, so you can dump those like there's no tomorrow. They also have quite powerful spells outside of that, like an AoE cone that lowers armor or an AoE cone that paralyzes and they are both instant casts. They are essentially better versions of Ciphers atm. They still have ramp up time due to the phrase building, like Ciphers have to build up focus, but they just have the better spells in the end.

 

[santino27]

Lacrymas - how do chanters play? Did you like the changes?

I'd say they and Ciphers are the least changed casters. They don't have any new spells or any new mechanics, nor do they suffer from the limited spells per encounter like the other casters, my Chanter was a Beckoner and I'd say they are pretty badass depending on your spell choices. The only caster who doesn't suffer from Penetration because of the summons and the only caster whose damage doesn't depend either on STR or RES, so you can dump those like there's no tomorrow. They also have quite powerful spells outside of that, like an AoE cone that lowers armor or an AoE cone that paralyzes and they are both instant casts. They are essentially better versions of Ciphers atm. They still have ramp up time due to the phrase building, like Ciphers have to build up focus, but they just have the better spells in the end.

It's been a bit since I was in the beta, but I remember also liking that their other two subclasses let you focus on phrases (troubadour - phrase effects last longer, so you can twist in more of them, but invocations are more expensive) or invocations (skald -- offensive incocations are cheaper, non-offenseive are more expensive). Nothing earth shattering, but lets people tailor it more to their desired play style.

 

[Lacrymas]

The phrases are a bit meh, tbh. Not to mention that you forego picking an invocation to have access to phrases, which is not a good idea. Invocations are much more powerful than phrases and the shorter the phrases the faster you get the resource needed to cast invocations. The phrases are terribly documented, their numerical effects aren't shown anywhere, so it's hard to weigh the pros and cons of picking a phrase over an invocation. It's a wildly different build if you focus on certain phrases, like the damaging and healing ones, which I don't think is worth it. Dumping RES and STR gives you much more points to spend on the other, more precious, attributes. It's also not entirely clear if DEX affects the speed of accumulating phrases, which if it doesn't you can dump it as well.

 

[Infinitron]

It's also not entirely clear if DEX affects the speed of accumulating phrases, which if it doesn't you can dump it as well.

Didn't in PoE1 and I don't see why that would change here.

 

[santino27]

The phrases are a bit meh, tbh. Not to mention that you forego picking an invocation to have access to phrases, which is not a good idea. Invocations are much more powerful than phrases and the shorter the phrases the faster you get the resource needed to cast invocations. The phrases are terribly documented, their numerical effects aren't show anywhere, so it's hard to weigh the pros and cons of picking a phrase over an invocation. It's a wildly different build if you focus on certain phrases, like the damaging and healing ones, which I don't think is worth it. Dumping RES and STR gives you much more points to spend on the other, more precious, attributes. It's also not entirely clear if DEX affects the speed of accumulating phrases, which if it doesn't you can dump it as well.

I've never liked phrases anyway, which is why I played a multi-class skald (+ some melee class though I cannot remember which) in the beta. But I have to assume someone out there does like phrases (maybe somewho dislikes micromanaging their party and wants a more passive buff bot-style character), so having the option seems reasonable. I don't think the subclasses all have to be equally good, I just think they have to be good enough and offer variety for different types of players and play styles.

 

[Lacrymas]

The problem is that I don't think phrases and invocations have comparable value, yet you are asked to spend your precious level-up points on one or the other. Yes, you can focus on phrases, but why would you? Unless you are willing to have a gimped character who you don't have to micro too much, I suppose. Beckoner is in the weird place where the Sorcerer in BG2 was, their strengths aren't really affected by any attributes, making the character powerful on its own. I haven't decided if that's a good or a bad thing.

 

[santino27]

The problem is that I don't think phrases and invocations have comparable value, yet you are asked to spend your precious level-up points on one or the other. Yes, you can focus on phrases, but why would you? Unless you are willing to have a gimped character who you don't have to micro too much, I suppose. Beckoner is in the weird place where the Sorcerer in BG2 was, their strengths aren't really affected by any attributes, making the character powerful on its own. I haven't decided if that's a good or a bad thing.

Yeah, like I said, I do think Troubadour will appeal to a much smaller subset of players, and really seems to only fill the 'send them into battle and forget about them as they PBAE buff their party and debuff the enemy' niche. Whether that's a niche that needs filling or they just wanted something to counter-balance (mechanics-wise) the skald, and this was the best they could come up with... well, I'm not too concerned about some subclasses being less awesome than others.

As far as beckoners go, I agree they are pretty damn powerful, although we'll see how well those summons scale at higher levels/difficulties. I find their reliance on summons and their lack of reliance on attributes (and, to a certain extent, equipment) makes them fairly boring from a build/gearing standpoint though, so they are not to my taste. I assume there will be very few single-class beckoners, although as a secondary class (mixed with melee or something), it could be very useful. Then again, mixing in a different class results in a greater focus on attributes and gear, which is probably why it's more appealing an idea to me.

 

[Grotesque]

Will Justin Bell manage to topple this?


[/spoiler]

It's what I'm most curious about.

LOL

they should have canned this shitty ass made up in a week universe

In a week? hell no

I bet this game was made up by Sawyer as his dream game since he was managing the forums and nothing else

 

[Lacrymas]

The fact about the Witcher soundtrack is interesting and I can shed some light on that. Given that the melody is very diatonic (only using the main degrees of a scale, in this case natural D minor) and gravitating around the first and fifth of the scale (very, very typical) it's not surprising that many vidya gaem soundtracks sound like that. Tranny's limp dick loading screen "theme" is also in natural D minor and I think it was gravitating around the first and fifth, too, but don't quote me on that, I can't seem to find it in the soundtrack to hear it again to be sure. It's not plagiarism in that sense, just using very stereotypical melodic "gestures" that can be found everywhere, i.e. banal shit boring. Either that or this particular melody is in the public domain and these composers have all used it.

 

[Ent]

Chanter/Shifter druid characters can chant while shifted - its pretty cool.

 

[Lacrymas]

Chanter/Shifter druid characters can chant while shifted - its pretty cool.

This is maybe not a bad idea and I was thinking of it as well. Since you can't cast spells in your shifted form while you are a Shifter, but you can still chant, you can focus on chants like that. Why would you do that instead of going Druid/Rogue is another matter. Lifegiver/Chanter is another possibility, you get access to buffs you don't normally get as a Druid.

 

[Sizzle]

Chanter/Shifter druid characters can chant while shifted - its pretty cool.

Your chants consist of growls, yet are still as effective as ever :D