Anyone for a PoE discussion?
I just restarted playing myself but I decided to reroll from the beginning since I regretted making a Barbarian MC.
>playing on hard
>main character is a Chanter tank
I've been having some trouble with Raedric (level 4-5, I'm not even sure what the correct level is since last time I made it all the way to Dyrwood before getting to Raedric) so I detoured to Defiance Bay. I've been running around doing goodsamaritanwork and funposting with the people of DB for good 5-6 hours and still haven't entered Heritage Hill nor done the Lighthouse in Ondra's Gift. Overall it just feels really comfy which I'm always a fan of isometric RPGs for.
>tfw siding with the Dozen
I tried to do it a bit different this time but I just can't support the Crucible animating suits of armor to enforce law and order. They're more structured and their intentions make sense but there's too much ambiguity and grey area when it comes to morality that I can't trust robocops to do the job with any humanity. Plus who doesn't want to be an adventurer even if you're just a band of militia merry men.
What are your experiences? How's the White March expansion? What team are you rolling?
Discuss
Raedric is a fucking asshole, I didn't manage to beat him until I had a full 6 man party after going through all of the areas but Defiance Bay. Then again I played on Path of the Damned. Motherfucker is strong.
I sided with the Crucible Knights. They rely too much on the golems and there are some fucked up shit that is implied with them, but they were clearly looking for what was best. I went through their questline and eventually was able to make them not rely on their golems as much, so they just became bro honorable knights. The Dozens are just a mob of jerks, a lot of them bullying people for no reason (that prostitution quest) and they're the ones to lose their shit on the events of the trial.
I was only considered "Eccentric" by them, though. Meanwhile, I made sure to kill every single one of the Deomenels, those guys were cancerous and poisonous to the city.
I'm guessing you haven't gotten to the ending yet, so I won't chip in on the big final questions the game poses.
As for the expansion, it's perfect for this time of year. Maximum cozyness. Wintery lands. More fun quests and weapons. More abilities. More combat.
Also: Monk is the best class, by far.
>>320137954
Shit game by a washed up studio. Can't wait for obsidishit to kick the bucket
>>320137954
You started a replay before the 3.0 patch which is pretty much going to be the last one? Why?
>>320138931
I'm not keeping up with developer notes, I just played it as I felt like playing it. Impulses are fleeting. Were I to wait I would probably lose interest with other backlog games.
Besides that, Ciphers were already nerfed slightly and they were/still are my bread and butter. Any later changes I can roll with by just hiring some new mercenaries or paying to respec if they completely fuck some skills or mechanics.
>>320137954
I've not played any of the classic isometric RPGs, closest I've gotten was Divinity OS, which I really liked, but lost momentum and never finished. Currently I'm planning to replay with the voice acting update. Should I add Pillars of Eternity to my list? Should I start somewhere else?
>>320139894
Sure, why not? It's a great CRPG. Not as good as say, Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment, but the best CRPG of the past 8 years by far.
>>320140005
I guess I'm worried about understanding mechanics, and such. I'd like to start somewhere simple, I've heard Planescape is good for roleplaying? I really like the idea of a comfy quest with lots of talking and not as much fighting.
On its' own it was a very mediocre experience, but compared to other Obsidian games it was completely wretched. If I didn't know both their history and the reason the game was made I would've just chalked it up to a no name company putting out a game they made with spit and shoelaces. But it's made by Obsidian and it lacks their characteristic unique storytelling. The whole game felt bland and generic and they're even reusing ideas they had before (The trial, a story about gods, a curse that manifests itself in gameplay mechanics) but they did it marginally worse.
I keep saying this, but one day I will one day make a video about dissecting it and discovering what went wrong. Maybe the expansion is better, but considering how little discussion there was about it, I doubt it.
>>320140219
Pillars is a lot more beginner-friendly than Torment. Torment would teach you fuck all about how these games play. Actually, PoE is probably the best introduction to the genre.
This game was among the dullest I've ever played. At least the party members were good for the most part, except for that tiny ranger lady.
>>320138872
I want to side with Raedric because I imagined dethroning the person who has proven themselves to be an otherwise stable leader could throw the region in chaos, but I also feel like he's too superstitious for the village's own good. Kolsc isn't any better since he's doing it for his own gain but he's not killing innocents over a spooky mysteryplague. Then again I don't think I'd speak out against HIV carriers getting blackbagged in the 80s so what am I to believe.
