Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2: Capt. Asshole Island

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2: Capt. Asshole Island

Basic Chunnel: Sep 21, 2010; Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

I�ll be interested to see if my NPC is somewhere / involved in something cool, or a dude you can assault for treasure (which I also �designed�). Either will be fun to come across.

# ? May 4, 2018 06:25

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# ? Jun 17, 2024 11:07

Count Uvula: Dec 20, 2011; ---

basic hitler posted:

does anyone have a really essential rundown of combat changes from poe 1 > 2?

stuff i'm aware of:

health/endurance changes (generally)
per rest spells are gone (i think?)

otherwise i know gently caress-all. I'm aware i could probably read a wiki but i would like, prefer a short lay explanation and yall are better for that than the wider internet

Instead of the health system a character perma-dies if they get downed when they already have 2 injuries from being downed previously (I think 2? maybe 3).
Per rest spells are indeed gone but every class gets a per-rest resource to boost the power and accuracy of an ability they use.
Damage resistance is replaced with an armor system, so instead of being able to crush damage resistances with high damage a weapon that doesn't penetrate an enemy's armor has its damage reduced by a percentage value.
A large chunk of the buffs and debuffs skills give fit in to an ailment/inspiration system where the status effects are aligned to a stat and you can cancel out an effect by casting an opposing effect. e.g. Casting haste on someone who's paralyzed returns them to normal until one of the status effects runs out (iirc? I might have the details of this wrong)

# ? May 4, 2018 06:27

Cavauro: Jan 9, 2008

I killed Aefre and all the people with her because they were all labelled 'thugs' before ever receiving the quest to confront her. So once I did receive it, it was broken and I couldn't do anything. I hope this is addressed in my imported save and I still have 'Supply and Demand' in my questlog or I'm going to get a refund

# ? May 4, 2018 06:29

Basic Chunnel: Sep 21, 2010; Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

Using an empower resource can boost the damage and accuracy of a single ability or spell cast or replenish the spells / not-mana of a character in combat.

# ? May 4, 2018 06:30

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

basic hitler posted:

well, i beat the game again, on the difficulty below potd.

I went with Galawain's plan. Initially I intended to just send everything back to the wheel but i figured Galawain's plan was just a stop on the road back.

Also had Aloth replace Thaos. I hope that doesn't preclude him from being in the next game. If not, oh well. Eder and pallegina had solid ends.

I had forgotten how well-written if sudden the final act comes. The writing inside the final dungeon is all pretty solid and i even started getting a little bit sad/choked up having that conversation with that person from my past life, whose name i've already forgotten.

Anyway, i'm ready to fuckin play some poe 2 now. tuesday needs to loving come faster.

I'd been leaning towards Berath but went with Galawain too for my final run, one of my influences ended up being Hiravias quest - I thought it'd been pushing him towards Wael but he chose Galawain for himself and his reasoning helped me do so too.

I think the ending card for it gives the effect I was after too - just hopefully no long term effects from grafting the souls in the strengthening process.

And yeah meeting Iovara is a massive plot dump but it's a good one.

# ? May 4, 2018 06:52

Ora Tzo: Feb 26, 2016; HEEEERES TONYYYY

This MCA stuff has taken quite a turn with more stuff that could blow up Obsidian.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:11

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

# ? May 4, 2018 07:12

Kith: Sep 17, 2009; You never learn anything
by doing it right.

My game nearly crashed because Stormcaller decided to proc Returning Lightning several hundred times. I'm lucky that I was recording at the time, because there's this frame and then the next frame he's gone.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:17

Heithinn Grasida: Mar 28, 2005; ...must attack and fall upon them with a gallant bearing and a fearless heart, and, if possible, vanquish and destroy them, even though they have for armour the shells of a certain fish, that they say are harder than diamonds, and in place of swords wield trenchant blades of Damascus steel...

Chairchucker posted:

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

Drawn in Spring should be up there for sure. After that, it really depends on what your class is. A few one handers have stun on crit, which is pretty amazing. The annihilation sabers are capable of putting out some ridiculous damage too. Rimecutter might be best if you have trouble eliminating recovery and aren�t paying too much attention to damage type.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:23

Random Asshole: Nov 8, 2010

Ora Tzo posted:

This MCA stuff has taken quite a turn with more stuff that could blow up Obsidian.

The only thing that could even conceivably blow up Obsidian in this scenario is MCA in a suicide vest. Even if he was mistreated by upper management (and to be clear I'm not discounting that possibility), he's not really going about this in a way that's going to change anything. Like, if I were trying to blow open a case of corporate corruption I'd probably give the scoop to legitimate journalists and not euronazi cucktown, but what do I know :shrug:

# ? May 4, 2018 07:23

Shirkelton: Apr 6, 2009; I'm not loyal to anything, General... except the dream.

rope kid posted:

We do have the new unique high level spells for priests. Spiritual Weapon (2nd level) is accessible by all priests, but summons weapons that are specific to the deity.

