I promise I'm not just gonna spam variations of this question all playthrough but: Am I gonna regret taking Serafen as a witch? I'm single-classing Xoti and Aloth and I want some spicier character options. Also, pure Cipher seems silly because I'm a cipher multi, but barb seems to ditch a very cool part of his character, flavor-wise
I played this at launch (and unlike the first I did finish it) but haven't been keeping up with the DLC's. Do they add new weapons or abilities, spells, etc? Because I was checking the unique weapons in the official wiki (the gamepedia one) and it seems unchanged from the base game I played, but maybe they haven't been updating it. Are the DLC's just new and challenging dungeons or do they build on the story and have new unique items?
https://old.reddit.com/r/projecteternity/comments/a82h4r/new_ship_combat_ui/
New ship combat UI, can board immediately but take no ship damage. The parley option is interesting too.
It's not clear based on the comments whether this was a leak/unintended live update like the turn-based, or what.
How are the DLCs for the game? About to pick up where I left off in Chapter 2, and thinking about adding some DLC.
Two of the DLCs (Beast of Winter and the Forgotten Sanctum) are more story based (though they feature some of the harder encounters as well) with new dialogue for companions and some changes on the game state of the rest of the world (including an alternate ending). Seeker, Slayer, Survivor is relatively light on story, focused almost entirely on interesting combat encounters. Each DLC also fleshes out one of the sidekicks with a bunch of new dialogue, and Beast of Winter introduces a new one besides.
Mash 1 until you're within 50 meters.What's the least painful way of dealing with the ship combat stuff? I've only run into it once and successfully retreated. Should I just go straight to crew battle?
If you don't want to use offensive invocations and instead focus on summoning - I'm not sure what invocation availability is like with a troubadour, so you might be able to do both - but if you want to lean in on summons and chants, a Chanter build that I really enjoyed was a Pale Elf Chanter/Wizard.I think I'm going to start my second run tomorrow (and then not play it again until the new year). My watcher will be a troubadour this time. I'd been leaning single-class, but I'll sleep on it. Any of you have a chanter build you like?
My party construction may be a bit less flexible without my watcher holding down simultaneous front-line damage, tank, and healing roles (1.0 Soulblade/Pally). But I ran through the companion quests my first time around, so it's less important that I be able to rotate them in seamlessly.
If you don't want to use offensive invocations and instead focus on summoning - I'm not sure what invocation availability is like with a troubadour, so you might be able to do both - but if you want to lean in on summons and chants, a Chanter build that I really enjoyed was a Pale Elf Chanter/Wizard.
The basic idea was to summon the ogres -- the best meatshields in the game (and maybe defensive spell, period) -- and lay down lots and lots of Chill Fog. Eat a Captain's Banquet beforehand and you're immune to Perception afflictions, so while you're walking around unscathed with a pair of ogre bodyguards, all the enemies in the fog'll be blinded and flanked. I combined it with AOE scrolls, mostly Insect Swarm and Plague of Insects, and the sum of all of the AOE dots would end pretty much anything and everything.
Patinated Plate with +2 Armor and 30% chance to stun attackers combined with blindness and ogres makes you pretty much invincible, and the additional recovery time penalty isn't a big deal because you're just getting off a couple of Chill Fogs and fast-cast scrolls and letting them tick away. The sabre Grave Calling casts Chill Fog every time you kill a Vessel, which you have an unlimited supply of with Chanter's level PL1 skeleton summon, and eventually the PL7 chant that creates them passively. Both items are available immediately after you get your boat. There's a new helmet in Beast of Winter that gives +10 Accuracy to Affliction attacks that would be fantastic here. The chant that Weakens the enemy and lowers their Might -- lowering the Fortitude Defense that Chill Fog, Insect Swarm, and Plague of Insects all target -- works wonders too.
I would imagine that the build would work incredibly well with the new Blood Mage subclass and Combusting Wounds. Chill Fog is a level 1 spell and Combusting Wounds is a level 2 spell (that also targets Fortitude), so you can use them both cheaply and infinitely if you confine yourself to those two spells. Having 3 separate dots ticking on someone with CW on them is a great way for them to die in about 7 seconds.
Make sure your Pale Elf has long white hair for the full effect
And if you'd rather use your phrases on offensive invocations, At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff is supposed to be super strong.
