Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire + DLC Thread - now with turn-based combat!

[Nikanuur]

For my sins, I've gotten into a turn-based playthrough, as the mod above is quite nice, makes the turn-based game feel more comfy, so I just drifted into playing the damn thing again.

But on a whim I went for Iron Man mode PotD this time round, and I'm reminded about one of the things about playing games with one save - not only do you get more immersed because no part of your brain is wasted on saving worries, but also I realized that playing Iron Man, I'm much less inclined to go for long sessions, because I know from experience I make mistakes when I'm tired, and I don't really want to make the kind of stupid mistake you make when you're tired.

So I find it easier to quit the game after a nice, bite-sized session that has a bit of everything in it (combat, inventory, story). Instead of going on and on for a couple of hours, I can do half an hour or three quarters and just stop.

Nice side-benefit.

***********

It's also a bit melancholy because I've played through this game+DLCs twice now, with a few side characters having done bits too, and while I still enjoy the combat, I'm bored with a lot of the story and just click through it mostly.

It makes me wistful for a new CRPG with good gameplay like this (quiet in the cheap seats!), good QOL and attention to detail, with graphics as jewelline as this, and a new story.

Oooh, salutations, that's pretty brave. As if some main-story and side-quest encounters weren't hard enough, I remember dying to those optional bosses like that immense iron giant or that colossal bog-blob in pretty much every fight. I've never defeated them. I suppose I could do it if I'd investigated my build's shortcomings and buffed differently, etc. but still, trying this on Iron Man... How do you even know you are ready? I wouldn't

 

[gurugeorge]

For my sins, I've gotten into a turn-based playthrough, as the mod above is quite nice, makes the turn-based game feel more comfy, so I just drifted into playing the damn thing again.

But on a whim I went for Iron Man mode PotD this time round, and I'm reminded about one of the things about playing games with one save - not only do you get more immersed because no part of your brain is wasted on saving worries, but also I realized that playing Iron Man, I'm much less inclined to go for long sessions, because I know from experience I make mistakes when I'm tired, and I don't really want to make the kind of stupid mistake you make when you're tired.

So I find it easier to quit the game after a nice, bite-sized session that has a bit of everything in it (combat, inventory, story). Instead of going on and on for a couple of hours, I can do half an hour or three quarters and just stop.

Nice side-benefit.

***********

It's also a bit melancholy because I've played through this game+DLCs twice now, with a few side characters having done bits too, and while I still enjoy the combat, I'm bored with a lot of the story and just click through it mostly.

It makes me wistful for a new CRPG with good gameplay like this (quiet in the cheap seats!), good QOL and attention to detail, with graphics as jewelline as this, and a new story.

Oooh, salutations, that's pretty brave. As if some main-story and side-quest encounters weren't hard enough, I remember dying to those optional bosses like that immense iron giant or that colossal bog-blob in pretty much every fight. I've never defeated them. I suppose I could do it if I'd investigated my build's shortcomings and buffed differently, etc. but still, trying this on Iron Man... How do you even know you are ready? I wouldn't

Yeah I don't fancy my chances much with those optional bosses either

 

[Lacrymas]

Oooh, salutations, that's pretty brave. As if some main-story and side-quest encounters weren't hard enough, I remember dying to those optional bosses like that immense iron giant or that colossal bog-blob in pretty much every fight. I've never defeated them. I suppose I could do it if I'd investigated my build's shortcomings and buffed differently, etc. but still, trying this on Iron Man... How do you even know you are ready? I wouldn't

Playing ironman is not about finishing the game, it's about trying.

 

[leuMOX]

My interactions with the PoE franchise thus far.

PoE1: Played it for a few days and then abandoned it since it was boring so I lost interest.

PoE2: Played it for a few days and then abandoned it since it was boring so I lost interest.

PoE2 Turn-based Update releases: Played it quite far and got near, what felt like(?), the end and then...lost interest.

As you can tell, my history with the franchise has been very good.

6.5/10 would actually recommend it provided it's played as a turn-based game.

