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Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

Maculo

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
2,533
Strap Yourselves In Pathfinder: Wrath
Game is fun, ship combat is boring and unneeded. Is there a way to skip it at all? Don't wanna leave many quests involving attacking ships.
I do not know how practical it is, but I just rammed ships on the beta, which involved hitting "1" rapidly.
 

Prime Junta

Guest
Game is fun, ship combat is boring and unneeded. Is there a way to skip it at all? Don't wanna leave many quests involving attacking ships.

You can just close directly to boarding. Ship will take some damage but it'll get you straight to the regular fighting.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
After 20 hours:

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This is BG1 to BG2 type of transition in size. While i am yet naturally to finish game first 20 hours have much more content, quests etc. than about 4/5 of PoE1 without its expansion. I spend most of my time in main city and frankly speaking that city feels very like Amn from BG2. You can't go anywhere without getting some quest, story or meeting someone new.
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PoE1 combat was very meh to me mostly because it felt like excel combat than actual combat with meaningful choices. This time feeling is completely different. At any point in combat i have few meaningful choices to make for each character that feels impactful instead of being like a piss in the wind.
- immunities are fairly common ! YAY !
- with gear you can actually have some immunities yourself ! YAY !
- abilities that do something more than add +1might ! YAY !
- abilities that are very action heavy instead of being some passive slight bonuses ! YAY !
- encounter design where someone actually though about placement and composition of enemies ! YAY !
- bosses that don't require 20 spells stacking just to be hit ! YAY !
- enemies that require something more than just click and forget ! YAY !
- unique abilities you get from gear that are not shit slight buffs but active ones ! YAY !

I mean there is a lot more than that. Overall combat design is much much much better than PoE1 and frankly speaking i like it more than IE games. IMO feeling i get is something more comparable to actual turn based combat rather than real time combat. Obviously game is real time but clear distinction of your actions, meaningful abilities etc. make it much more turn like than spam you get from other real time rpgs.

edit: As of per rest/encounter mechanics. Imo it is much better than in IE games. Per rest abilities are v. meaningful usually and per encounter are you standard abilities you use in combat. Moreover resting still is important as you get those empower points you can use in battle to replenish resource points.

My only gripe is that so far you can rest everywhere without issue.

Endurance/health. Imo i don't even notice it doesn't exist anymore. While concept was interesting we all know that healing was never a problem and you can either way spam rest as well. IE games didn't fare much better i that regard, there were some restrictions on sleeping but it was very lax.
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Stat and equipment system is pure incline. I always hated PoE1 main stat system because it didn't give a lot. Even at all 18 dude you would be barely different from someone at all 10 or even 5. White statistical stuff for main stats didn't change everything around it changed. Each stat now has purpose other than just being combat stat, they are frequently used in dialogs and events and after 20 hours i had like 3 events requiring about 15-16 perception (my main high stat) and like stat name suggest it game me more information or i could spot different way or something. It was meaningful and it was cool.

Outside of that there is equipment and character upgrades. Character leveling is now really great. In PoE1 when you got level up you barely had any interesting choice to make, not only that. If you had interesting ability and you had to make choice more than time not second interesting ability would be gone because you didn't choose it instead of other one. This time on level up you get points and you can spend them as you see fit even on abilities from lvl1. Found yourself wanting discipline instead of knockback ? No problem just take discipline on level up. I won't go into details because they are fairly easy to understand.

Equipment is where game shines the most. Gone are the days of boring equipment. While PoE1 equipment was very varied it didn't actually provide meaningful difference. This time thanks to weapon specializations (that make much much much more sense than in PoE1) you get actual modal for weapon of your choice. So if for example you love pistols, those have mode where you can fire them very quickly but inaqurately, perfect for times fighting some golems and shit and each weapon and even shield have now such modals. So your weapon choice is meaningful choice now. Armor is more or less similar to PoE1 (which wasn't bad). While type of stuff in huge incline stuff you get like uniques and other loot is huge incline over PoE1 or even IE games. This time unique is truly unique. Most of uniques i found or bought so far are build uniques and coupled with improved enchanting system even more so. They give you meaningful changes to gameplay so much that you can actually plan your build around some. They give you abilities, skills on hit-crit and many more interesting stuff. Some even have abilities that scale with non combat stats like Religion or Metaphysics. Overhauled enchanting also play major role here. This time enchanting is only reserved for unique stuff and instead of adding general stuff like +2 damage or +5acc against spectres this time each unique has set of enchantments SPECIFIC to each unique (and 1 general improvement of quality). Those enhancement can further put a meaningful change to equipment and transform it to even more specific build.

