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Good voice acting definitely adds to immersion in my books, so I always listen the voice acted lines even if I could read them faster myself.
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Oct 8, 2019 04:57
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But still not sure if it suits big open-world RPGs. Smaller games with more limited cast like BioWare RPGs do work, maybe even PoE2 or Divinity Original Sin 2 works but games like Fallout New Vegas (seriously, I'm replaying it now and https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Liam_O%27Brien is extremely recognizable) and big open-world Bethesda games clearly suffer from that issue with 20 people acting as if there are 400 people. Maybe that's why many open-world RPGs or sort-of-RPGs gravitate toward a smaller cast of NPC reused for many same quests, like Witcher 3 or Assassins Creed Odyssey. This may also be a problem with an Infinity Engine style VA: if your game has 100 NPCs and you want just barks from 80 of them you still need actors to perform as a different character which is probably half of the job, and it's wasted on a single phrase. Maybe something has changed in that regard and it's easier now. I see that Fallout 4 had >150 voice actors while FNV had around 70 - which is not as good as you might think cause plenty of actors only worked on a single NPC so there are plenty of actors who play dozens of NPCs. ilitarist fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Oct 8, 2019 |
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Oct 8, 2019 09:10
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I strongly group Witcher 3 in with those Bethesda games. There's that one guy with the hoarse voice. It's a good voice! But it's extremely recognizable and he voices like 25 different quest givers. The PoE2 voice that I remember most is the one that's like an old lady. Couldn't name a single NPC that uses it but I can still hear it in my head.
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Oct 8, 2019 17:04
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Poe1 has some voice acting redundancy like that. The Orlan leader of the Glanfathans has the same voice actress as Lady Webb and doesn't really alter the voice that much between the two performances. Not enough so that it's not recognizable anyways. But then you have Eder and Aloth having the same voice actor and it's pretty impressive that Matt Mercer can do both voices like that. I haven't been able to catch too many instances of characters having noticeably the same VA in Poe2. There's a few times where I can hear the Maia voice actress doing voices for other Rauatain npcs, but she disguises it fairly well and it's not always easy to tell.
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Oct 8, 2019 18:00
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Ginette Reno posted:
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Oct 8, 2019 18:01
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chaosapiant posted:Fixed Nice. Has anyone ever played Aloth with him having suppressed Iselmyr? What's that like? Iselmyr owns so I've never done a poe1 run and not told him to ally with her.
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Oct 8, 2019 18:06
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Ginette Reno posted:Nice. Yes and its extremely boring. I had imported my save for my first playthrough of deadfire where I had suppressed Iselmyr and was very disappointed when I got to the hanging sepulchers after everyone was all "omg bring Aloth"
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Oct 8, 2019 18:11
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Are there any good newbie guides or tips you guys wanna share for someone who has never played D&D or even Baldur's Gate? I'm currently paralyzed at the class selection screen. I normally play a magic caster in RPGs but per the OP I'm learning more towards a Paladin or Druid
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Oct 8, 2019 21:40
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The annoying thing about Witcher 3 is how many people have the same model and the same voice. It’s straight up confusing at times.
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Oct 8, 2019 21:43
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Away all Goats posted:Are there any good newbie guides or tips you guys wanna share for someone who has never played D&D or even Baldur's Gate? Keep in mind your party has 5 slots and you can fill the other 4 from 13 unique companions, and even hire personality-less goons if you really want a specific class. In combat your main character isn't particularly special compared to the companions so your main character's class doesn't matter as much as it would in a non-party RPG.
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Oct 8, 2019 21:48
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Starks posted:The annoying thing about Witcher 3 is how many people have the same model and the same voice. It’s straight up confusing at times. That's weird, there's definitely some VAs being used more than once, but the main cast is both large and varied and I thought the variety was pretty good. I'm not sure how a game could have done it better honestly if you're committing to that much content.
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Oct 8, 2019 22:30
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All the reused character models in Witcher 3 are generic peasants / guards / soldiers who appear to deliver one line and then disappear never to be seen again. Not really a problem, imo. Voice actors doing multiple characters is a bigger issue, but a budget is a budget.
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Oct 8, 2019 23:09
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steinrokkan posted:All the reused character models in Witcher 3 are generic peasants / guards / soldiers who appear to deliver one line and then disappear never to be seen again. Not really a problem, imo. Voice actors doing multiple characters is a bigger issue, but a budget is a budget. That’s just not true, There are multiple reused named characters with branching dialogue. I haven’t played in years but the one Bronn-from-GOT looking guy who gives you the gryphon quest instantly comes to mind. Same with the emperor’s butler. There’s also this fantastic moment: https://i.imgur.com/lERz7tF.png Edit: actually looking at it closer this IS the emperor’s chamberlain lol I give them the benefit of the doubt that they had to do it because of memory or budget issues but that doesn’t really make it less jarring or immersion-breaking, especially because at one or two points I thought it was the same character.
