Pillars Of Eternity Options

[SubRosa]

IE Mod has been updated to work with Pillars version 3 (with White March parts 1 & 2). Installing the new IE Mod was a real nightmare, but I eventually got it working. Now when you start the game, you have to use the new IE Mod launcher, instead of the regular game icon.

I decided to start a new game, and created Aela as a Priest, since she is primarily a Restoration/Healer type character. Instead of using the vanilla companions, I decided to go the route of hiring Adventurers and turning them into her old adventuring pals from Seven. I spent last night and this afternoon creating portraits, and trying to figure out who to use. Right now I am looking at adding Ungarion (who I might try making a Cipher instead of a Wizard), Valens, Seridwe, and either Talun-Lei or Nashira.

I am not sure on which of the last two to go with. Nashira would obviously be an Ocean-Folk. I am not sure what race to make Talun-Lei. Maybe a Nature Godlike? Whichever one I pick, they will probably be Barbarians though.

While I know I want Seridwe on the team, I am not sure to class to make her either. She is an archer, which initially makes me think Ranger. But she never had an animal companion in the Aela fic, and was more of a fighter who used a bow. So I could go with a Fighter or a Rogue instead. But most of their abilities are geared toward melee fighting.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 13 2016, 06:54 PM

[SubRosa]

Here are some nuts and bolts on game versions and IEMod

The latest version of IEMod is 5.1.0. There are a couple of optional beta updates to it, that replace just the IEMod .dll file. I am using the more recent, which is 5.2.1. It works fine for me with no issues. But your mileage may vary. This version of IEMod works with Pillars version 3.00 (Gog-13) or 3.01 (Gog-14).

I did some checking, and there were two game patches released since I installed version 3.0 of the base game and the two White March dlcs. I downloaded version 3.02 (a.k.a. Gog-15) and gave it a whirl with the newest version of IEMod. It does not work with game version 3.02. So beware. I made a copy of my old game folder before installing 3.02, so I will just be reverting to that.

Some other bad news. While IEMod in general works with the earlier versions, its Per Encounter Spell settings don't. The settings are there in the Options -> IEMod sections, but they don't do anything. It is because the developers completely changed how Per Encounter spells work with game version 3. There are some other things IEMod does which I like, so I am still going to use it with my older game version.

Speaking of which, now in the vanilla game instead of gaining access to all of your 1st level spells at Level 9 as Per Encounter rather than Per Rest, they changed it to you can only use one spell per level on a Per Encounter basis. They call it Spell Mastery. So that is a big nerf on spellcasters.

Some other big changes are that the skills are more useful. Now the Survival skill grants you a special stat bonus every time you rest in the wilderness. Each rank in the skill unlocks a new type of bonus. You pick which one want to use for each character whenever you camp. So that is really cool.

All characters now get a new ability called Second Wind, which is tied to the Athletics skill. It is a once per Encounter self-heal. The amount it heals up is based on your Athletics. So the higher your skill, the more healing you get. That gives your tanks a good reason for maxing out Athletics.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 14 2016, 09:27 PM

[SubRosa]

After going back to my old 3.00 game, I downloaded the patches to 3.01 from Gog. There are three of them, one for the base game, and one for each part of the White March. Install them in this order:

First install the base game patch.

Then install the White March Part 1 patch.

Then install White March part 2 patch.

It worked fine after that, and I can confirm that IEMod does work with version 3.01 (a.k.a. Gog-14).

[SubRosa]

Nits and picks about patches and mods aside, I have been having a blast in my new playthrough of Pillars of Eternity. As I said before, I created Aela as my main character, and made her a Priest. I am having a lot of fun playing her. I miss being able to summon things, but otherwise she plays close to how I would imagine her. I actually stopped playing her in Skyrim because she couldn't do the things in the game the way I picture she can. The same with Oblivion. So this is nice. The whole Watcher business of PoE and its ability to see and communicate with souls also dovetails nicely into who she is, so that even works.