Honestly speaking hunting for uniques in PoE2 is much more fun that in IE games which is huge incline.

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Story, dialogs, quest design etc.

Story, much better start that is for sure. It doesn't waste time and feels like BG2 start. It gets your right into story. So far i didn't get far story wise so i don't want to further comment on that. One thing that i definitely noticed is that me being "Watcher" actually has meaningful part in story and even questing. Unlike PoE1 where being watcher was mostly about watching those few lines story bits and some sparse mind reading this time using watcher abilities is much more logical and practical. It is used often in quest which is imo good considering setup.

Dialogs imo are improved. They are far more to the point and they don't waste time. Characters themselves also seem way better handled. They often at face value feel generic but there is enough depth that makes them interesting sometimes going against generic face value image. VO on all character is very nice though i don't think it would change much with only first line of dialog being voiced or only main characters being voiced.

Quests. This is where you get pure incline. Shitload of them, most of them interesting and what is more important HUGE AMOUNT OF C&C. Frankly speaking comparing it to PoE1 is like comparing sky and earth. C&C is everywhere, not only your stats are constantly in use but each quest have several ways to finish it. Never once i felt i was tunneled into one choice, every time i had like 3-4 choices to make which would end up quest in different way. What is more interesting they are often TIED with each other creating this web of choices that could potentially impact other quests. I spend most of my time in main city so this might be case for only this city but as far as i can see i love what i see.

Events, this is part i loved about PoE1 but it was scarce. Those hand drawn panels were v.good and they could create interesting scenarios without spending shitload of dev money. Problem with them in PoE1 was that they were rare. This time they are everywhere. Almost every dungeon, quest etc. Not only there are a lot of them but they offer shitload of choices to make, skills to use etc. You always feel like your choice made in character creator make difference.

edit2:
Companions are decline. Aside from Pirate orlan all of them are generic as fuck. Only pirate orlan feel like he is living person which lives in game while rest of companions have tatoo on their face saying "i am generic companion". While they talk A LOT they never talk about anything interesting. They never feel like they actually have some huge issues or wants, yes they do have some quests and they all want something to do those quest feel like "this is companion quest". They do interject into talk but never really have strong opinions that can change anything or make you watch what you say.
Frankly speaking i think taking pirate one and making yourself rest of crew would be better. Game provides enough interesting dialog so you don't need to rely on companions to provide something interesting.
While PoE1 had Durance and GM so far PoE2 has nothing, even pirate i mentioned so far isn't as good as those two.

If someone from Obsidian reads this: Good companion is the one that is treated like yourself. Meaning he isn't yes man. In PoE2 you have kindergarten and you shape them like clay. While change is good that change should be outcome of events unfolding + their character instead of being outcome of you shaping them.

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Ship stuff. Not far with that but i like what i see and see potential for good chunk of gameplay, you can make new ships, customize them, hire crew and imo more interesting find interesting crewmates while questing. There is also a lot of reactivity, meeting pirate ship doesn't always mean you need to fight, you can parley, there are some events, you can battle, you can board etc. Exploration of map imo is incline, it feels fun to explore stuff, find cities and temples etc.

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Overall so far so good. If next xx hours are as good as first 20 hours it will be easily legit codex GOTY and may even be game that beats BG2 legacy. I just hope that after first city whole thing don't come down crashing because they run out of funds or something.

Game feels like Storm of Zephir but really fucking good instead of being generic questing.
 
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IHaveHugeNick

Arcane
Joined
Apr 5, 2015
Messages
1,870,124
I like all the new companions so far. They seem much better fleshed out and have actual personalities for a change. PoE1 was just a slog of "why do I keep this boring asshole around".
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
37,087
Location
Bulgaria
How is the Orlan companion? I have not run into him just yet. Of all the companions, I thought he would potentially be the most annoying.
:abyssgazer:
But you get him the moment you leave the first island,some dude comes to you gives you a quest and the rodent. Also he is pretty fun.
 