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Oct 9, 2019 00:31
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MMF Freeway posted:Yes and its extremely boring. I had imported my save for my first playthrough of deadfire where I had suppressed Iselmyr and was very disappointed when I got to the hanging sepulchers after everyone was all "omg bring Aloth" should suppress aloth instead, imo
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Oct 9, 2019 01:19
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Berke Negri posted:the voice acting in poe2 was really well done imo The range of the VA talent is impressive as hell and you can tell some of them really worked on their accent and pronunciation, it's all incredibly well done. I love the Valian accent.
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Oct 9, 2019 03:10
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Away all Goats posted:Are there any good newbie guides or tips you guys wanna share for someone who has never played D&D or even Baldur's Gate? if you want something straightforward paladins are sturdy frontliners with a bit of heal and support gimmickry that are very difficult to gently caress up. druid, along with priest, mage, cipher, are more complicated spellcasters. druid is perhaps the most hybrid-like of them. but you'll need to learn how all those classes work sooner or later. Zane fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Oct 9, 2019 |
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Oct 9, 2019 05:53
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Zane posted:if you want something straightforward paladins are sturdy frontliners with a bit of heal and support gimmickry that are very difficult to gently caress up. druid, along with priest, mage, cipher, are more complicated spellcasters. druid is perhaps the most hybrid-like of them. but you'll need to learn how all those classes work sooner or later. I would rank paladin’s support and healing as higher than the gimmick level. They’re not as powerful in healing and support as (PoE 1) priests, but they still have a useful and powerful niche with per-encounter single target effects that are usually faster and more powerful than what corresponding priest abilities at the expense of AoE. The one role (PoE 1) paladins can’t fill well is damage, but they’re great tanks and provide reliable support. One can’t replace a priest, because priests are just ridiculously powerful, but they supplement them very effectively. Druids are focused primarily on AoE damage, with a lesser focus on healing and control (in PoE 1, the same is true in PoE 2, except they’re by far the strongest healers in that game as well). Spirit shift, if built correctly, gets you single target dps that rivals any other build in the game, but only for 15 seconds or so per fight. Overall, I think wizards and ciphers lean more towards the hybrid side. To the guy asking for advice, first, let us know what kind of character you want to play, since the way characters actually play may not be exactly the same as what you think if you’re new to the game. Next, I can say that Paladin is straightforward to play and has cool and impactful skills, as in you press a button and it has a clear and immediate effect on the fight. You won’t do a lot of damage, but you won’t die and you’ll keep the party on their feet. Paladin is tied with priest for my second favorite class in PoE 1, falling behind Monk. To someone new to the genre as a whole, it has to be pointed out that casters are far and away the most powerful classes. I would say the order goes priest as the clear strongest, then wizard, then druid then cipher. But they all get access to absolutely insane, broken stuff at high levels, so whether the wizard’s six instant casts of gently caress you paralysis fireballs are really better than the the druid’s storm of everyone is stunned forever is mostly immaterial. However, there are tons of different spells, and until you have a solid grasp of game mechanics, it’s not clear which spells are good in which situations. So they’re much harder to play effectively, and it’s easily possible to play a wizard badly and think they suck, whereas a fighter is going to be effective pretty much whatever you do. Unlike most games in the genre, though, the gaps between classes aren’t so wide. Even rogues, widely regarded as the weakest class, can deal vicious single target damage and, built well, can lock down and destroy single enemies at lightning speed. So you can pick any class and feel like you have a powerful and effective character. The specifics about what the classes are good at and which are best is all for PoE 1, by the way. If you’re playing 2, let us know, because there are some important differences.
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Oct 9, 2019 07:35
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steinrokkan posted:All the reused character models in Witcher 3 are generic peasants / guards / soldiers who appear to deliver one line and then disappear never to be seen again. Not really a problem, imo. Voice actors doing multiple characters is a bigger issue, but a budget is a budget. This. Named characters are all more or less unique and the game pretty consistently tells you if a character is important by giving them a name. So even when a few named characters have the same faces or VA it's not as jarring. You also don't see those characters outside of their quests. Games from Obsidian, Bethesda, and BioWare usually insist that every person is a whole world with their own name, backstory, opinions, in case of Bethesda even a unique home. And in many cases those characters continue to exist in the world so when you get back to a town for supplies you often see and hear them again, while in Witcher/AC Odyssey/Many BioWare games they leave the stage once the quest is done. So Witcher's Village Elder #11 asking you to kill the monster with the same voice as Village Elder #7 doesn't feel as problematic as FNV's Ranger Jackson (has a speech quirk with answering questions like "do you have recruits" with "recruits yes, soldiers no"; bureaucratic but corrupt in a way beneficial to the player) sounding exactly like Cachino (mafia boss) or Anders (Khan imprisoned by Legion) and with the same very recognizable voice as Santiago (conman prostitute) or Pacer (who does Elvis impression with the same very recognizable voice). That actor is very talented and managed to play dozens of characters with very few of them sounding exactly the same but you can still hear it's the same voice, and it clashes with you knowing those are all unique characters, not faceless statists.
