Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Infinitron]

Started second playthrough now that second part of expansion was released, and after all patching and stuff, I still found bug in Gilded Vale.

Spoiler

Mill Drama quest. After listening yelling part I went to meet dwarf & Co who were outside before going inside the Mill. I was hoping they would order me to kill hippies inside Mill, and after talking trio first, it turns out that if I now talk to Mill dude or trio in the Inn, nothing happens.

Post about it here, upload a saved game: http://forums.obsidian.net/forum/104-pillars-of-eternity-technical-support-spoiler-warning/

 

[Saxon1974]

Any word on first patch yet?

 

[Kem0sabe]

How about a new version of IE mod for expansion?

 

[btbgfel]

Finished WM part 1&2 in about 40 hours on normal, might be longer in PotD if you can put up with pointlessly numerous mobs. The plot is more interesting and epic than chasing a extremist priest around. And in part 2 they certainly learned a few things good(multiply approaches) from Raedric's Hold's design, as the results come off nearly as good.

Spoiler

And damn, talk about moon crazy bitch,good thing I kept that diving helmet around!

Something extra

 

[Urbanolo]

Has anyone beaten

Spoiler

Llengrath

in Mowrghek Ien? It's fucking harder than Alpine Dragon, I die in like 15 secs max and the party managed to kill both PotD Alpine Dragon and level scaled Thaos without much problem.

 

[btbgfel]

Has anyone beaten

Spoiler

Llengrath

in Mowrghek Ien? It's fucking harder than Alpine Dragon, I die in like 15 secs max and the party managed to kill both PotD Alpine Dragon and level scaled Thaos without much problem.

Spoiler

Foods and resing bonuses, and you get a few seconds to buff when fight starts. Engage her with a warrior,throw a wall of draining and a wall of force at her feet. Lure away and distract a dragon with main tank, focus on the other dragon, then the first dragon,llengrath comes last. I played on normal though.

The rewards are not bad if you reason with her

Spoiler

,permanent +1 to each mental attribute and two bog dragon scales. You get four scales if you fight her,plus her grimoire. Unique spells in it are mostly useless, a level 8 spell that hide enemies' hp, lol.

 

[orcinator]

How about a new version of IE mod for expansion?

Wonder if that'll ever happen, the modding scene seems pretty dead

which is nice for me since my wonderful mod

Spoiler

The Grieving Kongou mod, which replaces Grieving Mother's voice with that of a shipgirl from a browser game and anime!



I was really bored.

gets to stay on the front page of the nexus

 

[Nryn]

Finished the expansion on Hard. I was lukewarm towards Part 1 since it felt unnecessary, but Part 2 turned it around and made White March a worthwhile addition as a whole. Here are my thoughts on a few elements of the expansion:

Encounter Design: The most encouraging aspect of the expansion is the noticeable improvement in encounter design from PoE-> WM 1, and again from WM 1-> WM 2. The Concelhaut area in WM 1 was filled with dangerous spellcasters and other nasty enemy combinations, requiring me to experiment with numerous tactics before I could make it through the area. WM 2 continues upping the challenge level by throwing in monks who decimate the squishy party members, along with high level priests and druids whose AoEs can wipe an unprepared party in seconds. But what really impressed me with WM 2's encounter design is that the designers weren't afraid of stacking the odds against the player; most of the set piece fights are ambushes designed to challenge the player to adapt on the fly. Others times the level is designed explicitly for no purpose but to give the enemy an edge against the player (the bridge fight in the Stalwart mines where inaccessible enemy spellcasters rain down potent spells on the party while they're battling ice trolls on the bridge is a fine example of this). PoE suffered from too easy fights, and while WM does not solve the trash mobs issue, I was happy with the frequency of encounters that kept me on my toes. This upward trend in encounter design bodes well for future releases.

Itemization: Soulbound weapons were a much needed addition after the laughable Spear quest in the base game. The Estoc and Mace, in particular, added a lot of chaotic fun to the fights, and they highlight what a missed opportunity PoE's bland itemization was. I also liked the creative ways in which each item's full power unlocks. Future games should run with this Soulbound items idea and expand it even further.

Narrative/Setting: WM 1 was threadbare in its narrative aspects, and served only to establish the backdrop for WM 2's more interesting events. But even then, the continued focus on the Gods aspect of the setting is already wearing thin for me; PoE's setting has gotten too epic right from the start. I've barely been exposed to areas, cultures and people outside the Dyrwood region of Eora, and so all this talk of Gods, their existence and destruction, has such little impact on me since the rules governing them are vague at best, having not been built up through prior games. The expansions also missed an opportunity to build major new narrative conflicts not involving Gods that could have been leveraged in future games. As a result, the only real faction conflict that we've witnessed in the setting is still the disappointingly simple faction conflict from Act 2 in the base game. As it stands, if one does not care for the Gods aspect of the setting, a sequel is going to be a tough sell since a lot of the others aspects of the setting are still underdeveloped and unknown at this stage.

