Pillars of Eternity Thread [Pre-Expansion]

[VentilatorOfDoom]

You can get back to Defiance Bay soon after.

thanks, yeah I wasn't really riled up about missing it anyway because I expected it to suck balls just like the rest of the unique weapons I've found so far

 

[Darth Roxor]

Aloth (chain lightning) crits Thaos for 201 damage *gib*

roll credits

thanks for the ride

 

[Bubbles]

Thaos is the end boss then?

 

[AN4RCHID]

Better than the first ending I got

Spoiler

jumping to my death on Burial Isle

 

[Haba]

You fool, that's the best ending!

 

[Cyberarmy]

Aloth (chain lightning) crits Thaos for 201 damage *gib*

roll credits

thanks for the ride

I had a similar experience with my rogue critting him for 210 ish with an arbalest.
Reloaded after credits tried with dual wield, party got wiped 3 times

 

[AwesomeButton]

So, I've found a murder weapon, and since I know there are those "soul detectives" at Dunryd Row, I zoom there to have it checked. The wookie that's in charge of Dunryd Row, when I ask him what does he do, explains to me with the exact same words, that they can look at murder weapons and trace the murderer, so exactly what I need, right? Wrong. I don't have the dialogue option to give him the murder weapon I have in my inventory.

Well, thank you for this bit of reactivity.

If this was Arcanum it would have worked.

 

[Abu Antar]

I enter the thread and see ending spoilers? I need to stay away until I beat the game.

 

[One-and-a-half-Ivan]

Wow, the gods' quests in the third Act are awesome. So awesome that because of them I won't have proper sleep before tomorrow's work

 

[Blaine]

Oh yeah, here's my swag (I don't know why I choose to use words I hate... whatever):

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Thaos is the end boss then?

No, it's a Sarevok-Irenicus tag team. However, if you maxed out mechanics you can detect a secret room and fight the real end boss, a tall, thin, paleskinned blonde guy that is immune to engagement, armed with a sniper rifle and constantly yells gamer slang insults at you in an Australian accent.

 

[Maculo]

I am fighting the Forge Knights on PotD. I think that is actually one of the better encounters. They consistently use Chain Lightning and Noxious Burst. It makes for a good fight.

 

[agris]

I am fighting the Forge Knights on PotD. I think that is actually one of the better encounters. They consistently use Chain Lightning and Noxious Burst. It makes for a good fight.

Are you finding PotD a slog, or are you actually enjoying it? If so, could you describe what you find enjoyable? I started a PotD game as a druid and restarted after Gilded Vale, it just wasn't fun.

 

[Lhynn]

I am fighting the Forge Knights on PotD. I think that is actually one of the better encounters. They consistently use Chain Lightning and Noxious Burst. It makes for a good fight.

Yeah, i selected all and clicked on the target the fuck out of those encounters. had to rest at the end of it tho, i took damage.

 

[Maculo]

I am playing Priest and I have 2 hired adventurers (Barbarian and Paladin), plus Durance and Grieving Mother. I am trying not to use slicken as a crutch this time. I am finding it enjoyable so far. It requires more attention in my opinion. I admit that without slicken, I am very dependent on the Priest Seals to take out groups.

Edit: To actually answer your question, I like that some fights become down to the last standing character. It can be prevented with a proper set up, but I find myself in that situation more often then on hard.

[
Yeah, i selected all and clicked on the target the fuck out of those encounters. had to rest at the end of it tho, i took damage.

Chain lightning just does way more damage that I expected on PotD. I have especially a tough time when a group of 5 cast it. I am level 5 and so I assume I am at the right level for them, unlike hard, where I always felt overleveld.

 

[DeepOcean]

Are you finding PotD a slog, or are you actually enjoying it? If so, could you describe what you find enjoyable? I started a PotD game as a druid and restarted after Gilded Vale, it just wasn't fun.

PotD is really bad until you figure out a way of consistently debuffing/AoE the enemies without abusing rest spells. It adds more enemies and buffs their attributes, life, defenses by 50% what makes the fights harder but the problem is that this makes them longer too. You will die to trash mobs if you don't pay attention but having to be careful for each trash mob fight can get tiresome quick as you don't need to change tactics much just micromanage the same tactics over and over for the most part.

I recommend getting a cipher to spam those debuff/AoE spells on trash mobs and two tanks as one tank wasn't enough some times, some summons are really good too to distract the enemies later and take some pressure off the tanks. With exception of the harder fights where I unleashed the hell of my casters, most fights was Cipher cast debuff/AoE with tanks holding enemies on choke points. If fights were on open spaces and there weren't choke points. Charm enemies here, spam mind binding, use Chanters summons... On any fight with Will O Wisps or other enemies that dominate or confuse, don't think twice on alpha striking them out of orbit.

