Pillars Of Eternity Options

[SubRosa]

I love it. If you liked the Baldur's Gates, Icewind Dales, and Neverwinter Nights games, you will like this.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 7 2017, 02:58 AM

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

I love it. If you liked the Baldur's Gates, Icewind Dales, and Neverwinter Nights games, you will like this.

I do have Neverwinter Nights in my GOG library, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Haven't played any of the BG or ID games.

Still thinking about it, but I may buy it soon. I want to expand my isometric RPG repertoire. I'm not as interested in party-based RPGs, but I'm still willing to try it (I have played a bit of Planescape: Torment and have enjoyed that so far, but need to get my files off of my previous computer). One thing I can't quite seem to definitively figure out: it isn't a turn-based game, right? I like having the ability to pause in combat if I have to, but I'm not really a fan of full-fledged turn-based gameplay.

[SubRosa]

I love it. If you liked the Baldur's Gates, Icewind Dales, and Neverwinter Nights games, you will like this.

I do have Neverwinter Nights in my GOG library, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Haven't played any of the BG or ID games.

Still thinking about it, but I may buy it soon. I want to expand my isometric RPG repertoire. I'm not as interested in party-based RPGs, but I'm still willing to try it (I have played a bit of Planescape: Torment and have enjoyed that so far, but need to get my files off of my previous computer). One thing I can't quite seem to definitively figure out: it isn't a turn-based game, right? I like having the ability to pause in combat if I have to, but I'm not really a fan of full-fledged turn-based gameplay.

Technically it is a real time game. But like the Total War games, you can pause any time you want and give orders to everyone in your team. So that sort of turns it into the equivalent of a turn-based game. There is even a name for that game style, but I forget what it is... Real Time Pausable I think? I pause every few seconds when I play. To me it feels the same as playing a true turn-based game like the original Fallouts, Wasteland 2, or Divinity Original Sin.

One thing you might not like is you cannot rotate the camera like in Neverwinter Nights. The environment is static. It becomes transparent when you go under arches and gateways, but it still can make things difficult to see. That is my biggest gripe about the game. I like being able to spin the camera around to see the action from any angle.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 15 2017, 09:21 PM

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Technically it is a real time game. But like the Total War games, you can pause any time you want and give orders to everyone in your team. So that sort of turns it into the equivalent of a turn-based game. There is even a name for that game style, but I forget what it is... Real Time Pausable I think? I pause every few seconds when I play. To me it feels the same as playing a true turn-based game like the original Fallouts, Wasteland 2, or Divinity Original Sin.

One thing you might not like is you cannot rotate the camera like in Neverwinter Nights. The environment is static. It becomes transparent when you go under arches and gateways, but it still can make things difficult to see. That is my biggest gripe about the game. I like being able to spin the camera around to see the action from any angle.

Oh, that's fine by me. Sometimes I will need to pause, but I like the feeling of overall real-time much more.

Shame about the camera but that's not a deal-breaker for me. I recently played and beat the phenomenal Divine Divinity, which didn't let you move the camera. That was also a real-time game but let you pause in the middle of battle (which did save my hide in some hard battles). As long as the game tells me how to deal with mechanics affected by it, like if there are doors to open that aren't immediately noticeable due to the camera (something that DD could have done a better job with is explaining mechanics like that), then I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

This definitely makes me lean a bit more towards buying the game, but not sure if I am ready to pull the trigger on a purchase just yet. Thanks for the info.

[SubRosa]

I started up a new Pillars game with Persephone. My plan is to go through the game using the vanilla companions this time, since I have still never done that.

I always liked Aloth. But one thing I never liked was his initial loadout of spells. Most of them I never use, and end up wasting future spells taking things like Slicken, Chill Fog, and Ghost Blades - 1st level spells every starting Wizard should have. I discovered a sneaky way around this. After you recruit Aloth, go into the tavern and recruit an adventurer. Make them a Wizard, and take the spells you want Aloth to have. Then once you have created the adventurer, give their grimoire to Aloth and have him copy the spells he wants to his own grimoire. Then dismiss the adventurer from the party.