Berath: Great Sword
Eothas: Flail
Magran: Pistol and Sword
Skaen: Club and Stiletto
Wael: Rod

For some reason I thought this meant 'summons a giant weapon to crush your enemies' and was very confused at how Magran's would work.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:26

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

LOL just found out Earth Blights take zero damage from slashing and corrode damage. Had to pull out Fulvano's blunderbuss to take that one out.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:27

Count Uvula: Dec 20, 2011; ---

quote:

Chris Avellone , do you think that woman that colour their hair might possibly be responsible for some/all of the problems with Obsidian? In your experience, does the theory that either of those factors somehow leads to useless output but also manages to guarantee getting and maintaining a steady writing gig have any merit?

RPGCodex about to unearth the dark secrets of the videogame industry.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:34

SNAKES N CAKES: Sep 6, 2005; DAVID GAIDER
Lead Writer

Ora Tzo posted:

This MCA stuff has taken quite a turn with more stuff that could blow up Obsidian.

Sounds like its's all about boring financial stuff:

quote:

To give a little more detail on the financial issues raised shortly before (and then after) the departure:

Note the financial issues were only part of the discussion points, and we did continue to debate them after the departure. They amounted to:

- I asked about making the company�s finances more transparent, since those were often a mystery. This lack of clarity also interfered with the review process (in short, you can�t do reviews and give raises until finances are in order, and we always got held up on that as part of the process, sometimes for months, even if reviews had been written � this is apparently still the case).

- Feargus as CFO had total control over this part of the process. Unfortunately, it was hard to see behind the curtain, and that curtain was not only Feargus himself, but HR and also a number of long-time friends who worked offsite. I have never felt Feargus to be good with money and budgeting, and we had much different approaches on how to save, spend, and what amounted to raises and equal pay for employees. Our usual lack of funds ended up causing a lot of problems with publishers because we were very, very dependent on their payments, so we had little or no leverage or breathing room if disagreements arose - if we had funds in the bank, there's a number of things we could have handled differently.

- The problem is when we did have a lot of money in the bank, Feargus tended to spend it freely and rarely checked with other owners before doing so. Worse, when we had little in the bank, you learned to avoid him, as he�d interpret the depletion in funds as somehow a failing on your part (even if you weren�t being paid for months at a time, or worse, if you�d given the company loans to make payroll).

- Strangely, this particular point is likely one of the big triggers for the de-ownering: I asked why family members who didn�t work at the studio were doing on our payroll � notably, Feargus�s wife (other employees have spotted this as well and brought it up to me after I left since they saw her on spreadsheets, so either it didn�t get fixed or is still the norm). To be fair, I don�t know if she�s still on payroll or not as of today, but even for a while after my departure, she was still employed by the studio, and while she was, I had no idea what she was doing for us.

- I asked why the Fair Market Value of the company hadn�t been adjusted in 10 years (it was still sitting around what the company�s initial value was, which was almost nothing). It turned out none of the procedures for voting on this had ever taken place according to the company�s own bylaws. So I asked we resume our own procedure and vote on having it evaluated � which was ignored, then interrupted by being de-ownered before the shares could be re-evaluated (which was also good business, but again, poor ethics). I don�t know if not doing a FMV evaluation is legal or not, but guessing it is.

Any of these could have been a trigger for de-ownering, even the last one, but there were other issues brought up as well (non-financial) that continued to be discussed before or after I was no longer an employee. These weren�t resolved.

For the record, I would have been far more comfortable if the finances were managed by someone else, including any other owner (and despite my other feelings about the owners and their organization/communication, I would trust any of them more than Feargus with finances because at least they understood the basic principles of how to maintain a positive cashflow).

As an added benefit, you�d also remove a good deal of any potential defensiveness by having it managed by a neutral party when inquiring about it - hopefully. That may be naive, but I'd like to think so.

As another benefit, removing this aspect of his job would have been one less thing to distract Feargus, since he was already overseeing and doing too much that arguably he shouldn�t be doing, and he couldn�t keep track (or remember) the tasks he was asking for anyway. This was certainly the case in dealings after the departure, which made the problems more apparent. This may have changed since � any of this may have, but they were issues at the time.

Anyway, this wasn�t all the issues brought up, but it�s a good chunk of the financial issues that were causing problems overall.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...79#post-5595575

# ? May 4, 2018 07:42

Furism: Feb 21, 2006; Live long and headbang

Basic Chunnel posted:

Using an empower resource can boost the damage and accuracy of a single ability or spell cast or replenish the spells / not-mana of a character in combat.

I think I might be stupid because I never managed to use Empower to replenish abilities/spells. I've seen it in the description and everything but never found where the game wanted me to click. Then forgot to look online.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:43

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

Chairchucker posted:

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

There's a hellwax mold item you can use to have two bittercuts too if you are planning to dual wield. Particularly good for Devil as her robot body lets her ignore the penalties.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:48

Octo1: May 7, 2009

Furism posted:

I think I might be stupid because I never managed to use Empower to replenish abilities/spells. I've seen it in the description and everything but never found where the game wanted me to click. Then forgot to look online.

Click on the empowerment icon then click your character's portrait.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:53

Furism: Feb 21, 2006; Live long and headbang

Octo1 posted:

Click on the empowerment icon then click your character's portrait.

I'm so stupid. Thanks mate.

