Ah, Edér. During my recent attempt at a play-through my first thought upon hearing him speak was, "Hey, he sounds a lot like McCree from Overwatch!" Turns out they're both voiced by the same person - Matthew Mercer. Sadly, Edér does not have an ability wherein he says "It's high noon..." before killing everything on the screen.
As for the gods of the setting being petty and malicious, well, as someone who's familiar with pagan religions I don't find this too unusual. The Norse gods, for instance, were not necessarily seen as moral figures to emulate (two of Odin's name are "The Deceiver" (Ginnarr) and "Ruler of Treachery" (Skollvaldr), and this was a deity considered the highest god of a people who valued forthrightness and the keeping of sworn oaths). As in many other pagan religions, the gods were strongly connected with nature (wind, storms, thunder, the sea, the forest) or with abstract, impersonal concepts (war, disease, poetry, beauty, etc.), and these are things that are indifferent to human suffering. So why worship them? Because you want something - courage in battle, a good harvest, protection from disease and calamity - in exchange for an offering or a sacrifice.
Getting back to the game itself, I think that a "soul reading" mechanic in a game where exposition is delivered primarily through text to be a poor idea - it tends to result a lot of flowery nonsense and purple prose that becomes a chore to read through, and this is in a game that's already in dire need of a good editor.
I like the concept of soul reading. I really do. How can you not like the ability to read someone's past self? But as you've noted, it doesn't do much and it certainly doesn't help how bad some of the backer's stories be.
It'd be cool to like, summon the souls of old heroes that got fucked over by the Big Bad and then choose whether it's right to recruit a bunch of common folk to fight an evil they could very lose their life to. Maybe incorporate them back into the backstory subtly before bringing the reveal.
"Gee Hykal that kinda sounds like Aud Lang Syne from New Vegas."
As for the gods of the setting being petty and malicious, well, as someone who's familiar with pagan religions I don't find this too unusual. The Norse gods, for instance, were not necessarily seen as moral figures to emulate (two of Odin's name are "The Deceiver" (Ginnarr) and "Ruler of Treachery" (Skollvaldr), and this was a deity considered the highest god of a people who valued forthrightness and the keeping of sworn oaths). As in many other pagan religions, the gods were strongly connected with nature (wind, storms, thunder, the sea, the forest) or with abstract, impersonal concepts (war, disease, poetry, beauty, etc.), and these are things that are indifferent to human suffering. So why worship them? Because you want something - courage in battle, a good harvest, protection from disease and calamity - in exchange for an offering or a sacrifice.
Getting back to the game itself, I think that a "soul reading" mechanic in a game where exposition is delivered primarily through text to be a poor idea - it tends to result a lot of flowery nonsense and purple prose that becomes a chore to read through, and this is in a game that's already in dire need of a good editor.
Considering that I've written two very lengthy quests set in a fantasy world where sort-of pagan gods feature prominently, you'd think I'd understand that very well, wouldn't you? And normally you'd be right, but my dislike of Eora's gods tends to rob me of rational thought, so… ugh, I'm just gonna move on, all right?
I like the concept of soul reading. I really do. How can you not like the ability to read someone's past self? But as you've noted, it doesn't do much and it certainly doesn't help how bad some of the backer's stories be.
It'd be cool to like, summon the souls of old heroes that got fucked over by the Big Bad and then choose whether it's right to recruit a bunch of common folk to fight an evil they could very lose their life to. Maybe incorporate them back into the backstory subtly before bringing the reveal.
"Gee Hykal that kinda sounds like Aud Lang Syne from New Vegas."
There are ten backer NPCs in POE 2: Deadfire, but they're fairly inobtrusive. You can converse with them – they're fully voiced, like every other NPC in the game – and they're skill trainers. Pay them 3000 pands and get a permanent bonus to two of your skills. I like them better than the backer NPCs in POE 1, even if a few of them still have names that don't quite fit the setting. So, if that's what you're asking about, the answer is yes.
On the other hand, if you're asking about the main character's Watcher powers and if they enable you to do some awesome stuff in the sequel, the answer is… hmm, maybe. (I probably should have finished my playthrough of POE 2: Deadfire before starting this Let's Play, heh.)
Anyway, I might as well get on with it…
For the past several minutes, while I was having my psychic conversation with Caldara de Berranzi, I've been staring into space. Probably drooling, as well. All that time, Aloth was watching me. I'm not sure if the fact that he didn't interrupt signifies that he's very polite or if it's slightly creepy. Or both.
He asks me what's going on. I explain a few things to him. Such as, 'Apparently, I'm a Watcher now.'
What's that, Edér? You're going to have to speak up a bit unless you want LPers to walk past without noticing you.
It seems like most people who play this game pick Edér as their favourite companion. He's certainly one of the most useful: it's easy to build him as a decent tank, capable of holding off hordes of enemies in hand-to-hand combat. Personality-wise, he's a good-hearted farm boy with a robust sense of humour and a soft spot for furry animals. He's always trying to look on the bright side of life, even when the situation is very bleak.
In POE 1, he has a few goofy moments (usually involving furry animals), but he's not stupid. Yeah, I doubt he'd be anyone's idea of an intellectual, but he seems fairly streetwise, like he's got a pretty good idea of what's going on. However, by the time POE 2: Deadfire rolls around, it seems like his goofier moments have been emphasized to the extent that many of the other companions seem to think think he's about as dumb as a sack full of rocks.
Ah, yes. The Saint's War. It's an important part of this game's backstory, but I don't think I want to discuss it right now. Later, maybe.
Yay! New companion got!
There are four possible endings you can get for Edér in this game, but one of those is if you get him killed and the other is if you don't complete his personal quest. I'm gonna assume that we don't want him to die and that we do want to complete his personal quest.
So, I'm going to ask you to choose between two possibilities:
[] Convince him that the the gods and their worshippers can have a positive influence on people's lives.
[] Convince him to question the influence of the gods and their followers.
(I usually manage to convince him to question the gods' influence without even realising that I'm doing it, so purposely doing the opposite might be a challenge.)
Interestingly, Aloth and Edér have the same voice actor, Matthew Mercer. He does such a good job of it that I didn't even realise that they were voiced by the same person until someone told me.