[Acadian]

Have fun with Persephone! If it is like BG II, I know what you mean. I preferred the personalities of the in game companions but the ones I liked had subpar stats/skills. So I used an editor to adjust their stats/skills so they were effective as well as fun to travel with.

[SubRosa]

Thanks to the latest version of IEMod you can edit the attributes of all the companions. So now they are a lot more useful than before. I found that Heodan especially made for a powerful rogue, being good with a bow and up close and personal with two stilettos.

It has been nice to hear the interactions between companions, and their interjections into conversations. It is the one thing missing from the adventurers you create yourself to be companions.

Persephone and her skeleton horde smite a Wyrm

Destroying an ancient soul-stealing machine

Boom!

[Acadian]

I love seeing shots of you playing PoE. I very much enjoyed my time in BGII and can very much see the family resemblance – that is a good thing. In fact, PoE is on my list of possible future games.

It is great news that the game is supported with mods that allow tweaking the available companions.

[SubRosa]

Gog.com often has it on sale, and always during the quarterly seasonal sales and on holidays. I can keep an eye out for the next time it is on sale if you want to try it out. I know you felt burned with Dragon Age. But PoE is definitely not like that game.

However, PoE is very difficult to mod. So there are not many mods out there. IEMod is the main one, but thankfully it allows you to alter many of the aspects of gameplay. Other than that there are a few mods out that that alter the look of some of the suits of armor, and how some of the talents work. For example there is one that improves the Ranger's talents, another that makes the Druid's wildshape last as long as you want it to, and one that does likewise with the Arcane Veil for Wizards. Plus there is a huge amount of portrait mods you can use for both the companions and the player character.

Modding the companions stats is easy however. It is just a simple XML file now (with IEMod). Which basically means you can do it in Notepad. Eternity Keeper also allows you to mod the player character's attributes as well. You can also use the console for both, and for adding items, talents, skill points, and so on.

Thanks to the improved stats I gave all the companions, and the Ranger talent mod I mentioned, the Ranger companion Sagani is pure awesome now. I think she is the top damage dealer of Persephone's group.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jul 28 2017, 06:35 PM

[Acadian]

Oh, thanks for that info. You know how 'monogamous' I am about games though so no immediate plans unless ESO breaks or becomes unplayable. I do like to have a back up game at least in mind though.

The mod news sounds fine since the two things you mentioned seem readily available and simple (portraits and tweaking player and companion stats).

I've probably asked before, but does PoE magic require the BG D&D tedium of trying predict the night before which limited numbers of spells you expect to cast the following day? That was one of my complaints with mages, though later on, the sorc class had a much better way of dealing with that than the mage class.

[SubRosa]

Oh, thanks for that info. You know how 'monogamous' I am about games though so no immediate plans unless ESO breaks or becomes unplayable. I do like to have a back up game at least in mind though.

The mod news sounds fine since the two things you mentioned seem readily available and simple (portraits and tweaking player and companion stats).

I've probably asked before, but does PoE magic require the BG D&D tedium of trying predict the night before which limited numbers of spells you expect to cast the following day? That was one of my complaints with mages, though later on, the sorc class had a much better way of dealing with that than the mage class.

The magic is much better than in the old D&D games. Each mage starts with an implement (wand, scepter, or rod), that works as a magical ranged attack. They never run out of ammo, and the do the same damage as other weapons. The Wizard also always has a Arcane Assault ability they can use twice per combat that does raw damage (which cannot be resisted).

Then they get their spells. They still have a limited number of spells they can use per day. But it does not get specific to each spell. You can cast any spell you know. You start with 4 1st level spells you can cast per rest. As you level up, you get more more castings per rest. So at the start you can cast Slicken 4 times. Or you could cast Slicken once, Minolletta's Minor Missiles once, Chill Fog once, and Ghost Blades once. Then you have to rest to get your 4 spell castings back. When you get to higher levels you can start casting a few spells that you pick on a Per Encounter basis rather than Per Rest.

