Pillars Of Eternity Options

[SubRosa]

Last night I beat PoE like a red-haired stepchild. I had a lot of fun playing January through it as a Paladin.

I also gained a new appreciate for the Barbarian class. I added Maneha to the party near the end, and finally figured out how to use her. I like to have my entire party go into sneak mode with ranged weapons equipped as they travel. When they find the enemy, they sneak up to the edge of stealth mode. Then they all open fire on one bad guy. That usually kills them instantly thanks to the hail of spells, arrows, and crossbow bolts.

The trouble with the Barbarian is their Frenzy ability takes a full turn to activate. So if they fire with everyone else in that opening shot, they just stand there for the next turn activating Frenzy. In the meantime the bad guys are running past them to attack the squishy mages in the rear. Sometimes the battle actually ends before they can even do anything.

The Frenzy ability is of course the whole point of being a Barbarian. Like all other games that have it, it gives big bonuses to physical attributes.

So what I learned is to simply eschew the Barbarian having any ranged weapons at all. Instead they are a pure-melee focus. When everyone else opens fire from stealth, they turn on Frenzy. Since it is the opening action, it takes place just as fast as all the attacks the rest of the party is making. Which is pretty instantaneous. Then the next turn the Barbarian is ready to fight just like everyone else.

The cherry on top is at high level the Barbarian gets a Dragon Leap power. It allows them to instantly leap to any spot in a really long range, and do massive damage when they land on someone. So they can practically teleport across the map once the battle starts and get right in with the bad guys.



Hot wings

Ogre hoedown

Werewolf 2: Electric Boogaloo

Night of the Fishmen

Snow Dragon

It's Bane!

I also imported January's save into Pillars of Eternity II, and rolled her as new toon there

[Acadian]

I'm glad to see you enjoying PoE. It looks like a worthy successor to BGII and the ilk.

[SubRosa]

It is a nice way to play the Baldur's Gate games again, without the D&D version 2 rules.

I have been playing Pillars of Eternity 2 for about a day now, and have some observations.

There are more options for speeding up and slowing time during battles now. The little time icon in the gui now has a slider at the bottom, which you can move back and forth incrementally to set it how you like it best. I have it set to one tick from the slowest.

The game also gives you the option of playing it in a true Turn-based mode now, as well as the Real Time Pausable mode from the original. I have not tried Turn-based, since I find I like the RTP.

It is very similar to PoE1 in look and feel. The same races and classes are all there. The same spells. The same perks (which like the original, they call Talents and Abilities, but they are Perks). However, now you can do true multiclassing. When you meet a companion and have them join you, the game gives you the option of what class they will be, with a limited set of options specific to each one. For example, Eder returns as a companion. He was a Fighter in PoE1. You can set him to be a Fighter, Rogue, or Fighter/Rogue in PoE2. Since I am new to the game, I am sticking with the straight classes for now.

Each class now has several subclasses to choose from as well, with different tweaks like specific Perks. I found a mod that adds a Knights of the Storm sublcass for the Paladin, which I originally tried for January. But I was not thrilled with it. It replaced the Paladin's Flames of Devotion attack with an electrical-based copy, which I was fine with. But it also gave a power to turn into an Electrical Elemental, which I don't see myself ever using. But even more so, I learned that there are dialogue options that open up for specific classes and subclasses (which PoE1 did as well). I am thinking if I go with a modded class, I will never get them. So instead I went back and restarted January as a Kind Wayfarer, which she was in PoE1.

As I mentioned before, you can import your final save from PoE1, which that game automatically makes for you now. That carries over your choices from that game to PoE2. But you can also manually set your choices every time you start a character as well. You can even save those sets of choices.

One big change I found is that Perks and spells no longer have a set number of uses Per Rest or Per Encounter as before. Instead they have gone to essentially a power (mana) point system. You start each battle with a set number of Power points based on your level. Every Perk you use costs a set number of points to use. So you can use whichever Perks you like, as often as you like, until you run out of points. This resets with every fight. I like this a lot better than the old way, or how some other games like Dragon Age gave each Perk a cooldown period in which you had to wait to use it again. This way if January wants, she can spam her Flames of Devotion as often as she likes.

Spells are treated exactly like the other Perks now. When you level up a mage or priest picks the same number of spells as a fighter would pick his perks. Likewise, they cost power points to cast the same as regular Perks. So basically, they are Perks. That is a big change from PoE1, where every time a priest leveled they automatically gained all the spells for that new level. I think mages still need grimoires, but I am not positive. Under the new system they seem kind of unnecessary.

