Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Delterius]

if it was established that, in one way or another, you come across him in every incarnation, usually without even being aware of why you are opposing him.

This is extremely important for two other reasons. First that the other good example of a story like that is Mask of the Betrayer, Obsidian's saving throw for NwN2. While MotB isn't all out about a cycle of rebirths, one of its themes is that people wear masks (roles) and that history repeats itself around the PC's curse. In that game, the repetition isn't used to shore up any protagonist, but its used to draw parallels and direct connections between everyone you meet and the curse bearer's past. Every place you come across and every person you meet reinforces the history of Akashi's curse that way. Something similar to be done between Iovara, Thaos and the PC. Second, this sort of eternal recurrence is also a common theme on the pastiche spiritualism that Pillar's setting draws upon so there's that too.

 

[Infinitron]

I never got the impression that Thaos had met any "previous incarnations" of yours between the current meeting and the original one. It was just the two.

 

[Lacrymas]

They still should've been playable, to give actual weight to your whole "relationship", with the writing guiding you to betray Iovara, to the point of feeling justified for doing it. Maybe all Watcher related visions should've been playable (without the backer NPCs *shudder*).

 

[Sizzle]

I never got the impression that Thaos had met any "previous incarnations" of yours between the current meeting and the original one. It was just the two.

It was briefly mentioned near the end of the game, but so offhandedly that it was probably just something they forgot to edit out (similar to Aloth's realization about the gods from the conversation with the delemgans).

 

[Xeon]

If they ever do PoE2 I hope they get rid of the disposition or if not improve it a lot.

I just started playing PoE again to try and beat it finally since I kinda enjoyed Tyranny. I kinda dislike how Vengence from Beyond the grave makes it so letting the couple go with no evidence is a Benevolent act, to me that feels chaotic or something, believing someone with no evidence at all.

 

[Lacrymas]

The UI dispenses objective judgement on your actions. If we go deeper, it's like the chorus in the Greek tragedies, speaking from the vantage point of objectivity. Absurdian haven't gone so deep, so it's simply the writers' perspective on your actions and the UI acting as an omniscient judge, i.e. they should get rid of it and have logical outcomes for your actions.

 

[Roguey]

I kinda dislike how Vengence from Beyond the grave makes it so letting the couple go with no evidence is a Benevolent act, to me that feels chaotic or something, believing someone with no evidence at all.

It is a compassionate thing to do. There is no alignment in Pillars.

 

[Sizzle]

I kinda dislike how Vengence from Beyond the grave makes it so letting the couple go with no evidence is a Benevolent act, to me that feels chaotic or something, believing someone with no evidence at all.

It is a compassionate thing to do. There is no alignment in Pillars.

Exactly. Besides, many characters in PoE view a high benevolence score as you being weak and easy to manipulate.

The disposition system could do with some fine tuning (as it stands now - there aren't many exclusive quests and quest solutions based on your disposition), but it's a step up when compared to D&D alignment.

 

[Xeon]

What about the poor guy who got stabbed and killed for no reason other than hearsay from the people who cuckold him?

I should get compassion for helping the poor bastard.

 

[FreeKaner]

What about the poor guy who got stabbed and killed for no reason other than hearsay from the people who cuckold him?

I should get compassion for helping the poor bastard.

Who?

 

[Roguey]

What about the poor guy who got stabbed and killed for no reason other than hearsay from the people who cuckold him?

I should get compassion for helping the poor bastard.

And it increases your reputation for honesty if you take it to the magistrate. Attacking them increases your reputation for aggressiveness (and of course it would, because you're not the law).

I looked this up and the benevolence rep increases when you specifically turn down their bribe. If you accept it or just tell them to get the hell out, it won't.

 

[Prime Junta]

I liked the dispositions. Playing as a paladin or priest and trying to stick to your favoured disposition, with the dialogue flags off, was kinda fun.

 

[Infinitron]

The dispositions are strictly a "first order" descriptor of attitude. They don't account for how saying something nasty to somebody might in the bigger picture be Benevolent towards somebody else etc. The system would lose all coherence pretty quickly if they tried to do that.

 

[Xeon]

When you tell the Magistrate about a crime, he asks about evidence, you can tell him he had a vision and he dismisses you, which is kinda appropriate.