Divinity: OS2 is a 9/10 BTW

 

[AwesomeButton]

Divinity: OS2 is a 9/10 BTW

Divinity: OS2 is a turd of an RPG.

 

[leuMOX]

Divinity: OS2 is a 9/10 BTW

Divinity: OS2 is a turd of an RPG.

 

[Nikanuur]

Unrelated to your exchange of feelings, guys.

Back in the day, I remember BG II being a monstrous strain on patience, memory, and attention. At least for me. I remember that I wanted to play that awesome, huge, fantasy gig but being intimidated by it. I couldn't bear with it for more than few hours in a row. Of course, today I feel different. Having replayed BG and BG II several times, I learned that I can play at my own pace, absorb what I can, etc., and that this would actually improve my "ability" to have fun and, paradoxically, absorb way more of the game's lore. Playing PoE I and II initially proved similarly. The "spiritual successor to IE combat" frustrated me with the pressing chaos and originality in the (subjectively) wrong places (e.g., Might used to calculate spells' strength). But I was armed with the experience from BG II...

Ommit the actual titles and translate this to your own experience and other gaming titles, if you need to. I believe many of you have similar experience while playing cRPGs? Gosh, I'm trying to say, maybe we never got an ideal cRPG; maybe it's about the ability to play all along. That and the development of personal skills, not just being served.

 

[Nikanuur]

For my sins, I've gotten into a turn-based playthrough, as the mod above is quite nice, makes the turn-based game feel more comfy, so I just drifted into playing the damn thing again.

But on a whim I went for Iron Man mode PotD this time round, and I'm reminded about one of the things about playing games with one save - not only do you get more immersed because no part of your brain is wasted on saving worries, but also I realized that playing Iron Man, I'm much less inclined to go for long sessions, because I know from experience I make mistakes when I'm tired, and I don't really want to make the kind of stupid mistake you make when you're tired.

So I find it easier to quit the game after a nice, bite-sized session that has a bit of everything in it (combat, inventory, story). Instead of going on and on for a couple of hours, I can do half an hour or three quarters and just stop.

Nice side-benefit.

***********

It's also a bit melancholy because I've played through this game+DLCs twice now, with a few side characters having done bits too, and while I still enjoy the combat, I'm bored with a lot of the story and just click through it mostly.

It makes me wistful for a new CRPG with good gameplay like this (quiet in the cheap seats!), good QOL and attention to detail, with graphics as jewelline as this, and a new story.

Okay, so all of the mentioned and your attempt caused me to install and play again too. With the new mod I will, hopefully, finish the game in the TB mode .
I'm building what I always wanted to play but never got to; a frontline, towering, have-at-them Chanter. I was indecisive whether to play a two-handed Barbarian/Chanter (nicer whaaaaAAARGH moments with arguably more damage) or a Warrior/Chanter (all the stacking of passive health regeneration and more defense). In the end, I went for whaaaaAAAARGH :D So far, I can mostly only graze enemies (kinda meh, since my Aumaua towers around 8 feet and any measly, scrawny, low-rate thug can defend the heck out of my 150 cm two-handed discussion-resolver), but if I recall correctly, the ratios of att and def will significantly improve during the game. Wish me luck.

 

[Delterius]

So far, I can mostly only graze enemies (kinda meh, since my Aumaua towers around 8 feet and any measly, scrawny low-rate thug can defend the heck out of my 150 cm two-handed discussion-resolver), but if I recall correctly, the ratios of att and def will significantly improve during the game. Wish me luck.

PotD?

 

[Nikanuur]

PotD?

No, no, that's way out of my league of patience :D Only hard.

 

[Nikanuur]

Talking about PoTD, this is the way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofGJbtRjZn8

 

[Delterius]

PotD?

No, no, that's way out of my league of patience :D Only hard.

in any case you're right, the difficulty is frontloaded so you don't have to fear for your character. as you accrue levels, your accuracies will catch up to or outpace enemy defenses. just don't take too long to up the ante.