Any must-not-miss companions/combinations? In terms of lore/dialogue, not viability/strength
e: I'm just getting Pallegina/Maia now—I kinda wanna drop Xoti for Pallegina if Pallegina can heal enough, and...Serafen for Maia, I guess? I like Serafen's presence, it's fun having another Cipher, but Maia seems cooler/stronger. Xoti and Aloth are the real boring ones so far but I can't really justify dropping Aloth if he's the only pure Wizard. or maybe I should just do it and live with the consequences
The healing chant Ancient Memory is actually pretty good over the course of the fight, especially if you're using it in conjunction with the healing Paladin aura. I feel like spending phrases on healing invocations is a bit of a waste because my gut says the damage prevented by summons is greater than the health gained from the heals. Lay on Hands is probably better than anything on the Chanter side of things if you don't need to use her Paladin resources for damage. I mostly see people say that upgrading to Greater Lay on Hands is a waste of resources -- double the cost just to add robust -- but I feel like it can have its uses. You still have access to both if you unlock GLoH, so it's not a big deal either way.So what's the smart way to have Pallegina on heal duty? Rejoice My Comrades! Two Fingers of Daylight! or the passive heal on chant? I've never used a chanter before, this is wild to me. seems way cooler/more dynamic than I was expecting, I'm usually bored by stancedancing/aura stuff
The healing chant Ancient Memory is actually pretty good over the course of the fight, especially if you're using it in conjunction with the healing Paladin aura. I feel like spending phrases on healing invocations is a bit of a waste because my gut says the damage prevented by summons is greater than the health gained from the heals. Lay on Hands is probably better than anything on the Chanter side of things if you don't need to use her Paladin resources for damage. I mostly see people say that upgrading to Greater Lay on Hands is a waste of resources -- double the cost just to add robust -- but I feel like it can have its uses. You still have access to both if you unlock GLoH, so it's not a big deal either way.
Also, pump up that Arcana. Low level healing scrolls are cheap, scale well, and allow for more healing casts than even a Priest that's re-upped with empower.
Yeah, although I would forget to use it in like 70% of those situations, so for me it was mostly like a slightly better heal+armor in fights where Pally resources weren't an issue plus an occasional CON cleanser.Greater Lay Hands is great I think because you can cleanse CON afflictions and set up a heal in one ability. That's always seemed like it's true strength, which is fine since it's a separate ability.
I'm not planning to double dip, but I just know the console releases open the game up to a wider audience and the game should be played by more people.
I hope this game will get a bit closer to the success it deserves with the console release and the extra attention that came Obsidian's way with The Outer Worlds.
I also won't double dip, but I'll be back for one more run for sure this month to see all the DLCs.
The basic consequences of siding with the new ranga and VTC in preserving the pillar is that it'll bolster the VTC's operations within the Deadfire, potentially leading to more Neketaka-style loss (or exacerbation) of Huana culture in the face of commercialism, more widespread destruction of luminous adra throughout the Deadfire, and increased VTC authority in the region -- in exchange for prosperity and factional peace, as seen in Neketaka and other smaller outposts throughout the Deadfire. On the other side of things, destroying the pillar is a significant blow to VTC operations, but will force the neighboring Huana tribe a more difficult journey as they'll have to leave Poko Kohara, albeit free of VTC influence. Destroying luminous adra is super bad as well, but doing so will make the industry a much less enticing enterprise to VTC in the future and possibly save more of it down the line.I like the dialogue and subquest writing, but hoo boy, the main quest makes it real clear that this is a Pillar of Eternity game. i've barely cracked into it and I already don't know what is being asked of me. I've been near-reflexively picking RDC stuff over VTC just because VTC's all-profit thing seems boring if not evil, but a lot of the individual choices are just failing to land. i just did that Storm of Poko Kohara quest, and
at the end when I was supposed to choose between destroying the adra and repairing it, I had no idea what meaning or import I was supposed to ascribe to that decision. I guess it was "free these souls back to the wheel" vs. "keep them trapped in this adra forever so the adra stays precious", but why on earth would even the VTC people in the stone want to stay there forever just so their faction can make some money? they clearly...hate being in eternal gem prison
I guess what bugs me is that...it feels like the VTC are pretty comically, absurdly evil, and the RDC have some class problems but at least are not a violent colonial force, but the way the game is presenting them comes off like it thinks it's depicting a more nuanced conflict than it actually is.
anyway game's fun. pretty much every enemy group i run into now has 2-3 skull enemies, there was a whole group in poko kohara that i just couldn't touch at all. but the quest didn't say I was underleveled for it. so what the hell
The actual waypoints of the main quest aren't particularly numerous and wouldn't take a long time to power through, relative to CRPG standards -- but that's not really how the game is meant to be played, and I doubt anyone would on their first playthrough or two. The game feels very much like an attempt at open-worlding the typical CRPG structure, and the waypoints of the main quest are almost like difficulty/level gates to make sure you've seen enough of the world. It's not nearly as open as something like Breath of the Wild, but at the same time, yeah, you can beat that game in like 45 minutes if you're beelining. But that isn't actually how anyone plays it, because, even if you were good enough to skip that world, why would you? It's kind of the same thing with Deadfire, although with more numerous and concrete progression gates.You can count me in as somebody who will contribute to this game's finances once it hits PS4 next year! It looks terrific and I'm excited to give it a play.