Sure, I could go down these stairs and explore a dungeon filled with nasty monsters, but I'd rather save it for when I've levelled up a bit more. Instead, I'm heading back to the Valewood.
(Also, there's a little girl playing in the abandoned temple. I guess they're not all born soulless. Just ninety-nine percent of them. Once in a while, a baby is born with a soul and that's enough to give people hope, to make them think that maybe the Hollowborn Crisis is coming to an end.)
I've been told most players passing through the Valewood for the first time tend to get killed by the same bear who killed Perly. Not me, though. My first ever Pillars of Eternity character was mauled to death by this pack of wolves.
You see, whereas young wolves are the weakest enemy in POE 1, fully-grown wolves are an entirely different prospect: they're nasty enemies whose favourite trick is to knock someone down and keep them knocked down until they're dead. That's not much of a problem when you've got a fairly large party, like I do, but they can be a big problem if you're trying for a solo run and your main character is still low-levelled.
Wolves belong to a creature type I haven't talked about yet: they're Beasts. This creature type encompasses a wide range of animals, insects, and spiders, and most of them aren't very intelligent. However, wurms, drakes, and even the mighty dragons are also considered to be Beasts. This means that certain Druid spells (i.e. 'Charm Beasts' and 'Hold Beasts') are more useful than they might at first seem.
I was kinda surprised when I found out that dragons are considered to be Beasts in this game. Up until that point I'd assumed that one thing all Beasts had in common was that they weren't very intelligent. However, fully-grown dragons are extremely intelligent, probably more so than most humans. And, since dragons get more and more intelligent the longer they live, they're only gonna get smarter. (Baby dragons are called wurms, about the size of a crow and probably less intelligent. Adolescent dragons are called drakes: they're large flying monsters, nearly as intelligent as a human but not quite. Some of them can talk, but they usually don't have anything interesting to say. Fully-grown dragons are huge and immensely powerful. Their intelligence varies, sort of. The younger ones are barely more intelligent than drakes, but truly ancient dragons are chillingly intelligent.)
Actually, because dragons seem to have a special connection with the primal forces of nature (see spoilers below for more information), I think you could make a pretty good case for them being Primordials. But that would group them alongside oozes and giant fungi, so not exactly flattering. Hmm. No, I'm still not sure how they decided which creatures belong in which category.
In POE 1, there are dragons of fire, adra, and the sky; in White March, there are dragons of ice and bogs; in POE 2, there are dragons of the ocean and magma.
Here, there's a loose brick under which I find a few gems, a potion of lesser regeneration, and a Spellward Amulet I'm gonna give to Edér. (It'll help to protect him from hostile spellcasters.)
I scaled this ancient ruined wall with the aid of Edér's high Athletics skill. On top, I've found the body of a man who was trapped here by those wolves I just killed. I guess he must have starved to death, poor fellow. He's wearing Fulvano's Gloves, which give a +2 bonus to Dexterity. Not much use to him now. Yoink!
Fulvano was an explorer from the Vailian Republics who had an odd habit of giving away his personal possessions to people he was travelling with. We'll find out more about him and his travelling companions as we discover their remains scattered across the wilderness areas we'll visit early on in this game.
Good news, everyone! I've found the Black Hound Inn's missing cook! Kidnapped by bandits, huh?
(Btw, the bandits had a sentry posted a little way off. Eleni shot him so hard he exploded into chunky giblets.)
The bandits are weak and outnumbered, so this fight doesn't take long. Interesting lighting effect, huh? (I got Aloth to use a Scroll of Nature's Mark I found earlier.)
He's happy to be rescued! We'll have to head back to the Black Hound Inn to get our reward for this quest, though.
So, I found this xaurip camp. Pretty easy fight.
Hmm. Considering that xaurips worship dragons, isn't it theologically inconsistent of them to use dragon bones as building materials? Yeah, I would ask the xaurips I fought here, but I already killed them. (Also, because xaurips are incapable of speaking a kith language, they wouldn't be able to reply.)
In a nearby cave, I found and had to fight a pair of bears. I'm guessing one of them killed Perly.
I use my Watcher powers to commune with Perly's ghost. Evidently, Nonton severed his hamstrings and left him to be mauled to death by that bear.
So, I guess we'd better head back to Gilded Vale. Let's hope Nonton and Ingroed haven't already departed by the time we get back. They've got some explaining to do.
[X] Convince him that the the gods and their worshippers can have a positive influence on people's lives.
You know, I don't actually remember a good chunk of Eder's quest. As someone who's very interested in theology for reasons obvious, his questline was very unmemorable. Like yo, how do you fuck that up. And I like Eder!
I'll tell you how, and this ties into PoE's bad pacing. You fight mobs, do quests, for so long, your companions barely talk if ever. Maybe it's just me, but my party members only chatted in cities and they are more or less robots for 90% of the game (battle cries aside).
YOUR GOD BLEW UP AND DIED HOW IS THIS NOT THE MOST RIVETING THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION EVER
And we haven't gotten to Durance yet.
-
ALSO, I usually save the cook before coming to Gilded Vale. My wanderlust compels me to search every inch of the area before leaving, wolves be damned.
I'm reasonably certain that the answer's reproduction. Primordials reproduce aesexually through division, or spontaneously generate, while dragons breed like... well, birds actually.
You know, I don't actually remember a good chunk of Eder's quest. As someone who's very interested in theology for reasons obvious, his questline was very unmemorable. Like yo, how do you fuck that up. And I like Eder!
Sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. I had a bunch of reasons, but… well, you probably don't want to hear my excuses, but I feel the need to explain them. If I'm going to carry on this Let's Play, I need to make some changes and I want you to know why.
Last autumn, I was so tired and overwhelmed with work that I stopped most of my activities on this board: I cut down to posting in only one quest, once a week. Since then, I've started posting a bit more, but I'm not sure if I can keep to any kind of regular schedule if I carry on with this Let's Play. Yeah, I want to, but we'll see how it goes.