I didn't make it so far in the Dozens questlines to know how they ended up so I'll just call it as it plays out, attemping to be diplomatic/rational. I did everything very disjointedly the last time I played which is why I restarted as well.
>>320139894
I prefer Divinity OS over PoE but that's just because of the magic combinations, sliding scale buff/debuff system, and puzzle elements. PoE is more story-rich and the combat is system is not turn-based.
>>320140219
There is an achievement on Steam for completing the game while killing 175 or fewer creatures. So a full sneaking/diplomacy run is possible, but it is stat-dependent so you could possibly get locked into situations where you have to fight because you can't meet the speech check.
>>320140763
Cool, sounds good then, thanks anon.
>>320140497
Do it anon, this game received too much praise and not enough flak.
>>320141224
Well who knows, maybe I'll get back to Divinity first, I did really enjoy the combat in that game. Nothing more satisfying than setting up a perfect trap, or nuking some explosive barrels at just the right moment.
>>320141318
It received quite a lot of flak from rpgcodex (But even they praised some things that I found sketchy, like the music.)
I seriously struggle to find anything good about it and I fear that it will be seen as a "hurr durr look at this grognard counter-culture faggot hating on everything cause it's popular hurrrrrrrrrrrr" thing, while in truth I really wanted to like it.
>>320141638
I distrust RPG Codex because those dumb fucks like Pathfinder and other nostalgiafag garbage like that.
>revival of a dead genre from a decent studio
>it's a passable entry
>it gets shit on for not being perfect
There is a reason why games like this don't get made anymore, the market for them is small enough, sometimes you have to support the mediocre and bad stuff to get to the truly great stuff.
DIV OS with a better story would blow it the fuck out though
>>320142028
>revival of a dead genre from a decent studio
It was Feargus trying to cash in and grasping at straws after Wasteland 2 turned out to be a huge success.
>>320142028
But the problem is that it didn't revive shit (And it didn't really need reviving, honestly).
The whole idea for the kikestarter campaign was that it was gonna be the be all end all Obsidian project now that they had money and weren't fucked over by producers. It was gonna be an amazing bg2 spiritual successor with massive roleplaying potential thanks to all the different backgrounds and well thought out cultures and it was gonna have a gripping story told by the wordsmiths at Obsidian.
But it wasn't.
And it got forgotten about in less than a month. Literally the most memorable thing about it was the tranny chimp out.
>>320142028
It's worse than average. Not to mention we've had a bunch of classic-styled RPGs in the last few years, no reason to praise that one.
>>320142475
It also was a big success for Obsidian, money-wise (unlike a lot of their cult classics). Funny how that works.
>>320140497
I saved this that basically dissects the bad of this game
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9867
Of course obsidrones dismiss it because "muh rpgcodex"
>>320141224
Actually, you can't go full sneaking diplomacy. There are a few areas where you have to fight. The final boss, for example.
>>320142616
I know it was. It was gonna be a big success from the start, since it got funded.
But it's still a pile of shit.
>>320142723
It's one of like 6 reviews on the Codex, and the most negative one by far.
>>320142881
>>But it's still a pile of shit.
How binary.
>>320142616
Shit hype gets you more money than a good product
This industry is more fucked every day
>>320142570
>Not to mention we've had a bunch of classic-styled RPGs in the last few years
Pillars of Eternity is easily the best of these, though.
Compared to shit like Age of Decadence and the Shadowrun games, Pillars is fucking godlike.
Divinity: Original Sin has a way better combat system, but in every other aspect, Pillars of Eternity shits all over it.
>>320143052
I found Pillars exceedingly boring while I greatly enjoyed both Shadowrun:DF and D:OS.
I tend to be an obsidrone too, so I was really hyped for Pillars, but it's too fucking slow, filled with muh OC, and the combat is shit.
>>320142723
I'm sorry, but I find it impossible to take anything that dude says seriously. I browsed a bit of RPGCodex and he was being negative about that game and every single thing that came out about it from day fucking 1, since the kickstarter.