Quick question though. I've seen it said that there is barely any main questline material in this game. Like, supposedly it's super-short. Is that so? Just want to temper expectations somewhat if needbe.
The basic consequences of siding with the new ranga and VTC in preserving the pillar is that it'll bolster the VTC's operations within the Deadfire, potentially leading to more Neketaka-style loss (or exacerbation) of Huana culture in the face of commercialism, more widespread destruction of luminous adra throughout the Deadfire, and increased VTC authority in the region -- in exchange for prosperity and factional peace, as seen in Neketaka and other smaller outposts throughout the Deadfire. On the other side of things, destroying the pillar is a significant blow to VTC operations, but will force the neighboring Huana tribe a more difficult journey as they'll have to leave Poko Kohara, albeit free of VTC influence. Destroying luminous adra is super bad as well, but doing so will make the industry a much less enticing enterprise to VTC in the future and possibly save more of it down the line.
It's a mixed bag either way -- as you go through the story you'll learn more about the importance of luminous adra and the gods' desire for the Deadfire/the Huana, and Rautaian fuckery, and the tangible progress with animancy that people of the VTC who certainly aren't evil are making (but also the VTC as a whole gets more terrible too).
Which leads into this next post well
The actual waypoints of the main quest aren't particularly numerous and wouldn't take a long time to power through, relative to CRPG standards -- but that's not really how the game is meant to be played, and I doubt anyone would on their first playthrough or two. The game feels very much like an attempt at open-worlding the typical CRPG structure, and the waypoints of the main quest are almost like difficulty/level gates to make sure you've seen enough of the world. It's not nearly as open as something like Breath of the Wild, but at the same time, yeah, you can beat that game in like 45 minutes if you're beelining. But that isn't actually how anyone plays it, because, even if you were good enough to skip that world, why would you? It's kind of the same thing with Deadfire, although with more numerous and concrete progression gates.
You're not going to be able to make it past the next point in the story unless you're powerful enough. You're not going to be powerful enough unless you do 'optional' content. So, while side content isn't part of the main story, it's definitely necessary, and is crucial in both informing your perception of the main story and providing you options to work and make decisions within those narrative waypoints. Character quests, faction decisions, regional 'side content' like what benj was talking about above, it all funnels into the main quest -- both internally in your decision-making and functionally in the breadth options you have available for you in the story.
So what's the recommended difficulty settings these days. Looking for a nice but not overbearing challenge throughout the game.
I don't have much experience with Serafen, but the nice thing about Tekehu as an Aloth-Wizard replacement is that all of Tekehu's frost/water keyworded Druid spells are foe-only. Late game Wizards are the mega-damage AOE kings, but it's often hard to find a situation where you can drop a spell without seriously hurting your own party, even with the help of spell-shaping. With Tekehu, you can drop your spell anywhere you need to without worrying about friendly fire. They come in a variety of damage types too -- notably burn and crush beyond the obvious freeze -- so you'll always have options.I'm much happier after I started playing PoTD (no upscaling). It seems like even without running a optimized character or party I can still play on this difficulty setting. I don't know how it all shook out in Pillars 1, because I kinda played through it earlier in it's life, but to me Pillars 1 required serious meta-gaming in order to do PoTD where the combat in Pillars 2 is more challenging, but doesn't require you to power-game quite as much (the only thing I did was hire people early game until I got a full outfit of companions).
I have a question about companions, overall. I'm currently playing a Beastmaster (shifter/ranger melee striker with some healing spells on the side) and I'm still early on in the game. Ideally I'd like to create a group that's pretty harmonious and I'd also like to ditch Xoti. Trying to bring in either Serefan or Teheku as a replacement but it seems like Aloth hates both of them pretty hardcore. Which makes me consider dropping Aloth instead because I mean it's kinda his fault that he can't get along with anybody. It's like that one guy that was your friend 10 years ago and like, never really moved on and developed new relationships, so now he hates all of the newcomers to your group. At least, that's how I feel right now.
But Aloth brings something more to the table in my party than Teheku in particular. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll meet some people that get along better with him later on down the line.
boy, this party is way more fun
any other weapon recommendations for a Soulblade/Assassin? I have Greatsword, Pistol, Arquebus, Pike right now. It feels like so much of what's "good" depends on what the game makes available. I picked up Arquebus because I saw one in Delver's Row that seemed frankly nuts—also have found a lightning pistol thing that seems merely fine. I seem to remember that PoE1 had, basically, a whole lot of generic weapons and then one-ish Legendary for each category—is this the same?