Also, I think I was putting too much detail into my updates. If I carried on like that, it'd take forever to get to the end of POE 1, let alone the expansion packs or POE 2: Deadfire. Near the start of the game, when the setting and characters are being introduced, it's necessary for me to show more of the details so that my readers don't get confused, but later on there'll be a lot of stuff I can just gloss over. And I intend to.
Similarly, I'm going to reduce the number of screenshots I use in each update. Maybe then these pages won't take forever to load. And it's unnecessary for me to use multiple screenshots to show snippets of the same conversation. It'd be more efficient if I just included one screenshot and then a transcript of the conversation from then on.
Another reason why I stopped updating this was because the Pathfinder: Kingmaker videogame came out a few weeks later. Wow, I love that game. Yeah, it was released in such a buggy state that for the first few months after its release it was literally impossible to complete. Yeah, the game probably goes on for too long and there are too many meaningless battles against souped-up enemies with bullshit special attacks, so that by the end I'd stopped enjoying myself and was just trying to get across the finish line. Yeesh, I can't believe I just wrote that. Normally, when I really love a game, I try to make it last forever. Nevertheless, despite its flaws, Pathfinder: Kingmaker gets closer to my ideal videogame than anything else I've ever played. Um, that probably tells you much more about me than it does the game, but anyway…
Before I get started, I'm just going to reply to some of the previous posts that I probably should have replied to many months ago. Here goes:
You know, I don't actually remember a good chunk of Eder's quest. As someone who's very interested in theology for reasons obvious, his questline was very unmemorable. Like yo, how do you fuck that up. And I like Eder!
I'll tell you how, and this ties into PoE's bad pacing. You fight mobs, do quests, for so long, your companions barely talk if ever. Maybe it's just me, but my party members only chatted in cities and they are more or less robots for 90% of the game (battle cries aside).
YOUR GOD BLEW UP AND DIED HOW IS THIS NOT THE MOST RIVETING THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION EVER
Most of the companion quests in this game are fairly short, unmemorable, and come to unsatisfying conclusions. Yeah, I understand that the writers were trying to represent the fact that complex problems in real life rarely have simple solutions and – sometimes – mysteries can't be solved. But just because it's realistic doesn't mean it's fun to play through.
I remember feeling very frustrated when I worked out that there's only a single line of dialogue separating the esoterically happy 'best ending' of Sagani's personal quest from the 'worst ending'. I remember thinking to myself, "Well, what was the point of that, then?"
Oh… right, we haven't got to Sagani yet. Um, spoilers, I guess.
The next update will contain copious amounts of Durance. In fact, he's another reason why it's taken me so long to update. Because there are so many things I want to say about that guy and I was worried that my commentary would devolve into yet another rant.
I'm reasonably certain that the answer's reproduction. Primordials reproduce aesexually through division, or spontaneously generate, while dragons breed like... well, birds actually.
The votes are exactly tied, so the only fair way to settle this is with a dice roll:
1-3: I'll attempt to convince Edér that the the gods and their worshippers can have a positive influence on people's lives.
4-6: I'll attempt to convince him to question the influence of the gods and their followers.
EDIT: The next update will come later this week, hopefully. Also, I didn't realise that you couldn't add dice rolls to non-quests on this board, so I'm attaching the dice roll to my most recent post here.
I rolled a 5, so while I'm playing Gianni Baldassare I guess I'll be picking all of the more cynical dialogue options when talking to Edér. (Bear in mind, at various times I've got both of the different ending slides for Edér without really meaning to, so however I go about this I'm not sure that I'll succeed.)
Most of the companion quests in this game are fairly short, unmemorable, and come to unsatisfying conclusions. Yeah, I understand that the writers were trying to represent the fact that, in real life, complex problems rarely have simple solutions and – sometimes – mysteries can't be solved. But just because it's realistic doesn't mean it's fun to play through.
I remember feeling very frustrated when I worked out that there's only a single line of dialogue separating the esoterically happy 'best ending' of Sagani's personal quest from the 'worst ending'. I remember thinking to myself, "Well, what was the point of that, then?"
The game really leans heavily on its existential themes, specifically the theme of "What if we can be certain of nothing?" To that end, all the companion quests tend to end on an unsatisfying, uncertain, or ambiguous note. You're correct, however, that this makes them feel like a pointless waste of time.
And I'm glad to see this LP isn't dead. My initial suspicion was that you had abandoned it out of boredom, which is completely understandable given how dull PoE is.
The next update will contain copious amounts of Durance. In fact, he's another reason why it's taken me so long to update. Because there are so many things I want to say about that guy and I was worried that my commentary would devolve into yet another rant.
You needed to actually ask "What's the difference between a magical bird lizard and a magical puddle of goo." Once you do, it stands out. The same process of asking seemingly rhetorical questions can be useful in other aspects of worldbuilding as well.
The game really leans heavily on its existential themes, specifically the theme of "What if we can be certain of nothing?" To that end, all the companion quests tend to end on an unsatisfying, uncertain, or ambiguous note. You're correct, however, that this makes them feel like a pointless waste of time.
And I'm glad to see this LP isn't dead. My initial suspicion was that you had abandoned it out of boredom, which is completely understandable given how dull PoE is.
I mean, the gnome dude has a solid ending, it's just a kick in the nuts to figure out why you get which ending.
I don't think that POE having open/uncertain/ambiguous character endings is much of a problem at all. Every character is an adventurer in the prime of their life, and several of them (even Eder!) can settle down afterwards. By far the bigger problem is how (gnome dude excepted) they're either bland or downright unpleasant. Carth Onasi has more personality and character development than half the party.
Anywho good to see you back. Totally understand the feeling of finding an obviously flawed game that is nonetheless the nearest thing to your Platonic Ideal of Game yet made. Do a Kingmaker LP sometime, you'll get more hits since it's obvious everyone here is mostly here to point out how PoE personally insulted them.
Now, I enjoy a good scuffle, but I personally cannot tell you the exact minutia why I dislike the combat in this game. I can give general reasons, but not nail down why that is.
Don't take away starting character build choices because "players need to get the tutorial first." Put then after the tutorial? Sure. Decide for the player. No.
