Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Grunker]

I fucking hate that RPGs force you to choose between competent builds (create your own party) or content (use NPCs) like this. Why can't we have both? Asked Josh about it regarding Deadfire but he hasn't responded yet

PoE's companions were given a bit of a jack of all trades spread so you could build them towards whichever playstyle you prefer. The content was balanced around this. Deadfire will likely be the same.

Don't give a shit and Josh shouldn't either - he is the gamist after all. He's made plenty of excuses for dubious abstractions in other places. If the player can live with it, why deny them the option?

Well you can, you just have to use mods, which a power user should have no problem with. Josh does care to some extent, after all that's why he designed PoE's attributes the way he did: so "role playing" builds wouldn't feel terrible.

ad. 1. I'm saying there's no reason not to have the option.

Ad. 2. you can't, actually. There is no mod with full Level 1 NPC functionality for PoE.

It's also a matter of keeping the content fun. I've played through the game twice now, I want to test out new party combinations both in terms of builds but also companions. There isn't really a reason not to let the player do this except whatever arbitrary reasons the dev can conjure up.

 

[Lacrymas]

What do you mean by "full level 1 NPC functionality"? I know you can change the companions' stats with Eternity Keeper, so.

 

[Quillon]

I know you can change the companions' stats with Eternity Keeper

Does that stick tho? I heard one of the patches made it so companions' attributes reset every time a new area loads.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Josh discussed Pallegina and the fact there is a mod that changes her stats in his second PoE GDC talk (of Gods and Dumps) I think. He took her as an example to demonstrate how PoE's stats system gives about a 20-25% bonus when an ability is "maxed out" but gives a substantial penalty when something is at the minimum. Personally, I've done a POTD playthrough with Pallegina in the party, she was a little squishier than most, but it wasn't much of a problem

 

[Starwars]

For a standard PotD run (no solo hijinx or anything like that), I had no trouble at all using a mix of the standard companions (swapping them in and out for different parties). One might argue that one *should* have to finetune the party more to play on PotD of course, but yeah... it's perfectly playable with the standard companions despite their stats being not so optimized.

 

[Quillon]

despite their stats being not so optimized

They are viabilized!

 

[Lacrymas]

It is playable, but you constantly get the nagging feeling they are ultimately subpar and you could do so much more with better people. Just like in real life lolololol. Anyway, the factions are even more underdeveloped than I remembered, I did 3 quests for the Doemenels and got their buff and total allegiance. The quest-line hints at better and grander things that could've been done, like inciting a civil war between the Dozens and the Knights or making the Doemenels the center of infamy by not planting the token. So much wasted potential it hurts. The quests were also kinda vanilla, just petty crimes here and there, the only notable one being the assassination of the Marshal. I think it needs another faction, a more sinister or unknowable one, maybe the Hand Occult, because I don't think my character would've worked for any of them. The dispositions are also fucked, I'm cruel 2, but people refer to me as a thug and trouble-maker when it comes up, but I don't think that's right. You can be the most cruel person in the world, but also blood-chillingly calm, calculating and collected, it has nothing to do with thug behavior.

 

[FreeKaner]

Pallegina has unoptimised stats but her attack speed boost for the party is very strong, also unique to her.

 

[Lacrymas]

Got everyone to level 7 and buffed myself with the Gift from the Machine and sacrificing Sagani, now onto White March to see what the fuss is all about. I must say, sacrificing your companion in such a horrific way is pretty damn cold, even for me. I hope the buff lasts in PoE2 when we import our save.

 

[fobia]

Yeah, although Eothas' soul stealing (reason for your loss of power/levels), could affect that as well.

 

[Lacrymas]

I hope not, at least they should let us keep one of the buffs, so there's a tangible gameplay benefit from having played through PoE1.

EDIT: Did the Final Act quest and wow, it's so fucked up. I loved it and it shows that someone at Obsidian still has an artistically creative spark in them. It could've been explored more, but when talking about PoE you take what you can get.

 

[eXalted]

EDIT: Did the Final Act quest and wow, it's so fucked up. I loved it and it shows that someone at Obsidian still has an artistically creative spark in them. It could've been explored more, but when talking about PoE you take what you can get.

I... have... missed that quest


Stopped reading about it in the wiki. Saved for the next playthrough.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, it's very easy to miss because the prerequisite is strange and you wouldn't remember to connect them. It makes sense, but the orlan is tucked out of the way so it's easy to fly over the radar after talking to Lady Webb.

 

[Quillon]

I hope the buff lasts in PoE2 when we import our save.

Will Pillars of Eternity story talents—for example, Gift of the Machine, Effigy's Resentment—be retained if we import our save?

JS: The plan is that yes those will appear in some form. I can't say it will take the exact same form that they did in Pillars 1, but our plan is to carry those over in some way that feels rewarding for making those choices.

Of course, there will probably be a consequence for that as well. Because that's the whole point is to have a consequence as well as a benefit from that. So that's the plan: as many of those things as possible would continue over. We might not be able to do everything, though.

 

[Iznaliu]

'm cruel 2, but people refer to me as a thug and trouble-maker when it comes up, but I don't think that's right

Cruel is different from cruel.

 

[Lacrymas]

I actually avoided a fight with Gathbin's elf mercenary captain because I threatened her to make her suffer and she believed me due to my reputation. More of that please, that's White March content, though. She said she sees an intense darkness in my eyes, which was somewhat poetic and I liked it because of that.

 

[Sannom]

I actually avoided a fight with Gathbin's elf mercenary captain because I threatened her to make her suffer and she believed me due to my reputation. More of that please, that's White March content, though.

Technically, it's not White March content, it's patch 3.0 content.

 

[Lacrymas]

So, Od Nua level 7. There are 4 adragans spam summoning blights, 2 animat priests buffing everything, a bunch of spectres and a bunch of animat soldiers and the battle seems impossible. Any tips or am I simply underleveled? Everyone is level 8.

 

[pomenitul]

I waited until level 10 before tackling that fight on PotD but my party consisted exclusively of story companions so your mileage may vary.

 

[Lacrymas]

The problem is the adragans casting Lightning Storm or whatever the name was, the one which stuns you constantly. I don't have the prayer against stuns yet.

 

[pomenitul]

Litany Against Major Afflictions (level 6) works but it's single-target only. Stun-happy opponents remain a nuisance throughout.

 

[Lacrymas]

I have 2 priests, so that's not a problem :p If the Lightning Storm didn't exist I could easily take them by blocking the doorway, but those chain stuns wreck me. And sometimes Dominate. I simply can't do anything with this fight, so I'll get to a higher level then come back.

 

[Prime Junta]

Adragans are scary but they're relatively fragile. Just hit 'em with all you got. Also, now's the time to use your summons and scrolls.

I don't recall exactly how I beat that fight but I don't remember having all that much trouble (a couple of reloads maybe), and I'm pretty sure I was below level 10 -- I guess around 8 or thereabouts. If you breezed through Raedric like you say, I'm pretty sure you have what it takes to beat it -- I had a lot harder time with that one.

 

[Starwars]

I can't really remember the fights in the Od Nua paths but I do remember some of them being quite a bit harder after... some patch (3.0 or some patch after). There was one fight where I felt like the difficulty spiked quite a bit, might've been that one.

But yeah, eh... get a level or two and come back and stomp it.

 

[Lacrymas]

Just beat it, I had to make a larger hole in the blockade so more enemies could come through and get slaughtered faster, and get to the adragans. Had to kill the blights asap, though.