You can also tell him you'll get evidence but there are none AFAICT. I could be wrong tho, I kinda wish if you could ask the locals or something about the disposition of the people involved in the quest. To see if what the couple said about them is true or not and if the dead was bad or not, something like that would have been kinda great.

 

[Roguey]

The corpse was eaten by a bear(s), of course there's not going to be any evidence.

 

[Barnabas]

The first time I played I didn't play very ranged heavy. But the second time I made sure everyone had a ranged weapon. It makes a huge difference in battle when you focus your entire parties first round on a single target.

I also used a rogue which i didn't use the first time (first time used dps barb) and although she was good for awhile I think I gave up micromanaging her towards the end and just let her shoot from behind. She still had the most damage dealt.

I also fought the Sky Dragon the second time so I could get that certain ending. That was my luckiest battle as everyone was dead and my Druid cast one last spell to defeat her.

 

[Roguey]

If you beeline through the crit path, doing only a few sidequests along the way, you'll be at the entrance to the endgame area just short of level 7 after only ~15 hours. If one has The White March, this is arguably the only way to play since it eliminates overleveling entirely (except for the final dungeon, obviously nothing can be done about that).

I'm not going to try to tackle the endgame this early though, the banshees are a good disincentive, and I recall finding the Thaos fight demanding even at level 12.

 

[Red Rogue]

Christ, I can't wait till college is over and I can upgrade from this laptop to a proper PC.
I'm playing this game for the first time and when I got into defiance bay tonight my game became a hardly playable mess. This is on low settings too.

 

[Turjan]

By the way, I still haven't finished this. I had played the first two acts of the main story, half the Endless Paths and the first part of White March (except Cragholdt), and suddenly, I lost steam. Then again, as I'm a rather slow player, this had already taken a huge amount of time. I've since played in smaller bursts, wrapped up most of the Endless Paths, half of WM pt.2 and some Act III quests. I should feel a bit more excited, as I still have all dragon fights left, the Abbey (I have only cleared the outside since the game ignored my choice of who should throw the rope across the chasm), Cragholdt and the Act III main story.

I'm not really sure why I have a hard time with wrapping things up. I have actually liked most of the game so far. I guess the main problem was that White March is an add-in. You already have all kinds of short side quests, those distracting stronghold quests, and the Endless Paths in the main game, and then you go romping through the snowy landscapes with their own very nice story, and this somehow eroded my will to continue with the main story. On the other hand, the somewhat rough transition from WM pt. 1 to pt. 2 managed to do the same with my enthusiasm for the WM story. Which was the time when I wrapped up the Endless Paths except the last level, which was altogether much too easy at that point (except the last fight obviously).

I guess I somehow lost my pacing here. Let's see when I will have enough patience to try out some tactics in those dragon fights.

 

[Sentinel]

Should have gotten it on GOG then.

 

[Sherry]

Hi.

Turjan, I just finished playing White March One expansion and had to keep myself from completing the game in ACT 3 just so I could play both. Couldn't agree more about the stronghold. Even when you try to put it to the back of your mind, you still get those annoying pop-up reminders about things going on there. Never made me care about the location enough. Lack of connection, story, etc., to the place. It's just not very well thought out. Loading times too. Uggness!

White March though is very well done, compact, beautiful area design and story structure. Starting White March Two, I've read there are a number of what they call filler mobs, which I don't mind if you can use conversation skills to avoid them. Looks like it really will be more of the same though. I've really enjoyed the game but enough is enough. I make use of story mode if the mobs become too filler for me and plow through them to reach the story and dialog again. Guess that is part of my pacing too, I just haven't quit!

Thanks,
Randal

 

[TripJack]

why is there no official rpgcodex review of the expansion you faggots

 

[Sizzle]

why is there no official rpgcodex review of the expansion you faggots

It would be interesting to read a follow-up review by Grunker now that it's been patched up and expanded with new content.

 

[Prime Junta]

why is there no official rpgcodex review of the expansion you faggots

Infini did ask me for one, but in the end I figured the Codex has had about as much of Prime Junta on Pillars that it can safely handle. Would read it if someone else got around to writing it.

 

[Sizzle]

why is there no official rpgcodex review of the expansion you faggots

Infini did ask me for one, but in the end I figured the Codex has had about as much of Prime Junta on Pillars that it can safely handle.

Well, yes. No matter what you write, every new review you do will inevitably devolve into shit-slinging about how you're the reason Bubbles left.