To be perfectly honest? I think PoE shouldn't have let you pick your class. Put your PC into a unique "Watcher" class that gets character defining abilities throughout the story, taking cues from the Bhaalspawn powers, NWN2OC ritual powers, Spirit-Eater stuff and so on. You'd still level up, but the fluff would be that you're remembering powers from previous incarnations, while the story powers would represent new stages of enlightenment/getting new bobs grafted onto your soul through Animancy.
I feel that'd be much more compelling than the discount DnD system of chargen.
I'd rather have a cohesive vision for character progression, because then you could go all in on the roleplaying. Rather than a discount 3.x chargen with inscrutable "lore" you'd pick a profession like barrister or fisherman or mercenary, and have that feed into the prologue and all of the flashback scenes. As you play the prologue you decide whether your Watcher bashes things good with past memories, or flings soul bits because they treat exploring their past lives at as an intellectual exercise.
You'd still develop your character, you'd still decide how they grow. That growth would simply be a function of who your character is in the setting instead of who they are in the system. I find that much more interesting.
I know I'm referencing an old conversation, but this is something I've been thinking about on-and-off while this Let's Play was on hiatus: why did the makers of Pillars of Eternity choose to begin the game with such a frustratingly obtuse character creation process? The simple answer is 'because Baldur's Gate did it that way', but it still strikes me as an odd decision.
The main reason why Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, The Temple of Elemental Evil, and all the other videogames based on Dungeons & Dragons got made is that there was a pre-existing fanbase and substantial demand. The D&D videogames wouldn't have been very successful if they'd only appealed to people who were already fans of the tabletop RPG, but the makers of those games were careful not to alienate their core fanbase. The reason why most of those games have such lengthy character creation screens with a wide variety of different options is because the fans wanted it that way. They wanted to be able to create a character like they would if they were sitting down to play D&D with some of their friends, or to recreate one of their favourite characters from a campaign they'd enjoyed playing before. Of course, the makers of those games made sure to give the fans what they wanted.
However, Pillars of Eternity isn't based on a pre-existing tabletop RPG. The game mechanics bear some resemblance to those of D&D, but they're not the same. It has a lengthy character creation process and a wide variety of different options just like in those D&D videogames I mentioned, except because it's not based on a system that anyone is already familiar with there's no way for a new player to know what most of the options do without starting and restarting the game a few times and experimenting a lot. It's easier now that the game has been out for a number of years and you can easily look it up on the internet, but when POE 1 was first released I imagine it was like fumbling in the dark.
All of which makes me wonder why the makers of Pillars of Eternity chose to set it up that way. Yeah, it's an obvious attempt to copy Baldur's Gate and appeal to D&D fanboys by giving them something that vaguely resembles something they're already familiar with, but it just seems poorly judged to me.
If it had been up to me, I'd have started off the player character as a bog standard fighter. Or maybe just a commoner. Later on, as part of the story, they'd use their Watcher powers to access the skills, memories, and special powers of one of their past lives, becoming a Mage or a Paladin or whatever. Doesn't that sound potentially interesting?
And I'm glad to see this LP isn't dead. My initial suspicion was that you had abandoned it out of boredom, which is completely understandable given how dull PoE is.
I think that's the fundamental difference in our opinions on this game, even though I agree with most of the other things you've said about it: I don't find Pillars of Eternity boring.
Yes, I think it's needlessly grim, the pacing is atrocious, the combat system is overly complicated and there are far too many trash mobs, the setting lacks verisimilitude, the writers had a bad habit of mistaking 'dark and edgy melodrama' for 'mature adult writing', and it's all rather pretentious and overwritten, but it doesn't bore me. In fact, I find it fascinating, despite or maybe because of its flaws.
You needed to actually ask "What's the difference between a magical bird lizard and a magical puddle of goo." Once you do, it stands out. The same process of asking seemingly rhetorical questions can be useful in other aspects of worldbuilding as well.
Now, I enjoy a good scuffle, but I personally cannot tell you the exact minutia why I dislike the combat in this game. I can give general reasons, but not nail down why that is.
I enjoy a challenge and I like having a reason to use some of the many consumables this game tends to load me down with. I actually like the combat in this game, I just wish there wasn't so much of it. If there was an option to make the combat more difficult but at the same time reduce the number of fights you have to get through, I would be all over that.
If it had been up to me, I'd have started off the player character as a bog standard fighter. Or maybe just a commoner. Later on, as part of the story, they'd use their Watcher powers to access the skills, memories, and special powers of one of their past lives, becoming a Mage or a Paladin or whatever. Doesn't that sound potentially interesting?
That's exactly the system I described. Maybe you'd pick one or two things just to roleplay them, but most of your character generation would be ongoing and based on your past memories. If done well it'd be a great way to involve you in the setting, the conflict, and your character.
But to answer your question, PoE was pitched specifically as a Baldur's Gate successor, and that entails DnD style chargen. It's a massive waste of potential but as far as I can tell literally everything followed from that initial decision.
Yeah him. I thought he was entertaining, buuuuut looking at TvTropes it seems I had completely the wrong idea about what his ending was actually about. Damn, it's much less interesting than I thought.
Pathfinder kingmaker is a flawed gem. I wonder did you get the true best ending though? All the hoops you have to jump through are nuts
I'm a sucker for kingdom management though, so that is what appealed the hardest, something that poe lacked beyond the very basics in cad nua
Also, by virtue of nonsense balance in dnd based systems, pathfinder end game stuff can be trivialized by picking a magic class and blowing the enemy the fuck up. Kinetecist was particularly stupid in just how strong stacking it's aoes were. Once I learned were the enemies stood, I could nuke even the big bosses with preset aoes in seconds (usually after they fucked me hardcore the first time around cause lul balance)
Yeah him. I thought he was entertaining, buuuuut looking at TvTropes it seems I had completely the wrong idea about what his ending was actually about. Damn, it's much less interesting than I thought.
That's exactly the system I described. Maybe you'd pick one or two things just to roleplay them, but most of your character generation would be ongoing and based on your past memories. If done well it'd be a great way to involve you in the setting, the conflict, and your character.