Not only that, but he's a huge fan of Divinity: Original Sin, which is a fucking joke, because Roleplaying, Setting, Story, Characters and basically everything-but-combat wise, Pillars of Eternity is a million times better.
He's the ultimate grognard that seems more interested in having arguments about combat systems and D&D than actually playing video games.
His review was ultimate nitpicking and it was very obviously made to troll the fuck out of people and rile shit up (which it did, the thread about that review is probably the most popular review thread of that entire site)
He's /v/ incarnate. And it's no surprise the dudes at that website make like 3 or 4 more reviews to hide that one out (He was of course, the first one to write a review and make sure to publish it as soon as possible from release, for maximum attention whoring)
>>320143052
>Divinity: Original Sin has a way better combat system, but in every other aspect, Pillars of Eternity shits all over it.
That, sir, is just shit.
There is NO aspect where DOS didnt shit on POE and embarassed Obsidian.
I challenge you to list them if you know what you're talking about
>>320138874
Shouldn't you be waifuposting in /tesg/?
>>320143469
Setting, story, writing, characters, roleplaying.
All a million times better in Pillars than in Divinity.
Divinity has a way better combat system and crisper and more HD graphics (with a worse art direction). That's it.
>>320143424
>>320143724
>Not only that, but he's a huge fan of Divinity: Original Sin, which is a fucking joke, because Roleplaying, Setting, Story, Characters and basically everything-but-combat wise, Pillars of Eternity is a million times better.
Please tell me how the setting was brilliant while
>it was washed down D&D in disguise
the story was excellent while
>it was about chasing a dude for no reason, sabotaging his preumably evil plans and fedora-tipping your way to the ending
the characters were well made while
>Aloth, bardguy, fedorabitch, Kickstarters existed
And everything but the combat
>You mean the "awesome" graphics and the 2 minutes loading screens every door? The reputation mechanic that doesn't change anything? The useless stat/item checks? The freedom of not having a choice in NONE of the key steps of the plot, and minimal choices in some of the sidequests?
Meanwhile in Divinity you do every shit you want, it's fully voice-acted, you get different choices and different ways to get clues and reach them. You can talk to animals and solve puzzles.
>But writing is "lelsorandumb"
Well i don't like overdescriptive grimdark writing so i *looks at his hands, his rage building inside him, while a tiny drop of sweat covers his forehead. In a decise movement he flips the middle finger*
Fuck Obsidrones
>>320143954
>it was about chasing a dude for no reason
You had a great reason for it
>sabotaging his preumably evil plans
His plans were fucking evil beyond belief and could not be more obvious from like the first third of the game
>fedora-tipping your way to the ending
Alright, I'm disregarding the rest of your post. You're fucking retarded, dude, no memes, just straight up retarded.
Stick to Divinity: Original Sin's "storyline", kiddo. That's more your speed.
>>320137954
Will I like this game if I enjoyed DA: Origins?
What about divinity?
>>320144529
I mean, Pillars is a better RPG than either of those. But the question is: have you ever played a RTWP game before?
I guess Dragon Age kind of fits that bill, but not really. I'm more talking stuff like Baldur's Gate
>>320144431
>You had a great reason for it
No you didn't. Several times I found myself asking "Why am I doing this, what stops me from leaving". The threat of going insane? That only manifests in giving you exposition. It barely gets mentioned in the story and it has NO effect on gameplay.
This wouldn't bother me so much if they didn't already do it but better: In MotB, your curse is going to kill your character, which is great as motivations go. Let's also not forget how much more useful the story powers in MotB are.
I'm stuck at the final boss.
I can't beat it, no matter how hard I try.I'm playing on the easiest difficulty setting.
>>320144431
Sounds like you tip fedora outside of Pillars too
That explains much
Maybe in your non-retadment you can find me the reasons why you follow him, why he doesn't kill you when you faint, why he even recognises you as a threat
Also, his evil plans have more sens that yours.
Even the evil ending makes no sense
What the fuck, this is just bad writing
But please keep sucking obsidian off. Just stop with the blatant lies
>>320144970
git gud. What level is your party at?