The console commands are the same as PoE1, plus some new ones, with a caveat. There is no IEMod for PoE2, and it added several of its own console commands. Like the Jump command, that automatically teleported you to your cursor location. I used that a lot to avoid wasting time backtracking over ground I had already cleared. Now you can use the Ctrl + T command, but you have to do it from the console. Since there is no more IEMod, for any commands to work you have to use the IRoll20s command first to enable cheat mode. Which can be annoying.

The game world is basically the Caribbean, pirates and all. In fact your first encounter is with pirates, almost as soon as you start game proper. Instead of having a stronghold like other games, this time you have a ship. It seems to work like a stronghold you move around the game map. I know you can change ships, and upgrade certain parts of them like the guns. You have to hire a crew, just like you stronghold needed guards. As near as I can tell you have to use the ship to move around the world map to get from island to island. Though once you are on an island, you can move overland on your own.

Speaking of which, moving on the world map is different from PoE1 as well. That was like Baldur's Gate 2, where areas would open up on the world map, you would click on them, and automatically be teleported there to the tactical map of the actual area. PoE2 is more like the original Fallout games, where you have a strategy map that you move a cursor through (with your face on it). You see interesting areas open up as you near them, are blocked by rivers and mountains, etc... You can click on an area of interest to go there and transition to the tactical map for it. Or just bypass it.

So my guess is the way it basically works is you use your ship to travel from one island to another. Then once on the island you use this land-based strategy map to move around from location to location as you explore it. It is actually a lot like the old Pirates games that way, just with better graphics.

Finally, food. Food is no longer an item you eat in or before combat to get buffs. Instead it can only be eaten when you rest in the wilderness. From what I gather, if you don't have food when you rest, you don't get the benefits from resting. If you rest in an inn, it just ignores the food and gives you whatever the inn's bonuses are. Different food items have different bonuses as before. I gather that you select what food each party member uses when you rest, and they get the appropriate bonus.

It also looks like you have to feed your crew now too. I am not exactly sure how that works. But from the hardtack I have found while adventuring, food affects their morale. What their morale means in game mechanics I have no idea. But I do know its better not to feed them hardtack. January was pleased to see that hagfish is an option, and it gives a Resolve bonus. Very appropriate, since in another life her armor is made out of hagfish snot.

[Acadian]

Very cool initial review of PoE2. Thank you! I am always on the lookout for a game to have in reserve. Who knows, in a few years I may need to move to my next game.

[SubRosa]

I have seen people mention that mystic archers are a thing in PoE2. I think it is a Ranger/Mage multiclass.

Edit: There is a Ranger subclass called Arcane Archer, that has a special Imbue power, that allows you to fire spells rather than arrows. It does not sound like it works very well at present however.

[SubRosa]

Something else I noticed about PoE2 is that they streamlined the Health stat. Instead of two stats for health like they had in PoE1, there is just 1 in PoE2, and it fully refreshes at the end of every battle. It is a lot simpler, and a big improvement.

I am still poking around the first island you start on. So far I have met 3 companions. You start the game with Eder (Fighter), then on the island you find Xoti (Priest), and Aloth (Wizard). So Eder and Aloth carry over from PoE1. I think Pallegina is the only other companion from PoE1 that appears in PoE2. But I am not sure where she is.

It also looks like you can hire generic adventurers in the inns, like you could in PoE1.

This game is a lot more moddable than PoE1. Thanks to that, there are a lot more mods out there. I have a ton already. I found one invaluable one called More Spell Castings Per Level, which increases the number of times spellcasters can cast their spells per fight. This brings them into a more even level with the other classes and their perks. I modded it to add a couple more castings.

Most of the game files are basically text. But it is best to use something like Notepad++ to open them, as otherwise they are a literally wall of text. I have been using Visual Studio Code, which works pretty good.

[Acadian]

Nice to hear that the command console works well and that the game seems quite moddable. What's the best way to get and run the game with minimum 'middlemen'? Can it be purchased/run standalone or does it require something like GoG or Steam?

[SubRosa]

I bought it from Gog, though Steam has it too. Those look like the only two outlets. I just looked at Obsidian's (the developer) website, and they refer to you one of them. So I would definitely go Gog, and maybe wait for a sale. Right now the standard edition of the game is $40, and there are a bunch of dlc, though many are free.

Speaking of which, I have the free Critical Role pack dlc, which adds new voices. All are from the folks who do Critical Role, a group of voice actors who are also super nerds and post their gaming sessions online. They even have a comic book, which is pretty good. Matt Mercer, who is their GM, does many of the voices for Pillars already, like Eder and Aloth. I have been using the Keyleth voice for January. Keyleth is a somewhat innocent and naive character, and has been a perfect fit for Jan. She probably would be great for Buffy as well.