Alternatively, the main character could use their Watcher powers to access the memories of various different past lives, allowing them to switch back and forth between being a Fighter, Mage, or Rogue depending on the circumstances. This might give the player access to different dialogue options and sidequests etc. I remember Planescape: Torment did something similar. With minimal training, the Nameless One could draw upon the accumulated knowledge and experience of his past lives and thereby change his class. Then, later on, he could change back again if he wanted. Something similar to that would have been an interesting use of the Watcher's abilities.
I wish the Watcher powers were better integrated into the gameplay. Over the course of the game, the main character gains a bunch of extra abilities that can be used in combat but I very rarely do because they're not particularly useful, can only be used a couple of times a day, and it's almost always better to use a class ability instead. If the main character's class abilities were derived from their being a Watcher, being a Watcher would seem like a much more integral part of who they are.
So yeah… there are a lot of interesting things the makers of POE 1 could have done with the concept of a 'Watcher' who can see other people's souls and remember some of his/her past lives. It's a shame they didn't.
I did, yeah. Had to consult a guide to make sure I was on the right track, but yeah.
It amuses me to imagine what the ordinary people of the kingdom of Freedonia thought about their king getting married to the nymph who'd been responsible for causing so much pain, devastation, and horror over the past several thousand years.
Also, by virtue of nonsense balance in dnd based systems, pathfinder end game stuff can be trivialized by picking a magic class and blowing the enemy the fuck up. Kinetecist was particularly stupid in just how strong stacking it's aoes were. Once I learned were the enemies stood, I could nuke even the big bosses with preset aoes in seconds (usually after they fucked me hardcore the first time around cause lul balance)
I played a wizard. Towards the end of the game, every fight went something like this: "Excuse me, sir. Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour, Sirocco?"
Heh...
All right, let's get this show on the road.
Before heading back to Gilded Vale, I decided to swing by Magran's Crossing. It's another wilderness area, mostly empty, but with a few interesting things in it. The most obvious landmark is this massive pillar of adra, in the south-west corner of the map. Before I could get to it, I had to fight a bunch of wolves and some wild boars. Yeesh, sometimes I feel like I'm an ecological disaster that walks like a man.
Oh well, they had it coming! They attacked me first!
Heading around the bottom of the map, I encountered a troll. I'm fairly sure that's the first time I've encountered one of them in this playthrough. It was an easy fight, four-vs-one, with Edér tanking and Eleni doing massive amounts of sneak attack damage.
Large, hulking humanoids with large growths of moss and fungi clinging to them, Trolls are a type of Wilder. They're not very intelligent, barely more than animals, and their bestiary entry says that no one's ever seen them using weapons or tools. However, in a previous playthrough, I noticed a troll who was a named character, Glasdial, and he was apparently the leader of a group of corrupted druids and evil Primordials. So yeah… who knows?
After I killed the troll, I investigated the body of one of the troll's victims. It was another of the Vailian explorer Fulvano's traveling companions, to whom he'd gifted an amulet which grants a bonus to healing and improved Reflex saves. Yoink! That'll be useful for Edér to wear.
This is the text of the chewed letter which I found on the body: "Worried he may have come to harm. Once I reach Defiance Bay, I will hire guides to take me back west in safety, and see if we cannot find Fulvano. At present, I regret my eagerness to be away from Gilded Vale. It is very dark…"
Wait, did he put an ellipsis at the end of the letter, before he was attacked by the troll? Why would he do that? Um… was he dictating?
Oh, crap. I forgot about these guys. Also, it's been such a long time since I've done this that I've forgotten how to take screenshots properly. I keep accidentally toggling Flight mode on and off.
All right, let me explain what's going on here… a wizard and two Goldpact paladins attacked me while I was marching up the right side of the map. Concentrating my attacks on the wizard, I managed to kill her before she could hit my party with any really nasty spells. After that, the paladins went down fairly easily, but there was some undignified running around after one of them broke engagement and charged at my back line. No real harm done, except that during this fight Eleni spent most of her time fleeing.
The only notable piece of loot was the wizard's spellbook, with some new spells which Aloth will be able to learn later on, when I get enough money.
Also, I found this note on the body of the wizard, Ludrana: "It seems I have no choice but to provide you with instruction. Raedric's forces are spread thin, and the road through the wilds to the South of Gilded Vale lies unguarded. Given these favorable circumstances, I'm sure that even you can manage to handle a peasant or two. The archers tell me that Kolsc's men made south after their escape. If you should happen to retrieve one of their number, I may be convinced to forgive your previous mistakes. For the last time, you are to keep clear of Defiance Bay. Know that if you cannot be trusted to acquire a useful specimen with even a modicum of discretion, I have no qualms whatsoever about using what materials I have at my disposal instead. - O"
Basically, Lord Raedric the rad has a rather unpleasant animancer/necromancer working for him. She wants live specimens for her experiments. More on that story later.
Just north of where I fought Ludrana and her two goons, there's an old hut and a ruined tower. In the tower there was a Will-O-Wisp which I killed. Inside the hut, I found some fruits and vegetables, a grappling hook, and some camping supplies, but nothing very exciting.
Later on, if I choose to side with Lord Raedric, I'll have to come back here to fight Kolsc (i.e. Raedric's brother who has been trying to overthrow the murderous tyrant).
In the north-west corner of the map, I met this guy. After you talk to him, you get attacked by a pack of wolves. After I slaughtered them, he gave me some light healing potions.
This encounter is almost exactly the same as one in Baldur's Gate (except in BG1 it was a pack of gibberlings), so I assume it was meant as a deliberate homage.
And finally… this guy. Durance. Ugh…
Well, he's definitely one of Chris Avellone's characters.
I'll summarize as much as I can:
He worships Magran, but he calls her a whore. I'm sure he has reasons. His robes are dirty, stained with grease and scorched along the edges. The burning statue behind him gives off no heat and he doesn't seem to notice it. He's carrying a staff made of wood that looks like it was burnt in a terrible fire. There are shapes and patterns beneath the ash, but maybe only a Watcher can see them.
When I ask for his name, he says that names are useless; but, if I want to, I can call him Durance. He's interested in me because he knows I'm a Watcher. He says he saw my soul "in the flames". Magran is the goddess of fire, so presumably her priests can see prophetic visions when they gaze into flames. (Not at all like the red priests in A Song of Ice and Fire, no sirree!)