>cancerous shitters who worship obsidian pretending this wasnt fucking broken and completely unplayable at launch
>same shitters who have been spamming witcher threads after they bought out the VGA's
>same cancerous faggots who were spamming shitposts about fallout 4 when it came out and spamming spoilers
so glad obsidian stopped making excuses and went to where they belong, shitty phone games
>>320144575
DA:O is as close as it gets. I think I will pirate it and see if I like it
>>320145014
>Fedora Tipping
>Also, his evil plans have more sens that yours.
You're so fucking stupid.The whole point of the story is that they're not real gods, as in, they're manmade. Thaos is willing to end civilizations to make sure no one finds out the truth and continues to unconditionally believe in them. Furthermore, he's obviously doing it so he can become a servant of a god himself, a servant of THE LAST god with any power, if he had his way, which is what you were trying to stop
>>320145793
Your plans are
I see him in my visions
he's in some sort of cult
he may know something about my visions
visions will make me go crazy eventually
oh no he's using souls he's so evil!
gods are real but are manmade, so he is wrong for sacrificing souls to a evil goddess
I'll still throw the souls he was giving to his goddess to another god
I'd say what the fuck am I doing. At least his plan made some sense.
Thanks for your vision of the plot tho, it confirms me that it just sucks and there's nothing i missed
>>320145793
>gods
>not having real power
seriously, doublecross one of them, see what happens
they go fucking biblical on the world
it doesn't really matter HOW they were created, they're incredibly powerful entities that exchange reverence for favors
>>320146865
yeah, that's the hidden part of why nothing this makes no sense
But you can't tell anybody your opinion because this is a great RPG
Just nod at the bitch and share disappointment with your companions
>>320138931
>3.0 patch
When is that happening?
>>320146772
Yeah, that's the beginning. He's in a weird vision of yours that seems to somehow be part of your past, you want to follow him and talk to him to figure out what the fuck is going on.
Then, as you go through your journey, you realize he's responsible for dozens of thousands of dead fetuses, the slow destruction of a generation in an entire continent for the sake of the persecution of animancy (basically science), all for the purpose of having people not learn of the truth of the gods.
And with the true motive being that he wants to be the servant of a goddess that will end all other gods and be the only true goddess.
"Let's try to stop this motherfucker and save our entire country from dying out" seems like a pretty excellent motive to me.
>>320146865
You're right dude. They may not be "gods", so to speak. But they're basically avatars of huge power. That's still a pretty big philosophical quandary, though. How much should you place your faith on "gods" when the morals and beliefs of said gods are based entirely on the morals and beliefs of the people that created them? You have to serve them, no doubt. But believe in them? Pray to them? To what extent? Knowing they are man-made and trying to figure out their true history would certainly change the mind of some people, or at least put it in a slightly different perspective.
The fact that we can have discussions like these, to me, speaks of the strength of the Pillars of Eternity plot. Thaos is a great villain.
>>320148259
Sometime in January. I don't know if there is a more specific date yet.
Think I'll grab PoE in the winter sale and sit on it until the 3.0 patch if this is the case.
>>320148659
But you'll miss on all the cozyness of Winter happening right as you're playing through White March
I guess you can always wait until next December.
I didn't like Pillars of Eternity. Didn't finish it.
I think Arcanum was a hell of a lot better. And it doesn't even compare to BG2 or Planescape.
>>320148508
>Thaos is a great villain.
POE
Thaos is evil and you try to stop him because you stumbled upon his plans of destroying the land
DOS
Void threatens to swallow the universe and you will discover your true selves to stop it
What makes DOS "not even an RPG" while POE a great deep dilemma-RPG?
The "gods are manmade" stuff in which you don't even get to have an opinion?
Thaos is a good villain because his plans have some sense, but since DOS' Conduit does the same thing, how can you say DOS is shit?
Plus, "you stumbled upon his plans" is not what i call a good reason to embark on a worldwide quest to stop him without a single clue on anything
>>320149065
sounds like shilling to me
>>320150049
You're overly simplifying things. Pillars of Eternity is much more subtle and well realized than Divinity: Original Sin, there's simply much better writing and more thought put into it.
Void is the generic huge dragon god that was sealed away and now he wants to destroy the universe bullshit
Thaos doesn't even want to kill people, necessarily. He wants to control the flow of information and stop science from realizing the truth about gods. Because he was there from the start, he was there to close the doors and watch the creation of the morals and avatars of power that shaped the whole world to come. And he merely stood as a guardian to make sure they propagated for all eternity.
