Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[Quillon]

if you want to play new Codex-acclaimed games like Wasteland 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 you have to go with 10

changed your mind about Wasteland 3 being InXile's best gaym? :D

or was it a prediction?

? I believed that would be the case and it appears to be so given that it's the winner of this year's popular vote.

thought you used "codex-acclaimed games" sarcastically since no one even talks about WL3 for a while now and I don't know if cyberpunk has a clear codex consensus yet

 

[NJClaw]

This just proves how shitty this year was for RPGs.

Better than 2019 though.

2019 gave us the turn based mod for Kingmaker (which in turn gave us the official turn based mode for both Kingmaker AND WotR), so I don't know what you are talking about.

 

[Roguey]

thought you used "codex-acclaimed games" sarcastically since no one even talks about WL3 for a while now and I don't know if cyberpunk has a clear codex consensus yet

Poll's right here https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/codex-goty-2020-not-the-official-codex-goty.136400/page-14

The top three that aren't none of the above are Wasteland 3, Troubleshooter, and Cyberpunk.

 

[Nano]

*-*/\--/\~ Sergiu64

Here's a picture of Windows Server 2019. LTSC edition is the same but without the server-oriented features.

 

[Sergiu64]

Yeah, I have Win 10 at work. I don't know what's different about this LTSC edition - but I don't like the one I have at work as much as I like my home Win 7.

Plus I got burned with an old laptop I had - after it "upgraded to Win 10" it gets caught in some kind of failure loop where it tries to install some Win 10 update - then gets stuck forever trying to finish installing it after restarting. Making that laptop useless.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Whoops wrong thread.

 

[MajorMace]

lmao

 

[Fishy]

So, started this one. It's been in my to-play list for what feels like forever, and felt like giving it a go at the weekend. Right from character creation, it looks neat with the various races and classes extensively described. You can feel the effort in lore-building.

Of course, after musing about all the possibilities, the lore, the roleplay, I still ended up rolling a mountain dwarf fighter.

Am not too far, but I have a party of 4 now (Aloth, Durance, and errr, the Chanter dude) managed to pretty much clear out everything up to Caer Nua, and unlock the stronghold. Did a couple floors in the stronghold dungeon too, but at this point, I more feel like pushing a bit on the story, so I'll keep exploring the landscape.

From what I've done so far, I like the gameplay. The per-encounter, per-rest abilities are more to my liking than the cooldown management of Tyranny which I found over the top. The life/endurance system is neat too, reducing the need for resting while still providing some degree of attrition. Some fights here and there pushed me into a good few retries and (ab)using magic and tapping into consumables. Raedric I think is the name of the king you can depose? Fighting that dude with his horde of paladins, the priest and the archmage was a nice crash course in abusing doorway tanking and cc magic. I didn't have the chanter by then either, so that was with a party of 3. For my fighter, I am going down the way of 2-handed Estoc to hit hard and abuse DR bypass. The DR system strikes me as super punishing for fast/weak striking weapons, so as tempting as dual hatchets were, I feel like I'll be better served with a big 2-hander.

Inventory management is... amusing... The always-available vault is convenient and handy considering the amount of almost-worthless loot. As a dwarf, if moldy shoes can be sold for 3c, you can bet I'll put them in my bag, so in that sense, the vault is a match made in heaven. I can't shake off the idea that it wouldn't be as critically needed if loot was less plentiful but worth more. Meh, I don't really mind either way.

All in all, so far it's an enjoyable high-quality-of-life ride. Stuff like a bit of zoom in/out, fast mode... I'd have killed for that fast mode button in BG1 and 2.

 

[adddeed]

Good write up.
White March is even better.
People like bash on PoE here for stupid reasons, but PoE1+PoE2 is some of the best cRPG gaming you can find.
The mechanics are so much better than DnD.

 

[Fishy]

Made it to what I presume is about the half-way mark in Act II, then took off to the White March since it seems pretty well rated. Wandered out, met a group of elves towing a chained ogre with them and I have to tip my hat to the devs: any game that provides me with [Punch the nearest elf] as a dialogue option has my absolute seal of approval.

 

[Delterius]

The Welsh were chosen by God to guard His ruins.

The Jews were ignored by God and banished to asia, where they became desert koreans.

What did Josh mean by this?