After this, he warns me that many will stand against me. He says that I'm marked by something, maybe a disease or a spirit wind, but I'm still standing. Then, he makes a crude remark about having been infected with the pox. Lovely. I say he's welcome to travel with my group if his stone mistress allows it. He seems amused by that.
Finally, he says, "Let us see what the road holds, Watcher."
Hmm. Durance is a nasty piece of work. Despite having assured me that he won't force his words on anyone else but me, I know he's going to spend much of his time riling up my other party members. He's rude, abrasive, arrogantly contemptuous and intolerant of others, and even when he's not being deliberately offensive, he's unpleasant to be around. He's basically an RPG Codex forum member, nur hur hur. OH NO I DI'N'T!
I levelled him up a few times. That's his character sheet afterwards.
Okay, so… decent Might, Constitution and Intelligence. He's a pretty good healer and can do some damage if needs be, he's fairly sturdy and his spells/special abilities have an effect over quite a wide radius. Crappy Dexterity and Perception. Absurdly high Resolve, which boosts his Deflection and Will saves, but other than that it's not doing a lot for him. Many of the character build guides I've seen online recommend using Resolve as a dump stat, unless you're trying to build a tank or you're determined to activate certain dialogue options. I wouldn't use a Priest as a tank, not in this game. Too squishy.
Durance's low Perception doesn't particularly matter – I'm mostly going to use him for healing, protection from harmful status effects, and helpful buffs – and there are very few direct damage Priest spells that I'd actually consider using, so it doesn't matter that he's not going to get very many crits. What really lets him down is his low Dexterity. In this game, Priests benefit from having high Dexterity so they can cast as many buffs as quickly as possible at the start of combat. Or, so that they can quickly react when you need them to, for example, quickly cast a spell to free the rest of the party from a status effect that would otherwise make them easy prey for your enemies. That's the kind of thing Durance struggles to do.
In this game, Priests are great. They have a wide range of spells which enable them to support the rest of the party in ways that no other class can do nearly as well. Paladins have some minor abilities they can use to buff their allies or ward off nasty status effects, but they come at a high price, at a higher level, and frankly aren't as good as the equivalent Priest spells. Chanters can learn some great abilities, but they only get a limited number of them and they're not as versatile as Priests. As far as I know, Priests are the only class that can make your party completely immune to some of the nastier status effects (such as charm, dominate, paralyse, stun, petrify, etc.), if only for a short time. Priests are so good that, by the time the sequel came around, they were severely nerfed. In POE 2: Deadfire, Priests can only learn a limited number of spells and they have to choose very carefully which ones they want to learn when they level up.
However, with his sub-optimal stat distribution, Durance isn't a good Priest. He's only mediocre. If I were going for maximum efficiency, I'd just ignore him and hire a mercenary instead. But I'm including him in my party for story reasons.
Durance is one of the more interesting premade companions. He has an intriguing backstory related to the Saint's War and the Hollowborn Crisis. However, the only way to learn more about it is to navigate his enormous dialogue tree. That would be tiresome enough even if there wasn't an arbitrary limit to the number of questions you can ask him before he tells you to shut up and you have to wait until after your next rest before you can talk to him again. It's a huge undertaking and I'll probably be near the end of the game before I get through it all. Ugh, I'll summarize it, here and there.
The only thing that makes a difference to Durance's ending slides is whether you complete his personal quest or not. I'm gonna assume that we want to complete his personal quest (and find out the truth!), so I'm not going to ask you to vote on that.
After recruiting Durance, I headed back to Gilded Vale. It's time to confront Nonton about Perly's death.
At first, Ingroed tries to pretend that Perly's death was an accident. However, when pressed, Nonton admits that he set Perly up to be killed. He claims that Perly was a cruel man who treated his friends badly. Ingroed says that Perly was "as much a beast as that bear."
Looking around the village, I tried to find some evidence of what kind of man Perly was. Other than the testimony of the two people who conspired in his death, I mean.
In the Black Hound tavern I overheard one of the other villagers say, "Anyone seen Perly around? He's usually drinking his head off this hour of the day." Also, I found a half-full bottle of sonnread (an alcoholic liquor) on a shelf in his house. Slim evidence, but it seems to confirm that he was a heavy drinker. Doesn't necessarily mean that he beat his wife or that he deserved to be murdered, but…
Well, how do you want to play this?
[] Take the money.
[] Insist on dragging them in front of the magistrate.*
[] Attack them.
[] Be nice. Tell them they can keep the money and use it to start a new life
[] Tell them to get lost.
*I should warn you that I have no real evidence that Perly's death was anything but an accident. At least, nothing that would stand up in a court of law.
Hmm. Durance is a nasty piece of work. Despite having assured me that he won't force his words on anyone else but me, I know he's going to spend much of his time riling up my other party members. He's rude, abrasive, arrogantly contemptuous and intolerant of others, and even when he's not being deliberately offensive, he's unpleasant to be around. He's basically an RPG Codex forum member, nur hur hur.
Ha, it's based on a complete misunderstanding of what his deal was.
I thought his soul's splitting meant he had an opposite but equal in the world, and that during your meeting you could tell the opposite to try to be nicer to Hiravias, which would end up passing darker characteristics of their shared soul onto Hiravias instead.
I wish the Watcher powers were better integrated into the gameplay. Over the course of the game, the main character gains a bunch of extra abilities which can be used in combat but I very rarely do because they're not particularly useful, can only be used a couple of times a day, and it's almost always better to use a class ability instead. If the main character's class abilities were derived from their being a Watcher, being a Watcher would seem like a much more integral part of who they are.
The Watcher abilities are limited to avoid breaking game balance, so they're near useless instead. Which is a damn waste since they're intrinsically more interesting from a story perspective. Ancient lost combat techniques, soul powered magics, dead languages of power, hidden recipes for poisons and poultices... but nah, discount DnD.
sigh
[X] Be nice. Tell them they can keep the money and use it to start a new life
Ha, it's based on a complete misunderstanding of what his deal was.
