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Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire |OT| Josh Sawyer's Pirates!
- Thread starter Anno
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I wonder if that's what Josh has been spending his time on since he's only doing advisory stuff on Outer Worlds. He (and the whole team obviously) created probably the best RTwP combat system out there, but he obviously prefers turn based himself.
Wow. Well, building a top-of-the-line RTwP system and then working on a turn-based adaptation is certainly smarter than Arcanum's "let's just make two terrible combat systems at once" approach.
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
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Barbs make perfectly fine multiclasses with casters because they have a lot of ways to manipulate your action speed, so a witch is fine. Be aware though that his cipher subclass introduces quite a bit of variance that you don't normally need to worry about. These can crop up when you cast spells - they benefit you more often than not, but can sometimes be exceedingly harmful to an encounter. If you have him around and feel like you have an encounter squared away I would either not cast spells or at least make sure he's kind of sequestered off by himself. The harmful effects don't happen super often, and most of them aren't really that bad (basically just annoying), but if he rolls a miscast when on high focus it can wipe a party. The AoE isn't huge, thankfully.
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?
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There's new unique weapons, armor, soulbound items, even unique grimoires with a couple new spells. A new item type was introduced (trinkets) which tend to have one-off powerful effects on a per-rest cooldown. A couple new abilities have been added but that hasn't really been a focus of the updates or 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.
The regular updates also started to include Megaboss encounters, which are just what they sound like - set piece encounters that are very difficult, usually having specific mechanics you need to figure out and build around to overcome.
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.
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.
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.
This could be great, making what is pretty much the worst aspect of the game a little more functional is a good idea.
Yep. The ship combat system was never fun. By the time they showed it to us in beta, it was too late to go back to the prototype phase. If the game had been a success, maybe they could have looked at a redesign for the DLC. But under the circumstances, adding a new route around combat (no-penalty boarding action) plus some alternative interactions (intimidate/parley) sounds reasonable.
The DLCs are all great. Anno gave a good summery few posts up so I won't repeat it.
A turn based mode??? Jeez that's substantial. I cant believe how much the game has improved in not even a year.
Sounds like a crazy amount of work to add a functional turn-based mode. But impressive if they could pull it off.
I greatly prefer RTwP myself, so wouldnt really matter to me. But hey, anything that might make PoE more succesful!
Ship Combat overhaul would be great. Planning to start a second playthrough soonish, now that all the DLC is out. But if a big patch is on the way, maybe it is worth waiting some more :S
I greatly prefer RTwP myself, so wouldnt really matter to me. But hey, anything that might make PoE more succesful!
Ship Combat overhaul would be great. Planning to start a second playthrough soonish, now that all the DLC is out. But if a big patch is on the way, maybe it is worth waiting some more :S
Mash 1 until you're within 50 meters.
Honestly, just going straight to ram and skipping the whole thing probably isn't a bad idea, ship resources are never really a problem.
Anyone experiencing slight freeze/stutter during rain in Towns? I have a pretty beefy system, GTX 1080 TI, 5280K@ 4.3GHZ and 32GB DDR4@3000MHZ.
So I'm not sure what is happening, I purchased this game at launch and don't remember it stuttering like this in towns, all other games with more demanding requirements run butter smooth. It seems it's a unity engine issue, I have a G-Sync monitor and tried turning it off to no avail.
So I'm not sure what is happening, I purchased this game at launch and don't remember it stuttering like this in towns, all other games with more demanding requirements run butter smooth. It seems it's a unity engine issue, I have a G-Sync monitor and tried turning it off to no avail.
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I'll double check tomorrow but I don't think I've noticed that happening, and I just upgraded to a G-sync monitor last month. Maybe a driver thing?
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.
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.
So, I stopped playing because I had run into more glitches and stuff, I'm jumping back in now, fresh start! Only issue is I lost all of my POE1 saves :/ on the bright side I remember all my choices so I'll recreate it lol.
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
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.