 

[Grunker]

PoE2's difficulty is much lower than PoE's, except in the beginning where it's harder. Even on PotD with fairly mediocre builds you'll pubstomp a lot of the opposition come lategame.

 

[Lacrymas]

Both games' difficulties fall off a cliff very quickly. At lvl 10, you basically stop paying attention to anything, but it becomes easier and easier before that.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I got the difficulty I wanted in Deadfire by using the community fixes mod + Deadly Deadfire. This gives me both reduced Xp gain and a higher scaling ceiling for enemies. And then I play on veteran, just too many enemies on PotD, which leads to exhaustingly long combat sequences.

 

[jf8350143]

Dropped WotR since it's having another DLC coming out and played Deadfire again.

System wise Deadfire is a very well deisgned game(except the balance, armor rating and penatration sucks ass), it has lots of QoL features every other CRPG should have(yet none of them bother to include), and the quest design and itemization are one of the best. There are skill checks and background checks everywhere. Also it barely has any riddles in it, which is a huge plus.

The feeling it gives me is that Obsidian knows how to design a good RPG, but their writing team just can't write a good story.

It's a shame we will never get a new game. They could make something really good based on the framework of this game.

 

[Shaki]

My wish for unicorns paid off! Some good soul actually reworked the PoE 2's turn based mode from "even simple debuffs take often 2 turns to cast and after that they alarmingly often don't even affect the enemy" into a more streamlined, tabletop-friendlier "spells and skills take 0 turns to cast" form.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2172647063

That doesn't make any sense, casters already are OP compared to autoattackers in TB mode, thanks to action speed/recovery being replaced with initiative, and everyone getting only 1 attack every turn same as caster gets 1 spell, while in RTwP with properly stacked action speed buffs you could attack with a weapon 9000 times before caster finished casting.

Cast time, and the fact they removed retargeting spells in Turn Based, are the only reason why autoattackers can still be somewhat relevant, and not completely useless. Why would you ever attack a single enemy with a weapon once, if you could instead instacast AoE spell at 10 enemies for bazillion dmg.

 

[gurugeorge]

For my sins, I've gotten into a turn-based playthrough, as the mod above is quite nice, makes the turn-based game feel more comfy, so I just drifted into playing the damn thing again.

But on a whim I went for Iron Man mode PotD this time round, and I'm reminded about one of the things about playing games with one save - not only do you get more immersed because no part of your brain is wasted on saving worries, but also I realized that playing Iron Man, I'm much less inclined to go for long sessions, because I know from experience I make mistakes when I'm tired, and I don't really want to make the kind of stupid mistake you make when you're tired.

So I find it easier to quit the game after a nice, bite-sized session that has a bit of everything in it (combat, inventory, story). Instead of going on and on for a couple of hours, I can do half an hour or three quarters and just stop.

Nice side-benefit.

***********

It's also a bit melancholy because I've played through this game+DLCs twice now, with a few side characters having done bits too, and while I still enjoy the combat, I'm bored with a lot of the story and just click through it mostly.

It makes me wistful for a new CRPG with good gameplay like this (quiet in the cheap seats!), good QOL and attention to detail, with graphics as jewelline as this, and a new story.

lol, update on that. My Iron Man PoTD turn-based run got through about a third of the game, no problems with combat, but went kablooey in that dungeon on one of the islands that's filled with rows and rows of floor traps

 

[jf8350143]

I highly recommed the mod "needful things"(it's in steamwork shop), which adds most of the late game uniques into the shops in neketaka so you can buy them the moment you get there(and if you have the money).

It's great to be able to use some of the cool weapons added in the DLC earlier and get some uniques you can't get in a normal playthrough(like those carried by the ships only show up if you pissed off the factions).