I thought his soul's splitting meant he had an opposite but equal in the world, and that during your meeting you could tell the opposite to try to be nicer to Hiravias, which would end up passing darker characteristics of their shared soul onto Hiravias instead.
I'm inclined to believe her as well. I was convinced by her argument that she would have walked out on Perly years ago if she hadn't been so frightened of his violent temper. Why go to all the trouble of having someone murdered, knowing that the authorities will have you executed if they find out about it, if you can just leave?
Of course, the question here isn't "Are Nonton and Ingroed guilty of Perly's murder?" They've already admitted that they're guilty. Rather, the question I have to answer is, "What am I going to do about it?"
I could demand that they bribe me to let them go.
I could show mercy and compassion by letting them go.
I could kill them. (If you insist on dragging them in front of the magistrate, they'll attack you. They're desperate people.)
Or, I could do my impression of Pontius Pilate and wash my hands of this whole affair.
All right, you soft-hearted people, I let Ingroed and Nonton go free. I didn't even take the bribe they offered me.
(In this case, taking the 'Benevolent' option nets you a better reward: a 'Minor Ring of Deflection' is worth a lot more than a measly 50 copper pands.)
Well, that's inevitably what I end up doing anyway, so… good job.
Before they left the village, Ingroed's last words to me were, "I wish you well on your own travels, stranger. We won't forget this." Maybe we'll see them again later on?
Oh, I almost forgot that I needed to go back to the Black Hound Inn to collect my reward for rescuing their cook. I got a decent amount of experience for this, enough that Eleni reached Level 3 and gained the 'Dirty Fighting' ability. This converts 10% of her standard hits into crits, making her an even more deadly archer.
And my reward for saving Tenfrith from bandits was… a pie recipe. Well, it's not exactly 'half of the kingdom and the princess's hand in marriage', but I suppose every adventurer has to start somewhere.
Now that I've got Durance by my side, it's time to explore that ruined temple in the middle of Gilded Vale. Above the ground, it doesn't look particularly large. But don't be fooled. It's like an iceberg: nine tenths of it is below the surface.
As a former worshipper of Eothas who has lived in Gilded Vale for most of his life, Edér has quite a lot of unique dialogue here. Before it was destroyed, this was the temple where he was initiated into the faith.
There's a wounded man lying propped up against the wall. Let's talk to him.
This is Wirtan. He claims he isn't a looter. Apparently, he "just wanted to do some good." But he was attacked by Skuldr and was forced to retreat, badly wounded.
He says that this place used to be a grand temple of Eothas. Pilgrims would come here from all over the Dyrwood and Readceras. Until the Saint's War.
Right… I should explain about the Saint's War. I mentioned it in one of my earlier updates, but… at the time, I didn't feel like going into detail. So, here goes:
*
The Saint's War
Readceras (pronounced 'Ray-add-seh-rus') was an Aedyran colony, like the Dyrwood. Most of the early settlers were devout Eothasians. They belonged to a religious sect that frequently clashed with the Aedyran authorities until the emperor had the bright idea of sending them away to another continent: out of sight, out of mind. Anyway, the colony was very poorly run, received little support from Aedyr, and its economy was so heavily dependent on the cultivation of dye-producing vorlas plants that they struggled to feed themselves when the crop failed.
Waidwen (pronounced 'wide-wen') started off as a poor farmer who spoke out against Aedyran rule. Somehow, he gained extraordinary supernatural powers: he became 'Saint Waidwen', an avatar of the god Eothas. He attracted a huge number of people to join his cause, overthrew the colonial government, and was crowned the 'Divine King' of Readceras.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear (partly because there are a lot of different theories, partly because I suspect the writers of retconning some of the details to fit their new ideas for POE 2: Deadfire), Saint Waidwen led the Readcerans in an invasion of the Dyrwood. The Dyrwoodans and the Readcerans fought many battles, but it seemed like Saint Waidwen was unstoppable. His godlike powers were too much for anyone to withstand.
In desperation, the Dyrwoodans set a trap on the Evon Dewr Bridge: they planned to blow up Saint Waidwen with a massive bomb. Twelve men and women volunteered to stay behind and sell their lives as dearly as possible, holding Waidwen in place until the bomb went off. Their plan worked, Saint Waidwen was killed, and the Readceran army fell apart without their divine leader.
Because it was such a bloody and destructive war, when it was over, the vengeful Dyrwoodans looked around for someone to blame. They started persecuting Eothas-worshippers, massacring them and burning down their temples. Even those who (like Edér) were patriotic Dyrwoodans who'd fought for their country against the Readcerans.
Things got even worse when the Hollowborn Crisis started. It was widely assumed that Eothas was responsible somehow: people said that it was punishment for killing a god, or that Eothas had put a dying curse on the country that had engineered his death, or that Eothasians were using wicked magic to take revenge for their god's death, or… well, you get the picture.
You may think it peculiar that Eothas, a benevolent god of light, hope, redemption and rebirth, would have anything to do with a brutal war of conquest, to say nothing of the vicious persecution of the followers of other religions which apparently went on in Readceras while Waidwen was king. And you'd be right. All is not as it seems.
*
Anyway, sometime after the Saint's War, Lord Raedric sent his men to destroy Eothas's temple in Gilded Vale and slaughter all of the priests. He plans to rededicate the temple to Berath, the god of death.
That Raedric, eh? Wow, what a guy! I mean… there are a lot of candidates for Eora's 'Most Cartoonishly Evil Villain of the Year" award, but he's a strong contender.
Wirtan wants us to recover the skeletons of the dead priests so he can give them a decent burial. He warns us that the temple has been buried for so long that it's "crawling with creatures". He says there might be some valuables down on the lower level that no one has managed to loot yet. He's willing to let us "get first crack at them" if we'll do this one favour for him.
I was planning on exploring these ruins anyway, so… yeah, why not?
I went into the next room and was ambushed by giant spiders. They webbed up my entire party, but were unable to take advantage of this to attack my vulnerable back row. In such tight confines, they couldn't get past my frontline fighters or the helpful 'Ivory Spinner' which I charmed into being my temporary ally at the start of combat.
I see dead people! Again!
To be exact, as I explore these ruins, I see visions of the Eothasian priests in the last days before they were all killed.
