Obsidian's "Pillars of Eternity"

[Miasma]

Woe is you without maxed mechanics.  The rest do kind of suck, I like to sneak so I get everyone to level three stealth but anything higher seems pointless and fatigue is annoying so level three athletics is good.  I've never used a scroll, I assume harder difficulties those could be useful so lore.

I keep my tank at max athletics and caster at max lore, only once has one of those sketch interactions used one of my party so far but having someone maxed in the others seems like a good idea, nothing else to spend the points on anyways.  The vast majority of the spells are pretty terrible too, there are whole spell levels I just ignore.

So far the companion quests have been pretty bad, I wonder if those were thrown in at the last moment when they were out of resources.  Maybe it's just an anomoly but I have also noticed the endless path zones seem to get smaller and smaller the deeper you go, I haven't reached the end yet however.

I like the game though, good diversion and waste of time.

Oh, found out pets are equipable.  I was sort of hoping it was quest related.

[Merusk]

Game seems to favor only min-maxing and levels > all which is bad. Hit 6 and went back to the druids, wolves shamblers I had a hard time with before and decimated them with the same party and equipment.  That's fucked, particularly since you can't level-up your companions when they're shelved.

[Ingmar]

I think the mechanics thing would be more palatable if the lockpick cost was reduced by your current level of mechanics instead of being an either/or thing the way it is now.

Game seems to favor only min-maxing and levels > all which is bad. Hit 6 and went back to the druids, wolves shamblers I had a hard time with before and decimated them with the same party and equipment.  That's fucked, particularly since you can't level-up your companions when they're shelved.

Hm? My party members still seem to get XP when they're shelved. I left one at the stronghold for a while to try out the cipher NPC instead and when I re-added him he had a couple pending level-ups.

[Merusk]

Pregen character  or one you created?  My self-gen rogue was 3 when I pulled him back out and I was level 5

[Ingmar]

Nah, was Kana. Maybe they're treated differently.

[Merusk]

Possibly. I should pull Kana or the Ranger out to see how they are and confirm.

[Ingmar]

It may also just be you were at a threshold where the keep-stashed NPC just didn't get enough xp to level - it looked to me like they weren't getting the full value for everything while they were there. When I put Kana in he was at my level, when I took him back out he was a level behind (8->10 when I had gone 8->11 iirc.)

[Zetor]

Also, if you send your inactive party members on 'adventures' available at the keep, they get 15% of the total xp needed to hit the next level after finishing one. Their appearance seems to be a bit random, though...

[Montague]

So has anyone else other than lamaros finished the game? Is this an Age of Conan/Tortage or a KOTOR 2 bait and switch scenario? I'm all for a BG clone but I'm not paying for another half-finished game.

[Ingmar]

I'm well into Act 3 and have like 4 more levels of the Endless Paths to do as well, and it hasn't fallen apart on me yet.

I do feel like I've hit the level cap kind of early as I've been 12 for a while now.

[Lucas]

I'm well into Act 3 and have like 4 more levels of the Endless Paths to do as well, and it hasn't fallen apart on me yet.

I do feel like I've hit the level cap kind of early as I've been 12 for a while now.

Yep, 12 is the level cap .

[Ingmar]

Oh I know that. My point is that you hit the level cap WAY before the end of the game, which feels a little goofy.

[Sophismata]

I like it. Lets the math settle.

[lamaros]

Oh I know that. My point is that you hit the level cap WAY before the end of the game, which feels a little goofy.

I finished on level 10. I skipped the endless paths entirely,  got bored after the first city.

The final fight is very very hard if you and under leveled. Like nothing else in the game, which is all easy

[rk47]

I think a lot of people are facing issues with debuffs not landing and attacks missing/grazing.
Focus on accuracy.After running around with Eder and wondering why he kept failing to deliver on those precious knockdowns I start to realize maybe it's down to his Accuracy rating which got gimped if you equip a shield. (+DEF -ACC)

So the solution I made was to equip a fine accurate dagger or anything that gives + ACC from its inherent weapon property & Fine enchantment - and have Eder single-wield it for additional +ACC bonus. That will push its accuracy way up and ensure Knockdowns land most of the time which would add a +10 to hit on that foe laying prone. Against single target, it's not even a contest anymore - knock the guy down, and knock him down again, extending the effect. Rogue will reap the Sneak attacks, while Paladin Bleak Walker can just dish out ridiculous damage with his boosted burning attacks (+25% Burn & Corrosive talent).