[Acadian]

Oh good. I do have GoG so could get it there when/if the time comes I figure. Can you think of any reason I could not pass on PoE 1 and just get PoE 2? I understand the changes to BG style play you've discussed and quite like some of the changes to classic AD&D you spoke of.

[SubRosa]

You can definitely skip PoE1 completely. The plot of PoE2 depends on things that happened in PoE1. But as I said, you can tell the game exactly what those things are. I even found they have some pre-made PoE1 endings already in PoE2 that you can select. Basically from the kindest to the evilest options. Or you can get really granular and pick every single thing that happened. And you can save those choices for future characters.

The beginning of PoE2 even takes you back through the major events in PoE1, so it will tell you the basics of what happened.

I do know that where you find Pallegenia in PoE2 and I think her circumstances depend on how her quest in PoE1 ended. There is also an item called the Devil's Cuirass (or something like that) which is built from the Devil of Caroc's body. She was an automatron in PoE1. The Cuirass only appears in PoE2 if you chose to not kill her arch-enemy Harmke in PoE1. Killing him actually gives her a much nicer ending in PoE1, which is how I went. Even though it means that armor does not appear in PoE2.

I played a bit more today, and I am liking how magic works better in PoE2. In PoE1 my spellcasters were essentially archers who occasionally cast spells. Now they are using all their spells every fight. I may have gone a little overboard in modding how many spells they can cast per encounter. So I will probably pare it down a little. OTOH, casting spells seems to take a long time compared to swinging a sword, so I might not have gone too far after all.

Stealth has also been refined more. Now when you go into stealth mode and approach enemies, you will see a white ring appear around them. This shows the range that they can hear things. You will also see an orange wedge radiating out in front of them. That is where they can see things. That can help you get right up to the edge of detection. There are also items like firecrackers that you can throw while in stealth. The noise they make distracts monsters and gets them to go investigate where they went off. Which can clear a path for you if you want to avoid a fight. Here is an example. The patch of pure red is a trap I detected.

And here is an example of moving around on the world map, and discovering a location

[Acadian]

Very encouraging. I enjoyed BG II, especially once I got comfy with the command console and customizing things a bit. And the 'improvements' you highlight also seem to be exactly that to me as well - improvements. Thanks again.

[SubRosa]

You will probably appreciate The Funnening - Improved Ranger, a mod that tweaks the Ranger class. I think the vanilla Ranger was kind of underpowered, and this improves it. There are a number of these 'Funnening' mods that improve a single class.

Ranger Unleashed - Arcane Archer scaling fix - 2 companions - Gunhawk seems to fix some of the issues with the Arcane Archer's Imbue ability.

[SubRosa]

I spent a couple hours playing yesterday, and was not really thrilled. I finally got my ship fixed and left the first island. I decided to do some Elder Scrolls style exploring of the world. There was not much to find. There are plenty of islands around. You can only land on the ones that have an anchor icon, which is where you can go ashore. Even then though, almost all of these had nothing but text-based encounters, or simple click on the trees and you get vegetables added to your inventory situations. Only a tiny handful had actual dungeons, and those were tiny, just 3 or 4 rooms.

I did fight pirates a lot. There is a scripted meeting with a pirate ship that happens shortly after you first set sail. This one is friendly, and you get another companion from it, and Orlan Cipher. I tried him out in one of the only dungeons, and I still don't like Ciphers. Like in PoE1, their Perks are all still based on their Focus and Soul Whip, which I still cannot make any sense of. So I stopped using him quickly.

After that I encountered a lot of pirate ships while on the seas. When you encounter a hostile ship the game gives you the option of immediately boarding, fighting a sea battle, or attempting to escape. I tried a naval battle once. It is completely text-based affair, and was really, really underwhelming. Especially given the kind of real naval combat games like Shogun 2 Total War had, or Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Even the original Pirates from the 1980s was better.

So the rest of the time I did boarding actions. The game goes to the tactical screen with your two ships side by side and a wide board linking the two. You start up opposite the board, and so far I have just ran forward to stop the enemy there, and eventually push on to their ship. The NPCs in your crew do join in the fight, though you cannot control them. People can even jump over the sides of the ships rather than using the boarding plank. But I have not figured out how that works yet.

It was interesting at first, but after a while it gets tedious, as it is the exact same map every time, and the fight generally goes the same way because of it. I am sure the maps will change as I face pirates with different kinds of ships. So far I have only fought those with a Dhow.

