Pillars Of Eternity Options

[SubRosa]

I have a short vid of a battle a page or two back. It gives an example of what the combat in the game is like.

[McBadgere]

In short, complicated!... ...

Absolutely fair dues to you...I know it's all to do with practice and all that...And it's similar to the turn-based thing of the Final Fantasy thing, but...

Though it did make me want to dig out Dungeon Siege III, which looks kinda similar, being Obsidian as well...*Watches video*...Or not...I thought the caves and the characters looked a bit...

Nevermind... ...

Fair dues...Reading through your snippets, it really does sound like it's an excellent game and also, that you really enjoy it a lot...*Applauds heartily*...

[Acadian]

I'm always drawn to the BG / Icewind Dale type of D&D games so I really enjoy following your progress. A nice bonus is that it all remains safely here in case any of us go get PoE and want to give it a try. Thank you. As McB says, proper awesome indeed.

[SubRosa]

Gog.com has Pillars on sale right now for $18. So if I was a Marine Aviator or Medieval Knight or Buff Elven Archer I would buy it, and relive my old glory days of adventuring along the Sword Coast...

[SubRosa]

Aela's Five finished the first Act yesterday, killing Raedric and clearing out the surface of Caed Nua. Last night and this morning they have been plumbing the Endless Depths of Caed Nua. I have gotten down to level 6. They are not blitzing through everything anymore! The Trolls and Black Oozes have been really difficult. Likewise with the first Drakes I am now seeing.

Countess Bathory's tub?

Slaying a Drake

Aela (she is in the robes on the left, with the glow around her hands), pierces an undead with the Barbs of Condemnation

Aela and Ungarion are really surprising me in this game. Most of the time they are support characters plinking away with their wands and scepters. But when they pull out their cans of whoop-ass, they really clean up. Just a little while ago they teamed up against an undead Ranger that was shooting the team from afar. In one turn Aela Barbed it, and Ungarion hit it with Minoletta's Minor Missiles, and that killed it straight out.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 28 2017, 07:22 PM

[Acadian]

Very cool stuff and it sounds like you're making great progress with the Aela and Ungarian +3 team. I remember D&D dragons as OMG hard but it was nice that fighting them was often sort of optional.

[SubRosa]

Aela and company cleared out the Endless Paths of Od Nua down to Level 8. It was getting really difficult down there by that point. So I decided to give it a break and come back when they are higher level. So instead they went to Definace Bay, and now they have done almost all the quests there. They only have one more quest for the Crucible Knights to do, and the final quest for Lady Webb. Then I can do the Animancy Trial and finish Act II. I still have a few of the outdoor areas around Defiance Bay to explore as well. Probably after the trial.



An ancient Engwithan soul anchor machine

Alpha strike with arquebuses

Sounds like good advice!

Ungarion slices and dices with a Ghost Blades spell

[Acadian]

Very nostalgic to see your screens - they look great! Guns in D&D?!? Oh I love those mage summon independent blades spells from D&D!

[SubRosa]

There are guns, but it isn't D&D. The game is basically set in an early Renaissance Era world, with magic tossed in for good measure. So there are matchlock firearms and heavy plate armor that was developed specifically to stop the bullets from them. The guns have such long reload times that they are only good for the first shot in an encounter. Then you have to switch to your main weapon for the rest of the battle. It does make for a very effective Alpha Strike to lead off every fight if you arm most of your characters with arabesques and all shoot the same enemy from stealth. It kills most things instantly.

The blades in that spell don't fly around attacking things like the dancing sword spells in D&D. They just fire out once in a 180 degree arc from the caster, slicing up everything in their path. Best of all there is no friendly fire damage. So it is a handy 1st level spell you can use when the enemy crowds in close around your front line fighters.

I discovered something new yesterday. Version 3.xx expanded on the stronghold quest. Now they included a major battle you have to fight with the former, legal owner of the keep (who abandoned it and left it to rot, until you lifted the curse on it and killed all the monsters within). The allies you make in other parts of the game can be called upon to aid you in the battle, which is neat. So too the hirelings you recruit for the stronghold.

I didn't really like the battle much though. It was too big and confusing, and it was really pushing the limits of the game to do. That kind of thing is better left to the Total War games like Rome or Shogun.

Which brings me to something else I have come across this time around. CTDs. I have been getting them ever since I started playing version 3. I already went back from 3.02 to 3.01 because IEMod won't work on 3.02. I was getting a ton of CTDs in the Endless Paths of Od Nua and so rolled back farther to 3.00. But I still get them from time to time, usually during battles when I press the pause button. I am not even sure if it is the game causing it, or IEMod.

[Acadian]

CTD's? Oh my. . . I thought Bethesda had the copyrights on CTD's.

Seriously, sorry though. I hope you can resolve the problem.

[mALX]

Aela and company cleared out the Endless Paths of Od Nua down to Level 8. It was getting really difficult down there by that point. So I decided to give it a break and come back when they are higher level. So instead they went to Definace Bay, and now they have done almost all the quests there. They only have one more quest for the Crucible Knights to do, and the final quest for Lady Webb. Then I can do the Animancy Trial and finish Act II. I still have a few of the outdoor areas around Defiance Bay to explore as well. Probably after the trial.



An ancient Engwithan soul anchor machine

Alpha strike with arquebuses

Sounds like good advice!

Ungarion slices and dices with a Ghost Blades spell

Oh, it is too bad there is no loot; that table in the first screen looks like it would be fascinating to ransack!

I like the running commentary in the lower right corner of the second screen; kind of keeping you appraised of the kills your team has made and what bootie they took from the enemies,

BWAAHAA! Don't state the obvious, lady Webb!


Boy, I just don't see how you can tell what is going on in that last screen, that is one hot mess!

Great shots!