There are several groups of skuldr in this place. Some of these groups are led by the more powerful 'Skuldr King' variant. They're tough and they hit very hard, but it seems like they've got fairly low Will saves, so they've vulnerable to special attacks such as Gianni's Whispers of Treason.
The will-o-wisps are damn annoying. One of them managed to confuse Edér early on this fight, so he spent rest of it taking damage and staring gormlessly into space.
The stairs down to the next floor are blocked off by a locked door. To open the door, we need to solve a puzzle by ringing the bells in the correct order. By paying attention to the visions and picking up some of the scraps of writing the priests left behind, you can find clues to help you work out what to do.
This is the correct order, by the way:
Ring the right, smaller bell.
Ring the middle, larger bell.
Ring the left, smaller bell.
Finally, ring the right, smaller bell again.
It's quite a neat little puzzle. Not too difficult, but it might take some time to figure out if you didn't know that you had to hit the right, smaller bell twice.
Alternatively, you can easily circumvent the puzzle by going into a nearby room and finding a key inside a hollow book. You can use the key to open the locked door without needing to solve the bell puzzle. Either way, you get the same number of experience points for accessing the lower level.
I dunno… it just makes the whole thing seem kind of pointless.
(That seems to be my catchphrase when I'm playing this game.)
I decided to rest, recover spells, and get back up to full health before carrying on. Next time, I'll descend these stairs and see what horrors are lurking in the lower ruins.
On this lower level, most of the enemies you have to fight are ethereal Spirits.
Shades and Shadows are formed from damaged souls that haven't entered the cycle of rebirth. In an attempt to regain what they've lost, they drain soul essence from living creatures and become dangerous vampiric spirits.
If your party is low-levelled, they're a nightmare to fight. It's difficult to damage them with physical attacks, or even to hit them at all. They're vulnerable to fire, but strongly resist every other type of energy damage. Because of their high reflex saves, most of the fire attacks available to you at this stage have a high chance of missing or only grazing them. They can throw ice shards at range, or they can teleport right up to your most vulnerable party members and attack them in close combat, and they can temporarily weaken you by draining your abilities.
(To all intents and purposes, Shades and Shadows are the exact same monster, except that Shades have better stats and more hit points endurance. Shadows aren't nearly as tough.)
Phantoms are another type of Spirit you'll see on this level. They're similar to Shades and Shadows, halfway between them in terms of stats and defences. They can't teleport or drain your abilities, but their basic attacks have a very high chance to stun anyone they hit. Also, they can sneak attack.
Yeah… the main reason why I held off on exploring the ruined Temple of Eothas until this point was because I knew there would be Shades and Phantoms on the lower level. I wanted my party to be strong enough to have a chance of beating them. I've seen a lot of angry ranting from people online who thought it'd be fine to explore the ruined temple as soon as they reached Gilded Vale; they got stunlocked to death by Phantoms.
Sometimes I get lucky. I found this cloak, Rymrgand's Mantle, in one of the chests down here. Against enemies whose attacks do freeze damage (such as Shades, Shadows, and Phantoms), it's a great defensive item. The downside is that I can only give it to one of my party members. I gave it to Durance because the Spirits I've fought so far keep throwing ice shards at him.
I'm not sure why there was a cloak associated with Rymrgand, the god of cold and entropy, in a temple dedicated to Eothas, but… yeah, it's a random drop. Still, I got it exactly when I most needed it. Perhaps Eothas really is watching over me. Or Rymrgand… uh…
ALL HAIL RYMRGAND! Please don't annihilate my soul….
I can't go down these stairs yet. Not until I find a way to make the floodwaters recede.
In this room, I attempted to ambush a group of Shades. My fireball trap didn't do much, but Gianni managed to charm one of them for long enough to turn the tide of battle. It wasn't long before I reduced them all to faint wisps of spirit residue.
After that, I turned the wheel at the back of the room (highlighted in blue) and got this message: You hear a grinding noise beneath your feet, and the rush of water.
Well, that was easy. Seems like I can go down those stairs now.
At the bottom of the stairs, after the water receded, I had to fight some black oozes. These were a bit tougher than the ones I fought back in Cilant Lîs.
When the fight was over, Gianni had enough xp to reach Level 4. I gave him the 'Amplified Thrust' psionic power and the 'Vulnerable Attack' talent. The rest of my party (except Eleni, who's lagging a long way behind) are very close to levelling up as well.
Also, I investigated the ruins of an old fountain, which presumably had something to do with the flood which blocked off this area before. By the walled edge of it, I found a tattered old robe, a few mouldering bones, and a gleaming silver key. I'm sure that'll be needed to open one of the locked doors down here.
Yup, I was right.
For the first time, the phantoms and the black oozes have teamed up to fight me! Ugh… this fight was a pain in the fundament.
And then the game crashed after Gianni cast Mental Binding on the big black ooze, there was a weird graphical glitch and I had to reload.
Well, anyway… moving on, I found this lever, which opens a locked door.
I hope there's treasure inside!
The good news is… I was right, there's treasure inside. The bad news is that there's a large pile of corpses as well. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.
What's that, Edér? Sure, I'll bring it up again when we get on to Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. I'm sure by that time it'll be a useful reminder.
With my Watcher powers, I witness what happened to these poor lost souls in the last days before they died. Apparently, the wounded man I met upstairs, Wirtan, was an ally of the Eothasians. He was someone they trusted.
When Lord Raedric sent his soldiers to destroy the temple and kill everyone within, Wirtan persuaded some of the priests to hide in a secret room which he locked from the outside. He promised that later on he'd come back to let them out. However, he never did. The trapped priests died horrible lingering deaths of starvation and hunger and being forced to eat each other to survive a little longer.
Huh.
So… what should I do about this, guys?
[] Be nice. Try to comfort the lost spirits.
[] Say nothing.
[] Mock the lost spirits for being afraid of what comes next.
[] Promise that you'll make Wirtan pay for what he did.
[] Tell the lost spirits to get lost. Uh, wait…
Please vote!
(Note: I'm planning to power through the next section. Your vote here will also influence how I deal with Wirtan when I return to him.)