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Oct 9, 2019 08:51
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How are Druids? I have a hankering for AoE lightning slinging and was thinking about embarking on my first PoE 2 run.
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Oct 9, 2019 15:19
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Heithinn Grasida posted:I would rank paladin’s support and healing as higher than the gimmick level. They’re not as powerful in healing and support as (PoE 1) priests, but they still have a useful and powerful niche with per-encounter single target effects that are usually faster and more powerful than what corresponding priest abilities at the expense of AoE. The one role (PoE 1) paladins can’t fill well is damage, but they’re great tanks and provide reliable support. One can’t replace a priest, because priests are just ridiculously powerful, but they supplement them very effectively. Paladins aren't great at sustained damage in Poe1 compared to other classes but they can burst it out pretty well. An Arquebus shot with Flames of Devotion can be devastating. Of course that does require some micro because you'll want to shoot once with the Arquebus and then either switch to another one or switch to a melee weapon. But if you care to micro it that way Pallies can burst out the dps. Saul Kain posted:How are Druids? I have a hankering for AoE lightning slinging and was thinking about embarking on my first PoE 2 run. Very good. They have a lot of party friendly AOE damage. Some of it does raw damage which is nice because raw damage avoids damage reduction. They have a good spell list and are excellent healers that can still do some nice damage. If specced for melee they can do that too with Spiritshift focused builds. Ginette Reno fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Oct 9, 2019 |
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Oct 9, 2019 15:23
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Saul Kain posted:How are Druids? I have a hankering for AoE lightning slinging and was thinking about embarking on my first PoE 2 run. They're a solid jack-of-all-trades class with good nukes, some healing/buffing, and a small amount of CC. They're somewhat unique in that there's a handful of items in the base game that improve the power of their lightning spells, so you can end up with a character that can wipe the floor with most encounters when properly set up. It's hard to go wrong with them.
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Oct 9, 2019 15:27
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ilitarist posted:This. Named characters are all more or less unique and the game pretty consistently tells you if a character is important by giving them a name. So even when a few named characters have the same faces or VA it's not as jarring. You also don't see those characters outside of their quests. That's Liam O'Brien I think who also voices Serafen in Deadfire and I think directed most of the VO sessions.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:21
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Witcher 3’s voice recycling works because the vast majority of characters are stock types. Doltish Peasant #4 does not need to be too different from Prejudiced Peasant #17. You notice when LIKE A NOVIGRAD WHORE is endlessly repeated but you don’t notice that the guards have the same voice as every other guard. Guards are guards This is not the case in FNV because it doesn’t lean as hard on caricatures for the bulk of its cast, so Col. Hsu’s similarity to the lieutenant you snitch on the prison gangers to is kind of glaring. Also, there are a lot of ambient barks that aren’t localized (eg NOVIGRAD WHORE) so you find nuclear winter wishers all over the drat map
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Oct 9, 2019 18:25
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Scorchy posted:That's Liam O'Brien I think who also voices Serafen in Deadfire and I think directed most of the VO sessions. Yep, that's him. I think PoE2 did a fairly good job in keeping vocal mimics to a minimum compared to F:NV, which was probably aided by the desire for more specific regional accents. I think the only one I noticed playing through the base game was Laura Bailey doing both Xoti and the Woedican Inquisitor, but that's mostly because I've heard her in enough other properties that it's easy to pick her voice out.
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Oct 9, 2019 18:28
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Only one I really noticed was the narrator and the vamp woman
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Oct 9, 2019 18:31
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I am pretty sure Colonel Hsu's voice actor is unique to him, actually.
