Pillars Of Eternity Options

[Lopov]

Yetizad was featured in an Italian comic series called Zagor, these comics are mostly popular in Italy and surrounding countries (like Slovenia), I doubt they ever made it over the ocean.

These are some great combat tips. One thing I'm using a lot, is to engage only enemies at the edge of the fog of war. Sometimes the enemy closest to the edge will notice one of my characters sneaking and will go to investigate, thus separating from his group. Then I pick them off one by one unless another enemy comes patrolling around.

I was never that good with mages / priests but I better learn how to make a good use of one. Fortunately, PoE gives some pretty good tips too if tutorial messages are enabled.

[SubRosa]

I like that bird logo Zagor has on his chest. It looks like a black phoenix.

I use that same trick of attacking from the very edge of fog of war. You can often get them to come at you one a time that way, and pick them off. I tried that against Raedric, and it almost worked. I got everyone to attack except his Archmage. Which I am thankful for, since he might have turned the tide of the battle against me.

I am still not making the most of the Priest class too. I am trying though. I am not used to all the various buffing spells they have. But I am working on it.

I just found Kana, and am really having trouble getting the knack of using him. He's a Chanter, and I am not really sure how to use him the best. Mostly I just use him as a front line fighter, but he's definitely not as good as Eder or Skadi's Wolf Companion. He seems to chant all the time, and I just figured out how to move the phrases around in the chant. But I am sure there is a lot more to it than I have figured out. I am giving a lot of thought to removing him from the party.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 5 2015, 10:27 PM

[SubRosa]

Here is a map of the game world. It shows where the companions can be found (green arrows), and where each territory links to the next (yellow arrows).

I also made a Short Vid of Persephone, Eder, Durance, and Aloth taking on the bandits in Black Meadow. It should give folks who have not played the game an idea of what the gameplay is like.

You can see how formations are important when the two "front lines" meet. A bandit tries to sneak past at the top of the screen, but Durance - the Priest - stops him with a Halt spell. Then he moves in to flank himself, which incurs a penalty upon the target.

The bandit archer way to the left probably gave me the most trouble. Persephone's team does not have a dedicated archer. Persephone and Eder (the team's other Fighter), carry bows as backup weapons. They typically only use them for the first shot before going into melee. So Aloth - the Mage - had to step up to take on the bandit archer. The only trouble is that while Aloth has ranged attacks, they are shorter range than a bow, so he has to get a lot closer.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 6 2015, 03:31 AM

[Acadian]

Very nice, SubRosa! It's great to see there are some strategy guides/walkthroughs out there. And the vid looks very familiar to this old BG player!

[SubRosa]

This looks like one of Persephone's old pals

Speaking of whom, I had an idea, and started Persephone over. Tonight I reached the first town in the game, and was able to hire two Adventurers at the inn. Unlike the Companions, who are NPCs that are fully-fleshed out, with backstories, custom portraits, quests, and so on, Adventurers are basically blank slates that you can hire to join you. Each is a specific level, and the higher level ones naturally cost more. Once you hire them, you go into the character creation for them, just like you did with your PC. This is nice in that it allows you to create them exactly how you want them. So you can do this to fill a specific role on your team.

The downside is that the hired Adventurers are always several levels behind you. But I found a way to get around that. The following console command will bring them up to the level you specify, and wont' change your PC's experience if you are already the same level:

AddExperienceToLevel {Level}

So now Persephone has been joined by Darryl (on the left), and Serana (on the right)

[Lopov]

SubRosa, Persephone's race is Godlike, right? How did you manage to get her such a humanoid look without any kind of horns?

I'm curious to try out the Godlike race myself.

Monk seems a difficult class to play for now. In combat, they can't use their special powers until wounded enough, because to use a power, they have to spend a wound, so to speak. The better the power, the more wounds are required. They aren't meant as a first line warriors, it seems.

[SubRosa]

Persephone is a human. When I first tried her out it was as a Godlike, but I deleted those saves. The horns just didn't fit. I did make Darryl a Death Godlike. He has a horned helmet in Skyrim, so they are perfect for him.

The Monk looks confusing to me, with all that business of using Wounds to activate powers. That is why I have not tried one yet. I still have not figured out the Chanter either, or the Cipher.

[Lopov]

Yeah, it's quite confusing, though the good thing is that you can use special powers in every encounter, you don't need to rest in between. It seems that monks are similar as in BG - difficult to play at low levels but (I assume) tanks at higher ones.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Sep 7 2015, 07:52 PM

[SubRosa]

Serana cleans up with a Ghost Blades spell

Team Deadwalker is now fully assembled. From left to right are Lucia (ranged Rogue), Serana (Wizard), Persephone (Fighter), Darryl (Fighter), and Sofie (Priest)

Team Deadwalker takes on a Forest Troll

[Acadian]

Spectacular shots, SubRosa. That sword spell looks wonderfully related to a couple of the older BG sword spells. And your team looks very well assembled. I'm guessing the crew is 'Adventurers' that you hired crafted to your purpose from the inns instead of existing in-game companions. If that is so, do you miss the NPC banter much?

[SubRosa]

That Ghost Blades spell is awesome. It is a 1st Level spell, so you can start the game with it. It shoots out those ghostly swords in an arc in front of you, and it doesn't harm your allies. That one shot killed everything in the room.

Those are indeed Adventurers hired from an inn. So far I am very happy with using them, as I was able to not only give them the stats I wanted, but the identities as well. So far I don't miss the regular companions. All of their comments and banter seem to be scripted remarks that come up during specific pieces of dialogue, and is generally somehow quest-related. Otherwise they never really talk among themselves.