And yes, once Eder burned away his knockdown, there is no reason not to swap to other damaging weapons or sword/shield setup.
Offense is the best defence in this game.

[Merusk]

Problem I've been having is being flanked, which is problematic in some of the fights that throw 8-10 things at you.  The +bonus flanking gives to attacks just destroys my party and I'm not finding the CCs necessary to control it.

[Ingmar]

Finished at about 50 hours played. I don't think I agree with most of Lamaros's points about the story; I thought it held up all the way through pretty much, and it didn't end where I thought it would, FWIW. I do agree about some of the VA being pretty bad, though.

[disKret]

Problem I've been having is being flanked, which is problematic in some of the fights that throw 8-10 things at you.  The +bonus flanking gives to attacks just destroys my party and I'm not finding the CCs necessary to control it.

Sleep from mage make it walk in the park.

[Merusk]

Don't think I've got that or found a book with it. What level is the spell? If it's 1 I'm going to be pissed I overlooked it.

[disKret]

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Call_to_Slumber

[Zetor]

I prefer using the level 2 priest symbol that knocks down everything for like 15-20 seconds. Only drawback is the relatively small AOE, but chokepoints and/or herding the enemies with Eder helps with that.

[NowhereMan]

I've only just got started in this but have already had my fire Godlike light a brazier with his hair. If it never comes up again in the game that race is worth it for that alone.

[Ingmar]

Wizards do have a useful level 1 knockdown - http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Slicken

Druids are really where it's at for spellcasters though IMO.

[Khaldun]

Cipher has a boatload of crowd control of various kinds.

[Zetor]

Yep. Mental Binding (level 2) is probably the best overall, it turns tough fights into cakewalks by paralyzing the most dangerous targets and rooting everyone near them for a looong time. Plus there's no cast limitation, and it only costs 15 focus.

Tenuous Grasp (level 1) is also a really good opener that will get the entire enemy team to rush the confused target and probably kill them, wasting many precious ability cooldowns in the process.

e: and yeah, there's a level 6 cipher spell that is basically "knockdown every motherfucker in the room". 

[NowhereMan]

So I started a run with a fire godlike Paladin. Usually I play Ranger in RPGs because 1) I like the sword and spell thing with a little bit and 2) I'm an idiot since they are almost always gimped somehow. Paladins seem a little too simple fightery in this implementation for me (although I like RP aspects they have from Character creation alone). Any recommendations on a swords and spells type until Ranger is un-gamebreaking? Cipher sounds interesting. Or can I go fighter and add lore/spellcasting abilities? Basically be a Ranger without the flavour?

[Ingmar]

Fighters are pretty much full tank, no spell type stuff. Your main character will get some spell-ish abilities as the story progresses, though.

[lamaros]

No real reasons to go fighter over a paladin as far as I can think, Paladin resists are nuts.

[Gimfain]

Finished the game on path of the damned, with Od Nua completed as well, but I didn't do the combat solution for everything, I am an adventurer on a quest, not a mass murderer on a crusade. Went with two tanks, two melee dps, a controller and a healer/buff/debuff characters. Used the IE_MOD halfway into act 2 just so i could switch out 3 of my adventurers with the npc companions but different classes, and it really made the game come alive more.

The most challenging combat was going in the deeper levels of od nua as I had just finished act 2, was lvl 8-9 when I went down there. Part of the issue was that you lacked the needed spells to mitigate enemy control. Once you used the self-buffs the enemy control wasn't nearly as bad. In the regular game there were some tough stuff, but the hardest stuff was optional.

I really liked the game, and it was quite a while since i spent 80 hours during 10 days to play a single game. It took a while to really get into it, and I did a restart once i reached caed noa on hard because I had done some pretty bad stuff to my group, and then another restart when I noticed hard was bit too easy. Path of the damned was really the right type of challenge.

[Miasma]

No real reasons to go fighter over a paladin as far as I can think, Paladin resists are nuts.

I like their in combat endurance regen and the knockdowns, especially the cone knockdown they get later.  What I don't like is the massive -50% action speed for heavy armour, I don't even use it due to that.