 

[Fishy]

Playthrough update for whoever cares. White March part 1 fully cleared, leaving me with some fantastic new soulbound gear: the holy avenger style two handed sword that rezzes people, now wielded by my dwarf main, and the Stormcaller bow which the dwarf lady ranger is abusing. That shock bow is so great I pumped up her attack speed and shock damage with perks since. Durgan Battery was a nice dungeon, just about the right size and with enough challenge/variety that it took a while to methodically go through it, yet it didn't overstay its welcome. I had a few wipes here and there forcing me to better manage my buffs and placement. The final fight at the forge had a stupid party placement that got me to wipe instantly too, but afterwards I initiated it from the stairs, with now-full-tank Eder pulling the foes up. It required a few attempts, and even the winning one almost had a wipe with a single living armour remaining, but I had pulled Kana back for a reset, which didn't happen since combat wouldn't reset. Burned my scroll of rez, and finished the fight: turns out, one of the swarf spirits was still left too, but with a full party, it was smooth. The forge itself was a disappointment. I tied the spirits to it, but all I get are shitty steel ingots that allow me to buff gear up a little, meh.

From there, it was back to Defiance Bay and Act 2 cleanup. With the leveling in WM, it was a hilarious cakewalk, which I crowned with a gratuitous raid in the Doemenel manor, because they're arse wipes. Ended up siding with the Crucible Knights because 1) they have a dwarf smith and 2) they're the only ones that are not complete idiots. Things obviously escalated, and I left a burning city, but only after Aloth picked up all the parts to a scepter that has 10% to cast Dominate on hit... This thing is insanely hilarious. With Kana now summoning Ogres and aoe rezzing at will, my party is starting to pack a punch. Oh, I also wiped the floor with the pretender who wanted my castle. I had the crucible knights to mop up his anti-paladins, and my Ogre buddies from White March which I sent against stupid traitor dwarfs that should have known better than side with a human instead of their mountain fellow. Didn't have anything to manage the warlocks, but that wasn't a problem for my party then. Castle is now firmly mine and fully upgraded. I even managed to collect and later sell off a few prisoners.

Anyhow, Act 3 had started, so I cleared the connecting area to Twin Elms, and arrived at the town. By then, the party is level 12 and I have White March calling me back for part 2, so I'm off there. Did some little local questing, fixed the big cannons, and went to "infiltrate" the Iron Flail camp. Of course I failed, so I had to murder a few more dozen people, including the leader, since I failed to make him see reason. Ah well. And of course, now I found out about the plot from the spirit of that bastard of an old lady, and earthquake-like shit is hitting the fan outside of the leader's tent. That was a good point for a cliffhanger break, so I left it at that for now. Back tonight to find out about that Eyeless army and dwarf them into submission.



Impressions are still pretty much the same. The mechanics are really good and a great fit for RTWP. Encounter design is surprisingly good with plenty of fights that can result in a wipe if you go in lazily. I also appreciate the no-scaling (well, there is, but it was optional and I told the game to piss off). Plot/lore wise, I really enjoy the world. Now, I may have to eat my words later as the story unfolds, but for now, I love how the plot is both massive (ancient grudges, old war, the Legacy...) yet is pretty localised to this little region of the world and not a universe-ending scheme. There's plenty of exposition to the world outside through books, quests, companions, and it's refreshing to know that there is more than this shitty hellhole of a never-ending natives-vs-invaders woodland.

This has been good enough for me that I picked up Deadfire on the cheap over the weekend. Don't think I'll dive straight into it after finishing this one, but I know I'll get to it eventually.

 

[adddeed]

Good write up. PoE is a gem.
If you like a more excotic setting and pirate flavor you'll love PoE2.
For me i enjoyed it even more than PoE, plus it looks amazing.

 

[MajorMace]

I suspect story/companions may disappoint you in poe2, but otherwise it's very much worth a play if you like the first game.

 

[Nano]

It still annoys me that the characters who were actually interesting were relegated to sidekicks in Deadfire.

 

[FreeKaner]

Maybe they were interesting because someone isn't there to ruin them with overwriting.

 

[Piotrovitz]

now wielded by my dwarf main, and the Stormcaller bow which the dwarf lady ranger is abusing.

Fully upgraded, this is the single most OP weapon in the game in the hands of a ranger, especially with driving flight and twin arrows talents, where you're just spamming stuns left and right.

Dunno what difficulty you are playing on, but obviously you are not having a hard times, so I suggest you to dump it and replace with Persistence or Borresaine - less OPd, but still powerful, especially Persistence with it's DoT, which synergizes with one of the ranger's animal companion talents (not sure what it was, the one bumping dmg done to mobs hit with DoT)

Also, good for you that you haven't found the hidden spellbook in WM1 which contains one unique spell, which is basically a fireball that paralyzes everything on failed fortitude check - absurdly OPd spell, that like Stormcaller, makes rest of the game too easy.