 

[AN4RCHID]

Gamespot review was (finally) posted - http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/pillars-of-eternity-review/1900-6416091/

The games that spawned Pillars of Eternity were wordy, but Obsidian takes narrative density to new heights, dumping heaps of lore onto the table and overwhelming its personal stories with long histories of war replete with fictional words like "Fonestu" and "ferconyg." The writing is lovely: "How canst I, so lowly and worn, speak words of proper adulation?" cries the author of a prayer so aching in its beauty that you might be convinced it is a Biblical psalm.

...

Ultimately, Pillars of Eternity does not benefit from its inconsistent acting, nor do its characters inspire the same kinds of emotional connections that Dragon Age: Origins does. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by many of their stories, and the Grieving Mother's most of all.

...

It is in battle that Pillars of Eternity most excels. When you lead your party into combat, the game pauses (in default settings, anyway), and you pause-and-unpause your way through various tactical decisions, attacking your foes and commanding magic in Baldur's Gate fashion. In time, the chants you hear when battle begins becomes an emotional call to arms, catalyzing your brain into action, and marshaling your fingers into gear. You click from one party member portrait to the next, assigning targets to your paladin, blessing your companions with your priest, and calling for your druid to shoot a bee swarm from her fingers. You've done this before, but Pillars' pleasant interface keeps your attention on the tactics and minimizes the clicks.

...

The deep dungeon beneath it notwithstanding, the stronghold doesn't add much in the way of meaningful gameplay; it's presence is primarily cosmetic and atmospheric, and its purpose is to reflect your increasing influence. It is a digital snowglobe, meant to be noticed and appreciated, rather than a vital system.

...

It's easy to lose sight of those issues when you're lost in a fantasy and captured by a game's rhythms, however, and Pillars of Eternity effortlessly ensnares you, both by reminding you of the places you've been, and by showing you things you didn't expect. It is not changing the future, but it is repackaging the past in a way that deserves praise while falling into a few old traps--and creating a few of its own--along the way. You can easily dodge these traps, however, and emerge victorious in a world where the gods show you both scorn and favor, and it's up to you to hew your own path.

8/10... Could knock it down a MC point.

 

[Shevek]

It did... Gamespot...they gave DA:I a 9/10 by the way. DA2 got a 8/10... same as PoE.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Gamespot review was (finally) posted - http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/pillars-of-eternity-review/1900-6416091/

The reviewer is a SJW faggot, who probably played on Easy and never played any of the IE games he praises early on in the article to any significant length.

Dedicates almost a whole paragraph to those insufferable backer NPC stories, stating that "Short, vibrant stories like these paint color into the basic shapes the main plot draws."

Says one of his favourite features of the game are the fucking PETS. (No, I'm not kidding)

Doesn't write at all about any of the integral game systems such as combat, and how PoE's RTwP implementation is different from the IE games he so desperately cited first thing in the article for some kind of street-cred, through engagement and so on.

Reading reviews on major gaming websites is just a supreme waste of fucking time.

 

[J_C]

Metacritic: 90. Fucking gamespot. I hope the mainstream reviews had been finished, i don't want them to knock it down into the 80s.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Like I wrote in a comment which is currently marked as "pending", apparently not enough trannies and bestiality in this game to deserve a 9/10.

I wasn't expecting more from Gamespot anyway.

However, this comment was good, better thought out than the ramblings on 'writing' from the fake-ass review:

kamalk1 minute ago

@RogerioFM I have a philosophy degree and I am currently working towards my PhD in the field, so I hope to reliably answer your question.

Planescape: Torment and KOTOR 2 both have legitimate philosophical themes. Chris Avellone, who I believe was lead writer on both, often introduces Nietzsechean themes into his work. For example, the idea of Eternal Return in PST, the obscurity of the self, the will to power, the death of God, and the anti-moralism of Kreia. I don't know if he is specifically drawing from Nietszche, but it would not surprise me. There may be other, non-Nietszchean themes, but it has been a while since I played them and I can't remember.

Having said this, I don't think the games are "good philosophy." If you want serious and rigorous treatment of philosophical issues, you should probably start reading philosophy. Plato's dialogues are a good place to start.

What I find compelling about these games is that they are good art. They do not try to answer questions outside of their scope. They draw from philosophy to successfully attain depth, and to become compelling. They succeed in showing you how certain ideas in philosophy might manifest themselves and allow you to engage with them to an extent. I could go on, but I think this question requires a long discussion about the distinctions between philosophy, truth and art, which I will not elaborate on here.

All I will say, is that good, lasting, compelling art often usually tugs at the same part of us that craves meaning, and that sends us to philosophy to begin with.

 

[Ninjerk]

Looks like something Azrael the cat would write.

 

[Svartalf]

Nice touch!

Spoiler

You can feed Icantha's prisoners to Adhelm atop the tower to receive 'Gift from the machine' during the Undying Heritage quest

 

[potatojohn]

Reading reviews on major gaming websites is just a supreme waste of fucking time.

But you do it anyway.

"Just one more review. Then I'll stop reading them forever"

 

[Crooked Bee]

Someone actually made the Tim Cain cookies!

I made Tim Cain's cookies

Spoiler

they're good

they also have a lot of sugar

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...rid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=353#post443679016