Had the most infuriating battle last night.  It was a random(?) keep event that spawned four of those Vithak floaty bird like creatures, two tougher more powerful Vithak Exalted and some spiders.  All of those damn Vithak have AoE stuns or paralyzes that locked my whole damn party down and they either mind controlled or somehow got one of my elite hirelings to fight against me.  It took at least five reloads before I got lucky and won that fight, they just looked at my hirelings and they all died except for my elite Ogre (who died near the end) and my elite fighter who spent the whole fight attacking my party.  I tried auto-resolve to see what would happen and it said there was some damage and I'd have to pay 200 copper, that would have been fine.  But then I looked at the combat dialogue box and it turns out they also destroyed all of my curtain walls and the warden's keep... so I had to keep trying until I won.

I so very much hate fights where there are neutral or even friendly forces that I can't control because if I so much as clip one of them with a spell or effect they go hostile and attack my party.  And for some reason Durance's AoE heal often counts as hostile.

I also hate how after a character is mind controlled they don't go back to the weapon set I had them using.

[Gimfain]

Had the most infuriating battle last night.  It was a random(?) keep event that spawned four of those Vithak floaty bird like creatures, two tougher more powerful Vithak Exalted and some spiders.  All of those damn Vithak have AoE stuns or paralyzes that locked my whole damn party down and they either mind controlled or somehow got one of my elite hirelings to fight against me.  It took at least five reloads before I got lucky and won that fight, they just looked at my hirelings and they all died except for my elite Ogre (who died near the end) and my elite fighter who spent the whole fight attacking my party.  I tried auto-resolve to see what would happen and it said there was some damage and I'd have to pay 200 copper, that would have been fine.  But then I looked at the combat dialogue box and it turns out they also destroyed all of my curtain walls and the warden's keep... so I had to keep trying until I won.

I so very much hate fights where there are neutral or even friendly forces that I can't control because if I so much as clip one of them with a spell or effect they go hostile and attack my party.  And for some reason Durance's AoE heal often counts as hostile.

I also hate how after a character is mind controlled they don't go back to the weapon set I had them using.

Durance has spells to mitigate paralyze and dominate.

[Merusk]

Durance's AOE heal gains rebuffs as you level so that's why it counts as hostile.  This is one reason I've grown bored with the game. If my settings are AOE doesn't affect hostile then don't affect neutrals. I'm starting to find the little things like this more and more obnoxious and I'm only 15 hours or so in. I'm glad I only paid $20 at this point.

[Miasma]

Durance has spells to mitigate paralyze and dominate.

He was always one of the ones paralyzed or stunned so he couldn't cast!  It was a keep fight so you can't prepare before hand (and on that note why can't I cast buffs/protections out of combat?), you just click the button and bam you're in a smallish room three feet away from all the enemies.  I basically had to keep reloading until enough of my party resisted their initial barrage of disable spells to fight back.

I even tried to go into the keep and lay down a trap and a durant knock down circle but they got removed when the fight started.

[Gimfain]

Durance has spells to mitigate paralyze and dominate.

He was always one of the ones paralyzed or stunned so he couldn't cast!  It was a keep fight so you can't prepare before hand (and on that note why can't I cast buffs/protections out of combat?), you just click the button and bam you're in a smallish room three feet away from all the enemies.  I basically had to keep reloading until enough of my party resisted their initial barrage of disable spells to fight back.

I even tried to go into the keep and lay down a trap and a durant knock down circle but they got removed when the fight started.

Try have him cast "prayer against bewilderment/imprisonment/treachery" before your group moves, they are fast cast and should land before anything bad lands. You could also go with a more allround defense like circle of protection, it should swing odds more into your favor.

[Merusk]

It was a keep fight so you can't prepare before hand (and on that note why can't I cast buffs/protections out of combat?),

Better yet, where's my AI/ Contingency spells?  When the first 4 actions I do for a character at the start of any fight are the same thing, I'd rather just automate it like I did in BG2.  "Cast Circle of Protection, Bless, Might, Stun/Fear/ resist"

Shit gets old when Buffs wear off immediately at the end of combat. You walk 2-3 steps and are in combat again, having to do the same sequence all over.