Wizards get a little more tricky than the other spell classes since they have a grimoire. Priests and Druids automatically learn all the spells available to them when they level up. They can pick their 4 (or more) castings from any of them they want. Wizards start with only a specific number of spells you pick at character creation. Then you learn one or two more at every level up. In addition you can learn more spells by copying them from the grimoires of enemy Wizards you defeat (or from other Wizards in your own party). You can only cast the spells you have in your grimoire. There is only a specific number of spells per level you can have in your grimoire. Something like 4 or 5 spells per level. You can change out spells in your grimoire, and even carry multiple grimoires and swap them out on the fly (though there is a cool-down period when you swap them, so it is not the best to do in combat).

IEMod allows you to change the number of spells you can have per level in your grimoire, as well as what level you start being able to cast spells Per Encounter, and how many of them you can so cast. I have it set to 6 spells per level in the grimoire, which I think works well. It helps keep the Wizard from being overpowered.

So the end result is that spellcasters in general are more more versatile and powerful than in the Baldur's and Icewind days. You can pretty much cast any spell you want at any time. You just have some limits to how often you do it. Which I do not mind, as otherwise the spellcasters would just overpower the game. The Wizards are especially powerful. They are the premiere damage dealers when they want to be, and have a lot of talents that give them other forms of attack and defense outside of actual spells, like their Arcane Assault for attacking, Arcane Veil for defending themselves, a Grimoire Slam attack, Blast talents that improves their damage, area effect, and even grants armor piercing with implements.

Ungarion was pure awesomesauce in this game. Aela was no slouch as a Priest either. The two of them dominated their game.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 1 2017, 02:23 AM

[Acadian]

That all makes perfect sense in terms of logical improvements to BG I and II. Sounds great, thank you!

[SubRosa]

I have been playing the vanilla companions for a while now, and have a few observations to make.

I like Eder is a companion. He is a fighter, a farmer, a soldier, and a man whose faith was not so much lost as broken. He is not only a useful companion in terms of pure game stats, he also has a good voice actor, and a good story.

Aloth also makes a good companion. Like Eder, he is in many ways a stereotype of his class, in this case the wizard. But his split 'personality' adds a lot of color to him, and his own quest makes the business of souls awakening and animancy a very personal and visible issue for the player. He does not start with the best loadout of spells. But as I noted a few posts back, you can fix that by hiring a Wizard Adventurer and copying the spells Aloth needs from their grimoire.

Durance is a typical crotchety old man who complains about everything, especially the goddess whom he is a priest of. His voice acting is top-notch as well. I have not finished his quest yet, but he seems to be having a crisis of faith about his role in the slaying of a god (that happened years before the game began, something Eder is caught up in as well). Tbh, he can be annoying. But he is a Priest, which makes him very useful.

These are the three core companions, and you find them fairly quickly. I am sure it is no accident that they are three of the most standard classes in all RPGs - Fighter, Wizard, Priest. The only thing missing is a Rogue. Which strangely enough you cannot get as a companion until the White March Part 1, which is a long way into the game.

Kana is a companion you meet near the end of the 1st Act. He is a fun character, with a good voice and neat story. Basically he is a giant (physically) and a scholar, researching legends in what becomes your castle. His story unfolds as you explore deeper into the Endless Paths of Od Nua below the castle. He is a Chanter, one of the brand new classes to Pillars. Chanters are half-bard, half summoner. In fact, they are the only summoners, which makes them useful. But they sort of fall short as a fighter, and fall short as a magician. I liked having him in the party in Od Nua, but not beyond it.

Pallegina is a paladin you meet in the middle of Act II. She has a really cool voice actress, and instead of hair, has a head full of feathers. So she stands out. She is a cool character to have in the group, and a really solid front line fighter. I am not quite so sure about her personal quest yet, except that it seems to be about learning more of animancy in the area.

Hiravias is an Orlan Druid. I just cannot get into him. His voice acting does nothing for me. But more than that I am really not sure what to do with him. As a Druid he can shapeshift into a wild animal, and he racks ass in combat that way. But he is also a spellcaster, with a huge array of magic. I am never sure what to do with him, rip things up in melee, or stand back slinging magic. So I did not use him much at all.

I just met The Grieving Mother. She is a Cipher, another of the new classes to Pillars. Tbh, I just don't know what to make of Ciphers, even after I experimented with playing one for a bit. So I have not really done anything with her at all.

That leaves three companions you meet in The White March:
The Devil of Caroc - a Rogue
Zahua - a Monk
Maneha - a Barbarian.