There is a lot of overhead with ship management. You have to assign crew members to different tasks on the ship. Each sailor has skills in different areas, so you have to juggle them around to make the most of them. You have to assign food and drink to them. It is not enough to simply have the stuff in your inventory. You have to physically move it to a queue on the ship management screen. Otherwise you crew will starve while you are literally sitting on a mountain of rice.

You can easily buy more of this stuff when you go to ports. When you are on the strategy map you just have to click on the port, and the screen will come up to buy supplies. But it is a lot of overhead which I personally do not give a crap about. I wanted to play a game about adventuring, exploring dungeons, slaying monsters, grinding my toons, Ph3R M3 N00b$!, all that good fantasy rpg stuff. Playing a ship captain simulator is not my idea of a good time.

The game points you to the capital city in the region once you leave the first island. I think I am just going to head straight there, and see if that opens up some quests, or something to point me to an actual dungeon I can raid.

[Acadian]

Hmm, hope things look up for in the game. It sounds too like it may be pushing you in linear direction. And we are rather spoiled by the free-flowing open world exploration of TES.

[SubRosa]

TBH, right now it does really seem to be a free-flowing open world. Just one with nothing in it to find.

[SubRosa]

I made it to the capital city of Neketaka today, and started exploring it. It is just like the cities in the Baldur's Gate games, PoE1, and the like. Lots of places, people, and little quests around the city. There are a lot of bounty quests. It turns out I did a lot of them already, by killing pirates along the journey to get to the city.

I also hired a generic adventurer, and used him to create one of January's pals from the Knights of Nerddom - Ryo. He is a Rogue. I am getting to know the class through him. They have some neat new Perks in PoE2.

[Lopov]

Are islands randomly generated or will they be exactly the same on your next playthrough?

Neketaka looks really big, from the map I've seen online.

[SubRosa]

The islands are fixed. There is an Map here showing them all. So far I have explored the south-west corner of the map. Then bypassed Katapu Channel and went straight for Neketaka.

Neketaka itself is huge. It is much bigger than Defiance Bay was in PoE1.

[SubRosa]

I did some more exploring in and around Neketaka over the last few days, and had more fun. As I said before, the city is huge. Something like 6 or 7 separate districts. I found an undercity of several levels, and a couple of explorable tombs. Of course there are tons of the 'normal' city quests, steal this, find medicine to these people, arrange with pirates to feed those people, and so on.

I have noticed that even in the pure dungeons, there are fewer monsters than normal. It seems like the direction for the game is smaller dungeons, fewer battles. Which is too bad, as that is the most fun for me. Especially given all the per rest stuff like spells has been done away with. It is easier than ever to do huge dungeon crawls now. In fact, I have only had to rest a handful of times so far.

There is a map maker in the port district who gives you a quest to map out parts of the Deadfire, and name the islands there. You can also buy a spyglass there, which I did in spite of how pricey it was. I have read that it helps you avoid ambushes on the high seas, especially of pirates lurking in wait within wrecks.

I also found another companion - Ydwin. She is a Cipher or Rogue. I picked Rogue, and retired Ryo. Though now that I look her up, she is classified as a Sidekick. This is one of the new things in PoE2. The game has a handful of companions. What I read is that you can only have yourself + 4 Companions in your party. So the cap is 5 characters instead of the normal 6.

I am not really sure what the difference is other than that. Ydwin has a uinque voice and dialogue. She seems to be involved in a lot of quests in two of the DLCs. But it looks like she does not have a personal quest. Most companions do.

I found another full Companion in the Watershapers Guild named Tekēhu. He seems to be a Druid/Chanter. I was utterly unimpressed with him, so left him to his own devices.

I have found some console commands which have been changed since the first game.

Shift + T = Teleports you to your cursor location. Use it with the console closed.

GiveItem now does what AddItem did.

Fog now does what NoFog did = removes the fog of war from the map you are currently on.

OpenCharacterCreation = this is handy. It allows you to recreate your character from scratch, which the retraining option in the game does not even allow (That just sets you back to 1st level, but still leaves you with the appearance, race, and class you originally began with). This starts completely over. The downside is that you lose all your experience points, and any special Perks you picked up along the way. But you can get the first back with the AddExperienceToLevel command, which has not changed. The others can be added back through the console too.

It does not look like there are many options for a Kind Wayfarer Paladin. So far I have come across only a single one. So I might try resetting January back to a Knight Of The Storm after all.

[SubRosa]

January explores an island on the strategy map

An example of the stealth system. The white ring is the hearing radius of the skeleton, the orange wedge is its sight

Xoti tries not to lie

Spleckt!

Battling the undead

Iron Man

Revenant

Stormcrow