Eisenheinrich

Scholar
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
806
Location
Germania
You (general you) are overthinking this. Justin is just not a good composer and it's obvious something is lacking in his musical education (from the terrible orchestration). Does he even have a musical education at all? Does he play any instrument? If he does, what kind of things is he playing on it? I'd suggest he go to some orchestration lessons at the very least, history of music is also not a bad thing for him. He should also read a lot of orchestral scores to see how the voices are distributed among the orchestra. When he fixes his technical shortcomings, we can start talking about actual composition.

Oh dear, you're such a bore. What about finishing your "thesis"?
 

Lacrymas

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2015
Messages
17,948
Pathfinder: Wrath
Is that a jab at theses in general or are you insinuating that I personally can't write one? I assure you, I can, and even if I couldn't I can learn. You, however, can't learn how to not sound like a fool every time you spill pixel ink in a misguided attempt at being witty or "above" me.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Also all of the game's text strings are editable/moddable, and can be found in:

Much of Deadfire's data is placed in easily-readable text files located in Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\exported. You can modify these files directly, but a better way to make mods that you can easily share is to use the override folder. The override folder is Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\override.

Any file in the override folder will take priority over the files in the exported data folder - so you can add new data objects to the game in these files, or replace existing ones.

You should create a subfolder in the override folder for each mod. So my mod might be in the folder Pillars of Eternity II\PillarsOfEternityII_Data\override\bmac-mod.

*.*bundle files can be anywhere in your mod folder, but *.stringtable files need to be in the same folder hierarchy as the file they're overriding. E.g. to override localized\en\text\game\gui.stringtable, your override file should be in override\[yourmod]\localized\en\text\game\gui.stringtable.

For example if you want to edit an item's Lore Dump text you can go to that folder and open ITEMS.stringtable and edit the text, and it will reflect in-game. All quest text is also there...
 

Maculo

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
2,533
Strap Yourselves In Pathfinder: Wrath
Is that a jab at theses in general or are you insinuating that I personally can't write one? I assure you, I can, and even if I couldn't I can learn. You, however, can't learn how to not sound like a fool every time you spill pixel ink in a misguided attempt at being witty or "above" me.
I am pretty ignorant with respect to music and composition. Furthermore, I have not even really notice PoE2's music thus far, which may be a bad thing.

Do you find it forgettable or sloppy (or both)?
 

Eisenheinrich

Scholar
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
806
Location
Germania
Is that a jab at theses in general or are you insinuating that I personally can't write one? I assure you, I can, and even if I couldn't I can learn. You, however, can't learn how to not sound like a fool every time you spill pixel ink in a misguided attempt at being witty or "above" me.

Oh my god ... :lol::lol::lol:
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
How is the Orlan companion? I have not run into him just yet. Of all the companions, I thought he would potentially be the most annoying.

Seems to be only one that is worth something. He feels two levels above rest. Like someone living in that world instead of having giant sign over head saying "companion"

Speaking of music i can't unsee main theme being retarded. That first strong part is completely unneeded and make no fucking sense. Not only that, it is actually annoying as hell when you turn on game. If you want track to have more omph then make whole track omphy instead of of first few seconds and then nothing.

I think i will just edit song and cut out that first part.

edit:

ROTFL

Mai anuma companion wants my biggus dickus. She just joined and second interaction i get is that she want to have relationship lol. When i accept that i get into relationship with her. Seems like a bug or maybe it is behind some reputation mechanic ?

Either way why would i want to bone anuma ? Also it would be even more hilarious if i was orlan or something. Is it in ? Yas my queen ! i got halfway with both of my legs !
 
Last edited:
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
For those who want to re-roll Attributes without respeccing you can do so with:

You don't have to fully reroll to change the attributes, you can change them separately. It is still advisable to unequip everything first, to not be irritated by stat-boosts from items, pets...

Example:

iroll20s

AttributeScore Player_XXXXX Might 10

XXXXX is your name, pressing tab after you typed in the first few letters of a command ("Attr...", "Pla...") autocompletes a command

Remember to get the "math" right so you don't end up with less or more points than previously... i.e. if you raise your Might by +2, remember to lower something else by -2.

EDIT: This should also work on companions as well.

For those that care about Achivements this disables them, so you'll need to use the Cheat Engine PoE2 achivements table that was posted earlier in the thread which prevents iroll20s console command from removing the internal flag on that.
 

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