>>320152234
you'll find that it takes much more effort make arguments with detailed explanations than it is to say "x is shit", which tends to be the common "argument" here against this game.
>>320152234
And i think you're overcomplicating things.
All you get with Pillars is the great secret, Thaos' intention on burying it, and no choice in the matter.
Its concept may be better than "Void god destroy world hurr durr" but its horrible realization makes it basically the same.
I play POE and it read to me aloud "Cultist destroy world bury useless secret hurr durr" which is rather underwhelming for a game based on narrative, writing, roleplaying and all that.
Makes me wonder if DOS is the pinnacle of narrative, writing, roleplaying and all that or this is just as bad as DOS without even being a funny game.
Looks the second to me
>>320141638
Rpg codex is a fucking fedora tipping circle jerk where they say everything sucks to prove how refined their taste is
>>320153123
It's not the games fault you didn't think about anything that was shown to you and expected the game's point to be hammered in your head, dude.
Everything was well realized, you just didn't think about it.
None of what I told you is fanfiction or my interpretation of the events, it's all properly laid out in the game for you to discover if you so seek.
>>320148508
>Thaos is a great villain
Are you getting paid to say this? Are you an Obsidian employee? He's more advanced than most video game villains, but he's no Kreia.
And your motivation for trailing him and defeating him is "Because the game tells you to" up until you find out what's really going on. The mystery and the plot is very poorly paced and it did a very shitty job at keeping me interested. NWN2, a game that many would call generic, did it a lot better. Your motivation for following the plot is clear from the start. You are personally attacked and you want to find out about it to stop it instead of just stumbling onto shit and not understanding what's going on even halfway through the game.
So, in conclusion, fuck you.
>>320156143
>he's no Kreia
Nobody is.
>And your motivation for trailing him and defeating him is "Because the game tells you to" up until you find out what's really going on.
No, your motivation is that you were given a condition that will probably make you literally insane. Could this be better expressed through gameplay? Yes, but after the disastrous reception of Spirit Hunger I can see why Obsidian were unwilling to implement a gameplay penalty tied to story.
>>320156459
>No, your motivation is that you were given a condition that will probably make you literally insane
You find that out about several hours (and in-game days) after you, by all rights, should've stopped caring.
And your "insanity" manifests as exposition and characters saying that you have shitty sleep.
>Yes, but after the disastrous reception of Spirit Hunger I can see why Obsidian were unwilling to implement a gameplay penalty tied to story.
People are fucking retarded. Spirit Hunger was easy to manage and amazing as far as story and gameplay integration goes. And useful, to boot, compared to your Watcher powers.
But no, instead of making it less annoying, they have completely neutered it, just like they did with the Stronghold, which is a joke compared to the Crossroad Keep.
>>320143052
>Pillars better than AoD
kek
>>320155852
>Everything was well realized, you just didn't think about it.
No, it was not "realized", it was merely "thought" and put in the lore for you to overthink it.
It's what they do with Dark Souls. Put the philosophical and personal dramas behind the actual game and make you play a game that can be explained only if you look behind the scenes.
We're not calling Dark Souls a great, deep, philosophical story-driven RPG are we? Well, at least it's a good action game
Here we have a background lore so rich that they throw it down your throat at every occasion, but in the end it sound just like D&D.
A plot about following Thaos that is consumed in
Having some reason to follow him (pretty weak in my opinion)
Discovering his plans
Hearing the philosophical twist (and not being allowed to have an opinion (philosophy is great when you can't have an opinion))
His plans make some sense now
End.
It's like fighting Sif and saying WHOA this ring tells me that SIF was Artorias' DOG! This means the plot is great because i killed Sif! That was Artorias' dog!
Nobody praises Dark Souls' main plot because of its background lore, because its main plot is non-existant
Nobody should praise POE's main plot because of its background lore, because its main plot is pretty bad
>>320157305
>You find that out about several hours (and in-game days) after you, by all rights, should've stopped caring.
Uh, your first hook is to find an animancer because something is wrong with your soul (you were in a middle of a soul-sucking storm but survived). That's why you search for Maerwald (and also overthrow a local lord, possibly, or maybe not).