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Oct 9, 2019 19:17
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Basic Chunnel posted:Only one I really noticed was the narrator and the vamp woman That really stands out. Maia's VO came up somewhere and I forget where now, but it was also insanely obvious at the time
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Oct 10, 2019 03:31
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Playing this game again, this time turn-based. POTD, Deadfire Aumaua Barbarian/Rogue(Streetfighter). Turn-based feels even harder than real-time, didn't think it would be that way. At Engwithian Dig Site, I didn't even engage boars, not to mention dragons, and I left those imps near barrels alone. Might feel harder cause I haven't got myself a mercenary this time. I could only handle skeletons in training hall later when I came back with Aloth and Serafen. Turn-based combat certainly has some issues. End turn hotkey doesn't always work. I understand why the turn doesn't end after you've done your action but it's still a little annoying. Quite often I look at my character preparing a spell for a second or two and then remember that I should end turn now. But it certainly feels better for the tactics of it, even if there are some strange decisions like switching weapons not being a free action. Also those fights feel longer but appropriately meaningful still, not sure it will be like that all the way through. Even now engaging people with a lot of armor is irritating though naturally it tells you that armor reducing skills are not optional or POTD. Also even after a couple of walkthroughs I seem to not remember the number of reactions happening between characters. I remember Eder and Xoti being awkward around each other but other than that all of those interactions look like a template for a much more character-focused game. Like in Tyranny you've unlocked bonuses by making character loyal and/or fearful, PoE2 begs for bonuses like "Gets bonus resolve when Aloth is down and can't roll eyes anymore" at the certain point of a relationship. ilitarist fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Oct 14, 2019 |
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Oct 14, 2019 11:29
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There is an option to have it automatically end your turn after an action if you want to.
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Oct 14, 2019 11:34
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Ah, thanks!
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Oct 14, 2019 11:41
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The only reason I visit different locations in Deadfire is to save all the lost, forgotten, forlorn, and forsaken pets. I’m a one ship SPCA.
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Oct 14, 2019 16:39
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Lucas Archer posted:The only reason I visit different locations in Deadfire is to save all the lost, forgotten, forlorn, and forsaken pets. I’m a one ship SPCA.  Though I also like sinking every slaver ship I see.
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Oct 14, 2019 16:48
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I’m sure people have mentioned this before, but the fact Deadfire is so open ended means I end up ignoring quests for a while - and when I finally get around to them, I just ~crush~ my opponents. I had a battle with a bunch of druids that I expect was supposed to be difficult. Not too tough when I roll in there at level 15 and explode all of them in 2 rounds with high level AOE spells.
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Oct 14, 2019 17:02
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Lucas Archer posted:I’m sure people have mentioned this before, but the fact Deadfire is so open ended means I end up ignoring quests for a while - and when I finally get around to them, I just ~crush~ my opponents. I had a battle with a bunch of druids that I expect was supposed to be difficult. Not too tough when I roll in there at level 15 and explode all of them in 2 rounds with high level AOE spells. There's an option to scale enemy levels up to yours wherever you go. It doesn't work quite as I expected it to though, sometimes it seems to make enemies that should be my level actually be above my level. And like the DLC content is still far, far harder than the base endgame despite both being "scaled" to level 20. But I found it worked decently to prevent things from getting too easy.
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Oct 14, 2019 17:31
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Can this game be completed solo, without any party members, even if it would be extremely difficult?
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Oct 14, 2019 17:36
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CubeTheory posted:Can this game be completed solo, without any party members, even if it would be extremely difficult? there's an achievement for doing so I believe e: if you're asking if anyone has done it it's also a requirement for The Ultimate IIRC, and a few people have finished that as well
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Oct 14, 2019 17:40
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Eggnogium posted:There's an option to scale enemy levels up to yours wherever you go. It doesn't work quite as I expected it to though, sometimes it seems to make enemies that should be my level actually be above my level. And like the DLC content is still far, far harder than the base endgame despite both being "scaled" to level 20. But I found it worked decently to prevent things from getting too easy. Yeah, I’m going to enable that, along with expert mode and some blessings for my second run through. I haven’t gone to Ashen Maw yet, so I don’t know how much main story is left. Is there gaming after the finishing of the main storyline, or should I get all dlcs and side quests done before then?
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Oct 14, 2019 17:52
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When you're done with the main quest you're done with the game. Also, if you get involved *exclusively* with the main quest, it's pretty short, so I'd recommend doing as much side content and DLC stuff as you want right now or right after Ashen Maw.
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Oct 14, 2019 18:07
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Thanks, that’s good to know.
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Oct 14, 2019 18:23
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Funny how only on my third playthrough I got achievement for getting the full party. Previously I've always ignored Maia, Pallegina or Tekehu. Playing Neketaka right after Fallout New Vegas I'm reminded why devs today are hesitant to include big towns in their games. And some embrace Bethesda design of sending you into dungeon with every quest. Cause right now maybe half of my playthrough was in Neketaka and there was almost no combat. I've got a lot of equipment, levelups, new party members and I don't know how will it all interact in a fight. Nothing stops me from going outside to do cartographer quest, or fort Deadlight or just explore but it wouldn't be optimal: with tavern rest buffs I have enough skills for all of those peaceful quests and it makes sense to levelup as much as possible before getting into further fights. And later I'll have plenty of time when it's just combat all day long. Wonder if the pacing would be better if, say, some districts like Gullet and Stairs were closed off before you do Hasongo. Right now I think I can do every quest except maybe city ruins.
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Oct 15, 2019 09:52
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