Overall, WM has left me cautious about the potential sequel. Leading up to PoE's launch I was sure the narrative/setting will be the main draw, but after WM, it might be the combat and encounters that I'm most looking forward to, especially if they continue improving at the same rate as in WM. Narrative wise, I'm almost hoping they go back to the drawing board and slow things down. I'd gladly take a bit more "mundane" faction and nation conflicts as opposed to the epic Man Versus Gods storyline that has dominated PoE and its expansions until now.

 

[CptMace]

I'd gladly take a bit more "mundane" faction and nation conflicts as opposed to the epic Man Versus Gods storyline that has dominated PoE and its expansions until now.

Though one does not exclude the other. Gods intriguing against each other might although be an axe of poe's sequel scenario. It's already been for the first one so why not. Liked the bits about how Magran pwned Eothas, mostly because Durance talks about it with his guts.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'd also like more accent on worldly struggles that provide motivation for the PC and the party to go on an adventure in the PnP sense. The setting seems to set the scene for such a theme, but it's never exploited.

 

[Bonerbill]

Encounter Design: The most encouraging aspect of the expansion is the noticeable improvement in encounter design from PoE-> WM 1, and again from WM 1-> WM 2. The Concelhaut area in WM 1 was filled with dangerous spellcasters and other nasty enemy combinations, requiring me to experiment with numerous tactics before I could make it through the area. WM 2 continues upping the challenge level by throwing in monks who decimate the squishy party members, along with high level priests and druids whose AoEs can wipe an unprepared party in seconds. But what really impressed me with WM 2's encounter design is that the designers weren't afraid of stacking the odds against the player; most of the set piece fights are ambushes designed to challenge the player to adapt on the fly. Others times the level is designed explicitly for no purpose but to give the enemy an edge against the player (the bridge fight in the Stalwart mines where inaccessible enemy spellcasters rain down potent spells on the party while they're battling ice trolls on the bridge is a fine example of this). PoE suffered from too easy fights, and while WM does not solve the trash mobs issue, I was happy with the frequency of encounters that kept me on my toes. This upward trend in encounter design bodes well for future releases.

I got to give them props for the bridge fight in stalwart mines. That's the type of encounter you would see in BG2. It gives me hope that that PoE2 will have even better encounter designs.

 

[Anthedon]

Update Notes 3.01 https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/84555-update-301-is-now-live/

Spoiler

Major Fixes

• Fixed a problem where players were unable to loot containers in Ondra's Gift at night.
• Using Abydon's Hammer will now properly unequip offhand items.
• Fixed an issue to prevent the game hanging on completion of some Stronghold adventures.

White March Specific

• Marunn's door in the Great Hall will no longer be sealed if the area, for any reason, resets its persistence data upon returning to it from lower levels of the battery.
• Various balance fixes to combats and skill checks in the Abbey of the Fallen Moon.
• Fixed white box effect appearing on tentacle emerge in Maneha's cutscene in Burden of Memory quest.
• Cleaned up the infiltration option into the Abbey of the Fallen Moon so it will feel less confusing.
• Fixed an issue where attacking Kaoto after peaceful dialogue, then sneaking into Halls of Silence unseen by any other guards, and then selecting a particular dialogue option if discovered by guards in Halls of Silence, will no longer cause the game to hang.
• Adjusted Maneha's stats down to 78. Previously they were at 81.
• Fixed an issue in the Ice Floes scripted interaction in Cayron's Scar so it will display the correct name when a Dexterity check is failed.
• Picking up Grey Sleeper while your character's inventory is full will no longer delete your character's previously equipped weapon.
• Fixed issue with a guard in Cragholdt Bluffs that barks "You had your chance" after every dialogue ending.
• Fixed issues with Mowrghek Ien where combats could be started with enemies that the player could not reach.
• Updated Kraken Poison Cloud to use correct icon/name.
• Fixed problem where the fort gate may not open during an Eyeless attack.
• Ending interstitial now plays proper VO.

Spells and Abilities

• Lowered Reaping Knives focus gain to 30% so that it'll be the correct amount after Soul.
• Updated Healing Chain so its no longer a Spell Chance and now it correct functions as a Spellbind.
• Fixed Triumph of the Crusaders so it is now working correctly.
• Characters now gain Second Wind correctly.
• Fixed a problem where characters were getting Second Wind twice.
• Fixed Distant Advantage accuracy bonus applying as a penalty.
• Updated Hope Eternal so that it now works correctly.

Items

• Infinite-duration status effects from missing equipment will be removed on load.
• Added the Outmanuvering Name to the 2nd unlock for Steadfast for certain classes.
• Steadfast now has the correct unlock for Druids.
• Gyrd Haewanes Stenes will now present a pop-up UI on its final level up.