 

[Nikanuur]

My wish for unicorns paid off! Some good soul actually reworked the PoE 2's turn based mode from "even simple debuffs take often 2 turns to cast and after that they alarmingly often don't even affect the enemy" into a more streamlined, tabletop-friendlier "spells and skills take 0 turns to cast" form.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2172647063

That doesn't make any sense, casters already are OP compared to autoattackers in TB mode, thanks to action speed/recovery being replaced with initiative, and everyone getting only 1 attack every turn same as caster gets 1 spell, while in RTwP with properly stacked action speed buffs you could attack with a weapon 9000 times before caster finished casting.

Cast time, and the fact they removed retargeting spells in Turn Based, are the only reason why autoattackers can still be somewhat relevant, and not completely useless. Why would you ever attack a single enemy with a weapon once, if you could instead instacast AoE spell at 10 enemies for bazillion dmg.

I understand your point, but:
1. Balancing the damage is a *part* of the TB and not the system of the TB.
2. You don't seem to reflect the system. What doesn't make sense in the first place is a(ny) TB with xxx variables going into "When the heck does this spell or skill proc in 1-3 rounds of TB of 12 participants?". Much less one as poor as implementing 1-round debuffs ending virtually before they began, after being cast for 2 rounds by a character of Dex 17 (i.e., acting speed), which is kinda close to ninja level. And that's just one example.
3. Yes, they needed to translate the whole interrupt system into turn-based. Root of all evil - see item 2. But I agree, the traditional TB would take this away and that'd be a bummer. Interrupts belong to something original and nice in this game.
4. Auto-attackers "somewhat relevant" seems kind of derogative, and anyway ---> item 1.
5. I will dare to answer your rhetorical question "Why?". Because seeing the effect of the skill in the same round one used it has been the general system in TB games since forever (not the only one, but general). If someone wants to argue about innovation, good; I just hope they wouldn't do it like the above-mentioned.

At any rate, I don't think that PoE II is judged (neither do I judge its qualities) by sane or insane TB. Haters hate it for something completely different, and those who love it also do so for very different reasons.

 

[ferratilis]

I highly recommed the mod "needful things"(it's in steamwork shop), which adds most of the late game uniques into the shop in neketaka so you can buy them the moment you get there(and if you have the money).

It's great to be able to use some of the cool weapons added in the DLC earlier and get some uniques you can't get in a normal playthrough(like those carried by the ships only show up if you pissed the factions).

First time hearing about this, the mod sounds very interesting. There's little feedback on it online, so I'm wondering if it would break any quests or cause other problems in the game? Aren't some of these items tied to quests?

 

[jf8350143]

I highly recommed the mod "needful things"(it's in steamwork shop), which adds most of the late game uniques into the shop in neketaka so you can buy them the moment you get there(and if you have the money).

It's great to be able to use some of the cool weapons added in the DLC earlier and get some uniques you can't get in a normal playthrough(like those carried by the ships only show up if you pissed the factions).

First time hearing about this, the mod sounds very interesting. There's little feedback on it online, so I'm wondering if it would break any quests or cause other problems in the game? Aren't some of these items tied to quests?

I havn't buy anything that might break the game so I really can't tell. But I don't recall seeing anyquest item in there, most of them a loot or quest rewards, and it should be OK, you just get one extra copy. I bought Thaos' Headdress and it works fine depite my Aloth didn't become the successor of Thaos.

I tested Modywr though. If you have finished its quest, you can still bind it to watcher but after you kill one kith with it you won't be able to talk to it so it won't upgrade.

 

[Nikanuur]

I've finally had my first whaaaAAARGH moment. The character took its sweet time, but it is nice. On a mere 8th level, 91 dmg in one two-handed strike (Barbaric Blow+Rage). Carnage has dealt as much as 33 dmg to the surrounding enemies.
Yay.

 

[Leinhart]

Is this game as good as Tyranny ? I have been planning to try it. But I have read it is almost too long.

 

[Butter]

Is this game as good as Tyranny ? I have been planning to try it. But I have read it is almost too long.

It's better. It's very long if you want to do all the side quests + DLC. It's extremely short if you focus only on the main quest. Best approach is to leave a lot of the side quests untouched. You can hit the level cap without doing all that stuff anyway.