[SubRosa]

I have been dealing with the CTDs by quicksaving often!

The feedback box in the corner of the screen is an old holdover from the old days of isometric RPGs like Baldur's Gate. It gives you a full run down of everything happening. Telling you who hit or missed, what damage they did, etc... It also tracks the dialogue, so you can go back to see exactly what someone said. I like it very much. It helps out a great deal.

At times it can be difficult to tell what is going on when the screen gets filled with magic effects, like from fireballs. I find the colored circles under everyone makes things easier, because allies are green, enemies are red. Dead people might still be on the screen, but they won't have a circle, so that tells you what you can ignore.


Aela holds court

The opening salvo in the Battle of Yenwood Field (if you look close, you can see that the lightning bolt actually killed one of the baddies own guys)

Aela and company start in the opposite corner

The lines come together

Without the UI

The aftermath (the glows on the ground are corpses you can loot)

[Acadian]

Quicksave vs CTD.

Wow, that is one big battle!

Very cool effects and the aftermath indicates a mountain of loot it appears!

[Lopov]

That's a real full-scale battle!

While Baldur's Gate had many tough battles, there were rarely so many NPCs involved as in this one.

Love the reference to Countess Bathory.

[SubRosa]

I finished part one of The White March, and the Endless Depths of Od Nua. Seridwe has been using Cloudpiercer Stormcaller, which she found atop Durgan's Battery in the March. So far it has been most impressive.

Aela and company square off against an almost dragon

I had a good laugh at this (for those who have not watched The Guild, it is an easter egg of a painting that was in the show

This is a very disturbing place

Battling drakes

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 4 2016, 09:18 PM

[Acadian]

Great shots! That first dragon looks pretty impressive. Not familiar with the Easter Egg, but I'm glad you left the UI up in that shot - a nice opportunity to see the portraits you imported for your characters. Oh, and the kitty. Actually, both the kitty in the portraits and the one walking around on the floor.

So what is Cloudpiercer and what does it do?

[mALX]

I have been dealing with the CTDs by quicksaving often!

The feedback box in the corner of the screen is an old holdover from the old days of isometric RPGs like Baldur's Gate. It gives you a full run down of everything happening. Telling you who hit or missed, what damage they did, etc... It also tracks the dialogue, so you can go back to see exactly what someone said. I like it very much. It helps out a great deal.

At times it can be difficult to tell what is going on when the screen gets filled with magic effects, like from fireballs. I find the colored circles under everyone makes things easier, because allies are green, enemies are red. Dead people might still be on the screen, but they won't have a circle, so that tells you what you can ignore.


Aela holds court

The opening salvo in the Battle of Yenwood Field (if you look close, you can see that the lightning bolt actually killed one of the baddies own guys)

Aela and company start in the opposite corner

The lines come together

Without the UI

The aftermath (the glows on the ground are corpses you can loot)

I love the building and textures in the "Court" screen!


But I'm Totally lost on the battlefield screens. I don't know how you can see such tiny little figures in action and think to know how to defend or attack! You are amazing!

Oh wow, do they give you enough time to loot all those bodies? AWESOME !!!

I kind of like the screens with the UI on so I can read what is going on, see Aela, etc - but the battlefield did look a little closer in that screen without the UI. Does it bring it in a bit closer to remove the UI?

Awesome Shots !!!! Sorry it took so long to get here, have had a bad couple weeks here - too much going on.

I finished part one of The White March, and the Endless Depths of Od Nua. Seridwe has been using Cloudpiercer Stormcaller, which she found atop Durgan's Battery in the March. So far it has been most impressive.

Aela and company square off against an almost dragon

I had a good laugh at this (for those who have not watched The Guild, it is an easter egg of a painting that was in the show

This is a very disturbing place

Battling drakes

Holy Cow, that dragon is huge compared to the Player!

OMG, that easter egg is so funny! I haven't seen the show it comes from; but just really love when games do stuff like that! Say, in that shot do I see a housecat? Is that part of your troup or something like a pet?

That contraption looks like something from the old board game "Mouse Trap,"

I think I am beginning to remember when you played this game before and posted screens that so many of the enemies seemed really huge and scary to face (from my perspective) and wondering if they were scaled like the dragons are in Skyrim or if they were like the huge things in ESO = REALLY tough? Those Drakes look Awesome!

Sorry I was late getting here, I somehow lost track of my email notice on this post, urgh!






This post has been edited by mALX: Jul 8 2016, 09:10 AM

[SubRosa]

Wow, looks like I was updating the wrong Pillars topic.

Pillars of Eternity game version 3.05 is out now (it is Gog-18). IEMod is also now up to date with it. With the crowdfunding campaign for Pillars 2, I am suspecting (hoping!) that this is the final version of the game.

One of the really nice things about the latest version of IEMod is that it finally allows you to edit the stats of the Vanilla Companions. When using IEMod the game will use an XML file to get the attributes of the Companions. You can edit that however you want. There is also a backup XML file with the default values.

[SubRosa]

I found a way to save Calisca and Heodan from dying at the end of the prologue. All it requires is the console.

Before you leave the prologue cave - Cliant Lis Dungeon - open the console and use the ManageParty command.

Dismiss Calisca and Heodan from the party.

Now leave the dungeon and enter the Clian Ruins outside. Go through the entire level alone, and proceed to Valewood.

Once in Valewood use the ManageParty console command again. Now you can recruit Calisca and Heodan.

I did it tonight and it worked just fine.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 16 2017, 02:54 AM

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

It is currently on sale on GOG for $18. Not sure how long the sale lasts. I am intrigued by the game and want to expand my isometric RPG experience, but I also have a bunch of games in my backlog.

Still, I am considering buying the game. I take it most people here would recommend I pounce on it at this point?