# ? May 4, 2018 07:58

Fair Bear Maiden: Jun 17, 2013

To be fair, it would make a lot of sense to just click on the character, but I don't think that's possible currently.

# ? May 4, 2018 08:01

Wizard Styles: Aug 6, 2014; level 15 disillusionist

You would invariably misclick and empower a Xaurip Skirmisher standing next to the character.

# ? May 4, 2018 08:12

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

Avalerion posted:

There's a hellwax mold item you can use to have two bittercuts too if you are planning to dual wield. Particularly good for Devil as her robot body lets her ignore the penalties.

I don't think I can get that when I'm soloing, since I'd need companions to go on the quest to get it.

# ? May 4, 2018 08:12

Kith: Sep 17, 2009; You never learn anything
by doing it right.

Chairchucker posted:

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

Depends on what you want from your one-handers. If you're looking for raw damage, Unlaboured/Bittercut is hard to beat. On the other hand, weapons with Draining keep you alive. If you happen to be a dual-wielding Barbarian with Gaun's Share and Mosquito, you can basically ignore the difference between Endurance and Health thanks to Draining working on Carnage's splash damage.

# ? May 4, 2018 08:25

Furism: Feb 21, 2006; Live long and headbang

Chairchucker posted:

I don't think I can get that when I'm soloing, since I'd need companions to go on the quest to get it.

Yes I also realized that's the underlying, unexpected difficulty of TCS runs. Reminds me I should finish mine. My Paladin is level 11 I think and I ran out of easy poo poo to kill I'm not sure where to go next. The Ogres Cave in WM1 maybe?

# ? May 4, 2018 09:08

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

Furism posted:

Yes I also realized that's the underlying, unexpected difficulty of TCS runs. Reminds me I should finish mine. My Paladin is level 11 I think and I ran out of easy poo poo to kill I'm not sure where to go next. The Ogres Cave in WM1 maybe?

I'm playing on story time difficulty so it's not too bad finding easy things to kill. I decided to leave most of the endless paths until after I had the unlaboured blade, since you can pretty much level it all the way up in there. Just now killed the Adra Dragon and put his scale onto my full plate and ate his body to level up my hat. Had to cheese him a bit by running past him, taking out the xaurips, and jamming myself into his lair so his other buddies couldn't come and help him.

# ? May 4, 2018 09:24

DoNotFeedTheBear: Sep 13, 2007

Chairchucker posted:

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

I'd say it depends on the build you're going for, for example whether you think you're going to get a lot of crits. But generally speaking, non-soulbound weapons with speed or wounding enchantments tend to be the best.

# ? May 4, 2018 09:29

CottonWolf: Jul 20, 2012; Good ideas generator

Ora Tzo posted:

This MCA stuff has taken quite a turn with more stuff that could blow up Obsidian.

Jason Schreier at Kotaku who has some of the best contacts in the business is aware of the allegations and looking into it now, so if there is something there it's inevitably going to come out one way or the other. Even if he doesn't take it forward himself, it's hit the journo world.

# ? May 4, 2018 09:46

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

I guess (or hope) it's too late for this to harm deadfire now, but if this screws things up for Obsidian going forward I'm gonna be pissed. :argh:

# ? May 4, 2018 09:51

CVE: Jan 27, 2012

Do I need a DirectX 11 capable graphic card for it? Recommendations seem to lead that way which would suck since the first game ran without it just fine and I just assumed I would be ok.

# ? May 4, 2018 10:08

ChrisBTY: Mar 29, 2012; this glorious monument

Well I think I officially suck at this game.
Level 14.
Getting thumped by Concealhut.
Maybe I could figure something out, but really I just want to get this game out of the way in time for Deadfire.

# ? May 4, 2018 10:23

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

The trick (not just here really) is to send only one tank in to trigger him while the rest of the party stays outside the doorway so you don't get pilled upon. Alternatively I've seen him instagib himself with his own missile barrage against characters with ranged deflect.

# ? May 4, 2018 10:30

ChrisBTY: Mar 29, 2012; this glorious monument

I did that. They piled on me anyway.

# ? May 4, 2018 10:31

Samuel Clemens: Oct 4, 2013; I think we should call the Avengers.

Chairchucker posted:

Are Unlaboured Blade and Bittercut the best two onehanders?

Pure damage? Drawn in Spring beats everything.

Utility? I don't know. Maybe Starcaller? Stun on crit on a fast weapon is pretty nasty.

# ? May 4, 2018 11:04

TEENAGE WITCH: Jul 20, 2008; NAH LAD

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/173567029891/hey-josh-i-just-checked-out-the-most-recent

fenstermake and dollarhyde are aesthetic af for this

# ? May 4, 2018 11:37

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

Sword romance officially confirmed!

# ? May 4, 2018 11:44

Furism: Feb 21, 2006; Live long and headbang

ChrisBTY posted:

Well I think I officially suck at this game.
Level 14.
Getting thumped by Concealhut.
Maybe I could figure something out, but really I just want to get this game out of the way in time for Deadfire.

Sorry to link this again but that should help you: https://youtu.be/wI49sIr4ZZI

# ? May 4, 2018 11:56