Gameplay

• Updated new traps so they're using the correct icons and names. Also updated the the Part I Killing Bolt Trap and Storm of Fire Trap.
• Fixed some resting options in dialogues that were not working correctly.
• Option to buy veteran troops for the battle of Yenwood will no longer only display once. It will stay available until purchased.
• Fixed issue with traps not being marked as "Detected" soon enough. This was causing high Mechanics party members to detect friendly "traps" from some spells.

UI

• Fixed area maps so the fog of war correctly covers the entire map in some areas that were having problems.
• Added the sketch to Abydon's Hammer.
• Hooked up new icons for various Eyeless abilities.
• Fixing some bestiary bugs. Eyeless Stonepiercers using the wrong names and Snow Bears not counting to the right Bestiary entry.
• Snow Bear added into the bestiary.
• Fixed grimoire learn buttons not showing the first time a grimoire was opened.
• Form of the Delemgan should have redundant entries in the UI removed.
• Better UI formatting for abilities that reduce affliction durations.

 

[Wolfe]

I'm enjoying the second part of the expansion so far. The narrative is stronger than in the first part, which was exactly what I wanted to see. I also like how they paid more attention to the CYOA sequences.

 

[prodigydancer]

Update Notes 3.01

So they fixed Distant Advantage but Faith and Conviction is still bugged (since 3.0 beta it doesn't receive bonuses from reputations). It's kinda annoying how major patches still break abilities from vanilla.

 

[Rev]

 

[Nihiliste]

I'm encouraged by some of the discussion about the patches and TWM modifications. I will likely give this game another go soon. I really hope someone updates the IE mod for the latest patch, though I suspect that's unlikely.

 

[Infinitron]

http://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/139831751151/idea-for-better-experience-gain-balance-give

melnorme asked: Idea for better experience gain BALANCE. Give every area or act in the game a total amount of experience points it can grant, with each quest in the area giving you a chunk of that amount with diminishing returns for every quest you complete. Do one quest, you get 50%, do two you get 75%, etc. You can still have different quests give different amounts, though (maybe give them the same Minor/Major/etc classification as Stronghold quests?)

That’s sort of how the quest XP currently works, except that it’s not a system of diminishing returns. We assign quests to a level and specify if they are crit path, standard, or minor. The quest level is assigned a lump sum of XP and settings determine what percentage of each total goes to crit path, standard, and minor. Then the number of quests in each category subdivides that portion.

The intention is that the crit path quests give more XP and the side quests tend to have better item rewards. Whether we use our current system or something that has diminishing returns, the thing we’re always watching out for is a situation where players do a quest and the XP they get at the end of it seems totally incommensurate with the effort required to do it.

 

[Infinitron]

Ooh they're still releasing these:

The fifth in our series of videos showing the East Connection Music Recording Company perform music from Pillars of Eternity. In this video, the company performs the theme for Gilded Vale.

 

[Abu Antar]

I wish the next game they work on has an orchestrated soundtrack.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I like the overall soundtrack very much but there are some very annoying tunes like the one from the Stronghold or the combat that forces me to lower the music volume level to 10%. I know that Justin Bell confessed that Stronghold tone is the last of his favorites but still I love the music from Underrail way more. ( it's another genre but still )

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Hmm, is "Hunter's favor" broken?

Spoiler

I rescued the Winter Wolf, and when I was in the Wolf cave I reached out for the "Wolf"s soul. Then I backed away.

No I'm supposed to find the totem at the hollow log (in the abandoned hunters camp, at least that's what I read), but can't click at the log.

Is this broken, or can I do anything to finish this quest the peaceful way?

 

[Prime Junta]

I like the overall soundtrack very much but there are some very annoying tunes like the one from the Stronghold or the combat that forces me to lower the music volume level to 10%. I know that Justin Bell confessed that Stronghold tone is the last of his favorites but still I love the music from Underrail way more. ( it's another genre but still )

IMO the stronghold theme is fine musically. The problem is that it's not recorded live. That grates big-time.

 

[Grotesque]

Ooh they're still releasing these:

The fifth in our series of videos showing the East Connection Music Recording Company perform music from Pillars of Eternity. In this video, the company performs the theme for Gilded Vale.

Oh my God, what a piece of insipid piece of shit.

 

[Sannom]

Hmm, is "Hunter's favor" broken?

Spoiler

I rescued the Winter Wolf, and when I was in the Wolf cave I reached out for the "Wolf"s soul. Then I backed away.

No I'm supposed to find the totem at the hollow log (in the abandoned hunters camp, at least that's what I read), but can't click at the log.

Is this broken, or can I do anything to finish this quest the peaceful way?

Have you tried to

Spoiler

speak to his father before going to the camp? I know you can ask him about the totem, maybe the cache isn't there or requires an insane amount of mechanic until you talk to him?

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Spoiler

You mean that Thrysc or whatever he's called who gives you the quest? Well thanks for spoiling me, I had no idea he is his father. :D But yes, I talked to him.
But on a second thought, not about the totem though. Maybe I'll try talking to him again. Thx!