Other than that, the itemization in WM1/2 is pretty cool and fun - especially the soulbound estoc or the Nightshroud mace that I always give to my melee priest.

 

[Fishy]

Dunno what difficulty you are playing on, but obviously you are not having a hard times, so I suggest you to dump it and replace with Persistence or Borresaine - less OPd, but still powerful, especially Persistence with it's DoT, which synergizes with on of the ranger's animal companion talents (not sure what it was, the one bumping dmg done to mobs hit with DoT)

Hmm, will take a look at the stash, neither name rings a bell, not sure I have these.

Also, good for you that you haven't found the hidden spellbook in WM1 which contains one unique spell, which is basically a fireball that paralyzes everything on failed fortitude check - absurdly OPd spell, that like Stormcaller, makes rest of the game too easy.

That definitely doesn't ring a bell. I'll check it out on wiki after beating the game, I wonder how I could miss that as I thought I had pretty thoroughly cleaned up the areas! Unless it's a bounty, as I only did the first two.

Other than that, the itemization in WM1/2 is pretty cool and fun - especially the soulbound estoc or the Nightshroud mace that I always give to my melee priest.

Hah, now these are familiar! The soulbound estoc I was excited for, but I ended up reloading as not being able to switch weapons anymore was a big no-no for me. If it had permanently occupied a quickslot, fair enough, but as it? No way, I love my vessel-killing greatsword too much, and am looking forward to even more loot in Act 3 and WM2. I'd be pretty pissed off to find even better and not being able to try it out.

Nightshroud is the one from the altar in the mines I think? It did look awesome, but I have no one to really wield it. For the priest slot, I use Durance as a support caster with an arbalest otherwise, with little armour so that the spells cycle faster, so he's way too squishy for melee. But I have to say the soulbound weapons are great. Love the surprise buffs every time you level them up.

 

[Parabalus]

That definitely doesn't ring a bell. I'll check it out on wiki after beating the game, I wonder how I could miss that as I thought I had pretty thoroughly cleaned up the areas! Unless it's a bounty, as I only did the first two.

There's another copy of the unique spell in WM2, the grimoire there is a bit more conspicuous.

The one in WM1 is hidden on the main battery map, there's a map in the woods for it.

soulbound estoc

If you fully upgrade it you can remove it.

 

[Fishy]

soulbound estoc

If you fully upgrade it you can remove it.

Haha, fair enough, and I wondered about this or a remove-curse-questline, but didn't feel like chancing it. I'll leave it in the rock this time round, it wouldn't be honest to go collect it now.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Hah, now these are familiar! The soulbound estoc I was excited for, but I ended up reloading as not being able to switch weapons anymore was a big no-no for me. If it had permanently occupied a quickslot, fair enough, but as it? No way, I love my vessel-killing greatsword too much, and am looking forward to even more loot in Act 3 and WM2.

When it comes to greatswords I've always preferred Tidefall or St. Rumbalt, but the one you're talking about is invaluable in the WM2 when dealing with Eyeless', that can be instakilled with it.

Dunno what difficulty you are playing on, but obviously you are not having a hard times, so I suggest you to dump it and replace with Persistence or Borresaine - less OPd, but still powerful, especially Persistence with it's DoT, which synergizes with on of the ranger's animal companion talents (not sure what it was, the one bumping dmg done to mobs hit with DoT)

Hmm, will take a look at the stash, neither name rings a bell, not sure I have these.

Persistence is on 5th or 6th floor of Caed Nua, Borresaine is for sale from one of the merchants in Copperlane.
Dunno if you're ranger already has driving flight and twin arrows, but once you get those with Stormcaller the rest of the game is trivial, even on PotD.

 

[Nano]

I have no idea how the paralyzing Fireball was even allowed to happen. I thought Sawyer was supposed to be obsessed with balancing.

 

[Lacrymas]

There are a bazillion ways to break this game, the paralysing fireball is just the cherry on top. If you are looking for a challenge, I suggest not taking a Priest along. The party dynamics change quite a lot without one.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There are a bazillion ways to break this game, the paralysing fireball is just the cherry on top. If you are looking for a challenge, I suggest not taking a Priest along. The party dynamics change quite a lot without one.

Durance is one of the few reasons to play this game

 

[Lacrymas]

Even though he's one of the reasons to play it, I play mostly with mercenaries.