Since this is a team game, I was originally thinking of bringing in Ungarion, Teresa of the Faint Smile, Tadrose, Methredhel, etc... to be her sidekicks. But that is more the Fighters Guild team. Instead I went back to her days in story Seven, and formed her original adventuring band. Plus this way I can also do another gameplay in the future using Teresa, Tadrose, Methie, and some of the other Fighters Guild folks.

Aela's Five

From left to right is Aela, Ungarion (who is trying on a new horned helmet, he just has to make sure everyone notices him), Seridwe, Valens, and Do'Sakhar. The wolf in front of Seridwe is her animal companion Trinimac. While the glowing transparent pig is one of the Preorder Bonuses, a giant miniature space piglet pet. I got that without pre-ordering. Thank you Gog.com!

Ungarion is a Wizard. I was originally going to try him as a Cipher, and I actually did start a test game with him as the main character just to test out the Cipher abilities. I did like the class. but it didn't feel right for him. So I fell back on the Wizard, which is of course what Ungie is. Seridwe is a Ranger, since she is primarily an archer, and that class is focused on archery. The animal companion is new, but hardly a deal-breaker. I briefly considered making Valens a Paladin. But he's not the Nerevarine yet. At this point in his life he is a warrior and a general, so I went with Fighter. Do'Sakhar was the most difficult, and actually won out over Talun-Lei and Nashira. I was able to find a pic of a Khajiit with black and white stripes from a mod to use for him, and that helped clinch him. There are no Khajiit in PoE, so I made him a Moon-Godlike. He is also Barbarian, which makes my first time playing one.

Here is the same pic without the user interface

And finally zoomed in as far as I can go and still get them all in the pic

Aela has been rolling her way through Act I. She is over half way done, and I have only been playing a few days. The Five are definitely my most powerful team yet. They are awesome monster bashers. (I know I am jinxing myself by saying that). So far they have plowed through everything without much trouble. Only once has a team member been knocked down so far. Most of the time the baddies are dead by the time Do'Sakhar turns on his Barbarian berserk power. So he hardly ever really gets to make good use of it.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 15 2016, 07:05 PM

[McBadgere]

Well they look thoroughly awesome!...

I know I should really look up what this game is about, as I don't know anything about it... ...

That story, btw, (Y'know, that little Seven thing you did) was just proper awesome...Absolutely loved that...

I know Trinimac is something old and mythical etc...But wasn't it - most importantly - the three-headed dragon in Dungeons & Dragons?... ...

Awesome pics!...

Hope you enjoy the game...*Applauds heartily*...

[SubRosa]

Well everything I do is proper awesome! I would never do anything improperly awesome.

I think you are thinking of Tiamat as the 3 headed dragon? Trinimac is the ancient elven warrior god. He is the one who got turned into Malacath. But some Orcs still believe in Trinimac, and worship him in his old form. They think that if enough people also believe the same, it will turn him back to how he originally was. Who knows, they might even be right.

Pillars of Eternity is a lot of fun. If you like the old isometric team dungeoning games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights you will enjoy it.

I just wish they would stop patching it constantly and be done with it. I suppose I should be happy that Obsidian is still putting so much effort into it. But it gets exasperating when I try to keep up with the constant updates, which always break IEMod in the process. It is like Skyrim was with SKSE. Every time Beth patched Skyrim it broke SKSE, which in turn broke every mod like SkyUI that was dependent on it.

[McBadgere]

I think you are thinking of Tiamat as the 3 headed dragon? Trinimac is the ancient elven warrior god. He is the one who got turned into Malacath. But some Orcs still believe in Trinimac, and worship him in his old form. They think that if enough people also believe the same, it will turn him back to how he originally was. Who knows, they might even be right.

Pillars of Eternity is a lot of fun. If you like the old isometric team dungeoning games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights you will enjoy it.

Ah!...Yes...Yes I am that... ...Thank you!...

Also, thanks for the info...I had completely forgotten that...

I shall have to youtube some gameplay...I've no idea what those gaming things are...Aside from very old versions of Hero Quest on the Amiga or something like, Final Fantasy 9 aside, my first "modern" dungeon fantasy game was Oblivion... ...

[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!