I have not gotten to them yet, so cannot really say much about them.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 1 2017, 09:14 PM

[Acadian]

Thank you! This thread is such a treasure trove of a resource to have available if I ever delve into PoE.

[SubRosa]

There is a new version of IE Mod. It has many new features. Including a toggle to unlock all the inventory slots normally locked off (like helmets for Godlike races, Grimoires for non-Wizards, Pets for Companions). It also opens up all the Weapon and Misc Item slots.



There are also some new console commands:

Ctrl + Y = Inflict 50 000 damage to whoever is under the cursor (Party included, be careful with that one)

Ctrl + S = Restore Spells and ability uses

UnlockSoulBond = Fully binds all equipped soul items for the selected character.

ToggleSpellLimit - makes you ignore spell limits.


ChangeClass {name} {Class} = Respecs the named character to level 0 in the class given.

Warning: do not attempt to transition/quit/save game while your character is level 0. You need to level him up first. Do not attempt to open your grimoire, etc. Just immediately proceed to leveling up.

If you're respeccing into a Paladin or a Cleric, you'll need to manually assign yourself a Paladin Order or a Deity. Use the following console commands:

AssignClericalGod {simple name} {god}
Charname should be that actually displayed in the game, and not the internal name used in other commands. Possible values for godame: None, Berath, Eothas, Magran, Skaen, Wael.

AssignPaladinOrder {simple name} {order name}
Possible values for order name: None, BleakWalkers, DarcozziPaladini, GoldpactKnights, KindWayfarers, ShieldbearersOfStElcga, FrermasMesCancSuolias.


This new ChangeClass command means you do not have to use the workaround I mentioned previously to get Aloth more starting spells. You can just drop him to 0 level and completely start over with him, picking his 1st level spells yourself.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 5 2017, 01:00 AM

[Acadian]

Thanks for keeping this updated with all this good info!

[SubRosa]

I also discovered that you can use the AddAbility command to give a character the abilities of any class. This is an effective way of multi-classing. You can also add spells this way, even to a non-magician character. However, while the character knows the spells, I do not see any way to actually cast them, as an icon for spell casting is not added to the character's interface. There may be a way around this with UI customization mods though, like the one built into IE Mod.

[Acadian]

That is sounding very promising. What we sort of ended up with in BGII (long ago) with some modhelp was Buffy as an elven ranger (archer sublcass) but I was able to boost up her druid spells so things like entangling vines and a summoned forest creature were part of her package.

[SubRosa]

There is already a cross-class talent called Aspirant's Mark that is similar to the entangling. It is a small area of effect that reduces enemy deflection and reflex defenses.

There is a better one called Runner's Wounding Shot that Hobbles the target, causing them to move slower. But you could use the console to give yourself the Ranger Ability it is based on - Wounding Shot, which does the same, but is more effective because it can be used twice per encounter, while Runner's Wounding Shot is only once per encounter. Rogues get a similar Ability called Crippling Strike. You could use the console to take all three, that would give you 5 times you could cripple per encounter.

I did find that the Wizard Abilities like Arcane Assault work fine with a character from another class. That would give a non-Wizard a nice magical attack that works twice per encounter.

[SubRosa]

I finished out The White March Part I. This is my second, or perhaps third time finishing it. It was good. Though the Laugerfeths are overpowered with their poison darts that paralyze with even just a Graze. But as long as you have a Priest who uses Prayer Against Imprisonment at the start of every battle you can negate that.

The Devil of Caroc's personal quest is finished in WM1. There is really not much to it. You talk to a few people in Stalwart, then go to the adjacent map of Russetwood for a showdown with one of the men who murdered her family. I do like the Devil though. She has a neat, metallic voice that goes with her golem-like body. Plus it is nice having a Rogue in the party. She can go back and forth from melee to ranged very easily, and her sneak attacks make her really potent.

I just started White March II. Maneha and Zahua's quests take place in it, so I will be learned more of them in the coming days.

Persephone and company take on a Green Ooze

Aloth and Durance (at far right) kicking ass in the Battle of Yenwood Field

Alpine Dragon

Dragonfall

In the end there can be only one...