You do of course get some talking from even the Adventurers. Like when you go into stealth mode, one will say something about being sneaky. Darryl seems very talkative, as it is his voice I hear most often from them. It sounds like Clancy Brown.

[haute ecole rider]

Clancy Brown sounds perfect as Darryl!

[SubRosa]

It is the Male - Sinister voice. Turns out is done by Matthew Mercer, who also did Aloth and Eder! I never would have guessed that. He is a good VA, especially considering how he can change his voice to do multiple roles that are all so distinctive from one another.

[Lopov]

Nice shots - Darryl is humongous!

Team Deadwalker looks great in action, but most of all I like Aloth Serana holding her grimoire firmly even in the heat of the battle.

I'm considering cheating in PoE -> combat is quite difficult for me to fully understand with what limited time I have for gaming, and since I'm mostly interested in story, I'll make my main character a little overpowered to get through difficult battles easier. For some reason I can't use cheats in Yetizad's game, the command "player" isn't recognized while if I start a new game, I can use console commands fine. Maybe because I started his game without IE and added it later on, I'm not sure.

Today I accidentally spoiled myself by reading about console commands on some forum and the discussion went off-topic and some guy revealed the name of the robed man (the one which appears in the intro) and who he is. It's quite a spoiler but fortunately I still don't have a clue about the rest of the story.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Sep 8 2015, 06:43 PM

[SubRosa]

I used the console to buff up Team Deadwalker's attributes to match what I felt each character ought to have, based on what they were like in Skyrim. So they are pretty impressive. But the combats are still interesting and a challenge.

I had one case where the game didn't recognize Player. What I did was use this command

FindCharacter Player

It gave me the internal name that game was using for the Player. The cheats worked just fine when I used that.

I also made a nice discovery. The White March adds those new Multi-Class Talents. I took Apprentices's Sneak Attack for both Persephone and Darryl, and it works really great. Like the Rogue's regular Sneak Attack, it gives extra damage for the first strike, and against all enemies who are prone, hobbled, blinded, dazed, and so on. It combines perfectly with the Fighter's Knockdown ability, because once they knock down someone, they get extra damage against them.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 9 2015, 05:30 AM

[Lopov]

I couldn't get cheats to work in Yeti's game, so I started over. Seems that whenever I start a new game, I discover something new.

It's a spoiler so I'll put it in tags:


Aryan & Heodan leaving Cilant Lis

Aryan, the sole survivor of a deadly windstorm

Time to rest

Aryan is a monk from Old Vailia, "gifted" with some powers that put him above an average character but still not anthying god-like.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Sep 9 2015, 10:28 PM

[SubRosa]

Good luck to Aryan!

The amount of variables in Cilant Lis is just amazing. If you actually get Heodan through the fight at the encampment without him suffering any debilitating injuries, you can rest in Cilant Lis without Calisca leaving, or there being any discussion about it at all.

Persephone and her gang have discovered Caed Nua, and have been exploring the endless depths below. Wow, some of these fights are just brutal, and I have only gotten down to Level 4 so far, out of 15 or so!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 9 2015, 11:21 PM

[Lopov]

Even more, if you managedto get through the fight by interrupting the bandit leader's attack (I think that your Dex has to be high enough), Heodan doesn't get hurt at all and an option to rest doesn't appear, it happened with my first character.

[SubRosa]

The Deadwalkers have been plumbing the Endless Depths of Od Nua. They got down to the 8th Level so far before returning to the surface. By then the Eastern Barbican was completed, opening the way to the rest of the map. Brighthollow (the living quarters of the stronghold) were done by then, and the Warden's Cabin.

So after getting a good night's sleep without having to pay for it or use camping supplies, the team talked to the new Warden. He gave Persephone and company a slew of bounties to collect upon. Most are in the areas already explored on the way to Caed Nua. I left the team on the way to the first one.

The Endless Depths were tough. Really tough. I had to use the HealParty cheat several times. The first few levels were not too bad. But once I got deeper it seemed like almost every fight was a boss battle. Up until now the Xaurip have been pushovers. Basically Kobolds. But not down there. They paralyze with every attack, come in hordes that outnumber you three of four to one, and have a zillion endurance. And they are the easy ones!

I started trying to use traps down there. But even with a Stealth of about 7, Lucia cannot get near the monsters without being detected. So she has to set them at the edge of bow range. It seems that you can only set one, since when I put a second one down, the previous trap just vanishes. After all that work, the monsters nearly always manage to avoid the traps. They walk around them, so clearly they know they are there. So I have given up trying to use traps.

Fighting in doorways seems to be working best. Persephone and Darryl can block the widest ones, while the rest of the team stands behind and uses wands and bow. Serana putting a Slicken spell right in front of P&D helps. But some enemies seem to teleport, and appear right behind the party. Mainly ghostly undead ones, so maybe that is a special power of theirs. Still, even with Sofie healing them during the battle, and using potions, either Persephone or Darryl often go down, or nearly down, in many fights down in Od Nua. Yet they each have over 700 Endurance, and wear heavy armor. I can really see how many people say that the latest version of the game is significantly more challenging than the it used to be.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 11 2015, 12:32 AM

[SubRosa]

Team Deadwalker ventured beyond the Eastern Barbican of Caed Nua, and began exploring the next outdoor area - Woodend Plains. I am relieved to say that it is not the gladiator school that the Endlesss Paths of Od Nua are. The Deadwalkers have been handily dealing with everything in the area. So it looks like the Endless Paths are basically turned up to 11. My guess is they do not expect you to try to tackle them until late in the game.