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Oooh, thanks. I'll give it some thought. I did use a fair amount of The Killers Froze Stiff in both the beta and my first playthrough (via Tekehu), and it was great, but I'm thinking this build will not be focused on offensive invocations, so your Pale Elf/Chanter Wizard sounds interesting.
just got to Neketaka. this game is like...Witcher 3 levels of well-written, so far. actual class consciousness, material relations between individuals influenced by their social and economic positioning, collapsing infrastructure, individual lives affected by change in power structures, it's very sick. an actual world that feels like it didn't spring into being a second before the player walked into the room.
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
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
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Maia is definitely stronger than Serafen and has some of the coolest interactions in the game. I would go ahead and drop Aloth. Wizards are cool and all, but you can live without one, and he brings nothing to the table story-wise.
I don't know that there are any must-see companion combinations. Maia and Xoti had kind of a thing in my game. Pallegina and Xoti tend to be a combustible pair due to their opposing attitudes toward religion. Serafen brings a little color out of everyone.
ok, cool, good to know. I just found Haer'Dal—er, Tekehu. He seems like a reasonable Aloth replacement? "Only hit enemies with AoE" stuff seems...absolutely nutso. Especially given that my MC and Eder are always bouncing around fights, not having to worry about spell placement seems like a blessing. So now I'm running:
MC (Assassin/Soulblade)
Eder (Swashbuckler)
Pallegina (Herald)
Tekehu (Druid)
Maia (Scout)
if this sticks I'll be excited, it feels like an interesting party
MC (Assassin/Soulblade)
Eder (Swashbuckler)
Pallegina (Herald)
Tekehu (Druid)
Maia (Scout)
if this sticks I'll be excited, it feels like an interesting party
Looks like a reasonable party to me. Eder can tank. Pallegina can tank and heal. Tekehu can do a bunch of different things, including heal. And your MC and Maia should throw in plenty of damage.
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.
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Two-Fingers is a pretty meh heal all things told. Have Ancient Memories chanting and supplement with Lay Hands and Druid healing. Eventually upgrade Palleginas stances and run the armor one for an additional AoE heal, and buy the shield from the Dark Cupboard for yet another. Eventually you can even chant a +50% healing effect as well. It's all over time though so get it set up early if you think you'll need it. Also maybe carry some potions/scrolls for instant recovery.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
Thank you for the detailed response! That actually sounds rather intriguing. Going into Breath of the Wild I had some reservations about what I'd heard of its structure but I've ended up loving it so I'm quite open to a similar-but-more-concrete CRPG play on it.
So what's the recommended difficulty settings these days. Looking for a nice but not overbearing challenge throughout the game.
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I've really been enjoying veteran upscaled only with Deadly Deadfire Lite and the two +30% enemy HP and -30%XP submods for DD. I've been trying to tune things to where a hard fight is where I'm unluckily to wipe but if I don't go slow and execute well I'll definitely drop some characters and certainly could wipe after that. Ill probably trade out DD Lite for standard DD now that I'm starting to flesh out the party's capabilities more in the mid game.
That's for a very unoptimized party, though. I think if you're into really pushing that optimization you'll still want to run POTD/upscale and add Deadly Deadfire to that if you want something extra.
Ever since that turn based mode accidentally got uploaded then removed I've been scrounging for news or a comment from anyone "in the know..." every day, and nothing! I'm really REALLY curious about this and I want to know more? Maybe we'll hear more when the console versions are closer.
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.
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.
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've never had that drastic of an issue with inter-companion relationships, but if you want to get rid of Xoti and are willing to dump Aloth, Tekehu is a good hybrid that can cover both of their niches at once and give you some more flexibility with that other slot.
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?
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?
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It varies a lot more in Deadfire because people who purchased the create an item tier of the Fig campaign largely favored stuff like swords, great swords and sabres, and apparently some of the designers as well despite everyone's best efforts to keep that in mind. I myself am guilty of this! So some categories only have a few weapons and some have multiple end-game quality items.
Still, don't sleep on some of the non-legendary weapons. Especially with their enchantments leveled up they can be useful, too. And I dont think there's anytjing "generic" necessarily. Pretty sure almost every unique in the game has a unique enchantment.
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Ah, yeah those are mostly vendor fodder, probably even more than the first game since every unique is decently unique now. I don't know that I've ever sold a unique item - they're like consumables, I hoard them when I should sell/use them, just in case I ever decide one is suddenly very useful.