Eternity Pillars of Eternity + The White March Expansion Thread

[fobia]

Yes, I think that is it Lacrymas.

 

[Iznaliu]

I'm just going to talk to Sagani so I can sacrifice her.

Healthy behaviour.

 

[Lacrymas]

Did a few quests in Defiance Bay. The pacing grinds to a halt and it's pretty lame, fetch quests which lead to fetch quests. For such a "big" (everything combined is like 2 districts of Baldur's Gate) city there's surprisingly little excitement and nothing seems to be happening. Baldur's Gate (the city) is also a bit of a drag, but at least it's further into the game and you've already invested too much to just quit outright. It's also quite easy to break the main quest's sequence and not know what is going on and where you are if you haven't played it before. The catacombs are in Copperlane and it's logical to go explore that first, go down some stairs (to Woedica's temple, but you don't know that yet) and the journal just informs you that you've completed a main quest. Kinda weird, but 'k. I just got the letter to go do the White March content, but since I'm level 6 I'll hold off on that until everyone is at least 7.

 

[Roguey]

Athkatla's maps were actually too big imo, too much pointless space and distance between points of interest and the exit.

 

[Lacrymas]

The big spaces serve as a buffer, you need breathing room to appreciate the points of interest, otherwise it's all one big blur. DB is not only small, but also lacking in interesting stuff and quests, so the worst of both worlds.

 

[Sizzle]

DB has a few interesting quests (mostly the ones in Ondra's Gift), but what probably hurts it the most when comparing it to Athkatla - is how it doesn't really feel alive and believable.

The maps are missing those tiny, random points of interest - not quest-related, but, for example, just unimportant people arguing over unimportant things - that serve to better flesh out the area and give it more character, make it memorable and organic.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, very interesting quests, the first one I got was to deliver squash seeds to some random person in Copperlane :p

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah, very interesting quests, the first one I got was to deliver squash seeds to some random person in Copperlane :p

Rather amusingly, that one turns out to be a pretty interesting one, with a number of outcomes with consequences down the line.

 

[Lacrymas]

I am currently in the most luxurious and deserving place in the entire game - the Club for Refined and Prestigious Gentlemen

 

[Grunker]

The ambient sounds in Athkatla make a pretty big difference, as does colour variety (both are the case with Baldur's Gate as well, in fact). Defiance Bay looks and sounds suuuuuper static.

The zoomed in view and generally smaller areas are also a factor.

 

[Roguey]

The maps are missing those tiny, random points of interest - not quest-related, but, for example, just unimportant people arguing over unimportant things

People do that in Defiance Bay.

 

[eXalted]

This got to be my most hated place in the whole game. The first time I was here I struggled with all the Cean Gŵla and sh!t that the game threw at me. The whole encounter difficulty just spiked for me here. Don't know if It's the game or I am just retardo.

 

[Roguey]

The whole encounter difficulty just spiked for me here. Don't know if It's the game or I am just retardo.

Encounters off the crit path are intended to be difficult (you can just stick to the path and not fight anything in that map). The act 3 areas got a difficulty boosting pass in one of the later patches too.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Athkatla's maps were actually too big imo, too much pointless space and distance between points of interest and the exit.

I don't know who was first to come up with this hipster complaint that too much good content is too much, I think it was from Sawyer that I heard it the first time. I've always thought this was a ridiculous argument, and in Sawyer's case, sour grapes. At 15 y.o. I practically lived in Athkatla, and it was real good.

The ambient sounds in Athkatla make a pretty big difference, as does colour variety (both are the case with Baldur's Gate as well, in fact). Defiance Bay looks and sounds suuuuuper static.

The zoomed in view and generally smaller areas are also a factor.

Very true. I can't be bothered to dig up my old posts, but the ambiance makes the city feel huge more than anything else, and it's the ambience that's pretty much absent from Defiance Bay.

 

[Roguey]

DB has ambient crowd noises and such, but they're not very loud or peculiar.

I don't know who was first to come up with this hipster complaint that too much good content is too much, I think it was from Sawyer that I heard it the first time. I've always thought this was a ridiculous argument, and in Sawyer's case, sour grapes. At 15 y.o. I practically lived in Athkatla, and it was real good.

Josh's problem was that there were too many quests in each area, my issue is simply that the maps require too much waiting for characters to get to where they need to go.

 

[AwesomeButton]

DB has ambient crowd noises and such, but they're not very loud or peculiar.

Yes, these exist in the game, but I've had to go back and check, it was funny I thought, how I couldn't remember them. I've written to Justin Bell about ambient sounds and urged him to play BGII to see what I mean. He has mentioned he hasn't played it. I remember he basically said he knows about a lot of cases where he could have done things better in PoE, and he will have the opportunity to show that in Deadfire - new sound systems, more variety, ambience, etc.

Yep, that walking through districts could take time, esp. on the default AI nodes setting.

 

[Grunker]

they're not very loud

Precisely, and cities are very loud

 

[cannondwarf]

The ambience in inns annoys me greatly, I swear I can hear someone say "So I've heard all the good scene rappers" in the background every now and then, which sounds like an incredibly douchey thing to say

 

[Lacrymas]

I caught myself enjoying the combat much more than on release. It isn't as ...static, I guess. My priest of Skaen needs a lot of micro to not die constantly because I'm only wearing normal clothing and to land sneak attacks properly. It may only be because I chose a character build which personally appeals to me, who knows. There are some no-brainer talents for everyone, like Apprentice's Sneak Attack, there's no reason not to take it if you use weapons. A priest of Skaen makes more use of it, of course, but still. I was even tempted to replace my adventurer paladin with Pallegina, but I decided against it after seeing her stat spread. There's no reason to bar us from redistributing them via retraining, if we wanted to powergame we could do it by simply hiring adventurers, like I am doing right now, it doesn't "help balance" at all.

 

[Roguey]

There's no reason to bar us from redistributing them via retraining,

Companion stats are reflected in their dialogues.

 

[Lacrymas]

While I agree that that's a noble goal in principle, they should at least not be as weak as they are or do some very heavy lifting in regards to the narrative. Someone mentioned the Devil of Caroc having an innate -40% recovery time. I don't take untermenschen companions in my party, so whatevs.

 

[Grunker]

There's no reason to bar us from redistributing them via retraining, if we wanted to powergame we could do it by simply hiring adventurer's, like I am doing right now, it doesn't "help balance" at all.

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

There's no reason to bar us from redistributing them via retraining,

Companion stats are reflected in their dialogues.

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?

 

[Roguey]

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.

 

[Iznaliu]

Encounters off the crit path are intended to be difficult (you can just stick to the path and not fight anything in that map). The act 3 areas got a difficulty boosting pass in one of the later patches too.

Additionally, it is really hard to avoid attracting enemy attention in that map.

 

[Roguey]

Additionally, it is really hard to avoid attracting enemy attention in that map.

I did it well enough on my second playthrough. Scout through it, move one by one in certain sections if need be.